Princess raised a questioning eyebrow. What did Jason have in mind?
"Wait a sec…" Jason jumped up and ran from the room.
Princess was dying of curiosity. What was he up to?
He came back shortly waving two small pieces of cardboard.
"What's that?" she asked.
"Take a look…" Jason tossed them into her lap.
Examining him, she let out a small squeal.
"Jase!" she cried, jumping up and clutching his arm, "These are front row tickets to the Dirty Name Five!"
"I know…" he said smugly.
"How did you get these?" Princess demanded.
"I have connections…" Jason said mysteriously. He wasn't about to tell her that he had used Chief Anderson's computer to hack into the TicketMaster system minutes before the concert went on sale. Being the foster son of the Head of Galaxy Security had its advantages.
"So here's the deal." he stated. "If you beat me, I'll take you with me to the show."
Princess' eyes lit up. "Really? Oh, Jase!"
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek.
Jason was not prepared for the rush of attraction that flooded his body. He slipped his arms around her waist and enjoyed the sensation. After a moment Princess pulled away and he felt a brief pang of regret. He covered the emotion with a smirk.
"I think you're getting ahead of yourself, Princess." he said, snatching the tickets back. "I said I'd take you if you beat me. But what if I beat you?"
Princess was taken aback. In her excitement all she had thought of was seeing the Dirty Name Five from the front row. But Jason had a point. Although she was sure she would beat him, she had to at least give a pretense that he might win.
"I don't know…" she said slowly, "Those tickets are an incredible offer. I'm not sure I have anything as valuable to offer in return."
Jason swallowed nervously.
"Well… uh…" he traced circles on the rug with his foot, then looked up suddenly with a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"If I win… you have to spend the night with me."
"WHAT?" Princess sputtered. "You've got to be kidding!"
Jason just grinned at her.
"You can't be serious…" she said hotly. "I can't do that! I'm not going to waste my…"
Princess quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. She couldn't believe what she had been about to say.
A hurt look crossed Jason's face, but was gone so quickly Princess wondered if it had even been there.
"Waste your what, Prin?" he drawled. From the look in his eyes Princess knew that Jason understood exactly what she had been about to say. She flushed a deep shade of red.
"I'm not going to do that." she muttered, staring at the floor.
"Relax!" Jason laughed. "It doesn't have to mean that."
Princess looked up at him questioningly.
"I said, spend the night. Sleeping."
"In the same bed." she accused, crossing her arms.
"Yes." he gave her a challenging look. "Are you afraid of me, little Swan?"
"No!" she protested, a little too quickly.
"You are…" Jason teased. He went in for the kill.
"You're just afraid that you might let something else happen… because I'm so irresistible…"
His words had their desired effect. Princess blushed to the roots of her hair, and her face took on an indignant look.
"You… pompous… arrogant…"
"Don't forget irresistible!" Jason quipped.
"Ooooh!" Princess stamped her foot in irritation. For a moment she was so angry she couldn't speak.
"So what do you say, Prin?" Jason asked slyly.
Princess thought about it. While Jason's proposal made her angry, she knew that was what he had intended. He wanted to get her angry so she'd be distracted, and not play as well. If she remained calm there was no way she could lose. She had reached Level 33 after all, and he had never played…
"Have you ever played this game before, Jase?" she asked pointedly.
His response was evasive.
"I've seen you play lots of times."
"You know that's not the same thing…"
"What, Prin, are you afraid you can't beat me?" Jason smirked.
Princess stared at the concert tickets still clutched in Jason's hand. They were incredibly tempting. But what if she lost?
She wouldn't lose. She couldn't. She wouldn't.
"You have a deal." she said, and she stuck out her hand.
Jason took her hand with a grin of triumph.
"Deal."
Suddenly Princess wondered what she had just gotten herself into. She forced herself to shake off the feeling and turned to the console in a businesslike manner.
