02: Let's Get 'em Together
"Let's start with demolitions; look up players with records of mainly explosive weapon usage," Sebastian instructs. After some excited keystrokes, Gregory adjusts his glasses and narrows his eyes at his screen.
"Got it!"
"Send Suki and I the list." Moments later, a list of names along with small paragraphs appears at Sebastian's right and he slides it in front of him.
"Lot of awesome contestants; too bad the best one is already on the team that's bet to win the tournament," Gregory comments as he glances over the list. "Anders Briggs: champion Rocket-ball player, demolitions expert of the 'Omegalympians' team."
"Well, then, we'll have to find someone else," Sebastian replies. "Someone nobody's expecting."
"I like this girl," Suki says with a smile. "Martha "Marty" Wicker; she's really good with explosive weapons."
"Yeah, but it says here that she's also good at blowing herself up," Gregory adds warningly. Sebastian expands on the girl's data then reads over the information.
"Yeah, but it also shows that her kill-to-suicide ratio is – on average – two-to-one," Sebastian points out, rubbing his chin. "So in other words, she's either constantly swarmed or she's a willing suicide bomber."
"Her address is in the info; let's go see her," Suki suggest with a smirk and a shrug.
All three duck at the sound of a firecracker going off quickly followed by hoots and hollers from behind the wooden fence. The three exchange glances then climb the fence to see what was going on behind it. Three teenagers are seen; Sebastian and the others instantly pick out Martha seeing as how she's the only girl of the trio. She has short, shaggy, dark-brown hair hidden underneath a black and white trucker's baseball cap with brown eyes.
"Slam it in, slam it in!" one of the boys shout as the second lights then drops a firecracker into the launcher. It shoots out not too long after that and detonates in the air and another wave of excited sounds echo from the fun-loving trio.
"Ok, you boys'd bitt'r start runnin'!" Martha calls out as she runs over and picks up the cracker launcher.
"Oh, come on, Marty!" the first boy whines as Martha lights and loads another firecracker. "This ain't Halo!"
"Well, if you dun don't git outta the way, yer gonna see jist what happens when you punt a grunt with a sticky on yer foot!" Martha smiles evilly as she takes aim. The boys run like chicken with their heads cut off trying to evade the firecracker. Suddenly, the small explosive soars from the launcher and lands right into the second boy's back end just before exploding.
"BINGO! Right in th' blow-hole!"
Sebastian, Suki, and Gregory exchange glances and nods with satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Marty?" Suki asks.
"Well, since we're on the topic of suicidal berserkers," Gregory says with an uncomfortable smile as everybody sets aside the other list. "Take a look at this guy: Carlos Mendez. He's a guy I've fought against and with too many times to count. Not many people take him seriously because he mostly plays V-Borderlands rather than V-Halo but he normally takes the role of what's called a "Gunzerker." Now, Gunzerkers in V-Borderlands have the ability to dual-wield whatever weapon no matter what the size, and apparently V-Halo allows the same thing but only limited by your own strength level. This guy is strong as hell because I've seen him dual-wield a fuel-rod gun and rocket launcher; thankfully, we were on the same team that match." Sebastian and Suki skim over the information as Gregory explains his case.
"Well, that's pretty awesome, but it looks like he's lacking in strategy," Suki points out sternly. "He's a lone shark; always goes off on his own and almost never listens to his teammates."
"At some point we're going to need that," Sebastian argues. "But you are right; for the most part, that lone shark attitude's gotta go. Otherwise, he sounds good."
As the trio approach the paintball ring, the sounds of repeating fire and shouts become louder, as well as one particular voice cursing in what sounds like Spanish. The three climb the small steel steps to the bleachers and find seats to watch the match. With the similar uniforms and gear, it proved difficult to see their person of interest, especially with all the running around.
"Wait, I think that's him!" Suki lightly slaps Sebastian's shoulder to get his attention and points. Sebastian follows her finger and Gregory peers over as well at a rather large participant in red and black gear being forced behind cover by some of his fellow players. But that particular player didn't stay down for long as he wrestles a paintball gun from a player and runs out into the open.
"Bring it bitches!" he roars with laughter as he unloads onto the other team with two paintball guns. It didn't take long for the opposing team to return fire and hit him dead-on. But when the player wouldn't stop, officials blew their whistles and forced the player out of the arena, the player cursing at all of them in Spanish. As the game continued, Sebastian and the others ran down the bleachers to meet him before he left. The player even removed his helmet and they see a shaved, black haircut with a small Mohawk and a five-o'-clock shadow and dark-brown eyes.
"Carlos Mendez?" Sebastian asks, catching the Mexican's attention.
"What do you want?" he growls.
