Chapter 5
“Hey, Lynn!”
The call down the school corridor made Lynn jump. People had been staring and pointing at her and talking in not-so-quiet voices all morning. She’d simply kept her head up, ignored it, and tried to get to class as quickly as possible. Thankfully, Edgar had stuck by her side like a particularly large and persistent bur, so no one had bothered her. But still.
She knew what they were all talking about.
By the time she’d spun to look for the voice, her brain had kicked in and told her the voice sounded suspiciously like Connor. Sure enough, the blond-headed poster boy for good-looking jocks everywhere was trotting down the locker-lined corridor to catch up to her and Edgar, who were on their way to the cafeteria.
Lynn looked suspiciously up and down the hall, but there was no sign of Elena, her posse, or the rest of Connor’s ARS team.
“Thanks for waiting up,” Connor said when he reached them, not at all out of breath.
“What do you want,” Lynn said flatly and crossed her arms. Edgar came to stand beside her, arms hanging loosely at his sides. Connor gave him a once over, but it seemed to be an evaluating glance, not a hostile one.
“I need to ask you something, if that’s all right.”
Lynn raised an eyebrow.
“Do you plan to insult me before or after your question? And where are your thugs? If they’re going to jump me, I’d rather just go ahead and get it over with.”
Connor sighed and shook his head.
“It’s nothing like that, and I’m sorry Elena has been so unprofessional. She’s got most of the ARS team wrapped around her little finger. I keep telling the boys to ignore her, but . . . ” He trailed off and shrugged.
“Regardless, you’re the captain of a rival team. What is there to talk about?”
Connor chuckled and lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck.
“Well, considering I left the Cedar Rapids Champions yesterday, quite a bit.”
Lynn’s mouth dropped open, then she realized she was staring and snapped it shut.
“That’s crazy. What is this, some kind of ploy to make us less suspicious of you so you can sabotage our team?”
“What team?” Connor asked, raising his own brow.
The comment sent heat to Lynn’s cheeks and she scowled. Connor raised his hands defensively.
“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I was at Elena’s house yesterday when she started watching the livestream of your team’s . . . argument. I couldn’t help but see what happened. As an athlete and a captain myself, I can say I was completely embarrassed by Ronnie Payne’s behavior. It was obviously petty and unprofessional, and nobody should be subjected to that kind of treatment, much less a stellar player like you.”
Connor’s words sent a shock of surprise through Lynn. Annoyingly, her cheeks heated even more.
“Thanks,” she muttered, though she was still suspicious. First Kayla, now Connor. What the heck was going on? “But what’s any of that got to do with you? And why are you saying you’re not part of CRC anymore?”
“Like I said, I was at Elena’s house yesterday. I guess her reaction to the livestream was the final straw for me.” He sighed and shook his head. “I’ve been reconsidering my place on the team for a while, but more so after Elena’s idiotic bullying stunt the other day. This whole competition has clearly gone to her head and impaired her judgment. I can’t be a part of it anymore, so I told her yesterday I was out.”
“Okay,” Lynn said after a moment.
She was impressed, despite herself. She’d wondered if Connor would ever have the balls to do more than tell Elena to shut up. Apparently, he did. But that didn’t mean she trusted him.
“No offense or anything, but we all know perfectly well you and Elena are in the same . . . crowd. She’s been a cheerleader as long as you’ve been on the ARS team. You know what she’s like. Why did you team up with her in the first place?”
Connor cleared his throat, showing the first signs of discomfort Lynn had seen.
“To tell you the truth, I shouldn’t have. I was always skeptical about whether or not she’d be able to cut it. I was willing to try because . . . she promised she could get me a full-ride sports scholarship to my top college pick. Her dad has plenty of connections, and she said he could put in a good word on the selections board. Augmented sports is all I ever want to do, so I took a calculated risk.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, Elena proved to be even more erratic and untrustworthy than I’d realized.”
“Erratic and untrustworthy? More like cheating and backstabbing. You were there when she and your teammates tried to beat me up. You just stood there!”
Connor raised his hands again, palms out.
“I was as shocked as you when it happened. The only reason I didn’t intervene was that by the time my brain caught up with things you’d already maced everyone and run off.” He grinned at her, and the smile made his perfect face even more annoyingly handsome. “Believe me, I chewed them all out after you’d left, much to Elena’s displeasure, as you can imagine.”
“Then what about at the qualifiers when you all broke Mack’s equipment in the bathroom?”
“I had no idea she was even planning that. I only know it happened because Elena was complaining about it afterwards, mad that it hadn’t gotten you disqualified. How could I have stopped something I didn’t even know was going to happen?”
Lynn’s mouth twisted and she chewed on her lip. Part of her wanted to believe Connor. He hadn’t gone to the same middle school as her, and so hadn’t been around during the worst of the bullying she’d endured. Would he have participated in it if he had been? Since starting high school, most of the bullying had come from Elena and her crowd, with only a few of the nastier members of the ARS team aware enough of her existence to pick on her. Connor had always seemed much too focused on classes and sports to bother wasting time on the unpopular kids. But neither had he spoken out against Elena or his teammates’ behavior, at least not in public. So, what did that make him? Was he trustworthy?
Somehow, Lynn felt like he was up to something. The question was, what?
“So, you told Elena to stuff it. Congratulations. Why do you want to talk to me?”
“Well,” Connor said, and gestured toward Lynn and Edgar, “it seems to me like we’re in the same boat. Just because I can’t stay a part of CRC doesn’t mean I’m throwing in the towel on TD Hunter. I gave up my place on the ARS team to do this. I took a calculated risk to achieve something greater, and there’s no way I’m giving up. Neither are you; I would guess. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Lynn gave him a skeptical look.
“Go on.”
“It’s simple,” Connor said. “We join forces. We’re both top-tier players who are dedicated to winning. Think of what we could achieve together?”
“Us and what team?”
“Skadi’s Wolves, of course.”
“But that’s Ronnie’s team now,” Lynn said, keeping her tone neutral, despite the way her throat tightened at the thought.
“Not if you all agree to remove him as captain. TD Hunter isn’t like school sports. I read up on it last night to be sure, but from what I can find in the TD Hunter competition regulations, if teams have any sort of internal dispute, then they’re supposed to work it out among themselves. So, all you have to do is get the rest of the team on your side and contact the competition registration people to let them know who the new team captain is.”
