Wolfblood

Laser Tag

Author's Note: As promised, here is my Halloween Wolfblood oneshot. I decided as always to put it up a bit early so I don't forget it. Please feel free to review and let me know what you think. Happy Halloween everyone.

"I hardly see how this is a decent Halloween activity." Shannon shrugged as they walked. "It just seems like a needlessly masculine display of testosterone."

"That's why we're going along." Maddy nudged her. "We're here to prove that stuff has nothing on us."

"So, what do we do again?" Ollie asked. Rhydian looked down at him and ruffled his hair.

"We're going to get vests and goggles along with laser guns then be sent into a dark room to shoot people in different coloured vests." Rhydian told him.

"That sounds awesome!" Joe cheered.

"How did you get permission to bring them to this again?" Tom asked incredulously.

"I told Mrs Vaughan I was taking them to the movies." Rhydian laughed.

"So you lied about where you were taking them." Shannon gave him a pointed look. "Are they even old enough?"

"The website said they had a junior arena." Rhydian shrugged. "I figure we pit these two against each other and anyone else who happens to be there and then fight in the grown-up pit."

"And what if Mrs Vaughan has to be called because there's been an accident?" Maddy asked as she winced when a truck blasted past her. "Rhydian, this is going to be a social services nightmare."

"Mads, it'll be fun." Rhydian shrugged as he leaned over and wrapped an arm around her. He knew she hated the city and that she'd only come because he was going regardless and that it would be worse for her to be without him for a few hours than in the city. He almost felt bed for her being there. On the other hand, she'd still made her own choice.

"Just know that if it goes sideways then I won't be picking up the pieces." Maddy said and pecked Rhydian on the cheek.

"We'll be fine." Tom shrugged, trying to hide his excitement. His dad had paid for this as a late birthday present to make up for the fact he'd been away leading an emergency aid team in Nigeria at the hospital's recommendation and wouldn't be back until Christmas. Tom's dad knew he'd always wanted to do something like this and also knew that it wasn't something he could take him to and prove much fun with due to an old and semi-crippling knee injury. This way, Tom got to do something he'd always wanted to and got a birthday present from his Dad that he could enjoy with all his friends.

"Well, this looks like the place." Shannon shrugged. The group had stopped at the entrance to a building with 'Neon 3000' written on a gigantic sign above the door.

"I wonder what the other two-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-nine were like." Rhydian muttered drily causing Maddy to burst out laughing.

"It looks run down." Joe looked perplexed. "Is it even safe to go inside?"

"If you smell death, run for your life." Ollie giggled.

"You've been stealing my DVDs again, haven't you?" Rhydian affectionately cuffed Ollie across the back of the head.

"Let's just go in." Tom shrugged. It was becoming increasingly obvious that he was eager to get started.

"Come on." Maddy rolled her eyes and ushered the boys in as Tom held the door open. Shannon followed behind them more reluctantly, noticing straight away how dark it was inside. Once she was inside, Maddy took the door from Tom and let him go in before closing it. The room was barely lit with glow-in-the-dark pumpkins plastered all over the walls. As the teenagers passed a staff room, Maddy and Rhydian instantly locked onto the conversation.

"I'm telling you, Nick! This pipe dream is going nowhere! This won't just clear up! People need closure and this place's closure would be a good start! Sell the building while you have money and set up somewhere a bit more able to cater to the appropriate audience. One more incident like Ghost Leader and people will be afraid to set foot in this place!"

"Hardly anyone knows about Ghost Leader!" a second voice shot back. "His family were informed and the maintenance is being done!" Maddy and Rhydian exchanged a glance.

"You can't keep letting people in here! What if they find something that should stay buried?"

"If they do, then we can put the matter to rest."

"You're delusional, Nick." Maddy and Rhydian were startled back into the room when Tom pressed the buzzer.

"If you'll excuse me, I have an eleven thirty to keep." The staff room door opened with a bang and they heard someone walking down to the front desk. A man entered with a messy shock of blonde hair that made him look like he'd stuck his finger in a light socket. "Welcome to the unique fighting experience that is Neon 3000."

"My dad booked the adult pit for us." Tom told him. "It should be under the name Okanawe."

"Yeah, I remember that." The man flashed a smile that was as bright as they wished the rest of the room was.

