Main Character Immunity

Click

Combat armor damaged but still doing its job, still have ammo, can move though the knee is giving me some grief, that's the door I have to get through, I know I'll need a passcode, but before that I have to get through a ton of bad guys between here and there. I check my battery pack – yeah, decent power, but I'm going to need a distraction. I turn to my team...

And they're not there.

Hunh. That's new. Guess I'm on my own.

There was a nice sturdy crate, one room back. It feels like I was just there, but it also feels like lifetimes ago. If my crew was here, I could use their help in positioning it to make a nice shield, but alone... perhaps a Trojan horse? Explosives, send something in? Maybe I'll have to retreat down a few levels, collect other materials, set up something-

This isn't working. Taking out the team has engendered caution. Not good.

Perhaps give the team back? Send them in as shock troops?

No real leader would sacrifice their team.

Extra stressors? Increase desperation?

Negative, will increase self-sacrificial tendencies. Let's try again, from here:

Click

This corridor looks so old in the pale fluorescent light. Most of the lights are out anyway, since we try to shoot out as many as possible before advancing. We have infrared goggles, so it helps. I jerked my head at my second and they took out the last three lamps. Darkness was a welcome relief for us. And the far door's edges lit up, showing the mass of bodies hidden behind it.

Yippee.

Number Four jerked a head towards a dark side passage. “Short rest break? Look for re-stocking supplies?” Without waiting for an answer, they walked towards the opening, and the slight yellow glow flashed red right before I jumped backwards screaming about it being a trap-

What were you thinking? How does that even help us?

Well, I thought a spike in adrenaline would bring the code to the surface of their mind.

You're an idiot. Out of the chair, you incompetent fool. Now, fast forward..

Click

Wow, that took no time. I was at the far door already, piles of bodies on every side. My friends, my crew, they were gone too, but they made their sacrifices count.

I will miss them.

Number Two, crumpled beside the Big Boss. Number Seven, everything but their bigass flechette gun covered with bodies, the only person big enough to use that prototype to deadly effect. Number Four, slumped over some kind of genetic mutation right out of a nightmare.

Wait, didn't Number Four die by setting off a trap earlier?

You moron, you let them get maudlin!

But, but, you need to regroup and mourn before going to the next task! That's proper procedure, correct?

You don't give them time to realize! Now we have lost initiative!

Try again? It was going well for a moment.

Click

I was almost to the door! I glanced back, to see if my troop was still with me.

Number Two was trouncing the Big Boss to my right, and Number Six was plastering some strange genetic mutant beyond them, despite a nasty leg wound. Three and Five were winning, barely. Seven looked like they were about to die.

Four looked at me with desperate eyes. “Quick, open the door, let's get out of here!”

Something wasn't adding up.

What eyes? Four was wearing a helmet, same as the rest of us.

I stared around the room. I don't remember fighting these people! Who were they? Faceless foes, like stock characters out of a bad shoot-'em-up game. We were in the corridor, and then we were here, at the final door, with no in-between?'

What's going on here? And why am I having these recurring dreams?

Why don't I have memories of my real life in between? I thought I was a banker? I'm not addicted to video games, so what's really happening?

Dammit! So close!

Not as close as you'd think. This one is quite self-aware, that's why they hold the job they do.

Here, let me try-

Click

Well, my armor seems intact, and my helmet and oxygen are cycling, and though we flooded the room with deadly gas we seem to be doing well in taking out the bad guys.

Wait. What team? Who are these people? Faceless masks, like mine, like the bad guys. I don't even know their names! Just numbers! Who are these people, really? I don't do online gaming!

We're losing control!

Try this tactic-

Click

I was bleeding, dying. I couldn't even lift my arms.

Four came skidding over, clambering over the Big Boss. At least that baddie was gone, though I'd be going too, in a moment.

She pulled off her helmet, her huge dark eyes filled with worry and pain for my sake. “I'm so sorry! I couldn't get to you in time! I'm sorry, quick! If you die, we can't continue! Give us the passcode, and we'll win in your honor!”

How – wait, what?

Does that even make sense?

I guard that passcode with my life. My former life.

I had a life. It's draining out of me, now, but there was a time when I went to work, came home, had... I had...

Did you catch that? Anything we can use?

Not enough, sorry. All I have is they had a life. What that means – hobbies, family, dog? I have no idea.

Good catch to pause before death. Let's rewind, try a different angle-

Click

And I'm not sure how much power my battery pack has and maybe I should rehearse that passcode before I move in to take everyone down-

What is this pressure about the passcode? Why the insistence? Sorry, that code stays in my brain, not even gonna think about it till I'm through this room.

Damn. Try again?

Yeah, let's rewind a bit, see if stress can get them to crack.

Click

A small break. My team, what was left: Two, Three, Five, Six. Seven and Four gone, lost to the many levels we've been through.

Three turned that faceless helmet to me, though I could have sworn I saw an expression of dismay. “One, I'm concerned. What if we lose you, like we did the others? You could die, same as the rest of us, and we couldn't continue. We'd lose, and die with you.”

The others nodded.

“Would you... do you think... maybe you could share the passcode with us? Please? So any of us could get there, get in? Get safe?”

So, that's what this is about...

Pause! Rewind!

I conclude we will get nowhere productive tonight, we should give the subject a full rest break. Try again come next cycle?

I posit that this treatment is still more effective than torture.

But more frustrating for us. Keep them in sleep cycle.

Click

I couldn't move, but neither could anyone else.

We were all frozen, but my mind was very active.

I didn't feel like I was being rushed, or monitored.

The rest of the team was suspended in space and time, like puppets with their strings cut.

A recurring dream? Nightmare, more like.

If I thought hard, I could recall being kidnapped. And then, this looping, coiling dream, doing the same bad video game over and over.

How many days?

Well, I'm done. I know what they want now.

I am clad in a mech suit, but the armor doesn't fit terribly well. Like it was designed for another person, but got slapped on me in desperation. There are gaps. I concentrate, hard, and I can move a finger.

I might not be able to wake up, but...

From one finger, to a second, to more, a hand. Now, the wrist, rotate, now the arm...

I remember my favorite poem, and a specific line. The trigger, at least, was mine!

I won't miss the corridors, the endless fighting. The adrenaline, the endless terror. The fear of death. Funny, there was no smell, just shooting and more shooting. Gray walls and heat signatures and false companions.

I'll miss my real life. I hope.

I hit the button.

A burst of crimson, a fade to black. I am at peace.

Try to get your code now, whoever you are.

Click

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