Chapter 6: Smiling at an inevitable loss.

Mr. Smith is watching attentively. Although he is not boasting anymore his face is calm, there is not a single trace of worries. It’s like he don’t care about the bet, like it is nothing to him, and to be honest it is true. He has no idea who Kortef is, he couldn’t guess if he could possibly classify to the 3rd round or not. The reason why he made the bet is simple: He has a big grudge against Mr. Ackerman almost to the point it could be called enmity.

Mr. Smith started working in Blue Moon Enterprise 40 years ago, when the Virtual Reality Drives were at its final development stage and BME was far from being a worldwide renowned business.

He worked hard since the beginning. He worked so hard for his dream of creating the first virtual world that he neglected his personal life. He never fell in love with a woman. He never had his own family. He never had a son.

But he is not a lonely person, he has two brothers, and of course, nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews. Mr. Smith has never regretted not forming his own family because in his heart he is always blessed with the love of a family.

Mr. Ackerman started working 7 years after Mr. Smith, when BME started to flourish with the sales of the first generation of VRDs. He started working in a different department than Mr. Smith but they soon made acquaintances of each other, you can even say that at some point there was a friendship between them.

20 years later they both had executive positions in the enterprise and they got to know each other better. Some years later Mr. Ackerman’s son, Alfred Ackerman, married the daughter of the owner of the majority of the shares of BME and after this Mr. Ackerman’s status in BME raised abruptly.

Eight years ago Mr. Smith got promoted to the presidency of Glassglow branch of BME. Even when he was transferred to another location far from where he spent his past 30 years working hard he was happy, it was the highest point of his career.

However after some time he learnt the truth of his promotion. He got transferred to another city so Mr. Ackerman could be promoted to main president. But Mr. Smith he couldn’t complain, after all, Mr. Ackerman was a very good businessman and with him as president, BME grew exponentially.

The grudge against Mr. Ackerman came from six years ago. His secretary every morning puts in his desk the newspaper and some magazines. Mr. Smith almost never bothers with the magazines because most of them are just sensationalist but that fated day he had some free time so he decided to check them.

In the cover of one of those magazines there was a header that called his attention: “Love problems in the Virtual Gaming industries.” He laughed so hard at the tittle thinking of what kind of bizarre poll this time they did in order to sell more copies. However, the explanation beneath the tittle froze him in place: “Alfred Ackerman and Jeanne Bell divorce, more information on p23.”

After reading the article he was not sure how much of the information was truth. Nevertheless some information fit flawlessly and really made sense: Mr. Ackerman used his son in order to gain the trust of Gregory Bell, the owner of the majority of the shares of BME.

The article said that Alfred Ackerman went as far as throwing 3 years of the major he was studying in order to enter the same university as Jeanne Bell to start wooing her and that Jeanne was forced to marry because she got pregnant.

Mr. Smith understood everything. He was blind, but he saw the bitter truth.

But even when he learnt the truth he decided to not do anything. It was hard to say if he really couldn’t do anything or if he just didn’t care at all. He was blessed with a good life and even if some bastard took advantage of a relationship to climb faster he was still satisfied with his life.

In the last 6 years he only decided to evade meeting with Mr. Ackerman and paid no mind if what that article said was true or not.

The problem was that today, right in front of him, Alfred Ackerman said that another player used underhanded methods in order to win. When he heard the word “underhanded” from the mouth of Alfred it was like if a professional baseball player hit him in the testicles with a metal bat. Each successive word he spat was like a drop of boiling oil in the skin. Of course Mr. Ackerman boasting about his son’s knowledge was the ice on the cake. He didn’t care at all who Kortef was nor did he know if he was capable of classifying to the 3rd round, but if by any chance he did, it was going to be awesome if he could scrub it in their faces.

The amount of money in the bet was just a bait so Mr. Ackerman had to accept. It was not a small amount but Mr. Smith said it so naturally that if Mr. Ackerman backed off, he could boast about him being scared of losing some pennies. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Mr. Smith to buy a lottery ticket in which the grand prize was a slap in Mr. Ackerman’s face.

The first 5 minutes of the match were worth the 200.000 dollars. The face of Mr. Ackerman and his son were priceless. Of course they calmed down after seeing that Kortef and his team were just mediocre players because they only contained 2 from the 8 players when it was their turn to snipe. They started to show off their knowledge and Mr. Smith followed the flow of the conversation, he was just trying to be polite.

In the middle of the 2nd round most the crowd who watched the avalanche dispersed. By the start of the 3rd round there were less than 20 persons watching those 30 screens. It was a depressing in that side of the lobby.

Mr. Smith watches as the yellow team get wiped twice, and it was clear that they are fated to lose unless the Red Team intervened but it is clear that they will not.

