Dory's Avengers

by Alison Jack

  Lord William remained blissfully unaware of the fact there was an investigation being held into his dubious past, and that the Sponsors were withholding this information from him. Seeing his inner circle from the house in person, His Lordship was pleased to find several reporters waiting on the pavement.

  ‘Aha, ladies and gentlemen of the press. You've saved me a phone call. I've no doubt you'd like to know my views about Louis Trevelyan's surprise inclusion in the Games?’

  ‘Yes, Lord William,’ answered several voices, then the questions started coming thick and fast.

  ‘Stop! Stop! One at a time, please,’ boomed Lord William affably, answering the reporters’ questions one by one with uncharacteristic patience.

  ‘Yes, wonderful, isn't it? What a talent, so glad my Sports Sponsorship group discovered him just in time for the Games. No, of course I'd never seen him before. No, really; Lysander never saw fit to share his son's talent with us. For sure, Louis Trevelyan competes with the full backing of the Scheme. As a matter of fact, I've just secured tickets to watch young Louis going for gold. I can't wait!’

  Watching Lord William's interview on the big screen in her pub, Mary raised her eyebrows in surprise. Holding his glass out for a refill, Jim grinned knowingly at the landlady.

  ‘What a load of tosh, eh, Mary?’ he said as Mary poured him another pint of bitter. ‘Who's he trying to fool?’

  ‘The words ‘‘clutching at straws’’ spring to mind, don't they, Jim?’ replied Mary as she passed Jim's pint over the bar and took his money. ‘I think we're lucky enough to be witnessing the death throes of the Sponsorship Scheme.’

  ‘Well, I'll drink to that!’

  Mary's words proved to be as prophetic as any uttered by the famous seer, Mortimer O'Reilly. The first day of August saw the finalists, including Louis, compete for medals in the men's all-round gymnastics event. Lord William had indeed wielded his power in order to secure tickets for himself and a select few of his Sponsors, including Mystic Mortimer. Oblivious to the investigation that was rapidly building a case against him, Lord William took his seat, naturally one of the best in the arena, with beaming looks. Inviting the beautiful Faye and the charismatic Steph to sit beside him, Lord William felt totally relaxed, sure that he could use Louis Trevelyan's inclusion in the Games to the advantage of the Scheme. What could go wrong? If Louis were to fail, Lord William would lament the young man's lack of proper training, which could only be achieved with the benefit of Sports Sponsorship. If Louis were to succeed, Lord William would be the first to register his delight at the country having such a talented gymnast, rubbishing the recent public claims by the Unsponsored of Sponsorship oppression and discrimination. What weight would these claims hold if an Unsponsored athlete were to win gold at the Games, with the full backing of Lord William and the Scheme? No, thought His Lordship complacently, I just can't lose here.

  Watching from the competitors’ entrance, David and Julia Foster saw Lord William take his place. Both had been amused to hear Lord William's apparent change of heart on the news the day after Louis qualified, and neither believed for a moment that the change of heart was genuine. Knowing a lot of Lord William's answers to the reporters’ questions to be lies, the Fosters guessed, correctly, that their boss was only playing the game until the foreign media left the country. Having not received any contact from Lord William, the Fosters carried on at the Games in their roles as Sports Sponsorship directors. Both had enough experience of Lord William's methods in the past to know that their lives would change after the Games, but they found that they really didn't care. Free from the limitations put upon even the most high-ranking Sponsors, free from having to answer to Lord William all the time, they were enjoying every minute of the Games.

  Lord William wasn't the only one who had secured tickets for the medal events featuring Louis. The gymnast himself had managed to get a few tickets for his nearest and dearest; so Lysander, Sarah, Abi and Jenny all had seats for each event. Theo was a little put out that Louis had only managed to get four tickets, and that there wasn't one for him, but as Louis explained to his friend, he'd been lucky to get any tickets at all at this late stage. Seeing Theo so despondent, Sarah kindly told him that he could have her ticket for one of the three events involving Louis, and a very grateful Theo immediately chose Louis's speciality – the parallel bars. Delighted that he would be able to cheer his friend on in person the following Tuesday, Theo joined Matilda and the rest of Dory's Avengers in the Kennington Lane pub to watch the all-round event.

