Team Reforged: Vegas, Baby
Copyright© 2026 by FozzieBare
Chapter 1: Not Interesting Times, Busy Times.
Elias Voss thought to himself, “Thank God we’re no longer living in interesting times.”
The last six or so months had seemingly been nothing less than new and interesting times that constantly found ways to become more and more “interesting” every time he turned around.
First had come the meeting with Marcus Hale, commonly awarded the descriptive title “the eSports Agent to the Stars,” and Adrian Mercer, a former World of WarMachines champion who had been reluctantly convinced into a comeback to the game. Then came the pitch: create a guild to take part in the game’s Universe at War mode, a metagame built around player-versus-player conflicts. Elias had wondered why his old Guild Leader had recommended him for the role. This was the same Guild Leader who had (reluctantly and under great duress, it must be said in his defense) approved a plan to make Elias a scapegoat for a failed invasion that threatened his old guild’s morale and standing in the game. But he understood now. This was something he was very good at. He’d had plenty of practice since.
Then came the initial steps of building their then-unnamed guild in a far-off corner of the Universe at War map. They had selected this part of the map specifically so they would have room to grow without fighting over space. Most of the richest worlds in the core of the Universe at War map were constant targets. Some guilds fought because it provided their pilots recreation and a reason to contribute to their guilds. Some did it because their standing in Universe at War reflected on their own reputation, and some did it because they were affiliated with one of the top World of WarMachines Pro League teams. Those teams were always hungry for new pilots, better gear, and something they could point to as an additional selling point for sponsors.
They had then brought on board Amy Williamson, a pilot of great skill but nursing a deserved grudge against the game’s pro guilds and leagues. A pro team had tried to hire her, originally because she was a great pilot.
The pro team’s image specialists then immediately started talking not about how they would use that skill as a pilot, but all the ways they could change her to better sell her to sponsors.
They wanted to give her a cutesy pink Support Mech, even though she much preferred to be in the heat of combat and had no desire to “sell her image,” but instead wanted to be recognized for what she was: a good pilot. The final breaking point was when they started talking about how to burnish her sex appeal via a swimwear sponsorship.
She had declined the offer, rather vocally, but not profanely, which was really her preferred method of telling them, “Thanks, but this is not for me.”
However, she still got labeled “difficult” as a result.
Elias had been surprised that she hadn’t sworn off the game entirely.
The initial meeting was touchy at times, mostly because Amy had half-expected the same treatment. But they managed to get through the metaphorical landmine-filled interview process, and she became their first on-site person other than Elias and Adrian. Since then, she had shown everyone who overlooked her or belittled her because of her being “a girl” exactly what they missed out on. And one of the ways to really piss her off was to assume she couldn’t be a good pilot and an increasingly good commander in Universe at War because of her gender. That had been borne out most recently when an irate enemy guild leader had made a very crude and vulgar sexual threat toward her.
The enemy guild had expected her to either cry and flee or lose her mind and fight like a berserker.
They got neither. They got Angry Amy, who quickly earned the nickname Furiosa, and who quite methodically and very thoroughly demolished the enemy’s guild forces in one of the climactic battles of the recent war.
After Amy came Kevin Gulverson, because apparently the universe had decided Elias was getting too comfortable in his world of numbers and carefully thought-out plans.
Kevin’s first impression on the guild came during an inter-guild skirmish designed to build camaraderie and establish everyone’s skill levels. Apparently deciding that his current position wasn’t contributing enough to the battle, Kevin had thought, Hmm. Can’t affect the battle here. Let’s see where else we can go and find something to do.
He had then wandered off and accidentally found the other team’s commander.
That would have been a great strategic move that nobody could complain about.
Well, except for the fact that Kevin had told absolutely no one he was doing it, including the person he was supposedly reporting to during the battle. His platoon leader had actually lost track of him.
It still worked, mind you.
Kevin had since earned the in-game nickname <TheKevinExperience>, because Kevin was an experience you would have trouble forgetting.
Especially when, in his own inimitable style, he demonstrated exactly what happened to carefully thought-out plans after they encountered the Kevin Experience.
Elias had semi-seriously debated with Adrian about bringing Kevin on at Reforged HQ, using the argument that Elias liked his plans carefully thought out and very specifically NOT blown up. Kevin had a habit of accidentally blowing up plans as a recreational hazard. Elias would even agree that when Kevin blew up someone’s plans, it usually turned out better for Reforged. Just ... it was uncomfortably like putting matter and antimatter into one place.
Elias really liked Kevin despite all that. He had done yeoman’s work in the recent war, and more importantly, he was the person who made sure life at Reforged HQ was never boring in the fun, “Oh God, what has Kevin done this time?” type manner. He was a genuinely benign prankster. He had convinced Elias and Amy to duct tape Adrian to his chair, then move him JUST out of keyboard range, just so one of the guild members could actually beat Adrian in an Arena battle. In short, he reminded everyone why the classic phrase was offered before online games everywhere: “Good Luck. HAVE FUN.”
And there was Martin van Bijsterveld. Even months after he had come on board, Elias hadn’t been able to remember how to SAY his name, never mind how to spell it properly. He had actually saved it to a small note file on the guild’s server for when he needed to put it on paperwork. He didn’t want anyone to know how many times he had to open “HowToSpellMartinsName.TXT”. Sometimes multiple times in a day.
Saying his name was impossible. Remembering how to spell it without that little reminder on his desktop? Also apparently impossible. But describing what he did for Reforged was the least impossible thing in the world.
Martin was Reforged’s game scientist, as well as their entire research and development team. A veritable one-man band.
Elias had always thought Martin embodied the spirit of that old Kennedy quote about doing things not because they were easy, but because they were hard.
Martin would probably have shortened the entire thing to two words.
“Challenge accepted.”
The Guild inevitably labeled Martin a mad scientist, a term Martin would always label fifty percent correct at best. He would admit to being a game scientist, dedicated to finding ways to make Reforged’s WarMachines and components top of the line. Some were even better than top of the line. They gave Reforged an actual advantage because no one else thought what he had done was possible. And as for the mad part? Considering the preferred method of dealing with Martin when he was trying a new project was to give him the raw materials the game generated and a suitable supply of test-bed WarMachines to work on without asking, and in real life to slide a pizza under his door every so often to remind him to eat, Elias had to admit that at least the jury was still out on that charge.
So, with those as its core, plus an increasing number of hangers-on, good friends, and, in one case, a teenager whom Amy had adopted as her little sister (okay, not formal adoption, but Amy replied to such gibes with a calm “She is my little sister. We just skipped the paperwork,” and no one wanted to argue with her), the newly named Reforged guild had been on a rollercoaster.
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