New Game+

A tall white man with a lean, but muscular feature walked down the unsanitary and poverty-stricken homes. The alleys were so narrow that most American's would find it hard to pass by given the dirty and grimy floors and thin walls that were covered in molds and other unsanitary things.

"Ugh. I hate this damned place." He cursed as he swiftly moved through the dirty road.

While most of the world has become cleaner and cleaner as technology prioritized cleanliness after the Third World War, the dirty and unsanitary city where this American paved through was among the few countries who progressively got worse.

The tall man stared from afar as he reached an opening with several houses. The houses appeared to be owned by the richer families in the area. Despite the crowded conditions, not one of the many people moving through and fro through these narrow alleys would enter the territory of this place.

At the open area which would lead further into these houses, several armed men stood by and guarded the place.

The American shook his head and sighed.

"I can't believe I'd have to get my hands dirty for this." The American wore a pair of black gloves and moved closer.

"Hey. This is private property." An armed guard called out angrily His accent was very apparent.

"Seriously? Accents? Has it been ten years since I spoke to someone with accents?" The American frowned. 

"Is there a problem? You got a problem with our accents?" One of the Latin natives called out to the tall man. He revealed a gun in his holster which he paraded around like a badge.

"I have a problem. This damned stupid mission is the problem. Sending me here, to an undeveloped and useless country. What the hell is that Chris Carlean is thinking! Bringing Grace here?!" He openly cursed.

While the armed man had a strange expression, the tall man took advantage of it. It was quick. The tall man kicked the man, took the holster and held him pinned down with the gun pointing to his temple.

"I'm here to see Chris. The American who you are serving." The tall man called out before the companions of the Latin man could react.

"Oh, you know boss Chris! You should have said so, man!" The man who was pinned down exclaimed.

"Get him out here! I'm that man's boss!" The American cursed.

"Yeah? Well I'm your daddy!" One of the guards laughed.

BAM!

Suddenly, the man charged and grappled the guard tossing him on the ground. A gun was aimed at his mouth.

"Let me show you who's the boss!" The American smirked as he readied his gun.

"Don't be too cruel, Jake." A sweet and calm voice called out.

"Grace!"  The man was shocked to see the tanned features of the woman he had longed for.

"Senorita!" The other guards all called out.

"Let go of little Fernando first." Grace smiled.

Immediately the tall man acceded and allowed the Latin native to stand once more.

What irritated Jake was that the Latin man's eyes continued to look down on him.

"Come on in. My husband is expecting you." Grace smiled and walked inside.

"He- He knows I'm coming?"

"Of course. Jonathan's already inside." Grace smiled.

A strange expression surfaced as he heard the name.

Jake silently followed inside and kept quiet of what he witnessed.

Drugs of all sorts were being made in this lab. Groups of people were busy working with strange and obviously obsolete devices to create drugs. Even Jake had to scoff at the poor technology made available to them.. 

"You are… allowing Chris to do this?"

Grace maintained her smile.

"Anything for our little boy."

Soon the two walked up to the many basement floors and reached the master room guarded by more men.

As he entered inside, he could identify the faces of the people inside.

From the reports, he got from his team, these people were the previous leaders of the drug den that he was in.

Jake was surprised but tried to hide it in front of Grace.

"They didn't die?" Jake silently thought to himself.

Soon his gaze moved beyond these drug-lords and it rested on a figure who immediately made Jake feel a surge of hatred and anger.

The figure was casually seated in the middle of the room. The gang leaders and drug-lords all were silently sitting around him as if they were devout followers awaiting their religious leader.

Chris was seated on a large couch facing a large monitor. The loading messages of an ongoing Piercing:Edge Free-for-all was seen.

Surrounding Chris was various chips and junk food around him, as well as a pile of gumball and jawbreaker candies.

"Hello, Jake! Nice of you to join us." Chris smiled. His words came out strangely as he still had a jawbreaker candy in his mouth.

"Dear, your right on time. The game's about to start. You got the stuff? I hope it wasn't hard for you to get it." Chris turned to his wife.

Jake's expression turned sour and he glared with hatred at Chris.

"You've been in this country for two months and you've already made a drug den and have even turned Grace into a drug smuggler!"

"Really, Jake? Have you seen what Grace is about to give Chris?" A mocking tone was heard as a tall man wearing a white sleeveless undershirt walked forward. He was previously seated in a position that was unseen by Jake. As he walked towards the center, the various burn marks and scars on his arms which were covered in a variety of tattoos made Jake identify this person.

"Jonathan. I wondered what made you resign so quickly. I was happy that the Force has less inadequate agents. And now it's clear. You now want to embrace the lifestyle you've always longed for." Jake laughed with a mocking tone.

"Ah, Jake the ever-critical and biased agent. I'm sure you would have ignored us and bombed this place without asking what's happening out if it weren't for Grace here. Pathetic. Seriously, Chris, why don't you just kill the guy. He still has the hots for your wife."

