Jaxon made good on his promise. Iggy arrived back in his bed moments before the morning alarm went off. As the other tributes rose from their cots, he remained on the edge of his staring at his father's pendant.
Deep in thought, he mulled over the deal he made with the rebel.
A guard's keycard in exchange for medicine for his mother—medicine that would help keep her alive while he fought in the Elysian Games. Getting what Jaxon needed wouldn't be easy, especially with the next challenge on the horizon, but he'd do whatever needed to be done; both inside and outside of the arena.
The game was scheduled for later that day, meaning he had about twelve hours to steal a keycard. Sighing, he stood up and ventured into the communal bathroom to wash last night away. After his shower, he found Tenn standing by the door. The man stared at the ground, almost as if upset at the dull stone beneath his feet. His calloused fingers tugged at the long, grey hairs of his beard. Iggy approached with caution.
"You alright, Tenn?"
"Yes. Just...thinking."
"About what?"
"Many things."
Iggy took that as his cue to stop asking questions. He'd already pried enough into the Andradan's life; Tenn deserved to linger in the depths of his own mind for a bit. Still, Iggy didn't enjoy seeing the pensive look in his pale eyes or the brief flashes of pain striking his face like lightning from a storm cloud.
But he let it go. For now, at least. If they survived after tonight, he'd recommend some therapy for the old man. That was a big if. A huge one, in fact.
Even with Ivy's tip on the nature of their second challenge, they still weren't sure what waited for them in the stadium's pit. They could spar and train all they wanted, but nothing could truly prepare them for what awaited them. Merely thinking about it sent Iggy's already bogged mind into a frenzy. The lack of sleep hadn't helped either. The water from the showers might've washed the sleep out of his eyes, but it still lingered throughout his body like a pesky virus.
Tenn arched a brow at him. "Rough night?"
"Er, yeah. Something like that."
"You saw him again, didn't you?"
Iggy's face went red. "Saw who? What're you talking—"
"Don't play dumb with me, Iggorii."
Nothing got past him.
"Alright, I did, but it wasn't like I went looking for him." Tenn said nothing, but the unimpressed look on his face said more than enough. "Honestly, I wasn't. He found me first."
Tenn creased his brow at the information. "Did he now?" He paused. "What did he want?"
Iggy bit down on his lip. He wasn't in the mood to be chastised for making bad decisions—he knew taking up Jaxon's deal wasn't the smartest move, but it needed to be done. Would Tenn understand? The stars pointed towards no.
"Iggorii..."
There was no point in keeping it secret. Perhaps he could even use Tenn's help even if he disagreed with the idea...
"Jaxon needed my help," he admitted. "He told me he's a part of the Axarian Alliance and they're working on a plan to kidnap a Noblus."
Tenn pressed his lips into a thin flat line; they nearly disappeared behind his thick facial hair. "What could he possibly need your help with?"
"First, ouch. Second, he needs a keycard from one of the guards. I'm guessing he can't just roam the arena during the day like we can, so that's why he needs me."
Tenn shook his head. "This is a horrible idea, on both of your parts." He ran a hand across his face. "Kidnapping a Noblus? What is Mossadi thinking?!"
"Mossadi?"
Confusion grabbed his face, starting with his brows before twisting his lips into a puckered pout. Tenn cursed under his breath. For the first time, he'd let something slip. The old Before, the old man mentioned there being multiple rebellious groups. He must've been aware of the Axarian Alliance already. Iggy was certain of it.
"Mossadi au Tittanus. Elysian commander turned mercenary turned resistance fighter, apparently."
Quite the character arc.
"Who are they, though?"
"She's the current leader of the alliance."
Iggy suppressed a smirk. "You sure do know a lot about the rebellion for someone who claims not to be a part of it."
"How many times do I have to tell you, boy—"
"Yeah, yeah. You're not a rebel. Blah, blah, blah."
Tenn pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't understand the gravity of their reckless actions. If they succeed in kidnapping a Noblus, the empire won't stop until they've been destroyed. The Axarian Alliance and countless others will be crushed under the heel of the emperor. The galaxy will be pushed towards war. Every system—every person—will be forced to choose a side."
Iggy pursed his lips. Surely the empire wouldn't start a whole intergalactic war over a single person. He paled upon realizing who they were talking about.
Maybe they would.
Either way, Iggy didn't really care. An intergalactic war wouldn't mean much to him once he got back to his mother. He'd take them somewhere far away—perhaps one of the nicer planets in the Far Reaches—and stay there for as long as they needed to. The war wouldn't bother them there. No rebels, no empire. It'd just be them for the rest of their lives.
