Renewal

  HERO CITY

  R e n e w a l

  David DeRuvo

  Copyright © 2020 by David DeRuvo

  All rights reserved.

  For my Family and Friends,

  Thanks for always pushing me and supporting me to write.

  For Hannah,

  For being the coolest wife and letting me dream.

  …and for the Brothers and Sisters

  who joined me in Paragon City.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Epilogue

  It is in games that many men discover their paradise.

  - Robert Wilson Lynd

  Chapter 1

  “Dad,” a distant voice droned. “Dad!” the voice continued. “Dad, snap out of it!” Suddenly pulled from the distant world that his mind had wandered to, Bob found his son, Tommy, standing next to him.

  “Oh, sorry son.” Bob smiled wistfully. He sat at his desk, staring at the small medal he held between his fingers.

  “It’s alright,” Tommy chuckled lightly. “Just don’t let yourself get too lost.”

  Tommy dumped himself into the chair next to the desk and faced his father. Tommy very much resembled his dad. He had strong features that made one think of etched marble, his dark hair cut short to match his professional attire.

  “Still getting used to things, I suppose.” The ache of recent experiences was carved onto Bob’s face. His life had taken an unexpected turn six months prior, and Bob still found himself fairly discouraged about the outcome.

  “I know it’s been tough,” said Tommy, “but I still love you the same even if you are a national hero now.” Bob looked up at his son and smiled.

  “I appreciate that, Tommy.” He really did appreciate his son trying to help him through his existential mess. “You just visiting today?” He wondered why his son had randomly decided to see him.

  “Just wanted to check up on you. I was on this side of town for a business meeting,” Tommy said. “It’s your birthday soon, y’know, Dad.” Tommy smiled and tossed a pamphlet onto his father’s desk.

  “What’s this?” Bob thumbed randomly through the pamphlet, feigning interest.

  “I know it’s not exactly up your alley, but one of our subsidiary companies has just finished its development and testing of a new way to play video games. It’s known as ‘full immersion.’”

  Bob looked at his son, perplexed. “What does that mean?” The confusion on his face made Tommy chuckle.

  “Don’t worry about it too much now. There’s a new video game that is part of the gift and I’m confident you’ll really like it.”

  “If you say so, but you know I’m not very good at these video game things.”

  “Oh, I do. Just trust me on this.” Tommy got out of his chair and began to walk to the door. “I’ll call you when it’s delivered and help you get everything started, okay?”

  “Okay,” he said to his son. “Thanks for stopping by.” He heard the door close and looked back to the small medal in his hands. The blue ribbon draped down his fingers as the bright gold V reflected the light from his desk. This small Medal of Valor had cost him so much.

  Everyone now called him a hero, but he didn’t feel like one. He had managed to save many lives in the explosions that shook several city blocks, but what had it cost him? His legs, his livelihood, and maybe his sanity. Many more had died, and while Bob understood that he could not have saved them all, he still wished that he could have done more. But hero? No, he was simply doing his job to serve and to protect those he had sworn to. There wasn’t anything special about his actions; at least that’s how he thought about it.

  “You’d be telling me to get off my ass, wouldn’t you, Mary?” he thought out loud as he gazed over at the small picture of his family on his desk. His wife Mary had died a few years earlier to cancer, but the panic and shock of the aftermath of the explosion probably would have done her in too. She was an incredibly strong and inspiring woman, taken well before her time, yet you never heard her complain or worry. If Bob could label anyone a hero, it would have been Mary, for she truly had it in her.

  Putting the medal aside, Bob looked at his calendar. He would have to return to work soon, back to the force. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He knew everyone would be nice and understanding, but he also knew everything would be different. Previously working as a patrol officer, he knew that since he had now been saddled to a wheelchair, he would be stuck behind a desk until his retirement. He didn’t want that. He wanted to patrol the city, meet people, and to continue to serve and protect.

  Mary definitely would have told him to stop being so sad and to see it as a new challenge. Bob smiled fondly thinking about the verbal thrashing Mary probably would have given him. Even still, Bob was unsure about his future. He didn’t want to get bored, he didn’t want to be boring, and that’s the only outcome he saw. Everything was changing, and Bob was not a fan. As much as he wanted things to go back to normal, he knew they wouldn’t return to that.

  Bob looked at the clock that sat on his desk, sighed loudly, and rolled himself away from his desk in search of dinner, leaving the pamphlet for the new gaming device on his desk, already forgotten.

  ----------

  “Welcome back, Bob!” A modest party had been thrown to welcome him back to work and many of Bob’s coworkers stood around waiting to shake his hand. Bob had been worried about being the center of attention but relaxed and appreciated that the party wasn’t too eccentric or jovial; it was just enough.