Lynn pursed her lips. She’d been mulling over Steve’s advice all night and all morning, and now here Connor was, suggesting the same thing. She looked at Edgar, who only shrugged.
“Okay, so what if we do? What’s in it for you?”
“A chance to win, of course. That’s why we’re all competing, isn’t it? And it’s not like I can just create my own team from scratch any more than you can. Only teams that qualified can go on to the championship.”
“And how do we know we can trust you?” Edgar rumbled.
Lynn nodded. It’s exactly what she’d been thinking too.
“What you can trust is my track record,” Connor said evenly. “I’m a winner, a team player, and a good captain. Our two teams were well matched before, with some weaker and some stronger players. But if we combine our teams by making me your captain, we’ll be invincible. The question is, do you want to win, or not?”
“Whoa, hold on there, buster. Who said anything about making you captain,” Lynn said, eyes narrowing.
Connor looked surprised. “I have the most experience and based on what I’ve observed of you so far, I assumed you didn’t want to be captain. Was I wrong?”
The question hit Lynn right in the chest, and for a moment all she could do was stare at Connor.
Of course she didn’t want to be captain. She hated being in the limelight.
And yet . . . what a relief it would be if people finally took her as seriously in the real as they took Larry Coughlin in virtual. In WarMonger, her authority was based on her very real track record and leaderboard ranking.
But was that worth dealing with all the attention and responsibility?
“I want to win this competition,” she finally said, sure of that, at least. “To do that, we need a good captain. Are you going to be a good captain?”
Connor smiled, showing his perfect white teeth, and Lynn’s stomach swooped alarmingly.
“I’ll be a fantastic captain. Guaranteed. What do you say?”
While Lynn was trying to restart her brain, Edgar beat her to a reply, drawing Connor’s attention to his stoic face.
“I’d say we talk it over with the team and decide together.”
The brilliance in Connor’s smile dimmed slightly, but he still nodded.
“Perfectly reasonable. I’d do it quickly, though. Every day of missed training takes us further from the championship.”
“We’ll be in touch,” Edgar said noncommittally.
Lynn nodded in agreement.
“Okay, well, thanks for hearing me out. I guess I’ll talk to you again soon.” Connor put a finger to his forehead and gave a mock salute, then strode off down the hall, looking just as confident and relaxed as always.
“I don’t like him,” Edgar said quietly once Connor was out of earshot.
“Mm,” Lynn said. She shouldn’t like the guy either, but he was probably the best shot Skadi’s Wolves had at winning, now that Ronnie had officially lodged his head so far up his back end that it would never be found again. “Whether we like him or not, he’s a hella more competent than . . . well our other options. I think we need to take his offer seriously.”
Edgar didn’t reply, just gave a jerk of his head and started down the hall toward the cafeteria. Lynn followed, but her mind wasn’t on lunch, it was rolling over Connor’s words in her head.
Could they trust him? Had he really broken with Elena? Or was this an elaborate plot?
After they’d collected their lunch, Edgar led the way to a table, and it wasn’t until he’d pulled back a chair with a scrape and plopped his big frame down into it that Lynn realized where she was. Dan, Mack, and Ronnie stared back at her from around the table, each one frozen in various states of putting food into their mouth.
Ronnie was the first to recover.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at Lynn, though his eyes flicked briefly to Edgar too. “You’re off the team. Go find somewhere else to sit.”
“She’s not off the team,” Edgar said evenly, then took a large bite of the apple in his hand. The slow, crackling crunch of the crisp apple seemed overloud in the little pool of tense silence at their table, even though the chatter of hundreds of students swirled around them.
Ronnie’s brow darkened and he sat up straighter.
“Yes she is.”
“Not until we all agree on it, she isn’t,” Edgar said around his mouthful of apple. “Team’s a democracy, not a dictatorship. Game rules say so.”
While Ronnie spluttered, Lynn took a deep breath and forced herself to speak, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.
“I’m on the side of Skadi’s Wolves. I’m here to win this championship, and anyone who isn’t on board with that needs to get out of the way so we can do what we formed this team to do.”
“I formed this team,” Ronnie spluttered. “I’ll make sure we win, but not with subpar players who won’t listen to orders!”
“We formed this team, and we’ll decide who plays on it based on what’s best for the team,” Lynn said, slamming down her lunch tray with more force than she’d intended. Her food bounced, some of it scattering across the table, and she glared at it before yanking her chair back and sitting. While she retrieved her lunch, Edgar calmly addressed Ronnie.
“You’re my man, Ronnie. We’ve been tight for years. But you’ve got some serious issues, and I think you know it, deep down. I blame your old man, but it don’t matter in the end. You’ve been making dumb calls, and we all know it. We were just too loyal or whatever to say anything. Lynn’s got bigger balls than all of us put together, and she calls it like it is. Either you get that through your thick head and start treating her like one of us, or you’re the one who’s not a team player and needs to go. Malamalama?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lynn had to resist a smile. When it came down to it, Edgar sure did have a way with words. But when she looked up from her tray and saw Ronnie’s pale face and clenched, trembling hands, it was clear the words had been wasted breath.
“You’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. You’ve always been soft on her, and you’re not even that good of a gamer yourself! If you want a girl to lead you around by the nose, be my guest. We’ll find real gamers to replace you, won’t we Dan?”
Dan looked back and forth from Ronnie to Edgar to Lynn, his face drawn in distress.
“Look, Ronnie, we’ve been friends since, like, elementary school. But you’ve been acting pretty weird lately and—”
“Not you too!”
A few heads turned their way, and Ronnie lowered his voice.
“I can’t believe you’d take her side. What are you, a pussy?”
“Come on, dude, don’t be like that. This is Lynn, she’s cool—”
“She’s a girl—”
“You know, I think I finally get it.”
Lynn’s comment was quiet, but its hardness cut through the conversation like a diamond blade. Ronnie blanched and looked at her, then dropped his eyes. She didn’t blame him. Though she couldn’t see herself, she could tell by the coldness in her chest that murder was in her eyes.
“I finally understand what you mean when you say ‘girls got no game.’ It has nothing to do with me, or even girls. You’re really just saying ‘I’m a sniveling coward with an ego so fragile you could break it with a feather.’”
