Eden left Phoenix and Vivy there; they stood in place still in awe.
“Help,” said a muffled voice.
They saw someone buried under debris. It was a small girl. Phoenix became frantic as she looked in all directions wondering what to do. Vivy had already appeared before the girl in the blink of an eye. Phoenix hesitantly joined her.
"All right, time to get enraged!" Vivy declared as she proceeded to try and lift the debris. "Hnnnnng!"
She slouched.
"I'm not angry enough."
Phoenix was in a panic, she had to help somehow. She lifted her shirt by the back to let her tentacles extend out. They remove the wreckage and pull out the girl, Phoenix however had her eyes covered the whole time.
"Great!" cheered Vivy.
The girl had eventually lost consciousness, a single tentacle held on to her. They quickly looked for building 7 that housed the Apollo class Enigmas where she'll likely find healers and medics. When she did she find them, there were more injured campers being looked after. One of the medics approached her.
“What’s the situation?” she asked.
“S-s-she was stuck under a heavy load.”
"Heavy and on fire!" said Vivy.
“I see, please, bring her here and carefully place her down.”
Phoenix followed and put the girl down on a mat. The camper put a hand to her forehead, there was a glow at the point of contact.
“Thankfully she hadn’t fractured anything, but she has several wounds and the weight she had to withstand did put a strain on her, by the way, I’m Tessa Carpenter.”
“O-oh, I’m Phoenix Lilywhite, n-nice to meet you.”
"And I'm Vivy, the pleasure is ours?"
“Same here,” said Tessa as she continued to observe the young girl. “Those tentacles of yours could be of great help, would you mind looking for more of the injured?”
“Um..uhh, I-I guess,”
“Good, and you?"
"Right now, I'm just fast."
"I guess that can help."
Phoenix and Vivy went to go look for more who are injured, Vivy put her goggles over her eyes.
"Okay! Let's split up and cover more ground!"
She broke off leaving Phoenix by herslef. She could see the fights unravel. Before she could find any more victims, she was stopped by a seductive voice.
“In a hurry, my dear?”
Phoenix nearly turned to stone in shock. She slowly turned in the direction of the voice, an attractive woman with dark purple hair and black lips was leaning against a wall, she can't believe she's encontered a villain mere seconds after sperating from Vviy. She approached and Phoenix instinctively backed away.
“What's the matter, my pretty, not in the mood to play?”
A dark cloud suddenly formed around her. As she stepped the grass under her high heels crumpled leaving dark footprints. It had to be some kind of toxic gas, but Phoenix wasn’t sure how potent it is.
“Come now, wouldn’t you love to see how fun I can be?”
Frightened, Phoenix was in a state of indecision. Without thinking of running, she fell down. Was this it, was this how she goes? While pondering her certain demise a hand was placed on her shoulder.
“I’ve got this.”
A boy with dark green hair stood next to her. He had Hispanic features and looked quite young. He held a sword and was ready to fight. Without hesitation, he went for the attack. The woman hopped back as he swung, she kept a sinister smile.
“B-b-be careful,” Phoenix warned. “She has an ability that makes her toxic.”
"So, she cancels people on social media?"
"..."
"Just kidding, anyway, I guess I'm the right person to face off against her.”
He continued, despite getting close and basically inhaling the dark smoke first hand he still kept at it. The woman grew tired of evading and decided to pull out two huge knives.
“Now this is exciting!” she cheered in a blissful manner. “I’m certainly turned on right now.”
“Is that so? However, you may be hot, but I’m afraid you’re not my type,” the boy responded.
Isn't he ike...fourteen? Thought Phoenix.
As they fought, something unexpectedly shot at them, it was a barrage of Arrows. Phoenix nearly had a heart attack as not only did the arrows hit the woman but the boy too. The woman remained smiling as she took the hits like a boss Three arrows stuck out of her chest, abdomen and thigh respectively, but unfortunately the boy collapsed.
“Like Heath Ledger once said ‘What doesn’t kill you simply makes you...stranger',” she said as she proceeded to lick her own blood.
“Nice motto, too bad I all ready live it.”
The woman's eyes twitched, she looked at the boy, he began pulling arrows out of him, one of which that struck his jugular should have finished him off.
“I see, regeneration,” said the woman.
