Deep breath. Jasper stretched her arms, stretched her hands, adjusted her posture. Her fingers wrapped around the motorcycle’s handlebars. The engine revved, and she shot forward.
Jasper sailed over the edge of the roof. “Coming through!” she shouted. As she dropped, she scanned the crowd of villains waiting below and aimed the motorcycle at a space just large enough for her to land, between Cutthroat’s racing cart that resembled his black starship, and—
“I knew Van Terra would show up.” Grim Machine laughed as Jasper thudded against the roof next to him. Well, he made a screeching, metallic sound that vaguely resembled laughter.
Jasper looked the bulky white robot up and down. He was more than twice the size of her and her motorcycle combined. His inner components gave off a pale blue-green glow that spilled through the gaps in his outer shell.
“Where’s your vehicle?” Jasper asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Let’s just say I’ve gotten some upgrades recently.”
Intriguing as the mystery behind Grim Machine’s creation was, Jasper didn’t have time to probe him for information today.
“It’s time,” Ringmaster spoke again through the hovering orb. “You all know the course. I have an extensive network of cameras and equipment set up along the way. Don’t bother trying to take shortcuts. And of course—”
A spotlight turned on over a nearby roof, casting a beam on the golden platform hovering in the air over the villains, as well as the man standing on it. “—I will be watching,” Ringmaster finished.
“Ringmaster’s here,” Jasper hissed.
Ringmaster was dressed in his usual attire: black, red, and gold clothes—and a black top hat—that made him look as if he’d walked right out of a circus. The only thing setting him apart from an ordinary human was his unique form of energy manipulation.
“I’ve got eyes on him,” Thea said. “He’s got a tablet and is probably connected to live feeds. Plus, he can review the footage later if needed. He might have only needed the hidden room to set up.”
“So, the Apprentice might not show up at all?” Jasper replied with a groan. “Ugh. Okay.” One thing at a time.
“Don’t cry to me if you get arrested,” Ringmaster continued. “Police, competitors, any other unsavory characters who show up—it’s all part of the race. All weapons and powers are fair game.” He raised an arm. Golden energy shimmered in the air, materializing into a flag in his grasp. “Racers, on your marks.”
Engines roared to life across the roof.
“Get set.”
Grim Machine’s parts and components shifted around, transforming the robot into a tank with startling speed.
“Go!”
Jasper shot forward and immediately swerved to the right to go around a vehicle equipped with massive guns. She’d braced herself for an onslaught of attacks right off the bat, but most racers seemed to be waiting for things to thin out before attempting to eliminate their competition.
The first couple minutes of the course ran entirely over rooftops. A few drops, a few jumps, and a few places where Jasper activated the motorcycle’s anti-gravity and drove up the sides of buildings.
Jasper picked up speed as she landed on a domed roof. She skidded around the edge and shot off, aiming for the skyway below where other racers had already joined regular traffic. The motorcycle couldn’t fly, but it did have small thrusters that slowed her descent enough to soften the landing. Ignoring the blaring of horns around her, she took advantage of her small vehicle to weave through traffic.
As Jasper emerged ahead of a cargo carrier, another motorcyclist rammed into her. The collision nearly sent her into the railing. She steadied herself and looked to the left. “Hey, watch it!”
The humanoid man on the red motorcycle grinned at her, his crimson eyes shining in the traffic lights. He lifted one of his tanned, unnaturally long arms to wave. And show off the tattoo on his forearm.
Jasper’s eyes narrowed in recognition. “You really should be wearing a helmet!”
Red Boss laughed. “Unlike you, I can handle a little pain.”
You have no idea what I can handle. Jasper bit back her response. She wanted to ask what a high-ranking Red Blade was doing in Ringmaster’s race, but speeding down a skyway wasn’t the best environment for conversation.
Jasper swerved around a few cars. To her dismay, Red Boss followed. What was he doing?
Was this about Grace?
Red Boss caught up on Jasper’s left and rammed into her. Before she could get her bearings, he hit her again.
She careened into the railing and flew over the edge. Her right hand managed to keep hold of the handlebar. Which was great for not losing the motorcycle, but not so great when it landed on top of her.
The roof she’d landed on wasn’t empty. Blades—ten of them—approached on all sides.
“Ten?” Jasper asked as she climbed to her feet. “Now we’re talking. Who’s first?”
The closest man lifted his gun—no, blaster. These guys had some experience. “Last chance to lead us to Alvarez,” he said. “But we’ll gladly go find her once you’re not around to protect her.”
