Mitchell's Revenge
Auditorium, sports arena, Tiberion

Lucy fought every instinct in herbody as she passed Anja and Daria in the hallway backstage. As soon as theywere out of earshot she told Lou who they were. They made a circuit of thefacilities, bought some water from a kiosk, and then continued back to theirseats in the auditorium. They were seated in the second tier seats on the shortside of the floor, right next to the aisle. They had easy access in and out. Theirfirst round was the fifth event on the program.

“She’s here,” she whispered toGrabb when they returned. “First event. Watch for a tallish blond girl, verypale. Down there.”

She pointed to the corner of thefloor where the first round dancers were coming on to dance. Aleks and Anjawere in the first heat. As soon as he saw the firefly pattern on the blue dressGrabb knew who he was looking at. He thought they were a handsome young couple.He watched intently as they started their waltz. They seemed a little nervousat first, but he could see that the Ostrakov boy had excellent musicality and apowerful presence on the floor. He thought he remembered watching the parentscompete a long time ago.

Lucy scanned the auditorium,looking for the Orlovs. She found them diagonally opposite in the next tierdown. Yuri Orlov was seated in the aisle seat, Daria next to him. Two emptyseats for the juniors and then the Ostrakovs. A sullen, scar faced man satdirectly behind Yuri, and an attractive, compact woman sat a row further back,diagonally behind the group. Lucy quickly sent their images to Matt on boardMitchell’s Revenge.

“Can you identify these two?” askedLucy quietly. Moments later she had their names and as much information as Mattcould replace about the two mercenaries.

“Only two?” she asked. “There mustbe other protection. He’s the head of the IGM after all.” Matt searched formore information.

“Only regular Tiberion security,”he replied. “Circulating around the arena, checking on them from time to time. Thereis an arena cam focussed on their seats. I’d say it’s being monitored by thearena manager.”

“Good, thanks,” replied Lucy. “Ifyou can replace Natasha Orlov that would be helpful too. Keep me posted ifanything changes. We’ve got to go in a minute.”

Grabb stood up and dropped hiscoverall onto the seat behind him. He touched the tab on his wrist and wassuddenly clad in a tail suit. Lucy stood and did the same. Now she was clad inan elegant silver dress. Lou thought they made a very fine couple. She snappedan image of them as they smiled at her. Em stuck her head out from underneaththe seats where she lay hidden and growled at them.

“Very fine indeed,” sounded inLucy’s mind. She bent down to scratch the panther’s head.

“See you soon,” she said to Lou andEm. “I’m about to replace out if I’m any good at this!”

She followed Grabb to the stairwellto make their way down to the marshalling area. Grabb had watched the firstround of the junior event carefully. He explained to Lucy what he saw as theywalked.

“Those kids are quite talented,” hesaid. “They seemed very nervous for the entire first round, but I think it willbe enough to get them through to the next one. If they can relax and just focuson their dancing they should do well.” Lucy nodded.

“What about us then?” she asked,smiling at Grabb.

“We’ll soon replace out!” he replied. “Rememberthat we have to stand away from the floor between each round. This one willtake a while to run, so we can come back here and sit down, or practice if wewant. Once the number of couples comes down, we’ll stay by the floor betweeneach heat. OK?”

“Yep,” she replied. “You might haveto remind me as we go along.”

They stepped through the curtainsat the rear of the stage to join the competitors milling around the marshallingarea. There were hundreds of couples and it took the marshals a good half anhour to arrange them all into heats. As they moved into line for their heatLucy noticed Anja and Aleks standing on the edge of the practice floor withDaria Orlov. She could just make out Daria’s voice over the hubbub of dancerswaiting to compete.

Both juniors’ heads were bowed asDaria reprimanded them for a poor performance in their first round. She wavedher hands in the air as she spoke. She suddenly flicked Anja on the side of herface with her fingers. Anja cringed away. Daria quickly reached forward andgrabbed her by the arm, pulling her back into position next to Aleks. The boylooked shocked but made no move to protect his partner.

Lucy fought the impulse to dash toAnja’s side. She latched onto Grabb’s arm instead and hissed in his hear.

“Look! That bitch just slapped her. I can’t juststay here.”

“Yes, you can,” Grabb hissed back. “Don’tinterfere. I’ve seen coaches berate their couples worse than that. Stick to theplan. You can’t do this on your own. Take a deep breath. We’re going on now.”

He looped Lucy’s arm through hisand drew her forward onto the dance floor. She looked around as she walked onwith him. She took several deep breaths. The lights were very bright. She couldsee herself in the vid feed above the stage. Her dress really did look lovely. Sheand Grabb made a tall and handsome couple. There were fourteen couples in theirheat, including one of the top pairs from Menageron. Grabb was excited to seehow they would fare. They walked to their starting position for waltz as themusic started.

