I didn’t know which I was more impressed with when Chevalier finally rounded a tree and came within eyesight: His black armor with its gold trimming or the truly massive sword sheathed on his back that made my greatswords look like children’s toys in comparison. I would have been caught off guard by the weapon’s disproportionately light weight, but Faultline had given us the lowdown on the Philadelphia Protectorate before we arrived in the city as preparation for the job we would be running later this week.

Thinking about that made my head feel strange, and I nearly lost my footing before gripping my armor and holding it—and consequently myself—upright. I don’t understand, I thought to myself as my memories of the briefing washed over me. Why was I going to use those ball bearings to— and my costume, I don’t—

“Please hold, Chevalier,” Faultline called out as he approached, and I forced myself to focus on the present. “We’ve no quarrel with you today.”

“Faultline,” the armored cape responded, clearly recognizing her. Another cape came into view, and I immediately identified her as Sakura by her blue ninja attire with the dancing sakura petal trim and her pink domino mask. “My team had reported sighting Newter and Gregor the Snail, and with you here, I have to presume the rest of your crew is as well. I take it all this,” he gestured at the area at large, “is courtesy of Labyrinth?”

There’s that name again. “Why does everyone keep calling Dungeonmaster that?” I whispered to Faultline in confusion.

His helmet turned my way, and I tensed and gripped my swords, which I had yet to sheath. Sakura noticed and brought her fists up, then shards of pearlescent pink energy shards began to emerge from her hands and fitfully dance around them. Chevalier held out his arm in front of her in silent warning, and though she dropped out of her ready stance, the petals of energy remained.

“Identify yourself,” Chevalier ordered, his tone cool and measured.

“I’m—”

“One of mine,” Faultline cut me off, mirroring Chevalier by holding her arm in front of me. “She and Labyrinth were taken hostage by the Master behind the Eight, just as Stardust was.”

I winced at the reminder. It still didn’t feel real, but at the same time it… explained some things.

“And Labyrinth? Bad day?”

Is Elle really supposed to be Labyrinth? Was I mastered to think of her as Dungeonmaster?

“We’ll address this later, Meteor. For now, we need to get you two out of here.”

And I’m… Meteor?

I was starting to get a bad headache, and I direly wished I could rub my temples. Who would do this? Who even is the Master?

“Then you know why we’re here,” Chevalier grimly replied, the timbre of his voice carrying a metal edge from his face being completely obscured by his visor.

“It wasn’t hard to piece together the trend, once I had cause to start looking. I had hoped you wouldn’t realize Menagerie was taken by the Eight or that they would attack UPenn, but I can’t say I’m surprised you’re here.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have time for your compliments,” he rejoined. “I don’t know what strategy you’re aiming for by having Labyrinth create a swamp out of the university’s library, but I do not appreciate the property damage. Tell her to stop.”

“No way!” I blurted. “The adventure’s not done!”

“The adventure?” Sakura sneered, speaking up for the first time. “You realize you’re talking about D&D shit when lives are at stake, right?”

“Thank you, Fighter,” Faultline said to me, ignoring Sakura’s remarks. “I was just about to explain the rules to Chevalier.”

Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but Chevalier held up his hand again and spoke up instead. “The ‘rules’? I will not appreciate it if you are wasting our time, Faultline.”

“Far from it,” she began to reply before more of the rotting creatures we had fought earlier before the Froghemoth began to pour out of the undergrowth from all around us. I gripped my swords and snarled as I spun around and moved to defend Dungeonmaster, and behind me I heard Faultline hurriedly explain, “We have to kill enough of the monsters, and eventually Labyrinth will be able to stop.”

Several bangs echoed through the area as she shot at the creatures, and though I heard other enemies near the heroes screaming in pain, I couldn’t spare the attention to check who had done what. Two of the creatures approached us, and I carefully swiped at them to hold them at bay with my superior range, but I couldn’t press the attack without leaving Dungeonmaster exposed.

“Stop bullshitting us and call your people off!” Sakura yelled, and I heard one of the creatures cry out in agony near her.

