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  “I am Blue Caracal, leader of the Feline Warriors,” she called out, pointing the strobe at her. “Surrender without a fight, Evil Maria, and I can restore you to your normal form!”

  “Evil Maria? Did you just call me evil?” Maria asked with a laugh, brandishing her spear, “I’m not evil—I’m still me, but improved! And no one tells me what to do; especially not some gata who doesn’t mind being seen in public wearing that polyester-blend weirdness!”

  “How is this weird compared to what you’re wearing right now?” Blue Caracal cried, pulling on the fabric of her suit and letting it snap back. “You know what? I don’t have time for—”

  Maria suddenly appeared beside her, her spear poised to strike. Her attacks were relentless, coming one after the other as she tried to break through her guard; the force of them easily driving her backwards in the slick grass as she blocked them with the handle of her rod. They exchanged blows a few more times before she realized she couldn’t keep up with the petroite-enhanced girl indefinitely. Even though she was mitigating her physical attacks, she was still losing ground rapidly.

  Blue Caracal narrowed her eyes and tried to build her elemental attack a second time, the air around her growing humid as the spell attempted to take form behind her. She’d never used it in the middle of hand-to-hand combat before, and she could tell her lack of focus wasn’t letting it reach its full potential.

  She stretched out her hand, the burst of water forcing Maria back several feet. As expected, the spell wasn’t nearly as strong as it should be. It still created the opening she needed though, and she gripped the handle of her rod with both hands as she bore down on her. She’d only used it once before, and definitely not like this. She prayed that what she was about to do next wouldn’t break it.

  She swung the strobe like a bat, putting all her strength into the attack. Maria raised her spear to defend herself but she was too slow. It was struck from her grasp, flying into the ditch behind them. She looked at her empty hands for a moment before they clenched into fists.

  “Maria,” Blue Caracal said firmly, “I can help you.”

  For a moment, her foe seemed to almost deflate, her shoulders slumping as she stared at her pitifully. The expression quickly passed and a cold, defiant glare replaced it.

  “Como si pudieras...” she growled. “All you will do is take this power away!”

  As if you could...

  Those were brazen words for someone who’d lost her weapon. Why did she think she still had the upper hand?

  “You’ve been corrupted by some kind of unknown element. You have to let me—”

  Her vision went black then returned as if she had blinked inadvertently. There was a strange pressure in her shoulder now, and she realized she was hunched over slightly. As she straightened up—trying to relieve what felt like a sore muscle—she moved her left arm. A searing pain tore through her back and caused her chest to tighten, making it hard to breathe. Blue Caracal let out a strange noise as she felt compelled to cough, the resulting pain forcing her to her knees.

  “Michael!” Maria cried out.

  Their fight had lasted less than a minute! How had he returned so quickly? Her heart was pounding in her ears as she watched Evil Mike rush by her, his twisted black bow held in one hand. When she saw the weapon she attempted to reach over her shoulder, causing her to gasp sharply and withdraw her hand as another wave of pain consumed her.

  She curled forward until her forehead rested on her knees, trying to think through the agony. She wanted to shut down entirely—she wanted to lie down, to sleep. Anything to escape this!

  She coughed again, a gurgle coming from her chest when she tried to catch her breath and failed. She felt lightheaded now, the strobe slipping from her grasp as a vice-like pressure gripped her skull.

  A detached kind of calm was beginning to surface, a matter-of-fact voice rising to the top of the jumbled mess that passed as her thoughts. This wasn’t like before—there was no going to the hospital and playing this off as an accident. She was going to die.

  She stared at her legs, noticing the red splatters on them for the first time. When had that happened? Her face felt tight, like someone was pulling on her skin. She coughed again, watching drops of blood pepper the legs of her bodysuit. Oh. That was from her.

  Blue Caracal lifted her head, trying to piece together a familiar noise pattern. Was... someone calling her name?

  Something touched her and she tried to pull away, thinking it was Evil Mike or Maria coming to finish her off.

