The return trip to Falchor was uneventful, and no one batted an eye at Matt as he made his way into the dungeon with Filbug in tow. Matt made his way into the dungeon itself and dismissed the guard.

“Are you sure?” the guard asked, glancing back at the iron banded bird cage hanging from the ceiling. “He created quite a mess of things last time.”

“I’m certain,” Matt replied. He walked the guard out and waited until he disappeared from the hallway and up the stairs. Matt then turned to Filbug. “I know you can’t hold the crystals, but if I set the bag out here with you, can you protect them?”

Filbug glanced to the door and then back to Matt. “Yes, milord. But, are you sure you’ve thought this through?”

Matt dismissed the concern, figuring that Filbug was looking at the situation as if Matt could actually die instead of respawn back in his bed. “It’s all right, Filbug, I promise. Now, if I don’t return in ten minutes, then come in and blast the imp. Got it?”

Filbug sighed and gave a single nod. A red spark lit up his right palm as the spellsword steeled himself for what he likely thought of as an inevitable outcome of the encounter.

Matt turned and opened the door.

“So, you’ve come back for more, is that it?” Stofel taunted from the swinging cage.

Matt closed the door behind him and walked confidently toward the column where the chains were anchored. “I thought you and I could chat a bit,” Matt said.

“I ain’t telling you shi-” A strange beeping sound blotted out the rest of the word and Stofel grunted as the sound of sizzling energy echoed within the cage.

Anti-swearing magic? Matt frowned and regarded the cage curiously as Stofel remained inside, breathing heavily. “What just happened to you?” Matt asked.

“Automatic censoring,” Stofel said. “You’d think I would be careful enough to avoid it by now, but sometimes my tongue is quicker than my brain.”

Matt smiled. “Look, I don’t want to talk about you or where you come from. I want to strike a deal.”

“Yeah, that’s what the auditors said before they sent me to you,” Stofel countered, “If I didn’t tell them anything despite their torturing and their false promises, what makes you think I’ll fall for your good cop routine?”

Matt carefully unhooked the chains. “I’m going to lower your cage,” he warned. Metallic links clicked and scraped their way through the thick iron loop secured to the ceiling, allowing the cage to gently descend until it finally rested upon the desk.

“Lower me, drop me, offer me gold or pain, nothing will change my mind,” Stofel insisted.

Matt prepared himself by grabbing a glass jar to shield the cage’s opening and then slowly pulled the solid hatch out half an inch and peered inside. His eyebrows shot up when he found Stoffel chained and kneeling in the back of the cage. This restraint had barbs built into it, discouraging the creature from moving much at all aside from his mouth. His eyes were covered with an iron cap secured in place with additional chains, and his neck had a noose of small chains and miniature needles.

“What did they do to you?” Matt asked.

“You can take your feigned concern and shove it up your a-” His body was suddenly outlined in silver and blue bolts of lightning. His body involuntarily convulsed, resulting in spikes sticking and stabbing his flesh. The imp cried out once the lightning released him. Blood dripped beneath him, coalescing into a small pool between his knees.

“Stofel, you’re going to have to trust me,” Matt insisted. “And... you need to stop trying to swear.”

“Easy for you to say,” Stofel grunted.

Matt reached in and gently tested the iron cap. “Where is the lock for these chains?” he asked. “They look welded to the cage or something.”

“They are, genius,” Stofel snarled. “That’s why I’m not falling for your good guy routine. You couldn’t release me even if you wanted to. Those stinking auditors and compliance managers beat me down good, and then they used the game against me and hard wired these chains into place.”

“Would another soul siphon crystal give you enough power to break free?” Matt asked, getting straight to the carrot of his plan.”

Stofel’s mouth hung open for a moment. He started to say something, and then stopped and grunted instead. “Why are you trying to trap me with an offer like that?”

“No trap,” Matt said. “You took one from me earlier after looting my body right?”

Stofel laughed. “If I had only had two of them, I could have beaten all of the auditors that blocked my escape.”

Matt grinned. “Funny thing... I brought two more this time.”

Stofel’s smile faded and his mouth hung open again.

“Give me a second,” Matt said. He turned to the bag of torture tools and found a pair of sturdy cutters. He reached into the cage and set the cutters to the chains holding Stofel’s iron cap in place. “Listen, I release the chains, and you hear me out, do we have a deal?”

