by Jack Crosby
It was a shame Ali wasn’t here to be a part of this. It was her idea for me to collect them all. “Two down and three to go, eh?”
“I do not know of any more, Vector. I just know when the conditions are met, I transform into weapons.”
Eh, he wasn’t any fucking use. “Where’s the key to unlock the Conductor’s car?”
“I was the key. With my defeat, the magic blocking the way has now been lifted. The cars have all returned to normal.”
Zoe looked skeptical at that, but as we left the caboose and entered the room that messed with our senses, everything was normal. Or as normal as a locomotive called the Doom Train could be. We navigated the train all the way down to the final car on the path – the train’s engine. There was no lock on the door, just a round wheel that needed to be turned to open the way.
Zoe and I both took hold and twisted clockwise. It spun pretty freely and after a few rotations, the door cracked open. “I guess we do this thing.”
She pushed the door open all the way and inside were two individuals, the Ticket Collector and the Conductor. The Conductor was a squat man with sharp green eyes and an expensive looking suit. He was wearing the standard issue conductor’s hat though, which I thought was a nice touch. Both looked amused that we entered, as if to say they thought we’d be bat food.
Like every other car, the moment we crossed completely into the engine, the door behind us slammed shut. The Conductor spread his arms in welcome. In a slow, almost Southern drawl, “Welcome to the final challenge of my train. Defeat me, and you will have earned every reward coming to you.”
“I am so sick of these challenges –”
The Ticket Collector stopped her. “Miss, there will be no fighting in the engine. In fact, your skills will no longer be required in this test.”
Were they sending Zoe away? “What do you mean by that?”
The Conductor pulled out his Taret cards from his jacket. “Vector, my boy, your final challenge will be a friendly card game – with me.”
Taret: Hold ‘Em and Fold ‘em
The last time I played a few hands of Taret was with Ira at the Neon Underground. At the time, I was way more interested in having a lot of sexual intercourse with the busty admin, so I didn’t necessarily take a lot of notes. Judging by the grin on the Conductor’s face, I believed he knew that fact too.
“Wait a minute.” Zoe walked in-between us, with her hands up. “Why can’t I be the one to face you? Afraid a woman will kick your ass?”
The Conductor chuckled. “No, you just are not the main character in this game. Vector is.”
It was that simple. This was my game to win. “You’re on, Conductor.”
“As this is a game of chance,” he started, “we will play the best of five hands. Only at the completion of the game shall the winner get to collect a card, deal?”
Those rules seemed fair to me. “I accept your conditions.”
“Before you accept, there is more. Should you lose three games to me, the two of you will become servants on my train for no less than one hundred years. If you defeat me, then, as I stated earlier, you will reap the rewards.”
This was one tall order. I looked back at Zoe, who was firm in her expression. “Kick his ass,” she put so poetically.
I nodded and the game was on. I pulled five cards from my deck – two raid vipers worth five points, a pirate chief worth six, a pistol called a Fool’s Errand worth three, and a car named Ramrod worth seven. Not that bad of a hand considering what else was in my deck.
With his five cards in hand, “Please, guests should go first.”
It was a strategic weakness to go first in any card game, but this was his show. I went the safe route and put down one of my raid vipers. He countered with a pirate lord that had a rating of seven. Damnit.
He immediately played another strong card, a sword card entitled Death’s Stick. With a rating of nine, there was no way to beat this, so I sacrificed my weakest card, the Fool’s Errand. As he took my card, Ramrod went down next.
“Ah, very impressive, Vector. It would appear you know a bit more than I assumed.” He laid down a raid viper card and it was two to one. He followed up with another raid viper. “Don’t let me down.”
I wasn’t about to. I dropped my pirate chief on him, winning the round and used my last raid viper card as well. “Comes down to one final card, huh?”
