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Author's Note: Ch. 9, very fun chapter in my opinion. One more chapter to go and I must say I like my little surprise at the end, I hope everyone else does too.I'd like to thank djkauf for the devilishly good editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Nine:

“Hey KD, wake up”

The voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place. My brain was addled and my head hurt. It felt like a train had hit me. When I sat up and gave my forehead a good rub, things started to come back to me. Fugate was in the alley talking to that snake guy and when I tried to run someone grabbed me. It was a huge guy, he nearly choked me too death and then slammed my head against the wall. I groaned, blinking back the residual stars that still seemed to flutter around me. Then I blinked again, realizing they weren’t stars but tiny moths bouncing off the light above me. I looked about, shuddering at the cold. Concrete and metal bars, that’s all I could see. That and a cell very similar to the one I was in directly across from me.

This one wasn’t vacant either. There were two occupants, two very familiar occupants. I groaned. I guess it made sense when you thought about it. Of course, Terry would make them prisoners instead of putting them someplace else. It just pissed me off that I actually thought the others were my friends.

“Fite? “ I asked, crawling to the bars of my cell.

The DEO agent sighed heavily. “I thought you were dead for a minute there.”

I rubbed my neck, it was sore too. “I think a part of me wishes I was.”

“Your buddies not looking like buddies any more, huh?”

I shook my head. “They were never my friends.”

I quickly gave him a rundown of events, starting with meeting Rose way back when and leading up to before I was slammed against the wall. He nodded and kept silent through the whole story. Unlike the other DEO goons, Fite was one of the good guys. Once upon a time, I thought of him as a friend and hoped I still could now. It was a long shot but as far as I could tell the three of us were the only ones here. Not that Maad would be doing much. I looked over at him, he was slumped over in the back of their cell and he didn’t look really good.

“Is he going to be all right?” I asked.

Fite shrugged. “We’ve been here about as long as you have. Your teleporting friend brought us here after they hit the convoy. Maad tried to call for help right before but we’re not sure if he got through or not.”

I nodded. “We were on the news for a while but it didn’t last long. If they’re still looking for me, they’re not using the media to do it.”

Fite nodded and sighed. “Some shit you stepped into, KD.”

I smiled, happy that Fite always told it like it was. That’s why I needed him to be honest with me now. “You have any idea what’s going on here?”

He shook his head. “We haven’t seen or heard much, except that big dude that dragged you in here. He’s apparently our jailor.”

“Fugate called him Desmond.”

Fite nodded. “What are we dealing with, Kid?”

I bit my lip. I could trust him, I think. “At least three hostile Metas. You know about the teleporter and the girl with the axe. The one you didn’t see was Angelica, she does something freaky with her hands, they glow pink. Then there’s the big guy, he’s definitely not normal.”

Fite nodded. “What about your girl?”

I shook my head. “Rose has nothing to do with this,” I said angrily.

He held up his hands, showing he surrendered. “All the same, what’s her power?”

I sighed. “She’s a Precog but she can only see a few minutes at a time into the future.”

Fite groaned. “A few minutes is still bad. Precogs are hard to predict because they know what’s going to happen before you do. It’s easy for them to manipulate the situation.”

I shook my head and got angry. “Not Rose!”

Fite sighed and lowered his voice a bit. “You might be right but you need to look out for her all the same.”

I turned my back on him. I didn’t want to listen to his crap anymore. If I had to be stuck here with the “enemy” then I was going to do it in silence. It gave me some time to think about my situation anyway. It was clear that these cells weren’t in the clock factory or I would have seen them. My best guess was the building next door or one of the many others like it. They were just as rundown but completely boarded up and all their windows were blacked out. Besides poking around in the alley ---the place where they caught me---made some sense. It was clear that whatever Fugate and his henchmen were up to, they needed cells. I couldn’t imagine what for, though.

I sat in silence for the next few hours, torturing myself with horrible scenarios. What were they all about you might ask? Well, I’m sad to say that Fite’s words got to me. As much as I didn’t want to think about it, there was a very big possibility that Rose had in fact set me up. It was horrible to even fathom but it was hard not to when all the facts were in her favor. What made it worse was the fact that when I met her I hadn’t known her for very long and it was just too easy for the two of us to form a relationship.

I finally turned around, looking over at Fite’s cell again. He was sitting with his back to me, probably contemplating some things of his own.

“You don’t really think she set me up, do you?”

It took him about a minute to turn around. He frowned. “I just find it very convenient that you’re trying to run from us and one of the first people you meet to help you happens to be a Meta.”