Lou and Em watched from the stands.Lou didn’t know much about ballroom dancing, but she recognised talent when shesaw it. Grabb and Lucy were as good as the couple from Menageron. In her viewthey were the two stand out couples in the round. She cheered loudly as theyfinished their quickstep and left the floor. Grabb had explained how to checkthe recalls after each heat so she studied her handipalm and saw that bothAleks and Anja and Grabb and Lucy had made the next round.

The junior field had been cut fromtwo hundred and eighty couples to one hundred and eighty, while the adult fieldhad gone from five hundred and twenty to two hundred and sixty. The numberswould progressively reduce each round, with the finals being held in theevening.

Lucy and Grabb returned to theirseats. They plopped down next to Lou and reached for their water bottles,thirsty after the exertion under the heat of the bright lights.

“You were fantastic,” said Lou. Lucygrinned at her. “You and the couple from Menageron were the best in thatround! You made the next one.”

Grabb high fived his partner. “Wemight make it through some rounds after all!”

“I’m surprised,” said Lucy slowly. “Iactually enjoyed it. The music, and the freedom to move around the floor. Thechallenge of avoiding the other couples, and remembering the choreography. It’squite an exhilarating thing to do!”

“See,” said Grabb excitedly. “It’snot so bad after all!” He grinned at the two women.

“Just remember we have a job todo,” said Lucy. “And from what I saw downstairs, the sooner we do it and getoff this moon the better.”

She quickly filled Lou in on whatshe had witnessed. Lou looked directly opposite them and saw Daria re-touching Anja’smakeup as the girl sat rigid in her seat. Aleks looked preoccupied. Hisfather’s arm was round his shoulders and he was talking earnestly to his son. Theboy nodded from time to time.

“They’re both scared,” said Lou. “AndDaria Orlov is angry. I think she’s a nasty piece of work.”

With the touch up complete, thejuniors rose and made their way back towards the marshalling area to preparefor the next round.

“We’d better get ready too,” saidGrabb. “We’re on again after the kids.”

The next few hours passed quickly. Theyfell into a routine of dancing their heat, coming back to their seats for foodand drink, and watching the party diagonally opposite. As they continuedthrough the rounds, Grabb got more and more excited. The juniors continuedthrough the rounds as well, improving with each dance.

“The Orlov woman is less angrynow,” observed Lou. “Those kids are very good.”

The juniors made it to the round ofeighteen. Just before they were to dance, Natasha Orlov arrived with her littledog in tow. She spoke with her father and then sat behind her parents, next tothe scarred mercenary. They spoke briefly while Natasha petted the little dogwhich sat on her lap. They watched the juniors and cheered them loudly as they tooka bow at the end of each dance. They made the semi-final.

Grabb and Lucy also made the roundof eighteen, much to Grabb’s delight. As they walked onto the floor, Lou sawDaria watching them intently. She pointed them out to Anja and Aleks, as if tosay “you should watch these two”. Lou suddenly felt sick. She hoped they hadnot been recognised. Of all the dresses in the arena that day, Lucy’s was theonly one with any similarity to Anja’s. The firefly patterns were notidentical, but very similar.

Lou got up and stretched. Shedecided to walk around the arena to get closer to the Orlov group. As shewalked along the aisle behind them she heard Daria say to Anja that the silverdress was very like hers, just a different colour. Then she said “What a pityyours isn’t the only one like that.” Anja nodded her head meekly and gazedintently at the dancers on the floor. It was the dark haired woman who hadwinked at her backstage.

Lou kept walking. She could feelthe child’s excitement as she recognised Lucy. Then she felt her dampen it. Asense of desperation replaced the excitement. Lou walked to the end of theaisle, turned around and walked back the way she came. Em was still lyinghidden underneath the seats. She looked questioningly at Lou as she returned. Loubegan to pack up their belongings.

“We have to move very soon,” shewhispered to the panther as she packed. “Anja knows Lucy is here. She justrecognised her. You need to get into position before the junior semi-final.”

Em stretched as best she could inthe cramped space and then started to slink under the seats towards the Orlovparty. Lou finished packing and waited for Grabb and Lucy to return from thefloor.

“It’s time,” she told them as theyarrived. “Anja recognised Lucy. She finally realised what the pattern on yourdress means. We have to move now.”

Grabb was studying his handipalm.

“Dammit,” he exclaimed. Lucy andLou stared at him.

“What?” they asked together.

“We made our semi-final too!”