"Which, I'm sure my colleague means to say," Mevia said nervously as the competitors all cheered (and Jace accidentally tackled his sister off the platform with joy, but that was irrelevant), "we are going to find some way to disqualify them?"
"No we are not!" Otto said, almost cutting the cyan-haired woman off, "they all win!"
Jesse grinned (slightly painfully) from where she lay flat on her back in the grass, Jace sitting back on his haunches and smiling sheepishly at his sister. Good ol' Otto.
Mevia shrieked something indistinguishable and Hadrian said sharply, "Mevia, Otto- with me! We're ending this!"
Jesse got to her feet and heard a furiously hissed, "We. Had. A. Deal!" Jesse looked over to see Hadrian and Mevia's eyes clearly wishing her a painful death, while Otto just looked faintly amused. "And you BROKE it, bucko!"
"I literally told you thirty seconds ago that the deal was off," Jesse responded, spreading her arms wide to emphasize her point, "I just didn't have time to tell you before." Somehow she managed to convey an air of complete and utter innocence, green and red eyes wide with mock-surprise.
"This isn't up to you," Mevia nearly snarled, shoving her purple-clothed cohort aside and getting right up in Jesse's face. Jesse noticed that Mevia's eyes were actually a shade of murky cyan. "WE control the games. We decide their outcome!"
Jesse's arms all crossed, over her stomach, her ribs, and her chest. "So... you admit the games are rigged?"
Mevia stuttered for a second. "S-s-sure! Okay. Sure. Fine! Whatever!"
"Mevia," Otto said, calmly, making the cyan-haired female whip to him with an utterly livid look on her face, "Jesse won these games fair and square."
"Otto," Hadrian muttered through gritted teeth, "I would think very carefully about what you're doing-"
Otto cut him off, shooting his friend a look over his shoulder, "I have."
He turned back to the spider hybrid, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a glowing, gold book. "Jesse, with the power vested in me as an officiator of the Builder Games, I am proud to present-"
"LOOK OUT!" Jesse and Jace shouted in unison.
Neither of them knew why- but all of a sudden, Jace's hair and tail were standing up, ears upright and rigid, every hair on the back of Jesse's neck was prickling and rising, and there was a plunging feeling in Jesse's stomach.
Not that it mattered- Hadrian and Mevia had moved forward so suddenly that the moment the shout was out, there was an obsidian prison encasing Otto, whose shouts were muffled through the black stone.
"Now it's been fun, really," Mevia sneered, "but I think it's about time we end this."
Jesse's arms whipped out her weapons, her entire body moving backwards as Jace drew his own sword, growling loudly and angrily. Nell said, sounding incredibly affronted, "Whoa. This is majorly bogus, dudes."
"Surrender the Redstone Heart," Hadrian said, his eyes glinting dangerously, "now."
Jesse shrugged, adjusting her stance automatically. "If you want it, come and get it," she gritted out.
"Your wish is my command, buckaroo," Hadrian said, leering at her, before he and Mevia started moving, and they were moving fast. Within MOMENTS they'd trapped the competitors within a small obsidian prison, all of the cries of the other competitors muffled from the thick, almost impervious stone.
Em's eyes narrowed. "... oh, this is useless-" And the burly girl bolted.
Jesse grimaced a bit, but she said nothing- now was... really not the time for that.
"Well, well," Hadrian said lightly, and Mevia sneered in agreement, "Just when you thought Em had your back!"
"Turns out she's a backstabber."
"Don't you dare talk about my friend like that!" Jace barked sharply.
"Seems like classic Emily," Hadrian said airily, ignoring the wolf hybrid's angry retort and hopping down from the top of his obsidian prison, "she's always been a touchy one."
"I'm still with you, Jesse. And you, Jace," Slab said, brandishing his sword.
"Thanks, Slab," Jesse said gratefully, Jace giving the gladiator a jerky little salute, green eyes starting to turn red as he glanced from Slab to the two Old Builders.
"You're gonna need all the help you can get, Jesse!"
"Sis! Look out!"
Jesse whipped around to see a staircase, then looked up- then lunged to her left, Jace lunging out of the way so as to not trip her up. Hadrian spun to face Jesse- she lashed out with her axe- it glanced off a shield and made the girl stagger back a step or two.
"I'll admit you're quick, sport," Hadrian sneered, "but not quick enough for my axe!"
Jesse backed up a step- then bumped into a wall. She looked up in confusion. "What the-?"
"Don't forget my axe, Hadrian!"
Jesse looked down and to her right to see Mevia swinging an axe at her-
She whipped down to all eights, the axe slamming into the wall where Jesse's head and neck had just been and smashing two blocks free as Mevia cackled maniacally.
Jesse whipped around- and was slammed backwards with a sharp "uhf!" as Hadrian kicked her in the ribs, knocking her into a slime block, and rebounding- to see a block of TNT.
Scrambling to all eights, her ribs gasping in pain, she was suddenly flipped sideways, her brother catching her and staggering a step before regaining his balance.
Jesse flipped to her feet, eyes wide as the gladiator threw his body over the TNT to shield the explosion. "It was an honor to fight beside you-" He was cut off as the TNT exploded, taking Slab with it.
"Slab!" Jesse both cried out and groaned.
Jace grimaced as he and his sister looked at each other. "Well... this took a bit of a turn for the worse."
"No, ya think?"
A/N: Wow. Just... wow. We're getting really darn close.
How?!
On the bright side, NINE HUNDRED reviews and a bit of a plot twist next chapter!
NoItsBecky: I know, right?!
Kaos Ruin: (shrugs) I mean, then I can't respawn the people I want/need to respawn, so...
angelwings: Lol xD Do they read this fic?
GuestPerson13: You'll see (wiggles eyebrows)
Toni42: Hehehe x3
ChoyofBonk: (rubs hands together and grins)
RapidSammi: I want to know, too, Aiden- what? (Thanks, btw x3)
LittleAngelbun: And I'm singlehandedly steering it xD
DemonCatLady: I succeeded! xD
rebekahtpe: Heehee x3
Choco: Surprisingly you are the first person to comment on the chapter title xD
RavenBlaze4850: Well I know Cassie's axe is involved... but not with Hadrian.
x.X. A.L. X.x
