“Calm down, CJ, calm down!” I shouted. CJ was losing his shit right now. He was spinning around, trying to figure out exactly how he got on a spaceship and why I was there.

  “CJ!” I shouted, “calm your tits, bro!”

  “Where the fuck are we?!” CJ asked, literally pulling at what remained of his hair. He was sweating profusely, and his baggy grey t-shirt and khaki shorts were soaked. He had on a pair of dirt-stained white Crocs to go with them, and he was wearing an old Circle C Ranch trucker hat. He was my best friend in the world, and we had been through some shit over the last couple of years, and this wasn’t the way I wanted to bring him into all of this.

  “CJ, how long has it been since you saw me?” I asked.

  “What do you mean, bro? We were standing near the orb when it started acting super weird. You touched it, and then it zapped away,” he said as he started to calm down.

  “As soon as you went through, a bunch of, like, portals or something opened around the orb. Some giant lizard-headed alien things appeared all around it. I started to run, and then I just showed up here. It has literally been like 30 seconds since I saw you last,” he said. “Andy, where exactly are we?” he asked nervously.

  “It’s a long story, but I’ll try to fill you in. To start, it’s been about ten hours for me, and I’ve been through some crazy shit,” I shrugged. I took a few minutes to sit down and catch CJ up on everything that had happened. His eyes were wide with excitement the entire time as he listened intently, never stopping me once.

  When I got to my interface and stats, he perked up. CJ was a big gamer before the drop and loved this sort of scenario. “So, in summary, we are in a space dungeon, and it’s up to us to try and stop the end of the world,” I shrugged.

  “So, you have an interface and a cool class? Where is my interface?” CJ asked.

  “And this is where the curse comes in,” Tiff said. She had been watching from a corner of the room until I got CJ to calm down.

  CJ had noticed her as she walked toward us; I can’t blame him. It was hard not to. “Hey there, pretty lady,” CJ said, lifting his hat and nervously smoothing what was left of his hair. He held out his hand toward Tiff, “I’m CJ; nice to meet a friend, any friend of Andy’s,”

  As Tiff shook his hand a small, she sent a small jolt of electricity through her hand.

  “Ouch, shit! what was that for?” CJ said, shaking his hand after the shock

  Tiff turned to look at me, “He won’t be given an interface or stat increases,” Tiff said before turning back to inspect CJ. “He is just a normal, everyday human. I’m not sure what value he can bring,” she said plainly.

  “Hey, I can bring value!” CJ said in an offended tone.

  “If he dies, you lose the gear, so it’s best if he stays on the ship. Maybe Elvis can find something useful for him to do,” Tiff said while looking at CJ with a bit of disdain.

  “Look, man, there is a lot of dangerous crazy stuff out here; I don’t even know the half of it. I have a ship, and we’re about to start figuring out what to do next. You can find a cabin and settle in until we find out how you can help, but I can’t let you leave the ship for now. There is nowhere for you to go anyhow. We’re in an alternate dimension,” I explained to CJ.

  “I get it, I get it,” he shrugged. I’m just happy to have gotten away from those crazy lizard men. I’m sure I can help you guys. Andy, you know I can be useful. If you are going to fight, I can help. Tell Lightning Bug there that I can be useful.

  “First, if you call me the lightning bug again, I will repeatedly introduce your face to the deck until your ability to form words is gone. Second, those were the Lacertines,” Tiff said, “I imagine they sent an advanced team to prepare for The Reaping. They will begin to move into populated areas and cull the population. They are assuming they will easily come out on top of this whole thing. Luckily, the time dilation will mean things move very slowly back on Earth.” She looked at CJ and me, “It’s possible you two could be here for years, but I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about Earth for now.”

  “Hey, easy now. No reason for threats; I’m sure you will like me once you get to know me.” CJ said, raising his hands defensively.

  “This is your curse, Andrew. I expect that you will keep him occupied,” Tiff said.

  “CJ is my best friend, Tiff. If things are going to get as crazy as you say, I’ll need all the friends I can get,” I said.

  “Yeah!” CJ said from behind me.

  After getting CJ up to speed and discussing some of the finer points of my current predicament, we moved on to the task at hand: gear.

  As I approached the Havok Bringer Battle Armor, the platform spun so that the front of the armor faced me.

  “This is sweet,” I said, walking around the armor and inspecting it.

  “Captain can equip armor whenever ready,” Elvis said.

  “What was that?” CJ asked, turning to look in different directions to see where the voice came from.

  “Oh yeah, that’s Elvis. He is the ship AI.” I replied.

  “You NUB!” Elvis said to CJ.

  “Hey, what the fuck?!” CJ responded.

