by Lucas Flint
The robot crashed into the snow with a loud crash, but just as it did that, the second robot—the one I thought I'd defeated earlier—flew at me with its fists swinging again. Because it came so fast, I was unable to dodge it. It fists smashed into me like a pile driver, sending me hurtling head over heels through the air until I crashed into the wall.
The impact dazed me, but I recovered just in time to see the second robot flying down toward the still-unconscious Blizzard. It looked like it was about to crash into her, so I jumped out of the dent in the wall and zoomed toward Blizzard as fast as I could, although it was hard to move quickly through the snow without slipping and tripping.
I reached Blizzard well before the robot did, scooping her up in my arms as I ran. I got her out of the robot's way just in the nick of time. It crashed into the snow upon which she had been lying and sent snow and ice flying into the air.
Skidding to a stop in the snow, I looked down at Blizzard. She was still breathing and appeared unharmed, but I knew I had to get her to the medical room anyway. It was the only way to make sure that she was okay.
But before I could leave, I heard the creaking and cracking of mechanical joints and looked over to see the two training robots getting back up. The second one's head was smashed in, while the other one's arms seemed damaged, but they looked like they were ready for Round Two anyway. I considered just leaving the Training Room, but I figured that if I didn't take them down here, then they might just leave the Room and attack the others, because these robots apparently decided to be the Terminator today.
So I carefully put Blizzard down on the snow behind me and then turned to face the two training robots again. I punched my hand into my fist and said, “Okay, you two. I was just playing earlier, but now I'm serious.”
The two training robots probably didn't understand me, which was fine, because I could still turn them into tin cans anyway, but then they did something unexpected. Instead of charging at me, they started to transform.
The second robot's head retracted into its body, while its upper torso lowered down into its waist, its arms clasping to the sides of its legs. The first robot, meanwhile, jumped into the air, its legs folding upwards and attaching to its arms. The first robot landed on the second robot and I heard a loud click as the two fitted together.
Now there was just one robot, rather than two, and it was a lot bigger and tougher-looking than the original two.
I groaned when I saw it. How could I have forgotten about the practice bots' combination ability? I had to admit, though, that it was pretty cool even if the robots had only combined in order to become a more efficient killing machine.
But I could take it. I flew at the robot, but it moved out of my way quickly. As I flew past it, it grabbed me and slammed me between its fists. It was like getting crushed between two boulders and I struggled to break free, but the robot was stronger than I thought. It just squeezed me between its fists, so I decided that if I couldn't punch free, I'd fly free.
So I activated my flying power and shot upwards, forcing the robot's hands to jerk upwards. The sudden upward movement loosened its grip on my body, allowing me to fly out of its grasp. I stopped when I was near the ceiling and looked down at the robot just as its hands folded into cannons.
I tried to remember what it was going to shoot when its cannons exploded and two thick steel nets flew out of them. I tried to dodge them, but the nets hit me before I could dodge and I was knocked out of the air again.
I crashed into the snow, which broke my fall somewhat, but the fall still jarred me. Nonetheless, I tried to free myself, but the netting immediately electrocuted me, causing me to gasp in pain. My suit and natural strength protected me from the worst of the electricity, but it still stunned me anyway.
Then I heard loud footsteps coming toward me and I looked up to see the robot standing above me. Its cannons folded back into its arms and were replaced by a sword and a normal hand. It grabbed the netting around me and lifted it up even as I started fighting against it again.
“Hey!” I shouted. “Let me go! Put me down!”
The robot didn't seem to be listening to me, however. It just raised its sword hand, aiming at me. I realized that there wasn't enough room in the netting for me to dodge the sword. Unless a miracle happened, I was about to become a human shish kebob.
That was when I heard Blizzard shout, “Bolt!” and I looked over in time to see Blizzard standing up. But she didn't look normal. Her eyes, hands, and face were all glowing white. Snow was rising slowly around her, while the temperature in the Training Room seemed to drop another ten degrees in a second.
“Blizzard?” I said. “What's—”
A gigantic snowstorm suddenly came out of nowhere. It even took the robot by surprise, causing it to drop me to the floor. The impact was jarring, but in comparison to the robot, I thought I was doing pretty good for myself. The robot was staggering backwards, waving its sword arm wildly about, but there was nothing for it to hit.
Then ice started rapidly running up its legs, only this time much quicker than before. The robot didn't seem to notice, but it did notice Blizzard, who it must have realized was the source of the snowstorm.
Just as the ice reached its waist, the robot's upper body flew off. It transformed in midair into its normal form and, landing on the ground, ran toward Blizzard with its sword arm out.
“Blizzard!” I shouted as I struggled to break free of the netting, although it still wouldn't budge. “Watch out!”
But I probably shouldn't have been worrying for Blizzard. Instead, I should have been worrying for the robot.
Blizzard held out one hand toward the robot and flicked her wrist. Immediately, a thick spear made of ice exploded from the snow and impaled the training robot. The training robot stopped, its body sparking and smoking from where the spear had hit it. It started making weird buzzing and beeping sounds, but before it could do anything else, another ice spear shot from the ceiling and impaled it in the head.
