A few weeks had passed, Nyx and Nate had been sending letters back and forth for those few weeks. Nyx now had a full visual in her mind of what Nate's friends looked like, and Nate had a full visual of Soul and Nerissa. Just in case either of them were pinned against each other, Nate and Nyx also told their friends all about the other friends. Just so everyone was in the loop.
Nyx sat down at her table in the mess hall next to Nerissa and across from Soul. "Hey, how are you guys?" Nyx asked quietly.
"I'm great! I think we have another fight happening today!" Nerissa sounded strangely cheery, probably because it was obvious that the contestant wasn't any of them, they would've been gathered already.
Speaking of, Nate was walking down the hall towards his room alongside Danny and Rhys. They were stopped in the hall by a heavyset guard and each of them looked slightly worried. Well, except for Rhys, he looked rather eager.
"Guess who the lucky one is?" The guard teased as he looked between the three guys.
Nerissa, Soul and Nyx sat on Nyx's bed and idly chatted while they waited for the stream to start. "Who do ya think will be picked this time around?" Soul asked quietly and she brushed some loose strands of fiery red hair off her pants.
"I don't know, I'm just glad it's not any of us." Nyx said as her eyes were glued to the screen, which was starting to come to life.
Zachariah appeared on the screen in a grand gesture. "Welcome! Welcome once again to The Battle of The Odds! We have an interesting matchup for you today. Combatant number one is...HARDWIRE!" Zachariah shouted triumphantly as he gestured to the left end of the arena. The elevator doors opened to reveal Danny.
"Oh shit! That's one of Nate's friends! Danny! Apparently he's like a human supercomputer." Nyx said as she pointed to the screen. Nyx raised an eyebrow as she saw a faint bruise on his face.
"Wait shh!" Nerissa said, clearly invested.
Zachariah continued his introductions after the crowd cheered for a bit. "Combatant number two is....MASAMUNE!" Zachariah said with a gesture to the right. The moment that name was uttered, Danny gasped as his eyes widened fast in fearful disbelief. Nate's eyes widened too, he couldn't be there to protect Danny this time.
"Oh FUCK!" Rhys shouted as he brought his hands up to hold his head. His voice laced with panic.
"Oh fuck..." Soul uttered softly in Nyx's room before she looked down with gritted teeth as she gently face palmed.
"Wait, is Masamune your brother?" Nyx asked her directly and Soul stiffened slightly.
"Yeah... I think we should pray for Nate's friend..." Soul sounded serious. Nyx's eyes widened in concern before she looked back at the screen. She finally actually saw Masamune, he looked exactly like Soul. Fiery red hair cut in an undercut, hazel eyes staring at Danny with a hardened gaze. His face was equally menacing and devilishly handsome. It was clear that he and Soul were twins from their matching mysterious charm. Danny took a few steps towards Damien, attempting to give him the same look, but he still radiated fear.
"3...2...1...FIGHT!" Zachariah belted out before Masamune lunged towards Danny. Whose eyes widened again before he quickly brought up his arms in front of him to block the blow that he thought was going to land.
But it didn't.
Danny's eyes opened again wide in shock as Masamune was suddenly behind him. Shit! I forgot how fast he is. Danny thought as he tried to turn around to block again. But he wasn't fast enough as Masamune sent a hard kick into the side of his head. Hard enough that if Danny wasn't gifted, it would've knocked him out cold. Instead, it sent him flying back a few feet before he slid across the ground in a crouched position.
"OH! Masamune is off to a great start here!" Zachariah narrated.
"Oh shit!" Rhys said in concern for his friend.
Danny's glasses were knocked off by the kick to the head. They sat on the ground in between them, one lens cracked. Danny slowly lifted his pounding head with a groan. His right eye was forced shut to prevent his blood from running into his eye, because he could definitely feel warmth running down the side of his head.
