VIRTUAL ESCAPE
Location: Somewhere in California→ Pacific Point, CA
Time: Day 1, Late Evening
“There we go,” Mia’s voice broke out behind Avatar's figure, his hand jerked his joystick to move him deeper into his apartment. He turned then reversed out of the way before parking the wheelchair and allow his home nurse to enter in his wake. Her arms pinned two filled baskets to her hips as she swayed inside, her walk paused long enough to twist and shut the door behind her with a soft thump.
“That felt good didn’t it? Getting out and enjoying yourself?” Mia asked in a cheerful voice, her body disappeared into his bathroom. Avatar heard her prop open the cabinets beside the sink, nearly everything within his reach, then emerge with an empty orange bottle in her hand and a frown on her lips,
“When were you going to tell me you were out of them, uh? According to the date, you’re not due for a refill until the end of the month and yet the bottle is empty a week early. What happened to the pills?” Avatar inhaled deeply then proceeded to explain, knowing that Mia would not likely believe his fabricated lie,
“I knocked them over into the toilet bowl when I went to take them a week ago. The whole bottle fell in and I didn’t feel like hauling the mess out, so I retrieved the bottle and flushed the pills. I never told you because I thought I could last until the end of the month.” “Bullshit. It was that junkie, Terrance, wasn’t it? You just gave them to him, didn’t you?” Mia demanded to know, her eyes narrowed on his image and seemed on the verge of beat it out of him.
From her intense glare, Avatar already knew she wouldn’t accept any other answer than the one she deduce despite it being false. He hadn't given them away, but sold the prescriptions for additional funds toward his project. In his mind they weren’t working and pointless to keep around if they failed to accomplish what they were designed to. His expression remained neutral to what she accused him of doing as she groaned loudly, her arm tossed the bottle into the nearest trash. It made a hollow thunk loud.
“I don’t know why I even bother trying,” Mia mumbled. Her right hand’s fingers rubbed her temple while she looked at the miniature father clock on the mantle and turned back to him,
“Let’s get these groceries put up then I got to leave. The babysitter is going to cost me an arm and leg if I'm late again.” Quickly, Mia bent over the counter as began to rustle through the numerous groceries before she handed select ones off to him. The lower cabinets were soon stuff with dry and can goods, all non perishable, while she filled the fridge. Admiring her work, The nurse turned to him then commented,
“do you need me to stick around or you good for the night?” “No, I’ve taken care of myself without you before and I’m pretty sure Tyler is wondering where you’re at,” Avatar’s hand pulled the joystick from its parked position into motion, his wheelchair twitched and began to roll away. The whirling sounds echoed through his hallway while he vanished from sight. Mia bit her lip, her vision caused his back to goose bump as she continued to debate within. Finally, his action made her decision for her. She reached for her jean purse and quickly checked for her car keys before she exhaled. When her hand reached to twist the door open once more, she made one last pause then she was gone.
From his bedroom window, Avatar’s hand parted the curtains while he spied her casually stroll down the street and slip into her vehicle. The headlights came to life while it gradually edged from the driveway and into the urban landscape. It easily melted into the other numerous cars passing by in the night.
His hand released the curtains. Once more hidden from the outside world, he twisted his wheelchair’s joystick and the front flipped about to guide him toward his desk in the corner. Now the experiment begins…
Location: Privately owned warehouse, Koi Docks within Pacific Point.
Time: Evening
Koi Docks was known to harbor all things corrupted. From local street gang hideaways to selling of narcotics, even minor turf wars that left the boardwalks soaked in misguided blood. Not even the salty ocean breeze could cleanse the air of the iron stink. Even tourists were smart enough to keep their distance when the sun went down and few treaded there willingly. Several abandoned storage units, from warehouses to shipping containers, all stood silently to witness the hidden crimes to come after dark. Among the buildings closest to the docks, a single one emitted light through plastic covered windows and into the shadows nearby.
Anyone that kept tabs on the local police reports would recall officially it was a privately owned warehouse, no new shipments going in or out for two months. With no evidence of illegal activity or connection to the local gang, the authorities were forced to leave it alone. Some even believed the chief of the Tri-PD might’ve been paid under the table in order to prevent stake outs by the front door.
Deep within the warehouse, the clicking taps of a keyboard echoed within the makeshift workshop. Aaron Turner, a talented mechanic and technician, hunched over one of several computer monitors. Wires snaked their way across the concrete floor then connected to a single humanoid droid stretched out across an X shaped slab, cold and inanimate for the time being. The design had been pretty complex in Aaron’s experience compared to the high tech shit the Shroud Syndicate, notorious by the police standards, made him fiddle with. Sadly their presence was very scarce in California region(he couldn’t go back to the gang with the police eyeballing him after all) and being an ex-con made work even harder to come by when better, squeaky clean options were available.
Desperate and funds dwindled to scraps, he had been picked up by Avatar about three months back. His job was easier than most: follow the blueprints he been given down to the very letter. No questions asked and have each project completed by the established due date. While the paroled criminal found it odd, he couldn’t resist the tax free ten grand each task brought and went to work eagerly.
Now, with this strange metal thing staring him in the face night and day, Aaron began to wonder what the hell he got himself into.
He relaxed and fell into the chair back, the springs groaned from the weight. He let himself bounce once then twice and even a third time to the headphone’s blaring beat, the hard custom mixture of rap and rock vibrated in his attention. Meanwhile, his eyes flickered across the computer’s luminous screen still monitoring any change in the droid’s status.