“Lynn, don’t—” Edgar muttered as Ronnie flinched, but Lynn was past listening.
“You’re so weak and cowardly, the only way you can cope is by tearing everybody else down. You’re probably just like your dad, aren’t you? Is that what he does, too? Tear you down to make you feel small and worthless so he can feel better about himself?”
“Lynn!”
She felt Edgar’s big, calloused hand grip her wrist tightly in a warning gesture, but she didn’t look at him. She just kept staring at Ronnie, daring him to meet her eyes.
But he wouldn’t.
“I don’t have to stay here and listen to this crap,” he spat, then shoved his chair violently back and grabbed his tray. “You’re all a bunch of filthy traitors!” And with that, he stormed off. A few curious sets of eyes at nearby tables watched him go, but for the most part the noisy room was oblivious to the drama.
Edgar gave a heavy sigh and let go of Lynn’s wrist, going back to his food.
“Well . . . that was . . . awkward,” Mack said, poking at his own tray gloomily.
Dan was still staring after where Ronnie had disappeared, looking torn. If Lynn had been feeling more generous, she would have been sorry for Dan. He and Ronnie were best friends.
But she was all out of craps to give.
Dan finally turned back to their table, expression troubled as he chewed on his lip. When he glanced up at Lynn, she met his furrowed gaze unflinchingly.
“That was . . . did you really need to be so harsh?” he asked quietly.
“It was the truth.”
Dan’s shoulders drooped.
“Yeah . . . maybe . . . that’s what worries me.”
“Are you going to join him?”
“What? No, of course not. But . . . he’s still my friend.”
The concerned look in Dan’s eyes sucked all the fight out of her and she let out a weary breath. Part of her regretted her words, or at least regretted how they’d hurt Ronnie. But they were still true.
“I know, and you shouldn’t stop being friends. He probably needs you now more than ever. But . . . I don’t think he should be on the team anymore.” She glanced at Mack, who was still staring morosely at his tray. “If we all agree on that, we can contact TD Hunter after school and make it official.”
“Why the rush?” Dan asked. “He might come around, you never know. Why don’t you let me talk to him?”
“Dan, I’m sorry, but we’ve already done this before. Many times before. I thought things had gotten better when we passed the qualifiers, but then we got all this stupid media attention and it went straight to Ronnie’s head. This is the biggest competition of our lives and all of us have futures at stake here. I’m sorry about Ronnie, but every day we let this distract us from training and leveling, our chances of winning drop. We’re going to be killing ourselves as it is to keep up our grades and hunt enough to reach level 40 by next June.”
“But we still have to find a replacement. That could take a while, right? So why don’t you focus on recruiting a replacement and I’ll try and talk Ronnie around, just in case?”
Lynn exchanged a glance with Edgar, who shrugged.
“Well, the thing is, we already have a possible replacement.”
“What?” Mack said, finally looking up.
“Yeah, uh, Connor got fed up with Elena and quit the CRC. He wants to join Skadi’s Wolves.”
The exclamations from Mack and Dan turned more heads, and they quickly quieted and leaned in.
“What the heck, Lynn?” Mack whispered furiously. “Those goons assaulted me in the bathroom. We can’t trust them!”
“The other CRC members did that, not Connor. And he claims he didn’t know about it until after the fact.”
At Mack’s unconvinced glare, she went on.
“Look, I’m not saying I trust him. I’m still half convinced this is an elaborate ploy by Elena. But at the same time, he’s CRC’s best player, and he’s not like Elena at all. He’s a pro and focused on actually winning, not getting attention. I can’t see him playing along with one of Elena’s petty tricks when he knows it will only hurt his own team’s chances just as much as ours. I’m convinced enough that I think we should hunt with him a few times and give it a try, to see what we think of him. We can always change our minds later and kick him off the team, right?”
Mack didn’t look happy, but at least he seemed to be giving it some thought. Dan had slid on his AR glasses and was obviously checking something.
“His ranking and kill stats are pretty impressive. Not in your league, of course,” he said to Lynn, glancing at her with a grin. “But they’re above mine and Ronnie’s. He’s no slouch, that’s for sure. Still . . . ”
“I just want to give him a try,” Lynn insisted, “see how he fits in with the team. We already know making him team captain doesn’t give him power over us, we can still—”
“Whoa, whoa, hold up, team captain?” Dan protested. “You never said anything about team captain. I thought you’d take over that role?”
A little glow warmed Lynn’s chest and threatened to spread to her cheeks, but she did her best to play it cool. “Connor has years of experience leading a team in augmented reality sports, which are very close in function to TD Hunter, even if the strategy is different. His ARS team has been top in the state the past two years, so we shouldn’t doubt Connor’s leadership skills.”
“We can doubt his judgment, though,” Mack muttered, still not looking happy with the arrangement.
“Yeah . . . I know,” Lynn admitted. “But if we give him a try now, we can keep training and moving forward while we look for alternatives. We’ll need a few alternates anyway, come June, in case one of us gets injured, so our team won’t be disqualified at the last minute. So . . . what do you say?”
Dan shrugged.
“I’m willing to give it a try. He seemed professional enough when we teamed up in the qualifiers.”
Lynn turned to Mack, who groaned.
“Don’t give me that look! I can’t say no when you look at me like that.”
“What??”
“Like you actually trust my judgment and are expecting me to make a good decision. It makes me scared to let you down.”
Lynn felt like a deer in the headlights.
“R-really?”
“Yeah! You’re always so encouraging and helpful, and you’re our best player. I don’t want Connor on our team, but if you think it’s a good idea, well . . . ” He gave a helpless shrug. “I can’t say no.”
“Um, okay, thanks,” Lynn said, escaping Mack’s soulful gaze to look at Edgar. The corners of his mouth twitched downward and his brow furrowed.
“I don’t trust him.”
“I know. But will you give him a chance? For the team’s sake?”
Edgar held her gaze long enough that she had to resist the urge to fidget. Finally, he snorted.
“Sure, I guess. If you think we should. You’re the Toa Tama’ita’i, after all,” he said with a half grin.
“Errr, right.” Lynn shot a nervous glance at the other two, who were looking back and forth between her and Edgar. “So, I’ll ping him to meet us after school. That cool?”
