On another side of the Playground, a masked girl was stomping with difficulty through a dense jungle, filled with little, buzzing insects, puddles of mud and liquid, and the slippery ground she had the pleasure of tramping on. Every turn she took was like a trapeze challenge, trying to walk straight had become an arduous task.

Angie cursed, whined, and screamed internally, most of her insults being addressed at her benefactor who, even though she had the power to choose the entry point, selected “This infernal place. What was she thinking, sending me, a miner who lived surrounded by tight corridors and sturdy rocks for her whole life, in this place?”. Her rage was palpable enough to feed an actual fire and her first day was ruined, or at least that’s how she felt.

After a few more minutes of landscape re-decorating by thrashing around, she calmed down enough to swallow some soothing air through her mask. Ingress, her companion, ignored her cries for vengeance, as it had another preoccupation. Ever since they landed, it scouted the area, and from its frantic movements and double-checking every corner, it was searching for something. Or someone. After a while, a clue sparked from the sky, as light reflected from a platform tube used for the competitors' descent. Ingress could only beep in happiness at the sight of it and left a quick message to their partner.

Ingress -'' I will check ahead. Angie, please stay here and secure the area.” Before she could ask any questions, the little bot was already way ahead of her by using a trick that was kept hidden from her. In the time she needed to read the text, the robot hatched a set of wheels under its legs and drove off through the thick jungle.

Angie -” Whaaaaaat?”, she asked, stupefied by the whole engagement. That feeling and her rage mixed to form an impulse decision to follow the weird-acting C.T.D.

Ingress stopped a few times to scan the surroundings and pick a direction. It went in a zig-zag way for quite some time, as the thick brushes and slippery soil weren’t the best of friends to a small robot with city wheels. After a third stop, though, something weird made it halt before it could take another spin. A flurry of bullets pierced the ground near it, making a confetti parade out of the foliage and leaving a mist of dust lingering in the air. The warning shot, while meant to chase it away, it also confirmed to Ingress that the target was close, or at the least, in which way it should go.

As if possessed by the bike of a stunt performer, it took a few steps backward and waited for a few moments for the second barrage of bullets to find. After it figured a pattern, it drove right through the dirty fog at full speed, passing through every scrub it could find to mask its approach before the third round started.

On the other side, a patient and C.T.D. were close to a river, with their backs to it and their face toward whatever was coming closer, and closer. Neither of the two knew who nor what they took potshots at, but “making the first move gives you more opportunities to take the lead”, thought the patient, a girl wearing what appeared to be a custom-made jumpsuit, with cable termination coming out of it from multiple exits. On top of it, her long red hair was waved back, exposing a pair of goggles, connected to her robotic companion.

Her C.T.D. could have been mistaken for a hunched giant if seen with squinted eyes from a distance, but the closer you got to it, the more distinct their details got and the more otherworldly it appeared to be. The body resembled that of a robotic big feline, like a lion or tiger, standing on its legs, which were dwarfed in size by the arms. It used one of the massive trunks of a forearm to support its gorilla-like position, while the other, fingerless arm was targeting the foliage and forest, charging, waiting, and aiming.

Enemy C.T.D -” Ready to fire again, miss. The target hasn’t stopped moving.” Their patient then lowered her arm straight down to give the signal, and the robot shot another flurry toward the upcoming Ingress. It missed the little C.T.D. yet again, but the girl was only a bit ticked off by this, while she was frantically buttoning in the middle of the air. The cable glowed again, lighting up the Sphinx-like ornament of the robot's head instead of a face.

Enemy patient - “Just keep it at a distance for a few more seconds, Sovereign”, she commanded. “The connection is almost established.”

The last shot was force put Ingress in a straight line, and using the snake decoration on Sovereign's forehead, her hack finally connected to the small robot and deactivated its wheels. This caused the C.T.D. to suddenly hit the brakes and stumble at a considerable speed, sliding for about 8 to 9 meters right in front of Team 3.

-“ Established connection with the receiver for the message”, relayed Ingress with the tone of a robotic caller. Sovereign tried to warn it not to make another move, but his companion, Syna, signaled to let it speak.

Enemy patient -“ I saw something weird while tinkering around in there. This robot is not like the rest of you. I don’t think this one is a real C.T.D, Sovereign”. She then demanded Ingress to tell her about the supposed message.

The small robot stood up without a hitch and pulled from inside it a communication device, like the ones used by the workers in the County. Except that this model was bulkier than the ones available on the market, with a less lavished design, probably made with efficiency in mind.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Ingress -“ Please take hold of this high-distance calling device and reply to the call. It’s strong enough not to suffer any interference, and it can’t be discovered unless searched for it. Originally, this was intended for the patient Angie, but now my updated mission is to give it to you.” Afterward, Ingress left it on the ground in front of it and took a few steps backward.

Unsure of what to think, the girl asked Sovereign to point its head decoration towards the communicator. In the meantime, she approached the matter with a more hands-on approach, trying different channels, and tinkering with it for a bit until an unfamiliar voice spoke.

