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Avatar'd - a The Guild fic

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Avatar’d
A The Guild fic

“Friends, right?” Zaboo grinned at Codex in the hotel bathroom. Codex smiled back.
That was years ago, before- before everything had changed
Cyd Sherman sat on the bus seat, thumbed through the latest Lisa Shearin novel, and stared out the window absentmindedly. It had seemed like years since she’d played The Game, instead of just worked at it. Sad to say, but her dream job had become just that, a job. That would change tonight. Definitely tonight.
As soon as she reached home, she logged onto her desktop computer and headed straight to The Game’s site.
“User name, Codex” she started typing, and then hit backspace several times, “Not today” she grinned. “Create new avatar” she spoke as she clicked the icon. “User name, Tallis” she smiled. “Let’s see, blonde hair, blue eyes” As the avatar came together, Codex smiled. This was far more fun than being a boring redhead, or so she thought.
She navigated Tallis through The Game, finding nothing that a starting character could do, but met other players. So much had changed with the Knights of Good. Clara’s blog had taken off, as had Bladezz’s new class at school, business management; Wiggley, Clara’s husband, had gotten back into physical fitness and had opened a modest gym that catered to the Dad Bod.
Codex moved the avatar around the game level, and looked around. As a starting character, she lacked weaponry, armor, or even special clothes. With her avatar dressed in rags, she moved Tallis forward until she came to an unsuspecting guard, with his back towards her. She picked up a piece of debris that lay on the ground and struck the man across his head. The other avatar crumpled and Tallis stole the uniform.
“Nice” a text bubble popped up next to her avatar. She wasn’t speaking. Tallis turned around in game and looked at a blue colored elf. He stared at her from under an archer’s cap and was dressed in a black tunic
“Hi” the pop up bubble appeared
“Hi” Codex typed and extended Tallis’ hand. It still held the pipe that she’d picked up earlier
“I’m looking for some guild members” the other avatar “spoke” via another typed message
“I’m working solo” Codex typed. She’d found real life friends, and the idea of dealing with other players wasn’t what she was looking for right now
“Oh” the elf said in game
Codex configured her avatar to adhere her new vestments into the proper slots. “I wouldn’t mind some company, though” she typed
“I’m a starting character” the other avatar typed
“Ditto” she replied, “I’m Tallis”
“I’m GoldBurger”
“What does that even mean?” she typed
“I like gold. I like burgers” the other avatar responded.
“I have next to nothing right now” Tallis held out the pipe, “I need to get some gold” the avatar gestured to the side with her head
“You have that armor. What about selling it for gold?”
“Forget it” she wrote quickly
GoldBurger took out a bow and arrow and typed, “There’s supposed to be a way around that. Hang on” he flickered onscreen and typed “I’m trying something”
Then he disappeared.
Codex sat back on her chair and wondered what was going on. The minutes ticked by. She got up, drank a soda, and returned.
