Guilt/Forgiveness

 “I cannot understand how you made this happen,” Felix declared incredulously, “but I am very excited to see how it turns out.”

 Kira giggled, glancing over to make sure the others were still occupied.  Adam and her mum were discussing something in low tones—work related if she had to guess.  Nate was listening to Laura and Larry discuss all they’d done to refurbish the building while Mason stood in the corner watching it all.

 “It wasn’t as hard as you imagine.  I promised Mason no loud music or crowds, but a fun night.  Nate was excited for team bonding.  Mum caved as soon as I invited her to come with us.  Adam was the hardest sell, but I mentioned that we could challenge Unit Alpha the next time they were in town and suddenly he was all for it.”

 Felix snickered; eyes open playfully wide.

 “We’d better hope you never decide to work against us, with that devious mind of yours.”

 She laughed obligingly, but Kira was reminded of Falk’s warning regarding the leader of the rogue supernatural—and their similarity.  Felix must have caught something change in her face because he opened his mouth to question her, but was interrupted by Laura’s announcement that they were ready to begin.  Excitement and adrenaline flooded Kira’s body.  Laser tagging with Unit Bravo, there was no better way to spend a Friday night.

 Laura and Larry’s Laser Battles (Laura and Larry, being from the city, had hopes to use a more homegrown name to draw in locals) would be having their grand opening the coming Friday, but had been open for private reservations.  Kira’s excitement had been uncontainable from the moment she’d heard of the plans to turn the warehouse into a multi-story laser tag arena.  Laura and Larry were hoping their business could draw in crowds from the nearby towns and villages, since they wouldn’t have to worry about the long trip to the city.  Kira wasn’t sure how long it could last, but it worked for her.

 “The rules for this version of capture the flag are simple,” Larry announced once they had all gathered near he and his wife.  He had one arm wrapped around Laura, but his other hand was waving through the air with excitement in every move.  Clearly, Larry loved his job.  “You’ll be divided into two teams of three.  You can place your flag anywhere on your side of the map, but once you’ve placed it you cannot move it and must mark off a square of space as your base.”

 “The objective,” Laura continued, brown eyes glittering as she looked over them, “is to find the other team’s base and steal their flag.  You don’t win until you’ve moved their flag to your base.  If you’re hit three times you ‘die’ and have to head to the exit.”

 Larry held up a vest and shot it with a laser gun.  Instantly the red glow of the vest began to pulse brightly, and the sound of vibrations filled the air.

 “The first time you are shot you become invincible for fifteen seconds, during which time you cannot shoot anyone.  The second time this period will last for only ten seconds.  We’ll be keeping track of who shoots who so you can compare at the end.”

 While Mason’s face was filled with his usual apathy, Adam’s face was serious, eyes flicking from Larry to Laura as he took in everything they were saying.  Kira wondered if she was half that serious when she first learned the rules.

 Larry clapped his hands.

 “Alright, divide up into teams and we’ll pass out the equipment.”

 “We should split the hu—the Kingstons.”

 Kira had to press her lips together to keep her laugh in a Felix’s slip.  Nate’s eyes had rolled to the ceiling as if to beg for strength while Adam’s hands fisted at his side.  Luckily her mum cut in quickly.

 “I suppose it’s only fair to split up the talent.”  A soft teasing smile graced Rebecca’s face for a moment and Kira felt her heart thump.  When she had set off trying to get this arranged she had known she would need her mother’s support to get the whole group in on it—especially since she wanted Agency funding to pay for it (renting out the entire building on pre-open prices wasn’t the worst, but definitely more than Kira could drop on a whim).  While discussing the idea Kira had decided to invite Rebecca as a way of extending an olive branch.  There had been lingering tension between them since the reveal of the supernatural, exacerbated by the revelations about her father.  Kira had needed time to get over it, and she had.  Still, she knew her mum felt guilty about the way everything had played out—or at least expected Kira to think it was her fault. “Nate and Adam should also be on opposing teams, given their skill when working together.”

