Monday, February 21, 2011

Played

We are all fools. We are cards in a deck, being shuffled and wheeled and dealed by a player that we all underestimated.

He was never incompetent. It was all part of his game. His game. Not ours.

Thage makes it sound like we're all pieces in a game but what she didn't know, what she never realised, is that any time our pieces engaged the Black Bishop, his piece started a game with our pieces and their pieces started a game with their pieces and while we were busy patting ourselves on the back for outwitting him in one game, he was flanking us in another. Every move he has made has been a gambit. He offers one gambit, accepts another and declines a third.

He's been manipulating us. It was all a game, a horrible, convoluted, ingenious game. He wanted her with him, he wanted me dead, he wanted Robert destroyed. He knew Ava and I would come for the Heel and he waited. He knew the Labyrinth would be too strong for me, he knew he would get Ava alone. If she accepted his offer, he would be able to get her on his side and have me killed. When she declined, he let us go, knowing that I would be delivered into his hands and that he could use Ava's love for me to manipulate her. He set up my game with two outcomes. If you all voted for me, then he would get to kill me, break Ava and bring her to his side. If you all voted for Catherine, then he would break me, turn me against you all and then I would drive Ava into his waiting arms for him.

Then Robert came along and tried to ruin his game. But he adapted the game. He knew Robert would be broken by the Path of Black Leaves, he had Fairfax under this thumb a few hours later and Robert's mind smashed a little after. He put Revenants on guard duty to make it seem like he didn't want us getting Robert, but it was just a ploy. The Revenants he picked were the least competent at his disposal, we fought our way past them easily. We got overconfident. We thought it would be a breeze and we were right; we got Robert and we were on our way.

But he took her. He took her and he knew that I would go back for her, like a bear running into a beartrap. He knew I would fight instinctively, forgetting that I was weak and human again. He beat me into submission with all the military precision of a war machine, the same military precision with which he makes all his moves. He tried to kill me and only for Tony's intervention, he would have succeeded. But it doesn't matter. My death would have been a mere bonus to his real prize.

Ava.

He took my Ava and I couldn't stop him. I couldn't even lift a finger in protest.

We've been played for fools. And I'm not just talking to my friends, I am talking to my enemies too. Tensor, Morningstar, if you actually think that you are his allies, then you are sadly mistaken. Redlight is playing his own game, a game of his own devising. Don't pretend to know the rules; the rules are all in Red's head.

I don't know what to do. He will anticipate any move I make. Oh, we've all been such idiots! Every time we sat behind our computers and iPods and pointed and laughed at him, mocked him for his incompetency, gloated in victory, it was all a lie! Every time we thought we'd struck a wound against him, any time we thought we'd breached his defenses, he was just distracting us while he built another wall around us!

I have to get her back. I can't let her go. I love her.

22 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. Reach...

    Reach, you can get her back. You said it yourself- you love her.

    You will get her back. Come hell, come high water, you'll get her back.

    --Chester

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  3. Game....

    Dammit. Damn it all.

    Get her back Reach.

    Get her back and win this game. All games can be one can't they? It's always possible.

    You can win this.

    Dammit...I feel so useless...

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  4. You WILL get her back, Reach. BECAUSE you love her.

    That's the only thing that's a guarantee anymore.

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  5. Reach, I'd say something encouraging. But I don't want you to die. I don't want Ava to die either. There's got to be some way to change the rules in our favour...

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  7. Kid, I know everything seems hopeless right now, but we'll get her back. Yeah, we messed up. Big time. But we're smarter now. We can do something.

    You gotta try and keep your chin up or you're going to let /it/ get to you easier.

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  8. That's the thing about pawns Reach, they play their own games with their own rules. Other worldly creatures they have rules that they follow and abide by, but they often don't reign in their underlings. Play the game by your own rules Reach, think in and outside the box and be careful.

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  9. Bianca, and I are still in state. I'm in no condition to fight, but I know Bianca would be more than willing to help you get Ava back. I'll be fine on my own for awhile I've got one of Spender's men looking after me.

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  11. There's no need to yell, Matthew. We're all stressed and unsure of how to handle this, and getting angry at each other isn't going to help.

    Reach, I'm sorry. I can't change anything that happened, but I am. Tony will help. He's...he's a lot of things, and I can at least say that helpful is one of them. You two will think of something, I promise.

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  13. Matt, in all honesty, what else could anyone have done? They couldn't have exactly LEFT Robert there, or bowed to the sadistic choices offered us, or... anything! No one did anything more or less than the only thing that was possible at the time.

    There's a difference between being tricked and being herded like sheep. I won't argue that we've been blind, but even if we had seen all of this coming, what other options might we have had?

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  15. How dare you tell me to calm down. One of my friends fucking died and you expect me to brighten up? I'd rather be a victim of another one of this man's games.

    I can't do ANYTHING as of right now. I can sure try, but I think I'm at a risk of losing another person. A risk I can't take.

    I can't tell you how much I want to help. But I'm stuck. I'm at a dead end. And these happenings are not helping matters at all.

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  16. It's difficult to be more than just reactionary when you live this kind of life. Even I'm able to understand that, and I'm still able to live at home! I don't run from state to state and country to country trying to keep life, limb, and sanity intact. That'd be more than enough for any one person, but heroes like Ava, Reach, Tony, Will... they do more. And they do it because they want to see this thing beaten.

    We know now that "more" is not quite enough. But /I/ know that what's needed simply can't be done by Runners. It's just not possible. Observers and floaters could do it, but observers aren't the ones who put the information to use, who go into action. The actiony stuff is mostly done, once again, by runners.

    Therefore, an exchange of information must be made. An exchange which is all too easily tracked by any half-brained proxy watching the community, or any 3/4-brained agent sent to hack laptops! People HAVE tried, Matt! More than that, they've DONE what you suggest, and wound up butt-fucked anyway. It's hard to get a one-up on communications when your enemy's communications are all mental and instantaneous, and you're left with the easily-traced and intermittantly-available internet.

    In other words, I agree with what you're saying. But you don't need to be a dick about it, because these people are not the retards you make them out to be.

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  17. Also, Robert wasn't going to be a proxy, Matt. He was going to get a lobotomy. No coming back from that one.

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  19. I'm sorry, Reach. I wish I could help you. Stay strong. Don't relent. Above all else, keep your head. All that's left is to think. redlight wants to play a game. Then play one of your own. You're smart, Reach. You'll figure it out.

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  20. Well then. I'm not sure if the sleight of hand was worth it.

    I'm not going to say I'm so sorry Reach. Wish I could, but I can't feel much of anything for anyone right now.

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  21. Reach, if you see this post please contact me as soon as possible. Email me at scotthowardphillips@gmail.com. I'll explain when you send me the message.

    Also, I'm sorry about what happened. If I could help you out, I would. As it is... if I get the chance I'll help.

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