A/N:

Part two of today's double post! If you haven't already done so, make sure to read Chapter 42 - Wind in the Sails first!

By popular demand, we're going back to real life! Just like last chapter, there's a small time jump here. The narration hints at it, but this chapter takes place a few months following Kagachi's fall.

Enjoy!

"This is the place, right?"

Suguha stood alongside Sulinea as they stared at the storefront in this rickety old alley deep in the Taito Ward of Okachimachi. It was off the beaten path, for lack of a better term, and well away from the closest major street. The locale didn't look shady by any means, but it was definitely one of those stores that you wouldn't know existed unless it was pointed out. Suguha glanced down at her phone, confirming the address, before looking up at the address posted above the doorway.

"Yep. This is it." Suguha confirmed, pocketing her phone and nodding. Nevermind the address; the logo of two dice over the name of the building was enough to confirm where they were. "The Dicey Cafe."

Suguha walked forward and opened the door, Geeou's sister in tow. A faint bell clinked overhead, signalling their entry. The cafe had a welcoming feel to it that reminded Suguha of an old American bar.

Not that she'd ever been to one, but she'd seen pictures and movies.

The wooden walls, line of spirits behind the front counter, and the handful of neon signs definitely lent itself to a warm atmosphere. Were she older, she could certainly see herself coming here to unwind after a hard day at work. Actually, given how sparsely populated the tables and counter were, this might make a good place to study for school with friends.

"Welcome to the Dicey Cafe." A woman called out from the back room. "Take a seat and I'll be with you in a moment."

Suguha exchanged a look with Sulinea as they took a seat at the counter. A jukebox in the corner was playing some song she didn't immediately recognize, but it was catchy nonetheless. She noticed an Uncle Sam poster and a geographical map of the United States posted on the wall behind the front counter, just next to the line of spirits and alcohol. Oh yes. This was definitely the establishment of someone from the U.S.A. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but Suguha found it intriguing nevertheless.

"Too bad Shinichi couldn't join us." Sulinea whispered while she fiddled with her phone. She finally pocketed the device before resting her hands on the wooden counter. "I think he would have enjoyed this."

"I think so too, but remember the NDA we signed." Suguha reminded her. "Unless we get Mrs. Mills' permission and get clearance with Mr. Kikuoka, we can't bring him into this."

Sulinea sighed. "I guess you're right. Did you put in the request to get him access?"

Suguha nodded. "I put in the request last week. They're probably still doing the background check and everything."

"That's good." Sulinea said, smiling. "He already kept your secret this long, so he's a trustworthy guy."

"Yeah, he's great." Suguha remarked with a smile of her own. "He's a good friend, even if he is a little bit of a fanboy when it comes to SAO."

"Oh?" Sulinea humed with a suggestive raise of her eyebrow. "Just a friend?"

Suguha felt her face heating slightly. "Oh, don't you start with that again, Suli! He's just a friend!"

"Right, because a friend always goes out of his way to walk you home, even when he lives in the other direction." Sulinea jabbed, her face contorted into a shit-eating grin. "If you say so, Sugu."

Suguha narrowed her eyes at her friend, though her smirk betrayed her amusement at the teasing. "Oh, you are so lucky I left my shinai at home…"

"Hi there!" The woman from before called out, exiting the back room with a rag draped over her shoulder. She was a dark-skinned woman of considerable height, and based on the wedding band on her ring finger, probably exactly who Suguha was looking for. "How can I help you? No, I don't serve alcohol to minors and yes, we do have a number of soda brands in stock for you instead."

"No no!" Suguha quickly corrected the woman before she got the wrong idea. "We're not going to ask for alcohol! No, we're here to meet with Patricia Mills?"

The woman waved a hand dismissively. "Please, call me Trish. That must make you two Suguha and Sulinea, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Sulinea responded for them. "That's us."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both, and please, don't worry about formalities. Trish is fine." Trish responded with a warm smile, extending a hand for the two to shake. Both girls returned the American greeting. "Damn, you definitely look like your brothers. You can really see the family resemblance."

Suguha was about to correct her and explain the truth of Kazuto's heritage, but decided against it. It wasn't really relevant right now and she didn't want to overshare. Instead, she opted to shift the conversation a little. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Trish. It feels a little weird to say, but welcome to the unofficial Renegade support club."

