Battlecraft VR Read online

  The team moves together and finds new cover in ruins closer to the fortress. Paul shoots fire bolts at the enemies periodically to keep them pinned down. Nick spams healing bubbles, mixes potions. Even though he’s holding nothing physical, his arms are so tired from the repetitive movement he wants to cry. And then he wants to throw up. And then he wants to crawl back to his tiny room to hide from the shame he feels whenever he imagines letting his team down. He wants to sleep for days.

  But he keeps fighting.

  “Belle, what do we do?” Nick says, breathing hard.

  It’s not Belle who answers. It’s Marina. Their voices have the same timbre and tone, but Marina has more precise diction, less of a tendency to spew invective, and a slight accent, with rounder O’s and swallowed R’s.

  Nick believes Marina when she says she and Belle are half-sisters. It’s obvious from the way they look and the way they move, their expressions and gestures, and their extraordinarily rare natural talent for the game. But he’s not about to say that to Belle. She’s more defensive about her relationship with Marina than she is about anything else, and that’s saying something.

  “We don’t move in. Not yet,” Marina says. “And we stay together. This is the most important component of the plan.”

  “You’d better be right about this,” Belle mutters. “Because if you’re wrong, we’re all dead.”

  “I’m right,” Marina says. “Steady on.”

  ∆∆∆

  Marina brings her full attention back to the game. Her posture is straight, her gestures quick and decisive—the only physical indication of the ferocity with which she is operating her avatar in this match. She knows she’s doing something extremely well, something that’s difficult for any player: she is thinking far ahead, considering how every character will match up with every other character, where the supply caches and mounts are, how to get where she needs to be and position herself—and her team—to avoid the shrinking walls of the game map. She remembers every detail of this specific layout—every hill, building, outcropping, and tree—perfectly from the last time she played it, nearly a year ago.

  Is she thinking the match is winnable? Yes, she is. But Marina would never let her hopes show. They must execute the plan perfectly.

  And there’s hope. It’s one of those rare times the Untouchables is playing near its best level.

  In fact, Marina thinks, we are playing better than we have ever played, better than we have a right to play. We are playing together, making few mistakes, anticipating one another, anticipating our opponents.

  The team can win this vital match and step forward on the path toward the championship—if they don’t fall into their old habits and begin playing for themselves, rather than seamlessly as one.

  As she starts repositioning for the next phase, she watches Belle capture a giant elk and gallop her direction.

  “Heads up! They’re going for the fortress,” Belle says, with the slightest touch of panic in her voice.

  Marina knows what Belle’s thinking: if they take the fortress, they’ll occupy the high ground and own ready access to plenty of narrow openings and cover. And more importantly, they’ll escape the trap Marina has planned for them.

  “Hold steady,” Marina says calmly.

  Marina watches an enemy sneak up on a red dragon and mount it. Near the fortress, dragons are spawning every few minutes.

  At Marina’s signal, Nick moves closer to her, along with William and Paul. They all take cover behind low stone walls as close as they can get to the fortress without risking open terrain and certain death.

  Marina concentrates on the top-down view of the game, hoping everyone will remember their roles—and know when to be flexible and forget their roles. Improvisation has won—or lost—many a tournament game.

  She pushes away fleeting thoughts about her husband Jimmy, who is undoubtedly sitting alone, drinking, in their apartment in Phoenix.

  But an image of him careens through her consciousness like a crashing plane. She’s been gone four days. The place is undoubtedly littered with bottles. She wonders if he’s watching her on his stream—she’s shown him how—and decides he’s not. He’s sitting on the Navajo-themed sofa immersed in his usual stream, which is dominated by pornography, men playing golf, or men fishing from boats. Why would anyone watch men fishing from boats?

  The two teams are battling fiercely from their positions behind inadequate cover. Both sides are getting nonlethal hits. No one has died yet, probably because the healers on both sides are quite competent.

