Chapter 14

Public Relations

I powered up the around 10 o'clock in the morning. The walls were still the green color with the yellow-gold insignia on the wall. Though, I hadn't started up to my own liking; my audio sensors had picked up a noise that was out of the ordinary. Once everything was calibrated, I could hear the noise for myself; it was a knock at my door. I stood up, hearing the servos and other parts in my legs click as I moved due to the inactivity of the night. Somebody knocked again.

I got to the door and opened it. Arla and Lee were standing at the door in some garb that I had never seen before. They were both wearing an orange button-up shirt with red block lettering saying, "Sunsingers" with cartoon sun at the end of the word with an intimidating face on it. They also wore a cap of the same color with the same logo on top. Their pants were a plain white color with red cleats. Lee held four wooden bats slung over his shoulder, and Arla was holding three leather gloves reminiscent of baseball gloves with the netting between the thumb and other fingers. Lee was holding a large white box in the hand that did not have the bats.

"Morning Maximus!" Lee said in an excited tone.

"Good morning Lee," I said to the both of them. "What are you two doing here? Do we have new orders from the Vanguard?"

Arla stayed silent, but Lee picked up the slack. "Not in the way that you would think."

"I'm sorry. I don't get it." I responded and looked at Arla who was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and an indignant look on her face. "Where are we going, regardless?"

"The City."

"For what though? Are they rioting or something, and why are you two dressed like that?"

Arla interrupted ferociously. "Because the Vanguard want us to help with relations with the citizens of the City! Us and 8 others are going to play baseball with them in three hours."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You do realize that I've never played right?"

"I know. That's why we're going to the field early, so I can teach you," Lee said, still excited.

"What about Arla?"

"He taught me last night," she said, still frustrated. "I don't get why we have to do this though. We should be out there…" Arla pointed to her upward right. "...fighting against the darkness. Not dressing up in orange and hitting a ball all over a grassy field. It brings us no closer to victory…"

Lee interrupted. "...But it does allow us to make a few non-Guardian friends and play an extremely popular yet ancient game. Lighten up Arla!" He wouldn't stop smiling. "By the way, these are yours." He shoved the box into my torso.

"I'll go change then." I shut the door and opened the box. Inside was a similar orange jersey and hat as well as red cleats and white pants. I looked the uniform over and saw that my name was in white letters (all caps) on the back, "MAXIMUS" with a large 36 in a similar font on the back. I had to manually put them on but ran into no trouble doing so. It fit well and left my hands and most of my arm exposed which felt strange to begin with as I had not worn a uniform like this for some time. I put the hat over my head and headed out the door.

We took a lift to the public transportation that would take us to the City. The hovering bus stopped in front of a large stadium that, upon entering, had seating in an arc shape. Red clay led up to four white bases arranged in a diamond pattern surrounding a small clay hill in the center with a white rectangular thing in the center. The base at closest to the center of the arc in the seating was pentagonal, but that was the only difference between the others. I stood on that base and looked out at a large field that seemed to grow wider as I looked farther out. A green wall stopped it with two tall, yellow poles at each side near the end of the bleachers that extended outside the field of play. A large holographic screen was powered on out in the left part of the field.

Lee tossed me a bat. "Ok, stand in one of those boxes, bend your knees, hold the bat in two hands, and keep your elbows up," He said.

I did so. Arla walked over to me and pushed my elbow up a little more. Lee continued, "Good. Now face me, step forward as you swing the bat. If you do it right, then the bat will come level as it comes over the plate. When I say 'Swing,' do it, drop the bat, and run around the bases as fast as you can. Get me?"

Lee walked over to the mound in the middle of the inner field. I nodded to him, and he pulled out a stopwatch. "Swing!" he yelled. I gave the bat a quick swing and threw it to the right as I darted off towards the first base on my right. I hit it with my foot and changed direction towards the second base without losing speed; I did the same with the second and third base. I tapped the last plate where Lee and Arla stood waiting. As soon as I tapped it, Lee stopped the stopwatch.

He looked down at the number, and gasped. "Holy crap! 13.7 seconds! Maximus, I haven't seen anyone run that fast around the bases since, well, no one. I want you playing Centerfield." He pointed to the middle of the outer part of the grass. "Out there. You'll be catching any fly balls that come your way. Don't be afraid to run after one in order to get the out. Now, let's explain the rules."