  “We got you some plain ol’ vanilla cake, your favorite,” one of the older ladies who worked in the records department declared. Bob smiled and thanked her and eagerly took the piece that was handed to him. He knew that many people were genuinely glad to see him, but he wasn’t sure if he was glad to see them. Yes, they were his old coworkers and work buddies, but things would be different and he knew they all saw him differently now. He wasn’t just Officer Robert Kipp. Now he was a “hero” too, whatever that really meant.

  “Alright everyone,” a loud voice boomed. “I know everyone is very excited to have Bob back, but that doesn’t mean we can slack off. Let’s please get back to work.” The partygoers all complied and slowly began to shuffle off back to their desks. “It’s good to have you back, Bob.” Bob wheeled around and saw Captain Henry McDonough standing behind him. He was a tall, well-aged man who seethed discipline and rigidity.

  “Ah, thank you Captain. It’s, uh…good to be back,” he said as his voice trailed off. The Captain noticed his reserved mood.

  “Don’t worry, Bob. I do recall that you’re not a huge fan of change. Your desk is where you left it, the way you left it.” A small smile emerged from Bob’s face at this news.

  “Thanks, Cap.”

  “Of course.” The Captain smiled. “You may find yourself behind your desk more often now, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be any less useful. You’ve got a mind full of experience and I plan to utilize that as much as possible.” The Captain shook Bob’s hand and walked back to
his office.

  Bob decided to go find his desk and get it set up for the coming days. It felt weird rolling up to the desk instead of sitting down at it, but it was exactly the way he had left it, aside from the small stack of envelopes on his keyboard. A small note was stuck to the top of the stack. These are some letters from fans, but mostly from the families you helped during the explosion. I hope they help you. – C. It looked like his old partner had left them for him. His old partner, Catherine Mobley, had been reassigned. Barring his change in position, he was still happy to see the note from her.

  Bob spent the next few hours reading the letters and writing letters of his own in response. Reading all the letters opened his eyes to the fact that he really had helped these people. Many of them thanked him and told him about the family they were still able to be with. Some of them even told him they would name children after him. One letter in particular really hit home with him. It was from a small girl named Lacey, whom he had personally carried out of danger. She had lost everything, her home, her pets, and even one of her parents, but her letter was still bright and full of hope.

  Dear Officer Bob,

  Hello Officer Bob. My name is Lacey. I do not know if you remember me, but you saved me after our building started to fall over. I know that you got hurt carrying me away from the danger and I’m very thankful you saved me. I’m very sorry that you got hurt and I hope things are okay.

  My Mommy and my dog Jack did not make it when all of the craziness happened and that does make me sad a lot. But I’m still thankful that I still have my Daddy and I know he’s happy I’m still here too. I know he hurts sometimes because my Mommy is not around anymore, just like me. But we both do our best to think about the good things now since we have what he calls a second chance.

  I like to look at it that way too. We both have a second chance because of you. I want to do something important when I grow up. Maybe I’ll become a police officer like you or maybe a scientist or something. It’s something like an adventure in a book, and it's exciting in a way.

  I hope that you too don’t waste this second chance and know that me and my Daddy are always thinking about you and praying for you too.

  Thank you always. Love,

  Lacey

  Bob wrote his response to Lacey, thanking her for her kind words and her letter and telling her that he would always take what she said to heart. Bob decided to keep this letter from Lacey on his desk at all times as a reminder of the good he had done, and like her, he decided he would do what he could with this new chapter in his life.

  Chapter 2

  “So, you got it?” Tommy asked his father over the phone.

  “Yeah…I think so,” Bob replied as he hefted the box onto his desk from his lap. His birthday gift from his son had arrived, and Bob had completely forgotten about it since resuming his life back at the precinct. Cutting open the package, Bob was presented with a small black box and a small visor-like object.

  “Alright, so the small black box is actually the main processing unit. Imagine the computer tower part of a computer; that is essentially what it is,” Tommy continued over the phone. “The other item is the immersion headset, kind of like the monitor portion of the computer.”

  “Huh,” said Bob, unsure of what to do with his gift.

  “Plug the black box into the wall, then plug the headset into the box. Everything else will do what it’s supposed to.” Tommy's voice was getting more and more excited.

  “Right, then what?” Bob asked, still confused.

  “You’re going to want to lie on your bed, put the headset on, then say ‘Log on,’” responded Tommy.

  “And that will take me to the video game you bought me?” Bob inquired.

  “Sure will,” replied Tommy, and Bob could actually hear him smiling over the phone. “I’ll call you from inside the game in a few minutes. Give it a whirl!”

  Bob really wasn’t interested but decided to humor his son, who had spent God-knows-what on this piece of equipment. When the call ended, Bob followed Tommy’s instructions and then hoisted himself into his bed. It took him a few moments to get the visor on his head correctly and figure out that the glass portion of the visor sat over his eyes like glasses.