  “It’s a naval term,” I sighed and said to CJ, “it means Non-Useful Body. Don’t worry he will get used to you.”

  “Elvis, you need to make sure you get CJ up to speed so he can help with things around here. He is a smart guy, and he will be super useful,” I said, looking up.

  “Captain says do it, Elvis will do it,” Elvis replied.

  “How do I equip it?” I asked, running my hand across the chest of the armor.

  “It’s probably Nanotech,” Tiff replied. “Once you touch it and confirm that you would like to equip it, it should genetically bond. You won’t have to take it on and off. It will have a neural response system and will alter your physiology on the molecular level. It’s hard to explain; you will just have to do it.”

  “Well, things can’t get any weirder, so why not?” I said as I reached up to touch the battle suit. A message popped up on my interface:

  Equip Havok Bringer Armor?

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  Yes/No

  As soon as I selected Yes, the suit disintegrated into a cloud of black powder. It covered the entirety of my body as well as entering my eyes, nose, and mouth. I realized I was absorbing the entire suit. The black substance consumed me as I screamed in pain and fell to my knees.

  “It’s killing him!” CJ shouted as he ran toward me. “We gotta stop it!”

  “It has to complete the initiation process!” Tiff warned, grabbing CJ by the shoulder to prevent him from interfering. We couldn’t stop it now if we wanted to; we just have to let it happen.”

  I was now in the fetal position; I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t even scream as the nanotech molecules of the suit entered my lungs. It was an intense, seemingly never-ending pain. I tried to reach for anyone to make the pain stop, but it was all too much, and as I spasmed on the floor in pain, I passed out.

  A couple of minutes later, I woke up. The first thing I did was check my interface. My health was still maxed out, but something looked different. The health gauge in the HUD now had a green outline around it.

  “Ugh,” I groaned as I rolled up onto my knees, “that sucked.” The process of absorbing the nanotech molecules was unbelievably painful. Curiously, I saw no change in my appearance once it was done. I was still wearing my uniform; the only difference was that now it was covered in sweat.

  “Bro! Are you okay? I think you pissed yourself” CJ whispered, kneeling beside me and placing a hand on my back.

  “Yeah, I’m good. No lasting damage, I think,” I replied, trying to shake the fuzz from my head. “Hey, Tiff, I need to go take a quick shower. That took a lot out of me, and I sweated through my uniform.” I said, shuffling CJ in front of me to try and cover my piss-stained uniform.

  Tiff sighed in frustration. “I can see that you obviously lost control of your bodily functions, Andrew. It is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact that you came through that process without any sort of lasting damage is honestly incredible.

  “Yeah, it’s not like you shit yourself, bro!” CJ said, way too excited.” You didn’t shit yourself, did you?”

  I paused a second, just to verify, “No, CJ,” I said through gritted teeth, “I did not shit myself. I am going to take a shower and change into a clean uniform. I will be back in 15 minutes.”

  “Elvis, please monitor Captain Andrew’s vitals until he returns,” Tiff looked at me, “Just to be safe.”

  A few minutes later, I was back in the armory with a clean uniform and most of my self-respect. “Hey Tiff, we haven’t discussed it yet, but the little health meter that looks like a body has a green outline around it now. Do you have any idea what that is about?”

  “I think the green outline represents your battle suit status, sort of like a health bar for your suit,” she said.

  “Okay, that makes sense. Let me see if I can get any details,” I looked at my interface and focused on the green outline as a description popped up:

  Havok Bringer Status – 100% Combat Effective.

  “Cool, you were right. It shows me that the suit is 100% combat-effective. Now, how do I equip the suit?” I asked.

  “It should work like everything else. Focus on the suit. There may be a prompt on your interface, or it may just be a mental command,” she replied as she circled me, inspecting me for changes.

  I walked back to the pedestal the suit was originally on. Stepping onto the pedestal, I looked at CJ. “Give me some space,” I said, “I’m about to go Havok mode.”

  “Oh wow, is that supposed to be a tagline or something? That is just gross, you pitiful lame nerd, just gross,” CJ mocked gagging as I just stood there.

  “Hey, fuck you, man. I don’t know what you are supposed to say when you activate experimental battle armor! I just said the first thing that came to mind!”

  “I am afraid CJ is right. That felt…icky,” Tiff said, frowning.

  “Elvis disappointed too,” Elvis chimed in.

  Geez!” I said, raising my hands in frustration, “I will work on the tagline! What the hell! Let’s just get back to it”

  I focused on the suit; it was weird. I could feel it inside me—not in a particular place, but everywhere, all at once. As I focused, I heard a computerized voice in my head: “Havok Bringer activated.”

