Chapter 6: Lights, Camera, Breakdown

Apparently, Marcus had warned Mama that about twenty hungry gamers were likely to descend on her bistro after the scrimmage, and Mama had drafted her niece, Antonia, to help cook for them.

Adrian set the rules for everyone who was new, reiterating what he had said after the scrimmage. Casual talk about the scrimmage was fine, but any deep dive could wait until tomorrow. For now, most of their attention should be paid to Mama’s cooking.

Mama Bianchi had solved the problem of feeding so many people at once with a giant pot of Italian wedding soup and four or five main dishes prepared in large batches. The Reforged party filled nearly half the bistro’s seats, and Mama Bianchi was delighted with the crowd, singing her favorite Italian arias while she cooked. This was what she loved: cooking for an appreciative, well-paying audience, with Marcus picking up the team’s tab. The chatter stayed light and friendly despite the defeat in the scrimmage earlier that day.

After the meal, the team lingered long enough to let the food settle. Antonia brought out fresh gelato she had made earlier for her catering side job, which brought in money when Mama didn’t need help handling a rush of customers.

Adrian looked around for Elias. He wanted to ask about any sponsorship offers that might have come in, and he also wanted a mental check-in after Elias’s below-average performance in the scrimmage.

Elias had already left. One of the others said he had been quiet and reserved before announcing that he was going back to the office to take a nap because he wasn’t feeling well. Adrian shook his head. He’d wanted to see what Elias’s to-do list looked like, but he resolved to have words with him if Elias went back to the office to work.

About half an hour after everyone finished the gelato, comfortably full and content, people started making their way back to their apartments. Adrian, Amy, and Kevin returned to headquarters and their own rooms.

Adrian sent a sharp look at Elias’s office door, but the room was dark and the door was open.

Good. He’s finally resting. We need to schedule a leadership meeting to discuss things. Not against Elias, although he’ll probably see it that way. We’ve coasted on the assumption that because Elias is competent at just about everything, he can do everything, and that he’ll know when to delegate. I don’t think that’s the current situation. But let’s not take any action until morning.

Everyone rested for a couple of hours. Kevin eventually decided to work from his apartment computer, building up another alt account to assist the Guild with campaigns and transfers. Several new people had joined after the campaign against the Blades, and Kevin wanted a newer alt to help them. Bringing a high-powered WarMAC into lower-level missions would reduce the XP gained by the newer pilots.

Amy and Adrian woke up and handled chores around their apartments. They had to bring clothes to the local laundromat because the floors were not rated for washer-dryer units. Marcus was looking into reinforcing an area and making it workable for the team. He had also looked into laundry and housekeeping services, but Adrian had told him they were probably an unnecessary expense at this point.

A little while later, Amy had finished all the reasonable chores she could do at that time of night and still wanted to play some Arena matches. She remembered demanding that Adrian give her some duels to make up for leaving her out of the Duel Round in the scrimmage, so she knocked on his door and, at his invitation, opened it.

Adrian was tired, but he was willing to run a few duels as an apology for his mistakes earlier in the day. As they came out, he mentioned that he had asked Roger, Reactor Critical’s coach, whether some of his trainees or reserve team members would be willing to get in duel time with Amy. It would sharpen everyone’s skills and give her new opponents to fight. Amy responded enthusiastically, and Adrian promised to send Roger her contact details so they could arrange matches around everyone’s availability.

Amy grinned. “I can’t wait. You’ve become so used to Furiosa’s specs that I have to work really hard to force you into a position where I can use it most effectively. I’m beginning to understand why you made your WarMaster so modular. You can’t change the weight of the unit, but you can arrange for a different weapons layout every time. And with Martin’s new setup, that gets even more dangerous. Some new targets who haven’t fought me would be great. No substitute for our duels, of course. Something tells me they wouldn’t be as willing to spend twenty minutes talking about a five-minute battle since we’re not in one place looking at a common VOD.”

Adrian grimaced as they stepped into the Pit’s computer area. Elias had apparently woken before they did and gone back to work.

“Okay, team question. We really need to find out what Elias is trying to keep up with and do our best to help him with it. He was barely functional earlier today.”

