Alex continued leaping about, using his tracking skills and hunter blending and stealth to quickly narrow in on the last member of team Arachnid. Like his own team Eclipse, the hunter was the team leader. The man’s name was Randolf. He was a right pain in the ass in the game, but a nice enough person with a competitive streak outside of gaming.
A tingling sensation told him his detect skills were working. Alex laid down on the branch he’d just leaped to and used his legs to keep him steady as he worked his bow free. Rand was somewhere close. “Hunter is near my location, check your maps and converge, but be careful of traps. You know how hard this guy is to kill,” Alex whispered into his headset and heard noises of affirmation from Trin and Urie.
Moments later, Alex heard a snap, and Urie grunted, “Mother fffff-mmph! Freaking bear trap. Son of a hmph, stings like a mofo,”
Urie would be a sitting duck if he were stuck in Rand’s trap, there was no way to unwind the trap without a second person there, so Alex replied, “You have your pain settings raised again, don’t you?”
“Maybe,” Urie said through gritted teeth.
“You might as well distract our quarry with some really loud cursing, just keep it classy so the censors don’t fine us,” If the team could use this to win, that would be a bonus.
“MOTHER HUMPER! SUN OF A GUN! AHHHHHHH!” Urie’s scream echoed through the forest.
Alex tried not to laugh, “Do you feel better? Trin, try to get close enough to kill Rand if he shows up, but don’t put yourself in danger.”
“I felt better until you told Trin to save herself,” Urie grumbled, “She’s sitting in a tree laughing at me from a distance I just know it.”
“Aww, my boyfriend knows me so well,” Trin was practically brimming with humor.
“Okay, focus,” Alex reminded them and took his own advice. He used his scanner ability to look for heat signatures, it only worked for thirty seconds every five minutes, but now was the perfect time to use it.
His vision went dark and was replaced by green static, the brighter the green, the more heat the thing in his view put out. Three signatures stood out the most. Urie’s shape was obvious from the amount of wiggling in place it was doing. Trin had to be the smaller of the two forms, which meant, Rand was close.
“Trin, he’s directly between you and me, and he’s heading towards Urie. Try and get Rand to head my way,” Alex called out orders.
“Oh sure, sacrifice me, I see how it is. You better get him for me, guys,” Urie mumbled, still gritting his teeth, but showing that even in pain, he could crack a joke.
“You got it, babe,” Trin said, entirely too happy that her boyfriend was about to bite the big one.
Urie started screaming a century-old rock song about dressing up and watching him die, and Alex was certain that the arrow that finished the job did so only to stop the off-key wailing.
Alex watched through his enhanced vision as Trin followed orders to a T, forcing Rand to retreat directly into Alex’s now normal line of sight. The leader of team Eclipse didn’t spare a second and released arrow after arrow at the other hunter.
Trin had followed Rand in shadowed mode and took advantage when the hunter aimed towards Alex’s hidden location. She leaped at Rand’s back, stabbing him in the back with both knives, driving one into a lung and the other piercing the man’s heart.
“You know,” she said calmly, as Rand’s lifeless body fell to the ground, “they always say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his back,” She looked over to Alex as he jumped to the ground. She spun her knives and grinned.
-------------------------------------------------------
“And that’s it fans! The championship goes to the underdog, ECLIPSE!” The announcer screamed in excitement, “I never thought we’d see the day when Arachnid was defeated! Stay tuned for our exclusive interview with the winners after these messages!”
The holotube reverted to its original holo-window snow scene with mountains and rustic cabin. The scientists sat around the meeting table in silence.
Dr. Anders was the first to break the quiet, “So, the missive we received almost a year ago was correct. A team no one knew of six months ago, won the championship.”
“They have beings with true clairvoyance. This is huge,” Dr. Strauss said breathlessly, and excited chatter broke out within the group.
Mitch ran his hand over his face, “You’re all missing the point. The letters said that a force would come through a rift and destroy most of the Earth’s population. Do you really think some youths winning a championship is what you should be focusing on?”
“Of course, you’re right, Dr. Smith. We need to convince these athletes to agree to the program,” Dr. Anders said with a calming tone and a dip of her head in acknowledgment.
“No one is to mention the horde of invaders, nor is anyone allowed to mention the team’s true mission. There is no way a group of e-sporters would agree otherwise. Understood?” Mitch raised an eyebrow and looked at the other fourteen scientists in the room. Each one nodded their compliance. “Good. Let’s make first contact with the team and make this happen!”
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