Everything on Jam's body was heavy, especially his eyelids that he couldn't seem to muster the energy to open. His every breath was labored and painful, though every breath was less painful than the last. Figuring it must be his pain dampening skill at work, he was forced to wonder just how much he had hurt before he had regained consciousness. Despite the pain, his heart was oddly calm and he momentarily lost himself in the steady rhythm of its beating. It unburdened his mind as his skill slowly eased the pain.

The feeling returned to his mouth and he couldn't believe just how dry it was; just as he opened and closed his mouth in discomfort, a straw slid between his lips. Forgetting himself, he greedily drank down the cool water the straw provided. After he clearly reached the bottom of the cup it was replaced with another that he guzzled down as well. Finally after the second cup his thirst had been sated and he breathed a little easier. It was only then that he reminded himself of the uncertain nature of his current circumstances.

His eyes slowly opened and shut quickly against the unattractive fluorescent lighting that assulted them. He tried again to open his eyes and everything before him was blurry and unfocused. He wanted to rub his eyes but he couldn't feel his hands yet so instead he slowly waited for them to adjust, choosing to stare at the floor. When his eyes situated themselves he slowly scanned back up to find himself looking in a mirror.

Looking in the mirror he was surprised to find that he had completely healed up, there weren't even any open cuts or scars on his face. Upon further examination he realized there in fact weren't any scars on his face, not even the ones given to him by his mother. His mouth twisted in a grimace while his reflections lips quirked up into a grin.

"Hi Jamal, so lovely to see you again," he heard his voice say.

"Lunar King." he curtly responded.

"No need to be so formal my friend. Please, call me Jack."

Powers

{ Powers

Time Until Power Cycle: 12:43

Current Powers:

Sonic Scream + 2 (Scramble)

Stamina Absorption

Steel Skin

Refinement points available: 54 }

Jam emptied out his refinement points equally across the board.

Reconnect A.I. designation Audrey

[ Reconnection Requested. . . ]

[ Reconnection Accepted ]

[ Reconnecting 3. . 2 . . 1. . ]

"Jam, what the hel. . is that the. . Uh oh." Audrey sputtered.

"So that's why you weren't in my pod, you were here," Jam ignored her. "When did you learn Arcturus was real?"

"Haven't figured it out huh Jam. I'm from Arcturus. I always knew this planet was real. Arcturus industries was my company."

Jam felt a sudden wrath boil up his stomach, he fought to move his body forward but his advance was halted. He looked to his hands to find his wrists shackled to the wall, he struggled uselessly against his restraints while the Lunar King leaned his hip against a nearby surface and crossed his arms watching Jam's futile attempts. Jam eventually gave up but his seething rage still remained.

"So angry." Lunar King condescended.

"Let me out of these and I'll show you just how angry I can get," Jam threatened with frightening calm in his voice.

"I don't see why you're so mad. I gave you power, you should be thanking me. It's a lot more than anyone has ever given me on this planet."

"Whatever. Just kill me and get it over with. I'm tired of looking at you."

"Hey, maybe don't encourage the supervillain to kill you." Audrey chided.

"He is going to monologue, might as well not make it fun for him." Jam sent her.

"Aren't you interested in why I chose you?" Lunar King asked.

"Not particularly." Jam answered, completely uninterested.

"You forget that I have your brain Jamal, I know you're secretly burning with curiosity."

"Jeez, it's getting sad. Just let him do it," Audrey pleaded.

New Task: Why Though?

Task Details: You have been capture by the Lunar King and he now wishes to explain his dastardly plan

Task Objective: Learn of the Lunar King's reasons

Accept this task?

[ Yes ] [ No ]

Ugh, Yes

"How did you come up with this awesome plan?" Jam solicited in a sarcastic monotone.

"Rude but I'll tell you anyway," the Lunar King chuckled. He began to tell Jam about his upbringing. "My tragic back story starts with a lonely computer programmer."

"Did he just say tragic back story?" Audrey inquired

"Mhm," Jam responded. "Always such a drama queen."