  The four Deep Secrets players split in two pairs. They now have two dragons and they’re doubled up on them. Air mounts give them a decisive advantage. They’ll be looking to wipe the Untouchables quickly, and they're expecting it to be easy, because the Untouchables are continuing to clump so closely together.

  Marina decides to act.

  “Belle, this is it! What we talked about!” Marina says on the team’s private channel.

  “It’s too early!” Belle says.

  Marina knows in her bones, in her veins and capillaries, that if they don’t act now, they’ll lose. “Belle, listen to me! We are ready! William, get ready to move. Your time has come.”

  ∆∆∆

  William James, in his role as designated mid-range sharpshooter, throws his homing spear at one of the dragons, which is flying over, just within his range. The move serves as a last straw for Deep Secrets, just as Marina had predicted.

  A green mist starts leaking from the ground.

  “Mist of Vengeance!” William says.

  “Got it,” Belle says calmly.

  “Time for Sentinel of Death?” Nick says. He sounds nervous, but that’s normal. He always sounds nervous.

  “No. Do nothing,” Marina says firmly. “This is perfect. Stand still.”

  “Uh,” Nick says tentatively, “Shouldn’t we run?”

  “No!” Marina says. “Trust me!”

  William realizes that he feels the same as Nick, but he, like Nick, will follow Marina’s orders. He stays put, riding waves of fear and doubt. Sitting with this negative emotion feels like a victory to him. Maybe because feeling any emotion is a good thing.

  In the past few months, after a long stretch of ennui, William has begun to care intensely about life again. Contrary to the negative predictions of his wealthy entrepreneur father and his vicious stepmother, he’s started a thriving business, living frugally and slowly and carefully investing in a small fleet of cannabis delivery autovans. At the same time, a long history of killing time on games has somehow converged with a lucky encounter and placed him in the middle of a winning Battlecraft team. He feels his old sharpness and focus returning, and for the first time in a long time, he trusts himself.

  William has always known things about people, deep in his soul, that he couldn’t know. But he does know these things, and although he doesn’t know how he knows, he knows when he knows.

  He grins.

  Right now, he knows his team is somehow going to win this match.

  Another thing he knows: Belle and Marina have issues, but in spite of their issues, they're amazing. Belle barely gets along with anyone, including Marina. Marina is only just managing to stay in the country. But they have the potential to be the best Battlecraft VR players in the world and lead a team to a championship.

  Maybe this team.

  Maybe this year.

  The last thing he wants to do is blow this chance at success, this chance to prove his family wrong.

  And then Paul Boone cries out. “I’m hit.”

  ∆∆∆

  Paul Boone sags and stumbles as his health bar dips into the red.

  “Dying,” he says, by way of warning. If he dies, they’ll all die. It’s rare to win a match if your sniper is out.

  Paul feels dizzy inside his headset, and a little disoriented and detached, but as the terror rises, he calls on his training and calms himself.

  “Got you,” Nick says, and h
eals him halfway with a short-range dart. “Keep your head down.”

  Paul experiences a hard, swift craving for a tumbler full of bourbon and a vape pen. It won’t be long now. They’ll either win or lose, and he’ll be able to return to his dimly lit, scuzzy motel room and numb out. Not for the first time he wonders how in the hell he ended up on a stage in Seattle. He’d always liked the game, and he’d played it since the buggy-beta stage, but until Marina had recruited him in Phoenix he’d never considered playing competitively. And now, just a few months later, he has earned a pass from his court-ordered VA psychiatrist. For the first time in a year, he’s been cleared to travel on a commercial airliner.

  He hopes his advocates haven’t all made a big mistake.

  “I have you also,” Marina says, coming closer, and she heals him to full health with a potion.

  “That was close,” Paul says. A new eruption of sweat runs down his back. Not that it matters; his haptic suit is already soaked.