“As it should. It would be no fun if the games of chance weren’t worth something.” His last card was a sword card named the Breakable with a rating of two. “It seems you have won the first hand. Well played,” he said with a smile that wasn’t entirely honest. “Care for a moment, or would you like to proceed directly to the next game?”
I was feeling pretty good. “Let’s go right into it.”
****
This turned out to be a mistake. The next two games didn’t go my way at all, on the card draw or in the actual game itself. Before I knew it, I was in a two games to one hole. I slammed my cards down in disgust at the end of the third game. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Before he could ask me to start the next game, Zoe stormed over and called a timeout. The Conductor allowed it and she dragged me back to the far end of the engine. “What happened? You played the first game so well.”
“My last two draws have been shit. I mean, what are the chances that in both games I’d pull out five of the worst cards possible?”
“What are the chances,” she said more to herself than me. “Wait, I know. Get back in there, this time will be different.”
I didn’t know what to say and she pushed me towards the card table. The Conductor was sitting there, content, and stood for a brief moment when I came back. As we sat down, we began to pull five cards again. This time, for whatever reason, my luck was way better. I pulled the Ramrod (seven), Nemesis (nine), raid viper king (eight), me (ten), and a car named Lucky (six). The last card exemplified this hand.
With his own five cards, “I believe the honors are in your court.”
I could barely contain my happiness when I dropped the Nemesis card to start. From there, it was a whitewash that no one was expecting. I had just tied up the hands at two.
The Ticket Collector immediately jumped up. “Foul play is at hand in this match!”
“Yeah, your own,” Zoe snapped. “Don’t like it when someone gets on to your scheme?”
He threw his hands up in disgust. “How dare you –”
“It is okay, they have caught us.” The Conductor stood up and pretended as if this was all okay. “I see that there has been no harm done as we have both won two games so far. How about the fifth game just is a contest of luck and skill, as it should be?”
Of course he’d want that. He won two games through cheating somehow, over the one game that I assume Zoe helped me with somehow. “Yeah, let’s do this the old fashioned way.” I sat back down. “Five cards, no assistance from our friends and may the best man win.”
The Conductor sat opposite of me. “It is a deal.”
For the fifth time, the two of us chose our five cards. My hand wasn’t spectacular, but it wasn’t total shit either. I had a raid viper (five), pirate captain (seven), Fool’s Errand (three), Nemesis (nine), and Lucky (six). Seeing as it was the Conductor’s turn to go first, I was on the edge of my seat.
My mouth dropped when he laid down an Abraham Helsing card (nine). I wanted to hold on to Nemesis, so I went ahead and sacrificed Fool’s Errand. He took that one with pleasure. Still keeping my best card a secret, I went strong with the pirate captain. He countered with his own weak card, Breakable.
The next two cards ended up in ties, both of us playing a raid viper in round three, and Lucky being matched by pirate sniper in round four. On the final draw, he played his final card, a raid viper king. As he sat it down, “This has been a most rousing duel. It all comes down to the last card.”
With a straight face, I took my time turning it over, at last revealing the face of the very bat who w
as supposed to have defeated us in the caboose. His smirk went away, replaced by a look of disdain, and even a bit of acceptance. “I believe that is the winner.”
He didn’t lash out in defeat, but behind him, the Ticket Collector was privately fuming. The Conductor stood up and extended his hand. “Well played, Vector. You have defeated me and as such have completed the Doom Train secret level.”
I’m not going to lie; it felt damn good to win. “I can’t say it’s been a pleasure, but I’m glad to be finished.”
He held out his deck. “Per the rules, your first reward is the card of your choice.” That was easy; I swooped up the Abraham Helsing card. He winced at that. “And you also get the reward.” He clapped twice and in the middle of the room, a glass case appeared. Inside were two jewels, one silver and one gold. “The silver jewel grants the user perfect vision at all times, no matter the light conditions or tricks an enemy might play. The gold provides the user increased reflexes. No one would be able to surprise you.”
