Chapter 67
Olympian awoke in the basement of the tower. Why was she so groggy? She could just make out metal bars and concrete through her blurry, sleep-filled eyes. Her wrists hurt. Was she tied up? She tugged, placing tension on the ropes, but failed to break free. Athena’s vision cleared, and she noticed Joel sitting across the room, staring daggers at her, overtly showing his distrust.
“What did you mean by ‘Mikey’s Mom’?” Joel demanded.
Olympian smiled. “You know, kinda spacey, super quirky, loves nature,” she replied. As her fatigue lessened, she felt much more herself, which was good, because navigating this conversation while in front of the cameras would be tricky. All she really needed to do was create a reason for her and Joel to get together after the challenge was over. The first step was getting him to trust her, no matter how tentatively.
Joel stared at Athena. It was evident he was trying to read her, so she maintained her calm demeanor. This was not a challenge. Olympian was a highly respected Herald. In fact, she was part of the U.S. Allied Herald Force. Each State Herald team chose one representative, for the Allied Herald Force, to face National threats that didn’t quite rise to the Council level. Olympian was the youngest female ever named to the AHF. So, dealing with Joel was not really something that caused her to sweat.
After some silent tension, Athena said. “Look, I’d like to treat you to some strawberry fries after the War Games are over.”
“How do I know this isn’t some sort of trap?” Joel finally just asked bluntly.
“You don’t,” Olympian said with a sly grin on her face.
Before he could give his answer, Joel heard a ringing sound on the roof “Fuck!”. Someone had tripped the alarm that June had attached to the flagpole. Apparently, she was an Eagle Scout and, in addition to having been the only female in her section, had earned every badge available. Joel sprinted as fast as he could to the top of the tower. He was thankful that his fitness level had increased since he began training with Ariella. There was no way he previously could have climbed that quickly from the basement to the roof while barely breaking a sweat.
When he reached the top level, Joel saw two things. Most concerning was that their team’s flag had been removed from the flagpole, leaving the mast completely bare. He also saw, for a split second, Samurai Tortoise’s jingasa draped over the edge as he dropped off of the side of the roof. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!”. Joel sprinted back down to the basement and dashed to the bars of Athena’s cell. “Wanna prove yourself? Look, your team can’t catch Horizon’s to win War Games. But our team can at least tie them. Samurai Tortoise just ran off with our flag. Get it back and I’ll do whatever you want!”
Athena nodded, so Joel unlocked the door of her cell. “Which way?” she asked, already moving toward the stairwell. Joel pointed to the East. Olympian rushed to action. “Be right back,” she shouted on her way out of Team 3’s fortress.
***
Jax didn’t know what to expect as he and Bobby wandered the area shown on the Western section of the map. All he knew was that his team needed this point. They were all working under the assumption that a tie would split the points between the winning teams. He hoped there wasn’t some other tie-breaking mechanism because it would likely mean they were already drawing dead. Lizzy’s team had dominated the competition up until the last ten days. Finally, his team was making a comeback. But it might be too little too late.
Out of the blue, Bobby interrupted the silence, and Jax’s thoughts, with a question. “Hey, Jax, what’s it like being a twin?”
This was not an unfamiliar question to the legacy Herald, but it was one for which he never found a great answer. Such an inquiry could stem from all manner of curiosities depending on the questioner. Many were curious about the meta-twin phenomenon, where twins were more likely to be born to those with powers. Others just asked as a type of small talk, highlighting the obvious in an effort to get the conversation rolling. Bobby’s motive was not obvious, though. He likely had some deeper motivation for asking.
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“Well, it's not just one thing, you know? Having a twin sister is like having any other sibling, except you are in the same grade at school, share friends… really, you end up sharing pretty much everything. But it’s also sorta nice knowing that you have someone that sees almost everything you are going through, and understands. I doubt all twins are created equal; families are all different, but I think, at its core, having a twin is just knowing that you are never alone. The rest of it can be figured out.”
“Do you think you could still build that connection if you met June later in life? Like if you never knew she existed, and then one day she showed up and was like, ‘Hey! I’m June. I’m your sister.’”?
Jax paused to think, but before his mind could wander too far down that rabbit hole, he detected some movement to the East. He focused, peering through the treeline, and saw Hanzel and Artie about half a football field away. Jax tugged on Bobby’s shirt, but before they could take cover, he noticed Artie whisper to Hanzel and point in their direction.
“Well, look at that, Hamster, some easy marks,” Hanzel spoke loud enough for his voice to carry over the sounds of the breeze rustling through the tree leaves.