"Shit..." Danny mumbled to himself, his vision blurred from losing his glasses as well as the concussion he was sure he had. As Masamune approached Danny with malice in his stride, he stepped on Danny's glasses, breaking them completely. Danny quickly looked around, gathering as much info as he could to formulate a plan to potentially win this fight. He winced at the thumping in his head, Masamune knew that Danny's mind was his greatest weapon, so he crippled it. Danny looked slightly behind his left shoulder and spotted a tonfā, he quickly grabbed it just as Masamune lifted his hand swiftly with his first two fingers pointing up towards the sky. Danny brought up his arms again, his tonfā adding additional protection as a thick spike of pure shadow shot out the ground, coming straight out of Danny's shadow that he was casting on the ground. The spike perfectly stabbed into the tonfā and sent Danny into the air a few feet before he landed on his feet with a grunt.
"Holy shit! He's trying to kill him! That would've killed him!" Rhys was starting to become hysterical now.
"Rhys relax. Danny is resilient alright? Remember when he won against Nighthawk?" Drake said to reassure his friend.
"Wait, Nighthawk? You mean that insane winged fighter? Danny won against him?" Nate said in disbelief.
"Oh yeah, he just kept blocking and dodging until an opening presented itself, then he took him down in one blow. Danny may look weak and mild, but he's quite the opponent." Drake responded, looking at Nate. Rhys took a deep breath before he brought his attention back to the screen.
Masamune approached Danny again as he lowered his right arm, which was holding the tonfā. He brought up his left arm and wiped the blood off his face.
"You're lucky you know. Anyone else would've died from that." Masamune's voice was dark and slightly manic, sending a chill down Danny's spine.
"I guess that's why they put us against each other, huh? I'm not cocky, like you." Danny shot back with a hard gaze. Damien gritted his teeth in a low growl.
"I'll show you cocky." He responded in anger before he pulled a sword out of the ground and threw it at Danny with incredible speed. Danny's eyes went wide before he quickly reacted and ducked, feeling the wind as the sword flew over him. Danny had a sick feeling and looked down, he spotted a shadow spike flying towards his face from the shadow of the blade flying over him. His pupils narrowed in focus as he quickly leaned backwards with his head leaning as far back as he could. He BARELY dodged the spike that would've DEFINITELY killed him. He winced as it sliced through the bottom of his chin, leaving a small cut. Danny stumbled back from losing balance a little.
"That ASSHOLE!" Soul shouted in anger that was extremely rare for her. "Why is he going for blood like that?! Danny isn't even that much of a threat!" Soul was angry and had no problem showing it.
"I don't know man, but at least it seems like Danny knows how to handle himself. At least dodging." Nerissa added to try and calm down the energy in the room.
"Still...this doesn't seem fair, this guy is clearly S-Class and it seems to me like Danny's ability isn't very combat capable." Nyx spoke this time, biting her nail with anxiety.
Shit, I need to close this distance. Danny thought to himself as he struggled to block or dodge Damien's shadows as they tried to slash at him. Suddenly his mind thought of a plan, a really REALLY stupid plan. But this plan had to work, it came from Danny's brain. He quickly reeled back and whipped his tonfā at Masamune. Soul's twin subtly lifted and swiped his hand like he was swatting a fly. A shadow spike shot up from his shadow and parried the tonfā which spun fast in the air. Damien's eyes widened when he noticed Danny in the air in front of him. Danny grabbed the tonfā from the air as he fell through the air and slammed it down onto Masamune's head. He grunted in pain as he leaned down from the force that Danny hit him. A gasp emanated from the live audience.
"Oh wow! Looks like Hardwire has done some practice since his last fight folks! Let's see what happens." Zachariah sounded elated as he narrated the fight.
Masamune growled in anger before a shadow spike shot out from his own shadow, thankfully he wasn't looking at Danny and couldn't properly aim. So the spike only grazed Danny right in the crook of his neck causing him to wince in pain and a few drops of blood fell onto the ground. It stuck out like a sore thumb against the pale brown dirt. Everyone watching in their rooms was silent, gripped by the moment.
