“How was your week, Dr. Hardage?” The question was light. Pleasant, even. Only the hint of a smile behind it gave away the trap.

  Kitty decided to blunder into it, answering with a smile of her own. “Oh you know, the usual. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary for me.” She swept her vibrant pink and blue hair out of her face, sitting back on the long couch. Her weekly visits to her psychologist were always a game of mental cat and mouse and Kitty felt like giving the woman the occasional obvious lie kept her actual dishonesty further afield. She thought briefly about her friend Kurtis, and her smile became genuine. A trick she had learned from him.

  “Catherine, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but I actually do a net search for you every week before our session. I specifically focus on The Life of Crime, but I don’t filter out any other potential matches.” Her psychologist peered at her over the rim of her glasses, inscrutable but almost always grumpy. As though she was unhappy about her assignment but far too professional to allow it to show.

  “I . . . suspected,” Kitty answered. With a brief squint, Kitty decided to play it real for a bit, tapping her nails against the couch fabric. “Let’s be honest, I blew some stuff up and set a few people on fire. Nothing out of the ordinary for me.” She sighed, tired of the conversation before it properly started.

  “I’m very happy that the game is helping, but the outburst at MIT is not something that can be ignored.” She waved her fingers lightly in the air above her wrist, taking a quick note.

  Kitty barked a laugh. “I like that term, -outburst- mind if I use it at my hearing?”

  “This is serious Catherine.” That same inscrutable look of discomfiture.

  She sat up suddenly, glaring at the woman seated across from her in mild shock. “You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?” Kitty sighed, shaking her head. “I should have known that’s what it was. I always thought you were yet another person who just thought I was fundamentally sick.” Her voice became excited briefly, before a sudden calm came over her. “But no, not you . . . you know what I am, don’t you?”

  The doctor seated across from her fidgeted in her chair. “No Catherine, I really don’t. I always thought you were a brilliant young woman with some difficulty fitting into society at large. Why don’t you tell me what you think you are?”

  “A monster.” Kitty stood, beginning a slow walk towards the nearby window. “Maybe the next phase of human evolution? That one seems a bit self-aggrandizing, maybe not.” She stepped into the window, framed by sunlight. “Different, that’s for sure. Violent, cruel, selfish.”

  “I thought you were a leader now, Catherine? A true leader can’t be those things.” Her voice had dropped in tone, and her free hand hovered over her wrist. “Do you really think that you’re a monster?”

  “Yep, you got that right. I sold em all out and bailed. Burned their city to the ground and shook the pillars of that place to its core. And I did it all because I didn’t want to lose a fight.” Kitty shook her head.

  “I see.” The psychologist swiped at her wrist a few more times. “I think the explosion is more important. That has tangible effects on the world.”

  “Right. That one’s not that important doc. Just trust me on that point.” Kitty sighed and flopped back onto the couch. “It is going to be a lot more trouble though.”

  “MIT is naming the damages near the nine hundred million dollar mark. That sounds rather serious to me,” she said with a disapproving glance.

  “Doc, you have no idea. Honestly, we’re all lucky I didn’t crack the entire planet.” She giggled slightly. “Antimatter reactions are . . . what’s the biggest word for ‘powerful’ you can think of?”

  “Dynamic—” She began.

  “Nope, way too small. Doesn’t cover it at all.” Kitty sat forward. “Look, I don’t want to be a dick, but my doctorate is a lot more specific than yours. That explosion, believe it or not, was under control. Supposed to explode. Just . . . you know . . . not quite that much. Next time I got it for sure though.”

  “I’m concerned about you Catherine; can I tell you that?” Her expression dripped with it.

  “Silly question now, but sure. I should concern you doc; I’m messing with the forces of the universe. But it’s fine, I know what I’m doing, and I’m on your side.” She rose to leave, fully tired of the conversation. “Believe it or not.”

  Two minutes later, Kitty stood on the curb outside her psychologist’s office, waiting for her ride. She had summoned a driverless car service and looked up to see it slide silently to a stop at the curb. As she opened the door, she discovered it contained a passenger already. A man with a short crew cut hairstyle sat with his back to the driver’s side window, facing her with a smile. She paused a second, before a toothy grin broke out on her face and she got in.

  By the time the car got up to speed, her smile had become truly predatory. “Government?”

  “BlackLight Industries, actually.” He dug out a silver business card holder and offered it to her.

  She looked down at the card, and then back up at his face without taking the card. “I’m interested. What delightful new diversion have you guys cooked up?”

