“What the fuck?” I yell, searching for cover, but there’s nowhere to hide. The American takes aim again and destroys us both. My screen turns black.

Thank you for your service. Ready to fight again?

“Damn,” Brogan says. “We were solid until the Am-bot showed up. Sorry, should’ve warned you, resistance hacked some of our droids. They can shoot us, but we can’t take them down.”

“How do you defeat them?”

“Only hope is to locate their gamers, but they’re holed up in secret cells throughout the city with other hacked droids protecting them. It’s basically a suicide mission. You need top-level valor to even try it. Well, that ended badly, but welcome to your first mission.”

“Thanks,” I say, my heart still pounding.

“Okay, wife’s calling. Tomorrow same time? Brush up on your skills and maybe we’ll get access to go after those gamer cells one day.”

“Definitely,” I say, and though Brogan logs off, I decide to try my hand at war one more time.

I don’t tell Eli I’m playing Combat Mode, but I show him my skills in non-combat and ask him for pointers, and after he’s gone to bed, I log on to war with Brogan, gain valor points, and help free hostages across the ocean. It’s deep into spring, the last icy rains splattering the living room windows, when Brogan and I unlock Gamer Cell Mode.

“You ready to try this?” Brogan asks.

“Totally.”

We accept the mission, and find ourselves in a smaller van with four other top-level gamers, heading toward an apartment complex where a terrorist cell is operating hacked droids. The coordinates of the gamers hover along the periphery, their red dots flashing on our maps.

“Am-bots are protecting the gamers,” our Sergeant says. “I’m not going to lie, probably none of you are going to make it out of this. But even if you get blasted, as long as you take those gamers down, you’ve accomplished your mission and will earn ten thousand valor points. You understand.”

“Sir, yes, sir.”

The van opens, and there, between the four apartment buildings, are a half dozen Am-bots patrolling the area.

“Follow me!” I yell to Brogan, and for the first time I’m leading the mission, running my son’s game plan with smoke grenades as cover to keep us moving forward. The sound of gunfire echoes off the buildings, and behind us, DesertWolf08 goes down, followed by Jerzyboy18. Brogan throws another smoke grenade to shield our way through the front door of the apartment building.