TCR 44) In this corner.

I got called up two fights later.

The guy I was up against was a tall strung out looking guy with a few dozen fresh looking black tattoos on him. As well as nearly white spiky hair. His eyes were twitching.

The eyes should have warned me, it wasn’t like his type were rare, but I hadn’t personally met that many of his type.

The name they gave him was Formula One, which would have been my second clue if I were into cars.

Before the bell even finished ringing, he was in front of me, grinning, as his fist rocked my face to the side.

Great, another Quick. What is it about Florida that triggers people to go fast, it's not like dealing with alligators requires lightning reflexes.

The guy's face fell a bit when I turned my head from his punch to look back at him. No bloody nose, and no reaction to the punch. Other than trying to grab a hold of the guy.

An enclosed space like this was the worst spot for a Quick. Even one up at a Rank of 4 maybe? From my point of view, it was more like he was teleporting around the ring rather than running back and forth. But he didn’t have anywhere to go, and not enough room to build up any momentum to put any real power behind his punches.

My combined Brute rating matched his Quick, so his ability to do damage was canceled out by my ability to stop it.

There were some Quick 1s, and 2s that moved fast just due to fast twitch muscles and sped up perceptions, but at his speed almost all of them had a force field that protected them when they moved fast. And let them punch people at high speed without breaking every bone in their hands.

So for the moment, I was able to shrug his hits off, but if he could get some space to build up speed…

I could see the walls of the chain link cage around the ring bulging out as he was running around the barrier between us and the audience to put some power behind his punches which rocked me back and forth. The hits were harder, but they were still not doing much damage or even knocking me all that off balance.

Can this be decided on points? Because if so I’m screwed, and worst, Falco isn’t going to be impressed enough to let me join his reindeer games.

Plus the crowd is getting restless, the announcer is trying to keep the energy pumped, but watching a blur going around and around while I stagger around, it's just not entertaining.

So what do I do? Smack my hands together to make a sonic boom? Maybe Bravada could pull that off, but not me.

I take another punch in the mouth, he does like those doesn't he… And from the hits he likes so much are all coming in on my left.

Throwing up my arms defensively, I take two hits to the body, then lift my face clear of my arms like I’m looking around…

Just before jerking my head to the left, mouth open, and snap down with Samantha’s collection of sharp teeth.

Stolen story; please report.

Hard.

My head jerks to the right, but I don’t let go.

The bite is faster than any punch I could make, and the Quick ends up standing on the other side of the ring, clutching his bleeding hand. And screaming as he falls to his knees in pain.

Something is still in my mouth.

Aw no.

Aw, crap. I bit off part of his hand.

I let it drop out of my mouth and catch it before it hits the ground. I got his two outer fingers and part of a bone from the inside of his palm.

The crowd is going wild. I feel around in my mouth with my free hand to make sure I spit it all out as I walk over to the kid, and hold out his hand. Shouting to be heard, I try to reassure him. “The Healer is Rank 3 at least, she can put it back on. No nerve damage or even scars.”

He topple over as he tried to reach for his fingers, which the announcer takes as a tap out. Medics rush in but the blond healer is nowhere in sight. A tubby looking guy gestures for me to leave the ring back to the waiting room where I get a few stares.

I head over to the refreshment table, grab a bottle of water, and head into the washroom to rinse out my mouth.

Looking in the mirror, I can see a spray of blood on my face.

Is this being a hero? Hurting some idiot kid. I was more than happy to go on a rampage shooting Talon Troopers. But they’re little more than robots, not people. That kid was participating in an illegal fighting tournament, not going out and assaulting people.

I gripped the edge of the sink. Was this worth it to stop some bank robbery or something? Why am I doing this? My life is good as is, even better now. I’m not alone…

That it. Right there. Shimmer was alone as she died. I was there for her. There are people out there with no one coming to save them, to help them, to stop people from wrecking their lives.

Today isn’t about stopping that, it’s to stop those situations from happening in the first place.

The kid would recover. He would make some cash even from losing just by being in the tournament, and maybe getting hurt will make him rethink his choices. Probably not, but he could.

I fill Samantha’s hands with water and wash off the blood. I could leave it on for the intimidation factor, but I don’t want to disrespect her remains. Plus it’s unhygienic.

People start to get a little pumped up for my next fight since it’s girl on girl.

Code Red gives me a nod as our names are called, I have to walk around to the far end of the ring to get in from the other side.

I watched Red's last two fights. In the first one, she demonstrated Brute 2 rank abilities and some real training at fighting. More than I had the ability to judge beyond her being good at it and using something like Mixed Martial Arts. She likes to grab a hold of people and get in close.

In her second fight, I saw why.

Fire Forming. Rank 1 or 2. She mainly wrapped it around herself, then burned people after she got a hold of them. She had held back in her second fight, doing just enough damage, and causing just enough pain to end it.

Pain isn’t an issue for me, but getting burned will do enough damage to leave Samantha’s body obviously hurt even after I regenerate the skin. It will be too thin and even with some injections, too dried out.

Not something that would impress Falco, and possibly even out me as too hurt to be alive.

On the other hand…

They call the start of the fight, Code Red takes a stance. And I hold out my arm, inviting her to grab hold as I walk across the ring towards her.

She looks confused and smacks it aside like it’s a trap. Which it is.

Arm locks rely on leverage and the pain of twisting people's limbs around in ways that aren't meant to be. Pain doesn't work all that well on the dead.

I hold the arm out and give her a nod and a grin for her to take it. Again she refused the bait and instead tried a kick, which hit since I'm not worried about taking a hit from a Brute 2, but she pulled away as I tried to grab a hold of her leg.

This went on for a while, much to the annoyance of the crowd, until she finally gave in and grabbed my arm before she threw her whole body into taking us both down to the mat. Her feet braced against my body to lock my arm in place as she burst into flames.

So I turn in a way that breaks something inside Samantha’s arm. Muscles tear as I twist around, rolling over her feet to punch down into her gut with my other hand hard enough to make her curl up into a ball.

I got up first, and as she tried to stand I kicked her into a corner of the ring, then followed her in.

Piling on the punches one handed, I got a knee into her hips and guts when she tried to block. She went up in flames again, but without sustained contact, they don't do much. Not more than I can easily heal.

The punches are pulled, some, since I don’t want to really hurt her. But I don’t get tired, I don’t let up, and I don’t let her get out of the corner.

Dropping down she yells out, “Christ! You win! Let up!” Then she pounds her hand against the floor three times to tap out.

After taking a step back I reach over and hold the arm that’s been hanging loose back into place while I focus my Regeneration on the joint. “Sorry, I didn’t want you getting me in a clutch at the last minute. I saw how good you are.”

She looked up in surprise and gave me a tired smile, before taking my offered hand to help her up.