The Games Villains Play (18 page)

“Plan B!”  Someone called out from the orange team.  Donny searched around to figure out what plan B was, but it appeared that everyone was merely wrestling with each other now.  The orange
team made no attempt to move anywhere, but were
staying right where they were, fighting with whatever jade member was
close by.

Something’s not right
, Donny thought.  He looked around at the orange members.  There were those who had carried the ladders, those who were guarding them, the Hermes who had set off the traps, and there was the Prometheus who had called out for plan B…but it
was not
their leader.  Donny realized that the head of the orange team was missing, when he was certain he had seen him in the group earlier.
 

Donny searched about, until he realized that the ladder which had been broken in two had served a purpose after all.  One half was placed into the hole at the base of the tree, allowing the Hermes to get out, and the other was leaning up against the tree itself.  Donny looked up at the branch, and to his horror he found the orange leader, already three fourths of the w
ay to the orb, almost in reach.

Donny knew he could not catch him in time.  He was close to despair, when he noticed that the vine which they had looped over the branch earlier was still hanging down.  Without thinking, Donny grabbed the vines and pulled hard.  The branch jerked hard to the left, catching the orange leader off guard.  Donny watched, first in satisfaction, then in horror, as the orange
leader fell off the branch, flipping down until he landed with a sickening thud on the hard ground below.
 

Donny was dumbfounded.  He watched as the fighting quickly stopped, and both teams rushed over to see if the orange leader was alright.  He almost felt like he were dreaming, that this were just some nightmare, and he would soon wake up and it would still be the morning before the championship game.  The yells to get help sounded faded to his ears.  The PA system turned on, declaring the jade team the winners.  Donny thought it must be lying.
 

Officials from the school ran over, having come from the nearby entrance.  They put the motionless body on a stretcher, and quickly left the arena.  The others began leaving, one by one.  Donny watched them walk by, wondering which would turn and attack him, which of them would exact revenge.  He was disappointed when the last orange member passed him
by without a word or a motion.

“I don’t think I like winning anymore
,”
Donny heard behind him.  He turned around to see Lenny standing there, with a sad face, and the ladder pieces still in his ha
nds.

“Me neither
,”
Donny said quietly back.

CHAPTER 1
7

LENNY LEFT DONNY
to go to the dining hall.  Despite having not eaten in quite some time, Donny did not wish to go with him.  He began walking towards his dorm room, but when he neared the door he realized he did not really want to be there either.  Instead, Donny walked on by the door, and continued to walk through the halls.  When he thought about where he wanted to go, he realized he really did not want to go anywhere.  Instead, he simply kept walking, until a voice calling out to him th
rough an open door stopped him.

“Come in D
onny, I’ve been expecting you.”

Donny looked up, and was surprised to find
himself
standing outside of Captain William’s office.  At first he wanted to keep on walking, and ignore the summons from within, but upon thinking about it, he
could not
help but wonder if he had come here on purpose.  He wondered if maybe a part of him had wanted t
o come here, to punish
himself
.

Donny walked into the room, and behind his desk sat Captain Williams.  A smile was on Captain William’s face, and Donny realized he had never seen the man genuinely smile before.  The smile looked almost uncomfortable. 
Should evil be allowed to smile?
  Donny thought,
then
he realized the answer to his own question. 
They should after
something like what I’ve done.

“Sit down Donny, why so sad
?  I thought you won the game?”

Donny said nothing at first, but it was clear that Captain Williams would not be the one to bring up what had happened.  “I think
I killed one of my classmates.”

“You did nothing of the
sort,
you simply disabled your foe.  This is a school for soldiers, not nannies.  He should have known not
to go out on a limb like that.”

Donny felt a part of himself want to laugh at the pun, and he hated himself all the more for it.  “I thought
this was a school for heroes.”

“That it is, but sometimes heroes need to make tough decisions for the greater good.  Had this been a real battle, against real villains, that orb could have meant death to millions, and if you did not have the courage to pull that branch, you could have been responsible for the deaths of countless innocent victims.  Even if your action killed the villain, it would be better than killing the innocent.  Death and pain are just
necessities in war.”

