SANCTUARY SQUARE, NON-PVP ZONE. LOCATION CLASSIFIED.

CLOSEST KNOWN CLAIMED TERRITORY: PLANET EARTH CLAIMED BY THE FIRST

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It had only been a few hours since I had last been in the square but the place was… well, for lack of a better term, literally night and day.

Sure, there had been people loitering around the large courtyard while the sun was up, but there was almost something electric about the air as I descended the staircase from the portal wall. I couldn’t see any noticeable speakers, but there was the steady beat of some sort of electronic music that filled the air and while I didn’t have to weave through a crowd to navigate to the neutral shopping segment, there were still plenty of people peppering the walkway that I did naturally give a wide berth to.

People were actively flaunting their powers, with more than a few people hovering overhead as they smiled and chatted amongst themselves. I saw at least one fireball casually tossed into the air followed by cheers. My U.I. almost seemed like it was stuttering as I scanned over the various people, their info briefly flashing over their head before disappearing back into nothing.

My eyes settled on The Common Ground briefly and I could almost feel the drink tickets burning a hole in my B.E.L.T, but even more importantly, I realized I hadn’t taken the time to check the leaderboard while I was in my safe room and I was painfully curious as to where I stood.

“I know I can’t open loot boxes here, but can I open my wave leaderboard in my UI while I'm here?”

“No need! While the monitors that showcase ALL of the various leaderboards currently active are in The Common Ground, there are monitors set up periodically around the square, have you really not noticed them? All you have to do is approach the screen and the scoreboard should display your wave’s top ten as well as listing where you specifically are if you are not amongst the top ten.”

I looked around, trying to see what she meant. I was about to call bullshit when I noticed a girl dressed in a bright pink athletic outfit standing by a tall silver pole. From the pole, a holographic screen seemed to be projected in front of her. I looked around to see if there was another pole available, but each one that I could see nearby had another group of people around them.

Instead of trying to search around, I walked up to the girl in pink yoga pants and what I now realized was a fluffy white fur coat that only seemed to cover her shoulders and a tight pink shirt that was the exact same color as her pants. I tried not to seem like I was leering at her as I turned my attention to the screen. I expected a new projection to emerge, but instead, the screen that the girl had already opened flashed briefly before a new line was added to the bottom of the list.

Tenth Wave

Guardians: 428 Miscreants: 541

1.Tempest’s Wrath - Level 7 Thunder God - Miscreant - 8295 Points

2. Freakenstein - Level 5 Patchwork Armorer - Miscreant - 3410 Points

3. Sound Off - Level 5 Midnight DJ - Miscreant - 3345 Points

4. Duke Juke’em- Level 4 Highschool Athlete - Miscreant - 2415 Points

5. Pigeon - Level 4 Pigeon - Miscreant - 2355 Points

6. Quizmaster - Level 4 Gameshow Host - Miscreant - 2280 Points

7. Pretty Pink Warthog - Level 4 Berserking Boar - Guardian - 2150 Points

8. Vice Grip - Level 4 Toolbox Mechanic - Guardian - 2015 Points

9. Swansong - Level 4 Healing Voice - Guardian - 1920 Points

10. Slick N’ Slide - Level 4 Oil Engineer - Miscreant - 1650 Points

…...

359. ????? - Level 4 Perfect Planner - Guardian - 410 Points

Without being registered Angie was right that my name didn’t show up, though I was shocked to see my powerset was still listed. I was about to question why my score was so low when I remembered the caveat to claiming my territory points and let out a sigh. Angie had been right that I was nowhere near the top of the leaderboard, but I also knew that once the 500 points from my contested claim was official with my name, I should be within striking distance of the top ten.

Truth be told, I wasn’t exactly sure why the thought of being in the top ten left me with a sense of giddiness since I had never been the most competitive person, but I chalked it up to just another factor of the augmentation process, just like the Acceptance Matrix.

“Hey 359s not too shabby at all!” the girl said with a bubbly laugh. She practically sounded like she was ripped out of a cheap teen drama set in California and with the bright pink gym clothes, she probably would have fit in just fine. “There’s probably like, a lot of people that are clumped around the same scores the lower down the board it goes.”

“You can see that? Why didn’t it add a line for you?” I asked as I looked over and finally let my U.I. highlight the girl.

“Pretty Pink Warthog. Level 4 Berserking Boar.”

“Ahhhh, because-” I started as she turned and gave me a wide smile, my words coming up short. The girl had nearly bleached blonde hair and the general vibe she gave off was that of a cheerleader. I had already been curious about the person who would pick a name like that when I first saw it on the leaderboard, but this certainly wasn’t what had first come to mind. I finally snapped out of it and remembered I was trying to say something. “Because you are already in our top 10. That’s pretty impressive.”

“Yuuuuup, I’m Pretty Pink Warthog,” The girl said, practically bouncing on her toes. Her already wide smile felt like it got even wider as she added, “But you can just like, call me Pinky, the others I’ve met so far already do.”