Trish beamed. "Well, thanks for having me! I'll admit I was a little worried during that first meeting when I found out that Andrew wasn't a part of any guilds. I was glad to see he was alive and helping to clear the game, but I would have felt a little better if he was with others. Sure, he had a couple of buddies but nothing with the kind of firepower your brothers bring to the table. I'm glad Andrew and his friends finally wised up and decided to join the Renegades."

Suguha was glad, too. About a month ago, sometime after the Renegades cleared the 14th floor, Agil and his friends officially joined the Resolute Renegades. Now her brother's guild numbered 14 strong, which was still relatively small compared to the larger guilds like the ALS and DKB, but it was still nothing to scoff at. What her brother's guild lacked in quantity they more than made up for in quality. Now they were on the 15th floor, still going strong.

Trish had reached out to her shortly thereafter, wanting to make contact with the sister of the esteemed leader of the Resolute Renegades. Suguha was, of course, eager to expand her network of SAO families, and immediately agreed to meet with her. She was already well acquainted with Asuna's brother Kouichirou and was on good terms with Mr. Shigemura, Yuna's father. Sulinea was likewise excited to meet another person to bond with over SAO over, and had decided to tag along.

The three women talked and got to know each other a little better over the next hour. As expected, Trish was Agil's - sorry, Andrew's - wife of three years, and they'd been living in Japan for just longer than that. Andrew met her shortly after opening up the Dicey Cafe, as she was one of his first customers, and the two naturally hit it off. They'd gotten married within the year and Trish joined Andrew in his bartending business while going through college. It was such an ordinary romantic story that would have been otherwise untarnished were it not for SAO.

"So Suguha, I've been meaning to ask, and you don't have to answer if you're not comfortable, hon'." Trish said as she leaned on the counter. "What do you think about the rumors going around on the web? You think Asuna and your brother are an item?"

Suguha almost choked on her drink, earning a giggle from Sulinea and a hurried apology from Trish for springing such a sudden question. Suguha waved them off. "No no, it's okay. I'm not sure, honestly. I can see where people are getting that from. Kazuto's a bit of a loner in real life, so the idea that he could have a girlfriend is a little… I don't know, strange to me. Especially one as undeniably awesome as Asuna is."

"Yeah, she's kind of a badass, isn't she?" Sulinea remarked, setting her drink down. "Your brother's crazy strong too, but she's different. She's a role model at this point. Have you seen the action figures coming out now?"

"Wait, action figures?" Trish asked. "Actually, I remember Kikuoka mentioning something like that to me when he had me sign some documents. Something about using Andrew's image."

"Yeah!" Sulinea exclaimed, pulling up her phone and showing them pictures of what appeared to be action figures of some of the prominent Clearers. Most of the figures were of the Renegades, but non-Renegade figures like Kibaou, Klein, Orlando, Nezha, and Lind were also on display. "Mr. Yuuki's company, RECT Inc., is using the proceeds from the action figure sales to help keep the servers online. Rumor has it there's going to be more SAO merch on the way, like shirts and stuff. Figures like Asuna and Sinon are really popular among young girls, not that I blame them. Not sure why they started with action figures when they could have started with apparel, but whatever."

"I guess that makes you both related to celebrities then, huh?" Trish asked, refilling Sulinea's drink and handing it back with a smile. "I don't suppose there's one of my hubby, is there?"

"Hmm…" Sulinea hummed as she scrolled through the list of action figures. "Actually, there is! Oh, wow. Looks like his figure's pretty popular among housewives and teenage girls."

"That's…" Trish trailed, looking a little dazed at that piece of information. Finally she broke out of her stupor and started laughing uncontrollably. "Hah! Good thing I took him off the market before this whole thing started, huh?"

The trio had a good laugh at that. It was no mystery why Agil was so popular among that particular demographic. Andrew was a strong, good-looking man, and Suguha would have found herself hard pressed to deny that he was attractive. Still, her thoughts wandered back to her brother for a moment. "What about Kazuto? Err, I guess he'd be Kirito then, right?"

"Oh yeah, he's popular." Sulinea confirmed as she scrolled on her phone. "Popular across the board, but definitely among teenagers in general. Teenage girls seem to have taken a liking to him. Probably that edgy persona he's got going on. 'Black Swordsman Kirito' is a best seller, actually. Girls do like a bad boy. No offense, Sugu."

Suguha chuckled. "None taken. He's definitely got the broody edgelord aesthetic going on. His reputation as a Beater isn't helping either."

Trish laughed and then let out a content sigh. "You know, I'm glad I reached out to you both. It's nice to have someone to talk to about these things. Past few months have been kind of…"

"Lonely?" Sulinea finished for her, prompting a nod from the older barkeep. "Good thing Sugu here asked Kikuoka to set this up for us all."

