As soon as the word left his mouth, Max ran. She ran towards Rover so fast that the little blonde didn't even have a chance to blink.
Before she knew it, she was hit.
Max rammed her shoulder into Rover’s stomach, and sent her pitching into the corner post. Beneath her shoulder, Rover groaned in pain.
Stop it. Stop hurting her. Rover is your friend. Why are you hurting her?
That stupid little voice in her head wouldn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. And it tortured her.
Rover brought her knee up and rammed it into Max’s face. Max shifted her head at the last second and the blow grazed the side of her head instead.
She backed away and Rover stepped forward, spun on her heel and kicked for Max’s head.
Now alert, Max caught Rover’s ankle less than an inch from her face.
That little voice was thunderously loud now.
Max’s eyes wandered over the warehouse in a split second, and she saw Variable standing by the stairs. His eyes were unbelievably hard. Calculating as he watched her.
Pain shot through her chest as she realized what she would have to do.
Max took Rover’s ankle and twisted it so the blonde’s leg extended straight at her. She saw Rover’s face bend in horror as she knew what Max was about to do, and struggled.
But there was no stopping her.
As hard as she could, Max rammed her elbow down on Rover’s kneecap. She heard a crackle and a crack under the sound of Rover’s scream.
Max’s insides churned. She wanted to throw up, to get down on her knees and help Rover.
She wanted to say she was sorry.
But Variable would be watching. He would see any weakness that she let through.
Max tugged as hard as she could on Rover’s leg and the blonde stumbled and fell.
Rover sat up straight, her hands gently running over her kneecap in horror.
I’m sorry, Max thought.
She ran towards Rover, spun on her heel and snapped out a kick to the blonde’s head.
She was out like a light.
Her insides churning, Max watched as they dragged Rover out of the ring. She kept her face impenetrable as the announcer slid into the ring.
The man looked queasy, as if her unadorned violence had put him off of his next meal.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I present your winner! Maverick!” he spoke loudly.
Idly, Max looked at the people who surrounded her ring. They looked at her in adrenaline-covered shock. As if they were terrified of what they had asked for, and were now only just realizing how horrific the fights were.
Wordlessly, Max slid out of the ring. People parted to form a path for her, and she wandered into the nearest bathroom.
She unwound the Ace bandages around her hands and stared at her fingers. Even under the protection of the wraps, they were battered. They bled from soft-looking wounds, as if her skin had simply split rather than torn.
Disgusted with herself, she ran the water cold as she ran her fingers under it. The water ran red down the drain, and Max ignored the sting.
She looked at the mirror above the sink. Cold gray eyes looked back at her, as if she had no semblance of her real self left.
The thought made her sick to her stomach, as so many other things had that night, but Max knew she had to go outside and face Variable.
She did so quietly, and wrapped the bandages around her hands as she did so.
Variable waited just outside the door.
“You okay?” he asked in a hard voice.
Max held up her bloodied hand before she began wrapping the bandage around her knuckles once more.
“You and Rover are friends,” he said oddly.
“Not after that, I don’t think we are,” she said blandly as she finished the tie and tucked the Velcro snap in under a fold.
“Then why did you fight her?” he asked.
She looked him in the eyes; those brown eyes that were so painfully familiar.
“For the same reason you told me to fight her. To see if I could,” she said.
Variable stilled very carefully at that, and Max felt grim satisfaction as she saw it.
“We have African and Japanese fighters here tonight. You have Kimo and Cheetah to go against, then you’re done. Ten matches is more than enough, especially with your knuckles seeping blood,” he said gruffly.
Max nodded, and he disappeared up the steps.
She smiled an invisible smile of victory as she jogged towards her next opponent.
Will couldn’t stop pacing. He walked up the length of the room, then down the length. His mind couldn’t stop churning; reliving that awful moment in the ring.
Max caught Rover’s foot as she aimed a kick at the taller woman. Max caught it, and saw Variable standing in the corner. Nothing crossed over her face or her eyes as Max straightened Lowry’s leg and rammed her elbow down on the kneecap.
That scream reverberated through his ears like a nightmare from hell.
The lock on the door clicked, and light flooded from the hall into the room.
A maid went up and down the hall with a vacuum; she was one of his agents, meant to disguise the sound that would come once Max came home.
Will clicked on the pen device before he stepped out into the light from the shadowed corners.
Max was leaning against the door, a brand new duffel bag slipping off her shoulder as she leaned against the door.
“Goddammit, Max!” he roared.
gray eyes snapped up to meet his, and he paused for a moment.
Her eyes were red. Had she been crying?
“I don’t need your lecture, William,” she muttered. She moved further into the room and set her bag down on the floor.
Will watched her as she made her way into the small kitchenette and pulled a bottle of rum out of the freezer.
She sloshed a healthy serving into a glass and took three long gulps. She gave herself a refill.
“Did you have to break her knee? She’s out of fucking commission because of you!” he shouted.
His hands tensed as he balled them up against the counter.
gray flames snapped into Max’s eyes as her gaze met his.
“Do you even fucking know anything about Variable?” she snarled.
“Of course I do. I’ve been following his ass for a year,” he growled back at her.
She knocked back the contents of the glass she held in trembling hands and stared down at the empty container.
“Variable would accept nothing less than absolute cruelty. Absolute inhumanity to prove to him that I am capable of doing what I need to do to get to the top,” she spoke quietly, and carefully. As if every word she spoke was being carefully picked before spoken.
William knew the truth lay in her words.
He slammed his hands on the table.
“Goddammit!” he roared as he shoved away from the kitchenette and resisted the urge to scream and break things.
