Jericho watched on. He wondered how they would wrap things up. The broadcast hour was almost over. From what he remembered when he watched as a kid; they would either end early, then have a recap to talk about the events that were just shown, or it would cut all the way into the full broadcast hour and the show would cut into the program after.

Richie had been firing shots at Delton, and it looked like the end was near. The show could end with everyone dead with the way both drivers were now slamming into one another.

“Yeow!” Announcer Williams said. “Delton’s vehicle is taking major damage! Mary is going in! Their supercar taking no damage, while Delton’s looking more and more like a heap of garbage.”

“Yeeoooww!” Co-announcer Barrington said. “And Richie is destroying that car with his nimble fired-finger-blasts!”

“Looks like it’s a close one!” Williams said. “Folks, we’re nearing the conclusion of this spectacular chase. Let’s see if they can subdue the criminal!”

Harrison was now in front of the T.V. pacing around, his books discarded to the side and forgotten.

“Let’s go!” He roared. He gestured at the T.V. screen. “Jericho, doesn’t this get you excited, man?”

Jericho laughed uncomfortably, “Yeah.”

Boom! A popped tire caused Delton to skid and crash into the Gomez twins. Both cars now static in movement, while just moments ago moving at hundreds of miles per hour. Smoke covered the chaos, and even Jericho found himself intrigued to see its ending.

Delton, a tall, built man ran off. He continued down the road knowing the next cop car would be there to capture him. He was more athletic than he appeared, and he sprinted away making distance from the twins.

The camera crew now caught up with the chaos. They filmed Mary Gomez whose legs appeared to be trapped, wedged in the car, but she gestured a shooing motion towards her brother to go.

Richie Gomez chased after Delton.

“Watch this!” Harrison said. He nudged Jericho and shook him on the shoulder.

“I am,” Jericho said.

Richie boosted and propelled himself forward using his flames in a way that puzzled Jericho. Flames propelled from Richie’s hands for forward movement and from his feet for stability. Within seconds Richie caught up with Delton but overshot himself too far. His flames sputtered, and his body gave way and rolled across the air without the aid of his flames.

“Ouch!” Barrington said. “It appears that Richie is injured.”

“Or maybe out of juice! That’s quite a shock! Is it over for Richie Gomez?” Williams said.

“It’s not over yet!” Barrington said.

Richie tried his best to awaken his flames and he grunted in frustration with barely a flicker.

“No shot is he tired,” Harrison said. “He usually does this whole flame hand-cuff spectacular with a phoenix. It’s some cool shit. I’ve seen him go through worse and he always has energy.”

“Could just be one of those days. Everybody has bad days, even professionals.” Jericho said adding onto the conversation.

“I don’t believe that,” Harrison said. “Something’s up. A performer and athlete like him doesn’t choke like this.”

Richie laid on the floor, facing the ground. He slowly brought himself up. First his right foot, then his-

A scream echoed through the T.V.’s speakers. It sent shivers down Jericho’s spine. Harrison watched quietly, anticipating the worst.

“No way,” Harrison said, a hint of remorse in his voice.

Delton took advantage of the injury and rushed pass to leave a final gift to the crippled twin. Delton jumped into the air and the weight of his foot and the rest of his body crashed onto the broken leg. Richie’s screams travelled through the air before becoming cut off and muffled. Delton sprinted pass not eager to meet the next cops in line thirsty for the easy bounty.

The camera cut to Mary who yelled at the other competitors to hold, that they were still in the game. Anguish shrouded her face. Her legs were still trapped between the two cars.

The camera transitioned back to Richie, still barely conscious and clapping frantically trying to spark a flame.

“Come on!” Richie said in HD, the audio crisp as if Jericho were there. The on-site camera crew were now brave enough get closer to the action, at least close enough to Richie and Mary. They did not want to risk becoming Delton’s hostage.

The next car in line sat patiently next to Mary who was probably swearing up a storm because she was muted.

Fwish. Fwish. Fwish! A flame molded into Richie’s hands and he was instantly back into the threshold. He boosted after Delton, his body flying off cautiously, angled in way that if he were to run out of energy again, he would tumble safely with less impact on his legs. With intricate, beautiful hand movements Richie cast a flame that wrapped around the criminal’s body. Delton collapsed; his legs singed by the flame.

“Here it comes!” Harrison jumped up from his seat.

Richie Gomez stood on one leg as he crafted a flame. It rapidly spun until a flamed phoenix flew valiantly into the air, the film crew brilliantly captured the flaming beast behind him. It circled into the air laying fire everywhere it flew. With outstretched wings it posed in front of the moon before soaring down and blasting into Delton. When the flames finally dispersed, the criminal who had been terrorizing the city of Claude was captured.

“There we have it,” Barrington said. “The Gomez twins come up on top with one hundred consecutive wins and the prize bounty of $740,000.”

“Yeah,” Richie screamed. He let off a fiery high five into the air. He turned to his sister, but what should have been excitement turned into more chaos.

***

“Richie!” Mary screamed. “It’s happening!”

Richie knew, and he wished that he did not forget that Isaiah Delton was not the only adversary tonight. He detected an increase in temperature, his body turned to the source, to Mary, to the car. He had to maintain it before it burst.

Frustrated, he cried out, using his remaining bit of energy left. His mind scrambled tackling so many things at once, but only one thing prevailed: saving his sister.

He focused and encapsulated the burst of flames, keeping in the energy, keeping it at bay. He roared struggling to hold all that energy in one spot before he could dissipate the energy someplace safe like into the sky.

Then it happened.

Richie immediately lost hold, and the car burst. Their car became engulfed by flames and travelled to Delton’s vehicle and then to the next competitors’ vehicle, to the Martinelli duo. In a succession of explosions, the explosions enveloped the camera crew as well as a couple other competitors’ cars waiting in line. The ones in the back were fortunate and unfortunate enough to witness the atrocity and drove off and away towards safety.

Richie cried out, still focused on protecting his sister. He bent over and his chest heaved as he struggled to breathe.

***

For the next five minutes the back-up camera crew recorded the scene, while also keeping a view on Richie. Five minutes would pass before Richie finally collapsed and when his sister walked away from the car practically unscathed. She walked over a few steps before collapsing to the ground. The medical crew quickly rescued her taking her away from the grisly scene and into a nearby tent where her brother was also taken to.

Jericho and Harrison looked at each other, bewildered by the site. This was probably going to rule the news for the next few weeks and would still be brought back into attention when investigations started, and court proceedings occurred. Pings on both their phones indicated that this news was worthy of being talked about from friends, family, and strangers. The whole world talked about the Gomez twins, and only minutes had passed after the chase had reached its finale.

Harrison finally spoke in the silence, “Why didn’t she see that coming?”

“See what?” Jericho said.

“She has clairvoyance, so why didn’t she see that coming?”