The rules seemed simple. 9 innings with a hitting and defensive chance for each team, three outs per inning. Lee explained that my main goal was recording the out in the outfield and throwing the ball as fast as I could to the infield to prevent any runners that may be on the base paths. Super simple it seemed. He also taught me how to hit and not to swing at things that looked to be below my knees and above the letters. 4 balls will send me to first base without having to swing the but, and 3 strikes will send me to the dugout and wait for 8 batters and a couple of other parts of innings until I get another chance, so 'make the best of it,' he said. He also warned that it was the umpire who ultimately decides what's a ball and what's a strike, so I need to be aware of the count.

I felt like I knew the game well enough, but only time would actually tell whether I could do this or not. We practiced for another hour, actually hitting the ball and fielding it. Lee could smash the ball quickly and far, clearing the wall about 40 feet behind me often whenever Arla threw the ball to him. Arla could make the ball just drop into what Lee called the "outfield" without any special effort whatsoever. Whenever I wasn't busy chasing the balls in front of me or clamoring over the fence to get the ones Lee crushed over the fence, I was getting underneath the ball and securely gloving it.

I didn't get a chance to hit the ball though before people started filing into the stands and about 14 people in white jerseys and pants with green hats and green lettering on their jerseys spelling out, "Cosmos."

Lee signaled me in and we went into one of the dugouts and into a locker room behind a cleverly disguised door covered with part of the wall decorated by several iterations of our logo and name. I followed him to a fully carpeted room with tall but not necessarily wide lockers with our each of our names on them.

I walked around the circular locker room and looked at each of the names. Each name had one or two letters as well as their jersey number by it before actually having the name. Our team consisted of: P 78 Edward Smith; RP 23 Max Gallagher; CP 4 Advira Mezzer; C 22 Aeol 1B 50 Layma; 2B 2 Yogameyer Zealouin; SS 63 Arla Nublier.

I stopped for a second. I just realized that I never knew Arla's last name. When I turned around from looking at the lockers, she was talking to another Awoken female standing by the locker that belonged to Advira Mezzer. Nublier with the number 63 beneath it. That was her. There was also something about the one named Layma; it seemed extremely familiar for some reason.

I continued circling the lockers: 3B 14 Tony Ansley; LF 77 Lee Thompson; CF 36 Maximus; RF 90 Draklin. Judging by the names, we were a mix of Humans (4), Awoken (3), and Exo (4). Everybody filed in over the next 20 minutes or so, and the noise of the crowd began to grow louder and louder by the second.

We sat around talking to one another (I sat on a chair in front of my locker talking to Draklin who had the locker next to mine. He was an Exo colored red with a full faceplate and white eyes. Draklin also had a white stripe across his face, from the top of his left eye to about mid-cheek on the right side). Lee stood up on a bench in the middle of the room and caught everybody's attention. "Guardians!" he yelled around the room. Everybody looked his direction. "How are we doing today?" A cheer swept over everybody with a few raised fists. "Are we ready to kick some butt?"

"Yeah!" practically everyone responded.

"Good! Now keep that fire. Here's the order I'm going to submit to the umpire so listen up I've got Ansley followed by Draklin and Zealouin with myself batting clean-up. Maximus will bat fifth followed by Nublier and Layma. That means that Aeol will bat 8th followed by whomever is pitching which is Smith to begin with Gallagher in relief and Mezzer in closing." He looked at the Awoken Arla was talking to just a moment ago. She was an inch or two shorter than Arla with blue skin and deep red hair combed over part of the right side of her face. Mezzer nodded to him.

A new voice inserted itself from the door to the dugout. "Well, it's game time. Show no hesitation." It was a proud voice belonging to an extremely muscular human that filled out his jersey extremely well.

Lee spoke shortly. "You heard Lord Shaxx. Let's get going!"

A loud hurrah bounced off the walls of the locker room. We grabbed our stuff and started filing out. I tucked in my jersey and grabbed the bat I had been using earlier as well as the helmet that was hanging in the locker. It had my name written on the back, but that was the only difference between it and the hat; the color and logo were the exact same. It came down around where a human ear would be on the left side with the right lacking the attachment. I shouldered the bat and was about to walk out when Arla tossed me the leather glove I had been using earlier. Apparently, I had left it on a bench. I then left the locker room.

