The Games Villains Play (4 page)

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 te
st 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 well 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 mo
ved 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 simu
lation 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 abou
t 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 yo
u 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 somethi
ng 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 wo
uld 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.  Needl
ess to say they lost the game.”

“What happene
d 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 fro
m 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 befo
re 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 l
eft.  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 wou
ld 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 material, 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, be
come 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 Le
nny, 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.

DONNY CONSIDERED HIMSELF
to be good at reading the facial expressions of people, but sometimes a reaction comes along in which there are just too many jumbled emotions to interpret.  This was the reaction on the faces of Jay, Michael, and
Zahrah
when Donny arrived at practice that afternoon followe
d closely by the giant Lenny. 

“Guys, this is my new friend Lenny; Lenny, these are some of my other friends,” Donny said in introduction.  Lenny extended his hand, but unsure who to extend it to, he swung it about from person to person.  Jay was the first to take Lenny’s hand and shake, then the other two followed suit. 

“Is he going to b
e on our team?”  Michael asked.

Donny could see the smile fade on Lenny’s face, and quickly made an answer, “no, he doesn’t want to play in the games, he is just going to hang
out with us while we practice.”

“Well, you are more than welcome, and it is nice to meet you L
enny,”
Zahrah
said courteously.

“Alright, let’s get back to our jumping drills
,”
Donny said, taking command of the situation to make sure Lenny did
not
feel uncomfortable from the evident stares he was receiving.  Jay began jumping again, starting out with about half the distance that they ended with the day before, and quickly surpassing where they had stopped.  Donny was glad Lenny was there for two reasons; the plan how worked, and Jay was now staying strong as he was remaining by a towering Titan, but also because Lenny was clearly enjoying the show, watching Jay leap further and further.  Lenny’s smile would widen a little more with each jump, and his enjoyment lightened all of their spirits.  With Lenny’s strength and
Zahrah’s
speed, Jay was able to jump further and further, and to everyone’s relief his strength would always hold out long enough for a
safe landing on the other side.

By the end of their practice that day, Jay was jumping three quarters of the length of the entire arena.  The rest of them felt like this
was
a big accomplishment, but Donny
was not
so sure.  Donny knew that Jay needed to be able to make it all the way in order for this plan to have a chance of working, but even if he could jump the length of the arena, he was falling way too slowly for Donny’s comfort.  He would have to give this a little more thought.

THE WEDNESDAY BEFORE
try-outs, Donny had the uncomfortable experience of sitting through his resident leader giving the group a talk describing the simulation games.  The resident leader kept asking Donny questions about if the try outs would be any different that year, or if he knew how many opening there were on different teams, or similar questions that it would make sense for Donny to know being one of the team leaders, but that he
had no idea as to the answers.

After the room meeting, Donny immediately left the room in order to escape the awkwardness he felt at his lack of knowledge.  He walked through the halls, without a set plan as to where he was going, but just letting himself wander.  He walked until he arrived at the track, where people were running and training, getting themselves ready for the try outs in the next few days.  He sat down in the back corner of the bleachers that were set up on one side, and idly began watching the students practice down below.  It
was not
long before they began to notice Donny watching them, and since most of them wanted to be on his team, they began to practice all the harder, trying to show off.  This was not what Donny was hoping to see, so he got ready to leave, when a first year Prometheus came up the bleachers to him.  When the young boy arrived, he extended an envelope to Donny, and told him, “I was
asked to deliver this to you.”

Donny took the envelope and sat back down.  He opened it as the boy left, heading back down the bleacher steps.  Inside the envelope were two pieces of paper.  The first was a letter that read:

To he who gives brownies to giants;

             
I wish to submit my candidacy for membership amongst your ranks, as well as supply a peace offering to help you.  I did not approach you sooner as you had told people you would make no team selections until the try outs, but now that the try outs are upon us, I feel it is the time to come forward.  I am an old friend of your brother’s, who had competed in the simulation games this past year alongside him.  With that said, I want you to know that I am a man who follows orders, and despite my age I would be happy to help you as you lead your team to victory.  I have been watching all the team leaders, and I know their strengths and weaknesses well.  For example, your weaknesses include your newness to the school, let alone the games, as well as not having physical powers of your own or friends.  Your biggest weakness however is that you don’t know who to trust for this team, because almost everyone you have come across has been trying to butter you up in order that they could play for
your brother’s
team.  Your strengths include your fresh, creative outlook, your determination, and your understanding of the way things work.  It is also impressive how you have yet to fail a weekly quiz, despite your difficult course load.  I say these things not to intimidate or impress, but merely to show what you would be getting with me.  I believe there is power in knowing your allies and your enemies, and I make it a point to know both.