“I don’t know what game you’re playing,” Stofel began, “but I’ll turn you into fried chicken the first chance I get. Like I said, I ain’t falling for it.”

Matt sighed. A nagging voice in the back of his head told him this was pointless. He quickly pushed the thought from his mind, concentrating on the fact that this hacker needed him to escape just as much as Matt needed the hacker’s help doing the same thing. “Look, it’s quite simple. If you barbeque me again, my associate outside will come in and blast you apart. Then we’ll both resurrect and start this whole dialogue over until you finally listen to me.”

“And there it is,” Stofel said. “The bad cop threat, or the proverbial stick. See, I told you I wasn’t going to fall for your-”

Matt smacked the imp on the head of the cutters, sending his body jolting into the barbs.

“GAH!” Stofel shrieked. “You son of-”

This time Matt pressed a couple fingers over Stofel’s mouth so the imp wouldn’t get zapped by the auto-censor. Stofel promptly bit him. Matt ripped his fingers back and shook his hand out. “Listen, the only way this works is if we trust each other.”

“That’s why you thunked me?!” Stofel shouted. “Beat me into trusting you, is that it? That won’t work either. You’re a low level nothing. A regular employee without even a fraction of an auditor’s powers. You can’t force me to-”

Snip!

The chains fell from Stofel’s head and the cap slipped off, thunking to the cage’s floor.

“Give it a rest man. You’re more annoying than a real parrot stuck in a cage,” Matt said.

Stofel squinted at him. “Raaah! More annoying, more annoying!” Stofel said while imitating a parrot.

“How droll,” Matt replied as he moved to the set of chains that bound Stofel into a kneeling position. “Listen, I won’t undo the chains holding your hands or wings until we chat, but I don’t have all night. If you’re standing, and can see my eyes, then maybe this will go quicker for both of us.”

“You want me to trust the expression of your digital face?” Stofel remarked. “You could be programmed to look as innocent as a baby, doesn’t mean you’re telling the truth.”

Matt shrugged. “I suppose you’re right, but the truth is I’m as trapped as you are.” Stofel opened and stretched his jaw as more chains were clipped and he was helped up to a standing position. Matt sighed and set the clippers down. “Listen, my compliance manager explained a bit about you after you electrocuted me.”

“That was fun, by the way,” Stofel remarked with a smirk. “You twitched all over the place even after you were dead.”

Matt arched a brow. “As much as you when I thunked you a minute ago?”

Stofel’s smirk disappeared and he pursed his lips while wrinkling his leathery nose. “Point taken,” he said after a moment.

“I have two soul siphon crystals outside. They’re both full and ready to be used,” Matt said. “If I help you escape the dungeons, can you help me escape the game?”

Stofel narrowed his eyes at him. “Why not just tell your boss you quit?”

Matt sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. “My contract is for a ten year shift. No breaks, no vacations, just ten straight years of playing the game.”

Stofel chuckled. “I mean, you seem like the stereotypical middle-aged guy living in mom’s basement throwing your life away on games anyway, so what’s the big deal?”

“I was tricked. I didn’t know how long I’d be stuck, and I got put in as an executioner. No magic, no super abilities. Just... me and the job to kill or torture people. It’s going to be a long ten years.”

“I guess you shouldda read the fine print,” Stofel said. “Tell you what. Show me the crystals and we’ll chat.”

“They’re outside with my hired steward. He’s an NPC loyal to me.”

“So not an auditor in disguise then?” Stofel asked. “Cuz, they do that, you know.”

Matt shook his head. “No, just a spellsword hired for me to help take care of a bandit that kept attacking me when I first got into the world.”

Stofel gestured to the door with his chin. “Open the door. Show me.”

Matt eyed the imp carefully, making sure his arms and wings were fully secured. Once he was satisfied that the imp couldn’t do much more than hop off the table, which would then result in barbs piercing his entire body, he agreed and walked to the door. He opened it and found Filbug standing there in fighting stance with fireballs in both hands. As soon as the steward saw him, he extinguished the fire and stood up straight.

“Did the exchange go well?” Filbug asked.

Matt nodded. He bent down and grabbed the sack with the crystals and then reached in to pull them out. He turned and showed them to Stofel. “Here they are.” Matt stuffed them back into the bag and stepped into the dungeon. Filbug entered alongside him and rekindled the fireballs, his eyes locked on Stofel.