He smiled at the thought.
"What're you smiling at, boy?"
Iggy replaced it with a deep scowl. "Nothing." He shook his head at the old man. "Listen, I didn't agree to help Jaxon because I care about the rebellion. I'm doing it to help my mother. He says he can get a smuggler to bring her medicine on Novr."
"And you trust him?"
He opened his mouth to retort, but his words were stickier than syrup-coated candies. They clung to the roof of his mouth, refusing to detach. Could he truly trust Jaxon to hold up his end of the deal? The man might've claimed to always keep his word, but that could've all been smoke. As soon as Iggy gave the rebel what he desired, who was to say he didn't run off, never to be heard from again? Risking his safety without a guarantee—an actual guarantee, not just words—was foolish.
But he wouldn't be seeing Jaxon until tomorrow. If he didn't have the keycard by then, the entire deal might've gotten called off. If the man truly could get medicine for his mother, he couldn't risk not coming through because of his own paranoia. He sucked in a breath.
He'd get the keycard. After that, it was up to Jaxon to prove whether he could be trusted.
"I trust him," Iggy said. The words tasted like venom in his mouth.
"Alright." Tenn stroked his beard. "Then we must come up with a plan. Preferably, a quick one. We don't have much time until we must fight for our lives."
Iggy's eyes lit up. "We?"
"Yes, Iggorii. You're not as clever as you think. You'll need my help pulling this off."
Under normal circumstances, he would've fired back with a sly remark of his own, but he really needed Tenn's help. He'd let the snide comment slide. The Andradan might've been ancient, but he had all the necessary skills to get something like this done. Before, Iggy had no idea how he'd rob a guard of their keycard. He wouldn't have to do it alone now, though. An idea already started to sprout in his mind like a seedling in the spring.
"So, how're we going to do this?" Tenn asked.
"Already ahead of you."
His companion lifted a bushy brow. With a smile, Iggy revealed his strategy.
#
"I have to admit," Tenn grumbled while getting into position near the entrance of the training center, "I didn't expect your plan to be as coherent as it is."
Iggy ignored him, instead choosing to wring his hands while he kept his eyes trained on the sliding glass doors up ahead. While he appreciated the rare compliment, as backhanded as it was, he still couldn't be so sure his plan would work.
The premise was rather simple: he and Tenn would instigate an argument amongst the other tributes in the room, which would then transform into a full-on brawl. A pack of guards would be called in to quell the chaos. Amid the fighting, Iggy and Tenn would attempt to steal a keycard.
Easy-peasy.
With how antsy the other tributes in the training center looked, he figured it wouldn't be hard to get them to start swinging on each other. The looming shadow of the second game had everyone teetering on the edge of a cliff. Distrust and fear hid in the eyes of everyone. The cliques that formed throughout the first round had started to dissolve over the past few days. Iggy noticed Vonn's former crew split off into smaller ones. And even those were balancing on a knife's edge. Once the second challenge was officially announced and the teams were set, all the alliances formed would be thrown out of the airlock.
As Iggy waited, a scary thought ripped through his chest like the spear of an enraged warrior. His knees quaked for a moment, his gaze settling on Tenn's back.
What if they ended up on separate teams?
He remembered what happened during the old man's challenge. None of the enemy team survived. If they were split up, one of them wouldn't make it out of the arena. Fear coursed through him, spreading throughout his body. His head spun as visions of Tenn's bleeding body laid out in the center of the stadium strobed through his brain like alarm lights.
Surely the gamemakers wouldn't do that. Moxi Daystar said it himself—people had begun to see them as a team. They even got interviewed by Ivy together. There was no way they'd get split up now.
Or perhaps those were the perfect reasons to create a rift between them. The crowd lived for drama. What better plot twist than putting an apprentice against his mentor?
Squeezing his eyes shut, he forced the thoughts out.
He couldn't worry about that now. His primary focus was securing a keycard for Jaxon Gunn. He'd deal with the rest when it came.
"Ready?" Tenn asked.
Swallowing hard, he nodded. "Ready."
Tenn stuck his hands into his pockets before sauntering over to a group who'd corralled across from him. He struck up a conversation with them. While Iggy couldn't hear them, he knew exactly what the old man was saying. Together, they came up with the idea to pit two of the cliques against each other.
Iggy shuffled toward the second group, his heart pumping wildly as he rehearsed his lines in his head. Krav—the lanky, amphibian ex-goon of Vonn—stood among them. He flicked his filmy green eyes at the Arigorii and smirked.
