Leveled Up Love

Chapter 4

Chapter Four

DaEvo flashed constant warnings to slow down and rest as Zack jogged home. Apparently, the app had access to the fitness tracking devices built into his wearable tech. Zack ignored the notifications until he was back in his building and riding the elevator up to his condo.

He ignored the stream of messages incoming from his teammates and leaned against the elevator wall, leaving streaks of sweat on the mirrors as he struggled to catch his breath and shivered in the air-conditioning. The clothes that had been fairly clean when he put them on were now drenched with sweat and sticking to his skin. He looked at himself in the mirror and winced. His face was tomato red, and the pools of sweat on the T-shirt outlined his gut. It wasn’t pretty. Maybe those bodybuilders had a point about exercise. Not a big point, but as Zack stared at his reflection, he almost wished he had taken advantage of the gym when he first moved in.

Style Update: -0.1

Yeah, yeah. Zack pulled off his OptiGlasses and crammed them into his jeans pocket. DaEvo couldn’t judge him if it couldn’t see him.

Once he reached his apartment, he punched in the code and pushed open the door. He gagged as the overwhelming smell of dirty clothes and rotting food washed over him. It hadn’t smelled that bad in here this morning.

He pulled off the sweat-drenched shirt, grabbed an energy drink from the fridge, and sank into his gaming chair. The leather stuck to his wet skin, but he didn’t care. He didn’t plan to move from that spot for the rest of the day anyway.

Zack picked up the controller for his gaming system and pressed the power button. He breathed a sigh of relief as the screens flickered to life. Then he unbuttoned his jeans so he could slouch comfortably.

This was more like it.

The Star Fury theme music blared through his surround sound speakers, and Zack took a long swig of his energy drink. He had missed the strategy session with the team, but thankfully he would be in time for the tournament. He even had a little bit of extra time.

This was a big tournament, and Zack planned to finish on top. Teams of four from all over the world would compete in several rounds over the next few months, and the teams that made the finals would travel to an in-person televised event at the Star Fury Convention in Las Vegas to show off their skills. The winning team would receive global recognition and join the pro circuit. This was Zack’s chance to prove once and for all that he was the best. The ultimate quest.

The fact that Zoe Cross was hosting the event and interviewing winners didn’t hurt anything.

Zack glanced at the poster of Zoe in the Armada uniform and grinned. No, that didn’t hurt at all.

He wouldn’t let Phil and a stupid dating sim take that away from him.

Zack launched out of the station, growled as he realized he was in the wrong star system, and hit the hyperspace thrusters. Good thing he’d way-pointed their training map.

“You’re here!”

“Where have you been?”

“What the hell is going on, Zack?”

His teammates’ chatter boomed through the apartment as they talked over each other in a clammer of accusations and relief. Judging from the background noise, they were under heavy fire.

Zack checked the timing and groaned internally. “Long story, but I’m on my way!”

“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, would ya? We were supposed to be testing out the new formation, and it doesn’t work without you.”

Fazilnoor Kapoor, known to most as Faz, sounded truly peeved. His irritation made his Wisconsin accent stronger, which Zack found hilarious in spite of everything that had happened so far. When he first met Faz in college, he had found his classmate’s nasal accent combined with the Sikh’s traditional wear a little jarring. Now he didn’t think twice about the combination of traditional turban and cheesehead slang.

Faz kept ranting, but Zack turned his attention to piloting his spacecraft. His team was on the other side of an asteroid belt, so he needed to get through there quickly to reach them. Maybe he could break his record while he was at it.

He pushed his thrusters into overdrive and zipped around the asteroids. The ship maneuvered easily through the field, twisting and turning with the touch of a key and the yank of the joystick.

Zack sank further into his chair. His sweaty back sticking to the leather was the only reminder of the unpleasant morning.

A notification on the screen confirmed he had beaten his previous record for navigating the asteroid belt. Nice. It looked as though things were finally going his way. The actual base location and fight was in a well-known asteroid belt, and the team had run the entire thing multiple times. It was the closest approximation they had to what they expected the first round would be like.

