Infinity Legends

Chapter 30: The Guests

It had been almost a full hour since Sarah crawled through the window of the boys’ dormitory, and they were still sitting on their colored poufs, sipping sodas and eating chips. As usual, Sarah had headed directly to Barry’s wardrobe when she arrived, ready to get the gaming gear she stored in there, but Barry had told her to wait. Apparently, they had a very prestigious guest coming, and as much as Luca and Sarah tried to make sense of that riddle, Barry refused to supply them with any more information.

Sarah’s patience was running thin, and she was on the verge of jumping out the window and going back to the party when a rhythmic knock on the door was heard. The girl ran to the bathroom, no wanting to be seen should any familiar face appear behind the door.

Luca remained on his green pouf and watched Barry open the door to two beautiful women on their thirties. The strangers entered the room with Barry’s warm welcomes, one of them dropping two bags on Barry’s bed and the other sitting on Luca’s study chair to rock her… baby?

“Uh… Barry…” Luca scratched his head. “Who the hell are these?”

“I’m Carol!” the woman with the baby did not give Barry the chance to answer. “The lady almost as pretty as me is Amanda and this little guy,” she raised the baby on her lap, “is Logan!”

Sarah slowly sneaked out of the bathroom, studying the new arrivals. She glanced at Luca, wondering if the names meant anything to him, but he just shrugged.

“Carol, these are Luca and Sarah,” Barry said. “You may know them as…”

“Takol and Serry,” Carol interrupted. “I see their eyes on you!”

At that moment, realization downed on Sarah as she finally recognized the woman’s blue eyes, her mischievous smirk, the lax way with which she carried herself and the witty inflection of her voice. Everything else was different, of course, but the energy emanating for Carol was not at all new…

“You’re Lord Potathunder!” Sarah blurted out.

Carol smiled, pleased, then looked at Barry. “I should’ve known the brains of the group would be a girl. You took your sweet while to figure out this morning.”

“What… Wha… But…” Luca stuttered as he glanced at the real-life incarnation of the bearded bard he knew from Fantasy Stars. “You’re gorgeous!”

“I get that a lot,” Carol winked at Luca, then raised a proud hand with a golden ring on it. “But I’m also happily married.”

“Oh! I didn’t mean to…” Luca started explaining himself, but ended just mumbling something. “Okay, back to what matters, how on Earth did you find us?”

“I happen to know a developer in Fantasy Stars,” Carol said. “He did me a solid and traced your connections for me.”

“Is that legal?” Luca frowned.

“It is if you agreed to the terms and conditions of use, which you did,” Carol offered a cute tight smile to compensate the fact she delivered.

“And you dork still call yourself a law student,” Sarah punched Luca’s shoulder, then looked up to their guests. “It’s a pleasure finally meeting you, Lord. Almost as much a pleasure as knowing at least half our team are girls! But to what do we owe the pleasure?”

“Tomorrow’s an important day for us. We’ll introduce ourselves to the galaxy and the world. Millions of people will watch and if we want to be the Wildcard we need to make an impression. As our Chief Marketing Officer, I wanted to talk to you all beforehand. And of course, get to know your pretty young faces!”

“There is something else, too,” Amanda said, her voice shy as she sat between the bags she dropped at the bed. “Carol asked me to give you guys a hand.”

“And you are?” Sarah asked.

“Amanda,” Luca answered. “Haven’t you been paying attention?”

Sarah punched his shoulder again.

“I’m a streamer,” Amanda giggled. “I do a few Fantasy Stars videos now and then.”

Carol threw her head back laughing. “Quit being humble! You kids remember that rally in Winner City eight years ago?”

The three students nodded.

“Amanda was behind it!”

“Wasn’t that Logan Spacebound?” Barry asked, getting a curious hum from the baby on Carol’s arms.

“It was, but I helped him,” Amanda nodded.

“She did most of the work, really,” Carol said. “And nowadays, she’s known as Dani Sunbeam!”

“Dani Sunbeam?” Luca choked on the chips he was eating. “You’ve got like… a million subscribers!”

“Ten million,” Amanda corrected with a humble smile.

“Holy crap!” Luca grabbed his hair, and Carol covered little Logan’s ears.

“Best part?” Carol resumed talking. “Mamma here goes way back with Ms. Sunbeam, so we’ve just enlisted her and her ten million subs to our corner!”

Luca gawked, Sarah laughed hysterically, and Barry had a broad smile plastered to his face. Even though he already knew all that, it felt good to hear it again.

“Hold on,” Luca raised a hand. “You said you know a dev, right?”

“Yeah…” Carol nodded.

“Why don’t we just use them to… you know… Cut the line?”

“Because it’s all virtual,” Barry barged into the answer. “Fantasy Stars is extremely transparent, if we don’t follow the rules, we will leave a trace and someone will find out, guaranteed. Besides, where the honor in that?”