“All right, so I can see he’s definitely not an auditor, and you have two crystals.” Stofel wrinkled his nose again and tilted his head slightly to the right. “So what now?”

“Can you help me with what I want?” Matt asked.

“Honestly, it will take more than two stones to do it. Like, a lot more.”

“That’s not a problem, I have more!” Matt said excitedly.

“You shouldn’t tell him such things,” Filbug said. “He could be tricking you.”

“What you’re asking isn’t impossible, but it isn’t easy either,” Stoffel said. “Also, the trade isn’t quite an even one.”

Matt frowned. “What do you mean? I help you escape, you help me, it’s that simple.”

“Not exactly,” Stoffel replied. “You help me escape the dungeons, that’s great, but it doesn’t quite add up to what you need from me in return.”

“If you can help me, then you can have the left over crystals,” Matt offered.

Stoffel shook his head just enough so that the barbs around his neck didn’t stab into him. “No, you help me out of here, that’s a down payment. You help me gather information and find a way to plant a few bugs in the game, and then I’ll consider the payment made in full and will help you.”

“Bug the game?” Matt asked.

“What game is he talking about?” Filbug cut in. “The little devil speaks in riddles. Let me blast him!” The fireballs grew as Filbug prepared to shoot, but Matt put up a hand.

“No, put those out.” Matt turned back to Stofel. “Will people get hurt?”

Stofel sneered. “Yes, but only auditors and compliance managers. I have no quarrel with players or low-level staff like yourself.”

Matt frowned. “Will people die?” He wasn’t sure to what extent the hacker could injure people. Could he put them into comas like Matt had been told? Or, worse yet, could he kill them?

“No one gets permanently injured, I promise,” Stofel said. “A couple in-game deaths, maybe someone on the outside gets a headache or goes blind for a week or two, but nothing that won’t subside.”

“People outside where?” Filbug interrupted again. “Outside of Falchor?”

Stofel pointed to Filbug. “Can you send him out. He’s a bit distracting.”

“No! I stay with my master,” Filbug shouted.

“It’s all right,” Matt assured him. “Head out into the hall and keep watch. Make sure no one comes into the dungeon.”

Filbug glanced between the two, spat on the floor in Stofel’s direction, and then stomped out of the room without another word.

“A tad overprotective,” Stofel said once the door closed.

“Can you really get me out of here?” Matt asked.

Stofel nodded. “I think so, but it won’t be easy. I’ll have to exploit the right back door to do it, and once I finish with it, that particular back door will be burned. E.M. Games will put their entire security tech force onto the matter as soon as you pass through.”

“Will you be trapped then?” Matt asked.

Stofel narrowed his eyes on him as if searching for something, but then finally shook his head slightly. “No, I have a couple of escape hatches. I should be all right.”

Matt rubbed his hands together. “All right, so let’s get started.”

“Not so fast,” Stofel said. “I need you to know a couple things. First, the bugs I want your help with are going to be quite involved. If you’re caught, you’ll end up in a dungeon loop like me, tortured by auditors. This isn’t simply a covert mission within a game, this is a real war, and the pain it brings will be real too.”

Matt bit his lower lip. “But... it’s the only way right?”

Stofel nodded. “It is. For me to burn an entire backdoor on helping you, I need to have your help to make it worth it. Then, even if you don’t get caught in game, there’s no telling what you might find on the outside.”

“What do you mean?” Matt asked.

“I mean, where is your real body? Are you in a docking station somewhere, a pod with neural links? Is your head just cut off and in a jar to keep your brain alive, or maybe your entire consciousness has been downloaded and this is all you are now? There’s a hundred different things that could go wrong.”

“What?! No, that’s crazy. I’m sure I’m just in a room somewhere. Maybe the orientation room, or just some large office with banks of terminals. They wouldn’t kill people just to plug them into the world.”

“Before getting trapped, would you have thought it possible to be contractually stuck in a game for ten years?” Stofel asked.

Matt felt his stomach lurch. He spun around and found a stool to quickly sit down upon and catch his breath. “No, they couldn’t, they wouldn’t...”

