Everyone was celebrating our victory at the bar that night, and most of the other teams were astounded we were able to adopt a completely different strategy so quickly. Apparently most league teams found a select few strategies and would develop them to perfection, so switching from assault to base-orb capture would be highly unusual. Perhaps it was a good thing we weren’t some league team with our tactics all set in stone. It was an energetic atmosphere as everyone on our team joined in with the festivities, while Burze and Crystilla from team Titanos had Eve and I cornered in some booth trying to convince us to join in with a real league once we all got back home saying we could probably even turn pro.

  “So, you’re part of a league back home, but you aren’t professionals, right?” I inquired.

  Burze downed his drink quickly and nodded along, “Right, tons of divisions who play for fun all over the Empire, but the dream of course is to get signed on with some sponsors or make the transfer over to the pro leagues.”

  Eve on my lap leaned her head on my shoulder, “Will sponsors sign on with the non-professional teams?”

  Burze shrugged, “Depends on the league and its popularity; some sponsors stay away from professionals because they feel using more regular players will help sell their products better, like anyone can be good as this so-and-so.”

  Crystilla shook her head quickly, “Of course all the real money is in the professional circuits anyway, with the paid teams and all their wildly lucrative endorsements. The point is with as talented as you all are it shouldn’t take long to get some money out of the game.”

  I waved them off, “Thanks, but I like that it’s just a game—something to have fun with.” I turned to Eve and smiled, “Besides, our life right now is pretty great.” I offered, and Eve smiled at me.

  Burze chuckled, “Yeah yeah, newlyweds with all that love shining through your eyes don’t want to think about tomorrow when today is so much fun.”

  Crystilla turned to glare at her husband, “Burze, no reason to tease them.” She admonished, and Burze quickly held up his hands in surrender. Of course, Burze had no idea how right he really was; Eve and I tried not to dwell on what all might change once we returned to The Radiance, instead just trying to enjoy the time we had now.

  As though right on queue, team Dead Space entered the bar looking like they were spoiling for a fight. They zeroed in on me and Eve and made a beeline right for us.

  “So, it’s going to be us tomorrow in the finals after all.” Captain Rush the massive shark-man said with a sneer.

  Seeing we were being confronted by our rivals, the rest of our team made their way over to our corner, making it look like a stare-down from a cheesy sports movie from the 80s.

  I rolled my eyes, “Right, and you’re going to crush us and make us regret ever joining the tournament, blah blah blah.” I waved to the pitcher of green alien beer next to the weird red pretzel crisps, “Why not skip the clichés and just relax?”

  Rush crossed his arms and glowered at me, and I swear his entire team mimicked the same stance and expression as though they were all his shadows, “We know your little secret, so there’s no way you can beat us now.”

  “What secret?” Zyno pressed.

  Dreve the man-bat smiled and gestured to his large ears, “Just like me, you’ve got someone on your team who can use echolocation too.” He stated, and they all looked over at Eve.

  Eve looked around at her audience, then quirked up an eyebrow, “What, is this supposed to come as some surprise? I never hid I had extra-senses in case anyone was wondering, I just didn’t announce it.”

  “And it’s a permitted biological advantage, same as you all know since you’re doing the same thing.” Lobae added.

  Rush smiled wide, showing his sharp, jagged shark teeth, “Of course, but now that we know your advantage, and we have our own, we can work around yours easily.”

  “What, you mean with Liolana’s infrared vision?” Eve offered mildly, pointing at the large grey woman on their team.

  Everyone on the Dead Space team looked completely surprised and wildly vulnerable—as though they all just had armor ripped off to leave them suddenly naked.

  “How the fuck did you figure that out?” Liolana said in a surprisingly gravelly voice for a female.

  Eve waved it off, unconcerned, “Watching your matches, seeing how you looked through or beyond walls. It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

  I wrapped my arms around Eve and pulled her tighter against me so she giggled, then smiled at our opponents with a victorious grin, “What was that you were talking about knowing your opponent’s advantages and working around them?”

  Rush looked like he was about to short-circuit, “You guys wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in the tournament if it wasn’t for her; she’s been hard-carrying your team since day one!” He snapped.

  I gave Eve another squeeze and she giggled again, “Right. But she is on our team, so obviously we’re going to win.”

