METROCITY
SBA Arena: Locker Room A
“How’s the knee feeling, Lucky?” Tamara Jones massaged her coach’s shoulders as she sat in the locker room. Lucky Star was wearing her heroine costume and getting ready to step into the arena for the first time in almost two month. She had spent a great deal of that time rehabilitating her knee while also training Tamara.
“Me knee is fine, but yuir goin’ ta dislocate me shoulder if ye keep that up.”
Tamara eased off on her grip, “Sorry. I’m nervous! I’m more nervous than you are. This is a big deal for you.” Siobhan gave her a demeaning look. “Don’t look at me like that! I just want to know that you’re at 100 percent before you start fighting…”
Siobhan mock-scolded her, “I’m supposed to look after yuir well being, me wee lil’ padawan. Besides, this is just a warm up tussle ‘gainst a SparBot. Quit yer worryin’…” Lucky Star stood up and faced her protegee. “I’ll be fine. Now give me a few minutes to collect me self, kay?”
Tamara hugged her and left the locker room while Lucky did some warm up punches and kicks. She heard the clang of the locker room doors open and glanced in that direction. It was still a few minutes before her match was starting. She expected to see Tamara, or Dr. Sanji coming to check on her again, but instead she saw a nearly 7-foot tall, blue-skinned woman walking into the locker room.
“Hi, you’re Lucky Star, right?”
“Aye, that’s me.” smiled Lucky. “Ye must be the new lass that everyone’s been talking about. Invincibelle.”
“That’s right,” she held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.” As Siobhan took her hand, Belle gave it a firm squeeze and looked deep into Lucky Star’s eyes to see if there was any sort of unusual reaction. Lucky just met her gaze then glanced down at their hands with concern on her face.
“Belle, could ye lay off the pressure a bit? I’m not quite as durable as I am pretty.”
“Huh? Oh, uh sorry. Super.” Invincibelle fumbled a bit. Ivankov had told her that the Ithornic Leech would probably react to the energy in her cells. She wasn’t squeezing with all her strength. She stood there trying to gauge if she had just misjudged how strong the Irish woman was or if she was actually somehow vulnerable to her touch. “Oh, uh, I heard you had a long break from the ring. Good luck in your match.”
“Well, of course, luck is kind of me whole idiom. But it’s not even a match really. Just dusting off me cobwebs by tuning up a SparBot.”
“Oh, right.” Invincibelle suddenly brightened. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t I be your sparring partner instead?”
“You?”
“Sure, instead of beating up a 7-foot blue robot, you can beat up on a 7-foot blue woman. Being invincible is kind of my thing, so you don’t have to worry about hurting me.” Siobhan looked at her dubiously. “Besides it would really be helping me out. I’m not used to moving around inside the ring. The way that gravity field inhibits flight and movement is really disorienting.”
“Oh, I remember that feeling me first time in the ring…” Lucky mused. “It usually passes after a standing eight count…”
“Does it? Maybe something’s wrong with me then. I swear I felt like I had an inner ear imbalance or something when I fought that first SparBot.” Belle was lying. Actually that uneasy feeling only lasted a few seconds, but she sensed that Lucky might be the sympathetic sort.
“Really? That is strange…” Lucky shrugged. “Well, why not then? Seems to me ye should spend a few extra minutes in the ring any chance ye get. Help get ye acclimated to the energy field. Just make sure ye don’t go all berserk and rough me up. I’m still on the mend.”
Invincibelle felt a pang of guilt in her gut. Ivankov had told her that she had to hit someone hard to test if they were hosting the leech. She just convinced a heroine coming off an injury to do her a favor… and now she was going to beat her. “Yeah, no worries. I’m blue, not green. No rage monsters here… Beat on me all you like.”
“Oh my god,” thought Belle. “I’m not a heroine, I’m a heel.”