Travis released the shield and fell to the ground unconscious.
"Travis!" Lucky shouts, she quickly jumps on the ground and runs over to Travis side.
Null also saw this but as much as she wanted to run to Travis side, she still needs to play her role and more importantly, one of the most famous powered heroes is in front of her.
"We see each other again." Retribution says to Null.
"Why are you here?" Inherit interject. "You're already eliminated from the tournament, and no other hero is allowed here."
"You're saying that to me? I just saved all of you..." Retribution says.
"Gravitate is the one who saved us not you." Black Magic says.
"Oh... right... Gravitate, I need to talk to him but it looks like this is not the right time." Retribution says. "Now getting back to you Miss Null."
"I'll be giving this to you just in case." He hands a paper to Null. "Call me when you get back and we'll talk."
"What are your plans Retribution?" Null says. "Why are you giving me your number? are you hitting on me?"
"Maybe... but as I say, we'll talk later." Retribution then walk towards the shadow spike and disappear in it.
Two hours later....
Standing on the platform behind Covalt, the mood is decidedly tense. Not just because someone is about to get eliminated, but because this Mission was an out-and-out failure. Phobus obviously left Speedy's first-meeting memory unprotected in order to lure The Hero Project to the castle headquarters, then rigged the abandoned base to explode.
Even worse, it appears Phobus has found a way to recruit Scoundel. There's been no word on how this could possibly have happened in the two days since she was eliminated, but it's definitely not going to look good. Rumors are already swirling that she was a mole for Phobus from the beginning… Travis wondered what Jenny would have to say about this, but now he'll have to wait to get any answers from her.
And there's been radio silence from Phobus, which means there's no word as to what his larger intentions here were. But it's pretty clear he must have vacated the castle headquarters the moment Speedy was captured, then booby-trapped it for The Hero Project's arrival and left Scoundel behind as a big old screw, joined by Little Jagged for a teleport escape (which Government intelligence officials still cannot explain).
All this means that, at the moment, The Hero Project production staff is on edge. Because as successful as the first Mission was, this second Mission was a complete mess. And with expectations running as high as they are after the first Mission, this will be a complete PR nightmare.
And as for the sudden appearance of Retribution, no one knows where he came from or how he got there. Rumors are spreading that he's part of the NewOrder, but why did he save the Final 12? many things are going on and this is all a big file of mess.
Travis is back at The Hero Project base, in the auditorium, with the judges sitting in front of him. They all appear tense, but Rexford looks like he might burst. Travis can already tell this ceremony is not going to be pleasant—at all.
Though the only shred of success to come out of the entire Mission was a set of discarded blueprints that The Crush found during his sweep of the castle, right before the explosives went off.
No one has been able to confirm exactly what the blueprints are yet, but everyone is hopeful they'll shed some light on Phobus's future plans. Which can only mean good things for Team One's chances at safety—or at least he hope. Team Two did engage Little Jagged and Scoundel first….
Either way, he has already gotten to the point in the elimination ceremony when Covalt announces the Team that has won Immunity for the week. So he focused on his attention on Covalt, hoping for the best.
"The judges have turned in each Finalist's Leaderboard scores," Covalt says. "As we all know, the Team with the highest combined Leaderboard score will win Immunity and be safe from both eliminations this week, advancing directly to the Final 10."
"Now, without further delay, that Team will be…"
"Team One, once again!"
As Covalt finishes his announcement, a wave of relief runs through him.
Because he's safe.
Thank sh*t, he doesn't have to worry about getting booted this week, which means he might be able to get some much-needed rest. And it also means he's automatically advancing to the Final 10. Now he just has to survive four more eliminations to win the show and make it onto The American Protectors.
Though as soon as this relief settles, another wave of nerve hits—now he just hope the right hero gets eliminated so the next vote won't be a total nightmare.
"I think Team One really owes The Crush quite a thank you," Rexford says, looking over all his failed Finalists with disgust. "If it weren't for his heroic efforts in procuring those blueprints and saving you all at the end of the Mission, you all might be dead right now."
