SharpShot:
Watching as the OutCasts, along with Simou, and Mr. Green Lightning Hooded Man, keep fighting the robots, I turn and look up at CannonFire.
"Just you and me," I think, ejecting an empty magazine. Reaching down, I grab another magazine, a full one, from my belt and slam it into my blaster.
"Dance," CannonFire yells, "Dance!"
Raising his arm cannon, CannonFire unleashes more rounds. Trying to hit me, I have to jump and roll just to dodge the attacks. As I fall to my side, skidding against the sidewalk, I raise my blaster and fire off a few more rounds. However, just like before, they bounce right off CannonFire. Honestly, I think if he wasn't looking at me, he most likely wouldn't have even noticed them.
"Ha," CannonFire laughs, smiling as my rounds leap off his metal skin. "Show over, hero."
Raising and aiming his arm cannon at me, CannonFire fires. I close my eyes, raise my arm, and brace myself.
"Hold on," someone shouts. Opening my eyes, I see Ms. Justice running toward me. Holding nothing but the lid of a trash can, she raises it like her shield, blocking Cannonfire's attack.
"Ahhh!"
"Ms. Justice," I yell, pushing myself up to catch her. Landing right in my arms, I drop to my knee and look her over. Her trash can shield is completely destroyed. There's a massive hole in the center, with the edges orange. Also, on Ms. Justice's forearm is an almost pitch-black burnt mark.
"Are you okay?" I ask.
"I'm--I'm fine," Ms. Justice answers.
Hearing a familiar whizzing sound, I look up to see CannonFire slowly drifting toward us, an annoying grin on his stupid face.
"Nothing will protect you from this," he says, aiming his arm cannon again. Raising my blaster, about to shoot back, a green lightning bolt hits the back of Cannonfire. This time, he screams and turns around.
"Hey, Ugly Machine Man," the hooded man yells. "Look at me, why don't you?"
"Storm," Ms. Justice yells. "Be careful!"
CannonFire, grinding his teeth, turns around from us. He aims his arm cannon at Storm. Storm didn't move for some reason. Thinking he would just endure it, green lightning bolts begin to jump off his body.
"What in the world?"
Storm raises both his hands and puts them close together. More and more lightning bolts jump from his body, hitting and scorching the street, the sidewalks, and even some of the nearby buildings. One of the green lightning bolts hits a street lamp, and both the glass and bulb explode.
"Uhh, Justice," I yell. "Should we be concerned?"
"Yes, you should," Storm answers. "Everyone, get down!"
QuickShot, SpeedBlade, JumpStart, and even Simou stop and look at Storm as he pulls his arms back. He then slams his electrically charged hands together. I watch as what I can only describe as a massive green ring of pure electricity shoots out.
"Duck," I yell, grabbing and pushing Ms. Justice down. Even while on the street, when the green ring shoots past us, I feel a jolt of electricity.
"Ouch. That hurt."
"Yeah," Ms. Justice says, "But I think it hurts a lot more for them."
Pointing, I follow Ms. Justice's finger and see the remaining robots shaking and smoking. Every single one of them lit up with green currents running through and all over their bodies. It takes a few minutes before I realize what Storm did.
"An EMP wave. Storm unleashed a massive EMP wave, disabling the robots all at once."
Hearing screaming, I smile and look up.
"Storm, you brilliant bastard. You didn't just disable the robots. You disable CannonFire's flying platform."
CannonFire screams and yells as he grips the railing of his shaking flying platform. As he serves right and left, I notice the fans underneath, and a lightbulb appears above my head.
Pushing myself up and running until I am right beneath CannonFire, I look up at him.
"Time to bring you down," I say, aiming both my blasters at the fans and firing. This time, my rounds break right through the fans' metal covers. Destroying them, I take a step back and watch as CannonFire drops from the sky, slamming into the street with a satisfying thud.
"Ahhh..." CannonFire moans as he pushes himself up. "You--You regret doing that for the rest of your life."
CannonFire tries to raise his arm cannon, but I stomp on the barrel, slamming it down.
"Yeah," I say, aiming one of my blasters at the down CannonFire. "I don't think so."
