Chapter 26: The Test
The Cooper Gang intended to go forward together, but Tijd clearly had other plans. Sly, Murray, and Panda King stepped forward first warily. Bentley wheeled himself up next to them. Carmelita was staying near her children, Guru was humming under his breath, and Penelope came up next to Bentley.
"Sam, Cami, stay here." Carmelita said firmly, walking up next to Sly.
Cami and Sam both swallowed and nodded. They readied their weapons. The Cooper Gang had unthinkingly started moving in a tight group. Just as they did that, the doors on the left and right of the gang opened. In the right doorway were four cyborgs each equipped with a huge blowback gun. Simultaneously, they shot three rounds each.
Right before the rounds hit the Cooper Gang had time for one more thought:
Sly: Of course.
Carmelita: Oh, no.
Bentley: Next time, I'm making Sly go first.
Murray: Oh, boy.
Penelope: We're doomed.
Panda King: Well played, Tijd.
Guru: What?
The Cooper Gang was thrown back in the left hallway. The doors snapped shut before anyone could blink.
"MOM!" Sam yelled.
"DAD!" Cami screamed.
They ran to the doorways and tried to pry it open.
"No, we are not freaking loosing them again!" Cami screamed.
"No darn way!" Sam agreed. They tried to cram their fingers into the crack, and pry it open, but nothing was working.
Cami hit her head against the door. "Tijd is good. He wanted to test us and us alone."
"Whoa, wait, what do you mean 'he wanted to test us'?" Sam asked as he finally accepted the fact that the door wasn't going to open.
"Oh yeah, I haven't told you yet. When I was with Tijd, he said that he wanted to test you and me because he knew everyone else's abilities. We were the unknown factor in this 'game' as he calls it." Cami bit her lip.
"What, Cam? What is it?" Sam asked when he noticed.
Cami wore a curious look that Sam knew was covering how scared she really was. "We're going to have to go in that arena by ourselves, aren't we?"
Sam's expression changed to frightened. "Yeah, we are."
"Great, Sammy. Let's go do it." Cami had decided to be angry instead of scared.
Sam grabbed her arm. "Cam, we need a plan."
"I have a plan: go in there, kick Tijd's butt, get Mom and Dad and the rest of the crew, go home, and eat cake." Cami yanked her arm out of Sam's grip.
Sam got in front of her. "Cam, I'm serious. A plan could be all that we need to win."
"Sam, we don't really have time, how long do you think Tijd will be patient?" Cami asked him. "Besides, if we don't do this now, he'll figure out a way to make us. Come on, Sammy. What other choice do we have?"
Sam swallowed. "Why do you have to be right, Cam?"
Cami smiled weakly. "Because I'm secretly your conscience." She said as she pulled out her canes.
"Yeah." Sam smiled weakly too as he pulled out his shock pistols and cocked them.
Cami and Sam walked warily to the arena. When they finally made it in, the heavy metal door snapped shut behind them. The arena was huge. Cami and Sam both wondered how the heck it fit on the flipping blimp. The arena looked like something one would find in the Roman Empire era except everything that would be stone was metal.
All of the stands were filled with various cyborgs that were shouting insults at Cami and Sam. Tijd was standing where the Roman emperor would have been. He watched them emotionlessly.
"And here I thought I would never have to fight to the death in a blimp with my brother." Cami said sarcastically. She swallowed. In reality, Cami thought that she and Sam were going to die.
Sam shared the sentiment. "Yeah, silly us." He said just as sarcastically.
"Begin." Tijd rumbled from his perch high in the arena. A huge metal door slid open and four polar bear cyborgs charged in.
"I'll get in close." Cami said gripping her canes.
"I'll stay back." Sam raised the shock pistols.
"Go." They said in unison.
Cami leapt over the first two cyborgs and engaged the back two. Sam shot the front two the moment Cami got out of the way. He roundhouse kicked them once the shots had paralyzed them. Cami ripped a handful of wires out of the cyborgs and they collapsed, convulsing.
Cami and Sam didn't even have time to exchange glances before the next wave of enemies started. Eight Arctic Fox cyborgs came out brandishing swords and hand cannons. Cami danced through their ranks, distracting them for Sam to stun, and then ripping out their circuitry. Eventually, the cyborgs began to learn and tried to go after Sam. Sam proved to be just as deadly at close-range as his sister, by using the butt of his pistols as clubs. He also could thank all those hours of soccer practice for his powerful and well-aimed kicks. Cami used leftover hardware from the fallen enemies as projectiles.
Sam started to think of this as a video game, the survival round. Basically, survive as long as you can with wave after wave of enemies. It didn't make him feel any better, Sam usually died in round 4 of those survival rounds. He really hoped that this was going to be different. Sam jumped and shot at the large group of the cyborgs and causing the most damage. He stunned them and then attacked. Sam was very careful to not hit Cami.
Cami was thinking of this as a dance or a drama recital. She just needed to improvise her way through the entire thing, and not die. Yeah, even in my fantasy, I'm screwed. Cami thought as she dodged a blast from a hand cannon. She flipped over the cyborg and stabbed the end of her cane into his back. It was a good thing this cane was made of some amazingly durable wood and not metal or else she would have been electrocuted. Cami ripped her cane out and swept her leg underneath the cyborg to knock him down. She was careful to not hit Sam whenever she took down an enemy.
"Doing alright, Sammy?" Cami called to him amidst the battle. She was panting heavily.
"Perfectly fine, Cam. I could keep this up all day." Sam was panting just as hard as Cami. Sam was wrong; they couldn't keep this up all day. They had been doing this for who knows how long and couldn't last much longer.
"Cease." Tijd ordered before the next wave could be admitted to the arena.
Cami and Sam were both panting heavily. They looked at each other, smiled weakly, leaned against the side of the arena, and looked up at Tijd. Tijd appraised them with an orange-eyed, emotionless gaze. He looked at his control panel and flipped a switch.
Sam and Cami whirled around to see one of the huge metal doors slid open. The doorway was empty. Cami looked up at Tijd suspiciously. Tijd merely gestured to Cami's left. She looked sharply to her left and saw Sam being dragged into another door she hadn't heard open.
"SAM! NO!" Cami screamed. She ran full speed to him, but the door snapped shut. "NO! NO! NO!" Cami screamed. She tried to use her canes as crowbars, but the door refused to budge. Tears were streaming down her face.
"Resume." Tijd rumbled.
Cami saw the next wave of enemies file in. She took her canes out of the door and faced them.
"You want to see what I can do?" Cami asked them. She was oddly quiet and her voice was bordering on insanity. "Then, bring it on."