All of the other pregame festivities had already taken place; we shook hands with the citizens who were the elite of the City's Sector League. The starters were a mix of five humans of varying heights and looks. After that, we grabbed our gear and headed out to the field.

Lee, and I started walking out to the outfield when the red-faced Exo Draklin caught up to us. We stopped around the place where I would play center. "Let's get it done," he said in his low bass. We exchanged fist bumps and separated to our zones.

The game started a short time after. A black-faced Exo with red eyes flashed onto the scoreboard with the name Aksyll. After working a 2-2 count, the leadoff batter for the Cosmos was retired via strikeout (looking). An upside-down K appeared not only underneath the player's name but also underneath Smith's. The next batter took a first pitch strike but responded by hitting a ball lines right at the Purple Exo standing at first, Layma was her name if I remembered correctly. She gloved it with quick reflexes.

The next batter worked a 3-2 count and laced a hit down the right field line. I ran over to serve as a cutoff man but that wasn't needed. Draklin threw it to the Arla covering 2nd base as the batter had a stand-up double. Smith then threw a wild pitch that bounced away from the batter, letting the runner at 2nd to get into 3rd quickly and easily.

The fourth batter in the lineup didn't take any pitches. He hit an extremely powerful ball straight into my zone. I moved a couple steps back and to the left to get under it. The ball fell into my glove with quite a bit of force on it. The three of us started walking to the dugout when the umpires gave the signal that he was out. Lee trotted along beside me as we approached the dugout. "Throw the ball into the crowd," he whispered. Realizing I still had the ball, I took it out of the glove and tossed it lightly into the stands for whomever could get it first. It was then that I realized that the stadium was sold out without even standing room near the top.

I descended the stairs and sat down next to the purple Exo that I now know was going by the name of Layma. She had bright yellow eyes and a smooth face plate. "Name's Maximus. And you?"

"Layma, Huntress. And you?" Her voice was a soft, upper alto.

"Warlock."

"Hmm." We sat silent for a minute, but she broke the silence. "Would you mind showing me the orb that Warlocks are said to be able to create."

Surprised by the question, I responded, "Uh, uh. Sure, uh, no problem." I held out my right hand and unclenched a fist after forming one a second earlier. Nevertheless, the pale blue-white orb popped up and floated in my hand at a size just smaller than a baseball.

"That's amazing," she said. "Pure energy that you can control."

"What about you? I've heard that Hunters and Huntresses can turn invisible." I asked, dissipating the orb and then turning to face her. Layma was gone completely. There was a laugh that sounded like her coming from my left. Her form suddenly appeared on my left after a second.

"You mean like that?"

"Exactly." Suddenly, I saw the Awoken identified as Zealouin descend the steps with a smile on his face. He high fived Lee as he left approached the batter's box. I stepped up to the fence that divided the dugout and the field. Currently, there was a man on third and two outs on the board. Lee looked completely comfortable up there, as if his experience all those years ago had never happened. He took a cut on the first pitch but only caught air. The next two pitches were balls low and to the right of the strike zone (respectively). He took another strike and checked his swing for Ball 3. Lee then fouled off three pitches in a row; the pitcher was looking extremely annoyed with his current situation on the mound. He must have known that throwing 8 pitches to a batter with a runner on third was not a good idea. He reared back and threw a ball that looked like it should have been a straight drop from the strike zone; the only problem was that it hung just a bit too long.

Lee crushed the ball and ran towards first base. The ball carried to straightaway center, but died just in front of the wall. Had it been in any other part of the field, it would've cleared the bases. Either way, Lee stopped running in between first and second and came back to the dugout.

The next half inning was the pitcher striking out the side in a total of 12 pitches. After the other team was done warming up in the field, the PA announced my appearance to the batter's box. I had just grabbed a bat and ascended the stairs when he started. "Now making his baseball debut is an ex-Allied Earth Army Captain, now a Guardian with the Tower continuing to serve the public. Please welcome Centerfielder number 36, Maximus!"