Then Blizzard let out a yell that was audible even above the roaring wind. The ice spears jerked in opposite directions, completely tearing the robot apart, and this time it wasn't going to be able to combine back to normal. The two halves fell to the floor as smoke and sparks shot out, but neither half moved again.
“Good job, Blizz!” I shouted. “Now, can you let me out of the—”
My voice was drowned out by the howling of the snowstorm all around us. Blizzard didn't even seem to notice me. She was just raising her hands, her eyes glowing, like she was looking at something else.
“Uh, Blizzard?” I shouted again, this time raising my voice even higher than before. “I'm still here. Remember me, Bolt? You know, your leader? The guy who is not a robot and can't survive extreme cold for very long, even with my costume?”
But again, Blizzard wasn't listening. She seemed to have become completely consumed by her own power. I had never seen Blizzard like this before, but it didn't matter. If I didn't break out quickly and somehow stop this, I figured that she'd turn the entire House into a freezer.
Then I noticed that ice was starting to form around the netting. It was even getting on my suit, which caused me to panic, because it wouldn't be long before I was frozen if I didn't escape soon. I lashed out and smashed the frozen netting around me, freeing me in an instant.
I rose to my feet, but slowly, because the wind and snow made even doing that much difficult. I could barely see anything; in fact, the only reason I even saw Blizzard was because her eyes and hands were glowing so brightly that they were like a lighthouse in the middle of a thunderstorm.
I walked toward her, not risking flying or running fast in case I tripped or was knocked down by the wind. I could feel the chill starting to sink into my bones, but I trudged on nonetheless, because I had to if I wanted to stop Blizzard.
“Blizzard!” I shouted as I drew closer to her, though I wasn't sure how much she could hear over the roaring of the wind. “Blizzard, listen to m
e! Blizzard, can you hear me?”
Finally, I seem to have gotten her attention, because she actually looked at me this time. But I didn't see any recognition in her eyes. I just saw the glowing white light that made her look less like a human and more like some sort of force of nature.
But she seemed to be listening to me, at least, so I said, “All right, Blizzard, you stopped the robots. Now we just need to—”
I felt a cold pain in my legs and looked down to see ice forming on them. The ice was slowly crawling up to my waist, causing me to look at Blizzard again.
“Blizzard, please,” I said. I reached out to her. “It's me, Bolt, remember? You're killing me. Get a hold of yourself!”
Again, Blizzard didn't seem to be listening, so I knew I'd have to put her down the hard way.
I activated my super speed and my legs started moving fast, so fast that they shattered what little ice had managed to accumulate on my legs. I ran toward Blizzard fast, much faster than she could follow. I saw a look of surprise appear on her face, but I wasn't going to give her a moment to react.
I ran around her and struck her in the back of her neck in just the right spot with just the right amount of pressure. It wasn't enough to break her neck or cause her any lasting damage, but it did make her collapse immediately. But I caught her before she fell onto the snow, saving her from cracking her head open on the floor.
But it worked like a charm, because the snowstorm died down just as quickly as it appeared. The Training Room was still ice cold, but it was more like walking into a really cold freezer now rather than, well, a blizzard.
I looked down at Blizzard in my arms. She wasn't glowing anymore, but she didn't look good. She was actually shivering in my arms, like she was suffering from hypothermia, so I knew I had to get her to the medical station right away if I wanted to make sure she survived.
Chapter Five
According to Carl, who was also in charge of the House's medical station, Blizzard was going to be just fine. Despite having stood in the middle of an extremely powerful snowstorm trapped in one room, Blizzard had apparently only suffered minor injuries as a result and just needed to rest in a nice, warm bed for a while. That made sense, seeing as Blizzard was mostly immune to her own powers, but it still seemed weird to me anyway.
But it turned out that I was a lot worse off than her. Although the snowstorm hadn't lasted long and I had managed to break off the ice that had formed around my legs, I had still suffered very, very minor frostbite. Thus, I had to keep my feet in warm water while I sat in the medical station near Blizzard, who was lying unconscious on the bed underneath a thick blanket.
The other Young Neos stood nearby. Stinger, Shell, Treehugger, and Talon stood near me, looking at Blizzard in worry and confusion.
“What happened to you guys?” said Stinger. He was not wearing his bug-like mask at the moment, which showed off his crew cut hair and his worried face. “We got the message from Carl that you were injured in the Training Room.”
My stomach grumbled, which was a reminder for breakfast, but I ignored it and said, “We were training in the Training Room when the practice bots attacked.”
“But the practice bots don't have any ice powers,” Shell pointed out. “And what do you mean they 'attacked,' anyway?”
“I mean, they were actively trying to kill us,” I said. I grimaced at the coldness in my feet, though the warm water felt nice. “They weren't just giving us a good fight. They were honestly trying to murder us in cold blood.”
“Murder?” said Treehugger. She covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh my god.”
“Doesn't make any sense, though,” said Stinger. “The practice bots aren't programmed to kill. They have a variety of difficulty levels, but they should have shut off when you told them to or when they knocked Blizzard out and it became clear that she couldn't fight back.”
