Lightforge was tense, staring down the surprise back door that he'd found inside his shop. Someone was on the other side, knocking with an increasingly annoyed rhythm. He stayed still and adjusted his grip on the hammer and shield that he'd made out of light. He was as ready as he was going to get.

He took a deep breath and reached out to turn the doorknob. As soon as he did, the door swung open to reveal Circe, annoyance playing across her face that turned into an impressive glare as soon as she met his eyes.

"Finally!" she said, "Don't keep your customers waiting, it's bad for business."

"If I'd known it was you, I wouldn't have opened the door at all."

"Rude. Especially after I went to the trouble of installing it."

"Yeah, that tracks. Of course it was you. Quick question: why?"

"It's bad business to have heroes and villains using the same entrance. Makes you look sketchy."

"I wasn't planning to have villains come calling. I work with heroes."

"Uh huh. That's why you happily spent my money to buy this place, right? You owe me, and I'll be using this place as much as I care to in the meantime. Even if you don't serve other villains, which would be a mistake."

Lightforge chuckled and went back into the main area of the shop. He sat on his workbench and leaned back. He waved a finger in a "get on with it" motion and said, "This should be good. Please, feel free to explain why I should help villains to be better at hurting people?"

"It's not complicated: you need as many clients as you can get or you're going to get left behind."

"I seem to be doing pretty well for myself so far."

"We'll see about that. What level are you?"

"Four."

"Meaning that you've gained a little over 300 XP so far. Hitting level 10 means getting to 1200 XP, and level 20 takes 4000. And the experience curve only gets steeper from there."

"Yeah, it'll take me a while, but I already knew that. I'm willing to be patient."

"You say that now. But at your current rate, it will take you nine months to reach level 20, and a year after that to reach level 30."

He swallowed hard at that. The level cap was 100. He'd been avoiding doing the math because he'd guessed what it would tell him. He was going to fall behind sooner or later. Support abilities like Gadgeteer weren't meant to replace leveling through combat, so it gave much less experience.

Judging by the predatory grin on Circe's face, he was doing a poor job of keeping the disappointment hidden. He wanted to be a hero, that was the whole reason that he'd started playing this game. Becoming an amoral, super powered arms dealer felt like the furthest thing from being heroic. Of course, she had a point.

He sighed and said, "I'll admit that you have a point, but I don't have to like it. Until I really run into that wall, I'm not going to help villains. You're the exception; I guess you can come until I've paid you back."

"Wow, you really are stubborn, but I guess it's a start. Ready to fix some equipment?"

"Sure, what have you got?"

The cheshire cat grin was back. She reached into her inventory and dumped a pile of mismatched equipment of all kinds onto the table beside him. He just stared at it; there had to be at least a dozen items there for him to work on.

He switched to staring at Circe, whose smirk was cemented in place. She nodded to the pile and said, "I'm the middleman. I had a feeling about how you'd react to the whole villain issue. So they're not your customers. I am."

"Nice try, but no. I'll work on your items, no one else's."

"I know. These aren't borrowed; they were officially given to me. Check them yourself."

"How? Inspect doesn't show ownership."

"It does if you know to look for it. See for yourself."

Skeptical, Lightforge picked up a random item from the pile. It was a thick gauntlet made of some reddish metal that he didn't recognize. The item itself looked familiar, so he looked it over for a moment and then activated Inspect.

Name: Big Shot Gauntlet

Type: Equipment

Level: 6

Quality: Uncommon

Base Power: 1

State: Damaged

Effect: When worn, excess Ability Point regeneration will fill this item instead. For every 25 AP within this item, it gains 1 Base Power. When an enemy is struck by this gauntlet, all AP is expended.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Current AP: 37/600

In the hands of the patient, this weapon will defeat even the greatest of foes.

Owner: Circe

Repair: Y/N

Upgrade: Not Available

He stared at the weapon in his hands in utter disbelief. Not only was it the first Uncommon item he'd seen, it was incredibly powerful. With enough upgrades, it became one of the most powerful items in the game. He'd seen entire raiding parties built around this item, everyone running distractions to give its user an open shot. Several of the biggest bosses in the game had gone down in one attack from this thing.

Of course, upgrading it that far required a ton of rare drops from those very same bosses, so the odds were good that the one in front of him would never reach that level. All the same, it made him nervous to imagine a criminal with their hands on it.

As if that weren't enough, a description had once again gained more detail than it previously had. It had happened with his abilities and now it was happening with Inspect. Circe made it sound like the info boxes were affected by what he was expecting to see, but that didn't sit right with him.

The villainess cleared her throat loudly and he shook his head in defeat.

"Fine," he said, "it's yours, so I guess I have to work on it to keep my word. Let me guess: you're going to keep all this stuff for yourself?"

"Does it look like I have a death wish? It's bad for your health to screw people over. Especially with what they're paying for the repair work."

"Paying? I'm not charging for my services yet."