  Now Louis had arrived at the medal events, he found that he was far less nervous than he had been for the qualifiers. He had already come further than he ever dreamed he would, still not really believing that he was as good as everyone made him out to be. Gideon, furious at Louis's persistent refusal to believe in himself, roared at the young gymnast shortly before Louis's first performance of the day.

  ‘For God's sake, Trevelyan,’ he yelled, making heads turn all around them. ‘You're at the bloody OLYMPICS! You're competing for a MEDAL! When will you finally start to believe in yourself; when you're standing on the podium accepting gold?’

  A few people in earshot thought that the great Gideon Wallis might have lost the plot; surely yelling at his protégé just before Louis went out to compete would only upset the young man and put him off. Far from put off, Louis was immensely reassured by his mentor's familiar bad temper, and achieved a tremendous score for his floor exercise. Abi, Sarah, Jenny and Lysander cheered wildly every time Louis appeared to compete, then watched quietly as he performed.

  Louis's friends watching in the Kennington Lane pub were a lot more vocal in their support of their gymnast, roaring their approval all through Louis's routines and celebrating noisily when his scores came through. Lord William was also genuinely enjoying the day, finding that Louis Trevelyan was a joy to watch. Louis's technique looked so effortless; and his routines, meticulously worked out by the genius Gideon Wallis, were highly impressive even to His Lordship's untrained eye. Throughout the day, the gold medal spot was contested fiercely between Louis and highly talented gymnasts from the USA and China. Going into the final event, Louis was in the bronze medal position; the other two gymnasts only fractionally above him in the overall scoring. In the Kennington Lane pub, the party atmosphere had moved up a notch as Matilda led a conga around the bar, singing, ‘He's going to get a med-al, he's going to get a med-al, lala lah lah, lala lah lah!’ Forming a breakaway conga, Theo met his girlfriend head on, replying with his own lyrics.

  ‘He's going to get a go-old, last event's parallel ba-ars…’

  Theo was right. Louis absolutely smashed his rivals’ scores on the parallel bars, in the end taking gold by quite a healthy margin and reducing Gideon to rare tears of joy. The cheers in the Kennington Lane boozer were deafening. Theo, bedecked in the British flag, ran up and down the road outside for a while singing ‘Rule, Britannia!’ at the top of his voice, much to the amusement of the passers-by. Mary, having only just replenished the stock of champagne for her daughter's wedding, found herself cracking the new batch open with a beaming smile.

  ‘OK, so technically I'm not British,’ said the Irishwoman, handing round the glasses of bubbly, ‘but I'll drink to this. To Louis Trevelyan! To the Unsponsored!’

  Louis accepted his gold medal with an expression on his face that suggested he would wake up from this crazy dream any minute. Abi, Lysander and Sarah were all moved to tears as their beloved Louis stood proud on the podium while the national anthem rang around the North Greenwich Arena, Jenny turning to them in exasperation to ask why they were all crying when they should be happy. Lord William stood for the national anthem, smiling and applauding as the music ended. When confronted by a host of reporters as he made for his car, Lord William was able to tell them that he was genuinely very impressed with young Trevelyan, and was proud that the lad was British. Not so genuine was his response when asked why the Sponsors hadn't put Louis forward to compete before t
he Games actually began.

  ‘Unfortunately,’ he said in a voice that brooked no argument, ‘the Unsponsored tend to keep themselves to themselves. They congregate in ghettos, don't look kindly upon outsiders, don't really live to the high standards expected by the Sponsored in this country. Therefore, we had no idea that they were harbouring such a talent as Louis. So insular are the Unsponsored that even Louis's own father knew nothing of his son's talent while still in my employ. It was only when the son of David and Julia Foster, my Sports Sponsors, struck up a friendship with young Trevelyan that we became aware of Louis's talent, and the rest is history. Had the Unsponsored had their way, the world of gymnastics would have been oblivious to Louis Trevelyan's tremendous skill…’

  Listening to His Lordship's interview on a small radio with Gideon and Louis, while Sarah, Jenny and Abi went in search of refreshments, Lysander shook his head in disbelief.

