Playing with Fire - Chapter III: Love and War

Playing with Fire
Chapter III: Love and War

The first encounter had taken place on his home turf, and he'd somehow managed to lose. The second skirmish had been with each of them in their own home, and he'd lost again. Now the spider had invited the fly into her parlor, and the fly had come willingly. Tom recognized exactly what was happening, yet he somehow felt powerless to do anything except push on. So it was that, against Brian's completely reasonable advice and his own better judgment, Tom found himself sitting in the locker room of the Echo Creek Paint-o-rama Paintball Field and Emporium, just as Janna had demanded.

Tom had already paid his entry fee and read over the safety rules. Well, skimmed them, at least. It was mostly basic information covering the proper use of safety gear, safe paintball gun handling, and other things that Tom took be to common sense. He wasn't really interested in the fine print. More interesting to him was the format of that day's game: An every man for himself, winner take all death match. According to the cashier, there had already been over 20 registrations, and there were still more players coming in. There had been mention of a small prize that the Paint-o-rama would award to the last survivor of game, but that was inconsequential to Tom. The real reason he'd decided to show up was... well, Tom actually wasn't quite sure if he hoped to accomplish anything beyond winning his bet, but he figured beating Janna at her own game and rubbing it in her face would be a good start.

As soon as he finished changing, Tom exited the men's locker room in the uniform he had rented from the paintball facility, with a bag full of gear in one hand, a helmet under his arm, and his paintball gun slung over his shoulder. To his surprise, the facility didn't allow personal equipment. He wasn't sure that was standard, but since he didn't actually have any paintball gear of his own, he figured it was just as well. The camouflage uniforms were more or less identical to each other aside from the size and a large player number attached to the front and back. Tom had ended up with a 24.

Tom had made sure to come a little early, figuring he didn't want to endure any taunting from Janna over showing up late. Not that he really thought it would save him from Janna taunting him over something else. But by the time he had gotten his uniform and paintball gun ready, it was getting close to game time, and he was starting to wonder where Janna was. Just as Tom was starting to think Janna actually had the nerve to stand him up, she emerged from the women's locker room, her rented uniform identical to his except for the number 21 on the front and back.

This time, Tom was sure he was prepared. Brian had objected to him coming at all, but he still agreed to help Tom get ready. Tom didn't really need Brian to tell him that Janna enjoyed getting a rise out of him, but when Tom asked Brian why he had been chosen as a target, the explanation had been... uncharacteristically vague. Tom still felt like he hadn't gotten a straight answer to that particular question.

What had been more helpful was Brian's advice in dealing with her taunting. Brian told him the best thing he could do restrain himself, and eventually, Janna would start to lose interest. Or at least, might. Having been in a gambling mood lately, Tom decided to try it, and had promised himself he wouldn't get mad today. Anything Janna threw at him, he'd just let it slide off. Tom was starting to get better at her game, and he figured if he had a clear goal in mind, he would be able to remain in control. He had to admit that Janna had won a few battles, but Tom was determined to win the war.

As she stepped into the lobby, Janna didn't even need to look for Tom. She spotted him immediately, almost like a sixth sense. She effortlessly weaved through the players who were milling about, waiting for the game to start, with a smug smile on her face as she greeted her victim. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up."

Just keep it cool, Tom thought to himself. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhh..." His eyes scanned the room, a sarcastic smile on his face as he decided to answer Janna's completely rhetorical question. "Me?"

"Lucky guess." Janna leaned in with a wicked grin, clearly in the mood for a fight. "So, you ready to lose?"

Tom, as he had promised himself, kept his temper under control. But he figured that didn't mean he had to just stand there and take it. "Y'know, I might be a little rusty, but I'm actually pretty good at this. You really think you can beat me?"

"Pfft. Like a red-headed stepchild. Which kinda fits, considering..." Janna reached a hand out to ruffle Tom's fiery red hair.

"Hey, HEY! Watch the 'do!" Tom had always felt quite protective of his chosen hairstyle, and he quickly reached up and ran his hands through his hair to fix it. "Do you have any idea how long it takes me to get it like this? Although..." Tom looked down at the helmet her carried under his arm. "I guess it was gonna get messed up from this thing anyway."

Janna shrugged, patting her own helmet as she held it up for display. "Yeah, they're super hardcore about safety here. Full coverage helmet with visor and mask, mandatory uniforms... the works. Totally worth it though, the course is to die for. So get dressed for your funeral, dead man."

Tom grumbled, but otherwise held himself back. He figured there was no getting out of the fight at this point. It wasn't as though he hadn't expected this going in.

