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My food was getting cold waiting for Carmen, so I went ahead and ate without her. When I was done I looked around, but there was still no sign of her. What could be keeping her? We always ate together. In fact, we did everything together. I waited a little longer, but she still didn't show. With a shrug I dumped my garbage in the bin and walked out. I stopped at the entrance to the cafeteria to take one more look around.

I heard someone yell, "Now!" and felt something hit my arm. The impact spun me around so I didn't see where it came from right away. As I was trying to get my balance back two of Crusher's goons crashed into me and tried to hold me down. Just what I need! My arm was really hurting, and I recognized the pain from the last time Crusher had managed to tag me with one of his energy blasts. I knew it would be suicide to try and fight back when I was already injured, so I flew up and smashed into the ceiling, knocking his cronies off of myself in the process, and shot off back to my room. Crusher and his goons can't fly, so I lost them easily.

When I got back to my room I hurried inside and hit the door plate to lock it once it closed. I felt a prick in my hand when I did, but ignored it. I knew I was due another test and was used to it. I'd been getting them every ten days for as long as I could remember.

All I could think when I saw the mess that was my arm was that it was a good thing I'm a Super or I probably would have lost it. There wasn't much bleeding, but half my arm was burned from the blast and it hurt like hell! I took off my ruined shirt and dumped it down the laundry chute. It looked like there might be some melted bits of my shirt still on my arm so I decided to take a shower and see if that helped it any. I threw the rest of my clothes down the chute and palmed open the tiny shower cubicle.

The shower seemed to help the pain some, anyway. Afterward I opened the clean laundry chute and pulled out fresh clothes and put them on. I didn't know if Crusher and his pals were waiting outside for me or not, so I decided to just lay down and relax for a while. There's not much else to do in my tiny 6'x6' room, anyway. As I lay there I wondered what happened to Carmen. I hoped Crusher hadn't gotten to her, too!

Worrying about Carmen wasn't helping the time to go faster, and I was too worked up to sleep. It was morning, anyway, so I wasn't that tired even with the attack. I decided to go out and make sure Carmen was alright, but just then the door shuddered from some kind of impact. I looked out the window in the door and saw Crusher getting ready to blast the door again! If he gets the door open I'll be dead in this cramped little room!

I jumped back from the door as Crusher blasted it again, but it held. Still, it was smoking and looked a little deformed. Crusher could probably get through it. It's just plastic, after all, though a really tough plastic. I braced myself to try and fly out as soon as the door went down.

After the fourth blast the door looked like it couldn't take anymore, but just as Crusher was charging up another blast Carmen slammed into him and sent him flying. "Get out of there Seb!" she yelled as Crusher's gang closed in on her. I palmed the door, but it wouldn't open. Oh well, guess I need a new door anyway. I kicked the door as hard as I could and it broke in half, both pieces flying out and hitting one of Crusher's goons.

"Where have you been?" I said as I slammed into another of the gang.

Carmen waited until she'd knocked another goon out before she said, "He had some of these idiots distract me so he could go after you. Watch out!" She grabbed me and pulled me away just in time to avoid another blast from Crusher. Without a word we glanced at each other and charged Crusher. It takes him a few seconds to charge up a blast, so if we could close the distance before then we could do some damage.

"I'll get you next time, Cole!" he snarled, and ran off. A couple of his gang were still conscious and picked up the others and ran off after him.

"Well, that was fun!" Carmen said. "Why were you hiding in your room, anyway?" I started rubbing my sore arm before I realized what I was doing and yanked my hand away. But not before Carmen noticed. "He got you, didn't he? How bad is it?"

"It's okay." I lied. I knew she wouldn't buy it, so I don't know why I bothered. She knows me too well!

"Yeah, right! That's why you ran instead of fighting Crusher. Come with me." It wasn't a request, so I meekly followed her. We had to go through the cafeteria to get to her room, since the doors connecting the male and female sleeping areas are always locked. No doubt the Commission intended to keep us apart, but they did a rotten job of it. It's not like any sane person would try to do anything, anyway. A Commission squad would be all over them in a heartbeat!

When we got to her room Carmen palmed the door open and drug me in, closing and locking the door behind us. I almost fell over inside as there was barely enough room to stand, but Carmen pushed me down on the bed anyway. She had me take my shirt off and took a long look at my arm. "It doesn't hurt much anymore." I offered hopefully. I really wanted to go to the Arena today, but Carmen wouldn't go for it if she thought I wasn't fit.

"You're lucky you didn't lose an arm! We're staying out of the Arena until this heals up." Carmen replied. Like I said, she knows me too well. "Did you wash it?" I nodded. "Well, at least you did that right. You know what Avatar always says, 'a clean wound is a healing wound'!"

I sighed and said, "Did you eat breakfast yet?"

Carmen nodded, "Yeah, I must have just missed you. I ate and then came looking for you. Want to go watch a match?"

"It's not the same." I grumbled. The Arena is the only place where there's room to really fly, that's why I love it so much. Even though I have to fight to go there.

