The Heart of Tony Winters

by P. S. Power

  Anything seemed worth it to get a win.

  Tony didn’t want to be like that, even if he envied the first part. The heart. She was the kind of person that wouldn’t back down due to threats, no matter how scared she got. The trouble there was that Teevan might just be smart enough to work that out.

  “So, um… Don Teevan… Is he the kind of person to try and do that? Threaten people into silence? If so, how far is he willing to go in order to shut people up about him?”

  Adam glanced at Rick. Both men had been in the fight world for a while. A fairly long one, really. Since they’d been in their early twenties.

  It was Rick that tackled the question.

  “People have… Vanished. A few times. No one knows that it was him, but it’s the rumor. Why, do you think he’ll come for you over the Hodder thing?”

  Anthony knew that wasn’t going to happen.

  “No, but I think that Fox needs to hide well if that’s the case. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal, but if one thing is uncovered…”

  Adam nodded.

  “If one card falls, the whole house might just come down.”

  Chapter thirteen

  Things went pretty well over the next few weeks. Tony even managed to get to a mall and do some shopping for people. The Steve situation was kind of melting down, which left him feeling a bit raw, but it wasn’t a thing he had control over. The guy managed to come back in to train at least, which was important, since he had a new fight lined up. The kid situation was messing with his training. From Rick they learned that the guy was living with Gloria, acting as child care for about eight hours a day, while the woman went out with her friends.

  Because she needed to relax and have some me time. Which was probably true, but if the girl didn’t want to do the mothering part of things, she might have figured that out before dumping a kid on the world. So, while still involved in boxing, Steve Lopez was on a fast track to lose his next fight.

  Tony got him a scarf. It sounded like a lame thing to do, but people needed warm necks in the winter, regardless of career.

  On the ninth a lot of them had to go to Nevada, since there was a real hearing coming up the next morning. One that, apparently, could end up being a real court case. With people going away for a long time. Possibly the rest of their lives in a couple of cases. Oddly enough, not Fox Rends. She was done as far as fighting went, most likely, but there probably wouldn’t be more than that as punishment.

  The trip in was a long one. Made more boring due to the fact that there was no exciting fight coming up when they got there. Tony rode next to Ashley, who seemed a bit annoyed, having to go and do stupid things like they were at all. He truly got that, since his part was kind of second or third fiddle. Ash was in a similar boat.

  Really, her situation was worse than his, which she pointed out when they were nearly there.

  “I mean… Look at it. What am I going to say? Fox was strong. I won by the hair of my teeth. That… It isn’t going to help prove that anyone else did anything. At least you have all those Ralph Simpson attacks. Even that… It doesn’t show that Teevan did anything, does it? Why are we even going?”

  That was a thing that he’d considered several times himself.

  “I know what you mean. It’s probably coloring in the background or something. We’re needed to give one or two tiny pieces of information so they call us in there because it makes sense to the people involved to order us around instead of doing this by video?”

  It wasn’t a great reason to do things, but Tony’s understanding from the web was that it was common really. Fighters were often called in from thousands of miles away to show up for ten minutes of talking in front of a panel. Sometimes on things that had nothing to do with them at all.

  Blowing out a big gust of air, she forced a smile.

  “On the great side, this is almost done. No one wants to book a fight with me right now, because this is up in the air. Your thing too, I bet. I heard that Hodder-Morse is being stopped until this is put to bed as well. Hopefully we’ll be finished. No one is benefiting from this now. Fox admitted she used steroids. It isn’t hard to work out what to do.”

  “Except that it is. It’s the other stuff that’s the problem, right? Teevan, bribes to the drug testing people, all that. It would be good to be done. I need to focus on the grappling team right now. That and getting ready for school.” Tony actually felt kind of excited by that idea.

  Sandy was sweet and from the last two medical tests, honestly doing better. Considering no one had thought that was even possible, the word miracle had been bandied about a few times. That didn’t mean Tony didn’t want to meet a girl or two in the local area. Long distance things didn’t really work, after all. Plus, there was the thing where they weren’t really dating. He didn’t know for certain, but from some things she’d said it seemed like his little friend was managing to get on all right as far as other guys went. Which was totally fair, but left him a little jealous. Not because he needed her attention, just that she was doing a lot better than he was that way.

  The talk about school got Ashley to lean into him. Her light brown colored hair was loose, so brushed against his shoulder as she did it.

  “Yeah. Just think, this time in two months you’ll be doing homework and lamenting the old days, when all you had to do at seven in the morning was run too far with your pals.” There was a glint in her eyes, but no real smile.

  Probably because it was just so early.

  “Yep. I can’t wait. I just hope I can get good enough grades… That might not be possible. Med-school requires top things that way, but most of my high school career has been all over the place. I barely have grades. I always did all right when I was in school, but doing things three or four weeks at a time, then changing to someplace else, missing weeks or months between them… I might not be able to get in anyplace.” It was a thing that he’d been considering for a while now.

  That his dreams might be beyond reach, thanks to where he came from.

