POV Natalie
They've moved me to where I'm always beside Benjamin when I'm not fighting.
He wants to keep an eye on me.
But, I'm now allowed to interfere in a fight I want to be in. Like if one of the contestants is somebody that looks like I can take down.
I'm only using it to save the weak ones.
Until I was told to stop. Now I have to watch as they get beaten, sometimes worse than that.
They made me watch a kid die. They made me watch a kid die. His screams and pleads still ring in my ears, and his face is behind my eyes every time I close my eyes.
It's been who knows how many days since I've seen the sun. Most of the time when I'm not fighting I have the hood up. I'm having trouble recalling what I look like.
Benjamin nudges my shoulder and I stand.
This has become the signal. If he wants me to fight a contestant, he'll nudge me. If I want to fight, I stand.
Cheers erupt for their undefeated new champion.
I jump the balcony and land on the dirt with a whoosh of air.
There are those who challenge me directly just to be reset and fixed before I seriously harm them. Word has gotten around the fighters pretty quickly.
When I stand, I look at who I'm supposed to be fighting.
Tall. Lean. Experienced. Fast. Weak.
Reset:
- Neck
- Right arm
- Feet
This is now how my thoughts come and go in the ring. No more than three words per thought.
He looks me over, then gets down to fight. I do the same with my eyes trained on him.
Target.
Otherwise saying not to let my eyes stray from him.
He charges, I pause.
Wait.
The distance is closing fast, I notice a blade in his right hand.
Wait.
He jumps off the ground and is above me, aiming the knife.
Put on a show.
I slide back and back flip, my foot clocking him in the jaw.
Neck done.
He falls onto the ground with a thud that knocks all the air out of his lungs. I race towards the gasping figure.
He manages to roll over onto his knees. I grab his shoulder as I jump over him and flip him over my head.
Click, snap.
Arm done.
He cries out and grabs his shoulder as he stumbles away from me.
There's a look in his eyes that I know all too well. It's in all the fighter's eyes now.
Fear.
I lunge before he can regain balance and slip my feet below his knee, kicking him back to the ground.
SNAP.
Feet done.
Finish.
I do a slow circle around him, letting the crowd know I'm about to do my "signature move".
They cheer louder and harder, some screaming.
The man groans and rolls into the fetal position.
"Thanks." He whispers.
I nod,
"See you next time." He nods with a faint smile.
Cheering. Disgusting, enthusiastic cheering.
About somebody who might die.
I step back and the jump, my foot aimed directly for his neck.
"Stop!" Benjamin's demand reaches my ears, but I'm already in motion.
I can't stop it, not now. So I redirect it. Instead of hitting his neck I his his spine.
He yelps, curling into a tighter ball.
I turn to the balcony with a quick "Sorry" to the man.
"New recruits, ladies and gentlemen, have arrived... on their own." The crowd falls silent.
Who.
It doesn't need to be said. It's the question on everyone's thoughts.
For somebody to have found the Arena, without help from one of the regular's, is so rare that it's not even thought of. But for somebody to have not only found it, but to want to fight as well...
... it's unheard of.
The announcer continues,
"We have the one and only, Neal Caffrey!"
The crowd's noise is drowned out into white noise. I don't hear anything but his name ringing in me ears.
What the hell is he doing here?!!
Keep calm. No emotion.
Benjamin is watching me in the arena, his eyes trained to spot any weakness I might show. Then I'll be hit. And they'll be at least stabbed.
"And his sidekick, Peter Burke!" The white noise increases.
Deep breath. Breath normally. No emotion.
"And last, but not least, Jake Jackson!"
Jake.
Despite all of the crap going on, heading his name makes me calm. It sends me into a calamity that I can only feel whenever I know I'll win.
And that only happens whenever me and Jake are together. Nothing can stop us.
We even had a Team Name back when we started all this. Team NC.
He thought it meant the chemicals.
I thought it meant Neal.
"Gypsy!" I look up at Benjamin's call, "Get up here, they can deal with the rest."
I nod and climb back up to the Balcony in a string of fluidly connected movements.
The crowd is going nuts. They seem to know the same thing I do, that shit is about to go down.
Let's see...
Benjamin motions for me to sit beside his chair, like I was before. I kneel and toss my hood up before shifting into the crisscross position.
The fighting continues. I rest up, my palms on my knees and my face in the general direction of the arena.
But my eyes are elsewhere.
New recruits are brought in under the other balcony, close enough to the arena that the only thing separating them is a fence.
A blood stained, barbed wire, diamond pattern fence.
And through that fence I can see them.
Jake, Peter, then Neal.
The trio is sat beside the old ring master, probably told they will watch two matches and then fight whoever Gypsy chooses, and left alone.
Time flies. Not because I'm having fun, but because I'm too focused on the conversation Trio is having to pay attention to much else.
Well, that and Benjamin's stare. He knows who Jake is to me.
And by the tense position he is in, he did not know that this would be the move Jake would make.
We got him, Brother. Now just tell me the rest of your plan.