“I guess your full name is a bit of a mouthful. Between the powerset name and the outfit I suppose I get it. Sort of? Okay, I’m actually kinda drawing a blank if I’m being honest,” I said and rubbed the back of my head with an admittedly nervous chuckle.

“Oh yeah? Maybe I’ll have to clue yah in some time,” She said with a trill of a laugh before offering me her hand. “Have you picked a name yet or are you just going to like, keep going with all the question marks for a while?”

“Uh, yeah, I was actually on my way to do that pretty much now, I’m Loophole, ” I said, wiping my hand against my jacket before reaching out and shaking her hand. “Er… I don’t really have a different thing than that for you to call me.”

“Smooth.” Angie laughed.

“Not now, Angie.”

“It’s a good name, though I’m not sure what it means in relation to a “Perfect Planner” but like, I can totally dig it,” she said with a laugh. “Have you claimed any territories yet that might buff that score of yours up once you get registered?”

“Yeah, I have one, but it’s contested right now by some asshole bikers. It’s gonna probably move me up the ladder a bit but not too much,” I explained as I turned from the projected screen and looked back out toward the rest of the square. “What about you? I kinda have to assume you’ve got one to be up there in the top 10.”

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“Yeah, I got one but it’s contested right now too! I live out in California but in a sort of out in the middle of nowhere place. When I went out to do my tutorial today, I came face to face with some literal cartel members that were trying to say they owned the place. I beat the shit out of the first folks I saw and told them to get out of my town. I think I’m only up on the leaderboard because my first “territory” is considered an extra-small town, which, according to my P.A.I. Frank, is in the second tier of territories. I guess it just means it’s worth a good chunk of points, even if it is still in half-score mode,” Pinky explained. She had this sort of bubbly energy that was honestly just a bit overwhelming. I could have named at least half a dozen girls from high school that would have been sitting at a table with her laughing about some random piece of gossip.

Even though she was clearly not the type of person I would have normally interacted with… and the fact that I had never been the best at dealing with others given that I wasn’t the most social person, I mentally told myself to try not to be the same awkward dude I had been in High School either. With that thought in mind, and knowing that nobody in this game should know about the embarrassing shit I went through back then, I decided to at least try to be more social and not judge a book by its cover.

After all, nobody wanted to be the weird guy with the bag on his head muttering about being crazy.

“Wait let me guess, Functionally Robust Artificial Network…. What the hell would they use for K?” I guessed.

“Kinetics. Flexibly Robotic Augmented Neural Kinetics. Honestly, I don’t really get what half of it means but he doesn’t complain when I call him Franky and he’s been just the best, y’know?”

“I most certainly do not know,” I said. Sure, Silver had said the “asshole” P.A.Is were rarer than others, but it was still sort of annoying to be saddled with one when there were other options. “Angie, my uh P.A.I., is a bit… much.”

“Oh come on, you bitch about me soooooo much, I'm not that bad. You could be stuck with a Randy. Trust me, no one should be stuck with a Randy.”

“Seriously, not now, Angie,” I shot back and Angie blew a literal raspberry in response.

“Aww I’m sure she’s not that bad,” Pinky said and I saw as her eyes briefly glossed over. Almost as soon as I noticed it happening, the gloss vanished and her bright blue eyes caught mine. “How are you settling in with all this craziness? Am I like, the only one that feels it’s kinda sad that there’s more Miscreants than Guardians?”

“Nah, I totally get it, you’d think people would more naturally want to… I don’t know, help others? That was my first instinct at least,” I explained before my mind flashed back to Silver again. “Though I met a Miscreant from a few waves before us that seemed pretty cool overall, he even took some time to explain the basic shit earlier when I was finishing up my onboarding. He didn’t really say why he went Miscreant but I didn’t pry either… I’m not much of a prier.”

“Oh I am,” Pinky said with a smirk that left me slightly uncomfortable. “If you get your hooks into one of those older wave Augments you gotta pry juuuuust a little bit. Think about it, they’ve gone through this already, they know a lot more than us. Sure they might say they can’t tell us that much, but there’s still some stuff you can get out of them. Like did you know the second floor of The Common Ground is basically just a giant Fight Club?”

“Shit really? I thought you weren’t supposed to talk about those?” I said, unable to resist and found to my surprise that she let out a giggle of a laugh at the lame joke.

“Yeah, apparently people fight each other for unopened loot boxes up there,” Pinky explained before she raised her arms and stretched. “Though apparently you can only get there by getting some invitation from an achievement. Let me know if you find out which one prompts it.”

I looked at the girl with a raised brow, my “valley girl” initial impression was already getting confused. “You uh, like to fight?”

“Not really, or I didn’t back before all this. But I’ve always been a bit… over competitive. I had a soccer coach that once said my drive to win was “scary” but we did win a few championships soooooo,” She laughed. “The fighting though… I mean, you feel it too right? That sort of… desire? I can’t like, logically explain it cause I feel like I’d freak out about everything if I did start to go down that rabbit hole, but like, I just want to get stronger, to protect more people, y’know?”

