METROCITY
SBA Arena – Locker Room C
Emily was still jittery from the adrenaline rush of her victory over Blackmare. It didn’t help that Sarah was twice as excited as she was. Ms. Blitzen and SilverStar did their victory parade around the ring as the crowd cheered. When they finally got to the locker room Emily was suddenly exhausted, not to mention feeling the bruises from her battle.
“You were awesome, Em!” Sarah exclaimed. She picked up her teammate and squeezed her.
“Sarah… can’t breathe.” muttered Emily but she was still smiling. Sarah dropped her and Emily wheezed a few times.
“Sorry. But that was such a good fight! You did great, you really did!”
“Thanks. I know you’re going to do great in your fight against Ursa Mega next week.” Emily said as she peeled off her damaged costume. “I’m going to hit the showers. Then let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving.”
“Soft food? Your jaw sore from all those punches to the face?”
“Hah!” Emily exclaimed and threw her leotard at Sarah as she went to the shower.
There were a few beats of silence then a voice like a blade of ice from behind Sarah, “She must feel pretty good about herself.” SilverStar spun around and Siren was immediately in her face. “Atlanteans love their violence. Love reveling in their own superiority at the expense of another society being wiped out.”
SilverStar snapped back at her, “My friend is nothing like that! And you are just a petty bigot!”
“Not like what? Not violent? She. Attacked. Me. Three times so far.”
“You provoked her!”
“So in addition to being violent and part of a genocidal culture… she is also thin-skinned.”
Sarah looked sternly down at Siren, “I swear if you don’t shut the hell up…”
Siren didn’t flinch, “You’ll do what? Go run to the Commissioner and make sure that you can never fight me woman to woman. Like your coward of a friend?”
“She is not a coward! The commissioner won’t let her fight you in the arena…” Sarah hesitated, not wanting to reveal Emily’s heritage. “It’s bad PR. Otherwise I wish Ms. Blitzen could stomp the crap out of you.”
“You wish that? Then why don’t you do it yourself?” Siren and SilverStar stared intently into each other’s eyes. “The purple witch and I can’t fight. You and I can. You have a problem with me, let’s take it into the arena.”
“You’re on. But I already have a fight scheduled with Ursa Mega this week.”
Siren took a step back. “She’ll back out at the last minute. I’ve already arranged for it…” Sarah’s eyes narrowed as she realized that this is what Siren was after the moment she stepped into the locker room. But there was no way she would back down now. “This Sunday you take a proxy beating for your ‘friend.'”
The sound of the water in the next room stopped. Siren half smiled and backed away three steps before turning and walking out. “Crap.” thought Sarah, “Emily is not going to like this…”