 “Agreed.”  Kira looked over the others, quickly deducing who would work best.  “How about Adam, Mason and I form one team?”

 There was no way Adam wouldn’t be going all out for this—he was too competitive not to.  Felix would have been great, given his infiltration specialty, but he was well aware this was just a game and might get distracted trolling everyone else.  Nate would be fun, but today Kira was itching to win.  Mason would sink into following orders as if this was a serious situation, out of habit if nothing else, especially with Adam at the head.

 With that decided Laura and Larry handed out vests to the respective teams.  The ones Kira’s team was given glowed a dull yellow, while her mother’s team got the low red ones Larry had been demonstrating with.  Plastic laser guns in hand they moved to the staging area, a small area with benches by the doors to the arena themselves.  There Laura and Larry ran through safety rules, where the emergency exits were, no climbing the walls and partitions, no swinging the laser gun like a club to hit someone.  Nothing Kira hadn’t heard before.  Finally, Larry and Laura slid open the doors to the arena and everyone could step inside.

 A warehouse was apparently easily adapted to being a laser tag arena.  Walls had been erected throughout the first floor to make it more difficult to see other people sneaking around.  The second floor was a series of winding pathways, sometimes to nowhere, with random stairs, ramps, and ladders leading up to the third floor or down to the first floor.  The final floor was more a series of suspended walkways with low walls.  When Keira had toured the business as a potential customer, walking on the third floor had made her feel safely daring, especially the portions where a heavy-duty netting (for safety) surrounded the walkways in place of walls.

 They had all stopped to take in the room, the machine generated fog that made the lasers more visible drifting through and adding a spooky element to the arena.  Dim lights were located near emergency exits on every floor, keeping the room from being pitch black.

 Kira lead her team to the left while the other team headed to the right.  The distance had grown between them significantly by the time Adam spoke up.

 “Now we plant our flag.  You took the tour here Kira, did you see anything useful?”

 She bit her lip and Mason broke in with a sarcastic comment before she could speak.

 “You are the experienced one among us.  Why don’t you share your knowledge?”

 Mason’s innuendo made an embarrassed flush break out over Kira’s face.  She cleared her throat.

 “We don’t need to be super inventive, since this is our first time.  Some of the games we did in uni were absolutely mad.  Just under twenty criminal justice students in a room like this with laser guns at least three times a semester.  We had to get very creative.  For this place, I think instinct tells you to go for a corner to limit entry points.  Or the second story to be a bit more out of the way.  When I was walking around, I saw this path on the ground floor that leads towards the middle of the arena from our side, but it ends in a dead end.  There’s a nice spot on the second story that gives you a view of most of the path to the dead end, as well as the end.”

 “I think the first time is one of the most important times to be inventive.”

 “You think we should place the flag in the dead end,” Adam guessed, considering the plan and ignoring Mason’s contribution.  “We could have someone on the second story pretending to guard something while really keeping an eye on the flag.”

 “One of us could find a sniper’s perch on the third floor.”

 “While one of us looks for their flag.”

 Adam took a deep breath, eyebrow furrowed as he considered their plan.  Finally, he gave a nod.

 “Kira, you may have a harder time seeing than we will, but you’re a better shot.  You should take the sniper position.  Mason, you should cover the flag.  I’ll look for their base.  We need to come up with coded phrases so we can communicate if necessary.”

 Lying flat on the ground of a platform surrounded by netting Kira adjusted her hold on her laser.  The screen in the middle of the arena said they had one minute before they could begin shooting at each other.  Adrenaline pumped through her body as she eyed the arena before her.  She couldn’t see Mason from her position, but she had an eye on their flag.  The pale yellow was surrounded by caution tape as instructed, making it stand out.  Adam was pacing in short bursts on the first floor, back and forth in front of the path he would be taking deeper into the red territory.

 There was a ringing throughout the room as the game finally began, lowered as Kira had requested.  She didn’t know exactly how sensitive vampire ears were, but she wanted this to be an enjoyable enough experience that they wanted to give it another go.