  There wasn’t anything else team Dead Space could offer at that point, so with a couple more ‘fuck yous’ and a ‘see you in the arena tomorrow’ they left in an angry huff.

  I turned to Eve, “So, was it watching their matches or did some extra-sense help discover their other advantage?”

  Eve stuck her tongue out at me, “You always want to know my secrets; don’t you enjoy a little bit of mystery in life?”

  I rolled my eyes, “Says the girl who reads my mind constantly.”

  Eve smiled and nipped my nose playfully, “I’ve known all along darling, I was just waiting for the best time to reveal it.”

  “And of course you can disable the infrared same as the echolocation?”

  Eve leaned forward to nibble on my ear, suddenly in a wildly playful mood, “Naturally.”

  ***

  There was a little ceremony before the final match of the War-Sim tournament. Since it was just these two teams left, they had us stand before each other as the androids introduced us with some floating monitors around playing the highlights of our matches thus far. The crowd in the stadiums was absolutely outrageous, probably more than 30,000 people, everyone who participated in the tournament plus extra onlookers. I never had problems with crowds before, but this was a little daunting.

  They sent us to our locker rooms that were much roomier this time and gave us a little longer to prepare and strategize. Eve immediately dissuaded everyone’s concerns and told them she could easily disable the echolocation and infrared vision without difficulties, so no matter how well the other four soldiers performed on the team, we should be able to easily overwhelm them with our numbers and Eve’s extra-senses giving us the advantage. We were escorted to the lift and sent to our box as we waited for the timer to count down one last time.

  “I just want to say I’ve been having a lot of fun with you guys here.” Lobae offered.

  Zyno smiled and nodded, “Yeah, this has been really great.”

  I looked at everyone on the team, “And no one feels like we’re cheating relying on Eve and all her special abilities?”

  Eve swatted my arm and made a cute pouty face, “They’re called biological advantages! You know they’re totally authorized and everything.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Right, and you could fight past the suit paralysis too, but I feel like that would be one biological advantage taken too far.”

  Yun shrugged, “Oh it’s all in good fun, not like we’re doing this for profit or anything.”

  Zyno nodded, “Right, and someone needed to come along and dethrone these smug assholes anyways.”

  “Plus, they’ve been stacking multiple biological advantages with two different people on their team, so really if we’re cheating I’d say they are too.” Vinnago added.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  I laughed and held up my hands in surrender, “Alright, alright, you’ve all made your point.” The timer ticked down and the forcefield released, “So let’s go win this thing fair and square I guess.”

  Eve told us right away the Dead Space team was moving down the middle row with their entire team, rushing forward right towards us. We followed along pretending we were watching them same as they were watching us with their extra abilities, until we got about a quarter of the way into the middle row.

  “Alright, I’m going to disable them now.” Eve confirmed, and the little balls at the end of her tentacles started vibrating and then glowed a subtle yellow light. From all the way down the lane we could hear Dreve shout as though he heard something loud, and a moment later we heard more confused conversation as the team didn’t know how to proceed from there.

  We ducked into one of the side doorways and left the middle row, moving through one of the side areas with careful quickness. We wanted to swing around behind them before they could properly adapt to their situation. Eve’s tentacles continued to glow and vibrate, and she confirmed they hadn’t moved from their spot yet. But right before we could make it all the way around them, she told us to hold, “They moved back to their tower, they’re going to take a defensive position.”

  “Damn, they can really dig in there, and your extra-sense won’t help as much.” Lobae said.

  I shook my head, “Oh no, it’ll still help plenty; we’ll know right where they’re held up so we can make the slow push forward, tagging one at a time if we have to.”

  Zyno nodded, “We’ve done it before.”

  We continued forward and surrounded the front of their tower and posted on either side of the doorway, waiting for Eve to sense all their positions and figure out the best way to move forward, but she paused there, slowly shaking her head, “They’re all formed up tight behind cover waiting for us to make the first move.”

  Since they were back at their base we couldn’t grab their orb, and if we went on the assault we would likely get tagged first, which would give them the advantage if they ran down the clock and it went to a point-based victory. Despite having their biological advantages disabled, they still had us in quite the precarious position. I guess there was a reason they won so many tournaments in a row.

  “We can’t just wait around all day; someone needs to pop in and see who breaks cover first.” Zyno reasoned.

