The soft whir of electric motors filled the shop as Lightforge put the finishing touches on his newest creation. Well, it wasn’t truly a new creation, but an upgrade of an earlier one. His drone had performed admirably on its first test run, but it had been blown out of the sky with contemptible ease.
He didn’t count that as a failure. He wasn’t arrogant enough to expect perfection from his creations. They were all works in progress, so he didn’t mind when he found a weakness. The failure would be if he didn’t correct it once he was made aware of the issue. He had no plans for allowing that to happen.
It had been three days since the fight with the low level villains. It had taken that long to get the work done, but not because of the repairs. Apparently the villains that he’d beaten single-handedly had started talking to others. Circe’s secretive rumors of a gadgeteer were one thing, but the first hand account of someone winning four against one was something else entirely.
The fact that it had only been a field test had taken the sparks of that story and whipped it into a wildfire that surged through the local villains. Half seemed convinced that he could make them invincible, and the rest wanted to see for themselves. There was knocking on the back door every few minutes, and it seemed clear that his days of solitary crafting were over.
As a result, the upgrades to his own gear were progressing much slower than he would have liked. But it was coming along, little by little. The now finished drone was proof of that.
The appearance had changed significantly from the previous iteration. It was now enclosed in a cage much like the very first flier that he had built. But this time the cage was meant for more than just bump protection. It was able to fill the spaces between the bars with a short lived energy shield. It would only last long enough for the drone to make a break for it, but that was all it needed.
He had added a brand new sensor suite and a couple of other surprises as well, but the shield generator had made up the majority of the challenge. He was happy with the results, but not so much as to slow down the rest of his progress.
The next goal was to upgrade his goggles. They were too slow and still didn’t give him enough information. He needed specifics, and he needed them immediately.
He had brought the laptop from his base and wired the goggles into them. He figured it would be easier to check the results and tweak things if he wasn’t taking them on and off all the time. There was also the slight possibility that the computer would be able to diagnose any additional issues with them, but he wasn’t counting on that.
Once everything was connected he started searching through the computer’s functions to see if it had anything helpful. There honestly wasn’t much to the computer. The game didn’t really have an internal internet, just a message board system to send general notices to entire servers at once. Everything else was similar; small apps meant to serve some specific function for players within the game. It had a more detailed world map, a list of active Alliances, a few lore dumps, a most wanted list, and a few other things.
Lightforge froze in place as he considered his own thoughts for a moment. Until that moment he’d completely forgotten about the Most Wanted List. It was a leaderboard of what Villains had pulled off the biggest and boldest crimes recently. There was an equivalent board for the Heroes, but he hadn’t spent much time using it. More importantly, both lists were part of a larger app: a directory of active characters on your server.
It only took a moment to open the program and find that it still worked. The leaderboards were full of names that he didn’t recognize; they almost certainly belonged to much higher level characters than himself. But what he wanted was the full directory. There was a long list of names, but that didn’t mean much to him.
He searched for his own name, and he hit paydirt. An entry featuring a headshot of himself popped up on screen and spat out a few details.
Player Info
Name: Lightforge
Level: 9
Current Alignment: Hero
Now that was incredibly helpful. Not useful in a fight, but a good way to cross reference people after meeting them. He wondered if there was some way to trick the system? After all, plenty of people would have disguise or illusion powers, which would be kneecapped if a simple search could foil them.
With that in mind, it was probably best not to rely too heavily on the directory. It was a good reference, and nothing more. That would have been the end of it, but right at that moment the front door opened.
Lightforge smiled as he looked up. While he appreciated the plentiful villainous customers he’d been receiving, he did generally prefer to work with heroes when he could. He opened his mouth to greet the trio of heroes walking towards him, but movement on his computer screen caught his eye. The directory was still open, but a new profile had replaced his.
Player Info
Name: Smoke Hydra
Level: 6
Current Alignment: Hero
The profile didn’t stick around for long, as it was quickly replaced by two more in quick succession.
Player Info
Name: PanOptic
Level: 3
Current Alignment: Neutral
Player Info
Name: Zephyr
Level: 4
Current Alignment: Hero
Lightforge’s goggles were sitting on his workbench, lenses pointed toward the front door. And, sure enough, the trio that had just entered the shop matched the pictures included with each of the profiles that had just popped up. A mad grin crossed the gadgeteer’s face; now this was a breakthrough.