CannonFire looks at me before turning around. Surrounding him are Ms. Justice, QuickShot, SpeedBlade, JumpStart, Simou, and Storm. Altogether, we have him trapped in a circle.
"No escaping here," QuickShot says, aiming her bow and arrow. "Surrender."
Expecting a quick surrender, I'm confused when CannonFire starts laughing instead.
"Hehehe..."
"What is so amusing?" SpeedBlade asks. "Speak, half-metal man."
"Hehehe...I'm laughing because you didn't get everyone."
"Didn't get everyone," I repeat. "What are you talking about? All your robots are down. You have nothing left."
"I have him."
"Him?"
Hearing something, I turn and see Storm sniffing the air like a dog. He then looks around, his head snapping left and right.
"Is something wrong?" Ms. Justice asks.
"Watch out!"
Looking behind me, I see what looks like a trail of black sand moving toward us. Changing target, I try to shoot the black sand, but before I can even squeeze the trigger, the sand lunges at me. Not only me, but once it hits me, it spreads out, growing arms and hits and knocks down the others. The only person who wasn't knocked down is Storm. When one of the sand arms lunges at him, Storm shoots out his hand faster than I do and fires another lightning bolt, destroying the arm.
Watching from the ground as CannonFire pushes himself up, he aims his arm cannon at me, but doesn't shoot. Instead, the black sand wraps around the cannon and begins pulling CannonFire away. CannonFire grinds his teeth together before running and disappearing.
"Ahhh," I moan, rubbing my mask while pushing myself up. "What was that?"
"That was the black sand," JumpStart answers, also pushing himself up. "More of it, just like the ones we have at the OutPost."
"But where did more of the black sand come from?"
"Stop calling it black sand," Storm yells, crossing his arms. "It's not even black sand, and it's a him, not an it."
"Not black sand," JumpStart repeats.
"A him," Ms. Justice copies. "Not an it."
"What do you know about the black sand?" QuickShot asks, but Storm doesn't answer. He growls like a dog and begins walking away.
"Hey, wait!"
QuickShot lunges to grab Storm, but again, he shoots out a green lightning bolt, hitting the ground. We all scream and cover our eyes to prevent blindness. When we can see again, Storm is gone.
"Well, that was a little rude," I say, dusting myself off. "You could've just run away. Didn't have to almost fry us."
"I don't think he was trying to hurt us," Ms. Justice says. Looking at where Storm was just standing, Justice then turns to Simou and me.
"SharpShot. Uh--"
"Simou," Simou answers.
"Simou. Thank you to both of you. Without you, I don't think we could've handled CannonFire and all his robots. We really appreciate the help."
"Glad we could help," I say with a smile. Simou also smiles and nods.
"I hate to ruin this victory," QuickShot says, stepping forward. "But we need to have a serious talk with Ms. Justice. SharpShot. Simou. Until next time."
"Alright then."
I nod and turn to leave. Simou looks at me for a few seconds before following. As we walk side by side, Simou reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of gold coins.
"SharpShot. Please point me in the direction of your village's inn."
"My village's inn?"
"Your village doesn't have an inn."
"My city has a lot of hotels, but I'm not too sure how many of them will accept gold coins."
"Your inns, I mean, 'host-tell' don't accept gold."
"Not in the way you're thinking."
I sigh and shake my head.
"Come on. I own a few apartment buildings. I'll get a private room. Maybe one close to a fire extinguisher."
"A what?"
"Don't ask. Just follow me, and please don't use your fire sword power while inside my apartment building. There are families renting."
SpeedBlade:
The moment we're back at the OutPost, QuickShot grabs Ms. Justice and throws her into a chair.
"Hey," Ms. Justice says, "What was that for?"
"What is wrong with you?" QuickShot yells, "You disappeared for hours without telling us where you were going or even taking your radio. Do you have any idea how worried we were!"
"I'm sorry. I just needed some time alone."
"Some time alone," QuickShot repeats. "You can have all the time 'alone' you want, but that doesn't mean leaving without a trace! Again, we were worried about you! SpeedBlade was running around the whole city searching for you! JumpStart and I kept trying to call you over and over!"
