The Red Nights

" Jamie... you know you still have to stop everything and return to the hospital to stay with Matteo, " Lina told him with a soft voice while stroking delicately his back, " I know you're very worried about him, so just delay this match no need to torture yourself like that ".

He remained silent as his arms were crossed on his c.h.e.s.t while staring at the corridor through where people kept coming in the stadium, it was like he was eager to see a specific person coming through it. Lina already knew whom he was expecting to see, she bit her lips and told him " come on, why are you so stubborn about doing this match today? I would bet that even Andre would love been given more days to train if he wants a chance to win against Carla... "

" I can't... " Jamal finally said. Lina grabbed his arm and went to stand in front of him in order to look straight at his eyes. " Why you can't? Why can't we delay this duel and go stay beside Matteo?" she repeated while shaking his arm a little.

Jamal didn't reply directly, he waited for a few seconds before he said " you know... I have been thinking about what you once me when I was refusing to let Natasha come along during the patrols... and you were right, not only about her but in general. I can't carry everything only by myself, I want... I got to learn how to rely on others not only to accompany me during my missions but to carry out their own missions " he paused, " Natasha proved me that, that day she alone protected the city, I used to be so stressed because I thought the city would be in a bad situation until I'm there to fix everything, so pretentious of me, isn't it? " he chuckled, " but thanks to you and Natasha I now know that I can trust you to protect everyone "

Lina stared at him for a few seconds then she said " So... you are saying that's why- "

" That's why I can't go staying by Matteo's side " he responded to her before she even finished her question, " because I have to trust him and let him prove to me that he can achieve his mission without me being around ".

" You are so serious " Lina commented while her arms around his waist, " but at least you got a point. We just have to trust him, I'm sure he will be fine anyway ".

•••

" Are you alright? " Volga asked Andre as he was sitting on a bench his face turned to the floor, she thought he was anxious and she was right as he replied, " hum... yeah, I'm just a little stressed I didn't know that Mr. Jamal would make this duel such a big event and that so many people would come ".

They were both in a locker room, where the football teams used to rest when the stadium was still in use which means before the disaster. The locker room was just under the bleachers and from there they could hear the noises and could feel the agitation caused by the spectators outside.

" Well, it seems like Jamal has a reason to put it in a show, " Volga said while tending the ear to hear what was going on outside, " but I wonder if you will be to deal with this pressure otherwise all this training we have done would be meaningless ".

" Don't worry, I will be fine... I won't disappoint you " Andre said, trying to look confident.

" Calm down boy, I'm not telling you to make me proud " to Volga tried to calm him, she patted his shoulder as she told him " it's about you, it's your fight so you should focus on yourself " she paused, " do you remember the plan? "

Hum, yeah... she has physical aptitudes and reflexes exceeding mine so if I want to have a to play it smart " Andre replied as if he was repeating a phrase he had memorized.

When he stopped talking he glanced at Volga as if he wanted to ask her something but was kind uneasy. " What is it? " she pushed him to talk as she wanted to know what was bothering him.

He played with his fingers for a few seconds before he asked " do you think I can win against Carla? Since you have been fighting by her side for a quite long time before you met me so you know her better than I do ".

She sighed as she replied, " you have to stop that, if you start doubting your own capacity you are then reducing greatly your chances of winning. You have to be sure of your own victory before going to the field ", he seemed to not be really convinced so she added " you can't expect people to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself first. Jamal gave you a chance... don't waste it ".

She walked to the exit and when she reached the handle of the door she turned her head and told him " you still have time before the match starts, you better prepare yourself well " then she left.

Once he was alone he started to meditate about the words he told Volga and couldn't help but feel ashamed. " How could I tell her that I won't disappoint her and then starting doubting my own words... ", he scratched his head as he suddenly remembered the intimidating feature of Jamal that day he proposed him that battle, during these days of training he didn't stop thinking about if he could one day reach such level and it even became one of his principal sources of motivation but now he was facing his first obstacle to overcome he couldn't believe that he was feeling uncertain.