"My creator and father was a lonely man who was unable to have children with his wife before she was ripped from him; a casualty caught up in a fierce battle between a hero and a villain. Thus, my father hated supers with a passion."

"You were right, he really is monologuing." Audrey exclaimed.

"Yep. He always complained that I didn't monologue enough. Says it is important to up the spectacle and really beat down the heroes emotionally. It wasn't really my style."

"My father wanted a child so he decided to make one. Then I was made, but he wanted to ensure that I wasn't a super so he put blocks on my systems so that I am completely average in every way. I can do anything you can imagine but I can't do it any better than an average person. I'm literally a jack of all trades and a master of none."

"Tragic indeed." Jam deadpanned.

"You have no idea," Jack shouted. "Do you know how empty life is when no matter what you do you can't improve any further than you already have? It doesn't matter how much I practice or try to learn something, my brain's pathways didn't allow me to go beyond a certain level. If I try to run faster than I did the day before my body will unconsciously maintain the same speed it always does. If I try to learn all of a subject I forget a quarter of it. My brain is a computer, it doesn't forget, it just won't let me access it. I could be better than anyone at anything and he stifled me. Shouldn't a father want their child to be able to achieve anything they choose?"

"If you want to have a crappy parents contest, I think I'd win."

"Yes yes, we already know your tragic back story. Now we're talking about mine."

"What's the plan here Jam?" Audrey asked him.

"I'm working on it. I think the only real choice I have is to use the power nullifier and kill him. I'll probably be killed immediately after by the first powered guy who walks through the door but that will have to do." Jam sent her.

Jam yawned loudly, "well can you speed it up some? These shackles are chafing me something serious." He said to the Lunar King.

"Well, anyway. After I killed him, I decided to be a villain anyway."

"Logical choice."

"That won't work Jam. I can't get to you to give you the nullifier and it's in your inventory." Audrey told him.

"Why can't I just summon it to me?" he asked her.

"It's not soul bound. I have to be there to give it to you and I can't find you."

"You're connected to me, how can't you find me?"

"This place is like a huge faraday cage. I can't locatte you, the only reason we're connected right now is because part of my systems are still in your implants."

"I began to hate all the other people of this planet with their limitless possibilities" Lunar King continued. "I could have been a God yet they all looked down on me. I was given that same mortal need to chase greatness yet no means to achieve it, while others wasted their potential. I was a joke villain, slapped around by D team heroes for fun. I got to a low place, decided I didn't want to deal with it anymore. Then I found I couldn't even die."

"Tragic back story indeed. So, let's skip to the part with me in it."

"Well, I decided that if I couldn't rule this world myself then I'd make someone do it for me. However, no one on this planet would give me the respect I deserve in order to work for me. I was a laughing stock and I hated it. So in a last ditch effort I decided to go to another planet and use them to further my goals," Lunar King explained.

"If you can't go any further than an average person, how'd you make the tools necessary to do it?"

"As I said, I am average at everything. I added all my parts together to make the whole. I pushed my knowledge on every subject from mechanical engineering to neuroscience to their absolute limits until I made a device that could transmit my processors out into space. I figured best case scenario I find a new planet to support my ambitions and worst case scenario I'd finally die. There was no downside to it. So I shot my consciousness into space and imagine my surprise when I found myself on Earth."

"Lucky you, no shortage of murdering psychopaths there."

"More than that, it was a planet extremely similar to Arcturus where all the supers that plagued Arcturus were mere fiction and fantasy. A place where no one was truly extraordinary, not in any way that mattered to me. Earth was years behind Arcturus on the intellectual level that my average was just above average enough that I could completely enslave your world if I so desired. It was a true Utopia for me, but I couldn't let go of the anger and contempt that I held for the heroes of Arcturus. I wanted them to suffer, I needed them to. So I decided to make Arcturus Industries, I hired your smartest minds and gave them enough information to push their technology ahead by a decade. I introduced the world to true full immersion virtual reality and actual A.I. technology. Then I chose to make a game to find who could be the best villain possible, but it had to be their choice; I needed them to choose to be a villain."