“I’ve been working against E.M. Games for a long time,” Stofel said. “Nothing would surprise me at this point. I’ve seen them torturing players and staff alike in this world. Their army of lawyers on the outside has them well protected from possible law suits, since nothing in game leaves anyone injured, or at least people who are injured can’t prove the injuries came from the games.”

“I’ve played their games my entire life,” Matt said. “I never...” Matt let the sentence trail off. What was the point? He knew they tricked him pretty easily. How many others were like him? How many had died before their contracts were up? How many had lost family or friends?

“Even if you’re simply able to wake up on the outside and remove a few wires, how do you escape the building without security dragging you back to your terminal and forcing you to return?” Stofel asked. “I won’t burn two doors on you, no matter how much you help me.”

Matt rubbed his temples. “I can’t stay here either,” he said after a few minutes. “Is there a way we can try to see what’s on the outside before using the backdoor?”

Stofel pursed his lips. “Possibly, but I can’t promise anything like that. Even if we find a way, it might only allow the auditors to find us faster.”

“So live in here for ten years, or risk...” Matt sighed and closed his eyes. His brain was going a hundred miles a minute. There were a million ways he could get caught in game, and if auditors were more dangerous than compliance managers, getting caught could be extremely painful indeed.

Still, ten years of his life were basically being stolen from him. If he didn’t resist, he’d be giving in to what amounted to imprisonment. What effects would he suffer in real life after his actual body had lain dormant for ten years? No physical exercise. No idea of what kind of nutrition they were giving him. No contact with his family.

“No,” Matt said after he thought through it. “I can’t stay here. I have to try.”

Stofel nodded. “Very well. Set me free, and let me see one of the crystals.”

Matt reached into the bag and set a crystal near the imp, then he went to work carefully snipping the chains that bound Stoffel. After the last chain fell, Stofel stretched his wings and took in a deep breath.

“That’s much better,” he said. “Thank you.”

Matt nodded. “Now what, you use a crystal to escape and I meet you somewhere?”

Stofel nodded. “Yeah, something like that.”

“And then you’ll tell me how to help you with the bugs?”

“Precisely.”

Matt cleared his throat and pointed to the crystal. “Well, let’s get to it.” He tried to sound brave, but inside his stomach was sour and doing flips.

Stofel gave him a warm smile and then picked up the crystal. “We have a long road ahead of us.” The imp closed his claw-tipped fingers around the crystal and closed his eyes.

Matt watched as a shimmering aura descended upon the imp. Gold and purple hues flowed around the creature. Energy hummed through the air. The imp then opened his eyes, which were now pure white. He locked gazes with Matt and then there was a flash of red and everything went black for a moment.

There was no pain. In fact, Matt didn’t really feel anything at all at first. He figured they were teleporting somewhere, but he would have expected the sensation of rushing air or something along with the spell.

And what of Filbug? He hadn’t intended to leave his steward in the dungeon. Would the auditors interrogate him? Would Filbug be purged from the game, or would he turn on Matt after a bout of torture?

“Wake up,” Stofel said.

Matt blinked his eyes open. He found himself in a circular room. Black walls rose up around him, peaking in a vaulted ceiling high above. Golden columns lined the walls, with horizontal accent pieces spaced evenly all the way up. There were no windows though.

Matt spun around and noticed a door at the far side. He started to walk toward it, and then felt the tug of chains stop his ankles.

“What the?” Matt looked down and nearly vomited. The shackles were the least of his concerns. His feet! they weren’t human!

Suddenly a giant face filled the doorway.

It was Matt’s avatar!

“I’ll be taking the second crystal now,” Stofel said. “Enjoy your stay, and thanks for the assist!”

“What?!” Matt shrieked. “You can’t do this!” Stofel closed the door as Matt yanked and clawed at his shackles.

“Enjoy your stay!” Stofel said as the cage suddenly lurched upwards, throwing Matt to the floor.

“No no no no no!”

Matt heard Stofel step toward the door, open it, and then speak to Filbug.

“Take me home,” Stofel said. “The imp will be no help to us.”

“Filbug! WAIT!” Matt cried out.

“I said this was a bad idea,” Filbug replied.

“How right you were,” Stofel said. “Let’s go home.”

The door closed, leaving Matt to rail on the floor and shout until his voice grew weak. No matter how much he fought, the chains held him fast, and no one came to let him out.