Chapter 13: I Believe! I Believe!

A pink Cadillac zipped erratically down a busy highway, while a blue-haired man had a death grip on his seat belt. That was the way that many people might describe the pink blur that passed them by as Aria drove Scott to his self-imposed appointment.

Aria, for her part, merrily sang along with the song on the radio while she weaved through traffic at break neck speed. Scott, for his part, wondered if infinite respawns were really enough.

She sang louder then made silly little head motions while Scott tried not to cry. He was a man, dammit. This was not ARS. There were no mind-altering effects here. Yet, the love of his life drove like she wanted to end it all.

After the song ended Aria laughed loudly then shook her head. “The Bare Naked Ladies are awesome…”

Scott did not even have the energy to agree with her on more than one level, as was his custom. He merely glanced over to her then slowly nodded.

“Hmm, something wrong Scott? You seem awfully pale.” said Aria while she took her eyes off the road to look at him. She continued to weave in and out of traffic at high speed without looking at the road.

He looked at her, and she at him. People screamed in panic as she weaved around them with perfect timing and skill. What could possibly be wrong?

“Who taught you to drive like this?” asked Scott.

“Ah, I know, this car is so slow. My personal car back home is a lot faster.” she said while completely misunderstanding his point.

Another song came on the radio and she started to sing along while she looked at him. It was both adorable and terrifying at the same time, for Scott.

He was certain that his hair would have turned white by the time that they arrived, but somehow it was still blue. Though, admittedly he was glad that he had not eaten lunch before they had left the house a little under an hour prior.

“How do we not have every traffic ticket in the book?” asked Scott.

Aria giggled at him then shrugged. “Maybe they would have given me one if they could drive well enough to catch us.”

Scott squinted his eyes at her for a moment then shook his head. It wasn’t like they really had to give much of a damn, either way. Even at his level, his raw physical stats were dozens of times higher than a normal human being. He was literally a level forty-something in a world of level one scrubs. Prior to his recent level-up binge he was already close to thirty times stronger than a normal human, and his other stats were not much different. Now the difference was just ridiculous.

He kissed the terrifying presence in the driver’s seat then hopped out of the car. “Want to come in, or stay out here? I doubt this will take long today.”

“I think I’ll go shopping. I have money to spend.” said Aria.

Scott grinned at her. “Be sure to buy me something pretty.”

“Will do, Mr. Rogers.” she said lightly.

“Mr. Rogers?”

“Super soldier humor… come on, I know you know who Captain America is, Scott.” said Aria, a slight pout upon her lips. It’s no fun if you have to explain the joke.

Scott laughed a little. “Ah! Ok, I get ya.”

“See you later!” called Aria, before she put her car in gear and backed out of her parking spot at all possible speed. She narrowly avoided rear-ending another parked car in the process.

“Uh, yeah! Later.” Said Scott. For a moment he was terrified for humanity on principle. There was a gamer goddess playing a racing game as she raced off toward the mean streets of Fayetteville North Carolina.

Scott stared at the pink blur as it whipped around a curve then disappeared from sight. He blinked twice then sighed. She was the love of his life, but she was also bat-shit crazy. A slow smile spread across his lips briefly then he shook his head. Life was certainly more interesting with her around.

“Ah well, time to go be an obnoxious asshole.” He practiced smiling pleasantly while he moved toward the entrance.

Scott strolled through the front door and then over to the duty desk for the reserve unit that he was supposedly attached to for the duration of his ready reserve status. He recognized the lieutenant on duty by her name tag. “Lieutenant James?”

“Uh, yes…” said the good lieutenant as she took in the sight of the creature who stood before her. It was not every day that a man with shockingly blue hair and impossibly good looks strolled into the building like he owned the place.

“My name is Scott, we discussed my ready reserve status on the phone earlier. I made an appointment with your captain.” said Scott as pleasantly as he could.

All sense of professionalism left her upon hearing that. “Holy shit! I mean… I mean… Damn. Shit.” She could not find the proper words to express what she needed to say. It was not every day that someone made her captain that angry.

“Not to be rude, but I did not want to take up a lot of time with this. Is the captain in?” asked Scott.

“Yes, he’s in his office.” said the lieutenant.