As Tom tried to put his helmet on, he found that it bumped against his horns. When further attempts still proved futile, he pulled it off for a closer look. Janna watched with amusement at Tom's growing frustration. After brief consideration, Tom sparked a concentrated jet of demonic flame from the tip of his finger, carefully cutting a path through the material, carving out notches for his horns to fit under the helmet.

"You're gonna have to pay for that." Tom heard a bored sounding voice from entrance to the paintball course.

"Fine, fine. I'll get it on the way out, uhhhh..." Tom looked over and found a sloth fixing him with a look of unenthusiastic disapproval, seated in a folding chair near the entrance to the outdoor course, a PA microphone on the table next to him. His eyes were just barely lifted from a cell phone that he had obviously been playing with. Tom's eyes wandered down toward the name tag clipped to the sloth's shirt. "Reggie? Wait, that sounds familiar... do I know you from somewhere? Did you used to work at Quest Buy?"

Reggie rolled his eyes, letting out a contemptuous sigh. "Oh, so just because I'm a sloth, that means I MUST have had a job at Quest Buy. That's the ONLY place a sloth could ever possibly work. THAT, sir, is a HURTFUL stereotype!"

Janna elbowed Tom rather firmly in the ribs, giving him a dirty look. "Dude, not cool."

Tom cleared his throat nervously, really not having meant anything by it. He could've sworn he remembered meeting a sloth named Reggie in Quest Buy customer service once, but he couldn't be certain it was the same one. "Oh, uh... sorry. I- I didn't mean..."

"Ugh... whatever." Reggie shook his head, then returned his attention to his phone. "Just pay for the helmet before you leave. Oh, and technically ALL parts of your body have to be protected, so... do something about the horns."

Tom ran his hands along his horns, pretty sure that a paintball range on earth wouldn't have standard sized horn protectors in stock. "Huh? How am I supposed to do that?"

Janna leaned in, taking a closer look Tom's horns, until she suddenly snapped her fingers, face lighting up with inspiration. "Wait here." She swiftly vanished into the women's locker room, leaving Tom to wonder what she was planning.

A minute or so later, Tom jumped when he felt somebody behind him. He was sure it was Janna, but he hadn't seen her come back out of the locker room, and he'd been watching the entrance the entire time. "Janna? How the heck did you-"

"Shh! Hold still." Tom felt Janna slipping something over his horns, but they weren't a sensitive enough body part for him to be able to tell much more than that.

Tom reached up to feel what Janna had done, but she slapped his hand away. "Don't touch! They might come off." Janna waved to Reggie, shouting for his attention. "Yo, Reggie! We good here?"

Reggie glanced up from his phone and shrugged with a complete lack of interest. "Eh. Close enough." He leaned over to his microphone, pressing a button to broadcast over the PA system, the sound reaching across the entire Paint-o-rama facility. "Attention, all contestants. The game will begin in five minutes."

The announcement reminded Tom of something he'd been meaning to ask Janna, but he had been too distracted to mention it up until that point. "Hey, so it's a free for all today, right? What if neither of us make it through the whole thing?"

"What, worried about being first blood? Wouldn't surprise me..." Janna stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Tell you what. I play to win, but just in case something happens, whoever survives the longest takes the bet." Janna smiled wickedly, leaning in to poke Tom's chest. "Oh, and if I catch you using magic, not only will I count it as an automatic forfeit, I'll tell everybody about the little stuffed goat toy I found under your bed last week."

"You leave Miss Lucy Fur out of this!" As Tom thought about it, he wasn't exactly surprised just how much of his room Janna had snooped around, but he didn't think even she would sink that low. While he had relatively few secrets in his room, there was still certain information he didn't want getting out. Tom hadn't even planned to use magic in the first place. He had briefly considered it, but under the circumstances, he had felt it was important to beat Janna at her own game, even if magic wasn't technically against the rules.

"Don't cheat and it won't be a problem." Janna dragged the tip of her finger up and off Tom's chest, flicked his nose gently, and then slowly backed away to grab her gear bag. Janna pulled her beanie off, stowing it in the bag, smoothing out her hair so she could put on the helmet. As Tom watched, Janna gave him an odd, questioning look. "... what?"

It took Tom a moment to realize he had been staring. "Nothing. Just... I dunno. You look cute without the hat." The words left his mouth before he could stop them, but even before Janna could react, Tom knew he'd made a dire mistake.