" It won't do at this rate," he told himself, he knew he had to clear his mind and start to focus about the battle instead of thinking about unnecessary things, he then got the idea of replaying in his mind all the tricks and techniques he had learned from Volga and then he started elaborating his the possible strategies he may use during the fight.

Then the time came.

•••

" You have already finished preparing yourself? You still have time before the match starts " Jamal asked Carla when he saw her coming from the side.

She was wearing a light yellow T-shirt, black leggings and a pair of shoes adapted to run. Jamal noticed that it was quite different from how she usually dressed during their session of training but he supposed it was her way to show that she was taking this duel seriously.

" Hum ... yes, I'm ready for a moment now and I was bored staying alone in that room so I decided to come to take a look " she responded with her famous enthusiasm. She raised her sight and started to look around her and was surprised to see so many people there on the bleachers.

Lina, who noticed her expression, couldn't help but tease her, she hugged her from the back and whispered at her ear " why are you so stiff? Don't tell me you are scared of these many eyes staring at you? "

Jamal looked curios at the young woman, " are you? " he asked.

" N-not at all I'm not scared I was just surprised that's all" she replied while almost shouting. Her face became red and her cute expression caused Lina to want to tease her more.

" Don't try lying to me, I can feel your hair slowly getting erect and stinging my skin ", she started to stroke her body from up to down while telling her " here, I will help you make you feel better ... and by the way you better calm down your emotions I don't want to be pierced by your spiky hair, ending up like a sieve and force Jamal to kill you to avenge my death ".

" And why not just getting off her and leave her alone for a while II they heard the female voice coming from the opposite side of where Carla came, " the poor girl must already feel intimidated by these so many spectators no need to stress even more ".

They all turned their heads and saw Volga walking towards them, she was wearing on the bottom a jogging and a sleeveless T-shirt under a sweatshirt.

As her attention was caught by the woman, Lina let loose of her grip on Carla and the latter took the occasion to free herself as she started to have difficulty to contain herself. With Jamal, she had learned how to control her power by containing her emotions but Lina was the only capable of making her lose control.

" Talking about that, I was wondering why did you need to bring so many people to come to see a duel which they don't even know the reasons, can you tell me why? " though Volga asked Jamal in a casual tone he knew she was more interested than anyone else.

" For the entertainment " Lina suddenly responded on Jamal's behalf, she knew that Volga had a sharp intuition and if she had left Jamal to respond she would have immediately figured out he was lying since entertainment was the real reason for Lina to make that match such a popular event she thought she would be safe from Volga's eyes.

The latter gazed at her not really convinced, Jamal patted Lina's shoulder and shook his head when she turned hers to look at him. " Not need to conceal that info," he told her, " we have planned to reveal everything at the end anyway ".

He, then, looked at Volga and told her " I'm sorry, keeping things secret become like a reflex to us, but don't worry I'm about to tell you everything " he turned his sight towards Carla " you too since you're the first one concerned ".

The young woman pointed herself like she was trying to ask if he indeed said her name, Jamal nodded before he told her " I know you have been training hard to control your power but I know for sure that during this match you won't be able to contain it so what I'm telling you is this: use your power however you want ".

Both Volga and Carla looked at him shocked, they turned their sights to Lina as if to ask her if he did say what he said when she nodded at them to confirm they again gazed at him but they looked like they were asking for some explanations.

" It's not a surprise that since that night of the attack on the city we have stopped, the rumors about it have been spread out all over the city and neither Natasha's nor Carla's powers are secret anymore " Jamal paused and pointed to the spectators on the bleachers, " we didn't do any advertising and look how many of them came, what do you think is it for? " he didn't let them reply and he gave the answer himself " that's because they want to confirm the rumors whether you have powers or not. And I want you to show them exactly what they want to see ".

" You can't be serious " Volga protested, she moved in front of him and she told him " once they will see that they will surely freak out and start to treat her like a freak ".