I groaned. Now that I thought about it, it was too much of a coincidence. God I was such a stupid idiot. Still, there was a chance.

“She was on the run too,” I said, more for my benefit than trying to convince him.

He nodded. “In our line of work it’s hard to trust people.”

“I’m not like you.”

“You’re more like us than you think.”

That pissed me off. I was feeling particularly cranky these days, especially in my stomach. I think I knew what that meant but I’m not willing to admit it. Instead, I crossed my arms underneath my breasts, huffed and turned around again. Fite chuckled. I fell into self pity again, grumbling a while about how much I wasn’t like them. I wasn’t, no matter how much he thought I was. They were a crazy government organization that thought they were protecting the world and locking up people they thought were too dangerous to be roaming free. I wasn’t anything like that. Albeit I wanted to see some of these dangerous people behind bars as much as the rest of them but that didn’t make me as heartless as them. It just made me practical.

Another hour passed and I turned around again but this time it wasn’t to talk to Fite. It was to see who was coming. It was the scraping of metal on cement that drew my attention. It was coming from the end of the hall; at least I think it was a hall. It echoed down toward us, followed a few seconds later by footsteps. I tried not to look so anxious as I scurried to the bars of my cell to see who was coming. Maybe it was someone to get me, to explain that I’d learned my lesson. But I’m not that lucky, they put me in here for a reason.

When the footfall got close to me, I frowned. It was Fugate, looking as smug as ever. That giant from the alley was with him, much bigger than I remembered. This was the first time I got a good look at him and let me tell you, there was no way he was a normal human being. For one thing, he had to be almost eight feet tall and for another his body was huge. I’m not talking body builder huge either. This guy’s neck had to be as big around as a tree trunk and don’t even get me started on those arms. I’ve seen my fair share of bizarre things---this coming from the guy who fought a living bronze Minotaur---but looking at this monster before me, I was speechless.

Fugate seemed to notice too. He smiled. “Mr. Desmond has that way about him, isn’t that right, Block?”

The guy grunted, crossing his arms in front of him. I could see why they called him Block.

“Is this the part where you---as the villain---come to tell me your diabolical plan?”

Fugate laughed. “I’m afraid I’ve seen too many bad movies to know how that works” He sighed, running his fingers through his thinning hair, then he smiled. His smile creeped me out. “No, this is where I ask you what you think you know and you’re going to answer me.”

“And how is this not like one of those bad movies?”

Fugate didn’t look amused. But Fite did because he laughed. The big guy slammed his foot into the bars of Fite’s cell, causing him to flinch but nothing more. I think I might have mentioned that Fite was pretty intimidating and it was going to take a lot to scare him.

“So I’m to understand that you won’t be answering any of my questions then?”

“How can I answer questions when I don’t know the answers?”

Fugate pursed his lips. “Very well, Mr. Desmond, take our pretty little friend here to the arena and let’s see if we can’t beat the answers out of her.”

“Fugate” shouted Fite “she’s just a kid. Take me; I’ll answer any question you want.”

Fugate turned to him. “But you’ve already answered the questions I wanted to ask you.”

What the hell was going on here? What is the Arena? I looked over at Fite but he wouldn’t look directly at me. This was bad, real bad. When he finally did look---only for a split second---he frowned. Then I knew it was bad. Fugate didn’t wait around after that. He just looked at one of his many watches and shook his head, walking slowly away. Desmond stayed behind, staring at me through the bars. As soon as the metal door into the area clanged, the big guy pulled a key out of his shirt and unlocked my door. I took a chance and charged him. Hey, I had to try. He swatted me into the corner of the cell with the back of his hand. Man did it hurt like a bitch.

I stumbled to my feet, wobbled and tried again. But this time I tried to make a break for it, running to the left, hoping to get around his bulk. He caught me easily and lifted me off the ground, once again by my throat. He started to squeeze down on my neck, cutting off airflow. I kicked and squirmed but it was no use.

Then I blacked out.

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When I came to, the first thing I noticed were the bright lights. I had to shield my eyes as soon as I opened them. Why the hell was it so bright? After keeping one hand protecting my precious peepers, I used the other to push myself up. The second thing I noticed was the noise. At first it sounded like I was in a baseball stadium, there was shouting and stomping. I blinked a few times and looked around. What I saw was a so much worse. It was a giant cage. Ok, so maybe that’s not an accurate description. Have you ever seen those caged matches in wrestling, it was like that but not nearly on as grand a scale. It also looked ten times as deadly; the walls of this cage were metal but appeared to be wrapped in barbed wire. I looked around, trying to see if there was an easy way out of this. I saw one door, it too was barb wired. I noticed something else too, there was a video camera mounted in the corner. What the hell was this place?

