Chapter 12: Equity

Chapter 12: Equity

Having ended their last match earlier than expected, team Triple Misfire found themselves with a good deal of free time on their hands. They decided to spend that half hour or so watching the other teams duke it out from the main lobby. However, they werent doing that for fun. They were in the top sixteen of mega-city Dave-156 now, and could no longer afford to go into matches blind and with zero awareness of their opponent. That first round against Galactic Murder Power proved that such ignorance could be a severe handicap.

This was, of course, common sense when dealing with any sort of competition, but Maggie, Joe, and his friends were all quite new to the tournament scene. They had a lot to learn, but that wouldnt stop them from giving it their all. If anything, that only served to motivate a particular member even more. That was why they were spending the rare reprieve from nearly back-to-back matches studying their next potential opponents. It was the diligent and responsible thing to do, though none of them particularly liked what they saw.

Triple Misfires next opponent turned out to be Quantum Crusaders, and those guys were the real deal. They were an up and coming professional Un-Yo-Bee team, which showed in their performance. They were organized, efficient, and clearly outside of the amateurs league. They had serious skills and finely calibrated teamwork that could have obliterated their opponents even quicker than Triple Misfire had won their last match. However, Quantum Crusaders had opted for a safe and agonizing approach that mercilessly cornered and ground their opponents into dust without giving them a single opportunity to turn things around. As one might expect from a bunch of pros, they took no chances.

Joes group were quite disheartened at the prospect of facing those guys. Quantum Crusaders were so far out of their league it wasnt even funny. They might have stood a fair chance if all of them were graceful crack-shots like Maggie, but that obviously wasnt the case. Their odds of making it into the top eight seemed abysmal. Even Joe grasped the apparent hopelessness of their situation, though he didnt seem at all bothered by it.

Oh well, what can you do? he shrugged. Bit of bad luck having to face blokes like those already.

Tell me about it, mate. The pros really should just have their own tourney, yknow? Benny grumbled.

They do. Its called Blastopia, and were in it, Huey bluntly stated.

Right.

They all knew what they were signing up for, that was why they aimed for the top eight to begin with. In a manner of speaking, this upcoming match might as well have been their championship finals.

Arrg! Hope ye scallywags are willin to go out fightin! Cullen was immersed in his chronologically confused pirate persona. I aint part a no crew of lily-livered cowards!

Damn right! Huey nodded vigorously. We can give them a black eye, at least!

In what way would presenting them with an ocular organ benefit us?

Whatever tension had been building up was instantly shattered by Maggies painfully honest and somewhat worrying question.

Turn of phrase, Maggie, Joe jumped in as per usual. Means we wont give up without a fight.

I comprehend. I also look forward to partaking in this curious pastime.

What pastime would that be, Mags? Benny asked with a bemused smirk.

Humanitys tendency to struggle relentlessly regardless of the futility of their actions.

O-oh

Those words did little to lift the crews spirits, to say the least.

What she means is shes going to give this match her all, and so should we, Joe attempted to salvage the statement. No half-assing allowed, right Maggie?

Indeed, the girl nodded. I do not subscribe to the concept of half-assing. If an endeavor is worth pursuing, apply the whole ass. If it is not, use no ass.

Ha! Noice, Cullen chortled, breaking character.

That has no right to make as much sense as it does, Huey just shook his head.

To be fair, I dont think Mags has ever been wrong about anything, Benny shrugged.

It wasnt what one would consider a traditional pep talk, but her words certainly served to motivate the others. It wasnt as if they believed theyd win all of a sudden. The most they could do was put forth their utmost effort and go out with style. After all, they were ultimately playing a game, which had the unique trait of making even losses enjoyable. In short, the team had silently changed their objective from win the match to lets have some fun, which had been the underlying purpose of this whole endeavor to begin with.

And so, team Triple Misfire went into their first round against Quantum Crusaders raring to give those pros a run for their money. The virtual stage for this bout was a dense asteroid field full of randomly drifting mini-mountains. Visibility was poor, space was limited, and the heavy metals inside the rock interfered with the ships instruments. It was the sort of environment that made it difficult for players to locate the opposing team and made ambushes a very real threat, though the opposite was also true.

Alright, ladies! Lets see if we cant catch those bastards with their pants down.

Huey, as the team captain, started giving out orders as soon as the match had started.

Benny, try and plot a course towards their starting position. Joe, Cullen, and I are gonna cover him. Mags, were counting on you to scout ahead and report back the instant you detect any of their ships. Not too far, though. Max five hundred meters.

Acknowledged. Commencing short-range scouting maneuvers.

Roamers like Maggie were crucial in this sort of matchup. Usually her job was to harass the enemys flank and apply pressure on their support vessel while also fighting off the enemy roamer. That was still true to an extent, but her number one priority was to locate the enemy and direct her allies to an advantageous position from which to engage. Mobility and stealth were more important than firepower, which was why she wasnt flying her usual ship.

Suspected use of performance-enhancing third party software and/or virtual pod modifications.

The official didnt say anything more, but the way he looked at Maggie made it clear what he meant. Her literally superhuman display of reflexes and piloting ability had led Blastopia organizers to believe she was using the stated methods to artificially bolster her skills. It was the virtual reality equivalent of doping, and obviously not allowed in a serious competitive environment.

But thats only suspected, not confirmed! Huey argued. You cant boot us off for that!

Indeed, the organizers werent a hundred percent certain of their accusation. The various tools and means they used for cheat detection had failed to pick up anything concrete regarding Maggie. That meant one of two things - that she was genuinely that ridiculous, or that she was using some hitherto unknown means of cheating. One of those was significantly more likely than the other. Not to mention that she was logged in as an anonymous guest of Joe Mulligan. That wasnt against the rules of the tournament per se, but it definitely made her even more suspicious.