“Mind telling him to come down here? If that’s not too much trouble.” asked Scott as nicely as he could.

“Uh… I can call him.” she said, unable to take her eyes off the man in front of her. He was, she did not know what he was, but she had never seen anything like whatever he was!

Scott tilted his head to the side and smiled pleasantly. “Please do.”

The lieutenant winced then called up to the captain’s office. After he picked up, she relayed Scott’s request. She flinched several times as a loud series of angry growls rattled through the phone.

Scott glanced to her and she nodded. “He’s coming down.”

Less than a minute later an older man who actually looked like he had fought in a war or two walked out of the double doors that led to the nearby stairway. The moment he spotted Scott a scowl arose on his lips.

“You, Scott?” asked the captain in a tone that made the name sound like an obscenity.

Scott glanced at the various medals and patches on the captain’s uniform and noted how he would have had to earn them. He actually felt bad about his attitude as a few of them could only be earned through personal merit instead of simply being in charge. “Yes. You the captain who wants to be responsible for locating the best thing to ever happen to the United States Army?”

The captain stared at him hard for a moment, but Scott did not so much as narrow his eyes. Finally, the captain calmed enough to say, “Soldier, you have a lot of nerve.”

“So do you. No one with both gold star master parachutist and master freefall parachutist medals is lacking in nerve.” replied Scott diplomatically. The first one alone meant that he’d performed at least sixty-five jumps, twenty-five with a combat load, and at least five of those jumps were into actual combat zones. Captain Johnson was a hell of a military man, and Scott could not help but admire that fact. Of course, there were alternate methods to get that first badge but those methods were equally difficult and he had to have been a jumpmaster on at least one combat zone jump or over thirty normal jumps.

The captain was not mollified entirely by the blue-haired man’s statement, but something about how he had said it caused him to become interested in what he had to say. The flat-out confidence and calm demeanor of the man had sparked interest. “Am I supposed to be impressed that you know what a medal is, soldier?”

“No. What will impress you is what I will show you, so that you and the army understands the situation clearly.” Scott noted how the captain kept referring to him as soldier instead of sergeant. He suspected there was already paperwork in the works to have his NCO rank stripped from him. It did not matter that much to him after recent months, but it still stung a little. It was certainly understandable, but it still stung.

Captain Johnson eye-balled Scott for a moment then said, “Soldier, what you have to show me better be damned impressive or you’ll spend the next four years of your life cleaning my toilets with a rubber glove and your tooth brush.”

Scott grinned at the elder officer. He had him now. The man was curious. Good. “What I can show you is too destructive to show here, I need a wide open space and some destructible items that the government won’t bill to me.”

The captain’s eyebrows rose slightly. “You planning to set off explosives or something?”

“I am the explosive, captain. Though, if it’s hard to get that sort of thing authorized without good cause could probably go out to the parking lot and show you something slightly less interesting to pique your interest.” said Scott.

“Let’s do that then…” said the man slowly.

Scott and the captain walked outside, but Captain Johnson remained under the concrete overhang in front of the door. He had left his beret in his office and did not want to break protocol by stepping outside without it on.

“So, show me something impressive.” said the captain.

“Sure.” Scott immediately lept twenty feet straight up into the air like it was nothing. It wasn’t even his full effort.

The captain blinked stupidly for a moment then slowly shook his head. “I did not just see that.”

The blue-haired man glanced over to a nearby Humvee then casually strolled over, bent down behind it and gripped it in a solid location. He glanced at the captain, took one of his hands away, and then lifted the back end of the vehicle off the ground until his one arm was fully extended. “Did you see this?”

Captain Johnson shook his head back and forth for a moment. “What the hell are you, soldier?”

Scott gently lowered the rear-end of the vehicle back down. He did not want to break anything if he could help it. “Would you like to hear an impossible story, captain?” asked Scott.

“Yeah, I think I do. Let’s go to my office sergeant.”

“Sergeant now, is it?” asked Scott.

“Well… I had some paperwork ready but I haven’t filed it, yet.” admitted the captain.

They went back up to the captain’s office, on the way he told Lieutenant James to hold his calls unless it was the colonel. She nodded slowly at him then looked over to the blue-haired man. Whatever he had shown the captain had obviously been impressive. The two of them seemed to be on slightly better terms now.

