Alvarro had been slowly moving up the rankings in MegaSuit Robowars since the beginning of the school year. The graphics were amazing, but he really loved the strategy of how to optimize the load out of his mecha for different maps and opponents. He tried all the different weapons, armor, shields and utility items and attempted to find unexpected ways to use them. He studied the streams of top players to copy their strategies or just to puzzle out how he could beat them.
If Alvarro spent half as much time and effort on school he would easily have straight A’s. Unfortunately, school was dull and could not compete with MegaSuit, He had barely passed his classes last semester. He remembered a few nights hanging out with friends like Scott Henderson who lived a couple doors down. It had been fun to get out once in a while, but he had skipped out so many times they had stopped inviting him.
Today he was getting frustrated. One player kept sniping him and a couple others were pinning him down with recoiless rifles. They were clearly griefing him. They kept attacking him after he respawned instead of just finishing their mission objectives. Alvarro had had enough of this and logged off. Maybe he would see what Scott was up to. Even though they stopped inviting him out, the guys would wave and say hello so he didn’t think they were too angry with him.
Alvarro overheard Scott and Matt talking in the hallway. He decided to stick his head out and see if they wanted to hang out with him.
“Hey guys!” Alvarro called out.
Matt looked over, surprised. “Oh hey, I guess you decided to take a break from MegaSuit.”
“Yeah, some jerks were griefing me. I was wondering if you guys wanted to hang out?” Alvarro asked hopefully.
“Um yeah,” Matt replied enthusiastically. “We were invited to some party with upperclassmen. I was told to invite my friends so you are welcome to come too!”
“Yeah, we haven’t seen you in a long time.” Scott laughed, “You’ve kind of missed out on a lot!”
“Oh, did Wedge Pizza finally start serving edible food?” Alvarro laughed.
“Not a chance!” Matt replied. “Actually we started a business, made millions and met some girls. You totally missed it. But, I guess you probably had fun playing Robowars”
“You liar!” Alvarro spluttered. “If you had money, Scott would not be dressed like that.”
“Why does everyone always make fun of my clothes?” Scott asked.
“Maybe you should read one of those ‘Fashion on a Tight Budget’ articles Glitch was recommending.” Matt said.
“I thought that was one of those bad search results.” Scott said.
“I don’t know what you guys are talking about, but were you telling the truth about going to a party?” Alvarro asked.
“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “We can fit four in Barry’s car and we’ll meet the girls there.”
“Wait… were you serious about knowing some girls?” Alvarro demanded.
“Dude, Barry is going out with Elsa. Don’t hit on Adrianna because Scott is completely in love with her.” Matt explained as they headed to meet Barry.
Scott was about to protest, but Barry called out first.
“Whoa, my eyes!” Barry teased. “The glare from your pasty white skin is blinding me, Alvarro. Have you left your room in the past 3 months?”
“Very funny Barry. Also, kind of racist coming from you!” Alvarro laughed. This was more fun than he remembered. His friends seemed more… confident? Maybe he should make an effort to play less MegaSuit - at least on weekends.
----------------------------------------
Most parties the boys attended were at apartments and had at most a couple dozen people. Whoever was throwing this party lived in a house a few blocks away from campus, not far from where some fraternities and sororities were located. They had to park about 4 streets away due to all the cars. They were charging a cover to get in. Based on the noise there were probably over a hundred people, many of whom had spilled out into the front lawn. They could see flashing lights and loud music coming from the house.
A metal fence extended around the property, and they had a security guard next to the gate. There was a short line of people waiting to get in. The people in line looked like a more popular crowd than the engineering kids the boys usually hung out with.
“Maybe we should just go home,” Scott said. This was too crowded, too loud and more intense than what he thought he could handle.
“No way,” Barry said. “This is going to be awesome!”
“I don’t think they will let us in, “ Alvarro said nervously. “That guy out front is checking IDs”
“Tony said he knows the person throwing the party, I’ll text him.” Matt said.
“I think they are letting underage people in,” Barry argued, not wanting to give up so easily. “Looks like you get a band if you are old enough to drink.”
