by Logan Jacobs
I nodded without another word.
Baba-Tadao and I walked through the Hall of Champions out onto the street where I saw his hoverbike and sidecar. Baba donned his helmet and revved the engine, and I climbed into the pod.
The hoverbike shot into the air, and Baba weaved in and out the heavy traffic as if everyone else were sitting still. Normally I would have white knuckled the ride because of how fast he went and how many cars we almost hit, but today I sat stock still and stared ahead. All I could think about was Artemis, Nova, and PoLarr.
Irrus was going to find out very soon that you did not fuck with my women.
“Marc?” Baba-Tadao said through the bikes comm system.
“Yes,” I responded. I didn’t look over at him, just kept my eyes forward.
“Fallon did all she could to help your friends,” the rat said. “She will be there if you need her. But once you do, her cover will be blown forever, so you must pick your time wisely in order to make the most of it.”
“I will,” I said and meant it. “How did a rat come to do the bidding of a cat?”
“Ah,” the rat sighed as he barely avoided a large truck in front of us. His reflexes were lighting fast, and apparently, he could talk and fly a hoverbike at breakneck speed at the same time. “I am her protector. Her teacher. Her friend. I do as she asks not because I must but because I chose to.”
“Okay, if you say so,” I said harshly. I didn’t mean to be an asshole to someone who was clearly trying to help but my give-a-shit was broken at the moment.
“Irrus and I were mischief mates for many a year,” Baba added after a moment of silence. “But as his power grew so did his ruthlessness and cruelty. I was there when Fallon’s family were slaughtered, and I was finally sickened by what we had become. The gangs were meant to help those who had nothing and instead we were taking even more. I saw the young kitten stricken with grief and horror and my desire to shelter her became all consuming. So I did that the only way I knew how. I trained her. Taught her the skills she would need to enact her vengeance. She is more precious to me than the air I breathe.”
“That is how I feel about my friends that Irrus has taken,” I said.
“I know,” Baba replied.
The hoverbike made a sharp dive and sank into the deep depths of the city. Beyond the hustle and bustle and down into the sewer. Down with the scum and vermin. Down where it was kill or be killed. Down where I belonged at the moment.
Baba steered us through the curves and turns of the sewer pipes that were wide enough to drive a semi through. It got darker and grimier. Brackish water flowed in a small river down the center of the pipe and dripped down the sides. Eventually, the pipe opened out into a large junction area where it looked like an old, half-finished underground train station had once stood maybe five hundred years ago by the look of it.
In the center of the room was a huge domed cage around which there were fifty or so spectators. One area of the dome had risers built and on top of the risers sat five aliens with one bodyguard each who stood next to them. There was a very fancy looking cat alien, one of the pigeon goombas only he wore a very expensive tracksuit and many more gold chains, a roach dude, or maybe dudette, I couldn’t be sure, who was easily three times larger than the ones I’d fought the other night, an Opposer who wore an honest to goodness baseball outfit and had a jewel encrusted bat, and the rat-bastard himself, Irrus. Fallon, decked out in a form fitting but very fancy evening dress stood at his side. He did like his things to look pretty.
Baba-Tadao parked the hoverbike, and I got out of the pod, and we gave each other a small nod. I didn’t know him very well but there was an honorability about this rat, and I felt somehow comforted by his presence. He moved silently into the crowd of spectators until he was up next to the cage.
I walked, head high, over to where the risers were and stood before the entrance of the cage.
“Well, I’m here, now what?” I shouted up to Irrus.
The spectators erupted in a roar. The energy and excitement was about to blow the top off the place.
Irrus stood and the crowd went instantly silent.
“See, I told you he would come,” Irrus said to the others on the risers with him.
“Yes, Irrus, he is here,” the pigeon goomba said. “You better hope he doesn’t make a fool out of you again.”
I could almost see the steam come out of Irrus’ ears as his anger boiled.
“He hasn’t made a fool of me!” he bellowed. Irrus was a far cry from the calm and collected mob boss I’d seen that night at Zaa. He’d come unhinged. I tended to have that effect on people. “Luck! Blind stupid luck! And his luck has run out.”
