Lightning Storm

QuickShot:

"I do not think we can eat these," I say, poking one of JumpStart's meatballs with my arrow. As I poke it, the tip of my arrow breaks off.

"What did you do," Ms. Justice asks, looking at one of the meatballs. Actually picking one of them up, she stares at it. They are as black as charcoal and harder than bullets.

Slamming the meatball into the table, a part of the table breaks off.

"Maybe we should take JumpStart off the dinner routine," I say, using another arrow to pierce through the meatball.

"Oh yes," JumpStart yells, raising his arms. "Yes. Please. I don't belong in the kitchen. I belong in a place where I can build things. After all, I am a...What did you call me again?"

"A mechanical elf," Ms. Justice answers.

"Yeah, I am a mechanical elf."

JumpStart then turns his head. Showing off his pointed elf ears, he starts to move them back and forth.

"I mean, come on. I build most of the things here. I even did all the wiring for the lights, and believe me, that was not easy."

"We know," SpeedBlade starts, walking over to the dinner table with us. "But what you need to know is it wasn't easy for us to find everything you need. So don't think your work is any more important than ours."

"I wasn't," JumpStart says. "I'm saying unless it's a campfire, I don't cook."

"Too bad we don't cook with campfire anymore," Justice says, laughing as she reaches over for her cup. Taking a sip, she spills when the alarms in the OutPost go off. All the lightbulbs change from yellow to flashing red, and there's ringing echoing throughout.

Wiping her mouth, she puts the cup down and looks at JumpStart. Nodding his head, JumpStart gets up and runs over to the makeshift computer he built. The rest of us gather behind him as he starts to work.

"What's going on," Ms. Justice asks.

"There's trouble in the city," JumpStart answers, turning back to face her. "Seriously, you don't know? Ever since I built this two years ago, the alarms have gone off at least a few hundred times."

Justice staring at JumpStart, he bursts out laughing.

"I'm sorry," JumpStart says. "I'm sorry. I know what you meant. I just wanted to mess with you."

While Justice lightly taps JumpStart on his arm, I punch him on his other arm.

"Ouch."

Rubbing his arm, he returns to the computer.

"Let's see what's going on. Hmm, according to this, there seems to be another attack at IronWall Prison?"

"Again," I say, looking at the computer's screen. JumpStart is right. The OutPost computer shows a map of IronWall Prison, with the whole building highlighted in red.

"What's going on," I ask. "Can you bring up the surveillance feed?"

"Of course I can," JumpStart smiles, typing away at the computer. "Did it when Unstoppable broke it."

We all stand around JumpStart and the computer and wait.

"That's odd," he says after a few minutes. "There must be something wrong with the cameras. I can't access them."

"I guess that will mean we won't know what is going on until we get to the prison," SpeedBlade says, running away. Using his super-speed, he runs to his room before running over to the OutPost's exit. In his hand is his sword.

"Come on," he says, waving his arm. "Let's go. Before the prison is destroyed."

"Should we," Ms. Justice asks, looking at me. "I mean, if we go now, it means we'll be going in blind."

I look at the computer screen first before turning to the impatient knight, his foot rapidly tapping against the floor.

"Come on," he says again, "Come on."

"We're going to IronWall," I say, "Come on everyone. Grab your things."

We separate to grab our gears. I grab my bow and quiver, Justice grabs her shield, and JumpStart grabs his stun batons. Once ready, we leave and travel through the sewer to get back to Iron Wall.

Lightning Storm:

A steak of lightning traveling throughout my arm, I focus and watch as the lightning gathers in one spot. Once it does, I shoot out a bolt of lightning. The bolt hits the ground and explodes, pieces of stone flying everywhere.

The prison guards are stupid enough to stay and fight. They get up and start shooting me again.

Ducking behind the wall, I smile when the guards' blasters start to click.

"Empty," I say, "My time to strike."

Jumping out, I spread out both my arms. Steaks of lightning travel throughout my arms and body before shooting out, destroying everything, and striking the guards.

The ground, the wall, and even part of the prison are destroyed. The guards that stood their ground are hit. They drop their weapons and fall to the ground.

"Thanks for the warm-up," I say, walking past the guards and into the prison. Luckily for me, they haven't fixed the massive hole where Unstoppable broke through. Strolling in, I'm about halfway through to where I need to be before someone tackles me from behind and I drop to the floor.

