The Games Villains Play

CHAPTER 1

CHESS HAS
NEVER been
one of Donny’s favorite games.  It is
not that he is bad at the game;
on the contrary, he can be quite clever with his moves, and he always wins.  It is more the limitations that bother him.  Donny looks at the chess board and sees two even sides, both of which contain the same p
ieces that
may perform the same moves.  The pawns march forward obediently, slowly advancing to their inevitable demise at the hands of a faster rook or a clever knight.  The queen flies about the board, striking down enemies while being guarded against traps, valued second behind the king alone. 

Donny felt certain that this game would be far more exciting if people were willing to tweak the game.  He wanted to train his pawns to move sideways, or disguise his king to look like a bishop.  What is the king doing in battle anyway, since he is clearly nothing more than a liability?  Adding a third or fourth p
arty would also appeal to Donny
as it would introduce diplomacy and force alliances.  In chess, all the possible moves are known.  Donny hungered for something more, a game without boundaries, where the limitations were simply the limits of the imagination.  A game so fluid that even the tiniest pawn, when well placed, can completely change the game.

When the Academy came for Donny,
he knew this was his chance to
play in the most dynamic game ever.

Donny knew he was a unique case, so he had very little idea of what to expect when he arrived at the school to train super heroes.  The first clue that Donny would not be like the rest of the students was simple.  The Academy existed to train those children with super powers to be the next generation of heroes to defend the world.  As such, the Academy would search around
the globe, gathering together all those with powers in order to train them, as they had the year prior when they accepted Donny’s older brother Jay due to an ability to read minds.  The problem with Donny was that he had no super powers.  The three known powers were mind reading, super strength, and super speed, but Donny was accepted for “extreme strategic aptitude”.  It was a nice compliment, but somehow Donny could not believe that they would deviate from their usual student selections no matter how adept he was at strategy.  Then there was the fact that they only accepted seniors out of high school, while Donny was still a junior. 
Why would they accept a student without powers a year earlier than the rest?
  Donny kept asking himself.  There was only one explanation that Donny could come up with; there was something bigger going on, and the school needed to use Donny for something that could not wait until the following year.  Donny was going to the school not to be a hero, but to be a pawn.  Once Donny realized that the school was lying to him in order to attract him to the school under false pretenses, he knew the only logical reaction would be to reject the offer, and stay away from the Academy.  Reaching this realization, he informed the Academy of his decision.  He accepted admittance without hesitation.

Maybe he would be a pawn, but at least he would be in the game.

DONNY QUICKLY LEARNED that the trip to the Academy would not be a short one.  Leaving home with his designated guide, Donny was informed that the trip would begin with a long car ride to a small designated airport.  At this airport they, along with one other recruit and
her guide, were to fly to a bigger airport, where they would switch planes and join the rest of the country’s recruits for the final flight to the Academy.  Donny did not mind the long trip as he knew it would allow him time to prepare.  Being the only student without any powers, he knew he would need a game plan for how to proceed.

Donny planned to use the drive to begin his planning, so he would be ready once he met up with the first student at the airport, but as soon as the drive commenced, his guide announced that the driving portion would be allotted to answering any questions he might have regarding the Academy, or the process he would soon go through.  Realizing he needs to know what to expect before he plans how to deal with it, Donny dove right in, asking everything from the number of students accepted to the class load offered.  His guide answered all Donny’s questions in detail, gladly telling him all he wanted to know, making sure to focus on important facts, such as the terms for the heroes at the school being Prometheus for mind readers, Hermes for speedsters, and Titans for those with super strength.

As they neared the airport, Donny’s guide asked Donny if t
here were
any important questions he wanted answers to before their time was up.

“Yes, one more,” Donny answered.  “My brother Jay is a student at the Academy already – he began last year.  Do you happen to know how he has been doing?”  Donny realized it wa
s unlikely for his guide
to have any information regarding Jay, but on the off chance
he
had been given any information, knowing he would be picking up Jay’s brother, Donny wanted to know.

The guide paused.  It was the first time in the entire trip t
hat he did not immediately jump
into a detailed answer.  Choosing his words carefully, the guide responded as they parked at the airport.

“I have heard a great deal about your brother Jay.  Th
ey call him Decathlon now.  He is
doing…very well there.  I think it would be best for you to see for yourself when you arrive.”  With the cryptic answer given, they exited the car in silence,
leaving Donny’s head swimming with
hundreds
of possible explanations for this
unusual response.

DONNY EXPECTED TO be able to identify the power of his classmate as soon as he saw he
r, but it was harder to tell tha
n he expected.  To this point in his life, Donny had only met three people with special abilities, and they were all Prometheus.  Those three all looked normal to Donny, but he expected that mind readers would.  He had assumed that when
he saw a Hermes or a Titan,
they would stand out in some way.  Their powers being more physical, he thought there would have to be some physical sign with which to identify them.

When he looked at his new traveling companion, she looked mostly normal, and yet not quite so.  Donny could tell that there was strength to her, but her arms looked more lean than large, and he had a hard time imagining that they could be the arms of a Titan.  She moved gracefully, yet there was no sign of excessive speed in anything she was doing, so he doubted that she was a Hermes.  That left Prometheus.  Somehow he could not believ
e this either, since if she was
a Prometheus she would be able to see that his thoughts were on nothing but her, and as
she showed
no signs of discomfort, Donny gratefully decided she must not be a Prometheus. 
Could she also have been accepted without powers?
he
wondered.

