Chapter 4
After registration, Bailey and Joel wandered The Herald Complex together. First, they made their way from the registration desk to a massive room with a bunch of teleportation bays. From there, they teleported to an identical room at the Dual Arena, the “major event” location in Meta-Eden for sports, concerts, and meta-duels. Upon arriving at the arena, Bailey led Joel to an information kiosk. They each plugged their last names and IDs into the system to identify their assigned section in the lower of the two connected stadiums. Bailey and Joel made their way around the stadium's outer ring, past the food courts and bathrooms, down several graded tunnels and stairwells, and saw two unoccupied seats right next to each other, smack dab in the middle, right in front of the stage. Jackpot!
The journey took much longer than anticipated due to the growing crowd turning up to compete in this historic event. Bailey had no idea how many people would join a competition like this, and she definitely didn’t expect this massive turnout. She could barely move without being shoulder-to-shoulder with someone, but somehow Bailey managed to keep track of Joel the entire time. She felt she was doing the heavy lifting in their conversation, but she didn’t mind. This guy seemed to need a friend, and sometimes the best way to get people to open up was to share stories about yourself. Plus, she found him pretty cute, in that lost puppy dog kinda way.
“...And that’s why I joined the contest!” she exclaimed, hoping to prompt a reaction from Joel.
“To boost your voice acting career?” Joel’s response seemed polite, but Bailey sensed some judgment in his tone.
“Yep!” Bailey reaffirmed enthusiastically. A silence grew between them. Bailey could tell Joel was holding back. His hesitation caused her to re-evaluate. Did she say something massively offensive? Did Joel secretly want to be a voice actor too? Maybe he had dated an actor, and she was throwing up red flags! Bailey was very familiar with dating actors, which would even give her pause.
“Sorry,” Joel’s voice interrupted her spiral. “I just figured you were here to… you know… become a Herald. Or to be on The Council for some reason.” Joel was mumbling. This kid apparently hated confrontation, no matter how minor.
Bailey laughed. “Hah! Do you think anyone has a chance against the All-Stars? Look, being a Herald would be cool, I guess, but I’m a realist. If you aren’t here for publicity or to gain followers, you might as well pack it in and go home.”
For the first time since meeting Bailey, Joel laughed endearingly. However, Bailey sensed a tinge of nervousness behind it. “I guess I needed a bit of a reality check. You are probably right.” Joel teased as they scooted down an aisle to two empty seats. They were sitting only a few rows back from the pitch.
“Well, I guess we both have issues,” Bailey giggled. Joel piqued her interest. In Los Angeles, everyone she met was predictable, easy-to-read archetypes. L.A. surely had interesting, unique people with substance, but they rarely showed up for the casting calls and meet and greets that she frequented. Joel, on the other hand, was a bit of an enigma.
Bailey looked around at the sea of people, finally feeling the weight of this competition. “So.. um, let’s be friends after this, okay? Let’s help each other where we can and keep in touch when all is said and done… even if we have to fight or even eliminate one another.”
Joel wasn’t expecting that. He instinctively had a physical reaction to the idea and averted his eyes. “Um.. yeah, sure. Definitely.”
Bailey noticed his hesitation. “You don’t want to be my friend?” Bailey pulled out her fake tears and mimed, pulling a dagger out of her heart.
“No no no, I just wasn’t expecting to make friends here!” Joel quickly tried to clarify and assuage all at once.
The smile across Bailey’s face would have made the Cheshire cat proud. “I’m just fucking with you! Man, you are easy.” She quickly realized Joel may have misinterpreted her reaction. “Oh….not about the friend thing! I want to be your friend. I just meant..”
“I know what you meant.” Joel smiled back. Bailey sensed his nerves settling. If she were more self-aware, she would have noticed that her nervous butterflies had flown off as well.
***
Bailey sat on the bus, looking out at the passing strip malls and palm trees, analyzing every detail of her audition. I mean, it was OK to leave, right? It wasn’t like they were paying attention to her anyway. They probably didn’t even notice she had gone. Hell, they were already looking at their phones before The Show made his big announcement. Where the hell was Eden, Ohio, anyway? Sounded like the middle of nowhere.
Bailey pulled out her Onyx One and searched “Eden, Ohio” and found out that apparently there was a university there and….national tractor pulls? Who would go to an event where tractors just pulled stuff? Did they pull each other? Like a robot battle? She googled “Tractor Pull.” Huh, they just pull other heavy stuff?
