Chapter 95

Merder Stadium, Atlanta - 11:01 AM

“So let me make sure I’ve got this all down right,” Howard said as we crossed the stadium’s front porch. While there had been a large fence almost all the way around the building, it had been torn down as the area became a safe zone. Several people loitered here, but the High Roller stopped before we could enter the stadium.

I allowed myself to be pulled aside. “Sure, lay it on me,” I told him as I pulled out a pen and some paper from my inventory, scribbling on it.

“So you’re some kind of super powerful player, right?” he started, though he shook his head right after. “No, I already know that because you walked into and out of Branson’s office with exactly what you wanted. So you’re some kind of super powerful player. You want me because I have the High Roller class, which you knew somehow, and there’s a lot of betting involved. You want me to ruin your odds of winning so that we can make big bets and rake in the points.”

“That’s the general gist of it, yes,” I said, clapping him on the back. He winced, but stood solid. “I’m confident in my abilities to win, and you can back out of being my manager at any time. I have a backup in mind, but they’re not going to be nearly as lucrative as you.”

“At any time, you say?”

“I say! But that will leave you alone for Branson and his crew to come and pick you up again,” I stated. “Sticking with me, or at least where it’s safe and under the protection of my adequate name, he is unlikely to touch you. Manager on manager violence is frowned upon by the administrators. Plus, hurting you isn’t going to stop me, so the only reason he’d have to go after you is for his own petty revenge.”

Howard sighed and thought about what I had just said for a few moments. “Well, keeping safe from Branson is a hell of a perk,” he admitted. “I still want to run, but I feel like they’ll just end up catching me again.”

“That’s because one of his goons is a tracker,” I said, before pausing to think about things and began writing again. “He’s actually in a team where Jennifer Bechtold is the manager.”

“Aw, man, Jenny?” Howard repeated, running a hand down his face. “I used to date her. I bet she would love to see me dragged back by my shirt collar again. Things… did not end well for us.”

“Of course it didn’t, you stole money out of her purse and went gambling out of state,” I snorted. “Dunno what you expect after that; it really was a dick move.”

“You even know about that?” he asked, his voice going up an octave. “Ugh, this is a bad idea.”

“This is a very lucrative idea,” I corrected, putting an arm around his shoulders. I handed him the paper, tossed the pen back into my inventory, and began going through my menus.

“Team Trouser Snake, Team Titans, Sherwood Forest Knaves?" he read off as he scanned the document. “What are these?”

“These are the teams that you’re going to bet on for me,” I answered, still navigating the menus. There were a lot of people in the safe zone. “There’s eleven team names because that’s how many slots are open when you count all of the MVP Tokens in circulation. So, that’s how many winners there’s going to be.”

“And how the hell do you know that, man?” Howard asked, raising his voice before looking around. He leaned in and spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you have a man on the inside? Is this whole thing rigged?”

“Might as well be, but I’m not about to reveal my secrets,” I said with a wink. “Here, use these points.”

[[Points Transfer]]

Would you like to transfer 3,200 points to Player [Howard Cooper]?

Yes

No

This would leave me with only 13 points remaining, but I hit Yes and watched Howard’s eyes bulged as he received the notification. “That’s- you’ve- how-“

I put my hands on his shoulders and he closed his mouth, looking at me in a completely different way. “So these points,” I started. “They have a very specific use, okay?”

“Okay,” he said quietly.

“First, raise up your Luck stat to as high as you can make it. Then, max out your Up the Ante, Overbet, and Flash Forecast abilities. Doing so will get you access to the Off the Board and Victory Scratch abilities, and max those, too. Use the rest to bet on these eleven teams. Got it?”

“Y-yeah, I think so,” Howard said, still processing. “How do you know all this?"

“Because I’m the Warmonger, baby,” I replied. “Now, come on, let’s go get registered before the battle royale starts and you can start winning immediately.”

“I have so many questions.”

“No time,” I said as I began guiding him inside. “No more questions, only raking in the points. I expect those back, by the way, so don’t go spending them all on things not for gambling.”

“You do?”

“Of course!  I’m not doing this out of the goodness of my own heart. I have an agenda, too, and you’re the best to help me realize my dreams. Now, come on, chop chop, we have a lot to do today and hours tick by fast.”