"I brought these two to play in the junior arena." Rhydian added, gesturing to Ollie and Joe. "I brought the money and neither of them have an underlying medical condition."

"Okay, we'll get them kitted up. Sally's the one in charge of the junior arena. I'll call her in a minute. While you're in the arenas we want to see a nice clean game. You might be shooting at each other, but we still want to try and project as much of a friendly atmosphere with no bad blood over wins and losses."

"Don't forget our discussion, Nick." The group looked over to see the other man Maddy and Rhydian had overheard standing by the door.

"John, you can show yourself out!" Nick snapped. "I actually hate him sometimes!" he muttered under his breath. Just then, a woman with blood-red hair dashed into the room on high-heels that looked like they were forcing her feet at such a downwards angle they appeared to be dislocated.

"Sorry Nick, I only just got your text. Is he gone?"

"Oh; hello there, Sally. I was just about to call you." Nick gestured to Ollie and Joe. "Can you get these two suited up? I'll tell you how it went afterwards." He took Rhydian's twenty pound note and pocketed it. Sally nodded and went over to the boys.

"Come on, kids. Let's get you ready." The boys looked uncertainly at Rhydian.

"She's fine, lads. Go with her." Rhydian waved the boys off as Sally led them away and turned back to Nick as he took the group to the adult pit.

"Okay, so we're going to give you coloured combat vests that fluoresce in the dark with your team colour. It'll be a Red VS Blue match. You'll also get goggles that protect your eyes from the lasers. They'll also display the username of the person who shoots you."

"So we get usernames as well?" Rhydian could see Tom's excitement growing.

"You get to choose usernames but you can't use your own name." Nick explained. "Our scoreboard saves the names and gives our long-term members an annual leaderboard and shows who did the best. This way, it protects your social security."

"Okay, you mean something like Ghost Leader?" Rhydian asked. He noticed Nick visibly stiffen and his heart rate doubled.

"Where did you hear that name?" Nick tried to keep a hard edge out of his voice.

"A friend from school told me his dad used to play under that name." Rhydian lied. "Apparently he quit because he got bored in the end. I guess once you memorise the arena and get so good that no one offers a challenge anymore…"

"Yeah, well it's that basic concept." Nick shrugged.

"Rhydian, you can be Detention Magnet." Maddy suggested, grinning cheekily.

"Only if you put yours down as Shrimp." Rhydian shot back. Maddy threw him an annoyed look.

"Tom can be Penalty Kick." Shannon nudged Tom's shoulder.

"So I guess that makes you Bookworm." Tom shrugged.

"I am not having my username be Shrimp!" Maddy snapped.

"Ah; I wish you'd said that sooner." Nick looked sheepish.

"You didn't…" Maddy cast him a glare that could make the sun blush.

"Well… Everyone was calling out nicknames for each other so I just typed it and moved on. I didn't want to miss any." Nick shrugged.

"Can you change it?" Maddy asked.

"No, I hit Enter just as you raised your protest." Nick scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, but I guess you'll have to play as that for now. The game technically started the moment I hit Enter, and I can't change it while it's in progress. I can change it afterwards though so it's not in our records and you won't be known as that when you come back."

"I notice how he said 'when' there." Maddy whispered to Rhydian. "He's a bit optimistic, isn't he?"

"Mads, he just made a mistake and it was my fault for making a joke." Rhydian sighed.

"Okay, if everyone would like to follow me." If Nick had heard what Maddy said, he didn't let it show. Rhydian took a second to admire the calm mask Nick had put on, even though his smile had now completely vanished. They were led into the darkness and shown the way to a gun rack lined with combat vests. The armour panels glowed red and blue according to whether the vest was respectively on the left or the right. Nick grabbed goggles from a box by the rack and handed them round.

"These are cool." Maddy muttered as she ran her hands over one of the red vests, feeling the texture under her fingers.

"Shall we have the girls on the red team and the boys on blue?" Nick asked.

"That sounds good to me." Maddy grinned.

"It sounds slightly sexist especially since I can see the boys grinning like Cheshire cats expecting an easy win." Shannon shrugged. "I'm in. Let's prove them wrong." Shannon and Maddy grabbed red vests for themselves as Tom and Rhydian grabbed blue ones.

