The Games Villains Play (The Academy Trilogy)

by Joshua DeBenedetto

  “Wow, you make an offer to my best friend, but not to your own brother,” Jay jested.

  “Well I have to think about what would work best for my strategy. Let’s see, I will also need a fast Hermes, so Zahrah, I hereby offer you a spot on the team as well. No pressure to accept though,” Donny said, enjoying this little game.

  “Well, no pressure is needed, I would like to be on your team, but I was kind of hoping to compete alongside Jay this year. I want to watch his back to make up for almost breaking it last year.”

  “Well…alright, I guess I can make an offer to you too bro.” Donny said.

  “Thanks for the offer, I’ll get back to you after I weight all my options,” Jay mocked, “I do have to think of what would work best for me.”

  DONNY HAD A difficult time getting to sleep that night. The joking conversation during the practice with his brother kept playing over in his mind. They had all agreed to be on Donny’s team in the end, but Donny could not keep himself happy about this. Michael was quietly dedicated to his learning, and seeing how Michael and Jay worked together Donny could tell that Michael listened well, and would be open to suggestions and trying new things. Zahrah too was very talented with her speed, and had experience in the games playing for a winning team. The part that Donny was not completely happy with was having his brother on the team.

  He knew himself well enough to know that his jokes earlier had some truth in them. Donny loved his brother, and Jay will be a strong asset to the team, but having Jay on the team ruins the strategy that Donny would have liked to implement. Any team with Jay on it is automatically labeled as a threat, and Donny knew that the other teams would begin thinking up plans specifically designed to face his team, making it all the more difficult to come up with something new. Donny wanted to use his age as an advantage, in order to fly under the radar and strike with something they had not seen before.

  There was also the problem of trying to compose a team that would be willing to follow him, instead of following his brother. He already had half a dozen of the top students at the school approach him with offers to join his team since word began getting out about Jay joining Donny’s team that afternoon. Donny could tell they would be strong additions to the power of his team, and with each offer his mind would become filled with ideas of all the ways he could utilize their ability, but in each case he could not bring himself to accept, because he knew they just wanted to be on Jay’s team. He told them instead that he would not be making any more team acceptances until he could see people in action at the scheduled simulation team try outs.

  Donny realized he would have to rethink how he was going to handle these games. He reset his alarm to get up a little earlier the next morning in order to start fresh making plans, and was finally content to fall asleep.

  WORD SPREAD LIKE a tidal wave that Jay would be playing for his younger brother’s simulation games team, and a second wave followed right behind it that Donny would not be taking any more members until after the try outs. This had the negative consequence of making the rest of Donny’s Advanced Strategic Leadership class angry at him, because they wanted to have their teams set early, and many key players were now waiting until the try outs in order to have a shot at playing for “Decathlon’s team”.

  Donny was not making decisions until after the try outs, but he was certainly making mental notes on the different players. One way that he found to make it easy to cross someone off of his list is when they referred to Donny’s team as being Decathlon’s team. This had the unfortunately effect of getting rid of just about every player who talked to him, as the colors had not been chosen yet, and the title of “Decathlon’s Team” had become the accepted name for the team Donny would be leading.

  One thing that Donny found himself relieved in was his improvement in Advanced Mind Distortion. It was certainly a difficult class, but once they arrived on the topic of cover thoughts, Donny found a niche that he could use to keep all but the most powerful mind readers out, and since the only mind readers around with enough strength to get by his blocks were Jay and the professors, Donny felt content with the knowledge that he could cross these players off his list while keeping up a facade of potential interest. Donny was able to handle cover thoughts pretty well, as this is the name of the technique he had applied when he was back home during Jay’s initial acceptance test, when he was trying to avoid the mind reading sentry sent to catch him. Cover thoughts are when a person forces themselves to think about a particular thing with enough of their mind to force that picture to be the one coming up in a reader’s head, while still being able to think on another topic underneath this “cover” topic. Donny found it difficult to think clearly under the blocking picture at first, but he quickly got used to the technique, and was soon able to keep a moving picture on top while his thoughts remained clear to him underneath.

  Not every prospective player was a disappointment for Donny. A female Prometheus from his Advanced Mind Distortion class complemented him on his techniques during class one day, and told him “with a mind as determined as yours, your simulation team is bound to do alright.” Donny knew this was not the level of confidence he was hoping for, but she recognized his determination, and called it his simulation team. Donny made a mental note to watch her at the try outs.

  Without a full team to work with, but still wanting to get started making plans, Donny and Jay’s afternoon get together quickly became team meetings, where they would discuss new possibilities and team strategies. Donny listened intently to every idea, but only a few of them he would be willing to try. Once again he found himself impressed with Michael, who had his best ideas when his excitement got the best of him and he began to think of outrageous and possibly impossible ideas.

  It was one of Michael’s crazy ideas that Donny decided to work with first. During one of their meetings, Michael made the joke that Jay could “fly super fast over to the other side and steal the other team’s directions and supplies right at the start of the game.”