As he neared the battle, bright flashes of light indicating unrealistic laser fire, streaks of moving light that were homing missiles and tiny dots for drones came into view. The speakers rumbled and buzzed, adding to the atmosphere, while in the corner, chat from the viewing Star Fury community flashed past. Just because they couldn’t take part didn’t mean they couldn’t watch.

The team was in the middle of the fight, trying to blast through the defenses, but the outpost had a layered defense system. Mines on the outside, drones farther in, then automated NPC Armada ships on the inside.

Zack opened up his thrusters to maximum and sped toward the battle. His team was in the thick of it. They had formed up in close formation, driving straight through—which would work beautifully once he was there to complete the formation. Without him, they didn’t have the DPS to cut through the respawning drones.

“Better late than never,” Jenny Romero said as Zack entered hailing distance. The only female in the group was used to giving as good as she got.

Zack called it the “short woman ego issue”—when she wasn’t around. He had no desire to get his head taken off.

Jenny was in the back as usual, playing the long game by having her drones drop auto-targeting laser mines in enemy space, ensuring the backup drones that were populating behind them couldn’t reach the team. The mine and drone strategy was a bit old-fashioned, considered spammy by some and dishonorable by the most stalwart Armada members, but Jenny refused to upgrade and said Corsairs didn’t care about honorable strategies as long as they worked. The bulky, multi-spherical drone deployer she maneuvered took hits from the Armada and shrugged them off, the thick hull plating more than adequate for the current rate of fire.

Greg Miller, their heavy-hitting missile and artillery boat, ran a much sleeker vessel than Jenny. He relied more on speed and force shields, allowing the sleek, bullet-nosed craft to provide cover for Jenny and watch Faz’s back. Greg was what others might consider a typical gamer: overweight, working a dead-end job in a grocery store, with an irascible personality.

Fazilnoor Kapoor—Faz—was in front with his ship acting as scout and interceptor, the smallest ship of the group. Probably the smartest member of the team—discounting Zack himself, of course—Faz was taking a year-long break, playing Star Fury in an attempt to sow his wild oats before his parents made him go to medical school.

Where Greg was fast for a medium-weight ship, Faz was just fast. And rather than use multiple weapon systems, he’d thrown nearly everything into concentrating his weapon system on his forward laser turret.

All around the team, the Armada ships swirled and spun, hammering at the close-held formation. Faz and Greg focused on picking off the drones in front of them, not yet daring to break out into a dogfight. The deeper they got, the more Jenny’s mines played their part, the automatic targeting on the mine lasers expanding their zone of control.

Zack cut his thrusters as he entered the back of the zone, cruising in on built-in velocity, and fired a blast from his new laser cannon to clear a path through a new set of populating drones. His ship was the linchpin of the operation, nearly as fast and maneuverable as Faz’s but more heavily armed. Also, less armored and a hell of a lot more expensive to replace when it was inevitably blown up from time to time. Unlike real-world money, Star Fury credits had to be earned. Good thing Zack spent so much time running missions.

Zack barked orders to the team, his voice cutting off complaints as he controlled the team’s maneuvers. Since he’d just joined, he had a full bank of energy and he let loose, damaging Armada ships and tearing through force shields with impunity before he slid into position.

“You’re loose, Faz.”

Now that Zack was there, Faz peeled off to harry the ships the team had damaged but not taken down. “For cripe’s sake, it’s about time!”

“Chill. We got this. Marauder on your right, Faz. Greg, that Zed-3 is trying to get onto your six. Jenny, switch over to the… mine spread formation seven.” Rattling off orders, Zack maneuvered his ship, blasting away at enemy ships.

Long minutes drew on as they took down ship after ship and even the automated drone deployers on the base. With the entire area around them littered with half-disabled ships, they were finally getting back on track.

“Finish them!” Jenny said. “I’m swamped over here.”

