The limo came to a stop at our destination, and Gabby and Li gave a slight cheer with the clink of glasses. Both had only had one other drink while I noticed something with Victoria as we reached our destination. She only had been sipping on the first drink she had poured us. I stared at her a bit, but Victoria's expression was one of pure innocence.
I chuckled before we all started to get out. The building that we came to was a large brick-and-mortar building, and around it was busy. It seemed tonight we picked a busy night for the company, which showed promise. We wanted to compete, but a large laser tag maze with only four people would be boring. I had planned three games for the night, and there was a break in between each game for us to stop and get our parameters straight and enjoy ourselves between matches.
The one thing that surprised me the most was the number of young adults among the crowd coming in. I knew there were a couple of other parties, but few children were among the crowd. I was expecting to encounter a number of shin kickers while we played that this was a pleasant surprise to see.
We moved to join the crowd, with some looking over at us. Victoria joined me by my side as we entered the building. Inside was bustling with an arcade for those waiting their turn. I walked up to reception, and we all smiled at the kid, who looked a little surprised to see four adults without any kids with them. "Hello," I looked down at the name tag, "Rick," I said with a slightly raised eyebrow when I saw the mutual name. "I am Rick and the party of four for four games tonight," I told him with a slight smile.
Rick looked at Li, Gabby, and Victoria, and I saw him look a little surprised. He nodded, and "I got you here for four games. The night is busy, so you will be with other parties while you play. You do understand that, Correct?" His question came out, and I could see asking that question had become ingrained into his usual routine.
"Yes, I am aware of that," I told him simply, and he nodded. I paid for the games, there wasn't much after that, and he pointed towards the Arcade.
"Your first game is in roughly twenty minutes. You can play some games in the Arcade or." He pointed towards a small bar, "You can find some food over there." He finished, "Thank you for playing with LaserQuest." He concluded, and I got out of line as another party came up to him and started to talk to him.
I stepped back with the ladies as they talked, and I could see how pumped up they were to be here. "I haven't done this for years," Victoria grinned.
"Neither have I," Gabby replied with a grin of her own, "Although I wasn't the best, I usually was among the top when I did play with friends in the past. I wonder if my skills have slackened. I am not getting last among us, though," Gabby's expression demanded someone to challenge her on that last point. I was surprised to see the competition that arose from the simple bet, and I grinned.
"Victoria knows that I will not come last," I told them, and Victoria turned her head.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," Victoria declared, and I raised an eyebrow.
"Abandoning me so callously," I replied mournfully.
Li and Gabby chuckled, and Victoria joined in, and I laughed with them. We all headed over to the Arcade without a word needing to be shared since we had all just gotten here. We were all began to enjoy ourselves after pulling out some cash with a machine for us to all play on.
Time passed as we all went all our separate ways in the Arcade, which went on a ticket system with some small prizes that we could collect. I looked them all over, and I knew that the toys would all be cheaper to go out and actually purchase myself. The only problem was that the same value wouldn't be ascribed to them as it would be earning them playing the games.
I found Victoria at a Sniper shooting game, and I saw her doing quite well, and I wondered if she wanted to play it because we might be playing in cities soon. That was still up for debate, and I decided I would like to move after a day like today, and I moved over to the dance revolution type game. It was named something different now, but I didn't care as I noticed Gabby having a blast on it.
I watched and decided to play some skeet ball and got some good games in when names the game was shouted out for us all to play over an intercom. The ladies all gathered, abandoning games in the middle of being played, and some helpful people took over where they could.
We gathered together quickly, and I smiled as Victoria smiled at me as we gathered into the darkroom. We all started to have things glow in the dark around us as we entered the room. There was a woman in the room with a vest off to one side as we entered. "Alright, everybody. Find a vest and strap it on. They all work, and no, some don't work better than others," The young woman said, and I stopped myself from calling her a liar.
From the looks of things, everyone in the room that I could see was thinking the same thing. We were all giving her a slight look, and I heard Victoria give a slight chuckle. I started to select the vest and picked one up as I saw Victoria pick one herself.
I started to strap the vest with blinking lights on me, and the glow in the dark allowed me to see around. Gabby and Li were both putting on a vest themselves, as there were at least another two dozen others getting ready themselves. It seemed there were only young adults and teens with some older people, probably some parents of the teens all geared up.
"Okay, Let me explain the rules," The young woman began, "NO JUMPING," She empathized. "NO CLIMBING! NO CRAWLING!" The woman yelled out more rules that were true for all laser tag businesses, and I already began to ignore them as I grinned. I felt excitement for what was to come, and I couldn't wait, "Now, The game starts in three minutes, GO!" The woman announced, and the girls and I split up. None of us wanted to lose to the others, and we went into the maze. I found a ramp, and I went up it to get myself some high ground as I looked over the vest mentally.
The vests had a large sensor on the front on the shoulders, and I remember there being another large one on the back. The gun in our hand was almost like a photo radar gun and had two sensors on the side of it as well. The trigger was easy to press, and I heard a shout stating there was only a minute left. I heard steps coming up the ramp; I turned and saw some young man come up and curse. He turned and ran a second later, much to my surprise.
The beeps of the suits ended, and the game officially started. It was then I started to hear some shouts throughout the maze. I saw some light down below, and I shot at a shoulder, and I listened to a young man's voice curse as I hit the sensor, and I smiled as the man's vest blinked, indicating a hit. I moved as the person moved towards me. As I went down the ramp, I came across that young man I saw not too long ago. I shot, as did he, and I hit his sensor before hitting mine.
I smiled as I moved past the two into the maze as I fast-walked through the maze. I shot at sensors as I moved through, and my accuracy was terrific today. I felt in complete control until suddenly I heard the vest beep that I had been hit—taking me out of the fighting temporarily only to see up in a perch on a second floor Victoria grin before turning to shoot at someone else.
I frowned but continued to move. I couldn't stick in one spot and allow myself to be vulnerable. I moved through the maze again restarting when my vest told me I was no longer out and I grinned as I tried to get back into the swing.
Time passed as I shot others out and sometimes others shot me out. I couldn't get into the groove like I could when Victoria shot me. I wouldn't let that phase me as I heard the beeps indicating on everyone in the maze that the round was over and it was time to finish up and recieve our scores.
I moved towards the exit wondering what the ladies score was compared to mine.