The inside of Merder Stadium was large with several open spaces and was a lot less packed than some might have thought. With the monster apocalypse going on just a few blocks away, a lot of people thought that the tournament was in poor taste and was being used to placate them until the next scenario started. Not quite the truth, but pretty close.

Still, people gathered where there was competition. A listless crowd wandered the wide plains that made up the concourse. I deftly began maneuvering Howard through them, pushing him forward with a hand on his back towards the old Team Store. He allowed me to guide him with just the bare minimum of talk back.

While we walked, I gauged Howard’s attitude. Despite my insistence that my plan was a workable one, the High Roller was a flight risk. Tempting him with easy wins and informing him that he could be tracked was a good start to keeping him in places that were safe, but if he ever got too spooked then I’d have to keep spending time with him in order to make him feel safe.

Time that I could spend, but really didn’t want to. As it was, my schedule for Atlanta was so packed that actually finding time to sleep was going to be an issue. Between participating in the Chaos Cup and fighting random bosses around town, I would be zooming from place to place like an overworked cabbie. My only saving grace was that I didn’t have to deal with the CDC stuff; that was all up to Kayla and Jeff.

Though, as I began pushing Howard into the Team Store, now barren of any actual merchandise or memorabilia, it occurred to me that I hadn’t actually given them much direction. If they were still going to wait at Milly’s, then I should be able to get them some information.

I snapped out of my thoughts as I finished marching my manager to one of the people wearing a Merder Stadium polo shirts. Their name tag informed us that their name was Penny, and she was a tall, fit brunette who looked incredibly tired. She held in a sigh as she put on her best customer service smile and greeted us.

“Welcome to the Merder Stadium Chaos Cup sign ups,” she said, her voice pleasantly deep. “Unfortunately, we just finished taking on newcomers for the battle royale just a few minutes ago. You’re welcome to grab seats and watch the show when it takes place.”

“Hello, uh… Penny,” Howard said, his gaze lingering on her name tag. “My guy here actually wants to sign up using his token. If that’s okay, I mean. I assume MVPs still get to sign up?”

Penny perked up slightly at the mention of my MVP status, and she looked past Howard to me. “Do you have your token on you?”

“Of course!” I said, reaching into my inventory and pulling out the coin. I flipped it between my fingers a few times before offering it to her.

Penny’s eyes flashed blue, and a look of confusion passed over her face. “What… What language is this in? Ugh, it’s kind of giving me a headache to look at.”

“No one knows except my Patron, and he or she has their lips sealed,” I replied. Sara had changed it so that my language of choice was Enochian. Therefore, when someone else looked at my things like Penny had, then they would come up with something absolutely unreadable. “I go by the name Warmonger. I’m here to kick ass and embrace chaos, and there’s a lot of both so I’m going to be very happy.”

“You’ve already got a Patron?” Howard asked. “Why didn’t you mention that before?”

"Reasons."

“Alright, then,” she said, cutting through our conversation. Her eyes were glued to the coin as she looked it over. “I’m going to take this for a minute.”

“Sure thing!” I handed her the token.

“There’s no need for that, Penny,” came a rich, smooth voice from behind Howard and I. He jerked away, turning around to look at who had snuck up on us, and I very carefully schooled my body language. “I would be happy to vouch for the validity of that MVP Token so that we can expedite the situation.”

“Of course, Mr. Merder,” Penny said, looking up behind me before handing the token back.

“You are an intriguing one,” Benedict Merder said, and I heard his loud footsteps as he walked around me.

“So I’ve heard on many occasions!” I answered, trying to inject my voice with enthusiasm.

“MVP, Avatar of a Patron, and a glitch all wrapped in one,” he rumbled as he finally made it in front of me. “Truly fascinating.”

Benedict Merder was a seven foot tall behemoth of a humanoid. He looked mostly human with a chiseled musculature, pure white hair that was cut short and very tidy, and green eyes that seemed to pierce through you. His skin was a bright baby blue and looked like it was stretched unusually tight on some parts of his body. He wore the same outfit as Penny, with a Merder Stadium polo that was tucked tight into a pair of shirts. There were no socks or shoes on his feet, nor did he have a name tag. That part was fair, though, as a seven foot tall blue man he was hard to miss.

“Yes, I am deserving of all of this praise and more,” I boasted before offering my hand. “I’m the Warmonger. A pleasure to take part in your tournament.”

