….
Inside the basement editing room of LIE Studios, the only light came from a huge forty foot screen.
Zack Barg was at the keyboard, quickly trimming clips, while sound designer Leo Martinez worked the massive audio mixing board.
Behind them stood Regal Seraphsail, watching the raw footage of [Train To Catch].
On the screen, Carriage 9 was speeding around a sharp turn. Keanu Reeves had his shoulder pressed hard against a metal door, fighting to keep a crowd of infected trapped on the other side.
From the room's surround speakers, the screech of the train's brakes was screaming at full blast.
"Keep going... keep going... and yep, pause it right there." Regal said.
Zack hit the spacebar, freezing the frame.
"Leo, that brake screech is playing for way too long." Regal explained.
"It's the real recording from a train stopping on steel rails." Leo said, turning around. "If we cut it down, the train won't sound heavy."
"...I think it will just give the audience a headache." Regal replied with a small smile. "If a sound stays loud for more than a few seconds, people's brains get used to it and tune it out, so it stops being scary."
"Instead, it would be better to cut all the train noise completely the moment Keanu's hand slips on the metal bar, leaving nothing but his heavy breathing and the creak of his shoes in the sudden silence, and then, when the window finally shatters, let the noise hit all at once. That contrast will make it feel twice as terrifying."
Zack trimmed the audio track, dropping the train noise right at the slip, and hit play again.
The loud roar suddenly vanished.
In that sudden silence, the sound of Keanu's ragged breath made the whole room tense up. A second later, the glass window broke, and the sudden blast of wind and music made Leo jump in his chair.
Leo laughed and shook his head. "That actually made my chest tight."
"Contrast is everything." Regal said, picking up his jacket. "Zack, how are the visual effects coming along for the bridge scene?"
"Everything is rendering cleanly." Zack answered, spinning around with a grin. "The team is actually three days ahead of schedule–
"Are you heading upstairs to look at marketing posters?"
"Not today." Regal said, heading for the door. "I have somewhere else to be."
….
Thirty minutes later, a sleek black car pulled into the parking lot of the Olympic archery stadium.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Gwendolyn adjusted her sunglasses and looked over at Regal. "I am still amazed you managed to convince Darren to actually take this much time off."
"Trust me, I am surprised too." Regal smiled. "I was clueless how to make him not buried in work immediately.
"While he did get clearance from his therapy doctor, she also said he will need a normal purpose. And when Darren asked for six weeks off to help his girlfriend Laura prepare for the Olympic finals, it was an easy yes."
For the past month and a half, Darren had left Hollywood completely behind.
Instead of managing movie crews, he had become Laura's full-time support system.
He carried her bow cases, tracked her practice times with a stopwatch, and kept her calm through weeks of intense qualifying rounds.
Olympic archery was a game of pure nerves.
The archers stood seventy meters from the target, nearly the length of an entire football field, where the center yellow ring appeared no larger than a grapefruit.
The finals were played in five sets of three arrows each.
Win a set, you get two points.
Tie a set, you get one point.
The first archer to reach six points wins.
Even a slightly faster heartbeat could make an archer's fingers tremble, sending the arrow completely off target.
….
Regal and Gwendolyn slipped into the stands wearing simple dark hoodies, blending in with the cheering crowd.
A few rows down, Regal spotted a familiar figure.
Darren was sitting in the family section, wearing a blue USA Archery team jacket.
He looked healthy, tanned, and relaxed; completely different from the pale, exhausted man who had finished filming months ago.
Sitting next to him was a fourteen-year-old girl in an oversized sweatshirt, chewing gum at lightning speed while staring nervously through a pair of binoculars.
"Darren." Regal called out softly.
Darren turned. When he saw Regal and Gwendolyn standing there, his face lit up with a huge grin.
"Regal? Gwen?" Darren stood up and hugged them both. "What are you doing here?"
"Obviously, we are here to cheer for Laura." Regal joked. "How is she feeling?"
"She's in the zone." Darren said proudly. "She dominated the semifinals, but the gold medal match is against Kang Min-ji from South Korea."
Regal's eyes flicked to the electronic draw board.
Kang Min-ji: the top-seeded South Korean phenom, world record holder, and an absolute machine under matchplay pressure.
Before Darren could say more, the teenage girl beside him lowered her binoculars. She looked at Darren, then at Gwendolyn, and then froze when her eyes landed on Regal.
Her mouth fell open in a perfect 'O'.
"Wait..." she gasped, grabbing Darren's arm so hard that her knuckles turned white. "Darren, am I hallucinating?!"
Darren chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck before gesturing toward the two men. "Haley, calm down. Regal, Gwendolyn, this is Haley, Laura's younger sister."
Haley stared at Darren in complete disbelief before looking back at Regal, then turning to him with an incredulous expression. "So this is your friend you've been keeping secret all this time? You told me he worked in 'video production' and that was it? I feel so cheated. I had to find out from a third party that your supposedly ordinary friend is actually Regal Seraphsail!"
Darren raised both hands defensively. "I wasn't trying to lie to you. I just prefer keeping my personal life and professional life separate."
"And apparently you were doing a pretty good job of it." Haley muttered.
Darren had always been one of those people who kept his personal and professional lives completely separate, and considering the company he kept, he had also been the least famous of the group.
Regal was already a household name, Simon had his own growing reputation, and even Samantha was recognizable enough to attract attention wherever she went, while Darren had managed to remain relatively unknown outside their immediate circle.
