The Heart of Tony Winters

by P. S. Power

  That mythical future person probably didn’t. Anthony could see that one easily enough.

  Tony nodded.

  “So what did you do for that? Said that it was a good win and taunted the UFC into setting up the Morse fight? They were afraid of losing money on it, but you turned it into a celebrity event. Well, we did, but you get the idea. Erlander Hodder is going to win as well, becoming the champion in our weight division. Because you pretended to be a good person hard enough to make it real.”

  Tony waved for Anthony to follow and started walking.

  “We don’t have long. Notice how the edges of the world here are going dim? On the great side, it looks like Rick has our back. Jen too. Ashley is dragging Fox away. That will make her look pretty good in the press. Jen… Did you get that she won her last two fights because you were showing her such a good example? She never mentioned it, but when she felt weak and wanted to splurge on cake or drop runs, you were there doing so much that she was guilted into it. How she doesn’t hate us I don’t know. On the good side, we also didn’t nail her mother. That… We probably could have.”

  Anthony grinned then, agreeing with himself.

  “Probably. Maybe her sister as well. They just weren’t worth losing her good will toward me.”

  Tony seemed to think the same, moving closer to him as the world shrank around them. Going dim at the edges, blurry. The river was gone. Half the nice grass as well.

  “The point is that everyone around us is like that. Riley would have given up and canceled his next fight, but you were there with a plan. You even went to get him from the jail. Rick doing that was a big deal, but everyone knows that you don’t love the police that much. There you were, ready to break him out if you had to. That got Mark to actually apply himself. Now, he kind of hates you. Well, me, specifically.”

  Anthony could see that. It was hard to put up with someone being good all the time if you weren’t.

  Tony stepped in again, bumping Anthony’s shoulder.

  “Sure. Even if he kind of dislikes us, he’s still better off being around us. He flips me off on the runs when I can’t see, but he also knows that part of why he keeps winning is the pain that I put him through.”

  The world shrank more, as Tony moved so that he was almost totally inside Anthony. They were the same person after all. Then, in that moment, the other part of him was just a voice. His own.

  “The trick now is Steve. Gloria… She’s not good for him. He’ll be there for his kid. That’s important, but someone is going to have to keep him on track, as a fighter. Doing commentary as well. No one else can really get that done. Only Tony. The best boy ever. Also, cut that part out, will you? This whole, Tony versus Anthony thing? It’s kind of creepy. That’s my main point here. I mean… Really.”

  The world folded in then. Instead of going to black, like Tony expected to happen, the world exploded into color. Blinking, he dropped the gun that had been taken off of Ralph Simpson. The large man was moaning as Rick and Raul held him down in a painful, but very hard to escape fashion. Ashley had Fox Rends across the street, hiding behind a car in case another attack came. There wouldn’t be one, since even Don Teevan probably didn’t have anyone else he could blackmail into committing public murder like that.

  Still, people were getting it all on cell phone cameras, so it wasn’t a horrible idea for her to seem to be protecting the would be victim.

  Doc Hampshire was applying direct pressure to his side, a piece of cloth around his arm, above the wound. Cutting off the blood flow. The bullet wounds stung, but his left leg ached. He couldn’t see it, but tried to speak, thinking things through.

  “The bone in the leg didn’t break the skin, or you’d tourniquet that as well, right?”

  Instead of telling him to shut up and let her work, the woman nodded, her face tight. Her voice was nice and calm.

  “Exactly, Tony. It’s a last resort however. I can’t get direct pressure on both. You’re losing blood, but not so fast that we can’t save you. That was…” She glanced at the other man, who was hit a few times to keep him in place. “Rather more heroic than I would have considered possible.”

  She didn’t really seem all that enthused about it, but at least she didn’t call him names over being an idiot either. Ten ways of improving what he’d done occurred to him. The first one was simply not taking so long to start running.

  As Rick started to hit Ralph Simpson in the head again, Tony managed to call out.