“If you don’t believe me, then believe the evidence, Faultline retorted, grunting with effort as I felt her withdraw her baton and take a swing, likely at an enemy that had managed to get in close. “If I could have Labyrinth stop, then why would these rot trolls be attacking us as well? Why would Gregor and Newter be attacking more where they are?” Another pause and grunt, this time accompanied by a dull, wet thwack. “Go ahead and ask your people to confirm—I’m not lying to you.”

One of the rot trolls, as Faultline had called them, overextended its reach, and I parried with one blade before punishing the failure with the other by chopping off its hand. The creature roared and paused to clutch its stump to its chest, blocking the other troll from advancing and giving me the opening I needed. With a hasty tug of my power, I horizontally cleaved straight through the already injured troll and managed to clip the one behind it in the process. The bisected troll froze, its eyes wide with shock, and I dropped one of my swords in favor of slamming it backwards with an open palm. The torso of the—hopefully—dead troll crashed into its comrade, throwing it off balance just long enough for me to thrust forward with my remaining sword and run it through. More were already bearing down on us, but a tremendous boom tore through the area near Chevalier, and the cannonball I felt rocketing towards us burst through a group of three, injuring each to varying degrees. I was on them in an instant, cutting the throat of the one that seemed most likely to get back up before doing the same to the other two.

With no more directly near Dungeonmaster, Faultline, and myself, I promptly sheathed my sword and grabbed my bow as an arrow flew to my hand. I nocked and shot it at one that had been almost on Sakura’s back, then I fired another shot at the last one in sight, which had been preparing to jump down on the heroes’ position from above. It fell from the tree when my arrow plunged into its eye and nearly landed on Sakura, who whirled to face me with a dirty expression on her face and petals dancing around her fists.

“Stop!” Faultline called out, spreading her arms wide with her pistol pointing up into the air and held loosely. “I told you, we aren’t interested in fighting you today.”

“You really expect us to believe the ‘I was mastered’ excuse?” Sakura spit out. “Even if it was true, we’d have no proof that you aren’t mastered right now!”

“Again, I don’t need you to believe me. I just need you to look at the facts you and your team can verify. Right now my team is engaged with more of these, and Newter is keeping the Master unconscious with constant skin to skin contact.”

“That could be anybody! Some hapless library patron!”

“And you, Chevalier?” Faultline asked. “Tell me honestly Reconnoiter hasn’t had eyes on this situation from the beginning and can attest to the veracity of my claims.”

“He doesn’t have to—”

“He reported this alleged Master went down when shot with a water gun used by an non-costumed individual in a mask,” the armored hero, who had until now been silent, interjected. “Care to explain?”

“Water laced with Newter’s spit. We have safeguards in place to prevent being mastered, but we didn’t want to take any risks.”

He grunted and slowly sheathed his sword. “You’re asserting we have to fight Labyrinth’s projections in order to get her to stop?”

“Yes. She’s been mastered to serve as the group’s Dungeonmaster and cannot dispel the swamp or the creatures in it until the rules the Master laid down are followed exactly. Namely, after enough creatures are killed a ‘witch’ will appear. The witch’s defeat is the objective.”

“And you know this because…?”

She turned to me, and I hesitantly confirmed, “I t-told her. Octavia told us we had to do.”

“The Master,” Faultline clarified. I clenched my teeth as my head throbbed, and again I was forced to keep myself upright through my power.

“Boss, you can’t believe this,” Sakura implored when Chevalier said nothing for several moments. “They’re criminals!”

“Not criminals,” Chevalier responded as his posture minutely relaxed. “Mercenaries.”

“That doesn’t—!”

“It means enough,” he cut her off. “Faultline and her crew have never been known to do jobs they weren’t paid to do, and I cannot fathom why someone would pay her to engage in such a charade, if it were such.” He started moving towards us. “I’m choosing to extend you a measure of trust here, Faultline. We help you satisfy these ‘rules.’ You let us take care of our people, and we won’t stand in between you and yours. Deal?”

Faultline moved forward to meet him and held out her hand. “Deal,” she intoned as they shook.

