by Harper North
One of the three Master Admins steps out from behind a Golgan tower and stands in the middle of the street, facing us. The purple aura surrounding him is unmistakable.
“Watch out!” I shout.
Master_Admin32 doesn’t show his level, but there’s no need. And I don’t have to fight him. He surveys us from behind his black face mask and clenches one fist. Atlas and Gen_W’s fighters charge him, and my heart aches at the thought of Atlas getting dissolved. The unstable environment is the only thing helping us now.
Hugging the side of the building, I charge forward as the Admin’s attention remains on the distraction. Gen_W opens fire on the Admin. Though the Blaster fire hits, the orange rays bounce off the Admin’s armor, as if harmless, and then arc into the sky.
He raises one arm and trembles.
Atlas freezes along with the other two fighters. I run behind the Admin just as a Golgan Drone appears over my head, blades spinning. A green laser shoots at me, lowering my health bar. Extending my free hand, I charge the Admin, taking damage as he raises his hand toward the sky, ready to dissolve Atlas and all of Gen_W’s now paralyzed players on the street. Though red dots fill my map, the threat vanishes into the background.
“Now!” Coco shouts beside me. She fires at the Drone, which turns its aggression on her.
I lunge, striking the Master Admin with my gloved palm.
A zap follows and the Admin freezes, convulsing and wavering. A familiar buzzing sound emerges from within his helmet. The Hermit is taking over.
He’s had practice, so the process ends in a few seconds. The Hermit, now in the form of Master_Admin32, whirls and faces me as Atlas and the others thaw.
“Raven,” he says in The Hermit’s voice. “Take cover.”
I seize Coco’s arm and pull her toward a tower. She fires on two Golgans skittering down as we run away from the still-shifting citadel’s base. We bolt past another Admin, who runs to deal with the new threat, as we press against the building.
The Hermit equips dual Blasters, opening fire on ICC hires and then the other Master_Admin. The weapons are modded. Six beams of Blaster fire fill the world. Players fall. Gen_W’s people clear the street, pressing against buildings and slipping into alleys as The Hermit continues the overpowered attack. He whirls, peppering the surrounding area. I pull Coco into another dark alley, shooting at another Golgan as we duck into shelter. I watch my log to see if any of my clustermates fall in battle, but the corner space remains clear.
An explosion follows. The world lights and fades with more Blaster fire.
When I peek from around the alley corner, I see Gen_W and her people advancing on the remaining ICC fighters, driving the small crowd back and away from the citadel. The Hermit remains in the middle of battle as the enemies, both Golgan and ICC, retreat. Drones fly away, but I fire on one with my 5th Tier Sniper Scope and land two critical hits, exploding the craft. As I lower my Scope, I spot Atlas charge one of the two remaining Master Admins with his Electric Glove while The Hermit keeps the Admin distracted with Blaster fire. The combined attack causes the Admin to flicker, glitching out, before vanishing completely.
Atlas and The Hermit have taken down an Admin. Amazing.
I jump out from the alley. Coco joins me. Gen_W continues to drive back the ICC hires. I aim at the last Admin, my target locking on the figure now in Blaster battle with The Hermit. His purple aura stands out against the citadel. I fire, again and again, drawing sparks as The Hermit and the Admin fire on each other. Sweat forms under my gloves. If even one Admin survives, we’re done.
At last, after what feels like an eternity, the Admin flickers and vanishes.
Silence falls, but only for a moment. No ICC fighters remain. The Hermit lowers his blasters as Gen_W walks up behind him—
“Watch out!” I shout. “Don’t med—”
The Hermit whirls in time to see Gen_W, who holds up her hand now donned in a glowing purple glove, a weapon I’ve never seen before. She presses her palm to The Hermit’s armored chest with confidence.
And his purple aura vanishes. The glove brightens. The Hermit remains completely still as if he’s become a statue.
My heart races with terror as everyone, including Gen_W’s fighters, freeze.
She turns to face us, one slow, victorious step at a time.
I’ve made a mistake, trusting Sector 14 to help us fight even for a minute.