  “Somewhat close,” Marina says calmly. Paul smiles. Calming everyone down is one of the many things Marina is good at, besides deploying her encyclopedic knowledge of the game, maintaining nerves of steel, and consistently employing brilliant, if unconventional, strategies.

  The team is surrounded, trapped near the north side of the fortress with inadequate cover, and taking heavy damage.

  “I hope you’re right about this,” Belle says.

  “Wait,” Marina says. “And get your equipment and supplies ready. Hurry. We don’t have much time.”

  Paul looks at his inventory and realizes he’s forgotten a couple of weapon tweaks that could make the difference, but he’s running out of time to fix the problem, and he hopes his sluggishness doesn’t cost them the game.

  Taking a peek at Nick, he realizes Nick’s doing the same thing.

  Belle’s ready, though. She’s always ready.

  ∆∆∆

  Belle stares at Marina’s avatar. She’s already filled with rage at the idea that Marina’s fancy strategy might lose them this match.

  It’s too much to think they could get this close and blow it.

  It’s been a year since Belle had convinced herself to quit the silly dreaming about playing on a top Battlecraft professional team—but what a year it’s been. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but sometimes she wants this exciting new life so much, she can hardly stand it. She doesn’t know what she’ll do if they get eliminated now that they’ve gotten this close to victory.

  “If this doesn’t work, we’re done. You know that, right?” she says to Marina. “We’re barely staying alive, we’re all bunched up together, and even with all the armor and healing we’ve stockpiled, we can’t last.”

  “Have a little faith, Belle, please,” Marina says, and Belle detects irritation, an unusual lack of patience, in her voice.

  “Oh, God,” Nick says. “I think I’m going to have a heart attack. I have a sharp pain in my chest.”

  “Look out for Devil-Man, over there,” William says.

  Belle spots he Deep Secrets sharpshooter getting in range. They all know he’ll use his favorite trick and fire up Sleep of Death.

  “What?” Nick says. He groans. “I hate this part.”

  “Shit,” Belle says. “Me too.”

  “Hold on,” Marina says stiffly. “Fortitude.”

  As Sleep of Death hits, their rigs freeze. Inside the game, the Untouchables fall instantly to the ground behind the broken wall they’ve been using as cover, like the characters stuck in the poppy field in the old film Wizard of Oz. As they lie there helpless and motionless, the enemy team surrounds them.

  “Are you going to use Time Jump?” Nick says.

  “No! They’re accepting the ruse. Don’t lose courage now! Wait!” Marina says.

  Paul laughs bitterly. “At least we will resurrect…Eventually…Since it’s only a game.”

  “It’s a lot of stress, though, man. You all right?” William says.

  “Yeah...I’ll make it,” Paul says, but his voice is thick and low. “The thing is, I got a little behind on my ammo, there.”

  “And I got behind on my potions,” Nick says.

  “How far behind?” Marina says sharply.

  Paul doesn’t answer.

  “Just a little?” Nick says.

  Belle knows it’s going to be close, but with Paul’s and Nick’s mistakes in the mix, they probably won’t make it. Not that Paul and Nick are entirely to blame; there were many variables that could have made the difference. Unfortunately, although they'd played pretty well in this match, they’d been a bit nervous and preoccupied, second-guessing Marina and complaining. They’d missed a few opportunities.

  Unless Marina pulls off a miracle, Belle thinks, we’re really most sincerely dead, as they say in Munchkin Land.

  ∆∆∆

  Marina quiets her mind. Their biggest problem, as ever, is themselves. Paul suffers from considerable mental trauma—anxiety and periodic panic attacks—a result of his military service in the E.U.-Russian conflict. Nick is always complaining of physical or emotional ailments, letting his anxiety guide his actions. William worries too much about everyone else and not enough about his own performance. And Belle, while a brilliant player, cannot rein in her anger and suspicious nature.

