Chapter 59:

They all walked there, it was one big group, a mesh of developers and content creators. They got stopped multiple times before even arriving, but Ace assumed that that was the reason they had left so early. Once they got there, everyone got out their E-Passes, and they were handed some wristbands with [VIP Access] written on them, it also had their gaming handle written on them. They were given schedules for both days, and as Ace looked over it and memorised it, he sighed. Ace had already agreed to do a panel with his teammates, speaking on the state and future of the game as an E-Sport. They had more or less prepared for it, and Ace was not too worried. There was also a meet and greet, which Ace was not sure he wanted to do, and multiple events of playing with streamers etcetera. It was supposedly going on for two days from 9 to 9, so obviously there was a lot to do.

Of course, there were also the announcements that the game developers would give (which everyone would attend) and a few other 'Surprise Events' that could give people both merch and in-game rewards. Plus, there were also some things Ace had to do, Harris and Abby had told him they were coming, with S1k and Juan crying because they could not make it. They had said to meet and go eat together to which Ace agreed, and had already prepared a face mask he would wear, which with his black hoodie should hopefully make it better.

As they got there, everyone was filed to the big auditorium, the streamers all had first-row access, which made it a lot easier to avoid fans. They sat down, and Ace pulled out his tablet, planning on brainstorming some more on his grandmother's drawing, as he did so, he noticed a message from Elene, it was a video message, so he replied saying he would hear it later and sent one back. He opened the drawing app and began sketching. He had to plan every pixel of the drawing, every shade, every mote of imaginary ink that would be on the papers arranged on her desk. He had to decide on the time of day, the light hitting the skyscrapers differing from one point to another. That and more was what he had a few days to work on. He wanted to begin drawing soon, so he had a lot to prepare for. After about thirty minutes of waiting, the lights dimmed, and Ace put his tablet in his bag.

"Good morning everyone, we hope that not too many of you pulled all-nighters yesterday, we were praying for a dynamic crowd.", about half the room laughed, Ace surmised that his words were probably not too far off.

"Ok, 50-50 split, I can work with that", some more laughed, "I want to thank you all for liking the game enough to actually spend money on the trip and the ticket to come here. As a thank you, we have some freebies placed around the compound. At the end of the day, of course, you will be able to pick any you have not found at the front desk. We also have various panels going on at various times, and games and activities you can participate in, which, of course, will have prizes, both in-game handout of game, to win.", most people smiled excitedly at this, their competitive spirits rising

"Of course, tomorrow, it will mainly be focused on the new update, we will show you the trailers and have a Q&A where we will answer what we can. You will have a chance to try them of course, and everyone here will also have a special skin available for free to use on the new guns for the new operators.", Ace heard a few whispered yeses and smiled, freebies were truly a gamer's favourite friend

"And of course, if you meet any of your favourite streamers, don't be afraid to ask for a pic, but please remember that they are people too, so don't badger or crowd them too much.", Ace winced at this, luckily, when he had shown his face, the tickets to the con had already been brought up, or he would have no doubt that more than a few people that were most definitely not fans of the game would have bought them, and he would have a weekend of eternal hell. He had no problem with fans of course, but he had seen videos of people being overrun by a crowd, and that did not sound good.

"Well, thank you for listening, now, let the events begin!", the crowd dispersed quickly, some waiting at the entrance for streamers, others going to the various stands. Some streamers went to get food, but Ace was fine, he had stuffed his mouth in the buffet, and was feeling pretty good for now. He had a panel to go to anyway.

Ace had already memorised a map, so he used one of the side exits he was most definitely not meant to use to escape the crowd, then just stealthily walked to where the panel would be held.

He met a few people on the way, but before they could shout, Ace put a finger to his lips, and took a picture with them, or used the sharpie they had been given to sign pieces of clothing or even a cheek. As they got there, all streamers had been given a pack of black sharpies, just in case someone did not bring a pen to sign with. It was a good shout on their part, as most people were too nervous to find their pen, so having one made things a lot easier. [A/N: This is by far one of the worst feelings in the world]

He made it to his seat at the front unharmed and had to wait 10 minutes for the others to come. Ace could see that the seats were now all full, and people were standing at the back, people actually seemed interested in what they had to say.

"Where the hell were you?", Mary spoke, an annoyed voice lashing out

"I just calmly walked here? What do you mean?", Ace let a small laugh escape and grinned at them.

"Ha! Laugh all you want, but you have a horde of people waiting to meet you", Jo laughed at him and Jack did as well, Alex just smiled evilly

Ace sighed, it was going to be a long day

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"Ok, so, any questions?", Alex asked, people put their hands up instantly, so he pointed at the first one he saw, "G-good morning, uhhh, do you think these operators will have any impact on the current meta, and if so, how?", the boy gained confidence as he talked, and once he finished his question, he sat down.