  I took a step closer to the doorway with my shotgun at the ready, “I’ll just peek real quick then pull back, see if anyone is visible from the doorway.”

  I took another step forward and just barely avoided an onslaught of lasers.

  “Holy shit.” Lobae hissed.

  I shook my head slowly, “They all have only their heads above cover, just enough to see without exposing the suits. The one shooter game where headshots don’t count.” I complained.

  “What if we go one then two? You peek out again from that left side, then Lobae tries to tag someone from the right.” Vinnago offered.

  Lobae nodded, “Yeah, let’s try that.” She looked at me, “Ready?”

  I nodded then took a step forward and then moved back, then Lobae moved forward and fired once before returning to cover. She shook her head quickly, “Couldn’t tag any, they’re really fast.”

  Zyno sighed, “Well, they are soldiers after all.”

  “I thought it would be easy if we could disable their advantages, turns out they had more skill than we realized.” Yun reasoned.

  Eve scoffed, “Skill? They’re just dug in like wounded animals hoping to get a lucky shot off to prevent a stalemate at this point. Here, watch this.” She took a step forward with her two guns raised and fired them both in quick succession before moving back behind cover. “There, I downed one and got another in the arm. Now we hold the advantage if it goes to points.”

  I chuckled and shook my head, “You know they were absolutely right, we never would’ve gotten this far without you.”

  Eve grabbed my chin and pointed my face to hers, “And don’t you forget it.” She said, then gave me a quick kiss.

  “So now what?” Zyno asked.

  “Let’s leave here and force them to come to us; they’ll know we have the point advantage now, but we should make sure we’re in a better position when they go back on the offensive.” Lobae reasoned.

  We went over to the corner of the left lane in a half-open building that provided some great cover while giving us a good view on either side.

  “Wait, how will they know we’re here? We can’t just leave our base-orb vulnerable and hope they come straight for us now.” Zyno reasoned.

  “Evie, can you give them a quick glimpse of where we are, maybe stop disrupting their abilities for just long enough to give away our positions?” I inquired.

  “Oh, very clever darling.” Eve nodded, and her little tentacle orbs stopped vibrating for a second, then started back up again, “Okay, they sensed us and are heading our way.”

  Following Eve’s directions with her extra-sense we knew exactly where team Dead Space was coming, and we were held up in the best positions to intercept them. The soldiers might have had more tactical training than we gave them credit for, but even if they knew it was all a trap they were out of options and had to shift to the offensive now; we forced them into a situation they couldn’t win.

  “Alright, first one should be rounding the corner now. Wait a few moments before the whole team is within range.” Eve ordered.

  Just as Eve said, Dreve stepped forward flanked by Grinno and Freddish, followed by Rush in the center with Nek and Liolana in the rear. We waited just until the last of them took a step into our alleyway before we popped out of cover and blasted them in order. We tagged Dreve, Grinno and Freddish easily while Rush, Nek and Liolana ducked for cover. In a surprisingly bold move Rush stepped forward to act as a distraction while Nek and Liolana were able to escape completely.

  “Dammit, should we split up?” Lobae asked.

  Vinnago nodded quickly, “I’ll guard them, the rest of you pursue the others.” He confirmed.

  “Boy I gotta ask, how the fuck did you disable my echolocation?” Dreve called after me.

  I stopped to look back at him, then to my team as they were rushing forward after the retreating enemies.

  “It’s all sonic frequencies and shit, I don’t get it, but my wife said she could just pitch a higher frequency then yours which would deafen your abilities without dampening hers.” I explained easily.

  “Adam, they’re trying to distract and separate us!” Vinnago pressed.

  “That makes sense, but then how could she disable Liolana’s infrared vision?” Rush inquired.

  I turned to him next and shrugged, “I dunno what all she did there either, but she has some tentacles that lit up, figured that would do it.”

  Rush scoffed, “Bioluminescence, what nonsense.”

  I glared at the man, “Hey, you’re the one who came in with two teammates with biological advantages, don’t complain just because we have one who works as a hard-counter.” I snapped.

  “Adam!” Vinnago hissed, and then a moment later a laser hit him square in the chest and he dropped to the ground. “Dammit!”