Donny debated with himself over how to initiate a conversation, as he was dying to know what she could do, when the problem was solved for him.  As soon as the plane had successfully taken off, she turned from the window and asked Donny exactly what he wanted to ask her.

“So what can you do?”

Donny laughed at her bluntness, but he was grateful for it.  If she felt comfortable being that direct with him, he knew he could be free to respond in a similar fashion.

Donny opened his mouth to answer, but before he could make a sound, she interrupted
.  “On second thought, let me guess, it’s more fun that way.  You’re a Prometheus, aren’t you?”  Her smile showed her certainty of this answer, and Donny could not blame her for reaching t
his conclusion.  It was the most logical.

“Nope, not a Prometheus,” Donny replied, to which she raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Well, I guess you would be a Hermes then.  Interesting, you hide it well.”

“It’s easy to hide, as I am not a Hermes either.”

She turned to him in surprise.  “You can’t be a Titan…can you?”

Donny thought about pretending to be offended by this remark, but he decided he did not know her well enough for that yet.  “Actually no, I am not a Titan either.”

“I don’t understand… I thought they told me you were going to be a student at the school as well?”

“I am, but I do not have any special powers,” Donny revealed.  “I was accepted based on strategic aptitude.” 

“Oh, so you’re brilliant.  Interesting, I didn’t realize the school accepted people based on that qualification.”

Donny smiled.  He had not thought of it like that before, and he certainly did not consider himself brilliant.  “I wouldn’t say that I’m brilliant, I guess I’m just good at figuring out how things work.”

“I’m sure you are more than just good at it if the school is willing to train you to be a hero based on
that ability,” s
he said matter-of-
factly.  He knew she was right, but he still did not consider himself worthy of the title ‘brilliant’.

“What about you, what can you do?”  Donny asked, wanting to change the subject away from his unusual acceptance situation.

“Why don’t you guess?” s
he said, turning completely towards him now.  Donny could see that she was excited to hear what he would choose.  His honest answer would be to guess that she had no ability either, but as she seemed surprised by his acceptance, she must have some ability. 
There must be some clue as to what she can
do…something I have overlooked,
Donny thought to himself.

Then he saw her
hands.  Covering her hands was
a pair of silver gloves, but they were
not the type of gloves one wears for warmth
.  He could see that the
palms and fingers
were padded, and they co
vered her wrists tight
, showing that they
were supplying support.  There is
only one reason someone would wear lifting gloves in the middle of the day like this.

“You’re a Titan.”

The girl gave a smirk.  “I’m impressed already, usually people guess Prometheus first.  What gave me away?”

“I noticed you were wearing lifting gloves.  I figured if you wear lifting gloves in the middle of the day like this, you must be used to being asked to lift a lot.”

“Yeah, I like to be prepared, and the gloves are a lot more comfortable than bare handed lifting when the weights get higher.”

“How high can the weight go?  I mean, how much weight can you lift before it gets to be too mu
ch for you?
”

“I don’t know for sure.  I usually lift a car when people want a demonstration, but I try not to lift objects that are too heavy.  Being the only Titan around, there is nobody who could help if I lost my grip or if the weight got to be too much.  That’s one thing I am really excited about for the Academy.  With other Titans around, I can test my strength and see just how far I can really go.”

Donny found this utterly amazing.  Lifting a car is not too heavy? 
With people like that at the Academy, I better watch my step
.  “And here I am proud of myself fo
r being able to bench my weight,”
Donny joked.

“Ha, well I’m sure you could find a way to lift a car, using levers and fulcrums, or something like that,”
s
he joked.

“Maybe, but I am still going to be at a disadvantage should the need arise.”

“I do find it amazing that the Academy accepted someone without one of the three known powers,” she mused.  “Maybe they are trying to com
pensate for that second year that
has all three.”

Donny could not believe his ears.  “
Wait,
there is a second year who has all three of the abilities? 
As in,
superspeed
,
superstrength
, and mind reading?”
 

“Yeah, you hadn’t heard?  My guide was telling me about him on the drive over.  He sounds pretty amazing.”

“Yeah, he certainly does.  What do they call him?  Did they create a new name for such a hero?  They’ve got Prometheus, Titan, and Hermes – what do they call him, Zeus or something?”

“I don’t know, my guide mentioned that they call him Decathlon, but I think that is just a nickname.  I think Triathlon would have been more fitting…”

She continued talking, but Donny did not hear anything more.  He thought back to the drive over with his guide, and how cryptic he had been when asked about Donny’s brother Jay
.  I have
heard a great deal about your brother Jay.  Th
ey call him Decathlon now.  He is
doing very well there,
Donny recalled.

Now it made sense why the Academy accep
ted him.  Jay has every ability;
a situation that has never happened before.  Donny has none, but is the br
other of the most powerful hero-in-
training ever.  Even though heredity has never been found to factor into the development of abilities, this is a new case, and even if there is a slim chance, the Academy has to try.