"Ok, what if I use the berserker skill?" Jam asked Audrey.

"It has a slow build up and he's level 100. You'd need to be under at least 4 hours before you could even hope to win that fight and after that time who knows if you'd ever actually stop fighting." She answered him.

"Damn it. How do I get out of this?"

"I don't think you can."

Jam sighed before speaking aloud to Lunar King. "They had to choose to be villains because of the lifelike nature of the game. If they had to be villains by default they might not push the system as far as it could go. They would only do the least amount possible because they wouldn't want to hurt people or they would go all out and do every evil thing imagiable. You needed someone who would slowly prepare and plan to be a villain, someone who would ease into being a villain from level 1. What I don't get is, why? If I have this correct, you made a game to find a person who was a viable candidate to subjugate this planet, but why did they need to start from level 1 to begin with? Why not just load the person up to level 100 from the beginning? Or why not just make your own body level 100."

"Simple, those were the rules of the game. The creators of my game set rules in place and I couldn't overcome them. I tried to push the boundaries of those rules as much as possible but the A.I.s controlling the game weren't bound like I was. Every time I tried to find a hole in the programming they sealed it up immediately. So, I had people of Arcturus Industries working on a special tools to help my endeavors. A machine that allowed a mind to transfer into a body across extraordinary distances and then another machine that fabricates a body receptive to the game system."

A body receptive to the game system. Level 100. Wait a second.

Jam remembered Audrey saying that the Lunar King is level 100.

[ Skill Used: Analyze Lvl 28+ - Successful ]

{ Character Type: Player

Character Name: Jack

Alias: Lunar King

Race: Arcturian

Rank: Villain King

Level: 100

HP: 50000/50000

MP: N/A

SP: 24367/30000

Powers

Super Strength

Flight

Optic Blasts

Unbreakable Skin

Hyper Senses

Advanced Intellect

Regeneration

Status Ailment: Rule Bound }

Yep, everything is the same. It all makes sense now.

"I monitored the game constantly trying to search for someone. They were all so dull, all those wanna be heroes and villains. No one could truly meet my standards until I found the villain Apex. When I saw all you could do, I knew you were the one. I knew I needed you to accomplish what I could not."

"So you're responsible for Amara's death!"

"What? No. What?" Lunar King sputtered in confusion. "How would that even work? I didn't know about you until after you became a villain."

"Oh, right. Never mind. Continue."

"Damn, now you've thrown me off."

"So, I was directly in control of Apex. What took you so long to take over?"

"Again, the rules of the game. Everyone is given a thirty day period to return to their character before the A.I. controlling them keeps full control. Since you played daily and spent more time in game than out, I had no chance to take control over it."

"Which is why you were pushing for me to play Cosmic Crisis or whatever it was called."

"Pretty much, and my company was getting tired of only focusing on World of Heroes." He shrugged, "my interests were done. I don't really care what they do now. I haven't even been back to Earth since the explosion."

"So, how are things any different now?"

"Well, over the years I scanned your brain thoroughly, watched your closely and learned from you. I used your mind and the way your brain works as you're thinking through your plans and used it to make the most of my limited capacities. Then I used your face to keep the underlings in line."

"Alright. Well despite you blowing me up, you didn't kill me yet, what do you want with me?"

Lunar King gave a large and inviting smile, "that's simple of course. I want you to join me."

"What? Why?"

"To be honest Jam, when the explosion happened, I was incredibly relieved. I could finally stand at the top of the precipice. I would finally be the villain king and run this place," he said reverently. "Then after a couple of months, it started to feel empty and hollow. In all honesty, I'd grown accustomed to you. I know the top is a lonely place but I hadn't expected to grieve your loss so heavily. Then your neighbor girl appeared on Arcturus a year later and I started to wonder if maybe you weren't dead." Lunar King cradled the side of Jam's face in his hand; Jam jerked out of the subtle embrace. "To hope that maybe you'd come back to me. Right when I started to give up hope, Shadow Stalker told me about their plans to summon a hero to take me down and I knew it would be you. It was the only thing that made sense. When you killed his clone I knew for sure it was you. Now you've come back to me and I want you to rule this world alongside me."

