The Games Villains Play (3 page)

“Permission to speak freely sir.”

“Permission granted.”

“I think this plan is quite possibly the worst idea I have ever heard.”

“If that is truly the case Lieutenant, I look forward to your reaction should I ever need to implement plan B.”

DONNY HAD A rough first day of classes.
  Both of his upper level classes began with the professor convinced that Donny had accidently wandered into the wrong room, and tried to direct him to the first year Prometheus classrooms.  He understood why they thought he was a Prometheus; Titans and Hermes were easy to pick out of a crowd, while Prometheus could look like just about anyone.  He also understood why they thought he was not supposed to be there, as he was by far the youngest one there.  The strategic leadership class especially was filled with people who were much older than him, as he was the only student in the class who was not on his final year. 

Once the classes began he was not much better off, as most of the things said in class he did not understand.  Terms were thrown about casually that Donny had n
ever heard before, but he did not
want to ask what they meant as he knew he would be interrupting the class.  He wrote a long list of all the terms he did not know in order to look them up later.

Once he arrived back at
the dorm room, he really did not
feel much better.  He was uncomfortable in the room he was placed into.  Being
neither Prometheus, Titan, nor Hermes,
he was placed into the room that had the most space for a spare resident, and that was with the Titans.  He was the shortest one there, and by far the weakest.  He had been beginning to feel
good about his strength the previous year, because he was strong compared to most of the kids at his old school.  Here at the Academy, however, he was not even close.

Donny was glad to find that the Titans, despite being an intimidating lot, were very friendly.  More than once an older student would make a snide remark about Donny’s size while passing in the halls, and immediately find themself confronted by a Titan, or sometimes a couple of Titans, that would warn the passerby to watch their tongue.  If the older student was feeling confident he would make a challenging remark right back at the first year Titan, but all the Titan would need to say is that this is the brother of Decathlon, and the other student would inevitably back down.  Donny was amazed at the power his brother had, not just physically, but with the other students as well.  There seemed to be three types of people in regards to how they reacted to his brother’s name.  Either they knew him, and supported him as a heroic friend; or they did not know him, and regarded him like a legend; or they feared him, as if he were some great monster who could smite them out of existence at any moment.  Most of the people Donny met fell into the second category.

Being the brother of a legend had its benefits and its hardships.  As can be seen, one benefit was that Donny quickly became off limits to ridicule, despite his youth and lack of ability.  Donny had expected to face tormentors at the school and was ready for it, but it was a pleasant surprise to find he was ready for a tribulation that would not take place.  Donny would have gladly accepted the ridicule, however, if it meant he would not be held in his brother’s shadow.  Donny was not one to lack confidence, and despite his not having
an ability
, he relished the opportunity to prove he could keep up and thrive at the Academy.  Now that he was here, he felt like all he did right was brushed off with comments such as “well he is Decathlon’s brother”, and
worse than that was when he did something incorrectly, and was held as a contrast; “that’s alright, not everyone is as powerful as your brother.” 

The only one of his professors that did not compare everything Donny did to what his brother was capable of was actually the only one of his professors who previously had Jay in class, his Introduction to Defensive Tactics teacher.  Donny was constantly staying after all his classes in order to ask additional questions, trying desperately to keep up with his fellow students, and one day he decided to question his professor about why he was different in regards to his view of Jay.  Once the other students had left, he approached the teacher’s desk, as he often had before.

“Sir?”

“Yes, Donny, what can I help you with today?”

“Before we get to the class material, I have a slightly unrelated topic that I am curious about.  My other teachers are constantly comparing me to my brother Jay… I mean, Decathlon… and I was just curious, why don’t you?”

The professor’s welcoming smile faded, and for a moment it looked like he would
not
be responding to Donny at all.  Finally he forced a smile back onto his face and responded.  “You and your brother are two different
people,
it would
not
be fair to either of you for me to make comparisons.”