Zack blasted all the disabled ships within range with the laser cannon, then flushed his entire rack of missiles again. His monitors went white from the force of the explosions, the rumble from the ship making him grin. Everyone knew it was unrealistic, but it sure was fun. Jenny squeaked in alarm, and Faz swore.

“Dude! A little warning next time? You almost hit me.”

“You said to finish them,” Zack said defensively. “Let’s pull back and regroup. The tournament starts soon.”

“And we still haven’t tested our new formations,” Jenny said. “You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

“Yeah, what happened?” Greg asked.

Greg covered Jenny as she recalled her drones and backed away from the battle. Faz flew circles around them, both showing off and scouting for anyone who might try to hinder their retreat.

“Long story,” Zack said. “I’ll tell you after the tournament round.”

They settled in a safe distance away from the battle, having given up on finishing off the base. A countdown to the tournament appeared in the corner of Zack’s gaming monitor, and he guided his ship into its place in their formation. They would be automatically teleported to the tournament once the countdown reached zero, and they needed to be prepared. Luckily, all their expendable munitions would be refilled automatically, so that wasn’t a concern.

“Any last-minute words of wisdom, Captain?” Jenny said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Zack sat up straighter, remembering his encounter that morning before Phil had interrupted him. “Yeah, I ran into some weird, automated Armada drones earlier. They were stronger than they should have been and landed a few hits on me. It might be something from the latest update, so watch out for those.”

“That would have been nice to know about in time to actually do something about it,” Jenny said.

“Focus,” Greg said. “It’s time!”

The battle in front of them faded to black as they were teleported to the tournament dungeon. They respawned in a different quadrant of space, empty except for the four of them and a nearby star with jets of plasma shooting from its surface. Before Zack could comment, a wave of enemy ships flew out from behind the star and raced toward them.

“Take out the destroyers first,” Zack said. “Watch your sensors for plasma bursts. Alpha formation, go!”

His teammates seamlessly fell into place as they blazed toward the ships. This was a timed mission, so there was no point waiting for the enemy to come to them. They needed to be aggressive and efficient.

Zack called out orders, and his teammates obeyed in a flawless display of teamwork that they had honed through years of playing together. Jenny stayed back and deployed her drones. They weren’t quite as effective against AI players as they were against humans, but even computers couldn’t avoid her traps forever. Soon a large pile of disabled ships floated around the battlefield.

“Pull around,” Zack said. “I’ll take them out.”

Greg and Jenny pulled back to harass the large ships at the outer edge of the fleet. Faz darted forward, picking off smaller ships at the inside one by one. Zack armed his new cannon and destroyed the mass of disabled ships with a single blast.

“Nice cannon,” Greg said with grudging admiration.

“Worth every credit.”

When the explosions died away enough for Zack to see the screen again, his teammates had regrouped on the other side of the enemy fleet. He squinted with concentration, studying the pattern of the enemy’s laser fire. If he timed this just right, he could slip through the center of the fleet without taking damage and assume his place in the formation rather than wasting time by flying around. Taking out every ship in his path would just be a bonus.

He took a deep breath and rested his thumb against the trigger that would engage his thruster. This move would require precision.

Wait.

Wait.

Now!

Zack pressed the trigger.

His screen went black.

“What the hell?” Zack let out a frustrated scream and followed it with a string of profanity.

Pressing the power button on his gaming controller had no effect. He tried to leap to his feet, but his back stuck to the leather and held him in place. He leaned forward, peeling out of the chair, and stood. His pants fell down around his ankles, and the lock on his door clicked shut.

Warning! Minimum Public Decency Requirements Not Met

Please dress yourself appropriately according to local public decency laws.

Enacting blackout protocols.

The words echoed through his surround sound system, and DaEvo’s cheerful theme music accompanied them. The windows darkened, and the overhead lights brightened. Zack tried to sprint for the door, tripped on the jeans around his ankles, and fell face-first into a pile of dirty laundry.

The good news was that it broke his fall. The bad news was that it smelled awful.

