“Before you enter, I should make you aware of the special circumstances surrounding the bar.”

“You already mentioned the whole, don’t get into bar fights, rule,” I replied.

“No- well yes that too, but the Common Ground is one of the first places that was created the same day that the game launch. Because of this, there are a few bugs that have persisted through all of the deployed patches and updates, as well as a special rule that applies only to it.”

“Oh? Well let’s hear it then,” I said as I looked at the vast outdoor seating that wrapped around the edge of the building.

“The Common Ground is the only location on the planet that you will not have access to me, your wonderful assistant. This is due to an incident that happened in the First Wave that nearly corrupted the entire Personal A.I. system. The incident is not repeatable, but the patch to fix it required setting a permanent null zone over the location it happened, which is, obviously, this bar.”

“Well shit, that’s not a bug, that’s a feature,” I said, almost eager at the idea of a bit of mental silence, “But isn’t there some stuff you’re supposed to explain to me about this place?”

“There are some important things, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re not that stupid and there tends to be a little tradition that you’ll experience soon enough. If you do have any extra questions, you can open up a mental notepad from your interface to add notes to and I can fill in the gaps for your tiny monkey brain.”

“Thanks... You know what, let me get my ass in there just so I can have some peace and quiet for a few fucking minutes,” I said finding myself slightly exacerbated as I started for the door.

“Hey I was compli-” Angie’s voice cut off literally as I crossed the threshold into the bar and I was actually surprised. I had thought that was just going to be another joke and even though I waited for a moment for her to yell something stupid like “Psych,” it never happened.

I let out a long, slow sigh as I felt the silence actually set in and then took a long look over the building.

The place was extremely reminiscent of a classic sports bar but instead of sports memorabilia or games dotting the walls and screens, there were pictures of heroes and villains fighting, large versions of famous comic covers, and what even looked like some wreckage from a giant robot placed near the center of the building, with a spiral staircase swirling up and around it, heading to a second floor. The screens had what looked like cinematic footage of the same variety, with a fight between The First and some group of villains that had been threatening South Africa taking up the largest screen on a big wall at the south end of the building.

There were at least a few dozen people scattered around, some sitting at booths or high-top tables by themselves, others wandering around, looking just as amazed as I’m sure I was. They must have been going through the same thing, trying to make heads or tails of this crazy as fuck situation we had found ourselves in.

I felt myself come up short as I stopped in front of a section of wall that stood out from the pristinely placed décor. It was actually almost jarring how much the writing contrasted the rest of the building. More jarring than that was how each line seemed to be written by a different hand.

“The Augment's Code,” I murmured to myself as I stepped back to take in the entire wall.

The Augment's Code

1. We will do our best to never allow a Sentient NPC to be put in harm’s way, and when they are, we will do what we must to make it right.

2. The world is not worth points for a game. If you threaten the world, we will come for you.

3. It is cruel to allow Non-Sentients to know of the truth behind their existence. We will never disabuse them of what they believe to be reality and if we must kill them, we will do so with respect.

4. We will honor those who have fallen, those who fought to protect our friends, our family, and all other Sentient NPCs that believe us heroes or villains.

5. We will do our best to never damage or cause a change to the rules protecting The Common Ground from Personal A.I.s. We ALL deserve a little mental silence.

6. We will never, under any circumstances, use our powers to catch fish in the Mississippi while the sun is setting on a cloudless day. Just… just trust me, it’s not a good idea.

“What… What the fuck is that last one…”

“I hear it’s some weird bug in the Augmentation Array. Makes your hands and feet switch places or some shit,” I turned to see a man in a blue and silver mask that covered most of his face and an honest to god gray cowboy hat walk up. He had an unlabeled beer clutched in his hand as he looked me up and down, “Lemme guess, you're from the new wave, ain’tcha?”

“Heh, that obvious?”

“Kinda, you guys always look like deers caught in front of a souped up F-150,” he said as he stopped and looked up at the wall, then seemed to catch himself. He swapped the beer to his other hand and held it out for me to shake. “I’m Silver Wrangler, your P.A.I. won’t work but you can still highlight me and get the public info shit. It’s how I can see your name is still a bunch of question marks, which is also kinda a dead giveaway for a noob. Just call me Silver, most people do.”

“My… pie?” I said, reaching out and shaking his hand.

“Personal A.I., P-A-I, pie, you get it.”

I highlighted him, just to see that he was right. Instead of Angie’s chipper voice, a monotone robotic voice read the description in my head.

“Silver Wrangler. Level 48 Werewolf Hunter. Squad: Ours Is The Fury.”

“What the fuck is a Werewolf Hunter?” I asked before I could stop myself and he laughed in response.

“It’s the name of my powerset, like how yours is Perfect Planner.”