I got this close. No way I'm going anywhere now. Danny thought to himself before he threw a few more blows at Masamune, he dodged a few but a few hits landed. Everyone could tell that Masamune was starting to get angry. He brought up his foot and kicked Danny back, sending him sliding back a few feet. Danny glared at him before beginning rushing him again when suddenly...
Danny froze.
For everyone watching, it was only about a second. But for Danny...he saw a vision, suddenly projected into his mind, gripping every one of his senses. He saw this moment, fighting the insane Masamune. He saw himself rushing towards Damien when, almost in the blink of an eye, Danny was stabbed with three shadow spikes. One in his right hip, one in his stomach, and one in his left shoulder. Straight through his body. Then suddenly, Danny was back in reality. What the fuck? He thought in his mind as he stood there frozen, his foggy mind confused from what was happening.
Time slowed down for him after that.
His pupils narrowed in horrifying realization as the spikes stabbed through him with a sickening sound. Danny's eyes trembled as he looked down at his body, the spikes had stabbed straight through his body. Three times, exactly where he saw in that strange vision.
"HOLY FUCK! DANNY!" Rhys yelled in horror. Similar outbursts came from Nate and Drake in horror as they all sprang up from their seats.
"Oh my god..." Nyx choked out with a shaking voice with her hand over her mouth. Nerissa and Soul were simply speechless.
The whole arena was speechless.
"Know your place, weakling." Masamune growled out with malice dripping from his words as he slid the shadow spikes out of Danny's body with another visceral sound, blood fell off the spikes in streams as they slid out. Danny's eyes rolled back in his head as they fluttered shut and he landed on the ground with a dull thud. Blood already started to pool under him as a loud blaring alarm began sounding through the arena. The live stream cut abruptly as blue gas, presumably sleeping gas to sedate Masamune, started filling the arena quickly and armed guards began quickly filing into the arena with their guns ready.
"Holy shit holy shit, what just happened? WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?" Nate yelled in shock with his hands on his head, gripping his hair tightly.
"That psycho! He just..." Rhys trailed off as he stared at the TV with a blank and wide eyed expression. Drake was in a similar state, speechless. The three were abruptly shaken from their thoughts when they heard a loud noise coming from down the hallway before moving past their door.
Like a stretcher being rushed down the hallway.
The three looked at each other before running to the door and flinging it open, Nate looked down the hall and saw men rushing a stretcher down the hall as fast as they could run, he couldn't see who was on the stretcher. But he saw a blood covered hand hanging limp off the side.
Danny.
Nate ran down the hall after them, he could hear Drake and Rhys running after him. He wasn't focused on them right now though. Nate's eyes drifted to the ground where he could see drops of Danny's blood leaving a trail after him. The men that were rushing Danny to the infirmary slammed open the door with the stretcher. Nate and the others slowed down as they approached the door. Nate caught a glimpse of Danny as they turned the stretcher to a better position for the surgery that better save him.
Nate's eyes widened in horror as he caught a glimpse of Danny. He was covered in his own blood, his jumpsuit was also stained almost completely crimson. It was torn and shredded where Masamune had stabbed through him. His white hair was wet with his own blood in parts, sending a bone chilling contrast to the color. His eyes...were open.
Just barely, like Nate could only see it from the angle he was at, but Danny's eyes were open and his eyes looked...empty, glazed over. His mouth was also slightly open, the stains on his face implying that blood had been flowing out of his mouth as well.
Nate's eyes widened in horror upon seeing his friend in that horrible state. The door to the infirmary slammed in his face before he fell to his knees. Almost like his legs had given out beneath him. Rhys and Drake approached behind Nate as he fell. Rhys placed a comforting hand on Nate's shoulder in a gesture to comfort him. Even though Rhys was fighting his own emotional turmoil at the moment.
Nate stared at the ground with a horrified gaze. Why Danny? Why are they pinning people against people that are way too strong for them?
What the hell is going on here?
Why Danny...
Why...