The Game Cafe in Marvel and DC

43 – The Release of Bioshock and Ark Survival Evolved

Informing all of my customers of the new games that would be released this morning the previous night, I was not expecting most of them to arrive, especially a certain Black Widow accompanied by a man who I could only assume would be a certain fellow nicknamed after a bird.

As my customers walked in, I examined those who had come in.

Black Widow, Hawkeye, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Mr. Freeze, Volkov and his trio of men, Kyle, Frank, and...then a hairy man smoking a cigar walked in, briefly stopping when he saw my form, only briefly surprised by my form before calming down.

The man was familiar, very familiar.

It took a few moments to recognize him, but I realized the man was a spitting image of an actor from my Earth, Hugh Jackman.

Based on the man's appearance, clothes, and smoking habits along with their rough exterior...I could only assume it was one person, a certain mutant, Wolverine.

Man...this universe is truly fucked. DC, Marvel, and now Marvel's X-Men, what else would show up on my doorstep? I swear, anything else mixed into this universe may truly doom it.

Shrugging, I beckoned the man over to the counter, and he calmly walked towards it, eyes examining the wide variety of goods being showcased, before his eyes suspiciously stopped on two certain goods next to one another, two goods that just so happened to be alcoholic, the Sierra Madre Martini and Battle Brew.

"Interested?" I asked humor in my tone.

"...Maybe," He answered.

"Wonderful. Would you rather purchase with Karma or Cash?" I asked.

"Karma?" He asked, confused.

'Wonderful, that meant that either Charles the mind R-word did not tell him, or Charles did not know in the first place!'

"Yes, Karma. We could check out your balance if you'd like?" I asked, curious to know how much Karma a mutant from before the Civil War would have.

"Sure...bub," he told me, his eyes not leaving me.

"Wonderful! First, you'll need to create an account," I informed him, turning the computer screen to him.

He looked at me for a few moments before focusing on the screen and creating an account.

Noting his username to be... 'Whisky,' I opened up his Karma balance and froze.

"What?" He asked.

Turning the screen, I let him read the number.

[Karma: 1,190,645]

The man had over a million Karma. Just what the hell has he done? 

I knew from the movies and some comics that Logan, AKA Wolverine, had fought in all of the major wars, such as the First World War, the Second, the Civil War, and Vietnam.

Did he save someone important or something? Then I remembered...he was in the Howling Commandos, the Squad led by Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America.

"Is that a lot?" He asked.

"Yes...in terms of Karma, a single bottle of Sierra Madre Martini would cost 50, meaning that with your amount of Karma, you could get...23,813 bottles," I informed him, his eyes going wide at the number.

"Hell, get me a case then!" He laughed, and I obliged, summoning a crate that contained 30 of the bottles.

"Before I hand this off to you, do you want to check out our VR service?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused once again.

"Do you know what VR is?" I asked, only for him to shake his head, "Alright, then imagine this: a fully realistic world, one in which you can live and roam, feeling the air on your skin, the smell of dirt, and so much more, now, what if I told you it was all virtual? A realistic yet virtual world that is so realistic that you cannot differentiate between the real world and the virtual one," I explained.

"I... I would say that I don't believe you," Logan told me after taking a moment to process what I told him.

"Then why don't you give it a try? I think you might find yourself enjoying it," I recommended, waving towards the other computers.

While he walked over to one of the computers, I made sure to announce something before everyone would hop into their sessions.

"I just wanted to announce that Bioshock and the Infamous Series will be the first games to transition to real-world speed, meaning that time would be passing at a 1-1 ratio. I did this because of all of the current games, Infamous and Bioshock, have set stories and lack a... open-world environment. Not to mention, those two series will be the fastest to beat of all available games," I informed my customers, some acknowledging what I said or ignoring me.

To my surprise, with the introduction of Karma, my customers became more frugal with their spending, as almost all of my customers decided to try the new games, something I certainly did not expect.

Now, let's see how they react to the new games.

[Volkov's POV]

[ BioShock

Completed Achievements: 0/51

Kills: 0

Deaths: 0

Completions: 0

Little Sister's Saved: 0

Little Sister's Harvested: 0

Big Daddy's Killed: 0

Time Played: N/A ]

Ignoring the stats, Volkov jumped straight into the game, finding himself in a dark expanse of nothingness, a void.

Then, just like with every other game, a menu appeared before him.

One with an unusual scene behind it.

A dark, cloudy sky, a calm ocean, and an ominous lighthouse covered in fog.

Not bothering to focus on the scenery, he tapped [New] and was met with a set of options.

[Easy - For those new to combat, violence, and the game itself. Enemies will be easier to beat or kill, Plasmid use will be more forgiving, hacking will be far easier than normal, and the pain threshold will be lessened. Ammo and medicine will be plentiful]

[Normal - The recommended difficulty for the game]

[Hard - Not recommended for first-time players. Enemies will be stronger, tougher, and smarter. The pain threshold will be increased. Hacking will be more difficult. Ammo will be more sparse, and enemies will be more plentiful in number]

[Hell - A difficulty only for the most skilled. Even common enemies can be a threat too dangerous to ignore, with few ever missing, and most frequently used their own Plasmids. Ammo and Medicine are sparse and limited, meaning that every bullet must count. You are not unique. In this difficulty, you are but a man, and ordinary men do not survive Rapture, but those that do? They become Legends]

Reading through the set of options, Volkov eventually chose [Normal].

Suddenly, the menu darkened, and he felt...different.

[1960, Mid-Atlantic]

Noting the date, the darkness began to clear up, and Volkov found himself sitting on an airplane by himself. The entire cabin seemed to be covered in a thick fog of smoke, enough to choke a man out.

Weirdly enough, Volkov didn't feel like he was in control. It felt more like he was a co-pilot of the body.

Suddenly, his body moved without his command, pulling up a lit cigar, which his body took a deep inhale of, though weirdly, he felt none of the smoke entering his lungs, making him feel as though he was inhaling only air. 

Suddenly, his other hand brought up a...present?

On it was, "To Jack with love, from Mom and Dad. Would you kindly not open --- until ---." The two other lines are hidden by bows.

Suddenly, a voice not like his own spoke out from his body, "They told me...Son, you're special. You're born to do great things. You know what? They were right."

Suddenly, screams of panic and fear echoed across the plane as the plane seemed to take a nose dive, yet oddly, Volkov felt...peace? As if his body felt no fear of its impending doom.

With great force, the plane crashed into the ocean. None survived, except one.

[A/N: Other than the introduction of a new character, we had the opening scene of BioShock. The next two or so chapters will be playing through the players' views as they go through both ARK and BioShock. Let the horror and countless deaths begin!] 

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