  “Ah . . . yes, well that’s actually exactly what I’m here to talk to you about.” He squirmed slightly, under Kitty’s stare. “Blacklight has developed a new immersive plug in game and would like to offer you an exclusive beta pass.”

  “I suppose you’d like rights to my stream footage, biometrics, and brain activity feed in exchange?” She rolled her eyes slightly. “Not that I’d have a choice in that anyway.”

  “Well yes, the standard user agreement and beta NDA would be in place. The footage is strictly for use by BlackLight research staff and your anonymity is guaranteed in our user agreement.” He swiped at the air above his wrist before reaching it across the vehicle's cabin.

  Scowling, she tapped her wrist to his and pulled up the file. A short video played, first congratulating her on being one of the top influential players in The Life of Crime, then laying out the new game they wanted her to play for them. She glanced up at him, her eyebrow cocked. “Deadeye. A Western? Really?”

  He lit up somewhat, clearly prepared for this portion. “Not just any western. The most demanding and brutal immersive experience BlackLight has created to date. Death is permanent, and the world is dynamic. Your actions, and the actions of all the other players, really matter to this world. Immersion is key in Deadeye. Hell, you can even sleep inside the game if you want. BlackLight has put together a very eclectic group of influential players from The Life of Crime and Brescia Online for this beta, and we’re all really looking forward to seeing what you make of this new game world.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Probably a mess, if we’re being honest.” She rolled her eyes slightly. “You guys saw what I did with Illusion, right?”

  He grinned. “What can we say, you’re a force of nature. We want you to play our games.”

  She took a deep breath and sighed. “Yeah yeah, I’ll play.” She glanced around at their surroundings, blinking in recognition. “Car. Stop. One passenger disembarking.”

  The driverless car pulled over and parked at a nearby curb, allowing the company man to leave. He took it in stride, apparently having been briefed on Kitty’s quirks. She went through the video again, a bored expression on her face before an incoming call interrupted her reverie. Seeing the face of her lawyer, Kitty groaned and swiped to answer.

  “Yes, I’m prepped and ready, no I don’t want to go over everything again.” She stared out the window, watching downtown Boston crawl by as the car moved into traffic again.

  “Catherine, this is the United States Senate national security oversight committee. I’m concerned that you’re not taking this seriously.” Her lawyer always managed to have a small whinge to his voice that Kitty hated, as much as she enjoyed the luxury of his elite services. “It’s a small miracle I’ve managed to keep you out of custody as is.”

  “Ooo, they sound mean,” Kitty quipped. Her voice dripped with boredom.

  “Yes.” He missed it entirely. “and they are the very definition of serious. You WILL be there at nine am tomorrow, yes?”

  “UGH! I’ve already told you yes, I’m on my way to the train station right now. I’ve even got a nice formal outfit packed and ready.” She swiped up her favored shopping app and began browsing through some business formal outfits, picking one and having it shipped to the hotel she planned to stay at that night.

  “Okay, excellent. I’m glad you’re appropriately prepared. I cannot overstate how important this is.” He was back to being calm and steady, his measured approach. “And please do something professional with your hair.”

  “Have I told you yet how bored I am?” She yawned slightly into one hand.

  “Catherine, please. Just be on your best behavior tomorrow.” He suddenly went silent, with no ambient noise on the other end, indicating he had muted himself briefly before coming back. “I have to run Catherine, but I will be there beside you tomorrow, rest assured.”

  “Oh ok good, I thought I paid you to not show up.” Kitty glanced at her active GPS, showing the route to the train station and her progress towards it.

  “Right, right, good. I’ll see you tomorrow Catherine, you have a good night.” He sounded about to end the call, clearly not listening to her any longer.

  “Hang on, one more thing. I’ll make it fast.” She waited for him to wake up again. “BlackLight got in touch and they’d like me to play a beta for their new game. Can you go over the NDA for me real quick?”

  “Oh of course.” They waited while she transferred the file, and he made his customary humming noises as he skimmed it. “There’s a proprietary information clause here I can’t access without talking to their lawyers, which I will do, but based on everything I can see here you should be able to sign this without any issues. Of course, you won’t be able to monetize any part of your experience, but I doubt you care about that much. I’ll dig into it a little more and see what I can find for you, but for now go ahead.” He paused for a moment. “If that’s all?”

  “Of course, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Kitty said. That ended the call and Kitty flopped back against her seat.

  She sighed in relief, and then smiled a few moments later when her car pulled up to the curb in front of the train station. Kitty checked the departures board and headed for a ticket kiosk. The train she boarded was an express underground maglev, and she purchased a luxury upgrade for the half hour ride to Washington D.C. Her private cabin was small without being cramped, and exceedingly comfortable, with a stocked courtesy bar and fridge.