"And yet I'm out nearly 600 Bux on you. This is how I get it back."

“Fine. I guess you’ve got me over a barrel here. I’ll fix this stuff.”

“Good choice. I’ll come back for it in a day or two. Or maybe sooner. I find it best not to be predictable.”

"I've noticed. Well, while it's always so pleasant to have you barge into my day, please leave now."

He turned his attention to the pile of gear, putting the gauntlet to one side for the moment. Considering the reduced success rate for higher level items, it would be best to work his way up from lowest to highest. On the off chance that one of them put him over the edge to level 5, it would boost his chances with the rest.

As he was sorting, a shadow fell across his workbench. He rolled his eyes and turned to face Circe. She was silent, and there was no twinkle of mischief in her eye. That alone made her nearly look like a different person. Her face was serious and stony, an emotionless mask that gave away how hard she was working to hide her feelings.

An acerbic comment died on his tongue as he met her eyes. She almost looked vulnerable. If not for the silence between them, he wouldn’t have heard the words that she whispered.

“Why do you do that? You’re a good guy; I’ve kept a close enough eye on you to know that much. I’ve seen you treat people with warmth and respect at every turn. People you know nothing about. Everything I’ve done has helped you, and you treat me like an annoyance.”

“You’re a villain.” It was the only response that he could think of. In front of that face, it suddenly felt like a weak reason. He looked down at the floor before continuing.

“We get to choose who to be in this world. You chose to hurt instead of help.”

“I’ve helped you. What does it take for you to start giving me the benefit of the doubt?”

“Switch sides. Use your powers for good.”

“And there it is. You’re too short sighted. There are places and things that only villains have access to. Things you’ll need one day to build the really powerful stuff. Did that ever occur to you?”

“No, it didn’t. And I don’t care. I’ve known plenty of [BLEEPS] with plenty of excuses for why they weren’t really that bad. Ends justify the means is just one more on the pile. Evil is evil, and that’s all there is to it.”

“Uh huh. That’s why you scammed that archer that was in here earlier, right?”

“That was different.”

“It really wasn’t. He was a dick, so you got some payback in the form of cash. I would have done the same thing in your spot. Newsflash, Lightforge: this isn’t a game anymore. This is our life now. We’re all real people here, and we brought all our baggage and all our gray into this world of black and white.”

“That doesn’t make what you do right.”

“You say that as if you have a single clue what I do. But you don’t, and you don’t care. The label said villain, so you stopped listening.”

“The first time we met, you tricked me into attacking an innocent civilian. And then you attacked me with robots.”

"As we've established, I know a lot more about Gadgeteers than you do. Robots should be a non-issue."

"And the innocent civilian?"

“Civilian, yes. Innocent? You have no idea what you’re talking about. I know you won’t believe me, but that guy was an underworld informant. One who screwed me over.”

“You’re right: I don’t believe you. Why should I trust anything you say? You use illusions; you misdirect, obscure, and manipulate. Nothing you say will change that evaluation.”

By this point they were both glaring at each other. While this argument had started with Lightforge on the back foot, he was prepared now. He knew what this person was like. He knew that she would lie, cheat, steal, and endanger others to get what she wanted. He wouldn’t give an inch.

She looked him dead in the eye and said, “My name is Rebecca Busch. I’ve spent my life with all eyes on me, just waiting for the mistake that brings my fall. Perfection, control and obedience weren’t encouraged; they were demanded. The only place I could rebel was here, in this game. The only place to vent my frustration. The only place where the only rules were those I chose.

“And now I find myself in a world that’s almost my refuge. But it isn’t. I didn’t choose to come here, I didn’t choose my own appearance, and I didn’t choose my powers. The only thing that I can choose is whether or not to follow the rules that this world is trying to impose on me. I choose not to. I’d rather flip off the system and try to take it down with me. That makes me a villain.”

He was taken aback by the tirade. Each word was so cold, so matter of fact. Silently, his mind flashed back to scenes from his own life. Painful images of the times when he’d waited and hoped for a hero. All the things that had made him choose his path. Circe… no, Rebecca, had a story of her own. Her own reasons.

“I…” he began, “I don’t know what to say. Thank you for all your help, Rebecca. I really do appreciate it.”

Her grin returned, softer than normal. She nodded and said, “Well, that’s a start. Hero or villain, we’re all stuck here together. Let’s just keep that in mind, alright?”

“Yeah, I think I can do that. And my name is Nick. I’ve seen some real pieces of [BLEEP], and I wish there had been a hero there for me.”

“Thank you. With that new start in the books, I’ll guess I’ll see you in a few days. Thanks in advance for your hard work, Lightforge.”

“Thank you for the business, Circe.”

She nodded solemnly and turned back to walk out the back door. She walked rather than vanishing in a cloudy haze. The metal door scraped loudly as it opened and closed, leaving Lightforge alone with his thoughts in the empty workspace of his store.