Adrian nodded toward Elias’s office.

“He came back to rest before we did, so at least he got some sleep. But do we meet with him before the debrief or after?”

He considered it for another moment.

“I kind of want to do it before. I just don’t want it to look like we’re taking things away because he wasn’t good in the scrimmage. It’ll take some doing to convince Elias that isn’t the case.”

Adrian sighed.

“But we have a semi-pro team and a Guild. We need people to step up and take some of the Guild work, because one man can’t run both. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.”

Amy considered it as they loaded into their first duel.

“Before is probably better. What I’m afraid of is Elias thinking we’re getting on him in the debrief, then meeting with him afterward and taking things away as punishment.”

She settled her hands on the controls.

“Besides, we want the new normal in place before the debrief. Lord knows if any new tasks pop up, Elias will volunteer to take them and we’ll be even further behind the eight-ball.”

Over the next hour, Amy won two of the four duels they fought. She was happy about the victories, but Adrian was clearly flagging after a long day. Thinking back over the fights, she suspected his fatigue and slightly slower reactions had helped her win at least one.

Adrian offered a fifth duel. Amy declined and told him to get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow was going to be a long day too, even if it probably wouldn’t be as stressful as the one they had just finished.

Adrian was glad for the excuse because he was tired, and really, he hadn’t wanted to duel Amy again, but after screwing up earlier in the day, it was the least he could do to make up for it. He headed off to get a good night’s sleep after reminding Amy that she needed to go to sleep at a reasonable hour too, because she was going to be just as busy as he was.

Amy threw herself into more Arena duels. Without the post-battle breakdown with Adrian consuming large chunks of time, she flew through more than a few fights because each one only took a couple of minutes. Eventually she stretched and decided to call it a night. She saved the VODs from the handful of good duels she wanted to review with Adrian. Most of the pilots she faced, even in the “elite” Arena rooms, were well below her skill level. Even those who approached it didn’t have the advantages Furiosa’s custom build and Martin’s upgrades gave her. If someone managed to give her a good fight, she wanted to know whether she had unconsciously relaxed or whether there was something she could have done better.

She grimaced as she looked at the clock in the corner of the computer’s screen. Nearly 1 AM. The debrief was scheduled to start at noon, and they needed to have the meeting with Elias first. Better to take her own advice and get a good night’s rest.

As she signed out of the guild machine and prepared to head back to sleep, her eye caught a glint of light from Elias’s office, and a thought worked its way into her brain.

Wait. Did Elias even come out once during that entire time? How long has he been in there? Especially right before we’re supposed to have a meeting in the morning. Wouldn’t hurt to poke my head in, say hello, see how he’s feeling, and tell him we need a leadership meeting before the debrief.

She walked over to the door, put her hand on the doorknob, and hesitated. The Do Not Disturb sign meant just that. Someone was busy and didn’t want to be disturbed. She half-turned, her hand lingering on the doorknob, before turning back.

No. Unless I missed him coming out, he’s been in there for four hours. I think I would’ve noticed the noise or the light changing if he had. That means no break, no trip for caffeine, no bathroom break. That’s ... not good. He needs to remember there’s a world outside that room.

She knocked.

No answer.

A second knock.

Stillness.

Had he fallen asleep at his desk?

Okay. Time to open the door and see if he’s okay.

Amy opened the door quietly, expecting to see Elias either hard at work on the computer with headphones on or maybe asleep in his chair.

He was somewhere in between.

He had his head propped up in one hand, eyes open but not really seeing anything, and as Amy approached, he had no visible reaction.

“Elias?”

Still nothing.

She touched his shoulder. Elias startled violently, shocked out of the conscious-but-not-really-awake state he had been in. Amy was fully alarmed now.

She gave Elias a couple of moments to come back mentally before asking what had become her number-one concern. “Elias? You don’t look well. Are you okay?”

Elias took a few more seconds to process the question. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just...”

His voice trailed off as his brain tried to get all the neurons firing in the same figurative direction.

“Just zoned out, working on some stuff for the guild. Are we still on for dinner at Mama’s today after the scrimmage?”