“Actually, it’s bit more significant than that.”
He then showed the tip of the arrow before pulling off the shaft and revealing capsule inside that likely injects something in to whoever gets hit.
“It ain’t fatal, but this could put an elephant to sleep.”
“Fool, can’t you see you’re fighting poison with poison?”
“I figured as much, but this whole registration was just a distraction.”
Out of nowhere a little girl with dark green hair came behind the woman and bashed her against the head with a baseball bat, she was knocked out.
“Nobody can handle my sister's back of the head blows.”
“Are you all right, señora,” the sister asked Phoenix.
Phoenix had been gaping this whole time with wide eyes.
“Rosalita?” the boy snapped his fingers repeatedly.
Phoenix shook out of it.
“Good, you’re back to your senses.”
“Y-y-y-you’re you’re...you’re…arrow!”
“Hmm, seems I’ve missed one,”
He pulled an arrows out of his lower back
Phoenix faced stiffened, she proceeded to throw up.
“Relax, Chica.”
All of his wounds closed up
“You see,” he held out his hand and helped her up. When Phoenix stood up his eyes widened. “Gigante.”
“That doesn’t mean anything to me anymore after seeing Eden's ability.”
“Eden?” said the sister
“My roommate, she’s the one who grew about 100 feet.”
“How did I miss that?” said the boy. “But anyway, I’m Peter Eterno.”
“And I’m his twin, Cecile Eterno.”
“R-right, I’m Phoenix Lilywhite.”
“Ah, like the bird from Greek myths that rises from the ashes,” said Peter.
Cecile elbowed. “Thank you for that useful information, hermano.”
“Now then,” said Peter. “What to do with Loco Snow White here.”
“Start by tying her up of course.”
“Right!”
Peter retrieved some rope and tied up the woman. It did not take long for her to wake up.
“Rise and Shine, Sleeping Beauty!” chanted Peter.
The woman looked dazed for a moment before fully regaining her consciousness, she instantly made her sadistic smile.
“Well, what a predicament I’ve found my self in.”
“How is she so chilled?” muttered Cecile.
“Do you by any chance have a name,” Peter interrogated.
“Devine Omen,” she answered instantly.
Peter held back a giggle. “Yeah, I’m sure you are.”
“I must ask,” began Cecile. “How did you have three arrows sticking out of you, but still functioning normally…for a maniac?”
“Ooh, you underestimate my sheer force of will.”
“Yeah, more like sheer force of insanity,” said Peter
“Do you have anything to say, Lilywhite?” asked Cecile.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Phoenix yelped. “W-w-well, did you, you know, k-k-k-kill anyone here?”
Devine's smile widened. “As much as I would love to, I’m ordered not to take any lives. However, I have left some unfortunate souls in a poor state.”
“You out of control bi…”
“Don’t finish that sentence, hermano,” Cecile stopped him. “Keep an eye on her, you come with me.”
Cecile led Phoenix in the direction where Devine had came from. Just as she had said, there were injured campers one after the other. It seemed they’d gone toe to toe with her but even with the numbers it seems she’d out matched them especially with her poisonous gas holding them back.
“She said she wasn’t allowed to kill anyone, so that means her toxic cloud is not strong enough to be fatal, at least for a short term, but they likely still inhaled a lot,” Cecile concluded. “Now we just need to figure out a way to carry them. I asked you here because you look strong enough to carry two at a time.”
Phoenix noticed there was a boy still conscious, he was crying in agony. Phoenix took a deep breath, closed her eyes and walked forward. She let out her tentacles which caught Cecile by surprise. A single one of her tentacles are strong enough to hold a full grown man. She managed to pick up 6 while holding another one in her arms. On the other hand, Cecile is a small girl so had to assist the least injured person on their feet.
The two of the headed off to building 7, when they got there Tessa was in deep conversation with a person Phoenix had mixed feelings about. Diana Archer wasn’t dressed in her camp outfit but she was wearing what looked like a hero costume. She sported a domino mask along with it and carried a bow and quiver. When the two of them were done talking Diana looked at Phoenix, gave a cold glare and ran back into action.
“Ah, you found more of them,” said Tessa. “I knew those tentacles would prove useful, just lay them down here.”
Phoenix carefully placed them on a mat, the guy Cecile helped preferred to remain standing and just had a drink of water.
