Chapter 24: It's Good To Be Admin

Spiderweb was almost complete. Those who had completed their tasks already were celebrating. Spam flew thick and fast. The Ratt had taken it upon himself to provide food for the party. Dintiradan stopped by the buffet table.

"What's this?" He stared at a pitcher of green liquid.

"Oh, that's avocado punch."

"Avocado punch. The tortilla chips and guacamole is excellent. The avocado casserole is fine. The avocado cake is really pushing it. But avocado punch? Don't you have anything that isn't made out of avocados?"

"Nope." The Ratt shook his head.

"Well, after tonight I want you to summon a few crates of kumquats and figure out how to make something out of those instead."

The Ratt sighed. "If you insist."

Dintiradan found the Lurker. "Let's go install the panel now."

Nioca jumped as someone appeared beside him. "What are you doing here, Thuryl?"

"Lilith," she said.

"Oh. What are you doing here, Lilith?"

"Well, let's face it. If I was ever going to leave, I would have left a long time ago."

Student of Trinity and Schrodinger were just finishing the wiring of the General Forum when Dintiradan and the Lurker walked in with the admin panel. The elevator wasn't functional yet, so the two of them carried it up the stairs to the top floor. They installed it in the Moderator Board.

Lord Grimm saw Dintiradan and the Lurker go inside. He found the others. "It's time."

Tyranicus took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go."

Tyranicus, Andraste, Nemesis, and the Silent Assassin crept into Ermarian. Lord Grimm remained by Spiderweb so he could watch for Dintiradan and the Lurker coming out.

While the others remained out of sight, Tyranicus approached the room that had Iffy and Garzad in it. "Hey, Jewels."

Jewels moved so that she was directly in front of the door and watched him suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to relieve you so you can join the party."

"Nice try. Go away before I report you to Dintiradan."

Tyranicus lunged at Jewels. A moment later, two powerful shades rose up out of the ground and attacked. They quickly paralyzed Tyranicus.

Jewels chained him up. "Now why did you go and do that for?"

"...ak," Tyranicus managed.

Jewels unlocked the door and hauled Tyranicus inside. The shades remained on guard outside. However, their paralysis attack was useless against Nemesis' dainslaifs. His sword and two crossbows managed to whittle the shades down. Andraste stormed around the corner and finished them off easily.

Jewels stepped out of the room. "You too?" She swung her axe at Andraste. Andraste parried.

Now the Silent Assassin and Nemesis joined the fight. The three of them knocked Jewels unconscious, carried her inside, and chained her up.

Nemesis cast unshackle mind on Tyranicus and undid the chains while the Silent Assassin freed Garzad and Iffy.

"We're taking Dintiradan down tonight. What evidence do you have against him?" Andraste asked.

"Do you need anything more than the fact that he locks people up and then lies about it?" Iffy asked.

"Well, it's a good start, but I was hoping for something a bit more unchallengeable. Dintiradan can probably talk his way out of that."

The Silent Assassin pointed to his watch.

"You're right. We'll try it and see how it goes," Tyranicus said.

Tyranicus, Nemesis, Andraste, the Silent Assassin, Garzad, and Iffy ran outside. The party was in full swing, so no one paid much attention to them. Lord Grimm found them quickly, however. "Dintiradan and the Lurker just left. They should be back soon."

When Dintiradan and the Lurker arrived with the final piece for the admin panel, the seven Spiderwebbers blocked their path.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dintiradan demanded.

"We're here to stop you. You aren't fit to be our leader," Tyranicus said, "Give me that piece of the admin panel you have."

"I refuse to dignify that baseless accusation with a response. Please step aside," Dintiradan said.

"Baseless? You lied to everyone! You told us that Arancaytar, ET, and Garzad betrayed us when you actually had them locked up in a secret dungeon! You're evil!" Iffy said.

Dintiradan stared at Iffy for a moment. Then he sighed. "Look, I know you're only trying to help, but you've been taken in by lies and now you're spreading them to other people. I most certainly did not lock up Aran or ET or Garzad in a secret dungeon. It was part of their ploy to kidnap Stareye so that they could try to take control."

For one second, Iffy believed him. Had he really been tricked? Then he pulled himself together. "No! I'm telling the truth! I may be a bit spammy and annoying, but you're an Evil Overlord! You can't be trusted!"

"Evil Overlords never lie! Tell us what you had planned this time? Everyone knows Stareye can't take over now. Who did you want to be in charge instead?"

Tyranicus looked around and saw how close the crowd was getting to his group. A few people looked doubtful, but most looked angry. He swallowed hard.