Carmen helped me get my shirt back on and hugged me sympathetically. "I know, but it's something to do. We heal pretty fast, so you should be okay in a couple of days." she said. I shrugged and let her help me up. We flew over to the Arena block but had to start walking when we got there as it was too crowded with Flyers already.

"Domeside?" I asked hopefully. It's the best seat in the place to watch a match, and it's almost like flying being up there.

Carmen smiled widely at me and said, "Of course! Where else?" She wrapped her arm around my waist and we started up the sloped hall that goes to the top of the dome over the Arena. I would have returned the favor, but that was my injured arm and it was getting pretty stiff. Carmen must have realized that, as she slid around to my other side. So we made our way with our arms wrapped around each other and I forgot all about my injured arm for a while.

We always like to watch Arena matches at the top of the dome, or Domeside, as everyone called it. Not sure where that name came from, though. Probably from one of the olds who actually lived as adults outside the Arena before it was built. Most of them were long dead, but everyone used their words still.

The match was a standard 16 mutant free for all with only one winner. Prism was fighting, and won as usual. We laughed at some of the newbies, who obviously had no idea what they were doing. We'd had an advantage there; Avatar taught us about the Arena before we ever went in. One of the newbies got pretty torn up, but nobody died this time. We never talked about that, but we never killed anybody in the Arena. Prism is like that, too. That's one of the reasons he's so popular. That, and he kicks ass!

We were happy to see that Prism knocked Grim out of the fight early, that guy is so bloodthirsty most of his opponents end up dead or maimed. Prism collecting his prize was rather anti-climactic; he almost always wins. And the prize is always the same, ten credits for buying clothes or treats at the cafeteria. The clothes are all the same unless you buy better ones with Arena credits. That's where Carmen got the skirt she likes to wear so much. I haven't gotten around to using mine yet, but Prism never wears the standard uniform anymore.

After Prism's win was another standard match. Carmen and I leaned in when we noticed that Crusher and his gang were all in this one. Even better, so was Stellar! Stellar has the second best record in the Arena, and would be sure to kick Crusher's butt. I figured Crusher wanted to let off some steam after failing to get me, but hadn't counted on going up against Stellar!

I had mixed feelings after that match, though, because Serpent got a hold of one of Crusher's gang and bit him. He was dead before the match was even over from the poison in Serpent's fangs. Serpent's another one like Grim, he prefers to kill his opponents. I was sad that someone died during this match, but happy that it was one of Crusher's gang. But that made me feel guilty, too. I could tell from the look on Carmen's face that she felt the same way, and from the way she squeezed me harder after Serpent's bite. Stellar probably didn't like it either, as she slammed Serpent harder than she usually does.

"Let's go play a game for a while Seb." Carmen suggested as Stellar was accepting her prize. I nodded, and we helped each other up. We made our way to the Recreation Block and found an empty game room. The first two computers we tried weren't working, but we finally found a couple that would work and started up our favorite game. Like all of the games in the game rooms, it was an old, pre-mutant game. The multiplayer mode was called deathmatch, and most people played against each other. But just like in the Arena, Carmen and I play as a team.

We were just about to take down the boss monster for the level when I felt a sharp pain in my chest. It quickly spread throughout my entire body, and I started feeling hot, too. But just as quickly, it was gone again. While I was left panting and wondering what the hell had just happened, the boss monster killed me, and then Carmen too. "Hey Seb, what happened to you?" Carmen asked. I quickly got myself together before she turned her chair to look at me so she wouldn't get worried.

"Sorry, I guess I got a little distracted. Want to go again?" I said. She gave me a long look, but then shrugged and agreed. This time we got through the level without any problems.

We kept playing for about an hour before our grumbling stomachs convinced us to take a break. We headed over to the cafeteria and grabbed some food. We didn't worry too much about what it was, it was all equally flavorless. I was tempted to use a credit for something better, but I'd rather get better use out of them than that. Maybe if I got as many as Stellar or Prism I could splurge like that.

We talked about the Arena matches over lunch. That got us wanting to go back, so we dumped our trash and left. Just outside of the cafeteria we ran into Emanuel. He stopped and stared oddly at Carmen and I, then turned and walked away. "Well, that was weird." I said with a nervous laugh as we headed over to the Arena.

"I wonder what that was about..." Carmen said thoughtfully. She glanced at me and I shrugged. "I guess it's to be expected of Emanuel. They say it's because he's crazy that nobody messes with him."

That was a new one to me. "Really? I'd heard that he had some hidden power that allowed him to make fools of even the toughest mutants." I said.

"Well he's weird, whatever he is. Let's go see what's going on in the Arena." Carmen said. I nodded and we continued on up to the dome and got ourselves settled again. I could sit up here in her arms all day!

"Woah, look at that!" Carmen said as a new match began. I nodded, this was no ordinary match! There were 32 fighters this time, and they were fighting in teams! Usually this wasn't allowed. The only reason the Commission let Carmen and I do so is because we're so evenly matched that when we fight against each other there's never a clear winner. That was how we met, in fact.

What was really interesting was that one of the teams was Prism and Stellar! "Is this really even a fight?" I asked when I noticed them walking in together.

