Chapter 26: The Tank
1377 Words
Barry was laying in bed, laptop on his lap showing a live video-call with Dana. It was hard to tell which one of them had the more accentuated eyebags. One thanks to endless nights working behind a bar. The other for even longer nights of gaming and plotting. Barry could barely believe that a month ago he would be going to bed at no later than eight.
“Yeah, Gummybear’s doing great!” Barry said. “She’s clever, very mature for her age, really fast as a healer and she’s got the fastest progression in our team.”
“Guess that’s on her genes,” Dana winked, then got dead serious. “But you motherfucker keep her up past midnight on a school night and I’ll personally kick your ass!”
“Like we never did that when I was her age…” Barry said, and both laughed.
“What about your search for a tank? Any luck?”
“Nothing,” Barry shook his head.
That wasn’t exactly true. He had found some good candidates. People who had strong characters whose powers showed perfect synergy with the team’s existing layout. But being good enough was not enough. Not when Barry had Dana’s Arlak as a reference. Nobody out there showed the same potential as Arlak did, and even if they faired the same in the System, there was no accounting for the connection between them.
“You sure you can’t join us?” Barry asked, crestfallen.
“You know I can’t, kid,” Dana said. “Contract and s**t, remember?”
Barry opened his mouth to answer, but just sighed instead.
“What is it?” Dana asked, then squinted. “Hold on… Are you holding back on recruiting a tank because you hope I’ll join your team?”
“What?! No!” Barry frantically shook his head. “Of course not, that would not be logical!”
“People sometimes just don’t give a s**t about logic,” Dana shrugged. “Even you!”
Barry sighed again, thoughts racing. Dana was right. He had not told anyone, but that was the reason why he had been stalling on the tank recruitment. She was the reason. Because she was more than a competent player with a powerful character. To him, she was more.
And she should know that.
“Dana… there’s actually something I need to talk to you about…”
“Yeah?” the lines on her face softened as she asked that, the inflection on her voice shifting just enough to reveal she felt the weight of what was coming.
Just as Barry took in the air to let out the truth, the whole truth, the room door sprung open.
“Barry! I have a message!” Luca barged in.
Without a second thought, Barry slammed the laptop shut, cutting the connection to Dana without even an explanation.
What? Why had he done that?!
“Had a good day?” Barry asked with a forced smile covered in adrenaline and nerves. He had almost been caught in the most emotionally vulnerable moment of his life. Not okay!
“Guess you could say that…” Luca shrugged and dropped on the green pouf. “Had a secret meeting with Sarah, got the number of a cute friend of hers and… Apparently my friend Gabe organized a house party for next Friday with the sorority.”
“Are you going?” Barry asked.
“Only if we don’t have anything important going on,” Luca said with a grin. “And if we don’t have anything important going on, I honestly think you should come to the party too. Getting out there would do you good, you know?”
“You said you had a message,” Barry aborted that subject before he was talked into going to a house party.
“Oh, yeah!” Luca took the folded napkin from his pocket, turned it to a paper ball and tossed it at Barry. “Sarah thinks the solution to our tank problem is the Double Healer Gambit.”
“You know what the Double Healer Gambit is?” Barry asked as he uncrumpled the note.
“Uh… Yeah. Of course I do! Duh’uh!”
“Then you know it won’t work,” Barry replied flatly, but as soon as he read the note all skepticism was drawn away, his features growing puzzled and reflective at each line. “No way…”
“What?” Luca stood up, interest piqued. “What’s it say?”
Barry didn’t reply. Instead, he reopened his computer and immediately booted the TOPAS. His fingers ran over the keyboard, stroking six simple keys.
DM3-C4.
Enter.
On the screen a player profile appeared, containing stats, skills, classes, statistics and the picture of the friendly little alien octopus they had met in the abandoned lab in Bibelo III.
“He was a player?!” Luca asked, peeking over Barry’s shoulder. “A human player? No way! How?”
“I’ll admit I’m just as surprised…” Barry scratched his head. “I would never have figured. Sarah, you are a genius!” he said even though Sarah was not present.
“Okay, but like… how?!” Luca was still awestruck. “The guy’s an octopus! With tentacles instead of arms and legs!”
“Do you have a tail?” Barry asked.
“What?” Luca was still confused. “No, I don’t have a freaking tail!”
“Yet Takol does,” Barry replied. “A very functional tail that you control at will. DM3-C4 just took it a step further and completely ignored his human shape.”
“Okay, okay,” Luca paced across the room, gesticulating and staring at the carpet to try and process the revelation. “The robot we met is a player, and he was pretty resistant, so he could be a tank. What does that have to do with the Double Healer thingy?”
“We’ll have two healers without having two healers,” Barry smirked, crumpling Sarah’s note and tossing it in the trash can. “We will have one healer—Gurm—and one technology specialist.”
“Who can repair the robot…” Luca understood. “We can have a second healer, dedicated to the tank, without burning another specialization.”
“Exactly!” Barry snapped his fingers, then ran another simulation on the System. “Here, take a look.”
[Preset: INFINITY RIDERS | DM3-C4
[Physical Damage: 700
[Dark-Matter (Damage): 600
[Dark-Matter (Diverse): 2,000
[Tech: 550
[Endurance: 3,000
[Support: 2500
[Healing: 750
[Spawn: 1,000
[Overall: 11,100]
“Wasn’t that other tank we saw much better?” Luca asked.
“Indeed, he reached 14,000 overall,” Barry said. “But I have yet to factor a theoretical Techie. Let’s just pick a random one… this Dr. Belle Sloth…”
[Preset: INFINITY RIDERS | DM3-C4 | Belle Sloth
[Physical Damage: 1200
[Dark-Matter (Damage): 1,000
[Dark-Matter (Diverse): 3,500
[Tech: 1,400
[Endurance: 8,000
[Support: 4,000
[Healing: 3,000
[Spawn: 1,300
[Overall: 22,800]
“What the…” Luca babbled. “That’s insane!”
“That’s because, my dear friend,” Barry stood up smiling, “we maximized our synergies! By having the engineer heal DM3-C4, we have freed Gurm to heal the others. The techie can also boost DM3-C4, allowing Potathunder to focus his own boosts on everyone else, and if need be both healers can converge on the tank to punch his durability to unprecedented levels. All that without sacrificing our Technology score.”
“Dude, this is awesome!” Luca squeezed Barry’s shoulders. “What do we do now?”
“We go back to the research facility in Bibelo III,” Barry smirked and grabbed the VR helmet beneath his bed. “Time to get our tank!”
- Writer