She banged her head against the window. Was she really going to enter a superhero competition? Sure, she had some powers but nothing special. More party tricks than anything else. It’s not like she wanted to fight crime. She just wanted to be a voice actor…or any type of actor…or really anything creative at this point.
Bailey straightened up to refocus. Based on The Show’s livestream, it seemed like there'd be two groups once you made it past the first round. One group of already established and certified heroes and another group of metas who were not registered superheroes. More importantly, if you made it to that final 24, you would be on a brand-new reality show. For a whole year, her life beamed out for the world to see. That’d be her ticket to booking actual roles. Reality stars gained enough popularity to leverage a real acting career. She just needed to get past that first round and stay in the competition long enough for people to like her. Wait… would people like her? She wondered what it’d be like to live in a house with close to a dozen other people with powers. Bailey cherished her privacy. Most people didn’t even know she had powers. Although she did include them on her resume... which no one looked at.
The bus stopped, jolting Bailey out of her thought spiral. Realizing that she had missed her stop, she quickly got off the bus and started to walk to her apartment. As she did, she appreciated the showmanship of the live stream. Despite not liking The Show, she had to hand it to him. He really knew how to put on, well… a show. Guess the title did fit.
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***
Their innocent flirting was interrupted by the lights going out throughout the stadium. A countdown started on the jumbotron and all the screens lining the arena walls: 5.. The crowd silenced. 4..A few people in the bleachers started clapping in time with the countdown. 3.. More joined in as the claps sounded like thunder. 2… Clap… 1… Silence. While this was happening, a platform was rising through the center of the stage. A loud voice echoed through the loud-speakers, “Action!” A spotlight hit center stage to reveal The Show standing, arms out, smiling excitedly. The crowd erupted as he pointed to the distant seats in the crowd, and a combination of lights and flying cameras spread out from behind him as if he were summoning an army of media wasps. Bailey marveled at the spectacle, wondering how the hell he was able to orchestrate everything so effortlessly. He radiated the kind of charisma that she envied. “Guess that’s why he’s The Show.” she thought.
“Hello, Contestants! Hello America!” The Show echoed throughout the stadium as a crowd full of fans, metas, and competitors cheered louder than Bailey had ever witnessed at any sporting event. “Welcome to day one of a year-long event that, in many ways, will determine the future of our great Council of Heralds!” The Show waited for the applause to crescendo and fall. “Today we begin The Culling, a series of three trials that will determine who among you are worthy of being the final twelve metas to join our group of hand-picked All-Stars. These All-Stars will be the best of the best, plucked from our District, City, and State Heralds teams from all over the country. The twelve who make it through this weekend’s culling will be fighting each other and these All-Stars for a chance to become the new Seed. If you can prove yourself worthy in this year-long battle, you..” he paused to point at several random competitors in the audience, “..will become a Herald without ever having to go through training. Forget climbing the ladder; little by little, rising through the ranks. You will win a spot on The Council. You will be our Top Seed!” Again, the crowd went wild. “For the first time in History, we are waiving our rule that only those with original bloodlines can occupy a seat on the council. And not just any seat, but the seat of our greatest hero. The seat of my best friend. Eclipse’s seat. The seat of The Seed!” Applause rang through the arena as The Show’s oration reached its peak.
Bailey squirmed in her seat from both excitement and nervousness. The Show was incredibly inspiring, but he also added to her existing pressure. She looked at Joel to see he had gone pale white… ghostly white. Weirdly, that made her feel a little bit better. Not that she liked seeing her new friend blanch. But thankful that at least she had a little experience from having been on TV. This experience had to be wholly unnerving for someone who had never been in the spotlight before. That said, if she could survive The Culling and win a spot on this show, it would provide a whole different level of exposure.
Bailey turned to Joel while The Show waited for the sustained applause to quiet down. “Nervous?” She whispered.
Joel glanced back. “More than you know,” he said sharply. He leaned forward in his seat to get as close to The Show as possible, taking in every syllable of every word.