Tom could swear he saw Janna's face go red as she quickly turned away from him. "Flattery..." Janna pulled her gun from her gear bag, then reached into her pocket. She pulled out a small, smooth and shiny metal ball, holding it between her fingers for Tom to see. He wasn't exactly sure what he was looking at, but as it vanished from his sight, presumably to join Janna's paintballs, he was sure it would be painful. "... will get you nowhere."

Tom's compliment had been somewhat off the cuff, but he'd meant it. He had to admit, he hadn't expected nearly that much of a reaction. Tom thought he might finally have a weapon of sorts against Janna, but given her swift and severe retaliation, he wondered if it was worth the cost. "H- hey! Reggie! REGGIE! Did you see just see that?" Tom shouted over toward Reggie, hoping he would at least be willing to enforce basic safety rules.

"See what?" Reggie didn't even take his eyes off his phone as he responded.

Tom waved his arms frantically in the air and pointed at Janna, who was now pretending that nothing had happened as she casually dusted off her helmet. "She just put a metal ball or something in her paintball gun!"

Reggie glanced up to Tom, then over to Janna, then right back to his phone. "No she didn't."

Tom's jaw dropped open. He was sure Reggie was letting Janna get away with it because of his earlier accidental insult, but that didn't exactly make it better. He still wondered if he could talk Janna out of it directly, if only for the sake of not ending up with an extra hole at some inconvenient location on his body. "Oh for the love of... so I'm not allowed to use magic, but you can use THAT?"

"Yep. What're you gonna do about it?" Janna leaned in close, taunting him with a wide, teasing smile.

Tom was slowly starting to develop some resistance to Janna's bait, but he still felt the need to fight back occasionally. If she wanted a war, he was going to give it to her. "Gonna kick your butt up one side of the arena and down the other."

"Ooh... demon boy's got some fire in him after all." Janna gave Tom a look that, if he didn't know better, he would have almost described as flirtatous. "Alright tough guy... let's see if you got any bite to go with that bark."

Janna popped her helmet on, and before Tom could respond, they both heard the creak of the doors opening out into the arena. There was a squeal over the PA system, followed by Reggie's bored voice coming over it. "The game will begin in one minute. Contestants, please enter the play area and spread out." Reggie let out a disinterested sigh. "Or... don't. I get paid the same either way."

Tom and Janna peered out of the lobby into a large outdoor area. Tom could see fencing in the distance, presumably the boundary of the arena. The course itself looked quite impressive to Tom, as Janna had said. It appeared to be some kind of simulated urban environment, full of tall concrete walls with windows for fire ports, shorter walls just tall enough to cover a crouching player, metal barrels, huge cable spools, occasional trees, and other various items to use for cover.

Both crossed the threshold of the door, Janna deciding to taunt Tom one last time as the game began. "Try not to get yourself killed before our date."

"Stop giving me ideas." Tom just rolled his eyes, then returned to surveying the field for a good starting position.

"I mean... you CAN. Just don't think it'll save you." Janna reached up to give Tom a quick and somehow condescending pat on the head, then split off, vanishing into the cover of the arena.

"That does not even surprise me." Tom muttered to himself as he rushed for a position that looked both vacant and relatively safe, trying to make himself scarce before the match started. He chose to take cover behind a low wall near the edge of the field, figuring it would give him enough protection and a good angle of fire without being too obvious of a hiding spot.

The PA system came to life again, Reggie's voice coming over with another announcement. "And... it seems we have a couple of last minute entries. How thrilling." Tom noticed Reggie didn't actually sound all that thrilled. "The game will begin in 30 seconds."

As the final countdown went out over the loudspeaker, Tom watched from his hiding spot as two new players slipped through the door, numbered 29 and 30. He noticed they didn't split up immediately, going for cover together. Tom found this slightly suspicious, but he figured they would probably separate soon enough.

Tom heard the sound of the starting buzzer from the loudspeakers all around him, and while staying as protected as possible, he began scanning the arena. A small part of him wanted to win the whole game, but despite his earlier bravado, he was now primarily interested in outlasting Janna. As much as we would've liked to strike the killing blow himself, he decided to play defensively and hope for her to get eliminated early by someone else. After all, a win was a win. The course was quite large, but there were a good number of players, and he noticed quite a bit of movement as the game began. He stayed low for the moment, watching overeager players quickly being eliminated by more canny tacticians. Despite playing it safe, he snuck in some opportunistic shots of his own. He figured he might be able to take out Janna early, though if he was being honest with himself, his luck hadn't been that good lately. After a few attempts, he did manage to get a clean shot on one of the many players in the free for all, removing them from the game.