“Ah, yeah I guess that makes sense… I mean, it makes sense that’s what it represents, how “Werewolf Hunter” translates into a powerset…” I said, trailing off as I brought a hand to my chin and I thought about it. “What uh… I mean… when did you…”

“I was in the Seventh Wave about three years ago, well, y’know, technically still am,” he said and his voice seemed to trail off as his attention never left the wall. “The first year of the game is pretty rough, but after that things get pretty chill overall. Don’t let your P.A.I. ever make yah worry that things are always gonna be insane, what’s yours call itself anyway?”

“Mine? Aren’t they all just called Angie?” I asked and Silver let out a loud guffaw.

“Ah shit, you got one of the ones that likes to fuck with yah!”

“Oh fuck me… are you telling me that some people don’t have to deal with a snarky asshole half the damn time?”

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“Most people don’t. As far as I know the P.A.I.s come in like, 3 flavors. There’s the Navi types, the ones that basically never stop trying to shower you with helpful tips. Though they can get annoying constantly asking you to listen to them. Then you got the Utilitarian types that give straightforward information, though they tend to lean in on just maximizing stats which you’re gonna learn isn’t the only way to play the game. And then there’s the giant assholes. They’ll give you the information you need, but half the time they are literally just doing it for their own amusement. The one thing all the types have in common is that they give their player some weirdly stupid acronym that makes up a name for them. Mine is the Digitally Added Virtual Interface Decoder, or David, he’s very uh… straightforward.”

“Shit, I’d take a utilitarian approach over the constant bullshit Angie is practically always spewing at me. But I’m just gonna go ahead and assume I’m stuck with her, right?”

“Yaaaaaahup,” Silver laughed and then gestured around the room. “But for what it’s worth, the asshole types are pretty rare and the players that get them almost always end up on one of the dozen leaderboards one way or another, at least the ones I know of.”

“Oh joy,” I said almost dryly. I briefly looked at all of the monitors before my attention was pulled back to the out of place scrawl on the wall. “So what is this anyway? Some sort of mantra for the, what did my P.A.I. call them… the Guardian side? I can’t imagine folks calling themselves Villains or Miscreants or whatever would be so eager to live by a code like this.”

“You think so?” Silver said and cocked his brow as he looked over at me. “Believe it or not, not all of us Miscreants are as murderous or destructive as folks like Napalm or Bloody Gary.”

“Yeah I’m sure some of them aren’t that bad but- wait what?” I said finding myself unconsciously stepping away from the man.

“Ha, worth it every time, yeah bud, I’m a Miscreant. But unless you’re trying to fuck with me in South Texas, I ain’t gonna go out of my way to stomp some noob. I’d get shit for experience and it would just make me look bad,” he laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “That code there, not everyone follows it, but I’d reckon most of us do. It keeps us grounded, keeps us from losing ourselves to these powers. Keeps us from hurting the people that do still matter to us…”

“I guess that makes me feel a little bit better, I was half worried I’d have to be fighting a bunch of blood thirsty assholes who got pulled into this game,” I said as I turned away from the code and looked for a bar, finding one with an alcohol lined wall and nodding toward it. Silver waved me forward and followed as I walked toward it.

“Oh, don’t stick your head in the sand bud. Things might calm down afterwards, but year one is the bloodiest part of any wave while the weakest of the players are culled through. I think the most Augments to ever survive it in a wave is something like just a bit over 700. Only 557 of us survived my wave's first year. Our leaderboard is pretty static now, a couple people swap things here and there but nobody wants to get into too big of a pissing match.”

“Why uh… why is the first year so bloody then? Like, what’s even the point of the game? I’ve done the tutorial but my P.A.I. has been less than forthright with the why of all of it.” I asked, stopping at the bar and grabbing a seat. A moment later a man that hadn’t been there appeared, looking at me expectantly.

“Yo keep, get me a double Ranch Water,” Silver said and in a matter of seconds the bartender had a filled glass topped with a lime wedge ready and handed off. I quickly materialized one of the drink tickets.

“Captain and Coke for me,” I said and a moment later I was taking a sip, smacking my lips in appreciation as the bartender walked away without a single word.

“They’ll talk to you if you’re by yourself, in case you’re wondering. I’ve spent more than a few nights talking Chuck’s ear off over at that smaller bar by the south entrance of the Grounds,” he explained as he took a long swig from his drink. “The game, at least for the most part, is pretty simple. I mean, the overall goal has been the same since the beginning as far as I can tell. Claim the most territories, have the most “points,” standard issue game shit, but the truth is no one is exactly sure why. Our P.A.I’s push us to play, and we dance like monkeys. Either way, not like there’s anything we can do about it but have as much fun with it as we can. My buddies and I got a nice little foothold that we are starting to look at expanding soon but it’s really all about finding the right timing.”

“How exactly does that work or uh… sorry, I guess you’re not exactly my game guide or anything,” I said and took another drink. “Why are you telling me all of this anyway? Especially since you don’t even know what side I’m going to be on.”

