Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 38 - Warpath

When Codi saw the promotional video, she had to admit, the Gauntlet's publicity people certainly knew their stuff. It looked amazing. She looked amazing. All the feelings of foolishness that had been present when she'd filmed it melted away as the incredible technical wizardry elevated their play-acting to a whole different level.

It opened with Rokki Thakkar, a fighter whose wild ways had captured the hearts and minds of many Gauntlet fans. They started with a close up against a dark backdrop of him looking down, and then his eyes rose. The camera zoomed out and the second his full body filled the frame he dropped to one knee, slamming a clenched fist against the 'floor'.

An explosion of flame tore across the screen, and when the artificial fire dissipated Thakker was replaced by Cardle North, one of the Battlecast contingent. A rangy teenager with a neat crop of dark hair clipped short down the sides, he stood facing the camera with his arms folded, chin tilted slightly upwards. Just as it seemed like the lens was about to crash into his face, he glanced off shot. The shot panned to follow his gaze.

Cardle drifted out of frame and the camera began racing down a passage towards two sturdy figures who, she realised after a moment, were Lucas and Lazlo. Her eyebrow rose with interest as the camera shot swooped past and then around them – the brothers stood back to back, arms folded and slightly smug expressions on their features. They were barely distinguishable. All Codi had to go on was that Lucas had a marginally thicker fuzz of dark hair than his brother.

Swiftly the promo video flashed away from them, and a moment later Codi was treated to the slightly odd sensation of seeing herself acting on camera. The shot entered a computer generated hexagonal room, at the centre of which, stood her past self. Fists clenched by her sides and head tilted downward, she stood in front of a glare of white light, reducing her to almost a silhouette.

Then the camera ascended to take in her full frame. The light faded and her head rose to lock onto the screen, eyes hard like diamonds. The shot dove suddenly towards her. Codi watched as the figure on the screen rocked back into a fighting stance, then surged forward to smash a fist into the screen.

A shattering glass effect bled into the rest of the video, showing every fighter and team in various combinations. They had Leela's flag hurl soaring over the top of the camera with the rest of the Battlecast team advancing behind her through a wave of blue light. Dustin Morto had his cameo to rip a door from its hinges and throw it through a theoretical wall that broke open to reveal the Atlantic Academy's flag team. On and on the transitions went, seamless and destructive, a mirror image of the perfect Gauntlet fight.

At its end, Codi felt a little abashed that she'd dismissed the simpering film attendants so quickly. They knew how to make a bunch of violent teenagers look truly epic.

The screens above the Arena entrance darkened and the low thunder of a rabid Gauntlet crowd sounded from within. Codi rolled her shoulders; tossed her head from side to side to loosen up. Not long now before the first step of her hard climb to the pinnacle of the competition began. The screen came to life again with a countdown. Sixty seconds.

Sixty seconds before she unleashed herself on the competition.

The wait seemed almost unbearable, but when the huge metal slabs finally groaned aside she was through them as though she'd been slung out of a catapult. She exploded into searing light of the Arena with a feral, wordless roar of excitement. The noise enveloped her, igniting a furious blaze of adrenaline through every inch of her body. This wasn't like the early rounds – this was knockout competition. No second chances: no mistakes.

Codi found that she thrived on it.

Her anticipation on grew when she took stock of exactly where she would be fighting. The first knockout match of this year's Gauntlet reintroduced something that had been entirely absent from the group stage.