After successfully landing a shot, Tom found he was now getting into the spirit of the game. He still tried to play it relatively safe, but even so, he managed to get in a few good shots and take out some of the other contestants, while staying concealed enough that no more than a few stray rounds came his way.

The paint was flying fast and thick, and players were falling quickly. After several casualty fillled minutes in the arena, the action was starting to slow down. The overly aggressive players had been weeded out, and now only the smart and careful ones were left. At that point, Tom decided it was time to go back on full defense unless he had no other choice. He stayed down as much as possible, not taking any shots that he wasn't absolutely sure were safe, now keeping a much sharper eye out for other players. Especially Janna. The culling of the herd continued, and before long, Tom heard another announcement over the PA from Reggie. "Attention all remaining players... we are now down to our final four contestants. I paid for the whole seat, and yet I find that I only need the edge."

Tom hadn't seen Janna all game, or at least he hadn't spotted a uniform with 21 on it. He figured it was possible that she had already been eliminated by someone else, but somehow he suspected not. Janna had said she would play to win, and Tom believed her. It was starting to look like he would have to do the job himself. Tom steeled himself and left his relatively safe hiding place, prowling the arena and looking for a new target.

Though he didn't find Janna, it didn't take him long to spot another unguarded player. Looking at the uniform number, Tom recognized Player 30 as being one of the late entries. He - or she, he wasn't positive at that distance, but Tom thought 30 was a he- was obviously out hunting, but hadn't spotted Tom yet. Tom decided he had a chance for a sneak attack. As long as it was a safe shot, he figured one more player down was one step closer to beating Janna.

As he silently crept into position to take his shot, Tom saw the other late arrival, player 29, approaching 30 from behind. Tom decided he would wait for 29 to deal with 30, then take out 29 himself, leaving him alone with... well, he didn't know for sure, but from the way things were going in his life lately, he guessed it would probably be Janna. However, to his surprise, 29 held her -again, Tom suspected "her"- fire, going right up behind 30 and tapping him on the shoulder. 30 turned, gun drawn, until looking down and seeing the 29 on the uniform. 30 nodded to 29, giving her some kind of hand signal. 29 gave a thumbs up in return, then took off to another part of the course.

"What the..." Tom wasn't exactly sure what he had just witnessed, but it didn't seem like it was on the level. At the very least, the two seemed to have some sort of non-aggression pact, if they weren't outright cooperating. Even if his main goal was to survive Janna, Tom wasn't particularly fond of the idea that a couple of cheaters might win today's match and prize. He didn't know how to report them, and wasn't sure if he'd have the opportunity in any case. For now, Tom decided to focus on the matter at hand. Namely, making sure he wouldn't get surprised by-

"Janna!" Tom turned around to find a paintball gun pointed directly at him, immediately spotting Janna's 21 on the uniform of its wielder.

"Drop it." Janna closed in slowly, gun trained directly on Tom as he slowly set his gun on the ground. "Well, look what I found..." Tom almost wished she'd just shot him and gotten it over with, but she seemed to enjoy toying with her prey, approaching with swaying hips. He couldn't see a smile behind the helmet-mask, but he was sure Janna had one. Probably an evil one. "Looks like we have ourselves little lost demon." Tom was a little disturbed by how much Janna seemed to be enjoying her role as predator. There was clearly an element of gloating in what she said, but under different circumstances, Tom might have almost called Janna's attitude... seductive. "Hmm... maybe I should take him home. I always wanted a pet. But first..." Janna's finger crept slowly toward the trigger of her gun. "... I need you to help me settle a bet."

"WAIT! Waitwaitwaitwaitwait." Tom waved his hands wildly put in front of him, desperately hoping he could remain unpainted. Though he did, in fact, have a reason for it beyond simply not wanting to lose.

"Oh, you're not talking your way out of this. Which as it turns out, you aren't very good at anyway, so..." The pad of Janna's finger now rested on the trigger, which she began to squeeze slowly.

Tom reached out and slapped the gun barrel out the way before Janna could take the shot. "Just shut up and listen! Those two players who got here late... I saw them not shoot at each other and give some kind of hand signals! They're working together!"

"Yeah, right." Janna sounded skeptical, like she thought Tom was making a last ditch attempt at survival. She quickly trained her gun on him again, obviously unconvinced. "Even if that's true, what do you care?"

"It IS true!" Tom growled in frustration. He knew Janna had no real reason to believe him, which was made even worse by the fact that he was actually telling the truth. "Look, cheaters really get my giant invisible goat, okay?"

