Chapter 3 Pwned by the Tank

Gamer Vocab:

Ganked - attacked by many bad guys

Pwned - you get in a fight and lose...very badly

A.o. E.  -  Area of Effect, referes to how far an attack reaches

X.P. -  experience points

-50 bravery penalty - refering to stats as her own personality traits thus she is calling herself a coward.

perma died or perma death- refers to some games have a one death limit. There is no mulitple lives. Once your hit points are gone your character is gone...forever!

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              Maggie knew everyone is laughing at her. Some didn't try to hide their mocking while others at least left the room before they started. This is why she didn't like the real world. Here she was a weird, freakish, and to simply put it Loser but in her game Maggie was Styrene: the hot, sexy, powerful healer that everyone wanted in their group. Who wouldn't choose that over "real life" any day? Who cares it was technically not real, not Maggie that's for sure!

            When they arrived to her house, Maggie bolted from the car ignoring the detective was yelling something at her. She felt the tension melt from her as soon as she entered into her home. "Are you crazy," he snapped at her. "Someone could have been here waiting for you! Don't ever do that again Ms. Kent," he demanded and she rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking. "Grab only what you absolutely need and let's get out of here," he told her.

            "Stay here, I'll be right back," she told him happy her stutter was gone now that she was in her own territory but she knew when they left it would be back. Grab only what you absolutely need, she mocked him with twisted expression when her back was facing to him and then very maturely stuck out her tongue at him when her bedroom was closed. She knew it was childish but she was practically being kidnapped...against her own free will! Opening her closet and digging through the mess in there she removed the dusty luggage that she had no idea how she came to own. She smacked the dust off the baggage and started to cough.

            It didn't take her long to have all she needed to survive, her clothes and her computer, packed. Maggie fretted when he took some of the luggage to load in the car. "B-be c-c-careful," she told him as he roughly put the suitcase containing her hard drive in the trunk and cringed as her stutter was back again.

            "This weighs a ton, you sure you need all of this," he complained and she nodded putting her suitcase in the trunk very carefully, positioning it just right so it shouldn't move earning an odd look from him. She was sure that up on her heavenly cloud Hannah was laughing her ass off at Maggie.

            They were driving for hours when they stopped for lunch. She wasn't dumb or blind by any means; Maggie knew that by all definitions the detective, sitting in front of her was hotter than the flame of Arnor and his A.O.E. was definitely covering the whole diner. Just as she knew any other woman on this planet wouldn't think twice to swap places with her, especially the waitress that was eye raping the detective as she took his order, but all Maggie could think about was how in six hours her guild would start to raid. The simple idea of not being there made her want to burst into tears, all the epic gear, XP, and other loot she was going to miss was breaking her heart in two.

            "So, Ms. Kent," the detective, or Tank as she started to call him because she couldn't remember his name, stated.

            "Maggie," she shot not looking up from her plate.

            "Okay Maggie..." Tank started again with a tone that clearly suggested he want to say something to break the awkward silence between them but not sure what to say. "Um...what do you do," he finally asked. "I mean like work or study," he added. She shook her head side to side.

            "N-n-neither," she stuttered quietly. Her parents had their own company, a big technology company of some sort. It all went to her when she was eighteen. Her father's associate was all too happy to take the reins of the company and send her a big fat check monthly. Maggie suspected that he took a big cut out for himself too but as long as she could keep her bills paid and play her game she was happy.

            "Then what do you do with your time," he asked and Maggie felt a little irritated with his confused tone.

            "S-s-stuff," she replied with a shrug then taking a bite of her food.

            "Stuff?" he repeated with an irritated tone then grumble to himself. She couldn't tell what the detective said but she did catch the words "odd" and "kidding me" and once more she shrugged growing more irritated at his irritation. If she wasn't suffering a -50 bravery penalty right now she would so tell him what she thought of him and his irritated tone.

            It was nearing five o'clock in the evening when they arrived at their destination. It was a quaint remote rustic looking house five minutes from some little town that Maggie didn't know what the name was. "This is the vacation home of a friend of the family. He lets me use it whenever I want," Tank told her and she cringed as he roughly grabbed two of her suitcases; she hoped her computer would be alright. Why couldn't he be more careful? As soon they were inside Maggie let out a silent sigh of relief, the inside was way more modern than it looked from the outside.

            Tank showed her around the house, it was bigger than it first appeared; it even had a gym room. "This is your room," he told her and she scoped the room nearly jumping for joy when she saw the empty writing desk, she could at least set up her computer. Now if she could just get connection she might be able to survive this nasty experience.

            "Now for the rules," he told her and she turned her attention to him. "First rule, you don't go anywhere alone," Tank began. Where was she going to go? They were outside of town, near the back of the house looked to be a huge ass forest. Did he not know that wild animal attacks were on the rise and that's not even counting werewolves and vampires! Okay she really didn't believed werewolves or vampires existed but she wasn't going to give them the chance to prove her wrong!

            "Second, you don't make any contact with anyone without my permission," He went on. Damn who perma died and made him guild leader? "Third since I'm from this town I suggest it's best that if anyone in town asks, we are dating and are here for a romantic get away," he continued. A loud strange mix of a snort and laugh escaped Maggie and Tank gave her another odd look. She covered her mouth and nose with her hands feeling so embarrassed.

