48. Darcy Dunnit

“You don’t think you’ll actually take the title back, do you, Red?”

When the Gem awakens to call a Hero, the world is ill prepared...and its fate is placed in the hands of a 17 year old boy, named Wendell. 

Some will say this is nothing but a tale of fiction.
Let them think as they may. 

After all...I can't fix stupid.

Previously: The Steel & Stone team has finished outfitting their S.L.A.G.s for combat, adding extra armor, hidden power supplies, and salvaged weapons to Wendell’s suit. With the Trench Wars right around the corner, Alhannah pushes the team to make a splash—starting with a public appearance at GAH, the hottest nightclub in the city.

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There is always someone bigger, stronger, faster, better looking and more talented. It’s a painful fact, but a fact nonetheless. Just keep in mind that you might be holding the short end of the stick.

The beat shook the ground with every step I took.

Digital blips and scratches cut the air as thousands of bodies bounced and gyrated together like a single living creature. GAH was…otherworldly. It looked like a spaceship—glass, mirrors, black metal and bright lights—but the crowd was all gnome.

The only surfaces I could actually see were the ones hit by small blue spotlights overhead—hundreds of them, shining straight down onto heads moving to the music. Alhannah tugged me forward into the chaos.

Trailing red lights flowed down both sides of the ramp that led to the dance floor. I hesitated and reached out for a railing that didn’t exist—and accidentally grabbed someone’s arm.

“Sorry!” I stammered. “I’m so sorry—didn’t see you there!”

She batted glowing orange eyelids at me. “Anytime, handsome.”

Alhannah yanked me forward before I could say anything else.

The song shifted, rising in tempo. A group of girls screamed and waved their arms, shaking their hips to the new beat. I blinked. The dance floor wasn’t just circular—it had levels. Smaller concentric rings rotated with the music. Red lights flashed, then blue. Then I looked up.

Whoa.

A massive metal flower was unfolding above the crowd—slowly blossoming across the ceiling like a mechanical lotus. Hundreds of tiny lights covered the petals. When the flower reached its full bloom, the tips turned outward, revealing—

“Balconies?” I murmured, stunned.

Two full tiers of them, tucked into the dark, now lit by the petals. The crowd went wild. I jumped up and down, trying to see what was happening. Alhannah tugged on my sleeve.

“ARE YOU READY TO PAR-TAY?” the DJ screamed over the sound system.