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“I can do it,” Ella says, straightening up.
“No one will think any less of you if you sit out,” I tell her.
“You don’t have to baby me,” she replies sharply. “I can train just as hard as the rest of you guys. ”
I nod, dropping the argument. Maybe some physical activity will be good for Ella. At the very least, it should tire her out enough so that she’ll get some real rest.
We’re the last two to arrive in the Lecture Hall. Everyone stands in the middle of the room, dressed in workout clothes. Malcolm sits behind the Lectern’s console, examining the glowing buttons and levers through his glasses.
Nine claps his hands when he sees us. “All right! Let’s get started! Capture the flag time, baby! The ultimate test of teamwork and, um, ass-kicking ability. ”
Six rolls her eyes and Five stifles a groan. I stand next to Eight, who flashes me a quick smile. I hope we end up on the same team.
“The rules are simple,” Nine says. He gestures to the opposite ends of the gym where he’s mounted a pair of makeshift flags made out of old Chicago Bulls T-shirts. “The first team to grab the other team’s flag and bring it back to their side is the winner. You’ve gotta be holding the flag at all times, no telekinesis. Also, no teleporting the flag back to your own side—ahem, that means you, Eight. ”
Eight smirks. “No problem. I like a challenge. ”
Piled on the floor are four Mogadorian rifles that I grabbed on our way out of Arkansas. Figured we might want them for just this kind of exercise. I notice Sam eyeing them hesitantly. “What are those for?” he asks.
“Each team is going to get two guns,” explains John, jumping in. “Malcolm has modified them so they’re nonlethal. Like stun guns. We always end up using their own guns against the Mogs in battle; I figured this would be good practice. ”
“Also, we wanted to give you non-Garde a fighting chance,” says Nine, glancing at Sam and Sarah.
Malcolm strides over from the Lectern, his hands clasped behind his back. “I’ll be using the Lecture Hall’s systems to throw in some obstacles,” he says. “Remember, if anyone gets hurt, it’s okay to call a timeout so Marina or John can heal you. ”
Nine sighs, annoyed. “There’re no timeouts in a real fight, so let’s try to keep wimping out to a minimum. ”
John glances around, taking a less cavalier approach. “Remember, this is just practice. We’re not really trying to kill each other. ”
John and Nine are captains, dividing us into two teams. John chooses Six with his first pick, and Nine selects Eight. Next, John takes Five and Nine picks Marina. John’s third pick is Bernie Kosar, and then Nine surprises everyone by choosing Sarah. I expected to go in the last round; there’s no shame in it when the rest of the players are packing superpowers. John picks me, probably wanting to divide the humans up evenly, which leaves Ella to join Nine’s team.
We huddle up at our end of the gym.
“I’m going to turn invisible right away,” Six says. “If you guys can keep the rest of them busy, I should be able to make it to their flag no problem. ”
John nods in agreement. “I’m mostly worried about Eight. He’s probably going to teleport to our side right away and make a go for the flag. Sam, I want you and Bernie Kosar on guard duty. ”
I pat Bernie Kosar on the head. His beagle fur transforms under my fingers into the smooth coat of a tiger. “Um, yeah. We can handle it. ”
“Five, you and I will go on offense. Keep them busy while Six makes a break for it. ”
Five looks over his shoulder to where the other team is having their own huddle. “I want to take on Nine. ”
John and I exchange a quick look, both of us remembering yesterday’s incident. It’s not every day that someone volunteers to go head to head with the Garde’s battle-crazy lunatic. John shrugs. “Sure. I’ll have your back. Take it easy on him this time, okay?”
Five smiles, a cavalier look in his eyes. “No promises. ”
As our huddle breaks, I smile at Six. “Good luck out there. They’ll never see you coming. ”
So cheesy. Ugh, way to go, Sam. Six returns my smile quickly. She picks up one of the Mog blasters and tosses it to me. “Thanks, Sam. I’m counting on you to keep me covered, okay?”
“I’ll teleport over there, grab their flag, and make a break for it,” Eight says, snapping his fingers. “We won’t even break a sweat. ”
Nine shakes his head. “That’s exactly what they’ll be expecting. So yeah, do that. But it’s just going to be a diversion. ”
Sarah raises her hand, interrupting. “Sorry, Nine, I just have to ask. Why did you pick me?”
Nine grins at her. “You’re my secret weapon, Hart. There’s no way John’s going to be effective with you making kissy faces at him. ”
“Kissy faces?” Sarah repeats dryly, cocking the Mog blaster she picked up. “Do you want me to shoot you?”
“I’ve seen her shooting. She won’t miss,” I put in. I’ve watched Sarah shooting during training. I’m envious of her aim. I haven’t been able to adapt to firearms nearly as quick as she has. They just make me nervous.
“I know she won’t,” Nine replies, getting serious. “That’s why she’s gonna be on Six patrol. ”
“You know she’s going to go invisible,” Eight says. “How are we supposed to stop that?”
