Codename: Freedom - Book 5 - Chapter 14

One thought above all flooded my mind. Were these people insane? Did they not know we were dangerous? Hadn’t they seen the clips of what I’d done? Of course, they had.

The only thing I could do was hold myself back. It wouldn’t even take a psionic bolt. An Othisi push with a little too much energy from too close could seriously injure a person. To give my psionics something to do, I activated my inner walls. It was like going into defensive mode without anyone knowing.

Peter’s network of microdrones had already swarmed out of the bus along with Destiny’s. They worked together, sharing data. Destiny announced over the leadership voice channel that, “There’s no sign of weapons or hostile intent.”

The first girl that climbed over the fence sprinted at us. She was tiny, and dressed far too provocatively for my tastes, so when she blurted out, “Lucius, marry me!” I went red in the face.

What was nice about visiting Mia was that I had the chance to prepare myself. But not this. Destiny sent the first girl strobing red in my headset before informing me, “She’s a metacaster of the uncensored Metaverse.”

My gaze narrowed, but the description could mean many things. There were several things censored like certain forms of cosplay, augmented characters that were gory, the glorifying of certain political messages like those from terrorists…

Destiny didn’t leave me in the dark. “She’s an adult entertainer.”

It was too sudden and unexpected. I glanced down and checked her out. She was wearing tight shorts and a thin-strapped tank top. It wasn’t inappropriate, but if I flipped to the uncensored version of the Meta, she could’ve been walking around augmentedly nude for all I knew. I immediately thought of Mia and her short, curvy build which had surprised me considering her persona.

I internally rebuked myself. It was natural for a guy to notice such things, but it was up to me whether I’d control my eyes or not.

As the girl stopped just short of tackling me, I grinned through gritted teeth.

She had just an instant to lean up against me and pose for her fans to let her drone scan a picture of us.

“Open hand behind her back,” Destiny instructed.

In a very real sense, I’d trained for this. When I’d been focused on gaining fans, it was a part of the research we’d done. Only, it had been more than a year an a half since I even thought about it.

Thankfully the moment was gone as fast as it came. A sea of people were suddenly surrounding me. They all spoke at once. Girls, many of them beautiful, were asking and suggesting things that were borderline insane outside the context of the celebrity-fan dynamic.

They weren’t alone. Many guys were among them. Some were asking for autographs. It was almost an archaic practice, but that’s what made autographs worth something.

When they started pressing in, Destiny reminded me, “This is why you were able to earn over a billion cryptos for a few days of work.”

Being pressed by strangers was uncomfortable, but I was not a man of normal stature like I’d once been. If anything, my countless hours in shield wall formations made me quite an expert at handling such things. Her reminder also allowed me to smile easier. I really looked into the faces of those around me. I saw myself in them. Well, maybe not in the adult actress, but not everyone had Destiny growing up.

Then I glanced back and saw where Kline had ended up. He had his back against the bus like Mel, Barrell, and Ma with fans surrounding them. But there was an obvious difference. It was like the bulk of the crowd didn’t even see them. I was the main spectacle.

My countenance fell.

Kline’s gaze met mine. He looked at me like he told me so.

I didn’t like it.

Then he sent me a direct voice message. “It’s what happens when you’re the one that crosses the finish line.”

I sighed. I didn’t consider it exactly fair, but I got his meaning. I was being made the spectacle now because I’d made a spectacle of myself. Not just in the battalion race to the end of the tunnel, but in our fight against the Manticore King, the Ekseliksi Centurion, and even the Ekseliksi Elite. Much of it was done out of necessity. So many others were sacrificing as much as I was, but that made me no less of a spectacle.

I tried to be accommodating. Signing things, greeting people, shaking hands, posing for pictures… More people were flooding toward us, but it was only allowed for a few minutes before security rushed toward us and ushered people back, fixing the barricade.

Once I had some breathing room, Kline slapped me on the shoulder and said, “So many poor people want a piece of you and only a few got the chance. What are you going to do about it?”

Turning, I was blinded by his teethy grin.

In response, I motioned toward our seven-foot-tall Asian American friend who was standing nearby with his arms crossed over his chest. “Sick Ma on them?”

Ma’s brown inched upward.

We laughed.

When security had gotten people under control, we approached as a group and spent some time greeting these fans that had taken the time to come out. The crowd kept growing and it was near a major walkway so soon we moved on.

As much as we wanted to “blow some things up,” it became obvious that remaining outside was not a good idea. Even walking the convention floor might be a bad idea. At least, without disguises.

Despite the momentary chaos we ran into outside, once we were inside things were much more streamlined. The main convention floor was gigantic on its own, but it wasn’t alone. There were approximately a million psionic users. These were mainly Vanguard participants, but there were also those from North and South America.