This was a tough choice. I could see the need for both as I went further in the game. As I looked on the case, there was something about the way the silver one sparkled that kept drawing me towards it. “I pick silver.”
He lifted the glass case and took out the silver jewel. “As Conductor of the Doom Train, I grant the player Vector the Moon Fragment. It is his, with all rights and titles to it.”
That seemed pretty formal. I took the stone in my hands and something felt very right about it. “Well with our business done, is there anything else?”
He snapped his fingers and the train came to a stop. “You have cleared the Doom Train. Good luck as you continue your quest.”
To our right, the door opened, showing us the way to freedom. And great news, I got another achievement – I‘d been awarded gamer points and the title of ‘The Gambling Man.’
Fucking sweet!
Reward: Cut Loose
After being holed up on that blasted train for what seemed like an eternity, Zoe and I were fucking like there was no tomorrow right next to the car. I have no idea how we ended up back at where we began, but it didn’t matter. I was balls deep in this little vixen, and that was the only thing that mattered at that point.
Her legs were wrapped so tight around me that I barely had room to work. “You’re not going anywhere. I love the feeling of you bursting inside me,” Zoe said. The growling sounds that replaced her voice were almost animalistic. This would be my greatest challenge yet!
Her eyes danced with such shamelessness that I nearly did exactly that on the spot. “You know how much you enjoyed it the first two times.”
I did, I did so much. I ached for her the moment we got off the train, my eyes glued to her perfect ass. She knew it, too, and made me work for my rewards. And here it was, almost time for the big payoff. “You’re such a naughty little harlot, aren’t you?”
She abruptly jerked her hips up on me, and then she did it again. No man is going to survive that and I was proof of it. Stream after stream shot inside of her as I finished so hard. I pulled her in close, making sure each drop found its home inside her. As I was in the middle of my own orgasm, she joined me.
If anyone ever tells you they tire of having sex or the pleasure of making a woman orgasm, they are lying to you. As we laid there on the dusty ground, I never felt so alive in my life. There was something so intoxicating about this digital girl, something that made me just want to continue to ravish her. It wasn’t love; no that feeling had been stolen by another.
But I did care for her, deeply.
And after a bit of rest, I did just that. Without warning, I mounted back on her and drove myself in. She weakly cooed and soon she was joining in the fun as we got going into round two. I lost control of my senses and once again let my body react in such a way that I never would’ve in the real world. I filled that sweet lady up with my seed, over and over again.
That time was the end of my stamina. Zoe looked rather worn out too, so against probably better judgment, we fell asleep right there on the ground. I was the first to wake up, probably a few hours later, time was hard to tell around here, and I shook Zoe awake, too. She looked groggy, but had this shit eating smile on her face. Probably from what happened just before we fell asleep.
I was never much of a morning person, though I did try. By try, I meant I grumbled a hello and helped her up. After stretching and truly becoming cognizant, “So, pirates are next? Are you ready for some more fun?”
“I don’t know that I’d call this fun,” her eyes told a different story, “I’d be more inclined to say we have a rather big challenge in front of us.”
Going back to my in-game knowledge, getting through the pirate’s territory of Coffin Cliffs was no easy feat. Plus, there was that optional side quest I’d never completed. Something was compelling me to do that, like it’d be worth my while. Anyway, back to the main portion of the quest. Coffin Cliffs spread around in a circle and if you took the right path through the pirate’s territory, it allowed you to sneak back into Spark City with no one being the wiser. With the way the game was unfolding, that seemed more important than ever.
There was one big problem – Abraham Helsing. The pirate king was a mountain of a man and a confrontation with him was just unavoidable. Once I finally killed him in the game, I became the pirate king and had free reign of Coffin Cliffs. That would be useful for the side quest.
We got back into the car and made our way towards the entrance of Coffin Cliffs. The ride there was pretty smooth, but once the cliffs came into view, it was time to ditch the car. The noise from the engine would give us away well before it was time to be seen. I was sad to let such an impressive vehicle go. It had served us well.