Tony: Don’t worry, just tell them you are on the list. See you inside!
The boys waited in line. Scott and Alvarro were nervously attempting to look invisible. Matt and Barry both looked excited and had struck up a conversation with the person in front of them.
“Hey, do you know who lives here?” Matt asked.
“Nah, I thought some old people lived here. This week we got some flyers about a party here and decided to check it out. My friend is already inside and says there is a lot of talent! Cover charge is steep for guys, but they have tons of booze in there,” the frat boy in front said enthusiastically. It seemed like they were following the college standard policy of charging a lot of money for boys while letting girls in for free.
Great, Scott thought, I have $20. I was going to spend it on dinner tomorrow since the cafeteria is closed. Maybe I’ll go get a meal at Melinda’s old homeless shelter.
The group in front of them went in.
“Did they say the cover charge was $40?!” Alvarro said, shocked.
“Oh crap!” mumbled Scott, he was wondering if Matt or Barry would lend him the money. Or else he could just hang out in the car until they were done.
“IDs” the security guard said, glaring at them with suspicion.
“We’re supposed to be on a guest list.” Matt said.
“Right, “the guard said skeptically. “Let’s see your ID.”
“Guys, I can’t really afford the cover.” Scott admitted, backing up.
Matt handed the guard his ID. The man stared at it for a few seconds.
“Oh, welcome Mr. Stanton. I have a note to let you in with any guests. Here are your armbands.” The guard handed them 4 armbands.
“These bands look different from what the last group got. Is it because we are underage?” Barry asked.
“I don’t know what the difference is, “the guard admitted. He was much more friendly than before. “Just people on the guest list and their friends get those. Have a great time!”
“Wow, Tony really hooked us up!” Barry said. “I’m surprised he even remembered hanging out with us last semester.”
“Yeah,” Scott said. He was relieved, but this whole experience seemed a bit odd. He was not the type of person used to getting invited to the best parties.
The boys walked in. Looking around they didn’t see anyone they knew, but no one was paying attention to them either.
“Let’s go in and see if the girls are here yet.” Barry said.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Walking into the house, the volume of the music got too loud to really hear conversion clearly. As 19 year-old males, they immediately noticed there were quite a few good-looking women dancing or hanging out with drinks. There were lots of guys too of course, but it seemed to be an even ratio which was unusual for parties they had attended. A tall and athletically built guy, likely on the school football team, approached them. The group tensed up. Now was the moment they would be exposed as frauds who shouldn’t really be here.
“Hey, I’m Vince, I’m friends with the guy who owns this place.” The guy said. Despite his intimidating size, he seemed friendly.
“Oh, I’m Matt, “Matt said, quickest to recover from the initial panic. OK, Scott was probably just imagining that anyone else had panicked. “These are my friends Barry, Scott and Alvarro”
“I think Barry is in one of my classes. Dude almost never shows up and gets the best grades in the class!” Vince laughed. “Are you all geniuses like him?”
“I guess you do look familiar,” said Barry. “These guys are pretty smart, but no one is quite like me!”
“All right! There is an open bar setup out back, and kegs if you’d rather drink beer and not wait in line.” Vince left.
The boys proceeded out back. It was a bit quieter out here, enough that they could speak without yelling and saying “What?” every other sentence. As promised, there was a full bar setup with several lines of people waiting. They spotted Tony chatting with two very attractive women.
“Dang, I had no idea Tony was such a popular guy! ” Barry said, “He must have thought that party we went to last year was pathetic.”
“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t interrupt him. That guy has some serious game.” Matt said. No wonder he had been able to convince Adriana and her friends to go to that party. Matt thought Tony was a decent looking guy, although he wasn’t a great judge of such things. Apparently, he had underestimated him.
Tony looked up and seemed to notice them. He walked over, the two women he was talking to followed.
“Hey Matt, Barry, Scott!” Tony said, looking pleased. “Glad you could make it. Hi, I’m Tony Zimmerman.” He introduced himself to Alvarro. “These are a couple friends of mine, Natalie and Aida.”