They all nodded, then got back to their various lunches. Lynn picked unenthusiastically at hers as she looked to the far end of the room, trying to spot Elena’s crowd. They usually sat at the front of the cafeteria, nearest the lunch dispenser machines and the big windows that looked out on the sports fields. Sure enough, there they were, and she could just see the top of Elena’s head, her brilliant blond hair caught up in a high ponytail. Lynn searched, but didn’t see the dark, frizzy hair of Kayla in the group, and that made her chew on her lip in worry. Was Kayla all right? Had she already confronted Elena? Had Elena done something to her?
Though she couldn’t find Kayla in the sea of heads around her, she did spot Connor sitting with his former ARS team. They were usually to be found in Elena’s general vicinity, but today they sat on the other side of the room. Suddenly, Connor looked her way, spotted her staring, and gave a little nod, a half smile on his face. Lynn ducked her head hurriedly and tried to make herself enjoy her lunch. It seemed bland and lumpy in her mouth.
She was just contemplating pushing her tray over to Mack, who had his usual disheartening salad, when all the lights in the cafeteria went out.
A few people screamed in surprise, and one particularly loud male voice rang out, “Somebody grabbed my butt!” The large windows on one side of the cafeteria let in plenty of light, though, so there was more of a general shuffle and mutter of confusion than any kind of mass panic. There was a brief lull in the noise, as if everyone was waiting with bated breath for the power to kick back on. But as the moments passed and it became obvious this was more than a temporary glitch, the noise level grew again and students started yelling out to each other, trading theories and wondering what to do. The handful of adults at the tables in the teacher’s corner were huddled together and looked as bewildered as everyone else.
For a second, Lynn wondered why someone hadn’t already gotten on the intercom system to announce the issue and tell everybody to calm down. But then she remembered—duh—the power was out. She was just putting on her AR glasses to check the school app’s announcement boards when the cafeteria doors burst open and in came the vice principal, huffing and puffing like she’d run all the way from her office.
“Calm down, everyone. Calm down!” she called out. Her voice didn’t carry well, but one of the teachers shouted to get everyone’s attention and the room quieted. “Thank you, Mr. Rosenburg. Now, everybody please remain seated and calm. There has been an issue with the school’s power grid, but our maintenance team is looking into it now and I’m sure it will be resolved shortly. You may go ahead and finish your meals, but please remain in the cafeteria until we have the power back on. Thank you.”
The vice principal then bustled over to the teacher’s table and all the grownups started a whispered conference.
Lynn shot a look around her table. Mack seemed worried, but Dan was all curiosity and excitement. Edgar looked as calm as usual. He shrugged at her and went back to his fries.
“What do you think happened?” Dan asked, leaning in and speaking in a low voice as similar hushed conversations started up again all around the cafeteria.
“Just a glitch?” Edgar said. “Like the man said?”
“Never happened before, though,” Lynn countered, looking around the room with furrowed brow.
“I saw in the news that city power systems have been glitching all over the country,” Dan said. “My mom says it’s all GForce Utilities’ fault. She says they’ve been skimping on infrastructure for decades and pocketing the profits, and now it’s coming back to bite them in the butt.”
“I don’t know,” Mack said. “Riko mentioned they’d been having power-grid issues in Japan too. It’s been on their news. Japan doesn’t use the same power company as the US, does it?”
Dan rolled his eyes.
“Of course not, dummy. And I don’t know why you’d believe anything that bot tells you.”
“Riko isn’t a bot!”
“Yes, she is, Mack. The odds of any of us having a girlfriend, much less a super-hot one from Japan, are about as good as getting a perfect kill score in WarMonger.”
Lynn hid a grin. She’d gotten a perfect kill score plenty of times as Larry Coughlin. So where was her hot Japanese boyfriend? She shook her head at the silliness of that thought.
“I’m telling you, she’s not a bot. She’s really into AR games and spends a lot of time chatting in virtual with American and British players to practice her English. After we aced the qualifiers, she saw us on the Hunter Strike Team list and was intrigued by our team name because Skadi is a character in one of their really popular classic video game series that her dad always liked.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Dan chuckled. “A likely story. The problem is, if she was real, she would have definitely contacted me, not you. I’m way more handsome.”
Mack reddened, but jutted his chin stubbornly.
“Yeah right. Compared to a twelve-year-old kid, maybe. You barely even reach my chin. She said she was attracted to my manly facial hair,” he finished loftily, giving his scraggly goatee a stroke.
Lynn barely managed to hold in a fit of giggles at the sight. She looked at Edgar to save herself and saw his eyes twinkling merrily.
“Definitely a bot,” they said in unison, and then they both burst out laughing.
While Mack and Dan continued to argue, Lynn got control of herself and checked the school app like she’d meant to do earlier. It had a general announcement for all students to remain where they were while the school performed emergency maintenance, but other than that there was no more information.
Huh.
It was a good thing nobody at their school depended on power to keep them alive, just continue their education. The similarity between what was happening now and the fiasco at her mom’s hospital over the summer, not to mention that power outage at the Lindale Mall, was suspicious.
Remembering what she’d found outside of Lindale Mall around its power generators, she brought up the TD Hunter app.
“Hey Hugo, how’s it hangin’?”
“As I have neither a physical manifestation, nor any sort of quantifiable health prognosis, I am not certain how you wish me to answer that.”
“You could just say ‘I’m great, you?’”
“Very well. I am doing admirably, and yourself?”
Lynn snorted.
“Good try. But never mind that. I want to go into combat mode and see what kind of TDM activity is around this school.”
“Certainly, Miss Lynn. But first I would advise you to remove your batons from your backpack.”
“Er, why?”
“Because in their current weapon configuration they will morph into items longer than your backpack and might become damaged as a result.”
“Oh, yeah.” Duh. She should have thought of that.
Moving as surreptitiously as possible, she reached down with a hand to unzip her backpack and dipped into it to pull out her batons, which she laid flat in her lap under the table.
“There should be enough room under the table, right?” she subvocalized.
“As best as I can determine from your LINC’s current position, yes.”
“Okay, let’s fire this thing up, then.”
Lynn’s combat screen came to life and the sight of her overhead map made her blood run cold.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” Edgar whispered, leaning over.
“Check your TD Hunter map,” she breathed. “But take your batons out of your bag first.”
A few moments later, Edgar echoed her curse.