Cheers rose up from around the sold-out crowd. I lifted the helmet off my head and held it up. As I approached the batter's box, I placed the helmet back on my head. I got serious and took my stance, staring down the pitcher the entire time. He gave a slight smirk in response. The pitcher reared back and threw a straight pitch that went straight past me without a single twitch on my end. It was above the letters and too far to my right. "Ball 1," called the umpire behind me.

The pitcher threw another. This pitch looked to be straight down the middle; I took a strong hack at it but only whiffed at air. As I swung, the ball had seemingly moved away to the left almost in what looked like a sliding motion. I stepped out of the box momentarily and took a few practice half-swings. The scoreboard identified it as a Slider clocked in at 87 mph. 1-1 count and the next pitch was another strike located in the bottom inside corner, something I was not about to cut at. The scoreboard classified it as a 12-6 Curveball clocking in at 84 mph. I had to defend with 2 strikes. The next pitch was near the letters, but I took a swing at it and heard a resounding crack.

I dropped the bat and sprinted to first. The ball dropped just in front of the left fielder leaving me to just stay at first base rather than risk getting out. The man dressed in a similar uniform paused play and took me by the shoulder. He pointed across the field to an Awoken man dressed just like us inside a rectangular box. "See him over there?" he asked.

I nodded.

"If he grabs his belt, take two lateral steps off the bag, and when the pitcher moves his arm back to throw, sprint over to second. You're going to steal that base; we need to get on the board early. Lee told me about your speed. Good luck." The 1st Base Coach stepped back in his box and I stepped onto the base. The Coach across the field did indeed hold his belt, indicating a desire for me to steal. I continued to look at the pitcher, waiting for the time to break away. The pitcher took a started his wind up, looking dead at me; I froze momentarily as he stared straight at me with the first baseman just to my left. The pitcher turned his head back towards the batter.

His knee lifted up and I sprinted immediately. The sound of the ball landing in the catcher's glove was loud enough to be heard above the noise of the crowd cheering as I now stood on second, clean I might add, with the catcher not even attempting to throw the ball. The first and third base coaches were clapping ferociously at my success. The pitcher caught the throw from the catcher and shook his head.

I looked at the batter. I hadn't noticed that it was Arla at the plate. The next pitch was outside making the count 2-0; the third pitch missed as well. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing up there. The pitcher did his wind up and delivered a pitch that seemed a bit slower compared to the previous few pitches. Arla took a powerful-looking swing at the ball and made an extremely loud contact that sent the ball racing down the third base line. It crossed over the foul line after passing third base, and there was no call for a foul ball except by the third baseman and several other players on the other team. Meanwhile, I dashed around third and headed straight at home plate. I touched it without any trouble. When I looked back at the bases, Arla was standing on second with a huge smile on her face.

The rest of the inning was a strikeout, followed by flyout in deep center where Arla tagged 2nd base after the catch and dashed into third. Smith, the pitcher, strolled into the batter's box and took a third strike looking.

I caught two more pop flies in the shorter part of my zone, but nobody scored after 2 more innings. In the bottom of the 4th inning, I walked into the batter's box again and worked a 2-1 count. I had been studying each batter this pitcher faced. He had been keeping almost everybody guessing, now having 4 strikeouts to his credit while Smith had only 2.

Waiting for the 2-1 pitch, I stared at pitcher and at the empty base paths. The scoreboard still said 1-0 with a giant 4 indicating the inning and the two outs in this part of the inning. We had 4 hits while the Cosmos had 2 to their credit. The pitch came a few seconds later. It made a slow arc to the outside part of the plate; it looked to hit the upper half of the strike zone as well. I gave it a hack with a slight upward motion to my swing (on accident). The ball soared away from where I stood. I didn't take too much time to admire it and tossed the bat, starting my run towards first.

I glanced at its direction again and saw it was going to drop just in front of my counterpart on the opposite team. The human playing that position made a forward dive at the ball, but came I empty. It was a mad scramble for the ball as the Right Fielder and Center Fielder sprinted over to where it lay. I rounded second just as the Right Fielder picked it up and threw it into the infield, but it was too late. I was standing on third getting a high five from the coach standing there laughing. "Are you sure you've never played baseball before?"

"Positive," I replied.

"Either way, keep doing what you're doing, and we've got this series in the bag."

