Alex wasn’t an overly sociable person. At least not in real life, but when he went online to play his favourite games, he found that he became alive. He’d always been that way, even since he was a little kid. Sports were fine and he’d played footie with friends on the weekends and after school but the competive stuff pushed him too far.

One day when he’d been thirteen he’d stopped games mostly. Dropping it to better focus on his studying and then building up a good group of close friends who’d lived in the same city as him.

Time did change a person though. He did feel that he was getting a little old for games but he got back into it after starting university at seventeen.

His parents had been elated that his Secondary School grades had been good enough to hit him up another class year, never mind the fact that everyone around him was taller than him. Stronger than him. Or better looking than him.

He was still in his first month of his first year after all. There were at least three years to go depending on his grade average. His parents had pushed him to take a course on Business Managment as a major with a side of game development.

As soon as he got home from his studies he’d gone straight to his shared student room and logged into his account to see a few of his friends in a firefight in Cryo-Station Dead Hunt.

His laptop was already prepped and ready to go and he ran the usual encryption and anti-tracking software to block companies from recording the play styles of his group and his interactions.

Alex had heard that they were trying to get artificial intelligences to mimic player-movements in an attempt to make old and fresh games suitably engaging for players. He’d protect his friends and himself as he needed to. Even if the software needed for it had been custom-rigged and was partially illegal.

He put on his headset and joined in the chat, fingers rushing across his screen as he tried to adjust his character to get in on the action. The usual basic avatar with a cross skull on the face and standard science fiction soldier get up was his choice.

The in-game weapons matter and how you use them. Avatars don’t make up for lack of skill.

Checking the display he saw that the group that made up his online gaming team was already engaged entirely. Switching his mic to mute and running in silent mode he took a moment to see how they fared without his leadership.

Raw talent doesn’t always get results. Teamwork does. I wish it’d be the same for my study partners but laziness makes itself known easier than hard work does.

>@TangoBeppe: Idiot. Check out your six. I said check out your six. Too late. Better luck next time buddy.

>@Aboutsledge: No. You were the one who was meant to take care of my back. There’s another wave coming. Did you grab the ion pulse blaster this time?

>@TangoBeppe: Uh no. I only do hand to hand. You’re thinking of my brother PapaQuebec. Dude. Did you just get us mixed up again? My skin is totally different to his.

>@TerraMinx: Not really the time guys…

>@Aboutsledge: I know right? He’s meant to be the one who had my back. Oh, wait. Guess who just turned up? Wait, hold it.

+User@Alixxer has entered the clan group chat+

>@TangoBeppe: The swarm bots are waiting for nobody. Just get prepared and…oh wow. God is here. Bow down to the almighty!

>@Alixxer: Yeah guys. I’m here now. Everyone suited up? Hey Tango, where’s your brother at?

>@Aboutsledge: Damn. Welcome back Hero!

>@TangoBeppe: Don’t ask. He didn’t even come home last night. Our Dad is so angry at him right now.

>@TerraMinx: Guys….we need to get ready. That swarm is building. You can see if you only paid attention to th-

>@TangoBeppe: Excuse me? I’m here talking to god and you’re getting scared of a bot swarm? Be ashamed that he doesn’t just quit on you. God is here to stay and win this thing. Anyway, what are you talking about Terra?

>@TerraMinx: I did my research and they’re different now. The company released a teaser trailer of their new AI bots. These are meant to be harder than ever to beat. You can tell when they begin to release the light forms above their heads.

>@Aboutsledge: Nerd talk. Tango. You see that swarm? You didn’t have my back and I don’t have yours. God or not you’re going to lose. Now where did you put the ion blaster. Sorry about your brother.

>@TangoBeppe: Yeah, well if you see him tell him my Dad is angry. Well, kinda seriously upset rather than angry.

>@TerraMinx: Ugh. You never want to listen to hidden intel. I heard the companies have been investing top-dollar trying to generate next generation NPCS. When that AI swarm hits us each one has a separate and unique personality designed for this game alone.

>@Alixxer: Terra? Not the time ok? You send me a time and a date and we can all listen to you over pizza in the real world but right now I need everyone prepared. Tango. Get that monkey off your back and we’ll find your brother. Right after we win this match. Clear?

>@TangoBeppe: Yes god.

>@Alixxer: Knock it off and focus. Do your job and take care of your teammates. You do well here, you do well in the real world? Agreed?

>@TangoBeppe: Clear.

>@TerraMinx: I’m sending you the data right now Alex. We need to prepare for the swarm. According to my calculations we hav-

>@Alixxer: Terra. I love your pure brilliant mind but grab your gun and armour and suit up. For me ok? I promise to listen right after this match. About? You want to quit the team?

>@Aboutsledge: No, I….no. I’m sorry. Home life has been kinda hard with my mom gone. Her new job keeps her super busy and all.

