Zoey Parker's off-key humming bounced off the walls of her cramped Seattle apartment bathroom.
She was in a killer mood. Yesterday's numbers were fire: IndieVibe X2 sold 46,000 units worldwide on launch day—36,000 in the U.S., 10,000 overseas. A strong kickoff.
But it was just day one. Sales would cool off over the next two weeks, as expected. Even if they held at 46,000 units daily, that's 690,000 units by day 15.
PacificTech's report showed Titanfall sold 25,000 copies on day one, a 54% attach rate. Best case? By day 15, Titanfall hits 370,000 copies, raking in $73 million—$80 million, tops.
Zoey crunched the numbers. Her $170 million investment minus $80 million in sales leaves a $90 million loss. With her system's 11x rebate, that's $990 million.
Cha-ching. Billion-dollar comeback, locked in.
She smirked, rinsing soap from her face, patting on moisturizer, and humming a pop tune. "Chasing bright lights, running through the night…"
Snagging her phone, she scrolled X Platform's trending topics:
"I asked the stars what's up, and they said—"
"What the heck?!" Zoey gasped, spotting #Titanfall at #18 in "Gaming & Entertainment."
Her pulse spiked. Titanfall was already too hot. More buzz could wreck her perfect loss. She tapped the tag, hoping it wasn't a sales surge.
Then she burst out laughing. It was Muffin's stream losing it over Gus Harper's villain cameo, her yells of "Gus, you jerk!" sparking pure chaos in chat.
Sweet. Gus as a bad guy? Total troll move. Zoey skimmed the comments:
"Gus Harper, chaos god."
"Dude did his own trailer, now he's the villain? Legend."
"Sam Harper's a jerk, but kinda dope."
"Who casts themselves as the bad guy? Gus, obviously."
"Bet he lives to the end. No way he offs himself."
"Gus's brain is next-level wild."
Zoey chuckled, loving the drama. This wouldn't pump sales much—just a quirky stunt. Still, she had to know what Gus was thinking, so she fired off a Slack message.
Ding! Gus Harper's phone pinged during Muffin's stream. He flipped tabs, seeing Zoey's message spam:
Zoey: Yo, you awake? What's the deal? Knock knock! Anyone there?
Gus grinned. He'd always seen her as a fiery spark in the industry.
Sam: One ping's plenty. Watching the stream. What's good?
Zoey: Digging your bad-guy flex?
Sam: You saw? Thought you skipped my pitch deck.
Zoey: X Platform's lit, big shot! #ChaosKing trending.
Gus checked X—99+ mentions. He laughed.
Sam: Fans are eating it up. First time anyone's pulled this.
Zoey: So, what's the vibe? Why go full villain, Gus the Rogue? star eyes
Gus smirked. Real reason? His system's emotional value meter was spiking—players were freaking out over his cameo. The final act's villain twist would crank it higher.
But he kept it chill with Zoey.
Sam: Just for fun.
Zoey: Fun? That's it?
Sam: Straight-up dumb kicks.
Zoey: Alright, but next time, make me an NPC too!
Sam: Done. Got a sensory-cabin game in mind. You're in, and we'll play together.
Zoey: Heck yeah! cat emoji
They swapped goodnights. Gus switched back to the stream, ready for the next emotional gut-punch.
Daisy "Dizzy" Lane snapped awake in her IndieVibe X2 cabin, sunlight glaring. A sharp pain hit her calf, making her wince.
A cheetah-sized alien beast—spiked armor, glowing eyes—gnawed her pant leg. Typhon's hunter beasts were savage.
"What the—?!" Daisy yelped, kicking it.
The beast snarled, lunging for her throat.
BRRR! Machine-gun fire ripped it apart, blood spraying.
"Gross!" Daisy groaned, wiping her face.
Nearby, BT-7274 lurched up, then crashed down, out of juice.
"BT! Captain Jim!" Daisy bolted toward the Titan, hope surging. They were alive!
But BT's cockpit hissed open, and Captain James "Jim" Lastimosa's body slumped out, lifeless.
Daisy froze, rushing to him. "Captain… what now?"
Lastimosa's helmet popped open—blood poured from his mouth, one eye crimson, breaths fading.
"BT…" he croaked. "Transferring authority… to new Pilot… BravoTango-7274…"
"No, no!" Daisy shook her head. He was handing BT to her.
"I can't, Captain," she stammered, fumbling to stop his bleeding. "I'm just a rifleman. No Titan training…"
"Cooper, listen…" Lastimosa clutched her hand, blood foaming, eyes dimming. "I'm counting on you… take care of BT…"
He glanced at his Titan, gripping her hand. "The road to Pilot… it's long… but you're worthy."
His hand went limp. Lastimosa was gone.
Chat felt it:
"Eyes watering over here."
"'Worthy' hit hard."
"Gus, why'd you foreshadow this in the trailer?"
"Jim's AI felt alive—like he meant it."
"Daisy's crying for real."
Daisy took a shaky breath. Typhon's wind carried gunpowder. Lastimosa's hand cooled, but his words burned.
"First to call me Captain… you've got potential…"
"Run, kid…"
"Failure's part of it. Get up…"
"We fight for a world without war…"
"You're a good seed, Cooper…"
A game, yeah. Just code. But Lastimosa was her mentor—real, guiding, trusting her with his Titan.
Daisy piled stones for a grave, etching an epitaph:
Legendary Pilot, Eternal Mentor—Captain Lastimosa
No Militia salute known, she held his helmet and bowed. "I'll be a Pilot worthy of the name."
Players' messages flooded the grave's interface:
"Rest well, Captain."
"BT's in good hands."
"I'll come back as a Pilot."
"Good night, mentor."
Chat rolled in:
"Oof, I'm wrecked."
"Gus, why you gotta do Jim dirty?"
"Daisy's holding up, but damn."
"Time to hunt Sam Harper."
Daisy wiped her eyes, fired up. "Alright, chat! Let's roll!"
She slapped on Lastimosa's helmet, UI flaring. Linking with BT-7274, she targeted the nearest battery. "Three batteries to power BT. Typhon stage? I'm in. For Jim, for Harmony, to wreck Sam Harper!"
Players took up Lastimosa's cause, wall-running valleys, cloaking to drop IMC grunts. They learned Sam Harper led the Apex Hunters, mercenaries under General Marcus Mader's IMC, who planned to weaponize the Holy Ark—a time-warping energy core—to erase Harmony.
Lastimosa's mission was to stop them. Now, it was theirs.
Yin slotted the final battery into BT's waist. The 40-ton Titan roared awake.
"Full power, Pilot," BT's steady voice said. "Neural link required. IMC reinforcements incoming."
Yin whooped, leaping into the cockpit. "This is insane! How'd WindyPeak nail this?!"
The hatch sealed. Click.
"Protocol One: Link with Pilot—Jack Cooper, acting Pilot of BT-7274."
"Protocol Two: Maintain mission—rendezvous with Major Alex Anderson."
"Protocol Three: Protect the Pilot."
Gunfire erupted outside. Yin gripped the controls. "Let's do this."