A/N: Ah, we're getting closer. I recommend translating the title :)

Chapter 27- Obstruer Et Détruire

Josée's eyes fluttered open and found herself on a broken mattress. Her entire body ached like she had been training on the ice for hours on end; and her hands were unusually stiff. It was then she realized that she must've fallen asleep upon having an awful tantrum that she could hardly remember. Then she spotted Jacques, who was already in his costume and getting ready, who saw that she had woken up.

"Morning chouchou," Jacques said warmly, with a little grin. "How are you feeling?"

Josée blinked a bit and rose from the mattress, checking her surroundings - a lot of it which was destroyed. "...A little better," she settled with saying; it wasn't a complete lie.

Jacques looked at her, almost like he knew that she was hiding something, and smiled faintly. "I'm glad."

Then Jacques knelt down and wrapped his arms around her frame very gently. To Josée's surprise; she found herself leaning into his touch - and what was even more odd, was that she wanted to stay there. She felt her body grow very warm and rested her head on his shoulder - it was like the way he held her back in Dubai, she rather liked it. Yes, Jacques had held her before in performances - but this was different.

When Jacques had let go, Josée found herself wanting to hug him again; and she chastised herself for it - she was rarely this clingy, and wondered why that was.

...She figured it was probably the fear from yesterday night. Yes, that just had to be it...

Josée and Jacques arrived at the chill zone in Nevada to take their next travel tip. "We're all taking the same bus to Mexico," said Josée.

Jacques lifted an eyebrow. "We can't just take a flight?" Josée merely shrugged. They spotted the bus and looked on with disgust; then they saw the Goths about to head on - who stared at them momentarily as if they were assessing the ice dancers, and walked on. Jacques frowned deeply. Maybe Josée was right, something was off about them. He didn't like that they seemed so careless yet they were winning gold frequently; it was getting on his nerves.

"No more underestimating the competition," Josée said in an interview, "Those gothic vampires got lucky in Vegas but their luck is about to change."

Jacques crossed his arms. "I hate them so much!"

"You're interrupting," Josée remarked disapprovingly.

"Pfft, so I'm just supposed to stand here and be the pretty one?" Jacques replied, annoyed.

Josée balled her hands up in fists. "Um, no. You support the pretty one, hello?" Jacques smiled a bit at her comeback, and Josée smiled back. Getting on the bus was an awful experience' why was there so many chickens? Josée and Jacques found a seat and one of the chickens managed to land on Josée's head. "Wha-" The chicken parked itself on her head. Jacques giggled in amusement, resulting in Josée smacking his arm. She reached up and tried to get the chicken away. "Get off of me!"

"I wouldn't bother," Ennui said calmly from across them. "They're very stubborn."

Josée's eye twitched. "I don't need you to tell me that, thank you." Crimson and Ennui exchanged a look and shrugged, looking back ahead. Eventually, the chicken did leave in favor of sitting on another contestant's head. Then, Josée spoke to Jacques: "We need to figure out how to get back at them! Ugh, they're the worst."

"Ah! We could turn them against each other," Jacques suggested.

"Won't work," Josée told him, eyeing the Goths with distaste. "They're stuck together like glue."

"Maybe goths don't have a weakness," Jacques remarked.

Josée disagreed, still staring at them. "Everyone has a weakness," she replied; and at that moment, she spotted the Goths rabbit jump out of Ennui's shirt. Though she was uncomfortable - still without understanding why - she continued to watch as Ennui patted the rabbit on the head. Her eyes lit up excitedly and turned to Jacques. "Weakness!"

"You are... very obsessed with that rabbit," Jacques said honestly, catching on.

Josée's smile disappeared. "What do you mean by that?"

Jacques shrugged. "Nothing, nothing... that rabbit squeaks a lot, Josée... and it bothers you. Are you sure you want it near us when we're competing?"

Josée thought about it for a moment, biting her lower lip. "...It'll be worth it."

"I'll hold onto it," Jacques told her. Josée nodded, grinning, very thankful.

After eighteen hours passed, the teams arrived in Mexico and got off the bus.

That's when Josée and Jacques decided to put their plan in action.

"Oh, so, do you like, er, stuff?" Jacques started, very awkwardly. Josée looked at her partner strangely at his approach.

"Not particularly," Crimson answered.

"Stuff is so mainstream," Ennui added.

Jacques let out the most forceful laughter that Josée had ever heard in her entire life. "Oh, gee wiz, you're funny! Anyone ever tell you this?"

"No," Crimson and Ennui stated monotonously.

