Chapter 1
It had been two weeks since you commenced the testing phase for your new simulated reality project. This would be the best of them all, no doubt it'd beat those idiots at Dream Catcher (they couldn't even come up with something original for a name, still, they had been your biggest rivals in the past few years). You enjoyed every second of your work, creating and planting artificial neurons in hundreds of test subjects' brains, feeding them millions of images whilst duplicating every tiny detail of their lives and surroundings.
You were a perfectionist, taking pleasure in constantly challenging yourself. Well, this time you had certainly hit the jackpot with sticking the most intelligent man in the universe into a simulation for two weeks without him noticing it.
You had never made acquaintance with professor Rick Sanchez, however, during your experimental simulation on various planets of the intergalactic empire (to perfect your multi-level simulated reality), you developed a true admiration towards this intellectual titan. He could single-handedly build or destroy whole universes in no time. Adding him to the list of test-candidates was an insane idea -- you didn't even bother to share it with your commissioner; he would've gone crazy. Fortunately, since you were one of the top 5 developers of the growing virtual world technologies, you owed no explanation to anyone.
It took you a while to find the perfect moment for implanting the transitional neuron (which would freeze his reality for a nanosecond and transfer the whole into the simulator) into professor Sanchez's skull. You used one of your favourite spy drones, the one you had stolen from the Department of Defence. It was a tiny insect with a 3-cm wingspan that could be used for taking DNA-samples or implanting radio-frequency identification chips into people.
Usually it took only a few seconds to insert the Nano drones into hundreds of test subjects; most people hadn't even realised they were in a simulation. You had built every tiny detail to perfection; it had to be convincing even for participants with the most advanced IQs. Some of them volunteered to be test subjects, and it gave you a glow of pride to realise even they couldn't tell the difference between simulation and reality.
The biggest test of your career was still to come. If you managed to trap professor Sanchez in your artificial reality without him noticing it for the duration of the test, you would've become cream of the cream.
The task seemed so much simpler in your head; you really had to keep your wits about you. The man was ultra-vigilant at all times, even when he drank himself to oblivion. You had never come across anyone like him, and the fact he could perform the most complicated tasks whilst completely wasted -- without a single mistake -- started alarms in your brain. Had you completely lost your mind? Did you seriously think he wouldn't figure this out in a heartbeat? But then the idea of being able to fool Rick Sanchez -- even for a short time -- gave you a shot in the arm. If you had succeeded you would be without doubt the most awesome developer in the universe! You couldn't deny that stroking your ego made you cum a little in your pants.
You spent long weeks of studying professor Sanchez's environment before acting. Your drone was ready to implant the chip, hiding in a safe underground compartment in the Smith's neighbourhood. Just for safety, you camouflaged the device and obscured the coding, so in case anyone was to scan the area for any spy apparatus, they couldn't detect it. You had to take a risk with the timing, after all, you couldn't hang around forever, waiting for the professor to be comatose. Finally, one night you caught him stumbling over heaps of empty vodka-bottles when aligning from his space-ship and dropping unconsciously to the floor.
Your time finally arrived. Your heart was racing, found it hard to believe this could work at all -- and it still did.
You slept with one eye open after this. A mix of anxiety and a state of excitement took over every time you plugged in to review the progress. Even though you felt victorious that professor Sanchez had not noticed your little trick yet, you were also certain it could happen any moment now and when it did, you couldn't afford to be caught in an off-guard moment.
1 day before launch
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From the corner of your eye you saw a vortex of emerald substance suddenly appear in your studio. Great. The professor was not wasting any time; his timing was just damn inconvenient! You were supposed to launch tomorrow, you couldn't spare a single second today, not to mention throwing yourself into a fucking war with an infallible genius!
Even though you had studied professor Sanchez for weeks; managed to break his security code and stuck him into your ten-level simulation reality, you had always dreaded the moment of meeting him. The guy had been unpredictable, and you were damn sure he wasn't going to take it lightly to be defeated by anyone, especially a woman.
