Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 17 - Nowhere To Go But Up

Then the voice of the announcer burst over the speakers and her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, that was quite the contest," he boomed. "But now we have our result. The winner by clear impact rating is ... Codi James of Battlecast!"

The cheers hit her and Codi felt her whole body relax, the tension of the past weeks melting away in a single moment. Now she'd really laid her mark on the contest – knocking off the top competitor from one of their biggest rival academies. Now she was paying back the faith that Bronagh and the academy backers had put in her.

Glancing at Fallow, she found to her surprise that he was smiling, albeit ruefully. He trudged over to her and held out a hand.

"You're better than I thought," he grunted.

She raised an eyebrow, shaking his hand. "Thanks...I think."

"Dust off – I'll getcha next time." Fallow winked at her. "Don't go anywhere."

With that he turned his back and stumped off, leaving Codi with a slightly bewildered look on her face, trying to process his reaction. Yes, when it came down to it, this was a practice tournament, nothing more than a taster of the Gauntlet itself, but that didn't change the fact that she'd just managed to knock off Olympus Mons' top fighter. If she'd been in his shoes she'd have been seething with rage.

But she wasn't.

Feeling a glow in her heart she loped out of the arena to find Thradd and a handful of other Battlecast fighters who'd been watching proceedings on the screens. She grinned breathlessly as they surged forward to congratulate her, shaking her hand and clapping her on the back – it hit her in that moment that this was what it felt like to have an actual group of friends.

Over the years she'd usually had one or two people she would call that, but when she won a match the other fighters of Battlecast showed up en masse to support her. And not just her either. They all flooded from fight to fight – anyone who wasn't in the arena wouldn't be far away. Bronagh Llewellyn's preaching that they won and lost as a team was beginning to ring true. Looking at the flushed, proud faces of her team mates validated Codi's decision all those months ago, to join the academy that, right up until she'd signed on that dotted line, were the enemy.

She notice one face was missing, however, as the group dispersed.

"Thradd," she said, taking her coach aside. "Where's Leela?"

He gave a derisive snort. "Damned if I know – haven't seen her since her fight."

"But...she would have finished up before me, wouldn't she?"

"Oh yeah, she did, way before," he muttered. "One of those bruisers from Olympus Mons kicked the poor kid up and down the arena. Didn't even get a word out of her afterwards."

Codi's elation at her own victory started fading fast. "And you've got no idea where she is now?!"

"Probably went back to the lock-tech to cry it out."

"Wow." She shook her head in disbelief. "You're all heart."

"I'm her coach, not her babysitter." He shrugged. "She'll get over it. It's all good prep for next year."

Feeling her hackles rise at his blasé attitude, Codi stalked off in the direction of the arena lock-tech herself, suddenly very eager to get out of her exoskeleton. It seemed like even Thradd didn't give Leela any chance of reaching the final roster – her own damn coach – it made Codi's blood boil just thinking about it. She was well aware of the younger fighter's shortcomings, but it appeared she was the only person in the whole academy that hadn't written her off as a lost cause.

When she reached the lock-tech she gratefully stepped into the upright cradle to allow the machine to undo the micro-bolts holding the armour together. Bit by bit her exoskeleton was peeled away until she stepped from cradle wearing only her black leggings and a long-sleeved cyan top that hugged her body from throat to waist.

Swinging on the old hoodie that she kept in the cradle, she zipped it up and shook her thick black hair free. It was lank and slick with sweat, but she would deal with appearances later. Right now she had a friend to find. She slipped on the shining pair of Battlecast trainers and set to work.

After a brief conversation with one of the attending techs she worked out where her young comrade had wandered off to. She walked gingerly through the arena halls, still aching all over from her last bout. Up and up, through stairs and rampways she ascended level after level until she found a quiet, secluded observation deck overlooking the lights of Tarshish far in the distance. It was the sort of place she would have gone in the same situation.

Sure enough, when she peered into the room she found Leela sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them up against her and tears running freely down her young features. The lights of the city danced in her glittering eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Codi stepped inside, crossed the room and sat down beside her. Leela didn't acknowledge her presence, simply staring bleakly into the Martian horizon. Codi didn't know where to start. She knew how the girl must have been feeling – her own introduction to Gauntlet competition had ended much the same: getting taken apart by a veteran. Nothing was guaranteed to make you question yourself more quickly.

"You okay?" she said eventually, painfully aware of how inadequate that was.

Leela sniffed. "What do you think?"

"I think you're wondering what the point of it all is, right?"

She nodded unhappily.

"I know the feeling," Codi said. "Used to ask myself that question about a whole lot of things. I remember my first practice tournament back at Brax-Delta." She shook her head at the memory. "Leela, I got my ass kicked – didn't last five minutes."

"Really?!"

"We all start somewhere."

Leela wiped a hand across her eyes, and looked up. "How...how did you deal with it? I mean, I feel so...worthless."

Codi shrugged. "At the time I had nowhere else to go. It was a good motivator."

"I could walk away from this tomorrow," Leela said bitterly. "Go back to school, get a job, live a boring life like everyone else in my family."

"But you don't want to."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because nobody thinks I'm good enough to make it to the Gauntlet, and I'm not talking about the Battlecast kids. My friends, my parents, none of them believe I've got what it takes. My mum and dad only let me into the academy to shut me up – probably thought I'd be back home crying in a week." She laughed despairingly. "I guess they were right."

"I wouldn't say that. You're here aren't you?" Codi nudged her with an elbow. "If that's how you feel then you owe it to yourself to see this through. You can do this, Leela. You already made it through the first round – that's better than a lot of people."

"I want to I just...I don't know what to do. I never stood a chance today."

"Then learn from what happened." She slung an arm around Leela's shoulders and ruffled her hair affectionately. "So you've hit rock bottom. All that means is that there's nowhere to go but up."