Chapter 114: Term Limits

I wanted to believe in Lena. I did believe in her. Honest!

I still blurted out, “Wait, what?!”

“You know this is how it’s got to go, Cam.” She didn’t turn back to me.

Not even when I grabbed the sleeve of her parka. “I...”

She reached over and squeezed my hand.

I bowed my head. “I know.”

I let go and stepped back.

Lena stood, if not tall, at least proud. I couldn’t see her flames but their warmth suffused the room. What would I see if I raised my phone? Gleaming armor? Or a queenly gown and crown of fire, more appropriate now than they’d ever been?

I couldn’t bring myself to look away long enough to check. I didn’t need to. She was magnificent with or without Third Eye.

Hell. I knew no one in that room could take their eyes off her, including the person whose eyes we couldn’t see.

Allen’s voice changer picked up his harsh breaths. Finally, he said, “You’d stay.”

“I’d stay,” Lena said.

He shifted. “... and what?”

“And be your sparring partner, your teammate, your Third Eye investigator.” Lena’s words were hard, her tone soft. “I wouldn’t help you do crimes, but the rest? Anything to do with the game? Yeah. And, as best I could, I’d help your little sister.”

Allen and Jan exchanged glances. The corner of her eye twitched.

Before I could parse what it meant, Allen’s fists clenched. “Sure. Help. While your buds run off to call the cops on me.”

“No way,” Lena said. “I guess I shouldn’t say this, ‘cause I haven’t been stuck here like they have, but I’m gonna have to ask everybody to agree to not press charges against you, no matter what happens with our match.”

Jan’s eyes widened. Allen’s head tilted.

Still without turning, Lena called, “Are you guys willing to promise that?”

The captives tore their eyes off the confrontation between her and Allen to search each others’ faces.

“It is,” Ramon said, “a lot to ask.”

“I know. Sorry.” Lena inclined her head. “I’ve got to.”

“I don’t know about anybody else,” Nadia said, “but whatever happens next, I just want to go home. If it means Allen leaves me alone? That’s enough for me.”

Bob nodded along. “It’s not like the cops could arrest him anyway.”

“We call the cops, it’d hurt Jan,” Gerry said, “but it’d just piss Allen off.”

Matt shrugged. “I voted against unmasking Allen when we had the chance because it created a destructive incentive structure. This is just an extension of that.”

Ramon sighed. “You’re right.”

“Cool,” Lena said. She returned her gaze to the eyeholes of Allen’s mask. “Cool?”

His voice changer crackled with a snort. “I didn’t hear OldCampaigner agree. You expect me to believe he’s gonna leave you here?”

He hadn’t heard me because I could hardly bring myself to speak.

“That would be Lena’s call, not mine.” I heard the words in my voice, even though I couldn’t believe I’d say them. My next ones, I felt as well as said. “Of course, if she stays, I’d want to, as well.”

“Because you’re a team.” The bitterness soaked through Allen’s voice changer. “Some match. You mean you two and whoever else you can rope in will kick the shit out of me while Phantom’s down –”

“Nope,” Lena said. “I mean tomorrow morning, after our HP and MP have refreshed and Phantom has recovered, I’ll take you on one on one.”

Allen snorted. “Until you lose and the rest of them pile on me.”

“Everybody else would respect my decision.” She turned to the rest of us at last, eyes ablaze. “Right?”

Under her gaze, nobody else spoke.

Though I felt sweat chilling on the back of my neck and my hands clenched to keep from shaking, I needed to. I forced the words out. “Of course.”

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Lena’s gaze locked with mine for just a second, and I got a glimpse of a tiny smile that almost made it all worth it.

Then she turned back to face Allen.

“One on one,” he said slowly. “You don’t even have your Daimon.”

“I don’t have either of my Daimons,” Lena said. “God, I miss ‘em.”

Though it was hard to tell through his outfit, I thought Allen stiffened. Maybe at the realization of just how much power Lena refused to use. Maybe for the same reason I did: Lena spilling that information to him. He might not agree with her about Daimons, but he could see how much she valued them.

For her to put another one at risk wasn’t just confidence, it was the same as saying she considered Allen no threat at all.

She didn’t do anything to contradict that notion. “I wouldn’t ask Bernie or Ryu to fight for me. That goes double for a match against you.”

Allen hissed a breath in through his voice changer. “That’s so stupid. Let me guess, you want me to leave Phantom out of it?”

“I want that, for sure, because I hate if I have to hurt a Daimon.” Lena let a crack in her steel show. She reached up and fiddled with a curl of her hair. “Messed up as it is, though, I kinda need you not to.”

“The hell?” Allen reared back. “You’re not good enough to beat me, much less me and Phantom both. You’ll never get stronger if you keep holding back.”

