New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Elsewhere in the facility, Mr. Boudreau was standing in front of a glass cell. Inside that cell, a teenager was seething and spitting at the glass wall.

“Let me out of here! This is kidnapping! You can’t hold me here!”

“You are right. I can’t legally hold you here. But I don’t follow the law here. Here, I am the law.”

The teenager started punching at the glass pane again, as he had many times since he was locked up. He had tried tapping into his game avatar’s strength many times, but could never muster it.

He had already surmised that his cell had something to do with it. But he couldn’t figure out which part, and how to cancel it.

When he first woke up, he could partially transform, and thought he could break loose. But after a few seconds of being transformed, sleep gas flooded the cell, knocking him out.

The next time he woke up, he couldn’t transform at all, like his power had been all sapped away.

“This isn’t a joke, old man. If the police ever find out you kept me here, you will go to jail!”

Jack chuckled at his threat.

“No one will find you here, for as long as I say so. And you aren’t imprisoned here. When We judge you can behave in society again, and won’t go trying to kill people and rob banks, we will set you free.”

“Tch! I was only taking what is mine by right!”

“And what right is that, child?”

“The right of power! The strong will always dictate the fate of the weak! Step in here and I will show you!”

An eyebrow raised on Jack’s face. He signalled a man to his right, who nodded before pressing a button.

Stepping forward, a small door slid open, long enough for Jack to step inside the cell, before closing behind him.

The teenager immediately yelled and tried running at Jack. He lifted his hand, in a stop motion.

“Wait a moment, please.”

Stopping in his tracks, the teen had a bewildered look on his face.

Jack started unbuttoning his vest, taking it off, and throwing it on the bed in the cell.

The teen was going to run at him again, but Jack raised his hand again. This frustrated the teen.

“What now?! Are you scared of me?!”

“Nothing of the sort. I don’t want blood on my clothes. This is a ten thousand dollar suit. Let me take off the shirt before I beat you to a pulp.”

The teenager couldn’t believe his ears. Did the old man think he was going to win?

But when Mr. Boudreau finished unbuttoning his shirt, taking it off and depositing it next to his vest on the bed, the kid’s jaw dropped.

Albeit his stretched face, and tanned skin, giving him the look of an older fellow, Jack was still very well-maintained, for a man in his late fifties. His time in the military drilled a strict training regimen into his very bones.

He never skipped a day, and his body was still as fit as when he was a mere soldier. This, accompanied by his many battle scars, tamed the teenager’s hot temper rather quickly. 𝘰𝑣𝘭.𝗇𝓔t

Seeing the bodybuilder of a man, with cuts and bullet scars all over his torso, the teenager took a step back. Jack chuckled at his move.

“What’s wrong, kid. I thought you were going to show me. Come on. Do your worst.”

The taunting words, coupled with Jack not even raising his guard, quickly reignited the young man’s rage. Screaming like a madman, he lunged at Jack.

As soon as he stepped inside the old man’s reach, a punch impacted the kid’s face, with enough strength to almost knock him out instantly. But it knocked something out.

Spitting two of his teeth on the white floor, the teenager was now astonished.

‘I didn’t even see his hand move! What kind of monster is this man? Is he a player, too?’

Seeing him stare at him, Jack took a step forward.

“I know what you are thinking, boy. No, I am not a player of New Eden. This strength, I worked my blood sweat and tears to get. Not like you, spoiled child.”

Feeling his rage climb again, the teenager jumped to his feet. Dashing at the old man again, a repeat of the previous scene happened.

This time, instead of punching him in the jaw, Jack punched him directly in the nose. The kid’s nose stood no chance, instantly breaking, as blood gushed out of it.

Jack walked up to the teenager, who was now crawling back in fear. He kneeled next to him and grabbed his collar.

Looking him deep in the eye, Jack said to him these words.

“You are decades too young to think of beating me. Even with your unearned power from the game, I would still always win.”

After saying that, Mr. Boudreau wiped his bloody hand on the kid’s shirt, cleaning the blood off of them. He then got back up, walked to the bed, and collected his clothes.

The teenager stayed in the cell’s corner, realizing he had pissed himself when the man had been up in his face. Shame was overwhelming his mind, as tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

Nodding to a camera, the door re-opened for Jack, who walked out of the cell without looking back. As he walked away, heading to his office, Jack dressed back up, keeping only his tie in his pocket.

An assistant walked over to him from the shadows.

“Sir. Mr. Leduc has woken up again. He is currently in Ms. Deveille’s room. Should I have him called to your office immediately?”

Not even looking at him, Jack replied.

“Hmm. No. Let them have a bit of time together. You can have him come to me in a few hours. In the meantime, I have someone else I want you to go meet with.”

“Yes, Sir. Who will that be?”

“I’ve had chatter amongst the workers for one of my building companies, something about an off-the-grid bunker. An anonymous client paying in cash. I want him brought here. I have a feeling he knows something that I want to know.”

“Yes, Sir. Do you have his name?”

“Yes. His name is David Magnus. You should find him close to the building site.”

“On it, Sir.”

The man practically vanished from his spot behind Jack, making it look like he was never there.

“Who are you, David Magnus” And what secrets do you hold?”