“Where are my friends, rat?” I shouted up.
“See! I took what he loves. I did that!” Irrus ranted. “Fallon, show him his precious friends.”
“Yes, Mr. Irrus,” Fallon said to the raving rat. As she turned to press a button on the riser railing behind her, she gave me a slight, almost imperceptible wink.
A small circle appeared in the middle of the cage, and a pillar rose up through the ground. On the top of the pillar, bound and gagged, were Nova, PoLarr, and Artemis. They looked a little battered and covered in grime but seemed otherwise okay.
I wanted to burst into the cage and tear their bindings from them and hug them as tight as I could. But I didn’t. I took that impulse and shoved it down deep into my gut where it twisted with the fear I felt and emerged as white hot anger. Artemis wiggled around and saw me. Her eyes went wide in relief and then fear as she took in her surroundings, and I could almost hear her AI brain as it calculated my survival odds.
Nova glanced my way, and her eyes blazed with sheer ferocity. I could see the muscles in her arms strain against her bonds. Irrus was lucky that they were strong because I was pretty sure if Nova broke them she’d tear people’s heads off. Literally. PoLarr sat as still as one could be. Her eyes scanned the crowd and risers, almost as if she were making a mental checklist of who she was going to hunt down after she got out of this.
“See, Marc,” Irrus said with a chuckle, “they are here and unharmed. For the most part. For now.”
“Can we hurry this along, Mr. Irrus?” the oversized roach said. His voice sounded wet and full of clicks. “The Council of Nine No Ones needs to make a decision on your fate.”
“Yes, Irrus,” the Opposer echoed, “we all have business to attend to.”
“Hey!” I yelled up to the riser. “There’s only five of you. Why the hell aren’t you the Council of Five Forgetaboutits or something?”
The dangerous looking cat mobster laugh-purred like a jungle animal. “Oh, I see why he has annoyed you so much, Irrus,” he said with a very large grin. “I think I like him very much.”
“There were once nine of us, human,” Goomba Pigeon cooed. “Nine gangs. Now there are only five. Who knows, after today there may only be four.”
Irrus shot a glance at the pigeon. It was equal parts fear and loathing.
“I’m here, Irrus,” I said. “What now?”
As if to answer, part of the gate swung open on unseen hinges. I shrugged and stepped into the wire dome. The floor was loose sand, and there was a wooden half-wall that ran around the entire circular interior. It came up to about my waist and looked like it would hurt if one were to get slammed into it. Which was probably exactly why it was there.
“I, Warubias Irrus, call forth Marc Caleb Havak and challenge you to combat,” he yelled out to the crowd ceremoniously. The crowd went wild. They had come to see blood, and we were getting ever closer to it. “Do you accept?”
“You bet your rat ass I do,” I yelled up to him.
The crowd roared again. Nice to see I might have a few of them on my side. That or they just wanted to see me get the shit kicked out of me. I stripped out of the top half of my jumpsuit, which actually detached as I shirked out of it, and stood there in a thin tank-top undershirt that I always wore. The jumpsuits could be a little rough on
my delicate nipples. Don’t judge.
I swung my arms back and forth as I loosened up the muscles that had already started to get sore and stiff after the Dauntless Spear match. I felt the Krav Maga, Glima, and Parkour mods all fire up at the base of my skull. Hopefully they’d be enough to pound the shit out of the rat.
“Wonderful,” Irrus said, his voice dripped with hatred. “As per the rules of combat, I send in my proxy. Ad’dao.”
The cage door slid open again and Shere Khan, aka Ad’dao, walked through. The six foot tall tiger on two legs was naked from the waist up, and I could see the massive slabs of muscle ripple under his layer of striped fur as he flexed.
“Should have seen that one coming, Havak,” I said under my breath to myself.
“Are the combatants ready?” Irrus said.
Both Ad’dao and I nodded. Adrenaline flooded my blood stream. My heart pounded. Rage buzzed behind my eyes.
“You will fight until one of you can no longer continue,” He said to draw out the moment. “Begin!”
The crowd exploded in cheers.
