The tension was almost thick enough to cut with a knife. Mason and his guards stood across from Logan and the squad he was assigned. Tony and Wendy stood off to the side, the others they were talking to ran off the moment Mason had descended the ramp from his ship.

The minigun in Mason’s hand was already spinning, almost ready to unleash devastation on whatever was in front of it. The sound that droned from it set everyone on edge even more. Logan looked to his companions, and while he couldn’t see their faces, he could feel their anxiety from the force displayed in front of them. Looking back to Mason, he only had eyes for Logan. Meghan was the on to break the tension, trying to calm things down before allies started to fight against each other.

“Mason, you got our message from before we fought the queen. As you can see, we found a way to get the helmets, so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. Rebels can start to collect and equip themselves in the gear set you see Logan using, and then we can all move on to taking the fight to the Free States and be done with this whole thing soon enough.” She pulled out the helmet she had in her inventory, and held it out towards Mason, hoping he’d take it as a good sign.

The look on his face did soften a bit, but not enough to make them feel better. Mason’s gun also didn’t stop spinning, so he wasn’t placated enough to bring his threat down. He spoke, still staring at Logan.

“The other rebel leaders won’t commit to the plan, even with the helmets being found. Too many rebels are spread too thin for the others to want to let the militia the chance to run free. So, since you’re already here, you’re going to run it again. Get me more helmets, and other pieces of gear if you can, to help complete sets for others. We’ll use your position here to supply the other rebels, and I won’t hear a “no” since this isn’t up for debate.” He emphasized that last part by pointing his minigun toward the group.

Alarmed by his sudden movement, the others backed away, even Tony and Wendy. Tony tentatively spoke up to try to ease the tension in the air. “Hey, uh, Mason, maybe we can sit down and talk calmly about this, please? You’re trying to keep them prisoner here, and force them to farm a dangerous location for you. I don’t think that’s fair, and you should take another look at what you’re asking them to do before we commit to doing something that might make the rebels worse than the militia we’re trying to stop.”

The barrels of the spinning gun swung around to face Tony, who backed off even more. A quiet word from Mason sent one of his guards to push Tony and Wendy to join Logan and his group. The other guard took up position on the other side of the group, and they took defensive positions behind their shields, pointing their guns around them to be able to fire.

Mason started marching forward, threatening them with his very large gun. The groups started walking back into the cavern entrance, one leading the other backward. “Since you’ve chosen to interfere in my business, Anthony, you may join them. Keep them alive, deal some damage, and try to get me more gear to outfit my army. Go now, and I won’t blast you again and again until you do what you’re told.”

—

The words resonated in Logan’s mind. Again and again. The threat of violence and death, just to be a pawn in someone else’s game. Meghan was a mess, she believed in Mason before this. Pat and Jones were angry, being led astray for something they thought they were on the same side of. Tony and Wendy, now having joined the party, were upset, but were both looking on the bright side of things; they were on an adventure! Not one they wanted, and they weren’t prepared for this, so they were expecting to die a few times.

Tony pulled his gear together, putting his helmet on and taking out his assault rifle. He was a Soldier class, so he was geared to deal damage and take the hits for his allies. Pat’s grenade ability was from having soldier as a subclass, so Tony was able to have it as well, but he preferred to keep a deployable ammo crate on hand, to ensure his party was well stocked in hard situations, which he figured this would count as.

Wendy quietly pulled her helmet on, drawing her dual pistols from their holsters. She was a Scientist class, useful for keeping friends alive with serums, and making sure their enemies were weaker and suffering from poisons. Her skill platform was a small drone that was built for assisting in research, letting her study things and learn about their true natures.

The team used their anger and frustration to fight the insectoid menace that swarmed this cave. The ammo crate made sure that they didn’t fully run out, but they often had to start using their melee weapons. Damage was a constant, both out and in, as devourers found purchase in their limbs and torsos, but the valkyrie drone was able to make sure that nobody was down for long. Logan and Jones decided to test their theory, and he severed plenty of limbs and heads, trying to force their loot drops to be what they wanted.

After what felt like half a day, they stopped roaming the caverns looking for bugs to smash. Taking refuge in one of the safe rooms, they sat down and took a breather. A lot of their gear had been damaged, so they started swapping out for their new pieces of Insectoid Carapace. It was strange to see all of them wearing the same gear sets, looking like overgrown humanoid bugs. They all chuckled at the absurdity of how they looked, a few of them missing the benefits from their other gear.

