"Then you add two eggs and three cups of flower, after that you just stir the whole mix. Once that is done you place it in a small baking tray and leave it inside the oven for 30 minutes on 180 degrees. Check it on time to time with a toothpick, to see if it’s evenly baked. And that is pretty much it."

  "Wow, I have never heard of this recipe before. And to think that you prepared all that in the real world! I remember seeing few cloned wheat plants in a science fair when I was little, but they were under bulletproof glass and guarded by armed mechanoids. Plus, the glass was reflecting the lights so I could barely see anything."

  "If you think this is amazing, you had to see my home village of Yartsevo. There were whole fields filled with wheat, growing straight from the ground under the clear blue sky." Herman said in a wistful tone.

  "Woow…" The woman gasped with child like fascination. What about any animals, did you had any hens? Tell me tell me!"

  "Hehehe that didn’t take long." The man chuckled. "Sure we did. Every household had their own chicken coop, each one producing a steady supply of fresh eggs. My family didn't care for that many, but still we always had at least 3-4 hens running around the place. Any less and they’d get lonely on their own."

  "Awww!" The woman chained to the metal table beside Herman squealed with delight. "What about the little ones, did you had any baby chickens?" The wannabe superhero asked with big wide eyes. As if asking her grandpa to tell her her favorite bedtime story.

  "Phahah." The man laughed good-naturedly, not able to resist the enthusiasm of his cellmate. "Sometimes we did have them. Especially when the neighbor rooster managed to sneak into our garden. My mother wasn't amused when that happened, I’d tell you that much, but I liked the little critters. Although getting to them was no easy matter. Mother hens are extremely protective with their young. They didn’t hesitate to peck anyone who dared approach their nests."

  "I did manage it eventually though. I still remember how soft and fluffy the chicks felt. It was totally worth the subsequent wrath of their guardian when she found me petting her precious babies."

  Afterwards the two prisoners laughed wholeheartedly. The chains strapped to their wrists rattling against the interrogation room table.

  "That’s amazing Herman! I can hardly imagine how something so small and vulnerable used to live on this planet. Thank you so much for sharing your memories with me. I have to admit that I have never talked with someone as ol… as wise as you."

  "Oh don’t worry, I know I am old, hell, I am outright ancient." The man responded, waving one arm in dismissal, then grimacing as it got restricted by the metal chains.

  “In any case, I have to also thank you for making me remember those times again. Usually kids today don’t care about history and the world from before. Ah, look at me falling down in the old man cliches. Lamenting how things back then used to be better, and complaining about the unruly youth." Herman said, shaking his head in amusement.

  "Anyway, if we manage to get out of here alive, I would be happy to share more stories if you are interested. We also used to care for a few bunnies too, plus we had allot of cats patrolling the village perimeter."

  "I will take you on that offer. But what about any ducks? Did you had any of those?" The woman persisted with her one-track questioning.

  "Heh, you really are into the whole avian theme aren’t you?" Herman said.

  Before the woman could answer, the interrogation room door opened, revealing the exhausted form of a mustached bot.

  "Sigh… Herman, this is your second day here and yet again I find you chained to my table. You are supposed to keep a low profile and not…"

  "Hi Topo!" The woman smiled happily, waving at the mustached guardsman and dangling her chains in the process.

  "Oh Polya, you are also here…"

  "Yup. I always wondered what it would be like to get arrested. It’s quite interesting so far, plus it got me the opportunity to talk with Herman here. Did you know he is 140 years old. He is older than even you are! And most importantly, he is the only human who talks to me like I am a real person! Isn't that great!"

  "Sigh…" The bot pinched the bridge of his metal nose. His mustache ruffling with agitation. "Don’t either of you care that you almost ended up in prison? I have been on the phone with a gajilion representatives of various departments, organizations and other random shadow entities. I had to reassure each and every one that you two aren’t related to that idiot impersonating Mecron."

  "Oh…" Herman and Polya muttered at the same time.

  "Yeah, "oh"!" The bot replied.

  "Thank you Topo." Both humans again said in unison, heads bowed down in gratitude.

  "That’s Chief Guardsman Topo to you!" The bot scoffed in mocked indignation. "Alright, here you go you two." The bot said as he closed the door and sat on the metal chair to face the humans. Then placed two steaming paper cups in front each of them. "It’s soup. I thought you might be hungry."

  "Aww that is so nice of you." Polya said, accepting the offer and taking a sip.

  "Are you sure you have chosen the right profession? You are awfully accommodating for a guard." Herman teased.

  The bot just squinted his eyes, then moved to take the gift back, but Herman quickly snatched it away.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Thank you Chief Guardsman Topo." The human said with a respectful voice.

  "That’s better." The chief replied. Then pressed the green button on the table, unlocking the chains holding the prisoners. After the humans finished their soup, the bot continued.

  "Alright here is the deal. That moron impersonating Lord Mecron has been taken away by… I don’t even know… let's just call them shadow organization number 5. Not sure if they know he is fake or not, but I am not particularly inclined to care either. I am just glad he is not my responsibility anymore.

  The kid had somehow gotten his hands on a black market replica of a Mecron armor. And real or not, the government and everyone else did not want to miss any potential chance of capturing the N1 supervillain out there.”

  “After the Antarctic Union send its goons in, we detected artillery fire coming out from the three biggest internet skyscrapers at the center of the metropolis. Actually, let me just show you.” Topo said, working with the table controls until a half transparent bluish hologram appeared above them. The hologram displayed a recording of the events that had transpired while Herman and Polya were stuck in the respawn limbo.