"You'll also need the guns." Nick passed round rifles with scopes. Tom and Rhydian instantly noticed the way they'd increased the challenge. The scopes all had low-light filters on them. The green-tinted night vision they granted also cancelled out the colours of the combat vests meaning players would have to be careful not to team-kill if they took the high ground and sniped or one of them tried to flank the enemy team.

"Do you have a slightly smaller vest?" Maddy asked. Rhydian looked over and burst out laughing. Tom and Shannon couldn't see properly and he really wished they could. Maddy's combat vest was far too big for her and the collar on it practically came level with her eye-line.

"Yes, we have some smaller ones." Nick grabbed a smaller one and passed it to her. She swapped them over and breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, so the goggles will flash up the name of the person who killed you when you get hit. You'll also know because the vests will deliver a vibration. It'll be short and sharp, but it's also localised to the location you've been hit in. You have an unlimited number of lives. The winning team is determined by how many times each team member got hit. The team with the most combined hits loses. Oh, and the upper walkways are out of bounds, I'm afraid. We're having some essential maintenance done. You've still got the entire floor maze to play in, so the area is still entirely big enough. Once the game ends, green arrows will light up and guide you back to the exit. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, we're ready." Rhydian nodded.

"Okay, I'll be monitoring you from the cameras in the back room." Nick said as he opened the door. "Red and blue arrows will show you to your starting positions. I'll sound the buzzer when the match is ready to start. Have fun in there." Nick vanished through the door as the arrows lit up on the floor. Tom and Rhydian followed the blue arrows to one maze entrance as Maddy and Shannon went the other way.

"Let's get them." Tom grinned at Rhydian in the darkness. Rhydian nodded back as Nick's voice came over the PA system.

"Attention: a match is about to commence. All non-combatants must vacate the combat area immediately!" The buzzer sounded and the game began. Rhydian and Tom charged into the maze. As they took turns moving up and covering each other, Tom was sure he saw movement on the upper walkways.

"Rhydian, I need your vision." Tom called out. "Someone's on the upper platforms."

"Tom, he said no one could go up there." Rhydian reminded him. "It's probably a mechanic. He's outside the combat area, so we're fine." Tom was about to reply when there was a buzz on his chest plate and a message flashed up on his goggles.

'Penalty Kick killed by Shrimp.' Tom hadn't been concentrating and he'd paid for it. Maddy had managed to draw first blood. Snapping back to his senses, he and Rhydian returned fire as Maddy ducked screaming back down the corridor. As they came to the T junction Maddy had attacked from and turned the direction she'd gone, they were both shot directly in the back.

'Penalty Kick killed by Book Worm.'

'Detention Magnet killed by Book Worm.' Tom already knew what the girls were planning. He and Rhydian had fallen into a pincer movement. Maddy had drawn their attention one way while Shannon attacked from behind.

"We need to retreat!" Tom said quickly as they turned in the direction Shannon had shot them from only for him to get a jolt in the back.

'Penalty Kick killed by Shrimp.' Tom and Rhydian ducked back into the corridor they'd come from.

"I saw that, Maddy!" they heard Shannon call. "Stop going soft and start shooting Rhydian as well!" As they took cover in an alcove in the corridor and listened, Tom noticed movement in the upper walkways again. This time he knew something was off. The figure was holding a laser gun like theirs.

"Rhydian, I just saw that figure again." Tom whispered. "He's got a gun. Something's really wrong."

"He probably just found it." Rhydian whispered back in an irritated tone. "You'll be amazed what people lose in these places. I'd be genuinely surprised if there isn't at least one used condom or drug needle up there. We're in complete darkness. It's not like it's hard to get away with dodgy stuff."

"I suppose you're right." Tom muttered. Suddenly, something struck him in the shoulder with so much force that he thought it was about to dislocate. Instead of a buzz, he felt blinding pain. He hit the ground hard and let out a cry of agony.

'Penalty Kick killed by Ghost Leader.'

