The arena was at the height of toxicity. The sponsors were screaming over the radio, Tactician Marco was grumbling about the "excessive aggression" that would lose me business deals, and the crowd was throwing energy drink cans at our Tank.
Our Tank, by the way, is nicknamed "The Wall"—and not because he is strong, but because he only moves when absolutely necessary, like a concrete wall. His real name is Edoardo. He is a giant, like an NFL Lineman, and his only function is to stay at the base, defending the Vex. He doesn't run.
I ran from Zone C to Base A in 12.5 seconds, which is the ideal time for a Hunter to re-enter the defense. I arrived and found him, as always, leaning against the wall, looking like he was about to doze off. The Vex (that 5kg electronic baton with a clumsy gyroscope) was planted on the pedestal next to him.
"Edoardo, why aren't you in active defensive position?" I had barely recovered my breath from the chase and was already irritated again.
He opened one eye. He is so big he seems to be looking at you from over a cliff.
"Ah, it's Bianca. They aren't going to try to take the baton now. Their Runner is in the Box," he said, his voice slow, almost a yawn. "Zero threat. Zero movement. Zero calorie expenditure. The co... Coeff..."
"Coefficient. Coefficient of Floor Adhesion?" I completed, impatiently.
"That's it. It's at 0.6. Good enough. You know, Bianca..."
"I don't want to know what you know! I want to know why you are wasting the opportunity to re-tie that abomination of a shoelace!" I pointed furiously at the loose white lace on his left foot. It was a monstrosity of slackness.
He looked at the shoelace as if it were the first time he had seen it.
"This? Ah, leave it. Gives it more... style."
My blood ran cold. "Style." It is the second Runner I've eliminated in ten minutes because of that word. And now my own Tank was using it to justify a primary structural failure.
"Style?!" My voice went up two octaves. "A loose shoelace increases the probability of tripping by 78%! If their Breaker comes in with a body tackle, you won't have the necessary ankle stability and you will dislocate your knee! I saw the X-ray from that last time, Edoardo! A broken femur is a geometric aberration!"
"I am 'The Wall,' Bianca. I don't trip. I don't..."
BAM!
Before he could finish, the enemy Breaker (an athlete of 1.90m with the strength of a tractor) appeared out of nowhere, coming from the angle I wasn't covering, and threw himself against Edoardo's massive body. The Breaker was escorting a new Runner who came through the back, while I was busy screaming.
Edoardo, caught by surprise and without the correct ankle tension, staggered. He tried to block the impact, but the force of the collision threw him off balance.
Triiip.
The left foot. He stepped on the damn loose shoelace. The 150kg Tank fell with a crash that made the concrete floor tremble.
"THE IMBECILITY!" I screamed.
The enemy Runner, who was hiding, flew over the fallen Edoardo, grabbed the Vex baton, and started to flee. The Vex, with its gyroscope and weight, made him clumsy, but he had our flag.
Edoardo was groaning on the ground, holding his ankle. He had both life tapes intact, but was immobilized by pain. The referee drone hovered over him, checking the injury.
"Bianca, Hunter! Do your job!" Marco's high-pitched voice on the radio was hysterical.
I didn't look at Edoardo. It wasn't worth it. What irritated me wasn't the play, but the preventable error. I warned him about the point of failure!
"I'm going!" I replied. "And write this down, Marco: the structural collapse of the defense was caused by lack of shoelace tying tension. Put it in the post-game report! I want that in bold!"
I launched myself into the pursuit of the new Runner. But this time, my anger had a purely scientific focus. I was going to eliminate him not with a tackle, but with the perfect calculation of a line interception, to show that technique always beats random stupidity. I wasn't just going to rip off his tapes; I was going to prove that a one-centimeter deviation in the tying of a shoelace can cost a point in the World Cup final.