  “Stop that. He… I think he’s being blackmailed. He said something… I can’t remember. Fox will know. We need him to testify.” It made sense to Tony.

  After all, hurting the man did nothing. Not being held in place like he was. The cops got there about that time. Instead of freaking out, Tony simply took a breath and relaxed. After all, he wasn’t the one in trouble that day. No, this time there was no set up, so the cops wouldn’t try to go for him first thing.

  They did try to get Doc Hampshire to back away, as if they were going to give better medical treatment. That didn’t work, since she simply growled at them.

  “I’m his doctor. If you want to help, get me an ambulance. Now.”

  The cops were too far away for Tony to hear, but that was all right. Even if he died that day, he’d been more or less right. In the park. The dream or daydream, in his head. Whatever it actually was. That was going to fade away, but for the moment he recalled it all. What he’d thought about in that inner place. How being himself, Tony Winters, had actually worked to make the world a better place.

  Not that living wasn’t the plan. After all, he’d nearly died and didn’t get a trip to see Jesus to hold his hand and tell him he was important or anything spiritual like that. No, it had been him talking to himself while his body fought to save some lives without him. Even that was a trick though. He didn’t remember doing it, but it was still just part of him. Not magical or a sign that you got more than the world they lived in at the moment.

  That being the case, Tony planned to do his bit and not go down too easily. There would be no giving up, either. Even if things were about to be hard for a while.

  His leg was going to be busted up for a long time. Bone just took time to heal up, so there was no getting around that part. He didn’t think his left arm was broken however. There might be nerve damage or lost muscle there, since he’d taken a pretty solid hit from a bullet. The scarring could impair mobility. That didn’t take a genius to figure out. Stretching and rehabilitation would get him back most of the usage, if all went well. Fighting probably wasn’t in the works as a career, but given the fact that Tony would have given up his life to save another person, no matter who they were, losing that, a thing he’d pretty much abandoned anyway, wasn’t too big of a deal.

  After all, doctors rarely needed to punch people in the head. To the level that they did, well, he could earn that ability back, he bet. It took a long time to get Tony onto the funny bed in the ambulance. He was awake for it all, however. Doc Hampshire rode along with him, even though normally that should have been a friend or relative doing that part. Not that they weren’t friends, but she wasn’t close to him in particular, compared to the others around at the moment. Everyone else came to the back of the ambulance first, letting him speak.

  Like they were worried that he was going to die on them.

  “Hey, um, I need to get to the hospital. Everyone should stay here. Testify and make sure this problem with Teevan gets solved. Maybe Rick could come? There will be forms to fill out, I bet.” There always were.

  Jen shook her head. Denying that only his uncle would be going.

  “Patrick, can you get us there?”

  The bus driver just nodded, his face serious.

  “I know where it is. We can beat the ambulance there, I bet. Hang in there, kid. The people here will handle things for us. That guy is going down after this.” He looked around, as if seeking confirmation of his statement. After all, they hadn’t been exactly taking the driver int
o the building in the first place, since that would be boring for him.

  Interestingly, it was Fox Rends, her skirt torn, with patches of blood on her from hitting the ground and being gorily splashed by him, who spoke. It took a second to get it, but what that meant was, he thought, that she’d been trying to keep the blood in his body at some point in the whole mess. A few other people were showing signs of that as well.

  “I won’t let them get away with this. I swear. Even if I have to go to prison myself. This… Other people are getting hurt. Just so I could be important enough. I’m so sorry. Thank you for saving me. You shouldn’t have had to. I’ll make this right. Somehow.” There were tears in her eyes, but also something else.

  A fierceness that was exactly what Tony had expected of her. Ashley did the same, breathing deeply as Raul came over to her.

  “We have this part here. Just… No dying, all right? We kind of need you.”

