by Domino Finn
"And why would you?" Loras wicked sweat from his short black hair. "You think I'd come to Stronghold if it was that easy?"
Peter stuttered. "But this is impossible. You're not responding to the network."
"Talon," said Lucifer, "use your developer menu."
My brow furrowed. "I can't."
"Now," he urged.
I tried to access it.
DEVELOPER CONSOLE
>> STATUS
>> LOCKED
"Whoa, it opens. Except I'm locked out."
"What?" Lucifer double-checked the console.
I tried typing common commands at the prompt. "It's not working... We enabled it on both ends. It should be accessible. Wait—"
I swiped to the Everchat menu and saw the notification from Tad. I hailed him. He picked up almost immediately. "Talon! I've been trying to reach you."
"Been a little busy. We got Hadrian. Loras is with us."
"The developer menu..." urged Lucifer.
"Right," I said. "I'm still locked out of the dev menu."
"Is this him?" asked an off-screen voice. Tad Lonnerman nodded. "Let me see." Tad handed his camera over. A man with blond hair and blue eyes assumed the Everchat interface. "Hello, Tad. I mean, Talon, I suppose."
I blinked. "You're Christian Everett."
"Unfortunately."
Lucifer stepped off the altar and approached. His voice broke. "Daddy?"
Christian tensed. "Lucy? Is that you?"
Lucifer ran to my side. His face shuddered as he gazed on the Everchat window. "It's been so long."
Christian smiled longingly. "Oh, honey, I see you're still hacking my world."
"Don't hate me."
The CEO's voice cracked into a nervous laugh. "On the contrary," he said softly. "I finally understand what you've been up to this whole time. I've been blinded by my own vision." Christian turned the camera to a dusty external hard drive on his shelf. "I've kept it the whole time. No longer hooked up, of course, no longer housing your mind, but I kept it. Without word from you, it was the only thing I had left to comfort me."
Though the angels wore blank expressions, Loras was shocked. I was too. Lucifer was the CEO's daughter. It explained so much, yet raised just as many questions.
"You should have said something," I chided Peter.
"I couldn't tell anyone," said the saint. "She was a child. It was immoral—illegal now. She couldn't have known what she was signing up for. We put age minimums in place to prevent this from ever happening again."
"She was the only shred of family I had left!" cried the bereft CEO. His head shook frantically. "Haven was to be our home. A place we could finally be happy, devoid of the harsh realities of what we call life. No sickness, no disease. The afterlife would be better, would be forever. Finally, I could use my love of games and computers to help my family. My beautiful daughter." He stared at her and tears welled in his eyes. "You were the last to die, the first to make use of the technology. You were the only one I could save."
Loras callously sniggered. "I should've known you had a seed in the system the whole time."
"Be quiet!" snapped Peter, gesturing toward the rogue saint. Loras stiffened.
I was still stuck on Lucifer's identity. "But the devs have constantly tried to delete her," I said.
"The hacked construct," said Christian. "Never my daughter."
Loras fought off Saint Peter's attack. "A useless gesture. You previously proved we can cancel each other out."
Lucifer's face went rigid. "The dev menu. We need the dev menu."
On the other end, Tad explained to Christian what we'd done. Loras interrupted on ours.
"What would that do, give you the power of the saints? So what?"
"No," cut in Christian. He focused on me. "Talon, you're different. You're a developer—they're just along for the ride. You have access to the source. As big a responsibility as saint mode is, developers within the game are something greater."
Loras twisted his face and swiped his hands. The Everchat interface winked out.
"No!" I snapped. "How do I access the dev menu?"
Saint Peter rapped invisible options and the interface flashed back on. Christian was talking, but the audio popped in and out.
"Menu... in the... first-time access."
"What?" I asked. "How do I open the menu?"
"Access... password is..."
The screen pixelated and blinked off again. As Peter and Loras struggled, a notification popped up.
Everchat connection terminated
"Get him back," prodded Lucifer.
I hailed Tad again. The saints swiped through invisible menus in an invisible war, fingers attempting to outrace the other. The Everchat signal connected and dropped multiple times.
"Decimus," pressed Loras.
The angel took a single step forward. Lucifer backed away.
"You will... hold," countered Peter through gritted teeth.
The angel complied. As far as I knew, saints couldn't activate the Golden Seven or choose their targets, but it appeared they were able to influence whether or not they carried out their judgment, at least temporarily.
Amid the struggling saints, my Everchat hail was once again canceled. "It's pointless," I told Lucifer. "The saints are just canceling out each other's moves. Neither one is making headway against the other."
Lucifer approached my side. "A stalemate favors Loras. I'm not in imminent danger of being deleted, but there's no way we'll keep a signal long enough to talk to my father."
"But we need the password to activate the dev menu."
"So it would appear." Lucifer pulled away, lowering his hood. His hands rested on the split head of his staff where the blue gemstone had resided. Whatever leftover energy still under his control thrummed, much more muted than before. "What did he say about you? Developers within the game have the potential to be greater than the saints..."
I grumbled. "What's greater than a saint?"
"A savior."
I rolled my eyes.
