“KIDS!?”

“Yes.”

“KIDS! Shaggy?!”

“Yes. Ren.”

“Some of them are fifteen years old, Shags!”

“Ren, it was they follow me or get arrested.”

“Then they should’ve been arrested! In the system is better than out fighting a damn gang war!”

“Is it?” Dave asked.

“Shudup!” Ren shouted at the smiling player. “Stay out of this.”

“That’s kind of hard when you are both standing in the bar shouting at each other, Ren.” Said Vlad.

Shaggy gave a causal glance around and, other than his pack, there were plenty of people watching. He groaned and turned, waving a hand at everyone of them. He hadn’t noticed when Dave walked in. But he figured he had been too focused on the shouting Rhino-Alien to notice. Now that they were all here, they could take this conversation down to the basement. Levy seemed to cotton onto what he was thinking as she quickly hurried to follow, as did Slink and some of his pack. But Shaggy ordered his pack to watch the bar. It was unlikely the Quinica were going to attack again. But it was better to be prepared.

“Where do you think you’re going!?” Ren shouted, still pissed.

“To the War Room. We can argue there.”

“You can’t fight in the War Room!” Vlad shouted, an odd smile on his face.

When no one smiled with him, the vampire player grumbled and got up to follow. He moved to the bar and talked to Petra for a bit. But Shaggy ignored that as he hurried toward the basement door. While there were still people down in the basement of the Viper’s Den, they could probably shut themselves in a room and shout all they wanted.

It’s not like he couldn’t understand Ren’s problem. They were kids, even digitally grown ones, and the big guy seemed to have a soft spot for all kids. But he had given the kids every choice to back away. They’d had been in several enormous battles against both the Quinica and George’s gang. Yes, they were young. But they were mature enough to make those choices for themselves. This digital world had crafted them that way. Probably for this express purpose, really.

Shaggy stopped as he got to the door leading into the basement and raised an eyebrow. The normal wooden door had been replaced with a large metal one. Made sense, had to protect the home front. Shrugging, he shoved his way through the door and entered the basement. But he had to stop again. The last time he had been down here, it was little more than a dirt square with multiple rooms. Now the walls and ceiling were the grayish-white of cement and the floor was actual wood. Laughter came from the open area on Shaggy’s right where multiple Lackey’s were chatting around a coffee table and playing cards. Some were on the sofa nearby, watching a holo-screen displaying the news of all things. Wooden accents dotted the walls here and there, but they were incomplete. Past the common area was a long hallway that splintered off into multiple rooms.

“You guys have redecorated.” Shaggy muttered.

Slink nodded as he stood next to Shaggy, reports clutched in his hands. “Yeah, once we had the tunnel, it made it easier to get materials. So we spruced things up. I’m still waiting on various metals, though, to reinforce everything. Ren’s shipments have kind of taken a back seat because of all this.”

Shaggy nodded and looked around for the War Room. But Slink pushed past and lead Shaggy and Levy right to it. The large rectangular table was in an even larger rectangular room. Holo-screens were on the left most wall displaying random bits of information. Two Lackeys stood by the table watching the holographic map shift and change as they inserted documents into its feeder. Shaggy noted the absences of chairs in the room, but he didn’t let it bother him. Instead, he circled the table as Slink took a spot at the head of the War table. Ren and Dave came stomping in one after the other, followed closely by Vlad. The Lackeys in the room seemed to sense the tension as they hurriedly grabbed their papers and ran out, closing the door behind them.

Ren crossed his arms and stared down at Shaggy, clearly waiting. But Shaggy simply stared back. The Rhino-man obviously had things to say, but he didn’t want to yell them at Shaggy. Meanwhile, Shaggy wanted to see if his friend was going to blow up or calm down before he said anything. Slink busied himself with inputting data as Dave and Vlad looked over the two Holo-screens on the wall. They were all obviously paying attention, but none of them wanted to be the first to say anything.