Lilith approached Nioca and punched him in the face.

"Huh? What's going on?" Nioca snapped out of his trance.

"Cover your ears! Don't listen to Dintiradan!"

"Ty-ow!"

Tyranicus quickly stomped on Iffy's foot. "Anyone could do a better job than you, Dintiradan. Now hand it over."

"No." Dintiradan kept both hands on the device.

"Ahahaha! Anyone? No, we all know there's only one person who could do the job properly." Emperor Tullegolar pushed his way through the crowd. He was badly burned and his robe was closer to ash than cloth. "Me! After all, unlike some of you, I would never leave someone trapped in a building to burn. Ahahaha!" He leaned on Nicothodes. "Now would I?"

"Get away from me!" Nicothodes pushed him away.

Lilith punched Thralni next. "Cover your ears! You won't like what's going to happen next."

"Anyone, you say?" Shard of Fire asked, "And all we have to do in order to be root admin is stick that device into the admin panel?"

"No," Dintiradan said.

"Yes," Tyranicus said.

"Give it to me!" Delicious Vlish sprang at Dintiradan. The Lurker hit him with Homeland. He crumpled.

Salmon took out his fishing rod and cast for the device. The hook snagged it firmly and Salmon yanked it out of Dintiradan's hands. He reeled in quickly. "It's coming your way, Tyranicus!"

Lilith pulled Duck aside and kicked him. "Get a hold of yourself!"

Duck rubbed his shin. "Huh? What?"

Nalyd jumped on the device and pulled it off the hook. "Haha, take that, fishhead!" He ran for Spiderweb. Shard of Fire tripped him. The device bounced out of Nalyd's hands and onto the ground. The Silent Assassin dove on it and wrapped himself around it as a mob formed around him.

Nioca had closed his eyes as well as clamped his hands firmly over his ears. "Lalala, not listening!"

"Ha! Mine!" Slartucker straightened up with the device held over his head.

"No fair!" Randomizer jumped for it and missed.

Iffy pushed Stareye towards the building. "Get upstairs! I'll get it to you, I promise!"

Stareye shook his head. "I can't! I don't remember!"

"You'll figure it out!"

"You do it, then!"

"They won't listen to me! But some of them will listen to you. Please. For Spiderweb."

Stareye bowed his head. "Okay." He sneaked inside.

Mr. Stickybuns swooped out of nowhere and snatched the device out of Slartucker's hands. Actaeon pulled out his bow. Mr. Stickybuns fell with an arrow through a wing. The Almighty Doer of Stuff rushed over and scooped up Mr. Stickybuns before someone could step on him. Goldenking picked up the device.

Iffy stole the device. He made it several feet before anyone realized what had happened. Several people gave chase. Student of Trinity stepped into Iffy's path and reached out as if taking the device. Instead, he clutched a rock that was about the same size under his lab coat. "I'll hold them off." He pushed Iffy down and ran for Spiderweb. The mob caught up to him and knocked him down to the ground. Iffy slipped inside. Dintiradan saw him enter and followed.

Iffy sprinted all the way up the stairs and was so out of breath by the time he reached the Moderator Board that he was about ready to collapse. He handed the device to Stareye. "Here... take it..." He leaned over and clutched his side to ease a cramp.

Stareye approached the admin panel and tried to figure out where the device went. He had already touched the admin panel by the time he noticed that it was already active. And trapped. The trap blasted Stareye all the way into the far wall. He didn't get back up.

"Stareye!" Iffy yelled.

Stareye coughed weakly.

"Heh." Dintiradan stepped into the room. "You didn't seriously think I'd leave myself so vulnerable, did you? I knew someone would want to stop me." He took the device out of Stareye's hands. "This is the last piece to the admin panel, true, but all it does is control custom titles. No, I set myself up as the root admin when I installed the panel." He examined the device as he talked. "Unfortunately, it looks like this piece was damaged in the explosion. Oh well. I'll fix it after I restore order."

Iffy's legs gave out. He slid to the floor.

Dintiradan looked out the window. Student of Trinity had been killed before anyone had figured out all he had was a rock. Confused and horrified, the mob was breaking up. Lilith pulled Nioca's hands away from his ears. "You can stop singing now. It's over."

"Who won?" Nioca stared up at the window and saw Dintiradan looking down. "Oh. Oh no."

Stareye coughed again, weaker this time. "I... I remember... now..." His voice trailed off.

Dintiradan smiled calmly. "It doesn't matter now."