“Umm… hi…” Alvarro stammered. He had the same speech problem that afflicted Scott when in the presence of attractive females.
“This is Alvarro.” Barry said helpfully. “He’s allergic to sunlight and drives around in giant fighting robots.” Alvarro’s pale features quickly started turning red.
“Fighting robots?” Aida asked, puzzled.
“Not really. Some of my friends actually build the real deal. Alvarro just likes to pretend.” Matt laughed, clearly enjoying his friend’s suffering. Apparently, Matt had a little resentment for all the times he’d invited Alvarro and the guy blew them off to play video games.
“You should be nicer to your friend, “Natalie said. She moved next to Alvarro and linked her arm through his. Was this gorgeous blond really flirting with him? He looked even more shocked than the other boys.
“Uhh.. thanks…um.. hi” Alvarro added. His brain had probably come up with something witty to say, but it never came close to getting past his hormones and out of his mouth.
“So, Tony, how do you know the person throwing this party?” Scott managed. Oddly he found himself immune to the effects of Aida and Natalie. Maybe hanging out with Adriana had finally taught him to be cool around women.
“Oh, I did some work for him a while ago.” Tony replied, giving Matt a nod. Apparently, he was implying some kind of detective work. “He paid well, but he still thinks he owes me. I get invited to these events regularly,” Tony lied smoothly.
“Oh look, there are the girls! Barry said. Elsa, Adriana and Marta had arrived in the area behind the house. They also had armbands.
Scott noticed Adriana had worn a colorful dress that looked Mexican. She looked gorgeous. He bravely decided to tell her.
“Urr.. hi…we are at the party…” Crap! Scott’s stupid mouth had stopped working again. Adriana smiled and laughed a bit.
“Hi Scott! We are at the party too!” She mocked him lightly. Matt and Barry were giggling. Probably a good thing they didn’t have drinks yet or his friends likely would have spat them out.
“Hello Adriana, that is a lovely dress you are wearing. Is that a Mayan tribal print?” Tony asked politely. Damn him and his silver tongue, Scott thought.
Adriana greeted Tony with a big smile.
“Why don’t we grab a drink and chat a bit.” Tony said.
“I’m not drinking,” said Marta. “I’m going inside to hit the dance floor!”
Marta seemed more confident than the last time Scott had seen her. She still looked overweight, but her clothes seemed to be loose on her.
Tony prided himself in reading social situations so he could take the best advantage of people. He could tell Scott wasn’t going to be interested in the girls Tony had brought unless it was clear Adriana was with someone else. He thought she probably liked Scott too but wasn’t ready to admit it to herself yet. Alvarro was clearly hooked. He wasn’t a person of interest, but it wouldn’t hurt to plant some bugs in his room and Natalie was sure to get an invitation tonight. Barry and Elsa were paired up, so his best chance was if Matt was interested in Aida. He wasn’t sure Matt was even interested in girls after the last party, but today it was clear he was admiring the view.
They waited around for drinks. Scott was amazed to see there were five bartenders! Whoever was organizing this party had a lot more money than their usual group of friends. There were lines, but it seemed to be moving quickly.
Tony felt pretty good about his chances of getting intel from this situation. Charm, flattery and intoxication would be the first choice. Intimidation and violence would alert whatever organization these people were working for, but he had people who could handle it if the nicer approach failed.
“So, did you guys do anything fun over Winter break?” Tony asked. “I went skiing in Vale with some friends, it was amazing! Do any of you like to ski?”
“I used to ski a lot when I was younger, “Matt replied. “Haven’t gone in a few years, but it sounds fun.”
“Nice, maybe next time you can go with us next time. So, did you do anything fun?” Tony replied, not ready to drop the topic.
“Oh yeah, “Matt admitted, “a friend of ours has a house in Mexico so several of us went there. It was great to have people cooking for us and serving drinks. The weather was a bit overcast, but it was still really fun.” Matt was pleased with himself for answering without lying but not giving anything away.
