Infinity Legends

Chapter 32: Loyalty

The day had finally come.

That night, mere hours away, the Infinity Riders would be introduced to the galaxy as the newest challengers of the Fantasy Stars Legends league. Amanda would make sure to release the interview just as soon as Kramen was announced at the Legend Halls, making him the main character and ultimate underdog of that year’s tournament.

Anyhow, despite Kramen’s central role in the process, the key to success was in having the entire team show up as a united front of captivating competitors that people could identify with and cheer for.

Lord represented the team’s light-hearted side, and he had spent the whole week rehearsing the majestic number he would play when the Infinity Riders marched into the Legend Halls. Carol had already told her husband he would be taking care of their baby for that night.

Young Gummybear had watched every previous edition of the Wildcard announcements online. Gurmonya Bearius, the team’s mystical character, had purchased a brand new set of robes, these mixing shades of black, gray and dark purple for an aura of added mystery.

DM3 had applied a new paintjob to his war bot, covering it in flames that matched the artwork on the hull of the Infinity. At some point during the parade, he would lift the portion of the carapace concealing the control pod, revealing his true form for an extra twist. More than people’s love for big robots, everyone adored characters who were not what they seemed!

Kramen, the outcast champion fighting for redemption, had spent days studying every aspect of the Legend Halls, its ancient marble walls, corridors and grandstands, to make the most of their presentation. Barry spent the entire Saturday reliving old battles and listening to epic battle soundtracks to get in the right mood.

Takol would be there too, at first watching from the grandstand, but once the formalities were done he would join the group as an extraofficial member to greet fans and add to the scene. That made it very hard for Luca to focus on the Saturday swimming practice, his head always going back to Fantasy Stars.

Serry, the team’s main link to the feminine demography, had planned out a series of grand ice sculptures and freezing spells for visual effects, as well as having upgraded her already impressive jewelry sets, mostly composed by ice-dark-matter diamonds. But beyond impressing people with her spells, Sarah felt even more nervous about just being there.

Unlike Barry, she had given up Fantasy Stars on her own volition years ago. By now it was a secret to anyone aside from her family and new teammates that she ever played that game, but she was about to return to the spotlight. Serry Frost had never been as famous as Kramen Blacksky, but Sarah couldn’t shake the feeling that someone would recognize her, or worse, recognize her eyes! If word got out that she was not only playing a nerdy game, but playing it competitively… She’d rather not think about it.

Afterall, just spending nights away from the sorority to play with the boys was already weighing on her relationship with the rest of the sisters. Her absence on the party the previous night, then, had only increased that distance tenfold. During the entire Saturday, every sister seemed edgy or dodgy whenever Sarah was around or tried to strike conversation. Carly had been the most evident of all, outright running away at least twice when Sarah tried talking to her.

Emma had been more subtle, but Sarah had been around the alpha b***h long enough to identify the pattern. Curt answers, sharp passive-aggressive remarks, an underlying stare of superiority… Sarah had seen those time and again, directed at other people, and she knew what those signs meant. She was being slowly and steadily pushed out, and, if things did not turn around, she would end up being entirely cut loose.

The signs were growing so infuriating that Sarah resorted to calling Charles for emotional support, but even him was acting weird. Sarah had never regarded her boyfriend as a well of heartfelt emotions and wisdom, but they had had several meaningful phone conversations over the two years they had been together. Yet, no matter how distressed Sarah sounded that day, he would just grunt short responses and hurry the topics up to end the call as soon as possible.

Short past noon, Sarah had decided to clear her head with a walk. She would be sure to remedy her standing with the sisters and clear whatever was in the air between her and Charles, but that day her one and only concern should be Fantasy Stars. She walked all over campus, stopping to get ice cream on at least three different locations, until night started falling.

The march into Legend Halls was just a couple of hours away.

Sarah made her way back to the sorority house, where she changed into her black sneaky outfit of choice for climbing through the boys’ window.

“Where are you going, Sar?” Emma called out from the living room couch as Sarah headed for the door.

Now the b***h wanted to talk?

“Going for a jog,” Sarah tried to sound as innocent as possible. “Might stop by the gym too.”

“And why not a swim as well, right?” Emma remarked with a malicious smile that sent shivers down Sarah’s spine. That could not have been a random comment, but she had no time to waste. Legend Halls awaited.

***

“Where is she?!” Barry checked the time, pacing from one corner of the room to the next.

“Will you relax?” Luca said from his green pouf. “We still have half an hour. She’ll be here!”

“What if she isn’t?” Barry asked. “What if she bailed?”

“Then we do this without her!” Luca said.

“We need five people to sign up for Wildcard. We can recruit the rest later, but we need five today!”

“Look,” Luca kept his infuriating nonchalant demeanor. “If Sarah doesn’t make it, which I’m sure she will, I’ll sign Takol up for you and everything will be perfectly fine.”

The promise did little to ease Barry’s nerves.

When Barry’s phone started ringing, the poor guy almost had a stroke.