"Ooh! Oh look out, I tripped and now I am falling!" Jacques announced, pretending to trip so he could collide onto Ennui for the plan. Josée couldn't help but smile and shook her head fondly. God, he was such a moron. "Oh!" Josée bit back a giggle.

"Ouch," said Ennui, without sounding hurt at all.

"Oh! So sorry! Let me help you up!" Jacques said, while doing so. For good measure, he pretended to brush off excess dirt off Ennui's shirt, when in reality Jacques was making sure his plan worked. "Who knew you could knock over someone wearing such chunky boots?" Then he chuckled and winked at his partner.

Josée smiled and giggled back; it had worked.

"Thanks," Ennui said. "See you around." Then he and Crimson walked away.

The producers called Josée and Jacques over, probably because they were curious about their plan.

"Nothing up this sleeve..." Jacques said, then reached behind Josée's head. "But what have we... here!? Ah-" And revealed the Goths rabbit, that proceeded to scratch his face. Josée helped her partner up; wincing visibly as Jacques struggled to put the rabbit in his clothes.

"...Can you try not to suffocate it?" Josée asked nervously.

"If it was in pain," Jacques began, "It would start squealing."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You didn't know that?" Jacques replied, somewhat surprised, but when he saw Josée's bewildered expression, he went on: "When a rabbit squeaks, it's usually fine. But when a rabbit squeals... like, ah... a shrill... that means it's in pain and near death." Josée blinked slowly upon this revelation for a very specific reason. That incident regarding the Goths rabbit in Nevada replayed over and over in her mind; where she thought she heard bun-bun shrieking in the middle of the night when she was little - and that her mother had yelled at her to go back to sleep. "Josée, what is it?"

Josée took a breath. "Let's just get to the next challenge, okay?"

Jacques furrowed his brows, but decided not to press on it. "Okay."

They arrived at the Don box for the next challenge; an All-in. Josée and Jacques read on, saying that one team member would have to dive from a certain level at the cliffs of Acapulco depending on the level of spiciness from one of three chili peppers that the other teammate would have to eat and then wave a flag to give them the all clear to dive in.

"I should dive," Josée told him. "You're the one carrying the rabbit."

Jacques nodded in agreement. "Medium pepper?"

"Oui," said Josée. That being said, she left to climb to the middle section of the cliff.

"The hottest one can't be that bad," remarked Kitty, who had arrived beside Jacques along with Crimson.

MacArthur let out a gasp, crawling on the sand in desperation with her face all red. "Kill... me..." Then Kitty and Jacques looked over at Devin who's face was shoved in the water and wailing hysterically that he couldn't feel his head.

"Okay, medium it is!" Kitty said, frightened. Jacques couldn't blame her.

Meanwhile, Josée was waiting for Jacques to wave the flag so she could dive. She tapped her foot impatiently; what was taking him so long?

"God, god, god..." Carrie murmured, a bit apprehensively. "I cannot believe I"m doing this."

"It's better than all the way at the top," Emma remarked, also beside her.

"I just hope Devin eats it this time," Carrie replied.

"Do you think he could handle a medium pepper?" asked Josée.

Emma narrowed her eyes at the ice dancer. "Nobody asked you."

Josée raised her eyebrow at the Sister; she couldn't even recall doing anything to her. "Well you responded, lawyer girl."

"Yeah! It's the medium spot! Okay, er... not so bad," Carrie said, trying to calm herself down. "Olympic divers do it... Sure, they train first so they don't die doing it, but still..."

Devin's scream got everyone's attention. "Am I on fire?! I feel like I'm on fire?!"

"Devin!?" Carrie exclaimed, rushing over to where Josée was standing. "Kitty, is he okay?!"

"You may want to start climbing!"

Josée couldn't help but grin as Carrie's face fell. A few seconds later, Devin tried the medium pepper again and screamed, kicking his legs against the sand while doing so. Josée glanced over at Carrie who bore a mildly disturbed expression. "Devin! Just eat the mild one!" Carrie called out.

After a bit, it was Jacques' turn to eat the pepper. He felt his face grow very hot and suddenly his tongue was on fire. "Ah! Ah! Oh! C'est chaud, c'est chaud, chaud, oh maman!" Josée watched him cry for his mother on national television and cringed.

"And you thought Devin was embarrassing!" Carrie shouted from the top part of the cliff. Josée glared up at her, and then looked over to Jacques from a distance that had yet to wave a flag. After roughly a minute, Josée spotted her partner waving a green flag and shouting happily that it was all clear. Josée smiled and dove into the water gracefully.