“I presume you encountered the freak with the purple hair,” Cecile asked.
“Yeah, even if we could handle the poison she was just too good of a fighter despite the fact that we outnumbered her. She’s going to be a difficult foe, I can’t imagine anyone-”
“Special delivery!”
Peter arrived while dragging Devine along with him.
The guy did a spittake.
“You hold on to those.”
Peter handed her knives over to a Hephaestus class camper dressed as an engineer.
“So, this is one of the villains?” said Tessa.
“My my, villain is such a strong word,” said Devine, her smile had not wavered.
“I notice she’s got deep wounds,” Tessa noticed the part where the arrows hit. “Let me take a look.”
She placed her hand on Devine's forehead which then glowed.
“She should be in a lot of pain but I sense no signs of anguish.”
“Hmm, either she’s trained to resist pain or-” began Peter.
“Okay, I think we’ve described how crazy she is enough times,” said Cecile.
“…”
“What are we going to do with her?” asked the guy Cecile helped earlier.
Before anyone could answer there were loud continuous quakes. An enormous foot stepped close by, it was Eden in her giant form. She was covered in marks and blood. She lowered her hand and revealed an injured and unconscious Andy along with another girl. Eden shrunk down to normal size and fainted on the spot.
Phoenix was too stunned to react. She couldn’t bare the sight of her two newly made friends in this state. By what is seems, Eden must have taken all of the blows trying protect them, Phoenix's heart nearly stopped.
Tessa quickly checked on them. Andy had dislocated her left shoulder while the other girl was going to recover soon but Eden would have a longer time for her wounds to heal.
“Y-yo, Lilywhite,” said Andy in a muffled voice after waking up. “Check it out, we match.”
Her hair was dyed red with blood, even in these times she can maintain her sense of humor. Phoenix then took her hand.
“I-i-it’s okay, everything's fine,” said Phoenix.
“S'all good man,” Andy turned her head to look at the other girl. “If anything, I hope she’s okay, I did risk a lot to save her.”
“O-oh, well, she’ll pull through, as I’m told.”
“Nice,” Andy relaxed. “By the way, aren’t you going to stay by your roommate's side.”
Realization kicked in, Phoenix couldn’t believe she forgot about Eden. She went over to her, she was still unconscious. Seeing her in this state put Phoenix to tears, just moments ago they’d planned on having a great Summer together. She couldn’t even swallow her fears to help out, why’d she even agree to become a hero? Suddenly, someone put a hand on her shoulder.
“I know what you’re thinking,” it was Tessa. “But look over there.”
The little girl Phoenix helped earlier was now awake and smiling cheerfully.
“Don't imagine who you couldn’t save, but rather who you did.”
A hand grabbed Phoenix's. Eden was awake, she looked at her and smiled, that’s the first time Phoenix had seen her smile, that is the reaction of hero who saved someone.
“This will all be over soon,” Tessa assured.
“Huh?”
“I just spoke with Diana, she said she had one more enemy to take care of and the battle is complete. I believe her, everything she says is absolute.”
After a while, noises of combat died down until eventually it was all over. Later on it was revealed Diana Archer had taken on each lieutenant, besides Devine, herself before finishing off the captain. All of the soldiers fled when their leaders were taken out by a single girl.
The police were contacted, the captured enemies were arrested. Devine on the other hand remained at camp for further questioning and to continue examining her wounds if they’ll prove fatal or not. She was detained in a highly secured cell.
Phoenix went to check on Logan and Vivy. Apparently they were said to be beasts out there as Logan swept through the enemy lines and Vivy disarmed and beat up a multitude of them with her speed, it's even said she finally got angry and went on a rampage.
Then Phoenix went to go look for another person, but the news about them shook her to the core. Cordelia was put into a coma, she’d lost an arm during the pursuing battle. Phoenix visited her in the infirmary. It’s been 3 hours and she still hasn’t woken up.
Eventually Andy, Logan, Vivy and Eden arrived there too. Vivy said her roommate was in a state of depression and didn't have the courage to see her like this. Everyone left flowers and soon parted. Phoenix stayed just a little longer.
She held onto Cordelia's hand. “You come back to us soon, okay.”
Phoenix left the infirmary. As she walked out she overheard the doctor unintentionally.
