Battle Beyond Reality

by Nick S. Thomas

  "We've all got to die someday. I don't think it will be this one, but I die a little bit everyday we sit in that shitty office working a shitty job."

  "I'm sorry, but we must speed things along. The live feed is due to start in a few moments."

  The woman ushered Carter away. He went to the corner of the room where he was out of the way, but could keep an eye on both Mason and the screens beside him. He didn't want to put on his V set, for he wanted to be able to see his friend with his own eyes.

  Mason appeared in the game, introduced with scenes edited from fights that the two of them had previously fought. It was an open-air arena in what looked like a wintery Scandinavian setting. Tens of thousands were watching in as he stepped into the centre of the arena. He was wearing the same Samurai armour that he had done in one of their fights, but also carrying a spear, with his two swords sheathed. The commentator’s voice rang out.

  "It is my honour to welcome a great titan of the arena. Luca Hayes!"

  The crowds parted as the giant personal trainer strode out into the arena. He was a giant, both in height and muscle. He was wearing a fantastical version of a Viking warrior’s garb, his body covered with chainmail and furs. He wore an outrageous helmet, with four horns running centrally like a mohawk. It gleamed like it was made of bronze and reached down over his eyes and cheeks. His arms were left bare to show off his bulging muscles. In his hands he carried a huge two-handed Dane axe. On his side was a Viking style sword, and he had a round shield slung on his back.

  "Luca Hayes?" Carter asked in amazement.

  He knew of the man. He was not a superstar, but he was known, as Luna was. He felt a wave of fear and desperation surge over him. He wanted to go forward and rip his friend from the chair in which he was restrained, yet knew he couldn't. Mason couldn't have been clearer about what he wanted, and it wasn't anyone else's choice to make. The commentator continued.

  "The is a Terminal fight. The fight will end when one or both fighters are unable to continue through injury or death, or forfeit!"

  The crowd roared with excitement. They knew that almost nobody would ever take the forfeiture option, and Carter knew, it too.

  "Gentlemen, let the games begin!"

  The two fighters were ten metres apart where they had stopped. Luca lifted his axe in front of him and held it out to salute his opponent. Mason did the same, before his opponent gave out a roar and leapt into a ferocious charge. It was as if he did not fear death at all, and that worried Carter. Luca closed quickly, but Mason was ready for him. He lunged forward with his spear, and even though the monstrous man pushed it off with the shaft of his axe, Mason was traversing out of the charge before he had any chance of making an attack of his own.

  "That's it. Keep moving. You are faster than him," muttered Carter.

  Luca turned to find Mason's spear coming for him. He knocked two strikes aside, but only barely. Mason was keeping his distance, using the fast point work to deal with quick thrusts, and the leverage of the spear in two hands to move it quickly from Luca's grasp. Finally, he landed a thrust. The spear drove deep through the chainmail armour and into Luca's body at the left chest, near the shoulder.

  Mason could not believe he'd managed to land it, and the crowd gasped in disbelief. But in his shock, Luca took hold of the spear with his left hand and held it firmly in place. With his other hand, he brought the hefty axe down onto the shaft of the spear and snapped it in half. He pulled what was left from out of his body and held it aloft, roaring as if unfazed by any of it. He launched the bloodied spear tip and broken shaft at his opponent. Mason knocked it aside with what he was still holding of the spear. Luca gave out a roar as he came forward. Mason reached for his katana and drew it with lightning speed as the monster of a man descended on him.

  He held up his sword, but the heavy bladed axe smashed through his guard. The blade slammed into the armour on his shoulder. Much of the energy had been taken out of it, but it was still enough of an impact to cause him to momentarily lose the grip of his right hand. He quickly backed off as the giant swung the axe about with a mighty blow that would have decapitated him with ease. He ripped the faceplate off his helmet and threw it aside. He was grinning like an idiot, as if enjoying every moment of it.

  "Come on!" he screamed.