  Ashley stretched, trying to wake up, since they were at the outskirts of Las Vegas. It was early, but it would take time to get to the right place. They had to be in the room at nine however. That part had been pointed out as important, so that meant being early. Otherwise they could be found in contempt, just like in a real court room.

  Thinking of that, Tony looked out the window. It might be that the best he could do in life was just fighting and helping other people do that as well. Training them. He had what he needed to be allowed to do that anyway. Medicine was his plan. That didn’t mean he could make it happen.

  In the seat next to him, there was an odd head bobbing that got him to regard Ash again. Her face looked a bit funny.

  “If you don’t have the grades from high school… Well, then go to Community College for two years and pull a four-point-oh GPA. Most places will count that as about the same, as long as you graduate high school or have a GED. So having been a wanderer half your life won’t stop you. Not if you really want to do it. Then you transfer to a four-year school to prep for the medical training. It kind of depends on how serious you are, I guess.”

  Tony stared, having never heard that there was another way to get things done. There may even be more than one, now that he knew to look at the idea.

  “Cool. Serious though? What do you mean?”

  “Are you really planning to be a doctor, or is that… You know, like kids saying they want to be a fireman or a super hero? If you actually want it, well, I bet you can make it happen. Not everyone could, but you? You may have missed this, but you’re freaking Tony Winters. If you said you were going to go to the Moon, I’d just buy advertising space on the side of your landing capsule. You’re kind of good at doing things. You may have noticed that?”

  Tony smiled, thinking before speaking. The answer was the same as it always was.

  “I want to help people. I know, lame, right? It’s kind of my thing in life. Not that being a super hero wouldn’t be
neat, but that kind of thing can’t work in the real world. For one thing, the budget for tights and masks would be… Like really prohibitive.” It was a bit of deflection, since claiming that he, Anthony Winters, was going to be anything more than a petty criminal seemed like a lie still.

  Not all the time, but enough that part of him wasn’t sure he could manage anything else. Even being a fighter would be of more use than that. Then he could at least entertain people.

  There was a chuckle then.

  “Aren’t you one of those already? I seem to remember you saving me once. I was talking to Sally a few weeks ago. She kind of said the same thing. She was fast tracking to a life of drugs and probably being a prostitute, when you picked her up and got her head on straight for her. That’s not a little thing really. Kind of super.”

  Tony wanted to blush, but didn’t bother, instead he shrugged. Maybe that had been helpful. Really, they would have likely been fine without him.

  “We’re what, about fifteen minutes away and it’s… Seven-forty?” He had a watch, but hadn’t looked at it for a while. It was later than he’d thought. Rick, sitting a few seats ahead, turned around to glance at him, having heard it all, at a guess.

  “We should be in just after eight. We’re meeting the lawyer there. None of us should need one, not being on trial, but Mr. Bauer pointed out that having one and not needing them is better than needing them and not having anyone to call on. It shouldn’t be that hard for any of us. Basically just answering some questions to confirm that what you said before is what you meant and not being misreported. That kind of thing.”

  Which went back to the idea that they weren’t really needed there.

  Tony could have stewed on that, but didn’t. Life was way too short to be bothered about things you were going to do anyway. So he reviewed everything he knew about grappling until they got into the parking lot of the commission building. The structure itself was short, being two stories at most. There was a lot of cement and brown paint, giving it a utilitarian air, instead of being all marble and wood inside.

  Not that they were in yet, of course. It would seem wrong if it was like that though, Tony thought. Standing, knowing that they didn’t have to rush, he smoothed the suit pants he had on, then moved down the aisle to find his black jacket. He even had a blue tie on. In all he probably looked like a little kid playing dress up, but Jen had said that he looked cute.

  “Because cute will impress the panel.” He grumbled the words under his breath, smiling as he did it. No one heard it happening, which was fine. Being a jerk wasn’t going to fix anything. On the good side, in a few hours his part would probably be done.

  Rick and Jen both looked nice as well. Raul was all in brown, which was fashionable, if not fancy seeming. He wasn’t testifying or anything, but was required to come along in case he was needed to back up what anyone was saying. Denny, Nick and Doc Hampshire were in the same boat. The Doctor due to the fact that she’d been the one to demand a blood sample from Fox. She might actually have to go up in front of people, due to that part of things.

  As they got off the bus, the older lady, who was a bit blocky, tapped his arm.

  “So, did I hear that you plan on a medical degree?”

  He nodded, trying to sound positive about it.

  “That’s the goal. I have a lot of school first…”

  She nodded.

  “It’s worth it. If you want to help people… Honestly, if you aren’t just making a cash grab, there’s a lot you can do in medicine that will really help the world. We should get together and go over some things? I have some contacts that you could use, if you want. See what kind of thing you might want to do long term? It sounds minor, but trust me, if you know what you’re interested in to start with it can save years as far as education goes.”

  As they stepped off the bus there was a squealing of car tires in the distance. Tony glanced over, but didn’t really think anything of it. Not at first. There was a woman walking across the street, about fifty meters away from where they were parked.

