The Deadliest Lifeform in the Universe Loves Me-Volume 3: Gamma-12, Chapter 3.35

The Deadliest Lifeform in the Universe Loves Me-Volume 3: Gamma-12, Chapter 3.35

We’d be playing in two or three matches every day for the tournament until the finals where it would be more of a special event, provided we got that far. I had no doubt in my mind we could, but no reason to get cocky about it.
The bracket had been set up to try and even the teams out to put some distance between people with the higher scores so it would lead to more tense action in the later rounds, rather than eliminating all the higher competition early on. But aside from being able to see where all the teams were placed in the bracket, we could also check some stats on each team and whatever scores they got. There were over 30 teams that’d gotten perfect scores in the preliminary rounds, and each one belonged to some team or league back home—except us of course. We could even see how many times they played in the Holistia Nebula, and there were quite a few that had history on
Adventure-7.
Our first bracketed match was with a team with a decent preliminary score, and like most people in the brackets they were part of a division back home, but nothing professional. The new arena was a little different from the last one; it was the same length with pretty similar bases and towers, but much wider, with three long rows connecting the two bases across the entire arena. The one in the middle was more open just like the center area of the preliminary battlegrounds with smaller areas for cover. The one to the right was very mazelike with crazy winding paths and dead ends. And the path to our left was totally like an urban battlefield with a bunch of random buildings for cover along different hallways. Apparently that was the setup for all official league arenas, and teams were even known to have a favorite lane they would pick. That was all well and good of course, but the teams would still have to confront each other, so one would need to go after the other at some point. We decided not to pick a favorite lane and would always play adaptively, relying of course on Eve’s extra-senses.
Our general strategy was always the same; double-back on the other team and either ambush them from the rear or flank them from the sides, whatever was more opportune at the time. Unfortunately, teams were starting to get much more tactical even splitting themselves up now, forcing us to adapt on the fly frequently. Still, against the first bracketed team we managed to power through even with their divide and conquer tactics; we decided to brute force one squad first, then hunted down the other, relying on our superior numbers both times. Eve’s extra-senses made all the difference, and her reflexes in a firefight while duel-wielding were beyond anything the other players could keep up with, but the agents on our team were shining stars as well; it was beyond obvious Lobae and Vinnago had real tactical training with how great they played.
As the days and matches progressed, we ended up falling into an easy routine; meet up for the morning briefing, then head right to the stadium to watch matches until it was our turn, then head back to the core for some dinner or time at the Sim-War player bar. And of course, nights were always reserved for Eve.
It was a few days in before we finally fought against another team with a perfect preliminary score, and it was obvious right away the difference in how they played. They clearly knew our tactics, so they all hunkered down at their base with defensive positions; they clearly knew we were all about ambushing our opponents, so they were set to play the waiting game. They couldn’t just sit around forever of course; there was an hour time limit on the game before the match would be decided on scoring—but we had no intention of letting it get to that point.
We took our entire team to confront our opponents, and with Eve’s extra-sense we got an even better idea of the arena layout, able to know the exact locations and positions of the enemy. They were formed up tight so we couldn’t flank them, but we could still perform hit and run tactics to narrow down their numbers and force them to start reviving each other, which would of course make them more vulnerable. Eve directed us to exactly where all the opponents were to the point we could all focus our weapons on that exact spot and tag them the second they popped up. We had our snipers take out their sniper right away, which left five down on the ground until one went back to the tower to revive their downed teammate. From there we pressed forward, and all unleashed our lasers on one point, tagging another before we ducked back behind cover. We were so accurate, there was nothing they could do since the second they would pop out of cover we would be able to tag them. We waited for someone to start reviving the other teammates before we rushed them completely and downed two more of their players, leaving just the two that were busy reviving their allies. From there we just pressed forward to tag the last few while they were distracted. All thanks to Eve’s extra-sense telling us exactly where to aim our guns, we were able to decimate a perfect preliminary-score team.
That night at the bar word went around we had some sonar or radar capabilities in our group, and rather than be upset as though we were cheating like I thought people might, they started saying there was finally someone who could dethrone the Dead Space team. I guess when they all believed it was just some biological ability, no one would really get mad over it; it would be like people getting upset at Michael Phelps for his freakishly long body that made him a perfect swimmer, but when you’re dealing with aliens they could possess any number of wild abilities that would give them an edge in sports.
We got to the last few days of the tournament with all the best teams remaining, drawing even larger crowds in the stadiums to the point we started getting recognized all over the station—the amazing American Automations team with a real shot at the finals people would declare. The rest of our mission team even came to watch with Kianna, finally getting into the spirit of things. The teams were starting to get harder to overwhelm with just Eve’s extra-senses now, and it got to the point we ended up in quite a few firefights where some of us were downed even. The wild thing was no one was going after the base-orbs anymore, so it always ended up in crazy tactical laser exchanges that either took a really long time since people would dig in like ticks, or they’d be over in a matter of minutes.