  “It’s me!” a familiar voice said. “It’s only me.”

  She relaxed and turned her head towards Pink Ocelot. “T-there’s an... arrow in... my b-back. Isn’t there?”

  “Uh...”

  She coughed again, the effort of even saying that much making her feel as if she were drowning.

  “Dios mio!” Red Panther exclaimed, dropping to her knees beside her, “What happened?”

  Before she could answer, she heard Green Jaguar join in. “Are they still here?” he barked activating his lenses.

  “No, they bailed when I showed up,” Pink Ocelot growled, “She tried to fight them without us!”

  “What? That can’t be true!” Purple Tiger yelped.

  “Why did you do something so stupid? You knew we were on the way!” he cried. He sounded angry.

  “They had... split up. I thought... I could take one o-out. While the other... was gone. Instead h-he got... me.”

  “Why are you blaming her for getting hurt?” Purple Tiger yelled as she coughed again, tasting the metallic tinge of her own blood as she did so.

  “She shouldn’t have put herself in danger like that!” he snapped.

  “This whole gig is dangerous! We’re never not in danger!” she screamed.

  “N-no. He’s right,” she gurgled, struggling to get the words out, “I thought... that since I am.... leader, I needed... t-to be first in. S-should’ve... waited.”

  “Come on guys, we need to get her to the hospital again,” White Lion told them, his voice breaking, “You two can fight later!”

  “I... told her... I could heal her,” Blue Caracal mumbled, “Refused. Said.... being e-evil... made her... powerful.”

  “Ugh, that sounds like Maria,” Green Jaguar said, shaking his head. “She’s so damn stubborn!”

  “What about your new weapon?” Pink Ocelot suddenly exclaimed, “You said you told her it could heal her—what if you used it on yourself?”

  She coughed again, a body wracking spasm that made white sparks appear in her vision. The others were silent, waiting for her to say something.

  “Give me...” she said, curling her fingers against the ground.

  Pink Ocelot placed the strobe on the ground in front of her, and she pressed her palm against the orb as she peered into its hazy depths. It was all she could do to keep herself upright at this point; what she really wanted to do was to put her head on Cobalt’s lap and close her eyes.

  “You guys, she’s lost a lot of blood,” Red Panther said quietly, “She might not be able to do this.”

  “Why is this happening again?” she heard Sable growl, “I’m gonna fucking murder those two!”

  The words were barely audible, each one forced from her mouth with a shallow, shuddering breath. “Strobe. Aquatic. Remedial.”

  The orb flared to life beneath her hand sending a warm, soothing sensation up her arm. It flooded throughout her body, making her feel as if she were waking up from a long nap. The drowsy chill that had gripped her was gone, replaced by a surge of energy she’d never felt before. The blue-white light faded and she pressed her hands against her chest as she drew her first deep breath in what felt like an eternity.

  “It... worked?” Pink Ocelot asked hesitantly, his eyes wide.

  Blue Caracal threw her arms around him, her hands gripping the back of his uniform as she hid her face from the other Warriors.

  It wasn’t like they hadn’t embraced one another befor
e. When they were kids hugs had been given freely, an innocent expression of their friendship. As they’d grown older it had turned into things like high-fives or playful shoving—but even those actions were still affectionate in their own way. They hadn’t done anything like this in a long time, though. Why did it feel so comforting despite her embarrassment? And why didn’t she want it to end?

  As she was about to pull away he put his own arms around her, clasping her tightly to him. She let out a little gasp as she felt his forehead against her shoulder.

  “Don’t ever do that again,” he whispered, his voice faltering. She heard him let out a shaky breath. Was he... crying?

  Cobalt wasn’t one of those guys who thought emotions made them weak, but he wasn’t exactly the emotional type either. His typical reaction to stress was to shut down and try to get through things as calmly and efficiently as possible before needing time alone to recover from it. But when faced with the prospect of losing her...