Zack rolled over, pulled the OptiGlasses out of the pocket, and shoved them onto his face. The public decency warning flashed across the screen. Zack cursed the dating sim as he flicked his eyes to the calling app and dialed Phil. The phone rang once then went to voicemail.

Zack ended the call without leaving a message, untangled himself from his clothes, and stood. DaEvo flashed notifications across his screen.

Minimum Hygiene Levels not Met

Please take a shower and change into a clean pair of clothes.

Reward: Access to door

“I already did that!”

Your alpha test bug report has been logged.

Thank you for your help in making DaEvo a success!

A ringing in his conduction headphones interrupted Zack before he could do anything further. He answered. “Phil?”

“Dude, where are you?” Faz said.

“I got kicked out.”

“Connection issues?” Greg asked.

Apparently, Faz had made a group call. The sound of laser fire and whine of engines sounded in the background.

“We’re in the middle of the qualifying round!” Jenny’s said. “Get your butt back here!”

“How long ‘til you’re back? Faz asked. “We can cover you until you reboot but make it quick.”

DaEvo flashed a notification across the screen.

Zack glared at it. “Just a second.”

“What do you mean, just a second?” Jenny shrieked. “We don’t have a second. Greg, to your right!”

Greg released a series of muffled grunts punctuated by Faz’s swearing while Zack flipped through DaEvo’s menu of rewards, upgrades, and achievements that he had unlocked.

Rewards, Upgrades, and Achievements

Access to Front Door—locked. Please meet minimum hygiene and public decency standards

Electronics Privileges—unlocked

Essential Internet Privileges—unlocked

Non-Essential Internet Privileges—locked, time expired

“What do you mean my time expired?”

DaEvo flashed another screen.

Non-Essential Internet Privileges earned : 30 minutes

Non-Essential Internet Privileges spent : 30 minutes

Non-Essential Internet Privileges remaining: 0 minutes

Please complete more quests to unlock more rewards, upgrades, and achievements.

“Star Fury is essential!” Zack yelled.

Your alpha test bug report has been logged.

Thank you for your help in making DaEvo a success!

Faz stopped swearing. “Essential? What are you talking about? When are you coming back?”

Zack swallowed and stared longingly at the sleek surfaces of his screens. They remained dark mirrors, reflecting his sweaty, half-dressed image.

“I don’t think I am.”

“You’re ditching us?” Greg said. “In the middle of the tournament? You’re just leaving?”

“Of all the bilge-sucking, hornswaggling muckspouts—” Jenny continued a tirade of the pirate-based insults favored by the Corsairs.

Zack turned down the volume of the call with a quick swipe of his eyes as he tried to gather his wits enough to explain. “Phil pulled a fast one this morning, and I’m locked out of my account. My console won’t even turn on.”

“So go to a café and reset your password,” Jenny said, abandoning the stream of insults in favor of solving the problem. “If you hurry, you can respawn and join us. The tournament officials lied. This isn’t a three-tier base. This looks more to be seven. Faz, on your left.”

Zack waited for the laser fire to die down before he answered. “Yeah, I don’t think it’ll be that easy. I’m also locked in my apartment.”

“You’re what?” Faz’s voice rose, half in incredulity, half in surprise. And maybe another quarter in pure mirth.

“Forget him and focus,” Jenny said. “This is a timed round, and we’re down a player. Zack, do what you need to do and get back here if you can.”

“I’m trying,” Zack said. “Phil hooked me up to some kind of app that’s restricting all my stuff. Apparently, I have to earn screen time to access my account.”

“Earn screen time? You’re legally an adult. He can’t do that to you,” Greg said.

“Just call tech support and report that your account was hacked and you need back in,” Jenny said.

“And do it real quick,” Faz said.

The sound of laser fire in the background intensified, and Zack winced as Jenny and Greg yelled for Faz to focus.

“Just get back online,” Faz said. “Whatever it takes, get back here.”

Faz hung up, and the room went silent. Zack stared at his screen for a moment, then shook himself out of his shock and looked up the number for Star Fury support. He’d never had to deal with them before. The game had always been perfect.