  He nearly told her that he couldn’t promise that. She knew that, however. All the blood kind of gave that part away. Plus, he was pretty certain that he wasn’t going to die that day. The wounds weren’t fun, but no major arteries had been punctured. No organs either. Other than his skin. That was an organ, but other than some scars it would be fine.

  Enough for him to go on. Helping people and being what he was supposed to be. A decent person that did what he could to make the world work.

  “Not a problem. I’ll be fine, I’m pretty sure. We should go. I need some A-positive, I think.” That was his blood type after all.

  The Doc nodded to him, to let him know that he’d gotten it right. The female EMT started an I.V. drip going. She had latex gloves on, since he was still rather messily leaking all over the place. Not that he had diseases, but there was no way for her to be certain of that, so it was better to be safe all the time.

  Slowly, they drove away, after the doors closed.

  It wasn’t a fast trip, but that was all right. Sooner or later they were going to be at the hospital. Then, well, there would be some surgery, most likely. Sewing up if nothing else. Maybe trying to put the ends of the muscle fibers back together in places, if possible. It was interesting, so he paid attention. After all, he was planning on a medical profession. It just made sense to start working on it as soon as possible.

  Also figuring out how he was supposed to help the grappling team get ready now. It would take some extra help, but might be a thing he could still pull off. They were almost ready anyway, he thought. Now, well, they just needed a bit of help in not giving up. That was all. Tony thought that he could be of aid in that, being decent at that kind of thing now.

  Lexi needed a second fight. A new trainer as well. At least if she were going to start dating Denny. Not that Tony was suggesting that. The thing with Steve had fallen through kind of hard, after all. That had been his idea as well. He considered things for a bit, then let it go. Matchmaking wasn’t his bag, apparently.

  That was all right.

  The world didn’t need a Tony Winters for that kind of thing anyway.

  Just the rest of it.

  Chapter fourteen- June

  Tony stretched his arms as he got off the plane, carrying a small brown backpack with him. It was the one that Jen had lent him, since she was cool that way. His left leg ached from sitting for so long, but the cast had been taken off three months before. It had healed well, thankfully. Straight, without needing surgery or pins to make it happen. The muscle in his left arm was the only real problem area. Doc Hampshire was nearly certain that he’d permanently lost about ten percent of its use.

  It wasn’t a big problem most of the time, but in the gym it really showed. There were exercises that were almost impossible for him to do anymore on that side. No one had been optimistic about him continuing as a fighter due to that.

  He didn’t care at all.

  No one at school really had either. There he was just Tony, the hard working student who had the interesting cast to sign, even if no one knew him, at least at first. It had been hard to get back to the running after that. The muscles were atrophied, sure, but when the cast had come off it was the fear of his leg suddenly snapping under him that had really done it. A psychological thing that had worried him each day for nearly two weeks as he went for long walks and then slow runs. Eventually he’d gotten past it.

  Still, after months of work he was doing all right that way. The discomfort was from the pressure changes, nothing else. Walking down the tan and white interior ramp, into the airport, he noticed Sally first thing. She was dressed in loud colors, had a nearly see-through top on and screamed at him, so it wasn’t hard to do. The woman was great about making certain she got her attention after all.

  “Tony! Over here!” She was pleased enough to have him there it seemed.

  The idea was for him to go and help her train for her next fight. A few other people as well, if he could swing it. Thankfully he thought he was actually up to doing that. If he were careful at least. Weak on one side didn’t mean he was truly crippled, after all.

  Adam was standing there, holding hands with a familiar brunette woman. It took him a bit to get who the tanned lady was, given her hair was shorter than he’d seen it before. Her face looked different after all. There was a genuine smile on it. That threw him off for whole seconds.

  His mother, Deidre.

  “Hey! Um, surprise? Adam got me a plane ticket. I have a few weeks between cruises? Is that all right? I couldn’t come, after that… You know.”

  He did, since half the people in the world talked about the shooting that way. As if the mere mention of it would bring it back for him. It didn’t. In fact, he tended to think of it a bit differently, to be honest. It was when he’d become Tony for real. The person he wanted to be.