Some moments later the yellow team gather and one of the members pushes another, like if they are discussing or fighting. Mr. Smith grow curious as to what is happening and abusing his power once again he orders one of the technicians to display the sound of the global conversation on that match. Normally all of the 200 screens are muted and you could only hear some background sounds and music, if all screes were unmuted you could imagine the degree acoustic chaos that would happen.

When there is 3:47 left on the clock the Yellow Team strangely start walking towards the Red Team and in that instant the voice of the general chat could be heard. Because they are in the spawn line, an imaginary 20 meters frame where they start, they are immune to bullets. Unless they step forward the Blue Team could not harm neither team.

“Hahaha.” There is a general laughter coming from the Red Team when the Yellow Team approach them.

“The yellow team pay their respects to the imperial loser’s team.” A Hybrid speaks and the Yellow Team bow at the same time.

“Uh?” The laughter of the Red Team is immediately appeased. “What the hell do you want, we already lost so don’t dream that we are going to help you. Beat it!” A Specter from the Red Team says.

“Of course we don’t expect the help from a bunch of cowards. No, even if you wanted to help us I doubt you could do something. We just came here to have a memento of the historical moment when we met the most impressive losers in the history of Shooting Range.” A Mutant from the Yellow Team says casually with a derogatory tone.

Mr. Smith has a strange look in his face as this turn of events can’t be considered normal.

“What did you said motherfucker?” A Human from the Red Team steps forward but is stopped by the Specter. “Quiet, no need to fall for their provocations.”

The snipers on the sniper base picked up binoculars to have a clearer view and start to watch uphill.

“What the hell are they doing?” A Mutant from the Blue Team asks.

“No idea, but it’s quite amusing, Maybe they just surrendered.” Another Mutant answers and the first mutant nods.

The conversation uphill start to heat up even more.

“I don’t care who the fuck are you and who’s your mother but I’ll edit the video and make you famous for being a bunch of losers. The bow was just the finishing touch. Hahaha.” The Yellow’s Team Hybrid spays and burst in mocking laughter afterwards.

“Don’t mix parents and games!” The same Human who cursed a little while ago points to the Hybrid menacingly.

“I told you to be quiet!” The Specter reprimands the Human again.

The Battle Droid who was pushed moments ago and has not participated yet in the verbal fight suddenly stepped forward.

“Tch, tch, tch, now I see what the problem with you guys is.” The growing crowd who were attracted by the sounds of a conversation see as a Battle Droid stepped in front of the Yellow Team full of confidence and waved his hand mockingly. “You got a Big Momma problem, your momma's ass is so fat that if she sits she causes 13 avalanches like the one I did. Since you inherited 0.1% of her ass, naturally you are lazy to do exercises.”

The yellow team’s member stare slack-jawed at the Battle Droid. Almost 40 persons in the crowd watching the scene slap their foreheads disbelievingly. Is the climax of the fight a “your momma’s so fat” joke?

There is a sudden silence.

Mr. Smith asks a technician dumbfounded. “Is it allowed to insult people like that?”

The technician answered. “Sir, we are monitoring in case they exceed the threshold, and they haven’t. Your momma’s jokes are so common that they are not treated as insults.”

“I see.” Mr. Smith strokes his chin.

The tense atmosphere persist for a bit more, everybody is quiet.

Suddenly the Specter who stopped the Human twice starts to tremble. It is very bizarre, as if he is convulsing inside the game.

“Bastard! My mother is fat because she’s sick! She has diabetes!” He doesn’t even finish speaking when he pounces towards the Battle Droid and so it starts...

A virtual brawl.

Two Humans, three Mutants, one Battle Droid, one Specter, and one Hybrid. They start to throw punches, kicks, head-butts; everything is a weapon. The crowd which is staring the scene start to cheer and call other people. In the blink of an eye the crowd grows larger and larger.

“Go red team!” someone in midst of the crowd yells.

“Kill, kill, kill!” A group starts to chant.

A Mutant did a suplex to a Human and the crowd explodes.

The Battle Droid picks up a thick branch and starts using it as a bat.

The Hybrid loses his balance and has to curl in the floor because is being kicked by two opponents at the same time.

A Mutant do a dropkick to another Mutant.

Although it is an impressive brawl, it was pointless one. They have invulnerable mode from the attacks made by each other. They could go on forever and they would not die. The funniest part was that they know it. The thing that make them go on is the simple fact of not being humiliated by the other team. Those punches and kicks don’t hurt at all because the pain tolerance was set to the minimum. For example, from a shot at most they feel a pinch. What possibly they can feel from a punch or a kick? Close to nothing. Still they are fighting trying to somehow suppress the other party.