Rexford says this last bit with his eyes directly on Travis, causing Travis blood to boil.
Even though the proceedings move on after that, he has a hard time stopping himself from raging against Rexford in his head. He starts to imagine himself cursing him out right here in front of everyone, live on national 3V.
By the time he pulled himself out of this little daydream and back into reality, Covalt's announcement about the Bottom Two on Team Two has already gone by. He have to glance back up at the Leaderboard screen to keep track of who is already safe:
SKY (Leaderboard: 48, Wins Immunity)
Sky stunned everyone by getting Immunity, after her many brushes with elimination.
However, during the Mission, after the robot drones descended on her Team, Sky was the first to spot Little Jagged (who was pretending to hold Scoundel hostage). While everyone else was fighting the robots, Sky broke free to flash-freeze Little Jagged in a block of ice, a move that the judges obviously saw fit to reward.
Thanks to her high Leaderboard score, Sky will also be Immune to the contestant vote that will determine 11th place. This is a pretty remarkable turn of events for Sky, considering she has barely skated by every elimination since being chosen as a Wildcard.
Which means that, at the end of the ceremony, Lucky and Shula stand center-stage in the Bottom 2, one of them about to get eliminated in 12th place.
"At the end of this Mission, these two heroes were most responsible for the biggest failures," Rebellion explains. "As Field Captain for her Team, Lucky wasn't able to successfully navigate this Mission, which led to Little Jagged's escape."
"As for Shula, she was the first hero to go down, after mistaking Scoundel for a hostage. If she had been able to defend herself against Scoundel's attacks, the Mission might have gone entirely differently."
"Well, I won't drag this out any longer than I have to," Covalt says, looking over the faces of the Bottom 2 heroes with what appears to be genuine sadness.
"The Finalist from Team Two with the lowest Leaderboard score, leaving us tonight, is…"
"Shula, with a score of 25."
As Covalt says this, Lucky's name flashes in fifth place on the Leaderboard screen with a score of 30.
The crowd begins to shout in protest as Shula breaks down into sobs. All Lucky can do is wrap her arm around her, looking completely stunned.
Shula has just been cut from The Hero Project.
And the Underdogs have lost their first member.
It hardly seems fair—mistaking Scoundel for a hostage was an error any of the Finalists could have made. But in a week where the producers will want to cover up the Mission's failure with drama and controversy, it makes sense that they'd cut Shula and keep Lucky, who is definitely getting portrayed as the ultimate Underdog, dodging near-eliminations left and right.
Travis watches as Sky runs across the stage to hug Shula, who can't seem to stop crying. Lucky steps away, still looking stunned and horrified, while Covalt cues Shula's farewell holo-video.
As Travis watches, he realize how Shula seemed to have nine lives in this competition—after failing to procure a Key, she made it to the Final Selection by being chosen as a Wildcard. Then in the Final Selection, she was one of the last heroes announced with a place in the Final 14.
Shula then narrowly escaped elimination in the first challenge after scoring low on the losing Team's Leaderboard, then wiggled her way through the first vote, thanks mostly to Travis support.
After all of those close calls, it seems that Shula's luck has finally run out.
Though maybe it had nothing to do with luck—Shula did beat thousands of other heroes to make it all the way to the Final 12, after all.
As producers swoop in to take Shula away, Travis runs across the stage to say goodbye, not sure if he'll get another chance.
"Shula, I'm so sorry," Travis says, stopping the herd of moving producers. "But I know what it's like to go through setbacks—you just can't ever let anything stop you. Especially not after making it this far."
Shula nods at him, wiping the tears on her cheeks.
"Just do me a favor?" she says, pulling Travis closer. "Make sure you and Sky take down those Popular for me?"
"Done," Travis says, just before the producers finally sweep Shula away.
And as he watched her go, he just hoped he could deliver on that promise.
However he feels about this elimination, his chances of winning a spot on The American Protectors just got a little bit better. Someone had to go—and before this whole thing is other, five more heroes will be eliminated.
He can only hope he keep finding ways to make sure it's not him.