“Why the heck is the school surrounded by monsters?” he whispered to her. “I mean, we’re not exactly in the middle of downtown or anything, but still. We’ve never hunted around the school before because the pickings were too slim to be worth it. What’s changed?”
“The school isn’t exactly surrounded,” Lynn pointed out, her pattern-wired brain kicking in as the strange flash of panic she’d felt faded. “Remember the layout of our campus. Most of the red dots are grouped on the north side, around the generators and sports fields, and leading up into that patch of woods behind the school. It’s a lot less thick on the other three sides around the roads and airbus platform. I’ll bet those dots are mostly Delta Class. Also, remember we don’t normally go into combat mode around the school. We’ve leveled a few times since we last checked, so we can see more TDMs now. Maybe that’s why . . . ”
She fell into thoughtful silence, and they looked at each other.
“I dunno,” Edgar muttered. “That’s a freaking lot of monsters.”
“Well, we can’t do anything about it now. Once school’s over, though . . . I think we should get Connor to join us and try hunting out behind the school today. I’m curious to see what’s out there, maybe we’ll discover an unknown or something.”
Edgar nodded, and they both exited combat mode, stowing their batons back in their bags. By the time they returned their attention to their lunch trays, Dan and Mack were still bickering good-naturedly, none the wiser.
* * *
Lynn had been all prepared for an agonizing afternoon of trying to concentrate on class while her mind was distracted by what she’d seen on her TD Hunter map. Fortunately for her sanity, “class” never happened.
They waited in the cafeteria for what felt like forever. Thirty minutes after class was supposed to start, the vice principal came back and informed everyone that the maintenance workers were still trying to fix the error, and for everyone to sit tight. What had been a relaxing break from class turned into a boring wait. Some people submerged themselves in virtual, ignoring school policy of mesh-web use during class hours in favor of keeping themselves entertained. Others got rowdy, and the teachers that had stayed in the cafeteria had their hands full breaking up arguments and telling kids to get off the tables. One food fight even broke out. But with most of the food already eaten, there wasn’t enough ammunition for it to last long—especially not after Elena started screeching in a panicked rage about food getting on her clothes.
By the time the first afternoon period had passed and the second was starting, the school administration realized a major incident was going to happen if they tried to keep so many teenagers cooped up. The principal appeared this time, announcing that they were sending everybody home for the day.
“Saaa-weeet,” Dan said, getting up with a bounce in his step. “No English period today! I totally forgot about that essay we were supposed to hand in. I’ve been sweating bullets about it all morning.”
Lynn snorted, knowing perfectly well Dan had been doing no such thing. He probably wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at getting a zero for his missed essay. Having parents unhealthily obsessed with grades seemed to have given Dan a perpetually sunny attitude when it came to school performance. If he did well, his parents spent less time trying to restrict his gaming hours. If he did poorly, he got to enjoy the futility with which they tried to restrict his gaming hours.
It was a win-win, in his book.
Of course, with TD Hunter being augmented reality instead of in virtual, he’d been forced to put more effort into his grades to keep his parents from locking him in the house or taking away his batons.
As everyone flowed toward the doors at the front of the building, Lynn hurriedly looked up Connor in the school roster and sent him a ping. She’d been so busy contemplating the strange influx of TDMs around the school she’d forgotten to do it earlier. With no class to distract her, she’d had Hugo take her back into combat mode so she could study their positioning. She’d run a dozen theories past Hugo, hoping he’d give away some tidbit of information about the game algorithm that she didn’t already know. Predictably, he’d been as opaque and evasive as ever. Lynn understood it would spoil the game if he just told her whatever she wanted to know, but it was still annoying.
After that, she’d turned to the tactical forums, on as well as off TD Hunter, looking for recent mentions of increased TDM spawning, especially after Level 20. She found quite a few posts, but everyone seemed to think the phenomenon was a natural result of being higher level.
That did make sense. But something about it still bugged her.
She and the guys weren’t even halfway to the front doors when Connor messaged back that he’d meet them behind the school by the ARS training building. Lynn in turn pinged the rest of the team, relaying the plan. Soon after, they emerged into the mid-October sunshine. Lynn tensed automatically and glanced at the sky, but they were still close enough to the school building that the airspace above it was clear. Over by the airbus platform, though . . .
Lynn nudged Edgar and jerked a thumb toward the bushes beside the front of the school. Edgar, in turn, gave Mack and Dan’s sleeves a tug and they all slipped out of the stream of students headed for the airbuses. None of the other students gave them a second glance, and Lynn led the way around the school, trying to keep under trees or behind bushes as much as possible. For all she knew, word had already gotten out about the school’s early closing, and reporter drones might be circling the area soon.
Nervous tension crackled through Lynn’s limbs as she wondered about Connor. Would he be waiting with Elena and the ARS team to ambush them?
Her fears were unjustified—this time, at least. They found Connor alone, leaning casually against the ARS training building. When he spotted them approaching, he pushed off the brick wall with a smile.
“Great. Now that we’re all here, we can get started.”
Lynn raised her eyebrows and glanced at her teammates. Their expressions ranged from suspicious to disgruntled, but nobody said anything, so she shrugged and looked back at Connor. She was willing to wait and see what he did as their new “captain.”
“I assume everyone has their hunting gear with them?” Connor asked, looking around.
Everyone nodded. They usually changed after school let out.
“Okay. Since the power is out and they’ve shut down the main building, we can’t use the bathrooms there. I have the access code to this building, though, from when I was ARS captain. It’ll be dark in there, but there are windows to let in light, so I think we’ll manage. Sound good?”
More nodding.
“Right, let’s get going.”
Connor waved his LINC—a ring like Lynn’s—across the access panel, and the door’s lock clicked. Fortunately, the locks had their own internal power, one of the few things besides the emergency exit signs that did. Once the door closed behind them, it took their eyes a moment to adjust to the gloom. Connor moved forward confidently across the main training floor, obviously familiar with his surroundings. He led the guys to the men’s changing room and pointed Lynn toward the women’s. They changed and were back out in the fresh air with a minimum of stumbling about.