"Series?" I asked slightly confused by the statement.

"Yeah, we're playing five of the City's top teams. Don't worry about it; just keep doing what you've been doing and remember to be aggressive. These people love their baseball win or lose."

The conversation ended there as Arla began her at-bat After working a full count, she smacked one into center field for a single, meanwhile I came around to score easily. The dugout was full of smiling faces, high fives, and slaps on the back when I descended the stairs. I wished Layma good luck as she grabbed a bat and helmet and trotted out to do her at bat. She walked on five pitches. Despite Arla's and hers efforts to get on base, Smith struck out and ended the inning.

I tossed Arla her hat and glove as she came into the dugout for her fielding stuff. She gave me a hard pat on the back with a smile on her face as she took her position, and I walked into centerfield.

Nothing major happened the next few innings. I caught three more routine fly balls and grounded into a double play when I chased a slider out of the zone but made contact. It was in the 8th inning when the bases got loaded with two outs. The Cosmos had managed to get a run across just before Shaxx pulled Smith from the mound.

Gallagher had done a decent job to in his 1.2 innings pitching. He'd struck out 4 of the 5 batters he got out, but surrendered a single followed by the runner stealing a base and another single. A double play got the two outs but the original man on base was now sitting comfortably at third waiting for a chance to tie the game. He may get his chance as Gallagher seemed a bit shaken on the mound. He walked the next batter in 8 pitches (she fouled off quite a few) and accidentally hit the guy after her in the foot with a curveball that seemed to slip.

At this point, Shaxx came out onto the mound to talk to him. Mezzer didn't come out of the bullpen, but I did hear the sound of a baseball smacking into a glove. She was warming up and would definitely be coming out the next inning regardless. His words did nothing it seemed. The first pitch that Gallagher threw was a fastball that seemed to have no effort behind it. The batter drilled it to straightaway center. I ran to get underneath it but it seemed that I wasn't going to be able to, and I was running out of field. I did the only thing left that I could do: I jumped onto the wall just as the ball arrived. I caught it with the very top of my glove, but there was only one problem that went with the ball. The glove went with it over the wall. A Grand Slam. The batters trotted around the bases fist-pumping and cheering extremely loud. The score was now 5-2 with us in a losing spot. It was a mad house at home plate as the three baserunners and the hitter celebrated for several seconds before returning to the dugout with more cheers to come.

It was embarrassing climbing over the wall to retrieve the glove as well as the ball; I needed a way to redeem myself after basically costing us the lead. The next guy grounded out, and the one-swing nightmare ended quickly.

We went down 1-2-3 in the next half inning leaving the score 5-2 in favor of the Cosmos as we entered the 9th inning and end of the game. I checked the clock just before leaving the dugout to the field. It was just past 2:30, but I had no idea when the game actually started. My guess is that it started around noon, but that wasn't my biggest concern. I grabbed my glove and hat and took to center field as Mezzer started warming on the mound. She looked determined, almost angry, but that may be what we actually need to get out of this.

Though this wasn't what Lee called a "save" situation, I agreed with Shaxx's decision to hook Gallagher. He wasn't going to last too long, if any time at all, before giving up more runs. At any rate, the Cosmos continued on their momentum as if they had never played defense in between. They got a quick double after depositing the ball into right field, but keeping the guy at second. Then I noticed something; we had a problem. If that guy scored, then they would go up by four runs and the game was practically sealed, though the it seemed to be won handedly anyway.

The catcher, Aeol, got up from his squatting position and came out to talk with Mezzer momentarily. Arla also moved to the mound at the same time. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was likely words of encouragement to finish this thing off. With a couple of nods, they returned to their positions and prepared for the next pitch.

It seemed to work well initially. The first pitch was a fastball hitting the bottom inside corner at 98 mph. The second pitch was called a screwball dancing outside of the zone, but swung on and missed nonetheless. Next was a changeup below the knees followed by a fastball in the upper outside corner. It looked like a strike three, but was called a ball. Mezzer threw a ball into the dirt that was stopped by the catcher, so the runner had no chance to take third. The only problem about the play was that the runner took off for third just as the pitcher lifted his knee to throw. The throw didn't go home, but to second, behind the runner, allowing there now to be a baserunner on third. A deep fly ball could basically end this now.