  I ducked behind cover quickly to see Nek had doubled back and slid between his teammates, kneeling down to revive two at once.

  “They got Liolana, but I managed to—”

  “You idiot, there’s still one—” Captain Rush started.

  But he was too late to warn his teammate as I tagged Nek in the back, and suddenly a great blaring alarm chimed out across the arena.

  “Team American Automations is the victor and our tournament champions!” The voice announced.

  Team Dead Space all groaned in unison as I walked over to help Vinnago back up.

  He shook his head slowly, a big smile on his face, “I can’t believe it, you knew they would double-back and return for their friends?” Vinnago pressed.

  I smiled twice as bright, “Oh no, I had no idea; that was just classic, human dumb luck working on my side.”

  “Adam!” Eve called, and I turned just in time to catch her as she leapt in my arms and assaulted me with kisses, “We won!”

  “What happened?” Lobae asked Vinnago.

  He just chuckled, “Human dumb luck.”

  ***

  And so we were awarded our third trophy during the Bliss-Indulgence tour alongside our hoverball and sex-competition trophies. From there the celebration went on almost all night with what seemed like the entire station involved. The bars and buildings quite literally opened up to accommodate the wild crowds that spread through the entire baseline of the paradise-core mountain. Since drinks were all free anyways it was funny how people offered us drinks, really just wanting to drink or party with us. People wanted to hear our story and our tactics, wanted to learn more about our team. Quite a few people thought I must’ve been some galaxy brain planner with the way I won the game at the end there, but when I told them it was just dumb luck they were even more entertained.

  While we were partying the night away we met up with team Dead Space, and it turned out they weren’t such bad guys after all. Yes, they were mad obsessed with the Sim-War game and fully admitted that—playing in leagues back home, going to visit pro games, even collecting memorabilia—but they ended up taking the loss like champs and wanted to pal around a bit. We were cool to hang out but told them they really needed to chill out and relax on the competition next go around, and they agreed they would play more casually the next couple cycles until they returned to their lives as soldiers.

  “Is it really that fun in comparison? I mean you guys are actual soldiers, yet you love this Sim-War game more than anything.” I reasoned.

  Captain Rush just shrugged, “All the running and gunning, all the adrenaline without the danger; what’s not to love?” He answered simply.

  We spent some time with the crowds, our friends and our team before Eve and I could finally slip away to get some time to ourselves. We walked deeper into the forest holding hands, away from all the noise and the parties. The forest at ‘night’ was beautiful, with some purple and blue firefly lights dancing all around us.

  “Hey Evie? I’m sorry we didn’t go camping.” I said quietly.

  Eve turned to me and cocked her head to the side, “Where’s this coming from?”

  I shrugged, “You were so excited to go camping at first, and I kind of just blew it off and joined in with the game instead. I feel like that was pretty inconsiderate of me, so I wanted to apologize.”

  Eve just chuckled and wrapped her arms around my neck, “You know what I really love about you? Your impulsiveness: reckless and dangerous sometimes, you don’t just follow your passions, you sprint after them.”

  I rolled my eyes, “You make me sound dumb.”

  Eve’s eyes danced with amusement, “You are dumb, my silly, wonderful boy.” She leaned up on her tiptoes to give me a tender kiss, “I don’t ever want to constrain you, I want you and your amazing human mind to pursue every random fancy that ever fills your attention.” She held up a finger, “With one rule.”

  I quirked up an eyebrow, “What’s that?”

  Eve smiled that deep, loving smile of hers, “You must always take me with you.”

  I smiled and kissed her back, “You really won’t be mad if I just shift our course all the time, pull you away from things you wanna do?”

  Eve shook her head, “As I have told you time and again, what I really want to do is anything so long as I’m with you. While I might want to try certain experiences along the way, what I really want to indulge in are your random human passions—the more random and fleeting, the better.”

  I looked around at how secluded we were—everyone back at the party, the forest mostly empty now. I pressed Eve forward until her back was against the tree and started fondling her breasts, “You know what I really fancy right now?”

  Eve’s eyes grew wide and eager as a little pink blush colored her cheeks, “Adam, outside without any aphrodisiac’s influence? My my, someone’s growing bolder.”

  I smiled as I pulled her sweater up, revealing the most perfect breasts in the universe, “What can I say? I guess I’m evolving too.”