"Okay, head to head. Best two out of three?"
Jason nodded. His face took on a determined look as he gripped the controller.
"Let's get started."
Princess began the game.
Head to head Army Fighter pitted two players against each other in a fight to the death. Players would search a randomly generated area for each other and battle it out. Unlike other scenarios there was no unlimited ammunition, nor were there extra medkits to be found. Whatever you started with was all you got. One gun, twenty shots. They had to count. It took three direct shots to kill the other player.
What made the game more challenging was that the players had to share views. The television screen was split in two. One showed Princess' viewpoint, the other Jason's.
Princess ignored Jason's viewpoint and looked at her own surroundings. Pretty non-descript, but then it was usually like that. Slowly she began to scout the area. After a minute or so she hit the jackpot. She saw Jason's back. He was too busy looking ahead to notice her approach from behind.
Letting loose, she fired at nearly point blank range.
"Damn!" he yelled, nearly dropping the control panel. He whirled his virtual fighter around, but she was gone. He looked at his health. He had taken two hits. It didn't look good.
He followed the way she had gone, trying to determine what route she had taken. He had just rounded a corner when his player fell to the ground, a red mist covering his vision. He glanced over at Princess' screen to see that she had shot him from above. He had walked right underneath her.
Princess did a small dance to the victory music.
"Almost as sweet as the strains of the Dirty Name Five!" she gloated.
"Yeah, well, don't get too confident." snarled Jason. "Let's go again!"
Obligingly, Princess reset the game. "You're on, Condor!"
This time the terrain was completely different, but Princess employed the same strategy. Scouting around she searched for her opponent. As she rounded a corner she saw him, and managed to dodge his fire. Expertly she stood behind the wall and mentally counted.
One… two… three…
She whirled back to spray bullets just as Jason rounded the corner. His player retreated, but not before she had dealt two direct hits.
Jason growled, but didn't say anything. Princess giggled.
Cautiously she went the other way and entered into unexplored territory.
But it seemed that it wasn't unexplored for Jason. His fighter jumped out from behind a tree and shot her point blank.
Princess was so surprised that he managed to get all three shots off before she recovered.
Too late.
Jason tapped his knee in time to the victory music.
"That's one-one Prin." he taunted.
"Yeah, well, you just got lucky!" Princess said. "You're in for it now!"
Grimly she began the third game.
When it began she couldn't suppress a small smile. It was her favorite setting: a spaceport, where the fighters held laser guns carrying energy bullets. Although the setup was random, she was most comfortable here.
A fact she aptly demonstrated when she used a transporter to fire a shot off at Jason.
"What the hell?" he exclaimed as she appeared out of nowhere and hit him once before disappearing.
That began a game of cat and mouse. They chased each other through the space station, sneaking peeks at each other's viewscreens and shooting when the opportunity arose. But they were both getting better at anticipating the other's tactics. After sixty minutes they had each managed to hit their opponent only once.
Princess' brows knit in concentration. Just one more shot before she was going to see the Dirty Name Five.
She entered a large, open room, scanning for Jason. Looking up, she saw him at the ceiling, standing on a platform overlooking the chamber.
Perfect. She took aim and fired.
Only to discover that she was out of bullets.
"Damn!" she whispered. Hearing the sound, Jason glanced at her screen. He chuckled. Now that she was out of bullets, Princess would have to beat him in hand-to-hand combat. Which would be extremely dangerous given that he had five bullets left.
Scanning her face he immediately knew her strategy. It was the same one he would have employed himself. She was going to tease him in order to get him to waste his ammo, then begin hand fighting. It wasn't a bad move, since he was down two hits and she only one.
But he had a better idea.
Quickly, he stepped off the platform at the top of the chamber, knowing that falling six stories onto the floor was certain death.
Princess had not expected a suicide attack. All five of his bullets hit her before he crashed into the ground, the red mist obscuring his own vision.
The victory music played. He had won.