The Online Job - Chapter 22

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Natti was being lazy in bed and just laying there smelling the flowery scent of her sheets and pillows when her phone rang. It was the song “I’m A Slut”, by the Bus Boys, and it was Tara’s new ringtone. She picked up the phone, and said hello and Tara asked, “Hey what do you think Megan means with that (mom and dad) line in her email?” Natti told her that she thought that Megan was now going to be living with Mr. and Mrs. Billings.

You know that she is calling Mrs. Billings's mom now, so I think that they must have made some kind of an arraignment so that they could have her as a daughter. Do you want to come with me when I met her? I’ve already sent her an email saying that I’d love to have lunch with her, want to come along? I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind at all. I’ll call her in a few then I’ll call you back, poodles!

Natti clicked off and then punched Megan’s icon, and then when Megan came on they talked about her coming for lunch Megan said that she should be there about 11:00 or so, and that, “Her new mom and dad were looking forward to seeing her again.” Natti asked if she thought it would be okay if Tara came along and she said sure and asked how her visit with the therapist worked out yesterday.

Natti told her it was the first one and that it was mostly filling out some papers about different things she did and how she felt about some stuff. She said that has another appointment this Tuesday, and that she was sure that she would find out more. She also said that he talked to mom for about 30 min while she was filling out all the questionnaires. She said that on one there were over 400 questions.

“Hey didn’t you and your new mom get the same information that I did at the support group”, Natti asked?

“We did, and we talked about it and I suggested that we wait for a few days until we are sure of what’s going to happen to me. We both discussed it with Dad (oh I feel so proud and happy that he is letting me call him dad now), and he agreed that it would be a prudent decision on my part. Natti you know I’ve only known this man for a few days, and I’ve never had someone treat me with such respect and kindness.

I think I’d do anything he’d ask of me because I know that whatever he asked would be what I should do. So feel free to have Tara come over and we will pick you two up, or have her wait and we will pick her up after we pick you up. Look I’m going to have to go now, and see how everything is going, and also because I don’t want to start to cry.”

Megan hung up and Natti was ecstatic at the change in Megan. She seemed to be in only a few days emerging into a diamond in a cabbage patch. A shy quiet person that always was just on the outskirts of carousal was now becoming the center of attention and a lovely friend. She had learned more about her friend in the past few days than she had been aware of in the past 8 years that they had known each other. She had always thought of Megan as an introverted person preferring solitude. She now knew that she was just hiding the shame of her family.

The shame of her family being controlled by those outside forces kept people separated into groups according to their differences. Differences equated their relating to life as shame to control their interactions.  If people could be convinced that interacting with others would in some way cause them shame then they could be controlled to act in a way that would not cause them recrimination.

Natti called Tara and told her of the conversation and asked if she wanted to come over to her house or would you like for us to pick her up after she collects me? Tara suggested that she just walk over there since it was a nice day, and then they could all just leave from there. So the plan was made as if the heads of state were finalizing some humanitarian agreement and Natti finally rose out of bed.

She had texted Megan the results of the summit agreement and was waiting when Tara showed up just a little before Megan and her parents arrived. It was a nice day with a few white globs of cotton candy clouds floating along in the trade winds that betrayed a lower temp than what was scientifically derived. Natti sitting on her steps with Tara talking about the upcoming Cos Con when Megan and her new adoptive family drove in the drive.

They were in their SUV and Megan was introducing her old friends to her new parents. Natti since being better acquainted with Mrs. Billings began to talk to her and Megan with her arms encircling her new dad stood next to him with his arm resting on her shoulder becoming re-acquainted with Tara.

They talked for a few minutes, and Megan and Natti moved to the side for a few moments to talk Megan very excitedly asked, “Hey could I see your new toys right quick before we leave?” Natti said that she could and Natti said that she was going to lock up and Megan was going to go with her so she could show her something. They went back inside and Natti pulled her box of toys out of the closet and opened it on the bed.