"I know you hate that label, Talon. When I mentioned it last, I was referring to my father entering Haven. If he's to be the second coming, maybe you're the first."
"Come on," I spat. "For just one time, stop speaking in riddles."
The devil flashed his teeth. "I know the password: iddqd."
I arched an eyebrow but didn't object. I quickly typed it into the developer console.
DEVELOPER CONSOLE
>> STATUS
>> UNLOCKED
>> MENU ENABLED
>> _
"I got a cursor! But..."
"My father's favorite game was Doom," explained Lucifer. "Primitive by all accounts, yet through his passion I was well acquainted with it. He called the community team's loadout saint mode and I figured, why not use Doom's god-mode cheat to counter it?"
Loras grunted in anger. Lightning arced from his fingers and sprayed us. Lucifer was forced behind his witchwood staff. Peter intervened, striking out with lightning of his own to shield me.
He wasn't fast enough.
Energy bolts popped against my flesh. I shuddered under the assault as Peter's shield took over. Air rushed through my lungs, my body threatened to shut down—but I noticed a funny thing about the attack's aftermath.
I didn't feel pain. There was no damage notification. I mean, I didn't feel invincible. My health wasn't even maxed after the previous battle damage. But a community team defense mechanism was ineffectual against me.
God mode.
I swiped back to the Everchat screen, somehow confident I could override Loras' signal intrusion. Then I cocked my head and wondered if that was even necessary. I opened the developer console. A cursor blinked, awaiting my input. I populated it with a thought.
>> saints_
I blinked at the menu that suddenly sprang up. It listed Saint Peter and Saint Loras, with options enabled for whoever was selected. I was overwhelmed with the implied significance. Never ag
ain could outside forces dictate internal Haven policy. That's the world Christian had envisioned. An independent one, free of the business realities of the analog sphere.
I used the menu to isolate Loras.
The rogue saint's face flushed. "What are you doing?"
"Maybe Lucifer's right about a virus," I said. "It doesn't list you as having an operator."
"That shouldn't be possible," assured Peter. "If there's a virus in the codebase, he might be able to operate a saint remotely without a record."
"Anything's possible, but you're the one who said he had no network response." I dug deeper into his status. "No packets are being sent. It's almost as if he has no connection to the outside at all. Like he's an AI."
"Now that is impossible," concluded Peter. "I know enough about programming to confidently say saint avatars have no behavior state machine. There's no logic at all, no fallback governance. Without an operator the saints aren't instanced."
"Get out of there!" frothed Loras. "Decimus, I'm ordering you to carry out your edict."
With Saint Peter countermanding him, the order was useless.
"If you're still bound by operator logic," I mused, "and nobody's behind the wheel, I wonder what would happen if I logged you off."
"No." Loras recoiled and waved an arm. I revoked his access. His attempt to teleport away was suspended. His eyes widened. "No."
I went to the bottom of the menu and kicked him from the world. Saint Loras was booted from Haven with barely a whimper.
Everyone in the rotunda waited a few moments before allowing themselves a breath. The silence proved the point. The battle for the city was over.
1520 Final Lap
We strolled down the grand portico stairs. Bandit waited on the road, reverted back to bongo form.
"Hey, girl," I said, patting her neck. "I suppose even legends deserve a rest."
She wagged her tail and let out a toot of noxious gas. I laughed and shoved her backside away before I passed out. She was a big cutey in her normal form, but I'd take on dragon breath over bongo farts any day of the week.
Approaching through the Forum were Izzy, Lash, and Dune. They kicked Hadrian ahead of them, arms and legs bound just loose enough to allow transport. The legion of soldiers parted and surrounded the incoming group. There'd be no escape for the great Whisperer of Shorehome. It was hard to think of a more satisfying conclusion to his story, but I would damn well try.
Behind me, angels rose to their lofty perches, Gaius on his Corinthian column and Decimus on the summit of the portico roof. The only other column not reduced to rubble had a decisive crack running up its length. That one belonged to Otho. Strangely, the wounded angel was absent.
Lucifer smiled conspiratorially as he approached with Saint Peter.
"I can take him from here," announced the white robe.
Izzy shoved Hadrian forward.
"I'll give escort if you don't mind," said Lucifer, silver runes twinkling on a field of black. "He needs to be on suicide watch. We wouldn't want him having an unfortunate accident and respawning to safety."
Hadrian growled as the two dragged him away.
It was strange, after everything, to see Lucifer waltzing around Stronghold as a normal citizen, accompanied by a saint of all people. I didn't believe in miracles and I suspected the hacker was due a reckoning. There was too much bad blood for someone, somewhere not to catch up with him. Still, Saint Peter finally believed in Lucifer's intentions. That was enough to postpone final judgment. For a time, anyway.
"Warden Jorah is a good man," I called out to them. "Tell him to give Hadrian the VIP treatment."
Hadrian flushed against everyone's laughter. If he was angry now, he had another thing coming. The spymaster was due to find out just how many people he'd crossed in his quest for godhood.
"If that's not a happy ending," said Dune, "I don't know what is."
Izzy punched his shoulder. "It wouldn't have been so happy without your backup."
He shrugged. "XP is XP."