  “Neat. I’d love that actually. I know that it might just be a dream, but it’s kind of what I want to do. Especially helping other people… Um… Is that Fox Rends?” He pointed, since the woman was in a tan skirt, but had a face that was a bit too lean still. Probably from undereating due to stress.

  Then, as Ashley nodded, standing to his left, Tony ran.

  “Fox! Get out of the street!” At first he wasn’t really certain what he was doing, but a large blue pickup truck was bearing down on the fighter, who looked at him, then the truck as Anthony sprinted toward her.

  She stumbled back, but the vehicle corrected, clearly planning to strike her. At about sixty miles per hour. Pushing harder than he’d ever done before, Tony moved. Everything burning as he did it. Just before Rends was about to be hit, he managed to pull her out of the way. Leaping toward her to get it done.

  The grill of the blue truck, which was loud, large and powerful, bashed into his left leg with a sickening crunch as they got out of the way. Rolling on the other side of it, as brakes squealed. What happened next, was hard to tell, since it came back, missing them, as a large man jumped out of the driver’s seat. Holding a handgun. It was all black and at least medium in size.

  Tony just looked up, his leg burning from where it had been hit.

  Fox gasped.

  “What the hell?”

  This time she got it first, as Ralph came toward them, weapon out.

  “I don’t want to do this. I have to. Teevan has too much on me… God help me.” Then the man fired, missing both of them.

  At least on the first shot. Tony got to his feet in near crippling pain, then rushed in, not having a clue what the heck that was going to do, other than get him killed. The next bullet tore into his left arm, turning him sideways. The third grazed his left side, just below the ribs, he thought. It hurt, but after that the world just went dark.

  Except that it really didn’t.

  Blinking, looking around, Tony found himself standing in a park.

  It was the one from the Fourth of July, which made sense to him, given that was one of his happiest memories. Thanksgiving hadn’t been horrible, but Addy and her mom had kind of ruined things a bit. The Fourth had all been burgers and fireworks. Now the place was empty though, except a good looking kid who was wearing gray Winters Gym sweats.

  “So… I died and instead of hot angels I get to meet me… ready to go for a run? That sounds like my luck. Not that it’s your fault. So, who are you? Jesus wearing my face to make me more comfortable?” It seemed likely, but the other Tony just rolled his eyes and smiled at Anthony.

  “Nothing like that. We aren’t dead. Not Jesus either. I get the idea. We were shot, then ended up here. If you look around, you’ll remember it. All those fights? When we blacked out? We came here. I’m Tony. You know, the one you keep making fun of as the perfect boy? As if you and I aren’t the same person. That’s ridiculous by the way. It isn’t like we have multiple personalities or anything.”

  The kid, who was lean and really did look older than fifteen, seemed pleasant enough. Kind and friendly, instead of all phony like Anthony had figured he would.

  “Oh? Good, I guess. So… What’s going on? I mean, out there?”

  That got the other part of him to shrug. It was a relaxed thing, accompanied by him turning around and staring hard at something.

  “Right now… Well, Ralph Simpson isn’t doing too well. We got the gun and broke his hand taking it away. And… Now we’re beating him with it. My guess is that we’ll pass out in a few seconds. Time runs differently here though, so we can chat for a bit. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about some things, you know?”

  How they could be thinking about anything other than fighting for their life, Anthony didn’t get. Then, it was kind of clear that he, part of Anthony, was out there doing that right then. Not Tony, who was basically a good kid. Not even all of him.

  The mean part of who he wa
s had to handle things at the moment. The part that had survived on the streets. That did what was needed to stay alive. That piece of his mind. It was never all that far away from him.

  “Yeah? Sorry about making fun of you for being the perfect boy. I was… Probably jealous, to be honest. It’s a hard thing to live up to, you know that?”

  Tony shook his head.

  “Not really. All I ever do is what you know to be right. Even both of us being here is kind of a fiction. We’re the same person. We will be after this, I think. For the last three months you’ve been more Tony than not. I just wanted to go over why that isn’t a bad thing.”

  Anthony looked down at his suit, which was showing some wear he noticed. There were blood spots on the arm and left side already. His left leg was bulging funny under the trousers as well. It didn’t hurt, but he did sit on the grass. It was nice and green. Short, but there was a river with trees all around it for decoration.

  “I didn’t think it was bad…”

  “Yeah, just not real. That’s the point. Think about it… You might have been playing make believe, but you’ve helped a lot of people already. Tony has.”

  “Really? Like who? I mean, I guess I mopped a few floors and passed out some really sweet towels. Other than that?”

  The gray outfitted Tony smiled then.

  “Who? Almost everyone around you. Constantly. Think about it for a minute. If you hadn’t been there to get Daren to attack you, he would have killed Ashley. You know that on some level. I mean I know it, so you do.” Before Anthony could say anything, Tony held up a finger. “Rick is doing great, business wise right now. In a down economy. Part of that is his fifteen-year-old nephew taking pro-fights. Winning, too. Even Lander thought that you were robbed on that fight. Not that we don’t need to let him have the win. I mean, Dr. Winters doesn’t need it, does he?”