The monitor continued to display a flat line.
Aaron sighed in boredom, the dullness aspect of his employment scraped painfully over his mind and his legs kicked at the floor. He rolled over toward whatever pizza remained then reached for a slice. The moment the luke warm surface touched his skin, the monitor’s line spiked. His head jerked back in surprise. Again, the line jerked like a pulse in a steady beat across the screen. Shock and stun amazement spread over his expression, his eyes widen when the droid’s hand twitched. Gradually, Avatar pulled upright then turned its faceless shield to the frozen individual.
When Avatar jacked in, tingling and numbness washed over him. Instinctively his self preservation reflex tried to fight the losing battle as he fought to remain calm, the sensation of his mind falling away from his body dangerously close to death itself. Surprisingly enough, he recalled feeling this sensation often when trapped back in China and loathed it. His fingers tightened then abruptly released before he went completely slack in his chair.
Darkness literally swallowed him up. Sound, sight, and other needed sensories that the living took for granted didn’t exist within this vast emptiness, his attempts to move pointless since he had no way to register them. Slowly the floating sensation came to an end when his mind started to find anchorage within something. The sound of a pulsing beep, sharp and harsh on his dulled mind, caught his attention. Impulsively he tightened his fingers and the pulse grew stronger, the pace increased with his excitement that filled his core. Originally he had worried it wouldn’t work. Failure would’ve resulted in his mind stuck on the brim of death, forever darted between the computer systems and his flesh. For him it was an unpleasant thought but well worth the risk.
Now, he had to determine additional theories and test his ability to adjust to the sensory systems. Activating his visual visor, light and color flooded his attention. It distracted him for a moment as the system hummed to life. It fed him a continual stream of his current surroundings, namely what he focused on, but a slight disappointment came to him. When compared to his natural vision, the colors were saturated and dulled from the usual vibrate appeal. Like someone had toned down the colors on a computer. Mindful about the flaw in his calculations, he decided to test additional systems.
Gears grinded, subtly, as his torso moved and began to sat upright. They moved well enough through their reflexes lacked the smoothness in the human body. He concluded that was likely due to the fact the droid hadn’t been tested since its creation, an issue he intended to sort when he explored the city. He held up his arm and admired the craftsmanship for a moment before he turned his head to the only other individual within his warehouse: Aaron.
“You did well in the construction,” Avatar’s mechanical and gravelly voice rang out, his arms reached to the back of his head. His fingers carefully detached the various wires attached to his spine and let them drop off one by one.
The sound shot Aaron from his stun state of mind, the man immediately pushed to his feet and let the chair roll back. He then moved cautiously over to the droid, “Did you… I don’t... Fuck. Fuck me hard, what the hell are you?”
“That’s a simple enough answer. You know me as Avatar. I hired you if you recall? I designed a Neuro Syn Link system to digitally translate brain waves into data, then downloaded it into a dummy corporation's wifi network and followed it to the warehouse where I then jacked into the droid’s system,” Avatar spoke bluntly, still in the process of removal,
“However, I’m a bit disappointed in the visual and audio intake. I might have to adjust the custom built A2PD recording system for both and observe how they do before considering completely redesigning it.” Aaron paused then blinked dumbly at Avatar. His voice increased in pitch over his exclamation, “Whoa, wait. You mean to tell me that you’ve literally downloaded your
mind into that thing?!”
“Crude wording, but correct.” “Damn… but why? Why would you do that to yourself?”
“The current physical situation I’m in was… unsatisfactory. Now that it has succeeded, I have to run a few tests and alter the equipment to improve it.” Avatar causally spoke then hopped off the table, his legs bent and sustained his movement easily. He continued to test his joints and other functions, Aaron narrowed his eyes.
“What do you mean ‘run a few tests’? Like do you mean here in the warehouse because I have to inform you, there’s no high tension or stress equipment able to likely do what you’re aiming for. That would take months to ship in and se-”
Avatar interrupted the mechanic when his hand held up for silence,
“No, this city is the perfect testing ground. Numerous unusual individuals have been reported to be within the area and would make excellent adversaries to test the limits of my experiments.” Aaron paled at the thought of Avatar bring supers back to him and risk going head to head. His hands made a time out gesture by crossing one hand over the other in a T, “Whoa… Wait a moment, time out. I didn’t sign on to take on capes and I’ll be damned if I risk getting arrested over your bullshit.”
At the man’s side, his hand had shifted for his cell in his back pocket. Gradually and carefully, he tried to sneak it out then discreetly dial the police. Aaron had became distracted in trying to type the right number that he didn’t realize Avatar had began to walk toward him. His eyes snapped up when a large, blue and black hand closed over his own then began to crush the andriod until the screen cracked. Feeling the glass bury itself into his fingers fastened against the once flawless surface, Aaron found his throat sized by the machine he had created. Avatar tightened his fingers over the windpipe then yanked the man from his feet into the air.
“Such a pity, I was hoping we could work together a bit longer. If you can’t keep your silence, I’ll assist you in that and ensure you never utter another word again. Thank you… for all your assistance,” Avatar commented when his fingers flickered with electrical energy and jolted into the skin, Aaron Turner’s body tensed and twitched. Cooked flesh filled the warehouse’s air as the wattage died down, the corpse to hung limply from his outstretched arm. Calmly Avatar loosen his grip to let the corpse drop over his shoulder and determined the best fashion to get rid of before he walked into the night.
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