  ‘Even Lysander knew nothing of his son's talent? Does His Lordshit think I can't speak for myself?’

  ‘Time to put the record straight,’ said Gideon, noticing a group of reporters approaching, headed by Max. The reporters made straight for Louis, but found the young man still so dazed by the enormity of what he had achieved that all he could manage to utter was, ‘Hello, Moronis Maximus. Who let you in here?’

  ‘Came in with these guys, Bleachy,’ Max replied, gesturing towards a group of American reporters. ‘They love anyone Unsponsored; we've really caught their imagination. Oh, and well done, Louis. You were ace today.’

  ‘Cheers, Maximus. Looks like Gideon's talking; best get over there or you'll miss out…’

  Sitting quietly with his father, Louis watched Gideon holding the world's press rapt as he told the Unsponsored version of events.

  ‘I understand Lord William has intimated that Louis didn't qualify through the usual channels because the Unsponsored were unwilling to share him with the world. I'm sure you'll make up your own minds whether or not His Lordship is speaking the truth, but from our point of view he is talking rubbish. It was Lord William who said only Sponsored athletes would compete for Britain in these Games; it was he, not the Unsponsored, who put the restrictions on.’

  ‘Gideon's right,’ said Julia Foster, joining the interview. ‘The Unsponsored always wanted Louis to compete in the Games, which is why Gideon has trained Louis to such a high standard. David's spent months negotiating a means by which Louis could bypass the qualifiers…’

  ‘So,’ said Max, ‘let me get this straight. Louis was forbidden to qualify for the Games simply because he's Unsponsored, and it was Lord William who forbade it…’

  ‘You know full well it was, Max,’ snapped Gideon.

  ‘Work with me here, Gideon!’ whispered Max, gesturing towards the multitude of television cameras pointing their way.

  ‘Oh yes; of course, Max,’ Gideon whispered back with a grin, before booming, ‘Yes; Lord William St Benedict, head of the Sponsorship Scheme in the UK, made it impossible for Louis Trevelyan to compete in the qualifiers for the Games, simply because Louis exercised his right to reject Sponsorship. Had Lord William had his way, no one would ever have heard of the young man who so comprehensively won gold here today.’

  ‘Thank you. Gideon Wallis speaking there, ladies and gentlemen; former Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast, and Louis Trevelyan's trainer. Now, Lysander,’ Max continued as Lysander and Louis approached, ‘what do you say to Lord William's claims that even you knew nothing of your son's gymnastic ability?’

  ‘I say: liar liar, pants on fire,’ replied Lysander with a chuckle. ‘Now, please excuse us; my son's had a rather busy day and he needs to relax.’

  The interviews following Louis Trevelyan's triumph were beamed out across the world and were watched by millions. The oppressive St Benedict Scheme had aroused the interest of people in free countries around the world, and viewing figures for the men's all-round event were colossal. With so much attention on London and the Unsponsored, the government stepped up its investigation into the past conduct of Lord William and his henchmen. Four days after winning gold in the all-round event, Louis was competing once more, this time showing his expertise on the floor. Up against a Japanese gymnast who put on a display of such brilliance that Louis and Gideon could only stare in awe, Louis was quite happy to end up with the silver medal. Of course, the media wanted to know how Louis felt about not winning gold. Louis, being Louis, found the intense media attention a little confusing, and suggested that the newsmen might like to turn their attention to the brilliant Japanese gymnast.

  ‘How do you feel, though, Louis? The gold…’

  ‘Went to the best gymnast here today. I came second to a genius, and I'm perfectly happy with that.’

  ‘Won't it be detrimental to the cause of the Unsponsored, though, that you couldn't achieve gold today…?’

  ‘Not at all,’ interrupted Gideon. ‘An Unsponsored British gymnast won silver. I didn't see any Sponsored British gymnasts even competing, did you?’

  Realising that the Unsponsored were using the Games as a platform to spread their message, Lord William decided to redress the balance in a very public way. Booking a block of the best seats in the arena for the parallel bars event, His Lordship sent out an invitation to his son and the former director of Leisure and Fitness. Facing the television cameras from the steps of his luxury Kensington home, Lord William delivered the following message:

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen of the press, please would you be so good as to pass on this message to Lysander Trevelyan and Theodore St Benedict. I appreciate this is a rather unorthodox method of communicating with one's son, but Theodore and his Unsponsored friends do prefer to remain aloof. Anyone would think they'd got something to hide.’ His Lordship paused for a chuckle. ‘My message is simple. I have ten spare tickets for the men's parallel bars medal event, due to take place in the North Greenwich Arena tomorrow. I ask for no money in return for these tickets…’

  ‘Which you will have bullied out of someone anyway,’ commented Theo, watching in the Kennington Lane pub with the rest of Dory's Avengers the third time the message was broadcast.

  ‘I ask that two of the tickets are taken by Theodore and Lysander,’ continued His Lordship. ‘I am inviting you to join me to watch Louis Trevelyan compete for gold. Your joy in his success is my joy. Your pride is my pride…’

  In the pub, Lysander Trevelyan shook his head, smiling in disbelief at His Lordship's words.

  ‘…I would also request that my estranged wife Isabelle and my daughter Marina join me to celebrate the success of this British gymnast. Lysander, Theodore; I leave you to decide who will benefit from the other six tickets. Please respond via Faye Maloney, who will also be joining us for the event. Thank you.’

  Muting the television, Mary, who had contacted the Unsponsored HQ via Jim as soon as she had seen the first airing of the message, asked what everyone made of it.

  ‘I think he's trying to put us to shame,’ replied Theo. ‘Make himself look all generous and magnanimous, and us look churlish if we refuse.’

  ‘He does seem to be emphasising the fact that the Unsponsored steer clear of him, as if we're the ones with the shameful past. What are you going to do?’

  ‘I think there's only one thing for it; we accept. Is that all right with you, Lysander?’

  ‘Absolutely. It means Sarah doesn't have to miss out on Louis's strongest event, too. I take it everyone's happy for Sarah to have one of the remaining tickets?’ When everyone nodded, Sarah smiled her thanks.

  ‘Abi and Jenny must go, too,’ she said.

  ‘Well, don't forget we've also got the four tickets from Louis,’ said Theo to Sarah. ‘But I agree; if you and Lysander are going to be in the posh seats, it follows that Jenny should be there too. Abi qualifies as she's shagging our favourite gymnast…’

  ‘So crude, cuz,’ said Abi, grinning.

  ‘I'd like Jess to be there,’ said Lysander, blushing slightly.

  ‘Ah, you devil, Lysan
der.’ Theo chuckled and winked at his friend's father, then turned to his own mother. ‘What about you, Mum? Are you going to take His Lordshit up on his kind invitation?’

  ‘Damn right!’ replied Izzy with a laugh. ‘Your pride is my pride? I've got to be there to see His Lordshit's face when Louis smashes all records to take gold…’

  ‘I might not get gold,’ grumbled Louis, ignored by his excited friends.

  ‘Right. So that's me, Mum; Mari?’

  ‘Yes please, Theo.’

  ‘Mari, Abi, Lysander, Lysander's fancy piece…’

  ‘Do you want a slap, Theodore?’

  ‘Ooh, yes please, Jess! Jenny, Sarah. Two more tickets, am I right? Plus four in the cheap seats.’

  ‘I think they're quite good seats, actually,’ said Louis, ignored again as Theo continued to organise the seating plan for the following day.