When the door to Chief's office was closed behind them, Shift watched Athira tilt her head back and mutter a curse under her breath.
"Time to put a certain someone's bed on the roof?" asked Shift.
"It's not as effective if he isn't in it at the time," muttered Athira. "Besides, with our other commitments, I don't exactly have a week to spend annoying Chief right now." She huffed. "At least it wasn't entirely useless. He confirmed that the Wardens are real."
"Did he?" said Shift. "He said he 'knew something' of them, but it could just be that they don't exist."
"He clarified he didn't know anything about Reader's hideouts before that," said Athira. "Which means he has intel on the rest. Even he's not brave enough to demand a favour from me without something solid. He has his limits, and I have mine."
Shift decided against asking what might happen when that limit was reached. "So, back to the original plan of searching those other buildings?"
"There's one last thing I want to try before we leave," said Athira, starting down the stairs.
She led him to one of the sleek, black bars that curved against the wall and leaned against the end. It wasn't long before the barkeep — a large, imposing man with dark hair long enough to be pulled into a messy bun — approached, leaning on the bar with folded arms in front of her.
"What can I getcha, Owl?"
Athira slid a crystal Black shard shaped like an epicore halfway across the counter, partially concealed by her palm. "The usual."
The barkeep's eyes flicked down. "I'm afraid that isn't currently on tap. Chief's given the silence order. Can't help ya out today."
"Has he now?" muttered Athira, her head tilting up towards the door of Chief's office. "How unfortunate."
"Could try askin' Crush," said the barkeep, jerking his chin towards the other side of the club. "Arena fighters get special exceptions the rest of us don't, and I know how much ya love talkin' to him. He's in his usual booth."
Athira's nose wrinkled beneath her mask. "Fantastic."
She pushed the Black shard the rest of the way across the counter. It was quickly scooped up by the barkeep and tucked into some secret pocket before he touched a finger to his head and turned his attention to the next customer.
"Who's Crush?" asked Shift. The name didn't ring a bell.
"An idiot," muttered Athira, standing up. "Remember how I was waiting for someone to leave before we came in?"
"The shovey one?"
"That about sums him up." Athira sighed and started walking away from the bar. "He's a Yellow Kinetic that spends all his time trying to challenge people to arena fights. I don't think he's seen sunlight in the last decade."
Shift followed. "We gonna go talk to him?"
"And let him think I came to him?" said Athira, her head turning towards him with the barest hint of a smirk. "I don't think so. I'll make him come to us. Just play along."
They headed to the other side of the club, taking a seat at one of the available booths curved around a table. Athira flopped down, leaning back and throwing a hand over the back of the couch, one leg crossed over the other. Shift, not quite able to let his guard down that much, sat opposite to keep a view of the space behind her.
It wasn't long before a server approached them — another teenager with a variety of scars peeking out beneath her clothes — asking if there was anything they'd like to order.
"Get something if you want," said Athira, handing them a shard of crystal Black after ordering a chocolate milkshake for herself. "It's safe. Chief's banned tampering with the food in any way, and we'll be here until our contact arrives."
Shift waved them away, and Athira shrugged. "Suit yourself."
Shift watched the server leave. "You ever notice how many scars the kids around here have?"
"Kids?" said Athira, tilting her head.
"The teenagers," said Shift, his eyes roving around the club, spotting at least half a dozen others acting as servers or messengers or whatever other menial jobs they had around this place. "They get most of their scars as kids and grow up stuck with the memory of receiving them. Makes them easier to control, especially once they realise they've got about three lifetimes worth of debt to pay off for their Underground sponsored 'upbringing'."
He could feel Athira watching him, even beneath her mask. "You sound like you know a lot about this."
"You learn a thing or two in our profession. This just irks me in particular."
She considered him for a moment. "You've got scars."
"We've all got scars," muttered Shift, forcing himself to shrug it off. Maybe the Black was getting to him, but he almost found himself hoping that someone would try something, if only so he had an excuse to punch them. "Some just more than others."
Athira's chocolate milkshake arrived, and not long after that, Crush made himself known.