The last time we were close, we were on the opposite side. My levels were a lot lower and my adaptation to the game hadn’t been where it was now. With more skills and a better understanding fueling me, I felt as ready as I’d ever be to take on Helsing. “We enter as a team and we leave as a team.”
“What’s our first play here? I’m sure pirates are scattered throughout the cliffs looking for intruders.”
I was also curious if Draxler had come this way and put them on my tracks. I would be almost disappointed if he did, as I saw him as an honorable rival, one who wanted to defeat me on his own skill, not deception and poor play. “In my first play through, I tried a head-on approach and that didn’t work out so well. I put myself in a much bigger hole than I needed to. You see those weird rocks over there?” I asked as I pointed to them.
“Yeah, is there something good there?”
“The pirates use the underground tunnels as a shortcut. It’ll save us time, but we’ll be in tight spaces.” That didn’t bode well for a sword wielding attacker. “How are you with a pistol? There’s going to be some fire fights down there.”
She shook her head no. “I’ve never used one. Honestly, I’ve never had to, either. In the arena, my spear was good enough.”
Hmm, we’d have to figure it out as we went. “For the time being, let me take the lead. I’m sure a solution will present itself as we go.”
I had the feeling Zoe wanted to take the direct path, it just wasn’t an option. Out in the open with snipers from the cliffs and melee fights charging, we’d be over run and fast. With our best bet underground, we ran over to the formation and found the entrance hole. The stairs were worn and hard to keep your footing on, yet we made it to the bottom with no issues.
There was still light in the alcove at the bottom. A few treasure chests were tucked away against the back wall. Feeling lucky, I opened both of them up and found two upgrades. For me, there was a pair of pirate grade goggles that improved targeting and for Zoe; there was an attachment for the Nemesis Sword that added the fire property to it.
When she clicked it into the handle, a small red lining encompassed the sword. “Shit – that’s pretty sweet.”
She swung it around a few times with a fire trail that whizzed behind it. “T
his is what I’m talking about!”
Anything to make her even scarier. I turned to the tunnel, which had no light, but I could see down it fine. This must’ve been the work of the silver Moon Fragment I won off the Conductor from the Doom Train. This would make this a lot easier to handle. “I wish I had this little guy when I was playing the game before.”
“I think the stakes are a lot higher this time, so let’s just be glad you have it now.”
That was a very fair point. No longer was this just a game. This was life and death for me, and there was something very strange happening in the main file of the game itself. Ali hadn’t been able to give me all the answers, I just knew what I was doing was very important on a lot of fronts. Rubbing the Moon Fragment for luck, I led us into the first tunnel, hopeful all would stay quiet a bit longer.
I wasn’t stupid and had my black Nemesis gun out as we walked down. The bat creature hadn’t spoken to either of us since explaining the change and the Easter Egg conditions. Not that I minded, I found him fucking creepy. We slowly exited the first tunnel into another annex type room. Two lanterns filled with fire were anchored into the wall, giving us some light. There were make-shift benches and empty alcohol bottles everywhere.
“Obviously this place isn’t abandoned, judging by the odor and the junk,” Zoe offered as she expressed her disgust. “Couldn’t they clean this place up?”
I was glad they didn’t. “This is a clue as to how many pirates are down here. If you take into account how many booze bottles are on the ground and figure the average pirate probably could drink one himself, I’d say there are probably ten to fifteen somewhere down here.”
She seemed impressed with my deductive reasoning. “All we need to do is figure out where they’re at.”
“That won’t be hard, missy.” Uh oh, the pirates, speak of the devils, were stalking out of the back corner tunnel, pistols and cutlasses raised. “We’d be right here.” Behind the leader, obviously a pirate captain, were at least ten to twelve snarling pirates. “Let’s get ‘em gents! First one to catch the lady gets to use her first!”