"All right, that's a total of five now, assuming Marty and Carlos agree to join us," Gregory points out with a sigh. "What's next?"
"We need a stealth player," Sebastian says as he scratches his neck in thought. "Someone who is good at both camouflage and has perfected the art of getting the hell out of there."
"Ok..." Gregory replies quietly and types away at his keyboard. "Here we go." Again he sends the list to his two teammates and they look over the information. "Not many and few in between." As Sebastian surveys the small list, one detail stands out and he catches it instantly.
"Jackal?" he asks himself quietly.
"What's that, 'Bash?" Suki asks curiously.
"This guy, Kevin Yin," Sebastian expands the information box. "Says here his preference in species is the Kig-Yar, aka the "Jackals;" his preferred weapon of choice is a kukri knife."
"That's interesting," Suki comments quietly.
"Yeah...but the reviews here say he's a dumb shit," Gregory adds with critique. "Says here that he spontaneously celebrates loudly every time he gets a decent kill, which is practically every kill he gets in the first place. So whenever he kills someone, he gives himself away and gets killed more often than not. His only saving grace is that he's loyal to team strategies."
"That's good," Sebastian nods slightly. "Let's give him a shot."
Girls: the best part about a fundraising car wash; high school girls and guys signing up to wash and rinse cars (mostly girls, thankfully). A set of binoculars and a nice foot-long sandwich is everything he needs around lunch time; that and a decent hiding place (the guys don't like his style of "research"). Spiky, black hair dyed purple towards the top and light blue eyes; the perfect lady-killer that can't get a girl even if he tried. A shame, too.
"Oh...nice shape on that one," Kevin says to himself with a mouth full of sandwich. "Hmm...huh...I think I know that girl..." He did, he'd seen her around school hanging out with that quarterback and nerdy loser. Asian by heritage; cute, but lacking in some areas - in his opinion.
"What are you looking for?" he asks himself, noticing her demeanor. Suddenly, she glances over in his direction and notices the glare from his binoculars, and he notices this when she won't stop glaring at him and her fists bury themselves in her hips. With a confused look, he looks around his immediate area to see no shade around him. "Damn it! Note to self: find a hiding place with better shade next time!" He grabs his sandwich and makes a run for it, only to slam right into Sebastian and Gregory.
"Sup, Kevin," Sebastian smiles smugly. "We gotta talk..."
"Two more left, what else do we need?" Gregory asks.
"How about Megan?" Suki suggests with a shrug.
"M-Megan?" Gregory repeats in surprise.
"The valedictorian?" Sebastian asks to confirm.
"Yeah, Megan Harding," Suki nods with a small smile. "You did say you wanted the unexpected; what's more unexpected than playing against someone who shouldn't be anywhere near video games with those high grades?"
"Yeah...uh...b-but wouldn't she be...like...busy with...valedictorian...er...stuff?" Gregory argues with a stutter. Suki and Sebastian both look at him with equally evil smirks.
"Oh, we're gonna have fun with this thing," Sebastian chuckles. "Sign her up!"
Gregory "volunteered" to guard the van while Sebastian and Suki walk up to the front door.
"School crushes, you just gotta love 'em," Suki says quietly with a wide smile.
"Yeah," Sebastian agrees as he rings the doorbell. After a few moments, a petite redhead answers the door, adjusting her glasses as her green eyes shift with surprised interest.
"Sebastian, Suki; I'm surprised to see you here," she says with a small smile, her body gesture suggesting a slightly more hostile attitude.
"Hey, Megan, do you mind if we come in for a minute to talk?" Sebastian asks, returning the smile.
"Sure," she replies before noticing Gregory toward the end of the driveway. "Um...what about Greg?" Both Sebastian and Suki shoot a glance behind them then turn back to her.
"He's guarding the van," Suki shrugs.
"All right, just one more," Gregory groans with stress.
"Oh, this going to be fun," Suki smiles, rubbing her hands together as Gregory removes his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose.
"So what do you think we need, 'Bastian?" Gregory asks as he replaces his glasses. Sebastian stands there for a minute, rubbing his chin in thoughtful debate as to what they still need. If anything, he himself is a well-rounded V-Halo player; not lacking in any abilities while also not being the best. Suki is fast and agile player; she's a good sniper and she's well-taught in kendo, expertly wielding a katana in-game. Same can be said of Gregory; he is so into guns that shooting them in V-Halo are a second-nature to him. If these other teammate suggestions join, that means that they have a suicide bomber, a berserker, a loud-mouthed reptile, and a newbie. A colorful team, to be sure, and having to get them all to work together will be a challenge in and of itself. Sebastian might as well just lead a team of rookie football players against a professional football team.