Lena stepped around Jan’s chair, into Allen’s space, into his chest. It might have seemed more intimidating if the top of her head hadn’t come roughly level with his chin.

Even so, he backpedaled.

“I’m gonna beat you, Allen,” she said. “And I’m gonna do it the right way. The way I believe in.”

Matt picked that moment to find his voice. “Even if the game isn’t designed for it?”

“Screw designer intent,” Lena snapped. “I’ll mod, hack, and just mess around in any game.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Even one that changes the world?”

“Especially that one.”

Allen hung his head. Paradoxically, that lined his eyeholes up more with Lena. “It won’t work...”

“It will.” Lena reached out and touched his arm. He tensed, but didn’t pull away. “That’s the real reason you’ll let us go, and let us help Jan.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Then why did he avert his gaze when he said it?

“I think you know better,” I said.

Winning a match meant – not nothing, but not enough. If Lena won without compromising her morals, on the other hand, while Allen pulled out all the stops he insisted he had to?

It proved that he didn’t have to, after all.

Now, realistically, he could say that the power to beat him wouldn’t be enough to fight even one of the creatures from his Realm. He’d be right. He could say that breaking even a game like Third Eye wasn’t the same as breaking the fate he believed his Realm prophesied. He’d be right.

Would he say those things?

Lena clearly didn’t think so. From everything I’d seen of Allen, I didn’t, either.

Instead, he shook his head. “Whatever. You can’t beat me anyway, much less me and Phantom.”

“Then what have you got to lose?” Lena asked. “If you refuse, all of us will leave. If you try to stop us, we’ll fight back as a group and you’ll get your ass kicked. If you keep harassing us, we’re going to have to go to the cops and screw it up for everybody.”

Allen said nothing.

“If you’re so sure you’re gonna beat me,” Lena said, “then accept my terms. Win, and you’ll get the willing help of a pair of Third Eye players you picked out as two of the strongest. How is that not a great deal?”

Allen still hesitated.

Lena turned away from him at last, tossing her hair. “Or are you just too chicken to face The Magnificent Ashbird?”

Allen shouted, “Fine!”

“Allen!” Jan hissed. “Can’t you see she’s playing you?”

He gave a curt nod. “Where’s the lie, though?”

Instead of answering, Jan hunched over and sucked on her Powerade.

“Ashbird,” Allen said.

Lena’s head dipped. Now that she was facing me, I got a great look at the tension tugging at the corners of her eyes. Not what I hoped to see. She asked, “You accept my terms?”

“Yeah,” Allen said, “I’m in. Let’s set it up.”

“Dawn tomorrow,” Lena said. “You’ve got a good place to do PVP, right?”

“There’s a clearing out back we’ve used for practice,” Matt said.

“Works for me,” she said. “Allen?”

He shrugged. “If I say yes to that, is this the part where you pick our weapons and it’s some bullshit you think I’m bad at?”

“Heh, that would be pretty funny.” Lena flashed a sad smile. “If I only wanted to win, I’d do it just to troll you, not gonna lie.”

I had no way of judging Allen’s reaction, since he didn’t move, but Jan snorted a laugh. As soon as it escaped her lips, she clamped her mouth shut and looked away.

Lena heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Unfortunately, in this case, I’ve got a point to make. You can use whatever you want. I already know what I’m bringing to the table.”

“Fine,” Allen said.

I thought he might leave it at that, because he turned and stalked to the door. His hand clasped the handle.

He couldn’t let go of the last word, though.

The pause had given him time to get himself under control, so when he spoke over his shoulder, it was with all the edge he tried to cultivate as Mask. “You think this makes you a hero, Ashbird. Tomorrow morning, I’ll show you what happens to heroes.”

He thrust the door open and swept through. Even with Phantom inert, his cloak billowed behind him.

Then he was gone.

In the silence he left behind, Jan dragged herself to her feet. She surveyed all of us with hooded eyes, then stomped after her brother.

The door slammed behind them.

As soon as it did, Lena exhaled. Her shoulders slumped, her head lolled. Her cowboy hat tumbled off, and like in all our bad takes, she failed to catch it. It rolled on the floor at her feet.

I thought she might have actually sunk back to her knees if I hadn’t scooped her up in my arms.

She snuggled against me. “Mm.”

I rested my chin against the side of her head and held her. I held her like that for a long time.

Eventually, if nothing else to keep her from falling asleep on her feet, I said, “I hope you’ve got one hell of a plan.”

She tilted her head back and wrapped her arms around my neck. Her eyes twinkled.

Of course, I had to kiss her.

I almost regretted it when, against my lips, she whispered, “Not a clue. Plans are your department.”