Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 17 - Nowhere To Go But Up

Looking up, she saw Fallow looking down from the upper section. She glanced over her shoulder at the pit then back to him.

"If you want to beat me," she shouted, smacking her breast-plate with a clenched fist. "You'll have to come down here and do it the hard way!"

That got a rise out of the spectators. The jeers and howls from the Battlecast supporters galvanised Fallow into action and he leapt from the raised platform with fire in his eyes. Codi smiled viciously, clenched her fists, and stepped forward.

The following exchange ended up being one of the most brutal she'd ever been part of, and given her experiences that was saying a lot. She and the Olympus Mons fighter proved why they were held in such high regard.

Codi blocked his initial barnstorming opener and buried a sold left into his gut, driving her bulky opponent back a pace. He replied with a crunching kick to her left side that sent her wobbling. She bent backwards away from his follow up swing, cartwheeled away, and in the process kicked him in the face.

The Battlecast crowd went wild as Fallow staggered back in surprise, and Codi felt herself following suit. Instinct took over as she started to hit her fighting rhythm; ducking, dodging and pivoting, laying crunching blows wherever she could find a window. She quickly realised, however, that while she had the speed advantage, it was like punching a wall. Fallow reacted to each hit with little more than a twitch and a grunt, even against impacts that she knew would have knocked lesser competitors flat. If nothing else, Darien Fallow was tough.

And he gave as good as he got, too.

While Codi continued landing the bulk of the hits, when Fallow did connect, she knew all about it. After several minutes of kicking and punching each other up and down the arena she was aching all over, and she could see Fallow felt the same from the grimace that now permanently stamped his features.

The fires of determination roared within her. She could beat this guy – she was already ahead if it came to an impact rating. All she had to do was keep up the intensity and not get herself smashed into a pit.

On they went, back and forth in a match befitting two of the Sol System's top academies; more than once Codi had to pick herself up after absorbing a direct hit from one of Fallow's big fists. But that was okay – she could take the odd clout as long as she returned the favour, so each time she went down she came back at her adversary with redoubled fury. Little by little her technique shone through against Fallow's powerful but inconsistent style of brawling.

After a protracted, slithering grapple she eventually managed to work into a position behind him with one of his arms locked up above the shoulder. He wrenched to try and get free and she knew she only had a small window to make something out of it. With a snarl of effort she dropped into a crouch, hauling Fallow off-balance with her. When she felt his heavy frame topple she twisted her body and savagely flung him into the nearest wall. The sound of his exoskeleton smashing into the plating echoed through the chamber and a sharp intake of air from the spectators followed.

Then the klaxon sounded again and Codi looked up in confusion. They should have given her opponent a moment to get up – being knocked down was a long way from being knocked out. Then she noticed the bright neon of the match timer blinking: 00.00.

They'd run out of time. Now it was up to the computers.

She waited, breathing heavily as Fallow picked himself up, a grim expression on his features. He knew which way the fight had gone, even if she hadn't managed to put him down for good. The crowds fell silent, breath held like a dam waiting to burst. Despite it all, Codi couldn't shut out the tiniest niggling doubt in the back of her mind. She must have done enough. She had to have.