Dan
The fight between the Talon and Hellhound agent wasn’t anything special or memorable. Dan had his arms crossed and incessantly tapped his finger on his arm waiting for the match to end. His mind was squarely focused on how he was going to demolish Rachel and her teammates.
Determining next match up…
Dan looked up and watched the scrambling of various names in the holographic text. He felt something tap him on the shoulder.
“Are you alright Dan?” Angie asked.
Dan glanced at the strawberry blond and saw her intense and concerned gaze. “I don’t know how you would define alright, but I guess I’m just eager to crush somebody.”
5th match up: Clark Dagger (PS) vs Callum Ceres (AC).
Combatants, please enter the arena.
Dan glanced to his right and saw one agent from Miles’ team hop onto the raised arena and walk toward the middle of the platform. At the opposite end, the fully armored figure of Rachel’s second teammate climbed onto the arena and walked in robotic fashion toward his opponent.
Clark was the third member of Rachel’s team of Prime Swords and one who Dan knew the least. Dan had never faced off against him before up close and only had the brief footage of his performance from the deathmatch round to go off of. This was Dan’s opportunity to see one of his adversaries in action.
“Pay attention to this one Angie,” Dan said coldly. “Clark is another one you or I will have to fight later.”
Angie blinked. “Will?”
“I don’t have much faith in Miles’ teammate over here, if Rachel and Adriana are anything to go by.”
Fight!
Callum took the offensive and charged at the Prime Sword. Clark maintained his position and didn’t bother taking up a combat stance while Callum winded his arm back for a punch. Dan admitted that Callum was quick on his feet, as he quickly crossed the distance between him and the Prime Sword.
It was unfortunate that the fight went downhill for Callum the moment he tried to throw the first punch. Clark sidestepped the Alpha agent’s fist and shoved his knee into his opponent’s groin. Callum staggered and the Prime Sword dashed with blinding speed behind the Alpha agent and wrapped his arm around his neck.
Dan’s eye widened as he watched the speed of how the tide had turned against Callum. He glanced to the side to see the reactions of James and Zara, Miles’ two remaining teammates. James stared with intensity and while Zara shut her eyes and turned her head away.
All of them knew the fight was over.
“Holy hell, that fast?” Angie said.
Clark dropped to his knees and carried Callum down with him. He tightened his hold around his opponent’s neck and Dan cringed at hearing the gasping breaths from Callum and his legs smashing wildly against the floor.
Callum raised a hand, only to tap Clark’s forearm repeatedly. Clark continued putting the pressure on the agent until Callum’s body stopped moving.
Combatant has willingly forfeited the match.
Winner: Clark Dagger!
Dan shook his head. “That poor guy never stood a chance.”
The Prime Sword released his arm around Callum’s neck and stood back up. Then, Clark dragged the limp body of the Alpha agent across the floor with one hand around his neck, walking menacingly towards James and Zara. Both of Miles’ teammates stared at the Prime Sword with open hatred and disgust. Dan could see Zara’s clenched teeth even from this distance.
Clark stood at the edge and looked down on the two. He hoisted the limp body of Callum and tossed the agent down at Zara’s feet.
“Why am I not surprised,” Dan muttered.
“Seriously? Was that really fucking necessary?” Angie said.
Dan watched as Clark turned and walked away toward the opposite end of the raised platform. James raised a clenched fist and tried to climb up the arena, but Zara held him back. Dan couldn’t blame the big man’s reaction, not after what Adriana had done to Li.
“They’ll get what’s coming to them soon enough,” Dan whispered. “I fucking swear it.”
Determining next match up…
Dan kept his eyes on Clark as he hopped off the other end of the arena and slowly made his way back to his team. Curiously, one of the Prime Swords was missing. Whether it was Rachel or Adriana, he couldn’t tell from this distance.
From what he had seen from all three Prime Swords, Dan considered not only the use of his berserk ability to make up for his stat debuff, but also his glare. He wondered if his hatred and anger would burn bright enough to any significant damage to them. His mind drifted to the heist where he was forced to engage both Kate Razor and Adam Torrent while transporting the container of arctic serums and he had to bank heavily on his strange powers to make up for the disparity in raw stats.
“Oh shit,” Angie muttered.
Dan looked up and saw the combatants for the next match.
6th match up: Angie Bloodliner (AC) vs Tom X (GT).