Ad’dao sprang at me from over ten feet away with a roar I felt in my bowels. His arms, tipped with razor claws, attempted to take my head off. Yes, the freaky tiger dude leapt from ten feet away and was still at the height of my head when he got to where I was. I had barely a nanosecond to react, so I ducked and rolled so that he flew over me.
I spun around just time to catch a roundhouse kick in the shoulder. Jesus, this tiger was fast. And strong. I went with the force of the blow and rolled again. I had to put a little distance between the two of us. Or go to the ground, and I was in a horrible position to do that at the moment.
When I came up from the roll, I tossed a handful of the loose sand out behind me, and the startled gasp-growl I heard confirmed that my dirty little trick had worked. The only rule they’d mentioned was that one of us would be down for the count before them fight was over so I figured fuck it, why not play dirty?
I got to my feet and went instantly into a fighting stance. Weight divided equally between the balls of my feet and heel, hands up, body fluid, ready to move in any direction necessary.
Ad’dao wiped a paw across his face and cleared the dirt. He sniffed and blew sand snot out of his nose. His whiskers twitched angrily as his own hands came up, his paws in tight fists that he punched the air with in two quick successions as if to work the kinks out of his muscles.
I met his gaze. His eyes were focused. Fearsome. Ready.
So was I. If it was a brawl everyone wanted it was a brawl they were going to get.
As if on cue we both moved forward into striking distance, and the fight was really on.
I feigned with a left jab and then unleashed a quick succession of punches; an uppercut to the jaw, a hook to the kidneys as he swung over my head, then a fast four punch combo to his solar plexus and side before his left foot shot out and connected just above my knee.
I stumbled away. Came up, guard ready, as fast as I could. Ad’dao shook his fur out and laughed like my punches, which I had thrown with all the force I could muster, had zero effect.
That’s when it hit me. He was playing with me. Like a cat with a toy. He was going to batter me about for a bit, let me think I’d gotten a few good shots in, then when he was bored he was going to slice my belly open and let me bleed out for the enjoyment of the crowd.
“Ah, shit,” I muttered just as he advanced and let loose with a punch combo of his own. I dodged the first few but soon felt a blow to my shoulder that made my left arm numb, and I slipped under the follow up jab to my face to deliver a knee that landed on his thigh. He yowled in pain but slashed out reflexively, and I felt searing tears in my back as I tried to push past him.
Droplets of my blood splattered the sand around me. The crowd screamed at the smell. Coppery and full of salt.
I spun on him, and all I saw was an orange and white fur blur. I blocked and dodged as well as I could but he was too damn fast. Two straight arm punches glanced off my head. Made my ears ring. Then came the pain in my stomach and kidneys as he rapid fired me like a heavy bag. I got my hands up in time to stop a knee that would have snapped my neck, but then my jaw felt the full force of an uppercut, and I flew back and landed in a heap on the ground.
The crowd went wild. Irrus cheered, his voice tiny rat like squeaks of excitement.
Ad’dao took a moment to gloat. Raised his bloody paws into the air as he circled me. Roared mightily to stoke more bloodlust from the spectators.
I spat onto the sand, which was painted with crimson. Blood. All mine.
My body screamed in pain.
The five searing claw marks in my back, the dull throbs in my side, the spasms where my kidneys had once been, and the throbbing in my head that clouded my vision. I looked up, saw Irrus as his tiny legs ran in place as he could barely contain himself. Then at Fallon. Saw fear in her yellow-green eyes as they urged me to get to my feet. I tried, but it was like I had lead shoes on. I stumbled and fell to my knees again.
Ad’dao strode over to me, the king cat, and grabbed me by the hair as he yanked my head back to expose my throat. I attempted to pull his paws away but my arms were as useful as deflated balloons. He held his other arm up high, extended his claws that were stained with my blood.
“Prepare to die, human,” Ad’dao growled.
The crowd was in hysterics. Screaming. Yelling. Begging for murder.
I closed my eyes. I was oh so very tired. Exhausted. Part of me just wanted to sleep. To rest.
“Fight, damn you, fight!” I heard Artemis scream.
My eyes popped open, and I saw her on the raised cylinder. She’d managed to spit out her gag.