Every major nation had their own Cubes even if few of them could compete with the US. We had most of the world’s attention. There were exceptions, but it wouldn’t turn into a world wide event until the stage after Vanguard where the Cubes of Earth would all be linked in the Prime Sim.

Even that would be preliminary before the Prime Sim opens up to the Ekseliksi. Participants from both Earth and the Ekseliksi would meet on a Jinhwa sponsored world that was basically a massive construct covered with connected Cubes. It was there that the real war would begin.

The main floor was primarily set up for non-psionic visitors. There were separate rooms specifically for Vanguard participants. We headed to the main one first. Victoria split off with Peter, Oliver, and Liam to meet with the other Colonels.

Because all of our buses were arriving at the same time, the first people we ran into were other people from Prodos. I spotted Vector and Drool, Treetop, Marabella and several of the former gamers. Jerrek wasn’t far away with Isamu. People started to mingle until it was just me, Kline, Mel, and Barrell left. Hwan joined us a moment later. We went with the flow of the crowd.

Just like with any convention, there were booths filled with things for sale. They ranged from having displays of personal ranged or melee weapons, to body armor and E-fields, combat drones, augmented headsets, and even protein shakes and energy drinks. It was quite the setup.

That alone would’ve made it interesting, but Prodos wasn’t the battalion there. Or should I call us a guild? The game devs weren’t shying away from describing us as one.

There were so many psionic users. You could feel it in the air. Most people were going out of their way to keep their psionics under control, yet it was electrifying.

Even if I didn’t recognize the battalions, Destiny gave me a rundown of who they were whenever necessary. And they certainly recognized us. Most gave us respectful nods, but there were some that greeted us like fans might. It was stranger to me than being met by the crowd outside.

As if an ocean current shifted the moment our group came in contact with one of the other major players, people stopped, and space cleared between us. We’d been browsing at a merchant who was selling ballistic suits with extra armored padding, when the main squad from The Burden Bearers drew near on the other side of the aisle. Ebrima Okoro, a black man nearly as tall as Ma with a physique as well developed as a Combat Master, came to stop. He had a lengthier build than the Real Major who was just a granite statue. Ebrima face was longer, giving him a regal stature.

When Vanguard had first begun, he’d been number two on the Genesis list right behind the Real Major. I wasn’t sure if he’d reached Rank D psionics, but he was still undoubtedly one of the top competitors in Vanguard.

Kline, Mel, Barrell, and even Hwan remained silent, feeling the tension. It’s not that I couldn’t take it any longer, but Ebrima was a real soldier that had seen battle before the Cube. Before even reaching the rank of Sergeant he had received the Distinguished Service Cross and a Purple Heart. Obviously they’d fixed him up. The man was as intimidating as standing across from Achilles. I cracked a smile.

He tilted his head to the side in a respectful gesture that wasn’t quite a bow.

That’s all the invitation we needed. Ebrima wasn’t the only person in their battalion we’d watched. The group with him was the best of the best.

Kline would’ve beat me to them if I hadn’t started walking first.

Ebrima straightened to salute, but we were too fast.

Winding up, I threw my hand forward.

Without missing a beat, Ebrima matched my energy while letting out a throaty chuckle. We clasped hands.

“Congratulations on Master Sergeant. Well earned,” I said.

“Thank you, Major,” he replied. His tone wasn’t mocking, but I couldn’t help but wince at how unearned my rank felt.

As I shook the hands of his men, it was impossible not to feel small. Other than Ma, all of his group except for two of them were taller than us.

We chatted about the convention briefly. It didn’t surprise me that any awkwardness between us disappeared as quickly as it came. We walked together for a few minutes as they explained about some of what they had seen.

When we were parting, Master Sergeant Ebrima Okoro asked, “Will I see you in the Champions Room tonight for dinner?”

“The what?” I replied in confusion.

Destiny let him reply. She’d fill in the blanks later.

“It’s the room only the top hundred ranked soldier in Vanguard have access to. We’ve been in talks with some of the other Battalions. Major Jeff Wright is requesting for everyone to show up for dinner tonight that can make it as a show of solidarity.”

My brow inched up. “If that’s the case, then I’ll be there unless there’s something else going on that I’m unaware of.”

Once they were gone, Barrell commented, “Okay, that was awesome.”

I sighed, giving Mel a questioning look.

He nodded a confirmation that he would be there. He was the only other person in Prodos that was ranked in the top one hundred even if he was at the bottom of the list. The reason was simple. His psionic bolts could be measured in simulation. When he overcharged his ability, he was the most powerful caster in Vanguard without even reaching Rank D. The two of us would be attending alone.