Benedict Merder looked at my hand before taking it, his own enveloping mine, and giving it a firm shake. “How did you survive the tutorial as a glitch?” he asked.

“Well, you see, I am very dangerous,” I said without a shred of humility.

He released my hand. “And how did you get a Patron?”

“By being incredibly awesome,” I answered.

The blue man nodded, more to himself than what I said, as he looked me up and down. “And what brings you to my stadium, Warmonger?”

“I’m here to kick ass and embrace chaos,” I said, tucking my hands into my pocket. “And there just so happens to be an overabundance of both. I’m looking forward to the fun.”

Benedict Merder’s eyes met mine before continuing upwards, as if following an invisible wire. He squinted before shaking his head and looking back down at me. “Who is your Patron?”

“Sorry,” I said, moving my head as though I was reading a message, and then swiping away an invisible notification. “He or she enjoys their privacy too much to be named. In fact, they’re very sour at me for even mentioning that I have a Patron. They really enjoy the fact that I’m a glitch, you see, because it makes it harder to pry.”

The administrator scowled, but raised his hand to cover it up by stroking his chin. “I see,” he said slowly. I could tell that he was thinking quite hard about my presence here.

By all rights, I shouldn’t be allowed to join the Chaos Cup. To the administrators, I only existed if I was physically with them, and that would generally turn into a liability if they couldn’t keep tabs on me. That never mattered to Benedict Merder.

In past iterations, he enjoyed the novelty of having a glitch in the Chaos Cup. A wild card, he always said. When they introduced the teams, throwing around classes and stats, I was always “Anthony Franklin, unknown.” I played his game on his whim and, when I started winning, he was ecstatic. Anyone who could enhance his little pet project beneath the arena was a good addition to his tournament.

Now that I was a glitch with a Patron? He would be falling over himself to keep me in the Chaos Cup. My status screen would be hidden from him, but I was sure he’d ask Penny to describe the Enochian writing. If my guesses were right, he would probably think my Patron was Metatron, the Celestial Scribe. That was closer to Sara than I would have liked but Metatron was a powerful enough Patron that Benedict Merder may just leave it be. If things went as I thought they would, then I might be even safer under the administrator’s scrutiny here than I ever was before.

And it was all thanks to my Sara.

Well, it was all thanks to centuries of hard work leading up to this point, but Sara was a big part of that.

“If we’re all good here, I’ve got some more grinding to do,” I said, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “Also, I’m hungry, so I have to eat up so I can prepare for later.”

Benedict Merder stopped stroking his chin in thought, and a big grin replaced his scowl. “Yes, yes I think this will work just fine,” he said. “Please, go and grind. I’ll speak with your manager on your behalf. We’ll need to discuss how you’ll be presented to the audience. I’m thinking ‘wild card,’ the very epitome of chaos for the Chaos Cup. Yes, that should work nicely. What about your teammates?”

“Wait, what?” Howard asked. He had been staring in awe at Benedict Merder this whole time, but only just seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts he was having.

“No teammates, I’m solo through and through!” I exclaimed, patting Howard on the back. “Do well by me, Howard, we’re going places. Straight to the top and I’m taking you with me. Just not right now. Right now, you stay.”

“What? You’re just going to leave me here?” he asked, his voice squeaking.

“Of course! You’re my manager, you’re the one who actually has to talk to them. I’m just here to kick ass and embrace chaos. I know you heard me say that.”

“I did, yes, you did say that, but-“

“I assure you that it’s all just making sure things are in order, Howard,” Benedict Merder said soothingly. “Nothing to get riled up over.”

“Right, right, whatever you say,” Howard said without conviction. “Just talking to an administrator about a guy I agreed to help. No biggie. No big deal at all.”

“Perfect, then I’m going to go grab some chow and get to working on grabbing some last minute additions to my arsenal for the Chaos Cup. There’s prep to be had.”

“I look forward to seeing what you can do, Warmonger,” Benedict said happily. “So you be extra careful out there.”

“Careful, sure. Have fun, Howard,” I said, grabbing the man by his shoulders and giving him a half hug before I began backing away. “Remember, you’ve got this. I believe in you. Grab some food yourself if you need it. Don’t panic.”

“Your first match is at four, just so you know,” Penny called after me as I started walking away.

“What did you get yourself into this time, Howard?” I heard the man whisper to himself before he was led away.