Chapter 54: Julien's Home Turf

On Saturday, Aldric arrived at the laser tag arena.

The front of the building was covered in fluorescent lightning bolts. Two teenagers came running out wearing glowing vests, pursued by an employee telling them to come back and return the equipment. Above the entrance, a sign read COMBAT ZONE - THREE LEVELS - IMMERSIVE MAZE. Aldric looked up at the words combat zone, which were written twice as large as everything else.

Julien arrived a minute later.

"You're already here."

"The invitation said two o'clock."

Julien checked his phone.

"It's one fifty."

Julien put his phone away. A few minutes later, Maxime joined them with a man around their age whom Aldric did not know.

Maxime introduced them.

"Aldric, Victor. Victor, Aldric."

Victor held out his hand.

"So you're him."

"Yes," Aldric replied as he shook it.

A silence followed. Victor was clearly waiting for something more, while Aldric, who considered himself to have answered everything that had been said to him, waited as well.

"That's it?" Victor finally asked.

"Your statement did not contain a question."

"I warned you," Maxime said.

"I thought you were exaggerating."

"About what?" Aldric asked.

Victor opened his mouth, but Julien interrupted before he could answer.

"We should go inside."

"Julien talks about you a lot," Victor explained anyway.

"No."

"Yes," Maxime confirmed.

"I talked about Mortal Kombat."

"And Aldric."

"Because he was playing Mortal Kombat."

"Then you were talking about me."

"We're going inside."

Once inside, Julien headed for the counter.

A man in his thirties stood behind it. Julien glanced toward the door leading to the arenas. The employee who had greeted him the last time he was there was nowhere in sight.

His shoulders relaxed.

"Hello. Do you have a reservation?" the man asked.

"Yes. Julien, two o'clock. Four players."

The employee checked his screen.

"Is this your first time?"

"First time with this group."

"I meant you."

"Oh."

"Have you been here before?"

"No, never together."

The employee pointed them toward a door on the right.

"Enzo will come get you for the briefing."

The door opened, and a man wearing a black polo shirt with red sleeves and ENZO printed in white across the chest poked his head into the hallway.

"The group of four for two o'clock?"

"That's us," Julien replied.

"Perfect. Follow me."

Enzo led them into a room where several black vests hung along the wall. Each one had glowing sensors on the chest, back, and shoulders, along with a gun.

"Do these illuminated areas indicate where an opponent is supposed to hit us?" Aldric asked.

"Exactly," Enzo replied.

Aldric turned the vest around.

"So we're wearing targets on our chests, backs, and shoulders."

"That's the idea."

He then picked up the gun and noticed a red light glowing along the barrel.

"And the weapon emits light while in use. In an environment kept in darkness."

"Don't start," Julien said.

"I'm trying to understand why the equipment reveals both the combatant's position and the locations where he needs to be hit."

"Because otherwise nobody scores any points," Julien replied.

Enzo resumed his explanation before Aldric could identify another weakness in the equipment. Running, lying down, climbing on the scenery, covering the sensors, and making physical contact with other players were all prohibited. With every new rule, Aldric's interest in this supposed combat zone diminished.

"Can we disarm an opponent?"

"No."

"Physically block their path?"

"No."

"Use part of the environment to distract them?"

This chapter appears on NovelPhoenix under its author's publication; this copy was made without permission, and reading there supports the author.

"As long as you don't move it."

Aldric finally looked satisfied to have found something that was allowed.

"Can we pretend to be neutralized?"

"Your vest switches off when you're hit. You're neutralized for five seconds before you can start playing again."

"So I return to combat five seconds after my death. A temporary resurrection."

"You could put it that way..."

△ NEW ACTIVITY DETECTED △ 

Ranged Combat Simulation

 

Primary Objective: Achieve the Highest Score

Unusual Constraints: 7

Estimated Advantage for Julien: Unable to Determine

The double doors opened onto an arena made up of narrow corridors separated by black partitions covered in fluorescent patterns. Several ramps led to the upper levels, while openings allowed players to shoot from one floor to another.

Julien went in. Victor, walking behind him, slowed when he saw him immediately choose a direction.

"Does he know where he's going?"

"Apparently," Aldric replied.

"Has he been here before?"

Julien turned around.

"Are we playing?"

The first game began thirty seconds later. Aldric entered the first corridor, his gaze moving between the openings and the walkways above. In a real battle, taking this much time to study the terrain would have been dangerous. Here, no one could kill him, and running was forbidden. He could therefore observe before deciding how to fight.

Footsteps echoed across a walkway as a shot came from his left and someone descended a ramp. Aldric advanced to the first corner, caught sight of a blue light, and fired. The beam struck the partition just before the light disappeared.

His vest vibrated and switched off.

"Got you," Julien announced from behind him.

By the time Aldric turned around, Julien had already disappeared. He had clearly prepared the attack, and the smile on his face before he vanished suggested that it had gone exactly as planned.

As soon as his vest came back on, Aldric resumed moving and reached a central area overlooked by two walkways. Victor appeared above him. Both raised their weapons, but Victor fired first and missed his sensor. Aldric returned fire and switched off his vest.

"All right," Victor said. "Nice to meet you too."

"That introduction was more informative than the first."

Aldric moved on without waiting for his opponent to reactivate.

"I'm starting to understand why you talk about him so much, Julien!" Victor shouted.

A voice answered from somewhere in the darkness.

"I don't talk about him that much!"

A shot hit Victor in the back.

