Chapter 74
After cleaning up her brother’s mess and making sure that his medical needs were being tended to, June picked up the orange flag that he had dropped and decided that she was going to attempt to finish his mission. Since she didn’t know how she would fare against Handimorph’s defenses, as the sun was quickly descending in the sky, it would have to be a quick win, or no win at all.
She secured the flag beneath her multicolored jacket and rocketed toward Team 4’s castle base. Streaking through the sky as it darkened, not even attempting stealth. With luck, she would arrive at the base and switch out the flags without needing to battle through the cartoon nightmare, and without giving her opponents the chance to change them back. Most likely her only shot at victory.
She arrived at the edge of the clearing surrounding Handimorph’s team's fortress and assessed the area. From the outside, the fortress appeared completely normal. But if past were prologue, its interior would host a myriad of mutated, murderous amenities.
Skyrocket didn’t hesitate long. She shifted the bottom half of her body, shooting up into the air, veering toward the fluttering fabric that had to be switched out for her team to have any chance at winning. She reached under her jacket to unclip the clasp that held her team’s flag securely against her chest, instantly retracting her hand. The high temperatures generated by her constant flying had superheated the metal coil. She needed to either wait a while for it to cool or find a heat-resistant material, similar to that of her base costume, to fashion some sort of glove. Unfortunately, she would need a sharp blade to cut through the extra durable material that she was wearing.
“Well, fuck,” she muttered, remembering the last time she had witnessed blades and sharp edges of the kind she needed. June changed course and aimed for one of the first-floor windows. She flew through the opening and surveyed the area for a living knife or saw. But nothing was there. The entire main floor was normal– unchanged. No talking stoves or flying books. Maybe Handimorph wasn’t there? That would be convenient. But if not him, who would be on defense for his team? June took advantage of this surprising development, rematerialized her entire body, and ran over to the kitchen sink. She poured water on the clasp, avoiding the steam that emitted from the surface of the metal ring. Once it seemed cool enough, she unclasped the flag and rocketed up to the roof.
She likely only had minutes before the War Games would be over, so she didn’t even attempt to land, heading straight for the mast. Handimorph had seemingly left his tower defenseless. Maybe he had decided on a full-on blitz, total offense, but that didn’t make any sense. His team barely had any points. Today was a lost cause for him anyway. After this challenge, she would have to talk to the odd young man. However, her immediate job seemed a whole lot easier than previously anticipated. She grabbed the top of the flagpole as she rocketed past, shifting her legs back to flesh. She quickly unclipped the current flag and replaced it with hers, then slid down the pole and waited for the magic horn that would signal either her team’s point or the end of War Games.
***
Joel looked at the sleeping duo of Samurai Tortoise and Olympian. He spied his team’s flag lying on the ground nearby and sprinted over to grab it. He was in a race against the sun. He laughed at a passing thought. This might be the one time the moon would end up hurting him rather than helping. Then he reassessed the thought: It was possible the moon had ruined his whole life. Sure, if he hadn’t stumbled onto Eclipse post-murder, he wouldn't have these cool powers, but his life would surely be less fraught. His life expectancy had likely dropped significantly since he became Eclipse’s heir. But he couldn’t think about that at this moment. Joel needed to get the flag and get back to his home base, or he would once again let all his friends down. Friends? Teammates? His life was becoming far too complicated for his liking—another distracting thought for another day.
Joel rushed to the flag. But just as he was kneeling, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Standing over him, looking at him with amusement, was Ken—not Samurai Tortoise, Ken.
“Uhh, Hey Ken. How’s it goin’, buddy?” Joel didn’t know what to call his fellow Challenger. Samurai Tortoise was clearly no longer here, but the secret identity rule was clear. He’d let The Show figure it out. At the moment, he had larger issues.
“It is going well, Zee Zee Zee. Far better for me than for you, as I seem to have leverage over you now.”
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“Yeah, can you explain that? I mean, I saw you fall asleep on the mountain during The Culling. I know my power works on you.”
“Forgive me. I believe it would be disadvantageous to explain my assumption at present.” He raised his fist as he finished, which triggered Joel to ask himself why. Why would Ken act so definitively? The questions compelled Joel to just act instinctively. He sent another wave of sleep out and watched Ken buckle and fall to the ground. Not so fast that Joel didn’t take a punch to the dome, but fast enough that the knock was significantly less forceful than intended. Only Joel remained awake after that showdown.