  Marina knows what her own weakness is: a surfeit of ambition. But at this juncture the team needs someone like her. Someone who knows the game better than anyone, someone who can impose logic and discipline, someone who believes they can win, and most importantly, someone who can herd the team together and keep them together, functioning as one. If she can keep them focused for ten more seconds, her plan has a small but real chance to work.

  “Get ready,” Marina says.

  Nick screams quietly. “Eeeeeeee…”

  “Five seconds,” Marina says. “Wait…wait…”

  The remaining four members of the Deep Secrets team move in for the wipe while the Untouchables are still frozen.

  Marina tries to hang on to her hopes, but she has to admit, finally, that her team’s timing has been just slightly off. Paul has made a mistake, forgetting to reload a key weapon, and Nick has erred as well. It's not all their fault, though. Others might have picked up the slack if they’d noticed. As it is, they’re going to run out of time to act after the paralyzing spell wears off. It had been close. All they’d needed was one more second.

  The Deep Secrets players lift their weapons and train everything they have on the helpless Untouchables.

  Then, Doggy, the Deep Secrets squad leader and leading damage dealer, hesitates, laughing theatrically at them for a second before he starts shooting.

  And Doggy’s stupid laugh-fest gives Paul just enough time after the paralyzing spell wears off to load his explosive cross-bolts.

  “Now!” Belle says.

  Marina manifests a scarlet blazar that sucks the enemies in even closer. They’re too surprised to react quickly enough, and Paul, Nick, and Belle each get a lick in. Doggy jumps down, lifts his staff and plunges it in to the ground, and tree roots grow out of the ground and wrap around the Untouchables, pulling them down. But Marina grabs Belle by the hand and casts a boosted counter-spell, making them both immune, and they slip right out of the roots.

  As Marina frees Paul, he retreats from the fray, shooting the stored barrage of bolts from his glowing crossbow, killing two. William and Nick use hoarded potions to get free and hurl all their remaining knives, swords, and energy balls. Belle immobilizes the last two enemies with a reserve stun bubble, and the Untouchables use everything they have left.

  In less than a second, Deep Secrets is no more.

  They have no chance to resurrect, recover, or retaliate.

  Which means it’s a wipe and a win, with not just one but all five Untouchables still alive.

  The players remove their headsets and look at each other, stunned.

  For a moment, there’s near silence in the giant arena.

  And the whole place goes wild
. The din seems destined to shake the arena apart.

  The players on the Deep Secrets team slowly climb off their rigs and remove their headsets. They stand motionless, looking numb. Doggy covers his face with his hands and rocks.

  J.T. and Lane are quiet for a few moments as the crowd noise surges. Finally, they shout their shocked reactions to the Untouchables’ win.

  For her part, Marina is shocked. And thrilled—of course she is.

  But she can’t help thinking that, although they’ve won this match, and that’s good, it was too close, there was too much hesitation, and they never would have won if Doggy hadn’t bungled it with his juvenile taunting.

  The Untouchables had not executed perfectly.

  In that moment, Marina reluctantly and sadly admits to herself that the Untouchables will never prevail in the five-team final championship, not playing like this.

  She needs them overcome their individual problems and to work better together, to trust each other more.

  It’s going to take something radical to get Belle and the rest of the team playing like winners.

  ∆∆∆

  Belle slips her headset off and watches William, Nick, and Paul hop out of their rigs, jump up and down, cheer, hug, and high-five.

  Belle and Marina climb out of their rigs too, eyes locked. Belle is too stunned to speak.

  Then she shakes off the shock. “I can’t believe it worked,” she shouts into Marina’s ear.

  Marina nods, and Belle knows they’re acknowledging both the plan’s success and their near failure to execute on the plan. They both look away.

  Nick waves his arms maniacally. “Oh, my god!” he shouts. “They thought we were going to run for the fortress, but we didn’t, we suckered them closer, and they thought they had us with Sleep of Death, but they didn’t realize we had high-damage energy weapons and spell-steals left! It wasn’t last-man-standing, it was last-three-guys-and-two-awesome-women-standing!”