“Three deceased, they’re all so young.”
Phoenix closed her eyes tightly before basically sprinting out the building. She didn’t know where she was going but she kept running. She came to a stop by an equipment room on the fields. She was on the verge of balling her eyes out but there was actually someone else there sitting on a bench.
They sat upright while staring in to space. Phoenix was curious and got closer, to her surprise it was Diana. She still had a serious expression but a single tear trickled down her face. Phoenix couldn’t believe it, there was a side of her she couldn’t show anyone.
“I know you’re there,” Diana said.
Phoenix yelped.
“It’s quite all right, while I wouldn’t show anyone, crying isn’t a sign of weakness.”
If a person can consider one drop of a tear as crying, then okay.
“Lilywhite was it?”
“Y-yes, Phoenix Lilywhite.”
“Eight people.”
“W-what?”
“That's how many you saved today.
“H-how did you…?”
“I'm from dorm 7, of course I’d known what Carpenter had witnessed throughout the day,” Diana sighed. “Yet I couldn’t save a single person today because I was engrossed in battle.”
“B-b-b-but…”
“I know what you'll say, defeating the enemy saved many more.”
Phoenix didn’t really have time to think that far, but sure.
“People say being a great fighter makes you the strongest among the rest. But I believe risking everything to save lives makes you much stronger,” Diana stood up and proceeded to walk, she stood side by side with Phoenix. “You were probably contemplating your decision to stay here, honestly I couldn’t care less. But I have to admit, it would be a huge loss.”
Diana continued back to the dorms, Phoenix stood there processing this encounter. She then slapped her cheeks and proceeded to march back to her own dorm. When she got there, the lobby was quiet, all the campers sat in silence. Phoenix went to her room, Vivy was there, of course.
"Hey!" she called out.
Eden had gone to sleep, the familiar sight cheered her up again. She left Vivy then went next door and found Andy as chipper as always, Logan glued to her comics as if nothing had happened. But, Phoenix knew deep down there were conflicted feelings, they just had the strength to hide it...Logan was reading her comic upside down.
“Hey Lilywhite, care for some M&M's?” Andy held up a pack of the famous candy.
Just to keep the momentum going, she accepted. Andy then put some in her mouth and proceeded to chew.
“Hmm, I prefer the one without peanuts, that means more chocolate.”
“Yeah,” Phoenix replied nonchalantly. “So, are you feeling all right?”
“Yep, these wounds ain’t got nothing on me.”
Andy had Band-Aids on her face, arms and legs while the faintest sight of a compression bandage wrapped around her shoulder could be seen from the collar of her t-shirt, they managed to pop it back into place but it surely still hurts. Phoenix lowered her head, she came out completely unscathed.
“Hey hey, don’t look so gloomy, baby girl.”
Andy stepped forwards and held her hands.
“We all knew what we signed up for when we joined.”
Phoenix nodded.
“If it makes you feel any better? I didn’t get a single injury,” said Logan.
“Ah, no, I don’t think it does, but good try,” said Andy.
"I wasn't hurt either," cried out Vivy.
"Whoa, when did you...?" Andy said but then sighed. "I'm glad you're okay too."
That lightened up Phoenix's spirits.
"What happened when I left you?" said Vivy to Phoenix. "I step awat for a second and you're already getting into fights."
"You fought some of them yourself," said Andy.
"Well, I technically didn't even throw a fist," said Phoenix. "I got help from these two siblings you see."
"Ah, you mean the hispanic boy and girl, I saw them at Dorm 7."
Yes that's them," said Phoenix. "Anyway, I'll see you guys again."
"Cheers!" said Andy
Phoenix and Vivy left their room and was about to enter her own before they ran into to someone. It was Ms. Nightshade, she had her usual sweet smile but her body said otherwise. Her entire outfit was torn, blood drenched all over and her broom stick was broken, did she actually take that with her into combat?
"Damn!" cried Vivy.
“I was just checking up on everyone,” she said in a kind manner. “I was there by your room, but Miss Green is fast asleep, may I ask if you’re doing fine?”
“I-I-I-I think I should be asking you that," said Phoenix.
She placed a hand to her cheek. “Dear me, don’t you mind all this, some of the blood isn’t even mine.”