We stayed in place for a while longer while Faultline explained the situation regarding Monk and Chevalier called for a team of PRT officers to come extract them. I felt restless and anxious the whole time, but fortunately that wasn’t very long. It seemed the heroes did in fact have Reconnoiter, their surveillance Tinker, here and monitoring the swamp for movement, which meant she could guide them along a monster-free path. That did mean I was left feeling more anxious that I was being watched by the reclusive Tinker, but that was tempered by my ability to feel all of her drones scattered throughout the swamp.

“It seems the majority of the creatures are beginning to converge on the front entrance of the library,” Chevalier announced once the officers began to move on with the unconscious Monk in tow. “We should begin making our way there.”

“After you,” Sakura stressed, waving her hand in the general direction we would be heading.

I glared at her ineffectually—my helmet’s visor prevented anyone from seeing said glare—but took hold of Dungeonmaster’s hand and started off in that direction. Once we were a bit ahead of them, I whispered just loud enough for my friend to hear, “When we’re all done here, let’s go to the park and unwind—just you and me. Okay?” A bird flitted from one tree to the next in front of us, its warbling song loud and clear, and I squeezed her hand.

“It’s not much further,” Faultline declared as the sounds of fighting up ahead began to reach us.

“Yes, but an alligator the size of a bus just appeared and is making its way straight towards us,” Chevalier warned.

I glanced over my shoulder. “We could bring it with.”

“No,” Faultline disagreed as she raised her hand to her comms. “Everyone, we’re about to engage an enemy. Whichever group finishes first, rally on the other’s position, then we’ll sweep the swamp for stragglers.” She dropped her hand and glanced at the heroes. “What reinforcements do you have?”

Sakura crossed her arms disagreeably, but Chevalier answered, “Zoom and Myrddin are busy elsewhere in the swamp on search and rescue but will rendezvous with us once we’ve confirmed the area is free of bystanders.”

“Myrddin?” I questioned, knowing the name but not able to picture them or remember their powers. Zoom, however, I recognized as a local cape with the power to shrink and grow himself as well as anything he touched. His power was definitely well suited to getting the library patrons out easily, since all he would need to do is shrink them down and carry them out himself.

“Ah, so the leader of the Chicago Protectorate made his way out to help recover Stardust then?” Faultline said, likely having spelled out who he was for my benefit.

“You yourself have stepped outside your comfort zone here to take care of your people,” Chevalier neutrally pointed out.

“I’m not questioning it. In fact, I applaud it. There are many who would not do the same.”

Whether Chevalier agreed with that assessment or not was left unknown because we were all abruptly occupied with the alligator Reconnoiter had warned us about. “Move!” the knight barked out as the beast, which had just come in sight, surged towards us. Its maw opened wide, revealing teeth the size of knives, and it cleaved through the murky waters at a surprisingly fast speed, leaving waves in its wake that roughly crashed into the trees and foliage of the swamp. Thankfully we had all moved out of the way by the time it passed through where we had been, with Faultline and Sakura jumping one way and Chevalier moving in the same direction I did with Dungeonmaster, who I had swiftly swept up in my arms.

The beast turned on a dime and lunged at Faultline and Sakura, and though Faultline narrowly dodged in time, Sakura moved just a hair too slowly. She screamed as its jaws clamped down on her leg, and just as it flicked its head back and opened its jaw to try and get a firmer grip on her, Faultline drew her pistol and shot the roof of its mouth. It whined and released its hold on Sakura, and as she scrambled back and away, its whine morphed into a snarl as it curled back and tensed to strike. The hero’s leg began to swirl with her petals, the swirling developing into a flurry that obscured her leg from view. I recognized she was regenerating to fix her injury but couldn’t pay her any further mind than that as Chevalier rushed forward to attack with his cannonblade. I set down Dungeonmaster as he tried to cut down towards the animal’s mouth and compound its injury, but the alligator twisted away in a narrow dodge. I drew my bow and an arrow, and Chevalier pressed his assault, swiftly redirecting the energy of his strike sideways and catching a chunk of the alligator’s flank despite its attempts to retreat.