"Uh, yeah, I think it might be!" Carmen replied, pointing out another team I hadn't noticed yet.

"Wow, is that Pentacle and Enchantress, working together?!" I exclaimed when I saw who she was pointing at. They're both Mages, and pretty strong. "I thought those two hated each other?"

Carmen shrugged, "I guess not." We both watched in silence as the match began. A few of the teams were newbies and were eliminated quickly. One of the newbie teams did pretty well, though. I don't know who they are, but they held their own against Prism and Stellar for a few minutes before they were finally defeated.

"I don't think we want to go up against those two." I said. On a good day, we might be able to take out Stellar, or even Prism, two on one. But against both I was sure we wouldn't have a chance.

As expected, the match came down to Stellar and Prism against Pentacle and Enchantress. We'd never seen Stellar or Prism cut loose like they did in this fight! There were laser beams shooting out all over the place, dazzling flashes of light, and huge boulders being tossed all over the place. But Pentacle and Enchantress seemed to have a counter to every one of them. On their side, though, they were having a hard time doing much damage to Prism and Stellar. But then Enchantress flew up and started raining fire down on them both and they were forced to take cover. While she kept them down, Pentacle began drawing in the dirt.

"What's he doing?" I wondered.

"I've heard of this. Pentacle can do even more powerful magic by drawing symbols in the dirt. Nobody but him seems to know what they mean, but he's done some amazing stuff with them." Carmen said.

He had just finished whatever he was doing, and signaled to Enchantress, when Prism and Stellar suddenly unleashed a barrage of attacks on Enchantress. She managed to defend herself, just, and retreated behind Pentacle. Prism and Stellar charged at Pentacle, but he just held up one hand and a beam of energy shot out and struck both of them. Just like that the fight was over; Stellar and Prism fell to the ground unconscious.

"Wow! I'm glad we didn't miss this one. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it!" I said in awe.

"Yeah." Carmen agreed. "That was really something." We got up to stretch our legs and wandered around for a little while until the next match started. They had to run some heavy equipment in to clean up the mess the final battle had made of the battleground. Not for the first time I wondered if there was actually anybody in those machines, or if they were remote controlled like everything else.

The next match was a standard 16 fighter match, or so it looked at first. But then I noticed that Pentacle was in this one, too, and didn't look too happy about it! In fact, as soon as he entered the Arena he started drawing in the dirt frantically. "What's going on?" I said.

"I don't know, but look at the others. They're ignoring each other and going after Pentacle." Carmen said. I looked, and she was right. Even fighters who were notorious for hating each other were ignoring their nemesis and focusing on Pentacle. By the time the first couple of fighters reached Pentacle his drawing was almost complete. He blasted one with a lightning bolt and then turned and froze the other. Then he went right back to work. The others got more cautious when they saw the first two, and waited until they were all together before attacking.

That turned out to be a really bad idea. Pentacle had finished his drawing and stood up with a gleeful look on his face. He pointed at the advancing fighters and light flared up from his designs and focused on his outstretched hand. It built up into a blinding light that shot out and struck the ground right in front of the other fighters. The resulting explosion knocked us on our backs, and everyone else, too! When we'd gotten upright again we saw that the entire Arena was filled with one giant cloud of dust.

"What was that?!" Carmen exclaimed.

"I don't know, but I think Pentacle either killed himself and everyone else in the Arena, or just won a 15 on 1 match!" I said. We waited anxiously for the dust to clear. It seemed to take forever, but eventually we could see that Pentacle was standing exactly as he had been, except that he'd let his arm hang down again. That smile was still on his face, too. I couldn't see any of the thirteen fighters he'd blasted, but the center of the Arena was one big crater. The other two, that he'd blasted with his normal magic, were covered in dust but looked like they were probably okay.

Pentacle was announced the winner a few minutes later, once the remains of the other fighters were found. Ten were dead, the other three might as well be. Nobody cheered, even though it was a spectacular victory. We were all too stunned by what had just happened. Pentacle himself seemed to be in a big hurry to get out of there. As soon as he had his prize he ran out like the ghosts of the fighters he killed were after him.

I turned to look at Carmen and saw that she was crying. I couldn't blame her, I felt like crying myself. I'd never seen ten fighters get killed in one match before, and the other three would probably wish they were dead. I found myself crying on her shoulder before I realized what was happening, with her crying on mine. And we weren't the only ones.

"Don't cry for those idiots." someone said from only a few feet away. Startled, we pulled apart and looked around for the source of the voice. It was Emanuel, standing there with a stony look on his face watching the action in the Arena as machines came in to clean up the mess.

"What do you mean, don't cry for them?!" Carmen said tearfully, with a hint of anger coming to the surface.

"They should have known what they were walking into when they accepted a kill order." he replied.

"A what?" I asked. I know Emanuel's an odd one, but why was he talking to us all of the sudden? And what's a kill order?

Emanuel ignored me and watched Pentacle run out of the Arena. "Poor fool. He should have kept that ability a secret." With that Emanuel turned and walked away.

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To Be Continued…