Rest and Recover

SpeedBlade:

Screaming as the cannon is fired, all four of us are launched into the air. I hit the floor hard as I land. Landing on my front, I have to push myself over and up. Rubbing my head as I push myself up, I wave the smoke away.

"Justice? QuickShot? JumpStart! Where are you guys? Hello?"

With every step I take, I hunch over in pain. My hip hurts. My leg is aching. I am limping, not walking.

"Hello? Can you guys hear me? Hello!"

"SpeedBlade," someone yells.

As soon as I hear my own name, I feel the pain eases a little.

"Hello?"

Still limping, I limp up and down as I try to pinpoint the source of the voice in all this smoke.

"SpeedBlade," someone else shouts. "SpeedBlade, is that you?"

"Yes," I answer. "Yes! It's me! Who are you?"

"Ms. Justice," Ms. Justice shouts back. "Wait, where are you?"

"Ms. Justice," a third voice says. "JumpStart? I can hear you guys but I can't see any of you. Where are you two?"

"I'm over here," JumpStart answers.

"Where's here," Ms. Justice asks through the smoke.

"I don't know. Over here."

As I hear the voices of my friends all over, I hop all over. I'm trying to find them but their voices seem to be everywhere. Still limping as I try desperately to run, I find myself accidentally running right into someone.

The two of us crash into each other and we both fall down.

"Ahh! SpeedBlade! Get off of me!"

With that, QuickShot pushes me off of her.

"Sorry about that," I say as I have to push myself up again.

"SpeedBlade! QuickShot!"

I look up to see Ms. Justice walking out of the smoke.

"Guys," JumpStart screams as he walks in from a different direction. He spreads out his arms. "I'm so happy to see you guys!"

JumpStart walks toward us. It looks like he's about to hug us but QuickShot and I push him back.

"Don't hug us," we say.

"Wait," Ms. Justice says, winching as she pushes herself up. "What about the Iron Fist armor? Did we destroy it? And what about Dr. Cho? And Silent? Where are they?"

Ms. Justice's questions are answered when the smoke clears.

There, laying on the floor, not too far from us, still trapped by a net and some foam is the Iron Fist armor. The armor is smoking and twitching and directly in the center of its chest is a large hole.

"We did it," I say, pushing myself up. "We destroyed the Iron Fist armor."

"I would cheer and raise my arms into the air," JumpStart says as he limps to my and Justice's side. "But I can't. My arms won't move."

"It's fine," QuickShot laughs, joining the three of us. "I'm sure none of our arms can go very high at the moment. That was one very powerful blast. Smart thinking, SpeedBlade."

"Thank you."

"Hey," JumpStart says, raising a shaking finger. "There's Dr. Cho!"

JumpStart is pointing at an unconscious Dr. Cho, laying not too far from us on the floor. Very much like her robot, she is twitching and moaning.

"But where is Silent," QuickShot says. We all look around but we don't see Silent anywhere.

"He must have escaped," Ms. Justice says. "Either before or during the blast."

"Shoot," QuickShot says.

"Oh well," Ms. Justice. "We still managed to defeat Dr. Cho. That's a plus."

"We did it," I say. "Come on. Let's get out of here and drop off Dr. Cho."

I walk over to Dr. Cho and pick her up. As soon as I throw her on my back, I immediately regret it. I feel all sorts of pain in my back.

Biting my tongue, trying my hardest not to yell or scream, I inhale through my nose before breathing out.

"You okay," Ms. Justice asks. "Do you want some help?"

"I'm fine," I answer. "I am fine."

"Your shrieking voice said differently," QuickShot comments.

"Can we please just go? Come on. Come on! Let's go. To the authority."

It takes a while and more than once, I almost drop the doctor, but finally, I am able to put the doctor down in front of what I am told is a police station. We drop the doctor at this police station before climbing into the tunnel and walking home. The second we reach home, we all sigh with relief.

"I can sleep for months," JumpStart says as he heads for his room. "In fact, no one bothers me. That's exactly what I'm going to do. Night, everyone."

"Hold on," Ms. Justice says as she falls onto one of our new chairs. "Aren't you forgetting something? It's about dinner."

"Oh no," JumpStart says. He turns around and looks at the kitchen with a trembling body. "Is it my turn to cook?"

"What, no. I'm asking if you're hungry. It's my turn to cook."

Upon hearing this, JumpStart wipes some sweat from his forehead.

"Oh. Don't scare me like that. Yeah. I wouldn't mind some food, but can you cook?"

"I can cook," Ms. Justice answers. "I can cook better than all of you."

"I think," QuickShot starts, now taking over. "JumpStart is referring to your shield."

QuickShot picks up Justice's shield and holds it up. She puts her fingers through the hole in the center.

"You really should fix this. One thing I've learned over these last two years, it's that troubles won't wait."

"Yeah, but if I don't cook, then who will? I mean, do you guys really want black meatballs again?"

"I'll cook," I say, stepping up.

"You'll cook," Ms. Justice asks.

"Can you," QuickShot adds.

"We're a team," I say, "We help each other."

"As long as it's not me," JumpStart says with both his hands up. "I'm fine."

JumpStart claps his hands and disappears into his room. Meanwhile, I walk into the kitchen.

"Fix your shield," I say. "I will cook us a feast."

"Maybe not a feast," Ms. Justice says. "We're hungry. Not starving."

"Understood."

I grab a large pot along with some meats and vegetables we have. I first pour some water into the pot before striking my sword against our stone ground. The sparks that come off ignite the wood pile. With the fire ready, I put the pot over it. It doesn't take long before the water starts to boil. When the water starts to boil, I throw in the meats and vegetables.

"The others are going to like this."

Watcher:

"You forgot to peel the potatoes and carrots," I say, smiling as I watch SpeedBlade cooks for the other. Nonetheless, I swipe my hand and the magical window disappears.

Turning around, I step into the air and fly. As I fly through the blue and white void, I am stopped by a fellow watcher.

"You," my fellow watcher says as he appears right in front of me.

"What," I ask, putting my hands behind my back. "Is something wrong?"

"Do not play dumb with me," the fellow watcher states. "I know what you have been doing. How foolish are you? Tampering with the dimensions like that. You know what the others will do if they discover this. I advise you to stop."

As he talks, he places his finger between us. It moves up and down as he speaks. When he is done, I gently push it to the side.

"I know the rule we agree upon," I reply, "But that dimensions, and those four; QuickShot, SpeedBlade, Ms. Justice, and JumpStart. They needed my help. I could not just stand by and watch."

"That is what we are supposed to do. We are to only stand by and watch. We cannot interfere. We cannot interject. These are the rules. Please, do follow them. You are lucky only I know about the OutCasts. If the others discover their origin, then--"

"I know," I say. I turn my head at the thought of what will happen to the OutCasts if the others discovered how they were all brought together. "I know. Thank you for keeping them a secret."

"Don't thank me. Just remember this. When it is discovered how the OutCasts were brought together, I knew nothing."

With this, my fellow watcher vanishes, leaving me alone. Left only with my thoughts, I swipe my hand again and look at the OutCasts. I watch as they all settle for dinner. They chat and talk and bite into the carrots before splitting them out.

"I know I broke the rules, but I had to. And now it is my responsibility. I will do everything in my power to protect them. I only hope it will never come to a confrontation between me and the others."