???? -“ Hello, I am assuming that Ingress found and made contact with you, Syna Ru’Dev?”, asked a woman from the other side. The voice, receiving only dead air and cold shoulders, tried all kinds of tactics to make the hacker reply. A golden tongue but to ears to persuade, followed by an ignored tamper tantrum and finally a desperate plea. Syna paid to mind to any of the attempts, not until she managed to unlock the holographic video option:

Syna -” Done. Now let’s see if this is who I think it is”. Once Syna pulled on the projector part to create the screen, the interlocutor quickly adopted a miffed grimace to greet them. “ Well, it’s not that big a surprise to see your virtual mug, since the little bot belongs to your team and whatnot. What do you want from me, Miss Priya?”, asked Syna, not up to playing any games she believed were transpiring here.

CEO Priya -” Wonderful…damn it. Have you at least disabled the cameras in the area?”, to which the hacker only raised her shoulders as if to say “Who knows”.

CEO Priya - “Well, our channels lost signals to the cameras from a landing place, (yours I presume) and surrounding area, so I would prefer to think that it was your doing. The stunt you pulled in the arena got my attention… Especially because, while skilled, you couldn’t have done it by yourself. Milla must be pulling a lot of strings to give you so many options, correct?”

Once more, Syna just acted ignorant but also poshly waved her fingers for the CEO to just continue talking.

CEO Priya -” Alright, here is the deal. You want to succeed your parents, or whatever Alvara and Robert are to you, right? I also have my plans for this year’s games, but you must know that the geezers will spoil our aspirations.” Priya tried to prod her a bit, trying to see if there was any point in taking the risk.

Syna was a bit intrigued by what she was trying to say, but still the balance in her head, Milla’s support counted way more than some conniving player like Priya.

Syna -” Well, for now, I achieved my objectives effectively through the number 2 Brand. So why would I trust anything you say? You, Robert, Alvara…and even Milla sadly, at the end of the day, are just different-colored threads of the same fabric. I learned I can’t remove you all some time ago, I can’t just unravel all of you at once. But replacing a thread won't ruin the entire fabric. It’s difficult, but not impossible. It’s safer, less disruptive!”, she said with a trace of conceitedness in it.

Instead of indignation, as Syna expected to receive, or even an arrogant grandstanding, the hacker was treated with laughter. Priya bit her lip at the end of the laugh, unable to contain her disdain for what she saw as misguided naivete;

CEO Priya -” Another one, huh?”, she bit her lip again, trying to suppress the venom boiling inside her. “So you are the new one that can change everything from the inside? Oh, we waited for so long for you to come, finally everything will change for the better because the one is here!” The CEO’s tone had a sense of pity, but also melancholy to it, as during her rant she recounted multiple past mistakes. Some intentional as well.

The hacker managed to grasp only the pity part of the clear insults, unable to grasp the CEO’s intent. She wanted to bite back at her, but Priya interrupted her with a change of topic.

CEO Priya -“ From your words at the arena, I assume you learned what the C.T.Ds are, right? Either from Milla or on your own? If the first, why do you believe she told you the whole truth about it?”

It took the hacker a few moments to adjust her frame of mind, with a bit of help and encouraging words from her C.T.D. The weird sphinx knew precisely how to get her back to a level where she could equally converse with the CEO.

Sovereign -" Miss, remember that once you become a CEO, you will have to deal with this from time to time. Take this as a training course." After thanking him, Syna thought about Priya’s words and figured that something didn’t add up.

Syna -” No, I never believed it, but the same goes for you. You come here with a drone disguised as a C.T.D., trying to...I don’t even know what you want. Oh, I know, let’s start from there. You want my trust, behave like what your profession entails sell me on it, and give me a reason to listen to you. What are you planning, Priya?”

Right before she could answer, a ruffle from the bushes took the group by surprise. Up until then, Angie hid and listened in, thinking that spying was the better option until the bickering got too much on her nerves.

Angie - “ Yeah, tell her boss Priya, what the hell are you planning to do?”, she asked with fury in her eyes.

CEO Priya -” Finally, my champion is…”, a rock flew right through the screen before she could even finish. Priya appeared somewhat annoyed by it but got the message to bypass all the smooth talk. “Alright, alright. So firstly, Angie... Up until now, when you trained and talked with Ingress, you were speaking with me. Ingress is not a real C.T.D. Or finished one might be a better term, I think.”

Angie -” What in the hell are you saying, you shining toy of a person?”, screamed the confused miner. “ That’s not how you start this. Why are you doing this, why you are here, WHY ARE YOU TALKING WITH…”

The hacker, befuddled by the sudden pause, took a second to understand that something was asked of her- ” Me? Oh, ugh, I’m Syna, this is Sovereign, we are team number 2, and I think your benefactor is trying to woo us.”

-” Pleasure. Angie; and this, I guess, was my C.T.D Ingress. And we were the number four team”, responded Angie. “ See, that’s how you do it. Now let's try again.”

A huge "bump" shut all of them down, as Priya was done with their shenanigans. The CEO slammed her hand on a table, again and again, waiting for silence to drop. She then drank directly from a bottle, before dropping her ace card from exasperation:

CEO Priya -” C.T.Ds are the former patients from the previous races”, yelled Priya fastly, followed by another big gulp of wine.