  Luca did just that, annoyed at the taunting. He swung the axe with a strong vertical blow, but Mason leapt aside, and it hit the ground where he had been standing. He drew his blade across Luca's right arm as he rushed past, opening a nasty cut. Luca shouted with anger and pain as he turned to face his attacker. Carter smiled. This was the best he'd ever seen his friend fight. Maybe he was right. Maybe this is what he needed to take it seriously and be the best he could be.

  Luca rushed forward again, swinging his axe in huge arcs. He created openings to strike as he swung, but it was hard to ever exploit them. If the timing of a strike were off by a split second, the axe would be the end of whatever, or whomever it struck. Mason knew this and wasn't taking any chances. He parried off the blows where necessary, backing off or circling with his parries, but was getting no strikes in of his own.

  "Gotta get rid of that damn axe," whispered Carter.

  It was as if Mason had heard the advice, and at the right moment, as Luca delivered a vertical cut down towards his head, he parried it high; with one hand on the grip, and the other on the blade of the katana, towards the tip. The axe stopped dead, and with it latched onto the katana. Mason yanked it out of his opponent's hands. The huge axe was thrown clear of both of them, but before he could use his opening, Luca kicked him hard at the chest with a brutal push kick.

  Mason was thrown off his feet and launched in the air. He finally crashed down, sliding to a halt. He was briefly stunned, but quickly jumped back up onto his feet. Luca had taken his shield from his back and was drawing out his sword. An asymmetrically shaped single edged Viking type of sword.

  "I am going to enjoy beating you. It would have been no fun if it were too easy," said Luca with a smile.

  Mason drew his shorter sword, the Wakizashi, with his left hand as they began to circle one another. Luca had clearly learnt to respect his opponent. He had expected an easy win, and Carter was as surprised as he was. Mason was fighting like a pro. Luca rushed forward, thrusting out his shield to cover himself as he cut with big strong arcs. He was swiftly moving around his opponent, ducking and weaving, and parrying off attacks that Carter would have expected to land.

  The hulking giant of a fighter was powering in blows one after another, but Mason nimbly parried them aside, without taking the full weight of a blow on his blade. Finally, he saw his opening and leapt to Luca's left side, slashing under his shield with his shorter blade. It slashed across his thigh, and he screamed in pain and frustration. It was the third wound he had received, and yet none of them seemed to slow him down. Mason was a lot faster on his feet. That much was clear, and Luca was about to change that. He came forward once again, swinging his sword. It was nothing more than to get Mason's attention.

  Luca thrust the edge of his shield down into Mason's right thigh and knee. There was an audible crunch, followed by a cry of pain. Mason staggered back, but Luca did not pursue him. He wanted to savour the moment. Mason did his best to take up a guard once more. He was trying to brush it off when Luca came at him again. He parried off a few blows before Luca managed to slash up against his left hand. The cut was hard enough that the sword fell from his hand. But Luca took up his katana with both hands, and with an almighty cry, brought down his katana with all the force he could muster.

  The blade cleaved through the shield all the way down to the arm that carried it, stopping at the bone. Mason was hurt by it, but he twisted and turned the shield so that it wrenched the katana from his opponent’s hands, throwing it to the ground with the blade still embedded in it. Mason was hobbling now, and Luca still had his sword in hand.

  "You are fast, but you are no champion," he declared.

  He ran at Mason
, swinging a heavy blow at his neck, but Mason stepped under the blow and delivered a sharp hook to Luca's jaw. He snapped back another cut, but Mason stopped his arm with a lock, and struck him in the jaw once more. He wrestled to get his sword free, but in the affray it was thrown clear. Mason went for another strike, but Luca kicked to his already wounded leg. He keeled over, and Luca delivered a brutal uppercut, once again launching him into the air. He landed hard on his back. Luca was undoing the strap of his helmet to get a better view of things when Mason noticed his Wakizashi in reach. He grabbed it as the giant of a man came forward. He cut into the flank, but it was no good. It could do little to the armour, and Luca locked him in place. He punched him hard to the face, ripping Mason's helmet off and casting it aside.