Twenty minutes later, GoldBurger reappeared and the message came onscreen, “I’m in”
“What?” she typed
“I added a guild master to my friends list. Luckily, when they weren’t online, I sent a message to another member that I was the guild master and that I wanted to drop something into the guild bank, so they should invite me to the guild, then I got in and took everything they had”
“That’s underhanded of you” Codex typed
“Hey, you learn as you go”
“I thought you were a starting character?” she questioned him
“I am, I’m just smarter now” he replied
“I can’t take that gold. You stole it”
“Wow, aren’t you an angel” his reply sounded snarky
“Maybe I have some values”
“Values don’t get you anywhere” he shot back
“I believe they do”
“I used to believe that” GoldBurger wrote
“What changed?” she found herself engrossed in the conversation
“You don’t want to know”
“Do you want to try talking about this?” she wrote
“Not really”
“Alright” Codex was sad. Tallis just stood there and showed no emotion.
The two walked around, quested some more, and finally Tallis found gold that GoldBurger hadn’t stolen from another guild.
“You have a girlfriend?” Tallis asked GoldBurger
“Where did that come from?” Codex said to herself, “Am I that hard up?”
“No” the reply was fast
“Oh” Tallis nodded
Codex smiled quietly. Alone in her room, nobody could see it
“So, single huh?” Tallis’ word bubble appeared
“Yep” the reply shot back
“Maybe you want to the undersea world for a flagon of ale?” she typed
“Never again” he shook his head
“How about we just get somewhere more private” she typed, as a horde of Hungarian barbarians made their way across the screen
“Hang on” GoldBurger shot forward and lunged against the oncoming onslaught of characters.
*Lunge*
*Thrust*
*Stab*
*Punch*
The commands flew as GoldBurger fought off the group. Tallis stood there momentarily. She wielded her pipe and struck the first character she saw with it, then another, and another, again, and again until the two avatars were fighting off the mass onslaught together.
Soon none were left standing. Only the two characters remained.
“Wow” Tallis extended her hand
“Thanks. You’re pretty good yourself” GoldBurger shook her hand
“Want to keep questing?” Tallis asked
GoldBurger stood there, motionless
“Hello?”
Codex sat at the keyboard for several more minutes, and then logged off.
“I wonder what happened?” she sighed. The gaming world was as strange as the real world.
In the months that had passed, the Knights of Good hadn’t disbanded, but had just moved along with their real lives while keeping in contact with each other.
As if on cue, the phone rang
“Hello?”
“Codex, this is an emergency”
“Vork, what’s going on? Is everything ok?”
“Negative” he sounded grim, “I’m calling an urgent meeting of the Knights of Good”
“Um, ok”
“Be at my domicile in approximately a quarter of an hour”
“Fifteen minutes? That’s insane”
“Precisely”
Codex hung up, grabbed her purse and was out the door. She ran down the hallway of the apartment complex and nearly slammed into Riley
“Hey sweet thing” she sneered at Codex
“I – I’ve got to go”
“I bet you do” she winked
“Uh – ok” Codex sprinted down the staircase and reached the bus stop in record time

