“She might be baiting us,” I said to my team.

“Do we take it?” Reina asked.

“Yeah. Bella knows that her team is down. If we eliminate her, it restarts the countdown for Mirkov and Elissa, assuming they don’t spawn on the map by then. In a game against time, she doesn’t want to risk that. So she drops the egg to play it safe, allowing her team time to come back.”

“While also allowing us to take the egg,” Naomi said.

“In the White Box, the respawn waiting area, there is no communication with your team. It’s like you’re in limbo, where the only thing you can do is spectate. So for now, Bella is on her own.”

“I say the decision is already made up for us then,” Reina added.

“Then hop on,” Naomi said, waving her hand toward a barber shop storefront. She stripped the sign clean off of it and levitated it between us, Reina looking at her like she’s nuts, and Naomi snapped, “What? Unless you want to walk instead and burn all this precious time that we have.”

“Man, hunter squads who don’t have a reliable mode of transportation wouldn’t be able to participate in the games, would they?”

“That’s why it’s important to choose your teams wisely, before you even register.”

“Oh, where would we be without you, Naomi?” Reina sang sarcastically as she mounted the sign on all fours.

I laughed. “It’s not a magic carpet, Reina.”

“Well, excuse me for not trusting the dark princess over there!”

“Don’t be afraid,” Naomi said in a creepy voice. “I need you alive to win, after all….”

“That’s not comforting to hear at all!”

Right, Naomi would be more inclined to dump Reina in a canyon outside of the arena. Here, they had to work like a team, and as soon as we made it to the egg, the both of them did just that. Naomi scoped the area for Bella, and Reina took the egg to our hovercraft.

I looked around for Bella too, who I found standing there in an alleyway, casually leaning against a brick wall as she watched us snatch her egg. “What are you staring at?” she said with a cheeky smile, her long wavy hair bouncing along her shoulders. “You should be with the rest of your squad, making a quick escape!”

I smirked. “There’s no point in fighting you, huh? You’re just going to run away.”

“Against every fiber of my being, mmm, I must… resist!” She giggled. “Don’t worry, this isn’t the last time you’ll be seeing me.”

“Nero, let’s go already!” Reina shouted as I turned my head to her.

Then, I turned back to Bella, still debating whether I should fight her or not. “Well, what are ya waiting for, cowboy?” Bella saluted me. “See you real soon, Nero.” With that, she sped off.

Well, I guess she made a decision for me.

In the Hunter Games, we took handouts. I had no doubt that I’d be seeing her again for that egg. So I jumped on the sign and we sped off to the drop off point, which, according to the horizon, was crystal clear. That meant that Team Hawk and Team Seal were duking it out at the other nest closer to the Hydra egg.

Great, this gave us a little time to set up shop.

Our nest was exposed, sitting on top of a financial institution building over 30 stories high. Now the nest wasn’t an actual nest, but a tall and glossy hand statue that looked more like a dragon claw. When Reina jumped off of our flying carpet, she ran over to the drop off point and settled the egg inside the purple hand statue sculpted in a cupping gesture, and suddenly, it began to close up and grip the golden egg.

It pulsed, and the 60 second timer started. Veins along the purple arm stretched all the way to the fingers, and from the base, it began to gradually glow lavender, our team color. That was our external timer.

As for our internal timer, it was in our sys board, with 55 seconds left on the clock.

From the corner of my eye I saw Naomi move, and I doubled back and asked, “Where are you going?”

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“Trying to scout out where Team Lynx will be coming from,” she said as she walked toward the ledge of the building.

“For a second there, I thought you were going to ditch us,” Reina chimed. “Remember, we need to stick together. We might need your item prepared in case we can’t fight them off.”

“They had to have respawned by now,” I said to my team.

“We need a game plan,” Reina said, turning to me.

“Their metas are pretty standard,” I said. “Elissa only has super strength. Mirkov has material construct, and Bella has super speed and specialty mallet.”

“Someone did their homework before the tournament,” Reina said with a smile.

“If you’re thinking of assigning us our opponents, it’s not a good idea,” Naomi said.

“No, I’m trying to anticipate their approach and counter it.”

“They have range with Bella,” Reina added. “It doesn’t matter where they come from. As long as Bella could distract us, this egg is as good as theirs.”

I had an idea, but I wasn’t sure if it’d work…

“Naomi, find a high point to search from a wider view. Do your best to spot Bella. Reina,” I turned to her. “I want you to create a defensive dome. Weaponize it by adding spikes. Think your meta is able to do that?”