In the Captain’s office, the veteran officer and the blue-haired sorcerer sat down to have a friendly chat. Scott related the important aspects of what he had been doing and the situation that led to his current status as a super human.

“So, you’re trying to tell me that there is a race of beings capable of creating entire worlds, and they spend their time pretending to be human?” asked the captain.

“They also play games and cosplay.” said Scott seriously.

Captain James shook his head. It was too much to believe, and yet he had seen a man lift up a Humvee like it was nothing.

“What would you have shown me if we had gone somewhere else like you asked?”

Scott smiled. “I’m an artillery soldier, captain. I would have shown you my personal command of heavy artillery.”

The captain was silent for a moment then glanced over to the clock on the wall. “I never did take lunch…”

Scott grinned. The man’s real intent was obvious.

Roughly a half hour later they were out in the woods, with no one else around. Quite cozy, really.

“I’ll show you a few things, but I don’t want to use up a lot of my power.” said Scott.

“Alright. Show me what you’ve got.” said the captain.

Scott rubbed his chin for a moment then lifted his hand and pointed his palm toward an open area of the woods. “Burn!”

A tiny dart of flame flew from the space in front of his hand in a rather peculiar but unimpressive display. However, the moment it reached the designated target area a brilliant and absurdly loud fire ball exploded in the air. It was like a claymore had gone off nearby and caused a Michael Bay style special effect.

“Murica! Fuck yeah!” shouted Scott in his native southern drawl. His voice was a bit of a chameleon normally, easily shifting to different tones and accents when he was in a different area. Now that he was back in his southern homeland, he sounded a great deal more like it.

“The hell was that!” shouted the captain with a laugh.

“My weakest fire spell.” said Scott.

“Damn, you’re going to burn down the forest!” called out the captain, still laughing.

“Freeze.” Said Scott, after moving toward the blaze and taking up a dramatic pose once more. A wave of energy washed over the area and immediately put out the flames. Frost-rimmed plants and scorched earth were all that remained.

“That… that was?” asked the captain.

“My weakest ice spell.” replied Scott cheerfully.

“Does that take a lot out of you?” asked the captain excitedly.

“That? No, I could literally cast either of those spells another hundred times in rapid-fire succession before I had to take a break.” said Scott. His level one spells took little mana to use, ridiculously little mana in fact.

“Bullshit…” said the captain, not believing it. He didn’t believe any of it, even if he did.

Scott grinned at him then turned back to the clearing. He shouted, “Burn!” and then repeatedly cast the spell a five more times without cessation before he stopped.

“Dammit man, I believe! I believe.” cried the captain while he covered his ears. It was like they had walked into a warzone and had survived an artillery barrage.

Scott put out the flames with another freeze spell then turned back to the captain. “So, suitably impressed?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure what I’m going to tell the colonel, but this is definitely impressive.” said the captain.

A moment of silence ensued afterward. Neither man knew what to say, if anything.

One of them had to try and decide just what he was willing to do for his home country, despite the fact that he had things that he considered to be of greater importance. America would be fine without him, ARS and its people might not survive if he was not able to finish things in their favor.

The other man, had to try and comprehend the sheer impossibility of the blue-haired sorcerer standing nearby. How does one explain that sort of thing to his superiors?

The silence was broken by the sound of a cell phone ring tone. Scott pulled the phone from his pocket and glanced at the number that flashed on-screen. “Who’s this?” He did not recognize the number.

“You actually get reception out here? I can barely get one bar most of the time.” said the captain.

That tidbit of information piqued Scott’s interest so he opted to answer his phone. “Hello, you’ve reached the offices of the sexiest man on Earth. How may I direct your call?”

A familiar laugh erupted through the phone and Scott smiled. “Hey, Aria.”

“You goofball! How did you know it was me?” she asked with another laugh.

“Why would I need to know it was you to tell the truth?” asked Scott lightly.

She giggled sweetly, but her mirth was interrupted by a sudden loud noise reminiscent of a car crash. Scott exclaimed, “Hey, you alright?”

