The Unstoppable Tony Winters

by P. S. Power

  The thing there was that it was a Baptist church and Reverend Keene didn’t have a problem with gay people. There was some stuff in the bible that could be used to say it was wrong, but he figured that God wouldn’t have made mistakes. That meant it was their part to love everyone, not pretend they knew the totality of the divine plan.

  Rev Keene had even married two women to each other. People still went to the church, so it probably wasn’t that big of a deal.

  “I don’t know. Probably not really. I mean, if two men want to get each other off, why would God care about that? I get the big ones. Murder, rape, even gluttony, since it’s unfair to people that don’t have food, if you eat it all. Two dudes though? Not that big of a deal. I have to think that God is less petty than I am, you know?”

  Jen patted his shoulder and walked toward the kitchen.

  “I need to start dinner. Chicken tonight, I think. Do you want to do the salad, Tony?”

  He hopped up, setting his book on the side table as he did it.

  “Sure! Let’s see what we have.” It was a lot of stuff, he knew, but they ate large salads at least twice a day there. The fridge was always full, too. Given their schedules, Anthony hadn’t gotten how that happened at first.

  They had stuff delivered. It was a rich person kind of thing to do. One that his prior life hadn’t really left him with an understanding of at all. He wouldn’t have gotten even that if he hadn’t had come home early on an off day once, to find a strange truck out front and a man inside, putting things away for them. Just the frozen and refrigerated things. He’d nearly brained the poor guy with a lamp before he’d figured out that the best thieves didn’t break in to bring you stuff.

  They had a nice salad that night, with some sunflower seeds, a lot of tomato and part of an avocado. They had several, but the one he used was going to get mushy soon, he thought. They lasted a long time if kept cool, but not forever.

  That night there was no long call from Lexi. It was nearly perverse of him, but Anthony had to admit that he missed the attention. Still, it left him with more time to actually go over the Hodder material. Even Rick and Raul had kind of been silent on that front, letting him come up with his own plan for the thing. Mainly because they couldn’t see any way for him to win, he knew.

  That wasn’t wrong, but he was starting to see little cracks in the other man’s defenses. Well, some of them were big gaping holes, but most of them were little things that could be exploited, if he was able to bring a nearly perfect fight to him. Tony couldn’t beat him on strength in time. Or speed. What he could do was used timing and technique to help get around those things. Part of the time.

  If he could fight the man on his feet, say in a boxing match, there was a chance that he could win, he knew. Unlike Ichihiro Saka however, Erlander had no problem going right to the ground first thing. In fact, it was part of his opening movements, most of the time. For him the standing game was mainly about setting up for a throw.

  Those were something else that Anthony had to work on firming up. Most fighters didn’t use a lot of different throws, of course. Mainly double leg takedowns, Sambo style body lifts which took a lot of strength and the occasional hip toss. There was a good reason for that too. The gloves they wore to protect their hands. They made a lot of throws that would work otherwise too hard to manage well.

  Some people even thought that the gloves made things more dangerous. The basic idea was that punching a man in the face was going to break your hand, if you didn’t do it perfectly. Unless you had something over your fist to protect yourself. Then you could hit people on the top of the head and just slam people almost randomly, hoping that something would work.

  You didn’t do that without protecting your small bones.

  In the MMA they tapped the wrists too, making punching easier. Not that boxers didn’t, but it changed the aspects of the game either way. Grapplers were at a disadvantage because of the gloves. People slipped, instead of having a good grip. There was no clothing to grab either. It made a big difference, influencing everything that was done.

  None of that helped him at the moment. He had an MMA match and that meant following the rules. They were going to have gloves on, no shoes and skin tight shorts. If Anthony wanted to do anything other than be shoved into a little ball, while being beaten, he needed to have something more than he did. That had to be in his skill set. He could learn fast. The rest of it took time. Effort as well. Then, everything worth doing did.

  The next few days went at about the same pace. Life went on, but it was mainly the same thing for him each day, making it hard to separate one from the next. The only real dividing spots that came up were that Adam and Sally took off, both making a point of saying goodbye to him first. That and going to church on Sunday morning.

  It was kind of boring, though he struggled the whole time. That wasn’t on accident either. As they moved through the training cycle, things got harder, to push him to greater heights. At the same time, he tried to get his class work done every day and do extra for it, so that he wouldn’t be wasting Janine’s time. His own as well. It wasn’t much fun, but he did feel like he was working the whole time.

  Jen’s fight was huge, which was a thing that had been hinted at, but Anthony had managed to kind of miss. It was also a very hard fight, when it took place. It was in Vegas, but this time he didn’t go, since he had training of his own to do, as well as schooling. If that made any difference on the ground that night, it didn’t show at all. His uncle’s girlfriend walked into the ring looking like she kind of hated the other woman and had her submitting in the first three minutes.

  Then she danced around, holding her hands up, which Tony didn’t love to see. That kind of thing was common, but also kind of tacky. Still, he was glad that she’d won. There had been a lot of training for her and the woman had flat out told him that if she lost, he needed to hide from her for several weeks. Not just him, either. Everyone.