"Wait, this was your idea?" Trish asked, looking dumbfounded.

Suguha nodded while fighting off an embarrassed blush. "Y-yeah. I just wanted to connect with others. Mr. Kikuoka kind of took the idea and ran with it, that's all."

"Well, you know what?" Trish said, putting her hands on her hips. "Feel free to bring any other SAO family members here if you ever need someplace to meet. I'd love to meet others. We can even watch the boss broadcasts here if you want. That T.V. on the wall's just gathering dust, anyway."

"You'd do that?" Suguha asked excitedly.

Trish beamed. "Of course! I'm definitely not also trying to bring in more business. Nope. Not at all. "

Suguha giggled. She didn't mind bringing others and helping Trish out. The Dicey Cafe was looking pretty sparse on customers at the moment, and that's what this whole thing was about anyway. Supporting one another, whether it was emotionally or even financially.

She'd make the Dicey Cafe the official IRL headquarters of the Renegades.

"What did you want to speak with us about, Mr. Kikuoka?" Midori Kirigaya asked.

Suguha could see the faintest hints of worry and anxiety etched on her mother's face. That last time Kikuoka contacted them out of the blue, he'd unintentionally worried them about the whole Clearer death threat fiasco. Granted, Kazuto wasn't the target and now he was sitting safely under the government's watchful and protective eye, but that initial panic was not something so easily forgotten.

She looked over at her father, Minetaka Kirigaya. Her father was a busy man, and ironically enough worked at RECT Inc., the company Asuna's father headed. Both men were surprised to learn after the fact that they'd worked at the same company, and Mr. Yuuki had arranged for Suguha's father to receive a promotion for his hard work and certainly not for the fact that Minetaka's son was helping keep his daughter alive. As such, he was rarely ever available to join in on these clandestine meetings with the mysterious Seijirou Kikuoka, but today was the rare exception.

"It's something we stumbled on a couple of weeks back." Kikuoka explained, reaching down to retrieve a laptop case that had been sitting at the foot of the table until now. "I'll be frank with you. It's simultaneously worrisome and yet some cause for relief, but it's something we felt you needed to know and see."

Suguha clenched her fist, unknowingly bunching up a section of her skirt out of frustration and anxiety. What was it with this man and dramatics? She knew better than to assume he was doing this on purpose, but come on! His delivery of anything he said made one assume the worst.

"What is it, Mr. Kikuoka?" Minetaka said, his expression serious, yet concerned.

Kikuoka opened the laptop, quickly typed something out, and then pivoted the machine so that the screen was visible for all to see. On it was a very picturesque scene. It displayed a group of people, 14 in total by her count, resting under a tree and enjoying lunch. The tree was on a grassy hill, which overlooked a small town nearby. To call it peaceful and idyllic would be surprisingly apt. Then she noticed what the people were wearing.

Suguha's eyebrows shot up. She'd recognize that style of armor and clothing anywhere. These were SAO players, if the armor and weaponry was anything to go off of. Then her eyes wandered over each person specifically. These were people she recognized. She'd never met them herself, but she'd done enough research on them to know who each of them were. One person, situated in the center and leaning against the tree itself, however, was one person she had met. One she'd grown up with, actually.

Kazuto.

"Is that…?" Midori gulped. Her eyes flew over to Kikuoka. "They're not fighting a boss though. What is this? How are we seeing this?"

Kikuoka gave a gentle smile. "As you know, for months now our team has been trying our best to crack into the game without endangering the lives of the players. Some time ago, shortly after the Clearers finished the 15th floor boss, we had a major breakthrough."

The Kirigayas remained silent with bated breath.

"It seems that Kayaba has taken a special interest in the Clearers." Kikuoka began to explain. "Well, not everyone. There's at least several dozen Clearers, but it's obvious that he's not keeping tabs on everyone. No, he's watching select individuals in particular. Kirito, along with several other individuals of note, are being monitored. We managed to gain access to the feeds."

That sent a chill down Suguha's spine. Yes, Kirito - that name still took some getting used to, but Suguha was getting there - was something of a public figure at this point, but it was still unnerving to know that the architect of the Death Game was watching her brother. Was he planning on doing something to her brother? Was it just morbid curiosity regarding one of the top players of his own game?