"Where were you?"

By the time he turned around, Julien had already disappeared.

Aldric was neutralized a second time near a tunnel lit in red, where Julien was waiting behind a narrow opening. He changed levels, only to find Julien in his path again. Aldric then tried a lower passage he had never used before. Less than thirty seconds later, Julien appeared behind him.

At this point, luck was becoming an increasingly unconvincing explanation.

When the siren announced the end of the game, they returned to the equipment room, where the screen displayed the rankings.

1. Julien - 8,420 points

2. Aldric - 5,160 points

3. Victor - 4,870 points

4. Maxime - 4,230 points

Julien read the rankings, then stepped back and crossed his arms. He looked away at the wall before glancing back at the screen. His name was still above Aldric's. The corners of his mouth lifted.

"Well?"

"Well played," Aldric said.

"Your military experience wasn't enough?"

"Most of my military experience allowed physical contact, rapid movement, and concealing one's targets."

"You're making excuses."

"You were better than me."

"Stop being gracious when I win. It makes this much less satisfying..."

Victor looked at Maxime.

"He really wanted to win."

"You haven't seen anything yet."

"I can hear you," Julien said.

From the beginning of the second game, Aldric stopped following Julien and focused instead on everyone's habits. Victor regularly returned to the upper levels, while Maxime frequently changed floors. Julien was harder to predict. He rarely took the same route twice.

Aldric still managed to hit him twice. The second time, Julien looked down at his darkened vest.

"You're starting to figure it out..."

During the third game, Aldric learned to fire before exposing his chest and to use Maxime and Victor's movements to conceal his own. The gap narrowed again, but Julien still finished first.

"Three to zero," he announced.

"We are not counting the games that way. The ranking is individual."

During the next break, Aldric went over to Enzo to clarify a few points about the rules.

"Does distance affect the number of points awarded? A shot from two meters away is therefore worth the same as a successful shot from the other side of the arena?"

"Yes."

"Even against a moving opponent?"

"Yes."

"So the scoring system makes no distinction between difficulty, risk, or the tactical value of the target."

"It's laser tag," Enzo finally replied. "Not a military campaign."

"The sign outside does use the words 'combat zone.'"

"That's marketing."

"Marketing appears to benefit from a particular tolerance for inaccurate information."

Maxime placed a hand on his shoulder as he walked past.

"Don't bother."

They checked the statistics next. Aldric had fired fewer shots than anyone else, but his accuracy was the second highest, just behind Julien's. On the other hand, he had spent far too much time neutralized.

Julien pointed at that statistic.

"You think too long before moving. Sometimes a quick bad decision scores more points than a good decision made too late."

"That rule explains several of your movements."

"All right. We're going back in..."

They returned to the arena for one final game. Julien headed toward his starting position without looking around or hesitating over which route to take. Aldric watched him until he disappeared behind a partition.

This time, Aldric decided to keep an eye on him. As soon as the game began, he followed Julien from a distance.

Julien went down the first corridor, turned right, passed behind a partition, then took a ramp that was barely visible from the lower level. Not once did he slow down to find his way.

Aldric watched him reach the upper level, then changed direction to try to flank him. He crossed a tunnel, went up a ramp, and emerged at an opening overlooking the lower level, but Julien was already gone.

Aldric was trying to determine where he could have gone when a sound came from behind him. He turned, but his vest switched off before he could raise his weapon. Julien was standing behind an opening Aldric had not even noticed.

Aldric resumed playing when his vest came back on. He encountered Maxime in a corridor and neutralized him before he could get behind cover, then spotted Victor on a walkway. This time, he fired without waiting until he was certain he would hit him. The beam struck one of his sensors.

Aldric kept moving. Twice, he caught sight of Julien between the partitions without managing to get a clear shot. Julien, on the other hand, never seemed to need to find his way. Every time he disappeared through one passage, he emerged somewhere else.

Julien appeared at the end of a corridor and hit Aldric before he could get behind cover.

"Fourth victory," he announced.

"The game isn't over yet."

"It will be soon."

"You are indeed better."

Julien stopped.

"Can you say that again?"

"You are better."

"One more time."

"Why?"

"I'm checking something."

Victor walked past behind them.

"He's checking how long he can make this moment last."

Julien spun around and shot him directly in the chest. Victor's vest switched off.

"Hey!"

"You were in range."

"We were talking!"

"No one asked for your opinion."

"Your reaction time has improved," Aldric observed.

"Can you say that again?"

The siren sounded before Aldric could answer.

Back in the equipment room, the rankings confirmed that Julien had finished first for the fourth time, with a lead of nearly two thousand points. He spent much of the walk back toward the reception area commenting on his best eliminations.

"You've been waiting for this since Mortal Kombat, haven't you?" Maxime said.

"I don't know what you're talking about. It was an activity between friends. I won. I'm allowed to be happy."

"You mostly look way too happy."

Julien shrugged.

"It's not my fault you all lost."

Now that Aldric knew the terrain better, certain details from their earlier games came back to him. Julien had always known where to go. He had never searched for a ramp, taken a wrong passage, or discovered an opening by accident. Even after Aldric had begun anticipating his movements, Julien had always found another route.

Aldric studied the map of the arena.

Julien already knew the terrain.

Behind him, Maxime and Victor were still making fun of how pleased he was with his victory. Julien eventually left them and joined Aldric.

"Do you want to admit a second time that I was better?"

"How many times have you been to this arena before?"

Julien's smile disappeared.