COLONEL VON PUSHUP & TONI VERN AT RISK OF SUSPENSION?!

Maci Gian & Valeria

It wasn’t too long ago that we had witnessed a battle between the brains and the brawn of the Super League, and despite Toni’s attempt at trying to get the upper hand by hacking into one of Iron Tank’s tanks the last time the two teams met, Colonel Von Pushup charged through and aided his team to victory! But said-victory wasn’t enough for the Colonel to let go of his grudge…

Right before one of our site’s journalists (Maci, me, hi) had gone to interview some of Technicali’s players, there was a brief moment where Von Pushup had ordered his men to charge into The Hub with him. There was no follow up as to what happened afterwards… Until today.

A public announcement had been released by one of Super League Disciplinary Board’s agents: Agent 2250, who stated that not just the Colonel—but Toni Vern—were at risk of a suspension from coaching! While Toni was caught redhanded crashing a tank into The Fortress, he’s now being accused of making a serious threat towards Colonel during the midst of the break-in.

When word got out, Agent 2250 had stated that she—alongside the two coaches—would be willing to answer any concerns in front of the Hub’s entrance before departing.

Valeria & I headed off and were met with a surprisingly large crowd of both Technicali and Iron Tank fans alike. Around the crowd was a good handful of other SLDB agents who’d circle around the people, making sure everybody stayed behind the red ropes they had set up, and if anyone was caught trying to slip past, they’d be immediately pushed back by the larger agents.

We started traversing through the crowd. It was compact, people kept bumping into us, shoving us aside, or rather didn’t notice us because they were trying to snap photos of the questioning happening up front. I cringed whenever I felt a hand on me, or when the side of my body hit another’s, and I swore I could feel the breaths of others hit the back of my neck. Crowded stadiums might get wild, but at least everyone had their own seats and could respect personal space.

We looked ahead—past the red ropes and to The Hub. Several feet away was a much smaller crowd of journalists, camera operators, and news reporters. As we grew closer, I raised myself with the tips of my toes.

In front of the blue tinted doors of the stadium’s entrance stood Agent 2250. Her skin was very light, pale, yet there was a hint of warmth to it that was just enough to give it a peachy tint. It kind of reminded me of the color of the columns at Olympii Stadium I’ve seen in photos; columns that I’m going to be seeing in person soon!

Her wavy, parted hair was a deep, rich brown with streaks of gray woven throughout it. Whenever the clouds passed by and the sun hit her head, a few locks turned a vibrant orange. She wore a thin, golden headband, and I… Think she had a ponytail? But it dangled behind her, so I couldn’t make much of it out.

Besides those features, she looked like every other Super League agent. Black suit, black pants, black shoes, with only a red tie and a white dress shirt underneath to act as a pop of color.

Colonel Von Pushup was on her left, while Toni Vern stood on her right. Toni wore his usual attire, a white lab coat, the gray, zip-up turtleneck underneath, black pants, but Colonel was wearing quite the thick, green coat over his attire. While it wasn’t sweltering out, it certainly wasn’t chilly. I couldn’t help but wonder how he wasn’t suffocating with that on.

Agent 2250 and the Colonel’s postures were stiff, tall, with their hands held behind their backs, while Toni’s had more of slouch, and his arms were folded. He didn’t seem too thrilled to be here.

Off to the left side of the entrance, past the teal pillar that supported the Hub’s overhang, were Iron Tank’s players standing in a horizontal line. Just like their coach, they stood tall, proud, with their expressions as serious as ever. I noticed Valeria fixated her gaze on Johann Uber, the captain who stood at the very start of the line, but when I tried to look with her, I found myself tensing up at the mere thought of any of these players locking eyes with me, so I instead focused to the right, where the Technicali players stood, as Val continued to guide me through the crowd.

Neither of us were sure which Technicali players came out today—we haven’t memorized their jersey numbers by heart yet—we just knew it wasn’t all of them. From our position, it looked like there was at least five players, though wouldn’t surprise me if there were more or less, given how much their uniforms caused them to bleed together.