The small delay had been costly. Joel needed to book it back to the Tower if his team was going to have any chance at tying the score. As he sprinted through the trees, he thought about everyone who was depending on him at this moment. Bailey– his team captain who had befriended him before The Culling had even started without knowing who he was– who had held his hand through orientation and made him feel comfortable when he had felt inadequate. Jax– who had sacrificed whole days from his experience at The Spire to organize events to make The Challengers feel like a team instead of 12 individuals with unique goals and methods. June– so protective of her brother and family that she erected walls that only Ken seemed to be able to break through. Ralph– the weirdo outcast prankster who seemed way out of his depth but who kept bailing their group out time and time again. And Bobby– his roommate and best friend, whom he had completely let down in The Healer challenge– who knew his secret and still hadn’t bailed on him or betrayed him. He couldn’t let them all down.
He vowed not to. He sprinted back to the base as fast as he could, a feat that would have been impossible before his training. He arrived with seconds to spare. His breath felt like it was shredding his lungs and throat. But the pain was only temporary. He had heard some douchey personal trainer on tv say that once. Joel had been blithely scarfing down nacho cheese tacos at the time, but he had never forgotten the saying. He climbed the three long staircases to the roof of the tower and stopped. Fuck. He had to get the flag to the top of the flagpole. He frantically pulled on the rope to bring the clasp down to a reachable level. Samurai Tortoise must have scaled the mast himself. That amphibian’s abilities were super annoying. Joel could have just reversed gravity and floated up to attach the flag. But he had to keep the secret. That much had been drilled into him by now. So he pulled and pulled. Then he used the clasp to attach his team’s orange flag, and he pulled some more. Just as the flag had nearly reached the pole’s pinnacle, a horn rang throughout the arena. Time was up. His team had lost.
***
Inside a cave, beneath a mountain of rocks, two young women worked meticulously to create a tunnel stable enough to escape a death trap of their own making with their lives intact. Bailey’s risky plan had been to extend Ashley’s vine staff outward like a series of tree roots, finding the nooks and crannies between the surrounding boulders, creating the support necessary so that when they shifted the other rocks to make their tunnel, the tenuous house of cards wouldn’t come crashing down on their heads. There were a few issues with this plan. Mainly that blood loss had weakened Ashley to the point where using her power in such a delicate and precise way was nearly impossible. There was a chance that the movement of the vines themselves would cause a cave-in.
In the end, they decided it was too risky. So, instead, Bailey decided to use a word that she had oddly never tried before. There had been many instances throughout the years where it could have been applicable, but usually, a bandaid or doctor was preferable to the sometimes unintended consequences of her meta ability. Bailey leaned over and, in the blood of Ashley’s wound, wrote heal. She whispered, “Please don’t glitch out on me now,” and pushed her energy through the bloody word.
The gash glowed and Ashley gave a little moan of relief. Bailey asked, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Ash answered. “Thanks. The pain is a lot less.”
“That’s good,” Bailey finally relaxed a little. She and Ashley had been through their ups and downs. But she had to admit that she didn’t like seeing her rival in pain like this. The concept actually caught her off guard: Bailey was worried for her. “But, you still need to take it easy. You’ve lost a lot of blood. I don’t know the root of the word heal, so it’s the weakest form of healing I could potentially do. Your relief may be temporary. I don’t really know.”
“Let’s just hope someone saves us literally any time.” Ashley’s wish came through woozily.
“They have to be on their way, right? I mean, just because there aren’t cameras in here, they had to have seen us fighting and getting buried in here. If they can create the miracles that have made this competition a reality, like an area this large that can reset itself after every point, I’m sure they can get us out of here quickly.”
Ashley was quiet for a while, leaving the hope-filled statement lingering in the air. Then, as if they had willed it into existence, they heard a horn blare throughout the area. At the same time, light poked through the rocks from above, blinding them.
“Hey, down there,” a voice rang out. “Is anyone injured? We are going to send down a harness to get you out!”
“Yeah! Ashbury is hurt!” a temporarily blind Bailey yelled. “She’s lost a ton of blood. Get to her first!”
“Will do,” the voice assured her. “Don’t worry. It’s all over. You are both safe now.”
Those words allowed Bailey to exhale the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. In the back of her mind, she knew that production wouldn’t allow them to die. But she thought back to the first day, filling out all the release forms, and The Show’s warning that this competition would be dangerous, and possibly fatal, and wondered how lucky they had just been. From now on, she was going to treat each challenge as if it were life or death because, who knew, maybe for one of them, it would be.