He dialed the number and paced as the OptiGlasses rang. The qualifying round should last at least thirty minutes if it was seven tiers. Hopefully longer, so he would be able to fix this and get back in time to help his team. DaEvo flashed the public decency warning again, and Zack considered stripping completely nude in protest. It seemed like the only act of defiance he had left.

Detected increased heart rate to a dangerous level.

Scanning status.

Accelerated stress…

Please assume a reclined position and breathe deeply to ease stress levels.

“You’re the one stressing me out!” Zack shouted, but of course DaEvo had nothing useful to say to that.

The app just kept flashing the warning. Zack gritted his teeth. He would recline when this was fixed and he was safely back in his ship. What did a stupid app know about his health?

“Welcome to the Star Fury support line. Please enable retina scan with your OptiGlasses to confirm your account identity.”

The computerized voice was the same one as his AI co-pilot in the game. Zack sighed and stared straight ahead as his OptiGlasses scanned his eyes.

“Thank you. Please log in to your Star Fury account to allow diagnostic scanning.”

“I’m locked out of my account.”

“Please complete password reset protocol to regain access to your account.”

Zack sighed. He really hated dealing with tech support. “I can’t access password reset.”

“Have you tried turning your device off and back on again?”

Zack ground his teeth. “Yes.”

“Hesitation detected. Are you sure you tried turning your device off and back on again?”

Stupid uppity AI with its stupid condescending suggestions.

“Of course I did!”

“Have you checked to make sure your device is plugged in?”

“I checked everything, okay? It won’t work no matter what I do. Please transfer me to a real person!”

He could practically hear the automated voice sigh.

“Malfunction reported. Please hold for a human representative.”

The Star Fury theme played. And played. Zack paced around the piles of dirty clothes. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything yet. He pulled a piece of pizza from one of the boxes on the floor and gnawed on it while he walked. It was a little stale. Probably time to order a fresh one.

He looked at the door. Was there anything in the apartment solid enough to break it down? At this point, he would rather do that than fulfill any of DaEvo’s stupid hygiene quests to unlock it.

“Star Fury support, Gary speaking. How may I help you?”

Gary sounded almost as robotic as the AI. Zack took a deep breath. Just stay calm and explain the situation. That was all he needed to do.

“Yeah, I’m having trouble accessing my account. This is urgent. I was competing in the tournament when I got kicked off.”

“No need to worry, sir. Just start the program on your game console, and⁠—”

“I can’t.”

“One moment please.”

Gary hummed to himself as he searched for whatever he was looking for. The out-of-tune music did nothing to ease Zack’s frustration.

Detected increased heart rate to a dangerous level and low oxygen level.

Scanning status.

Accelerated stress…

Please assume a reclined position and breathe deeply to ease stress levels.

Zack paced faster just to spite the app. But the combination of adrenaline, exercise, and energy drink was catching up with him.

“Okay, here we go. Can you give me your login handle?”

“Omniscious23x.”

“Right. Can you spell that for me?”

Zack spelled it.

“Thank you. Now please confirm your home address.”

Zack did.

Gary hummed again. “My records say you live in New York.”

“I moved.”

“And you didn’t update your address?”

“Apparently not.” Zack gave his old New York address to confirm what Gary’s information was telling him and agreed to update his account information. He tapped his fingers against his leg, punching in combinations for combat maneuvers that he should be performing with his team right now.

“One moment, sir. I’ll need a second verification method as well.” Gary hummed again while he checked something.

Zack bounced on his toes in frustration. “Look, you confirmed my retinal scan. Isn’t that enough?”

“One moment, sir. We thank you for your patience.”

Zack rolled his eyes at the sound of pages flipping. Apparently, his request required Gary to look through his employee handbook.

“Yes, the retinal scan is enough. I can confirm your account identity and reset your password through your game system, but it doesn’t seem to be online right now. We’ll just go through a few steps to make sure your system is functioning properly. First, please make sure your unit is plugged in.”

“What?” Zack had started to tune Gary out but snapped back into focus.