His guests looked haunted and grim. They had probably caught the wrong end of a fight. He’d been there, but they’d made it here. His smile might have grown even more as he motioned them inside.
“Welcome to the Gadget Forge!” he announced, “How can I help you gentlemen today?”
The three startled at his booming voice, but that was fine. If they were this jumpy then they hadn’t arrived a moment too soon. The leader, Smoke Hydra, stepped forward and tried to smile, but it was more of an angry smirk.
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“You’re the gadgeteer, right?”
“That’s me, but you can call me Lightforge.”
“Lightforge? Really?”
“Well, it is my name. Why so surprised?”
“Uh, it’s nothing. We barely escaped a bad scrape, and we could use some better gear.”
“Makes sense. Give me a breakdown of what you’re looking for and I’ll have it for you in a day or two.”
Smoke Hydra’s eyes widened, which delayed him just long enough for one of his companions to jump to the front. PanOptic was not a large person by any definition, and his low level probably didn’t help the chip on his shoulder. He stomped forward and growled.
“No [BLEEPING] way! We know you kitted out those [BLEEPS] who beat us down! We ought to–”
The other two dragged him back and their third started talking to him in hushed tones as Smoke Hydra came back to the front, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“I’m sorry about that. Crooks seem to be getting better and better gear recently, and nobody knows another gadgeteer in the area. There are rumors.”
Lightforge waved off the comment, but his hands started to move out of sight of the heroes in front of him. While he didn’t want anything to happen, there was a distinct possibility of violence now. He would be ready for it.
“I understand,” he said soothingly, “Most people don’t advertise what they can do around here. Feel free to keep watch, but you won’t find any villains taking so much as a single step through that door.”
“Yeah, I figured that was the case. But word is that you’re at a pretty decent level. They’ll come sooner or later.”
“Maybe, but no one can force me to use my gifts for them. It’s my choice and mine alone.”
The trio shared a look before Smoke Hydra cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter. It seemed that they were finally getting to the point, and not a moment too soon. There was still work to be done, so Lightforge didn’t have all day to stand around and chat.
“Look, we want you to join us. We’re putting together an Alliance, and it would be huge to have a gadgeteer on our side.”
The gadgeteer in question conjured his hammer but left it sitting behind the workbench as he began idly working with the parts in front of him. There were only so many ways for this conversation to play out at this point, and he wasn’t going to ruin his reactions by being overly tense. He worked for a few moments in silence, carefully contemplating his answer.
“I appreciate the offer, but no. First off, none of you are strong enough to make an official Alliance, so there are no system benefits in it for me. And second, I already told you that I’ll happily build items for you. No need for sides here.”
“I understand that. Honestly, I do. But this really would be best for everyone. After all, what better way could there be to guarantee that you don’t work for the wrong side?”
“Uh huh. And what happens when you get into an argument with another group of heroes? Would I be allowed to work with them, or does that count as the ‘wrong side’?”
“Come on, you know we don’t mean that.”
Lightforge sighed and put down the pieces that he had been playing with. He looked up at the three heroes and could their backs stiffening as they looked back at him. They may be doing things the nice way at the moment, but they’d been fully willing to be more violent when they’d walked inside. That didn’t deter him or change his answer.
“I know that you don’t mean that now. So thanks for the offer, but no.”
Another round of looks shot between the group. Even watching them closely, Lightforge almost missed the signal from Smoke Hydra to PanOptic. The weaker hero charged back to the front, glaring at the gadgeteer shopkeeper and face already crimson with fury.
“Cut the bull-[BLEEP]! We’ve been out on the streets, and the criminals are getting better gear every day. You’re the only gadgeteer in the area, so we know you’re behind it!”
Lightforge’s half-interested expression hardened into something darker. He returned the hero’s glare until the lower leveled man blinked and looked away. Only then did he speak.
“I suppose you politely asked the villains where they were getting geared up? I might be the only one with a shop, but that doesn’t mean much. If I were a villainous gadgeteer I would go out of my way to advertise myself.”
