The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series

by Victor Deckard

  The blue-haired girl kept laughing. The girl with her red hair tied in a pigtail did not so much as smile.

  “Guess that was kinda funny,” Thomas said as he shrugged his shoulders.

  “It wasn’t kinda funny,” Maya laughed. “It was hilarious. It still cracks me up. Such a big explosion, but the only thing to get injured was your little finger. Isn’t that hilarious, Pinky?”

  The girl had just told me about some explosion, which happened on one of their missions. It meant that whatever these people did for a living was extremely dangerous. However, for some reason, I was not scared by that at all. While I could not remember anything, I had a gut feeling that I also led a life filled with all kinds of dangers.

  “So this charming, laugh-loving girl is Maya,” Thomas said as he pointed at the blue-haired girl. He then nodded at the other girl and added, “And this pouty girl here is Nadia. She may seem a bit cranky to you, but she’s actually a good friend you can rely on. You can trust her with your life. She’s a nice person. I mean, when she’s in a good mood, which unfortunately doesn’t happen too often.”

  Maya chuckled.

  “Yeah, that’s our Nadia all right,” she said.

  “I’m not cranky,” Nadia said a bit harshly. She then shifted her gaze at Maya and added, “By the way, I have no idea how you can laugh after what happened to Jimmy.”

  Maya’s smile instantly disappeared, and her face became solemn.

  “I just try not to think about it,” she said with sadness in her voice.

  Everybody fell silent.

  “What happened to Jimmy?” I asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

  “He got killed on our last mission,” Thomas said. “He was our Flanker. That’s why we were looking for another Flanker.”

  “Guess the same happened to your team, right?” Nadia asked, eyeing me intently.

  “I don’t know,” I said sincerely.

  “Right,” the girl said. “You haven’t gotten your memories back yet, have you?”

  “Guess not,” I said.

  “Hey, Echo,” Nadia called. “When will David remember everything?”

  “He should have his memories back in a few minutes,” someone replied. The voice seemed to have come from everywhere at the same time. “It is hard to tell when exactly this will happen, though.”

  “Who said that?” I asked as I looked around. Except for the four of us, there was nobody else in the room.

  “It’s the AI of this space station,” Thomas replied. “We call him Echo.”

  “Your teammates,” Nadia said, eyeing me. “They all got killed, right? I wonder how it happened. Musta been a helluva mission.”

  I did not know what to say.

  “Right,” the redhead said. “You don’t remember anything.”

  “He should remember everything soon enough,” Thomas said.

  “Echo, how did his teammates die?” Nadia asked, ignoring the guy.

  “Hey,” Maya interrupted Nadia as she looked at the redhead. “I think we should wait until David fully recovers from the teleportation travel. Once he gets his memories back, he’ll tell us what happened to his team himself.”

  “You know me very well by this point, don’t you?” Nadia said. “I’ve always been a bit impatient. So what happened to his teammates, Echo?”

  “All of David’s teammates were killed,” the AI replied.

  “Yeah, it was kinda obvious,” Nadia said.

  “Give him some slack, sunshine, ” Maya said. “Though we’re used to refer to Echo as ‘him’, he’s just an AI.”

  Nadia shot the blue-haired an angry look and said, “I know, all right? And don’t call me sunshine.”

  “You’re so cute when you’re angry,” Maya giggled.

  “And don’t call me cute,” Nadia scolded the blue-haired girl. “It’s even weirder than you giggling like a schoolgirl.”

  “But that’s true, cutie,” Maya said, with a smile on her lips.

  Nadia looked like she was going to continue to argue with the blue-haired girl. Then she must have thought better of it. She turned away from Maya and glared at Thomas.

  “Whatcha smiling about, Pinky?” She asked angrily.

  With a visible effort, Thomas wiped away his smile.

  “Nothing,” he said.

  Nadia glared at him for a few more seconds, then looked away. She shifted her gaze to me and asked, “Have you gotten your memories back yet?”