***

Sarah halted less than a block away from the boys’ dorm, pushing herself against a nearby wooden fence as her heart skipped a beat. At first, she had thought it to be a mirage or a coincidence, but the more she looked at the red car parked in an alley across the street from the dorm building, the surer she got.

It was Charles’ car!

More than that, she could see Charles inside.

The pieces started falling in place. Bit by bit, she came to understand what was going on. Emma’s swimming innuendo, now Sarah’s boyfriend on a stakeout just outside of Luca’s apartment… people had figured out with whom she was spending all those late nights, and unsurprisingly everyone had made a wrong assumption as to what exactly her and Luca did when they were together.

She cursed, still concealed by the fence, then pulled her phone searched for the unregistered number with which Barry had texted her about Carol’s visit the previous day.

“Barry!” she whispered, despite knowing Charles could not hear her from there.

“Where are you?” he promptly asked.

“I’m just a block away, but I need you to bring my gear to me!”

“What?”

“My gear, it’s in your closet!” Sarah hissed. “I need you to bring it to me, I’m next to that big statue of the bald guy!”

“Why, what’s going on?” Barry insisted.

“I can’t come up tonight. Long story,” Sarah sighed. “Really long story.”

“Understood. Luca will bring you the gear…”

“No!” she yelled, then lowered her voice again. “No! It has to be you!”

“Why?”

“Barry, please! Just trust me on this. And please be discreet about it.”

“Where will you play?” he asked promptly.

“I think I can hail a cab to a cybercafé downtown and login on time,” Sarah shook her head, peeking through the fence’s wooden planks to verify that Charles was still there. “And speaking of time, we are running out of it. You’d better hurry up, dork!”

***

Barry was headed for the infamous bald statue down the street when he was yanked behind a fence by a pair of surprisingly strong hands.

“Please don’t hurt me!” he cried out, taking cover behind the trash bag in which he carried the VR headset.

“It’s me, you big dork!” Sarah said plainly, ripping the trash bag from his hands and already backing away. “Thanks. See you…”

“Wait!” Barry called, digging into his pocket and pulling out a keychain. “These are Luca’s keys to the aquatic sports complex. It should be empty at night. You can play from there. Faster than going downtown.”

Sarah winked at Barry and ran off.

Barry did not have time to reply or ask any of the billion questions he had. What mattered was that, as far as he could tell, Sarah had the means to join the group in time.

The young man turned on his heels and started a much calmer journey back home. He was halfway there when a wall of muscles bumped into him. Bumped a little too hard. Barry shook off the impact and kept walking, only to have the neck of his shirt yanked back by that same wall of muscles.

A familiar wall of muscles, nevertheless.

Sarah’s boyfriend, whatever his name was.

And now the confusing series of recent events started making sense. Some sense, at least. Perhaps Barry could make even more sense of everything once he was not silently panicking.

Charles pushed the smaller man into a fence, another two bulky men crossing the street to join him.

“This him, Charlie?” one of the thugs asked. “Doesn’t look like a big champion to me.”

“Nah,” Charles lifted Barry by his collar. “This is his roomie.”

“H-hey, Charlie!” Barry improvised. “N-nice…”

“Shut up, nerd!” Charles yelled. “You know, after I met you, I kept thinking, ‘why is Sarah, who studies business, doing a paper on Hippopotamuses?’. I get it now…”

“Hypothermia!”

 “Stop making up words!” Charles shoved Barry against the fence again. “You’re their messenger, aren’t you? No one thinks much of a nerd, so Luca and Sarah use you to communicate. Very clever!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Barry half bluffed, but mostly that was true. He was completely confused!

“Cut the crap, nerd,” one of Charles’ friends stepped in. “We know your roomie is fooling around with Charlie’s girl.”

“I-What-No-I…” Barry stumbled over his words. “That’s not true.”

“So you weren’t just delivering a message right now?” the other friend asked nodding to the fence behind which Sarah was hidden.

“No! I was taking out the trash!”

The three bullies laughed. “Who the hell takes their trash out a whole block down?” Charles asked.

“I don’t!” said thug number 1.

“Me neither!” said thug number 2.

“Now,” Charles came closer to Barry, his minty breath overwhelming the smaller man’s sense. “You can tell us what’s going on… Or we can make you. I’ll count to five.”

Barry shook and shivered, his feet dangling helplessly in the air.

“One…”

There was no fighting this out. Not against one, let alone three of those monsters.

“Two…”

He could just tell the truth! Tell about their gaming nights, he could prove it, even!

“Three…”

Then again, Barry knew how much that secret meant to Sarah. He knew what breaking her trust would mean. He could not do that to the team. He could not do that to a friend.

“Four…”

And yet, as the countdown came to an end, self-preservation screamed for him to take the easy way out.

“Sure you not gonna talk?” Charles gave him one last chance.

Barry was pale, his voice had vanished, and his mouth had turned to a thin, colorless line.

And then Barry spit. A mouthful of saliva splattered across Charles face in the literal blink of an eye.

“Right,” Charles grunted. “That makes five!”