Jake immediately drew his gun and aimed for Jonathan. But before Jake could pull the trigger, Chris spat out the candy in his mouth and the candy struck Jake's hand. It was a simple spit, but it felt like a rock was tossed.

Almost instantly, an overpowering dread enveloped everyone in the room.

Jake's eyes grew wide as he stared at Chris with an unexplainable dread.

Grace sighed.

"That was quite reckless of you, Jake. Relax. What Chris was asking is, if I got the burgers he wanted. You know how poor this nation is. There are very few fast-food restaurants here that would be edible." Grace revealed the burger in the brown bag she was carrying.

"Jonathan. You shouldn't provoke him. Jake would have really shot you." Grace sighed.

Jonathan simply laughed.

Grace immediately sat down on the couch and grabbed a jawbreaker candy and popped it on her mouth.

Jonathan could only look in horror as his life-long crush had a huge bulge on her cheeks as she started devouring the large candy.

"What brings an old friend here?" Chris asked as he ignored Jake's pained look.

"I'm here to find out what you two are doing!" Jake screamed.

"You left the Force after the Pangean operation and disappeared sixteen years ago!"

"I didn't disappear. I received quite a good offer from your superiors and took it. Grace was already pregnant, they needed an agent in Pangea who they could call in times of national crisis, and I took it. I entered the police force and became a detective according to their offer and had to live the life of a poor bum. Not to mention those many incidents against Harker Cipril." Chris smiled as the game started.

Grace and Chris controlled their corresponding avatars and moved towards the map. Various attacks occurred as other players were meeting the two in combat.

Ranged, mid-ranged and close-ranged attacks coming from beloved Piercing characters started happening.

Despite the chaotic and fast battles, Chris and Grace began massacring their enemies in the free-for-all with great speed.

Their movements continued to evade the attacks easily and most of their opponents couldn't even fight back as they would fall for the various combos of Chris and Grace.

Jonathan and Jake were shocked at the incredibly fast movement that the two made. It was as if the screen was just a blur for them.

"Anyways, we wanted our son to have a normal life. We didn't want to continue as an agent and that offer was our ticket to a way out. Anytime a war could break out, as long as I followed whatever mission they have and succeed, I would continue in this little retirement of ours. By the way, the Ice Pair was there as well. They seemed to have retired as well. Good for you, if you met Jade and Stevenson in any of your covert mission, you would have definitely been killed." Chris laughed.

Jake's expression turned angry at the boasts of Chris.

"You really think so highly of yourself. Just because you've faced off with them several times, you think you're so high and mighty."

"Of course he does! Even those Double O's from New Great Britain died at their hands. Are you saying you're better than them? The Ice Pair have killed over ten Double O's and we've lost nearly thirty to these two! You were on a mission to capture them but you never even got near them!" Jonathan reminded with a mocking tone.

While Jonathan and Jake started bickering, Chris and Grace continued their massacre with such speed and skill that other players were complaining.

A lot of chats appeared on-screen calling Chris and Graces avatars cheats. Several even reported the two in the system even though barely three minutes have passed in the game.

"It's all skill baby! Go ahead! You'll be disappointed at the results!" Chris called out on the mic as he turned it on.

His arrogant mocking made Jake stop arguing with Jonathan.

"Sorry. You get a lot of these babies when you enter these servers. What a toxic community." Chris sighed.

"Dear, the faster they report us and leave, the faster Seeker can join us. Let's get the reports higher so that system notifications will alert incoming players."

"What? I thought being reported in the system is a bad thing?" Jonathan wondered.

"Yeah. But we aren't cheating, Jon. Those reports would invoke a system check on our rooms. Of course this babies will probably be blasting this room number in the public chat telling them no to join. Since the system can't verify that we are cheating, the room will remain open but fewer people would join." Chris explained.

"Once we get everyone out of this room, Seeker can join us." Grace smiled.

Jonathan was shocked. He saw the number of reports pilling up. The room was initially full, but now people started leaving and no one would enter the same room to replace the missing person.

Slowly the number of players continued to decrease.

"You're actually skilled enough to make all those people think you are cheating?!" Jonathan was stunned.

"Yeah. Actually, we have to this. I mean... it would cause quite a commotion of Casual Carlean joined this room," Chris added.

"Have you been following our son's career, Jake?" Grace asked as she continued to move the jawbreaker around her mouth.

"Uh… Yeah. I've seen his career. He's quite impressive. He must have gotten it from you." Jake smiled.

"His success is the reason why we returned to America. We haven't got the chance to talk to him. After the incident in China, all foreigners who weren't born in Pangea were forced to return to their countries. Seeker was claimed by the Pangean natives to be theirs. So we were kicked out, and we decided we want our son back." Grace explained as she continued massacring Piercing noobs.

"You see, Jake? This whole taking over this drug-den and going to the Rotting Lands is all about them being good parents." Jonathan started explaining on the side.

"What? If you expect the higher-ups to believe this-"

"They will. Only you wouldn't. And that's because you're an idiot." Jonathan laughed.