"Oh! Bravo, Josée! You are perfection!" Jacques praised.

Josée beamed happily, waving to fans that were watching at home; she hadn't thought about them in a while, actually - there was so much chaos that was going on that she couldn't think about them - she felt guilty about it. Then a scream from above stopped Josée in her tracks, belonging to Ryan. Josée looked up to see that Carrie and Ryan had jumped and landed right on top of her. Josée resisted the urge to groan; and swam underwater to find the travel tip attached to the milk. After she retrieved that, she swam back to shore where Jacques was waiting eagerly.

"Here!" Josée said, handing him the milk, which he eagerly drank. "The travel tip says that we have to ride on burros and ride it two miles south to the chill zone." Then, heat began to rise in Josée's cheeks, despite not eating a single pepper. "Was it... was it really perfection?"

There were stars in Jacques' eyes; and he smiled genuinely. "Oui, Josée. You are perfection." He really, really meant it, too - that was the scary part.

Josée let out a little grin. "Merci. Let's get to the next challenge." When they spotted the burros, they grinned to themselves.

"Skater quads are excellent for horseback riding," Josée explained in the confessional, "A strong consistent thigh squeeze says..." she clicked her tongue, "Giddy-up, fleabag."

After the confessional, they got on top of the burros and breezed past the Sisters and the Cadets. It looked like they were finally going to win the gold and were ahead of everyone. That was until the burros suddenly stopped as Jacques started to giggle obnoxiously loud. "Hold up, this rabbit tickling me, and I can't - oh!" The rabbit had escaped and jumped out to growl furiously, making the burros drop Josée and Jacques with a thud and run off. The rabbit used Josée's head as a stepping stool and hopped away.

"We have no choice but to run," Josée said. She and Jacques ran to the chill zone, and as they did, Sanders passed by them; snickering in amusement over them losing their burros. Josée and Jacques ignored the cadet for now, she wasn't going to win first place without her partner - who was lagging behind because her burro wouldn't move.

Sanders had arrived first, with the ice dancers following shortly after.

"There's only one cop! They don't win!" Jacques exclaimed.

Don merely smiled. "Not yet. But unless one of you coughs up two burros, I'll have to give you a ten minute penalty."

"No!" Josée and Jacques cried out, followed by Sanders exclaiming, "Yes!"

Sanders cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, "Hurry, MacArthur! You've got ten."

"WAKE UP!" MacArthur's voice boomed, presumably to the burro.

"Question," Don asked to the ice dancers. "Have you tried... actually being nice to people?"

"They don't know how to be nice," Sanders remarked, crossing her arms.

"Being nice doesn't win you gold medals," Josée replied coolly.

Don raised an eyebrow. "Again, there's no gold..."

Jacques shook his head. "You don't understand. Gold isn't just a medal; it's a status."

Don blinked at the ice dancer. "You realize that this is a race, right? Not the olympics."

"We know that," Jacques spat in annoyance. Josée, however, didn't answer and began to pace back and forth.

"By the way," Don started off, frowning at the ice dancers in disapproval. "We know what you're doing; taking that rabbit from the other team." Josée and Jacques blinked.

Sanders gasped. "You took the Goths rabbit?"

"He did," Josée pointed out, referring to Jacques. "Why?"

The police cadet scowled and shook her head. "Smart. Going against the team that actually tolerates you over the rest of us."

Josée and Jacques' eyebrows went up. "What do you mean by that?" Josée asked, but Sanders didn't answer. After a few more minutes pass, Josée still was pacing back and forth - she was beginning to lose patience. "Our ten minutes has to be up!"

"Actually, it isn't," Don chimed in.

MacArthur's grunting was heard in the distance and was drawing closer and closer to the chill zone. Josée, Jacques, Don, and Sanders watched as MacArthur impressively carried one of the burros over her back; she was moving slow, but it was incredible for her to hold all that weight above her. "Come on, glue pot... almost there." Just a few more steps, and MacArthur landed on the chill zone and groaned.

Sanders cheered victoriously. "Woo! First place!"

MacArthur pumped her fist up and smirked in the ice dancers' direction. "Take that, you ice skating freaks! Victory is so sweet."

Josée and Jacques wondered in that moment if they hated anyone more in their lives more than they hated MacArthur. Of course it wasn't really true - there was a list of people that Josée and Jacques despised over the years, but MacArthur had skyrocketed on the list rather quickly within a span of a month. They had seen MacArthur on their flights; she was careless and ate whatever the hell she wanted like it was nothing, yet she had proven to be extremely athletic and have beaten them before.

