Chapter 9:

"Hahahahaha!", his grandmother laughed, a loud, boisterous laugh Ace had never heard before. Veronica seemed just as surprised, standing to the side, but he could see the corners of her mouth pointing upwards as well.

"You should have seen their faces! They thought they were hoping to intimidate you, wanting to make a good case against you going to the school, in hopes of getting a favour from me or something of equal value, yet you did them in! Hahahaha!", Ace was unsure why his grandmother found this so funny, but he had to admit that the faces of the stuck up bastards were priceless. They had reacted much like he had hoped they did, the most serious by cracking their facades and the more passionate by causing them to blabber and stumble with their words…

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In a hidden location

A stern man was speaking to an even stern woman, "He is good, too good, considering that he was barely able to move until a few months ago, he might get even better than his grandmother, he turned the whole affair around, he had us all eating out of his hand."

"Hmmm... She'll be proud, but do not forget what is truly important, him being capable simply plays to our plans."

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Ace relaxed on the couch, he had just gotten home from his ordeal, after which his grandmother insisted on taking him and Veronica out for dinner. She attempted to refuse, but he convinced her, implying the option of him dying without her, overwhelmed by the hysteria of his grandmother. However, things played out in a different manner, as soon as they left the office, Samantha's masl was back on, with a barely detectable trace of joy in her eyes. Ace was still unsure as to why his grandmother was in this state, and Veronica seemed just as unaware, if her frown was any indication.

Now that he was home, he could finally relax and before going to bed, he checked on his PC, ensuring everything had downloaded correctly.

He stepped out of the shower, his muscles still slightly aching from his workout, and instead of going to the kitchen, he directly went into his gaming room. All necessary software had been downloaded and he had spoken to the cybersecurity of his grandmother's business, so they would be aware of a new device in his home and they could take the necessary security measures. He had also created an email account, with which he emailed Veronica, asking her to tell his grandmother of his new email address, so that when she signed him up to the school, they now had his contact address as well.

He then went on his PC, and downloaded CSGO, it would take a while, but in the meantime, he did some research on smartphones, he would have to buy a new one as his one was outdated. He chose the one he wanted and emailed his assistant, he never had much contact with her but his grandmother had put her in place just in case he needed anything that was not important enough to bother Veronica or his grandmother with. He told her to buy the phone while also installing all necessary security measures on it, and then have it delivered as soon as she could to his home.

He then did some more research on the game while waiting for it to finish downloading. Once it had finished, he set up his account and when asked to name his account, most names he could think of were taken so he tried his last idea: 'άσσος' which simply meant 'Ace' in Cyrillic script. Luckily, this name seemed to not be taken in the NA server so he confirmed it and loaded into his first game.

The map that had been selected was one Ace recognised from all his research, it was Dust 2, he had begun his extended research by memorising some of the more common maps, and at least, in this case, it seemed it had paid off. It seemed that they would begin by having to diffuse the bomb and so he said in voice chat, "Ok guys we got this, we should rush through outside tunnels then stick to Fence, so we can then quickly diffuse Bomb B while taking them by surprise." Nevertheless, this showed Ace's naivety, he had only watched pro gamers and streamers play the games, in much higher ranks than he currently found himself in. Ace expected his team to listen to him, as they were all of an equally low level and he had proposed a feasible strategy in a polite manner. However, this was not to be, as soon as the game started, one of his teammates ran out of spawn, attempting to kill the enemy team by himself, however, he quickly died. Once he had died 'B1gB34r' shouted on his mic: "Cyka Blyat! Zashchiti menya, glupyye I bespoleznyye lichinki!" [A/N: Translate it, I dare you] Ace was unsure as to what his teammate had said, but was definitely curious, however, for now, he focused on playing his first game. As the game progressed, Ace was more and more sure they were going to lose, the enemy team had the same tag at the end of their names so he assumed that while they were low level, they were still communicating in a seemingly effective manner. However, as the game went on, Ace noticed his aim get better and better, he attempted to try as many guns as he could, practising with each one and attempting to get used to each individual recoil. And in this manner, getting shouted at in foreign languages and practising his aim, was how Ace spent the rest of the day, and by the time he was done, exhaustively falling into his bed, all he wanted, was to do it again tomorrow...