  “Nope,” I replied.

  “Great,” Nadia muttered. “Do you mind if I ask Echo how your teammates died?”

  I hesitated for a second, then said, “Go ahead. I’m curious too.”

  “Okay then,” Nadia said. “Echo, how did David’s teammates died?”

  “David’s former teammates—Alyson, Nate, Vlad, and Tamerlan—got killed,” Echo replied immediately.

  When Echo mentioned the names of my alleged teammates, vague memories stirred in my head, but I still could not remember much.

  “What their mission was?” Nadia asked.

  “They were not killed on a mission,” Echo replied.

  “What?” Nadia muttered, dumbfounded.

  “This is strange,” Maya said, frowning.

  “How did they die then?” Nadia asked.

  “Wait a minute,” Thomas said. “I thought there could be only four members on a team. How come there were five people on David’s team including him?”

  “There were not five people on his team,” Echo said. “Let me explain this, warriors. Their initial team consisted of David, who was and still is a Flanker, Nate, a Front Line, Alyson, a Healer, and Vlad, a Damage. At some point, Vlad killed Alyson. After that, they got a new teammate, Tamerlan, who became their new Healer. Some time later, Vlad killed Nate and Tamerlan, in this order. He then attempted to kill David, but David outwitted him, which resulted in Vlad’s death.”

  “What the heck,” Thomas muttered when Echo finished talking.

  “I don’t know what happened between you guys, but that Vlad character sounds like a real piece of work,” Nadia said, looking at me.

  At this moment, I remembered everything.

  Now that I had my memories back and knew what had happened before this moment, I sized up my new teammates once more.

  Both Thomas and Maya appeared to be nice guys. Nadia was a little irritable, but she too did not seem bad.

  “Vlad was a piece of shit,” I said and then I told them that Vlad had had a short fuse, which often resulted in us arguing with him and sometimes even fighting him. I told them about our last mission where we had encountered an intelligent alien and how we leveled up twenty-one times after finishing the mission.

  “After that mission, Vlad decided to get rid of Nate and me,” I said and went on to tell them what had happened next.

  “That’s how I ended up here,” I finished. I was not all that keen on talking about my former teammates anymore, so before they could ask any questions, I continued, “So I’m a seventy-five-level Flanker as you already know. What about you, guys? What levels are you? I take it, Maya is a Healer. What about the rest of you?”

  “I’m a Front Line,” Nadia said. “And I’m level seventy-five too. Pinky’s a Damage. His level is seventy-seven.”

  “I’m seventy-six,” Maya said.

  “By the way, how many missions did you fail, David?” Nadia asked.

  Maya looked at the redhead and said, “What kind of question is that? Why couldn’t you ask something else?”

  “What’s wrong?” Nadia said. “We need to know it, don’t we? Otherwise, how will we know if he’s any good?”

  “Geez,” Maya said as she shook her head. “He’s seventy-five, which means he’s got lots of successful missions under his belt. He should be a very experienced warrior. Moreover, he defeated a Damage all by himself, which I suppose wasn’t easy at all. So how can you doubt him?”

  “Don’t mind Nadi
a, pal,” Thomas said as he grinned at me. “She may be a bit harsh sometimes, but she’s actually pretty nice.”

  “I don’t think we failed a single mission,” I said. “Is it right, Echo?”

  “That’s correct, warrior,” the AI replied. “You have 0 failed missions mission so far.”

  “Wow,” Maya exclaimed. “That’s impressive.”

  “Yeah,” Thomas said as he nodded his head. “We have failed seven missions, including the very first one when we had to deal with a bunch of Bigfoots. We didn’t expect them to be that strong.”

  “We didn’t even think they were real,” Maya laughed. “We didn’t take this mission seriously. We thought it was a joke.”

  “You are a joke,” Nadia said. “You hardly ever take anything seriously. You seem to have never grown up or something.”

