Hey Guys!
Sorry I couldn't update last Monday. I was out of town and very far away from a computer, and I didn't have time to set something up with a friend for him to post the next chapter. To make it up to you guys, after this week, I will continue with my normal update schedule and post a new chapter next week as well. this means that you guys get two updates in as many weeks!
But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter and see what the Dev's answer is to Miles' question.
Roll Story!
The hall was dead silent. The quiet babble that had persisted for most of the Q&A had ceased. Everyone was waiting to hear what the Developers had to say. Even Qilin, who was obviously livid that Miles had ruined his chance, was listening intently.
“I’m sorry, but what hacker problem are you talking about?” the Developer said in confusion.
“I mean the one that is causing injury to the players themselves,” Miles replied. “The one where the Hackers have the ability to hurt people in real life.”
For a moment, the Developer’s face showed a mask of confusion. Then his face returned to normal and he said “You mean the attack on the Halo servers earlier this week. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand how this is pertinent to-”
“I’m not talking about Halo; that was something that only happened recently,” Miles said angrily. “What I’m talking about is the Hackers that have been plaguing Rune for over a year now! They’ve done nothing but attack people for no apparent reason, using some virus that lets them create high pitched noises that blow out their victims eardrums, give them headaches, and sometimes knock them unconscious! Hell, one guy was put in a coma for over a goddam month!”
“If this is true, then why have we not received any complaints from you or any of the other players?” the developer asked.
“Bullshit!”
Qilin stepped forward, apparently having managed to remove whatever code the developers had placed on the hall. From his viewpoint, Alex could see that Sharpslefae was right behind him, one hand on the pommel of her sword. Surprisingly, the elf that Alex had attacked in the Hacker’s base was there as well, wearing a white cloak with gold trim over his usual attire.
“How did you,” the Developer spluttered, “Sir, I demand that you put our code back to the way it was, and leave this hall immediately. You’ve broken the terms of service and we will be looking into your history to see if you have done anything else with the game.”
“Good. Then maybe you will see what the Hackers have been doing as well,” Qilin said hotly. “I represent a group that has been constantly trying to get rid of the Hackers since they began to show up and become organized. We’ve all submitted hundreds if not thousands of reports, often with video and audio evidence, of what is going on. And yet, we have never heard anything back, never seen any action taken to try and stop the Hackers other than our own. The only thing we have seen is a steady increase in hacker activity. So tell me, what exactly are you going to do now about it?”
“I tell you once again, we have seen no reports suggesting that these hackers exist. Now leave this hall or we will be forced to ban both of you for defiance against a direct command of one of the Dev team.”
Miles drew his sword. “Not until we prove to you that the Hackers exist, and you answer for the damage that your negligence has caused.”
At that moment, a noise like the air being let out of a balloon sounded throughout the hall. A massive trail of bubbles flew towards the ceiling and Janus faded into view, right behind one of the Hackers.
Time froze
Then Janus yelled “For the Horde!” and stabbed the Hacker in the back, shoving him into the nearest players. As the players tumbled down, he dove back into the crowd and shoved his way towards the exit, yelling “World of Warcraft shall destroy you all!” As he did so, he accidentally ran into Alex. They tumbled to the ground, and Ginganinja faded into view as well.
At this point the hall was in chaos. The Developers were trying to return order, but whatever Qilin did to break the silence was also preventing them from restoring it as well. Meanwhile, the Hackers that Alex and Janus had not yet kicked were drawing weapons and making their way towards Miles and Qilin. As they advanced, players scrambled out of their way to avoid being attacked. Sharpslefae drew her weapon as did Qilin. After a moment’s hesitation and a look from Sharpslefae, the elf did so as well, pulling a short sword from underneath his cloak.
Miles swung at the first hacker who got within range; going in with a downward slash that split the Hacker in two and cracked several of the floorboards. The second Hacker was more cautious and went on the defensive. He managed to last a few seconds, during which he called out to the Developer at the podium. “Don’t worry sir! We’ll have them taken care of in a moment.”