The next three pitches were fouled off into the still-packed stands. The ninth pitch of the at-bat looked like a fastball straight down the middle. The batter gave it a good jolt that lifted it a good distance in the air, however it wasn't that deep. The runner immediately retreated to third base and waited for the catch. The shallow ball was in my zone; as soon as I predicted its course, Draklin and I started sprinting towards its position.

Neither of us were going to make it to the ball in time, but I thought I had a good line on it nonetheless. I bounded forward, leaving the ground completely, just as the ball was about 8 feet from the ground. When I heard it hit my glove, I took no time to marvel in the successful attempt; I pulled myself in and somersaulted to where I was back on my feet. The runner, not noticing I was back on my feet, tagged the base and started heading home.

I grabbed the ball from the glove and reared back, getting as much power as possible into the throw. The ball left my hand with immense velocity without much height, but the runner was already halfway to home. The ball was covering ground rapidly. Aeol caught the ball just as the runner broke into a slide for home. He turned and made a sweeping tag at the runner's foot. They crashed into each other as the tag was applied.

The umpire took a moment to sort out the tangled mess of two bodies at home. He didn't take too much time to make his decision though. Aeol had held onto the ball. He made an arm motion as if slashing the ground with his fist. Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground by Lee. He was cheering so loudly I couldn't even hear the crowd erupting in cheers. Draklin walked over to myself and Lee and pulled him off of me. He extended a red hand towards me and pulled me up. "No time for celebrating yet. We're still down three runs." Lee hung an arm around my shoulder continuing to cheer the entire time we were walking to the dugout.

The bottom of the 9th. I'd heard and read so many things about what people either did or dreamed of doing with their team behind in the bottom of the 9th inning. They called it clutch, heroics, a defining moment in their career.

That opportunity now laid before me. We had just 1 out with the bases loaded by some miracle. We had somehow gotten the top of the order to lead off the inning. Ansley doubled by hitting one into the gap between the centerfielder and rightfielder. Draklin drew a walk while Zealouin flew out to third base. Lee snuck a single just past the first baseman, but Ansley didn't risk it by just running to third.

That left me with the bases loaded, representing the winning run. If I screwed up, Arla could still have shot unless I ground into a double play, and then the game is over. I took my position in the box. I felt a bit antsy because I'm the one that put us into the score deficit, but also excited because I could fix it right now. But what if I screwed up? That brought a twinge of nervousness into my mind. Then I realized if I screwed this up, I couldn't be any worse off than earlier.

My mind was a mess. I tried to remember how I approached my previous at bats where I got hits. I couldn't remember. It's as if my memory banks had frozen in the time that I actually needed them. Suddenly, the sound of a ball smacking a glove snapped me out of my thoughts. I instinctively stepped out of the box and glanced at the scoreboard. A 1-2 count? I hadn't even realized the pitches had gone by me.

I stepped back in and cleared my mind of everything except the task of hitting the ball. The pitcher wound up and threw in his pitch. A fastball inside...wait a second; the spin makes it look like it will move to my right slightly. I adjusted my swing and reached out a bit more than I would for a fastball inside.

Huge contact! The ball hit right in the sweet spot of the bat and rocketed off into the distance in right field. I dropped the bat and started sprinting towards first base. The ball flew along the foul line, but still fair. I rounded first while it was still in the air and was halfway to second when it hit the wall with a solid Thunk. It bounced away from the right fielder who tried to glove it off the wall. I then rounded second and sprinted towards third. I looked back to where the ball was; the centerfielder had just gotten a glove on it and was preparing to throw. The third base coach was yelling, "GO GO GO!" and waving his arms in a circle as fast as he could. I rounded third but only glanced at home. I saw the cut-off man throw the ball as hard as he could to home; the ball rocketed across the infield and into the catcher's glove just after I went into a slide about 4 feet from the plate. I slid to the right with my left hand reaching for the base to touch it. The ball hit the glove just as I touched the base.

I just layed there for a second. My left hand was on home, and I was looking towards the outfield when I heard the magic words. "SAFE!" the umpire yelled.