  “So you can actually fail a mission, huh?” I asked before the girls could lapse into another fit of petty bickering. “I didn’t think it was possible. I mean, I thought Echo would not pick you up until you complete your mission.”

  “Well, if Echo realizes there’s no way your team can finish your current mission, he gets you back to your space station,” Thomas replied. “That was what happened to us. Those Bigfoots totally kicked our asses. Once Echo realized we weren’t up to the task, he got us out of that planet.”

  “Guess the nanotrites in our bodies are too precious to be lost,” Maya put in.

  “Alright then,” Nadia said, looking at me. “If you actually that experienced and tough, how about we do a mission right away?”

  “You are so impatient,” Maya scolded the redhead. “David’s just gotten here, and you already want to go on a mission?”

  “Why wait?” Nadia asked. “Or do you have anything else in mind?”

  “We could just talk,” Maya said.

  “Talking is so boring,” Nadia retorted.

  “Look, all I suggest is that David and we just chit-chat for a little while to know each other a bit better,” Maya said.

  The redhead just eyed Maya for a few seconds. Then a nasty smile spread across her face.

  Maya seemed to get the jitters for some reason.

  “Hey, why are you smiling like that?” Maya asked nervously.

  “Don’t tell me you’ve already fallen for David?” Nadia asked with an acid smile on her face.

  “What?” Maya exclaimed. “I have not! What the heck are you even talking about?”

  Still, the blue-haired girl blushed, for some reason.

  The redhead looked at me, “Okay, David, be careful from now on. You are in danger. That gal’s already fallen in love with you. She’s gonna hit on you all the time now.”

  “I’m not,” Maya cried out in a high-pitched voice, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with me.

  “See?” Nadia asked with the same caustic smile plastered on her face. “That’s what I’m talking about. She’s totally infatuated with you.”

  “That’s not true,” Maya whined. She still avoided looking in my direction.

  “That is true,” Nadia said as she shifted her eyes to me. “I’ve gotten to know her very well over the many months that we’ve been working together. When she’s acting like this, it means she’s in love. She’s totally incapable of hiding her affection for some poor guy.”

  “Can we talk about something else, please?” Maya whimpered. She was almost crying now.

  “Where are you guys from?” I asked in order to change the topic of conversation.

  “I’m from Ri,” Thomas said.

  “Ri?” I asked, dumbfounded.

  “It’s shortened from Rickarius,” Nadia said. “But rednecks prefer to call it Ri. I’m from Waem-2, by the way.”

  “Hey, I’m not a redneck,” Thomas said.

  Nadia replied something I did not catch. I was just staring at them, trying to understand if they were making fun of me. They did not seem to.

  “Is something the matter, David?” Maya asked, a worried look on her face. “You look like something’s bothering you.”

  “I’m okay,” I said. “I was just thinking about something.” Before any of them could say anything, I met the blue-haired girl’s eyes and asked, “What about you, Maya? Where are you from?”

  She smiled and replied, “I’m from Phonto.”

  “Phonto?” I said. “Where is it?”

  “Oh, it’s pretty far away from the main worlds,” she said. “There’s only one planet in this star system, which has the same name.”

  “I see,” I said, though I had no idea what was going on there.

  “I’m going to return there when my term’s up,” Maya continued. She blushed and lowered her eyes, avoiding looking directly at me. She added with a small, shy smile on her lips, “You could visit me someday. I’d love to show you my planet. Big corporations somehow overlooked it, so it hasn’t been harvested for resources. There are only a few small settlements scattered around the planet. Nature is mostly untouched by man. So it’s very quiet and beautiful there. I think you’ll like it there.”

  “See?” Nadia said as she smirked at me. “Told you. She’s liking you a lot. She knows you for ten minutes, but she’s already invited you to her home planet. She’s never invited any of us to her home, mind you.”