“It’s that legal too?” Mr. Smith asks again the technician at his side.

“Uhm, sir…” The technician doesn’t want to lose focus on the brawl and answers without looking at Mr. Smith while munching some popcorn. “It’s a shooting game, you have to kill people, banning a brawl is pointless.” He has to speak louder at the end because the large crowd burst into cheers.

Mr. Ackerman and his son are watching the spectacle thinking that they already won.

Mr. Smith strokes his chin deep in thought, looking at the screen.

“Time remaining: 0:52”

“NOW!” A thunderous yell from the Battle Droid resounded in the speakers of the lobby startling the crowd which immediately stops the fuss. Some faces even went pale in fear.

Following the yell two Mutants from the Yellow Team grab the Red Team’s Specter from arms and legs and throw him downhill. The Battle Droid and the Hybrid picked each one a leg from a Human and start running at top speed dragging him. The Mutants started running behind them.

“Motherfuckers!” The other Human and the Hybrid from the Red Team begin to chase the Yellow Team.

“Grab your weapons! NOW!” Someone from the Blue Team yells.

The Battle Droid makes a signal to the Hybrid with his hand and the Hybrid immediately nods. The Hybrid releases the leg he was holding, grabs an arm of the Human, and throws it towards the Battle Droid. The Battle Droid at the same time releases the leg he was holding and presses his right shoulder against the back of the human.

“Battle Boots Boosters ON! Ana, all the potency of the shields on my right arm.” The Battle Droid commands.

The basic function of the Battle Boots Boosters armor augmentation is to let the Battle Droid slide instead of having to walk. It doesn’t give any speed boost, but is very useful when using close combat weapons as the Advanced Piercing Plasma Saber because it let you travel short distances unhindered by the terrain. However, the fact that Kortef was using it to slide downhill actually would make him to go faster than running, but since he is pushing someone else he is at a normal speed.

The 3 yellow team members ducked and start running behind the Battle Droid.

*Bang, bang, bang.*

The Blue Team were in a relaxed state and then were caught off guard. Because of this they panicked and their accuracy was terrible, it was proving very hard to aim for them.

Trying to aim a target more than 800 meters away with a scope is not easy in the first place. If you are relaxing in a beach drinking water from a coconut and then you are ordered to immediately pick a weapon at your side and shoot a target, even if the target is just 10 meters away and just standing still you will probably miss unless you take your time to calm down. Now imagine watching a fight scene from the distance, being confident in your victory, relaxing and laughing, and suddenly you have to pick a weapon and aim a moving target 800 meters away. Not even a professional sniper could aim quickly, but professional snipers would not make the mistake of stop aiming at their targets.

*Bang.*

“Damn it, relax your breath and aim, if we kill them once more we win, don’t let them startle you.” After missing the 12th round of shots finally someone from the Blue Team tries to cool the heads of the team.

The other two Red Team members stop chasing.

“Time remaining 0:30”

“How the fuck they are so fast? They are already at the 500 meters mark!” Someone from the crowd asks.

What they didn’t notice previously was that during the 2 minutes of brawl they rolled downhill multiple times. They rolled almost 200 meters, so they had a good start to cover the first 500 meters so quick.

*Bang.*

The Human that the Battle Droid was pushing moments ago is killed and disappears with a flash of light.

“Kill them, don’t let them come near!” A Blue Team Mutant yells.

“Disperse formation for two hundred fifty meters!” The Battle Droid commands and his teammates who are ducking behind them instantly break the row. The command is so precise that in the moment they dispersed a storm of bullets rain where they were split a second ago.

All of the members of the Yellow Team start to move in erratic ways. If a couple of seconds ago it was hard to aim to them you have to take into account that they were running in a straight line. Now that they changed their movements from a simple straight line to erratic patterns it was once again hard to aim to them.

The Battle Droid often jumps and uses the Seismic Strike in order to land quickly, then rolls and continues running. One of the Mutants has a Tentacle Mutation, a Sub Race of the Mutants which gives them a 6 meter long tentacle which they can use as a whip and has the property of draining target’s health. He uses the tentacle in unison with his team in order to change his direction in midair or to drag them in bizarre patterns.

The Hybrids are Humans which has body parts of other races. The Yellow Team’s Hybrid was a Half Droid, this sub race allows them to equip one Human Armor Augmentation and one Battle Droid Armor Augmentation. He has a hologram device as the Human Armor Augmentation and reactive springs as Battle Droid Armor Augmentation.

The hologram device is perfect for setting ambushes, it creates a perfect copy for 10 seconds with high resistance to damage. The reactive springs let you jump at maximum height without a running start. This set up is pretty common, you command the hologram to walk forward while you wait ducked, if the enemy picks the bait you jump and surprise them with an aerial assault.