“Hmm? Oh, sure. Someone just got into an accident though. Some people should really learn to drive better.” she said, before the sound of squealing tires erupted in the air.

“Right… Some people should do that.” said Scott slowly.

“Anyway, how is the meeting going?” asked Aria.

Scott turned to the captain. “Are you suitably impressed?”

“Uh, yeah.” replied the man.

“He’s suitably impressed.” said Scott.

“Good! Put me on speaker. I just talked to my father.” she said.

Scott dutifully complied, and Aria’s beautiful voice came through loud and clear. “Greetings captain.”

“Hello…” said the captain hesitantly. He was not certain what was going on here, and had not been certain for quite some time.

“Hi! My name is Aria, I’m currently capable of offering your government a special deal, but I’ll need to speak with someone who can authorize acceptance of it.” she said.

“What sort of deal?” asked Captain Johnson.

“Scott mentioned a desire to have more support on his quest to save the people of ARS, and my father agrees that it should be permissible with a few caveats.”

“Are you saying that you would bring more people over there?”

“Not too many, and there are restrictions. Honestly, we don’t have to do this at all. Scott could literally leave your world altogether or, barring that he could leave for a time and just train until he was so strong that even your nuclear weapons would not cause him any problems.” said Aria in a friendly manner.

“I could survive a nuclear explosion?” asked Scott with an intrigued expression.

“Not at the moment, but with the right passives, and a high enough level you’d pretty much be an infinitely respawning walking nuclear war. Anyone from ARS could do that.” said Aria.

Captain Johnson grunted loudly. That did not sound pleasant. “That’s… we can’t have that here, no one would survive it.”

He did not even try to argue against the possibility. It was stated so casually, and he had seen so much today, that he honestly did not want to risk offending this Aria person.

“Yes, my father knows that and he finds the possibility to be improper. There would be obvious restrictions.”

“Such as?” asked Scott. He was curious about that.

“Well, the general deal is that a few soldiers can be taken over but any who are going to return here cannot go beyond a certain level. Any others will have to stay there on ARS permanently.”

“What do you mean, a certain level?” asked the captain.

“There is a trial period for my people who want to create a character on ARS. It allows them to reach level ten among other things. Some of your people could use that function. Those who are allowed to leave the trial period would be hand-selected by Scott as a team. If they accepted the continuing mission, they would have to stay on ARS permanently as their power would not be stripped if they returned to Earth.”

Captain Johnson certainly saw the merits of that deal. Though, finding people who wanted to permanently move to a new world would be more difficult. “Why would you even offer this?”

“I love the world that my family created, and those who live upon it. If Scott thinks a few more soldiers willing to fight to protect it will help, I’m all for it.” said Aria.

“I’ll make a few phone calls.” said the captain.

Scott grinned at the man. That would be an interesting series of conversations to say the least. “It’ll take a while before any of this could be set up anyway. We have a few things to do on ARS before we can entertain new recruits.”

“Right, you did say something about a… server change?” asked the captain, uncertain of the proper context.

“Yes, it would be pointless to bring any of the noobs to the casual server since we won’t be there long.” said Scott.

“Though, it might not be a bad idea to let them do so as part of the trial period.” said Aria.

“What do you mean?” asked Scott.

“Well, the casual server is easier to adjust to, it’s why I brought you there first. If the noobs go there first, and you spend a little time with them maybe call it basic training. They can reach level ten quickly and the ones who meet your standards can be transferred to the classic server if they so choose. That’s the point where they can’t go home again.” said Aria.

“How strong is someone at level ten?” asked the captain.

“Depends on the class, really, and the amount of ability points they spend on their stats if they are on the casual server.

Stats will be locked at forty points, though. So if maxed out, they could be say ten times stronger than an average man. They would still be well within the capacity to be killed by normal Earth weapons, though.” said Aria.

“The special abilities they have will depend on their class as well. Healing focused people, for instance, would be able to cure diseases, cleanse toxins, and instantly heal people of injuries. They would not be able to resurrect anyone at that level, however.” said Aria.

“Combat medics who can do all that would be a godsend.” said the captain.

Aria giggled warmly. “Yeah, they would.”

The three laughed for a moment, and then continued the discussion. There was much to say and to learn.