  I could tell they were not making this up. They were being honest with me. Each of my former teammates, including myself, had been taken from 2020 and brought far into the future world. As to these guys, it was not the case with them. Each of them was born in this world.

  It was strange, to say the least.

  My new teammates then told me about themselves.

  Nadia was former military. She had been discharged from the Space Marines with an honorable discharge. However, she had a really hard time readjusting to civilian life. Instead of returning to the Space Marines, though, she decided to become a mercenary. That’s how she ended up in The Weaponized.

  Maya told me that she had once had a boyfriend she had been infatuated with. He did not seem interested in a serious relationship with her, though. After toying with her for a little while, he broke up with her. Maya was devastated. To forget about him, she decided to try something reckless and probably very stupid. So she joined The Weaponized to become a private soldier.

  As to Thomas, he did not say much about himself. He had been a programmer and a very talented one at that. At some point, however, he decided to change his profession for no particular reason. Thomas said that he had probably was just bored with his too peaceful and mundane life.

  I could tell there was a particular reason for his leaving his past life behind and becoming a mercenary, but I did not press the point.

  “What about you, David?” Maya asked after all three of them were finished talking about themselves. “Where are you from?”

  I guessed it was my turn to tell my new teammates about myself. I really wanted to hold off on it for as long as possible because I was not sure how they would react to my story. Would they believe me if I told them that I had been taken from 2020 after I launched a virtual reality video game on my computer? Or would they call me a liar?

  Anyway, I did not have much choice in the matter, so I told them everything. As I was telling them my story, I suddenly realized something. I remembered Vlad telling me that he could not remember much from his past life. It was the same with me. For some reason, I could hardly remember anything from my former life. I remembered that I lived in 2020 and that I found myself in this future world after I launched a virtual reality video game on my computer. But that was basically it. For some reason, while I remembered what had happened to me after I woke up on the space station, I had forgotten most of my life on Earth.

  When I finished talking, I looked between my new teammates, waiting for their reaction to my story.

  Against my expectations, they believed me, which surprised me a great deal.

  “What, you aren’t gonna call it a load of nons
ense?” I asked.

  “Nope,” Thomas said. “Your story is actually quite believable.”

  “Pinky’s right,” Nadia said. “The modern technologies are so advanced they may look like magic to someone from 2020.”

  “Yes,” Thomas said. “What you told us is actually quite accomplishable.”

  “What do you mean exactly?” I asked.

  “Well, it’s quite easy to scan someone’s brain and make a copy of it,” Thomas said. “It’s also pretty easy to create a human body. Only it wouldn’t function without consciousness. So a brain scan—or a brain copy as it’s also sometimes called—can be loaded into an empty, soulless body and—voilà! The brain scan and the body become the one and a new living person is born, so to speak.”

  “This process is called cloning,” Nadia added. “Only human cloning is illegal. Which means that The Weaponized violated the law. Again. Somehow, I’m not surprised by that at all.”

  “Yeah,” Thomas agreed, “Ain’t no first time that The Weaponized did that. This organization has long since turned into a criminal gang.”

  “There’s only one thing I don’t understand,” Maya put in. “How has the brain scan of real David ended up here? I mean, how has it been able to make it over the years? It surely couldn’t travel through time.”

  Geez, I thought. She’s actually just called me a brain scan.

  That’s what I was. I was not a person in a literal sense. It was something like a computer program that contained the memories of a real person named David who lived in 2020.

  “It must’ve been stored on various hard drives and copied to other ones over the years,” Thomas said. “That’s the only way how’s it could end up here. Because, y’know, such things as time machines exist only in science fiction.”

  My feelings must have registered on my face because when Maya glanced at me, she quickly stepped toward me, saying, “I’m so sorry, David.” She took one of my hands tightly in her own and looked me in the eyes. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “After all, you are right about me. Turns out I’m not a real person. I’m just—a brain scan. I’m not even sure if you should call me David. I mean, it’s not really my name, isn’t it? It was the name of the person whose memories I possess.”