“That’s where Ella comes in,” Nine answers. Ella looks up from the blaster she’s fiddling with, startled to hear her name. I think she was a little hurt at being picked last.
“Me?” she asks, incredulous.
“Hell yeah, you,” Nine replies. “You’re gonna use your telepathic mojo to pinpoint Six’s location when she’s invisible. Then, you and Sarah light her up. ”
“Um, I’m not sure if I can do that. ”
“You located her in a big-ass base in New Mexico. This is just one room. ” Nine shakes Ella’s shoulder encouragingly. “Just try for me, all right?”
“What am I going to be doing?” I ask.
Nine’s got that proud look on his face—I think I heard John refer to it as “shit-eating”—that he gets when he thinks he’s come up with something really juicy. He grabs my hand and the little hairs on my arm stand up, an electric shock shooting through me. “You, Marina, are my real secret weapon. ”
“Are both sides ready?” Malcolm shouts from the Lectern.
The two teams stand about ten yards away from each other, close to the halfway point of the Lecture Hall. I glance around. Everyone on my side looks determined. Sam has already started sweating a bit, constantly adjusting his grip on his blaster. Across from me, Sarah shoots me an innocent smile as she brandishes her own blaster. My heart actually flutters in response, but I try to keep a serious face.
“Ready!” I shout to Malcolm.
“Let’s kick some ass!” Nine shouts.
Malcolm hits a few buttons on the Lectern. The room hums to life around us. Sections of the floor begin to rise, creating blocks of cover for people to hide behind. A pair of medicine balls on chains swing loose from the ceiling. Nozzles protrude from the walls, emitting bursts of smoke.
“Begin!” Malcolm yells.
For a moment, no one makes a move. Then, suddenly, my bracelet tingles to life. My red shield deploys just in time to block a burst of blaster fire. I look across the gym to see Sarah grinning at me, the muzzle of her blaster smoking.
“Sorry, baby!” she yells, before diving behind a piece of cover.
On one side of me, I see Six disappear into the thin air. On the other side, Sam falls back towards our flag. Everyone is moving and suddenly it’s just like a real battle. Chaos.
And there’s Nine. Coming right for me.
He’s so fast that I barely have time to fire up my Lumen and toss a small fireball his way. He leaps over it and crashes down on top of me. I fall backwards, my shield between the two of us as he pins me to the ground. Nine pounds down
on the shield with all his might. Dents forms in the red material, but the shield holds. Frustrated, Nine leaps off me, and my shield immediately retracts into my bracelet. I get back to my feet as quickly as I can, but even blocked by my shield, Nine’s tackle knocked the wind out of me. I’m slower than I should be.
“You and your damn jewelry, Johnny,” Nine grunts. “I’ve been thinking about that thing ever since the last time we fought. It shocked me when I tried to yank it off by hand, so I wonder what’d happen if—”
I feel his telekinesis working. It’s too late to do anything about it. He rips the bracelet right off my arm and flings it to the sideline.
“Ha!” Nine yells, gleeful. “What’s up now?”
Just as Nine’s about to charge me, Five’s rubbery arm slithers around his waist and flings him to the side. Nine springs right back to his feet. Five stands in front of him, his rubber bouncy ball and chrome ball bearing turning over in his palm. His skin transforms from rubber to solid steel.
“Ready to take another shot?” Five asks.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Nine growls back.
It happens just like John said it would. Almost as soon as I’ve taken cover by our flag, Eight teleports into the vicinity. Remembering the rules, that he can’t teleport the flag back across the room, I wait for Eight to snatch our flag off the wall. As soon as he does, I spray him with blaster fire.
Eight yelps in surprise as my first shot electrifies his back, knocking him off his feet. He rolls over. “Damn, Sam! Shooting a guy in the back. Not cool. ”
I level my blaster at him. “Drop the flag!”
“I don’t think so,” he says, and scrambles to his feet. I squeeze off a couple more shots but Eight nimbly dodges them, dancing behind a piece of cover. Even so, I’ve got him pinned down and he knows it. There’s no way he’s making it back across the room with our flag.
“Okay, Sam, try this on for size,” Eight shouts. He shoves the flag into his mouth and shape shifts into the form of some freakish ten-armed lion creature. He lumbers over the barricade towards me, swatting my blaster out of my hands with one clawed paw.
“Get him, BK!” I yell.
Before Eight can make another move, Bernie Kosar crashes into him. BK has shape shifted as well. He’s taken the form of a giant boa constrictor. He wraps his body around Eight, pinning Eight’s arms to his sides. As Eight gasps for breath, the flag goes drifting out of his mouth. I snatch it up and pin it back to our wall.
I watch as Sarah and Ella, both of them crouched down behind cover close to our flag, point their blasters around the room. They’re looking for a target they can’t see.
“Come on, Ella,” Sarah says hopefully. “You can do it. ”
Ella’s face is pinched tight with concentration as she tries to locate Six telepathically. I hope this isn’t too much exertion for her after yesterday’s ordeal. Suddenly, Ella lights up.