Combatants, please enter the arena.
Dan put his hand on Angie’s shoulder. “I’m rooting for you, Angie. You got this.”
“Thanks Dan,” she smiled. “Now it’s my time to shine.”
The strawberry blond climbed onto the raised arena and glanced over her shoulder at him before she walked toward the center. Dan couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched Angie intentionally walk with a strange gait that resembled a fashion model walking down a runway to please a crowd.
The hair flip she did was icing on the cake.
Dan saw the reactions of Miles’ two teammates and couldn’t hold back his smile. James huffed, unswayed by Angie’s attempt at charming the crowd while Zara gave her a sneer. In Dan’s mind, at least this lightened the mood a bit after watching Callum being carried away on a stretcher.
Angie’s opponent was another Genesis Talon from the same team. While Dan had fought numerous Talons before over the course of the Combat Games, he knew that the biggest advantage they had could not be leveraged here. The low ceiling would make it nearly impossible for any Talon to effectively use their jetbacks and thrusters. However, Dan didn’t recall if the Talons were explicitly prevented from using such tools for this round.
Fight!
Dan watched intently to see how Angie would open up the fight. Instead, the Talon took the initiative and actived his thrusters. While the Talon didn’t fly upward, he used his thrusters to move around Angie and get behind her.
It was a smart use of his mobility in such a cramped environment. Angie turned around to face her opponent and ducked underneath a thruster-propelled punch from the Talon. Angie dodged another set of attacks from the Talon, swerving her head and body out of the path of several punches and kicks further boosted by the thrusters of the Talon.
So far, the fight appeared it could swing in either agent’s favor. Angie was quick on her feet in dodging attacks, but the Talon was so relentless while also leveraging his thrusters that Angie couldn’t set up any counters.
Dan was concerned about his teammate’s stamina dnw pondered how long she could keep avoiding attacks. At some point, she had to do something or else she would be worn down by her opponent.
That’s when it happened.
The Talon over extended himself with a punch that flew past Angie’s head and the strawberry blond shoved her shoulder into the Talon’s abdomen. It stopped the continuous barrage of strikes, but because of Angie’s lack of size and the thrusters of his armor, the Talon was merely necked back by about two meters and kept his balance.
“What was that supposed to be?” the Talon taunted. “You should have been a model instead of an agent.”
Angie gritted her teeth, but held her ground. She slightly bent her knees and clenched her fists. Dan heard the extreme groans of effort coming from Angie and if he didn’t know any better, it seemed that she was trying to defacate on the floor. His eyes widened when he saw the familiar bursts of red static spark throughout her body. Dan had a view of Angie from the side and saw tears of blood run down her cheeks.
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The strawberry blond had activated her berserk form and crossed the distance between her and the Talon in a heartbeat. In the next moment, a loud crunch followed by the Talon flying across the arena was all Dan saw until he slammed into a wall.
Combatant out of bounds.
Winner: Angie Bloodliner!
James and Zara had their mouths hung open in awe of the monstrous strength from Angie’s attack. Looking at Angie, Dan saw for the first time how the berserk form looked from the outside. Aside from the red arcs of electricities and other energies sparking and wafting into the air, he saw her visage and was taken aback by the sight.
Angie had blood running down her cheeks, clearly bleeding from the eyes. But what was most intimidating were her lack of pupils or irises. Only her blood stained eye whites were left.
The unstable red energies dissipated and Angie collapsed to her knees. Dan moved without thinking and hopped up the raised arena and rushed to his teammate. Angie laid on the ground with only faint breaths.
“Hey,” Dan said. “Can you hear me?”
Angie slowly opened her eyes and smiled when she saw him. “Jesus fuck. Everything aches. How the hell do you endure this?”
Dan sighed in relief. “The healing factor was a worth while investment. Can you walk?”
The strawberry blond groaned. “I can, but I would appreciate it if you carried me.”
Dan huffed. “Just this once.”
He placed one hund behind Angie’s neck and another arm under her legs and lifted her up. He carried her toward the edge of the arena and jumped off the elevated floor. Dan watched as medics tended to the Talon who crashed into the wall. He lowered Angie who was able to get on her feet. When her feet touched the ground, she winced but endured.
“Wow that fucking stings,” she said through gritted teeth.
“You said you could maintain your berserk form for only a few seconds?”