"Hm. Can't blame you on that one." Janna shrugged slightly, relaxing her posture. She kept her gun pointed roughly in Tom's direction, but she seemed like she was at least willing to listen. "But with deathmatch rules, only one person can actually win, so I don't think it's TECHNICALLY cheating to work together..."

"Oh, come on!" Even if it wasn't strictly against the rules, Tom still felt like it was violating the spirit of the game. "Don't you have any principles?"

"Any what now?" Janna sounded genuinely confused at Tom's question.

Tom gave Janna a completely deadpan look. Though he quickly realized she couldn't see it beneath the paintball mask, he hoped it came through in his tone. "Let me put it another way... even if you shoot me now, would you really be able to enjoy it if you end up losing to them? Stuck in third place because two people ganged up on you?"

Janna drummed her fingers along the side of her gun, though she kept it pointed squarely at Tom as she mulled over her options. "Let's say I believe you. How exactly are we supposed to beat two people who came here together, probably with a plan?"

Tom smiled a mischievous smile from behind his mask. "... I actually have some thoughts on that."



Tom and Janna had planned their next move in haste, knowing they were both being hunted. After splitting off, Tom made his way through the course, now actively looking for trouble. He deliberately tried to leave himself a little exposed as he roamed the arena, just enough to catch the eye of his remaining opponents.

Tom stopped behind one of the large concrete walls, popping his head out the window and scanning the area. He immediately heard the sound of paintballs landing close by, and though he didn't have time to find exactly where they hit, he was sure they had struck his cover. Tom ducked behind the wall, smiling to himself as he returned fire, trading shots with his opponent and keeping them pinned. "That's right, buddy... you just stay right there."

After exchanging several rounds of fire, Tom slipped back behind cover once more and turned to check his back, only to find paintball gun pointed directly at him from some distance away. This time, it wasn't Janna. It crossed Tom's mind that, if he ever played paintball again, he would have to do a better job of watching his own back.

Things were officially no longer going according to plan, but depending on Janna, he thought they might still be able to make it work. Tom slowly raised his hands in surrender to player 30, hoping it would create enough of a delay, though his grip remained on his gun. 30 approached slowly, tilting his head, almost like he was confused by what he saw. Tom wondered why 30 didn't just take the shot. He was starting to get a little nervous that Janna had abandoned him, or at least, hadn't been able to carry out their plan.

As 30 began to squeeze the trigger, Tom heard several shots from across the course, followed by a shout from Janna echoing through the arena. "SUCK IT, SUCKER!" Based on her choice of words, Tom was sure the plan had worked, or at least worked well enough. Janna had made her way around and flanked 29 while Tom had kept her pinned. 30 was momentarily distracted by Janna's cry, and it was all the opportunity Tom needed. He whipped his gun back into position, firing a barrage of paintballs at 30. 30 tried to evade, but fell backwards onto the dirt, plastered with red paint and now out of the game.

Tom let out a victory cry, and Janna ran directly toward the sound. They met in the middle of the arena, not far from where Tom had finished 30. They whooped and hollered, exchanged a high five, pumped their fists, and generally made a scene to celebrate their victory. "WOO! HAHAHAHA! WE DID IT!"

29 wasn't far behind Janna, and she rushed over to 30, reaching out a hand. "Hey, you alright?" The young female voice sounded very familiar to Tom, but being slightly muffled by the face mask, he couldn't quite place it immediately.

30 grabbed 29's hand, rising to his feet and brushing himself off. "I'm fine. Just... sticky." 30 pulled off his helmet, revealing a face that, to their surprise, both Janna and Tom recognized immediately.

The two stood dumbfounded, but Janna got her head together first, pulling off her helmet and staring at the boy in surprise. "... Marco?"

29 removed her own headgear, revealing another familiar face underneath. Her long golden hair tumbled out of the helmet, sparkling and glowing as it fell, apparently having been held back by magic. "Janna!?"

"STAR!?" Tom's eyes went wide in surprise as he removed his own helmet, his own hair now a complete mess after so much time under the headgear.

The four teens stared at each other in total confusion, Tom at Janna's side, and Marco at Star's. All of them had a thousand questions, but none had any idea where to start. Without the slightest shift in her expression, Janna raised her gun to the side and fire directly at Tom's chest, splattering him with pink paint.

"Hey!" Tom jerked back, looking down at himself in shock. He thought he should've felt angry, but instead he just felt betrayed. After what they'd just pulled off together, Tom could hardly believe that Janna would be so willing to stab him in the back by shooting him in the front. "What the heck was that for!?"

"Game wasn't over."