>@TerraMinx: Affirmative Commander.

>@Alixxer: Here. I got a spare ion blaster. Take mine and join in. Terra is smart in her own way as we all are. Everybody ready? Terra. I saw your message. Good stuff. Acknowledge readiness in three…two…one.

>@TangoBeppe: Ready Commander.

>@Aboutsledge: Ready steady as a rock.

>@TerraMinx: Affirmative Sir.

>@Alixxer: Now let’s beat that swarm and win this game!

Turning his attention away as his unconscious reflexes took over Alex let his overworked eyes look over the materials that Terra had sent. She was always the one who discovered information the fastest out of all of them and in the team she was the strategist.

It was a shame that Tango’s brother didn’t turn up to join in. If Tango was the sword of the team than he was the shield, filling up their defensive patterns when they weakened and offering support where necessary.

The explosions and screen affects took his mind near back to the game. All of this was just the opening scenes, the first waves always took it easy. It was one of the reasons that he could trust his team-mates to win it without his support.

‘Damn, Terra was right about this swarm. It’s like they all have their own minds and personalities. How did the company afford this?’

His attention torn back to the game from the increasingly sophisticated tactics that the enemy were using against his team. Holding in his breath, Alex began to let his mind fall into the sweet point where his body reacted without thinking.

Allow it to flow. Om Mani Padme Hum.

The funny thing that Alex found that when he was going about his daily life he came across as awkward and nervous sometimes in social situations. Not always but sometimes.

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Like when he had asked a girl out for coffee after their lecture had finished and her boyfriend had turned up and flat out stared at Alex until he left silently. He hadn’t said anything wrong, or at least he didn’t think he had but he decided to move his position in the lecture hall so he didn’t sit next to the girl again.

Focus Alex. Om Mani Padme Hum. You got this. Do your magic.

To try and work out his stress a little during his first month at university, Alex turned up at one of the Buddhist centres which held free drop-ins for new students to try out. When they had used a bell and repeated the mantra Alex found that his mind totally cleared out and relaxed.

Taking the mantra for his own, it massively assisted his own already decent video game abilities as his unconscious mind took over and he entered the zone.

Fingers twitching, his eyes tracked the movements before his ion blaster tore massive chunks of the mixture of flesh and metallics that made up the swarms. Each new threat was targetted before it even moved and every single shot hit, reloading was just a click away or a vocal command which Alex had practiced speaking as low as possible as not to bother his teammates.

He knew that each of them had their own techniques to deal with winning. Some ate junk food before or after, others blasted music in the background and the smart ones like Terra broke down and analysed every single aspect of the game, the movement and tactics of the NPCs and players alike and then loved explaining it to everyone else.

The thing was that Alex was the one who made everything flow, every single bit of his anxiety and stress melted away as he became the commander of his group. He knew who to trust, when to talk and when to ease the tension.

Playing online games with the same group for years now had formed a strong bond between them and they’d met up enough times in real life when time allowed to forge real friendships.

Flow. Om Mani Padme Hum. Teammates. Support and guide them to success.

The company had made some serious upgrades in a short space of time if he was beginning to find it challenging. As it was most of the online stuff on the marketplace was growing old and stale as strategies were straight-up shared and copied until most newbies to video games could beat a game of their choice.

Cyro-Station Dead Hunt had been one one of the less popular games until they’d taken down the entire system for a few months before they re-advertised it with temporary free game passes for both old and new players.

For old times sake, he’d chosen it as both a testing ground and a touch of nostalgia for his friends. Entering adulthood wasn’t fun and he wanted his group to stay together with a shared love of winning online game competitions as long as possible.

Yeah. Getting married is going to be a long, long time away. Sorry Mum and Dad, no arranged marriages just yet. Good luck with that.

An in-game notification broke into the private chat channel that his group held sacrosanct. Anyone who didn’t play didn’t get to talk, simple as that. Alex had even worked out how to encrypt the group chat so they could modify it and use it in any online games they wanted.

>@TerraMinx: Commander?

Alex narrowed his energies on blasting away the smaller ones keeping his reflexes prepared for immediate action against the larger threats.

‘If the smallers ones are getting this smart then I don’t want to see the bosses. Terra’s got a question?’

Tilting his head to let his aging headset dangle he released one finger from the keyboard and flicked the private communication switch before he responded to his in-game lieutenant. Alex might have been the leader of his group be he knew when and how to delegate orders.

Besides, Terra was smart than him, better looking than him and more sociable than him. If he’d seen her in the street he would have called her a fashion model or a pop singer with serious talent in all areas.

He knew that this was her way to destress in her life, playing games and taking it seriously. She needed an outlet and this was her way outside of her busy life.

