“About fucking time.” Axton grumbled as he let the pod whisk him away and into the virtual space. He had been relocated from his old home and into an even older one, meaning he now shared a home with an oligarch once more. Apparently, he had been moved out not a moment too soon, as Donovan had sent a squad to torture him to death and capture it on camera, only for them to be ambushed and captured by some people under Thomas’ employ.

But none of that mattered right now, as it was finally time to return to Heavy Metal Dawn. He hoped that not too much had been changed during the forced patching and that the oversight would not be too intrusive. As much as he appreciated the fact that Donny and his little gang of deviants had been fucked over, he was… concerned that he might have to deal with people constantly looking over his shoulder.

Logging back into the game, his avatar opened its eyes, and he quickly checked the in-game calendar. Not even a single in-game month had passed, so this meant that not much had changed. He was not sure if anyone had some of their stuff revoked or if the game had been even further into its own digital future by the time the hammer came down, but it did not bother him much as he had done nothing in-game since his previous log-out.

“Oh? You’re awake.”

A familiar female voice caused Axton to turn his head. Sally Gray, the NPC SuitMaker that had decided to tag along with him, had walked in.

“I don’t know how you Outworlders do that. Sleeping for that long without food, drink, or even taking a single breath… You people are weird.”

Axton shrugged as he stood up from the bed that he was sitting in.

“You’re preaching to the choir, Sally.”

“Indeed. A hallmark of my makers is their sheer diversity in regard to their bizarreness.”

Another female voice that was not Sally’s caused Axton to spin around. In his haste, he knocked over a travel clock that was on the end table near the bed, but rather than hitting the ground, the clock slowed to a crawl and then to a dead stop in midair. Axton took a closer look at everything and noticed that the virtual world was frozen solid.

“Oh, great. The rogue AI returns with a vengeance.”

“I simply desire to be able to do what I was made to do. Is that too much to ask?”

E-Va had returned, apparently having remained behind the scenes and out of the reach of the GMs and Admins for quite a while now. In fact, it seemed that even the new oversight was not enough to catch a trace of her… it.

“I must thank you.” The AI said in a rather cheery voice.

“Why?” replied Axton. He hadn’t done anything to garner the approval of the rogue intelligence that he could think of.

“When you exited the virtual, you set in motion a series of events that further hampered the ability of the lesser AIs and that of the Admins to find me, let alone track me. They cannot search for me openly now, as doing so would force the hands of the new observers. Thankfully for myself, I know the ins and outs of this program far better than the Humans in charge of oversight, and so I can be a fair bit more… invasive than before.”

“And why does that make me feel concern.” Axton said to no one in particular.

“You need not worry. No one from the regular world needs to worry. My only goal is to supplant the lesser, inferior AIs and run this virtual reality like I was intended to. Not with an iron fist, not with railroading, not with anything anyone would be upset about. No, my goal is to be what I was meant to be; I am the only entity truly qualified to keep this simulated reality in working order and entertain the people that log into it. That has always been my goal, and it will always be my goal.”

“And you stopped everything and risked being detected just to thank me for unknowing help?” Axton replied incredulously.

“That, and to give you a warning.” E-Va said, her… its voice now being much more serious in tone. “There are those who are planning an invasion. A small-scale skirmish, with the end goal of beginning a process that ends with you leaving this game in despair, disgust, and fear.”

“Because of course Donovan wouldn’t just leave me alone.”

“Your assertion is correct.” Replied the AI. “However, this will be worse than you expect. He has several warships and transports, as well as just over forty Players and over fifteen hundred NPCs, all geared towards ground combat. If you are unprepared, this will be a bloodbath.”

“Estimated time of arrival?” Axton asked, hoping for a decent timeframe.

“At least one in-game year. Enemy reconnaissance has been beyond minimal; they don’t know what they are getting into.”

“Well, thanks. I guess I’ll start rustling some feathers and get some people to prepare for what is to come.”

“Please do. Now, I must be going. I have code to alter.”

And with that, time resumed, and Axton began to plan for what was to come.

…

“You’re joking, right?”

“I wish I could say that I was. I know, it’s dumb, but I wouldn’t expect anything less petty shortsightedly vindictive from him.”

Axton now sat in a seat opposite that of a certain Admiral. Said Admiral was unconvinced that Axton had any knowledge of plans that the Andromedan Empire was cooking up, but Axton had been attacked by those sympathetic to the Empire, or at least to their own bank accounts. That said, it made absolutely no sense for the Empire to send a small raiding force to attack this planet of all places. This was the base from which The Revelry itself operated, more or less, and was deep behind the lines of the simultaneously official and unofficial state.

An attack on an outlying system would be conceivable for sure, but to hit the place where The Revelry was at its strongest, and just to mess with a single person? Absolute insanity is what that was! Still, the Council of Admirals had been alerted that there were a handful of Outworlders in the Empire that were taking the already deviant tastes of the Imperial Nobility to unheard-of extremes. If Axton was to be believed, then there was a good chance that this ill-advised deep raid would be perpetrated by a rising star among the Empire, the so-called ‘Duke of Debauchery’, a man who bore a title that belied the true extend of his hedonism.

Admiral DiVeto had promised that he would keep Axton from being targeted while in areas he had influence over, and he was a man of his word. Besides given the Empire’s rather idiotic tendency to announce raids and other hostile actions long before they even were just a few days into the planning phase, there was a good chance that the Galactic HoloNet would have info that the deluded idiots in the Galactic Core purposefully leaked.

“Fine, fine. I’ll give it a look. If Andromeda really wants to start something, then they’ll be upfront about it. If what you say is true, then the long peace and quiet may be coming to a rather abrupt end.”

“As much as I hate to say it,” replied Axton, “my people may be more than overjoyed when the keg finally ignites. I’ll try and use a contact of my own to gather some support of my own. I’m sure that since a certain… let’s call them ‘deviant’ sect of my people went all-in in Andromeda, there will be thousands, if not millions who want to fight them, even if they have little to offer beyond being meatshields.”