Introduction

Thud!

His back hit the stone wall hard, but he barely noticed.

Another fist thundered towards his face. His feeble attempts at dodging could nothing to save him.

Crack!

He felt something in his chest, probably a fractured rib, he reasoned.

The last attack was a kick aimed at his stomach. He was too weak to even attempt to block.

Huu!

All the air was knocked out of his body and he collapsed to the ground.

He looked up into face of his oppressor. Jack Thornton leered at him, a smirk on his face. He was accompanied by 2 of his 'henchmen'. He held up a wristwatch,"When I say a thousand, then I mean a thousand." He held it out towards Ron,"Now transfer the money or you might not get home alive."

Ron shivered, feeling a tingle of fear run down his spine. It was not an empty threat, he knew that. Jack was the grandson of Javier Trump, the owner of Paragon Industries. Ever since Paragon Industries had announced that they had created the world's first ever fully immersive VR Cabin, their already powerful status had surpassed even that of the President of the US. Of course, the permanence of this status would be decided in 3 months when the cabin would be released alongside their first game, Power. However, even before they had made the announcement, they were already powerful enough to cover up a murder.

So Ron reached out with a weak hand, grabbed the LifeBand and transferred the twenty thousand to Jack.

Jack grinned,"Thanks, see you next month". Smirking, he turned and sauntered off, flanked on both sides by his cronies.

***************

Ronald Orlando, 17 years old. Born an orphan. In the 22nd century, that meant either military school or the streets. Due a health condition, he failed the physical for the military at 13 and was thrown out of the government orphanage he had been staying in. Luckily, he was picked up by an old man who called himself Major Jenkins. The Major gave a him job in his antique shop. Still, Ron worked 3 jobs a day, 14 hours a day and barely made 2000 credits a month. What Jack had taken from him was literally half of his money. -And what for, simply for the pleasure of it. He wasn't just a bully. He was evil, plain and simple. As a matter of fact, so was his whole family, but rich people...

What can you do?

Yeah, that's basically it. Kid had a hard life. Now I know what you're thinking, why would I choose a company owned by a man with an evil grandson to hold possession of the literal future of the human race.

It's simple, I needed to set up an opponent, a villain if you will, that is assured to try to take control of the human race, thereby causing unity among everyone else and making the person I choose the leader.

The villain-Paragon Industries

The Hero-Ronald Orlando

Everything goes as planned, planet Earth suffers only a 20% loss of life in the next world war as opposed to the 100% it would be without me, and I do my job.

********

The door creaked open, breaking the silence. Ron stepped through, locking it behind him and then placing his keys on the wooden table. With a weary sigh, he flipped the light switch, illuminating the interior of his apartment. It could be described in just one word...

poor.

It was small and cramped. The bedroom and the kitchen were the same room. The bathroom was a 2×3 meter long room with nothing but a toilet and a broken sink. As for the shower, what shower?

In this part of town, being alive was a privilege. One that anyone could take from you. Ron walked past stacks of neatly folded clothes and organised coupons, over to the microwave, which was set next to a pack of instant noodles.

Suddenly, the lights shut off...

Just then, his LifeBand chimed with a notification(Quick Explanation-LifeBands are the phones of the future and as for why the poor people have them, there's an obscure law that everyone must have one. Its really so the government can track people.)

He didn't need to check it to see, the electricity bill had been unpaid for 3 months.

The room shrouded in darkness, he fell onto the bed/couch letting out a loud breath of air. He closed his eyes, letting his worries flow away and began drifting off to sleep.

Suddenly, something caught his eye. There was a soft glimmer coming from the stack of coupons, something that he hadn't noticed earlier. Slowly getting up, he checked what it was...

And froze-With the speed of lightning, he checked his LifeBand. Suddenly, all traces of weariness disappeared from his face. The building shook with the sound of the scream,"YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!."