Artie was irritated. “How many times do I have to…” He gathered himself and redirected his ire at the opposing challengers, “It’s Atlas Prime! And I hope you two are ready to get crushed by the weight of my globes!”
Bobby guffawed at the unintended innuendo. “Please keep your tiny globes away from us.” He was excited for a rematch against these jokers. Sure, they had thus far only beaten them at basketball, but they had beaten them. Bobby quickly surveyed their surroundings and grinned as he readied himself to dodge. Artie was certainly annoying, but his abilities were no joke. Luckily, however, the forest provided a veritable barricade that his energy orbs would have to maneuver around. He locked eyes with Jax and nodded. They both started sprinting in opposite directions toward the tree cover, but it seemed their opponents had divined their defensive strategy.
Artie surrounded himself in a glow of impenetrable energy and charged Jax, cutting him off from his floral objective and forcing him to summersault out of the way. While still rolling, Jax unleashed a strike from above. No one had seemed to notice the cool-colored cloud of energy that he, Borealis, had been accumulating high overhead. Knowing that Artie was well fortified, he aimed directly for a dodging Hanzel, who managed to merely get clipped on the ankle by the emotionally charged lightning strike.
“Alright, mate. You want to play? Let’s play.” The dangerous Brit shook his head and chuckled. “How about-” His jibe was interrupted by a fist to the face. Then another. And another after that. Kidd Grimm was a blur, unleashing a torrent of punches right at Hanzel’s smirking mug. Letters from whatever story he was channeling bounced off the All-Star’s smug face as the strikes connected.
The distraction allowed Jax to turn his attention back to Artie who, so lacking originality, sprinted toward Jax in his hamster ball once again. Jax took a deep breath, and with his hands swirling, summoned an ocean of blue-green energy. He thrust his arms down and forward, sending a sea of force out from his body with an audible pulsation. Artie continued his charge right into it.
The viewers at home were treated to quite the sight. At the moment Jax’s aurora wave collided with Artie’s energy ball, time stopped for a split second. Then, a huge blast erupted, sending a surge of force out from the globe, flattening the trees in a 10-yard area. Artie’s orb held but flew wildly into the air… and just kept going… and going. At least for now, Atlas Prime was out of the battle.
Jax hoped that he had provided Bobby enough time to knock Hanzel out, too. If they could prevent him from using his existential terror wave, they would make short work of this battle. He scanned the trees for his ally until he found the dueling duo.
Kidd Grimm continued to unleash a knuckle storm on Hanzel’s face and ribs, keeping him constantly off balance and unable to focus, thus preventing him from using his frankly debilitating meta-power. Hanzel’s annoyance was showing, causing Jax to grin. He was about to start raining down energy bullets, which would only exacerbate Hanzel’s frustration. It would only be after the trial, when Jax awakened in the medical bay, that he would recognize his error. Pride. He had counted the battle as won far too early.
Hanzel had screamed out in pain…or was it a laugh? Jax wasn’t sure what to call the sound that came out of Hanzel’s mouth. But then, without warning, Jax was standing alone in an empty space in complete darkness. He looked from left to right, but he could see nothing, hear nothing. Time passed. Minutes. Hours. Days. Months. Years. An eternity of staring into a never-ending abyss with no hope of ever escaping the void. It was as if he were falling, wishing to meet the ground but knowing in his heart that that wish would never be granted.
All over the world, viewers at home couldn’t really discern what they were looking at. What the vast majority of them saw was Hanzel scream-laughing in a fit of madness while Bobby and Jax stood motionless, their eyes vacant. A keen observer, however, might have noticed Bobby muttering a phrase over and over again: “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff..” Moments later, a massive gust of wind and letters erupted from his mouth as though he was conjuring a hurricane made of stories from his lungs. Simultaneously, in an unconnected event, Artie, still in his ball, flew back over the trees, momentarily interposing himself between the two challengers and his All-Star teammate. The gust of wind pummeled Artie, bouncing him in his force ball smack into Hanzel before careening off and smashing into a giant tree. Normally, this would have been a good thing for Jax and Bobby, as it should have caused Hanzel to lose consciousness, neutralizing his mental abilities. But before he passed out, an instant of pain for Hanzel became an increase in the terror for his enemies. Bobby screamed and fell to the ground, curled in a ball, wailing into the ether. Jax, however, instinctually emitted a distress signal. A pillar of purple energy shot out of his chest into the sky, creating a giant, glowing, frowny face. Jax, unconscious, floated inches above the ground, suspended in his energy beam.