“More incoming!” he called out as he swung the sword up into position to launch a cannonball at it, but he needn’t have bothered, since I noticed one trying to attack Faultline unawares from behind in the corner of my eye. I loosed the shot I had been intending for the one Chevalier was facing at the one behind Faultline instead, and like the first alligator, it tried to shuffle to the side, demonstrating agility that didn’t line up with its bulk and size. Not that it mattered too much, since I was able to course correct mid-flight while I drew and shot a second arrow. I directed the first at its eye, but the damned thing clamped its armored skin over it in time to defend the delicate organ. Not wanting my second arrow to be wasted, I pushed that one towards its teeth instead in the hope they wouldn’t prove quite as resilient as its scales. Whether they would have been or not ultimately didn’t matter, however, since it opened its mouth at the last second to release a low, growly hiss. The shaft plunged into its throat and cut off its hiss with a gurgle, and I turned my attention for the time being to the third one that was coming at us from the side—this time towards Dungeonmaster and myself.

I dropped my bow on the moss covered bog and drew my swords before throwing one in a spin at the alligator. It tried to dodge the spiraling blade, but I managed to take a small chunk out of the hide on its flank. Despite that it kept charging forward, and I readied the sword in my hand while drawing the thrown blade back to me. Petals of pink energy shot through it at speed a second before it got in range of a strike from me, and I took advantage of the distraction to slash down at its bottom jaw, which was the easiest part to reach now that the huge creature was upon me. That hide was tough, and despite giving it my full strength, my sword got caught partway into the flesh of the jaw. I was forced to abandoned my weapon and jump back as it tried to take a bite out of me, and though Sakura showered it once again with a torrent of petals, it wasn’t dissuaded from its focus on me this time. On instinct, I grabbed the sword lodged in its mouth with my power and shoved it into elsewhere, and when it charged forward, the blade tore through it like tissue paper as its own strength was put to use against it. In the span of the second it took the creature to realize what was happening, half of its left flank born a horrendous gash running along its length. Blood didn’t just weep from the wound—it gushed. The alligator flailed in agony and nearly lost its footing in the blood soaked bog as it tried to scramble back and away, but the writing was already on the wall that it would soon be dead from the grievous wound.

I’ve never thought of using that for offense, was my first thought as I pulled my sword from elsewhere and yanked it back to my hand, and my second thought was, Oh shit, Octavia’s gonna be pissed if she finds out I did that!

Maybe… I shouldn’t tell her? I groaned the moment I thought that and fell to my knees, dropping my sword and clutching at my helmet as my head throbbed. What the fuuuck… Owww…

I heard Faultline yell something at me, but she sounded so distant, and I couldn’t focus…

I grunted as something slammed into me and for an addled second I swore one of the alligators had bodily slammed into me, but then I heard a familiar voice say from next to me, “Geez, that really you in there, Meteor? You okay?”

The name still felt awkward and like it didn’t fit, but my familiarity had been rekindled enough that I answered, “Hey Newts. Kinda?”

“Kinda? The fuck, girl? Also, you tryin’ to be croc food?”

That voice was unfamiliar, and when I looked up, I was left just as confused when I saw a very large man—perhaps twelve feet tall—with nearly charcoal skin and a scrawny body, at least in relation to his gigantic proportions, wrestling with yet another alligator. Once I properly focused on their costume, however, I realized it was Shade impersonating someone, and likely Zoom based on her current size. Nobody else but Shade would ever be caught dead in the costume she had chosen: urban camouflage spandex unitard and half-black, half-white domino mask. I knew the unitard, which was made with a special fabric that would expanded many sizes without breaking, was a practical choice, but her coloring was just blegh.

“Fighter, you know these clowns?” Paladin called out from behind me, his light already beginning to quickly illuminate the gloom of some of the swamp while casting the rest in shadow.

Newter yelped and rushed away, and the soft ground he had been on just a moment prior sizzled as one of Paladin’s streams slammed into it. I jerked away myself and used my power to quickly drag myself to my feet. I turned to glare in Paladin’s direction and shouted, “What are you doing?! Stop! He’s my friend!”

