Walking never seemed to get easier. Humans were obviously not meant to walk on blocky feet, and Steve wasn't either.
Taking each step one at a time, he steadily gets used to walking without feeling as though he has no balance, and eventually, he gets to walking upright.
Though, he's still shorter than everyone else, which is mildly embarrassing.
Steve checks the paper Mehira gave him. Apparently, Hammer's main base of operations is just in a random base painted with black.
Steve checks the building out in real life, and…
Well, the parking lot was filled entirely with tanks.
Yes, this did look like someone whose main source of power was through making tanks.
Steve takes another step forward and steps on something squishy.
Checking under his feet to see what it was- oh.
It was a dead body.
It wasn't a human body, more like… And he hates to describe what used to be a human being this way, but an overgrown fat rat.
Quite frankly, that may be the only reason why he didn't throw up. He's seen dead animals before.
Instead, Steve quickly rubs his foot on the nearby pavement to get the blood and guts off his foot, and quickly dismisses what he just stepped on.
If Mehira's words held true, it was likely he would just be revived anyways.
Hurrying to the compound, Steve found the entrance to the base. Apparently, if Steve just said the words "Is it boomtime?" to the guy at the front, then he can meet Hammer as long as she has the time.
So, gathering enough courage to talk to the shark-man at the door, he walked up to him and said the words, "Is it boomtime?"
The shark calmly assessed him for a moment before chuckling, "Yes it is, new blood. Come on in."
The shark opened the door, allowing Steve to enter.
The building had many doors and a flight of stairs that made Steve wonder where the hell he needed to go next. Luckily, Hammer thought of that already, and there was a giant sign pointing to the biggest door in sight that said, "BOOM TIME!"
So Steve walked through that door.
Upon entry, he immediately saw the massive red tank that Sergeant Hammer was in, her upper body coming through the top of the tank. It looked as though she was in the middle of watching TV.
Hammer seemed to have gotten lucky on what she turned into, because as far as Steve could tell, Hammer was just a red-colored girl with red pigtails, with her two arms being comically large. Like a gorilla, he figures.
Hammer clicked her tongue in annoyance as she flipped through the channels, "Tch, there's nothing good on today. Vox, you shithead, today is a Saturday, why is everything so shit right now? I should throw a tank at him…"
Steve cleared his throat, grabbing Hammer's attention.
Hammer looked relieved that something new came into the room, "Oh, someone new, eh? Fucking finally."
Steve took that as permission to speak, "So, uh, I'm new to hell, and I heard from Mehira that you have a monopoly over all of the arcades in hell-"
"Damn right I do," Hammer boasted, "Don't forget my tanks! They're my pride and joy!"
Steve nodded, "Of course, and I was hoping to, ah, learn more about the types of games you have and if this place might be a good place for me to work at?"
Hammer smirked, "Ah, so you want to be hired. Well, that's great! What do you want to know about the arcades?"
"Well, I wanted to know if you branched out to video gaming," Steve said, "Specifically, creating consoles and cartridge games and things of that nature."
Hammer raised an eyebrow, "Explain?"
Steve blinked. Right, they were in hell. There was no possible way for Hammer to know what was going on up on Earth unless someone told her.
Steve cleared his throat to explain, "Uh, so, the gaming industry moved on from arcades-"
"What?! Why?!" Hammer shouted with indignation, "Arcades are fucking awesome!"
Steve continued his explanation, "Well, they managed to figure out how to put games on consoles that could connect to your TV, and you could have multiple cartridges for one console, making arcades basically obsolete. And since you owned the console, you didn't have to pay to play like the arcades did."
Hammer groaned, "Ugh, that sounds like shit. Denied."
Steve blinked, "What?"
Hammer chuckled, leaning over the rim of her tank, "Look, buddy. Arcades are the purest form of gaming. Not that fancy new tech 'cartridge' bullshit. If you want something in your hands, go play chess or something."
Hammer checked her nails as she continued, "So, if you still want a job here, great, I'll take you. But we're not doing any of that console thing. That sounds stupid."
"What- but, uh," Steve tried to think of a way to convince her, "It'll make you a lot of money!"
Hammer pointed down, "Tank."
Well, he supposed it did make sense for tanks to be more profitable than gaming. But still! It's the future that Hammer is trying to deny! Is she stupid?!
"I… Fine," Steve relented, "I didn't want your stupid job anyways."
Hammer cackled, "Hahaha! Everyone who gets denied says that! By the way, watch your twelve."
Watch his what?
Suddenly, Steve is hit with what must've been a tank shell, because whatever hit him exploded and sent him flying back through the door and sent straight outside.
Steve once again lands on the floor, skidding across the ground to hit a nearby tank tread.
The shark from earlier hummed, "Huh, you have great durability, man. Most people would've died from that."
Steve checks his body, not having any actual thoughts because of the shock of just being denied and harmed like that.
He was completely intact. Maybe the more mechanical body actually does help him be more durable.
Steve's eyes shifted to the shark, "...Thank you."
The shark nodded, "Yeah, you still have to get the fuck out of here though. You're clearly not hired."
Steve slowly got up, "Right, right…"
He was denied.
His ideas were completely written off, despite it being a working formula.
What a fucking stupid Overlord.
Steve slowly began to make his way to the bar Mehira was likely still at. If only because that was the only other place in hell he knew was.
He wants to get his revenge so badly, but the only way for that to happen was to fight someone who was so clearly out of his league…
…Or, perhaps, Mehira already told him the way he could get his revenge.
Extermination day, the day where all the permanent deaths happen at the hands of the angels, it's just 5 months away. In those five months, if Steve manages to get enough souls to properly fight Hammer, then he could win and make sure that she doesn't make it through that day.
And if he wins, he could take her place as the Gaming Overlord.
It was an absurd idea, one that was fueled entirely by thoughts of rage and revenge. Would this be how he would treat Steven when he gets to hell? Who knows, but he only knew one thing.
He wasn't going to take this sitting down.
Steve re-entered "THE bar."
Mehira greeted him, "So, how did it go?"
"I told her about how games progressed on Earth, she called it stupid and kicked me out," He said, "I'm not going to just take that."
Mehira stayed silent, raising a hand to force everyone to be quiet so she could hear him speak.
He stood tall and proud, "I noticed that none of you have normal names. And since hell is basically an anarchy, we can change our names, right? Then in that case, call me… Plaze! I'll overthrow Hammer, and I'll become the Gaming Overlord!"
THE bar cheered out in favor of his declaration, most likely because they were all drunk and thought it was funny to see someone declare himself to be a future Overlord on the first day of his arrival.
Mehira smirked, just as though something went in her favor, "I guess it was a good idea to introduce you."
Plaze wasn't sure how long he would last as an Overlord. But when the day where he would eventually fall and his sins would catch up to him, he'll be ready. Because during his time as Overlord, he'll create a massive backlog of games, to the point where it'll take him centuries to beat it all.
Then, he could finally be content.
AN:
Okay this was only 1.4k words. I guess we're not doing word count minimums anymore.
Honestly, for the better. Gives me a bigger backlog because I can usually do 1k+ words in an hour, so shorter chapters are good for consistency.
Also, I wrote all 3 chapters in the span of like, 5 hours. Chat, am I cooked or am I cooking?
[Though, that does make the weekly upload schedule kind of screwed. Especially considering I have chapter 7 80% finished. But I guess we'll keep going until I run out of chapters.]