"Who else is being monitored?" Midori asked, motherly concern evident in her voice. Probably borne of out worry for Sulinea and her brother. The blonde had visited the Kirigayas enough times at this point where she was a close friend of the family. As such, it came as no surprise to Suguha that her mother was worried on behalf of Sulinea.

Kikuoka folded his hands together as he addressed them. "I had a feeling a question like this might arise. Do keep in mind that this information is still confidential."

"Of course." Midori answered. She shared a glance with her daughter and husband. "We won't betray your confidence like that."

"Thank you." Kikuoka nodded. "So far, we've found that Kayaba has been monitoring not only Kazuto, but other members of his guild. Asuna, Silica, Yuna, Leonn, and Liz, to name a few. We've also found feeds on Klein from Fuurinkazan, a solo Clearer named Kuroi, and strangely enough a non-clearer on the 1st floor. At first we assumed that Kayaba was monitoring the Renegades due to their prominence on the front line, but the feeds on the 1st floor player discredit that idea entirely."

That was odd. Why those players in particular? Suguha was glad that Geeou was not counted among that list, but like Kikuoka said, clearly Kayaba was not watching the Renegades specifically. That man was an enigma.

Kikuoka's expression hardened and his brow furrowed. Whatever came next was not going to be good, she could tell already.

"Then there's the matter of another player we saw monitored. A player named PoH." Kikuoka said grimly.

"Who?" Minetaka asked. "Are they a new Clearer?"

"I'm afraid not." Kikuoka answered, shaking his head disapprovingly. "He's a PK'er."

Where had she heard that term before? Suguha wasn't ashamed to admit she'd become quite versed in gaming terminology, especially as it related to SAO, but this was one she was not as familiar with. She wasn't surprised to see similar looks of confusion on the faces of her parents.

"What's a PK'er?" Minetaka asked. "Forgive me; while I work at RECT I'm afraid I am not familiar with some of the more nuanced gaming terms."

"PK is short for Player Killer." Kikuoka informed them. The Kirigayas collectively paled at the thought. Someone who killed others in a death game? What kind of homicidal maniacs were running around in there? "A PK'er, as the term implies, is a player who hunts other players and kills them. In regular games, this is often a part of normal gameplay. The victim may be angered at being ambushed and killed in such a manner and their progression may be set back, but their avatar respawns. In some cases, it's even viewed as friendly sport or competition between players at best. At worst, it's akin to typical schoolyard bullying."

"But in SAO - " Suguha started before Kikuoka nodded, confirming her fears.

"Yes, I'm afraid so." He nodded. Suguha could see his fists clench in anger. "In SAO, this is the equivalent of murder. What's worse is that this PoH is apparently the leader of a band of renegades who thrive on player killing."

Suguha frowned. He seemed to take note of this and, to his credit, quickly went to correct himself.

"My apologies, that was a poor choice of words." Kikuoka amended. "The worst part of it all is that we can only sit by and watch it play out. We can't do anything to prevent the murders in game, nor can we take any preventative measures in the real world for the deaths we know are coming as a result of it."

"Can't you do something about that?" Minetaka asked, his voice rising in anger. "You have the identities of the players, right?"

Kikuoka nodded, but there was no joy in it. "We do, but we can't find him. We believe he has outside help since he's not hospitalized in any of our known facilities. In fact, our records show that he logged in after Launch Day."

"He logged into the Death Game on purpose." Suguha mumbled in disbelief. He knowingly logged in, even after the game's true nature was revealed. This sicko must have realized he could get away with killing people here. Oh, if this wasn't premeditated murder, she didn't know what was. It was disgusting. Vile. The worst kind of human was now running rampant in an environment they could thrive in. She doubted SAO had any competent law enforcement - if any existed at all - if this asshole was still running around.

"We believe so." Kikuoka sighed. "We're looking into ways to intervene, but the Cardinal system is unlike anything we've ever encountered. It's a miracle we were able to spy on Kayaba's player monitoring at all. Some of our hackers even think that Cardinal let us see the feeds, which has its own set of frightening implications. Until such a time as we can do anything to stop PoH, all we can do is watch."

There was a tense silence as the four sat in contemplation. Well, the Kirigayas were in contemplation, while Kikuoka sat patiently. The silence ultimately broke when Midori looked back at the screen and almost seemed to coo.

"Oh my."

"What is it, dear?" Minetaka asked, his own gaze wandering over to the idyllic scene played out on screen. "...Oh! Well, that's not something I would have expected."