  The whole world.

  So this was better. Interestingly, it meant that Jen was in the top ten for her weight class, on the women’s side. Over all. She was good, but for some reason it had never occurred to him that she was at that level of things. Most of the fighters around him really weren’t. Not yet. Some of them would be, he thought.

  They’d left him alone, since everyone trusted him not to throw a party or have women over while he was supposed to be training. That was just correct. Especially since he needed to get up early the next day, to get a run in before Church.

  Given everything, the weeks after that went well. Nothing much changed, except for him working on his new standing guard, against both Steve and Nick. That meant defending himself and countering from as much of a protected stance as he could manage. Nick also shot in, trying to throw him every fifteen seconds or so. It was helpful, but left bruises, since both men had to use their full power to test out what he was doing.

  On the ground… The truth was he wasn’t ready.

  It was strange really, since he was holding his own against the people they had there, in actual skills. Raul was bigger though and incredibly good on the ground. That meant he was able to use skill and full power at the same time. Which blew right through everything that Tony was doing. On the good side, the trainer was bigger and probably stronger than Hodder was.

  That might not be enough to make a difference in the end however. Not that Anthony was all that worried about it. It wasn’t that he feared being hurt, or even looking bad. That was going to happen, but that was any kind of fight or struggle in life. You couldn’t live in constant fear of pain. Or, well, you could and some people did, but that never ended well for anyone. So that wasn’t a big deal for Anthony. He’d have plenty of time for fear and nerves when he walked into the cage.

  It was just that there was a weight of people behind him. At least ten people had been working with him, not including Janine. She didn’t care for fighting at all and it had taken nearly two weeks to prove that he was actually intereste
d in other things as well before she started pushing him academically. Everyone else really wanted him to do well. Not because it made them look bad if he lost. As far as he could tell no one around him was thinking that at all. It was just that they wanted him to be happy. For him. Whatever that meant to his mind. Including just helping Erlander Hodder out, by putting him in front of the public eye.

  Tony had done it to start with, just figuring it was a good thing. When he’d learned why Hodder had been cut loose, it seemed a lot more important. The man had wanted a rematch with the champ and the champ was afraid that he’d lose, so didn’t want to risk it. Only Erlander was the number two, which meant that it was starting to become obvious that someone was avoiding the fight. The UFC made a political move instead of the commercial one and cut a good and fairly popular fighter loose. In order to keep a very popular one.

  Which bit, big time. Anthony didn’t love the idea of not winning, but Tony was willing to have his butt kicked pretty hard to throw that kind of thing back in their face. Which really meant that he just had to fight better than the champ would have. In a way that everyone knew was real. Oddly enough, he thought he could do that skill wise.

  The idea got him to shake his head for a bit, but he could see it, at least in practice. There was a big difference between what you did while relaxed and calm, compared to when you couldn’t breathe and someone was slamming a fist into your head. That went both ways, at least.

  Still, if he could pull that off, people would get the point. On the other hand, no one really thought he could do even that. He’d accidently caught some internet chatter on the idea. It was not pro him winning.

  Or, to be more accurate, a lot of people were pulling for him to. They just didn’t think he could manage it. Which was, unfortunately, about correct.

  What they were paying for, or would be, was for him to surprise someone. Which was his real plan.

  That was compelling enough for him to start trying to dedicate everything he could to the idea. He spent about ten minutes a day on Lexi and setting things up to help her learn and get in shape. Denny was doing about the same. To her credit, she wasn’t waiting around for hand holding any longer, making herself do what was needed. Understanding that they were going to be busy for the time being.

  Which meant that one Wednesday morning as Steve was walking in ahead of them after Lexi had managed to keep up on three miles of the morning run something hit him.

  “Lex… Do you know Steve?” He pointed ahead of them, which got the girl to tilt her head a little.

  “Not really. I’ve seen him around, why?”

  Anthony didn’t know what would happen, but still smiled at her.

  “He’s single. A fighter, but you get what that means. So does he. So if you aren’t seeing anyone…”

  She snorted, but looked toward the man that was going in, ahead of them.

  “I don’t know. I could talk to him and see if we get along?”

  Tony smiled at her.

  “It can’t hurt to see, right?”

  Then she went in for her own early training. If anything came of it… Well, that wasn’t his business. Rick was probably right on that anyway. Seeing them together was going to hurt. Even if he thought highly of both of them and wanted the best for them.

  That morning after the intense work period, which included weight lifting, he spent nearly two hours working against Raul. The man showed him no mercy and used tricks that Erlander Hodder had never shown in the cage. He might though, if Tony was really pushing him. In the end, he was tired. Also frustrated, since it was clear the other man was just a lot better than he was on the ground.

  Still, he patted him on the shoulder when they were done.

  “This, this is what you will face. Skill and power like that. You have a month and some days to learn. The thing here is that I think you might do so, Tony. I would not have credited the idea before. I still wouldn’t with anyone else. You are a prodigy in fighting. We will work this way twice a week, until you fight? I need to find a good sparring partner for you, as you have done for others. You will be needed to pretend to be Fox Rends again shortly, for our Ashley. This can be worked into your training schedule? I do not wish to detract.”