Crush was Raph-levels of tall with a buzz-cut dyed an obnoxious shade of neon yellow. He wore what Shift could only describe as a gym rat tracksuit, and was tailed by three of his groupies, all dressed in a similar way.
He approached the table and slammed his ridiculously large palms onto it, the muscles in his neck bulging as he made an attempt at intimidation.
"Move," said Athira, still perfectly casual. "You're blocking the view."
"What's this I hear about you taking on an apprentice, Owl?" Crush swapped his glare to Shift. "What've you got that I don't, eh?"
Shift lifted a hand, allowing Black to coat his fingers. "This, for one thing."
"A brain, for another," muttered Athira, stirring her milkshake with the straw. "Can I help you with something, or are you just here to annoy me again?"
Crush straightened, folding his arms over his chest. "I heard Chief gave the silence order on those Sleepers you want to know about. I know one or two things about them you might find useful, and arena wagers can circumvent the silence order."
Athira took a long sip before replying. "So, what? I beat you in the arena for the third time and you tell me something that might be useful? Seems like a waste of thirty seconds."
"Not you," said Crush, staring down at Shift. "Him."
The straw froze in her hand. "Why on Thols would you want to fight my apprentice?"
"You turned me down over and over, saying I wasn't good enough to breathe the same air as you, let alone stand beside you," said Crush. "That I understood, because who is? I've seen you fight. You took down the Baiylar Twelve at the same time as if they were nothing."
Shift covered his mouth with a hand, trying to stifle his grin.
He recognised this attitude when he saw it.
Athira had a fanboy.
Whether she was aware of that or not, Shift couldn't tell as she stirred her straw again and said, "And?"
"And," continued Crush fervently, "now you say you've found your equal. One who not only stands beside you, but wears a matching outfit." He sneered. "I want to make sure this whelp is worthy."
"I wouldn't say he's my equal, but he's got a lot more potential than you," said Athira. "What's the wager, and how do I know this information is worth it?"
"If he wins, I'll tell you where the Sleepers are coming from," said Crush. "But if I win, you make me your new apprentice."
Athira shrugged, nonchalant as ever. "Given this wasn't part of the plan tonight, I'll leave the decision up to him." She lifted her head, attention on Shift. "It's up to you. We still have those other places left to investigate."
Shift got the message: they could leave instead. She didn't expect him to take the fight for a scrap of information. "What's an arena fight entail?"
"Glory!" said Crush. "An honour of the highest rega—"
"It's a cage fight," said Athira, exasperated. "You fight until one of you yields or is unable to continue. No weapons except your Colour. No interference from people outside the cage. Aside from that, there are no rules. Once the doors close, the fight begins."
Crush smirked at Shift. "What say you, whelp?"
Shift glanced Crush up and down. A bully at best, and if there was one thing Shift enjoyed doing, it was knocking bullies down a peg or two. He looked at Athira. "What do you think, can I take him?"
Athira licked the straw. "Oh, absolutely. It's more a matter of if you can be bothered."
Shift stretched his arms above his head and stood up from the booth. Crush was bigger, taller, and wider in every way possible, but that just meant there was more of him to hit. "Then let's do this."
Crush turned to the club behind him and punched a fist in the air, striding towards the dance floor as he bellowed to the crowd.
"We have a challenger for the arena!"
Athira stuck her straw back into her now empty milkshake and left it on the table as she joined Shift.
"You sure you want to do this?" she said.
"If you think I can beat him, I'm game," said Shift. "Any tips?"
"He's a Kinetic, so whatever you throw at him, he'll hit you back with twice as hard," said Athira as they headed to the dance floor, which now had a cage rising out of it and a crowd swarming its edges. The music transitioned into something else — a steady, pulsing beat that sounded more like war drums. "He can't throw shockwaves or anything, and he does this dumb thing where he throws himself at the fence and bounces off it. Dodge that, watch him fall flat on his face, and don't let him up. If you can pin him for thirty seconds, they'll call it a yield."