 Adam had begun to move into enemy territory and Kira tracked his movement, trying to make sure his path was clear.  Subtle movement on a path close to him drew her attention to someone, she wasn’t sure who, on the other side of a wall from him.  They had likely heard each other’s movements by this point, unless it was Felix and Adam was unaware of him.  She aimed for the dark shape and fired rapidly.  Bright red flashes proved she’d hit her mark and Adam took off running down a side path that took him out of her sight, but away from whoever had been making their way toward him.  She crawled backwards, making sure to try and keep out of sight.  Her position was blown from her shot, so she needed a new location.

 Her knees and hips protested the motions that had once been very familiar to her, but had been out of practice since graduating and moving back to Wayhaven.  Kira pushed forward anyway, straining to hear anything that would give her a clue of what was going on.

 Her new position was at a good spot to view both sides of the arena, though she did feel a little vulnerable with a ladder to her left.

 “Smoke and mirrors!”

 That was the signal Kira had been waiting for.  She strained her eyes, trying to see where Adam was located.  He’d found the flag.  Lasers shot towards the clock where the countdown had been recorded, allowing her to follow the trajectory back towards Adam, who was at the open edge of a second story section.  The blue flag had to be in that area, but Adam paid the price for passing on the information and was shot, having to retreat out of Kira’s sight as he blazed a bright yellow.  She was close enough to see Nate move towards the edge, keeping low to the wall.  She didn’t have a clear shot, but after counting to five she decided it was better to provide Adam cover so that he could move in towards the flag.

 She shot wildly and quickly attracted Nate’s attention.  Now that she had it, she crouched against her cover, popping up only to take shots at him.  The ladder burned in her subconscious, a dangerous vulnerability now they knew she was here.  Something behind Nate registered for the first time.

 Arranged around the arena were mirrors.  If you did it properly, you could bounce a laser shot off a mirror and onto your target.  Perfect for people who were already behind cover.

 Kira calculated in her mind before popping up.  Nate’s vest began to pulse red and a breath of relief left made its way from deep inside Kira.  That was closer than she would have liked it to be.  There were sounds coming from the ladder now, she had to run.  In a move she knew she might regret later she took off towards red’s territory to another ladder she knew lead to the second story.  She slid down it, her hands protesting the friction, and darted to a short wall to hide behind.

 All was quiet.  She could hear footsteps on the floor above if she held her breath.  Felix or her mum, they were close.

 “Adam has the flag!”

 Nate’s call prompted the footsteps ahead to quicken, heading in the direction of the red base.  If Kira didn’t follow, they would be able to go against Adam two versus one.  She shot to her feet and jogged in the direction she’d last seen him.

 From the now empty red base she followed the sounds of activity to find both her mother and Nate hunkered down behind some cover, shooting back and forth with Adam whose forward progress was hindered by needing to climb a ladder up to the third floor and risk being shot or backtracking deeper into red’s zone.  Quietly Kira took aim.

 Adam’s vest began to pulse bright yellow and Kira took the shots.  The glow from Nate and her Mum lit the way as she ran to where Adam had to leave the flag.  He ran for the ladder, she snagged the flag and continued running full pelt down the side path that took her deeper back the way she came.  The first half wall she found she ran her hand along to disguise her dropping the flag.  If she could keep her mum and Nate convinced she still had the flag, they wouldn’t find it and take it back to their base.

 “Tango in the Treasury!”

 The phrase was nonsense, but to Adam and Mason it should be enough to communicate where the flag was, especially if they followed her voice.  She had to get out of here now, though, or risk Nate and her mother seeing whoever came to capture the flag.

 Heart pounding in her chest, from anxiety and the speed she was running at, Kira dove underneath a series of foldable mats that had been arranged in one corner of the arena.  Triangles, piles you could climb on, the makeshift room had lots of places to hide or to take cover.  She tried to calm her breathing, slow her heart rate, anything to keep her a little more hidden from vampire senses.  There were people headed he way.

