Ian stepped into Claire’s office half an hour before the scheduled meeting time. She was sitting in her seat, looking at him with a complex expression on her face. She motioned for him to close the door, and as soon as the room was secure, she sighed.
“I’m sorry, Ian. I can’t tell you what is going to happen. My mother wouldn’t tell me. She said that if I knew, I would probably do something, which would cause everything to happen differently, and in a way that wouldn’t be as beneficial in the long run.
“Though, there is one thing I am allowed to tell you. Your sister is having a hard time with the other students in the course. Outside of a couple of people in her class, nobody will group with her during the sparing exercises.”
“That’s stupid,” he replied. “She should excel at that kind of stuff. She has had more active training than everyone in her original class combined.”
“It has nothing to do with her skills,” Claire said, looking down. “It has to do with an argument she got in with a member in her class about you. Apparently, there are some rumors floating around that clans won’t associate with anyone who trains with her due to the influence Peerless has in the novice ranks.”
Ian’s fingernails bit into his palms. He was done with Peter’s shit.
“Who the fuck are these people? Does he really have anything other than a lot of money? Let’s be honest, his primary group is less effective than I am as a solo adventurer. Sure, they could probably AOE down mobs half their level faster, but most of that seems to be their gear if what they told me yesterday was true.”
Claire just nodded, “It really is all about money. None of the other clans throw money at the novice tier like Peerless does. Peter is trying to play the long game. If he can get his hooks on the newer adventurers now, he will have a bunch of teams ready for more in ten years.”
“No. He won’t,” Ian said after a few moments. “Can you send a message to Mavin letting her know I am going to be publishing all of the papers today?”
“Are you sure?” Claire asked with concern.
“Yeah, it is time to show…wait. Can I start a stream outside of the dungeon in a Keeper’s office?”
Claire blinked as a smile began to form on her lips, “Yes…yes, you can. You just need to will the system to start one. Also, there are no rules against turning them on in a Keeper’s office. They just get shut off when the room gets secured.”
“Good,” Ian said, his voice going cold. “Then don’t secure the room when she comes in. I’m tired of dealing with this all the time. If I end up making things better for my sister, this will be worth it.”
“I’ve got your back,” Claire said with a nod as she began typing on her tablet. “We’ve still got a little bit before she shows up, which gives us a chance to go over what we have available to us.”
*~*~*
A knock on the door preceded Avra’s entrance into Claire’s office. Her face was plastered with a large smile, and she moved as if there were cameras taking pictures of her every step.
“Adventurer Avra of Peerless, please feel free to take a seat on the sofa,” Claire said with a gesture.
Avra gave her a slight bow and sat down in an obviously rehearsed pose as the door was shut by the AO representative who escorted her.
“You can cut the whole public persona thing. I find all of it quite annoying if I’m being honest.” Ian said from where he stood next to the window.
Avra looked over at him for a moment before her poise vanished, and she leaned back into the chair, sighing. “It is incredibly tiring, isn’t it? Spending hours putting on a show for the viewers?”
Ian was glad his face and voice were concealed. Seeing her relaxed pissed him off. Taking a deep breath, he took a second to center himself. His anger wasn’t something he needed right now.
“I wouldn’t know,” Ian finally replied. “I don’t change my personality when I stream. All the quirks are all me, which is probably because I forget people are watching most of the time. It’s one of the reasons I keep refusing to entertain the idea of joining Peerless.”
She smirked and cocked an eyebrow, “Only one of the reasons?”
“Arguably the lesser reason,” Ian said, voice neutral.
“Really? Please enlighten me, because if it is just that you are intimately involved with your Keeper here, I’m sure Peter would be more than happy to bring you both.”
The self-assured way she said it made it obvious that she thought it was the truth. Ian couldn’t help but shake his head at the ridiculous response from a woman that he obviously didn’t understand anymore—if he had ever understood her in the first place.
“Got it in one, did I?” Avra gloated as she met Claire’s intense glare.
Ian’s sudden belly laugh drew both women’s attention, “It’s hard to take you seriously wh—ah whatever.” He cut himself off before sighing and looking at her. “I’m talking about what you did to your ex.”
She got a confused look on her face before asking, “Which one?”
“Ian Spelling,” Claire said in an unamused tone.
“Ah, the perfect little simping boyfriend I had in my past life? What about him?”
It took everything Ian had to keep himself from lashing out at the self-assured look on Avra’s face. He forced his reactions down and focused on the opportunity in front of him.