  The thought that she meant so much to him was overwhelming, and she wondered if it was possible to freeze time so that they could stay in this moment for a while longer—without it growing more awkward than it already was.

  “Uh, you guys... we have bad guys to chase after still,” White Lion reminded them.

  “Your sister’s obviously suffering from low oxygen levels!” Purple Tiger exclaimed, “Give her a minute to come to her senses. She did almost die again, you know.”

  She hated to admit it, but her brother was right. They had to deal with Evil Mike and Maria before they trashed the entire city.

  Blue Caracal let her arms fall to her sides and pulled away, still resting on her knees. “He’s right—we need to go after them. But no more splitting up. This time we do it as a team.”

  Chapter 5

  Three of Swords

  “Is it safe to be up here?” White Lion asked, grasping one of the latticed supports of the cell tower with both hands.

  “As long as you don’t touch anything above us it should be fine,” Red Panther assured him, “After all, maintenance workers need to get up here too.”

  Green Jaguar sat on the edge of a thick beam and stared at the city below them through his lenses. In one corner, they passively measured the distance from there to ground level to be one-hundred and fourteen feet. There was a lot of data on the overlay—his heart rate, the wind speed and direction, the ambient temperature—but none of it was useful to him right now. He scratched an itch on the back of one of his hands and the display started analyzing his fingerprints, so he pushed them up onto the top of his head.

  Someone sat beside him, and he was surprised when he turned to see Blue Caracal there. He had expected it to be Sara or even Sable.

  “Is this going to become a thing with you?” Green Jaguar asked.

  “What, sitting next to you?” she asked, looking confused. “I can move if—”

  “No, I mean the whole rushing off and almost dying thing. The first time, sure. No one expected a half-naked homicidal alien chick to come smashing into an already tense situation. But this time...”

  “I know it was stupid. I know I got lucky,“ she said with a sigh, “I’ve only been doing this a little longer than you have, and I’m supposed to be the leader! If I can’t handle a sneak attack, or take out one lone enemy by myself, then why the hell am I leader at all?”

  “Being a leader isn’t about being the strongest,” Pink Ocelot told her, sitting gingerly beside him.

  “Who asked for your opinion?” Green Jaguar grumbled, crossing his arms. He’d been about to make the same point!

  “I didn’t realize this was a private conversation since we’re on a cell phone tower a thousand miles above the city and neither one of you is whispering!”

  “We’re not even forty meters up. Don’t be dramatic, Pinky.”

  Pink Ocelot glowered at him. “Don’t call me that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t like it.”

  “But you’re the pink one.”

  “I don’t like that either!”

  “Guys!” Blue Caracal interjected, “Knock it off. We need to focus on finding Vetrina’s runaway minions.”

  “See? That sounded leader-ish,” Green Jaguar told her.

  “She’s just good at being bossy!” White Lion said.

  “I will throw you off this tower if you don’t shut up,” she snapped. “Green Jaguar, you know those two the best. If they were going someplace to hide, where would they be?”

  “The Saphore store at the outlet mall?” he replied. At least, that’s where Maria would be, and it was difficult for Mike to say no to her so he’d probably be there too.

  Red Panther crossed her arms. “You can’t just assume Maria is going to head for the first makeup

  store you can name.”

  “She really likes makeup though!”

  “She also really likes those limited edition Telon convertibles, but we didn’t find her at a car dealership! They were at a park.”

  “Sweet Step doesn’t have a Telon dealership,” Pink Ocelot said. “The closest we have to a luxury car lot is the Nexus dealer over on Lotus Street.”

  “She was mad at Mike about wasting time at Tammy’s, so she seems to have a goal beyond just destroying things,” Blue Caracal mused.

  “Did she say anything else?” Green Jaguar asked.

  “Just that they should take over the world.”

  “She does like to be in charge,” he nodded.

  “Vetrina seems like that type as well. No wonder they clashed right away,” Purple Tiger said.

  “You said Maria was angry, right?” Red Panther asked.