Silver just laughed at that, stopping only to throw back the rest of his drink. “Please you got Guardian written all over you. But it sort of started as one of those tradition things that’s evolved since then. We know when the new waves come in, that announcement you got from Axio? He talks to all of us, though to my knowledge it’s like, split between Waves somehow. We all get announcements that happen, but what you and I hear are gonna be two different things if that makes sense. Anyway, he always makes it a point to let us know when the new wave starts. More or less lets us know there’s gonna be fresh meat vying for territory,” he explained and waved to the gathering crowd inside the bar. “A bunch of us come here when it happens, help explain as much of this mess as we can to all of you noobs. A sort of, pay it forward thing, y’know? It’s gotten to the point that anyone who does help “sufficiently” gets an F:Tier loot box, which… wait you’ve gotten one of those already right?”

“Yeah, the randomized one right? I thought it was gonna be trash since it’s at the bottom of the scale but the F:Tier I got earlier gave me these boots which, while not exactly the best looking, have some halfway decent stats,” I said, gesturing down to them.

“Yeah, I’ve gotten a few good things out of them. Some really bad things too, but the good things were like, really good, so it’s worth it to come in and give y’all that little bit of a hand just for the gamble,” He explained.

“See at least that adds up. You’re getting something out of helping,” I said and felt a small weight lift off my shoulder now that his motivation was more clear.

“We can’t really tell you everything though, kinda like how you can’t talk about the game with people outside of it, there are certain things that the system forcefully suppresses, so I wouldn’t go asking me too many questions” Silver explained, turning and grabbing another drink from the bartender. “As for the territories… okay y’know how like, all the news channels and shit call The First’s team the ''Protectors of New York'' or how Hellwing was the “Tyrant of Tokyo” for a while last year? Well it’s sorta like that. You don’t necessarily have to have the media blasting you around, hell it’s how me and my buds have stayed mostly off the radar, but the game will give yah a goal around your hometown area, something that’s gonna make you want to make it clear to the non-sentients and other players that that place is yours. I’d ask your A.I. to explain the exacts, they’ll give you the rules if you tell them specifically to do so.”

“Shit, I guess that sort of makes sense, hell my tutorial had me fighting this biker gang that the A.I. claimed had been terrorizing He- uh… my neighborhood,” I said, catching myself as I thought about it, Angie’s reminder about the Secret Identity protocol briefly popping into my head.

Silver let out another laugh as he drank down his second drink in a single long gulp, “It’s all good bud, it’s why I haven’t told you where in Texas I’m from. Your gut instincts right, keep the personal shit to yourself, even when you do get team members. And, now that the loot box has landed in my B.E.L.T., I’ve done my duty and explained at least a little bit of this shit to a noob. Oh and here’s a freebie, Axio does an “end of the day” report most days too. It tends to happen at 5PM in Texas, I’m sure you can do the math to figure out when it happens where you’re at..”

“Shit good to know, I guess that’s more than I was really expecting anyway, thanks for that,” I said and looked down at the remains of my drink. “Is there like, a friend's list or something? Or hell, any sort of messaging system?”

“Yeah there’s a bunch of stuff like that. Chat features, the Squad system, and a couple of other things too. Most are standard game things, so they are useful but not all that exciting. That said, I’d recommend getting the phone upgrade for your HUD as soon as yah can. I broke like, 4 phones my first few weeks. Most of it is locked behind name registration though,” Silver explained, “Don’t go dwelling on it too long, or else yah might end up just choosing a couple of words that happen to represent your powers. I mean, it worked out for me, I love my name, but there’s also folks like “Ice Thrower,” who is a hell of a fighter by the way, he’s just boring as a bag of bricks. I’m here most nights though, and there’s a hell of a party after the first culling event y’all are gonna go through. Pick the right side bud, there’s plenty of fun to be had when you’re bad.”

He didn’t wait any longer as he headed off, walking toward one of the exits and patting a few other people on the back as he passed them. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do next, I knew I couldn’t stay here the whole night just to escape Angie, but I felt like I was still missing something. The screens seemed to be littered with rankings from the various waves, though there was one in particular that caught my attention.

It was labeled Tenth Wave, which I immediately recognized as mine from Axio’s announcement. There wasn’t much information on it, but to my surprise, the list wasn’t empty.

Tenth Wave

1. Tempest’s Wrath - Level 4 - Miscreant - Territories: 1 - Score: 250 Points

“Shit, someone isn’t wasting any time,” I muttered before I quickly swallowed the last of my drink.

I couldn’t help but feel a mix of apprehension and… maybe giddiness as I looked at the screen. There was still so much I didn’t know, even with Silver’s helpfulness, but his warning about the reality of the bloody first year stayed with me as I headed for the door. I didn’t want to die, though I think most people felt that way on a day to day basis, but I couldn’t escape that possible reality of this game.

As much as I hated to admit it, I needed to talk to Angie. It was a real good thing she couldn’t hear that, cause knowing her, she’d never let me live that thought down.