Chapter 100

Returning to her tablet, Brenna says, “Whatever. But if you get caught and Thomas bans allof us from the server, he won’t be the only one who hates you after that.”

Lee picks up his tray, no longer hungry. “You’re just scared because you know I’d win,” he mutters, then hurries off before she can contradict him and get in the last word.

* * * *

When Lee gets off duty at 2100 hours, he skips the rec room—why bother going if he can’t play? At least in his quarters, he’s able to connect to the games server on his tablet, even if Ownedis slow to load on the handheld device. Thomas hasn’t yet banned all games, but he knows he’ll have to be careful. After logging in, his first stop is the main chat room, where he scrolls through the usernames looking for any he recognizes. Brenna must’ve been serious about staying away, though, because she isn’t listed, and when he clicks on her name in his list of previous opponents, it shows her as offline.

Figures.She beat him once and now she’s too scared to try him again. In a fair fight, she knows he’ll win.

He goes back to the chat room, looking for someone with stats comparable to his. He wants a challenger, not someone he can knock over in a minute and a half. Someone worthy of fighting him. Someone—

Suddenly a private chat request appears on his screen. New message from JoTho: Accept or Reject?

Lee taps Accept, even though he doesn’t recognize the username. He’s used to such requests—he’s a damn good player, in the top fifty on the leaderboard, the top 5 onboard the Nova, so he always gets offers whenever he logs on. Just because Bren doesn’t want to fight him doesn’t mean he isn’t in high demand.

A small window appears in the center of his screen.

JoTho: yo dude u wanna fite?

Lee rolls his eyes. Spell much?he thinks. This JoTho’s probably some twelve-year-old kid back on Earth, hiding his tablet under his blankets because he’s supposed to be asleep. His parents will be in for a rude awakening when the data bill arrives. Probably isn’t even worth fighting. Lee clicks on JoTho’s avatar to see his stats.

Then he changes his mind.

Not bad, he thinks, scrolling through the numbersNot as good as his own, but then again, few are. A glance through JoTho’s past opponents reads like roll call for the Nova—he’s played most everyone on the ship, including everyone into the game in Lee’s squadron except for Lee himself.

And beaten most of them, too.

The handful of players JoTho hasn’t bested are the same ones Lee can’t quite conquer yet. No one from the Nova, but a few offworlders Lee thinks win by cheating somehow. But JoTho beat Brenna, and badly, so he probably thinks Lee’s a sure win.

Yeah right, fella. Prepare to lose

Without answering the message, Lee sends JoTho a fight request.

He gets a one-word response—lol—then the screen refreshes; JoTho has accepted his request. On screen now is a rotating, 360° view of Lee’s avatar, with callouts highlighting aspects of his armor he can change, if he wants. A display shows his current stats, everything from Strengthand Defenseto Reflexesand Endurance. Lee gives everything a quick onceover to make sure it looks good, then clicks the pulsing Ready to Rumble!button.

There’s a small delay as the system sets up the arena. For a moment Lee only sees himself in the cage. Then another player appears, heavily armored with spiked plates. That’s a little scary. JoTho dwarfs him, but Lee’s learned size isn’t always a good judge of a player. In the confines of the cage, being toobig can actually be a handicap sometimes.

Alone in his quarters, Lee murmurs out loud, “Looks like someone’s compensating for somethinghere.” Did he think the kid was twelve? That was being generous. He’s probably a nerdy teenager who plays Ownedevery night instead of going out and trying to get laid. What a loser.

Below the arena, there’s a message area where opponents can chat during the game, if they want. Most use it for trash talk—that’s where a player’s catch phrase appears right before the killing blow. The only other time Lee’s ever seen it used was to notify him that his opponent would BRB between rounds. He uses the acronym himself sometimes, and can’t help but think it should stand for bathroom breakinstead of be right back. Because, let’s face it, where else would someone have to go in the middle of a game?

Every now and then, an opponent will type something sporting before the fight begins, like good luck. Lee used to do that, but few ever bothered to return the gesture, so he stopped. Now he just hits the Playbutton as fast as he can before the game actually starts so he’ll come out swinging and, hopefully, get in the first hit.