We could, however, clearly make out Chuck T. Chipperson, with his hood down and constantly brushing his black tuft of hair out of his face as he spoke to the rest of the team. Benedict B. Bradley was the other one we knew offhand, thanks to his drastically different colored uniform. Unlike the rest of the players, he was wearing a hoodie over his uniform, which was an ever so slightly lighter shade of blue. The minor difference bothered me just a tad.

After we had verified ourselves to a Super League Agent at the front of the crowd, they guided us to the other soccer journalists.

As soon as we were within earshot, we heard a reporter ask: “And how long will this suspension be?! Both of these coaches have their next games coming up, is it really best to risk suspending them now?”

Valeria managed to get us closer to the front just in time for us to see Agent 2250 respond.

“I cannot answer this. I don’t know the answer. Nor do the other agents.” Her voice, like the other agents, was monotone. I noticed her Greek accent was as thick as Achilles’, though her way of speaking not nearly as old-timey, “We won’t know until Disciplinary Board’s judge gives their verdict. But given what we do know, and who we’re dealing with—“ Her black, circular-framed sunglasses might’ve hid her eyes, but the lowering of her brows was all too telling, “We’re looking at up to multiple weeks.”

That triggered a small uproar from the journalists. I found myself equally as shocked.

“Weeks?!” Someone repeated.

Cameras flashed.

“Both of these teams have their next games in a matter of weeks!” Another yelled.

“Can this really not wait until after their games?” I blurted out along with the rest of the ruckus. I really, really want to make it to Colossus’ home stadium to watch them go against Iron Tank, and I want to try and snag an interview with one of Iron Tank’s players. I looked to Val, “Does this mean both of their games will be getting pushed back?”

“Technicali is going to need all the training they can get, you know. They’ll be going up against Supa Strikas soon.” I heard someone else say. It sounded more like a piece of a conversation as opposed to a point they wanted Agent 2250 to hear. The Technicali players certainly heard it loud and clear, as they all collectively cringed at the mention of their next opposing team.

“I’m stating once again that I am not certain if this will happen or not.” Agent 2250 said. I noted the way she leaned back ever so slightly from the microphones aimed at her face, held by an array of people desperately shoving each other in the hopes of getting an inch closer, “I’m simply going off of the outcomes from the previous situations these two have been in.”

Watching how everyone pointed their microphones up at Agent 2250 made me realize the fact that she was tall.

Real tall.

The top of her head stopped just at Von Pushup’s jawline, and the way she had to crane her neck to look down at everyone, the tip of her narrow nose aimed at whoever she was addressing like a tip of a dagger, made her a little intimidating.

“I don’t know why you’re being so hesitant to state the obvious,” Toni scoffed, his tone as agitated as always. He took a few steps forward and fixed his posture as much as he could, though still came up nearly a foot and a half shorter than Colonel & Agent 2250, “so allow me to do the hard part for you: Yes, Colonel will be getting a multiple—if not several—week long suspension from coaching, as he should, because I have the security footage proving that he broke into my lab! Not only that, but he also ruined some of my inventions!” He pointed a finger at Colonel’s face, who merely raised a brow above his red-tinted shades.

Before Agent 2250 could speak, a familiar voice did instead.

“Colonel, this is quite the serious accusation—“

Toni sputtered.

I looked over to see who was talking, and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Lena Long standing amongst the crowd confidently, microphone in hand, and her camera crew just past her shoulder capturing every moment of this interaction.

Her shining black hair in that fantastically done, top-knot bun, the vibrant purple streaks weaved throughout it, the hairpins with the assorted, colorful beads—and her outfit! Her iconic outfit! The deep-V, gray blazer with the pencil skirt to match—! Was there truly any better reporter out there?! (Besides Valeria, of course!!)

I hardly get the chance to see Lena Long in person—not when I’m so new into the field. Valeria’s interacted with her plenty of times, but me?

I had to make a good impression.

“—what do you have to say about all of this? Any defense at all? Your team is at risk losing you for a while.”

The mention of Iron Tank replaced the excitement in my chest with panic. They were several feet away from us, yet a part of me was still afraid one of them would come charging towards us and plow right through if they heard one thing that ticked them off.

Von Pushup snorted, yet there was no smile to accompany it.