  Kitty never worried about money. One of the benefits of having developed a proprietary sonic shielding system at a young age was a bottomless bank account. Militaries and police forces across the world utilized her protective designs, and pressed her for upgrades and improvements, all coming with hefty price tags of course. Having graduated college at the age of fourteen, she was courted by several prestigious institutes of higher learning. The word prodigy kept being thrown around at her, and people often made a big deal of expressing amazement at her test scores. Not many of them expressed amazement once they got to know her though.

  Her staring into the fridge was interrupted by the train’s departure warning, a flashing sign that told her to take her seat. A series of electromagnetic rails embedded in the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel activated, drawing the cylindrical bullet-train up to hover in their center. It began gently, but Kitty felt the acceleration pressing her into her seat as the train picked up momentum to its cruising speed of roughly seven hundred miles per hour. She swiped up her invite to Blacklights newest game again, deciding to read through some of the details while she munched on a sandwich from the fridge.

  Deadeye, as the game was titled, was described as an extreme immersion experience by the promo material. It warned of a harsh and unforgiving world, with ‘near realism’ injury and survival systems in place to ensure constant challenge and immersion. A Permanent Perk system was in place of any levels or skills. Performing certain tasks or completing certain quests would reward players with permanent perks that offered powerful increases to their account, which would remain after character death. She skimmed over a line that talked about mysterious, mystical, and monstrous class unlocks, as it was more poetry than information. Character death was taken seriously, dropping all items and money carried, and removing that character from the game without any method of retrieval.

  “Hmmm.” Kitty mused at the appeal, wondering if it would actually be fun to play. An individual story system ensured that no two playthroughs would be the same, though the file mentioned that it could be ignored without penalty if the player wanted to make their own fun. The simulated pain was set to a high potential threshold, and a player’s body parts would cease to function correctly if critically injured. Aim, walking speed, even vision could be affected. Simple hunger and thirst systems were in place as well, and healing was vaguely referred to as ‘difficult.’

  A chime broke through her concentration, indicating the end of her short voyage, so she swiped the info file closed and peered out the window in time to see Union Station filling the formerly dark viewing ports. Her controlled deceleration completed and she exited her private cabin to join the throngs of people disembarking. Kitty stopped in the middle of the walkway to look around, appreciating the crush of humanity going about their days. Wearing a tiny smile, she moved into the upper atrium in the middle of a group of travelers. A man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses stood waiting at the top of an escalator, a sign with her last name on it. She approached him, still smiling.

  “Huh.” The man was a walking stereotype, barely fitting in his suit with a strict looking salt and pepper crew cut. He appeared to be in his early fifties and dripped government.

  “What are you grunting at, you ape?” She narrowed her eyes at the man.

  “Well, that’s more like it I suppose.” He shook his head and started moving away, casting a hand over his shoulder to beckon her follow. “I was warned that you’re difficult and often unpleasant, but when I saw you coming up the escalator there, you had this peaceful smile on your face.”

  “I was happy until I saw you,” Kitty snapped. She gave him a quick once over as he turned to glare at her. “Your presence offends me.”

  “And why is that exactly?” He started to sound bored, a tactic meant to dissuade her from being hostile no doubt.

  “I rebel at the presumption of those who sent you.” Kitty continued following him, but her mind was suddenly vivid with violent fantasies. “And your own culpability in their machinations makes you a figure I’m likely to mistrust.”

  Moving through a bank of doors, he stood to the side and held it open for her. “I’m just here for your protection ma’am.”

  “Whatever ding dong, just try not to throw any poo at me.” Stepping out of her path, she slammed her shoulder into his on her way by, smirking as he flinched back from her.

  After a short car ride, she arrived at the Watergate hotel and checked into one of their penthouse suites. Her apparently government-appointed bodyguard insisted on clearing the room before allowing her to enter, much to her annoyance. He began telling her something after pronouncing the room clear of threats, but she shut the door in his face and locked it, activating the privacy features of the suite. No sound or light would enter from the outside, and all calls were sent in text form. She got one such text from her new bodyguard, which she summarily ignored as she moved to the plug in couch.

  Trying not to think about the plug as she clicked it home in the side of her skull, Kitty swiped up the net and dove in. She had heavily customized her home page, so as she logged in the sensation of falling filled her senses. Air rushed past her ears and whipped her hair around as a happy thrill grew in her chest. Her menus and shortcuts fell with her in an endless tunnel filled with soft light, moving up and down around her in a semicircle. Swiping her new file up, Kitty activated the beta key attached to it and logged in to Deadeye.