Welcome, readers to my final attempt at fixing this story. My Wattpad account went a little wacky, and someone hacked it, even with a password change, so I closed it and moved this story here after a few upgrades. The original title was Teenage Rebels which I kind of hated anyway, so here's the new and improved The Kill Shot.
Please, if you've got time, review and let me know what you think!
-Queen Bee
It was midnight, and the entire Shane hideout had gone quiet, so I slipped off my bed and pulled an old cardboard box out from beneath it.
The gear was still new and I frowned. I'd have to go roll in the dirt a little bit because where I was going, looking like a rookie was not a good idea.
My mother wouldn't have deemed the outfit appropriate. All black and gray, maybe a little revealing, but the clothes and gear took me hours to find and I needed something to fit my style. That said, I pulled a black mask out of my dresser and smiled. The piece fit over my nose and mouth and would make sure nobody could recognize me without it.
Outside, Paxton City glittered in the valley beneath home.
The hideout had at one time been a secret, but when you swear to protect, to save the entire world no matter the cost, then do exactly that more than once, people tend to feel safe around you. Most people in the city were peace-lovers, making a decent and honest living, others had wilder aspirations, for instance fame in an underground dueling circuit. My dad had been trying to bust it for years, but sometimes, even The Shane can't do everything.
With my blaster at my side and my Thuglett, Hecate, on my shoulder, I was ready to throw every guideline I'd ever been given out the window and join the ring of duelists.
The streets of the city were quiet, and I had to dodge a few patrols, but other than that, getting to the ring was easy, especially since I'd practiced the route before.
In an alley on Third Street, I knocked on a rusty basement level door and waited.
"Password?" A voice like gravel demanded.
"Open the door before I break your face," I growled at the doorman. He just laughed and opened the door.
"Newcomer eh? Win three duels, and the boss will tell you what's next," he informed me.
I nodded and slipped past him down a hallway into a small lobby of sorts. On one side was a set of double doors, on the other was a desk with a scrawny teen around my age sitting behind it.
"What can I do for you tonight?" Asked the kid.
"I'm here to fight, and I'd like some good pair ups," I answered, grinning beneath my mask.
He looked me up and down before raising a brow, "twenty gold to start. You win, you'll get much more than that back. Got a name?"
"K," I tossed the gold on the counter and Mr. Secretary jerked his thumb towards the doors.
When I got through, I swallowed, most of the people there were men, except for the bar tender, and they were all at least twice my size, covered in scars, and probably way more experienced than my official tally of zero duels.
Along one side of the room was a bar, the other was covered in targets, and in between was a chaotic mess of people shooting targets, each other, or drinking away their chances of winning.
Only a few people paid attention to me afterwards, and I figured that was a good thing, so I went to a far table that wasn't being messed with and sat down.
A few minutes passed when a megaphone called out, "K and Trick-Shot Terry, five minutes."
I looked around to see who was listening. A man stood up and studied me carefully as we both moved towards a doorway, "K? What kind of a name is that?"
"The last name you'll hear before waking up in the hospital," I said with a smirk, covering my lack of creativity smoothly, "Trick-Shot was it?"
This guy laughed, "kid, you're going to get yourself killed, and just to prove, don't think I'll be going easy on you."
I rolled my eyes, "good to know."
Trick-Shot headed through the door and into a hallway, so I followed him to the end where a pair of raised platforms waited. Each one was a foot off the ground with a hydraulic lift beneath it. The stadium was somehow above us.
"Good luck, kid, you're gonna need it," Trick-Shot called as the platforms rose.
My glare didn't waver. Being a kid wasn't an automatic signal for failure.
When my ride stopped moving, I was on a huge platform suspended fifty feet above an even larger pool of water. Where in Terra we were that they could fit this thing, I wasn't sure, but I double checked my surroundings anyway. A traditional style dueling ground with pillars and trees was easy enough for me to get ground on.
"For her first battle with The Crew, it's K versus Trick-Shot Terry! Remember folks, it's do or die time, if K loses, she's gone for good, stay on the platform, and don't get knocked out, and folks, what're the rules?"
A larger than life crowd began to laugh and chant, "there are none."
Trick-Shot stood ready with his hand hovering over his blaster, and I did the same. A loud buzzer sounded and my opponent shot a Tazerling that I quickly dodged.
Firing back with a Flaringo and a Jellyish, I managed to throw his balance a little before reloading once more.
"Thought you said you weren't going easy on me!" I shouted from behind a pillar.
Trick-Shot smiled and I knew I was in for it.
I dodged slug after slug, and got pretty knocked around before firing another few. The crowd was shouting so loudly, that I managed to get a shot in from behind my back that Trick-Shot didn't see or hear.
With that in play, I began rapid fire of anything I could to distract him until Poseidon, my Aquabeek ricocheted off the wall and hit him from the side sending him plunging into the pool below.
The crowd went wild.
"K is the winner!" The announcer shouted.
"That's right folks, looks like we've got a real Kill-Shot on our hands!"
I grinned beneath my mask and the platform I'd come up on lit up blue to bring me back down, so I stood on it and raised my hand in the air, eliciting more cheers from the ecstatic audience.
Back in the bar, everyone stared at me as I walked in, I then noticed someone fling a towel at Trick-Shot.
All eyes followed me to the bar, and a guy whose hair was going a little gray around the edges came up and clapped me on the back, "good work kid, you might make it here after all!"
The entire bar cheered, except Trick-Shot, and the new guy sat down next to me, then ordered two shots of whiskey.
The bar tender grinned and handed one of the drinks to me, "god job out there, kid, I think you've shown them what a girl's capable of."
I looked up at her and smirked, then pulled my mask down, no longer caring about my family reputation, "yeah, I guess so."
"Though, kid, you may want to avoid Trick-Shot, he's the sort to hold a grudge, we don't much like him anyway," the man who'd bought me drink warned.
"Oh? Thanks for the tip," I nodded before knocking back the shot, "what do I call you anyway?"
"They call me Twist," he replied with a smile too kind to be in an underground fight club.
I nodded and took a good two seconds to make the connection. Twist was, at one time, my dad's greatest rival. An all-out bad guy with no remorse? Here he was having a good time, complementing a newbie, and buying her a drink to celebrate.
I didn't let the surprise show on my face, "thanks for the drink Twist."
He nodded and pointed to a large screen above the bar, "that's the fight that's going now, if you look in the corner underneath, it lists the people up next, looks like one of 'em is you."
I looked a little closer and realized he was right just as the megaphone rang out my new name.
"Kill-Shot versus Baxter Blood!" The megaphone shouted.
I grinned and stood, pulling my mask up as Twist wished me luck. This night was going to be some real fun.
To mine, and everyone else's surprise, I won all four matches that I participated in that night, beating Trick-Shot, Blood, some guy named Pyro, and to my half-way horror, Twist. Unfortunately, Twist told me that Trick-Shot, Blood, and Pyro would be out to avenge their reputations. Their losses put me in the top ten for ranking, though, and Kill-Shot had become a sensation in the underground. As long as that's where the name stayed, everything would finally be perfect...