Amy blinked. She didn’t know what she had expected, but that was NOT it.

“Elias, that was earlier today. The scrimmage ended about eight hours ago. We went to Mama’s for dinner, and you came back before we did. We thought you had gone to sleep.”

“Oh.”

Amy waited.

Elias stared at her for another couple of seconds before recognition slowly worked its way across his face.

“Oh. Yeah. I kinda remember now.” He rubbed at his eyes. “I’m still not fully awake. I remember coming back and lying down for a bit, but then I figured I had too much to do to sleep more than that.”

The alarm Amy had been trying very hard to ignore got louder.

“Elias, you’re starting to scare me.”

“I’m fine.”

“No.” Amy shook her head. “You are many things, Elias, but fine right now? I don’t think so.”

He straightened slightly, as if posture alone could prove her wrong. “It’s okay. I just need to get ahead of a few things and...”

There it was.

Amy had heard that line before. Maybe not those exact words, but enough variations of it that she knew where the conversation would go if she let him keep talking.

“No. We’re not getting ahead of anything. Let me ask you a few questions.”

Elias gave her a tired shrug. “Go ahead.”

Amy ticked off one finger. “How long did you actually rest when you came back from Mama’s? If you remember.”

He had to think about that.

“Maybe half an hour or so. I tried to lie down, but my thoughts kept drifting back to the to-do list, and eventually I found myself getting up.”

Half an hour. Everyone had assumed Elias spent most of the time they were sleeping doing the same thing himself.

Amy took a slow breath. “Okay. What have you had to eat or drink since then?”

“After Mama Bianchi’s cooking?” For the first time, Elias almost sounded like himself. “I couldn’t eat another bite.”

Under other circumstances, Amy might have laughed. These were not other circumstances.

“Elias, that was nearly six and a half hours ago.” His expression tightened. He knew where this was going now, and clearly didn’t like it. Amy pressed on before he could redirect the conversation. “When was the last time you stepped out of this office?”

“Damnit, Amy.” Irritation finally pushed through the exhaustion. “I need to get all this stuff done because I can do...”

Amy slammed her hand down on the desk. Elias jerked back.

“Because you CAN do it? Yes, Elias. You can. You can do all of this stuff.” She gestured toward the computer, the office, and everything else that had apparently swallowed him whole. “BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO DO ALL THAT STUFF. You’re the guild leader, not the person who has to do everything because he can.”

Elias opened his mouth. Amy didn’t let him get there.

“Have you even played the game for fun lately?”

That stopped him. Good. Because Amy was done asking polite questions and accepting evasive answers.

Elias looked like a man who had just realized every available answer was the wrong one. “Yeah,” he finally said. “I guess I need to get a few hours of rest.”

“A few hours?” Amy stared at him. “No. Not a few hours. Twenty-four hours off. Sleeping. Eating. Living life. Anything that has nothing to do with the guild, the team, the game, or anything else strenuous. Rest, relaxation, and recharging batteries that have been empty for way too long.”

“Amy...”

“Normally, I’d even say you could play WarMachines. But right now? No. Because you’d see one guild question, decide answering it wouldn’t hurt, and you’d be back at this particular grindstone before you even realized what happened.”

She softened slightly, but not enough to give him an opening. “Honestly, I’d be happier if you took several days. Elias, you’re on the verge of a breakdown, and I’m not going to sit here and watch my friend go through that. Not when I have something to say about it.”

That got a reaction, although Amy couldn’t quite tell whether it was embarrassment, annoyance, or both.

“I don’t want to be some surrogate parent looking over your shoulder. I’m asking you to do this voluntarily. But if you won’t, then I’m getting Adrian and Marcus involved.”

Elias winced.

“Yeah. None of us want that.” Despite herself, Amy almost smiled. “Your job isn’t at risk. Nobody thinks you’re incompetent. The exact opposite is the problem. You can do almost everything, so somewhere along the line all of us started acting like that meant you SHOULD do everything.”

She pointed toward the computer. “Well, now we’ve seen where that gets us. So when you’ve recovered, we’re going through all of this and figuring out what NEEDS to be done by you, not everything that can be done by you.”