And they were olympians.

She was just a cop.

How was it fair?

Roughly four minutes later, the ice dancers penalty was up and they were announced as second place. Shortly after, the Sisters arrived and were third. The Haters and the Best Friends were tied for fourth. Josée and Jacques kept an eye on the chill zone, curious since the Goths and the Surfers had yet to arrive. They were riding on the burros now which were charging ahead.

Realization dawned on the ice dancers; was it possible that their plan to get the Goths eliminated going to work? Was this going to make up for their abysmal placing of silver?

"Surfer dudes, you are in fifth place. You're still in this thing," Don announced.

Josée and Jacques' eyes lit up.

Apparently so.

They watched excitedly as Don said the Goths were eliminated, also saying that he expected them to be eliminated on day one. Josée and Jacques looked over to see Crimson and Ennui not reacting; Don was only met with slow blinks. After he dismissed them, Crimson and Ennui got off the burros and walked away. Josée and Jacques smiled and high-fived, watching them go. The Goths rabbit turned and Josée and Jacques swore it made a cutthroat motion while it growled; making them both gasp in alarm.

When Don cut the cameras saying that they would be seen next time, Josée and Jacques took that as their cue to leave with the other contestants. Before they could get on the bus heading to the hotel, they were stopped with a tap on their shoulder. Josée and Jacques collectively gasped again when they were met with Crimson and Ennui.

"That was low," Ennui said. There was a hint of anger in his voice. "Very, very low." The rabbit in his shirt growled, presumably in agreement.

"You're the competition," Josée said, as an excuse. "You're supposed to fight against your competition. You would know, you hardly talked to anyone else here. You're not here to make friends."

"...We didn't even do anything," Crimson said.

"You were going to."

Crimson and Ennui slowly blinked; it made Josée's eye twitch. "No."

"Don't lie to us," Jacques replied coolly. "We're not stupid."

"Why are you like this..." Ennui asked monotonously. He just shook his head. "To think we thought you were cool."

Josée and Jacques raised their eyebrows at this. "What?" But the Goths didn't reply, and walked away without saying goodbye.

Josée and Jacques exchanged an odd look.

Cool?

Them?

Arriving at the hotel in Mexico, Kyle showed up at their door with a phone call reserved for them. This time, instead of the phone call having a five minute limit, it was now doubled to ten minutes since they successfully managed to eliminate a team, and that it would make for great television.

"We didn't do it for you," Josée snapped.

Kyle shrugged, handing them the phone. "Maybe so, but..." he broke into laughter, "People are going to despise you." Then he shut the door for them. Josée and Jacques stared at it for a second, absorbing his words. People despising them... the thought of it made Josée and Jacques more ill than they liked to say. It was one thing for the other teams to dislike them, but potential fans? They had been so warped up in the competition that they hadn't been so focused on their fans; it was shameful.

"Allo Isaac..." Josée started off into the phone, but then she paused, taking in the other's voice. "Oh. Allo Hector. You're with my maman now?" Jacques stood up a little straighter. His heart began to race; his father could very well say anything - the worst being the truth. Her face fell a little; not enough to be told the truth, but enough to be told that things weren't going very well. "Oh... well... you said she's been eating, though, oui? Oh... she hasn't? She..." Josée looked helplessly to her companion while still addressing Hector, frowning deeply. "...She's - well, have you tried getting her out of bed? Maman isn't a quitter..."

Jacques' heart stopped racing at once. Josée bit her lip harshly as she listened to the voice on the other end of the phone. "Oh, I see. So today was just a bad day... and that you... you have to do other treatments other than surgery because it won't work." Jacques felt relief wash over him for a second upon her not going to be told the truth, but then dread followed when he realized that his father was making it worse. "Merci, Hector. Would you like to talk to Jacques?"

Seconds later, Jacques was handed the phone. "Allo, papa."

"She doesn't have a clue, does she?"

Jacques glanced over to Josée and resisted the urge to wince at her curious expression. He took a breath, and asked: "What do you think?"

"Don't be smart."

"...Non. And it's not going to happen."

"It's better that way. She's a mean old bitch, but I know it would only break Josée's heart if she was told before the competition. She would've been miserable and would've dropped everything and watched her suffer."

Jacques let out a sigh. "I understand." He kept his replies vague; Josée wouldn't ask if so.

"So how is it going?"

"Fine. Look, we have to go get ready for tomorrow."