  “Hey!” He hugged her, then pounded Adam on the back as he shook hands with him. They weren’t that close after all. Not that they weren’t both trying to fix that. It would just take time and a bit of effort. They had that now.

  Sally grabbed his bag and took his left arm with enough energy that it looked like a common thing for her to do. That got Deidre to look at her strangely. Possibly because the grown woman was obviously coming on to her son like she was. It was a bit late for her to care about things like that, but it was interesting to see that she was willing to try. Finally.

  “Did you hear about the thing with Fox Rends?”

  “Nope? Not if it’s new. I’ve been traveling.” Which they all would get, but in conversation you said the stupid thing out loud from time to time to keep things flowing.

  Sally squeezed his arm closer to her as they walked toward baggage claim. He had some things to get, since he was staying for a few months. Rick and Jen were also mailing him some books, so that he could study while at the isolated farm that the training camp was at.

  “Breaking news. She got a full time spot on ‘The Crew’. That women’s morning show? It’s kind of a big deal. I mean, I didn’t figure she’d be allowed a job at Denny’s, much less that. It’s all about that Teevan thing. How she was in the press every day for months, making sure he paid for trying to kill her. So, her, your buddy Steve Lopez… Soon we’ll know all the famous people, if we play our cards right.”

  Tony smiled then. It was half fake, but no one got that.

  Steve had needed real help to keep his boxing career going. Gloria had insisted on getting married, so that in ten years when she divorced him she could collect half of his things as she moved to her new boyfriend’s house and refused to let Lopez have visitation rights to his daughter.

  The guy actually understood that on some level, but his own cruddy childhood meant that he wasn’t abandoning his kid. Tony had actually argued with the woman more than once, on the phone and in person, to make sure that she didn’t short circuit Steve’s career. The man had two major fights since then, winning both. Tony had to win a major battle with his wife each time first, to make sure he had a chance to do it.

  Honestly, if he hadn’t take
n those bullets, Gloria probably wouldn’t have let him win. It was a hard situation. The fact was though, that a winning Steve Lopez who worked hard was her best bet to a good life at that moment. She’d popped out her meal ticket, Abagail, so now all she had to do was sit back and not get in the freaking way too much. He’d told her that, which meant that they weren’t really going to be friends now. Even if Tony was pretty certain that had been part of why she’d started to behave a bit better.

  Past just that, Steve already had a full time gig on a sports show. So in a limited way, Sally was right. The man was famous. Not totally happy in his life, but at least he had a few good things still. More, he seemed to really love his daughter, which was a good thing to have come from the whole thing.

  Lexi had rebounded hard after breaking up with him, dating Mark of all people. They seemed happy, as odd as the idea felt to him. Still, life went on, so worrying about it wouldn’t help.

  Adam was dressed nicely, for style points. Tony was in a t-shirt and jeans. Travel clothes, in case he got snowed in someplace. It hadn’t been that long of a trip, thankfully. Being summer the airports had been remarkably ice free, naturally.

  His bio-dad gave him a pleasant look then.

  “I hear that Rick and Jennifer are thinking about getting married? That was let slip in the last call with him. That’s… Great, actually. She’s really good for him, I think. They seem happy.”

  They did. Tony had seen that for himself.

  “I think Jen wants kids. Now that they’ve had a test run with me and seen how easy it really is they’re willing to risk it. That will pretty much end her fighting career, which is what’s been stopping her. She’s young enough still, so…” It wasn’t his decision, but if anyone could handle the whole family life thing like that, his vote would go to them. She didn’t need to be a fighter after all. It was her job, not her existence.

  Deidre nodded excitedly.

  “That’s great. She’s a good person. Really sweet.” She was walking hand in hand with Adam. Tony didn’t ask about it. After all, once upon a time they’d been close. Things had ended, abruptly, but largely because of him being in the works. It wasn’t about them even hating each other.