As he was talking, Miles disarmed him and followed through with a punch to the neck. The Hacker sailed backwards and landed in a collapsed heap.
What he didn’t see was that one of the Hackers had snuck around him and was preparing to stab him in the back with a dagger.
Alex tore through the last of the crowd and with a flying leap, tackled the would be assassin. They slid across the floorboards as Alex conjured up a fireball. To his horror, it came out as a viral attack. Desperately, he shoved it into the Hacker whom gave a sharp cry and shoved Ginganinja off. Alex extinguished the ball and drew his sword.
By this time, Miles had realized what had almost happened. He turned and saw Ginganinja facing the Hacker. His eyes narrowed. “You.”
“I just saved you from being taken down. A thanks would be nice,” Alex said, blocking the Hacker’s slash and countering with a thrust.
Miles shoved him back, then grabbed a Hacker by the hair and threw him screaming into a wall, which promptly broke. “I had everything covered. I didn’t need you to save me.”
“Your back sure as hell didn’t look covered,” Alex said, wincing as his character took a glancing axe blow in the arm. He struck the handle of the axe and dragged it out of the Hacker’s grasp before ending him with a stab to the throat.
“Do you really think a dagger in the back would kill me?” Miles asked.
“Well, I don’t know. Depends on whether it was a normal dagger, or something worse. Considering it was a Hacker, I’d wager worse.”
“ENOUGH!”
The developer had moved around the podium and had jumped down to the floor, shoving Ginganinja away as he did. “This has gone on long enough,” He roared. “You have disrupted an official event created by Arcanis software. You are all hereby banned.”
He reached to his back, not for the massive spear, but instead for a small glowing rod that Alex had not noticed at first.
“It’s a Ban Rod!” Qilin cried. “Run!”
The Developer fired it at Qilin and he vanished into a bright light.
“No!” Sharpslefae cried.
The developer ignored her and instead trained it on Janus. He fired, but Janus saw it coming and managed to duck under it and let it hit the Hacker behind him. The Developer continued firing, but Janus managed to evade him.
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” A female Developer said. “Enough with these dramatics.”
She typed a few keys in on her keyboard, and Janus too vanished.
The female Developer turned to Alex, Miles, Shaprslefae, and the elf. “I will spare you four because you weren’t the leaders of this outrage. You will however be put on probation for the remainder of the time you play Rune. If such actions persist, you will be banned as well,” She then turned her focus squarely on Miles. “Since you assisted your leaders in the actual disruption, you will receive further punishment.”
“That’s where you’re wrong lady, I haven’t been part of that group for over two month now. I only came here because the person who was put in a coma was a friend of mine. Thanks to your lack of action, he can barely hear any more.”
“Then who is this person? Tell us and we will talk to him personally to find out if he is telling the truth.”
“You can’t. As soon as he recovered enough to tell us what happened, he quit the game and deleted his account.”
“Then you have no way of proving your truth,” She said. She returned once more to the keyboard and began typing. As she did, Miles’ sword and sheath crumbled to dust and he appeared to shrink slightly. When she finished, the female developer spoke. “I’ve removed the contents of your inventory, and stripped you of your level. This is to be your punishment.”
Miles was shocked at his sudden transformation. “But, you can’t do that!”
“As a matter of fact, yes we can,” The male developer said. “It clearly states in the terms of agreement that we have full ability to grant and remove items and ranks at our leisure. A document, may I remind you, that you agreed to when you created an account.”
“But,”
“If you would prefer,” the female developer said, “we can always ban your account.”
Miles lowered his head, defeated.
“Let this be a lesson of what happens when people mess with what we have given them,” The female developer declared. “Now get out of this building, and never come back!”
Alex picked himself up from the floor and made his way through the crowd of people still remaining. The Hackers among them gave him discrete sneers. As the doors of the hall closed behind him, he could hear the developers praising the Hackers that had fought them.
Yeah, that didn't go as well as planned did it? Tune in next week to see the aftermath!699Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUfvRNFyXxI
