The Games Heroes Play (The Academy Trilogy)

by Joshua DeBenedetto

“Brain, if you didn’t invite me here to get information out of me, why did you invite me here? And why are you telling me all of this?”

  “It’s because these games, as important as they are, are not the reason we’re at this school. You probably don’t know this, being a first year and all, but the games are how they determine what to do with the graduates. The classes are important because they teach us what we need to know, but the simulation games are like a final assessment, where they can see what we are capable of when a situation is upon us. No matter how the games end, however, I know I am going to graduate, and I know I will be sent out to be a hero in some capacity when this is all over, just like the rest of the seniors on my team. We are going to be out in the field, along with all those who had graduated before us, and we will all be on the same team. When I was in my first and second years here, and I started showing promise, the older students picked on me, and tried to push me back down. They saw me as a threat. I don’t want to become that.”

  Jay thought about his experiences since he began to gain recognition. He got some odd looks, and there were those who avoided him, but he did not really get picked on. Why was that? Jay quickly realized the reason he was being avoided. It was fear. Just as it was that final day in his old school. He had become the unknown, and the other students were not sure what to make of him. Jay was not sure which was worse, to be picked on, or to be feared.

  “Brain, thank you. I guess the big bad red team leader that I’ve heard so much about isn’t such a villain after all.”

  “Oh I am a villain to you. As soon as we walk out that door, and right up until one of our teams is eliminated from the games, we are enemies. I just wanted a moment of friendship in order to let you know that, years from now after you graduate and join me out in the field, should our paths cross, I will look forward to fighting alongside you.”

  “It will be an honor for me too.”

  With their pieces spoken, and their dormant friendship established, they departed for their dorms.

  JAY WOKE UP the next morning to Duke throwing a paper down on his bed. He looked at it, and realized it was the matchups for the simulation games. He looked up at Duke, who simply smiled, and nodded his head towards his office. Jay got up quickly, and the two of them went into the office and shut the door.

  “Ok, here’s the deal. Out of the four biggest teams in the games, only one is on our side of the bracket.” Jay looked down at the matchups sheet. It was set up just like a basketball playoffs bracket, with each team being matched up in a single elimination format. Each winner would move one spot closer to the center of the page, and once there were only two teams remaining at the center, they would go against each other in the final game. Jay was not sure which teams were the four big ones Duke was talking about, but he was glad to see that the red team was on the left side of the page, and the green team was on the right side. If they won all their other games, they would not face the red team until the final game.

  “As you’ve probably already seen, the red team is not an immediate threat, since we can’t face them until the end. Our first match up is not against one of the best teams, but they are also not one of the lower ranked teams either. So that’s the good news. The bad news is that we don’t get a bye for the first round.”

  Jay looked back at the sheet, and sure enough a few of the teams were matched up against the word “bye” for the first round. Jay realized that since there were only twelve teams, they needed four teams not to compete in the first round in order for the bracket to work out, causing those four to automatically advance to the next round. “That’s not fair, why do some teams get an easy advancement, and others have to play extra?”

  “It’s just the way luck goes – they randomly chose which teams get which positions, so no favoritism was shown. Besides, if we win the first game, we have an advantage in the second round, because we will have had a chance to play a round as a team, while our opponent will be starting new.”

  Duke had a point. The problem was that they needed to make it to the second round before they could attain that advantage. Jay noticed that the red team had a bye for the first round. Most teams would be happy to be placed in such a spot, but Brain was out for glory, and Jay knew he would be disappointed to find himself one game short of his adversaries.

  “So now that we know who we’re facing, we can start preparing more specifically for battle. Hammer already sent me a message, and we have practice in five minutes.”

  Jay thought Duke was kidding, but quickly realized he was serious. “But it’s four in the morning.”

  “Yeah, and the schedule was posted at 3:45, so we’ve already lost fifteen minutes. Let’s move!”

  JAY WAS SURPRISED at how awake he was. He had gotten barely any sleep from his midnight meeting with Brain the night before, but the excitement of knowing who they would be up against kept him alert.

  “Ok team, two days until the games begin. Our first game is against the brown team. As we know, their key players include one Prometheus, one Hermes, and a pair of Titans. Their captain is a Titan named Greg, known more commonly as Lock. His specialty is trapping players in a type of strangle hold that completely immobilizes them, and he can hold even another Titan with this move; and probably two of anyone else. Duke, what weaknesses can we expect from the brown team?”

  “This is a good team for us to open with, as Lock has had trouble in the past with thinking on his feet. He is currently in a class on strategic improvisation, but by his quiz sign ups I’d say he is having trouble there. He is very good at planning when he has a few moments to think of the best plan, so I’d say our best option is to make a quick start, and do whatever we need to do as soon as we learn the situation and start the game. Also, if things should start to go south, throwing the kid at them would certainly put a wrench in their plans and cause them to have to rethink whatever they’re doing. It also appears they have not been reserving the training room as often as the other teams, so they may not be as cohesive as a team as us.”

  Jay was glad to see that Duke’s attitude regarding their chances in the games has changed. He seemed more enthusiastic and hopeful about their matchup.

  To prepare for their game, they tried working through maneuvers that they thought would not be expected. They wanted to catch Lock and the brown team unprepared, and throw something at them that would play to their weaknesses. By the time practice had ended, Jay felt like they had been going all day. He was surprised when he had a chance to look at the time and noticed it was still only 7:30 in the morning.

  “Alright team, I’m not allowed to keep you through classes, so we’ll have to call it a morning. Practice again at 1700 hours tonight, and make sure to eat before you come.”

  CHAPTER 10

  BY THE TIME the games arrived, Jay felt like they were ready. They had practiced many different situations, and had a general plan set up which they would adapt to whatever situation they find themselves in. The games were held in a separate building that Jay had never been in before. The building looked like it would be big enough to house four or five football stadiums placed side by side. Their game was scheduled to begin at 1300 hours, so they met outside the south entrance at noon to discuss their strategy one last time.

  Once everyone was there, Hammer began to speak. “Ok team, this is it. The way this works is that the door we enter by will be unlocked at 1300 hours exactly, and we will be able to go into the arena at that point. Directly inside will be the directions explaining the situation, and the goal for our team in the game. The arena will be set up differently for each game depending on the situation that we are presented with – we could see a forest, a dessert, a city replica, or any array of other environments. The only real limitation is that they try to give situations that are possible in the real world, so we are most likely safe to assume we will not be dueling on the moon.”

  The team laughed briefly. The laughter sounded nervous and uncertain, but at least they were able to laugh a
t all. Hammer continued.

  “Once the door opens we will enter in threes. I will enter first with Hummer and Spark, our Hermes spies. If there is any cover at all, they will run on ahead to scout out the enemy and see what they have to use against us. I will read through the game directions out loud while we continue moving forward, and we will continue forming a strategy while we move. I want a base established close to their side within the first half hour of the game.”

  With the plan established, each team member was left up to their own devices to stretch, warm up, or in some way prepare themselves for the start of the game. Jay ran around a little, then did some push-ups. He felt faster than ever, and strong too. Jay then tried to focus his reading. He began to push out his blanket read as far as he could get it to go. To his disappointment, it barely allowed him to see the group around him. He tried focusing in the direction of the main campus of the school, but it was much too far for him to get a reading on anyone in there. He glanced over the images. There’s Duke, there’s Hammer, there’s Hummer, and there’s… Jay was surprised to see that he was still able to see those small pictures which were his own thoughts being reflected. I must be reading my own thoughts, Jay contemplated. Otherwise it would mean whoever were reading me is still nearby.

  Jay looked around. He could identify the thoughts of everyone on the team, so he knew the reflected thoughts were not coming from any of them. Jay tried focusing with varying degrees of effort to see if it would stay. When he focused more, the images got clearer, but he could not push them out completely. Jay got an idea of how to test if it were himself or not. Jay took off running in the direction of the school. As he ran, the pictures got dimmer and dimmer. He kept moving, and to his surprise the pictures vanished after a few moments. It’s not me! Someone has been following me around for the past few months, and whoever they are, they are at the arena. Jay wanted to go report this to the school, but he knew there was not time. Despite the spy, he needed to get back to the arena; the game would be starting soon.

  DUKE HAD BROUGHT a watch with him that was set to match with the school time, and the team counted down the last twenty seconds before the game began. The moment it became 1300 hours they heard a click from the door, and Hammer was able to open it. They filed in as planned, and Jay could see the two Hermes in the front dash off, one going right and one going left. Jay looked around at how the arena was set up. It was an impressive scene, set up like a jungle. It was complete with trees, boulders, changes in elevation, a dirt ground under their feet, and even some wildlife, as Jay noticed a squirrel run between two trees. Just in front of them was a rock that was almost flat on top, and their supplies for the game sat on top. Hammer picked up the game directions which were in the middle of the supplies, and instructed them to grab all that they saw. They kept walking while Hammer read the directions.

  “The point of this game is protection. Each team is given a globe with six buttons on it. If any of those buttons are pressed, the team will be considered to have failed to protect the globe, and will lose the game. After one hour, if neither globe has been pressed, they will both light up. After another hour they will begin making a humming noise. Each hour that a team has not won, both globes will do a new activity to make them easier to find. There is no player elimination in this game, so players must be captured and successfully held in order to keep them from the game. Good luck.”

  Sure enough, in the arms of one of their Titans was a globe about the size of a basketball. The Titan immediately held the globe out to Hammer, trying to be careful to keep away from the buttons. Hammer took it, and ripping off a sleeve from her shirt, she wrapped the globe in it. “Report, what other supplies were we given.”

  Each person announced what they were carrying. Their supplies consisted of 100 feet of rope, a handheld mirror, three sets of handcuffs, a net, two six foot metal rods, a flashlight, a saw, a pair of walkie talkies, and a backpack full of food.

  “Hold up, dump out the food.” Hammer’s command was followed without question, and a pile of food appeared on the ground. Hammer took the backpack and put the globe inside. She put the backpack on. “Ok, all Titans, find rocks that are similar in size and shape to the globe, then rip off a sleeve and wrap the rock in it. Jay, bury the food, then put a boulder over it so they can’t identify the spot. Ironcore, you are the biggest Titan on the team, we’re going to pretend your rock is the real globe, protect it with your life. Also, find a second rock, rip off your other sleeve, wrap it up and give it to me, it would be suspicious if I weren’t holding a decoy as well.”

  They all moved off to do what they were told. Duke and the other Prometheus sat down and began to concentrate to see if they could find any unwelcome thoughts around, and the other Hermes either helped Jay dig or quickly consumed some of the food to “make the pile smaller, and therefore easier to bury.”

  A few of the Titans had rocks wrapped, and others were in the process of wrapping them, when they ran out of time. Jay and the Hermes had successfully buried the food, but Jay had not yet moved a boulder over the spot when Duke suddenly piped up. “There’s someone nearby!”

  They all stopped what they were doing, and listened intently, while looking every which way. Jay tried to concentrate, but his reading was off, and he could not tell who it was. After a brief moment the silence was broken by the sound of a walkie talkie coming on, and they could faintly hear Lock’s voice saying “Status noted, hold there as long as possible.” They looked in the direction of the voice just in time to see a Hermes dashing away.

  “Get him!” Hammer commanded three Hermes that were nearby. The three of them dashed off in the direction of the brown team spy. Jay felt pretty sure they would not catch him; from the brief view they got, their spy appeared to be much faster than any of the Hermes on the green team. Hammer quickly turned back to the rest of them. “Ok, you three move the boulder onto that spot. And you five, dig another hole as deep as you can, and be ready to fill it in quickly when I tell you to.”

  Jay was one of the five designated to dig the hole, and so he set in as quickly as he could. Jay was not sure why they were digging another hole, but he did not question Hammer’s orders. They quickly got a large hole dug, with the pile of dirt sitting directly next to it, ready to be pushed in at a moment’s notice. The boulder had been placed over the old hole, and everyone stood around waiting for their next orders from Hammer. She walked over to the new hole and looked down into it.

  “Is this the deepest we can get? I want to keep the…scatter!”

  Hammer was the first to see the net descending on the group. As the green team stood around digging holes, the brown team had been circling them, preparing a trap. Hammer quickly pushed the pile of dirt into the hole, and threw herself down on top of it, punching her arms into the dirt as hard as she could at angles in order to plant herself to the spot. As she did this, a group of Hermes from the brown team gave a quick run on either side of the group, some pushing or tripping the green members into a pile at the center, while the rest draped their team’s net over the newly forming pile of green members. Jay looked up in time to see the net coming down, and instinctively moved to his right in order to get out from under its decent. As he did a brown team Hermes shoved him towards the center, but Jay just grabbed the Hermes’s arms and flipped him over, placing the Hermes in the pile instead, and freeing himself. He ran away to get clear of the melee, and when he looked back, he could see that a group of Titans had converged on the scene, and had placed the two metal poles, bent into a U, into the ground going through the edge of the netting. They proceeded to shove more tree limbs into the ground on the outskirts of the net in order to keep it in place.

  Jay ran further away in order to get out of sight, and found a place to hide under the base of a decaying tree. He focused his thoughts in the direction of the group. Even though his reading was still weak, he could read enough to know what was being said, as everyone could hear the conversation, and Jay could see it processing in
all their pictures.

  “Did we get them all?”

  “No, two Hermes got away. It looks like one was the female Jumper, and the other was the first-year Decathlon. Also, Lightning ended up trapped under the net with the green team. Should we try to get him out?”

  “No, sorry Lightning, but in order to let you out we would need to open part of the net, and then the whole group might be able to break free. Spy group, hunt down the two escaped Hermes. How many holes did they dig?”

  “From what we can see, just the two. Their globe is either in the hole under that boulder, in the hole under the group, or it’s in the arms of one of those Titans.”

  “Ok, you five move the boulder then start digging there. The rest of you start prying packages out of each of the Titans arms. We will try those two options first.”

  Jay thought about trying to rescue the team, but realized he had little chance of being able to do this, as most of the brown team were now guarding the captives. Jay took a quick inventory of the thoughts he could see. Other than his team, there were twelve thought patterns in that area. Jay thought for a moment, and realized he did not see any of the brown team members carrying packages, nor did they have the backpack. Jay decided the rest of the brown team must be somewhere else, guarding the package. If I can find theirs before they find ours, we can still win this. He reasoned.

  Jay jumped down from the tree, realizing all he could do now would be to run around and see if he could find any thought patterns other than those of the big group he had escaped. Before he made it to the ground, Jay felt someone grab his legs, causing him to fall awkwardly forward into the ground with a thud. Another pair of hands grabbed Jay’s arms and pulled them behind his back, locking them into handcuffs. The two Hermes picked him up and began to carry him off. Jay thought about kicking out his legs to free himself, but he thought better of it when he realized they were carrying him away from the encampment where Hammer and the others lay trapped under the net. They’re bringing me to the other camp! Jay realized.