Task Completed

You Have Completed the Task Why Though?

Reward: Exp Gained

Wisdom + 1

500 Delrens

"You know, it's funny when I first got here I kind of missed you too. I had definitely become accustomed to having you in my ear. "

Lunar King looked hopeful for a moment but his face dropped as Jam continued.

"That is why I'm giving you three options," he announced holding up three fingers. One, you surrender and let me take you in. I'll make sure you're treated well."

The Lunar King scoffed at that.

"Two, you release me and then you go underground and I never hear of you doing anything wrong again. Or three, you can ignore my warning and then I take you down by force."

"I'm not sure you're in any position to be making demands or issuing threats. I'm not against severing your head from your body even to my own consternation."

"You know me Jack. I always have a backup plan." Jam retorted, a menacing smile on his face.

"God, I missed you. Just hearing you talk. You know I really don't get it. I gave you something you thirsted for more than anything. I gave you power. I let you explore your darkest fancies and hurt whoever you pleased. I gave you a divine purpose and let your darkness run wild. You should be thankful."

Jam chuckled darkly, "I am thankful. You saw the darkness inside of me and you let it free. I learned about skills that I had that were completely unusable in the real world. Now I know how to harness my darkness, my anger and my hate. So, when you lied to me while calling me a friend, used me against perfectly innocent people like those assholes at my job did to Amara, and, worse of all, when you hurt Thorn's feeling, you became the target of that hate. So, I will destroy everything I've ever built for you even if I have to raze this whole planet to the ground around you;" he threatened, nearly shouting in the end.

"You know, when I offered you a place at my side. It wasn't a choice; you will accept, eventually." Lunar King pressed a button on a nearby station and spoke into an intercom, "come get him and put him in the cells."

"Nope. I won't." Jam responded curtly, then he sucked in a deep breath.

Enjoy this with your hyper senses you asshole.

Jam let out an ear piercing scream completely focused on the Lunar King. His hyper senses increased his received damage even more as he was physically launched into the wall. Gritting his teeth in pain, Lunar King attempted to stand but found his body to be getting heavier by the moment. Jam had been slowly leaching his stamina throughout his entire monologue and, with his hyper senses amplifying the damage, the sonic scream was actually rupturing his ear drums which were constantly regenerating. Jam knew just how much his powers ate up his stamina when he had them.

"Can you beat him like this?" Audrey asked.

"Are you crazy? Of course not. I have a skill SP regen that can trigger when it hits below 10%. The only reason I can use sonic scream this long is his SP is replacing the SP I'm currently burning through," Jam sent her.

"Well what are you going to do?"

"Just wait a second."

The door at the side of the room slid open and a man with an armored version of the crescent moon shirt holding a rather large gun stood in the doorway. He was shocked only for a moment as he assessed the situation. Hefting his gun toward Jam, he was surprised when Jam was no longer there, having casted blink to disappear to shift to the other side of the door.

Jam stumbled onto a knee as he tried to get the feeling into his legs, he slammed the side of his fist into his leg to help return life to the limb. He wiggled his foot and then pushed hard off the back foot into a quick sprint down the corridor. After casting boost, he picked up speed and was able to take the corners at a faster pace. He blew past henchmen in similar armored moon suits who were too surprised to do anything. Then he heard a siren go off, when he slipped through a door into another long corridor he had to quickly blink past a group of guards who were preparing an ambush for him.

Jam managed to make it out of the building and looked around to find he was standing outside of the castle that he had previously seen on the Lunar King's announcement video.

"He's over there!" He heard a voice shout and he started to run again though he didn't know to where.

Sliding to a stop at the very edge, he looked over to find he was easily hundreds of miles in the air and moving. It became clear why no one could find the Lunar King, his castle was flying through the sky and no doubt camouflaged.

Well shit