Eventually, Ren huffed loudly and uncrossed his arms. “Well…?”

Shaggy place his hands on the sides of the table and asked. “Well, what? What do you want me to say, Ren? The kids are all orphans, as far as I know. They were squatting in a building we were using. When shit went south with the cops, the kids followed along looking for protection.”

“And you didn’t stop them?”

“Nope. What was I going to say? ‘Sorry, you all have to turn yourselves in while I make my getaway. Good luck in the system.’ That would be hypocritical of me.”

“They’re kids! You are allowed to be a hypocrite for their safety!” Ren shouted.

“You think turning over these kids, most of whom have committed various thefts, to the cops would make them safe? They’d be in the game’s equivalent of juvie so fast. The older ones would be in jail.”

Ren slapped the table. “If they’ve committed crimes, they should be in jail! Paying for their crimes!”

“Then what about us?! Why do we get a pass? Because we’re players? Adults?”

“Ren.” Vlad said cautiously. “I think you’re letting the Real seep into the game here. I get what you’re saying about the kids. But they are also NPCs designed by the system.”

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“Grown by the system would be a better description.” Levy added.

“Yeah, dudes,” Dave agreed. “This game is, like, a tiny universe that was created and then allowed to grow. Scripted events were added to the accelerated timeline, dudes. So the little dudes are like homegrown AIs that have lived their entire lives in here. It’s wicked.”

“While I agree that the tech behind this game is fascinating, groundbreaking even. It still doesn’t sit right with me that we have Teens on our staff,” Ren growled around clenched teeth.

“I hate to tell you then. But where do you think most of our Lackeys come from?” Slink asked, still tapping away at the War Table console.

“What?!”

Slink waved a hand at the two Holo-screens and the images shifted. Replaced with pictures and a list of names.

“We have multiple disaffected youths in our organization. That’s how it works with any criminal gang. We attract the downtrodden and repressed and give them an outlet for their aggression and cruel tendencies. Although, I admit, I’ve been weeding out the psychopaths.”

“Why wasn’t I told about this?” Ren said weakly.

“I didn’t think it was that big of an issue. We are a criminal gang. We are going to have a certain amount of kids. Shit, Ren, I AM a kid. At least the way the system sees me. I’m seventeen, remember?”

“They’re just SO real.” Ren sighed. His massive eight-foot frame slumped. “Vlad, you and the others know what I do, IRL. I’ve told you. I just look at those kids and I see the ones I have out in the Real. It threw me for a loop.”

Vlad placed a hand on Ren’s shoulder. “I get that. I do. What you do for work has to be rough. I can see why that would upset you. But this is a game, one of the most realistic games made, but still a game. Now we can limit what the teens are doing and I’m willing to bet that’s what Slink’s done. But we can’t forgo a resource, just because of real world ethics. We need to inhabit our characters in THIS world. See it from those character’s point of view.”

“Resource?” Ren asked.

“The Lackey’s.” Shaggy explained. “He’s talking about the Lackeys. They are a resource that we as players can use to supplement our own strength in-game. Our Legion will grow in strength as we develop our Lackeys and even add other players. Calling them a resource probably helps Vlad see them as disposable NPCs. Probably why he treats his Thralls the way he does, too.”

Vlad shrugged. “It’s what a vampire would do. My character Vlad would see all others as beneath him. Even other vampires.”

Shaggy thought of his own pack and silently disagreed. Next to him, Levy raised a tentative hand and addressed Ren.

“Not to change the subject too much. But what do you do IRL that makes this tricky?”

Shaggy nodded, as he was also curious. He had already theorized that Ren was some kind of teacher. But he wasn’t sure what kind.

Ren sighed again. “I’m a community leader and Program Director. The world is united and mostly happy, but that doesn’t mean that kids still don’t fall through the cracks. I help them and others find their feet. I’ve seen tons of kids cross my path at work. Most with nowhere else to go. It’s my job to help them and give them resources to discover themselves. It’s part of the reason I started playing this game. I wanted to learn what drew some of my kids to this kind of life… and maybe live out a few of my glory days.”

