Undisclosed Location

Time Until Augmentation Array Appears: 6 Months, 5 Days

"Andrew!"

Half a dozen heads popped up and turned like meerkats, catching as a flash of colors rocketed across the open space. Before even Joey could react with his lightning like reflexes, Andrew had been hoisted up and into the air by the collar of his shirt and a shockwave of pressure rippled outward across the onlookers.

"Where. The fuck. IS. MY. SERVER!"

There was a look of pure rage that was plastered on Christopher's face and several of the others were already moving into position to react. While none of them had quite been able to keep up with Christopher in terms of leveling, over the last few months most of them had sparred with the man and that had given them the opportunity to discuss how to handle him if they ever actually needed to.

Joey was just about to burst fully into electricity when another voice cut through the air.

"Everybody who's not Christopher or Andrew, stand down and relax. This isn't a fight," Cassie ordered, her tone washing over the crowd. Though he clearly didn't like it, small bits of sparks coming off of his hands practically in defiance, Joey eased back, his eyes focused on the two.

"They're not your servers and the Power Assignment Device hasn't been anywhere near that old device ever since Axio stopped being able to work out of that room. You can't actually be upset that I've relocated it," Andrew said calmly, staring down and directly into Christopher's hard eyes. "If you'd think about it for even half a second, you'd realize that it was past time to move those servers out of the Dead Zone in your basement."

"WHERE. ARE. THEY?!" Christopher demanded, his grip tightening.

"Why are you so angry? Upset you can't go making any more changes to give yourself an advantage? Or were you planning on adding some other new feature. I mean really, Ability Augmentations?"

"You're projecting Andrew," Cassie said, getting closer to the two but stopping shy of getting into arm's reach of them. "You're the one who keeps trying to tweak and add things to the Power Database, not to mention all the new faces around here. Christopher, take a deep breath, you're better than this."

Christopher visibly seemed to react and in a few moments that felt like they took ages, he slowly set Andrew back down, though he pointedly didn't let go of the weaker man's shirt as he took in slow, deep breaths.

They were standing in the center of a large, open courtyard that now filled the open area around where Christopher's home stood. The warehouses that housed Mr. Factory's workshop and storage were now hidden behind several strip mall-like constructions that had been added to the complex. Thanks to a few of the newer game features that Christopher had added and more specifically Lauren, those strip malls were actually being used as game-like shops.

Lauren, now going by Lab Grown, had worked with Christopher and Mr. Factory to build up yet another server based on a backup of the Personal A.I. server that Andrew had originally designed. Once that was up, it was apparently "no sweat at all" to create a system that uploaded the artificial consciousness into the homunculus bodies that her Biomass Manipulation had allowed her to make.

Well… it was actually some sweat, because at first, the newly "born" people would have nervous breakdowns upon realization of their origin. Dr. Curtis had tried to weigh in on what was happening, even attempting to use a version of the Acceptance Matrix he had developed for the other Augments to keep the "Non-Sapients" from losing their minds. In the end, a small bit of their programming had to be changed, preventing them from knowing that their existence was artificial. With some of them having been created solely to be killed, this little change smoothed over a lot of the initial mental stress the artificial constructs had been put under.

"Those servers are mine. I have put up with a lot of shit from you over the last year, but you can't just take my stuff without my permission," Christopher finally said, his voice struggling to stay even.

"Please, Factory printed most of what I took from your basement and can you really claim the hardware that makes up Axio's original server is yours?"

"YES! Most of what he was connected to are my hard drives and my data! Where is it!?"

"Sir… shouldn't he be there when you do the demonstration for-" Andrew's head whipped to the side, cutting off the young man's words before he could finish his thought.

For the first time since Christopher had rushed him, Andrew's calm demeanor broke and he shot the intern a glare that made the man back up, even if he did have… wind powers? Christopher wasn't actually too sure. It had happened only a week or so prior, but while Christopher had been distracted completing a mission in the woods with some of Lab Grown's Non-Sapients, Andrew had brought in over a dozen new interns and had Augmented all of them.