Pushing myself up, I look around for what happened. Turning around, I find myself face-to-face with the OutCasts.

SpeedBlade:

"Lightning Storm," I say, pointing at him with my sword. "I wouldn't think about going any further."

"Oh yeah," JumpStart yells, doing a flip and landing beside me. He takes out his batons and spins them around before crossing them.

"Let's bring this guy down," Ms. Justice screams, running to JumpStart's side.

"OutCasts," QuickShot shouts, jumping into the air before landing in front of us. "On--"

"Onward," I shout, running around QuickShot and toward the man.

Jumping once I'm close enough, I slam my sword down. However, Lightning Storm jumps back and I miss, my sword hitting the floor. As he lands, Lightning Storm brings up his arm. I watch as lights move from his body to his arm. The lights gather in one spot before shooting out. It hits and knocks me back.

QuickShot:

Watching as SpeedBlade hits the floor, JumpStart and I try our hardest to dodge the barrages of lightning bolts shooting out from Lighting Storm. Ms. Justice drops to her knee and raises her shield.

Jumping and dodging over the bolts, JumpStart gets close enough to hit Lightning with his stun batons.

He screams and steps back. While stepping back, all the bolts around him disappear and he stops firing.

"Justice," I yell, looking at her and pointing at Lightning.

Nodding her head, Ms. Justice takes a running start before throwing her shield. Her shield hit Lightning in the head and stun him even further.

"My turn," I think, pulling explosive arrows from my quiver. Firing them in front of Lightning Storm, I wait for them to go on.

"JumpStart," I say, "Get back. Now!"

Nodding his head, JumpStart runs from Lightning Storm.

"This should knock him right out."

The beeping on my arrows gets faster with every second, I jump when SpeedBlade runs past me and toward Lightning.

"Wait, SpeedBlade. No!"

SpeedBlade:

I roar as I charge toward Lightning Storm, my sword in my hand.

Running up to the villain, I shove him back and prepare to strike him with my sword. However, as I'm swinging my sword, I see out of the corner of my helmet three arrows directly in front of me.

"Oh no," I say, seeing a tiny, blinking red light on them. It's too late. Even with my speed, I still can't get away in time. The arrows all explode. I scream as once more, I am knocked back. My sword falling out of my hand, I drop to the floor.

JumpStart:

"SpeedBlade," I scream, running over to help my friend. I'm about to reach him, but before I can, something hits me in the chest and sent me flying through the air. Hitting a wall before falling onto the floor, I look up while holding my chest.

Lightning Storm had regained his wits, and now is shooting wildly. Bolts of lightning shoot out from both his arms and body, hitting everything and everyone.

A bolt heading for me, Ms. Justice drops in front of me and blocks it with her shield.

"Stay behind me," she says as more bolts keep on hitting us. The bolts push Justice back, her feet skidding against the floor as she tries to keep her shield up.

A bolt hitting the wall, I look up to see part of it falling toward us.

"Watch out," I yell, Ms. Justice also looking up. Wasting no time, she uses one hand to hold up the shield and her other hand to push me out of the way.

"Justice," I scream, watching as the part of the wall drops onto Justice.

QuickShot:

"Justice," JumpStart screams.

I turn my head to see an entire section of the wall falls right onto Justice. JumpStart running to help her, he is distracted, and Lightning is aiming right for him.

"Don't even think about it," I say, quickly firing a slime arrow at Lightning.

My arrow bursting into a wad of green slime, it hits Lightning and stops him from shooting. Screaming and asking what happened, I use the cover to run over to where JumpStart and Justice are.

When I reach them, I see JumpStart trying desperately to lift a piece of the wall off of Justice.

"Is she okay," I ask, bending down to check her pulse. It's weak but steady.

"I don't know," JumpStart replies, still trying to lift the piece of wall, "Here. Help me with this."

Nodding my head, I join him and together, we lift the wall off of her.

"Time for a retreat," I say, throwing an unconscious Justice onto my back. "Get SpeedBlade, I got us covered."

JumpStart running off, I look at Lightning as he wipes the slime off.

"You're going to regret that," he says, pointing at me. Lightning gathering in his arms, he's about to fire but before he can, I reach for smoke arrows from my quiver. Throwing them against the ground, the hallway is filled with black smoke.