The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror: a Ready Player One story

Chapter 5

A few days after the meeting with IOI, I asked them to email a digital copy of the contract. Tanner was hesitant at first, but I played dumb, saying that I just wanted to have it for filing purposes. When I read through it, I saw that what I had noticed during the meeting was correct, and that if at any point while searching for artifacts for IOI, I found any legitimate information regarding any of the keys, or find any of the keys in question, or the egg itself, my avatar instantly became property of IOI and I was to be compensated a meager $100,000. My guess was that the "instantly" part was to keep me from buying my way out of the contract and keeping the egg for myself.
There was also a section that talked about ways the contract could be violated, and what would happen if it was. And there were A LOT of ways. But if I was gonna be making at least a million dollars a month plus whatever I got for each artifact, so who was I to complain.

After the meeting it was really just business as usual though. I found an artifact the Sixers would buy about once every few days, and it just went like that for close to six months. I'd made enough to build a state of the art Oasis setup. The only part of my rig that most players would criticize was the fact that I didn't have a Haptic Chair. But seeing as the only exercise that I could get was by using a boot suit to track my movements, and my omnidirectional treadmill, I had keep myself from getting too fat to be able to run. I laughed to myself whenever I would think about it.

I was working a new quest that had been released just a few days earlier by this old company called Rocksteady. It was a few mission remakes from one of my favorite turn of the century games during the "console wars." Batman: Arkham Knight. I had finished the missions that came standard, and was awarded a bonus quest for having a perfect run in all of them. This meant that I completed the challenges in each mission, under the par time, and my hit counter didn't drop below the level that meant death in the original game.

The bonus mission was actually a story setup for a dlc (downloadable content) mission that could be purchased on the original game. I had played through it of course, and had always wondered about the setup for it. Now I was finally about to get my answer. Currently I was chasing a hooded figure across the rooftops. Instead of playing as batman though, I was my own avatar. I fired a few rounds at the figure, and managed to get his leg, slowing him down. Eventually I got close enough to cripple him. I ran up to him, laying there on that Gotham rooftop. I pushed him over with my foot, and I saw a cheap version of  the Black Mask staring back at me. He started to laugh, and reached for his gun. I kicked it out of his hand, and dropped my knee onto his wrist. I grabbed his  hand and held it tight. "Where's the facility black mask is using to move his cargo?" He kept laughing, and I snapped his wrist. He screamed, and said "Alright, its in the lower runoffs."
"Which shipping yard?" I yelled at him. "I don't know I swear."
"I'm gonna keep moving up your arm until you talk." I moved my grip to his wrist. "I really don't know, only the ones who work there and Black Mask know. You can follow one of the shipments there, but that's all I know," he cried. "Where do I find one of these shipment trucks?"
"I'll take it from here." A voice behind me said. I turned, still holding to the man's wrist. Standing on the other side of the rooftop, stood the red hood. "So I do all the dirty work and you take the credit for it?" I dropped the man's arm, and walked towards the hood. "You'll get your pay, don't worry about it. I know where some of Black Mask's trucks run through, I'll find it." He walked over to the other man and knelt down. "You sure you don't know anything else?"
"No that's all I swear." The Red Hood nodded and pulled his gun out. "Okay, that's fine man. You've been a big help." Then he shot the man. He stood up, and I saw he was holding a smoke bomb. He walked backwards, gave me a little salute, and held the bomb up. When it activated, there was a flash of bright red smoke, and then he was gone.

I waited a moment, and then I got a "Quest Completed," notification. I received my credits, and then in bonus category, I got a set of custom mark XIX desert eagles. I recognized them instantly. They were the same ones that the Arkham Knight, now Red Hood, used. I pulled them out of my inventory, and I took a moment to inspect them. I found what I was looking for. I activated the switches on both guns, and they both began to change. Different parts of each gun shifted so that they could be put together, making a sniper. I took a moment to fire a few test rounds, and the aim was perfect. I separated the gun back into pistols and checked how they worked on their own. Again, the aim couldn't have been better. I returned my currently equipped duel pistols to my inventory, and set my new ones into the now empty holsters.

Around a month ago I had reached level 60, which was when you got to decide if you want your avatar to be a split class or not. I of course had gone for the most common split class, warrior/mage. This gave me equally limited access to the abilities of both classes, which included access to spells that ranged from parlor tricks to those of a mid level wizard. And I could also handle up any weapon, but wouldn't be able to access any of the really good abilities.
I approached the area where I had landed, and looked around to make sure no one would see me. The DC planet had become pretty popular since this quest had been released. I climbed on top of the police station, and made my way to the helipad. Taking one last glance to be safe, I muttered an incantation and waved my hands through the air. Then, with a purple shimmer, Slave 1 appeared. I walked towards the bottom and tapped the device on my wrist, which remotely disabled the security measures, and opened the door. I went to the armory area, and hung up my armor. Then I put my old pistols up, cause I didn't think I'd be using them anymore.