I stepped forward to intervene, but a deep, guttural growl escaped from Ainsley’s mouth. I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t want to see this. Chick fights were always hot, in a way, and I was curious just how much they could do. They were both buffed with Talisman of Arctic Force, so they would have enough health that neither would get one too overwhelmed.

  Ogres must have an instinct for this sort of thing, because within a second, a ring of the brutes had formed around them. Most were shouting out their support for ‘boom girl,’ which wasn’t surprising considering the ogre mindset. For now, both the girls were circling and taking each other’s measure. Knowing Violet, this phase of the fight wouldn’t last long.

  Sure enough, she exploded forward. Her bare knuckles slammed into Ainsley again. The hybrid tried to raise her arm to block, but she was just too slow. Violet was a flurry of stubby gnome arms and legs. Ainsley might be two feet taller than her, but there was no doubt, in this moment, who the bigger woman was.

  I winced as the blows kept landing. The necromancer continued to futilely try and block. Even then, she was failing at that. Bruises were starting to appear all over her face, but she didn’t show any sign of giving up. When one particularly brutal kick sent her flying, she was knocked onto her back. Her wings kept her from rolling end- over-end, but she looked hurt.

  Violet stopped and was rubbing her knuckles. Hopefully, that would be enough to sate her anger. But then Ainsley croaked out, “Is that all you’ve got?”

  Violet’s eyes bulged. “What? You didn’t go there. Fine, if you want a beating then here it comes. Just call this a Violet Special.”

  Violet’s armor unfolded, and with a rapid clinking sound, it expanded around her body till she was covered and appeared like a silver bullet, the namesake of her class. She jumped hard, and an explosive force materialized from her boots. She rammed her armored head into the taller woman and toppled her over again. This time there was blood on the front of Ainsley’s robes.

  Once again, I stepped forward, but this time Violet waved me off. “This can’t work until she learns who her daddy is. Now, I’m gonna spank her.”

  The tiny gnome raced across the ground again, and right before she reached her fallen foe, right before impact, the anchor on one of her boots shot a spike into the ground, and she began to spin like a top. Her arms were extended out, and her hands open. Each revolution allowed her to slap Ainsley. Thud, thud, thud. They kept coming faster as she spun around, again and again.

  I watched in the group interface as Ainsley’s HP dropped to 40%. She couldn’t keep this up for long. Thankfully, Violet eventually stopped. The spike retracted into her boot, and she stood leering over Ainsley. “Ready to surrender?”

  The elf hybrid squeaked something, but it was unintelligible.

  Violet laughed. “C’mon, speak up. I can’t hear you.”

  Ainsley tried again, but I still couldn’t make out what she was saying. Violet leaned in further. The armor on her face and head retracted back into the chest piece. Then in a blur of motion, Ainsley’s hands game up. Her clawed fingers were extended and a purplish black energy was dancing along them. They dug into Violet, who began to spasm as soon as she was struck.

  The kobold jumped to her feet and stepped away while Violet struggled to make her mouth work.

  “What’s that? I can’t hear you. All that bluster for what. I gave you your chance to beat me. I hope it makes you feel tough, or whatever you needed; but it’s never over till mummy’s spoken.”

  Then tendrils of white bandages shot out of her robes. Each moved like a striking serpent, six in total, to wrap Violet around her four limbs with another wrapped around her neck to block the armor from expanding.

  I could see in the party interface that Violet was suffering from the partially paralyzed debuff. That must be an effect of Ainsley’s Ghoul Touch. It was only going to last a few more seconds, and it didn’t seem to stop her from struggling with her arms and legs, so I didn’t worry about it too much.

  The sixth bandage was swaying back and forth like a cobra. “You seem to like slapping people. Now let’s see how you like being on the receiving end.” Then the bandage whipped into her, striking one cheek and then the other. They left thin welts in red. Violet might be paralyzed, but her eyes were definitely bulging.

  Then the effect was over and she screamed, “You’re dead, you’re so dead. I’m gonna send you to join your pretties.”

  “You shouldn’t start something you can’t finish,” Ainsley taunted. Her long, partially lizard tongue extended as she made a blowing sound.

  “I’m gonna take you apart, limb-from-limb.”

  “How? How are you going to do that?” The expression on Ainsley’s face was perfectly calm. She was back to that cold and distant person we had first met. If I had to guess, this was what she did to adapt to the treatment she received. Then again, if she was just an NPC, then it was the role she was created for. It really made me think, and I started to remember some of the things she had said up to this point. What I did know for sure, though, was that her expression was only riling Violet up more.

  “Just wait till I get down.”

  “But you won’t. You don’t seem to understand your situation. You’ll never get down from there unless I let you. The undead don’t tire. They never sleep. My pretties will keep you bound up forever. You won’t be dead, but you might as well be. That is, unless we can come to an agreement. I’m here to serve Master. I’ll put up with you ‘cause you are his pet.”