Suguha looked at the screen, curious to see what had her parents so surprised. Sure, it was a peaceful setting and it was nice to see the Renegades relaxing, but there didn't appear to be anything unusual about the scene. Leonn was reclined and napping on the hillside. Geeou and Nautilus appeared to be talking over the finer points of swordplay. Asuna was resting her head on Kirito's shoulder while he rested his head on the top of hers. Yuna was playing a calming melody on her lute. Silica and Lokuss were playing with their familiars. Kizmel seemed to be meditating…

…Wait a minute.

Her eyes shot back over to Kirito and Asuna and she almost choked on her own spit when she saw the two. There was no doubt about it; those two were very friendly now. Hell, Kirito had an arm draped around her shoulder and every now and then she would snuggle into his shoulder. When did this happen?! Don't get her wrong, she was happy for him, but she never thought this would happen, and with Asuna, no less!

Looks like Trish was right after all.

"Looks like our little Kazuto's got himself a girlfriend. Better yet, it's Asuna!" Minetaka laughed before he stopped abruptly, a look of realization dawning on his face. "Mr. Kikuoka, have the Yuuki's seen this yet?"

Kikuoka chuckled. "This is live, so unless they are watching this right this second, no. I am going to give you, and the other families who are affected by this, access to the feeds. You'll be able to peek in on Kazuto whenever you feel like it."

"I suppose I'm going to have to have a conversation with Mr. Yuuki." Minetaka awkwardly chuckled. "But in any case, that's wonderful news. Thank you, Mr. Kikuoka. It will be nice to be able to keep an eye on Kazuto outside of his boss battles from now on."

Kikuoka gave a friendly nod. "Of course, Mr. Kirigaya. It's the least we can do, given what your son is doing. These feeds are also giving us invaluable information on the mental health of the players and the kind of culture that's now growing inside the Death Game."

The rest of their meeting wasn't nearly as exciting, and Suguha found herself dwelling on all of the information presented. It was a lot to take in, honestly. Kazuto was being monitored by Kayaba. So were others. Why? What could Kayaba possibly have in store for them, and them specifically? On top of that, there were player killers on the loose. Now she had to worry about murderous gamers killing Kazuto. The cherry on top of it all?

Kazuto had a girlfriend.

Yeah, there was a lot to unpack here.

The Boss Broadcasts were one of his better ideas.

Heathcliff, leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath, sat on a bench in the Town of Beginnings with a satisfied smile on his face. Specifically, he and his moderately sized group of about a couple dozen or so watched the floating screen above with varying levels of interest. The main Clearer force, which regrettably they were not yet a part of, was engaging the 19th floor boss, a massive sand worm called ((Jartan the All-Devouring)).

Jartan was one of the largest bosses he and Cardinal had designed, easily stretching a couple hundred yards in length. As such, its sandy desert arena was also one of the largest they'd designed, and the tricky part about this fight was just how mobile the giant worm was. Players would have to work together and stay as a group. Some fast and impatient players might run to pursue the worm, only to find themselves separated from the main group and subsequently devoured. However, no one had died yet.

A testament to the capabilities of his players.

Speaking of capabilities, the incognito game master glanced over at his guild, specifically his second in command. Alice was staring up at the screen with an almost analytical look, her face scrunched in concentration. While the blonde wasn't his first pick as a vice leader - the first was already vice leader for the Renegades, after all - Alice was very quickly proving to be just as capable. She was a very skilled swordswoman and commanded respect from the others in the guild.

"What do you think, Alice?" Heathcliff asked. Alice turned her head to face him, her eyes remaining transfixed on the screen for a moment before catching up to her head. "Do you feel we're ready to join the front line?"

She nodded. "I think so, sir. Godfree and Uzala are proving to be capable leaders. We've practiced our fighting formations well and I think we'll be able to contribute."

"That's good." Heathcliff said. There was something else there, though. Sure, she looked eager to join the front line, but there was more to it. Was that excitement? Anxiety? "Something on your mind? You look a bit more excited than usual about joining them."

A fond smile crossed her lips. "If I might be frank, sir, there is someone among the Clearers that I am eager to meet. Well, meet again, I suppose."

"Oh?" Heathcliff asked with some amusement, arching an eyebrow. "How so?"

"We knew each other in real life, sir." Alice informed him. This time her gaze seemed to be focused elsewhere. "I don't know if he still remembers me, but I think it would be nice to see him again."

"How come you haven't reached out before?" He asked. Surely if this was that important, she'd have made an effort by now.

"Part of me wants to surprise him." Alice admitted. "The last time we saw each other, we were very young. It's been years since we've spoken; maybe it's odd but I'd like him to see the kind of person I've become."