“But I did not pull the branch to save
millions,
I pulled it to win the game.  I wasn’t the her
o in there, I was the villain.”

“Hero or villain,
it is
nothing more
than a matter of perspective.”

Donny realized now why it was good for him to come here.  As much as he hated himself now, he sti
ll hated Captain Williams more.

“I see that look on your face Donny.  Careful, you are
not
hiding your em
otions as well as you used to.”

Donny looked into Captain Williams face in defiance.  The smile was gone from the Captain’s face, showing h
e was back to his serious self.

“Donny, I know you do
not
like me.  I know you think I am this great monster, pulling the strings of this big destructive machine.  But take a moment and think about this.  There is no war, except the coordinated dances that we have complete control over.  Guns and bombs are essentially gone from the world – the heroes and villains stopped using them, and the rest of the world followed suit.  You think we are evil because of our means, but look at the
ends that have come from them.”

“Such as the convenient placement of yourselves in complete control of everything.”

“I see our time of playing games has ended.  So be it.  Yes, we are in power.  Someone has to be in power to keep things in order, and we have taken up that charge.  This world needs people who are willing to do whatever it takes to make the right outcome appear.
 
People like me…and like you.”

Donny was caught off guard by the address to himself. 
People like me?  You re
ally think I am similar to you?

“You and I
are
not that different Donny.  Both of us are without a physical power, and yet we have both risen above those who do.  We understand the way things work.  I will not be around forever, and I need someone who can handle everything that needs to be done.  I believe that someone is you Donny.  I do
not
want you to respond right now, because I know what your answer would be.  But think about
it.  We really are
not
so bad.”

“No?  What about my brother?”
 

“That was not personal Donny.  Your brother is very powerful, and we look forward to having him on our side.  Unfortunately, he was unable to see the good in what we do, and we could not risk waiting for him to see the light.  You can have him back when you join us…sorry, if you join us.  We know you are smart enough to control him.  He may be older than you, but in
an odd way he looks up to you.”

Donny could think of a million things he wanted to say, but he knew the best response he could give would be silence.  It was not long before Cap
tain Williams started up again.

“Think about it Donny.  Take your time, I am in no hurry.  We can talk about a
ll this again after our match.”

“Our match?”

“Of course.
  As the winner of the simulation games, your team will now face the faculty in an exhibition match.  Usually the faculty team is led by the Advanced Strategic Leadership professor, but he has agreed to allow me to lead the team this year.  I think it will be an interesting chance for us both to test each other’s strengths.  But enough of that, you have had a long day Donny, and you need time to rest.  After our game, come by my office at your leisure, and we can discuss the sit
uation of things at that time.”

Captain Williams looked down at his desk for these last few words, and soon began working on some task which had been sitting on his desk.  The conversation was over, so Donny stood up and walked to the door.  He half expected to hear a last comment come at him from behind, but none came.  He opened the door and walked out into the hall.

DONNY TRIED GOING
by the hospital ward, but they would not let him in.  They would, however, tell him the condition of his classmate.  Donny was relieved to hear that the boy would be alright, and that there would be no permanent injuries.  Despite a concussion, a broken collarbone, and a fractured skull, the injuries were considered a blessing considering how high he had fallen onto his head.

Donny’s next stop, he decided, would be the dining hall.  Now that he knew he had not killed his classmate, his level of hunger was higher than his level of guilt, if only by a little.  It was late, and there were not many there, which Donny was glad of.  He noticed Duke, but
pretended not to see him, and sat off by himself.  Duke was not to be ignored, however, and moved his plat
e immediately to Donny’s table.

“So, what’s the
verdict.
”

“He’ll survive.  Fractured skull, broken collar bone, and a concus
sion, but at least he’ll live.”

“Oh, um, that’s good I guess.”  Duke paused awkwardly for a moment.  “I was actually talking about us
though.  Were we disqualified?”