Then during the quarter-finals something really crazy happened; the enemy team was locked in a perfect position that spaced us out too far and with clever work from their sniper, they had us almost completely dead-to-rights. They had everyone on our team downed except Eve. But of course, that’s all we really needed; Eve proceeded to dance around lasers like she was in the fucking Matrix, duel-wielding her guns as always and tagging opponents the second they popped up. I don’t know if it was her extra-senses, her reflexes, or straight-up precognition, but she could tag an opponent before they even had a chance to fire at her, all while dodging through a storm of lasers. In just a few minutes, Eve singlehandedly won the match for us while we could barely even see anything paralyzed as we were.
Out in the stadium after the match everyone was going wild trying to get Eve’s attention, wanting to get her contact info so she would join in with a real league, people talking about knowing sponsors and everything. However, as usual when she got too much attention, Eve got all shy on me again, big bad Predazoan hiding behind me so I could protect her from the crowds. I absolutely adored her.
Of course, not everyone was so thrilled, and an emergency meeting was called for the investigation team to gather in a private locker room.
“You absolutely can’t play like that again.” Roote warned Eve sternly.
Eve beside me looked at Roote as though he was something unpleasant to be around, “And why not? With how the spectators reacted afterwards I might as well been a superhero on that field.”
Lobae sighed and shook her head, “That’s the point Eve, you showed skill
far
beyond anything natural, and we already told you we can’t afford that kind of scrutiny.”
Vinnago nodded along, “With as much fun as we’re having remember we’re still on a mission.”
Roote nodded too, “It was my vote you should purposefully lose the next match, but Lobae and Vinnago convinced me you would be able to reign it in.” He looked to me, “Or your
handler
should do his job and make sure that kind of mistake never occurs in the first place.”
I was taken aback by that, “And what’s
that
supposed to mean?”
Roote gestured forward, “You
are
the Predazoan asset handler, aren’t you? Have you done
anything
at all related to your position during the mission so far?”
Eve started growling low in her throat, “Leave Adam out of this! It was my fault I got overexcited, okay?”
“And it’s not like
any
of us are doing our jobs now either, right? There’s been barely a trace of Gamma-12 all these cycles so far, so what the hell is he supposed to do?” Zyno pressed.
“His
job.
While
we
might be focused on the investigation, Adam’s role is
always
to ensure Eve remains discrete and compliant. With how the two of them paraded around back on
Hedonism-36
it’s rather obvious he isn’t taking his position seriously.” Roote countered.
Taking me completely by surprise, Yun stepped up in my defense, “Oh fuck off, you already said we’d be forgiven for our behavior on that station with how messed up we all were, and don’t think we aren’t still all filing grievances over the whole thing.” She snapped.
From there a few people started bristling up both for my defense and to admonish mission command over their decision in sending us to
Hedonism-36
, and clearly Roote wasn’t about to get all up in an argument over it. He held his hands up in surrender, then turned to me, “Just do your job, alright, Agent Adam?”
Without much else to offer, I nodded as an icy pit started forming in my stomach; right then and there with the way we were scolded and how I was questioned, I knew some big changes would be coming our way once we returned to
The Radiance
. At this point rather than hope the mission could drag on forever, I was now wishing we would find Gamma-12 soon and Eve and I could contain her with by-the-book teamwork, which would maybe earn us some points in our favor before our future would be put into question.
Eve could feel my anxieties and just squeezed my hand reassuringly, wrapping her tentacles around me shoulders and neck protectively. Sometimes we didn’t have to actually say anything to each other; simple gestures and affection were all we needed. We both felt the same way about each other, both loved and adored the other, both worried the Empire would try to keep us apart if we weren’t playing along, both would do everything in our power to fix it, but both knew we’d be together forever no matter what might try to come between us.
After the emergency briefing the day soured a little, but there wasn’t time to dwell on it as the semi-finals would be starting soon. We loaded back up on the lift with our guns and gear, waiting for the timer to start counting down so we could start the match.
Eve walked over to me while I was checking out my gun and just leaned her forehead into my chest, “That bad?” She said quietly so no one else could hear.
I let out a weary sigh, “Definitely not good; went from ‘being in a relationship with the asset’ to ‘isn’t taking his job seriously while in a relationship with the asset’.”
Eve shook her head slowly and then looked up in my eyes, concern obvious in her gaze, “I told you I can take care of myself, it’s you I’m worried about.”
I shook my head, “But I’m not the one with the bomb in my chest.” I pointed to her core, “You’re who I worry over.”
Eve gave me a ghost of a smile, “What is it you always say? Big bad Predazoan afraid of something or other?”
I chuckled and shook my head, “Something like that.”
Eve smiled too then, a full one. She leaned up on her tiptoes and gave me a tender kiss, willing her strength into me, “I love you so much Adam; they will not take you from me, I promise you.”
I sighed again, “We’ll just have to see how things shake out. For now, let’s just enjoy the game.”
Eve leaned away and looked at me with a gaze that seemed like she was thinking a million things I would never comprehend, but it all washed away as it was overtaken by that adoration she held for me. Finally, the buzzer ticked down, and we formed up and followed Eve’s directions after our opponents.
