Superhero CITY - The Test

Chapter Ten (edited)

The attack on Imagine Demons and been brutal and far more efficient than expected. I could see the sole female member on team Bravo shift uncomfortably as the flames faded away.

We flinched each time one of their names flashed in the corner above them, the glowing whit text being struck through with a heavy black line. First to be crossed off as Julian Wimpleson, then Timothy Turner and Damon Argent, and finally Cameron De La Ville. Only once all four of them had been taken off did their team name take its turn to flash, three heavy orange bars of light striking horizontally through the centre of it.

I hadn't dared to think that we'd be able to take down more than a couple of people, let alone an entire team in the opening of the match. By the wide eyes, open mouths and tensing muscles of team Bravo, they clearly had not expected that we would be able to achieve that either.

"Shoot!" I exclaimed under my breath.

We had just painted a target on our backs without intending to do so. I knew that they knew that we were good fighters, the four of us were all amongst the thirty-seven grade twelve students who took part in the academy's interschool duelling league. The other forty-six were in year thirteen, and I knew that both the Bravo captain and the girl were amongst them.

But we had showed our hand too early, and now I knew that any lingering hesitation for us being younger and less experienced would have left their minds. We couldn't surprise them with a powerful attack if they were expecting it, and to make it worse, I hadn't even intended to defeat Imagine Demons with that shadow fire, just to get their attention away from Allison so that she could hit them back with their own ammunition.

"Lia, hold back and cover us whilst Chuckie and I go in for the frontal attack. Allie, come from the left flank once we've drawn them out into the middle of the circle."

I didn't dare take my gaze away from Bravo, but was easily able to hear the affirming mumbles that drifted through the still air behind me.

We moved like the well oiled machine that we were, Natalia was the only new member to our mix, and she'd been training on and off with us for the last three years. It was actually why she handled the projectiles and cover in our fights, she couldn't quite read Chuckie, Allison and I like we could each other, and didn't always instinctively move the right way to best support us, but she had better aim than a lot of sharpshooters. Paired with the fact that never either hesitated or rushed into a situation – despite her red hair – she became a deadly adversary and the perfect teammate without getting in our way.

She was already tossing shuriken at them, aiming them over Bravo's heads and skimming against their sides to corral them into approaching us in the centre of the triangle. They had to dodge to avoid the flying metal stars, and were heading exactly where we wanted them.

Chuckie and his sister were already approaching them ahead of me whilst Natalia held Bravo back and kept them from spreading out. They swung their seax blades so fast that I could see the edges blurring and hear the metal ringing through the air.

It was an intimidation technique, and they were doing it almost too well. One of Bravo's boys – I think his name was Carlton, but I couldn't be sure – flinched and took a step back when Allison's blade sliced the air beside his head. I bit my lip as I tried to think everything over. As I saw it, there were two options for us and neither would be easy; either we toned ourselves back and threw the match, or we somehow pulled ourselves together and managed enough to annihilate our opponents.

A close call either way would not cut it. Even though we were in the same training group for the Test, and as such would not be fighting each other in the first rounds of the contest, they were good enough that I felt there was a high enough chance we would face them in the later rounds.