“I’ve disabled his avatar and finally secured him,” she says, raising her chin high. “Thank you for making this moment possible. Now we can finally sever the connections that hold The Binding together.”
CHAPTER 20
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Gen_W31 asks. She turns the skull side of her face up in a sneer. “You must’ve known it was going to happen eventually.” She faces me, and her Cyborg eye red is merciless. “You didn’t believe me when I said we’d meet again?”
“That’s another movie trope,” Atlas tells me. “The bad guys always say that.”
Shock fails to form. Of course I knew she would attempt to capture the still-paralyzed Hermit-Admin, but I hadn’t expected the capture to happen with a single touch of a purple glove. I quake with rage. I’m going to snap and lose my composure. Here, I’ll gladly give in to my temper.
Two Golgans emerge from a nearby building. Two Sector 14 fighters open fire on insect aliens with grenade launchers. An explosion punctuates Atlas’ next sentence.
“Look,” Atlas says. He glances at me, sending a silent warning. “We’re both on the same side and want to destroy the ICC. We want the same thing. But think about this. You can accomplish what you want without destroying the minds of everyone in the old system.”
“Listen to Atlas,” I say after taking a much-needed calming breath. “He makes sense. We both want to see the old Binding taken down. We can work something out. And we know someone with powerful connections who has a new vision for The Binding.”
“A new vision for a game?” Willis asks.
“That’s ironic, coming from you,” Atlas mutters. “You used to be addicted.”
Willis glares at him. “My vision is for a new world, where the herd no longer rules and the free-minded can rise again.”
She’s too far gone to listen. “Everyone’s free minded if you’d only give them the chance,” I say.
Willis removes her hand from The Hermit, who remains still. She takes one step toward me as her fighters watch in silence. “You don’t know what it’s like to be betrayed by those who should be your friends and family, do you?”
Her words deal a critical hit. I flinch. Gen_W has found my weak point and she’s trying to exploit a deep wound I’ve tried to keep buried.
“Or do you?” She asks. “These people make up the herd. And the herd only cares about the hand that feeds.”
I glance at my hotbar. Still full. Though she’s frozen The Hermit’s avatar, Gen_W still needs the Ancient Artifact that contains a copy of his consciousness, right?
With a glance at Atlas, Coco, and Panda—three trustworthy, amazing people, including one who works for the ICC—I make my decision. “I’m not handing him over,” I say, pushing my shoulders back.
Gen_W folds her arms across her armored chest. “This map is incomplete and vulnerable,” she says, with a terrifying calm, “Hacking is possible. Surely your Hermit has told you? Inventories can get hacked. Items within those can get cracked open as well, just like a safe. And everything within that safe can get drawn out. In fact, Sector 14 was able to hack into this vast, new universe and pin down your location.”
“How did you even manage to get away from the ICC and find us?” I ask, struggling to keep my voice level. At the new information, my flash of anger dissolves like a dust cloud in a hurricane.
Willis paces. She eyes another Golgan climbing down from a building and fires, throwing the alien off. The creature lands on the pavement with a disgusting splat, breaking into pieces, but she doesn’t balk.
“After the
ICC attacked our headquarters, I escaped with a few other Sector 14 members. Saving my hackers was my top priority. We managed to reach an outpost of ours on the border of Sector 13 and reconnected with the rest of our movement. After a short period, we even hacked into your hideout’s local network to discover the existence of this 2.0. Oh, and I know all about Marcus Renton and his plan to rope in the herd for profit.”
“Okay. I’ll admit he’s what you say to a degree,” Atlas says, “But he’s not that bad of a guy.”
“He just has bad taste,” Coco adds.
“And he doesn’t want to destroy the populations of two planets,” I add, reaching for my anger again. But my throat is as dry as the dust cloud I imagined.
Willis ignores me and faces Coco for a second before pacing again. “I couldn’t enter the game right away, but we could watch you from afar. It’s likely Renton might have detected me too early. I bade my time by leveling up to reach the planet he’s been studying. And yes, I could see that he’s been trying to access that code, and that the ICC has maintained a presence here. So, we waited until you reached the planet and showed us how to get through the orbit.”
