Aftermath (a BH6 crossover)

Chapter Three: Downright Bored

The arena they'd arranged to use for the bot tournament was pretty decent-sized, all things considered. And knowing there would be a lot of spectators, they'd done their best to make it as flashy as possible, with the most amount of seats they could safely fit in the space available. And for those who weren't lucky enough to be in the main arena, there were areas set up with Jumbo tron-style screens, along with the leader board.

Off the main area sat several rooms where the qualifying rounds would take place. As these were likely to be less flashy, they wouldn't be broadcast to the second tier areas, just the main arena, but there was still room for any spectator who wanted to watch the warmup rounds. And further down lay the competitors' locker rooms.

Generally speaking, the locker rooms were used by competing athletic teams, but since they were using the venue for a different purpose, they'd tried to convert these locker rooms into a sort of "kiss and cry" areas where the competitors could cry over loses, recover and repair their bots after the fights, or simply chill until time for their next round. The rules of the tournament hung on the wall in bright, bold letters.

1. Each robot must be inspected by an authorized official before being allowed into the fight ring.

2. No robot is allowed to exceed the specified weight and height limitations.

3. Pilfering parts from downed bots is strictly prohibited

4. Betting is not allowed on any round no matter what.

There were more rules, but that was the one in the biggest text, reminding all participants that while the actual bot fights were good, betting on them was still illegal.

Lucifer Morningstar couldn't help but let out an almost scoffing smirk as he read that rule. Strictly speaking, he was there as a sponsor, but he was more than aware of the "off the books" bets being placed, along with their odds based off of previous performances from the different students around the country. While not on a professional level, there was still a lot of money to be made from such a venue, and he was more than willing to get his share of it. Besides, some of those students went on to the professional arenas.

A shadow fell across part of the room and Lucifer turned quickly to see who had caused it but didn't see anyone. "Hello? Someone there?" He moved towards the doorway, hoping to catch the person responsible but the space was empty. "Amenadiel? Is that you? Maze? Detective?" While less likely it would be Chloe Decker, he had to be sure, but no one responded to his calls.

The fallen angel wandered out into the hall where he saw someone carrying a banner towards the main arena. Deciding it must have been that person's shadow that he'd seen, he let his guard back down. "Getting a bit jumpy," he said to himself, shaking his shoulders to loosen up. Well, there were things he needed to attend to back at Lux. And since the action wasn't due to start until the morning, there wasn't any real reason for him to stick around so he headed towards the exit.

A dark figure watched Lucifer leave from behind a corner. Sure the man in question was out of the way, its owner crossed back into the locker room, carrying something under one arm.

..................................

Loki stared out over his domain. Not much had changed since he'd returned to Asgard. What might have been months elsewhere seemed like a blink of an eye to others, though not to him. And there was something to be said about not having to worry about his troublesome brother showing up. And everyone adored him. It was nice. It was quiet. It was paradise. Who was he kidding? He was downright bored. Something had to change.

It wasn't that he didn't have everything he thought he wanted. He did. It just wasn't quite as fun as he'd thought it would be. Well, almost not quite as fun. They were building a statue in his honor, er. . . Loki's honor. And he had them working on creating a play based off of his supposed "death" that last time. They'd be in rehearsals forever though. He supposed he could go out on a tour of all the realms, as his father would, but that just seemed boring. No, there was really only one cure for this and he knew it.