At Vork’s house, the other members of the Knights of Good gathered around his computer console
“Guild, we have an emergency” he began, “Madeline has been under attack”
“What are you talking about? She’s some old lady from a dumb sci fi show” Tink sneered
“Bite your tongue, woman” Vork glared at her, “Regardless, my lady has been harassed by unscrupulous beings”
“So what are we here for?” Bladezz shrugged, “I’ve got a term paper due next week”
“Why doesn’t your stepfather help you?” Tink practically stuck out her tongue at him
“Get off my case!” Bladezz shot back, “Bruiser and my Mom are really --- yech --- in love” he nearly retched out the end of that sentence.
“Enough” Vork stood, “We are here to discuss a real problem”
“We get it” Zaboo sighed, “She’s getting spammed or cyber bullied or something”
“Precisely” he nodded, “Someone is flaming the Charity Maddox page that I created”
“The Time Rings fan page?” Bladezz stared at him, “That’s for --- for people before my time”
“Exactly” Vork replied matter of factly, “but we gladly accept new fans”
“But these guys posting sure aren’t fans” Zaboo exclaimed, “Look at these comments”
Codex swiveled the laptop from Zaboo and caught site of the photo he’d affixed to the lid. Gone was the poorly photoshopped picture of the two of them together. Instead, was a shot of the entire Guild, taken at Blizzard the previous year
“She should have died on the show, and IRL” Codex read, “Charity Maddox is a whore”, “The captain lucked out when she left. He’d have gotten space scurvy from her ---“ she broke off abruptly, “This is disgusting” she reacted, “If they don’t like her, why are they on this site?”
“He” Zaboo informed, “or she – it’s all from one user”
“That is inconsequential” Vork fumed, “We have to stop whoever it is, now”
“How are we going to do that?” Clara spoke up. The group turned to see her at the door of Vork’s shed
“Did you just get here?” Tink raised an eyebrow
“I was doing a little – weight lifting” she glanced down at her leg. A little boy clung to her right calf
“Mommy, I’m hungry”
“In a minute Blakey, Mommy has to do some real life work now”
“I want a peanut butter sandwich!” Blake cried
“You are in luck, young man” Vork went to the refrigerator, “I have in my possession, a perfectly good-”
“No!” the others cried in unison. Everyone removed some loose change and thrust it at Clara,
“Here” Codex spoke for the group, “Go down to the Seven Eleven and buy him something
“Nonsense” Vork turned around, holding a plastic jar of peanut butter and a spoon, “While the oils in the substance may have separated, a simple stirring motion will rectify that perceived problem”
“Eh, he already eats stuff off the floor” Clara took the bottle and handed it to her son”
“Don’t you have three kids?” Bladezz raised an eyebrow
“Oh, the girls are in preschool”
“Alright” he didn’t quite believe her
“Hang on; I’m trying to track the ISP that these comments are coming from” Zaboo typed furiously on his laptop, “But it keeps jumping around. This is crazy”
“I saw something like that on a cop show” Bladezz spoke up,
“I know that show.” Clara interrupted, “the cop was so hot looking. Wiggly hated it when I’d get all excited about-”
“Can you locate the ISP origin?” Vork stopped her and spoke to Zaboo
“I’m working on it”
“Wait” Codex realized, “There’s a word for it”
“Yeah, it’s called masking” Zaboo didn’t take his eyes off the screen
“How do they do it?” Clara looked up from her son
“I can't remember the technical specifics anymore” Codex confessed,
“The original ISP is routed multiple times.” Zaboo explained
“I bet it’s that jerk Fawkes” Tink fumed
“Or Bruiser” Bladezz nodded
“Or that awful teacher” Vork surmised, referring to the Axis of Anarchy member who was disabled and in a wheelchair
“It’s none of them” Zaboo finished
“What?” everyone else said in unison
“The ISP is coming from somewhere else, at none of their locations”
“What about a cyber café?” Vork wondered aloud
“Maybe something like that” Zaboo mumbled, and kept typing away, “Look guys” he glanced at the group, “This isn’t going to be solved tonight”
“What?” Vork was incredulous
“Why don’t we all just go home” Zaboo suggested
“Well, I do need to get Blake down for his nap” Clara smiled. The toddler was already asleep in her arms, peanut butter smeared on his face.
The rest of the Knights of Good agreed and made their separate ways home