“But before we get going, a few things: First, this competition is not for the faint of heart. There will be real danger, and we cannot guarantee everyone’s safety. If you think you are not up for the challenge, take this time to vacate your seat and the arena. When the competition begins, the only way out is through your own success or failure. Second, for the next year, for as long as you are a part of this competition, you will also be part of a behind-the-scenes reality broadcast that will be streaming on all Onyx networks for the entire world to see.” A brief series of murmurs and scattered applause began at this announcement. He had mentioned this in his break-in invitation broadcast last week, but to hear the scale of it all confirmed was exciting. “Third, at the end of The Culling, we will announce our first three All-Stars. But, we on The Council had such a hard time making our final selections that we need your help America. If you go to TopSeed dot tv, you will find a list of 20 Heralds from all over the country. Simply vote for your favorites, and before our first Challenge later this month, we will announce the remaining nine All-Stars you have chosen to join our 12 challengers and the three All-Stars we will announce on Sunday! Exciting, right?” The Show smiled as his announcements elicited the expected reaction. “Ok, let’s get back to business. The Culling..” Oohs and aahs echoed through the arena. “There will be three trials with only small intermissions between each challenge. These will test your willpower, your endurance, and your creativity. We are looking for the best of the best to immediately take a seat on our council and make us all proud. For those of you at home, to view each challenge and challenger in real-time, just log in to your Onyx accounts, and you will have a view of all the feeds. As competitors are eliminated and drop out, so will their feed, until our final twelve competitors are chosen!”
Bailey looked at all the cameras panning around as they focused on each contestant. Her eyes moved quickly back to The Show as he continued to speak, “And remember to tune in to Onyx Plus on Sunday night for an exclusive live event revealing our first three All-Stars. The All-Stars will host a kick-off party for those that survived The Culling. I'm sure fun will be had by all. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. As to the main event, all competitors take your seats.” He waited for stillness to travel across the dual arenas. “Let's start the show!” And at that, the lights went out in the stadium. The Culling had begun.
***
Bailey wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute she was in the stadium, and the next, her vision had gone white. She felt her stomach drop out as if she were on a rollercoaster. Within moments, her vision blurred then cleared. She found herself in a dark alley, covered in dirt and garbage. She could smell rotting food and sweetness in the air as though an ice cream shop was nearby. Or was that popcorn? A rat scurried past her feet. So, to avoid screaming, she looked away and up. The surroundings were dark and gothic. Bailey saw the marquee of a theater that read “The Mark of Zorro.” She looked back to see a version of her parents in fanciful dress. A man with a blurred out face wore a fedora, and her mom had pearl earrings with a matching necklace.
A gun’s hammer cocked into place, ready to fire and unleash death, as a mugger skulked from the shadows in front of Bailey and her parents. They all froze in horror. “Give me the pearls and no one has to get hurt,” the mugger croaked.
Something didn’t add up. Bailey looked around at the gothic-inspired architecture, the dark shadows that seemed to loom over the city, the vaguely New York vibe without actually being New York.
It couldn't be. This was the origin story. Bailey had seen this before in a movie based on her favorite cowled crusading detective crime fighter. Her excitement grew, and for a moment, she forgot about the contest and just enjoyed that she was here.
“Hurry up!” the mugger yelled as he pointed the gun at Bailey's mom’s face. Her mom, hands shaking, was still fumbling with the latch on the necklace, unable to obey the order even though her life depended on it.
Bailey quickly snapped to attention. She could geek out later! Right now, she had to do something heroic. She patted herself down, feeling a bulge in her pocket. Bailey smiled wide. She quickly pulled out her wand. The power flowed through her. A purplish light filled her eyes, and she drew an ancient symbol that floated in the sky, quickly disappearing as she shouted, “Shield!” Purple light engulfed her parents, creating a shimmering, transparent, violet shield around them.
The mugger unloaded his entire clip into the dome. But it didn’t make a dent. The shield held. The bullets had ricocheted off. Luckily, there were no witnesses, so no one was there to get hit by the redirected gunfire. The mugger, shocked, threw his gun down, turned heel, and ran away.
She had saved her parents! But Bailey’s joy dissolved as fast as did the current scene. Her vision went white yet again. This time, however, words and numbers glowing green were floating in the whiteness. They displayed a point total with a breakdown of how she had earned those points. It seemed she had gained a ton of points for no one getting hurt and a bonus for not killing the mugger. Her brain quickly ran through every superhero story she had ever read or seen in a movie. Her inner nerd was squealing with delight. Or maybe that was her. For the first time, Bailey was confident that she could pull this thing out. Her stomach dropped out again, and her eyes went blurry. As the next scene came into view, all Bailey could think was, “Bring this shit on!”