“You framed him and ruined his life,” Ian said, unable to keep some of the incredulity out of his voice. “And you don’t seem to show any remorse about what you’ve done to him.”
Avra started laughing, causing both Ian and Claire to look at each other.
“I think it is almost impossible to ruin Ian’s life,” Avra said, her giggles disappeared as her voice gained an edge as she continued. “He was good at everything he ever did, to the point it was nearly unbearable to be near him by the end of our relationship. Always setting goals and exceeding them while I just sat there, unable to figure out what I wanted out of life.
“And the attention he garnered was sickening,” she said, pausing as if she was caught in a memory. “I could tell everyone around me was constantly judging me for being with him, thinking I wasn’t good enough for perfect Ian. I knew that those vultures were just looking for reasons to tear me down to take my spot.
“Which is why I wasn’t surprised when Peter told me he was cheating on me. Of course he was; he had so many women who wanted to have him doting on them—women who were more than willing to throw themselves at him. Even if he wasn’t able to level, the women never stopped throwing themselves at him, and I’m sure he dived dick first into their arms when I wasn’t around.”
Ian just started chuckling as he shook his head at the craziness spewing from her mouth.
“You can’t be serious. You literally took everything from him because some used car salesman told you that your devoted boyfriend was cheating on you?”
Avra just scoffed at him, “Listen, Zero, I’m sure he is some high paid inventor at this point. His internship should be over by now, and there’s no way they would let his talent go. Besides, his boss was a big-boobed bimbo who was always letting him know how much potential he had.”
Ian just stared at her for a moment before he looked at Claire, who was shaking her head with a look of disbelief on her face.
“Avra, you didn’t know that he lost his internship after you accused him of abusing you?”
“Right, I’m sure he did,” Avra said sarcastically with an amused look.
“Are you fucking serious?” he asked, his sharp tone cutting the look off her face. His anger began to boil to the surface. “You literally accused someone of beating you until you could barely move. You openly accused him on a live stream being viewed by millions of people. He sat there for an hour after you left, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
“Then, when he got kicked out of the restaurant, he got jumped by a few of your adoring fans. They beat him within an inch of his life, leaving him in the hospital for over a week. Once he was released, he learned he’d lost his internship and had been evicted from his apartment. Not that there was anything left after Peerless stole everything out of it.”
Avra stood up, “You’re obviously lying. Peter told me how Ian couldn’t stand to be around that apartment or keep any of the stuff because it reminded him of our life together, so he got new stuff for a new place near his work.
“Which is exactly what Ian would have done. He may have been a cheating scumbag, and I may have been angry with him and stretched the truth slightly, but he’d just continue on towards his next goal.”
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“Can I give them to her?” Claire asked as she got up and moved across the room, picking up a folder. When Ian nodded, she pulled out the top sheet and handed it to her. “This is a copy of his eviction notice.”
Avra grabbed it and began reading. After a moment, she looked up at Claire with wide eyes. Instead of letting her say anything, Claire handed her about a dozen sheets stapled together, “And this is a copy of the report on why Ian was fired from his internship. It contains statements from a dozen mid to high-level management types that determined he was too much of a PR liability, especially with him being hospitalized and your fans calling for blood.”
Ian gave her a second before clearing his throat, “Now that you are taking this seriously, we have two options. You can sit down, and I can continue with story time, or you can leave and learn about everything I’m about to tell you from the media. Your choice.”
Claire sat back down, waving the large binder she was holding, drawing Avra’s attention. Avra looked between her and Ian before sitting back down.
“Fine, Zero. These are officially signed by the curator, so they have been vetted. So, let’s hear it…” Avra said, crossing her arms.
Ian felt a small pang of happiness when he heard the tiniest hint of trepidation in her voice. He just hoped she was capable of feeling sorry about what she did, and not just how it might mess up her public image.
“Well, he spent the next three weeks trying to find a place to live, being forced to stay in crappy hotels that didn’t ask for names. He couldn’t find a job, and the hotels quickly ate away his savings.”
“Then why didn’t he just go to his parents for a place to stay?” Avra cut in as if it were obvious.
Ian chuckled as his shadowy face stared at her, “I thought you said you knew him, Avra? His father always looked for ways to tear him down. It had been that way since he was in high school, and you gave him the perfect ammunition to cut his son out without his friends judging him. Gave him a justified reason that he’d been right all along, that son wasn’t perfect and had just hidden all the evil he was capable of.
