Victor (The Ancients)

"There's nothing else to say except 'let the game begin'"

Victor is the main antagonist of the book The Ancients: A Game, by Bernard Putz. He is a leader of a Quantum-like organization (known only as "the Cartel") that aims to control the Internet in the 22nd century. His ultimate goal is to find an artifact containing the zero-day history virus, which will enable the organization to wipe out large chunks of the World Wide Web.

To accomplish his goals, he creates the titular The Ancients: A Game video game so that teens can find the artifact for him.

Biography
Victor first appears when he attacks a car containing Professor George Reyes and his son Jared. George has information concerning the artifact, and knows that forces are aligning against him. While Victor gloats to him about his capture, George is tazed and taken, while Jared is questioned by the FBI (who accuse George of being part of a conspiracy).

The Master Plan:
A few days later, Victor attends a meeting of the Cartel in Asia. He gives a speech on how finding the artifact is vital to their plans of global online domination. The artifact was hidden by a man who left history-related clues across the Internet. Victor then reveals their latest plan to find it: the Cartel has created a massive online roleplaying game called The Ancients: A Game. Players use contact lenses and nanobots to "go back in time" and play quests; in reality, it is a tool for the Cartel to gather information about the artifact's location. Victor gets into an argument with several senior members, who question the idea of using a video game. He diffuses the tension and tells them the plan will succeed.

Another Cartel meeting is held a week later. Victor flies into a rage when he learns that the game was breached by a hacker who added power-ups. Also, a drone assassination attempt on George Reyes' brother Alberto failed, and he has gone into hiding. Along with putting Cartel mercenaries in the game, the ambitious Director of Engineering suggests seducing one of Jared's friends to join the Cartel. Victor agrees happily. At another meeting, Victor rants to the other senior members about how whoever controlled information in the past controlled the people. He learns that a team from California's Globus Academy high school, which includes Jared Reyes, has made the most progress in The Ancients and possibly knows about the true purpose of the game. The Director of Engineering tells Victor that he has successfully convinced one of Jared's friends to work as a mole for the Cartel.

The Globus Academy team eventually finds the artifact (a glass sphere filled with liquid) in an abandoned Silicon Valley lab, guarded only by the device's aged creator. He reveals to them that the artifact holds the zero-day history virus, which could give a person the power to erase massive chunks of the Internet and rewrite it in their favor. While originally created as an experiment, the device grew too powerful to handle, and, after having the lab shut down, its creators dedicated their lives to protecting it.

Final Battle:
Suddenly, Victor appears and tranquilizes the guard. Jared's friend Ethan comes forward and reveals that he is a mole working with the Cartel. He tells his former friends that those who control information control the world, and they should join him to create a new future (in reality, the Cartel preyed on his loneliness and unrequited crush for Jared's friend to "turn him to the dark side.") When they refuse, a battle ensues between the teens and Victor's men. The fight triggers the lab's holographic security system, which changes the appearance of the lab's floors to look like scenes from history (ex. a medieval castle, a Chinese temple). Victor's mercenaries are killed by the security system, and Ethan is badly wounded.

However, Victor escapes to a mobile command center and contacts the teens by telescreen. He claims that he is holding George and his wife hostage, and won't free them until he gets the artifact. Jared's uncle Alberto calls Jared on speaker phone and tells Victor that an assault team has freed the Reyes'. A furious Victor smashes his desk and throws his computer across the room, cutting off connection.

Jared then destroys the zero-day virus artifact, saying that the world isn't ready for such powerful technology.

Physical Appearance
Little is known about what Victor looks like, except that he is tall and has grey hair. He wears designer suits. When he is angry, his face turns red and his veins are visible.

It is also implied that Victor isn't even his real name; members of the Cartel often use psuedonyms for security purposes.