Megan’s curiosity showed as she looked at the toys and then picked up the largest one and looking at Natti and holding it up smiled, and just said, “OMG!” Natti just gave a slight smile and then with a dismissive nod of her head just replied, “Yeah! I know.” Nothing could be said, what could be said, but Megan tried as the two girls walked out, “Natti, that is as long as my forearm and bigger around. Aren’t you afraid that is going to split you apart?” Natti told her that she had ones that she could use to work up to that size. I’ve checked out medical sites on the internet and they all say the same thing you can take the length and depth, but you have to work up to that size since most of your body parts that will be involved are muscles. They rejoined Megan’s new parents and got back into the SUV and headed off to the mall.

They were talking about where everyone wanted to eat and it was all decided that The Caribbean Coast, which was a sandwich shop that had many different kinds of sandwiches, along with light Caribbean lunches. As they drove Megan’s new mom asked what it was that Natti was showing her, and Megan acted disinterestedly while texting Natti just said, “Oh she just wanted to show me some exercise equipment that she was going to use to stretch out her muscles for the summer.” Her mom spoke to Natti and said that it was always a good idea to get your muscles acclimated to the exercise that they would be getting. That way the muscles would have plenty of blood pumping into them to provide oxygen to prevent muscle pulls and strains.

Tara was performing admirably and just sat casually looking out the window and not letting on what they were actually talking about, as Mrs. Billings motioned to the bright green, yellow, and pink painted building as if that was their destination. The Sun Coast Mall was bordered on the west by a busy thoroughfare, and on the east by a freeway.

All along both the thoroughfare and the freeway were many different shops to take advantage of being in the business vicinity of the mall. The Caribbean Coast was just one of these many stores that offered products and services to the customers of the mall.

They walked in and had a nice lunch and the major topic of conversation finally centered on where Megan was going to attend school the next year. Hugo and Vivian Billings wanted her to attend school in West Palm Beach so that they could see her each day, and that was very understandable. Her friends wanted her to attend school in Sun Coast with them, especially since everyone had stopped the charade of being what everyone else thought that they should be.

Then it was Megan that settled everything. “Natti, you have always been one of my best friends, as we saw in each other what we were seeing in ourselves.  But now I’m free and I have found in such a very short time something that I want to explore and enjoy. I have always looked at what a family could be and I know where I belong, so I’m going to stay with my new family. They may not want me past the summer, but I know I’ll want them forever, but we must be adults about this. Let this be a trial period, and then when I’m ready to head back to school at the end of August I’ll attend school in the town where I’ll be living with my family.” At this point, she reached out and took Billings's hands in hers and they all held hands happily.

It was Tara who finally lightened the mood, “Okay, so you going to serve some biscuits with all this gravy?” At that, there was a gentle light chucking all around and Mr. Billings mentioned that times like this with friends and family can’t be bought and any price.

It was Mr. Billings's phone that rang and he answered it, and excusing himself from the group moved away to attend to something in private. The girls and Megan’s mom was talking about the Cos Con and as yet Megan didn’t know just what she would want to portray if any character at all. Many just went to enjoy the spectacle. Mr. Billings came back and asked Megan if she would like to spend some time with her friends or accompany Vie and him. He told her that it didn’t matter and that they were going to meet her biological parents so that they could sign the guardianship papers at the attorney’s office. He told her that she could come with them or that she could just hang out at the mall with her friends.

Megan asked about her computer and the other items that she wanted to get and her dad explained that they should have all of that with them and that if there was anything that she needed that they didn’t bring they could pick it up at a later date. Megan just said that she needed the SSD from her computer as that is what held the information and that she had a lot of thumbs on her desk, and beyond that, she didn’t really need anything at all.

Tara suggested that they go over and watch the sparks practice. Natti knew why, and chided, “Anyone you know on the team?” She smiled and said that there was and that she knew that there was. The girls were dropped off at the SCEA theater and were soon at the entrance. This time the theater was open as there was a public practice going on. It cost $5.50 to watch until closing at 7PM, so they paid their admission fee and got the blue, red, and yellow wristbands that you got put on after you paid your admission fee. They got some drinks and found some seats as there was a practice fighting game on the screen.