Mary began, "Well, as of now, the current operator pool is quite limited, so any new additions will most certainly cause some shuffles to the meta. The defender, from what we know, can lay some traps that do not seem techy in nature, so her only counter will be the player's skill in noticing them. The attacker, of course, works a bit like Sledge, so the best way to stop him is to reinforce, and get ready for him to push quickly. Of course, his ability works a bit like a shotgun so you cannot just wait around the corner, you have to peek it from a further distance to limit the damage. It also depends on how fast the animation between the swap is, it cannot be too slow, but it cannot be too fast, that would completely de-balance an operator."

The man nodded and thanked her for the answer, more people put their hands up and the one Jo chose asked: "Do all of you have boyfriends or girlfriends?", Mary frowned and was about to tear this guy a new one, when Jo jumped the gun and answered, "Alex does, Jo and I do not, that is all I know." Mary sighed, she had to answer now, "I do not." Ace was honestly not planning to answer this, but he let out a breath when he noticed everyone, including his fellow teammates looking at him. "No.", and he got quiet, he had no plans in telling people all about his private life. He and Elene were not together, they had already spoken about it, so he had no qualms about his answer. Some people smiled, happy with their answer, some were displeased. Ace could not care less.

They continued to answer questions for another 30 minutes, most were about the update, but some were about their private life, Jo and Jack answered everything, Alex was a bit more reserved, and Mary clearly wanted to be outright hostile, but they managed to reign her in. Ace could not care less, and answered as vaguely as he could get away with, which for him, was a lot. All people knew for sure was that he had no girlfriend and he 'did ok' in school. They had gotten nothing else from him. In the end, it had almost become a game, the spectators laughed when Ace answered with a whole load of nothing, and Ace just shrugged.

As they finished up, one of the people in charge informed them that they would be hosting a meet and greets in the afternoon. The panel had been more fun than expected for Ace, the duo had found it hilarious, and Alex did as well, Mary, however, was pretty pissed. "Who do they think they are! To ask us about-", Ace put a hand on her arm and Alex shushed her, she was being pretty loud, and if someone recorded it could get ugly. "You should not care, just answer with whatever bs you want, if you give a bad reaction it will only get worse.", Ace spoke in a calm, measured voice, and Mary nodded, "I know, but it just riles me up too much."

Ace understood that he was getting pretty annoyed, but he could not dare to show it. It was too important to keep a good image, and they all knew it. More than a few people were destroyed every year from stupid decisions, and no one wanted that to happen.

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"Where are you?"

"Coming, I have to evade pretty much everyone, but don't worry, I will get there soon." Ace replied, he was currently blending in with the crowd, about to go to the food stalls, where he could hopefully just relax and stuff his face with Mexican trailer food. He was exhausted, he had stopped every few seconds to sign something or take a picture, he loved it, but it was pretty tiring as well. He was going to meet Abby and Harris now, and it would hopefully be peaceful.

He spotted them in a table in the corner, it was pretty hidden from sight.

"You guys are amazing, thanks.", Ace said this after greeting them and sitting in a chair that was in a corner of the table, it hid him from the outside with a pillar to his right and the wall to his right.

"We assumed it would be pretty wild, so this should make it harder for you to get seen."

Ace nodded, "Yeah hopefully", he put his bag in a chair next to him and put back his hood, removing his facemask as well. He smiled at the other two people on the table. Harris was a brawny man, Ace knew he was pretty young, in his early twenties, but his rough beard and tousled hair made him look a lot older than he was, his brawny and big figure made him appear like some lumberjack you would see in a movie.

Abby was pretty, she had brown hair and hazel eyes, with a hint of yellow in them. She was wearing fatigues and military combat boots, with a hoodie over a T-Shirt. Most would think she had dressed like this for the con, but Ace knew that was what she usually wore.

"Hmm, I thought your hair would have more colours in it.", Ace mentioned languidly

Harris let out a loud, boisterous laugh and Abby frowned but smiled as well, "Ha Ha, you are so funny.", she said this sarcastically, but her grin proved otherwise.

Ace just smiled at her sweetly, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

"So, how was your morning?", Ace asked

Abby widened her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing for a long spiel, but Harris cut her, "Good, we got all the free stuff, we watched your panel on our phones online, good work on evading every question, they pretty much got nothing.", Abby nodded, happy with the answers he had given.

By that point, their food came, and Ace was way too hungry to speak about anything else.