"You expect the Force to believe that a well-decorated agent like Grace and an inept idiot like Chris went to the Rotting Lands so that they can communicate with their son?"

"You really haven't been following Seeker's career, have you? Is it because he looks like Chris? Inept agent? Like you could ever do half of what Chris has contributed to the Americas." Jonathan laughed.

"Seriously? You don't know what my son has been up to?" Chris gave a quick, disappointing glance at Jake.

"He's a world-famous gamer! Of course, everyone knows who he is! He's names been on the news that people have grown deaf from hearing it!"

"Exactly. But you sound as if you are... unaware of the recent things that have happened?" Jonathan agreed but then investigated Jake's apparent ignorance.

"What things?" Jake asked as he looked around.

Some of the drug-lords were actually shaking their heads! This made Jake embarrassed.

A particular drug-leader was actually laughing at Jake.

"What a pu-"

"Dominic. Please. Let's keep this room curse free." Grace interrupted.

"What's going on?" Jake was now even more confused.

If the people in the Rotting Lands know of Seeker's actions, how is it that he couldn't?

Even Grace sighed.

"Well to be fair dear, if Seeker didn't start gaming maybe we would've been caught off the loop." Grace turned to her husband and sighed.

Chris sighed in return.

"I guess you're right. We never did follow the news in gaming. I guess it's possible for people like Jake to exist."

The jabs that Chris did made Jake clench his fist angrily.

"Of course. You're not a gamer so you don't know the fame that Seeker has had these past months. He is more than just some international icon." It was Jonathan who took the liberty of explaining.

"The biggest event in gaming e-sports happen during the Nations of the World summit. And although it was cut short due to the Australian Avarice, Seeker and his team shook the gaming world the past months due to the proposal of the World Governing Powers to host an online Nations of the World meet." Jonathan explained.

"I'm well aware of that event! What's so great about Seeker's actions?"

"Are you really well aware? Or have you just been reading the news we see online and on television? Go to the deep-web and you'll see what was happening behind it. You really are a fossil. Man. To think you're an agent."

"So I don't read a little gaming news? What's the big deal?" Jake exploded in anger.

"The big deal is; that event was worth billions of credits. That's the big deal!" Jonathan explained with an annoyed expression.

Jake was stunned.

"We are now approaching a terrible time. International trades have become stricter and most of them, are banned. The tariffs for imports and exports are now on a scale that would drive business owners and conglomerates insane! But the one thing that hasn't been touched is gaming interactions! Seeker's capacity to earn money is shocking that even to us Americans, it's actually revolting. It is because Seeker's not a regular streamer, but a big-time gambler. In fact, just this past month, Seeker and his trio have managed to earn more and increase the overall GDP of the entire Pangean Nations because gamers all over the world continue to purchase access to his streams and of course their ridiculous bets in the Gambling Den!"

Jake's expression turned to confusion.

"Improve a nations GDP? A gamer has that power?"

"Of course not! That's why not knowing about Seeker is simply being a caveman! It isn't about gaming and streaming anymore, nor is it about e-sports or any of those fields! Do you realize, that about two months ago, when the WGP proposed an unofficial celebration of the Nations of the World Meet, Seeker managed to win money that could build a small army?" Jonathan gave an irritable response.

"Uh…N-No." Jake was stammering.

"What a fossil! You despise the world of gaming so much, no wonder I was tasked to finish those e-sport related missions! You didn't care for it, do you? Well, allow me to give you a tour. The World Governing Powers, in order to divert the attention of the masses from the agro of the world, volunteered to host the Nation of the Worlds Meet. Instead of sending players all over the world to one location, these players will play at their corresponding nations. Since they would host the battles online, they promised a cheat-free server that would be unhackable and stable."

"I know. They did that to make people forget about the whole China event."

"In that event, Seeker took the initiative of making insane gambles. Of course, all of this happened in the dark web, and after that, the WGP banned any discussions about this! There were twenty gambles in that event alone that would total into a hundred million credit! Three of those gambles reached a billion credit, while the biggest gamble, the insane no-death gamble against all teams, allowed Pangea to win two billion credits!"

Jake was stunned at the amount of the gambles being made.

"It reached billions?"

"Of course! Nations were betting against them! Of course, the reason why it reached that high as because Seeker kept stirring up the nations for that gamble."

"Damn. Seeker's rich!" Jake exclaimed.

"No. None of those gambles were ever paid. Because Seeker won all the gambles, the World Governing Powers was accused of being bias to the Pangean Nations. This worsened the WGP's relationship with several nations!"

"And because of that, it's hard for us to get connected with Zeek." Chris finally spoke as he most of his opponents were now leaving the room after leaving creative curses about Chris and Grace's mothers.

Jake turned curiously at Chris.

"Why?"

"Simple. Seeker's disgusting win streak made the WGP extremely angry at Seeker." Chris laughed.

Jake was stunned.. To think the all-powerful WGP would be angered by a Casual Carlean.