“You are Marc Caleb Havak, Champion of Earth and you will not die on me today!” she screamed just as Ad’dao’s paw swiped down for my jugular.
And stopped inches from its target.
I held the tiger’s arm in my hands next to my neck.
He glanced down at me, shock all over his feline face, and then I spun to the ground with all I had. He’d been off balance from the blow, and I took him easily to the floor, with his arm still in my grip. He tried to get to back to his feet, but I twisted and pulled him into a rolling armbar. My legs wrapped around his shoulders and head.
I yanked back with all I had.
The loud pop of his shoulder as it came out of the socket silenced the crowd in a heartbeat. Then came Ad’dao’s howl of pain, like an animal caught in a trap.
He tried to roll away, and I let his useless arm go. Then he reached over with his other paw, to scratch at my face, and I caught his wrist, hooked my leg around his arm and pulled again. The snap of his elbow breaking was as loud as a gunshot.
Ad’dao’s legs scrabbled in the sand as he writhed in pain. A terrible mewl began in his chest and erupted from his lips. I let him go, and he attempted to get to his feet but without the use of either of his arms all he could do was spin in the dirt and whimper.
I slowly came up to my knees then stood, covered in dirt and blood, and raised my arm in victory.
The crowd was stunned. Irrus stood, his long, beady rat face hung open in surprise.
I saw Artemis smile.
“Marc Havak is the win--” the Opposer mob boss started but was cut off as Irrus screamed and jumped through the doorway into the cage.
“No! No! I relinquish my proxy!” he yelled. Spittle flew from his irate lips. “I take his place.”
The crowd gasped. This was not how it was supposed to go.
“Very well, Mr. Irrus, you have that right,” Opposer Boss said through clenched teeth. “You may finish the fight for your proxy.”
Irrus laughed. It was the sound of sheer insanity. I saw the gleam of the sharp talons on the ends of his thin fingers.
He was a half-pint little shit, and even though I was spent, I could probably still take him, but I knew someone else watching had dibs on the asshole. And it was time for them to settle the score.
&nb
sp; The room began to spin in my vision, and I felt myself start to fall to the floor. I was on my way down but I sure as shit wasn’t out yet.
“I call a proxy to fight in my place,” I called out as I fell. Irrus stopped cold in his tracks.
“Yes,” Opposer Boss said as he moved to the edge of his seat. “Who do you call in your stead?”
“Fallon!” I shouted out with the last of my strength.
Irrus began to laugh again. Hysterically. Full of maniacal glee.
“Fool!” He raged. “Fallon is my most trusted lieutenant. She--”
“Accepts,” Fallon said in a voice that commanded all the attention as she walked into the cage.
“What?” Irrus sputtered. “You traitorous bitch!”
Fallon kicked her fancy shoes off and dropped to a crouch, her tail twitched back and forth behind her like a lookout, as she beckoned Irrus with one finger.
He squeaked in fury and rushed her. Fallon leapt to meet him, and they crashed in midair and tumbled to the floor in a cloud of sand and dust.
All I could make out through my pain and exhaustion blurred vision was a ball of fur as it rolled in the dirt. I heard Irrus yelp in pain and then a moment later a squeal of terror.
The dust settled and Fallon held Irrus by the back of the neck out to her side at least two feet off the ground.
“Do you yield, Irrus?” Opposer Boss asked from the stands. He, as well as the rest of the mob bosses, was on his feet.
“Bitch!” he cried and attempted to whip Fallon in the face with his tail. I heard the ‘skint’ of her claws and then the sound of flesh tearing. Irrus’ entrails spilled onto the sand. She dropped the rat to die in his own viscera.
“Who's the bitch now?” she asked.
And then I passed out.
Chapter Eighteen
I woke with a start, my hands up to defend my face, ready to fight whatever it was that was coming to kill me now.
“Shh,” I heard a quiet, calm voice above me and saw Artemis.
“Oh, hey, dollface,” I said with relief. As I lay back down, I realized I was in the med bay at the Hall of Champions. Chairs had been pulled up around the bed, and they were filled with Aurora, who was asleep, Nova who cleaned a part of her plasma cannon, and Grizz who stood when he saw I was awake.