The Talk

Ms. Justice:

Running, I leap into the air and slam my shield down onto Fire-Ice Man. He screams as he stumbles back. Hitting an empty shelf, he looks back at me and raises his right hand.

Ice shooting out, I bring up my shield and block it. Ice covering my shield, I push back.

JumpStart:

Landing on some snow, I slam my body against the shelf and pushes it.

"Come on," I say. "Come on."

Hearing something coming from behind me, I turn around to see SpeedBlade running toward me at super-speed. Jumping into the air, he also slams his own body onto the shelf, the whole thing tipping over.

Ms. Justice:

"Timber," I yell, smiling as I watch the shelf tips over. Fire-Ice Man still trying to freeze me shoots out his other hand and burns the shelf.

"Noo," he screams as now, a burning t.v shelf falls on him. He pulls back his ice hand and tries to stop it but it's too late. The whole thing drops right onto him.

With Fire-Ice Man buried under a shelf, I let out a sigh and start to break the ice off my shield.

"Awesome job guys," I say, shooting SpeedBlade and JumpStart a thumb-up as they approach me. Stepping onto the fallen shelf, it starts to shake.

"Oh no," JumpStart says, a stream of fire shooting through seconds later. Before the fire could hit him, SpeedBlade grabs JumpStart and runs away.

The two of them running to my side, we prepare for another fight as Fire-Ice Man bursts through the shelf.

"You're," he starts, stumbling toward us. "You're going, you're going to regret that."

Raising both his hands at us, he takes another step before falling down.

"Uhhh," JumpStart says, looking at me. "Is he down?"

"I think so," I answer, lowering my shield. I couldn't be sure, but the fire on Fire-Ice Man's left side seems to be dying down. It's only a few minutes later before they died out completely. "Yeah, I think he's down for the count."

"Awesome," SpeedBlade says, sheathing his sword before dropping to his knee. "I'm feeling very hot."

Looking at some melted snow on the store's floor, SpeedBlade grabs a small handful and slams it down on his armor.

"You know what might help with that," JumpStart says, smiling. "If you took off that armor of your."

"I will not," SpeedBlade replies, grabbing some more handfuls and slamming them all over his armor. As he does, I see a little smoke come off each time.

"Come on," I say, nudging my head. "There are cups of water waiting for us at the OutPost. The police will take it from here."

Leaving the store, we find a manhole cover and jump down it. While walking through the sewer, my mind finds its way back to someone else.

"It had been a week since we fought Nitro. One full week since the four of us took down that gassy bastard. One full week since QuickShot and I, since we kissed. Ever since then, I feel things between the two of us have been awkward. I mean, I don't know about QuickShot, but whenever we're together or even when I look at her, I feel butterflies in my stomach."

I pause for a bit to listen to JumpStart SpeedBlade as they talk.

"Ice and fire," JumpStart says, "Wow. You know, that's actually my first time ever seeing snow. I've heard of snow before but never seen it until now."

"I've seen snow before," SpeedBlade says, "Many times in fact. It snows every winter back where I lived. We never really like it. It was always too cold."

"Yeah," JumpStart says, "That's snow for you."

"I want her to know," I think, "I want to know what that kiss meant. I mean, she kissed me, so had to mean QuickShot had feelings for me, right? Maybe I'm overthinking this. No, I'm not. QuickShot kissed me! She kissed me."

While still overthinking it, I stop when I see the wall wide open.

"What in the world," I say, bringing up my shield. "Why is the door open?"

"I don't know," SpeedBlade replies, pulling out his sword.

"Maybe it was QuickShot," JumpStart adds, spinning his stun batons. "Maybe she accidentally left it open."

"Doesn't sound like her," I say, "Be careful."

The three of us carefully approach the door before walking inside. As we enter, we see the OutPost is a total mess.

Our living room is destroyed. All our chairs and tables and even our rug are either burning or turned over.

"I'm getting really sick of fire today," I say, stomping out a small blaze on the rug.

"What happened here," SpeedBlade asks, kneeling to pick up a piece of one of our chairs.

"Hey," JumpStart says, waving his arm. "I found QuickShot. She looks bad. Get the medical kit."

Not wasting a second, I run to the kitchen. Thankfully, the mess seems isolated to the living room. The kitchen is fine.