“Of course, he never did any of the things you accused him of, but that didn’t matter. Your lies stopped having the same meaning to him once he began to go hungry. He sold his phone, car, and everything but a couple of pairs of clothes to buy food and keep a roof over his head. He would have killed himself if it wasn’t for the fact that he had a chance encounter with probably one of the only people who knew he wasn’t capable of the things you had said.
“And before you say another thing that’s stupid, Ian has only ever slept with you. There was no one before, during, or after you. So, this person isn’t someone he was sleeping with behind your back, but she is someone who knew he hadn’t done those things to you. She just gave him a job, letting him earn enough for food and a rundown room to live in.”
“I don’t believe you. He definitely cheated on me, and he’s probably been with a ton of women since then.” Avra said, her face jumping between anger and something Ian couldn’t quite place. Then she muttered, “It’s not like you can prove he hasn’t…”
“Actually,” Claire said as she pulled out another group of papers, “Here is a copy of a redacted report from Vision, who has met Ian multiple times. He is sometimes called in to verify the truth behind the different facets of a complex story. As you can see on page two near the top, he can even tell everyone a person has been intimate with.”
Avra turned the page before checking the information she saw. Reaching the bottom of the last page, her countenance dropped as she saw the dungeon curator’s seal. That was the moment he saw that she realized it was the truth, but he wasn’t going to stop until his story was over.
“Anyways, back to story time,” he said, drawing Avra’s attention again. “That woman was his only friend for over a year, and the only reason he didn’t kill himself. It was something he had considered many times leading up to that point. But with someone to ground him in the world again, even if it was just to say hello a few times a week, he decided to get back into the dungeons.
Avra looked at him, bewilderment apparent on her features.
“He discovered that he could actually level,” he paused, watching her mind begin to process what he was saying. “Which is where the only thing you’ve said about him that contained any truth kicked in. Ian seems to be addicted to setting and achieving goals.
“Leveling was much harder for him than normal. He was only able to level up using the completion rewards for finishing off a boss. To make matters worse, his levels didn’t increase his stats, so he was stuck running the Slime Caverns 99 times.
“After nearly a year and a half of hard work, Ian hit level 100 and discovered he was graced with a Hard Mode Awakening Challenge. This challenge awoke inherent powers that someone like you could only dream about. A power that further empowers himself and those close to him to a level that you will only be able to dream about as they climb right past you, while realizing that it could have been you if you had only given a shit about someone who had truly made you the center of his world.”
Avra’s face became stony, though she didn’t make a sound as she stared at him. He was pretty sure she knew by now, but it didn’t matter. He wasn’t doing this only for himself anymore. His sister hadn’t deserved the pain she had gone through, or the way others still treated her just for being supportive of him.
“The only reason Ian has decided to publish these papers is that the situation is no longer only impacting his life. He recently learned it was also hurting Ashlyn, his little sister.
“She was the only one to try to clear his name, and it cost her everything. She lost her scholarship, her parents kicked her out, and she couldn’t find a job. She is now in training here through one of the ‘Homeless to Hero’ programs. However, people still treat her like shit because of your lies.”
Ian stopped and stared at the woman he had once thought he would set the world ablaze for…and felt nothing but anger at her lack of empathy. Her eyes were focused and glued to his shadowy face. He could see the gears turning, and he recognized it for what it was—her mind attempting to find a way to warp the situation to her advantage. Then he saw her face change to show sorrow, and a few tears began to slide down her cheeks.
Seeing the poor attempt at acting made him momentarily wonder about how blind he must have been when they had originally been together. How much of his life had been a lie due to his inability to really see the woman in front of him for who she was? How much had his failure to see past her veneer cost him and those around him?
“I-I didn’t know.” She stuttered out, interrupting his thoughts.
“And I no longer care,” Ian said, no emotion in his voice. “Either you didn’t care enough to consider the outcome of your actions, or you didn’t care what would happen. I am not even sure if those tears are real, and—back to the original point—I don’t really care anymore.
“Claire,” Ian said, pulling out his phone and turning his attention to his Keeper. “Release everything to the public. I’m not going to just let her off with a ‘he said, she said’ social media trial. There are hundreds of millions of people watching right now, so let them see the thousands of pages proving she lied. I don’t even want the money from suing them.”
Avra pulled out her phone, and a very real look of terror crossed her features as she saw that the phone was working and that he was streaming. “This is a keeper’s office! You can’t stream or use phones in here!”
Claire just pointed at the panel on her desk to show her that the secure mode wasn't on before shrugging. “I am only legally bound to protect the interests of my adventurers. As you have so graciously let the AO know multiple times, you are above needing our meager assistance.”