It had infuriated Christopher so much that he worked with Axio for most of a long night trying to come up with a solution for his Andrew problem. It didn't take long for Axio to reveal to him that he didn't actually need the P.A.D. to Augment people any longer, with the power from the continually increasing Augmentation Array giving him more and more fine control over his interaction with the Universal Matrix. It was just that, as his primary user, Christopher had been the one to designate the P.A.D. as the only way to Augment new people and Axio's programming ensured that he followed his instructions to the letter whenever possible.

Christopher had long seen where things had been going, regardless of what he had hoped for it. He knew Andrew was trying to do something with all of the experimenting that Christopher had overheard and gleaned from the various conversations he had had with the others over the last year and a half. But while there had been disruption in his ranks, not everyone had started to turn on Andrew like Mr. Factory had. So… after some deliberation and knowing almost exactly where things were going if he let Andrew continue to do whatever he wanted, Christopher told Axio that, once the Array was live, he would be in charge of making Augmentation selections but until then, to prevent any more from happening.

Once the Array was live, Axio would Augment the maximum number of people he could, randomly once per year, with the only stipulation being that the selections had to be people who were mortally injured. Axio had let it slip to him that the actual Augmentation process basically rewrote the body's code, healing nearly any affliction that could be stealing a person's life from them. Maybe it wasn't the best way to select people, but with instructions to do it in a way that hopefully didn't make it obvious, Christopher was relatively certain that Andrew wouldn't be able to sneak in any more of his hand selected employees either.

The only others he had told about what he had done were the three other people that had made up his "original" development team, but he had a sudden, sneaking suspicion that Andrew must have discovered too.

"What should I be included in?" Christopher finally asked. "Making Augmentation decisions? Because with all the new faces around here, it sure as shit doesn't seem like that's been happening. Haven't really exactly liked that. I'm guessing you taking my stuff is, what, some sort of negotiation tactic?"

"So you did do something," Andrew's sneer returned, confirming Christopher's hunch, he made a single hand motion and Joey burst into electricity rushing forward and surging into Christopher's body, causing his body to briefly convulse before Joey was launched backwards. "Restrain him, we need to have him revert whatever changes he's made otherwise I won't be able to perform the demonstration for Secretary Mulligan."

"No everyone st-" Cassie started to say before she started to gasp for air, a bubble of wind surging around her head before she could influence anyone else. One of the major weaknesses to her power, though it was strong enough to control most anyone, was that it didn't last long when she wasn't continually influencing others.

Christopher's eyes went wide as he reached deep for his powers before he felt his body seize again, the very blood in his body practically refusing to move on its own. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Dr. Curtis standing, a single hand raised as his brow furrowed to concentrate on holding onto Christopher's very blood. It wasn't enough to put him down thanks to his enhanced stamina, toughness, and even a passive Ability he had generated literally willing the flow along, but it was weakened considerably.

"It has taken months to stretch the array far enough that I could bring the demonstration directly to the people who matter and yet you just can't be satisfied with adding your stupid little game elements," Andrew sneered, looking down on Christopher as the larger man fell to a single knee. "I'm going to give you one chance to revert whatever you've done, or we will drag you out of the Array Area and power you down until you're itching, begging to have your powers back. I have a meeting with the Homeland Security Secretary tomorrow and I intend to show her the potential of this new technology. Even considered gifting her some powers of her own and you've gone and screwed me again."

"Fuck… you…" Christopher said, gasping slightly as he continued to use small pockets of controlled pressure to forcibly will his blood to move and pass oxygen through his body.

"Or we could never give you your powers back. I could just tell the Secretary that you discovered this alien technology and then, quite stupidly tinkered with it with the express goal of bringing harm to our country by inflicting a stupid game on the world against their wishes. I wonder if they would bring you up on Treason?"