Grabbing the medical kit, I run to where QuickShot is. As I approach her, I see her eyes closed. She's laying on JumpStart's knee, and she seems a little beaten up. I notice her bow nearby and she's wearing her quiver. I ignore them and focus on applying some rubbing alcohol to QuickShot's cut.

"QuickShot," I whisper, "QuickShot. Can you hear me? Are you okay? Please, say something."

Seconds later, QuickShot's eyes snap open.

"What," she screams, shooting up and knocking us back. "What happened? Where, where is he?"

"You mean JumpStart," SpeedBlade asks. "He's right there."

JumpStart waves.

"No, not JumpStart," QuickShot yells, getting up and running to JumpStart's room.

"Hey," JumpStart screams, running after her. "What are you doing?"

By now, we're all standing side by side and looking into JumpStart's room. His ransacked room.

"My room," JumpStart yells, dropping to his knees and pulling his hair. "What happened? All my stuff. My drawers. My hammock. My, my boots?"

"Those are my boots," I say, recognizing the star-covered red and blue boots. "Why do you have my boots?"

"I'll tell you later," JumpStart answers before turning to QuickShot. "QuickShot, what happened here? Who did this?"

"I don't know," QuickShot replies. "Someone entered the OutPost, we fought and he won, and then I guess he stole a flash drive from your room."

"The flash drive," I repeat, "What flash drive?"

"Uhh," JumpStart says, getting on his feet. "I'm guessing the flash drive I stole from Nitro."

"Nitro," we all repeat.

Stepping back and holding up his hands, JumpStart starts to explain.

"Shortly after we took down Nitro, I learned he was trying to steal some information from the building, and out of curiosity, I copy the information onto my own flash drive."

"Really," I say, crossing my arms. "You stole that information."

"I, I did steal it," JumpStart says, nodding his head. "But honestly, it was just pointless stuff and I'm not even sure what to do with it."

"What are you talking about," QuickShot says, "What did you find on that flash drive?"

"It was nothing more than just a mixture of a bunch of different metals," JumpStart answers.

"A mixture of metals," QuickShot repeats. "Wait, what is that?"

"A mixture of metals," JumpStart says again. "A bunch of metals all mix together. I think it was supposed to be for something else but I couldn't be sure. The mixture is the only thing Nitro tried to steal."

"Why would someone like Nitro want to steal that," SpeedBlade asks.

"Call it a hunch," I answer, "But I don't think it was for him. It must have been for him. The man who attacked the OutPost. My question is, how did you know where to look? I thought we were the only ones who knew about the OutPost."

"I thought the same," SpeedBlade says. "The button is hidden, and even upon closer look, it looks like another part of the wall. Despite this, however, he knew where to push."

"He also knew who we are," QuickShot adds, all of us turning to her now. "He knew all our names, and which room is JumpStart."

"This guy knew everything about us," JumpStart says. "Where we lived. How to get in. Who we are. How?"

"No idea," I start, "But now that I think about it. Guys, I think everyone we fought recently is connected to the man who broke in. I mean, think about it. Unstoppable and Lighting Storm working together on the same night to break one prisoner out of IronWall. Nitro attacking that building to steal some recipe for some special metal, and even tonight. While Fire-Ice Man was attacking, we were all out of the base so he could come in and grab the drive."

"If that is true," QuickShot says, "Then we need to find out who was in that cell."

"I'm on it," JumpStart says, turning to leave but QuickShot grabs and stops him.

"But before you do that," QuickShot says. "Do you think you can add some security to the OutPost first? The three of us will help any way we can."

"Of course," JumpStart says.

Letting JumpStart go, QuickShot turns to SpeedBlade.

"For now SpeedBlade, please clean up."

SpeedBlade nods his head and runs to the living room.

As QuickShot turns to me, I talk first.

"Hey, can we talk for a bit? You know, about what happened."

"Yeah," QuickShot says, nodding her head. We walk out of JumpStart's room and into mine. Once inside, we stand facing each other.

Taking a deep breath, trying to figure out what I say, QuickShot beats me to it.

"I am so sorry," QuickShot says, "I am so sorry about what I did. I, I didn't know what I was thinking. It just happen, and I'm sorry."

"What," I say, swallowing a lump in my throat.

Without saying another word, QuickShot turns to leave.

"Come on," she says, "It's going to take a while to clean everything. The sooner we start, the sooner it'll all be over."

QuickShot leaves and I stay for a while. Eventually, I wipe a tear and follow after her.