“The unit won’t function without power. We need to make sure⁠—”

“Of course it’s plugged in! I’m not an i***t. Can you transfer me to someone who actually knows what they’re talking about? I’m in a hurry!”

There was a beat of silence interrupted by rustling paper, then Gary continued. “First, please make sure your unit is plugged in.”

“Are you reading from a script?” Zack clenched his fists, trying to keep his temper in check.

Another pause.

Zack snapped. “Look, you bilge-sucker, it’s plugged in. Just skip ahead to the part where you check my account.”

“First, please make sure⁠—”

“Fine!”

Zack stalked over to the game system. He glared at the plug and blinked. The smart sensors were orange, indicating that they weren’t transmitting power.

Damn it. They had been green that morning.

Zack unplugged the smart surge protector and plugged the gaming console directly into the wall outlet. Not recommended, of course, but it was the only way to bypass the surge protector that was apparently now under DaEvo’s control. He could always buy a new console if it fried.

“Ah, there we are,” Gary said. “I’m receiving transmissions from your system now. Give me a moment to upload them.”

He sounded smug. Self-satisfied i***t. Anybody could read from a script.

Zack gritted his teeth and waited. His TV turned on, transforming the screen from glossy black to glowing blue. It was an improvement. The game console turned on as well but didn’t transmit anything to the screen.

Zack described what he was seeing to Gary, who continued humming.

“I’m telling you, I just need to reset my password.”

“Aha!” Gary sounded even smugger than before.

Zack swallowed. “Yeah? What did you find?”

“Your account has not been compromised. You’ve activated intervention mode.”

“What? No, I didn’t.”

A smirk crept into Gary’s voice. “The paperwork was submitted this morning, and you signed it.”

Phil. Damn it, he hadn’t wasted any time.

“So what exactly is intervention mode?” Zack asked.

“Intervention mode limits your access to video games based on the parameters you agreed to ahead of time. We introduced the feature after people complained that Star Fury was interfering with their life.”

“Star Fury is my life. How do I remove the restrictions?”

“It depends on the contract you signed. Most people restrict hours so they can’t play during work or specify that they must complete tasks like exercise before they log in.”

“I don’t have a job, and I don’t exercise. I want my account back.”

“Sounds like you made the right choice accepting the intervention.”

“I didn’t agree to this! I’m in the middle of a tournament!”

“A lot of addicts regret signing the contract, especially at first, but we have a legal responsibility to uphold the terms of your agreement.”

“I’m. Not. Addicted.”

“Of course not, sir. You signed over control of your account to Philip MacComack. You’ll have to talk to him about lifting the ban.”

“He tricked me! I didn’t mean to sign it. The tournament is happening now, and my team is stranded without me.”

Gary chuckled. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. Have a good day, Mr. Moore.”

The call ended. Zack growled in frustration.

Detected increased heart rate to a dangerous level and low oxygen level.

Scanning status.

Accelerated stress…

Please assume a reclined position and breathe deeply to ease stress levels.

“I’ll show you stress!”

Zack pulled off the OptiGlasses and threw them across the room. They landed in a pile of dirty underwear.

Great. Just great. He would have to put those glasses back on his face at some point.

Zack finally took DaEvo’s advice and sank into a chair. His sweaty skin stuck to the leather as he reclined. Around him, yellow sunlight bulbs illuminated the room, the skyline of the city hidden behind the darkened windows. He closed his eyes as reality settled in around him.

He was going to miss the first round of the tournament. He was trapped in his apartment without access to the internet, leaving his team a player short and at a huge disadvantage. Even if they did make it through the round without him, they would be behind in the leaderboards and have to fight to make it back to the top.

All because he was trapped in a damn dating sim.

Zack took a deep breath, trying to clear his head and form some kind of plan.

DaEvo chimed, its soft, velvety tones coming across his expensive surround sound speakers.

Reminder! Minimum Public Decency Requirements Not Met

Please dress yourself appropriately according to local public decency laws to lift blackout protocols.