“We showed you that?” Panda asks. His jaw drops.
Her words draw out the seething rage again. “I don’t care how much you hate whoever hurt you,” I say. “Not everyone out there is part of this herd. I’ll fight and die as many times as I need to prevent your delusions of grandeur from coming true. If anyone’s a backstabber, it’s you.”
“Luckily for you, the wait won’t be long,” she says. “This citadel is a hotbed of incomplete code, a well with almost zero security. It’s perfect to tap into the ICC as they’ve set up a handful of unprotected connections to get in here. Then it’s log off. Forever.”
Fists clenched, I face Atlas.
He nods.
Coco nods.
Panda strikes his chest with his fist. I recognize it as an honorable gesture.
Right then, a Golgan Drone appears overhead, Level 30. It fires its green death beam at a group of Sector 14 fighters, who fire back with Blasters and Reflecting Stars. The air fills with seething orange and splitting red.
I take advantage. Aiming my 5th Tier Sniper Scope at Willis, my target locks onto her Cyborg eye and I fire, drawing sparks and dropping her health bar by a quarter. She still out levels me. Willis jumps from The Hermit as Atlas charges her, his Electrified Titanium Armor sparking and his green Laser Blade barely missing The Hermit’s form. Panda joins him, Blaster raised. I fire again and, even though she’s moving, my target locks and I draw out another hit.
“Raven! Take cover!” Coco shouts, pulling on my arm.
The Android shoves me out of the way and raises her Modded Blaster. She peppers the Sector 14 fighters with orange blasts, dropping health bars, but then a small group of fighters turn their aggression on us. Coco pulls me into an alley, firing on a few Golgans in the process. We duck into darkness.
A Sector 14 woman fires a Stasis Rifle at Panda.
The blue bubble is the first I’ve seen since the Baxter Cluster used it to steal my Digital Transfer Credit. The stasis bubble engulfs Panda, lifting him off the ground.
And then another Sector 14 fighter aims a Grenade Launcher and fires.
ForagingPanda3000 has fallen in battle!
The bubble fades. Atlas’ green Laser Blade swings. He kills an Android, but his health bar drops under Blaster fire. Many of the fighters have weapons as good as ours. Some out level us. At the very least, they outnumber us three to one.
I raise my Rifle. The scope zooms in on Gen_W, who drags the paralyzed Hermit inch-by-inch to the citadel’s base. To the hole without security. To the portal into the heart of the ICC. Can she use him in such a state? Maybe she’s already hacked the Ancient Artifact—
My health bar refills, thanks to the cover. I yank my arm from Coco’s grasp. “We’re not going to sit here.”
“But Panda’s back at the Station.”
“We have to try.”
Coco, as I predict, nods. “Let’s give it all we’ve got.”
The two of us run out from the alley, shooting three more Golgans who decide to join the party. I open fire on Gen_W as Atlas dodges Reflecting Stars and swings at Sector 14 fighters, too distracted to stop Gen_W. She closes the final ten feet to the citadel’s base while a green glow surrounds her. Green fills her health bar. She’s used an Advanced Nanobot Pack, outracing the damage we deal. Even with the device’s cooldown, she might make it to the structure before it wears off.
I fire again, but the red refills. Gen_W fires at Atlas, filling his bar with angry, flashing blood.
“No,” Coco shouts, blasting them all: the Sector 14 fighters, the Golgan Drone, even The Hermit’s frozen form. The fighters return fire, and I fall back onto black pavement, staring at the darkness overhead. My health bar drops to half as a fragmented wall of Blaster fire races over me. It ends, and I rise, lifting my rifle and preparing for the end. We won’t kill these players. We have no chance.
And then the world stops.
I go to pull the trigger, but my finger won’t obey. Atlas pauses, health hovering above zero and Laser Blade raised over the head of a fighter. Beside me, Coco keeps her Blaster aimed at Gen_W, but she doesn’t fire. Two Golgans have turned into ugly insect statues that cling to the side of their nest. Even the Drone, with its depleted health bar, hovers in place. Its blades have stopped rotating. A few ICC players have returned during the fray, aiming their guns from the sidelines. The hires, too, have frozen.