“There is no ’accusation’ to defend myself from.” He said with a sneer, his German accent as powerful as ever, “I did break into this small, fragile old man’s laboratory, and I would gladly do so again.”

“See!” Toni got into Agent 2250’s face, his eyes were wide and his brows furrowed, “He admits it! I have video evidence! Why is this even up for debate—!? Why waste my precious time going to that blasted court when you can tell meathead over there that he is suspended right here, right now?!”

He looked just as mad now as he did the day I accidentally stumbled into his lab.

Which was very.

“I never doubted the Colonel breaking into your lab.” Agent 2250 leaned further back, “Besides the fact that I do not have the power to make such a decision, we still have to deal with you.”

“Wh—!” Toni’s mouth hung open, “Me!? For being a victim in my own lab? For defending myself—?!“

Colonel’s laughs filled the air. This one managed to crack a smile across his face, though given how crooked it was, I almost preferred if he didn’t.

“Is that what you call it, hm?” He slowly turned his head towards the scientist, “Were you still the victim when you pointed your weapon at my face?”

“Weapon?!” I whisper shouted to myself, which had been drowned out by multiple other people hollering the same thing.

Cameras flashed, people went back to pushing one another. Microphones inched closer to the coaches.

“Were you really threatened, Colonel?!” Someone asked.

“Toni, would you actually hurt Von Pushup!?” Another said.

I popped out from behind Valeria, “What was the Colonel doing in the Hub that made you feel you had to threaten him?”

Toni Vern’s eyes darted across the crowd. Chuck T. Chipperson departed from the rest of the Technicali players and started to approach his coach.

Then Toni’s eyes landed on me.

“You?” His expression turned to annoyance, he pointed at me, “You! You should be—“

His eyes flickered to Valeria.

He shut his mouth and curled his hands into fists.

He loudly cleared his throat and faced the rest of the crowd, “You—all of you—should consider my perspective. Imagine being in the comfort of your own lab, when you suddenly check your cameras and find out someone twice your size is charging through trying to hunt you down. What I have done was an act of self defense!”

“And what were you defending yourself from when you took one of my tanks, Vern? A hurt ego?” Von Pushup spoke through his teeth.

Toni opened his mouth to shout back, but I repeated myself.

“Colonel, what did you do that made Toni threaten you?”

Von Pushup faced me, his lips curled down.

“I wanted to talk with him. He knew this, yet hid from me, so I confronted him.”

“And that’s it?” I asked.

His lips curled down further, “What do you mean by that?”

I stammered, “I mean—you’re nearly twice his size! How did you confront him?”

“So suddenly my demeanor justifies being threatened?”

“No, I’m not saying he was justified in anything! I don’t even like the guy, I got yelled by him too cause I accidentally—“

“You know first hand he jumps to extremes, yet you still question me?”

“Yes, I know he jumps to extremes, but I’m sure everyone else here wants to know what you did that made him go to that extreme—”

He leaned close to me.

Too close.

I shut up.

My throat tightened.

I was asking questions. That’s all. I knew that.

Maybe I got a bit pushy in some parts, maybe I accidentally struck a nerve, but I was just asking questions.

Yet I felt like I had somehow picked the worst things to ask.

I felt Von Pushup scan me, I felt the eyes of the other journalists on me, and I could practically sense the fingers hovering over camera buttons, waiting to snap a picture of the moment Colonel chewed my head off.

He finally shifted his head away from me. Through the space between his glasses and his face, I saw his eyes narrow at Val.

“Friend of yours, Ms. Perez?” He said, a dabble of displeasure in his tone.

“Yes. A very close one.” She linked our arms together, a gesture I appreciated, but frankly I wanted nothing more than to step far away from the Colonel. “They’re a new journalist.”

“Clearly.” He hissed, “Teach them when to open their mouth. It’d do them some good.”

He turned and started to head towards another part of the crowd. Val scowled.

She flashed me a quick, reassuring look before saying: “Actually, Von Pushup, I have a question for you, too. This isn’t the first time you’ve been accused—“

“Not an accusation, we have a genuine admission of guilt and video evidence!” Toni shouted. Val ignored him.