  Donny knew his brother could not fly, and Donny was reminded of this fact constantly on their way to the arena to try out ‘Snake’s strategy’. He knew the plan as Michael had said it was not a possibility, but Donny knew his brother did not actually need to fly to get to the other side in time. They arrived at the arena and walked in through one of the side doors. Donny had never seen the arena from the inside before, and he was amazed at how large it appeared. He knew the building looked large from the outside, but inside he was able to appreciate just how enormous it really was, and despite there being nothing set up inside, he still could not see the door on the other side of the arena from the sheer distance of it. He looked up at the ceiling, which quickly sloped upwards above them, reaching heights that made him feel like this was just a metallic sky above them. They turned on the lights, and they glistened off the metallic curved roof. Donny could see a ways out a spot where the light glistened differently, due to the ceiling being dented outward. Donny realized that must have been the place where his brother had crashed, but he had not expected it to be quite that high. No wonder people think he can fly.

  Donny shook himself out of his state of awe, and turned to Jay. “Ok, I know you can’t fly, but if you can really jump as high as that dent in the ceiling, and with enough force to bend the metal roof, it’s almost as good as being able to fly in this environment. I want to test your jumping ability today.”

  They spent the next hour with Donny drawing lines in the dirt further and further from the door, seeing how far Jay could jump without hurting himself. It was not very far before Jay’s legs began to bother him on the landings, but Donny quickly realized this was not due to an inability to jump that far, but simply due to their not having a Titan around for Jay to maintain the strength to withstand the pressure of the landing. They continued the exercise, but now they sent Jay to run through the halls until he felt strong between each jump. This time, the mixture of having just been powered up by those in the halls, as w
ell as the momentum of his run, Jay was having trouble keeping himself from jumping too far past the lines being drawn. Once their planned practice time had ended, Jay had not yet reached his limit, so they planned to meet at the same time the next day to continue.

  WE NEED A Titan.

  Donny decided to catch dinner a little later, in order that he could eat alone and think about how he could improve on Jay’s jumps in the arena. He could keep Jay running through the halls before each jump, but inevitably his strength would begin to disappear in the time between his leaving the main building of the school and his taking the jump in the arena. He needed someone to be there at the end, that Jay could get some power from at the moment right before his jump, and keep his strength at the end. The problem was that the only Titans he really knew were those first years in his room, and he had not spoken enough to the older ones to be convinced that any of them would be good additions to his team. He knew he had to find one that would be willing to follow him, and would be able to keep a secret about the things they were practicing.

  Donny watched for a while as people came and went from the dining hall. He watched not knowing exactly what he was looking for, but wanting some sign of who he should approach. After a while, he found a candidate. Through the door walked a tall, thickly built Titan. The Titan filled his plate, and sat down at a small table by himself. Donny had heard about this Titan before, but had never met him. He was called Lenny, because he resembled a character from an old book called ‘Of Mice and Men’. He was a large guy in size and strength, but it was said that his intelligence was lacking. He was known in the school because he had been there longer than most, as he moved slowly through the classes

  Picking up his food, which had long since lost its warmth from sitting untouched in front of Donny for so long, Donny walked over to the table where Lenny sat. “Is this seat taken?” He asked the giant.

  Lenny looked over at Donny, then back at the chair, then back up at Donny. Donny could not tell if he did not understand the question, or just did not understand why Donny would be asking it, but he decided it would be alright to just sit down.

  “I’m Donny,” Donny said, extending his hand. Lenny continued to just watch Donny, not accepting his hand, or even looking down at it. Donny soon lowered his hand back down. “It’s Lenny, right? …right, ok, well I was wondering, have you ever played in the simulation games Lenny?”

  Donny could see immediately that Lenny did not like the topic. Lenny’s face turned sour, then he looked down at his food, and began to eat again. Donny realized this was Lenny’s signal that he did not want Donny around anymore, so Donny took his food and moved back to his old table. He did not look at Lenny directly, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Lenny look up at him a few times while eating.

  CHAPTER 3

  “SO WHAT’S THIS we hear about you trying to talk to Lenny?”

  A group of first year Titans had come over to Donny’s bed while he was sitting there studying for his upcoming Defensive Tactics quiz. They were not angry at Donny, instead they seemed amused that he would attempt such a conversation. With most people Donny would try to change the topic, or avoid conversation, but he knew these guys were not going to be in the simulation games, and they would most likely be rooting for him anyways, so he knew they were not digging for information. “It wasn’t a very successful try, I’ll tell you that much.”

  “Of course it wasn’t a successful try, you can’t have a conversation with someone who can’t speak,” one of the Titans remarked, and the rest laughed.

  Donny could not tell if this was supposed to be a joke, or if he was serious. “Can he really not speak? Or does he just not want to?”

  “No, he really doesn’t know how to speak. At least that’s what I’ve heard. He hasn’t said anything to anyone at least for as long as the current seniors have been here, although I guess he’s a few years older than them. Why would you want to talk to him anyways?”

  “He was sitting alone, and so was I. I figured it couldn’t hurt to be friendly,” Donny lied.

