Peace and Grace

14. Save the Citizen

It's Save the Citizen again. They've changed it around a bit since last time, when Team Will and Warren broke the record by beating Team Lash and Speed. Now, it's a best-out-of-three game.

Lash and Speed have upped their game, not wanting to be humiliated again. So far, it seems to be working, cause they've once again got the winning streak.

"Okay, onto the next round," says Coach Boomer as the unfortunate heroes from the last round hobble back to the stands. "Speed, Lash, heroes or villains?"

"Villains!"

"Big surprise. Alright, you know the drill, pick your heroes."

Lash and Speed chuckle and discuss for a moment before announcing their choice. "We'll have Peace," says Speed.

There's a chorus of 'Oooooooo!" as a scowling Warren rises to his feet and heads towards the floor.

"And we'll also have, oh – Grace," says Lash.

Now all eyes turn to me. Zach gives me a shove. I remove my gym hoodie and head down as well to join Warren, my team member.

"You got this!" calls Zach. He starts a chant between our friends. "She's beauty, she's Grace! She's beauty, she's Grace!"

"Okay," I say in an attempt to engage my team member. "What's our plan of attack?"

"Kick their asses." Warren cracks his knuckles.

Okay. Simple enough, right? But I would like a little more direction than that... Boomer blows his whistle and starts the timer. We've got three minutes.

Before I barely have time to think, I'm knocked off balance and hit the ground hard. Recovering, I notice Warren getting to his feet as well. I see a blur rush past  - Speed knocked us down.

Stumbling to my feet I see that Warren has chosen his usual, throwing fistfuls of fire this way and that, trying to hit something. One goes a little too far, almost knocking Coach Boomer off his chair and lighting him on fire. There are some gasps, but mostly laughter at this.

"Watch it, hothead!" yells the coach.

I've barely regained my footing when Speed races past again. This time I don't fall, but spin around and stumble, disoriented.

"Not so graceful, huh Grace!" he laughs. 

"Save me!" chants the mechanical voice of the citizen doll. We only have a minute left of this first round.

A ball of energy forms in my hand, and I use it to throw a protective field around the citizen, Warren still trying to hit Speed and/or Lash with fire. Before I can do anything more I'm knocked over again, this time into something. I fall down again, this time being crushed under the weight of something.

Someone. Looking up I see that Speed had pushed Warren and I into each other, and he now lays on top of me.

"Peace and Grace sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" chant Speed and Lash, gaining more laughter from the crowd. Their little taunt is finished off by the deafening ring of the buzzer. Really? Real mature, guys.

"Reset!" orders the coach.

Some people laugh at the predicament we're in. Warren growls and gets to his feet, not offering to help me up, and looking murderous. I can imagine that he's pissed. I'm pretty pissed off myself.

"Okay, we need a better plan than just 'kick their asses'," I say quietly to Warren. I stand back a little, because he looks as though he'll flare up any second. "I mean, that's the whole point isn't it? Teamwork."

The whistle blows and the time starts again. So begins Round Two. If Speed and Lash win this one, that's it, game over. But if we win that'll move us into the third round. So far, no one's made it past Round Two.

"You take Lash, I'll take Speed," Warren says, mumbling so I almost miss it, and charges off. Okay, a bit more of a plan, but I was talking more teamwork. I guess this divides it up, but still... Anyways, it's all that we've got, so I'd better try and make it work to avoid further humiliation.

Thinking quick I conjure some energy to launch myself into the air towards the citizen. One of Lash's outstretched arms appears in my path and I quickly change course to dodge it, messily. I fly through the air, grabbing onto the rope that holds the citizen, clinging to it for dear life, trying not to look at the spinning blades beneath me. There's gasps from the crowd.

Finally, the buzzer sounds, with me still dangling along with the citizen.

"Peace, Grace, you win that round," announces the coach. This earns us some cheers. "Just barely. Okay, Round Three. Reset!"

This is it, the final round, the determining round. Zach starts up his cheer again. "Go Naddie!"

As we're resetting for this anticipated third round, I have an idea. "First chance you get, singe the rope holding the citizen," I tell Warren. He looks at me like I'm crazy. "I'll cover you."

Before he can protest the time starts and the whistle blows. The third round has begun.

I concentrate on covering for Warren as he charges towards the citizen. Lash reaches out to him, but I block him with an energy field. This slows Warren down some but he continues to make his way to the citizen.

Suddenly, Speed zips past me and begins circling Warren in a blur. I watch in horror as Warren's flame disappears and his hands reach up to his throat. He can't breathe! Speed is taking away all his oxygen!

I throw a look over my shoulder at the coach. He shows no signs of interfering. That can't be okay, that has to be a foul. "He can't breathe!" I shout, but Coach does nothing. He's just going to let Speed potentially kill Warren?!

Time is ticking down – I need to help Warren, and the citizen. I can't get both, can I?

"He passes out, you might have to give him mouth-to-mouth. You can thank us later," Lash calls to me.

I take a deep breath and concentrate hard, splitting my concentration two ways. I hold one hand out towards Lash, trapping him in an energy field, and hold the other hand out towards Speed, doing the same. As soon as he's free, Warren collapses to his knees, breathing hard. I give him a moment to recover, concentrating on keeping our villains trapped. Once he recovers some, Warren does what I told him and throws a ball of fire at the citizen, singeing the rope. There are shouts and gasps as the citizen plunges towards the blades.

At the last moment, I split my concentration a third way - though it's getting tough to concentrate - and catch the citizen in midair in an energy field. I'm shaking now.

BEEP!

The buzzer sounds and coach blows his whistle. "Heroes win!"

A wild cheering goes up through the crowd, but I barely hear it before everything goes fuzzy and then fades altogether.

(Whew, a bit of an action-packed chapter! :) These are superheroes after all! ;)

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this update! :))