Donny could see this was not the whole truth, so he decided to press his luck.  “How would it be unfair?  I realize he has every power and I have none, but couldn’t that be used as an encouragement for me to excel?”

“Sure, I suppose I could try to push you to be more like him, except abilities like his are
not
things that can be taught, or gained through hard work.  You either have it or you do
not
.” 

“But, sir, how do you know I don’t?  My brother didn’t develop his first ability until he was more than a year older than I am now, so isn’t it possible I could end up just
like
him?”

“I suppose it is possible for you to develop abilities, but you are
not
here because of your physical abilities, you are here because of your mental ability.”

“Then why do my other professors compare me to him, if it is known that I am not supposed to be similar to him?”

“They never had your brother, so they do
not
even really know him.”

Donny could see in his professor’s face that he did
not
mean for that to come out the way it did.  He could see the professor was uncomfortable with the conversation now and would say no more on the topic, but Donny did
not
need him to say any more.  His professor did
not
compare Donny to his brother because he had Jay in class, and did not see a legend in him at all.  Donny did not want to end his discussion on this note, as he knew it would hang in his professor’s mind, so he decided to change the topic.  “Thank you professor, I guess that makes sense.  Now about the class material, I was wondering if you could help me with the technique we learned today to move a Titan off balance…”

CHAPTER 2

  DONNY DID NOT want to be a burden on his brother.  He never asked Jay for help with classes, nor did he make any attempts to join Jay when Jay was with friends.  Instead it was Jay who took the initiative, and would ask Donny to join their table when they happened to be at the dining hall at the same time.  It was also Jay who insisted on getting together with Donny a few times a week to go over material from classes, and to talk about life at the Academy in general.  It was good for the both of them, because it gave Donny a chance to push himself, and it allowed Jay to practice maneuvers against someone whose ability he could not use against them.  Jay would often bring friends with him, mostly Michael and
Zahrah
(or as they were generally known, Snake and Sapphire), so Jay’s speed and reading ability would typically stay strong during their meetings. 

Donny and Jay were caught in a vicious cycle in regards to their feelings towards Donny’s admittance to the school.  Jay was worried about Donny, especially with the pictures from Donny’s head constantly coming into Jay’s mind whenever they met.  He could see almost
first hand
what Donny was facing in his classes and outside of them.  Donny, on the other hand, was alright with the difficulty of his classes, but just wanted Jay to be able to relax, and could see on Jay’s face whenever they met that he was clearly worried about Donny.  It kept up like this every time they met, where Jay would see what Donny was going through and get concerned, and Donny would see Jay’s concerned face and get distressed over his inability to hide his thoughts from his brother.  Donny was determined to succeed in his Advanced Mind Distortion class, if only to use those techniques to distort his mind and fool his brother into thinking he was doing well.

Donny met with Jay the afternoon just after Donny had talked with his Introduction to Defensive Tactics professor about Jay, and Donny decided to ask his brother about it, partly because he wanted more information, and partly because he
could not
get it off his mind, and so his brother was sure to see it soon enough anyways.  “Jay, how did you do in Introduction to Defensive Tactics last year?”

“Why, are you having trouble in that class?”  Jay asked seriously, but when he saw that Donny was asking genuinely out of interest in how Jay had done, his attitude lightened.  “Honestly, it was both my best and my worst class.” 

“What do you mean?”  Donny asked.

“Well, it was in that class that I realized I was a Hermes and a Titan, instead of just a Prometheus.  In that sense, it was my best class.  On the other hand though, I had a very hard time remembering all the rules for when to use which tactics.  As you’ve heard, I never did get down the fact that a Hermes shouldn’t jump” Jay joked, referring to his accident during the previous year’s simulation games.  Jay had since healed, and was now
back
to full capacity without any permanent effects evident.

“So the active parts you did well on, but the written parts you had trouble
,”
Donny summarized.

“Yeah, that’s a fairly broad way of describing it.  Honestly, I almost feel like he went easy on me for my last few exams.  I just barely finished them all before the start of the new year
,”
Jay joked, looking over at Michael and
Zahrah
, who had just walked in and were already nodding in confirmation.

