Chapter 4

I'm looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done.

Henry Ford

Reggie Carson sat in the lobby of the Rosen Centre Hotel anxiously waiting to meet his team-mates. Although he had spent countless hours connected to them over the internet he had yet to meet any of them in person. He knew that Kitten's real name was Sophia Santini and that Hawk's real name was Aaron Sperry. Reggie looked at his watch again only to find that he was still early. He was never early for anything, but his mom had been fussing over him in the hotel room and he needed to get away. Reggie started to check his watch again when he noticed a woman moving toward him. She was dark haired and stocky (what his mom called "big boned") and was wearing shorts, flip flops, and see-through halter top that really showed off the large, dark areolas on her firm D-cup tits. She wasn't pretty but she had one of those faces that you never really get tired of looking at. Reggie stood up as she approached.

"Are you Reggie?" she asked.

Reggie nodded.

"Gosh, it's so great to meet you. I'm Sophia, but I would rather you call me Kitten." She said.

Before Reggie could answer she grabbed him and pulled him into an intense kiss. Reggie had never kissed any girl outside his family and Kitten completely caught him off guard. Kitten grabbed his ass and squeezed and when Reggie gasped her tongue forced its way into his mouth. For the first time in his life Reggie could feel a pair of hard nipples pressing into his chest and his cock began to swell. Just as he was starting to get into the kiss Kitten pushed him away.

"No wonder your call sign is "Viper", Sophia said, "I felt that snake in your pants."

Reggie blushed and started to apologize but Kitten silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"Shhh. No apology needed. I wanted to kiss you. I feel like I've known you and Hawk all my life. If you want to, we are going to get to know each other a whole lot better." Sophie said as she ran her hand over Reggie's hard dick.

"I'd like that." Reggie managed to stammer.

Sophia gave him another kiss on the cheek and pulled him down with her onto the lobby sofa.

"Tell me all about you." Sophia said.

Aaron Sperry sat by himself in the hotel lounge nursing a beer and waiting for it to be time to meet his gunners. Aaron was thinking about the start of the tournament tomorrow when he noticed that a voice at a table behind him was getting louder and more excited. Aaron wasn't usually nosey but this conversation caught his interest.

"After you guys bought it in the canyon we double teamed them." A female voice said. "Me and the boys got behind Hawk and he went in low and we stayed high. When them dickheads started shooting at Hawk we blasted them off the sides of the canyon. It was beautiful."

Aaron turned around to look at the people seated behind him. There was one girl about 15 or 16 years old sitting with three teenage boys. The girl was wearing a dress at least two sizes too big for her. The boys were all dressed in jeans and t-shirts. The oldest had a green Mohawk and several piercings in his lips, eyebrows and ears. Aaron drained the rest of his beer and made his way over to the table. The four of them looked up as Aaron approached.

"BatGirl. I presume." Aaron said to the girl.

"That's me." Tiffany replied. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aaron, but you know me as Hawk." He replied.

"We were wondering if you would be here. I'm Tiffany and these bozos are Taz and Bingo." She said as she motioned toward the teens without mohawks.

"We are also known from time to time as Tim and Corey." Taz said. "I'm Tim."

"And this vision in green hair is Fish, also known as Chuck." Corey added.

"Rough break the other night. None of us would have thought the Sa'arm would climb up the canyon." Aaron said to Fish.

"Shit happens. We came back the next night and did some serious damage. Got to hit some armored vehicles." Fish replied. "I've got to go, I'm meeting the guys for dinner and then we're heading over to the convention center to register and check out our gear. See ya in the morning."

"I've got to go too," said Aaron. "I still have to meet my team in the lobby."

"We'll walk out with you." Tiffany said. "I'd like to meet your gunners."

Reggie had just started to tell Kitten about losing his dad when four people approached. There was a girl dressed like a librarian, two boys and an older man. Reggie figured that one of the boys must be Aaron and he had come to Orlando with his dad and siblings. Reggie noticed that the man walked with a significant limp. Kitten and Sophia stood as they stopped in front of them.

"Are you Kitten and Viper?" The man asked.

"Yes." They answered in unison.

"Glad to finally meet you. I'm Hawk, but you can call me Aaron." Aaron replied.

Sophia jumped up and gave Aaron a passionate hug and kiss while Reggie just stood there with a stupid look on his face. When Sophia finally let go, Aaron said, "What's the matter Reggie? You didn't think an old fart like me would play video games. Did you?"