"Jacques," Josée interjected, with a disapproving frown. "It hasn't even been five minutes, let alone ten-"

Jacques ignored her. "We'll talk to you soon." Then he hung up.

"Jacques!" Josée pressed angrily. "That was our ten minute phone call!" She crossed her arms. "Just because you don't get along with your papa doesn't mean I couldn't have spent my time talking to him!"

"Talking about your maman will only make you more upset," Jacques tried to reason.

"You don't have to protect me, Jacques! I can take care of myself!" Josée snapped.

Jacques knew that. He knew that she could take care of herself; but he couldn't help but think about what happened back in Nevada, after he said goodbye to Alice and was greeted with a destroyed hotel room and a frightened Josée in the middle of all of it - it was the first time she was truly aware of how lethal her rage could be, and she had scared herself. He remembered how vulnerable she was; he remembered how she had blindly risked her life as well as his, therefore... he couldn't help but be more cautious.

Obviously there was another reason why Jacques was overly concerned with her, but that was another complicated subject he really didn't want to get into.

This morning, Josée's head hurt thinking about yesterday.

Since the Goths departure, neither Josée and Jacques knew what to think. The Goths thought they were cool? That didn't make sense! Crimson and Ennui were dull and boring and thrived in sadness; while Josée and Jacques were lively and fun and thrived in applause. Not only that, Josée's mother wasn't going through any changes - which was especially strange. What was even stranger was Jacques' reluctance to comment on such a matter. Everything was just so confusing; the mind games were too much. She wanted to be furious with him for hanging up on his father, but Josée just... couldn't.

And now, the day after they left, they were forced to watch as MacArthur and Sanders were at the Don box first; not without taunting the ice dancers. Josée and Jacques crossed their arms furiously whilst the former's eye twitched irritably. They were subjected to MacArthur shaking her bottom obnoxiously while Sanders laughed in amusement.

"Second place. Again," Josée complained in the confessional.

"But at least I got a team eliminated," Jacques bragged.

"It's true, we did!" Josée exclaimed, holding her arms up victoriously. "It's like we won a gold medal in treachery!"

After the confessional, Josée and Jacques ran over to the Don box to see that the cadets had run ahead to their next destination. Josée pressed the Don box button and read the travel tip which stated that their next destination was in Vietnam. They ran to grab a taxi, and when they did, Josée sulked in it.

Jacques looked over to his partner. "Josée?"

"I can't believe we got silver again," Josée remarked, still shaking her head. "I just can't. And by a hair..."

"It was that stupide rabbit's fault," Jacques said bitterly. "It scared the burros away."

Josée snorted. "Thankfully we don't have to deal with it or the Goths ever again." Out of all the teams, with the exception of maybe the Cadets, the Goths grated on her nerves the most - they spoke too much when they shouldn't have, prying into their business, and expected something in return. All of them were scummy. All of the teams were.

It was hard to believe that there were only five teams left, not including theirs. Despite that Josée and Jacques were sure they were going to win, they were still amazed at how far they came. It was once eighteen teams, narrowed down to six. They were the cream of the crop, it could be any of the teams - but it was going to be them.

They were dropped off at the airport and boarded the same flight as the others.

"C'mon, Devin..." Carrie nudged gently to her best friend, who's eyes were extremely irritated. "We have to get to our seats."

Josée and Jacques blinked slowly. Then, the latter spoke up. "Is he stoned?" Josée frowned and elbowed her partner's side.

"If he is," piped up MacArthur from behind the ice dancers, "Can he share some with the rest of us?"

"MacArthur!" Sanders shrieked in disapproval.

"What?! He shouldn't be so stingy!"

"You are the last person to talk about sharing."

This was going to be a very long flight. Just like all the others. Josée and Jacques grew annoyed at every little thing that the other five teams did. This ranged from Carrie trying to redirect Devin since he couldn't see correctly, Stephanie and Ryan going from bickering, to making out, to bickering again, Emma talking about Noah, while Kitty dipped back and forth between almost all of the teams - with her occasionally bickering with MacArthur, trying to get her sister to focus on the competition, to trying to help Carrie help Devin, and talking with the Cadets and Surfers. Josée and Jacques were thankful that Kitty didn't bother them.

Once all the teams arrived to Vietnam, it was a race to find taxis. When they did, they were right beside the Cadets' taxi - Josée longed to take over from the driver so she could knock her vehicle into theirs - but decided against it after Jacques told her there were more important things to worry about. But when they got out, however, that was a different story. The two teams got out at the same time, with the ice dancers rushing ahead.

Josée was sure to gloat, "Bye, bye! See you at the finish line!"