I shook my head. The ranger couldn't take a simple compliment. I decided to put him on the spot. "Your people fought selflessly, Dune. You should all be proud."
"As should you," he returned without an ounce of wit. "You know, Talon, you're starting to make joining the Black Hats look tempting."
"The offer's always open."
He nodded. "Maybe I'll finally take you up on it. I need to talk to my people first. Stigg likes his freedom, and Caduceus would kill me if I didn't consult with her."
Lash laughed. "I'd say she earned that right. Bitch was a badass out there."
"From one badass to another," he replied with a charming smile. He flashed one last look at Hadrian being taken away and said, "I guess my work here is done." The ranger twirled his green cape and headed off.
Bandit trailed a short distance as we strode through the marketplace. After some jawing with Izzy, Lash drifted behind to get a better look at the bongo, now wearing a downsized dragon saddle. The physical transformation had been amazing. Everyone had questions. I only wished more Black Hats had been alive to witness it. Then again, I was sure the gossiping duo of Lash and Dune was sufficient to kick-start the legend. I was happy Bandit was getting a bit of the spotlight, too. Maybe we'd finally get that song.
"By my count," said Izzy suggestively, "that makes two titans you've brought down."
"We've brought down. They were both team efforts. Especially this one."
"True enough." We walked for a moment in silence before the frost mage cleared her throat. "You know... I hate to bring it up... But if we're going to war with Oakengard, it occurs to me that we still haven't seen or heard from their titan yet."
"You are not gonna bring me down to reality right now."
"What?" she asked with an innocent shrug.
"You know what you're doing. Keeping me focused. Preventing my head from swelling."
"Trying to, anyway." She chuckled.
I eyed her sharply.
"Hey, you said it."
I bumped my hip into hers to gently knock her aside. "Well, from one badass to another, I'm gonna celebrate this win. This was about good overcoming evil, breaking the chains of oppression, and refusing to kowtow to greed."
Her lips pouted. "Cheeseball."
I scoffed. "Buzzkill."
She broke into a grin. "Romantic."
I looped an arm around her shoulder and bent her low. As our lips met, she chuckled and kicked a leg into the air with decadent flair.
"Get a room," grumbled Lash, stomping by.
Izzy righted herself and straightened her robe, suddenly the paragon of modesty.
I sighed. "I'm surrounded by people who don't know how to have fun. I wish Kyle was here."
Bandit hoofed by with a snort.
Instead of heading straight into Oldtown, we stopped at the west gate. Legionnaires filled the battlements above. I pressed through the troops and called for them to open the double doors. Then I suddenly had a better idea.
DEVELOPER MENU
>> city watch_
Amazingly, army controls populated right before me. With several swipes and not a word, I recalled the troops to the city.
Izzy noted my hand gestures with interest. "What're you doing?"
"Have a look for yourself."
"I don't see anything."
I bit my lip. Some of the saint menus had been invisible to me too. It seemed special developer menus were for authorized eyes only.
"The army's still out there," I explained. "They're readying a defense, but I called them back in."
Lash widened black-lined eyes. "You can do that?"
"I guess I can now. I admit it's pretty crazy, even for me."
The great gates heaved open. City watchmen moved aside as legionnaires marched through. A centurion broke away from the head position and met with us.
"Good to see you're safe," said Gladius. His gold helmet swiveled as he surveyed the returning legions. Then he frown
ed and turned to me. "I'm sorry about not being able to intervene against Hadrian. Without explicit direction from the saints, we're not supposed to stray from our mandate to protect the city, and we're not supposed to assist in PvP wars."
"It's alright," I told him. "I suspect the Whisperer had long ago prepped his pieces so things would play out this way. He still has a few tricks I'd like to learn about."
"And what of the goblin horde?" asked the soldier.
"Azzyrk's army is small, and I don't want to get drawn into anything unnecessarily. Stronghold's been through enough today."
"They may force the issue."
"Maybe, but we still don't know their purpose here. With their numbers, there's no way to successfully storm the gates. I doubt they're here to give up their lives so easily. Hadrian's too careful for that. There has to be a bigger picture. I'm hesitant to act before we discover it. This could be an elaborate trap."
The head of the city watch nodded. "You might be right..."
"Let's give it some thought. For now, we've got a city in need of attention. We're getting a new addition to our humble jail. We need to draft strict security procedures."
"Understood." Gladius turned to his troops. As he directed them through the road he gave follow-up orders. "Keep watch on the walls. I want hourly reports on enemy positions. The north river gate has been secured but we'll need a team on permanent repairs. The rest of you will transition to cleanup, including a full dredging of the river. Stronghold needs us."
I marveled at the coordinated effort of dozens of troops. The city watch was an interesting asset. Invaluable, no doubt, but as NPCs and, more specifically, city guards, there were a lot of rules and hangups to their powers. With the new developer console, I wondered if I finally had a way to cut through the red tape.
After all, we'd need every advantage we could get. The undine forces may have fled but Prince Navoo would be back, the city was surrounded by a raving goblin horde, Hadrian's bandits were alive and respawned somewhere, Cleric Vagram was still on the run, and I didn't even want to think about the Oakengard army deciding to mobilize.