“So,” Tony broke the silence, “What are we going to do about Mason? I can’t follow a man that would do that anymore, and I won’t join the militia. The rebellion seems to have fallen, but we can’t break the stranglehold the others have on this either. We’re all stuck here, and the game masters aren’t doing anything about our complaints.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to play for a little while. This was fun, but I have to work some of this out, outside of here. These last few hours have been fun, fighting with you guys, but now that the adrenaline is calming down, I just… I can’t anymore…” Meghan started to sob. Truly hurt by what happened, she wanted to play with her friends a while longer, but couldn’t cope with the betrayal.

Pat and Jones both looked around the group and nodded. “I think I’ll take a few days as well. I hope things go well for anyone who wants to keep fighting, but I’m tapping out for now.” Pat was done, and she wanted to see what she could do from the other side. Jones just pulled up his menu and disappeared into noise. Meghan and Pat followed soon after.

Tony looked to Logan, “Well, looks like it’s us, but I have a job to do in the real, so I’ll be back tomorrow real time. Good playing with you, you fight well.” He swiped and faded into noise. Wendy stared where her friend was.

“Y’know, I wanted to study things. I’m not here to fight, and I’m not here to be a rebel. I only had to join because I can’t do anything else when there is no way to get out of the system. I’m not even sure how they did it, but nobody can leave these star systems without the Free States giving them permission.” Wendy sighed, and put her head into her hands. “I just want to explore space. I don’t want to be a part of a war that others have created for a giant pissing contest.” She started to sob gently.

“I’ll do what I can to help. I think…” Logan hesitated, knowing that he had a special choice, but it would be a choice he couldn’t take back if he went with it. He knew that this wasn’t really a choice, because he heard it time and again. Everyone was stuck, and it was due to the people running the militia. The rebels were trying, but they were going down the wrong path to get there; or at least Mason was. “Don’t worry, Wendy. I’ll do what I can. Go get some rest outside of here, and hopefully when you guys log back on, something will have changed.” He patted her shoulder and walked into the room where the queen was waiting for him.

—

Before Logan walked far enough into the room for the queen to take notice of him, he pulled out the Heart of the Queen he looted from the first time they fought. He didn’t even bother with reading the description again, just mentally assenting to the alternative use of the consumable.

The Heart, a stone that fit into his hand, melted across his armor and flowed to the chest piece, sliding under the chest plate where it settled over where his heart was. It was a cold, slimy texture, and it sat there for a moment. A notification window popped up in front of his eyes before anything else happened.

WARNING - FINAL NOTICE

You have chosen to use an item that has permanent effects.

You cannot undo this choice.

Your subclass will permanently be set to The Devourer.

Your armor set will become part of your avatar, and will deal damage to you directly if it is damaged too much.

New character options will open, but others will be closed off forever.

Proceed? Y/N

Logan knew his choice, and even said it out loud to try to put more emphasis behind it. “Yes, I want to proceed.”

He wasn’t expecting the room gently vibrating as he spoke the words. The cold pool on his chest bloomed into pain. The cold moved across his entire body under his armor, but it also moved into him, chilling him to the bone. He felt his teeth chattering as everything around him became very cold. His visor started to fog up from his breath, which had quickened due to the pain.

He collapsed to the ground, trying to maintain his consciousness. He couldn’t feel his body anymore, the entire thing had become so cold it was just numb. His thoughts raced, but it was having trouble processing anything but the pain that was wracking his entire body.

About fifteen minutes is what it took for the feeling to return. The health bar in the corner of his vision was sitting around ten percent, causing the border of his visor heads up display to flash and glow a distressing red. He took a few moments before he pulled a healing syringe out, making sure to be seated against the wall so he was stable before jamming it into the port on the front of his armor.

He didn’t want to know what had changed inside of him, but he knew that he just wanted to kill something. The queen was there, waiting for him, and the only thing he was waiting for was his health to get back to a good point. That, and the pain to fully subside, but that was taking longer than he thought it would.

Logan stood, his legs still shaking a bit. He drew his survival pistol, fully charged, and put it into his left hand. In his right, he pulled out his mandible blade, which he noticed wasn’t slicing into the armored gauntlet he was wearing. The blade portion he usually held onto had started to dull, and had become something like an actual handle. There wasn’t a guard to keep his hand from sliding, but he didn’t plan on stabbing too often.

He looked at the survival pistol in his hand, and it was a little worse for wear. He knew he needed to repair it soon, but he wanted to see what he could do with whatever he unlocked before he went to maintain his gear. His talents and new class abilities could also be taken care of, but he would take care after he got a fight out of his system.

Drawing himself up to full height, he readied himself for the third confrontation with the queen, but the first one he would attempt alone. He walked calmly over and only stopped when he was about ten meters away, pointing his pistol at the queen’s face. The six eyes set into her head had a shine to them, a bright red that cut through the darkness. He didn’t remember that the last two times, but he might have been too busy.

Of course, what happened before he pulled the trigger was the biggest surprise for him; she spoke.