Donny was glad for their entrance, because it would mean Jay would be ignoring the pictures from Donny’s head for a few moments, and Donny did not want his brother to pay
attention to his thoughts right then.  Jay had said exactly what Donny was wondering, that his professor had gone easy on him for the last few exams.  From what Donny could tell, the professor did not want to pass Jay on those exams. 
Then why did he?

Donny pushed the thoughts from his mind for the time being, and focused on stretching before their work out.  Before they started however, Jay turned to Donny with a question of his own.  “So Donny, when are you going to start forming your simulation team?”

Donny
was not
completely sure what Jay was talking about. 
The simulation games aren’t until the end of the year, and try outs are still a few weeks off.
  Donny thought to himself.  The thoughts did not remain to
himself
however, and Jay soon answered as if Donny had said them out loud.  “Oh no, I’m sorry Donny, I guess the others never told you.  Typically the students in the Advanced Strategic Leadership class begin forming their teams early in the year, long before try outs.  They make offers to those players that they know they want for their team before then, and the try outs are just for them to fill their final few spots.”

I’ve still got time,
Donny thought
,
if Jay hasn’t received his offers yet, the others couldn’t have started.

“Actually, I’ve already received offers from everyone else in your class,” Jay responded, once again answering thoughts that were never asked.

“But you’re a legend here, of course they will ask you first
,”
Donny reasoned, hoping he was not really that far behind.

“No, your brother’s right Donny, I’ve received a few offers as well
,”
Zahrah
chimed in.

“Well I haven’t
,”
Michael added with a shrug and a face that said ‘typical’.

“Ok then, Michael, I hereby offer you a spot on my simulation games team
,”
Donny said with a smile.

“Well typically the offer is thought over for a while, but what the heck, I accept!”  Michael responded, reaching out and shaking Donny’s hand.

“Wow, you make an offer to my best friend, but not to your own brother
,”
Jay jested.

“Well I have to think about what would work best for my strategy.  Let’s see, I will also need a fast Hermes, so
Zahrah
, I hereby offer you a spot on the team as well.  No pressure to accept though
,”
Donny said, enjoying this little game.

“Well, no pressure is needed, I would like to be on your team, but I was kind of hoping to compete alongside Jay this year.  I want to watch his back to make up for almost breaking it last year.”

“Well…alright, I guess I can make an offer to you too bro.” Donny said.

“Thanks for the offer, I’ll get back to you after I weight all my options,” Jay mocked, “I do have to think of what would work best for me.”

DONNY HAD
A
difficult time getting to sleep that night.  The joking conversation during the practice with his brother kept playing over in his mind.  They had all agreed to be on Donny’s team in the end, but Donny
could not
keep himself happy about this.  Michael was quietly dedicated to his learning, and seeing how Michael and Jay worked together Donny could tell that Michael listened well, and would be open to suggestions and trying new things. 
Zahrah
too was very talented with her speed, and had experience in the games playing for a winning team.  The part that Donny
was not
completely happy with was having his brother on the team.

He knew himself well enough to know that his jokes earlier had some truth in them.  Donny loved his brother, and Jay will be a strong asset to the team, but having Jay on the team ruins the strategy that Donny would have liked to implement.  Any team with Jay on it is automatically labeled as a threat, and Donny knew that the other teams would begin thinking up plans specifically designed to face his team, making it all the more difficult to come up with something new.  Donny wanted to use his age as an advantage, in order to fly under the radar and strike with something they had
not
seen
before.

There was also the problem of trying to compose a team that would be willing to follow him, instead of following his brother.  He already had half a dozen of the top students at the school approach him with offers to join his team since word began getting out about Jay joining Donny’s team that afternoon.  Donny could tell they would be strong additions to the power of his team, and with each offer his mind would become filled with ideas of all the ways he could utilize their ability, but in each case he could not bring himself to accept, because he knew they just wanted to be on Jay’s team.  He told them instead that he would not be making any more team acceptances until he could see people in action at the sche
duled simulation team try outs.