  Tony must have had a funny look on his face and seemed annoyed. That was because he was busy, watching someone come through the front door, which was visible from the mat he was standing on.

  “Tony? We can, perhaps find another for her to work with. None better, but…”

  He smiled and recalled that he was supposed to not be a jerk if he could help it.

  “I’m good. Sorry. Of course. I can do that in a day or two? I need to review Fox first. On the good side I can probably push Ashley a bit more now. I’m a little stronger than before. I can’t see Rends coming in being weaker than last time.”

  “Ah. I agree. That is the way of this…” He stopped, since there was a dark haired woman waving from the doorway.

  Puzzled, Raul waved back.

  “I do not know her. Is she with the press?”

  Tony shook his head and sighed.

  “Nope. This is Deidre Winters. My mother.”

  Chapter twelve

  Anthony didn’t let himself do anything except for smile, not at first. After a moment he waved, which got Deirdre to look troubled for a second and then furrow her brow. It wasn’t until he walked over to her that she lit up.

  “Anthony? I barely recognized you. You look… Good. Healthy.” Then she glanced around watching what everyone else was doing.

  “I didn’t really know that Rick was still involved in this stuff. I never really approved of it myself. Fighting is scary. People can get hurt.” She stared then, getting what a sweat covered him being there in a t-shirt and tight shorts had to mean. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

  Raul nodded then.

  “He goes after lunch. Rick hired a special tutor for him, while he is in training.” He said it as if the woman hadn’t just said she disapproved of fighting.

  Anthony nearly lied about it, then shrugged.

  “Yeah. I have my second pro fight coming up next month. After that I get to go to real school. I wouldn’t be doing it, but the other fighter needs something to keep his career going. It’s a bit of a mess. So, how is work going?” It was changing the topic and doing it suddenly and to a subject that would probably have her hemming and hawing.

  Except she didn’t.

  “Great! It’s hard, but not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Long hours. Good tips. I tend bar and was careful not to spend much, so I have some savings. I have a two-year contract, but after that I can probably afford to buy a small house somewhere. Something stable.” She glanced around, but didn’t seem to be plotting his instant removal from the place they were in.

  He nodded.

  “Oh. Hey. I should probably get you to Rick and Jen. They can entertain you while I go and shower. I get to eat before class.” A part of him wanted to pretend he was being normal and living like everyone else, but that wasn’t happening.

  He was kind of stuck.

  Still, she hugged him and then made a nose about it.

  “Eeeeww. All cold and damp!” It was teasing and she grinned at him.

  Then, no one had ever said Deirdre wasn’t charming. Just a bit… Really there was no polite way to say what he knew to be the truth. She just wasn’t a good mother. Hopefully she was getting things around in her life, but Anthony wasn’t counting on it.

  After all, she’d made the mistake of letting him see the real her for fifteen years. The constant partying, neglect… The drug use and all the men that she’d been with constantly over the years. Yes, he honestly believed that she had every right to live her life however she wanted. That didn’t mean that the one that she’d picked was healthy or could lead to her being a good mother.

  What he did buy, a tiny bit, was that she might actually be trying to be a good mother now.

  On the way up the stairs he kept talking,
trying to be cheerful.

  “How long are you in town?”

  “About three weeks. I’m moving over to the Sea Princess, which is supposed to be a nicer ship. The last one wasn’t too bad. The crew quarters are tiny. I lucked out though, not having a window. I worked about fourteen hours a day, so slept from three in the morning to eleven. It messed with my schedule a bit, but bar tenders make the big money, so it was worth it.”

  She seemed content with that so Tony smiled.

  “Neat. Just so you know, I’m doing the fight that’s coming up. I’ve been in training for months for it, so saying no right now would not go over well with me.” His voice was calm and even, instead of slightly angry like he’d meant it to be.

  There was a noise that sounded a bit disgusted from behind him, but when he turned his mother was smiling.

  “Okay. I don’t love it, but… You have to do you. I trust you to do the right thing, Anthony.”

  They were quiet as they moved toward Rick’s office, which was empty. Without waiting he moved toward the kitchen and dining room on the other side.

  That was where Jen was at any rate. Making lunch for everyone.

  “Hi, Jen.”

  There must have been something in his voice, since she looked over and seemed concerned to see that there was another person with him. Her hair was pulled back into a short ponytail and she had on both a tight exercise outfit and sweats over it. Her shirt was open at the front however, showing that she was dressed mainly in blue and white.

  “Tony. Um…” Her face showed what she meant, looking at the woman behind him.

  “This is my mother. Deirdre. Mom, this is Jen Bard. Rick’s girlfriend and partner. She’s nice.” It was meant as a warning, but there was no way his mother would get that part. In fact, she sized the other woman up like they were in competition for the same guy. It was ridiculous, since it wasn’t a thing in any world.

  That got him to shake his head.

  “I was going to dump her on you and Rick while I catch a shower?”