Phoenix gulped. Vivy chuckled nervously.
“Well then, I’ll be checking on Miss Williams and Miss Mackenzie, toodles."
She went in to their room, Phoenix could hear some overly enthusiastic chatter. Phoenix sighed and smiled. She and Vivy went back into her room. After entering they immediately went over to Eden, sat on the side of her bed and Phoenix affectionately caressed her head.
Staying here at camp probably ain’t so bad after all.
Eden’s eyes slowly opened.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” said Phoenix.
“Soar.”
“Yeah, I’d expect that,” said Vivy.
She had a lot more wounds than Andy, there were plenty of occlusive bandages to cover them up.
“You know, I wonder how our parents are going to react,” said Eden.
Phoenix had a 10 second time period where her face remained the same before turning in to that of sheer distress.
“H-h-how am I going to explain this!?”
“You don’t have to, because in no time the camp's directory will begin calling in.”
“Okay okay, stay calm, stay calm…I can’t stay calm!”
Phoenix grabbed her head with both hands while she freaked out.
"Get a hold of yourself,"said Vivy as she proceeded to shake Phoenix by the shoulders.
“So, the true final battle is still heading our way, parental anxiety.”
“Ugh!”
“You can worry about facing them later, for now, some of us still need to recover.”
Phoenix just realized how dense she could. “That’s right, I shouldn’t be worrying about myself right now.”
She quickly ran to the fridge, grabbed a soda and went back to give it to Eden.
“My roommate is in pain right now, she needs to be tended to.”
Eden accepted the drink. “Sure.”
Vivy puffed her cheeks. "I'm a guest you know, I did do a lot of work out there."
"R-right."
Phoenix also got her a soda.
"Bottom's up," said Vivy as she chugged down the can.
Seeing everyone all cheered up was relieving.
$$$
Later, when night fell, all the campers gathered in the Hall to talk about the events that unfolded. The Camp director had a few words to say but left everything to the counsellors. Blake gave a heartfelt speech which both encouraged and saddened everyone.
“Now, if we could have a moment of silence for the fallen,” said Blake.
A projector showed a slide of the deceased.
Dane Eisenberg
Holly Marx
Ivan Croxley
That last name sent a shiver through Phoenix’s body. The last time she saw him was after her incident with Diana and her wardrobe malfunction. He gladly went through the trouble of getting her a new uniform that same day.
“Ivan had succumb to his injuries about an hour after the attack, Holly had gotten caught in a wildfire while Dane was overly persistent while fighting against the enemy's strong lieutenant. Even though they had no intention of killing anyone Dane still couldn’t let his second home be turned to rubble…”
Blake couldn’t hold back the tears. Austin took over.
“Thanks Blake, you’ve said enough. But moving on, Their bodies had been transported back to their families for burial. There are still 17 campers who’ve yet to regain consciousness and 30 others too injured to even leave the infirmary,” Mark took a single long breath. “Our camp had been invaded before in the past, but this has been the first one in seven years, before any of us were even a part of it. We’re still not quite sure what the reason for it was, but what I can say is the situation could have been much worse if it had not been for the combined efforts of not only our already developed heroes but for the newbies who charged in to battle as well. For that, I and the entire council applaud.”
All the counsellors and senior campers gave a standing ovation, they knew things could have ended much worse considering the whole situation but everyone fought bravely, like heroes should. When the assemble concluded it was dinner time. A shrine had been made at the dining area for Dane, Holly and Ivan. The usual rowdy tables were understandably silent at the moment. Andy took the opportunity to eat away at her unapparent miseries with spicy chicken wings. Phoenix, Eden, Vivy and Logan joined along with her.
$$$
“She proved to be much stronger than we initially imagined,” said a raspy voice. “Not only was the plan to capture her deemed unsuccessful, all of our lieutenants have been apprehended, including Second Captain.”
“That so?” said another voice. “Good grief.”
In a dark room with the only light source from the door way, there stood a man in a suit addressing another sitting by a desk, their face obscured. Only the white gloves on their hands could be made out where their fingers intertwined close to their chin.
“Tantalus, we'll need to take drastic measures.”
“Yes sir,” responded the man named Tantalus. "You know what to do."
Upon saying that, a figure in the shadows seemed to nod in acknowledgement before dissapearing.