Author's note: I apologize for not getting this one up sooner. I'm easily distrac—ooh, shiny thing!
Disclaimer: Oh, please…with my attention span, do you think they'd give me anything important?
Olivia and Elliot carpooled with Curry and Reynolds to the laser tag facility.
When the last few detectives had arrived, they all went inside.
"Hi, welcome to Laz-R-Blaze," the kid behind the counter said flatly. "How many are playing?"
Franklin was counting heads. "Looks like we got twelve," he said.
"Will you all be paying separately or together?"
"Separately," Curry said.
The kid—whose nametag read "Derek"—rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Alright, line up, then."
When Elliot got up to the desk, he said, "Paying for two."
"Elliot, what are you doing?" Olivia asked, then said to Derek, "He's kidding, he's only paying for himself."
"No, I'm paying for both of us," he told Derek firmly.
"Elliot."
"Olivia."
Derek just sat open-mouthed with a blank stare. He seemed to come out of his trance when Elliot pushed his credit card across the counter. Olivia tried to put cash down, but Elliot caught her wrist.
"Two," he insisted to Derek. Before Olivia could say anything else, he put his hand over her mouth.
Derek rang up two admissions and swiped Elliot's card. Olivia's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Yuck!" Elliot said, pulling his hand away from her mouth. "You licked me!"
She put on a look of innocence.
He wrinkled his nose and wiped his hand on her shirt, then handed her one of the wristbands that Derek had passed to them. He guided her out of the way so that the next agent could purchase his admission.
"Okay, blue team, are you ready to kick red team's ass?" Curry yelled.
"Yeah!" they all called out.
They lined up at their door, ready to move through it. The red team, standing parallel to them, just a few feet away, stood at their own door.
"Okay, everyone, let's shake hands!" the game coordinator, Sam, called out.
Liv held out her hand to Elliot. He made a show of wiping his nose, then extended his hand. She pulled hers back before he could make contact.
"You're goin down, Stabler!" Olivia announced across the space.
Elliot, who was on the red team, answered, "In your dreams, partner."
"We'll see," was her only reply before the klaxons sounded and the doors opened.
The game had begun.
Through the doors was a maze of dark partitions, splashes of fluorescent paint, and black lights. The teams were separated by partitions, so their paths never crossed, but they were interwoven so that they could be right next to the opposition, with only a black-painted piece of plywood between.
Olivia immediately headed for a set of stairs leading up so that she could try and get a bird's-eye view of the red team and especially to try and spot her partner.
Elliot, meanwhile, had also taken the stairs in his side of the maze. His eyes swept down below for Olivia.
Simultaneously, they each looked up at the towers across the room. Their eyes locked and both of them whipped their guns around and fired, each scoring a direct hit on the other. Their suits buzzed and then powered down for thirty seconds. They each decided to move while the other was out of commission.
The real target was a square at the center of the maze. The goal was to blast the other team's color, rendering all of their equipment useless for five seconds, but making them impervious to a strike for three seconds after that. Every time they got hit from enemy fire, their suits vibrated and went offline for ten seconds. With a direct hit, it was thirty seconds and their weapons became depleted, forcing them to find a reload station before they were able to return fire. Three direct hits took them out for the rest of the game.
Liv managed to avoid most other attacks, though she did get glanced a few times. She hadn't yet spotted her partner again.
Elliot's gun had just repowered after a ten second power down from a glancing shot. His eyes searched every space in his line of vision, trying to catch a glimpse of the slender figure of his partner. She'd be easy to spot if she weren't so damned good at staying hidden.
He came up to a corner, and he got a sudden odd sense of something.
Olivia paused at a turn in the maze, sure that someone was very near.
They turned their respective corners at the same time and came out firing. They caught each other square in the chest, and both of their guns went dead.
"Dammit!"
"Crap!"
They each glanced down at the countdown readout on their weapons. Twenty-seven seconds till reactivation and recharge ability. There was a recharging station just a few feet away for each of them.
They glared at each other threateningly, then moved to the partition, each knowing they were safe from return fire for the time being.
"So how's it going?" Elliot asked conversationally.
"Pretty good," she answered in kind. "You?"
"Oh, you know…same."
"Good."
"Yeah."
They both looked back down at the readout. Thirteen more seconds.
"You're so gonna lose," Elliot said confidently.
"You're kidding yourself, Elliot."
"We'll see."
"I'm gonna kick your ass."
"Do I need to show you where it is?"
"Screw you."
"Screw you."
Their weapons whirred back to life, and they each dove for their reload stations. Their weapons were green-lit to go, and they scrambled for a hiding spot.
Olivia knew Elliot was still just a few feet away, waiting for her to pop up. She spotted another red team member and took careful aim before scoring a direct hit.
"Elliot, I know you're still over there," she called out.
"I'll move if you do," he said tauntingly.
"I wouldn't want to embarrass you in front of your teammates," she said, taking aim at another red team member, only producing a glancing hit. Elliot, meanwhile, spotted Curry and put him out for thirty seconds.
"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing to you," he answered.
"Quit being a freaking gentleman, Elliot." She started to crawl towards the partition between their mazes.
"Is that what you think I'm doing? Honey, I'm just trying to be a team player." He paused and thought about what he'd said. "Okay, I didn't actually mean to call you 'Honey' just now."
Having determined by the direction of his voice where he was hiding, Olivia stood up and pointed her weapon, but found herself staring down the barrel of Elliot's. They both fired, and the readout on their weapons flashed "Out."
Her shoulders slumped and he let his weapon drop limply to his side.
They sat down and leaned against the partition. There was a window cut into the piece between them, and they chatted through it.
The lights came up three minutes later, signaling the end of the game. The partners stood up on their respective sides, and Curry and Reynolds each came around the corner of their half of the maze.
"Fraternizing with the enemy, I see," Curry said to Olivia.
"Stabler, how you gonna let the blue team's secret weapon distract you?" Reynolds added.
"Yeah, well, we're apparently too well matched. We kicked each other's asses."
They went their separate directions to get out of the maze. When they got back to the equipment room, he said, "It was fun playing against you, partner."
He held out his fist and she bumped it as she responded, "Same here. We should get Fin and Munch in on this. The two of us on the same team could beat them down."
Elliot laughed and winked as he pulled his suit over his head and hung it on the designated rack.
Ten minutes later, they were all piled into cars and on their way back to the hotel for some relaxation before tonight's activity.
Whatever it may be.
To be continued…
What could it be? You'll find out next chapter, silly! So just review and wait for it.