“Your friend, huh?” he growled. “These people attacked Octavia and Bard!”

“What?” I breathed out in shock. I twisted around and tried to find where Newter had gotten to, and when I couldn’t find him, I had to presume he had vanished into the shadows. “Newter, why did you do that?! Octavia is a friend!”

“Like hell she is!”

“Shade, we talked about this,” Faultline rebuked my friend as she rushed over to my side. “Fighter, it’s okay. Remember, you’ve been mastered. We’re only here to help.”

“B-But why did he attack Octavia? S-She’s a victim too! She’s got to be! I know she’s flighty, but she would never harm anyone on purpose!”

“Please focus on Dungeonmaster’s projections for now,” she implored, putting her hands on my shoulders. “I promise you, we’ll sort this all out once this is over, okay?”

I wanted to, I really did, but all around me my friends were fighting each other. Paladin was still furiously sweeping his light around in his search for Newter and dodging whenever a shot of water burst out of the darkness towards him. The alligator Shade was wrestling twisted and morphed into a bird, revealing she was actually fighting Druid, who then dodged her lunge before morphing back into the monstrous alligator and trying to take a bite out of her leg. A vaguely woman shaped humanoid made of water who was must have been Sorcerer rushed into the area, and she narrowly dodged being struck by slime that was followed by Gregor cautiously entering the area a moment later.

“Stop it!” I wailed, yanking off my helmet and clutching at my head, which was now pulsing in agony. “Stop fighting each other!”

“Meteor!” another familiar voice said as its owner rushed up. In disbelief I forced my eyes open, but my eyes agreed: Masuyo was standing in front of me with a scarf wrapped around her lower face. “It’s okay! We’re not attacking them, I promise! We’re trying to stop them from attacking us.”

“You’re the one who shot her.” My eyes darted in surprise to Chevalier, who had moved over to us, and when I looked back to Masuyo, I realized she had a water gun holstered under her arm pit and beneath her jacket.

“You shot Octavia.”

“I did,” she warily answered. “She was hurting you, Meteor.”

She had a necklace with a metal chain around her neck, and for a brief moment, I felt the urge to strangle her with it. My head throbbed, and a whine reached my ears that I only belated realized was coming from me. “How?”

“Octavia ì̶̢̢̨̗͖̞̖͔̟͓̪̭͜ͅs̶̢̯̤̺̩͕̜̻̺̣̲͉̐͒̈́͋̈́͒̈́̃̿̃̀̐̇͋́͘̕ ̷̢̨̧̮̱̗̩͋̒̆͒̐̈̽̿́͜t̷̢̡̛̹͈͍̝̰̞̜̖͔͓̙̝̳̔̂͑̑̓̈́͗̃͛̄̎̕͘͘͘͝h̴̛̛̜̼͍̻̠̗̬̻̏̓̉̇̾͋͗̀͗́͗̊͗̾̿̉̚͝e̷̡̨̛̬̱̳̱͙̟̞̱̤̯͉̔̓̈̂̈́̿̈̄́͆̃̋̓͛́̓̕͝ͅ ̵̢̡͍͕͕̺͖͇̝̟̜̲̰̬̰͖̥͚̌̃̀͛́̔͌͛̽͂̅̏̾͛̾̎̅̚͝M̵̧͔̜̮̭̫̙̂̈́̀͝ͅa̸̼̿̆s̴̢̧̠̜̰͈̋̀ͅͅţ̴̨̛͇̤̞̼̘͖̰̫̣̯̥͚͆̊͌̂͋̒͜e̵͕͍̫̣͕̿͛́̌̂̈́̀́̇̍͑͛̓͐͒̚͠͠͝͝ͅr̵̗̜͓̩͍͙͍͆̍́̎̆̓̎̈́́̉̑̐͋̃͠͠͝.”

I groaned in pain, but for some reason, this time I didn’t shy away from it. I wanted—needed—to understand. “Say that again,” I whispered.