“I know what they should have done, but what matters is what they actually did,” I said, “and what they did was try to kill me and Blizzard.”
“Did someone reprogram them?” said Shell. He took off his glasses and wiped them off on his shirt before putting them back on his face.
“I don't know,” I said. “I'm not sure who could. Has anyone here touched them?”
“No,” said Shell, shaking his head. “I don't think anyone has.”
“Maybe they were glitching up,” said Talon. She was busy looking at herself in her mirror, which seemed kind of inappropriate for the situation, but I said nothing about it. “Perhaps it was the cold messing with their wiring or something.”
“I doubt it,” said Shell, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I took a look at them when I first got here. Their plating is sealed too tightly for anything but the most intense of coldness. It would take a lot of force to damage their interior, even more force than Bolt can muster, and he's the toughest of us all.”
“But who could have reprogrammed them?” said Treehugger. “We know it wasn't one of us, but who else could have gained access to the practice bots?”
“Carl might know,” I said. “He has access to the security cameras and I know there's a camera in the storage place where the practice bots are kept when they're not in use. There might be footage of someone reprogramming them.”
I looked up at the ceiling and said, “Carl? Can you check the security footage for the storage area for the last week or so and see if you can find anything suspicious, maybe footage of anyone who shouldn't be there?”
“No problem,” came Carl's cheery and chipper voice. “It will take a couple of hours, though, but I'll get it done as fast as I can.”
“Can't you do it any faster than that?” I said. “What if whoever reprogrammed the robots is still here?”
“I would if I could, but there's just too much footage to go through any faster than that,” said Carl. “But as soon as I finish it, I'll let you know.”
“All right,” I said. “But please don't delay. This is important.”
Carl did not respond, but that was fine, because I just wanted him to focus on analyzing the footage and finding out who or what did this than talking with us.
“So how did Blizzard lose control of her powers?” said Stinger, glancing at the unconscious Blizzard. “What happened?”
“I'm not sure,” I said. “The combined robot was about to kill me, but then Blizzard got up and her hands and eyes started to glow.”
“That's weird,” said Stinger. “Maybe she has other powers we're not aware of?”
“I doubt it,” I said. “I read Mecha Knight's report on her before I first met her and it only said she can generate ice and control coldness. It didn't mention any other powers.”
“Gotta admit, that makes me a bit nervous,” said Stinger. He looked at the rest of us. “What if she loses control during a battle with some supervillain when innocent people are nearby? We're lucky her power was contained in the Training Room, if you ask me.”
“She just needs practice,” I said. “She has unusually powerful powers, so it's no surprise that she has trouble controlling them.”
“And she is absolutely timid,” said Talon. She glanced up from her mirror at Blizzard before returning her attention to her own appearance. “Like a mouse. I can't imagine that that makes it easier for her to control of her powers.”
“Right, but we can't control her confidence,” I said. “I think it comes from the fact that she can't control her powers very well. If she learns how to master her powers, I think we'll see her confidence go way up.”
“Do you think she'll really be eager to try again, though?” said Treehugger. “I mean, after this? She almost killed you. She might not want to use her powers ever again.”
“Maybe, but we won't know until she wakes up and talks to us about it,” I said. “I hope she doesn't want to quit, though, because—”
The door to the medical station suddenly opened, causing the team and I to look over in time to see Mecha Knight enter. As always, he wa
s completely clad in his armor, which clanked along as he hurried toward us.
“Mecha Knight?” I said. I wished I could stand to salute him, since that was usually how we were supposed to greet our supervisor, but my feet needed to stay in the warm water. “What are you doing here?”
Mecha Knight stopped a few feet away from us. He pointed at Blizzard. “I received a report from Carl that Blizzard was in critical condition and that you and she were nearly killed by your practice bots. I came to see the damage for myself.”
“Did you stop by the Training Room?” I said.
Mecha Knight nodded. “Yes. I examined the remains of the robots and the state of the Training Room. I imagine it will be very expensive to repair, once we figure out how much it will cost.”
“I'm sorry,” I said. “We didn't mean to damage it so much. We just—”
“I understand,” Mecha Knight interrupted me. “I am not blaming you or Blizzard. It is good that you two survived. Your lives are more important than the Training Room.” Then he looked at Blizzard again and, although I could not see his face, I thought he was frowning. “But Blizzard's loss of control over her powers is … problematic.”
I didn't like Mecha Knight's tone, so I said, “It wasn't her fault, sir. I think she was so worried about saving me that she let her emotions get the best of her.”
“That may be true, but I am aware of the extent of her powers,” said Mecha Knight. “Had you not stopped her, she might have frozen the entire island and everyone on it.”
“She just needs some more practice,” I said. “Once she gets better control over her powers, she'll become a safer superhero.”
“Perhaps, but unlike the rest of you, she still does not have much control over her powers,” said Mecha Knight. “This is not the first time the loss of control over her powers has put the lives of other people at risk. When I first met her some months ago … well, I should have expected this.”