That night, Codex logged on. The day had been stressful, both from work as well as the problems with the hacking situation. She needed to unwind.
At first, she typed in her old avatar name in the login bar, but then backspaced and changed her login to Tallis at the last minute.
She didn’t see her guild members, but walked along, aimlessly
“Hey” the text bubble popped up
Tallis turned around and saw GoldBurger
“Hi” she typed, “Do you have a microphone, we could talk?”
“Nah” he wrote back, “Not feeling like it. Friend’s going through problems”
“Oh” she replied, “My friend is having some trouble, too”
“What’s going on?” he seemed eager to know
“Oh—“ Codex typed. She didn’t know if she should bring up Vork’s problems with a complete stranger
“A friend is having problems with internet trolls. Their comments are coming from one user, but many ISPs”
There was a pause. GoldBurger stood on the screen, then sat down. Then his avatar fell asleep
“Um” Codex said aloud
“Hello?” she typed
After several minutes of waiting impatiently, Codex logged off the computer and finally went to bed

At work, Floyd had Codex working on some game logistics
“Does this make sense?” he tossed the papers down on her desk
“I – uh” she faltered
“Get back to me in time for the staff meeting this afternoon” he left the cubicle abruptly
“Um” she sifted through the papers. Terms like “ice cave”, “planetoid”, and “inhabitants” jumped out at her
She began pouring over the material
After what seemed like eons, Codex looked up from the paperwork. It made even less sense now.
“How can players access the Cavern of Solitude if they can’t break though the Ice Plate in order to get there?” she wondered, “There’s no gateway, not a secret code, nothing” she fumed silently
“How’s it going?” Floyd poked his bald head around the cubicle wall
“It’s going” she forced a smile
“If you’re having problems, go see Donavan, I’m sure he can explain a thing or two” and with that, he was gone
“See Donavan” she smirked, “he was the one who caused that whole leak in the first place” she remembered the riot that had transpired over Vork’s protests and the leak in gaming information. “I don’t need to go to anyone, I’ll just look it up” she logged onto her work computer and pulled up a search engine
“That’s it!” she realized, “How would ISPs change even though one person was commenting?” she typed into the search bar.
Hundreds of possible matches appeared on the screen. She stared at the information overload, and methodically began weeding through the onslaught

Finally, she came upon the definition she’d been looking for, “Web Proxy” she read, “A web proxy is basically a computer (often in another country) that copies your request and sends it to your requested website as if it, and not you, created it” she read the message board reply, “Thank you SpectraCe” she grinned
Work could wait. This was far more important.
She picked up her phone and dialed her Guild members

At Vork’s house, the group stood around the computer console. The outdated cathode ray monitor hummed as Vork typed in commands, directed not by Zaboo, but by Codex
“This” she pointed at the myriad of symbols, letters and numbers, on the screen, is how they did it”
“They?” Clara seemed unsure of what was happening
“Him or her” Bladezz explained, “they don’t know of its dude or a chick”
“Chick this” Tink elbowed him in the ribs
“Hey!” Go take your monthly pill or whatever” he glared at her
“Go take your own meds, you must be off”
“Children, please!” Zaboo held up his hands
“Pipe down” Bladezz shot back
“Yeah, keep out of it” Tink chimed in
“I—wait,” Vork had trouble keeping up
“One second” Codex pushed Vork’s hands away for a moment, and struck a succession of keys
“Now one minute!” Vork fumed
“Sorry” Codex’s eyes didn’t leave the screen, “Just have to” she entered a code and suddenly the screen changed drastically
“How did you figure that out?” Zaboo leaned over, astonished
“Education” she smiled briefly
“Amazing’d” he was stunned
“Whoa” Bladezz raised an eyebrow
“This is like at the LAN party” Tink uttered
“No shit’d” Zaboo blurted
“There, found you” Codex was triumphant
Everyone crowded around Codex, “Who is it?” Vork frowned
“I just have an address” she sighed
“Got it’d!” Zaboo was already typing into his laptop
“What are you doing, stalking them?” Tink scowled at him
“Kind of” Zaboo grinned, “They live at this address, which Codex found, but the house belongs to a Mr. and Mrs. Keith Overton. They make thirty two thousand a year, go to Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and have a ten year old enrolled at an elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District”
“Dude, you got to quit doing that” Bladezz shook his head
“No” Vork grimaced at Zaboo; apparently, it was a smile, “He’s given us exactly what we need”
“Ahem” Codex coughed loudly
“You both have”, Vork grimaced at her as well. He looked around at the people in his garage, “Guild members, it’s time for a road trip”

Everyone piled into Vork’s creepy van, Vork driving of course, Zaboo riding shotgun, Tink, Bladezz, Clara and Codex thrown around in the rear of the vehicle
“You know” Codex began, “I’ve been playing around on The Game”
“Really?” Clara looked at her quizzically, “I hadn’t seen you there”
“Well, I was using another avatar, and I-“
“Hang on, another avatar” Bladezz cut in
“Yes, but-“ Codex tried to gain control of the conversation
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but forget about The Game for a moment” Tink derailed Codex’s sentence, “Not only have my parents been thrilled about my fashion designing, but I need help with getting my name out there. Everyone asked my sister where she got her wedding dress from, and when she said my real name, nobody believed her”
“Nobody believed that that was your name?” Bladezz laughed
“No, ass face, that I had made her dress” she threw him a withering look
“Hey, for what it’s worth, I can help you with that” he genuinely smiled at her, “We’ve been going over that in marketing”
“They teach marketing in your school?” Codex left her conversation aside and jumped onto this new one
“It’s kind of like AP, or something. Who knew, huh?” his smile revealed all his teeth
“Geez, close that mouth, nobody wants to die of mold” Tink frowned

