In the time that GN, Janus, Croe, and Miles had been gone, the coder’s hideout had been vastly transformed. Guards had been posted at every intersection, barricades erected at every chokepoint, and everyone was armed to the teeth. Any supplies deemed nonessential had been grouped together so that should the need arise; they could quickly be teleported to one of the many safe houses the coders had. The coders had gone into lockdown.
Amidst the bustle, Qilin strode around inspecting the preparations. Occasionally he would give an order, and several players would rush to it immediately, whether it was to build another barricade, or to buff an animatronic sentry, or any of the other myriad of tasks required to make the catacombs defendable.
“Arachion, go place web traps in the eastern catacombs. If we’re attacked, I want the spellcasters to have as much time to perform the TP spells.”
“You got it.”
“Kuldau, where’s the bolts for these sentries?”
“On their way Qilin.”
Both players scurried off. Qilin watched them for a moment, then turned back to observe the handiwork of the other players in the area. Previous hideouts had been poorly built and poorly hidden. One had been a mere ten meters underground. They had been easily found and overrun within seconds. The Catacombs as they were called by the Coders, was easily the best and longest serving hideout yet- the better part of a year. To keep it safe, Qilin and the Coders had poured well over a million combined hours disguising it and making it habitable. They had even pooled their resources to buy two very expensive interdiction generators to repel the monsters that had a habit of spawning underground, and prevent anyone from just teleporting in without permission. Qilin also had several Coders with military backgrounds devise methods of defending the base- should the need arise. A complex set of instructions were created that had jobs for every single Coder. They were distributed and memorized so that when the alarm rang, everyone knew what to do.
As he walked, he was bumped into by none other than Spicymooshroom. He hurried past Qilin carrying a box full of drinks. Qilin increased his pace as much as an animatronic could, and eventually caught up with the cow. He tapped him on the shoulder, and Spicy stopped.
“Good to see someone’s there after all,” Qilin said. Spicy normally left his character in the hands of a bot programed to run the bar. With the alarm sounded, he apparently decided he himself was needed. He was after all, the first line of defense.
“Nice to see you to, Qilin,” he replied with his normal New York accent. “Sorry for bumping into you back there.”
“What brings the great bartender down here?” Qilin asked.
“I figured that you could use some of my more, potent beverages to make firebombs. Most of the rest is coming down here to be teleported should we be attacked.”
Qilin raised a mechanical eyebrow. “Slipping unauthorized supplies into the teleport pile? I expected better from you.”
Spicy sighed and turned around, the bottles clanking. “Look Qilin, I agree to run a bar up top and let people down into the caverns when they ask for Tachyon ale,”
“For a hefty price,” Qilin interjected.
Spicy nodded “Exactly Qilin. I’m a business man. I created a character in this game because I saw an opportunity to make a profit. There are a lot of people in the underground who’ll pay good money for in game gold. You of all people know that.”
Qilin ignored the comment.
Spicy continued. “I assume you’re not wasting my time for idle chat. What do you want?”
“Is Sharps still on guard up top?”
“Sharpslefae? Yeah, last I checked. Why?”
“I need to talk to him. In private. Can I use the back room?”
Spicy shrugged. “Sure, I guess. Don’t see why you don’t just message him.”
“He, he doesn’t check his messages.”
Spicy gave him a hard look, then shrugged. “If it’s private, don’t be too long. I’ve still got fifteen crates to move after this one. And don’t even think about taking anything. I didn’t work my ass of just for someone to take it right under my nose,” he added.
“What do I look like, Silent Stealth?” Qilin asked in mock insult.
They shared a laugh at that. Qilin then thanked him then quickly strode in the opposite direction. When he reached the shaft to the surface, he pulled both the left and right levers down, then pushed them to their original position. Tracks sprung from hidden locations on the side of the shaft. As a metal animatronic, the ladder wouldn’t support him for the time needed to get to the surface. The tracks were the only way he could get up.
Gears sprang from Qilin’s arms and legs. He placed them snugly in the tracks, and began to slowly ascend towards the surface.
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It always brought a smile to Qilin’s eyes whenever he entered the Spicy Mushroom. The entire game could be going to hell, but the rundown bar would still be the same. The same NPCs would be there, the same creaks and groans from the floor, and the same barstools that always seemed to be about to break. The only difference was that Spicy's character was gone, and an NPC was manning the bar.