  “I heard you brought up the simulation games,” one of the Titans said, “a Hermes friend of mine was at a table nearby and he said he heard you mention the simulation games.” The other Titans made faces of amazement, expressing their judgment of Donny’s actions. Clearly there was something they knew that Donny did not.

  “Hold on guys, what’s wrong with bringing up the simulation games?” Donny was not in the mood to be discrete, and he wanted to know immediately if his actions would have negative consequences.

  “I heard he participated in the simulation games one year, and it was a disaster. He had made friends with someone else on the team, and I guess the friend was searching for something while being backed up by someone else on their team. Lenny thought the backup was someone sneaking up on his friend, and jumped him. The rest of the team converged on him to get him off, and he ended up fighting with the lot of them. Needless to say they lost the game.”

  “What happened to the friend?” Donny asked.

  “The friend? I don’t know, I guess they stopped being friends after that. Anyways, supposedly whenever Lenny hears about the simulation games now he gets angry. I’d suggest you refrain from bringing that topic back up.”

  Donny was a little annoyed that he had not heard all of this before he made a fool of himself. Still, it was good to know this now. “Does anyone know when he typically gets breakfast? I’d like to apologize to him.”

  DONNY GOT TO the cafeteria a little before Lenny was due to arrive, and waited for him to get there. Right on schedule, Lenny walked into the cafeteria, grabbed some food, and sat down at the same table he had sat at the evening before. As Donny approached, he could not help but notice that Lenny had taken almost the same food for breakfast as he had taken for dinner the night before; steak, two peanut butter sandwiches, a glass of water, and a brownie. The only difference was that Donny had not noticed the brownie the night before, but sure enough Lenny had already eaten the brownie before Donny even got to the table.

  It was immediately clear that Lenny remembered Donny, for as Donny sat down, Lenny looked up and frowned, then went right back to eating. Donny began right away, as apologetically as he could. “Hey, Lenny. I just wanted to apologize for last night, I didn’t mean to make you upset. I was just going to ask for your help with something, but I understand that you prefer to keep to yourself, so I will not bother you anymore if you would prefer I left. Would you prefer I left?”

  Lenny continued eating, and made no motion as if to respond in any way. It suddenly occurred to Donny that Lenny might not understand what he was saying either. Donny decided Lenny was clearly ignoring him, and this was a good enough sign for Donny to leave him be. Donny moved to another table to finish his breakfast.

  WITH LENNY IN the back of his mind, Donny focused as well as he could through his classes. Simulation games try-outs were the upcoming weekend, and in preparation for it Advanced Strategic Leadership was focusing on strategies for team selection. The most interesting part of this topic for Donny was that he was beginning to disagree with it. They were being taught to plan out their strategies before choosing their team, so they could pick players that could be used to fit their strategies. That was what Donny had originally planned, but after the past few weeks working with Jay, Michael, and Zahrah, he was beginning to realize that he preferred their new method of looking at the team members and finding strategies based on their strengths. Besides, he was one person, and soon he would have a whole team to come up with good strategic options. He listened for the sake of the weekly quiz, but he decided he would choose the team his own way.

  After classes were over Donny went back to the cafeteria for lunch. After gathering his food, he went and sat down at a small table. He did not want to make a habit out of eating alone, but with so much to prepare, he decided it would be better to work through a few meals without distractions. While thinking through his Advanced Mind Distortion materia
l, a distraction came nevertheless. He looked up, as he often did when he was trying to make sure he understood the material, and he noticed Lenny, standing off to the side of the buffet tables, waiting for something. Donny wondered for a moment what he could be waiting for, but after following Lenny’s gaze it became clear; the plate where the brownies normally sat was empty. Lenny was waiting there for the plate to be refilled, but unfortunately for him there was no sign of anyone coming with a new batch of brownies. Donny looked down at his own food. After seeing Lenny consume his brownie during breakfast with such satisfaction, Donny decided to try one himself, so he had taken one to have for a desert after his lunch. The brownie was still there, sitting on its own little plate, uneaten as Donny had, once again, become distracted from his meal.

  After a few moments, Donny could not take it anymore. Lenny was a large guy, but people were walking by him and around him as if he were not even there. Donny could tell Lenny was a man of routine, and this was ruining his routine. Donny got up, taking the small plate and the brownie on top of it with him. He walked up to Lenny, who immediately saw Donny with the brownie and directed his full attention to Donny. Without a word, Donny smiled at Lenny and extended the plate to Lenny. As before, Lenny made no movements, but just looked back and forth from Donny to the brownie. Since Lenny did not take the brownie, Donny moved it down and placed the plate on Lenny’s tray, in the spot where the brownie had sat that morning, which was now just an open spot waiting to be filled. Unsure of what to do next, Donny nodded at Lenny, and returned to his table.

  Donny had just begun looking over his work again when a shadow came over him. He looked up, and there towering above him was Lenny, who was leaning over with his hand extended. Donny was afraid for a brief moment, unsure of what Lenny planned to do with him. Then he noticed the trace of a smile on Lenny’s face, and realized why Lenny was reaching towards him. Donny took Lenny’s hand and shook it. Lenny sat down at the table across from Donny, and they ate together in silence.