“It’s about more than honor, really,” Carol completed. “Cheating is a path of no return. You do it once, you may get your results, but without the skill to honestly back that you’ll have to resort to cheating again and again and again! Even if no one ever finds out, you’ll know that your success is a fraud, and that’s something that will always weight on your shoulders.”

“Okay. No cheating, then!” Luca raised his hands on surrender. “What’s the plan then?”

“A coordinated media strike!” Amanda’s voice was low, but carried enthusiasm. “After you introduce yourselves tomorrow, people will be all over the place trying to learn more about the Wildcard contestants, and that’s when we’ll air on all my channels an exclusive interview with the hottest topic in the moment: Kramen Blacksky and friends!”

“It was my idea!” Carol announced. “I know, I’m a genius!”

“You really are,” Luca conceded. “Should we login, then?”

“Oh, no!” Carol laughed. “Hold on to your pants, cowboy. This interview’s gonna be live!”

***

As expected, Sarah had refused to appear on camera, no matter how much her friends insisted that she joined Barry on the interview. The next best strategy had been to include Luca himself, despite him not being a player for the Infinity Riders. It did not take long for Carol and Amanda to be convinced that Luca was an even better choice than Sarah, given how he had been the catalyst for Kramen’s return and now served a unique role as the team’s unofficial coach from time to time.

With Barry sitting on his blue pouf, Luca on the green and Amanda borrowing Sarah’s red one, they had talked for over an hour, going through prompt questions and often evolving into more natural conversations. It had taken Barry a while to get comfortable in front of the cameras, but as the topics delve deeper into Fantasy Stars he started feeling at home.

They went over how Barry and Luca had met, and how Barry had been convinced to return (though never naming Sarah). They talked about the teammates they had so far and the perspective for the future, and then about Luca’s current role on the group. There were sections dedicated to discussing specific creatures, strategies and player classes on a competitive context, but as the interview came to a close, the inevitable confrontation with the past was brought up.

“Very well, Barry, we have talked about what made you come back,” Amanda spoke. “Now why don’t you tell us a bit more about what made you walk away in the first place? Did it have to do with your last competitive match, the one against Andrew Laserburn?”

With his jaw clenched, Barry took in a deep breath, the comfort he struggled to build evaporating under his feet. It had been widely believed that he had chosen to leave the major leagues out of shame following the legendary defeat against Laserbun and his spawned Choker, but people did not know the whole truth.

“It had everything to do with that match…” Barry said at last. “I made a grave mistake that day, sacrificing my own units. A mistake my dear friends refused to overlook. Even after years fighting side by side, all it took was one bad call for them to turn their backs on me. Our sponsors told them to throw me under the bus and they did, without another thought.”

“Would you say you are playing for revenge now?” Amanda asked in a gloomy note.

Barry chewed on his thoughts, both mentally and physically. It would be a lie to say that had been the root of his decision, but it would also be a lie to say it never crossed his heart. He had spent one too many nights over the last five years dreaming of the day he would clash with the Star Rangers and make the lot of them regret casting him out. Lately, those fantasies had grown stronger and more recurrent.

Barry glanced at Luca, who returned the stare with expecting green irises. Behind the camera, Carol shook her head, urging him to play it cool and keep the respect for his old comrades. But behind Carol, Sarah watched too, more captivated than at any point in the interview. With just a stare, she repeated Amanda’s question over and over. Was Barry in it for revenge? It was almost if she hoped the answer to be yes.

“I don’t think revenge matters…” Barry swallowed the boiling grudge and faked a polite smile. “This is just a game after all and we are all playing for…” he paused, eyes lost at his VR helmet resting on the bed. The grudge he had swallowed was fighting back, crawling up his throat and into his mouth, and Barry could no longer hold it in.

“You know what? f**k this!” he said, much to everyone’s surprise. It was the first time anyone in that room had seen Barry Watson swear, and he had meant every word of it. “I’m not playing for fun. I’m not playing for revenge either. Because I’m not playing at all. I’m done playing!

“Right now, I am waging war! I’m waging war on the cowards that abandoned a friend for a paycheck. I’m waging war on the corporative parasites that clutched to FSL to suck the life out of it, the giants who run the show and decide who gets to play and who gets to leave! I’m waging war against the contracts that bind you like a slave to sponsors,” Barry took a second to breath, a vein bulging on his forehead. He glanced at an awestruck Carol, and behind her Sarah smiling proudly. Yeah, that had been the answer she expected. Barry went on: “I’m waging war to show that we don’t need sponsors and contracts to be champions, and that we should take pride on what we are. This game is part of us, and the Infinity Riders are here to remind everyone that nobody can take it away. It can never end. It is infinite.”

Barry turned to the camera and pointed a finger at it.

“And Andrew Laserburn,” he said, “the only reason you ever beat me was because of my mistake. A mistake I do not intend to repeat. When we meet, I hope you have improved enough to make it interesting.”