"Well, well, well," he rasped. The other tributes glared at him as they assumed standoffish positions behind their supposed leader. "Look who it is. Little Iggy."
"Er, hey, Krav. How's it going?"
"You've got some nerve coming over here, kid," Krav said. "You know, after what you did to Vonn."
He clenched his jaw, his hands balling into fists. "He came after me first."
"Right."
This is stupid.
He'd already started to forget his lines. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted Tenn firing up the other group, which featured Jaromik—the hulking, blue-furred beast—and a small mob of squirrelly-looking characters. They kept peering across the room at Iggy and Krav's new crew. Tenn shot him a look that said get going.
"What do you want, kid?" Krav asked while crossing his finned arms.
"Er, well...me and Tenn were just, you know, minding our own business when we overheard some of the other tributes talking about you guys."
Krav bristled. "Oh yeah? What were they saying?"
"Just...you know..."
"Spit it out, kid."
"They were planning to take you guys out in the arena. They think you're a threat to their chances of winning. And, honestly, I think they're right."
The group murmured amongst themselves, occasionally shooting the opposing crew dirty looks. Within seconds, palpable tension could be felt throughout the training center. Iggy felt it sticking to his already clammy skin. Trying to hide his nerves, he hid his sweating hands behind his back.
"You sure you heard them say that?" Krav cut his eyes at Jaromik. The Caeru responded by dragging a finger across his thick throat. Krav sneered.
Whatever Tenn said worked. Perhaps a little too well.
"Oh, they're going down." Krav stomped forward. "Hey, Fur Ball!"
Jaromik surged forward, his crew at his back. Tenn stepped aside with mischief in his eyes. He was loving this.
Iggy scrambled away from the group of tributes about to collide. They were in each other's faces within the blink of an eye. Shouts and threats filled the air. While the tension reached a boiling point, Iggy made his way over to Tenn. An alarm went off as soon as the first punch was thrown.
Red and white lights flashed through the room, dousing the walls and nearly blinding Iggy. Noise barked through unseen speakers. A robotic voice ordered the brawling tributes to separate, but no one listened. Fists were flying. Blood hit the ground. Bodies followed. He watched the entire thing with his mouth slightly ajar. Tenn stood at his side, still and emotionless as if nothing even happened.
Something told him he'd never fully understand the old man.
The sound of boots marching over the concrete floors of the halls outside reached his ears. He whipped his head toward the entrance. Fully armored guards poured through the sliding glass doors. A few stomped forward with their electrified batons in hand while the rest held the perimeter at the door with their rifles raised. Dozens of lasers poured through the room, each one finding its mark on a different tribute.
Eyes wide, Iggy looked at Tenn. It was now or never. Nodding in unison, they rushed into the fray.
He ducked a wild punch aimed at someone behind him. He spun, momentarily losing his balance. A rampaging tribute shoved him, sending him into the back of an Elysian trying to pull apart two other tributes pelting each other with rapid blows. His eyes lit up. Now was his chance. Pretending to help the guard, Iggy inserted himself into the fight.
The Elysians kept their keycards attached to the mechanized gauntlets on their wrists. Taking one wouldn't be easy, especially out in the open like this, but he had to try.
Gritting his teeth, he snatched the guard's wrist and pulled, acting as if he was trying to yank them off the tribute they'd knocked to the floor.
"Get off me, kid!" they shouted through their helmet's communicator.
"I'm not a kid!" he yelled back.
Around them, the fighting continued. Jaromik and Krav eventually got ahold of the wooden sparring staffs and were whacking each other with them. More guards rushed into the room. The flashing lights got brighter. The blaring alarm got louder.
Iggy continued pulling at the guard's arm. His finger brushed against the keycard attached to their wrist. His face lit up. He could feel the magnetic lock giving.
Almost got it.
The soldier was too preoccupied with stopping the two men in front of him from killing each other to swat Iggy away. But he wouldn't be for long. The guards started to seize control of the situation. One hit from their electric batons sent tributes to the ground like fallen statues.
Time was running out.
With a grunt, he grabbed at the guard's wrist one last time. He dug his fingernails under the panel keeping the card attached to their suit. It took a few seconds, but he eventually got it to disconnect. A satisfying click hit his ears as the card fell to the ground. The guard shoved Iggy to the ground before rushing toward another set of tributes still engaged in battle.
Iggy remained on the ground, his heart akin to a Skimmer engine in his chest. A triumphant smile covered his face. He let out a giddy laugh. The guard's keycard remained on the ground, just a few inches away from his hand.
No one even noticed.
Before anyone could, he snapped it up and tucked it into his shoe.
Mission accomplished.