“Yeah. I can’t spam that shit like you can.”
Determining next match up…
As Dan watched the medics carry the Talon away, he turned back at Angie. “Was the berserk form necessary for you to win?”
Angie was breathing heavily while wiping the blood from her face with a cloth. “With the stat debuff and that Talon using his powers of flight against me? I had to. I can’t do much of my opponent can move around faster than I can. And that punch I threw to get him to back off, I put everything I had into that and it didn’t do squat.”
“Do you think you’ll be okay for the rest of the round?”
“I guess we’ll see how fast I recover from this,” she said. “Fuck me, I hope this blood doesn’t ruin my eyeliner.”
“Glad to see your priorities are in order,” Dan said.
“A girl’s gotta look good while kicking ass right? Come on, I know you enjoyed that little strut I did when I walked up there.”
“Maybe a little,” Dan admitted. “Take it easy for now. Everyone on Rachel’s team won their matches. It’s only a matter of time before either of us will cross paths with them in the coming matches.”
7th match up: Zara Huntsman (AC) vs Lance Trident (GT).
Combatants, please enter the arena.
The dark haired agent climbed up the arena and made her way toward the middle of the arena. Unlike Angie, she approached her next opponent with absolute seriousness.
“Stuck up bitch,” Angie muttered. “She takes everything so seriously.”
“Half of Miles’ team got wiped out, two of them by those Prime Swords,” Dan said. “I think she has the right to be stone-faced.”
Fight!
Zara was not only a good marksman as she demonstrated in the deathmatch round, but an aggressive fighter up close. She launched an open palmed strike to the Lance’s upper torso. While the attack didn’t do much damage, it knocked the Talon back and caught him off guard.
“Woah,” Dan muttered.
Footsteps approached from Dan’s right side and he looked to see James walking up to him.
“Oh yeah, she ain’t happy,” the big man said.
“I could imagine,” Dan said. “It’s not easy seeing half your team eliminated in one round.”
“It’s those punks from that team of Prime Swords that got her acting like this,” James said. “Even with her anger dialled up, I don’t think it’ll be enough to take them on. There’s something about them that’s out of place. No way they should be that strong for tier ones.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Dan said. “But it won’t matter. I’ll crush them in the arena when the time comes.”
Zara gained the initial momentum in the fight and held onto it. The Talon was forced on the backfoot after Miles’ female teammate ripped his helmet off and began taking swipes at his face.
“Shit, no mercy,” Dan muttered. “I might have trouble if she and I were matched up.”
“She’s no joke at all. Miles said that once they got to this round, he would spend every minute praying that him and Zara never cross paths.”
Dan’s berserk mode was an asymmetric advantage he had over the majority of the agents in the Combat Games. But without it plus his stat debuff, Dan could feel himself sweating just by watching Zara’s ferocity in the arena. He had no idea how a fair fight would go between himself and Zara. The Talon had already began bleeding from his nose and he swore he momentarily saw a black eye on Zara’s poor opponent.
Zara delivered a final kick to Lance’s stomach and the Talon fell backward and out of the arena.
Combatant out of bounds.
Winner: Zara Huntsman!
“By the way,” James said, “care to explain that strange burst of strength your girl here did in the last match?”
Dan gave the big man a sideways glance and replied with, “I have it too, if that’s what you wanted to know. Except, I can maintain it for longer. It’s a crazy story. I might tell you and Miles about it sometime.”
Determining next match up…
James huffed and didn’t press any further. The big man flashed him a predatory grin. “You’re a strange kid. Now I really can’t wait to fight you.”
Dan glanced at him and flashed a grin back. “Looking forward to it, though you’ll have to get in line. Hopefully, I get Rachel Cutter or one of her cronies first.”
8th match up: James Vandal (AC) vs Victor Dusk (HH).
Combatants, please enter the arena.
Zara walked over to his side and performed and backflip off the raised platform and landed right in front of Dan.
“That’s my girl,” James said. “My turn now.”
Zara tapped her teammate on the shoulder, then grabbed his collar. “You better win this.”
“Nothing to worry about,” the big man said before climbing up the platform and entering the arena.
Mile’s female teammate turned her attention to Angie, then Dan.
“Things will truly heat up once James finishes up his match here,” Zara said. “My team, your team, and that Prime Sword trio are the only ones that matter in the next few match ups.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Dan said.
