Bugz tossed her hair to one side and leaned in closer to her prey. Her heads-up-display visor cast a rose-colored glow across her cheekbones as she studied her targets. On-screen, a stream of comments flooded her peripheral vision. She paid the chat feed absolutely no mind, at least not for the moment. Her vision narrowed to a tunnel as she prepared for a huge battle, one she had no intention of losing. Besides, she’d turned her location off hours ago so no one on the stream could reveal her plan to the marks. She inched closer to the edge of the cedar trees and listened to them shouting down below. All five hundred of them. She liked her odds.

“We worked too hard and fought too long for anything less than victory!”

Bugz recognized the imposing eight-foot-tall warrior now shouting—Alpha. A scar bisected his face, testifying to a past battle. His eyes—each a different color, one green and one brown—reminded Bugz of a wild dog, a husky that fled captivity and returned as the leader of a pack of wolves. Bugz knew his online backstory. Alpha began his ascent in the ’Verse by slaughtering the gamer clan that welcomed him in as a noob. As fierce as he looked he still only stood second in the ’Verse’s global fan rankings. Bugz slowly drew a deep breath and reminded herself that she ranked #1.

Bugz noted all of Alpha’s followers gathered below wore an Ø symbol on their arms as a way of paying homage to their scarred leader. They called themselves Clan:LESS, the clan that was not a clan, a nod to Alpha cannibalizing his first team. They counted among their ranks a mishmash of the best soldiers and mercenaries from across the Floraverse. Bugz studied their artillery: massive guns, laser cannons, and the coolest energy swords crypto could buy. Not bad, she thought to herself. But nothing special.

“For years we’ve journeyed across the ’Verse seeking what is rightfully ours!” Alpha yelled. Bugz, still hidden, rolled her eyes. “The resources, the creatures, the weapons we need to dominate the Spirit World. All of it is rightfully ours. Men built this technology, men perfected the blockchain, and now it’s run by a woman? No! We will take it back from her.” Bugz studied Alpha, scanning the obedient stares of his charges. “We’ll take it back in battle. She can never beat us…we must always win!” The crowd roared its approval.

Gross. Bugz stepped farther back behind the cedar tree. She hated Clan:LESS—they harassed women who played the game, shared sexist content, and banned women from joining their ranks.

“I thought this VR and AR stuff promised to make a better world,” Bugz whispered to herself. The chat in her display screen exploded with comments. “Oh well. I guess we can create better technology without becoming better people.”