Choosing Is Difficult (Hawkeye and Serenity Book 2)

10: Missed

 I walked into the Orinistas's Command Center. I looked around.

 The Orinistas had called me to their Command Center to "exam" me.

 I have no idea what this meant but Superman had a funny feeling that it was important. "Just go and see what they want," he said.

 So I went.

 Now, I'm standing in the middle of the Command Center, waiting.

 "Ah, Serenity, nice to meet you." Sparrow came out, her feathers rustling against the floor on the bottom of her white pants.

 "Sparrow?" I said. "Right this way, please. Athennia has something special for you."

 She led me across the room and into the hallway. She opened a door and titled her head in it. "Please step in."

 I went inside, eyeing Sparrow. I did trust the Orinistas but there was something suspicious about them. They wanted to tell me something but.....what?

 "Your timing begins now," a computer voice said.

 I winced. A couple of arrows came charging at me. I dodged them swiftly.

 A couple of robots with targets on their chests came ramming at me.

 I picked up my arrows and bow and began to shoot.

 The robots went down as the arrows whizzed at the targets.

 I then turned and saw a lioness robot come zooming at me.

 I shot a couple of arrows at it. The lioness dodged the targets. I kept on missing the lioness.

 There wasn't a target on her.

 I ran and looked for a way out. There was none.

 So I turned back to the lioness and screeched out my eagle cry. The roar soared toward the lioness. The lioness howled and put her robot paws on her ears.

 I ripped out my eagle claws and flew at the lioness.

 I gushed my claw into the lioness's head and thrashed out her head.

 The robot body came barging down. I threw away the head.

 "Um, what's the point of this?" I asked, loudly.

 "Timing done."

 "8 minutes and 9 seconds," Kiwi said, coming up to me. She gazed down at the tiny clock she was holding. "Not bad."

 "Um, hello?" I asked. "What's going on?"

 "What's going on is we're testing out your heroism," Athennia said, coming out from the shadows.

 I turned to her. "Heroism?"

 "How fast, how quick and how strong you are," Skylark said, joined by Nightingale. I then realized that almost all the Orinistas were crowding me. Their eyes scanned me, like a hawk on a mouse.

 "Is this a test?" I asked.

 "Just a little one," Athennia said. "Your first one was on agility. The ability to move quick. Now, we will test your heroic acts."

 Athennia turned to the right.

 I saw Woodpecker hanging onto some tree, pretending to be in trouble. His hands clamped onto the branch. He then fell.

 I soared over to him and caught him, flying over to the land.

 "Why, thank you," Woodpecker said.

 "Do I pass?" I asked.

 "What if there were two?" Athennia said.

 She turned to the left where Horus and Roadrunner where trying to stay on some part of a collapsing building.

 I quickly dashed over to Horus, picked him up and landed him on the ground. I went back to Roadrunner.

 Roadrunner's building collapsed and he began to fall.

 I charged up and zoomed towards him. Only I was a short of too late.

 I missed Roadrunner's hand.

 "No!" I said. I tried to soar back and catch him.

 Roadrunner zoomed toward the floor. I caught his hand by an inch but then let go again. I went crashing to the floor, my body banging against it.

 "Serenity! Are you alright?" Sparrow asked.

 I thought I was going to feel the pain of the bouncing back up and down from crashing to the floor. I didn't. I felt the comfort of a mattress.

 "I always make sure my heroes don't get hurt that bad," Athennia said. "And let's be thankful that Roadrunner has those stick to the wall shoes."

 Roadrunner zoomed up to me. "I'm like the Flash but I have short limited flight span and I can run on the walls a little bit, same for ceilings," he said.

 "So I failed that one?" I said, hopelessly.

 "Just because you missed one doesn't mean you fail," Athennia said. "Now, for your last test, the villain."

 She turned to some of the Orinistas: Skyline, Starlight and Emu. "You know what to do."

 They all nodded and came charging at me.

 I quickly dodged their attacks and only blocked.

 "Can I attack them?" I asked Athennia.

 "They are your villains," Athennia said. "You must take them down."

 So I took out my claws and screeched at the "villains".

 The "villains" got scratched and clamped their ears from the screech.

 I finally kicked down Starlight and screeched.

 She clamped her ears and screamed.

 I stopped and looked at the rest of the "villains". They were all done and whined.

 "Impressive," Athennia said. "We will be in the Command Center now."

 "Can I go?" I asked.

 "Yes," Athennia said. "You will report back here for results."

 "Thanks," I said. "You just have to tally them all up and see how I did."

 Athennia nodded. "We will see how you did overall."