" I know but it has already started anyway ", he gazed at Carla " I'm aware of the weird stares you are victims of, Natasha and you, wherever you go. You didn't tell us to not worry us, am I wrong? " the young woman lowered her gaze as she was too embarrassed, " but we have to do something about it, now ".

" And your solution is to reveal everything? " Volga seemed to be surprised by the treatment of the two young women but she still didn't want to give in.

" Yes, everything " Jamal replied in a tone of determination, " not only about these girls but also about the situation we are actually in and which I'm sure you already aware of ".

Volga suddenly calmed down as she lowered the tone of her voice, after a few seconds of silence she said " so it was true. There are powerful enemies out there who want to destroy us, huh? And you want to tell that to everybody ".

" Yes," he said without blinking " they have to know that we're not safe yet, but most importantly, they have to know that we, too, have strong people abilities capable of protecting us ".

He gazed back at Carla " I won't gonna force you to play this role if you don't, I would rather have Natasha doing it to not put too much burden on you, but her power is too dangerous and scary for them to handle it yet so that is why you are here now. Do you still want to do it? "

Carla took her time to think, she seemed to take this issue very seriously, and though she would love having a quiet and normal lifestyle she thought that her duties were more important, she was happy to notice that her d.e.s.i.r.e for justice didn't change since they left her home city that was she looked up at Jamal and told him, " I will do it, whatever it takes to protect everyone ".

Jamal smiled, looking grateful, suddenly Lina screamed all excited and then jumped on the young woman " oh my God, you're so adorable when you take your serious. I will be sure to reward you after the match, let's spend the night at my house ".

The Volga chuckled at this hilarious scene, she looked at Jamal and nodded at him, " alright, I will trust you this time again ". They started to hear sounds of drums, she looked up and then at the corridor from where she came before she said " well, it seems it's finally time for the duel. I will be sitting right there " she pointed out the bleachers and they all saw Don waving his hand at them, " I will come to see you again when the much is over. And Carla... " she paused, " do not underestimate him " she, then, left.

" I will go have my seat too, Jamal will stay down to arbitrate and explain the rules of this duel, " Lina said, she went to put a kiss on Jamal's cheek before she ran toward her place under the claps and the whistles of the public.

•••

Andre walked out through the corridor, to his surprise, Carla was already there waiting beside Jamal.

Jamal had a microphone on his hand and when Andre finally join them he placed it close to his mouth and started telling the rules of the fight so that everyone could hear.

" It going to be a duel of paintball, each of the challengers would be given a rifle with an equally limited number of paint-bullets, we won't tell you how many " he paused and two people came forth to give to Andre and Carla their respective weapons, then he continued " to win you will have to shoot three valid shot on your opponent. one shot in the head, the back, the abdomen, and the c.h.e.s.t is considered as a valid hit and three shots in any other parts of the body are equivalent to a valid shot. Got it? "

In the bleachers, the spectators synchronously shouted " yes! " before both challengers could speak, Jamal couldn't contain himself from laughing, he looked at the two people and they nodded at him with a smile.

" You can also win by knocking out the opponent or making, him or her, give up. If it's clear for everyone, please go take your places on both sides of the field, when you hear the sound of a drum know that the match has already begun " when he finished talking Andre and Carla followed the instructions and went to join their respective places.

Andre put on his glasses of protection, held his rifle, and waited for the signal. He began to analyze his strategy, he knew that Carla was stronger and faster than him so he could forget about knocking her out since he was sure to lose in a close-range fight. His only option was to make use of the field Jamal had prepared to escape, hide, and for his chances to get a clean shot on Carla.

He was fully aware of her sharp reflexes and he didn't expect to get her off her guard but he was quite confident in his capacity to shoot.

He heard a huge sound which to be the signal to indicate that the match has started, he moved to look for the right spot to hide so he can set a trap to Carla, he had not come to analyze how the field was set but he thought he didn't need it since he knew how to orient him wherever he was. He thought it would be easy to find the right hideout but he had to hurry up because he was still cautious about Carla's speed.