Your muscles were tense; it took a few seconds to calm your racing heart down. You certainly couldn't show any sign of fear, for fuck's sake! You reminded yourself you had defeated hard-core intergalactic prisoners and took the best con artists of the universe for a ride; this was no time for shitting your pants.
Rick stepped out of the green circle. His face was dead serious and stone-calm. You expected him to be furious -- which he certainly was, just hid it behind a perfectly controlled poker face.
You quickly saved your work and exited the program; your carefully built safety measures kicked in automatically. Even if the whole studio would be destroyed today -- which, by knowing Rick could happen -- your work would be safe.
You weren't sure what to say. He just stood there, without a single word, hands in his lab coat, piercing his eyes right into yours. You stood up and tried not to look intimidated.
'Dr Sanchez, I presume?' -- finally the words found you, and couldn't help a self-satisfying smirk playing across your lips: 'It took you longer than I expected'.
The moment you've said that, you knew it was the most stupid thing you could've said. It was the equivalent of pissing all over Rick's lab and claiming it yours.
You couldn't even process what was going on, and he was standing right in front of you, towering over you, his right hand on your neck, like an iron manacle, squeezing it. If you had any doubt about him being furious, all confusion was gone. He was raging; fireballs exploding in his dilated pupils.
'You little slut! Who do you think you are?' he hissed, squeezing around your throat. Even though he had surprised you with his incredibly quick movement, you weren't going to give in. This wasn't the first time someone was choking you -- for different reasons, some of them extremely pleasant-, so you knew how to brace yourself. Even though you were a bit afraid of what he could do to you, you couldn't deny his proximity, body warmth and dominance turned you on. Your nipples hardened and pushed against the soft fabric of your sleeveless black top.
Rick was much stronger than you had presumed, and now it seemed he was holding all the cards. You were gasping for air, but you weren't going to show any weakness. Your ego took over again and even though you knew nothing clever had ever come out of that, you acted hastily. You gathered all your strength and spat in Rick's face. As expected, this took him by surprise. You knew you didn't have much time, had to act quickly, so you took advantage of his loosening grip and kicked him in the lower abdomen. Whilst he was crouching down with pain, you reached for your plasma gun, unlocked and pointed it at him.
'I understand your frustration, professor, but I don't appreciate you breaking into my apartment and attacking me in such manner' you said with confidence. The ball was in your court again. Rick seemed defeated.
At least that's what you thought.
The next moment you felt a sharp sting, similar to an electric shock passing through your body, causing all your muscles to spasm at once. You dropped your gun unintentionally and fell to your knees. From the corner of your eye you saw Rick reaching into his pocket. At the same time, he pounced and tackled you to the floor, pushed your head onto the ground and pulled your arms roughly behind your back. In no time your wrists were tied and held firmly; Rick was straddling you. Ensuring you weren't going to struggle, he lowered his upper body, leaning against yours and whispered into your ear:
' Now, that-that's better. Not so confident now, are we? You are about to learn your place, sweetheart' you could swear he was grimacing with a smirk. Whatever he shot you with embodied itself into your nerves, causing all your muscles to freeze, being incapable of moving, but you could hear and feel everything.
Well, you couldn't blame anyone but yourself.
With one determined move he flipped you over, causing your arms and shoulders to strain, being tucked underneath your body in an extremely uncomfortable angle. Fortunately you felt the stinging pain and lack of control over your muscles fade away, and you managed to utter a few words:
'Fair...enough...what do you want then?'
Rick leaned back on top of you, put his weight on his hands on either side of your legs and threw you a confident smile.
'I'll teach you a lesson for your rude intrusion. L-let's see how you can deal with it. I'll enjoy watching you, sweetie' -- and he quickly injected your neck. You didn't even had time to react, when he added 'D-don't even think you can scan your body and extract this stuff, it's totally untraceable and only I can turn it off'.
Rick stopped and was staring at you for a few seconds; the glare was so fierce you could hardly breathe. Even though his anger seemed to fade, you felt it was being replaced by something much more uncomfortable. He was looking at you as if he had an x-ray vision and could monitor every single thought you had. You quickly recalled every possible spy-device you had ever come across, but had never heard about one with these specific parameters.
