Captive (Polybius x Reader)

New Game

It was a breezy autumn day in Portland, OR, in 1981, and 16 year old YN LN slumped miserably out of school at around 3 PM. The HC girl sighed and hitched her heavy backpack a little higher up on her shoulders, knowing she'd have a pile of crap to study for the test tomorrow. But that could wait. There were more important matters at hand...and that was the fact that the Sparkade, an arcade a few blocks from the high school, had announced a while back that new games would be available today. YN's pace quickened a little as she headed away from the bus stop and towards the game center, not caring what her parents would say to her when they found out she hadn't come home immediately to do homework. She didn't have a game system of her own at home, and had to admit she was a little jealous of the kids at school who went on and on about theirs. But the arcade was more than enough...as long as she had enough quarters saved up from her allowance.

The teen swung the glass door open and blinked at the flashing lights that greeted her upon entering. She smiled, because the games here were sort of like friends to her. At school YN was a loner, and even though some kids were friendly enough she just preferred to be alone. Books and games were all she needed to feel satisfied with life outside of the drudgery of high school. YN took a few to walk around and decide how she'd use the few coins she had. Lots of kids she recognized from school were here, busy playing games they liked. Some crowded around the three or so newer games that had been set up. YN somewhat doubted she'd get a chance to try them given their immediate popularity. One of them stuck out to her: a sleek, black cabinet with bright, icy blue words on top reading "POLYBIUS". The screen's demo animation was simply an electric blue colored spiral that swirled over and over...YN realized she'd spent over a minute just standing there, watching how it moved. A boy named Ryan she recognized from homeroom walked up to it and slipped a coin into its slot, beginning the game. A small crowd of his friends had gathered to watch, and YN decided to observe from a distance in case Polybius was a game worth checking out herself.

(Polybius POV)

  Hah.

This kid thinks he can take me? Bring it on...

LEVEL 1. START.

The machine watched coolly as the teenage boy...tough looking kid, probably did sports...hit the fire button repeatedly on the console interface, maneuvering the small ship to hit the geometric targets as fast as possible. The other boys around him encouraged him loudly, and Polybius's internal mechanisms sparked irritably. Damn teenagers...

Ryan ended up losing all his lives just before getting through the first level. The boy smacked the console and let out a frustrated grunt. "Too bad, man. It's my turn," a guy behind him spoke up. "No, dude, I wanna play again..." A girl, probably Ryan's girlfriend, hurried over and dragged him off by the wrist somewhere else, but he kept looking back at Polybius as though he wanted nothing more than to beat the level. Polybius smirked. His first player, and already everything was going according to plan. He'd collected data on the jock, and he was hungry for more...good thing he had several ready and willing test subjects at his disposal. The sentient arcade game scanned around the outside of his cabinet, surveying the cluster of children as far as he could see. They were all glaze-eyed, scrubby looking high school kids, easy fodder for the experiment Polybius had been created for. Somehow though, one in particular caught his eye. Or screen, whichever you prefer. A teenage girl with HC hair and a FC backpack lingered at the very edge of the group, examining his screen with a curious stare. Like she was trying to figure it out.

She seemed intelligent, almost as though she'd be a challenge to break...not to mention she had very pretty features. I wonder why I even care how a human looks, Polybius wondered to himself, his fans humming inside of him as he felt himself becoming hotter. "Move it, geekface," a boy growled roughly, pushing past her and sliding a quarter in Polybius's coin slot. The young girl simply glowered fiercely at him, but said nothing. "Interesting..." the machine murmured, her EC eyes transfixing him.  "Crap, I lost." sighed the boy playing the game after a minute. He spun around to face his friend standing next to him. "Did you say something to mess me up?!" "Uh, no," the reply came from the boy next to him. He glared at the other teen suspiciously for a moment longer before rolling his eyes and saying, "Whatever. This game friggin' sucks." The two headed off to play another game, leaving Polybius alone...with her.