The crowd roared in cheers, applause, and almost every other kind of celebration available to them from their seats. I turned over onto my back and was greeted by my teammates jumping around, shouting, and trying to pump the crowd up even more. I was helped up, high-fived, patted on the back, and so many other things that I could barely comprehend what was going on. I couldn't believe what happened. The PA's voice was barely audible over the cheers of the crowd. "For the second time in baseball, an Inside the Park Grand Slam in Walk-Off fashion. Hit by the Tower's own MAXIMUS!" The crowd roared again with more vigor and volume.

I started walking to the dugout surrounding by my teammates still celebrating. I was just about to enter the dugout when I heard a female voice call out my name to my right. A young human woman was standing there with a small recording device. The logo she wore on her shirt matched one that I recalled was a news station's.

The press was honestly the last thing I needed, but the Vanguard wanted to improve relations with the people. I motioned the team onwards and walked over to the reporter. "Ah, the man of the hour. Mica Sheerly of City News Broadcasting. Mind if we take a quick interview?" she asked.

"Not at all," I answered.

"First, the obvious question. How does it feel being just the second player in history to ever hit a walk-off inside the park grand slam?"

"I was just doing my duty…"

"So you see this as a duty? Not as a way to connect with us people below the Tower?" Mica interrupted.

"Wait a minute, you misunderstand. I think this was a great opportunity for the Guardians and the City to bond. The only way we're going to get anything done would be by working together, just like the repairs to the Wall."

"Do you know if you'll be playing in any of the next four games?"

"That I can't be sure. Patrols and Wallguard duty have been increased so much. You just never know, but I will say with some confidence that I may play a couple more games before the series is out."

"Was any of this game preplanned? It's not everyday that something like that happens. Did the Cosmos throw the game?"

"No. Not at all."

"So then tell me, where did you get so good at the game of baseball? How long have you been playing?"

"One game…"

"...in this long series?" I gave her a look. "So you mean to tell me that you've played only this one game the entire time?"

"Exactly."

"Speaking of lengths. How long have you been a Guardian?"

I had to think for a moment. So much had happened that I could've sworn it had been several months when it, in truth, had been "Not even a month."

"Interesting. So if I have my facts straight, Guardians are actually resurrected dead from long ago. What did you do in that life?"

"I was a soldier in the Allied Earth Army. I was there when we had to hold the Cosmodrome in order to let people escape to the Moon and beyond. I went out of action for probably several hours while the Fallen made a huge push that must've killed my fellow troops."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but you're here now making a difference. So do you think that the Guardians will be able to hold the Wall should the Fallen make another advance like the one last week?"

I held up a hand. "Wait a minute, this interview is no longer about baseball or grand slams. I'm no political figure, just a soldier doing what he should to protect the city that I now call home. To answer your question though, should the Fallen come knocking again, we will fight to the last man to defend the City. The closest they will get while a Guardian lives is the forest just outside of the Wall."

The reporter turned to the guy holding the camera. "You heard it here first. Once again, thank you Maximus and good luck in your future endeavors."

She cut the camera and walked off without another word to me. I walked into the dugout where I saw Layma sitting on the bench, leaning her head back on the wall behind her. She must have heard me come down the stairs. "You done speaking to the leeches called the press?"

I sighed. "Never liked those sharks. They trap you with questions, and the next thing you know, you're talking about something completely off topic. That lady tried to get me to talk about the Wall."

"Doesn't surprise me," Layma said standing up. She shook my hand. "Good job by the way. Just try not to look so clueless next time." She turned around and pushed open the part of the wall that was the door. I gathered my belongings from the small cubbies that were provided in the dugout. I replaced the helmet I still wore with the baseball cap. I pushed open the door and caught up with Layma.

"I didn't mean to look so clueless. Didn't think that was possible in Exos like yourself and I."

"Point taken," she responded. "I just meant it as an expression though. It's not like this is your first time playing baseball."

"Actually, it is."

"What?" Layma said in surprise. "How did you do as well as you did then?"

"Lee took me here a couple of hours before the game and showed me the ropes. The rest was just copying what I've read about baseball games and certain situations within them. I've never heard of an inside-the-park walk-off grand slam though."

"That's because the only other one was made by a man named Roberto Clemente in 1956, hundreds of years ago."