It seemed like we were facing another rush and hold squad; they took the left path quickly and hunkered down in a corner in a great defensive position. We stalked after them and found a great breach point and were about to begin our assault when Zyno stopped us.
“Wait, guys hold up a second.” He called quickly, and everyone seemed to unclench their buttholes right as we were about to pounce.
He gestured back towards their tower, “You said they only left one guard, right?”
Eve nodded, “Yeah, same as most.”
Zyno smiled wide, “Well fuck it, let’s take the orb.”
My eyes grew wide, “Holy shit, they would never suspect it.”
It was pretty well-known what kind of tactics we implemented at this point; we were adaptive hunters who would stalk and corner our prey, never once had we ever gone after the base-orb as we always spent our time getting into firefights. Fact was very few teams went after the orbs because you couldn’t shoot while holding the orb, so it would put you down a player, and from there the other team would usually just be able to tag the orb-holder in the back, then numbers would start to dwindle and then boom, game over. There were only a couple teams with perfect preliminary scores that went after orbs, and we’d been a hard-counter to them every time. But now, the enemy team was trying to counter our known strategy.
So, fuck it, time to change things up.
I turned to Eve, Vinnago and Lobae, “You three are our strongest gunners, so you definitely need to hold up the other team.” I turned to Zyno and Yun, “We can’t have two snipers head for the tower, that could end up being a bad matchup…”
Zyno gestured back and forth between us, “How about you and I make the run? You breach and then I carry the orb for us.”
Lobae straight-up giggled, “Oh my gods this will be so funny if it works.”
Vinnago grinned, “And once we get past this team it should be an easy win since Eve can disable the other team’s sonar which is surely their ace.”
Eve embraced me in a fierce hug, “Don’t you die on me out there soldier; stay alive—
survive
, I will find you, I promise!” She said dramatically.
I rolled my eyes but gave her a quick kiss, “My God I can’t believe how much of a dork you are.”
Eve stuck her tongue out at me, “You like it.”
I shook my head and smiled, “I
love
it.”
From there we split up, and our other squad engaged the enemy right away and with Eve on that side they had them locked down pretty tight. We went up to the tower and Zyno peaked his head and scope through to see where the enemy was and just barely avoided a laser to the chest. He faked them out again and dodged a shot, then looked at me and nodded, rushing forward, got tagged and fell, but I rushed behind him and tagged the enemy sniper in return.
“Oh shit! Guys, guys the tower’s been breached! I repeat—” Our paralyzed opponent warned in his headset. I wished that was disabled when they were downed.
I knelt down to revive Zyno as I keyed up my own headset, “They know we’re in the tower now.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got them pretty locked down here. One just tried to make a break when his buddy warned them, and Eve tagged him easy.” Lobae confirmed, “Just hurry up with the orb and we’ll be fine.”
Once revived, Zyno and I hurried down the ramp and grabbed the base-orb. It was the same size as a softball, glowing like a miniature red sun. Zyno picked it up and the lights on his guns all dulled. So, it wasn’t even just a matter of having your hands full, it deactivated your guns when you grabbed the orb.
“You ready?” I asked
Zyno gave me a wide, shit-eating grin, “Can’t let you and Eve always be the heroes.”
We started booking it as fast as we could back towards our base, and it was obvious right away I was faster with longer legs and had better stamina than Zyno, but he was pumping his hardest to keep up.
“Heads up, one broke away after all.” Yun warned us.
“Shit.” I turned around and started doing a side-shuffle behind Zyno to watch our backs as he continued forward. We took the middle path which was the most open and easiest to run through, but there were dozens of doorways the enemy could pop through, and I wasn’t even sure if they would be in range of my shotgun. We wouldn’t have much of a defense depending on their weapon choice. “Zyno, we gotta move.”
“I know I know!” He snapped back at me, moving his legs like his life depended on it.
Our tower was in sight when suddenly a laser tagged Zyno in the shoulder; it was just a limb shot so he wasn’t fully paralyzed, so he kept on running, holding the orb in his other hand as he dropped his gun.
“Zyno, don’t stop, just go for the base, I’ll hold this guy off.” I called out.
Zyno didn’t acknowledge me as he kept on running and I dove for some cover. I popped up to see the enemy rushing through the zigzag cover with an assault rifle, my worst matchup.
“Well, time to see if I can do it too.” I said to myself, then pulled out my pistol and held it in my left hand with my shotgun in my right. It was heavy holding both, felt a little unwieldy, but it wasn’t like I needed to be more than a distraction. I popped up from cover and shot at the enemy with my shotgun, but like I thought I was too far away, yet it was enough to make him flinch as the lasers headed straight towards him before shimmering away. Taking that second where he flinched, I raised my pistol and started firing after him, missing a couple times, then finally tagged him on the arm, causing him to drop his gun.
I turned back towards Zyno to see he just made it through the archway out of the middle field and into our tower, and just a few moments later a great blaring alarm announced team American Automations secured the base-orb.
We made it to the finals.

Volume 3: Gamma-12, Chapter 3.35