At the moment he thought about her a shadow suddenly appeared covering him from the sunlight when he looked up he saw Carla standing on the wooden plank in front of him pointing her rifle at him. If he didn't exercise his reflexes with Volga he would have surely lost at that very moment, Carla shot three times aiming for his head and abdomen, he hopefully managed to dodge the two first shot by jumping on the side but the third paint bullet hit him on his ankle.

It hurt but he didn't have to think about the pain, he bent and immediately ran away trying to lose her in the decor, when he started questioning himself about how did she appear there that quick and what he was going to do to escape her he heard Jamal's voice saying " Carla you are not supposed to run on the planks, please restrain yourself and get down on the field and play it fairly ".

" Are you serious! " Andre shouted in his head as he couldn't believe what he just heard, " did she really run on the planks from her starting point to here in just a few seconds after the match started? That's just insane ".

Andre's heart was beating hard in his c.h.e.s.t, he did his best to calm down and settle his thoughts despite the great dose of adrenaline raising in his body.

He didn't stop running here and there because he couldn't stop feeling like he was the mere prey of ferocious beast which could catch him at any time, it was like Carla was just behind tracking him. Andre thought he had to do something to change that situation but at the moment he wanted to slow down and hide he felt a sudden pain in his back. He got hit again. As he was falling down due to the shock of the hit he turned his head and behind him, he saw Carla sitting on one knee holding her weapon in both hands ready to fire again.

When he hit the ground, Andre rolled on the side and quickly got up to run away, he didn't have time to waste.

He has been running for a long moment while taking curves after curves until he finally reached a dead end, " shit I'm trapped " he cursed, he looked around worryingly searching for a way out without success, he started to hear the heavy steps of Carla as she was getting near and without thinking twice Andre initiated a counter-attack. He held his rifle in front of him and waited quietly until she finally showed herself as she was trying to take the curve. She didn't have time to realize about Andre's ambush that he has already started firing.

He shot two shots aiming for Carla's upper as Volga had advised him, [ since it was the largest part of the body the chances of missing were narrower ] he recalled, but it was without considering Carla's super reflexes. Andre was sure that he surprised her but without stopping her run or even lowering her speed she dodged both bullets by hopping on the wooden wall which was on the opposite side from where she came, she then jumped to the other opposite wall and she stuck to it.

For a moment Andre was immobile amazed by what has just happened. He stared at her trying to figure out how could she sit still on the wall when he finally noticed that her hair was particularly hard and was stocked in the plank in the manner of nails, he immediately remembered that day of the attack where they have witnessed the particular abilities of those girls, while Natasha was wielding a sword which could blow flames Carla could harden her hair and use it as weapons and apparently as a tool to hang on walls too.

Only when she raised her rifle to aim at him that he stopped spacing out and came back to the match. He just barely the time to dodge the bullet Carla has shot by throwing himself down otherwise it would have gotten him on the head, but she didn't stop there and shot again two times. Since the distance between them was quite close, her shots were pretty accurate since she touched him both times, on the shoulder, and on the arm, if he didn't stop moving around she would have surely got him on the head.

[ She has two valid hits ahead of me if she touches me one more time whatever it is on my head or upper body it will be my lost ] Andre suddenly realized, he thought he had to quickly move out from there since it was like he was trapped like a rat, a little longer and she would surely get him.

Realizing that she was now immobile he took the risk to aim at her with his rifle and he fired as many times as he could not really caring too much about the accuracy of his shots. He was not so certain about the number of bullets he fired but he had the idea that it was around six or seven. As he had guessed, Carla's hair was so well stuck in the wooden plank that she could hardly get herself out of there, seeing she would not make it in time she stopped aiming at him and raised her arms to protect her face from the bullets, in the end out of the six or seven bullets he had shot only two of them got to reach the target, the first one on the knee and the second one on her palm. But he didn't care that much since he just wanted his chance to return the situation since she momentarily stopped firing at him he had the occasion to be the one to attack now.