When the cage was fully out of the ground, it was twice Shift's height and some ten metres in diameter. Crush entered through a door on the other side, still waving his arms and yelling various things as the crowd around him chanted his name.
"Where are you, whelp?" demanded Crush. "Come and meet your match!"
"You didn't mention he was blind," Shift muttered back over his shoulder to Athira as he stepped into the cage. Then, louder, he called, "I'm here, genius! Or are you too busy showboating around to fight me now?"
That got his attention. "I'll do both as I force the Owl to admit she made a mistake in choosing you as her apprentice."
Shift ignored him. "What kind of name is Crush, anyway? You're a Kinetic, and Crush is the best you have? Who came up with it, a five-year-old?"
Crush bared his teeth. "You'll realise why I'm called Crush when I crush every last bone in your body."
Shift smirked. "I can see why she didn't choose you. Five minutes in and even I'm already bored."
"I'll make you regret ever setting foot in the Underground."
"You already have, don't trouble yourself too much."
The doors closed behind them.
Crush slammed his fist into the fence behind him, turning his fingers a pale shade of amber, and attacked.
Unfortunately for him, Shift had spent far too many years learning to avoid blows while he found an appropriate Colour to shift. He ducked under the first swing and sidestepped the next as Crush's punches quickly devolved into a wild flailing, apparently relying on luck to connect something rather than any kind of skill.
Yet with every swing that missed, the amber tint on Crush's fingers crept a little further up his arms. His Yellow was storing every last bit of Kinetic energy behind the punches, and if something did connect — Shift knew it'd only take one punch for Crush to end the fight, no matter where it landed.
"Fight me, whelp!" sneered Crush, the amber almost at his elbows as yet another punch went wide.
"Is that what you're trying to do?" asked Shift innocently. The crowd was roaring, demanding blood, chanting Crush's name. He blocked it out, focusing on the neon-haired gym rat grabbing for him. "And here I thought I was getting in the way of your interpretive dance routine."
"I'm the arena champion!" Another swing, another dodge. Crush spun around, closing the distance, lining it up. "I am—"
This time when the punch came at him, Shift covered his boots in Black and tossed himself over it. He slammed a foot down on Crush's extended elbow, spreading the amber right up to Crush's shoulders, then grabbed Crush by the back of his shirt and used his weight to drive him face-first into the floor.
Crush fell, one arm trapped beneath his torso. Shift quickly pinned the rest of him down, pressing a hand with its fingerless gloves to the back of Crush's bare neck. Even with Black shifted, his Green got a solid read on Crush's Yellow to check for any surprises.
He was a Kinetic alright, about as basic as they came. Absorb the energy your body created or collected, then use the stored energy to amplify your own hits.
Boring.
"Did no one else show up when they crowned you champion?" said Shift, wondering who'd announce it once thirty seconds was up. Crush was bucking beneath him, the crowd not quite as rowdy as it'd been a minute ago. "So, do you want to give up, or—"
"Never surrender!" yelled Crush, increasing his thrashing.
Even so, Shift's hold on Crush was secure enough to hold him down — until it wasn't. One moment, his grip on Crush's neck and wrist was solid, and the next, his own hand slipped off and landed him flat on his face, like he'd been holding soap instead of skin.
Confused, Shift used Black on his glove to push himself away from Crush, narrowly avoiding an elbow to the throat. Back to dodging around Crush's fumbling punches, Shift rubbed his fingers across his palm. The glove didn't feel slippery, which was strange, because he'd been sure that—
Crush backed off a step, glancing back at the wall behind him with a thin, smug smile, no doubt preparing for the charge Athira had mentioned.
Shift stood at the centre of the cage, ready to avoid it and end the fight as for the second time, Crush bellowed two words and launched himself at the fence.
"Never surrender!"
As Crush bounced off the fence and hurtled towards him, Shift knew going over wouldn't be an option this time. He'd have to sidestep, grab Crush's extended arm, and pin him from there.
Shift twisted his foot, preparing for the movement — right as his boot lost all friction with the ground and slid out from under him.