The heroes were rattled by the perfectly logical explanation, but they were already urging one another onward. They were too stubborn to stop at this point. Lightforge just sighed.
“Why don’t we skip the rest of this charade and you just make your demands? I’m busy.”
He expected Hydra to step back up, but instead it was Zephyr, the only member of the little group that had been silent so far. He spoke slowly and deliberately; Lightforge got the sense that he’d carefully crafted his part of this routine.
He gestured to the shop and said, “We want you to build gear for us exclusively. If you accept, we’ll keep an eye on you. Any suspect gear shows up on the streets and we’ll put you down. If you refuse, we won’t stop at putting you down. We’ll spread the word about you working both sides. Doesn’t even matter if it’s true or not. Your little shop will be ruined.”
Lightforge’s blood was boiling. How dare they? These arrogant little stains actually thought that they could intimidate him into complying? His hand twitched toward his hammer, but he stopped himself. No, not yet. He would give them one more chance. His voice was tight as he hissed the words out to them.
“Listen very closely, because this is your last chance. If you’re right, then there are plenty of villains out there who owe me favors. And if you’re wrong, then there won’t be any reason for me not to start dealing with both sides. Either way, you lose. So walk away, because you’ve also forgotten the most dangerous piece to this particular puzzle.”
Their stances shifted, and he knew their answer before they spoke. They were quickly preparing themselves to fight, but not quickly enough. They’d come for a gadgeteer in his own workshop, and that had been their fatal mistake.
His new drone shot forward, a shield flashing into place just before it crashed into Smoke Hydra’s face. For good measure, the metal cage around the drone was equipped with a system similar to the one in Lightforge’s own armor, and it delivered a quick electrical jolt to the shocked man.
He charged around the workbench and sprinted toward Zephyr, who was conveniently now at the front. Lightforge tackled him, letting his electrified armor do most of the work for him. He threw the man to the ground and rolled, coming up with his hammer flail already released and swinging in a wide arc.
Smoke Hydra was shaking off the drone’s attack when the hammerhead caught him in the side, where it exploded in a wave of destructive energy. He was thrown into an internal wall, which had the advantage of being brick rather than glass. He hit and collapsed in a heap on the ground, but it wouldn’t keep him down long.
Lightforge whirled and shot a dagger from his hand as it formed, stabbing down into the recovering Zephyr. The hero groaned from the pain, and the gadgeteer raised his shield in time to block a pair of eye beams from PanOptic. The weakest member of the group got a dagger to the chest for his troubles.
Zephyr, lying at Lightforge’s feet, received a few kicks to keep him down, each one eliciting a grunt of pain. Lightforge turned his attention back to Smoke Hydra, who had recovered enough to start finally fighting back. Smoke swirled into being around him, creating illusory images all around him.
Lightforge fought back a smirk. An illusionist? How cute. It seemed that the illusions were meant to duplicate attacks, not hide the man himself. That was almost too bad, as it didn’t change Lightforge’s aim even slightly.
Hammer blows rained down on the illusionist, who didn’t have any defense against an opponent that ignored his weapons, both the illusory and the real ones. Lightforge’s hammer struck time and again like a smith at his forge, pausing only to occasionally turn and beat back one of the others as they came around.
In less than a minute, Smoke Hydra’s body collapsed and he began to fade away. He was dead, and Zephyr followed suit only a moment later. The final member, PanOptic, was being harried by Lightforge’s drone. He was injured, but not severely. He had a haunted look on his face from what he’d just witnessed.
For his part, Lightforge let the fury wash over him. He was done being scared and timid. This world had made him a giant that could craft a terrifying assortment of weapons and armor. It was past time that he reminded people of what that meant. He stalked over to PanOptic and glared at the hero.
“Leave,” he growled, “Tell people what happens when you attack me in my own workshop. Your little battles can go on as much as you like, I don’t care. But here? This place is protected. I don’t care who it is, anyone who comes here looking for trouble will find it. Come to buy, or come to get beaten down.”
PanOptic stumbled and fell twice as he ran away. He didn’t even look back once before vanishing around a distant corner. Lightforge watched him go and shook himself to loosen the rage that had come over him. He turned back to his workbench and got down to work.
He’d just made a declaration to all comers, and he had every intention of backing it up.