MacArthur let out a battle cry and tackled the ice dancers right before they could reach the Don box. "Nice try, ice nerd!"

"Ha!" Sanders taunted, then took the travel tip and read it. "It's a super team challenge. Three teams must go catfish noodling together?"

"Super noodle what now?" MacArthur piped up, still holding down Josée and Jacques. The two ice dancers exchanged a concerned glance; wondering what this entailed. MacArthur hesitantly let the two ice dancers go as her partner read on.

"In this super team challenge, teams must work in groups of three, and collectively noodle six catfish to receive their next tip." Out of the corner of Josée's eye, she saw her partner wince uncomfortably. She knew exactly why. "Added bonus, if a super team catches the Ridonculous Race branded catfish, they'll recieve a Zip-It Ticket, skip the next challenge and go straight to today's chill zone."

Dread filled both Josée and Jacques. Though they weren't unfamiliar with working with the cadets - that instance in which they were stuck in one of the cells in Australia came to mind - but they didn't think it could work again. This was after many things have been said between them; it would be much harder to work together.

"Looks like we'll be working..." Josée stopped to shudder. "Together."

MacArthur gasped in fright - neither ice dancer blamed her. At this point, both teams were pulled aside for an interview.

"I can't stand fish!" Jacques exclaimed, making a face of disgust. "They're so slimy and wiggly."

"Too bad. We need that branded fish to guarantee another gold! And I will do anything to get it. Even if it means... Josée stopped to shudder again. "...having to team up with those cadets." When they returned to the Don box, the Cadets were waiting right there.

"Yep. Guess it's you guys, us guys, and the next team that shows up," said MacArthur.

"Come on, let's get a boat!" Sanders ordered. Josée and Jacques bit back a groan and ran to the boats.

So it begins...

MacArthur, Sanders, Josée, and Jacques stepped into the boat and proceeded to wait. It was spent in uncomfortable silence.

"So..." Jacques started off uncomfortably, "How long have you been together - ow!" Josée had stomped on his foot and glared. "I'm just making conversation, Josée!" Making conversation with the cadets is what had gotten into trouble in the first place; Josée remembered all the way back in beginning of the race.

"Six months," Sanders answered simply, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

MacArthur scoffed at her girlfriend. "Why are you letting our sworn enemies know about our relationship?!"

"...We already know," Josée said, with a roll of her eyes. "...and we couldn't care less."

"That's fine," Sanders remarked cordially. "We couldn't care less about your relationship either."

Beat.

"We're not dating," Josée told them. Beside her, Jacques was turning a bit red and avoided eye contact at all costs.

"Sanders, I'm pretty sure that he's gay."

"MacArthur, you can't just assume that people are gay."

"I mean, I assumed you were gay and I was pretty spot-on with that."

"Okay, but did I assume you were pan when we first met?"

"You should've, you would've been right." MacArthur began to wiggle her eyebrows suggestively to Sanders. "I can't help but find everyone hot. If someone wants me to hold them down, who am I to say no?" Sanders sighed in disappointment while Josée and Jacques bore a look of confusion.

Pan?

Josée looked over to Jacques to see if he knew what that meant, but he looked just as clueless as she did.

Neither of them had time to ask, as MacArthur's voice cut through to the other two teams that had arrived by the Don box: "Hey! We need another pair of butts over here!" Josée peered over to see the two teams that were there, which were the Best Friends and the Haters. She was thankful that the latter team showed up; she wasn't sure if she was able to handle working with Devin and Carrie after their fiasco from not too long ago.

"Buh bye," Stephanie said to the Best Friends, as the boat took off. They heard Carrie call back to go get some fish, and Josée couldn't help but be annoyed. She had no problem becoming friends with Ryan, but apparently she and Jacques were the problem. Well, that's just fine, she supposed... it's not like she really cared. Right?

After some time, Sanders stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and turned to her teammates. "Okay, here's what I think we should do-"

"CANNONBALL!" MacArthur interrupted, jumping in the water. This in turn got the other teammates wet, much to everyone else's annoyance. Shortly after, most of the teammates followed - not by doing a cannonball, of course - by going into the disgusting lake to complete the first challenge. There was one contestant, however, who refused.

"Jacques! Get in here and noodle us some fish already!" Josée snapped, glaring at her partner who held out a glove. "For the love of gold, this is just fish!" Jacques turned away from her and put on his gloves. Josée was sure to add: "And take off those gloves!"

"Never!" Jacques declared.

"Could you stop being a neat freak for once in your life."