Just like that, the ball of anxiety I had been pushing down about being so intent on the top ten unclenched and I let out a breath I hadn’t even realized I had been holding. “I know exactly how you feel. Ever since I finished the tutorial, it’s like… I don’t know, almost a rush to use your powers right?”

“Oh my god, exaaaaactly,” she said and I could have sworn she seemed to similarly relax. “I swear it’s almost like a drug, and it’s not just using the powers either, it’s taking down the bad guys too! I know I don’t look the type, but I’m a bit of an Augment nerd. Like, when I was 15 I was stanning stupidly hard for Razzle Dazzle.”

“Wow, yeah I don’t think I would have guessed you were big into them,” I said and turned to look back at the scoreboard for a moment before the projection vanished back into the pole. “My roommate is a huge nerd for all this too, I swear if he ever finds out about my powers he’s gonna literally flip out that he didn’t get them.”

“It’s a shame though, I’d totally tell my little sis about this if the Secret Identity thing wasn’t… well a thing,” she said with a shrug as her eyes glossed over again briefly. “Anyway as much as I’d love to sit around and chat, there’s a few others from our Wave around the square right now and it is always good to make a good first impression. Come find me when you’re registered and we can become friends in the system, I’ll probably be hanging around The Common Ground. As much fun as a lot of this is, it’s also like, really nice that we at least have a place to go get drunk with people who already do know about all of this. It is always nice to have others to chat with about all this craziness, y’know.”

“Yeah, it really is…” I said. “Okay, before you go, you’ve got to explain the name. Is it just because your powerset is Berserking Boar that you went with it?”

Pinky looked over at me, giving me another wide, extremely friendly smile when suddenly two tusks burst out with an almost metallic shhng sound, curving up around the side of her face and ending in dangerously sharp looking metal tips.

“See you around Loophole,” She said, slightly garbled, with a wink. That seemed to be the only explanation she was going to give me and with a wave of her hand she was off. I couldn’t help but stare a bit dumbfounded as she sauntered off, her tusks disappearing back into her mouth within just a few steps.

“So I’m almost entirely positive that she hasn’t gotten nearly enough high tier loot boxes for THAT many pieces of gear… which means that girl already had all of those obnoxiously hot pink items in her closet,” Angie chirped as I turned my attention back toward the neutral shopping segment.

“I can honestly say that wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

The Registration Office felt, fittingly enough, like the DMV and even though there were a few others in there, the process was quick and simple. Almost annoyingly so. I just had to scan my hand on a touchpad, then enter my chosen name. The fact that that couldn’t just be done through the P.A.I. system was… well odd. But at this point I was getting oddly proficient at dealing with odd. I had barely hit enter on registering my name when a new window popped up.

“New Achievement! Persona! You have officially taken on an Augment identity. Careful, some people out there might not like you taking a different name than your birth name. You know what we say to those moronic fucktards? Nothing! We don’t give them any time of day because they crave attention. This is a Wood level achievement. Reward: You have unlocked access to the following features: Squads, Friends, Chats, Team District Access.”

“New Achievement! High Score Hobo! You have entered the Top 25 on the leaderboard by squatting in a territory and staking your claim! Don’t get too comfortable, evictions up here are frequent, but the longer you stay, the more you’re worth if someone knocks you down. This is a Gold level achievement. Reward: You have received a B:Tier loot box.”

I had been expecting a jump, but over 300 spots for just 500 points? I’d make it a point to see just where I ended up later, but my first priority was making my way to the Viewfinder to get the phone upgrade. At least, that was my plan as I stepped out of the registration office.

The crowd that had seemed well dispersed throughout the square was now congregating, with the large mass centering on the giant white and gray marble statue of The First. I scanned the crowd and noticed Pinky’s bright outfit on the outer edge. I redirected myself in her direction as my eyes flickered toward the ornate statue.

I felt my stomach tense as the conversation I had had with Angie barely an hour ago flashed through my mind.

Several terrible possibilities flashed through my head as I tried to convince myself that this was just about some record he had broken. Like, maybe he was the first Augment to claim more than 100 territories or whatever was a really big number for the game. I had never actually taken the time to scan his statue before and I had to be nearly half way across the courtyard before my HUD would finally let me highlight it.

“The First. Level 253 Eagle Scout Vanguard. Claimed Territories: 173. Status: Unknown.”

The First's updated status wrenched at my gut and for the first time all day I almost found myself lost. I almost felt the familiar signs of a panic attack creep up only to have it barely beat back. I knew I was just about to start descending down the rabbit hole, knowing that there was no way this could be a coincidence when I stepped up to Pinky who gave me a toothy grin. She was about to say something when a ding ding ding diiiiiiiiing echoed throughout the square. The voice that followed was the same monotone voice used whenever Angie didn’t handle a message.

“System Message: The First has abandoned all territory claims including ALL claims formed by Squads that The First is a member of. New claims can be made on these territories in twenty-four hours.”