Megan was the first to recognize that they were playing the new Mortal Kombat  game in that series, “Hey check it guys, they are playing Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate.” As they sat and watched as the earth realm fighters fought for survival in Mortal Kombat Cole came over and began to talk with Tara. They were in kind of like their own little world when Megan shouted excitedly about something that happened in the game. Cole stopped talking with Tara and inquired about what she was talking about.

Megan turned to him almost breathlessly and asked who was playing Gage?

Cole told her that was Blaine and then pointed to the upper right corner of the screen where the name of the player was displayed. If he had been playing an opponent other than the computer, the names would be highlighted by the team's colors. Our color is light blue and that is why his name is only there highlighted because he is playing on the computer.

“Wow! He’s really good”, Megan added. Then Cole said that they are having Fan/Play today. If you want you can play one of the team members for a donation to the team. Megan looked at him and asked, “Just how much of a donation are we talking about here?” Cole told her that it was $20.00 and then added if you win she can come back and play with other winners for games, systems, and team merchandise.

Megan sat down her Dr. Pepper and stood up and asked, “Okay where do I sign up?” Cole smiled at her and led her to an office off to the side of the concession stand with a customer service window and told the lady that she wanted to play. They took her name and asked what particulars about the game that she was wanting to play, and of course, they took her money.

Then over the sound system as Cole was leading Megan down to what they called the pits could hear, “Megan Billings as Princess Kitana has challenged Blaine Stewart as Shao Khan in our first Fan/Play today.” It was the area set aside for the team members playing there were three of them and each one could handle 9 players, but now they were only using one.

Cole introduced Megan to Blaine and he told him that Megan wanted to play him as Shao Khan. Blaine smiled at her and remarked, “So I heard, and that she wanted to play Princess Kitana!” Blaine smiled and gave her a standard controller and told her the set up she asked if she could change it and he replied of course and she impressed him when she sat back in the comfortable chair.

On the screen, you could see the controller layout and then saw how the buttons flashed twice indicating that Megan had chosen the option 3 layouts. It disappeared as she sat back and then suddenly Princess Kitana appeared with her fans. Blaine entered a few choices on controls on the keypad of the system and then Shao Khan emperor of the fictional realm Outworld appeared.

Shao Khan swung his hammer a few times and then using Blaine’s voice he spoke, “Hey Princess want to take some warm-up moves?” That was followed by Princess Kitana slicing the air with her magic glowing fans and then spinning, crouching while spinning, and then jumping into a full extension and doing a back flip and landing in a crouch and saying, “Nah, I’m good and I’m going to take revenge today for you driving my mother Queen Sindel to commit suicide, other than to become your waifu when you stole our realm.” Blaine looked over at the interesting smiling girl sitting next to him and wearing the microphone, and smiled back, and asked, “You ready?” Megan just looked at him and smiled some more and winked.

Cole had gone back to where Tara and Natti were sitting and as he sat down he could see the two characters in a sort of coliseum that was filled with cheering throngs at the death sport being played out. This was really becoming interesting and leaned forward to the screen and spoke, “Hey, your friend Megan even knows the back story, not many people know that, and lots of people play the game but most don’t really understand the plot of the different realms.” He wasn’t the only one becoming interested in the match as people began to take notice and sit down.

As the sound system once again sounded, “Today we have a Fan/Play staring Megan Billings as Princess Kitana of Outworld, and matched against Blaine Stewart as the great emperor of Outworld Shao Khan!” Even around Natti and Tara, the seats were beginning to fill up with people that had been off talking, checking out the displays, and looking at the “Sparks”, merchandise for sale.

Tara leaned closer to Cole and asked if Megan playing princess Kitana would be able to defeat Shao Khan he said that he never saw Megan play but then added that Blaine was very good, in all the MK characters. The two digital antagonists circled around until princess Kitana made a move that Shao Khan swung his hammer and Blaine realized too late that Megan had just suckered him and was rewarded with a slice on his arm by one of her magical glowing fans before she moved out of the way.

This brought a great cry up from the people watching the match. Shao Khan tried his best but he just couldn’t catch the lithe little ethereal princess dancing and striking. Feinting, flitting, and filing around the much larger opponent, and striking after every failed attack another slice was delivered, until finally with power points very low, no regeneration points, and no chance of an upgrade the princess standing in front of him had her choice of 3 fatalities.

