At the entrance to the eSports stadium, the defending champion BONEDEVIL666 arrives. His woman Becky Bunker says that no one is threatening BD. A masked man asks BD for an autograph, and then hits his hand with a crowbar and runs off.
The special division van heads to the city and Pritkin explains that BD is the alias of Paul Boneson. Monica explains that BD plays Voyage Quest for a team named Sharkspark, and the attack took his fingers out of the championship. Angie wonders why they're involved, and Pitkin says that the director of Special Divisions, Perry, will brief them. The van pulls over and Perry comes aboard and gives the briefing. If a foreign entity wants to disrupt the industry and threaten the U.S. economy, the government wants to know what about it. Angie complains that Perry threw her in jail, and Perry says that times have changed and now he needs her help, and Angie agrees. Perry tells them that BD is recovering in a hospital in Little Rock, the gaming capital of the U.S., and orders them not to tell anyone what they're doing.
In Little Rock, Angie and AJ question BD but he doesn't know anything useful. Becky comes in and demands to know who the team is, and figures that someone didn't want BD to become world champion. AJ points out that BD doesn't care about the world championship, and BD says that he's done with it and he's going to get a job teaching animals to play video games. The police call to tell Angie that the attacker turned himself in to the local PD.
At the station, the teenager wants to confess. AJ steals the department, takes the teenager Ozzy to a warehouse, breaks some ice for him with a baseball bat, and demands to know what happened. Ozzy says that his team Sharkspark will kill him for revealing the scam. He explains that the Sharkspark is working with the Mafia and trying to make big money. Angie says that they'll keep him safe, and AJ offers to take him to a motel to keep Ozzy calm.
As AJ drives to the motel, he stops for beer and leaves Ozzy in the car. Someone kills him with a six-pack and runs off. AJ gets in the car and drives off, and finally realizes that Ozzy is dead.
The next day, AJ takes the corpse to the van , and Monica and Charo check him for clues. Charo finds a Euro and Angie offers to go undercover at Sharkspark. AJ insists that he knows video games and Pritkin agrees, but Angie objects. They all fight and AJ slips away the confusion. He goes to Sharkspark and says that he took second place at the championships in Slovania. The host, CRISPIN_GLOVESOFF295, offers him strawberry-lemonade flavored horse adrenaline and AJ has no choice but to drink it. He chugs it and goes into hyperdrive, and CRISPIN blindfolds him. Hyped up, AJ tells CRISPIN to tie his hands and uses his toes to collect the gold coins, passing the test. Betty is there and recognizes AJ from the hospital.
CRISPIN takes AJ to Ozzy's old room, and Betty comes in and tells him that being number one comes with some perks. She takes off her shirt and gives it to him, and says that they'll see how good he is. They end up in bed and AJ plays video games, and discovers the mattress is filled with Euros. Becky says that "he" will stop at nothing but AJ is too busy trying to piece it together to listen to Becky explain that it's money laundering.
AJ goes to the van and tells the team that it's a money-laundering scheme and Becky is going to arrange a meeting between AJ and the head of the operation. It can only be AJ, and Angie reluctantly agrees.
Later, Becky takes AJ to meet with the head of the operation: Pierre Cardin. Cardin wants AJ to stake his life on the fact that he's the best, and explains that he will use a VR version of Voyage Quest. It will connect to AJ's nervous experience so he experiences whatever happens to his avatar up to and including death. AJ radios the team to warn them but has no choice but to agree. The helmet connects to his spinal column and AJ begins the game. Becky hits him with a virtual sword, removes her wigs, and reveals that she's Beckett Bardot, the world's best gamer. Cardin explains that AJ must play his best champion to prove himself, and knows that AJ is a cop.
The team hear Cardin admit that he's a money launderer, and Monica hacks into the game to get AJ out of it.
AJ and Bridget start playing and fight. AJ finally goes down, but Angie enters the simulation and kills Bridget. After a moment, AJ confirms that Cardin has escaped and warns the others. He then reenters the VR simulation and plays with a hula hoop.
Written by Gadfly on Dec 30, 2018