  “Argghh. I’ll never give up.”

  Then Ainsley looked over at me. “I know I said I wouldn’t drink blood, but if I drained her a bit, it would help her calm down. But only if you say it’s okay, Master.”

  Violet shrieked in protest. “You heard her, Frank. She threatened to bite me.”

  I saw Violet trying to work something on her wrist loose. I didn’t know how long it would take her, but we certainly didn’t need to this to escalate any further. Okay, maybe it had been a bad decision to let this go on. Maybe it was all my fault, but they were supposed to be grown-ups. Oh well, I shook my head.

  “No, I won’t let her bite you.”

  Then I looked at Ainsley, “You heard me. You are not allowed to bite Violet. Got it?”

  “Yes, Master.” Her tone was flat but her shoulders slumped and some of the excitement in her eyes dimmed.

  “Violet, if I order her to put you down, will you refrain from attacking her?”

  “I’ll refrain right after I chop her into pieces.”

  “Violet, this isn’t getting us anywhere. We are supposed to be on the same team. And to be fair, you did attack her first. No one thinks that she is stronger than you, if that is what you are worried about; but you did make a mistake. If you were going to beat her like that, then you should have finished it. Which is to say you shouldn’t have begun in the first place.”

  To her credit, Violet took a deep breath. At least she wasn’t screaming. When she seemed to settle down a bit she said, “Fine, I promise to let it go. But don’t think we are friends; and sooner or later, you are gonna have to pick a side. I hope you pick the right one.”

  I nodded but neither agreed or disagreed with her assertion. I looked at Ainsley. She responded before I even had to say anything. As she lowered Violet to the ground gently, she said, “Yes, Master. I’m sorry for angering you. This one simply wanted to prove that she has value to you.”

  Chapter 15- A Stroll by Moonlight

  I thought that my ideal little party was about to explode in my face, but to my surprise, Violet really had let it go. Ainsley seemed to forget it had even happened. In the hour before Violet logged out, I don’t think she even looked up from her own feet. It was still an emotional event to watch her or any other player log out.

  They had a freedom of which I could only dream, now. To them this was a fun way to spend their time. For me it was my life. Worse, I couldn’t even speak with them about the emotional toll this was taking on me. The freaking AI had choked me the last time I got even close to the subject. If I let myself think about it, the wonder was that I hadn’t mentally imploded, by this point, under the stress and isolation.

  It drove home two things for me. One, I really did need to get away from this stupid ogre village and build more connections with real people. They brought a level of connection that interacting with the ogres didn’t supply.

  The second realization was what worried me more. Violet had been mad. I could chalk her words up to that, but she had said we weren’t friends. At first, I thought she was talking about her and Ainsley; and maybe that was still what she had meant. But it drove home a deeper truth. How could she and I ever be friends? Or, for that matter, how could I be friends with Elgar, Tauri, Robert, or any other players I would meet? I couldn’t share anything meaningful, or for that matter, talk to them about their lives outside of the game. I had to maintain the illusion that this was reality.

  Sadly, for me, it was reality; which drove home the statement which both the breacher and the AI had made: Perception is reality. That sounded a great deal like a marketing phrase from Earth or something I might learn in a waste-of- time psychology class.

  Then there was there was the extended part of the statement. Perception is reality, and reality is perception. Was that just a way of saying the same thing in two different ways, to try and make it sound mysterious? I had thought that at first, but now I wondered if there was something more to it.

  Well, if my perception was my reality then it was time to go hunting. I built a camp site near Shemi’s hut. Ainsley helped without speaking. That is except when she suddenly stopped stacking firewood and looked up at me. “I’m sorry I had to pull the bandage off.”

  Her statement caught me off-guard. When I tried to ask her what she meant, she simply stared off into space. It was like she wasn’t all there sometimes. Actually, that seemed pretty accurate. It raised questions that I didn’t know how to handle, and it pushed me to think my long-shot suspicions might be true. Either that, or the AI was messing with me at levels which I hadn’t anticipated. If that were the case, it betrayed a penchant for cruelty which shouldn’t be part of an AI.

  I shrugged my shoulders and let it roll off. That was becoming my self-defense mechanism. Any time something became too emotional, I shrugged and focused on the next task. It protected me in the short term, even if I feared it was doing more harm than good in the long run. But like a good little HI, I was going to plod along.

  I grabbed my spear and said, “I’m going hunting. You should be mostly safe here. If anything, too big comes, then run for the village.”

  “I don’t want to be alone,” she replied without looking up.

  “It may not be safe. I don’t know how strong the monsters in the forest are now. Before they were easy. I can’t promise you will be safe.”

  “Safety is a lie in this prison.”

  There it was again. I almost pushed my curiosity away. It was like reaching my hand into a dark hole and expecting to have it bitten. I swear the AI was messing with me, because I couldn’t shake the feeling. I forced myself to respond, and it felt like I was swimming upstream against the current. I set my spear against a tree and took two steps so that I was next to where Ainsley was sitting next to the fire.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “You still haven’t figured out, yet, have you?”