He was on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the cage before he knew what was going on. He barely had time to lock his gaze on Crush and realise that nothing he could do was going to be fast enough to get him out of the way of the amber-tinted fist that was aimed directly at his face — and that he'd be lucky if the mask was the only thing that broke.
Centimetres from Shift's head, untethered Black engulfed Crush's fist and stopped it dead.
A voice like fire and fury cut through the roar of the crowd.
"You dare cheat in an arena match against my apprentice?"
Crush's arm snapped backwards, his elbow bending the wrong direction as something gave way with a sickening crack. He screamed and staggered back, clutching his limp limb as the darkness at the edge of the cage coalesced and swarmed through the bars.
Shift was back on his feet as the darkness split and Athira stepped out. She had a second, shorter man in her hand who she threw at Crush, hard enough to send them both crashing into the fence behind him.
"Not only did you cheat, you were dumb enough to do it in front of me," she growled. "Count yourself lucky that the only thing I broke was an arm."
Athira strode towards the door of the cage, flinging it open to a divided crowd, some cheering, others shouting insults, though most were locked in a stunned silence.
She hardly seemed to care; her attention fixed solely on Shift. "We're leaving."
"Shouldn't we ask about the information about the Sleepers before we leave?" said Shift quietly, joining her outside the cage door. It swung shut behind them, and they headed towards the exit, pushing through the variety of staring people.
"I'll come back for it when I trust myself not to rip his head off," she muttered, forcing the words through clenched teeth. "Right now, I might just—"
"You think you can just interfere with an arena match and walk away?" shouted someone in the crowd, joined by a multitude of others yelling similar things as they blocked the way. "We don't care who you think you are — there are rules!"
Athira's voice was dangerously calm, like the sea pulling back before the wave. "Move."
Shift stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder, his mouth near her cowl-covered ear. "We can just fly over them. Take my hand, and we'll—"
"They're escaping!"
"Get them!"
"What on Thols is going on out here?"
Up on the balcony, Chief strode out of his office and slammed his hands onto the railing, his presence silencing the roar of the crowd.
"Well?" Chief demanded. "What's your excuse for behaving like a group of uncivilised hooligans in my club?"
"The Owl interfered with an arena match!" yelled someone.
Chief's gaze snapped to Athira. "Why?"
"I interfered because Crush was cheating," said Athira, her voice rising over the crowd. "He broke the rules twice before I did anything."
"Is this true?" bellowed Chief, turning his attention to Crush who still lay in the arena, clutching his broken arm. A translucent, violet energy that resembled a spiked crown encircled Crush's head as Chief's Domination ability took effect. "Tell me the truth: did you cheat against the Owl's apprentice?"
"I did," wailed Crush, his voice pitched from pain. "I had Slip remove the friction twice, a-and—"
"Silence," said Chief stiffly, dismissing the crown. "I declare the Owl's involvement just, and her punishment enough. Cheating will not be tolerated in my arena."
"The wager was information about where the Sleepers are coming from," said Shift as Chief turned to leave. "And if Crush cheated, I win by default."
Chief glanced back, his mouth hard. "I had the eastern wing sealed off last week because Sleepers kept appearing in that area."
Athira snorted. "That's it?"
"It's more than you'll get from Crush, especially with his arm like that," said Chief. He raised his voice, bellowing across the club. "This matter is dismissed, and I will hear no more of it!"
The crowd dispersed, returning to quietly milling around the bars and lounges while someone hauled Crush and his lackey away.
"As for you two," said Chief, his gaze flicking from Athira to Shift. "I suggest you leave my establishment for the night before I have my guards show you the door."
It was a hollow threat, but as Chief disappeared back inside his office once more, Athira just took a long, drawn-out breath and shook her head.
"Just when I think I've found a use for Crush, and he still turns out to be a disappointment," she muttered. "Let's go before some other idiot does something dumb and I have to break another arm."
*+*+*+*
A/N - In some AU, this probably begins Shift's career as an Underground cage fighter, but alas, we're stuck in this one
Next chapter: ~uh oh~