"Well, I'm sure he'll be delighted to see the brave warrior you are today." Heathcliff assured her.

"Thank you, sir." Alice replied, looking pleased with the compliment. Her attention was drawn away as Godfree, one of his officers and her subordinate, struck up a conversation. Something to do with squad assignments. He'd let them sort that without his input.

As Heathcliff looked at the broadcast once more, he sighed with some minor annoyance as a notification popped up on his HUD. Someone had messaged him. Normally he would be content to wait until the broadcast was over, but he'd flagged any messages from this particular sender as priority. Making sure that his menu was set to private and not publicly visible, he opened the message.

[Cardinal: Patch 2.0 is ready for launch. Do you still wish to proceed with deployment?]

Heathcliff let out a subtle sigh, making sure to keep it muted enough so as not to raise concern of suspicion from those around him. While he appreciated Cardinal running the action through him first for approval, her timing could have been better. He'd have a difficult time justifying what kind of message warranted such an audible response without giving too much away. While he had no qualms with lying to his subordinates, he'd rather avoid the deception entirely if possible.

"Something wrong, sir?"

Case in point. Alice was perceptive, he'd give her that.

"Just something from Argo." Heathcliff lied, playing up the annoyance and disappointment he was already feeling. "Some members of Titan's Hand were apprehended a short while ago, but Rosalia remains at large. It's annoying, that's all."

It wasn't a complete lie, necessarily. The Rat had shared that information with him some time ago, so it wasn't incorrect. His annoyance was also genuine. While Kayaba the gamemaster wasn't particularly perturbed by their presence, Heathcliff the guild master was. He was something of a method actor; he had to be in order to keep appearances and prevent any slip-ups around his players.

"We'll catch them one day, sir." Alice assured him. "They can't hide forever, especially with players like The Shadow running around."

"You approve of vigilantism?" Heathcliff asked. "You never struck me as much of a renegade, more of a law-abiding knight."

Alice chuckled at the play on words. "Well played. No, I don't approve of vigilantism, but at least The Shadow's presence has kept them from acting out in more drastic ways."

"I suppose that's true." Heathcliff hummed before turning back to the screen. He hoped she would take the hint to drop the conversation. He had an AI to answer, after all. Fortunately, she seemed to understand and turned away. He began to type his reply.

[Heathcliff: Yes, please deploy Patch 2.0 as scheduled, and keep an eye on that change we made earlier this week. Keep me apprised of any significant developments on how it's received.]

[Cardinal: Understood, sir. Enjoy your new skill.]

Heathcliff smiled. He was definitely looking forward to his new skill. With it, he would easily rise in reputation and his guild would take a leading presence on the front line. With any luck, the presence of the other unique skills would remove any suspicion of foul play, but he knew there would undoubtedly be some. He was all too aware of how players like Kibaou thought.

It was a ridiculous notion. In a game where death was absolute and final, why would getting stronger through knowledge be a bad thing? Instead of the scorn they'd received, beta testers should have been welcomed and taken roles of leadership. Any advantage only served to aid them in their quest to the top. He reluctantly found himself agreeing with Einstein.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity.

He was interrupted from his inner musings when the plaza erupted in cheers and applause. The Clearers had defeated the 19th floor boss and now were climbing up to the 20th. It was exciting news for a number of reasons. As a game developer, he was thrilled to see the fruits of his labor enjoyed by others. It was also gratifying to see the support and admiration the player base had for their heroes; in a way, he was responsible for their rise to fame. If his casual internet browsing was anything to go off of, the Clearers were quite the celebrities in the real world, too. They were just as much his legacy as was this game. Above all else, though, Heathcliff was excited for one thing in particular.

The game was going to change.

A/N:

I feel bad doing it, but yes, I did have Agil and his merchant friends join the Renegades off-screen, technically. Him joining was always in the cards, but I just couldn't think of a good and meaningful way for him to join. Much as I like him as a character, there's not a whole lot we know about the guy that I could go off of. Canonically speaking, he's the merchant Clearer who you almost always see behind the counter, fighting in a boss battle, or intimidating Kibaou (not that I'm complaining about that bit).

That's about it, though.

He's definitely going to play a larger role now that he's a member of the Renegades, though. A guild needs funds, and he and his merchant posse are going to be the best ones to provide them.

Hope you all enjoyed this week's double-whammy of a chapter post! As always, reviews and comments are appreciated.

'Til next week!