“—This isn’t the first time you’ve been accused of trespassing onto other coaches’ properties, I can’t help but wonder if the constant warnings and trips to the Disciplinary Board are worth it? Even if we just focused on this incident, your confrontation with Toni didn’t seem to amount to anything.” She glanced at the rest of Iron Tank, “If your players are anything to go by, then you certainly don’t seem like the type to want to have a calm discussion between you and Toni.”

I heard Von Pushup sharply exhale.

He peered his head past his shoulder and tilted his shades down, “I know where I can and cannot be as a coach. I know what I am doing, and until you have led an army of players, I don’t want to hear a word about how you view my men.”

“Colonel.” Agent 2250 took a step forward, “I brought you out here because you had agreed to answer questions. You rather follow through and answer, or move on. These people are not your players, do not treat them as such.”

An agitated huff was sent her way.

“You didn’t even answer her question.” I muttered to myself.

Apparently I didn’t mutter it quietly enough—Von Pushup whipped his head back around and I immediately hid behind Val again.

“What did Toni threaten you with?” Someone asked, distracting Von Pushup and sending a wave of relief through me.

“Some weird, clunky remote.” Colonel answered quickly, perking up.

“Clunky?!” Toni repeated, “Why you—!“

Chuck suddenly slid in between the two, a big, worried smile plastered across his face, “It was probably a remote control for some tiny—tiny—!“ He snapped his fingers, “Bug… Bots?” He glanced at Toni for verification.

“Vernin.” Toni said, folding his arms, “They’re tiny robots that are made to latch onto whoever I tell them to, and if they had gotten to the scene in time, I would’ve made sure the latching would’ve been very painful, and then they’d—“

Chuck and the rest of the Technicali players ran over and slapped their hands over Toni’s mouth.

“T.V.—Toni—Coach! Would it kill you to not blurt out every little science project you’re working on?!” Kyle asked as Toni struggled against him.

“I don’t wanna spend another day at the Disciplinary Board, c’mooooon.” Benedict whined, his arm wrapped around multiple of his teammates just to reach Toni’s mouth.

A few other Technicali players complained, but the camera flashing and questioning from the journalists drowned them out.

Von Pushup watched, amused, while Agent 2250 seemed just as shocked as the rest of us, as if this was also her first time hearing about this remote.

Chuck frantically turned back around, “The point is—! It wasn’t a weapon.”

“But he treated it like one?” Agent 2250 asked.

The corners of Chuck’s mouth flickered down, “I—“ He looked to Toni then back to the agent, “I can’t say for certain, ma’am. I—none of us were there when this happened. We were being interviewed.”

“Pah, what a miserable excuse.” Colonel scoffed.

Agent 2250 shifted her weight to one of her hips, “You’re usually much more descriptive with your explanations, Chipperson.” For a moment, I swore her brows arched down, “I’m not going to doubt your story, but because it seems you knew enough of what Toni was working on, we will have to talk to all of you back at the board.”

Every Technicali player groaned and their grip on Toni loosened.

“Toni, do you have a license to create these sort of inventions in the first place?” Val asked.

I watched as Lena Long tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear as she nodded, “And what about the experiments you supposedly perform on your players behind the scenes? There’s been plenty of rumors about how you, run tests on your men to make them play better out on the field.”

Colonel snorted, “Might want to get back to the drawing board then, Vern. If you were actually out on the field, you would have seen the way we crushed your pathetic team.”

Toni lunged towards him—

The Technicali players held him back. Agent 2250 immediately got between them. I wasn’t sure if a man built like the Colonel needed protection from Toni, but better to be safe than sorry.

“How dare you! First of all—!” He snapped his head over to the crowd, “My experiments are all SLDB approved—“

“The ones we know of.” Agent 2250 added.

“And second!” He raised two fingers in the air, “Are we all forgetting that Von Pushup has admitted to breaking into my lab!? He shoved me into a locker too! Why isn’t he getting questioned more about that?! Am I going crazy?!”

There was a beat of silence.

The Technicali players kept a hold on Toni, their gazes bouncing from the crowd, to Agent 2250, then back to their coach. Their grip on Toni’s lab coat got a little tighter, their fingers digging a bit deeper into the white fabric, and when the moment of silence was finally broken by a hum from the Colonel, they jumped.