>@Alixxer: Yeah Terra, I need a little more time to take in that info. So far, you did a great job but we need to focus on hitting the goals for this round. That pizza isn’t going to buy itself. Team, sound off readiness. I want everyone in position.

>@TangoBeppe: Like we didn’t kill the last wave without the help of our fearless leader. I smashed those bugs like ants. Smooshed them with a double kick and finished off with a mighty smack. Bunch of idiots. I’m ready for action.

>@Aboutsledge: I came for the bugs, stayed for the hottest ever god-tier player to make my acquaintance. Ready Commander.

>@TerraMinx: Commander. I’m prepared but something is seriously wrong. You need to check out the information asap. Something is badly wrong with the scripting on the enemy NPC. Uh, I’m ready guys. Sorry.

>@Alixxer: You’re right something is wrong. We need to hit the ground running and keep our score high. We owe if to Tangos brother to do well.

>@TangoBeppe: I do not feel like talking about him right now. My dad is due back in an hour and he’s going to be even worse. Upset I mean, he’s angry at PapaQuebec so, so bad right now. Just play ok. I’m going to start burning through my reserves unless I get some close-combat action. Leave the real-life stuff out of this for now.

>@Aboutsledge: Nerd talk makes my head hurt. Joking! No seriously. I’m joking! I’m shutting up for now. Seriously man, I’ll keep an eye out for your brother at school. I can ask around for you. Your brother is a good looking guy. Not my type but good looking.

>@TangoBeppe: Thanks. Much appreciated, my brother from a different mother.

>@Aboutsledge: ….You mean sister right? You forget my gender, you make me wanna bend ya!

>@TangoBeppe: My bad. Sorry, my sister from a different...hipster.

>@Aboutsledge: Oh you want to make me mad? Wait until I see you after school. I’m going to beat your arse so red that yo-

Alex decided to intervene to make sure that the gameplay for the group flowed smoothly. He always knew just the time to interject, to let his group tease each other a little and also when to sharpen up. This was one of those time.

>@Alixxer: Knock it off you two. Sound off now. Show me you’re ready to win.

>@Aboutsledge: I’m ready Hero.

>@TangoBeppe: Ready, set and go.

>@TerraMinx: Commander, do you see the orange one with the pink stripes? The one in the middle avoiding joining the larger swarms?

>@Alixxer: Not the time for this Terra….I’m now activating shields in six, five, fou-

>@TangoBeppe: Is that one waving a white flag? This is a joke right? The rest of them are going to hit our location in less than twenty seconds.

>@Aboutsledge: Just shut up and have my back. This is crunch time. Do or die.

The game carried on about as well as Alex expected until the swarms heading towards his team changed tactics entirely and half of them simply dropped to the ground and began rolling around as though in pain.

Easy targets but faulty game design. They got some serious bugs to fix if the NPCs are going to react like that. I thought they upgraded this game.

One of the swarm got close to Alex though, close enough to slice his character in two but then it raised its four arms up in the air in a state of surrender and fell onto the ground.

>@Alixxer: Is anyone seeing this? There are more bugs in Cyro-Station Dead Hunt than in my roommates unchanged bed sheets and he washes them once a month at most.

Something was seriously wrong in the game as Alex decided to call it to a half when the half-game warning light lit up and the players had a chance to switch out weapons and ammo loads.

>@Alixxer: Everyone. Dump this game asap and meet in the secure group chat. Code is favourite pizza toppings for Beauty Vee.

>@Aboutsledge: Commander! You do not say my name out loud. Not even in group chat. My maid finds out I’m on here and she’s going to freak. You know my parents have been watching my online gaming. You think I want to head back to private boarding school in Swizzerland again? I do not!

>@Alixxer: Calm it. This is sccure. Everyone log out. I do not want a repeat of another virus infecting or companies tracking our gaming group. Commander out.

Alex clicked mute and his fingers ran across his keyboard as he entered secure lockdown mode, ensuring that all traces of his group having played Cyro-Station Dead Hunt were shunted to another random bunch of players.

He’d been tracked before and accused of using illegal mods and he doubted that the authorities would look as kindly on a university student than a young teen in Secondary School.

He needed to find a more secure location than this if he was going to have group chat. Grabbing his laptop and closing it but not entirely he threw it into a backpack along with a few boxes, a portable power pack and his headset. As an afterthought Alex took his phone and wallet with him and then he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small black box.

If the situation was bad, he’d use it if he needed to. The device would completely wipe the laptop clean and force it to overload and break but precautions were essential.

As he was leaving the door to his student room opened as his roommate entered laughing with a friend as he saw Alex about to leave.

‘Hey. I’m uh...heading out. Nice to see you.’ half-murmured Alex as he left the room and slid past the gap between the door and his roommate.

He had never been an overly sociable person but he was trying.