Jasper picked her motorcycle up off the ground. “Do your worst.”
Blasters fired. Jasper lunged forward. She swung her motorcycle at the closest Blade. After knocking the man aside, she kept going, using the momentum to take down two more. She let go and the motorcycle went down with a fourth.
Jasper jumped to dodge the next round of blasts, pulling throwing knives from her side as she flipped. Three knives, three more Blades down.
The last four fired within heartbeats of each other. One of the blasts struck Jasper’s shoulder, knocking her to the ground. Her suit fared well against the blast, but she’d definitely have a nasty bruise. And one more shot could be enough to tear open the suit’s material.
Jasper pushed herself up and attacked the man closest to her. The others moved to fire again but quickly realized they risked hitting their fellow Blade. Jasper attempted to wrestle the blaster from the man’s hands for a moment to distract him before elbowing him in the face. He went down, and Jasper fired at the other three Blades in rapid succession with his weapon. They dropped. She tossed the blaster aside and walked to her motorcycle.
Note to self: steer clear of Red Boss.
By the time the first of the Blades were back up, Jasper was already speeding toward the skyway. She used a slanted portion of the next roof over as a ramp to launch herself back into traffic.
The throbbing pain in her shoulder was worse than she’d anticipated. If she avoided any more delays, she could pull off a decent spot in the race, but she was beginning to question whether it was worth it. She hopped off the skyway pavement and onto the concrete barrier beside it to speed things up a bit. It required a lot more effort to stay balanced, but the lack of traffic was a plus.
The course moved lower into the city, forcing racers to make use of walkways and rooftops and anything else they could find in order to move forward within the course boundaries. Every drop was hell on Jasper’s shoulder.
“You slowing down, Jasper?” Thea asked. “I thought you had a shot at top ten for a minute there.”
Holly was quick to express annoyance at the comment. “Don’t encourage her.”
“Is she okay?” Dax asked. “She looks injured.”
“Geez, why are you all so obsessed with me? I’m fine.” An explosion went off somewhere behind Jasper, making her wince. She veered off the edge of the under-construction skywalk she’d been travelling and dropped back into skyway traffic.
Grace was next to chime in with a question. “Did those Blades you fought say anything about me?”
“Now’s not the time—”
A huge white motorbike up ahead slowed, falling into place next to Jasper. South Siren laughed. “Shame to see the great Van Terra isn’t doing so hot! I honestly thought you’d be farther ahead.”
“Don’t tell me you guys don’t see the resemblance,” Jasper muttered. “She’s Sarena!”
South Siren had Sarena Trench’s dark teal skin, curvy build, and gills in the same place on her neck. The only obvious differences were South Siren’s glowing eyes and straight bob of hair, both as bright a white as her motorcycle suit and boots. Even the orange hekten perched on her shoulder resembled Sarena’s pet, though with South Siren it manifested rings of darker orange around its scattered spikes.
“Stop joking around,” Holly said sternly.
South Siren didn’t give Jasper a chance to respond to her jab before speeding off. Eyes narrowing, Jasper upped her own speed. Navigating traffic was taking too long, and this section of the skyway had no side barriers; it simply ran right up to the edges of buildings.
Over the top, then.
Jasper located an empty carrier vehicle built for transporting smaller cars. A small hop brought her onto its back, where she was able to use it as a ramp to launch herself onto the top of a skybus.
Thea sighed. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Jasper.”
“What’s she doing now?” Holly demanded.
Jasper hopped from vehicle to vehicle. The skyway entered a tunnel up ahead, where the increase in traffic was causing congestion around the entrance. Even some of the other racers had been forced to near standstill. You could only plow through so many vehicles when there was no more space to shove them aside.
Jasper sped off the front of a transport vehicle and hit the street, eyeing a small gap at the edge of the tunnel entrance.
It was all she needed.
She turned the anti-gravity back on, jumped, and pushed the wheels into the tunnel wall. She veered up, narrowly missing a massive cargo transport. Within seconds, she was hanging upside down from the ceiling of the tunnel. The pink lights on her suit and motorcycle glowed bright in the darkness, outshining the dull tunnel lights.
Jasper expected that most of the other racers—the smart ones, anyway—had included anti-gravity systems. It was allowed, through flying vehicles weren’t—her thrusters were the most powerful accepted under Ringmaster’s guidelines. Basic gliding mechanisms were okay, too.