“I’m curious about how Angie managed to punch a guy across the arena like that. I’ve never seen her that strong. She was always all talk an no bite,” she said, looking at Angie. The strawberry blond matched her with an intense gaze of her own. “But I guess I’ll get to see how much she’s improved soon enough.”
Angie alluded to the animosity between her and Zara over an incident in the past. While the two women continued there tense staredown, Dan had a good look of the agent who made short work of the Genesis Talon just now.
Zara’s dark hair flowed down past her shoulders. Up close, her complexion was just as smooth as Angie’s was. Judging from the general cheekbone structure and eyes, Dan vaguely pinpoint here of Middle-Eastern descent.
She ended her staring contest with Angie and turned her gaze towards Dan.
“Miles and James have been jerking themselves off to the thought of finally taking you on in this final round of the Combat Games,” Zara said bluntly. “Out of all the remaining combatants here. I have the highest expectations for you in particular. You better not disappoint.”
“Oh I won’t,” Dan said with a grin beneath his mask. “You’ll have to wait in line like James.”
Zara gave him a coy smile, eerily similar to the one Angie gave him when Dan briefly lost focus and his eyes wandered to where they shouldn’t. She lifted her hand and shifted some of her hair behind her left ear. Before she stepped in between him and Angie.
Dan redirected his attention to the arena where James and a Hellhound agent stood facing each other.
Fight!
Dan’s HUD notified him of an incoming call from Angie.
“I can’t believe this shit,” she seethed over the channel.
“What? She’s just spectating the fight involving her teammate,” Dan said.
“Does she really have to stay with us?” Angie snapped. Dan glanced over at Zara who stood in between him and Angie. Zara briefly looked over and smiled at him.
“I don’t see a problem with it.”
“There’s apparently a lot you don’t see. Have you bled from your eyeballs too much? You didn’t see the way she looked at you before getting in between us?”
“So? You gave me that look before. I thought it was weird but I didn’t say a word. My focus right now is on the match,” Dan said.
James and his opponent have already exchanged blows and immediately the big man’s size advantage proved valuable as he threw his body weight into clothslinging the poor Hellhound into the ground.
“Petty bitch,” Angie said through the channel.
“What?”
“She’s probably still angry at me for getting Nathaniel killed,” she said. “Now she’s trying to get in between us just to piss me off.”
James allowed the Hellhound to struggle his way back on his feet. But as soon as his opponent stood back up, James didn’t hesitate to throw a hammerfist right into the Hellhound’s bare face.
“You’re overreacting,” Dan said. “She’s not getting in between us, whatever you mean by that. Unless she grabs my ass or something. Then I’ll punch her out, if that makes you happy.”
“It would,” Angie said. “And I’ll hold you to that.”
James had taken little damage from the fight while his opponent laid sprawled out on the floor. After another few seconds of the Hellhound still lying on the floor, the match had ended.
Winner: James Vandal!
Zara yawned. “Well, that didn’t take long.”
“Your teammate did well,” Dan said.
“Of course he did. The next question is how he’ll do against you,” Zara teased.
Dan looked at the dark haired agent and smiled. “We’ll find out after I demolish those assholes in the Prime Swords.”
“Oooh,” Zara said. “I wish you were in our squad. We could use another fun one in our bunch.”
“Attention all remaining contestants,” the AI announcer said. Its voice boomed throughout the room. “There are now eight of you left. The remaining matches will be determined all at once.”
As James walked toward them and jumped off the elevated arena, the holographic projection extended another few lines to make room for four sets of names. The Combat Games’s systems began shuffling through the names of the remaining contestants.
In another few seconds, the floating text finally settled on the next four match ups.
9th match up: Angie Bloodliner (AC) vs Clark Dagger (PS).
10th match up: James Vandal (AC) vs Adriana Skill (PS).
11th match up: Dan Orion (AC) vs Rachel Cutter (PS).
12th match up: Zara Huntsman (AC) vs Barns Skyline (GT).
A smile crept up on Dan’s face. The time had finally come. He was finally matched up against Rachel herself. He had the chance to finish the fight between him and the leader of that team they started back in the cash grab round.
Without a time limit, there would be nothing to stop them from settling things once and for all. The only thing Dan would have wished for was to be matched against Adriana instead for a warm up before Rachel. But beggars couldn’t be choosers.