Ren rubbed the knuckles of his massive hand as Shaggy digested what the big man said. “You were a criminal?”

Ren shrugged. “Yep. Did five years of a seven-year stint before I started helping others. All of this allowed me to live that kind of life again. With no consequences. But when I see those kids, it breaks me out of my ‘character.’”

He looked at Vlad as he emphasized the word ‘character.’ Shaggy could get it. People played games to escape. To view the world from someone else’s eyes or experience a different point of view in a fresh setting. To play through the story of someone else. But to have your work kind of follow you into the game had to be a real head-twister. Thankfully, all Shaggy did in the real world was repair random crap for lazy people. Not much crossover there.

But for Ren, when he looked at the young at-risk kids in a gang. He couldn’t help but want to reach out. It was an interesting conundrum and one made worse by the game’s state-of-the-art AI generation system. Each NPC was a minor AI that was so lifelike, most gamers couldn’t tell the difference. Shaggy himself had almost been fooled a few times.

He rubbed his face with his hands and groaned. “Argh! So what do we do? I don’t want to fuck up Ren’s gaming experience. But like Vlad said, we can’t ignore the Lackeys.”

“Actually, that might be exactly the answer.” Slink said.

“What, like, kicking out all the young dudes?” Dave asked.

“No. No offense, Ren, but you were perfectly happy when you didn’t realize some of the kids in our ranks were, in fact, kids. So why don’t we just keep doing that?”

Ren quirked an eye-ridge. “What? I just ignore all the teens running around the bar?”

“Well, to be honest. After you explained your job to me, Vlad, and Dave. I started moving the younger Lackeys around some. They are still working for us. But most of them are doing safer jobs. Wait Staff, Runners, Scouts, few have been really at risk. Well, I mean, a few have. But you never noticed before.”

“So out of sight, out of mind?” Vlad asked.

“Will that work for you, Ren?”

The big alien pulled himself to his full height before speaking. “Thanks for putting up with me. I realize I overreacted. If I just play the game and try to let my work self go, I’ll be fine. I’m sorry about all this. It’s like you said, they are just AIs, right?”

Shaggy held up a hand, palm straight out. “Hold up. While I agree they are AI’s, I’m not just going to disregard them. I mean, I know Rita and the others aren’t real. But damn if I’m not attached. They sound, react, and even behave like real people. Of course, I would get attached to them and be slightly hurt if they died. So I’ll look out for those kids, Ren. Sure, they may not be real. But in here, they are.”

Levy nodded. “It’s a testament to how good a game is, when it gets you to care.”

She patted the pixie on her shoulder that was still sleeping peacefully. Dave gave them a thumbs up, but Vlad just looked at them weirdly.

“You know that’s going to cause some issues if you keep thinking of them as people, right?”

Shaggy pointed at his chest and grinned. “It’s what my character would do.”

Dave snorted and Ren smiled.

Vlad gave them a shrug and turned back to Slink, who was back to typing on the War Table. He started to say something but stopped, which made Shaggy glance at the young man. Slink was frozen with a piece of paper in his hands, eyes wide. Just as suddenly, his right hand started flying across the war table’s interface. Meanwhile, his left shifted through the stack of papers on the table frantically.

“What’s up?” Shaggy asked.

Slink ignored him and shifted things on the table for them to all see the holographic map. The display zoomed around and different dots and locations popped up as Slink rapidly inputted information. The map scrolled quickly through the streets of Under-Town, getting to the main street before zooming off in a south direction. Their view scrolled up and down the main street multiple times as Slink continued to insert reams of information. Finally, everything stopped and the young man sighed heavily. The table holographic display slowing to a halt, right next to a small 3d image of Under-Town’s arena.

“They’re gone.” Slink said.

“What?!” Ren, Shaggy and Vlad all shouted at once.

“The Quinica. They’re gone.”