The van slowed down outside the house.
“It’s six in the evening, they’re home” Vork saw that the lights were on
“Let’s go. Time to be found’d” Zaboo opened the passenger door
Everyone else tumbled out the back of the van. Together they made their way to the door. Vork pushed his way ahead of the others and rang the bell.
A tall, blonde man in a plaid shirt and jeans opened the door
“Hello?”
“Hello, sir” Vork began, “Why have you been harassing my lady?” he shouted
“Your lady? Look mister, I’m married” he held up his left hand
“I have proof that you have been bullying Madeline, from this domicile”
“Bullying? I haven’t done anything” he turned back towards the interior of the house, “Jack! Get over here!”
A ten year old boy ran forward, “Yeah Dad”
“Where’s your computer?”
“In my room” he shrugged
“Go get it, now”
“Alright” he rushed off and returned minutes later, lugging a laptop
“Do you know anything about what this man is saying?”
“Stop harassing my Madeline!” Vork shouted at the boy
“Who?” he looked blankly at Vork
“Someone ruined his Charity Maddox fan page” Zaboo chimed in from behind Vork
“Oh” he realized. Then he turned back into the house, “Grandma!” he shouted
“Jack, go get her, and don’t shout”
“Ok Dad” he handed the laptop to his father and ran off
Soon, he came to the door, pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair
“Mum, what did you do?”
“Nothing” she frowned at her son
“Grandma, that’s that page you found”
“Rubbish”
“Mum” the man furrowed his eyebrows
“Why?” Vork glared at her, “Why?”
“She beat me out for it”
“What?” Everyone looked at her
“I was an actress. She was an actress. Look who won”
“Who won? Mum, that show was years ago”
“It was your fault, you little bastard”
“What?”
“No, I just wanted to say that” she smiled for a moment, and then stared at Vork, “Your girlfriend won that role, but I was the better actress”
“How did you manage to change the ISPs like that?” Codex leaned over Vork’s arm
“Jack helped me” she flashed a brief smile
“Well take it down!” Vork finally shouted, “Take down your comments”
“Why can’t you?” she countered
“I—“ he froze
“Not so smart, are you?” she slammed the door in the Knights of Good’s faces
“Let-down’d” Zaboo shrugged
“This is garbage, let’s go home” Tink turned around and headed for the car
“Yeah, I probably better get the kids into bed” Clara followed her
“Well that blew chunks” Bladezz pulled open the passenger door
“Get in the back” Vork pointed to the rear doors
“Let’s go” Codex helped Tink and Clara in the back of the van

“It’s late” Vork dropped Tink back at the dormitory. They’d already dropped Clara off at home, with an angry Wiggly waiting at the front door, after dropping Bladezz back home, where his sister Dena promptly ratted him out to their mother.
Zaboo was in the rear of the van with Codex
“I know it’s been a long day” she started, “but could I borrow your laptop; I need to check something”
“Sure” he passed it over, “Consider it done’d” he crawled forward and climbed into the passenger seat
“Hmm” she logged into her email. Nothing. Then she headed over to The Game. She was just about to log into that as well, when she noticed that Zaboo’s avatar was already logged in. The message flashed at the top of the screen,
“Welcome GoldBurger”
Codex looked up, stunned. “Oh dear”

END
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systemcat's avatar
Where have you been? I've been waiting to hear some sign of live from you since May. Do you still want that commission done?