Christopher gasped again, his Stamina draining as he noticed a debuff on his vision titled Leech. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but the compounding effects of multiple different attacks hitting him was keeping him contained. There was exactly one thing he could think to do in that moment and while it would hamper what he was able to do as well, in the moment he didn't quite care.

"Ax… io… Set... the square perimeter… to a non-PVP zone," Christopher gasped out. There was a shimmer that filled the air before all of the effects he was feeling vanished and his Stamina finally started to restore. Andrew actually looked shocked as Christopher got back to his feet.

"But… your console…" Andrew said, his eyes narrowing. "If you don't need that…" he trailed off thoughts clearly racing through his head. The others all looked shocked, trying to decide what to do. Joey had tried to launch a bolt of electricity from his hand but found it immediately recoiled, launching him back and toward the buildings on the East side of the Square.

"Axio. Officially designate the game as classified, no one who isn't Augmented is allowed to know about the existence and make it so that only Augmented people can hear you, do whatever you have to do to make sure this rule is not broken," Christopher ordered.

"Are… are you sure Christopher? That would severely limit my ability to guide the planet when we discover what my actual mission is," Axio's voice rang out all around them.

"No! What are you thinking, that's a terrible idea!"

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"I'll be the Secret Keeper. Until I reveal the game, it stays a secret. Then I need you to suppress anyone who's heard this from being able to reveal that to anyone else… Or… Actually… if you can make everyone but the members of my squad forget that they know that little detail, that would be preferable," Christopher ordered, looking away from Andrew and stepping over to Cassie as she struggled back to her feet.

"You moron!" Andrew spat. "I'll make your life so miserable you-"

"It has been done," Axio said, another glimmer passing over the area immediately. "Information related to the game Infinite Ascension is officially classified and repercussions are in place for anyone who breaks this Core Rule."

Andrew's eyes glazed over for a second before he shook his head roughly.

"You, how did… WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Andrew demanded, his voice actually raising. "What did you do to my mind!? If you think I'm ever going to give you the Power Database back, you must be insane."

"The database is set in stone now, go ahead and think knowing who has what power is going to somehow give you an advantage," Christopher said, as he nodded over to the Eastern side of the complex where Joey was finally picking himself back up. He felt his jaw set as he realized the line in the sand that had finally been drawn. "Unlike you, I won't threaten the torture of being powerless. I'm not some miscreant monster like you seem to be, hung up on your lust for power and control. I suggest you guys stay on your side until the array is finally ready. I'm done dealing with you."

End of Phase Two: 23

D:05H:51M:19S

"Please, is that how you show respect? Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Fuck you, I'm showing you the exact amount of respect you deserve," I spat.

"Easy now… he might not say anything if you stay so hostile," Jon warned. I took a slow, deep breath as I worked to unclench my fists. I hadn't expected hearing his voice to make me so angry, but really, he wanted respect? Fuck that. Luckily, even though I wasn't necessarily being fully levelheaded, Jon was there to pick up the slack.

"Everyone with eyes on the scene, scan everywhere. TechWarden has to have others nearby ready to move if Loophole tries to make a move on Barracuda, or there's possibly something going on with that device. Dusk and Brain are in the room with me here now and are up to date. I'm sending them that way. Brain thinks if he gets close enough, he might be able to trace the signal coming off of that thing but it's going to take them just a few minutes to get over there so Loophole, keep him talking. Timer is started now as of… now."

There was a round of acknowledgements that went through my head as I looked from the device, to the slumped over Barracuda, and then to the nearby streets. I was scanning for anything out of the ordinary as I tried to take just a moment to calm myself down.

"Sorry. Sorry. That was… uncalled for," I said through my teeth, trying again as I looked back at the speaker device. "Hello, TechWarden. If you wanted to give me a message, you really should have come in person. I would have loved to meet you face-to-face."

"Oh, I'm sure you would, but I'm afraid we'll have to postpone that for now. I doubt you'd be willing to go through the necessary steps to actually meet me that way," TechWarden said. "Truthfully, I'm rather surprised that dolt followed through. I've had him searching for somebody he's in a squad with for days here and he's had absolutely nothing to show for it."