“Listen up everybody,” Connor said once they’d gathered around him in the shade of the building. “For me to do my job as team captain, I need to get a handle on your usual team tactics, weapon capabilities, augments, et cetera. I know you all have quite a bit of experience in virtual gaming, and I’m happy to hear any suggestions you have for strategies in TD Hunter. I’ve studied everything the game’s tactical section has to offer, and of course I have plenty of experience leading an ARS team. But not all ARS tactics translate well to this game, so I’m depending on you all to get me up to speed.”
Lynn’s eyebrows climbed higher and higher as Connor spoke. Despite herself, she was impressed. Not only had he complimented them, but he’d actually asked for their advice. The last time Ronnie had done that was, well . . . never.
Not everybody was so impressed, though.
“You’re right, we do know more about gaming than you do,” Dan said, crossing his arms and glaring at Connor. “So how do we know you’re not just here to spy on us and learn all our secrets? You could easily hang around for a few weeks, then run back to CRC and steal all our best moves for your own team.”
Connor nodded at the accusation, seeming unfazed.
“I’d have the same worry if I was in your position. On one level, it just comes down to trust. I’ve expressed my honest intentions to you all, and there’s nothing more I can do to prove them. At the same time, think of it this way: if all I thought CRC lacked was some tactical finesse, then anything I might learn from you all wouldn’t make up for the training time lost while I was here ‘learning your secrets.’ Besides, TD Hunter’s tactical forum is one of the most robust I’ve ever seen. I doubt there’s much you all are doing that I couldn’t glean from there with enough time and patience.”
That sounded reasonable to Lynn, though Dan snorted and maintained his glower as Connor continued.
“Look, how about I start by explaining CRC’s usual formations and how we would go about tackling various TDM placement scenarios. Then it will be a fair trade of information and we can decide which tactics to use for Skadi’s Wolves based on what sounds best overall.”
They agreed—albeit begrudgingly—and Connor started in on a summary of how CRC worked. As she listened, Lynn began to feel sorry for the former ARS captain. He’d had to bend his team completely out of shape to accommodate Elena’s ridiculous antics. Dealing with Ronnie had been a cinch by comparison. At least he was a skilled player and willing to take some advice, as long as it was given privately.
It turned out the CRC’s tactics and formations were not that different from what Skadi’s Wolves had developed. When Connor finished his overview and none of the guys seemed overly eager to share in kind, Lynn rolled her eyes and started explaining how Skadi’s Wolves fought. Connor paid close attention, asked clarification questions, and seemed genuinely delighted with what he learned. At one point he smiled and said: “Wow. It’s going to be so refreshing to lead an actual team instead of Elena’s popularity circus.”
When she was done, Connor clapped his hands together and looked around.
“Great. We have plenty of work to do to become a cohesive unit, so let’s get started. First things first: I created a hunting group for everybody to join so we have a shared channel to use until you get me added as team captain.”
They fired up their apps and accepted the group invite Connor had sent, though Lynn felt a flare of annoyance at the name of it.
Connor’s Team.
She wasn’t sure why it rankled her. He was going to be team captain. Maybe she was simply still on edge from all the drama of the past few days.
Once she’d joined, she saw Connor’s blue icon pop up on her overhead—her other teammates were already there as part of Skadi’s Wolves.
“It’s standard in AR sports to call everyone by their last name, so that’s what we’ll be doing on this team.”
“Why?” Dan said. “We just use first names.”
“Because it’s not only standard, it’s more professional, and prevents confusion over similar first names.”
“But we don’t have any similar first names.”
“Not now, perhaps, but what if one of you gets sick or hurt and we have to play with an alternate? It’s better to use last names, so that’s what we’ll do.”
Dan frowned but didn’t protest further.
“Now, as far as role assignments, Johnston, Raven, and Nguyen, you’ll stay the same. Rios, I’m moving you to assault with Raven and I’ll take over tactical.”
“Uhhh, you sure?” Mack asked, looking nervous. “I’m not all that great at melee, I’ve been specializing in ranged.”
“You’ll adapt fine, I’m sure. The team captain should always be in the tactical role so they can keep a clear head and maintain oversight on the playing field. I’m certain one of the reasons Payne was such a terrible captain was because he insisted on charging into the thick of things and was always too distracted to lead properly.”
Mack glanced at Lynn, but all she could do was shrug. She didn’t like Mack’s reassignment any more than he did, since it really wasn’t the role he was best suited for. But Connor did have a point about Ronnie.
Of course, she’d led teams in WarMonger just fine while assaulting the enemy. But then, she’d rarely been up against more than a couple dozen combatants at a time. Not hundreds, like the swarming monsters of TD Hunter. Maybe it would be better to have the captain in a supporting role, though with only five Hunters against hundreds of TDMs, Connor would be just as busy as the rest of them no matter his position.
Hopefully, with time and practice, Mack could adjust to his new role. There was still the problem of what weapons Mack would use, though. The two-handed Plasma Sword Ronnie preferred took significant practice to wield competently, and Plasma Blades weren’t strong enough to go up against Level 24 monsters. Fortunately, Connor had a solution.
“Use these for now, Mack,” Connor said, his eyes flicking back and forth as he manipulated his TD Hunter app with just his gaze. “You should get one of them automatically as soon as you level to 25, and I’m sure someone will find another as loot soon after, so you can give these back to me then.”
Eyes alight, Mack used gestures to equip whatever Connor had given him and projected it for them all to see.
“Cool!” Lynn exclaimed. “An ArcLight Pistol and a Splinter Blade? Those don’t show up till Level 25, and you’re the same level as us. So where’d you get them? The TD Hunter marketplace?”
“Yes, and they weren’t cheap.”
Lynn nodded in understanding. It was exactly how she’d intended to monetize TD Hunter before she agreed to fight in the championships: hunt as much as possible and zoom through the levels, then sell your loot to impatient players willing to shell out large amounts of money for any advantage to climb the leaderboards. The weapons in TD Hunter had a minimum use level five levels below the level at which they dropped as loot. That meant that even though they wouldn’t achieve a free ArcLight Pistol or Splinter Blade themselves until they reached Level 25, if they got ahold of the weapons some other way, they could use them as early as Level 20.
“Let me guess,” Lynn said. “Elena uses her daddy’s money to buy all the weapons and augments available as early as possible?”
Connor shrugged.
“What she does with her money is no business of mine, but I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the advantage.”
“It’s perfectly legal,” Dan pointed out.