  “Well…here goes nothing,” Bob said aloud, then deliberately stated, “Log on,” and the world suddenly shifted, then went dark.

  ----------

  Various beeping sounds could be heard, then light slowly grew and Bob could see again. Things soon became almost too bright, and Bob had to cover his eyes with his hands. His hands…where was he? He wasn’t lying on his bed any longer. He seemed to be standing in an endless white expanse. He was standing?! He looked down and saw legs. He assumed they were legs, though they looked like mannequin limbs. Upon closer inspection, he found that his arms matched the design of his legs. He tried taking a step and the legs moved. Was he walking again? What was this?

  “Call from…Thomas,” a mechanical female voice declared, startling Bob. How did he answer the call? The female voice repeated herself.

  “Uh…answer?” Bob said, unsure of himself.

  “Hey, Dad!” Tommy’s face suddenly appeared in front of Bob’s head, floating in a box, which also startled him.

  “What is this, Tommy?” Bob continued to look around, confused.

  “This is the main lobby. Imagine your home screen on your computer.”

  “But there’s nothing here,” Bob said, exasperated.

  “Well, it’s a brand new system! Everything is still loading, but frankly, there’s not much to begin with anyway.”

  “Okay…well, what do I do?”

  “You’re going to want to load the game that’s already on the system.”

  “How do I do that?” Bob was starting to get used to the sensation of this weird new system.

  “You’re going to say, ‘Load Program: Hero City.’”

  “Hero City?” Bob asked incredulously.

  “Yeah, it’s a brand new VRMMORPG.” Bob stared blankly at Tommy’s face in response. His bodily features were slowly being loaded onto his avatar. “It’s a Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game,” Tommy continued. “It’s a fully immersive video game, where you get to play with a ton of other people.”

  “Oh, I see.” Bob looked back at his legs. “And…I get to play like this?” Tommy smiled wide in response.

  “Yes, the visor takes your nerve signals and sends them to the computer system instead of your body. Even though your real body can’t utilize the signals to your legs, this system can translate them to your avatar.”

  “Oh my,” Bob said in reply as tears began to form on his avatar’s face. Adjusting to a wheelchair had been a difficult transition for Bob, having previously been able to walk everywhere he needed within the city; being wheelchair bound had made things…different. Even the mundane activities like showering, getting ready for bed, or even making himself a meal had proven to be somewhat challenging to get used to. As much as he tried to look at it as a new challenge to overcome, the emotional toll definitely got to him many times and there were several occasions where he broke down and wept.

  “This was one of the main reasons I wanted to get this system for you. Even though you may not be able to walk in the real world, you can escape here to this virtual world and continue to walk, run, leap or even fly!”

  “Wow,” Bob managed to get out between sobs. “Thank you so much, son. This means so much.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” Tommy said sincerely. “But this is only one part of the gift. Load the game!”

  “Load program: Hero City,” Bob declared, complying with his son’s request. A small terminal slowly erupted from the ground in front of Bob. The front face presented a small keyboard and screen.

  “You’re going to create a username. This will allow you to log in. It won’t necessarily be your character’s name, though,” Tommy continued while Bob walked up to the terminal. The screen presented him with a bold l
ogo that read “Hero City” with an area to enter his own information under it. “Now before you jump in,” Tommy continued, “to access the logout menu, all you have to do is say ‘menu.’ Then a small menu will appear that you can interact with through your fingers.”

  “Thanks for that,” Bob replied.

  “I’m not sure what will happen when you enter the game, but from what I’ve heard it should be quite a bit of fun.” Tommy smiled at his dad. “If you need to get ahold of me, just say ‘Call Thomas’ and I’ll get the call anywhere, alright?”

  “Thanks again, son. This really means a lot to me.”

  “No worries. Have fun!” Tommy smiled, then his face disappeared as the call disconnected.

  “Here we go,” Bob declared to himself. He finished creating an account and then selected the “Login” option on the screen. Like a dream, Bob now found himself in a small room with a desk, a computer and a chair. Following his instincts, Bob sat in front of the computer and was presented with a prompt.

  Hello, New Hero.

  Before we begin your adventure in Hero City, we must create your avatar. There are two main options for doing this. The first option is typically the easiest option and good for new players, as you can select a pre-generated ability to play with. This limits growth and flexibility but does allow new players to acquaint themselves with the new system more easily.

  The second option is the more traditional option and allows you to build your character as you please as your adventure progresses. This form of playing is a bit more unforgiving to new players, but if you can manage it, we really do suggest this option.

  Make your Choice:

  Option 1

  Option 2

  Bob considered this for a moment and decided he wanted to experience this game the way it was meant to be played and selected Option 2.