"No. I mean ... you're old and crippled. I thought one of these guys was Hawk and you were his dad." Reggie blurted. He immediately turned bright red as he realized how rude he had been. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"That's OK Reggie. I'm a little old for video games but, then again, I never really grew up." Aaron said with a smile.

"So, who are your friends?" Sophia asked.

"I'm sorry. This is BatGirl, Taz and Bingo. I met them in the lounge. They're on their way over to register and they wanted to meet you." Aaron replied.

"Oh wow, so cool!" Sophia said. "You guys are really good."

"Nice to meet you." Reggie added.

Sophia gave each of them a big hug with kisses for Taz and Bingo. They were both grinning from ear to ear when she finished.

"We're headed over to the convention center." Bingo said with his eyes fixed on Sophia's chest. "Want to come with us to register?"

Reggie, Aaron and Sophia all looked each other then shrugged their shoulders.

"We might as well." Aaron replied, "We have to do it anyway."

"Yeah, let's go." Reggie said.

Sophia grabbed Tiffany's arm and began leading her to the door. The guys turned to follow and they could already hear Sophia chatting with Tiffany. "Sweetie, we've got to go shopping. You simply can't wear that stuffy dress in Florida. I saw the cutest little shop on my way..."

"So. How did you get that limp Hawk?" Taz asked as they left the hotel.

"I used to be a fireman." Aaron told them. "We were fighting a house fire one night and we didn't know that the fire had gotten all the way up to the attic. The roof fell in and took me with it. I fell all the way through the attic and into a bedroom. On the way down I broke both legs and shattered my right knee. I've had five surgeries. The doctors tell me it'll never be right again."

"Man, that sucks." Reggie said.

"It's not so bad." Aaron replied. "I got a full disability retirement from the department. And best of all, I've got a lot of time on my hands for goofing around."

The six contestants entered the conference center and registered in just a few minutes. After finishing, they all discovered that they would be competing in Hall C. As they passed Hall A, Fish walked out of the room and saw them. "Dudes, you ain't gonna believe the shit they got set up for us." Fish said.

"What?" Tiffany asked.

"You'll have to see for yourselves." Fish replied, a small smirk on his face as he walked toward the exit.

Anticipation of the unknown put a new quickness into their steps as they approached Hall C. All six of them stopped dead in their tracks in astonishment as they opened the door. At the front of the room 20 huge computer monitors where mounted on a frame, five monitors across and four down. They couldn't tell what size the monitors were but they appeared to be at least 10 ft wide by 6 ft high. On the floor in front of the screen were 20 contraptions arranged in four rows of five. Each one looked like the nose of a boxy airplane. Behind them were rows of bleachers set up so that spectators could watch the monitors at the front of the room.

"Oh my God!" Reggie said. "We are going to be in simulators. How cool is this?"

"This is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Kitten replied. "I wonder which one is ours."

"Your names are already on the simulators." A voice said from beside them.

The competitors all turned to see a young red haired woman wearing a polo shirt with a Vidtronics logo. Vidtronics was the company that produced SAAP.

"If y'all will just find your simulator a technician will be by to help you get fitted and make adjustments to your controls. If you have any questions just find me, I'm the coordinator for Hall C. If you can't find me ask anyone with a Vidtronics shirt to find Wanda."

The two teams of competitors scattered to find their simulators. After a few seconds Kitten yelled out, "We're over here!"

Alan and Reggie wandered over to a simulator in the third row to join Kitten. The simulator was plastic on the outside with two small doors on each side near the front and a sliding canopy at the top rear. On the left side door was a stencil that read '2^nd Lieutenant Reggie "Viper" Carlson'. The right side door read '2^nd Lieutenant Sophia "Kitten" Santini and the canopy cover read "1^st Lieutenant Aaron "Hawk" Sperry. While they were admiring the simulator, a technician in a Vidtronics shirt approached them.

"Are you ready to get fitted?" he asked.

"Absolutely!" Reggie said, his face beaming.

"Ladies first." Quipped Sophia as she headed for the right side door.

The technician opened the door revealing a small cockpit area. Sophia could see that there were video screens in front of and to the side of the gunner's seat as well as a video screen in the now open door. The cockpit was open at head height to an identical cockpit space on the other side.

"OK, we have two things for you to do tonight. We need to adjust your couch to fit you. You may be in here for up to three hours at a time during the competition so you need to be comfortable. We also need to configure your gunnery station to your preferences. Do you prefer a joystick or a video game controller?" The technician asked.