Donny was confused. 
Disqualified?
Why would we be disqualified?

“You were seen leaving the administrator’s offices earlier, so the rumor is that our team got disqualified.”

“Oh no, he just… he j
ust wanted to congratulate me.”

Duke nodded slowly.  Donny could tell Duke was waiting for more information, but he
was not
sure what information he desired, so he waited for Duke to start the conversation.  After a few awkward momen
ts, Duke gave in.

“So do we have another gam
e?  Are we facing the faculty?”

“Yes, we are facing the faculty.  I guess we’ll need to start practicing again soon.  Spread the word, we’ll meet at the practice
rooms
tomorrow night at 1800 hours.”

“Tomorrow night?  Why not tonight, or tomorrow morning at least?  We are facing the
faculty,
I want to shove their biased game playing d
own their smug little throats!”

Donny was surprised by Duke’s enthusiasm.  It far exceeded
his own, especially given the day’s events
.  He knew, however, that he needed to get himself together.  He had a team who was looking up to him to guide them, and the games were not over just yet.  “Ok Duke, tomorrow morning then,
make
it 0600 hours.  I don’t want to push them any more tonight though, we’ve all had a long day.”

Duke gave a single firm nod, and took his tray.  Donny could see that Duke was serious when he said
he wanted to beat the faculty.

Donny finished his meal, and was finally ready for bed.  He dropped off his tray and walked back to his dorm.  The lights were still on, but he could sleep through that.  He needed an early night, so he would ignore all
the commotion around the room.

Donny
lay
down in his bed, and put his head onto his pillow.  As he did, he faintly heard a crunching noise coming from under the pillow.  He reached in, and to his surprise there was a piece of paper waiting for him.  Discreetly, he slid the paper out of its hiding space and into his pocket.  Moving into the bathroom and stepping into a stall, he pulled it out again and read.

             
Donny,

             
             
Good work in the games.  Go to the computer lab at 0400 tomorrow morning, and sit at the computer in the back left corner.  We need to talk.

Just as before when he received word from his informer, Donny felt his excitement rise.  He took one last look at the letter,
then
flushed it down the toilet.  He casually walked back to his bed and lay down once more.  He had an early day ahead of him.

IT WAS DARK
in the room when Donny awoke.  He got up at 0300, allowing himself plenty of time to go through his normal routine.  He was unsure if he was being watched, but he would take no chances.  At 0345, Donny began making his way down to the computer lab.  He arrived a little early, but that could not be helped; he had to keep this casual, and wasting time for a few minutes waiting for 0400 to come would certainly be suspi
cious to anyone who knew Donny.

The lab was mostly empty, with one tall faculty member in the back right corner of the room.  Donny’s heart sank when he noticed the faculty member sitting there, and hoped he would not stay long. 
It would be too dangerous to contact me with a faculty member sitting in the same room.
  Don
ny thought with disappointment.

He sat down at the computer in the back left corner, and began to sign on to the server.  To his surprise, the computer was not connected to the server at all.  It had clearly been tampered with so that the computer could not send or receive any sort of signal.  Donny glanced around the back of the computer, and noticed two wires coming out of it.  One was the power, connecting it to the wall, as every other computer was.  The other was a thin wire, which snaked along the wall, moving to the right.  Donny followed it with his eyes, but it was soon lost be
hind the other computer desks.

Donny looked back at his computer screen, and noticed a message there waiting for him.

Good morning Donny.

The excitement welled up once more, and Donny quickly responded.

Good morning.

I want to congratulate you on your victory in the games.  To be honest, I had doubts about your ability to win, especially after the school got involved.

I had some doubts myself.  What is the next move?

Your victory has given me the distraction I needed.  We will go for Jay while Captain Williams leads 20 other faculty members against the rest of your team.  They will not expect it then, as they will assume you will be in the game.

Donny knew what this meant.  He would have to miss the game, and let down his team.  Despite his disappointment, he knew this had to be done.  He had to save his brother.