He walked to the far corner where a hooded figure was sitting with a glass of wine. He leaned over and whispered, “I need you. Meet me in the back.”
The figure didn’t say anything, but nodded its head.
Not waiting for him, Qilin moved behind the bar and through a small door. The inside was would’ve been normally dark and gloomy, but Qilin’s eyes were like headlamps in the dark. Looking around revealed rows upon rows of bottles of spirits and other potions. Several bags of gold lay next a small pile of weapons. Qilin knew that if he searched hard enough, he’d find other items ranging from one of a kind weapons, to owl pelts and feathers. It was Spicy’s merchandise room.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” a deep voice said.
Qilin turned. The figure from the bar had entered the room.
“Did anyone notice you come in?” He asked.
“There’s no one in there except NPC villagers.” The figure replied
“Could you lose the voice modifier?” Qilin asked. “I never got used to that thing.”
The voice changed. “If I’m not using the voice,” a distinctly feminine voice said, “I guess I don’t need this.” The figure pulled the cloak off to reveal the lizard character that had first called Ginganinja a hacker.
“Thanks for coming in.” Qilin said. “I’ve got a job for you.”
Sharps shrugged. “It’s not like I have any choice. What’s up?”
“I want you to go to the hacker’s lair and keep an eye on those four.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why not just send an attack squad to help them out and be done with it.”
“Because I don’t want to help them, I want to know what’s going on. Those three agreed to that kid’s plan too quickly- almost as if it was planned out.”
“You think they’re deserters?”
“It’s the only explanation I can think of. What confuses me is why they went. Croe I could understand, and Janus might be convinced to leave if he really knew the guy, but Miles hates the hackers possibly more than the rest of us. It makes no sense that he’d desert us to join the hackers.”
“Maybe they left because they saw it as a better chance to win this.”
“Excuse me?” Qilin said.
“Are you really that blind Qilin?” She said, taking a step towards him. “Morale is at an all-time low. Just last week we had two of our best coders leave and delete their accounts. You keep talking about fighting the hackers, but all we do is hide in a stupid cave and pray no one gets too badly hurt during the next ‘raid’. Suddenly a new guy comes in. Sure he’s a newbie who has hacker abilities, but he’s the first guy to stand up and say we should take the fight to the Hackers instead of letting them attack us. If you hadn’t said that anyone who went with him would be kicked out, I know that more than three people would’ve followed him. Hell, I was tempted to run after him and I helped you start this damn organization.”
“Well what did you want me to do?” Qilin asked. “I couldn’t just let him go without punishment. He attacked one of our own! The crowd would’ve torn them and me apart had I not done that.” He got up in her face. “Listen to me. It would’ve been the end of the coders.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Sharps said. “You may’ve not seen it, but a lot of people listened closely to that kid. He gave more than a few people hope- something we’re running pretty damn short on.”
They stood like that, face to face for several minutes, reptilian face and metal monstrosity staring down the other. Finally Qilin broke the eye contact and muttered, “It would’ve destroyed us. Those wanting to go with him would’ve fought those wanting to kill him. As soon as that happened, it would’ve been game over for all of us.”
“Bullshit.” Sharps growled, reaching for her sword. Seeing the motion, Qilin’s eyes narrowed and weapons began to sprout out of hidden compartment all over his body.
Suddenly the door to the bar banged open. SpicyMooshroom walked in, carrying an empty box, only to freeze when he saw the standoff. Both players quickly stepped back, as if caught doing a dirty deed.
Sharps sheathed her sword. “I’ll go on that surveillance mission of yours, but if I see a chance to improve their chances, I’m taking it. Don’t even try to stop me, Arthur.”
Spicy’s mouth dropped open, and Qilin reared back as if struck. Revealing someone’s name on the internet without their permission was generally considered a massive breach of both protocol and manners.
“Don’t use that name.” Qilin hissed. “I hate that name. It makes me feel like a nerd.”
A small smile appeared on Sharps face. “You’re an animatronic machine in an online world leading a rebellion against a bunch of hackers. It doesn’t get much nerdier than that.”
And with that, she walked out the door.
Spicy set his box down on top of a barrel and walked up to Qilin. “Really need to work on your skills with the ladies my man.”
“Shut up.” Qilin said, storming out.
“Hey! Can I call you Arty from now on?”
“No!”750Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN2soMUMibG