"Why didn't you bring your long-frequency communicator?" JumpStart asks. "I built one for each of us to use in case we're ever in danger, and you were in danger! A lot of danger! If it wasn't for SharpShot and those other two, you might have been destroyed! What is wrong with you?"
Ms. Justice lowers her head. Her body shakes, and her fingers dig into her hands.
"Well," QuickShot says. "Do you have anything to say?"
Ms. Justice makes some noise, but it doesn't sound like words.
"Ms. Justice," I say, stepping forward. "Are you unharmed?"
Ms. Justice looks back up at her, and we see tears in her eyes. Ms. Justice looks around. She tries to hide it, but we can all hear her crying. Wiping her eyes, Ms. Justice gets up, pushes us, and runs to her room.
"Maybe we shouldn't have yelled at her," JumpStart says.
"No," QuickShot says, looking at the empty chair. "That wasn't us yelling at her. It was something else. Something is really bothering us, but what is it?"
"I do not know," I answer.
"Maybe we should give her some time alone," JumpStart suggests. "You know, as she asked."
QuickShot and JumpStart turn to leave, but I do not. I look at Ms. Justice's room.
"She may want some time alone," I think, "But I believe what she needs is someone. I only hope I am that someone."
I take a deep breath through my helmet before walking to Ms. Justice's room. When I enter, I find her sitting on the floor, her knees pressing against her body.
"SpeedBlade," she starts, "Please leave. I don't want you to see me like this."
I shake my head.
"Like what? Sad? Crying? Sitting on the floor? Ms. Justice. Please, tell me what is wrong."
"It's nothing."
"Ms. Justice. You are not a liar. Please, tell me. Maybe I can help."
"It's nothing," Justice repeats.
Ms. Justice doesn't want to tell me what is wrong. She wants me to leave, but something inside tells me not to. Instead, I join her on the floor.
Sitting right beside her, I sigh and watch Ms. Justice try not to cry.
"You do not have to say anything, but the way you're acting reminds me of a few months ago. Do you remember when we battled Heavy Metal? During that fight, when I was hiding behind those piles of rocks, I saw my brother."
Ms. Justice finally lifts her head. She turns toward me. When she does, I can see a soaked mask and a red nose.
"Your brother," Ms. Justice slowly repeats. "You have a brother?"
"Yes. Honestly, I do not understand how I saw him, but I did. He told me I was not just a knight. He told me I was a knight with incredible speed and newfound knowledge."
I laugh and go on.
"He gave me JumpStart's stun batons, and with those and his words, I duel Heavy Metal."
"What," Ms. Justice starts, trying to talk over her crying. "What happened to your brother?"
"I do not know. I never saw him after that."
"What?" Justice yells. "Wait, that's it? That can't be it!"
"It is it," I answer. "As I said, I still do not understand it, but somehow, I am okay with that."
"How can you be okay with that? You saw your brother one moment, and then he's gone! Disappear! Vanish into thin air! It doesn't make any sense!"
As Ms. Justice screams all this, she pushes herself onto her feet. I choose to stay sitting down.
"It doesn't make any sense," Ms. Justice says again. "Your brother is gone, and you don't care."
"I never said I did not care," I reply. Raising my head, I look Ms. Justice right in her eyes. "I do care about my brother, and to this day, I will always wonder what ever happened to him."
"But?"
"But I also know this. My brother is watching over me. He is supporting me, cheering me on, and maybe, just maybe, I will see him one day."
I then raise my hand.
"What is that thing you do?" I ask, looking at my hand. "When you are asking for a little bit of luck? Something with the fingers?"
"You crossed them," Ms. Justice answers. She raises her hand and crosses her fingers. Copying her, I try to cross my fingers, but my armor is making it hard. Instead, I pull one finger back and push one finger forward.
"That works," Ms. Justice says, laughing. Breathing in and out through her nose, Ms. Justice sits back down beside me. Her eyes are still filled with water, and her nose is red, but she has a small smile.
We stay quiet, sitting beside each other for a bit, until Ms. Justice does something. Leaning forward, she wraps her arms around me.
"Thank you," she says.
Ms. Justice then laughs and hugs me tighter.