  I hated when someone answered my question with a question. I mean, doesn’t everyone hate that? Rather than give in, I asked another question, one which had been tickling the back of my mind for a while now. “How did you know the name Harley Quinn?”

  Ainsley looked up at me. Her face split in a wide grin. It was oddly frightening to see the artistically beautiful elven features combined with the sharp kobold teeth, sorta like seeing a super model who had had her teeth filed to points. “I was wondering if you’d picked up on that. The AI gave me a warning about that one. Strangely though, it isn’t saying a thing right now. Last time it spanked me I thought I was going to have an aneurysm.”

  As she said that, I thought about how she had grabbed her head recently. The pain had been apparent, even though there wasn’t any HP loss on the group interface. “You’re an HI?”

  “Ding! Ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Ainsley popped up to her feet. She bounced back and forth and for a moment I couldn’t help but wonder if she was really a kid or just had been broken by all this.

  “How long have you been here?” It might not be the most obvious question, but given her mental state, it seemed the most relevant.

  She stopped, looked down at the ground again, and I saw the tendrils of mummy bandages moving out of her robe. They moved back and forth; and but for the absence of hissing, I would have thought they were angry Medusa snakes venting their Mistress’ emotions.

  “I don’t know. I was one of the first, but I’ve lost track of time. I could probably figure it out. I got a notification, just before you rescued me, that I was officially the oldest non-integrated HI. I just can’t remember very much. It comes in flashes.”

  The pain was all too real in her words. I tried not to let her scare me too much. Was this a window into my own future? Not knowing what else to say, I replied, “I’m sorry.” It fell flat. Even I knew that. We might not have much contact with our fellow man in the modern world, but some things can’t be made better with simple words.

  There just wasn’t anything else I could say. I had tons of questions, but they all made me feel selfish. I wanted, no needed to move past the raw spot of her soul which she had exposed. I bit down on my lip, trying to force myself to be quiet.

  The silence dragged on. Dang, I wasn’t any good at this. I wanted to make a joke, but that would fail. I wanted to just go hunting, but… well …just …. it didn’t feel right. So, I swallowed the awkward feelings raging in me and waited. I wanted to care about her situation, and I did. I felt bad about it, like you did when those infomercials came up on the holos about poor kids in other countries who didn’t have universal implants. Supposedly the modern world was all about equality, but nothing could be further from the truth.

  No, I wasn’t feeling bad because I couldn’t sympathize with her, even empathize. I could. I was feeling bad because I was having trouble caring about her, in light of the fear this caused for my own future.

  After a few minutes of silence, which were punctuated by short bouts of aimless giggling from Ainsley, she let out a deep sigh. “I get it. I really do.”

  There it was. An excuse for me to speak, but I controlled myself. I needed to let her unfold this on her own.

  “I started to avoid other HI after about six months of being stuck in the Alpha. Then when the closed Beta started, I got reset and ended up stuck with the kobolds. Part of me still believes it was the AI punishing me, but that seems too personal….” Her words drifted off at the end.

  Then, without warning, one of her bandages lashed out and grabbed something out of the air. It buzzed wildly, struggling to get free, but her hold never wavered. She pulled it in close, and by the firelight, I could see that it was a nine- inch-long mosquito, or close enough as to not make any difference. That was a new creature I’d never seen before, but I didn’t get a chance to identify it.

  Ainsley plucked its wings off and then flung it onto the fire. There was an instant of an insect screaming and then a sizzle *pop*. Ainsley giggled. She mumbled, “Pop, pop, pop.” Then she looked up at me like a child who had just been caught eating cookies. “Sorry, I get lost sometimes. But I’m pretty sure we don’t want a swarm of bugs like that moving into our home.”

  Once again, she looked at the ground before looking up at me again. “That is, if you’re still gonna let me live here, Master.”

  Now that was enough. I asked, “Why do you keep calling me ‘Master’ if you know I’m just another person like you?”

  “But are you? Am I?”

  She lost me there. It must have shown on my face. Although, if she could interpret ogre facial expressions this quickly, then she was ahead of me, but she added, “Are either of us people anymore?”

  That hurt. Then I realized what she was asking. “You mean what makes a person a person? Are we just computer programs now?”

  “Yeah, there is the question of our independence. If we aren’t independent agents, then how can we actually be people? If we truly exist for the enjoyment of players, then how are we any different from the system AI, or the thousands of sub-AI’s? But I also meant the question at a deeper level. What is it that makes a person? Did we have a soul? Do we have a soul now?”

  “I don’t know. I was bored and watched old holos about it. Science has changed a lot of the thinking, but there was that one scientist, um… Dr. Edwards, wasn’t it? Yeah, I thought he had proven that a soul could be measured as a measure of quantum potential or some jazz like that. I was never really into science that much, no aptitude.”