Masuyo glanced over her shoulder at Faultline, who had brought Dungeon—Labyrinth?—Elle over. She returned the nod as the fighting continued around us. Sakura had joined the fray along with a dark skinned man in a bodysuit of contrasting red and blue halves separated by a curving white line—the real Zoom—and a man in a brown cloak with a staff that was whipping around in the air who must be Myrddin.

“Octavia is t̸̫̖͍̱͚̳̦́͒͋̉́̑̍̚̕̕͝ḣ̵̥͉̟̹̖͎̜̣̜͔̪̈̀́͗̋͝ę̴̢̭̮̲͈͙͈̱͉̞͓͌̆͐̄͊̋͛̅̐̓̿͝ ̴͓̮͓̳̟͚͆̃̑M̸͓͓̯̬̖̱̈̉̃́a̴̡͈̞̭̾͊̐̅̌ͅs̸̢̻̮̯͓̫͚̰̰̲̗̻͒͠t̵̨̄̒e̵̢̡̡̛̳̩͇̗̰̞̪͈͍̟̔̐̅͛̏͒r̷̡͓̬̞͔̼̭͕̫̥̝̮̓̐̔͋̕͠.”

“Again,” I begged, stronger this time.

“Octavia is the M̶̧̠̣̩̟̜͂ä̷͔͖́͒͋͂̒̕s̴̞͎̾͗̒̈t̶͎͉̟̲̬͊̾̆̕ͅė̴͓̲̹̤̈͌̓̄r̶̫̜̰̮͓̓́̒͝.”

I grabbed hold of Masuyo’s arms, needing to ground myself. “Again!” I demanded, staring straight into her eyes past the domino mask Faultline had given me.

“Octavia is the Master,” she solemnly answered.

Chevalier suddenly looked away, his body language portraying alarm. “My people outside are reporting fixtures in the area are starting to tear themselves apart. We may have incoming.”

“No,” Faultline denied. She stepped forward and placed her hand over Masuyo’s on my shoulder. “I need you to stop, Meteor.”

“She used me?” I softly asked, a simmering heat in my words.

“Meteor,” Masuyo said, gently shaking my shoulders. “Listen to Faultline.”

Neither of them had denied my question. The anger in me flared, and I only just barely managed to let go of the metal in the area. I still felt it, the compulsion to finish the swamp scenario, and I didn’t think I could deny it. But then again, I did want to hit something. Hard. “Labyrinth.” The name still felt foreign on my tongue, but I was not going to let Octavia control me. Not any more. “Let’s finish this.”

Loud cackling filled the air, and everyone stilled as a woman’s voice boomed through the air. “You think you can come into my home, kill my pretties, and escape?! Fools! Death comes for you!”

A black mist seeped up out of the center of the clearing and began to coalesce into two legs as black as midnight and as thick as my torso, their hooved feet alighting on the soggy ground of the mire. My swords snapped through the air to my hands, causing Masuyo to step back in surprise, and I strode towards the emerging final boss of Octavia’s accursed game. I readied my blades to cut through the torso of the creature once it formed… but it kept growing. Where I expected the torso to appear, the legs continued to grow before twisting into digitigrade knees at a height just above where my head was then continuing even higher. I took a step backwards and craned my neck to stare as the formation quickened, and a torso with obvious muscles finally began to take shape some fifteen feet up before growing arms from its top that ended in hands with wicked claws nearly as long as my arm.

“Fuck me,” I muttered as I took more steps backward, nearly crashing into Masuyo as a long, eerie head as long as I was tall emerged. The jagged horns and large insect-like eyes made my skin crawl, and I stumbled back when its gaping chasm of a mouth opened wide and it screeched, causing the black mist bleeding out of its flesh to writhe.

“You just had to try and be cool, didn’t you?” Masuyo fearfully whispered as she goggled at it.

I couldn’t quite pull my gaze away from the massive creature, but I did manage to tilt my head to the side and ask, “Did I look cool?”

“Not even.”

The nightmare creature lashed out and smashed me with its cloven foot, and I screamed as I slammed into a tree.

Yep, fuck me.