Obviously the Hybrid used his hologram as a distraction while going downhill.

With this said, the only one from the Yellow Team who was at a huge disadvantage because he has no movement perks is the second Mutant. He is a Clawed Mutant, a Sub Race that reduces the penalty of carrying heavy weapons by 50%.

“Time remaining 0:23.”

*Bang, bang, bang, bang.*

The Clawed Mutant dies and the Hybrid’s hologram is shattered. The other ones have made some spectacular dodges by a hair's breadth. The only one who received an almost direct shot was the Battle Droid.

The crowd has been silent the entire time from the start of the run. It is like if they are watching a choreography. Some of the people who are watching the screens which displayed the point of view of the Yellow Team members even duck and try to dodge in unison with the movements of the players inside the screen.

Mr. Ackerman and Alfred Ackerman are clenching their fists in their sits. Mr. Smith is watching to a different screen that no one else is watching.

“Shoot them down! Shoot them down!” The Blue Team is nervous.

This is exactly the idea which Kortef spoke of. Relaxed, then startled, then confused, then nervous. It definitely could not be called a plan because you can’t control easily other people emotions, but if his idea succeeded it would cause chaos in the other team reducing their control and dropping their accuracy drastically.

*Bang.*

The second mutant was hit. His shield shatters and his left arm falls from his body. His speed drops a bit and probably any other hit will kill him.

“Time remaining 0:17”

“200 meters left!” Someone in the crowd yells.

“Why are they regrouping? Are they crazy? No, no! You have to continue dispersed!” Another one yells.

The Mutant takes the lead, the Battle Droid positions in the middle, and the Hybrid is in the rear of the formation.

*Bang.*

The Mutant is shot again and disappears.

The death of the mutant gives the Hybrid enough time to envelop the Battle Droid waist with the tentacle. The Battle Droid does a tiny leap lifting his body from the ground for split a second, moment that the Hybrid uses to do a spin and tosses the Battle Droid in the air. The entire maneuver was something similar from disc throw Olympics.

*Bang, bang.*

After throwing the Battle Droid in the air, The Hybrid is immediately shot down and only a bright light remains.

“He is going to use the seismic strike again! Aim at the ground quick!”

“Time remaining: 0:15”

“Battle Boot Boosters ON, equip Small Titanium Shield!”

Small Titanium Shield is a thin circle shaped shield made of a titanium alloy with a diameter of half a meter. It has a very high defense while the movement penalty is minimal, but under normal conditions there’s no way it can cover the whole body.

However, in midair the Battle Droid adopts the position of a missile aligning his body with the trajectory of the sniper shots and hiding almost perfectly behind the shield, using the battle boot boosters as proposers to advance forward while still in midair.

“Motherfucker it was a trap, shoot him, shoot him! Shoot that motherfucker down!” The Blue Team members are now enraged and desperate.

The crowd watching widen their eyes and open their jaws in astonishment. Was this all planned? No, they don’t even have time to think about it for a second or ask someone else, otherwise they’ll miss what is happening in the screen.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang.*

*Clang, clang, clang.*

Three shots impact the Small Titanium Shield.

“Time remaining 0:11”

The Battle Droid has 100 meters remaining. The first Mutant that died respawns and even when he was far away he still start running downhill to score some more points.

*Bang, bang, bang, bang.*

*Clang, clang, CRASH, pow.*

The eleventh shot that impacts the Small Titanium Shield immediately shatters it. In the same burst the Battle Droid is shot in the arm immediately destroying it.

“Seismic strike!” The Battle Droid yells.

The Battle Droid is not too far away from the floor, he immediately makes a roll and starts running in a straight line without any feints.

“Time remaining 0:09”

“You are mine now.” A Blue Team member is aiming carefully at the Battle Droid.

“Time remaining 0:08”

The crowd is watching as it was inevitable for the Battle Droid to die but still hoping that there is one last insane trick to cover those last 70 meters.

“Time remaining 0:07”

*Thud, thud, thud, thud.*

*Bang.*

“Headshot, you have killed Yellow’s Team player Kortef. Obtained 30 points.”

*Huff.* The crowd relaxes as they watch the climax tilting towards the Blue Team. Some of them explode into cheers either for the marvelous choreography or because of the victory of the Blue Team. The Ackerman duo slowly unclench their fists and relax their posture.

Mr. Smith was grinning archly. He seems to be about to burst into laughter.

♫ ♪ ♫

In the third floor, in the Virtual Reality Drive No. 1438 behind a helmet with a dark tint, I am grinning too.

END OF CHAPTER 6