He ran towards her hoping to get good hits since she couldn't from where she was hanging but unexpectedly the moment he shot at her she immediately ejected herself out of the plank, did a somersault in the air before landing down on her two feet like a pro gymnast, her rifle already in hand. " what the- " Andre grumbled between his teeth as another of his plans got crushed by that woman's incredible physical aptitudes but he knew he could no more allow himself to be surprised by her capacities since one more mistake and it would be over for him.

Following his instinct, he rushed towards her until they were just one meter apart, and as she was about to shoot Andre jumped, made a somersault over her head, and landed behind her. He quickly turned around and fired at her, the latter was so surprised that she barely got the time to dodge one valid hit on her back by rolling on the ground, however, he still managed to touch her on her calf, which meant that he official had one valid hit.

He began to run away without wasting too much time as he knew that if he stayed there for too long it would turn bad for him.

...

" He's pretty good " Carla declared smiling while slowly standing up, " but it's time to end the game ", she turned around," Jamal told me to not hold back so I think it's fine, I have already shown too much anyway " she erected her hair and ran after Andre.

She already knew his plan which was to run, hide, and set an ambush to her when she would pass by his hideout. In such a situation, it was the best plan he could come out since against an opponent who was physically stronger with greater experience in combat no other plan would have worked and he even proved he was right since he managed to get a valid hit from her despite the fact that she had sharp reflexes.

" But I'm not going easy on you anymore, " she after she found him.

Hearing her behind he suddenly threw himself down the back on the ground and he raised his paintball gun in the air, Carla understood that he had guessed that she would opt for an aerial attack so he wanted to anticipate. She smiled as she thought [ I have to admit that it would be difficult to stop at this speed but... ] she suddenly stopped her motion at the moment she was about to pass over him by planting her hair on the ground.

They were, now, face to face, one lying on the ground and the other hanging in the air while aiming their guns at each other.

Andre was the one to make the first move, he tried to kick in Carla's arm to make her drop her paintball gun but she elegantly dodged it, he then used the momentum of the movement to get up on his knee and he directly fired. Carla softened her hair and fell on the ground before the bullet reached her but the man in front didn't plan to let her the time to attack back, he shot three more times and each time he was taking few steps back, Carla understood that he was trying to cover his run.

" Not this time," she said after dodging the third bullet, she jumped very high over him and while being in the air she opened fire. Andre kept rolling on the ground trying to not get hit by those so many shots. He then tried to get her at the instant she would land foot on earth but she was just too fast for him to keep up, she dodged his first shot by hopping on the wooden wall on her left then the second by jumping on the one on the opposite side in the manner of zigzag and each time closing the distance.

At a moment, while dodging the third shot she jumped on the plank on his right at just three feet from him, he raised his rifle in front of her face but when he tried to fire no bullet came out. He jumped back and started to examine his gun to see if there was a problem with it then he raised his head and finally saw Carla's smile which could equivalent to hundred words by the message it was telling him, [ that's exactly as she had planned ], " how- " Andre was so shocked that his words could difficultly come out from his mouth.

" How did I know that you're running out of ammo? " she helped him by completing the question she wanted to ask while leaving the wooden plank to set foot on earth, " that's simple, I counted. Every single bullet you fired until you reached the 20 bullets. what- wait you didn't about the 20 bullets per guns? Didn't you check the tube containing your number of ammunition? Mistake showing that you are clearly a rookie ".

She took off the belt of the rifle and threw the weapon away, " stand up and show me what are you made of ".

Andre understood that she wanted to finish it with a fist to fist duel. He clearly knew that he had no chances of winning against in that frame but he couldn't let slip such an opportunity.

He stood up and nodded to show he humbly accepted her proposition and she even let him give the signal.

He counted down from 5 to 1 and when he pronounced zero, which announced the start of the fight, he barely had the time to block her first punch but he has not been so fortunate with her second blow which knocked him down immediately.