I stood in the center of the cage, looking around, feeling overly exposed. Did I forget to mention that they ripped my shirt off? I was now standing there in my jeans and a sports bra. My hair was pulled back into a ponytail too and I was wearing a pair of fingerless gloves. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on here. This was the Arena that Fugate wanted me taken to, which meant he probably expected me to fight. Well he had another thought coming if he thought I was going to entertain the masses for him.

The lights were so bright that I couldn’t see any of the faces in the crowd but there were a lot of them. It was some kind of raised platform all around the sides of this building. There was no doubt in my mind now that I was in one of the other warehouses near the factory. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a completely different building than the one my cell was in. There had to be at least three or four buildings all close to one another, each one belonging to the clock factory. But we weren’t allowed to explore the others and now I knew why. I’m not sure if the other s knew about this place but seeing as there was a huge crowd, it was hard not to know.

It amazed me that all of this had been kept from me for almost a week. I had to wonder if Rose knew. I squinted, trying to see if I could see her amongst the many faces. But the lights were too bright and everyone looked the same. I frowned and moved closer to one of the walls. I made the mistake of getting to close, my finger brushing against one of the barbs. I jumped back as it sparked and shocked me. Jesus, not only was it barbed wire but apparently, it was electrified barbed wire. What kind of sadist was Fugate anyway?

I got my answer pretty quickly. There was some commotion directly in front of me. Then two large doors opened, leading to the outside, I think. More light streamed in, hitting me in the face. I shielded myself and when I lowered my hand, I saw Fugate walk in. He wasn’t alone; my former friends were with him. They were decked out in funky costumes; Elise even went so far as wearing a metal mask over her face. Fugate looked even more ridiculous, like a Circus Ringleader with his coat and top hat. In his hand was a megaphone and following him was a skinny guy with a video camera. I groaned, this was even more ridiculous than I thought.

Then Fugate spoke, no shouted into the megaphone. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, SETTLE DOWN PLEASE!” It took a few minutes for the screaming, stomping crowd to shout up. When it finally did, he shouted into the thing again. “WE HAVE A RARE TREAT FOR YOU TONIGHT. SO FAR THE DARK SIDE CLUB HAS BEEN ALL ABOUT PITTING MAN VS META IN THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE OF KILL OR BE KILLED” The crowd roared with excitement. “BUT TONIGHT, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME, I GIVE YOU META VS META”

The crowd went crazy. I scanned the group; the others were all lined up now. I sighed in relief when I noticed that Rose wasn’t among them. But I grimaced when I saw Desmond amongst the group, bare shirted and looking sinister. Did that mean what I thought it meant---God I hope not. I looked from each of the others in turn, they looked like they’d done this before, there wasn’t a worried or scared look to any of them. That didn’t bode well for me. After all I wasn’t’ a fighter, in fact the last time I’d been in a real fight was when I was younger. Yeah I know all about the whole spa thing but that wasn’t really against a real person and besides, Amy was there to help me some. This was pitting me against one of them, people I thought I was starting to become friends with. Which scared me just a little bit. But I suppose the alternative could have been worse, I could have been one of them and I could be forced to pound the snot out of some poor bastard.

I didn’t like the idea of that one bit.

Fugate continued to fire up the crowd a few seconds before passing the megaphone over to Angelica. She continued to shout into it as he walked over and stood about two feet from the cage. He smirked at me. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this you know.”

“So you recruit innocent kids like us and force us into this stupid Gladiator thing of yours?”

He laughed. “There’s nothing stupid about it. The Dark Side Club is one of the biggest underground Internet sensations; we get nearly three million hits a broadcast.”

I smirked. “How come I’ve never heard of it?”

“You’re not exactly our target audience.”

“I’m proud not to be part of the brain dead masses.”

Fugate stepped a little closer. He got close enough so no one else could hear him but me. “You don’t honestly think any of them really know what’s going on here. When I recruited all those freaks I saw dollar signs and why not. All you freaks are really good for is creating destruction. Your talents are wasted on playing pretend heroes and trying to save the day. If I didn’t try to turn a profit out of it, someone else would have.”

“Tell me that’s not the speech you used to trick them into this?”