“I know,” sighed Lynn. Every cent she owned she’d earned through blood, sweat, and tears, and it was painful to part with it, even for a good cause. She wondered what it would be like to have as much money as you wanted without ever lifting a finger to get it.
Probably horrible.
She was proud of her hard work, and it didn’t take a genius to look at history and society and recognize the dangers of being spoiled by wealth and power you never had to strive for.
“We could all have that kind of money if we landed the right sponsorships,” Mack piped up, eyes still wide and a grin on his face as he examined his new weapons.
Connor chuckled.
“It doesn’t quite work like that, Rios. But yes, sponsorships can help. I’m surprised you all aren’t covered in company logos already.” Though his words were addressed to the group, it was Lynn he looked at, giving her an inquisitive arch of his brow. She ignored the implied question.
If only he knew.
The thought made her remember Kayla’s offer. She wondered if she really would get some peace and quiet if she had a PR person. That would be amazing. But could she trust Kayla? And where had Kayla gotten to? Was she all right?
On a whim, Lynn pulled up the school directory again and sent a ping to Kayla while the others talked about sponsorships.
Didn’t see you at lunch. You okay?
“Ronnie had some small-time offers he took up,” Dan was saying, “but that’s cuz he was team captain. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of offers ourselves the more we play.”
“That’s certainly possible,” Connor said diplomatically. “Now, we only have so much daylight, so let’s get to work. I took a peek at the area map when I was inside, but does anybody else have thoughts on a good place to start our sweep around the school?”
Lynn didn’t immediately reply, not wanting to be the first to say something. But when the other guys just looked at each other and shrugged, she finally spoke.
“I think we should start on the east side near the generators. There’s a thick group in that area, but I’ve found TDMs near high-traffic buildings are usually lower-class monsters. So it should give us a chance to get used to working together without much risk.”
She didn’t voice her real reason for starting there: she wanted to see if the school’s power grid came back on once they’d cleared the electrovore-type monsters away from the generators, as had happened at Lindale Mall. It was a stupid, crazy theory—this was just a game, after all, and couldn’t affect reality—but she was still curious. Her patternist brain had to know if there was a correlation, or if the mall had just been a coincidence.
“Sounds like a solid plan. Once we clear that area we can make our way northwest around the athletic buildings and up toward the woods behind the school where the largest clusters of monsters are,” Connor finished, looking around at everybody. “Right, let’s get into position!”
They followed Connor toward the east corner of the school, tightening straps and adjusting equipment as they went. They all used their compact, high-performance backpacks they’d won at the qualifiers as their school bags now, so they had everything they needed close at hand. Lynn gripped her two batons in hands damp with sweat despite the cool October air.
She wanted this to work out so badly.
If Connor was sincere and their team learned how to work well together, maybe the championships could become the wonderful dream come true she’d hoped for instead of the hell it had been the past six weeks. Well, the stupid media attention would still be there. But at least she wouldn’t be isolated and hung out to dry by her own team.
The mini substation behind the school that fed and regulated its section of the power grid was tucked up next to the brick school building and surrounded by a wooden privacy fence. Outside the fence there was a strip of grass, then a sidewalk, then another strip of grass with some ornamental trees. Beyond that were the sports fields and activity buildings, built on what had long ago been the parking lot for school games and activities. Teachers and parents used the airbus or rideshare carpools these days, though. The few students—like Elena—whose wealthy parents had bought them little electric cars kept them parked in the small remaining lot out front.
Connor had them gather on the sidewalk. There was still one wing of the school jutting out from the east side that sat between them and the street to the south, so unless any drones got nosey and decided to fly illegally over school airspace, they were assured some measure of privacy. If the school was always so empty in the afternoons and evenings, Skadi’s Wolves would have spent much more time hunting around it. The grounds were usually populated with students participating in various sports, clubs, and other activities, but the power grid issue had canceled all activities on campus that day.
Hopefully none of the maintenance guys working inside came out to fiddle with the substation while Skadi’s Wolves were hunting, or they’d get run off.
“Johnston,” Connor said, pointing to Edgar, the tallest of their group, “I want you closest to the school wall. You’re our anchor. Advance as slowly as you need to toward the corner, clearing everything in your path. Raven and Rios, you’re next. You’ll support Johnston and keep the swarms down. I’ll be next in line monitoring everything and providing support. Nguyen, you’re the winger on the end, it’ll be your job to pick off stragglers and deal with attacks from above or behind. We’ll likely catch the attention of patrolling aggressives who will swarm in once we start wiping out the feeders. Got it?”
They gave a chorus of agreement, and Connor nodded.
“Excellent. Spread out, take your positions, and prepare to enter combat mode on my signal.”
Lynn took up her spot to Edgar’s side, about seven feet away from him and fourteen from the brick wall of the school building. The corner of the building and the fenced in generators were about twenty feet ahead. While everybody else lined up, Lynn looked around and a shiver ran down her spine. It was eerily quiet without the constant hum of generators that should have been coming from behind that fence. Lynn had never seen her school campus this empty or desolate.
She shook her head and tried to refocus.
“Hugo, how close are we to leveling?”
“This batch of enemies is likely to do the trick, if it is thick enough, Miss Lynn. You are all about five percent away from your next goal.”
Lynn frowned. She’d hoped to have more wiggle room than that. She’d checked the individual leaderboard after that Charlie Foxtrot Ronnie had led them into the other day. To her dismay she’d found that her main rival for top kill-to-damage ratio, a Canadian with the handle DeathShot13, had pulled ahead of her. Normally that wouldn’t be much of a problem. They were always jockeying for the top spot. But this close to Level 25 it was critical that she was number one, or she might not earn the next item in the Skadi named set.
“Stupid, idiotic, arrogant jerk face,” Lynn muttered.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Not you, Hugo. Ronnie.”
“Ah. Mr. Payne. What entirely avoidable mistake has he succumbed to this time?”
“Never mind. I just hope this swarm is pretty easy because I need to be untouchable for the next fifteen minutes.”
“We can always hope,” Hugo replied in his usual dry voice.
“Hey Mack,” Lynn said on the team channel, “be sure to let me know as early as possible if you’re feeling overwhelmed or if you spot anything big coming at us. We’re about to level and I’ve got to make sure I get this next Skadi piece, so I’ll be pretty focused.”
“Got it, Lynn.”
