"Lacero
" is a Ready Player One fanfic written by Andy Weir that is an Ascended Fanfic.
This short story is about an OASIS user who goes by the handle of Lacero, shortly after the location of the first clue to Anorak’s Easter Egg was announced to the public. While Lacero is seeking the Egg, he's not a gunter. He has his own plans for the OASIS should he win.
Tropes that appear in this fanfic:
- Adaptational Intelligence: The normally Culture Blind Nolan Sorrento has at least a grasp on Star Trek, and is able to piece together the process to destroy the OASIS from a line involving Kirk, Scotty and Chekov.
- Canon Character All Along: Lacero is revealed near the end to be Nolan Sorrento.
- Cloud Cuckooland: One of the planets in the OASIS is named Cloud Cuckoo Land, which is host to several bizarre scenarios based on conspiracy theories. It's also able to allow Lacero's DeLorean to actually time-travel, among other things.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Lacero/Sorrento wasn't merely trying to solve the Egg Hunt for IOI, he wanted to destroy the entire OASIS.
- "Eureka!" Moment: At the Harmonic Convergence in Cloudcuckooland, Lacero hears the words "Like Kirk, Scott, and Chekov, too, the genesis is all for you." Four of the films for Star Trek: The Original Series were released in The '80s, one scene had all three characters, and that was the self-destruction of the Enterprise in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which was one of the films that featured the Genesis Device, which could create and destroy life. So he deduces that whoever won the Egg Hunt would be able to destroy the OASIS and this is how Sorrento decides on his course of action.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lacero/Sorrento had a sister who was a gunter. She burned through her inheritance and resorted to taking meth to stay up to be in the OASIS, eventually dying of an overdose. Her fate is at the core of Sorrento's motivation to destroy the OASIS because he blames it for her death.
- Genius Ditz: Sorrento is normally Culture Blind, but he has a firm enough grasp on his knowledge of Star Trek to formulate his plan from there.
- The Name Is Bond, James Bond: When the interviewer accepts Lacero into IOI's employment and is asked his name, he replies: "Sorrento. Nolan Sorrento".
- Origins Episode: This fic provides background on Nolan Sorrento and his motivations.
- Take That!: The title character puts down the premise of Ready Player One by declaring that everyone spending all their time in the OASIS is why the Mega Corps have taken over and alternative energy sources haven't been developed.
- Villain Protagonist: The story focuses on Nolan Sorrento, the main villain of Ready Player One.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Sorrento. Apart from his intention to destroy the OASIS for what happened to his sister, he wants to make people talk about the problems in the world and hopefully make it better."You want to know what I'll do if I win? I'll shut down GSS. Dismantle everything it has and sell it off. OASIS will be dead, and people will have to face reality. They'll be forced to live in the world they've been neglecting. Then maybe, just maybe, they'll start to make it better. Meanwhile I'll be rich."