  The armor seeped from my pores like black sweat. Within a couple of seconds, it covered my entire body. It didn’t feel like I was wearing it; it felt like I was the armor. “Holy shit!” I said, laughing. My interface changed. Everything was outlined in red, and I now had targeting data on my screen. There were environmental readings, an altimeter, a speedometer, everything that an orbital drop assassin would need, I assumed.

  “Dude, you’re glowing!” CJ whooped, “You look badass!”

  I stepped over to one of the Havok Hound armor lockers, a stainless metal cabinet that had been buffed to a mirror shine. I took a minute to admire my new battle armor. The substrate of the suit was some sort of flexible black material that allowed me to move with ease. The reinforced armor sections covering my vital areas were orange with white highlights, and the chest piece was white. The suit was big but still very tactical. I guessed I was standing nearly 7 feet tall now. The sections between the plates of armor covered my torso, arms, and legs, and the armor emanated with a lava-orange glow. The helmet had an onyx black full-face faceplate, and a small orange light strip lined the chin horizontally. I had some sort of pistol on my left leg in an enclosed holster. I turned side to side, trying to get a view of my back; I could feel something back there, like a booster pack or jet pack, for lack of a better term.

  “I do look badass!” I said as I looked at my hands, now fully encased in the armor.

  “Now, equip the daggers,” Tiff said, still circling me and taking stock of the armor.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about the daggers!” I said. I thought about the daggers, and they appeared in my hands. They were called daggers, but they seemed way too big to be called daggers. They were approximately two feet long, and the handle was a black sort of carbon fiber-like material. The blades were made of a material I didn’t recognize. It looked like some sort of obsidian rock, and instead of smooth, sharp blades, it looked like they had been made by chipping the material to an edge. The blade slightly curved to a very sharp point, and a black aura emanated from the blades, almost like a black flame. I could feel them pulsing lightly in my hands as I held them.

  “Those shouldn’t be here,” Tiff said, rushing to inspect the daggers. “Someone is gaming the system, and you are benefitting for now, but those should not be here.”

  I almost didn’t even hear her. I was amazed as I looked at my reflection. I could feel the power of this suit, I could feel the potential. It was not the most adult thing to do but I struck a quick pose.

  CJ patted me on the shoulder. “Easy, killer. Let’s not embarrass ourselves any more than we have to today.

  “That’s fair,” I said with a chuckle.

  I took a moment to inspect my new interface and noticed something. “Hey Tiff, the suit has a level, too. It’s Level 4, just like me. Does that mean that it will get stronger?” I asked.

  “Yes, the suit will level up with you. As I said, it’s genetically bound to you. There will be times when you may need to fight without the suit, and in those situations, your enhanced stats will be required. The extra power from your growth will also help you while you have the armor equipped. After all, you are still the same person under that armor, and while the suit does enhance speed and strength while activated, you will need every edge you can get in the upcoming fight.”

  “I can see that the suit’s bar is dropping,” I said. I noticed it had started to drop slowly, and it was at about 80% now.

  “That explains a lot,” Tiff said, “you’ve been in the armor for about a minute so, right now, at Level 4, it looks like you get about 5 minutes of use out of it. You need to make sure you use it only when you absolutely need it. I’m sure there is some sort of cool-down between uses. Later, we can go to the VCR room and test it out properly,” she said.

  “VCR room?” I asked, looking back and forth with CJ.

  “Yes, I saw it earlier down the hall from the armory. It stands for Virtual Combat Readiness Room. You can use it for sparring and testing your suit before live combat.”

  “Alright. I guess I’ll need to learn to fight properly,” I shrugged. I already felt more prepared for whatever we would be dealing with next.

  “How do I store the daggers?” I asked.

  “There are sheaths on your back; just put them in there, and they will be removed with the armor. You can also equip them and unequip them on command. You have a trans-dimensional storage feature that allows you to store non-sentient items as long as they are bound to you. Sorry, you can’t just store any random item you pick up,” she replied.

  With a quick mental command, the armor and daggers disappeared, but I could see a new menu on my interface that allowed me to inspect my inventory. Opening it up, I saw that the Black Hole Daggers were now in storage. “Hell yeah,” I said.

  “Okay, we need to let Elvis brief us on the next step of this dungeon. I assume we have coordinates to Level 1 and an idea of what to do next?” I asked.

  “Elvis have directions,” Elvis replied.

  “Good. Before we head to the dungeon, I think everyone should try to get some sleep. CJ, like I said before, we have several open cabins. You can pick any of them. Let’s all get some sleep, then we can meet in the galley for some food before we go to the bridge for briefing,” I said.

  With that, I headed back to my quarters. I needed sleep, a reset, and time to reflect on what I had been through in the last half-day. After that, it would be time to start thinking about how to deploy the Havok Bringer.