Therefore, Blastopia officials opted to err on the side of caution and put a stop to whatever was going on, though they had to make sure they did so without causing a ruckus.

Look, Mr. Peterson. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way is you drop out of the competition of your own volition and we all keep this thing quiet. The hard way is we put the match on hold while we have police conduct an in-depth investigation into your teams activities, backgrounds, and hardware. Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling theyll find something to get one or all of you in trouble.

Huey stared daggers at the man while the other guys shared concerned looks. Their team captain wasnt aware of Maggies custom modifications to Joes pod, but the rest of them were. They knew full well that the girl completely abhorred things like lying and cheating, and that she would never engage in such activities. However, just like the official said, the authorities would definitely raise a fuss over that pod.

As for Huey, he just took one glance at his teams unease and decided this wasnt worth the trouble.

Fine, he relented. Well forfeit the match.

Your cooperation is appreciated, the official said dryly.

Can we at least watch the rest of the tournament?

Of course.

And what about next year? Can we compete then?

The man paused to think about that, then sighed before answering.

Technically yes. Since your disqualification is unofficial, we are incapable of banning you from participating in future. Just be warned - we wont be so lenient if something like this happens again.

Thats fair, I suppose.

Now, are there any more questions before I leave?

The man looked over the rest of the team and saw the chief suspect raising her arm.

Yes, miss?

He assumed she wanted to dispute the accusation and waste his time, but that wasnt the case. Maggie could not do that in good conscience since she did end up going too far in the heat of the moment. The organizers concerns were entirely valid and she was completely at fault. She wasnt about to openly admit it, either, mostly out of concern that it would get Joe in trouble. Some would argue her silence was a lie of omission, but the stranger had given her a certain out in that regard.

I wish to confirm the terms of this agreement, she flatly stated. We are to not divulge the reason for our withdrawal from the tournament. In exchange, you will not pursue any legal action against us.

That is the gist of it, yes.

The pact is thus sealed.

There was a very brief moment where her virtual self flickered. The official was a bit surprised, but just assumed it was either a glitch with her avatar or something to do with whatever cheats she was using. The way she said something about a pact was also super weird. In any event, he maintained his professional demeanor and, after confirming there were no more questions, excused himself from the digital hangar.

What a total prick! Huey immediately cursed. I know what this is really about! Its cuz we whooped the so-called pros so bad that they got scared theyd lose to a bunch of nobodies like us! So they called up their sponsor and got them to put pressure on the organizers! And here we are, getting buggered up the bum cuz of megacorps playing favorites!

He then launched into a long-winded tirade that rapidly evolved into a full-blown conspiracy theory. He did this a lot, especially on certain message boards. The rest of the gang were familiar with this side of Huey and knew not to take him seriously, but their personal involvement made it difficult to not agree with what he was saying. It was easier for them to pin the blame for their misfortune on some faceless corporations than to confront the uncomfortable reality that Mags might be involved in some shady stuff.

The prime suspect ended up leaving the hangar altogether. There was a staggering amount of baseless accusations, wild assumptions, and logical fallacies spewing out of Hueys mouth, and she was in no mood to deal with them. Maggie was already quite conflicted about the whole affair. On one hand, she had gotten her team disqualified and ruined their aspirations, however minor. On the other, it was highly unlikely that theyd win the best of five even if theyd been allowed to continue. Perhaps, she mused, things were better this way. Humans - Joe in particular - felt better about their misfortune if they perceived its source as something beyond their control.

These were the sorts of inconsequential thoughts her vast mind dwelled on as she entered the tournaments main lobby. She almost immediately found herself swarmed by spectators that congratulated her on that victory and complimented her incredible piloting skills. She didnt usually care for the opinion of strangers, but it felt nice receiving a bit of recognition. Then the news about her team dropping out due to private reasons started circulating, and the onlookers started asking her about it. Maggie had undertaken the obligation of keeping the details to herself, so she was both unwilling and unable to elaborate.

At the very least the crowd didnt seem to harbor any ill intent over the sudden forfeit. There might have been some viewers that suspected something shady was going on, much like the organizers had. If there were any such spectators, however, they were either not in the lobby or kept their opinion to themselves. For the most part, the crowd were just disappointed they didnt get to see more of Maggies spectacular moves and went back to whatever they were doing after saying their piece. A few even asked for autographs, but were instantly shot down. In their ignorance, they were unaware of the significance such an act held for a cosmic being from beyond the veil. Maggie was fine with them taking some selfies with her virtual avatar, though.

Once things began to calm down, the girls eyes were drawn to the main screen. It was showing a highlight reel of the matches so far, and she couldnt help but notice she was on there. It would appear that, despite disqualifying her, the organizers had no qualms about featuring her exploits in their promotional material. In this particular instance, they were showing a dramatic replay of her Bumblebee drifting into the enemy Hornets blind spot and then ramming it into a wall of rock. As was the norm for such footage, there was a pilot cam in the corner of the video.

That was what had grabbed Maggies attention. What she saw on there was strange, bizarre, perhaps even surreal. Though it undoubtedly featured her virtual vessel masterfully controlling her spacecraft, it was the expression on her recorded selfs face that struck her as so thoroughly odd. Her eyes were peeled as wide as they would go and her eyebrows implied anger, yet her mouth hung open in a wide, toothy, almost savage grin. The sound of her voice did not accompany those images, but it definitely seemed like she was yelling something. Even the eyes adorning her tentacles were in on it, with how they seemed to be focusing on the same spot as her human pair. If one were to summarize that expression in a few words, it would be something along the lines of triumphant aggression.

It was a face Maggie had no recollection of making.