Blend the Light

We Need Your Help

"What?" A chorus of questions erupt from the audience.

"Shut up! Adrien's trying to speak!" Jay leaps from his seat, slamming his fists down on the table. He fixes everyone with an icy glare

"But you saw what they did to us when they swarmed our base! Hawk got captured, and many of our own died! My sister is now laying in a coffin. What if we can't take them? What if this is the end of T-LOOT-D?" Someone looks to Adrien as they speak. Their voice cracks.

"What if Guthrie Harper is too powerful? He ripped Hawk in half, splitting his Blended form apart from him."

"I will not force anyone to go if they do not wish to. All I ask is that you hear me out. If we let Guthrie Harper and his Wasteland guards have the chance to attack first, we would be letting them prepare and work out every last detail. We would be giving them the opportunity to make the attack that they want. If we attack first, we would have the chance to catch them off guard, and flush them out."

"And how'd that work out last time?" Jay laughs humorlessly at the sneer.

"You have all seen Guthrie Harper's might. And yeah, he's strong. But he's not invincible. We've gotten countless Gladiators out of the Wasteland. We rescued Hawk. We-." Jay is cut off by Lily as she makes her way to stand beside Adrien.

"You all got me out of the Wasteland. Quoting Bear and several other Gladiators, nothing can last forever. You can't stay at the top for eternity; you have to come back down. I'm fighting with Adrien. Guthrie Harper won't get away with all the blood on his hands." Lily crosses her arms.

"How are you going to fight? You won't draw the first drop of blood." Adrien's losing them. People are giving up. What if we can't get enough to fight against Guthrie Harper? Ask the Raydownians. They believe in T-LOOT-D.

"I'll work behind the scenes. I'll help plan, and help those who get injured."

"I'm fighting too," I start as I join Adrien and Lily on the table. "If you guys don't want to, then so be it, but I'm going to be extremely disappointed if it's just the three of us. We've stood against Guthrie Harper for so long, working under the radar. Raydowne didn't know we existed until the fight I got captured in, and we rescued so many Gladiators. If you don't fight with us, you're giving up. You're giving up on T-LOOT-D, and everything we've stood for. You're letting everyone who still believes down. If you aren't going to fight, then get out, and I never want to see you again. The only people I want to see in here are those who still hold the unshakable belief that we will bring an end to Guthrie Harper and his Wasteland guards and free the Gladiators and all of those who are trapped under his control. So, who's fighting?" I shake with rage at the thought of any T-LOOT-Dian who no longer believes that we will defeat Guthrie Harper. Rex growls with a murderous glint in his eye as he trots up to the table, jumping onto it and sitting next to me.

"I'm ready." Jay joins us.

"Count me in!" Vladimir jogs to stand beside Adrien.

"Don't leave without me." Sasha drags Sarah alongside her as she walks up to stand next to Lily.

"Can I come?" Remy looks up at Adrien.

"Um. Well, how about you stay here with Hawk and guard the base?" Adrien crouches to address Remy one-on-one. It takes me a moment to fully process his words.

"Wait, what?"

"Hawk, you haven't fully recovered from being captured. You got home yesterday, and you need time." Adrien's voice is gentle.

"So you expect me to stay behind?"

"You are going to protect the base."

"Like hell I'm gonna do that. I'm coming whether you want me to or not. I'm going to fight beside you all. There's no way I'm missing the second when Guthrie Harper falls." I glower at Adrien. Does he really think I'm going to stay behind?