“You and your damn jewelry, Johnny,” Nine grunts. “I’ve been thinking about that thing ever since the last time we fought. It shocked me when I tried to yank it off by hand, so I wonder what’d happen if—”

I feel his telekinesis working. It’s too late to do anything about it. He rips the bracelet right off my arm and flings it to the sideline.

“Ha!” Nine yells, gleeful. “What’s up now?”

Just as Nine’s about to charge me, Five’s rubbery arm slithers around his waist and flings him to the side. Nine springs right back to his feet. Five stands in front of him, his rubber bouncy ball and chrome ball bearing turning over in his palm. His skin transforms from rubber to solid steel.

“Ready to take another shot?” Five asks.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Nine growls back.

It happens just like John said it would. Almost as soon as I’ve taken cover by our flag, Eight teleports into the vicinity. Remembering the rules, that he can’t teleport the flag back across the room, I wait for Eight to snatch our flag off the wall. As soon as he does, I spray him with blaster fire.

Eight yelps in surprise as my first shot electrifies his back, knocking him off his feet. He rolls over. “Damn, Sam! Shooting a guy in the back. Not cool.”

I level my blaster at him. “Drop the flag!”

“I don’t think so,” he says, and scrambles to his feet. I squeeze off a couple more shots but Eight nimbly dodges them, dancing behind a piece of cover. Even so, I’ve got him pinned down and he knows it. There’s no way he’s making it back across the room with our flag.

“Okay, Sam, try this on for size,” Eight shouts. He shoves the flag into his mouth and shape shifts into the form of some freakish ten-armed lion creature. He lumbers over the barricade towards me, swatting my blaster out of my hands with one clawed paw.

“Get him, BK!” I yell.

Before Eight can make another move, Bernie Kosar crashes into him. BK has shape shifted as well. He’s taken the form of a giant boa constrictor. He wraps his body around Eight, pinning Eight’s arms to his sides. As Eight gasps for breath, the flag goes drifting out of his mouth. I snatch it up and pin it back to our wall.

I watch as Sarah and Ella, both of them crouched down behind cover close to our flag, point their blasters around the room. They’re looking for a target they can’t see.

“Come on, Ella,” Sarah says hopefully. “You can do it.”

Ella’s face is pinched tight with concentration as she tries to locate Six telepathically. I hope this isn’t too much exertion for her after yesterday’s ordeal. Suddenly, Ella lights up.