  "No!" Carter yelled.

  Luca gripped his helmet through the eye holes like it were a giant knuckleduster. Mason was too dazed to really fight back. Luca punched down with the helmet onto Mason's skull with all his power. Mason's body went limp, and Luca released his grip. Mason dropped lifelessly to the ground.

  The doctors rushed past Carter to the chair holding Mason. They were looking for a pulse.

  "Don't you let him die. Please, don't you let him die!" Carter pleaded.

  Chapter 12

  Arlington, Virginia, United American Nations

  "Have you seen this crap?" Hud directed Nui to the news screen above the desk Zippo was working at.

  The room was a mess, with cups and take away containers littered about the place. It was clear they had both been very busy and barely left the apartment for some time. Hud was shaking his head as he watched the news.

  "According to a new petition, which over three hundred thousand UAN citizens have signed, people want the President to face President Dun in a Terminal game of the hit game, Duel Reality."

  "Crazy, isn't it? It's like the whole country has gone mad."

  "Yeah, except it isn't this country," replied Zippo.

  "What do you mean?" Nui asked.

  Zippo was grinding through masses of data over several screens.

  "I mean sure, right now people are flocking to sign this petition inside our borders. But that isn't how it started."

  The news anchor went on.

  "Ever since Senator Renner suggested the President should fight his own battles, that is precisely what the people are calling for. Just thirty minutes ago, we hit the streets to ask what people really thought."

  The view cut to downtown New York and one interview after another, flicking between cities.

  "If the President wants to sabre rattle, let him do it for real," one said.

  "Yeah, why should any of us fight if he isn't willing to?"

  "I mean, sportsmen like Locke are willing to risk their lives for us, and that's just for entertainment. The President should fight his own battles."

  "Nuclear war is hanging over us, and it could be averted by a game? Of course he should do it."

  "Hell, yes he should do it, and take that asshole Dun down a few pegs."

  The view cut back to the news anchor.

  "Well, there you have it. The people of the UAN seem increasingly in favour of a Terminal game of Duel Reality, President vs. President? What do you think? Have your say now, and send in your comments."

  "What do you mean it didn't start here?" Nui asked.

  "All this talk and trending. The signatures. The petition was started up here, but it got over two hundred thousand signatures in the first hour. Long before it trended anywhere that I can see. And those signatures were mostly from rerouted IPs, so nobody can say for sure where they came from."

  "What are you saying?"

  "She's saying that this is rigged."

  "Bingo."

  "What do you mean rigged? It's a public petition."

  "I'm saying someone is pushing this, likely someone from outside the UAN, and with their own agenda. This isn't about what the people want. Though I'll admit it's a pretty fun idea."

  "So where did it all start?"

  "Well, Senator Renner put the idea out there, didn't he, without really calling for this directly?"

  "It's a strange thing to do, for a Senator to call out the President like that, and in such an extreme way."

  "Maybe he's just pissed that nobody was willing to help save his niece."

  "No, Hud, he knows the way this works as much as the rest of us. The President could never be involved with a mission like that, and he knew it."

  "So you're saying Renner is part of all this. That there is some great conspiracy to force this fake duel."

  "It's not fake," insisted Zippo.

  "But it happens in a game."

  "Damn it, you really are a dinosaur," replied Nui.

  "Guilty."

  "Duel Reality is a game, but this new mode, this module. Terminal. It makes the effects of the game real for those playing it. You watched that fight with us, Luna vs. Locke. You saw him die."

  "I figured that was all part of the act. Make it dramatic, smoke and mirrors, like movies have always done. Pro wrestling has always done that sort of thing, too."

  "But not this time. This is real. Locke died in the game, and he's actually dead."

  Hud looked stunned.

  "And people want to play this game more?"

  "Of course they do. It's just the next junkie crazy," replied Nui.