At least, that had been the case until the recent Batman film, where Darren's performance as the Joker had suddenly put him in the spotlight and made keeping his connection to Regal a secret considerably more difficult.
Gwendolyn laughed and leaned down to Haley's level. "To be fair, Darren does spend most of his time telling people how to yell on camera, so calling it 'video production' isn't exactly wrong."
Haley looked from Gwendolyn to Darren and then back at Regal, her earlier confusion slowly giving way to realization as she finally connected the dots.
"So you really are that Regal Seraphsail?!"
The disbelief in her voice quickly turned into excitement as she continued, "I Want to Eat Your Pancreas is my favorite film! I've seen all of your MDCU movies too!"
Regal smiled at her enthusiasm and lowered himself into the seat beside her. "Oh, thank you. It's always wonderful to meet a genuine fan."
"Can I get a picture with you later?" Haley asked quickly, holding her phone tightly. "My whole school track team will lose their minds."
"Only if Laura wins a medal today." Regal teased. "Deal?"
"Deal!" Haley sat up straight, suddenly watching the field with complete seriousness.
Darren looked at Regal with a warm smile. "Thanks for coming, man."
"Wouldn't miss it." Regal replied.
A hush fell over the grandstand as the arena announcer's voice echoed across the field, delivered first in French, then in English.
"Ladies and gentlemen... the Gold Medal Match in the Women's Individual Recurve Archery."
From the covered staging tunnel, two archers emerged onto the elevated wooden shooting platform.
On the left was Kang Min-ji, walking with the chilled poise.
On the right walked Laura out onto the green lane, carrying her recurve bow. Her dark hair was neatly braided, and her face was completely calm.
"She looks ready." Gwendolyn murmured.
"She is." Darren said quietly, leaning forward against the railing. "She spent hours every single day building that shot."
The match started.
In Set 1, Kang Min-ji showed why she was number one, hitting two 10s and a 9. Laura shot well, but one arrow landed just outside the yellow ring.
Kang won the set, taking an early 2–0 lead.
In Set 2, a sudden gust of wind blew across the open field. Rushed by the shot clock, Kang missed the center and scored an 8. Laura stayed patient, waited for the wind to drop, and nailed two perfect 10s in a row.
Laura won the set, tying the match 2–2.
In Set 3, both archers were dead even, scoring 28 points each.
They split the points, making the score 3–3.
In Set 4, Kang was flawless. She hit three straight 10s, taking the set and moving ahead 5–3.
That brought everything down to Set 5.
Laura had to win this set to force a tiebreaker.
Haley stopped chewing her gum entirely, holding her breath. Darren leaned so far over the rail his knuckles went white.
Kang shot first: a 10.
Laura stepped up, drew her bow, and matched it: a 10.
Kang shot again: another 10.
Laura didn't flinch: another 10.
The stadium went completely silent.
Kang drew her third and final arrow, held her breath, and released, landing a nine on the upper edge of the ring to finish the set with twenty-nine points.
Now it was all on Laura.
If she scored a 10, she won the set and pushed the match into a sudden-death shoot-off.
A 9 meant silver.
Laura raised her bow and smoothly drew the string back to her chin, briefly watching the distant windsock flutter before making a minute adjustment to her aim and releasing the arrow.
THWACK.
The arrow flew down the seventy-meter field and hit the target with a loud thud.
The big screen zoomed in on the target, and the arrow was buried just half a millimeter outside the yellow line, sitting inside the red 9-ring.
Laura finished with 29 points, tying the set.
Each archer received one point, making the final score 6–4 in favor of Kang.
Kang had won the Gold.
Laura was the Olympic Silver Medalist.
The entire stadium stood up, cheering loudly for both athletes.
It had been one of the closest, most exciting finals in years.
Down on the grass, Laura showed a quick hint of disappointment, but it vanished instantly into a bright, proud smile.
She gave Kang a warm hug and waved her bow happily to the roaring crowd.
In the stands, Haley let out a choked sob of joy, throwing her arms around Darren's waist. "She did it! She got a medal! She's on the podium!"
Darren stood at the railing, clapping hard, his eyes watery with quiet pride.
….
A few minutes later, Laura came over to the family rail, the heavy silver medal shining against her white team jacket.
The second she saw Darren, she jogged over.
Darren vaulted halfway over the waist-high rail, catching her in a crushing, lift off the ground hug.
Laura wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his windbreaker, laughing through breathless, joyful tears.
"You shot an incredible match, Laura." Darren whispered as she wiped a happy tear from her eye.
"I wanted the ten." she sniffled, pulling back just enough to look at him. "I guess I will just have to make you carry my bow bags for four more years."
"I will carry them as long as you want." Darren smiled, kissing her forehead.
Laura then turned and noticed Regal and Gwen standing right there, and her eyes went wide.
Years ago, when she was a struggling athlete auditioning as an extra, Regal had given her a direct sports sponsorship that kept her career alive.
"Congratulations, Olympian." Regal said smoothly, his eyes holding genuine, deep respect. "Silver looks incredible on you."
"Thank you, Director." Laura said with a wide smile–
"And thank you for letting me borrow your best producer for six weeks, and as I promise I returned him in one piece."
Gwendolyn laughed, stepping up to wrap Laura in an affectionate, celebratory hug. "Honestly, he looks a lot less stressed than he usually does on a movie set, so we might need to thank you instead."
Nearby, Haley was already waving her phone in the air, reminding Regal about his promise.
Regal laughed, gathering everyone together as Haley snapped a group picture of all five of them smiling under the warm afternoon sun.
.
….
[To be continued…]
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