Jacques put his hands on his hips. "Non! You are asking for too much, Josée!"

"You're already a neat freak at the hotels checking under the beds for bugs!"

"It's just to be cautious Josée! The hotels are gross and disgusting!"

"Are you sure you guys aren't a couple?"

"Shut up Sanders!" Josée and Jacques snapped simultaneously. The cadet could only sigh. Josée, however, went on: "The cleanliness of the hotel doesn't impact a challenge, but this does! So get us some fish!"

"Non!"

"Yes!" Sanders suddenly shouted, a fish had gotten on her arm.

Meanwhile, MacArthur was screaming for a fish to latch onto her. "Get on my arm! Argh! Dumb mustache fish! Come here and eat my arm. That's an order!"

The fish from Sanders arm disappeared into the water. "No!" she exclaimed, then turned to her partner. "Maybe you could try, oh, I dunno, not yelling for a change?" Josée smirked in amusement as the cadet went on, "Your voice is terrifying the fish!"

Josée strolled right by. "And don't forget her face, personality, and odor! All very scary!" she taunted. MacArthur growled in response. Sanders didn't bother getting between what would be another altercation, so she swam away to find fish. Meanwhile, Jacques was still in on the boat, with his gloves on, reluctant to get into the water. He let out a frightened squeal as a fish came close.

"You know what you need, skater girl?" MacArthur challenged.

"I'm sure this will be a useless thought. Do tell," Josée allowed.

MacArthur snatched the fish out of Sanders grasp and slammed it into the ice dancer. "A fish slap!" Josée squealed while Sanders looked on in disapproval.

"Hey! You let my fish go!" Sanders snapped.

MacArthur smirked. "But worth it. Am I right?" Josée let out a scream and jumped high above MacArthur and plowed her into the water; managing to score some punches. Unfortunately, Josée had stopped - Sanders voice from the surface was grabbing her attention.

"Listen up team! In case you hadn't noticed, we're losing! You see what they're doing?!" The other teams looked over at the other super team to see that they only had a few more fish to go before making their way to the next challenge. Josée and MacArthur immediately stopped brawling.

"They are..." Josée started to break the word down, "Co-op-er-a-ting." She shuddered in disgust. "I was not born with that gene."

"Okay, obviously, we hate each other," said Sanders.

"Absolutely," Josée agreed, leveling a glare with MacArthur.

"I hate her more. Stamped it," MacArthur retorted.

"But right now, can we hate them more because they're beating us?" Sanders asked.

"That is pretty annoying," MacArthur allowed.

"A three-way alliance? Not the worst idea," Stephanie chimed in. "But only till those loser teams are sent packing."

Josée resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned to face MacArthur. "Fine." She held her hand out. "Truce."

MacArthur sighed and held her hand out, then retracted it. "You stink." Then she blew a raspberry, making Josée groan. It was official; she never knew that she could despise someone as much as she could despise MacArthur in this moment.

"MacArthur!" Sanders protested.

"I mean, fine."

"Okay good. Now, I've been thinking about what our strategy should be," said Sanders.

While she said that, Josée spotted a crocodile resting on the sand and pointed at it. "I have an idea!" She smiled at MacArthur, with a knowing look. "Sabotage, anyone?" Both she and MacArthur cackled; knowing full well that they would orchestrate a good plan.

"What are you thinking?" MacArthur asked, stopping nearby the crocodile.

Josée's eyebrows were raised slightly; she didn't think she'd actually be open to her idea. Nonetheless, she spilled: "Devin's eyesight is screwed up... or he's stoned... I don't know which is which... maybe both. We could make him think that crocodile is the fish that lets you skip the next challenge."

MacArthur smirked. "Nice thinking. Could be deadly though."

"Like you care?" Josée challenged.

The police cadet chuckled. "Nope. It's like my dad says, 'If your competitor was drowning, you wouldn't help them, you'd stick a hose in their mouth and turn the water on." Josée blinked at the quote, and let it ring in her head over and over. It reminded her a little bit of Leo and Liv in a sense, except this wasn't really MacArthur's words, but her father's. Josée couldn't help but think a little bit of her mother at home, she would probably like that. Then, MacArthur interrupted her thoughts but shouting aloud for Devin to hear, passing by him: "Hey! Did you see that mega catfish over by the rocks?"

Josée smiled beside her. "Yes! It'd take a very impressive man to catch that beast!" Then they both laughed. When they caught themselves laughing together instead of at each other, they checked themselves and simmered down. Josée cleared her throat, appearing cordial. "Well... that was good."