"Good help is hard to find I suppose. I suppose it's too much for you to do any of the work yourself, eh?"

"Please Loophole, you've listened to that sorry excuse for an A.I. give his psychotic rants. Given the power I hold in this game, if I made myself easy to find, I'd just be playing into his hands," TechWarden explained. "I can give you the power to hide from him you know. I'm sure by now you know that I've developed a device that can cloak your location from even him. Work with me and that's just one of the wonders I could provide you."

"He's either an amazing liar or he doesn't know we have access to the device already," I muttered internally as I considered the implications of his words.

"Spotted a Non-Sapient. It's a level 25 Elite with the name Ice Box Ian, creeping around the rubble of the train platform but it looks like he's just trying to get a better vantage point," Pinky announced.

"I see him too," Swansong added.

"Thanks you two," Jon said, his fingers hammering across his keyboard as he managed the situation behind the scenes. "Loophole, I think you're missing a bigger possible implication… if he's not pretending to be dumb, then he might not know that we have our own tech genius."

"Which would clear up our concerns about a mole feeding information back to him too…" Freak said just a bit suspiciously. "Look, I'm not trying to prod the paranoia, I just want to point out how stupidly convenient this is that he let that slip. We can acknowledge the timing is convenient to "ease our worries," right?"

"It's easy to see monsters in the dark," I replied before I focused on the speaker and turned my voice back outward. "Why would I want a device that stops me from using my powers?"

"Oh you're missing the real potential Loophole, especially with your powerset and abilities," TechWarden laughed and I felt my spine tingle for just a moment. "It took some time and digging until I found what it was called, but sure enough, there you were as the sole person with the power in your powerset. You can practically warp reality to what you see fit and yet you use it to throw punches. Imagine, learning how to tie the very code of the game into your field, changing the rules of the game itself. Such incredible power, wasted on a dullard."

My head darted to the side, meeting the eyes of a young boy wearing one of my very shirts on the other side of a store window.. He practically jumped into the glass when he noticed me, his hand waving violently. The store wasn't very far away and the speaker wasn't exactly quiet, I was just about to reach for Timekeeper's Control when TechWarden let out another, almost knowing laugh.

"Oh you don't need to worry about them. This device is designed so that only Augments can hear the sound coming out of them. I could tell you everything about how this started and I wouldn't spawn as much as a Minor Threat."

"Well lucky me," I muttered, brow furrowing as I stared back at the device. "My powers are complicated but I doubt they'd actually let me fully warp reality. And besides, any help I get with you is going to come with a price I sure as hell don't want to pay."

"My help can elevate you to tiers you could never imagine if you worked with me," TechWarden tempted.

"I've seen what you do to people who 'work with you'," I spat pointedly looking over at Barracuda's slouched form. "I mean, you didn't have to make Barracuda knock himself out… Actually, you know what… you shouldn't be fucking controlling people at all, but apparently your mother failed to teach you that lesson you sociopathic-"

"Loophole!" Jon barked in my ear, cutting me off. "Want to rewind and try that again?"

"I'm not wasting the seconds, he's a speaker. If he wants to talk to me, he can deal with a few insults," I said to Jon before I shook my head out. "If you want to talk, how about your release Barracuda from your service."

"Loophole please," TechWarden said, sounding decidedly tired. "You're in no position to make any demands here."

"Really? I'm not?" I asked, my gut clenching as a thought came to mind. Why was he trying to talk to me? I had expected Barracuda to pass on something like "stay out of my way," when I had been alerted. It wouldn't have really made sense, but it had been the only thing that I could possibly think of when I had thought it was just a message.

"What are you doing?" Jon asked cautiously but I ignored him, my mind putting the pieces of my hunch together.

"There's only one reason you'd be talking and trying to "tempt" me instead of just demanding I do as you say or having your puppet over there give me some message saying the same thing. You want this to be an actual conversation. You want me to talk? Let Barracuda go."