"Rookie..." Sebastian mutters quietly.
"What?" Gregory asks with a raised brow.
"You guys heard about one of the sophomore kids, the one called "The Rookie?"" Sebastian asks his two teammates.
"You mean Jason?" Suki asks. "Jason Blake?"
"I never heard of him, but let me look him up," Gregory shrugs then types away on his keyboard. He looks over the information then goes wide-eyed. "Guys, you gotta see this kid's record; his pummel and beat-down scores are off the charts!" Both Suki and Sebastian receive the information themselves and look it over.
"Damn..." Suki comments in surprise. "Not much to offer in many other categories but his beat-down records are damn near legendary online."
"The most common reviews state that while he is only at a beginner's level as far as weapon combat, his strength comes from his unique hand-to-hand combat preference during the average game," Sebastian summarizes the information. "However, his weaknesses are his lack of weapons expertise and preference of ODST armor, making him vulnerable to many weapons and even a danger to himself when fighting hand-to-hand."
"Works well with a team except for when communicating..." Gregory says in a barely-audible tone. "Wait, that doesn't make sense...if he works well with his team, how can he fail in communication?"
"Oh, come on, Greg. Don't tell me you haven't heard the stories?" Suki huffs a small laugh. Gregory shakes his head slowly.
"Jason's father used to be a cop in the Reno Police Department," Sebastian explains as he continues to sort through the information. "Unfortunately, he was killed in the line of duty; shot while issuing a ticket to some driver."
"Yeah...and Jason was in the front seat of his father's cop car when it happened," Suki adds.
"I didn't hear that part," Sebastian sighs with a shaking head.
"Nowadays, it's a rarity if he speaks a single word, even to his own family," Suki continues evenly. "Or so the rumors go."
"In fact, it even says here that the combination of his persistent silence and ODST armor preference earned him the nickname "The Rookie" in-game and the name stuck outside of the game as well," Sebastian adds. "We need him. Both The Rookie and Kevin both prefer a class other than the typical SPARTAN characters, and more so, The Rookie has hand-to-hand combat skills that's sure to catch some people off guard."
"Even then, he can't be our trump card," Gregory warns sternly. "His armor preference and communicating skills are going to be tough to handle..."
The three approach the front door to Jason's house and Sebastian knocks. After a few moments of silence he knocks again...still nothing.
"Huh...they should be home; their vehicles are still in the driveway," Gregory points out the sitting cars.
"Maybe they're in the backyard," Suki suggests as she hops off the porch and heads for the side gate with the two boys in tow.
"Cross, cross, hook, uppercut! Nice! Cross, cross, right elbow, knee strike! Ok, faster this time..." a voice was heard as the trio approach the side gate and Suki climbs the gate to poke her head over. She sees three people: a redheaded woman relaxing in a lawn chair; a dark-haired, well-built man with a five o' clock shadow; and a teenager with light-brown hair and brown eyes. She assumes the teenager is Jason – who looks to be younger than herself – and the redheaded woman is his mother. She doesn't recognize the man, though.
"Um, excuse me?" Suki calls out. The three in the backyard gaze her way.
"Oh, I am so sorry; I didn't hear you knock," the woman says with a smile as she quickly stands up and moves towards the gate. After a moment she opens the gate. "Can we help you?"
"We're actually looking for Jason Blake," Sebastian explains. "We'd like to talk to him." Almost instantly, the silent teenager appeared at the gate with the man standing right behind him with a suspicious gaze.
"So is the rest of the team we put together, Greg," Sebastian snaps. "If we're even able to get all of them to join us, that's a team of eight V-Halo players who need to work out their differences and start cooperating as a team all in three days. Hell, even less than that. It'll be a damn miracle if we even make it past the first round of this tournament!"
"That's why we need a good leader," Suki points out sternly. ""A leader that demands respect through experience," as they say. And I say we make 'Bastian the leader of our team."
"I was just thinking the same thing, actually," Gregory agrees, scratching his cheek.
"Why me?" Sebastian asks with a shrug.
"You're a quarterback, 'Bastian," Suki smiles. "Your coach practically drilled "leadership" into your skull; now's the perfect time to prove that you got it down packed! The football team runs like a well-oiled machine; why can't this team?"
"Waddya say, Cap? You game?" Gregory asks with a smile of his own. Soon enough that smile is shared on Sebastian's face.
"Oh, yeah," he replies with a big smile. "Tomorrow, we'll go around and find these people, and if all goes well, we'll tell them to meet us at the marina the day after and we'll go from there."
"Gonna be cutting it close," Suki points out with a face.
"I know. Like I said, we'll need a miracle," Sebastian grins.