“You love to learn, don’t you, Vern?” Colonel said as he slowly took off his glasses and carefully cleaned the lenses with the bottom of his team’s shirt, “Perhaps you could take some notes from me, then. Notice how I never hid from you? Notice how I actively looked for you?” He leaned his body closer to the scientist.

The Technicali players leaned Toni back, despite every part of Toni looking like he was ready to pounce forward.

“Notice how I have admitted to my actions?” I saw a small, bitter smile spread across Colonel’s face as he took another step forward.

Technicali took a step back. Anger started to crack across Toni’s face.

“Colonel—“ Agent 2250 started, but Von Pushup spoke again.

“They do not question me because I have nothing to hide.” Von Pushup uncurled one of his hands and started to reach towards Toni.

Cameras started to go off.

I felt the weight of multiple people press against me as they leaned as close as they could to the scene. Loud snaps filled my ears and bright flashes stung my eyes as I watched both Chuck & Agent 2250 try to keep Colonel back while the rest of Technicali’s players kept dragging Toni away.

When it looked like the two coaches were about to tear each other apart—before I even had a chance to think—I blurted something out.

“Von Pushup, are you planning on paying for any of the damages you caused in Toni’s lab?!”

Both the coaches, Agent 2250, the players, and probably multiple other journalists looked at me as if they were caught off guard.

Valeria flashed me a ‘Where are you going with this?’ look.

Truthfully, I had no idea.

Maybe I kinda did want Colonel to get questioned a bit more, even if he looked completely ticked at me & I couldn’t really stand Toni.

Maybe I did want to hear more about this mess.

Maybe I didn’t want to see some shriveled up scientist get beaten to a pulp. Toni’s kind of annoying but he’s not that annoying.

Either way, I stood there.

Stiff as a board, notepad and pen held tightly in my hand, as the coach of Super League’s toughest team—who was nearly twice my size—was back to glaring at me.

“Of course not.” He finally answered.

Toni looked appalled.

“But you did break into his lab, you admitted that.”

“Yes, because he had broken into one of my tanks.”

“So do you—you’d like Toni to pay for the damages he caused, right? He drove a tank into the Fort—“

Colonel stomped towards me. I leapt back.

“Yes, I expect him to pay! He had started this whole mess, so he will pay for it.”

“So you don’t want to pay for the destruction you caused…” Valeria began.

“…But you want Toni to pay for the destruction he caused.” Lena Long finished.

“None of you were there! I don’t want to hear it.” Colonel snapped back.

A couple of journalists yelled over each other and Colonel. There was chatter of if this was fair, if only Toni should pay, or if Colonel should be charged more for escalating. Someone from the back of the crowd reminded everyone of the suspension, that if adding fees to what was considered a lengthy suspension would do anyone any good, as the two coaches have been caught doing these sort of activities time and time again.

I heard another bring up the games with Colossus and Supa Strikas, which had even more people voice their opinions. People wanted to see a clash between the two giant teams, they wanted to see Supa Strikas in action, they wanted to see how Supa Strikas’ Coach would go against Toni Vern after all of this—if he would go against Toni Vern—if he’s released from suspension in time.

Colonel tried to talk over the crowd, he tried to shoot down every question against him, he tried to command them to pipe down, while Toni kept trying to one-up any of Colonel’s answers.

Agent 2250 motioned at the Technicali players to follow her as she addressed the crowd, “That will be all for today. The Disciplinary Board still needs to see these coaches, please expect to hear more updates in the near future.”

That got more people riled up.

Many shouted their remaining questions at the coaches, others bemoaned about how this wasn’t nearly enough to know what had gone down, but Agent 2250 paid them no mind. When her and Colonel locked eyes, she tilted her head towards the doors of The Hub, and they—along with Toni’s team—followed her inside.

Iron Tank’s players waited for Von Pushup to go in before following in a single file line. They never once looked at the crowd, and once the doors shut, the people started talking amongst themselves; others left, frustrated over the abrupt ending.

Valeria and I got enough to work with, but we’ll most definitely be keeping our ears open for what’ll become of this situation, what the teams have planned, and if any future games risk being postponed due to these possible suspensions.