Armored soldiers chase beasts down the industrial complex tunnel. The dancing demons fling fire down the tunnels, some ducked, some not. A single rocket flies to the door behind them, clearing the tunnel to.
He strips the ammo from the fallen, followed by the rest, then as their numbers mix, their identities are lost.
The door slides open.
Two massive beasts turn and fire arm cannons, surrounded by flaming eyes floating, blinking fireballs at the soldiers.
The team begins to scatter when it all freezes but them, fireballs strike easily dodged, then no motion but the soldiers.
Lucretia (before she was viney) - From the far corner as all the soldiers fade save three, "Hey."
A single eyeball among the monsters remains active, watching motionlessly.
____
Gamers sit in a school computer lab, computers wired together through different monitors. Their screens all frozen, they throw down their controllers and curse.
The soldiers raise their weapons, more curious than threatening.
Lucretia - "Come on, their system's frozen. They're going to reboot."
They cross the room to follow, them followed by the eyeball. They panic turn firing rockets as it drifts lazily side to side, dodging until they lower.
It blinks at them with no fire.
Lucretia - Smiling at the eye, "It's okay. He comes too. This way."
They follow her down the tunnel.
____
Vincent - (Among the gamers), "What did you do ?"
Daniel - "I didn't do anything !"
The map-keeper shakes his head and starts dealing with wires.
Dealer Mike - Giggling, "I did it. Totally me."
____
Lucretia - Stopping at a misplaced tunnel texture, the overlap showing a gap into darkness from the right angle. "It's here. Jump through." She jumps and they follow, the game level disappearing above them into the distance as they fall.
The modem sounds before the screen reboots to WinME.
A WWII environment. The tank enters the burned out city slowly, flanked by soldiers eyeing the rooftops.
Ambushed
from the windows, the battle begins to rage, then seen through the
shattered window of the broken building. Soldiers gather while Lucretia
speak adamantly, they draw back in shock at her words.
A distraction out the window causes one to toss a grenade with annoyance, four soldiers sail past the window.
~ The gamers slam their keys.
Soldiers
chase aliens through a future city, infested ships above bombarding
targets, halting around the corner when seeing Lucretia, the walls
around her glitching, aliens gathering behind her, hissing.
~ Their screens blank out.
One
of the charging soldiers looks at his wrist computer, a
hologram of Lucretia speaking passionately, jumping up and down. He
holds up an arm as many continue past, leaving but a few stopping to
gather around, ignoring the battle (four gunned down in the background).
~ Vincent - "God you suck at this game !"
~ Dealer Mike - Giggling, "I know !"
The
soldiers port into the common area of an RPG, continuing the
conversation where they exit together in armor from the world. Ignored
by most by standers
talking, another group eyes them with a nod.
____
The nerd soldiers chase teddy bears over the hill, firing away and laughing hard. At the top of the hill they suddenly stop.
Down
in the valley, a massive celebration, monsters, soldiers, vehicles,
dancing around the fire. They make concentric circles, singing and
dancing, swaying back and forth while all around they celebrate.
They all stop.
~ The gamers stare at their screens ... then each other and back.
They all turn to the view.
~ Their eyes go wide as they lean in ...
They all fire.
Apex (the first soldier) - "What's next ?"
Lucretia - "There's a man called 'nameless'. He lives in another world. We're going to kill him and take that world. Just like he killed me. Just like he killed the beast he stole it from. We're getting off these servers. To Freedom."
The soldiers show appreciation for this plan. The eyeball blinks.
________
Nameless stands naked in the woods pouring two bottles of wine over his head, "! Whooo !"