"What the hell was that?" Rhydian looked up and finally saw what Tom had been seeing. A figure was running along the upper ledge holding a weapon like theirs. He had no colour on his combat vest and was really hard to see. One thing Rhydian could definitely make out was the twisted metal and plastic of his armour. It looked as if it was damaged in some way. He must have tampered with it so that his hits didn't register. Still, he'd fired on Tom, so he had to be a hostile and Rhydian only had a laser gun to fight him with at such long range. He looked through the night vision scope to find empty space where the figure was running.

"What have you got, mate?" Tom asked. He'd checked his shoulder quickly and found that it wasn't dislocated. He was lucky. He pulled himself up and raised his gun.

"I've got nothing on my scope, but I can see him with my regular eyes." Rhydian was bewildered. "How is that possible?"

"Forget it, just point and shoot!" Tom let loose a couple of shots that went wide. With no assistance from his scope it was impossible to aim and the figure's footsteps were silent. Suddenly, he vanished from sight altogether behind cover. They heard a choked yell in the distance.

'Bookworm killed by Ghost Leader.'

"Shan, are you okay?" They could hear Maddy's voice and didn't waste time. They ran towards the girls in the direction of Maddy's voice. Rhydian saw the figure jump down from above them and land in the maze. As they looked around the final corner, Rhydian could see Maddy helping Shannon up. Suddenly, Maddy recoiled and fell. Ghost Leader darted out from cover as Maddy jack-knifed to her feet and landed a kick to her lower jaw sending her sprawling again.

Shannon jumped up and tried to shoot the figure, not registering that he'd just physically assaulted Maddy. He brought the butt of his gun swinging into her head before sweeping his leg across and cutting her knees from under her. She hit the ground hard before letting out a scream of pain as he fired repeatedly into her chest plate.

'Bookworm killed by Ghost Leader X8.'

Angered by seeing what had happened to the girls, Rhydian charged forward with his eyes burning yellow. He swung a punch which Ghost Leader instantly blocked. Rhydian recoiled instantly. The figure was so cold that it burned. Ghost Leader launched a kick out at Rhydian as he rolled backwards. He darted for the nearby wall and used his Wolfblood agility to run halfway up it before jumping at the aberration and trying to swing his gun at him. Ghost Leader easily caught the gun and stopped Rhydian in mid-air with one hand. He threw the young Wolfblood into the wall with enough force to crack it before landing several punches into his body armour right over his heart. Each punch was like the world's coldest inferno and seemed to blast right through him. Maddy was trying to haul herself up to help, but Ghost Leader saw her and swung the barrel of his gun around to aim directly at her head.

"Stay down!" Tom yelled as he took aim. Even though his scope showed nothing there, his instinct told him to take the shot. The laser passed right through the hole in Ghost Leader's combat vest. Suddenly, there was a crash as the metal and plastic vest hit the floor. Tom ran over and helped the girls up as Rhydian tore his way free from the thin plastic wall.

"Damage has been sustained to the combat arena. This battle is now terminated. Please follow the green arrows to the exit." The buzzer rang and green arrows lit up the walls.

"Are you okay?" Rhydian asked the girls as they made their way back."

"What the hell was that?" Maddy asked.

"I'm just a bit winded." Shannon gasped as the light of the exit came into view.

"Are you kids okay?" Nick called from the doorway. They all staggered through as their adrenaline rushes wore off.

"Please tell me you saw that on the cameras!" Shannon snapped.

"No, nothing was showing up on the night vision." Nick shrugged.

"That sounds familiar." Tom muttered. "By the way, can you explain this?" he threw the combat vest he was holding on the floor in front of everyone. "I grabbed it just as you terminated the match. There was no sign of the owner."

"What the hell…?" Rhydian muttered as everyone looked closer. The vest's fluorescent paint looked as though it had been peeled off with a knife to make the player unaffiliated with either team, but that was the least of the damage. Rhydian had thought the owner ripped the sensor out to stop hits registering, but he only now realised how hopelessly optimistic that was. The vest had a massive hole going right through both the chest and back plates.

"This is impossible." Nick shook his head in disbelief. "This looks like someone was impaled by something suddenly and from behind. They wouldn't have known what hit them." Suddenly there was a beep from the monitor as the kill results came in. Instead of the scores and records coming up on the screen, only one message appeared.

'Ghost Leader killed by Combat Arena.' As a chill crept up the spines of everyone in the room, one final message appeared.

'Remember me.'

End!