 “I can hear her up ahead.”

 Nate’s voice was low, just audible enough for Rebecca to hear, or Kira, since she was crouched under a shape at the very entrance to this section.

 “We’ll—”

 Rebecca’s comment was cut off by Mason’s share of nonsense words.  Felix had the flag.

 “Go see what’s going on.  I’ll keep an eye out for Kira and call for you if I catch sight of her.  She can’t have gone far.”

 Nate moved away quietly while Rebecca walked further into the area.  Kira turned her head and angled her body just enough to see that she’d moved to the edge of the mountain of mats in the center of the room.  If Kira could move quietly enough, now was the best time to escape.  She inched out of the triangle she was hiding under and winced when her gun thudded against the mat.  Her mother didn’t react, moving to inspect the other side of the mat mountain.  Biting her lip, she made for another path from the room, but couldn’t take it anymore.  There was no way her mother didn’t hear that.

 “Mum, you’re supposed to shoot me.  Not let me walk away.”

 Rebecca paused; her laser gun held lightly by her side as she turned.  Her professional mask dropped and she looked a little embarrassed to be caught out.

 “You we being clever.  I wanted to see what you would do.”

 Kira took a deep breath.  She should be running off to help Adam or stop Felix, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave.  Until Rebecca realized accepted she had the forgiveness she was seeking, they could never go back to the way they were before. 

 “Listen Mum—this is definitely not the right place for this conversation, but I think we need to put it out there.  I do not hate you, resent you, or blame you.  I get that you couldn’t tell me about all of this.”  Kira waved her arm around her widely.  “I was upset because I don’t think you forgot to tell me about Dad for two months, but I understand that talking about it is hard for you.  I love you Mum.  Now can you please stop walking on eggshells around me?!”

 Rebecca was frozen in place for a minute before giving a decisive nod.

 “Alright.”

 Kira was surprised when her mother gestured for her to come in for a hug, but happy to do it and then get back to the game.  With their arms around each other Kira’s gun was very close to the sensor on the back of Rebecca’s vest.  All’s fair in love and war?

 Both Kira and Rebecca’s vests began to pulse, flooding the area in yellow and red.  Kira laughed, shaking her head as Rebecca’s lips lifted in a small smile.

 “You are definitely my daughter.”  She looked to the ground, eyes narrowing when she saw Kira hadn’t dropped the flag.  “Did you dump the flag while we were chasing you?”

 “I’ll never tell,” Kira teased, sticking her tongue out playfully before she began jogging away, taking advantage of her temporary invincibility.  The tension was gone, not with the solution she expected, but she’d take it.

 She caught sight of Felix moving stealthily on the first floor.  It wouldn’t be long until he reached his base.  Kira couldn’t let that happen, not unless she was willing to hear Adam critique her playstyle forever.  There was a ramp that lead just ahead of where he was walking, and she crept low as she moved forward.  The pulsing of her vest stopped and with it went her invincibility.  This would be it.  She swung out from behind the ramp, body crouched low.  Felix’s face was the picture of confusion for just a moment before he dramatically dropped the yellow flag in his hand and clutched his stomach before flopping to the ground.

 “The light fades, and I am dead!”

 Kira shook her head and snatched the flag, ready to take it as close to her base as she could before Nate or Rebecca could catch up to her.  Instead over the loudspeaker there came an announcement.

 “And with the red team’s flag in their base, the yellow team wins!  Congratulations, and please return to the exit doors.”

 Nate came jogging up to them, Rebecca not far behind.  Mason and Adam joined the procession as they made their way out of the arena, a satisfied twist to Adam’s lips.  Already he was talking with Nate about how they could sneak radios in for a match against Unit Alpha.  Mason was teasing Felix about catching him as he crept into their base.  Everyone was chatting with smiles on their faces and when Rebecca looked back to 0Kira, she grinned more widely than Kira could remember seeing in years.

 A pang went through her chest.  If only every day could be this perfect.  Being here like this with her family, this was heaven.