Sure enough, a few other vehicles also clung to the tunnel walls. Jasper laughed as she passed them, pushing her motorcycle to its maximum speed. The gap between her and South Siren shortened.
South Siren glanced back. Her hekten, still clinging to her shoulder, opened its beak and fired a blast of white energy at Jasper. Jasper yelped in surprise and yanked her motorcycle to the right. She dodged the blast but slammed into Grim Machine, who was barreling through traffic at the bottom of the tunnel in his tank form.
“Ow!” Jasper rubbed her arm as she pulled away from Grim Machine. The robot was completely unfazed by the collision. “Come on, how do you explain South Siren having the same pet as Sarena?”
“Sarena’s hekten doesn’t have laser powers,” Thea pointed out.
“It’s not like she’s going to show them off!” Jasper approached South Siren again, this time with more caution.
South Siren shot Jasper a glare over her shoulder. “Back off, Van Terra!” Her power magnified her voice, turning it into a shockwave that pushed Jasper and her motorcycle back a few feet. Jasper gritted her teeth. The race was almost over. She was ahead of the majority now, and if she could just get past South Siren, she had a shot at the top ten. Maybe even top five.
Jasper reached the end of the tunnel. As she flew off the ceiling, she twisted herself right side up and switched off the anti-gravity. Her gaze moved to an empty skywalk running parallel to the skyway. She jumped the barrier.
“Hey, I found out what Ringmaster’s helping Starr with,” Thea said. “Sort of. He mentions it briefly. They’re tracking down research on something called…spacetime warps?”
No.
No, no, no.
Jasper collided with the skyway at an awkward angle, sending her motorcycle end over end and launching her off. She skidded across the walkway and grunted in pain as her vehicle crashed into her.
“Jasper?” Dax’s concerned yelp made grimace. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m switching back to cameras—” Thea started.
“I’m fine,” Jasper hissed, grateful they hadn’t watched the landing. She staggered to her feet and grabbed the motorcycle. “I think I misheard you.”
An onslaught of flashing lights and sirens—loud and bright enough to break through the usual chaos of city traffic—came from the direction of the skyway. Police cruisers swooped down from the air to target any villains in the race they stood a chance against with simple blasters and ordinary strength. Though, any cyborgs on duty would have definitely been sent out to the frontlines.
There was a hint of unease in Thea’s voice. “About the spacetime warps?”
Jasper’s fingers twitched. She was going to kill Ringmaster. And Starr. Did they have any idea what they were messing with? “What else did he say?” She climbed back on the motorcycle. Racers on the skyway shot past her. She was too overwhelmed with anger and memories to care.
“It’s only mentioned once,” Thea replied.
“What’s a spacetime warp?” Grace asked. “Isn’t that what they use at the spaceports?”
Grace’s voice was reassuring. There was no immediate danger, Jasper reminded herself. The team was safe. She took a deep breath and pushed herself to full speed. “No,” she said. “Those are space warps. They’re basically wormholes, manipulations in space used for transportation. Spacetime warps are different. And they’re dangerous.”
“I’ve never heard of them,” Thea said.
“Me neither,” Holly added. “How do you know about them?”
“That’s—” Focus. Jasper’s hands tightened. “That’s not important right now. Just get back to—whatever you’re doing.”
A golden banner hung over the skyway. Above it, Ringmaster stood on his pedestal, watching racers approach the finish line. Villains who’d passed Jasper crossed. Cutthroat. Grim Machine. South Siren.
Jasper managed to pass a few racers before crossing the finish line herself. She expected relief but instead found herself pulling into the first alleyway she found, climbing off the motorcycle, tossing it aside. Within seconds, her helmet was on the ground, and she was pacing back and forth like a caged animal.
“Jasper, where should we meet?” Thea asked. “Are you coming back here? Jasper?”
“I—” Jasper rubbed her forehead. “Give me a minute to think.”
“You don’t have a minute,” Holly said. “Twenty Red Blades are approaching Starchatter.”
“Oh, come on!” Jasper’s hands clenched into painful fists. She gave her helmet a restrained kick, her frustration outweighed by her desire to not break the thing. “Are you inside yet, Holly? Any sign of the Apprentice?”
“Haven’t seen him, but I’m nowhere near the party room. I’m currently straddling a window. What do you want me to do?”
“Get to the rest of the team. Get them out. Preferably without being seen. And Thea, get me logged in to Starchatter’s site.” Jasper sucked in a sharp breath. “I’m on my way.”