TechWarden let out a long, exasperated, sigh that almost seemed to get louder the longer it went on.

"Loophole… Loophole… Loophole…" he tutted. "You seem to be under the impression that you know who I am and what I want based on, what, a single conversation where you believed I was that useless dunce SnakeBite?"

"You fucking murdered him, that tells me everything I need to know," I spat and TechWarden immediately let out a laugh.

"Oh that was you if I'm not mistaken. I was keeping him alive and giving his dull, meaningless life a purp-"

"He had a fucking family!" I spat, my hands starting to feel sore. I suddenly realized that my attempt to unclench my hands had spectacularly failed.

"Well that part you should blame on that buffoon The First. He's the one who specified the selection process for Augmentation. He could have very easily told Axio to select people without families instead of whatever idiotic settings he put in place. A lot of families have been left broken because of that, do you blame him for those broken homes too?"

"That's not the fucking same and you know it," I growled.

"Do I? You seem to think you know a lot about me; seem to think I'm some dastardly villain. And yet I come here offering an olive branch. I won't even expect you to repay me for the loss in time I put in with SnakeBite."

"Holy fucking sociopath…" Jon muttered.

"What the ever loving fuck do you think you could offer me other than freeing everyone in your control and then proceeding to fuck off, preferably into the sun," I growled. I desperately wished he was actually here and, for probably the first time, I might have actually wanted to kill someone. "SnakeBite wasn't just some project. He. Was. A. Person. Why the fuck do you think you can treat people this way?!"

"Because it is my right," TechWarden hissed, his controlled demeanor slipping ever so slightly. "I am the reason you have your powers. I am the reason every Augment has their powers and it is my right to experiment with them for the betterment of our species. Now, I am going to give you one last chance to hear me out without the attitude."

"And what if I don't?" I asked and a holographic display immediately materialized ahead of the speaker, an image of Skim held up in chains by his wrists. There was a single man… or… monkey-like creature standing next to him. It took a single long, grotesque-looking, grey finger that sizzled as it burned across Skim's chest, leaving a noticeable mark as it went. "What the fuck!"

"I really am not the monster you seem to think I am," TechWarden said, as if he wasn't putting on a display of torture. "And believe it or not, I'm actually here because you and I are after the same thing. I'd hope you know the old saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I know what the man ordering Hydramental around is after and I know how to prevent him from getting it."

"I think I've got a lock on his signal. Tracing has started, we just need to keep the device transmitting for another minute," BrainCraft's voice popped out of nowhere.

"Mr. Factory?" I asked hesitantly, even though I wanted to drive my fist through the speaker. My eyes never left Skim's sleeping form that didn't as much as twitch at the creature's burning touch. "How the fuck would he be your enemy?"

"Ah, so now I've got your attention. Good," TechWarden said smugly. The speaker started to shake just a bit, the display showing Skim disappearing before an invisible compartment hissed open and revealed a drawer, big enough to hold a single book that my vision immediately highlighted.

"Shortcuts to Coding Mastery. Level 9 Universal Coding Knowledge. Note: This book has been written by an Augment with Level 12 knowledge, no prerequisites are required."

"Consider this an… Advance… for your services," TechWarden said, his voice coming out more like a snake's than Sal's ever did. "You help me stop Mr. Factory from destroying the Augmentation Array… and I'll show you just what your powers can really do."

I stared at the book for maybe ten seconds. To say I wasn't tempted would be a lie, it would be the very first Level 9 knowledge I had in my arsenal. But I would also have to be stupid to take the book at face value given just who was offering it. I wasn't sure where Skim was but unfortunately I had next to no way of rewinding things in a way that I could figure out where he was. I was just going to have to roll the dice.

"Signal traced, it's going to… Wisconsin?" BrainCraft said, actually sounding a bit confused. When I still didn't make a move, TechWarden cleared his throat.

"So what'll it be, Loophole… Do we have a deal?"

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