Vicky had gone into a trance like state, where she was relieving her past memories. She saw how her family died in the house fire. Ever since then Vicky's brother, Leo was taking care of her. The house fire was a freak accident, and no one knew what exactly happened. Vicky's brother suspected foul play, as Vicky's parents worked for the company that created the game pods.
The next thing Vicky saw was when Leo died. She was helpless as she was also injured in the crash before Captain Daze shot him. They had been in pursuit for a while, and Leo drove over a spikes-strip at a road block, which caused Leo to lose control of the car. All this flashed within a few minutes, just as though she was watching a video on fast forward.
Vicky's vision started darkening, and she found herself in a dark space.
"Hello?" Vicky said. Only to be greeted by the echo of her voice. Vicky started walking, the lack of visibility gave her the impression that she walking in the same place.
"Vicky!" Vicky heard Leo's voice say.
"Leo!" Vicky said, and searched frantically.
"Vicky!" Leo said standing in front of her. "We're dead because of you," he said. Vicky stood staring at Leo, who was then accompanied by their parents.
"You did this to us! You killed us," the three of them said looking at Vicky. A bullet hole appeared on Leo's head, and their parents had burnt marks on them.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know what to do. I tried to help," Vicky said, with tears in her eyes.
"You tried to help? You just waited until I was shot. You didn't even move," Leo said.
"You didn't even wake us up after you found the fire in the kitchen," Vicky's mother said.
"I thought you cared about us," Vicky's father said.
"I do… I do care about you guys," Vicky said falling on her knees. The words from her family were more painful than any weapon that can penetrate the skin. Vicky felt so useless.
"You are useless," her family said, as they disappeared.
"No wait!" Vicky said looking at them, and running towards where they were.
Meanwhile, Mia was trying to wake Vicky up from her cell.
"Vicky! Vicky! Wake up!" Mia kept whispering, to not be heard by the prison guards. "Vicky! Hey! Wake up! What are you doing?! Wake up!" Mia kept whispering.
In the dark Vicky could hear Mia's voice, it was audible, but hard to understand. "Mia," Vicky said looking around in the dark. Mia's voice started getting louder and louder.
"Vicky! Wake up!" Vicky heard her best friend say.
"Mia!" Vicky said, as she suddenly opened her eyes in the cell.
"Vicky! Vicky! Oh thank goodness your awake," Mia said, looking at Vicky.
"Where are we?" Vicky asked, still flustered by her dream.
"We're in a cell. We need to get out. The commander used her special ability on you. She can torture people by getting into their heads," Mia said.
"Is that how you told her everything?" Vicky asked.
"The thing is, I didn't tell her anything. She got into my head. I thought I was living a normal life. Turns out I was in a trance," Mia replied.
"Oh! And you told her everything?" Vicky asked.
"Yes," Mia replied.
"We need to get out of here before she finds out more about us," Vicky said, getting up from the ground, and leaning on the wall.
"Special abilities don't work here. They have a jammer around the base," Mia said.
"This is a base? Not a prison?" Vicky asked.
"No. It is a base, with a prison too," Mia said, and continued, "You don't seem too crazed out by whatever dream you had, while the commander was in your head."
"Not the first time I've seen a dream like that," Vicky said.
"Oh so you're hard to break now?" Mia asked.
"We'll catch up later. For now, focus on getting out of here," Vicky said.
"Fair enough. I noticed that the guards do rounds every thirty minutes. The vents are too small for us to fit in, and we can't flush ourselves down the toilet," Mia said.
"Flush ourselves down the toilet? What are you talking about?" Vicky asked raising an eyebrow.
"Could you guys keep it down? Person trying to sleep here," another prisoner said.
"Could you stop talking? My best friend and I are having a conversation here," Mia whispered angrily.
"I could get you two out of here, if you want," the prisoner said. Neither Vicky nor Mia could see the prisoner, as he was further away from them.
"How?" Vicky whispered.
"Ever heard of a level hundred player?" the prisoner asked.
"The only level hundred player was Manic," Vicky said.
"And he's dead," Mia added.
"What if he wasn't?" the prisoner asked.
"We are not playing a game of 'What if?' right now," Mia whispered.
"Do you want to get out or not?" the prisoner asked.
"We want to get out," Vicky said.
"Dude! How do we even know if we can trust this guy?" Mia asked looking at Vicky.
"We don't," Vicky said.
"What if he stabs us in the back, after we get out? Or what if he's one of them and wants to find where our safe house is?" Mia said.
"Our safe house is already compromised," Vicky said.
"I don't trust him," Mia said.
"You do know that I can still hear you guys, right?" the prisoner asked.
"Well then plug your ears with your fingers or something," Mia replied. Vicky smirked.
"Do you want to get out or not?" the prisoner asked.
"What's your plan?" Vicky asked.
"Well! Break out of here. Kill the guards. Rescue ourselves," the prisoner replied.
"That's very detailed," Mia grumbled.
"Is she always this grumpy?" the prisoner asked.
"I wouldn't call her grumpy, just a little… savage," Vicky said.
The door to the cells opened, Vicky, Mia, and the other prisoner ceased communicating with each other. Captain Daze walked in, and closed the door. He walked to the force-field panel on the wall, and switched it off.
"We got a problem," Captain Daze said looking at Vicky.
"What?" Vicky asked. An alarm went off, and the lights flashed red.
"That!" Captain Daze said, and gave Vicky and Mia their weapons.
"What's going on?" the other prisoner said walking out of his cell.
"Manic. So you really are him," Mia said looking at the prisoner, not surprised at all.
"We're getting out of here," Vicky said. A few prison guards ran into the room with their weapons out, ready to shoot. Manic just walked to cover. Vicky took her pistols, and shot at the guards, while evading the bullets shot at her. Mia and Captain Daze both hid behind cover. Vicky was not worried about getting shot, and so was out in the open. After defeating the prison guards, Vicky's head-up display popped up.
"Levelled Up," a female voice said, as Vicky reached level 80. A black gauntlet appeared on Vicky's left wrist.
"Whoa!" Mia exclaimed.
"Looks like you got your special ability, Icicle," Manic said walking towards the group. Everyone stood looking at Vicky.