  The aerial view showed the desert patch of the neutral zone. There, in the center of a crater made of melted glass and car junk parts knelt Chick_Slayer_69. His hands were bound behind his back, and he was surrounded by bulky sci-fi armored suits, stealth ninjas, and circling hovercopters.

  Then everyone started looking around for the source of the rapid booming noise. By the time the commando leader had located the danger, it was far too late. The artillery plasma fire desintegrated the captured fake Mecron, then the subsequent explosion and plasma fire spread outwards.

  Initially Herman and Polya thought that they and the soldiers were the only casualties, however that was very far from the truth.

  The hologram showed a wide area view of the neutral zone and the area around the gate. Despite the demise of the commando team and the fake Mecron, the plasma barrage continued its long range bombardment.

  A huge portion of the neutral zone, as well as the entirety of the queue shanty town got engulfed into blazing storm of plasma fire. At the same time Generica’s automated wall defenses activated. A great shimmering reddish field materialized across the entire firewall. The magical barrier rising tall to the sky and meeting the sci-fi plasma attack head on.

  The field flickered for a split second, but whatever spell was behind the defenses quickly adapted to the force and intensified the strength of the field. Eventually, the artillery fire ceased, leaving a turbulent plasma storm to rage against the wall. Exactly where queue city and its inhabitants resided.

  Before the storm had a chance to subside, the automatic defenses of the Great Generica Firewall took things into its own hands. All along its length, the inconspicuous towers spread evenly across the wall began to rise. Their tops moving upwards and revealing the huge magical crystals hidden within. Each crystal pulsated with barely contained raw magical power. Massive mana bolts discharged from them at random intervals, the crystals unable to fully contain the energy within themselves. After all towers had fully transformed, the wall fought back!

  All the towers simultaneously fired continuous rays of piercing white light, not directly at the internet metropolis, but at a single point above it. Immediately, the pleasant spring day darkened, replaced by an oppressive gloom. Dark gusts of storm clouds gathered over the city, looming ominously above its inhabitants. Then the calm turned into a full-fledged storm that unleashed a flurry of lightning strikes, sending panicked citizens running for safety as buildings cracked and skyscrapers began to collapse.

  However that was only the appetizer. The real attack was yet to come.

  The dark storm clouds had much more insidious purpose. After the initial destruction, the lightning strikes abruptly stopped, then, instead of more thunder, a light pleasant rain began to drizzle.

  A toad fell down from the sky, and another, and another! Soon the sky poured toads like there was no tomorrow. The tiny amphibians dangling helplessly in the air as they fell towards the already traumatized inhabitants of the internet.

  The hologram feed didn't show precisely what happened next, but the screams of agony and terror that could be picked up weren't particularly encouraging.

  However the Mighty Internet didn't take all that belly up! Yes it was hurt, but it was far from defeated.

  Massive underground silos started to open all across the internet lands. The three massive skyscrapers also began to transform in a bizarre amalgamation of rockets and rail guns. Shortly all preparations were made and the command given.

  Massive atomic rockets flew out from their bunker silos, accompanied by smaller but much more modern smart plasma missiles from the skyscrapers.

  BOOOMMM!!!

  The space all across the Generica fire walls exploded in a colossal explosion. The satellite images showing a multitude of massive greenish mushroom clouds rising to the sky.

  Herman and Polya both gulped with anxiety as they watched the hologram before them. If queue town wasn't destroyed before, it surely was now…

  The hologram then skipped forward, showing both sides of the conflict preparing for further counter attacks.

  Generica automated defenses conjuring up even more magical doomsday contraptions out of thin air, modifying and adapting the firewall in real time in order to strike back.

  At the same time at the opposite side of the conflict, massive underground hangar bays were opening, revealing colossal, bulky, and heavily armored T-shaped battlecruisers, their engines flaring up with the strain of lifting the massive armored monstrosities in the air.

  The hologram went fast forward again. Revealing an even more bizarre sight.

  Two ethereal beings hovered in the air above the neutral zone.

  The godlike beings conversed calmly between each other as the whole digital world beneath them watched with trepidation.

  One was an alabaster white metallic sphere made of pure mithril. The spherical core’s surface was engraved with tiny undecipherable runic scripts, while its “body” radiated a white ethereal light.

  The light formed a multitude of transparent alien tentacles, each one moving up and down with otherworldly elegance. Yet the sphere’s alien appearance was not concerning or frightening. On the contrary, everyone who glimpsed the powerful being got a sense of warmness and comfort, more like a motherly affection rather than alien horror from the stars it truly was. It was Martha, the Generica Online’s main AI.

  The other creature was much more ordinarily looking. Yet its power could not be denied. An ordinary human, wearing an immaculate old fashioned business suit.

  A dashing smile was plastered on his face, that has no doubt won the affections of many voters. Yet the longer you looked at him, the more uncomfortable you became. The smile just as his personality were just a farce. A mask he had to put on for the masses. Only his cold calculating eyes revealed the true nature of this monster in human clothes. It was Mr Sheridan, the Escaldian president.

  The two beings conversed politely. Each one hovering over their respective sides of the Neutral Zone. Every now and again one of them waved an appendage across the devastated landscape as to emphasize the scale of the damage. Though the two beings remained polite and cordial throughout their meeting. Eventually the two leaders nodded to each other and parted ways.

  After that, the conflict subsided, and both sides withdrew, the threat of full-scale war averted for now. As the massive armored battle-cruisers of the Internet forces began to turn away, the ancient dragons of Generica likewise started their slow, deliberate departure from the field.

  Topo pressed a button at the table and ended the hologram.

  “Wow…” Herman and Polya exclaimed in unison.