"It was," MacArthur agreed.

Then, it was quiet a little bit on the way back to their boat, until Josée spoke up, unable to keep it to herself. "Question."

MacArthur didn't stop moving ahead. "I might have an answer," she replied gruffly.

Josée bit her lower lip. "What did Sanders mean by pan?"

MacArthur stopped moving and turned to Josée, raising her eyebrows. "You don't know what that is?" Josée blinked and shook her head. MacArthur was a bit skeptical, Josée could tell, but after careful analysis, MacArthur figured that this wouldn't be something the ice princess could take advantage of. "Pansexual. It means I like everyone."

"I don't get it," Josée admitted. "Isn't that like being... bisexual?"

MacArthur hesitated for a bit. "Sort of. Being pan to me means you date because people are hot... not because of their gender. Most people that are bi have a lot of other shit going on like... they'll like guys more than girls or something... that shit doesn't matter to me. It's like colors. Someone who's bi would like more than one color, while I like all the colors." She shot Josée a look. "Why?"

Josée shrugged. "So it's not picking a side, it's picking a person," she clarified.

MacArthur smirked. "Yeah! I never thought of it that way, ice princess. Turns out you could be cool, when you're not being a total bitch."

Josée found the corners of her mouth turning up, but forced them down quickly. First of all, MacArthur had given her a backhanded compliment. Second of all, it wasn't her words, she realized - it was Tom's. But the point still stood; Jacques had been confused about the relationship between MacArthur and Sanders - because MacArthur had said she wasn't a lesbian but her partner was. Josée would be sure to pass this on to him later. Josée tried not to let herself dwell on this, after all, they had a challenge to win.

Unfortunately for them when they got back into the boat, despite tricking Devin, the other super team had moved onto the next part of the challenge.

"I co-operated for nothing!?" Josée shrieked frustratedly.

"I'm not sure sabotage counts as cooperation," Sanders replied.

A squeal from Jacques interrupted them. "The branded catfish! I see it!" There in the lake, the branded catfish that had the Ridonculous Race logo dove into the water and back to the surface over and over. "Someone, come over! And-" The branded catfish latched onto Jacques; who's excitement turned into pure fear. "Get it off, get it off!" He slammed the fish repeatedly against the boat, throwing it up in the air and landed on the boat.

"Hello, zip it ticket!" Stephanie cheered, along with the others with the exception of Jacques, who was frozen in place. They were given the zip it ticket by the local and made their way to the chill zone. Jacques still remained in the same position, his eyes staring straight ahead and his hands in front of him - hardly blinking.

"Hey, is he alright?" Sanders asked, squinting at Jacques after they finished cheering. The other contestants stopped to look over at Jacques when they saw he wasn't moving a muscle, and that he had stood in place. "Josée... is he okay?"

Josée stood up at once from her spot and stared at her partner in concern. Her heart sank a little; he bore a similar expression many years ago when his sister passed. She walked in front of him and cupped his face gently. "Jacques," she said softly; it was softer than any of the other contestants heard her voice. Thankfully, this trance wasn't long. Jacques blinked rapidly and met her eyes, to which Josée couldn't help but smile lightly at. "Merci. You helped us win the challenge."

Jacques glanced over at the other contestants, then back at Josée, matching her smile. "Really?"

Josée nodded, her smile growing. "Oui."

Soon, they arrived at the chill zone, where Don announced all three teams as tied for first. Josée would have preferred that the other teams weren't included in first place, but for now, she didn't care - as long as she and Jacques were first. Don referred to them as the "Axis of Evil."

"Wait, we're called what now?" Ryan asked.

"It does have a lovely sound to it," Jacques remarked.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but..." Sanders paused, then smiled: "...should we keep the axis of evil together until the final three?"

MacArthur smirked at Josée and held her hand out. "Put her there, partner." Josée smirked at her; not because she had any intention of staying true to the alliance - and one look at Jacques told her that he knew that this wasn't real, either - but that she was more malevolent than what the cameras would probably show.

Josée knew what the producers casting was; and everyone was playing their roles very well. For those who were left, at least. Josée hoped that they would win, because if they didn't they had a lot of explaining to do, because she and Jacques' role in their little game show was what she feared to be, so she knew she had to make the best of it - it would be worth the million, she supposed. What happened behind-the-scenes wasn't important; that wasn't going to be shown. Her mother's illness, her best friend's death back from home, and this sudden clinginess to Jacques she couldn't really explain.

None of it mattered. Everyone here knew who the heroes were.

And they knew who were the villains - themselves.