Avra threw her phone across the room at the wall before turning to Ian, “How could you do this to me? What did I ever do to you?”
Ian just started chuckling at the irate woman, “You are probably the only person who hasn’t figured it out yet.”
As the shadows around his face disappeared, Avra’s eyes widened in shock as she froze in place.
“Do you still want me to send it? We can’t sue them if we release everything.” Claire said, looking up from her tablet.
“I, Ian Spelling, also known under the adventuring alias of Zero, authorize the full disclosure of everything in my record with the exception of my status page and skills listing,” Ian said as he put his phone back into his pocket.
“Done,” Claire said before turning to the woman who was still staring at Ian. “Avra of Peerless. By order of the Guild Master of the Adventuring Office, you, along with every other member of your clan, are no longer welcome on the campus proper. This is an official notification that any further attempts to recruit Zero will be treated as harassment and will be handed over to the dungeon curator for arbitration.”
Avra just blinked at Claire.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Avra said, in almost a whisper.
“And I can’t believe you haven’t left yet,” Claire said. “I didn’t think I would have to spell it out for you. You need to get out of my office before I run out of self-control and I start saying horrible, horrible things to you.”
The two women just stared at each other for another few moments before Claire shrugged, “Well, you were warned. You are a nasty, dis—”
A knock at the door cut Claire off before it opened as a man and woman in AO security uniforms walked in.
“You called for security?” The woman asked before looking over at Avra and giving the woman a sneer. “Ah, I think I understand. Avra of Peerless, please allow us to escort you from the campus. The members of Peerless are only authorized on this campus with a security escort or direct permission from the director.”
“You think we are in danger from the other adventurers?” Avra asked, obviously panicked.
“No, we just don’t trust you,” said the woman with a look that said Avra was being stupid. “Mr. Dinkem has just been informed of the changes to your clan’s status. Now, get moving. You’ve lived a very naive life up to this point, so it’s time for you to find out what it’s like when being pretty isn’t enough to get you through.”
When Avra didn’t move, the woman just sighed before adding, “Or I can just teleport you onto the sidewalk right outside of the campus into the crowd that is very upset to discover you have been manipulating them for support.”
“We can’t do that,” the man said as he grabbed Avra’s arm and started pulling her towards the door. “She’s only level 481—barely stronger than a normal human when she’s outside of the dungeon. They’d probably seriously hurt her like her fans did to Ze—”
The door shut, cutting off the man’s words.
Sitting down, Ian breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Claire came over to stand in front of him.
“You going to be alright?” she asked gently.
“Yeah, I think so,” Ian said, rubbing his unhidden face with his hands. “I need to say goodbye to my stream, though. Then I think I need a drink…or six.”
“I’ll handle it, you just relax for a minute,” Claire said. She looked around for a few seconds before sighing. “It’s so hard when you can’t see the drones. I now see why you look so awkward most of the time.”
“Right? I keep telling people I’m not crazy, but you will be fine if you just start talking. The curator is amazing at finding the right angles.”
“Alright, I can do that,” Claire said before clearing her throat. “Hello to everyone watching. Keepers rarely make it on stream, so this is kind of new for me. I know this wasn’t your normal type of stream, and a lot of things have been said that probably deserve a more detailed explanation. Before I begin to explain, I ask you all to please keep an eye open on your favorite media sites who can reach out to the public relations office here at the AO for official copies of the documents we just released.
“To sum up some information, we have known Ian Spelling was not guilty of any of the accu—”
Ian just smiled at Claire as she went through the pertinent details, as he sat there thinking. It had been a gamble, but it was worth it for his sister. Besides, he wasn’t alone anymore. He had over a dozen people who he could call friends now, and he could actually let them see his face now.
Hiding who he was had been exhilarating at first, but Diana had been right; it was completely exhausting after a while. Having to watch what he said when he was around his sister, or during his streams, so he didn’t accidentally say his name. It was like living under a constant state of fear that he hadn’t realized had been weighing him down until it was gone.
“—hold no desire for anything to happen to Avra or her team, and hope they continue to delve dungeons and grow stronger. With any luck, Ian will see some of them during the tournament next month.
“So, I hope everyone has a good weekend, but right now both Ian and I need to go get a well-earned drink. Hopefully, with some friends if they are going to be at the AO’s cafeteria later.”
Ian chuckled as Claire gave the air above his head a wink and a wave.
“Good job,” he said as she walked over to her desk to put everything back in place. “You’re a natural at talking over my head.”
She let out a quiet giggle, “Your sister was right, you’re a goober.”
They both laughed as they made their way out of the office.