And Gen_W stands with The Hermit just a few feet from the citadel, which has finally stopped wavering and settled into its crown form.
I can move my eyes, but nothing else.
The Master Admin did the same to me and Atlas before trying to end us.
And, as before, a new something shimmers into existence before us.
“Mmmph,” Atlas says.
Pure red energy demands everyone’s attention as the being, who looks like a reddish version of the Maxa, solidifies, though the faint-red glow remains. The man’s red skin looks as if it’s solidified from the ruined Maxa city’s lava flows, and black tattoos of squares, diamonds, triangles, and other geometric shapes cover his hands and face, adding to the illusion. He must stand seven feet tall, taller than any being I’ve seen in The Binding before. A black robe, complete with red trim, hugs his torso and flows around his legs, displaying a well-built body with defined muscle. He glares with a lip turned up in a half-grin. Everything about it feels predatory. An urge to fight quickly changes to a desperate need to flee. My legs tighten, but I can’t move them.
His red irises emit the same glow as his body.
“Now, children,” he says with a full smile. “Why are we fighting?”
Children?
On the other side of him, Atlas tries to grunt. Is he telling me to run?
“I shouldn’t have expected anything better,” he says. “After watching all of you make fools of yourselves in my universe, I shouldn’t be surprised.” The being turns in a slow circle.
His universe?
This is the AI who is building 2.0?
He eyes the now-frozen citadel and Gen_W, who has her now-frozen arms wrapped around The Hermit. “Now, now,” he says. “I expected the temptation of riches and power to bring all of you here. If there’s anything I’ve learned about these beings from the physical world, it’s that those two things sway them every time. It will make them easy to rule. Easy to maintain my universe’s prosperity and evolution.” His feet scrape pavement as he strides toward the frozen Hermit. “This one, on the other hand, is different. He wishes to destroy the things I have worked to build.”
My heart sinks.
The AI is a monster, driven by the principles the ICC holds dear. And why shouldn’t he be? An ICC executive gave birth to him.
“Call me Aldea,” he says, seizing Gen_W31 by the arm and pulling her frozen form from The Hermit. “It is a name that means wealthy an
d powerful, pulled from the data banks of Earth. It is a fitting name for the strongest traits of Earth kind and Mera kind. I would have chosen a Meran name,” he says, glancing back at me, “but they are a bit complicated for my taste.”
With the flick of an arm, he throws Gen_W to the side. She skids pavement, drawing sparks, and only stops when she strikes a Golgan nest.
The Hermit stands, helpless, unable to move.
Aldea faces us with a smile. “I will not let an AI such as his destroy my world when there are billions waiting to taste its forbidden fruit,” he says, raising a red hand toward The Hermit.
But then The Hermit lifts one black-gloved hand and meets Aldea’s.
He’s not frozen?
The two face each another. “I have not learned everything about physical beings,” The Hermit says in his familiar voice. “But I do know there is more than you believe. The beings you speak of are complicated. They are not only about power and wealth.”
“Look at them,” Aldea says, eyeing Gen_W. “I’ll bring them to my side.”
The Hermit equips a Blaster in his free hand and opens fire into Aldea’s chest.
The AI releases The Hermit and flies back to land on Gen_W. The two form a heap that is sure to draw jokes from Atlas later, but there’s no time now to laugh. The Hermit, with incredible speed, runs at Atlas and places a hand on his shoulder. Atlas shakes his head, stunned for a moment as The Hermit speeds toward me and Coco. A jolt runs through my avatar as he places a hand on my shoulder and Coco’s simultaneously. I blink and a bolt of light goes through my brain as he frees us.
Behind him, Aldea rises, robes flowing. His red face contorts into rage as he steps into the center of the street. The dead light from the black hole can’t even drown out his intensifying red glow. “Golgans!” he orders. “Sacrifice them to the darkness, and I will bless you with energy and light for the next thousand years!”