Donny realized he would have to rethink how he was going to handle these games.  He reset his alarm to get up a little earlier the next morning in order to start fresh making plans, and was finally content to fall asleep.

WORD SPREAD LIKE
a tidal wave that Jay would be playing for his younger brother’s simulation games team, and a second wave followed right behind it that Donny would not be taking any more members until after the try outs.  This had the negative consequence of making the rest of Donny’s Advanced Strategic Leadership class angry at him, because they wanted to have their teams set early, and many key players were now waiting until the try outs in order to have a shot at
playing for “Decathlon’s team”.

Donny was not making decisions until after the try outs, but he was certainly making mental notes on the different players.  One way that he found to make it easy to cross someone off of his list is when they referred to Donny’s team as being Decathlon’s team.  This had the unfortunately effect of getting rid of just about every player who talked to him, as the colors had not been chosen yet, and the title of “Decathlon’s Team” had become the accepted name for the
team Donny would be leading. 

One thing that Donny found himself relieved in was his improvement in Advanced Mind Distortion.  It was certainly a difficult class, but once they arrived on the topic of cover thoughts, Donny found a niche that he could use to keep all but the most powerful mind readers out, and since the only mind readers around with enough strength to get by his blocks were Jay and the professors, Donny felt content with the knowledge that he could cross these players off his list while keeping up a facade of potential interest.  Donny was able to handle cover thoughts pretty well, as this is the name of the technique he had applied when he was back home during Jay’s initial acceptance test, when he was trying to avoid the mind reading sentry sent to catch him.  Cover thoughts are when a person forces themselves to think about a particular thing with enough of their mind to force that picture to be the one coming up in a reader’s head, while still being able to think on another topic underneath this “cover” topic.  Donny found it difficult to
think clearly under the blocking picture at first, but he quickly got used to the technique, and was soon able to keep a moving picture on top while his thoughts re
mained clear to him underneath.

Not every prospective player was a disappointment for Donny.  A female Prometheus from his Advanced Mind Distortion class complemented him on his techniques during class one day, and told him “with a mind as determined as yours, your simulation team is bound to do alright.”  Donny knew this
was not
the level of confidence he was hoping for, but she recognized
his
determination, and called it
his
simulation team.  Donny made a mental not
e to watch her at the try outs.

Without a full team to work with, but still wanting to get started making plans, Donny and Jay’s afternoon get together quickly became team meetings, where they would discuss new possibilities and team strategies.  Donny listened intently to every idea, but only a few of them he would be willing to try.  Once again he found himself impressed with Michael, who had his best ideas when his excitement got the best of him and he began to think of outrageous a
nd possibly impossible ideas. 

It was one of Michael’s crazy ideas that Donny decided to work with first.  During one of their meetings, Michael made the joke that Jay could “fly
super fast
over to the other side and steal the other team’s directions and supplies r
ight at the start of the game.”

Donny knew his brother could not fly, and Donny was reminded of this fact constantly on their way to the arena to try out ‘Snake’s strategy’.  He knew the plan as Michael had said it was not a possibility, but Donny knew his brother did
not
actually need to fly to get to the other side in time.  They arrived at the arena and walked in through one of the side doors.  Donny had never seen the arena from the inside before, and he was amazed at how large it appeared.  He knew the building looked large from the outside, but inside he was able to appreciate just how enormous it
really was, and despite there being nothing set up inside, he still could not see the door on the other side of the arena from the sheer distance of it.  He looked up at the ceiling, which quickly sloped upwards above
them,
reaching heights that made him feel like this was just a metallic sky above them.  They turned on the lights, and they glistened off the metallic curved roof.  Donny could see a ways out a spot where the light glistened differently, due to the ceiling being dented outward.  Donny realized that must have been the place where his brother had crashed, but he had
not
expected it to be quite that high.  No
wonder people think he can fly.