Museum Studies

The Final Hurdle

Time passed, the customers left, and La Munequita closed its doors for the night. Wamuu waited for Santana to finish up, and walked alongside his brother as they headed home. The pavements of New York were slick with chilly puddles, and Christmas lights were starting to appear on the lampposts, and strung over the wide boulevard like artificial fireflies.

"I want to be your brother again. Not just another servant of Kars. I want to go back to how it used to be, back before we knew what Kars was really like." Wamuu eventually said as he walked alongside the redhead. Esidisi was getting counselling for his ex-relationship, and was attempting to patch things up with his sons, yet there was still work to be done with Wamuu and Santana. It had been so long since they'd been actual brothers, so there was a lot of catching up to be done. Santana stopped walking as Wamuu said this, and looked up at his older brother.

"Really?" He asked.

"More than anything." Wamuu replied. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't be there for..." He was cut off by Santana suddenly hugging him, nuzzling his face into his shoulder.

"Missed you..." He muttered into Wamuu's shoulder. "Missed my big brother. Not a puppet, not a servant."

"We should really try to spend time together. That's what siblings should do, ideally." Wamuu said as Santana pulled back.

"But where?"

"Oh, I have an idea..."

"ARE YOU READY TO ROLL, EVERYONE? I WANNA HEAR YOI SCREEEEAAAM!"

Oingo, the referee for the Big Apple Battle-axes, screamed into the microphone with all the force he could muster. It was the inter-state roller derby championships tonight, and the Battle-axes would go up a league if they could beat the Austin All-Stars. The All-Stars had gone over 12 years without a defeat, and their jammer made most sane people run for the hills. Roberta pulled on her skates, and turned to her team for a pep talk. As the jammer, Roberta would have to follow her pack through the jams. In exactly one hour, either the Battle-axes would be in another league, or the All-Stars would've reached a lucky number 13 years of no defeats.

"All players to their places!" Oingo announced. Roberta rolled into her place behind the pack, and felt her gooseflesh prickle as she saw her rival for tonight. The Austin Jammer- a huge brawny brute of a girl, called Dixie Chiq- glared down at her, blonde braids sticking from underneath her helmet. She wore tha gaudy red and blue uniform of her team, decorated with little white stars here and there.

"Better watch your back, Yankee girl." Dixie snapped. Roberta stuck in her gumshield, and just glared back as the two women stood at the jammer line.

"Now play nice, Dixie..." One of the rival jammer's teammates said.

"People don't get nowhere by bein' nice, Dolly! Now shuddup and get in place!" Dixie snapped. Roberta took a deep breath, as those who opposed the All-Stars were known for ending up in hospital. And, of course, the referee always saw nothing...

"BOBBIE! BOBBIE! GIVE 'EM HELL, SCARE DINKUM!"

Roberta's head whipped around. Standing amongst the crowd were Wamuu and Santana, both wearing facepaint in the Battle-axes' signature colour of bright pink and white. Santana was wearing a baseball cap with holsters and straws for two neon blue slushies, and Wamuu was even carrying pom-poms, like some sort of gigantic cheerleader.

"What the hell is that? Wait, are you that crazy chick with the Aztec vampire boyfriend?"

"Technically he's a pre-olmec indigenous pre-Columbian non-human male-presenting vampiric entity. But yeah, that's me." Roberta smirked, flexing her archaeological knowledge. Dixie growled like a wild dog as Oingo blew the whistles, and the teams were off!

The tension was so heavy that Roberta could've cut it with a knife, but she just had to keep her head in the game. Kylie lead the team, and Roberta kept her head down and her game face on as she lapped the opposition's jammers. The first two-minute jam ended, and a thirty second break was called to get back into position. Both teams already had one point apiece, and the crowd was going wild. The jams continued, skaters lapping each others, and the All-Stars played nasty. By the end of the first half the score was 14-20 to the All-Stars, and Dixie was getting vicious. Roberta was luckily pretty nimble, but other team members hadn't been so lucky. Valerie had been barged into the barrier, leaving her out of the game with a bloody nose. There had been several substitutions, which led to a problem-

Roberta was the only experienced jammer left in their team without an injury. If she went out they'd have to hand the role over to one of the more amateur players, and they'd have no chance of winning. She'd have to just keep going on, like a gladiatrix in the coliseum. And good god, Dixie was one fierce beast of an opponent. She'd never break any rules, but she'd always be conveniently passing any opponent who went spiraling out of control, or smacking into the ground. Roberta and Kylie were the only ones of the original lineup left, as all of the blockers had been substituted. There was no time for mistakes, no time for clumsiness- Roberta had to win this for her teammates!

The whistle blew, and the second half started. Roberta kept skating on, dodging rivals with ease, and the score was soon evened to 20-21, with 10 minutes to go. Roberta lapped the opposition again and again, skating past until...

THWACK!

Dixie lashed out with an elbow, and barged her straight in the stomach. Roberta was shoved to the ground, just as one of Dixie's jammers went past, rolling straight over her. Oingo blew the whistle, and Roberta gave a groggy groan as she got to her feet. Her nose drooled with blood, and her head stung like a hive of wasps.

"Penalty! She hit with her elbows, that's against regulations!" Kylie called.

"Dixie, that ain't nice..." Dolly sighed.

"Yankee bitch should've stayed out the way! It ain't my fault that she's too clumsy to dodge my elbows." Dixie sneered. Roberta daubed at her bloody nose, and Oingo skated over to her.

"Dinkum, get onto the bench. You're not fit to skate."

"I've gotta do this!" She replied, scrubbing away the blood and pulling her helmet straight. Roberta got back into position, and Dixie stared at her with indignation.

"Seriously? You're staying on?"

Two points. Ten minutes. She could do this!

"Just give up, Yankee girl. That trophy is mine. Or are you gonna go cry about that bloody nose? That's funny, I could almost laugh." Dixie added.

"Almost? Are you not entertained?!" Wamuu roared from the bleachers. Both jammers took their positions, and the whistle sounded again. Every bone in Roberta's body hurt, her skin was dotted with bruises, but she just had to keep going. Two points! Two points! She reached a draw with the All-Stars with two minutes to go, and glared down the track, filled with adrenaline and fury.

One more jam. She could do this!

The whistle sounded yet again, and Roberta and Dixie were neck and neck. They each circled their opponents, again and again, as the clock ticked down, down, down. Roberta gritted her teeth, pushed herself forward on her skates, and shot past the rival jammer just as the final whistle sounded.

"MATCH! THE BIG APPLE BATTLE-AXES HAVE WON THE LEAGUE!" Oingo screamed into the microphone, killing off his vocal chords. Roberta skated over to her incapacitated teammates, as Wamuu pulled her into a bear hug.

"You did it, Roberta, my beautiful warrior princess!" He cried.

"Can see why you like the human..." Santana laughed. Roberta shook hands with Dolly (Dixie was off having a sulk in the ladies' toilets) and faced her friends with an exhausted grin.

"If I don't drop down dead in the next three minutes, who's up for a round or five at Club Tropicana? We've earned it." She smiled. Wamuu picked her up in the bridal carry, and the Battle-axes cheered as they headed down to that familiar, much- loved bar for a celebration.