Chapter Text
Clint kinda liked being a test subject.
Okay, that came out wrong. That sounded like he was a lab rat, or one of those bunnies that companies claim they don’t test makeup on. No, it was much less sordid than that. He’d simply signed up at a little building that ran Market Research - offering sneak peeks to the general populace in exchange for their opinion. It was mostly food, which suited Clint just fine - he was happy to taste-test a few bowls of soup or the newest fast-food sandwich, answer a short questionnaire, and get paid twenty bucks for his time. Once there was a three-day test where he got paid $65 to eat a dozen candy bars - it was glorious.
Non-food surveys were more rare, but not unheard of. This time it was the newest thing in VR reality games, supposed to be a fully immersive experience (or, at least as much of one as possible with current technology). The game was brand new - still in testing, only open to selected people to try out in exchange for their honest feedback. Clint wasn’t sure he was the target audience for the game - from what he could tell from a glance at the website, their age ranges skewed much younger, but it was being advertised as an all-ages game so he figured that maybe they wanted to make sure it wasn’t too simple for adults to play.
Logging into the website with the credentials that he’d been emailed, he fastened on the special headset and gloves and powered up the game.
Clint opened his eyes.
He was in a large park of some kind, the occasional tree growing tall and strong. There were a few paths that branched out from where he was standing, and he could see a handful of people running all over the place. A soft but a jaunty melody played in the background, as well as generic “forest” sounds that complimented the illusionary world.
There was a weight on his back - slinging it off, he checked his equipment. It was shaped like a hard-shell backpack, with several dials that he wasn't sure yet how to read. Attached to the pack was what looked like a vacuum nozzle he could unhook and point around. He slung the pack back on, noticing that he was also wearing a watch on his wrist - it looked like some sort of communicator/information retrieval device. In addition to telling the time, it also had player-diagnostic settings and an inventory catalogue (which was empty, to Clint's disappointment but not surprise). He slipped into the settings to toggle off the background music, so he could concentrate as he got a feel for the place. He left the other sounds on, and glanced through the other settings before closing out the window. There were some character customization options, but he figured he’d mess with those later. Right now his avatar was a pretty generic “male” wearing a purple t-shirt and nondescript jeans.
Looking around again, Clint noticed a man standing oddly still at the point where the paths branched off, watching him. The man stood inside a small glowing circle and there was an exclamation mark floating over his head - obviously, this was where Clint was supposed to go next.
Clint jogged over to the man. He looked like a cyborg with one metal arm, and Clint wondered if there would be other science fiction elements in the game. His eyes seemed to stare right through Clint, and half of his face was hidden under a black mask. The moment Clint crossed the glowing circle, the man began to talk. "Hello, new Ghost Hunter!"
Clint grinned, "Hey back."
"I am Ghost Hunter Winter Soldier," the man said after the briefest pause. Obviously a non-playable character, but Clint wondered whether this NPC had different reactions based on what Clint said.
"Call me Clint. I'm from the service, they said you ordered a strip o'gram?" Clint said with a saucy wink.
There was no change from the NPC, he continued on as if Clint had said nothing. "Thank goodness you're here, we're in a real pickle! Ghosts have appeared all over the place and we need your help capturing them!" His voice was oddly light and perky for a dark, dangerous-looking cyborg - Clint made a mental note to suggest in his feedback that the game hire different voice actors. If he’d been designing it, GHWS’s voice would have been lower, grittier - a commanding voice, one used to giving orders and having them followed. A force to be reckoned with, who wouldn’t dare say something so asinine as “We’re in a real pickle!”. He supposed it was designed to be comical on purpose, to put the kids at ease, but he didn’t think it was too much to ask that the character’s mannerisms match the obvious time and care that went into the physical appearance and clothing design.
Clint let the NPC fill him in on the situation and walk him through how to use the devices that he had been assigned. The first quest, GHWS said, was to capture any two forest ghosts. Sure enough, a few yards away was a large brown owl hovering near a tree. Near it was two disembodied green heads with green hair and wings - Clint’s watch identified them as “Forest Fairies”. With a shrug, Clint strolled over to the floating figures and pointed the nozzle of his vacuum at them, aiming at one of the fairies and flicking the firing switch.
An expression of startlement crossed the disembodied face as it tried to float away, but was caught firmly in the stream of the vacuum. A health bar appeared above the ghost and Clint watched it tick down. When it hit zero, the fairy vanished in a puff of light, and a notification on his watch informed him that his backpack now held ten units of ectoplasm. A few moments later, the other fairy ghost was gone and the notification was up to 20. Where the second ghost had been, there was now a neon pink gem floating in the air - Clint reached out to touch it, but his fingertips phased right through it. Something registered, though, because the gem vanished and his watch pinged - the screen reported that five gems had been added to his balance. Clint returned to Bucky to report that the mission was complete, and was sent back to the spawn point to turn in the ectoplasm for ecto-coins, the other currency of the realm. A few quests later, and Clint had collected enough coins to upgrade his vacuum and pack - now he could vacuum ghosts faster, and hold more units of ectoplasm in his pack.
“Your next quest,” GHWS said mechanically, “Is to unbox a pet from crate one.”
A pet? Clint liked animals. He headed back to the shop at the spawn point, and a glowing screen manifested in the air in front of him. Scrolling past the vacuum and pack offerings he’d glanced at before, Clint scrolled down to the newest option that had appeared, “Pet Crates”. He clicked on the first one, and it showed a list of possibilities ranging from common to rare to godly pets, whatever that meant. There was no option to choose what kind of pet he wanted, it appeared to be random chance from an assortment of possibilities. With a shrug, Clint hit the button, and a few moments later a panel in the storefront slid open and ejected a large wooden crate.
Clint eyed the crate. It was almost as tall as his waist, with airholes in the top and an intriguing rustling sound coming from within. “Caution” and “Live Animal” stickers were slapped to the sides, and a red button on the top just said “Open”. Clint pressed the button, and the crate faded away to reveal an excited golden retriever, tail thumping on the ground as he looked up at Clint with a big doggy grin.
Gasping in delight, Clint crouched down and the dog immediately jumped on him, licking his face as Clint laughed and rubbed his fur. “Damn, I got a beauty like you on my first try? Am I lucky or what?” The dog perked up at that, and Clint scratched behind one ear. “You like that, boy? Are you Lucky? Gonna be my lucky charm?” Lucky barked, and Clint laughed again.
Yeah, this game was gonna be awesome.