“I love Mexico,” Aida added, “the beach is great and the resort I went to was amazing.”. She was standing very close to Matt. She had lightly curled dark hair and bright blue eyes. She was gorgeous, but Matt was a bit suspicious. He knew Tony had been highly rated in skill and experience when he was looking for an investigator. This smelled like some kind of setup.
The group stood around chatting about school and sipping their drinks. So far no one had slipped up and talked about secret projects.
Barry and Elsa seemed happy to ignore their friends, so Matt thought they were probably not a big risk. Elsa had ignored Barry again since the last time they got together to watch the arrival of the Dark Siren. She had been spending all her time in the lab or studying but she was obviously happy to see him here. Matt thought she was kind of a terrible girlfriend, but Barry forgave her every time.
Scott seemed to have relaxed even though Adriana was sitting next to him, occasionally glaring at Natalie and Aida. Matt was worried that Scott would slip up and say too much. He didn’t really know that Tony was likely a spy and Matt thought Scott was too trusting around strangers.
“Hey Scott!” Matt said, getting up and leaving Aida looking disappointed. “I need to go find a bathroom, come with me for a bit.”
Scott looked disappointed, but he was a good friend and got up.
“It’s through that door on the right,” Tony said.
They left, but Matt dragged Scott out to the front of the house.
“Dude, he said it was to the right.” Scott said, oblivious.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure this party is a setup.” Matt said, looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them.
“That makes sense, no way we’d be invited to something like this.” Scott admitted. “Should we get out of here?”
“I’m kind of worried what would happen if we forced their hand like that. I’m sending a text to Melinda to see what she thinks. I think we should misdirect them. Maybe make up some tech we are working on and see if they believe us.”
“Sure, I can do that. Give them a grain of truth wrapped up in a big dose of science fiction.” Scott agreed.
----------------------------------------
“Yeah, so Alvarro is crazy good at MegaSuit,” Barry was telling Natalie. Alvarro was getting close to being able to form a sentence, but Barry seemed to be enjoying talking for him. “I know what you are thinking… that’s kind of lame. But it’s not!”
Natalie nodded politely. Elsa was rolling her eyes.
“Right, so my boy Matt has designed this ship that turns into a giant robot and Alvarro here is going to pilot it!”
“Wouldn’t a ship that turns into a robot just sink?” Alvarro asked, finding the words to talk in the face of Barry’s nonsense.
“Right! That’s what I thought too!” Barry was on a roll now. “That’s why we had to put anti-gravity boots on it.”
“Surely you are making this up. It sounds like a children’s cartoon.” Natalie protested.
“Barry lives in a cartoon, “Elsa laughed. “Only recently his reality has started overlapping with the real world.”
“Look, I have a video!” Barry said, pulling out his phone.
“Um Barry, we are not allowed to show that.” Elsa warned. Tony had been laughing along, but he seemed very interested.
“I want to see,” Tony said. “It’s not like he’s going to send us a copy. It’s probably just some internet fake anyway.”
“Oh right.” Barry said. “Sorry Elsa, I forgot we aren’t supposed to show that to anyone.” He seemed to sober up a bit.
Scott and Matt returned. “Hey, what was that we heard about a video?” Matt said, sitting down next to Aida again.
“Don’t worry, Barry didn’t show them.” Elsa said.
“You can’t just talk about a ship turning into a robot and then not show us the video!” Tony complained. Alvarro agreed.
“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Scott said. “It’s not like it really turns into a robot.”
Adriana gave him a look. “Not a big deal! I’m sick of you boys. My ship is amazing.”
Scott looked contrite, “Of course. It’s just going to be even more impressive once they finish the more advanced systems.” He pulled out his phone as Matt whispered something to Elsa. Barry gave Matt a dirty look for talking to his girlfriend.
Tony, Alvarro, Aida and Natalie watched the video with interest as the beautiful water off the Yucatan showed a black shape which resolved into a large ship bursting from the water. Tony noted that this was a much better camera angle than the video he had seen.
“We’re going to install a huge gun with giant bullets that shoot lasers.” Adriana declared with a straight face.
Barry was shocked for a second, then gave her a big grin and offered her a fist bump. “Genius!”