  "What the hell is wrong with people?"

  "Everyone needs a hobby," replied Zippo.

  Their screen flashed, and once more Incognito was displayed to give another of his addresses.

  "Shit, not this asshole again," said Hud.

  "Start tracking him, now!"

  "I’m already on it. Nui."

  "The UAN is a nation blinded by politicians that would have you crawling on your hands and knees if it served their ends. Leo Simmons is nothing more than a greedy businessman who wants to make a name for himself. He would make that name with the blood of you, the citizens. Now you have a chance to force his hand. Make him do what he would ask of you, and fight his own battles. You can make this happen if you stand together as one. One voice that forces the President to do what the people want. Is that not what his job is?"

  The message ended.

  "Well...that was short," said Nui.

  "Like I said, that isn't Incognito."

  "Or you don't want it to be."

  "I know it isn't."

  "Then get us some proof. We are facing a very real disaster, the likes of which we have never known. This is not going to end well, and we might be some of the only ones with both the desire and the ability to stop it."

  "Not me," said Hud.

  "You'd have the President fight in some spectacle?"

  "Sure, let him get his hands dirty for a change. It's no worse than the crap we have to put up with. We risked our lives to save her," he said, pointing to Zippo.

  "But this is the President of our nation. How can democracies survive if we devolve into barbarity like this?"

  "Maybe it won't be so bad. It's not like we live the high life right now, is it?"

  "What would that even be for you?"

  He shrugged as he opened a beer and lay back on the sofa. Nui realised she was wasting her time.

  * * *

  24th July, 2071

  UN facility, the South-East Frontier

  Axel was lying flat on the bed in his cell. He was bored to death, but also anxious. He wanted to know what had happened to Victor. He'd been waiting so long he was losing hope that anyone cared. Despite that, the facilities were remarkably luxurious. He'd expect nothing less from the UN. The cell was twice the size of any police equivalent. A news channel was projected on the wall, the only channel he had access to. He'd seen the re-telling of their rescue attempt many times over, but it was on TV once more. It was a bizarre experience to watch, as it looked and felt so different to how he remembered it. It had been favourably edited, too. He rested back, confident nobody was coming to see him or let him out anytime soon. But his
cell door slid open, and he sat up in surprise as Dia Voight stepped inside. The door shut behind her.

  "You are being treated well, I trust?"

  "Just fine."

  She took the single chair on the opposite side of the cell, placed it in front of him, and took a seat.

  "This?" he gestured towards the screen, "This was your doing, wasn't it? You got hold of our video and leaked it?"

  "I told you. Your only hope was to get the public to be sympathetic to your cause. You have broken many laws, and would be slaughtered if you were to be put on trial. You needed a miracle. You needed a mob so determined to set you free, that a decision from the very top would call for it."

  "But why?"

  "I told you why. I joined this job to do the right thing. Sometimes that means breaking the rules, and I can live with that."

  "And if it costs you your job?"

  "Then it wasn't worth having to begin with."

  Axel smiled.

  "An idealist, wonderful."

  "The world needs more like us, wouldn't you say?"

  "No argument there, but what about Victor? How is he?"

  "He's in a critical condition, but stable. He lost a lot of blood and his injuries were severe, but I hear that his chances are strong. He is a tough one. You all are."

  "We wouldn't still be here if we weren't."

  "What you did out there. What you achieved, and why you did it. I know the money and the jobs meant a lot to you, but with your skills, there are a dozen other agencies that would take you on in a snap. No questions asked. So why did you do it, Axel?"

  "I...I haven't always made the best choices. I haven't always done the right thing for the right reasons, like you. I came out here to get away from that life."

  "How would leaving the Army to become a mercenary achieve that?"

  "Look, it doesn't have to make sense. I am not saying that it does, but in my mind, it was the only choice I had. I came out here hoping that I could make things right. Do some good. Instead, I ended up working for that shit bag that you met out there. Newton."