            "There a problem with rule number three," he asked crossing his arms. Well duh! She thought. Wasn't that obvious? It was like saying a human paladin was dating an orc warlord, no one would believe it, even if they did see it with their own eyes!

            Maggie shook her head no and muffled a "Sorry" through her hands which were still covering half her face.

            "Okay," he said still with the odd look on his face giving his head a little shake. "The fourth is that if you are alone here, you do not for any reason what so ever open the door to anyone. The fifth and final rule is if I tell you to do something, you do it and don't ask me why. Chase Hancock is looking for you and I'm what is preventing him from finding you. I get you don't like this any more than I do but until the court date arrives this is how it's got to be! Hopefully the court date will be set within a couple of weeks. Now do you understand all of that Maggie," he asked with a demanding tone.

            Yep, he definitely got a guild leader complex Maggie thought smiling behind her hands and nodding that she understood. If she had it her way, this place would have kick ass internet connection and she wouldn't leave this room. "Good," Tank said with a nod.

            "I'll uun-np-p-pack n-n-now," she told him and he nodded again leaving the room. Maggie closed the door with a sigh. Finally, she thought with relief. The raid was about to start in twenty minutes and she was so not ready! She rushed to her suitcases and started removing the computer components and setting them apart.

            It took her ten minutes to get her computer ready, now she needed provisions. She opened the door to her room and listened quietly. Maggie didn't hear anything so slowly she snuck out of the room trying to avoid Tank and the questions she was sure he was going to ask her if he saw her taking food to room. He was sitting on the couch of the living room on the phone talking to someone. Perfect, she thought with a smile. She tip toed into the kitchen grabbing some fruit she saw laying on the counter, some chips, and found a large cup to make a good sized coffee with.

            Checking to see if Tank was still on the phone she snuck carefully back to her room. When the door was closed she jumped with a quiet joy. "Yes, my dexterity stats are epic! I am so ninja," she cheered with a corny ninja pose before she sat down into the chair and logged into her game.

            Maggie ran on the treadmill the next morning relieved to expend some of her pent up energies and help her forget her dreams from last night. It was weird even for her and that is saying a lot. Chase was after her; Tank kept telling her to follow orders, while Hannah, with wings and a halo, kept laughing at her and saying she was finally going to pop Maggie's bubble. Next thing she knew she was surrounded by all three and they were going to hug her.

            Maggie shuddered at the horrifying idea of it. Once again she was sure Hannah was laughing her ass off at Maggie. She ran faster as if she could somehow escape this stupid situation she found herself in. Why couldn't she just keep her nose out of other people's business? She huffed with frustration and exhaustion slowing down to finally get off the treadmill. Feeling slightly better she grabbed her towel she turned to leave.

            Maggie squeaked in surprise to see Tank leaning in the door way watching her. "Didn't take you for an exercise nut," he said with a smirk on his face. She shrugged with a difficult swallow feeling suddenly very self conscious in her tank top and yoga pants. "Did you call someone yesterday, because it sounded like you were talking to somebody," he asked with a pointed tone.

            Oh fickle sticks, she thought realizing he heard her raid chat. She shook her head side to side in reply and squeezed passed him and down the hall. She squirmed in her own skin as she could feel his gaze following her all the way to the bathroom. She closed the door in a hurry and locked it. Stupid tank, she thought with irritation feeling totally flustered by his presence. She took a quick shower and dressed into her large sweat shirt and pants again.

            She opened the door of the bathroom and gave another startled squeak when Tank was standing right in front of the door way. What in oblivion was he doing there, she thought nervously. "Hello again," he told her with a small smile. "I know I heard voices from your room and I want to remind you of rule number two. Do not make any contact with anyone without my permission," he lectured her. She crossed her arms giving him her best evil eye stare.

            "I'm-m n-n-not a c-c-child," she told him feeling very irritated.

            "I can see that," Tank replied his smiled growing ever so slightly causing her stomach to flip over. What exactly was that supposed to mean, she wondered. "But Maggie, you don't seem to understand what situation you're in," he added. She knew her situation perfectly well and tried to tell him so but her words came out in a jumbled mess. "Want to try that again," he teased making her angrier. With determination she told him just what she thought but it came out sounding like very angry orc speech which made his cocky smile grow and her anger.

            "P-p-p-prout's L-l-l-law s-s-s-states t-t-that a c-chemical compound always contains exactly the same proportion of elements by mass. Also all pure samples of the same compounds have the same percentage by mass," Maggie repeated after taking a deep breath trying to ignore his look of curiosity.

            "I k-k-k-know j-j-just f-f-fine m-m-my s-s-s-situation T-t-tank," she told him with a determined tone.

            "You just called me a tank?" He asked with a little laugh and Maggie felt her stomach sink to her toes. She did not seriously just say that out loud? She pressed her lips together wishing she had an invisibility spell she could use right now. "Why did you just call me a tank," he insisted his smile spread across his face.

            She pressed her lips together tighter and shook her head side to side with no intention to answer him. "You really are...one of a kind," he said laughing and Maggie felt embarrassed like she hadn't felt in years. She squeezed passed him and her breath hiccupped as he grazed her shoulder. Maggie ran to her room, slamming the door shut. This is your doing isn't Hannah, she cursed silently looking up at the ceiling.