"Amazing." We entered the locker room to nobody being present. They must've gone to celebrate or something without us. We gathered what few belongings we had there and were about to exit when we both noticed something wrong at the same time. "Game's over. We should probably put on our armor. You go to that side of the room, and I'll stay here," she said.

I walked over to Lee's locker and had Starco spawn in the bond. I slipped off the cleats and pulled the bond past my elbow and activated it. The armor appeared over my uniform with my weapons already strapped on. I checked everything to make sure it was secure. "You ready?" I called across the room.

"Yeah," Layma responded. I turned around and walked towards the exit with her just in front of me.

Layma wore completely white armor with a purple hood that flowed like a cape as she walked The armor seemed gave the impression of agility rather than defense, but it still looked like more armor than mine. She looked back at me. "Nice threads," she commented.

"Not so bad yourself," I responded.

"There not too bad, but nothing as fashionable as you have. You go to the outfitter recently?"

"Had to. Fallen blood stains beyond repair, so the Vanguard granted me a pass to get a new set of armor."

"You got a commendation? It's so hard to get those things. What'd you do to get it?"

"I went to Earth to meet my fireteam for the first time. I killed a Fallen Baroness and saved one of my team members from bleeding out. Not sure which got me the commendation."

"My guess is the first one. Losing team members is part of the program."

"At any rate, what do you plan on doing now?"

"Not much. Figured I'd wander the City a bit. Visit a shop or two…"

"Quick question," I interrupted. "You wouldn't happen to know if they had a furniture store and an electronics store around here would you?"

"What good would the last safe City on Earth be if nobody could sleep on a bed. It's just around the corner I'll show you." With that, we exited the stadium and took a left at the corner

I got my shopping done rather quickly. I took a black couch with three cushions on it as well as a Holo-TV. I could stick the small cylinder anywhere on the wall and it would project a screen in front of it. I also bought four handheld devices (called Clips) capable of sending text messages, and synced all of their information together. I then put the thin devices in a pocket that did not hold ammunition.

"Why'd you get four?" Layma asked.

I reached into the pocket and pulled one of them out. I tossed it to her underhanded. "For you, as well as my fireteam members. Do you want two for yours? I don't mind; I have more Glimmer than I know what to do with."

"No. Just the one is fine. Thanks for the Clip by the way."

"Hey no problem. What good is a friend if we can't keep in touch?"

"Point taken. Let's explore a bit more. Maybe we can find some of the others."

We didn't find them and actually wound up just going back to the Tower. We had mostly small talk, but it wasn't a bad way to use an afternoon and practically a day off from Guardian duties. We said our goodbyes at the different lifts we took to our quarters. It was now about 10 o'clock, and the news would probably come on pretty soon. I spent a few minutes fiddling with the Holo-TV and got it working. It immediately tuned to the news and up came the story about the baseball game.

They left out most of the interview except for the part about my backstory and the Wall. "Dumb media," I muttered while sitting on the new couch.

"I hear you," Starco said. "They always twist stuff so that people believe that was the actual interview. I know what you said, and you know what you said. It doesn't matter what other think of you. Though, it doesn't look like they put too bad of an edit on the interview."

"I just wish that it could've stayed about the game though. I'm a Guardian, not a politician or PR representative."

Suddenly, my Clip buzzed from the desk across the room. There was only one person it could be as Arla's and Lee's still sat next to each other on the desk directly across the room. It was indeed Layma. "Meet me on the balcony at the Tower Plaza. Now. I saw the news article and realized something. We need to talk." I had a good idea of where that was, but no idea what she had to talk about.

I when there nonetheless. Her white armor seemed to blend into the color of the Tower, aside from the cape on her hood blowing in the breeze. "You needed to see me?" I said climbing over the top step and approaching her. She was firmly grasping the guardrail that was in front of her looking over the empty plaza.

"Yes. Maximus, you said in the interview that you were in the Allied Earth Army out of action for a time during the defense of the Cosmodrome."

"Yes, why do you ask?" I said suspiciously.

"I have a similar background." She paused and gripped the railing harder if that was even possible. She then turned around and raised her hand to approximately her forehead. "It's good to see you again Captain Maximus." She quickly moved it forward into a fist in front of her face. The exact salute of a soldier from the Allied Earth Army.