“Last names, everybody. Last names,” Connor’s voice broke in.
Lynn sighed internally. At least they didn’t have to worry about leveling unevenly anymore. Once they’d become an official team, all kill experience was evenly distributed between them. They could still hunt on their own and gain extra experience but hunting alone meant they didn’t get their team experience bonus or damage modifier, similar to the area bonus her Skadi’s Horde item granted. Anyone over Level 20 could form a team with three to six members to gain those basic advantages, as well as to find and use team weapons such as cannons. But being a Hunter Strike Team gave them functional perks as well, like glowing auras on their TD Hunter skins. They could choose between various colors and effects like lightning or shadow tendrils that made sure everyone who saw them in-game knew they were a championship team.
Of course, the extra attention was the last thing Lynn wanted, but the effects were really cool.
There was also a rumor that Hunter Strike Teams got a loot-drop bonus that gave them better weapons and augments. But maybe it only seemed that way because of the superior fighting abilities of the Hunter Strike Teams.
“Everybody ready?” Connor’s question came over the team channel.
“Affirmative,” Lynn said, and tightened her grip on her batons as the rest of the team sounded off.
“Good. Enter combat mode in three, two, one, go!”
“Hit it, Hugo!”
Lynn was moving before Wrath and Abomination were even finished forming. They’d entered combat mode right in a sea of imps interspersed with demons and death worms. Lynn danced back, getting out of the closest demon’s swipe range. Then she charged, Abomination thundering and Wrath slicing through the air. The demon exploded into sparks along with the imps around it, and Lynn was already turning, taking out all the aggressive types within her circle of responsibility so they didn’t rush her from behind as she advanced.
Within fifteen seconds she’d cleared her area and was advancing in line with Edgar, who was blasting away huge swaths of imps with every fiery belch of his cannon. Since they were so much higher level than these TDMs, their weapon range reached further than the monster’s ability to detect them. It made for an anticlimactic, if satisfying, bloodbath for the first minute, until they rounded the corner of the school and the mini substation came into sight.
“Shit! That’s a lot of Rocs!!” The sharp crack of Dan’s sniper rifle increased in tempo as they beheld the literal cloud of Rocs hovering low over the substation. At Dan’s attack, the closest half peeled away and came diving toward the team.
“Retreat five paces and hold,” Connor commanded crisply. “Raven and Rios, support Nguyen. Johnston, provide perimeter support while we take care of these Rocs.”
With only a slight delay, they shifted their attention and executed the order. Their line was a bit ragged, but the tactic worked beautifully. Lynn dodged as she shot, avoiding the diving Rocs and occasionally spinning to take out a ghost or Ghast that tried to sneak up behind her. She did take a few hits—there were so many Rocs, it was impossible to dodge them all. But she was able to thin them out enough that she wasn’t completely overwhelmed when the line of Spithra got within spitting range. The gaggles of Orculls would be close behind, but they didn’t have a ranged attack so Lynn didn’t worry about them yet.
She was about to ask Hugo to open a private channel to Connor and suggest they retreat when their captain’s voice barked out again.
“Retreat ten paces, slowly. Keep drawing them out and picking them off as we go, but don’t let them overwhelm us. Nguyen, take out the Spithras before they get too close, Raven and Rios can finish up the Rocs.”
Relief swept through Lynn. It was almost laughable how thankful she felt over something as small and routine as a measured retreat order. It just went to show how much Ronnie’s spotty leadership record had scarred her.
With the superior range on his sniper rifle, Dan made quick work of the scuttling Spithra, marching exploding sparks down their line before they could get close enough to rain down poison spit. Lynn dodged a few stray attacks while taking out the rest of the Rocs with Mack.
“Hold here and let the Orculls come to us,” Connor said once the last of the Spithra exploded.
Lynn bounced on the balls of her feet, itching to charge. But she understood why it was better to hold. They didn’t want to attract any more enemies, for now.
They were able to take out half the Orculls with aimed fire before the beasts even reached them. Once they were close to melee range, Lynn finally charged. She dove between the two in front of her, their swinging attacks passing over her head before she came up and twisted to slash in an arc, catching both Orculls in their lightly armored kidney areas. The monsters exploded and she lunged through the glittering sparks to stab a third that was going for Mack.
It was clear Mack was struggling with his new role and weapons. He kept his Splinter Blade moving, but the attacks were sloppy and slow, an obvious afterthought as he poured fire into each monster’s center mass with his ArcLight Pistol. Thankfully, the Orculls were low-enough level that the weapons’ high damage made up for Mack’s inexpert tactics.
That wouldn’t keep working, though.
“Doing great, Mack,” Lynn said in a brief lull after the last Orcull exploded. “Just make sure you stay light on your feet. I know you’re not as used to melee, but you have to keep moving. Never stay in one place.”
“Got it,” Mack said, face flushed and expression sheepish.
“Get ready to advance again,” Connor called out. “Looks like we’ll need to draw away a few more waves before we have a clear shot at whatever is in the middle.”
They repeated their advance-retreat routine, catching the attention of another wave of Orculls, Spithra, and some Penagals. They resupplied as needed from the plethora of loot scattered around them—the only evidence left of their grand slaughter. Dan kept the skies clear, though there was a bit of a panic when a Tengu showed up during the fiercest fighting of the third wave. It dove straight for Lynn and only Hugo’s proximity warning got her rolling to the side in time. She took a raking strike from an Orcull—her fault for rolling directly into its path—but it wasn’t as bad as a Tengu dive-bomb would have been. Dan took the toothed-vulture monster out as it screamed in fury and flapped its ugly wings to gain altitude again.
By the time they reached the last cluster of TDMs around the generators, Lynn was suspicious. She’d expected to spot a Bunyip between the ranks of monsters, hunkered down by the security fence, waiting to attack anyone who got close enough. But the space seemed empty except for a strange distortion that Lynn didn’t get a chance to examine right away. An entire new flock of Rocs showed up just as Skadi’s Wolves engaged the last wave of guards. They were more of a nuisance than anything else, but they forced Lynn to pour every ounce of concentration into her immediate surroundings to keep from taking hit after hit from the opportunistic buggers.
She was down to two Namahags and an extremely skittish Penagal when her display started flashing a rhythmic red for no reason at all.
Something was trying to kill her.