Cole turned to Tara and asked I wonder what fatality she will use? Tara asked back what is a fatality? Now brimming with excitement he turned and quickly said, “She has 3 different ways of killing him. She can use the throat slash, her decapitation, or her disembowelment move. Just as he finished saying that he saw princess Kitana whip her fans around and then slice Shao Khan upwards from below his stomach to just below his heart level spilling his digital guts out all over the ground.

On the screen, the imaginary mob in the stands hooted, yelled, and generally went wild, and in the gaming theater the people watching the match on the screen went just as wild proclaiming their paladin, Kitana! Kitana! Kitana! Tara shook her head while muttering, “Girls beating boys in video games, what’s this world coming to.” Everyone else that was watching the match had a much different take, and almost everyone, male and female was impressed. There was a lot of good-natured cheering and you could see Blaine stand and offer his hand to Megan and then she stood and did a curtsy to Blaine and then they both walked up to the office I guess to record Megan’s win so that she could at some later date come back and compete for the prizes that would be given away to those that won their match in Fan/Play.

People all around Natti, Tara, and Cole were talking about Kitana’s (or Megan’s) win and how much fun it was to watch. Cole was all about her technique and then mentioned that she was a girl in the same sense that Natti was identifying as a female. Tara was letting him continue commenting about her technique until he entered into a subjective province of imagination. “So if she had been dressed as a boy she still would have done the same thing. Clothes may make the man, but not the little sissy, that just opened up a can of whoop ass on the big bad gaming Goliath”, she responded. The few people that were in the sphere of comments as Cole relented, “Okay, so she is damn good, no matter what. I’m just glad I wasn’t getting my binary butt beat.” Tara just put her arms around him and gave him a kiss, which is the way all disputes should end. They sat around talking until Natti finally asked, “Hey where is Megan?”

They looked around and didn’t see her or Blaine. There were already Sparks team members practicing another game and they didn’t see either of them in the concession area or around the pits, as the area where the gamers hung out. Natti picked up her phone and texted Megan and then waited. She repeated the text after a few minutes and then waited and was talking to Tara expressing concern for her. Her phone alerted an incoming text and she looked at the text from Megan.

Natti turned off her screen and put her phone back in her purse pocket, and sitting down Tara asked her if she had heard anything from Megan. She turned to her and she said that Megan and Blaine were talking, and they would be over in a few. Cole told Tara that he had to go as it was his turn to practice and that if he didn’t see her later, he would pick her up at 7PM for the movies. Natti and Tara watched as Cole was playing a first-person shooter and then just practicing different moves.

It is something that most people don’t think about but the gameplay isn’t all just there is to play a video game. You have to be able to move your character the way that you want them to move so that you can dodge and attack from different perspectives.

Natti was looking on her phone at some electric bikes, as she was seriously thinking about getting one when she was snapped back to reality when she heard Tara. “Oh look who finally decided to grace us with her royal presence, our very own conquering heroine Princess Kitana!”, she said as Megan walked up followed by Blaine.

“Oh come on you guys, I just play MK a lot and I just got really good at it”, she tried to deflect the ribbing. Blaine added, “You noticed that she didn’t apologize for beating the stuffings out of me. He sat down next to Megan and Tara and asked what they spent over 45 minutes talking about. Megan answered since the question was directed to them collectively, “Well you know stuff.” Tara turned to Blaine and said that Megan was kind of new to all of this and she was her friend now, and she was just making sure that she wasn’t going to get hurt.

She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “You know her secret of playing video games so well don’t you?” Blaine pulled back and looked at her and then understanding what she meant, replied that he did. He admitted out loud to Tara and Natti that he knew and that Megan had told him but he knew before that. He also said that he wasn’t really sure about what was going to happen but for now they were just friends. Megan kind of giggled and said we’re a little more than that. Then turning to Natti and Tara she revealed, “We’re going to Cos Con and I’m going as Princess Kitana, and Blaine is going to be Lord Raiden.”