  “At Mike.”

  “So what else is new?” he laughed, “She’s always mad at him for something. When we were attacked, she was pissed at the school because—”

  Red Panther cut him off. “That’s it! Maria’s mad and seeking control—she’s probably headed for Twin Tides!”

  “She hates that place though,” he argued. “Why would she go there?”

  Everyone stared at him.

  “What?” he exclaimed, growing more irritated by the second. “She’d rather die than be at school after hours!”

  “Warrior of Insight my ass,” he heard White Lion mutter. Before he could respond Red Panther put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump a bit.

  “That’s why she’s going to destroy it,” she said solemnly.

  To his surprise, the lenses picked up traces of Mike and Maria as they entered the neighborhood outside Twin Tides Academy. Well, not them specifically, but a sudden spike of petroite that only continued climbing in intensity as they neared the school. Unless Vetrina had converted more people, it could only be those two.

  “I think I’ve locked in on them,” Green Jaguar reported, tapping the arm of his lenses to bring up a blueprint of the grounds. Since it was green due to the lenses, could it be called a greenprint?

  “Wow, good call on that Red Panther,” Pink Ocelot said. “We could’ve wasted hours trying to locate them.”

  “She’s hardly ever wrong,” Purple Tiger said, landing heavily on top of a streetlight. The bulb flickered before coming back on, and as he watched it the lenses registered a frayed wire inside—almost as an afterthought. Sable was easy to piss off and the urge to turn it into a crack at her weight was strong, but he bit it back. Besides, she might take it the wrong way coming from him and he didn’t want to spend the next year or so being forced to apologize for a half-assed joke. They did have to work together, after all. Plus he still wanted the chance to eat her cooking—she wasn’t hot, but her pot roast was. Wait, did that make sense? It did, right?

  “Well?” Blue Caracal asked him, her impatient tone cutting through his thoughts.

  “Well what?”

  “What part of the school are they in?”

  “I, uh...” his eyes fumbled across the display as he switched over to tracking heat signatures, “They’re in the... they’re by the wall
where we eat lunch!”

  “Southwest corner of the campus,” Red Panther explained, pointing past the bike racks. “Should we split up three on each one, or do we take them both on at once?”

  “If we separate them, they’ll have less opportunity to cover one another,” Blue Caracal replied.

  “We know Evil Mike has a long range, so we’ll need our distance people on him,” Pink Ocelot said. Both he and White Lion turned on him, their frantic whispers overlapping one another.

  “That’s not how it works at all, you dumbass!”

  “You’ve gotta keep him close, idiot!”

  “Would you stop fighting already?” Purple Tiger hissed.

  “No!” White Lion said, chopping the air in front of him for emphasis, “The rules are: Ranged DPS on the close-combat fighters, get in close for the ranged guys, and always always kill the healer first!”

  The kid was right. Red Panther and Pink Ocelot looked confused while Blue Caracal and Purple Tiger nodded, seeming to agree. He’d have to explain it to Sara later.

  “We can use the walls for cover,” Blue Caracal said. “Purple Tiger, White Lion, and Green Jaguar seem to be our ranged fighters, so they can distract Maria. The rest of us will deal with Mike.”

  “Let’s move up to the roof,” he said to White Lion and Purple Tiger, “We might be able to pick Maria off without Mike noticing.”

  Green Jaguar heard the startled cries of his friends as the other Warriors attacked. He leapt on top of the building and quickly made his way to the other edge, fingers on the button of his laser. He fired ahead of Maria as Mike vanished around the corner, forcing her to turn back. She raised her spear to block two star-shaped projectiles, and Purple Tiger waved at her before unleashing a barrage of energy beams, each one leaving a puddle of darkness on the ground before their target as she used her weapon to vault out of their reach.

  “Do we have her attention?” he asked, shooting at her again before she could recover. Maria turned to see where Mike had gone, and ended up taking the shot through the end of her braid. Her head whipped in their direction, and she began to run towards them.