She nodded. “I will try.” Reina stood in front of the nest and crouched over, the tips of her fingers along the cement roof of the building. Electricity started to flicker down her wrist, Reina concentrating her extension to create a barrier around the egg. Before I could blink, I saw a white flashing light followed by a loud snap, Reina materializing a metal dome that was a few inches thick. It was tiered, with each row sporting these long pointed rods that spun in gears.

By the looks of it, her dome was self-sustaining, guarding the egg and any speed bunny that wanted to grab it.

“Impressive,” I said with a smirk.

“Well, like my older brother would say, anything is possible with a little bit of imagination.”

“No sign of the rabbit,” Naomi said, triggering me to look at the time.

“There’s only 20 seconds left… what’s taking them?” Just as I said that, I heard an alarm go off behind me, the sound of our egg being captured!

“That’s impossible, my barricade is intact!” Reina cried, Naomi flying over to us as the siren went off.

There was no way they could have gotten through Reina’s dome—there was no sign of entry! Unless….

I balled up my fist and slammed clean through the cement, falling down one floor. Through the scene of dust and debris, I saw Bella’s foot hopping off of her wooden mallet that had grown over ten times its size. She went through the ceiling, and was stealing the egg from within Reina’s defense dome….

Magpie: Sneaky work by Team Lynx! Looks like they are snatching their golden egg back from right under Team Owl’s noses!

Flamingo: That’s right, Magpie! Team Owl didn’t see that coming!

I’d heard about her ability to phase through solid material, Bella controlling the vibration of the atoms in her body to match that of the ceiling. The downside to her OP meta was how stamina consuming it was, meaning she’d drain her super power much faster than someone who was on her level.

Whatever the case, her meta allowed her clear passage to our point; but what I couldn’t understand was how Naomi had missed her….

It didn’t matter now, she was in the process of claiming what she came here for. So I climbed on the mallet and punched a hole clean through the ceiling, disrupting her capture, but also bringing down the nest, the egg, and Reina’s metal dome.

Bella yelped, falling on her ass when the ceiling came crumbling down. Bella had no physical invulnerability at all, so she took slight fall damage, and damage from the ceiling crashing on her.

If it wasn’t for the arena’s armor, she would have been done for.

“Silly rabbit, tricks are for—”

“Don’t!” she hissed as she brushed herself and got back on her feet. “I can’t tell you the amount of times I heard that cheesy line!”

I chuckled. “Then you know what comes next, right?”

“That’s enough out of you,” someone behind me said, and suddenly, I felt a tight grip from my shoulders down to my stomach. My feet came off the floor, and I realized right after that Mirkov had sicced a cement golem at me.

“Seriously? Don’t know how to quit?” he said with a quiet but snarky voice, that prick looking down his glasses at me as he adjusted them. “Ugh… This really is annoying. I get that you’re trying because you have to, but, you’re in the big leagues now. Do yourselves a favor and stop wasting our time….”

He squeezed his fist, making the golem do the same. I felt like a stress ball with all of the pressure I was feeling, but my stamina kept me from receiving any actual damage.

“Your stamina won’t last much longer with those laughable stats,” he taunted. “Once I get your endurance out of the way, then the real fun will begin…”

“Naomi!” I shouted, and down came the hammer herself. And in her grip were Naomi and Reina!

“Look at them! Refusing to use their stamina!” Elissa said, Reina and Naomi writhing from her grip as she hauled them over her shoulders. “Like garbage, they will be properly disposed of!”

Magpie: Oh no, folks! It looks like Team Owl has given up!

Flamingo: You’re right, Magpie. Did Reina and Naomi really throw in the towel?

No, they couldn’t have…

They were planning something…

I knew how much this meant for Reina. She never gave me any details, but I could just tell that this win was a catalyst for every other win here after. She wanted the trophy, and giving up just wasn’t her style. That girl was headstrong, stubborn and annoying, but headstrong nevertheless.

As for Naomi, she took her own reasons for being here seriously, too. She promised to take me to the top, and that was what she was going to fucking do.

Which meant that they were strategizing. Without talking to them about this new game plan earlier, I had to imagine that it had something to do with me….

Wait a minute….

“Grab the egg, Bella!” Elissa ordered the bunny girl. There were six seconds left on the countdown… six seconds for them to capture the egg and score the win….