Megan’s phone rang and she answered it and it was obvious that she was talking to her parents. She was heard giving them directions to the theater and said that the outside entrance was closed so that they would have to enter through the mall entrance. She talked for a couple of more minutes and she told them that she would be watching for them.

When she closed the connections she said that they were just turning into the mall parking lot so they should be here in a few minutes and that she was going to go and watch for them. Natti stood up and said, let’s all go, and led the way to the entrance. Standing around the large blacked-out glass that kept people from looking in or looking out of the theater. It was about 10 minutes before they saw the billings come up to the door and a person collecting fees told them that it would be $11.00 for both of them. Blaine stepped up behind the chubby young man collecting the fees and told him that they just came to pick someone up and to look around and that they wouldn’t be staying. He motioned them through and Megan jumped forward to them and asked if everything went alright and they said that it had.

Megan then introduced them to Blaine, telling them that he was a member of the video team the sparks. Tara added, “That member of the Sparks that just got his Cyber head handed to him by your daughter”, added Tara. The Billings were at a loss not fully understanding what they were talking about and Blaine led them into the main auditorium. It was darkened now more than it had been as they were now practicing as if they were really playing another team. Blaine led them down closer to the large screen and pointed to the pits and was just explaining what was happening.

He told them that they played video games against other teams and that next week they would be playing a few smaller local teams. He added that it was always a danger to play smaller lesser-known teams because if they won then their win would be much more than if the Sparks had won. Natti added, “Like if an unknown just walked in and punk slapped Shao Khan. Smiling and laughing Blaine pointed out that there were 8 main players and that there were 6 alternate players that would fill in, or help out with practice as they were doing now.

Mr. Billings was looking at the screen and mentioned, “I see you’re playing a baseball video game now.” He was amazed that it looked so real. Megan standing next to him took his arm in hers and said they were modeled after real people. She explained how computers took pictures of real people going through all the actions that people would go through playing a baseball game like hitting, running, pitching, and catching balls. Then they modeled images on the computers and they came up with a player. Megan’s new parents stood there on either side of her and watched the gameplay for a few minutes.

Mr. Billings asked how the pitcher would pitch and explained that it was all done through the combinations of the buttons and when you let go would determine where the ball went. Everyone watched for a few moments and then the player that had come up to bat on his second swing hit a home run. When this happened Blaine said, check this out. It showed the player running the bases and when he crossed home plate the screen went completely dark.

Right from the middle of the screen towards the bottom shot up a bar of light that divided and spread out to the sides and then as it was kind of raining down turned into eight star-shaped images that gave off sparkles. These grew arms, legs, and torsos of symbolized lightning and each one had the name of the team member that it represented. Then all the members in unison began to do a cheer the way that cheerleaders would do after a real home run was hit at a baseball game.

Megan’s parents were duly impressed not only with the video theater but also with Megan’s performance. She then told them that it was recorded and that she could access it and that she would show it to them when they got home. Blaine walked with the family and with Natti and Tara back to the entrance and thanked the young man for being so kind to their daughter. He said it was a pleasure and if she kept it up that she just might be the first female spark in a few years.

Once back in the car and driving to first drop off Tara, and then to drop off Natti Mr. Billings told them the result of the meeting with Megan’s biological parents and that they had relinquished guardianship of Megan to the Billings until she turned 18 which effectively was permanent.

That evening while laying in bed just before going to sleep Natti’s phone sounded, and it was Megan that was calling. She answered and Megan was just telling her how happy she was, and was reliving their day together. Natti told her that she had no idea that she knew how to curtsy. Megan told her that she used to play and that she was a princess a long time ago when she was a little kid. Her big sister had read her a fairy tale story about a princess that curtsied when she met the king from someplace that had a son that she was going to marry. She told her friend that is where she got that from. Then she changed the subject and told her what her new parents told her on their way home.

Natti told me that they just fell in love with me when I was in that restaurant and was so scared. They felt that they just had to protect me for some reason and I’m not sure why, but I’m sure that there is something in their past that they just can’t seem to face for some reason. I don’t know what it is but I don’t care about the present. Right now I’m just so happy, and I don’t want this fairy tale to ever end.