"Can Gravitate and I have a second?" Null says to GG, in her most intimidating monotone. GG gives Travis one last look before rolling away—make this count.
"I have to get into The Hero Project computer system to hack some information," Null whispers to Travis once they're alone. "Will you come with me to help? I'll need some cover."
As Null steps back to wait for Travis answer, he looks around the party—if he slips away now, he probably won't build any relationships or get any camera time. And who knows if he's still being judged for Final Selection—he might be hurting his chances. Not to mention that if he gets caught, he will ruin his shot at being on the show.
But it sounds like Jenny really needs his help with her investigation….
"Let's do this," Travis says to Null. She nods and turns around, not wasting a moment.
"Based on all of the intel gathered so far, the DRPR has narrowed its current investigation to The Crush," Null explains as they move. "Especially given the Unique tipoff you received."
"So we're trying to figure out who exactly approved The Crush's placement—it was very high level and done without the jurisdiction of the DRPR. Despite the public reason given for The Crush's involvement, we believe he has potentially entered the competition to mastermind his grand return and further a future terrorist plot."
"Alternatively, it may be possible that someone within the show has engineered The Crush's presence here for an equally sinister purpose. I've been instructed to get into the show's encrypted database to see if we can find anything on The Crush there."
"So where are we headed, oh fearless leader?" Travis asks, amused to see how amped up Jenny gets when she enters secret-agent mode.
"The complex's control room is fully staffed since we're at an official filmed event, so we have to get creative. There's only one option I can think of that we can access undetected," Null starts, making her way upstairs. "And that's Rexford's private computer."
"Great," Travis says. As if he needed to give Rexford (the Executive Producer, judge and future American Protectors CEO) another reason to hate him.
"Travis, I know helping me with this hurts your chances in a slew of ways," Null says. "It really means a lot. Thank you."
He's about to respond, but two camera orbs swivel to film him and Null. Obviously that poses a significant problem.
Travis raises his hands at the orbs, but Null stops him. Instead, she reaches into her utility belt and pulls out a charge capsule, which she quickly activates. It encases them in a strange bluish light and immediately the cameras spin away, as if they weren't even there.
"That will give us some alone time," Null says, continuing to climb the stairs. "Don't dilly-dally, now."
....
Travis stands at Rexford's door, his heart pounding.
Null stuck him here on lookout duty, which he hated. But once they both saw how big Rexford's "room" was, they had no other choice. Someone needed to stand guard at the main entrance, otherwise they'd never hear anyone coming.
Rexford has an entire floor of the mansion to himself. It has to be the sleekest, most tricked out living space they've ever seen. It's insane to think that, if he makes it onto the live shows, he'll be living in this mansion too. Granted, he probably won't have an entire floor to himself, but it'll still be pretty amazing.
Though if he's on the winning roster of The American Protectors, he bet he'd get living space comparable to Rexford's in this very mansion. Travis can already imagine his designated floor, which he'd fill with—
Travis loses his breath as he sees none other than Rexford striding down the hall towards him. D*mn, he lost himself in that silly daydream and didn't even see him coming. Now there's no way to warn Null….
"I was just looking for the bathroom." Travis says.
"Bullsh*t," Rexford says, staring Travis down.
"All right, fine," Travis says, scrambling for another excuse. "I wanted to apologize one final time for everything that happened, to clear the air between us."
"Whatever you say, Gravitate," Rexford says, not sounding particularly moved.
Just then, Rexford's eyes glaze over. Travis turns around to find Null exiting the apartment, a hypno-wave wafting out of what looks like a glow stick in her hand.
"He'll remember whatever you said to him, but his memory will end after that," Null says. "I was never here, thanks to this little gem."
"D*mn, the DRPR really hooked you up. Is there anything you don't have in your arsenal?"
"A schlongy dong," Null says. "Now let's get back to the party before anyone figures out we're missing."
"Hey," Travis says, rushing to catch up. "Did you get what you needed?"
"I got something. But we can't talk about it here. I'll fill you in later."
As much as he's dying to hear what Null dug up, he knows she's right. There are too many cameras floating around—he'll have to wait to learn what Jenny found.
"That's right, you can't talk about it here." A man's voice says.
Null turns around and sees none other than Retribution. he's standing at the end of the hallway, an energy sword is glowing at his side.
He walked closer to Jenny. "What are you doing here?" Retribution says, it's a little hard to see his face because of the hood but his eyes are clearly green.
"Hey man!" Travis says, putting his hand on Retribution's shoulder. "It's been a while."
Retribution quickly grabs Travis hand and pin him on the ground, Jenny quickly pulls her gun and points it at Retribution head.
"Now... now... no need to get serious I'm just asking." Retribution says, freeing Travis from his hold. "I know you're an agent from DRPR Jenny Yu."
"Not going to talk aren't you?" Retribution stands up. "Alright, don't worry I won't tell anyone."
He started walking away and soon disappeared in the dark. Now that's one heck of an encounter, who thought that Retribution could be there, is he following them? or is it just a coincidence?
Hours later....
Back in the main living room, suddenly the crowd hushes and the lights dim. When Travis turns around, he finds the judges have already taken to the stage, joined by Covalt and a dozen camera orbs.
"All right, everyone, the time has come. We're going to commence with the Final Selection," Covalt says to no one and everyone. "Let's move to the auditorium."
Despite the surprise encounter with Retribution earlier, he and Jenny agreed that Retribution is one heck of an enemy and they need to keep him on the good side so they're planning on something.
"One hundred worthy contestants were selected out of thousands to compete in the greatest heroic competition on the planet," Covalt says, his voice amplified through a microphone in the sound-stage auditorium. "These twenty brave contestants were mighty enough to beat out eighty other heroes in the Semi-Finals, whether by successfully navigating the three Rounds to procure a Gilded Key, or by being singled out as Wildcards by our esteemed judges."
Covalt looks down to the front of the audience, where Rexford, Rebellion, and DaHChip sit at their judges panel table facing the stage. Travis eyes are drawn to them from his seat behind Covalt—the contestants sit on a set of bleachers, lined up to await his fates.
"Now we're about to find out which of these twenty contestants will move forward to the Live Rounds through the Final Selection. Judges, tell us a little about the tough decisions you had to make."
"The Live Finalists will be chosen based on their Leaderboard scores, which reflect their performance in the Semi-Final Rounds," Rexford explains. "Points were assigned or deducted based on how fast contestants advanced, their strategic decisions, their heroic character, and their ability to finish with high levels of Power. Those heroes with the highest Leaderboard scores will be advancing tonight."
"And Rebellion, what can our heroes expect in the Live Finals?" Covalt asks next.
"In the Live Finals, our heroes will be assigned Missions to neutralize real-world Powered threats to the United States," Rebellion says, not even bothering to pretend he isn't reading from a script placed in front of him—always the hero first.
"There will be eliminations until we reach our Winning Roster, based on a combination of Leaderboard scores accumulated during challenges, a contestant vote, and a public popularity vote. This way, our Finalists will have to be successful and trusted on all fronts to make it onto our team."
"I for one can't wait to see how that plays out!" Covalt exclaims.
And Travis has to admit, neither can him. No reality show has ever tested its contestants so rigorously…then again, it's important the winning roster of The American Protectors be able to complete missions, fight threats, operate with other heroes, and secure public adoration all at the same time.
And thankfully these are things he has proven that he can handle, even in his short career.