“Trick? I didn’t trick them they volunteered for this” He turned and waved his hand at them. “All of them were shunned and kicked out of their homes, treated like dirt for what they were. I brought them in, gave them food and shelter. When I told them about my plan, they couldn’t sign up fast enough.”

“I see Rose turned you down” I shot back, confident that I finally had him.

He laughed really loud at that one. “Turned me down, are you out of your mind. She’s the best little fighter I’ve got.”

I shook my head. “You’re lying.”

He smirked. “I take it she failed to mention her nighttime activities in-between fingering you in the sheets.”

My anger flared and I charged the cage wall, stopping inches from frying myself. He laughed and pointed. I followed his finger into the stands. It took me a few seconds but I could just make out two figures. One of them was sitting down, his hands behind his back. It was Fite, he looked pretty battered but the shocking thing was the sword at his throat. I followed that up to its holder and was shocked to see Rose. She was dressed in a tight blue shirt, wearing that stupid eye patch again. She wore a blank expression but it was clear that no one was forcing her to be there. I was such an idiot to think that she was on my side. She was just like them.

“Ravager is one of our greatest pulls; if you’re lucky and survive long enough you might get a chance to test your might against her.”

I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. “I’m not fighting her or anyone else for that matter.”

Fugate laughed. “If you refuse, she’ll cut your friend’s throat. Then I’ll send Terry to that sweet little aunt of yours and he’ll bring her back here so your girlfriend can cut her throat too.”

This time I did slam into the wall of cage. Instead of feel the pain of electricity coursing through my body, I felt nothing. I gripped the barbed wire, it cut into my hands. Then it started to sizzle and spark, melting under my rage. Fugate looked scared but only for a second. He wagged his finger at me, regaining his composure quickly.

“Save it for the fight, my dear.”

‘When I’m done with them, I’m coming for your head.”

He smirked. “Just like he wants. He’ll be so pleased to see you finally embracing your true nature.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “You’ll see soon enough.”

He didn’t stay around for me to ask any more questions. Instead, he turned and walked back over to the group. He took the megaphone from Angelica---who had the crowd ready to tear the walls down in excitement. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN; ARE YOU READY FOR A FIGHT!”

The crowd screamed. He then went and put his hand over the head of each person in turn, trying to get the crowd to choose who would have first go at me. The idea being the one with the most shouts would ultimately be my first opponent. I didn’t really care which one it was, all I wanted was Fugate's head. The bastard needed to be stopped, this all needed to be stopped. I’m not sure what his ultimate end game really was but I couldn’t let this go on. He was exploiting Metas and turning a profit from it. It appalled me that the others would even think about being involved in this kind of crap.

A few minutes passed and the crowd shouted real louder. I looked at who his hand was hovering over and sighed, it was Angelica. Though I didn’t really know, what her power was I didn’t want to get hit by those glowing hands or hers. “WE HAVE OUR GLADIATOR” shouted Fugate, grabbing Angelica’s arm and raising it over her head.

He walked her over to me, the crowd shouted. Then he stopped and turned toward the crowd. “ROUND ONE IS BETWEEN DISRUPTOR AND THE RED DEVIL.”

Red Devil, seriously. Now that name was no longer cool.

Angelica walked up to the cage, smirking at me. She didn’t look very threatening, what with her being decked out in pink. “I can’t get your little Lesbo lover into the Ring but you’ll do for now.”

“This is ridiculous, we don’t have to fight.”

She smirked. “Sounds like you’re scared of me.”

I scoffed. “You’re going to get hurt, Angelica.”

She didn’t listen. Instead, she turned and raised her hands over her head, her fists glowing pink. Then she walked over to the door to the cage, Fugate followed her. He unlocked the door and smacked her playfully on the ass as she entered. She turned to him and blew a kiss. Then she turned to me and gave me the finger. She laughed and I rolled my eyes. It scared me that she was enjoying herself way too much. This was serious and she thought it was a game.

“Ladies” said Fugate, not into the megaphone this time. “The rules are simple: fight until one of you is either unconscious or dead.”

Nice rules.

There was no bell. One minute I was looking at Fugate and the next Angelica came at me. She was fast, faster than I would have expecting. She swung her fists like a maniac, me I did my best to keep away from her. I had no intention of fighting her. I think the crowd caught onto my tactic after a minute or two of me dodging. They started to boo and hiss. Angelica started to get really annoyed too. She stepped up her game, coming at me faster and with fury. Still she didn’t land a single blow. I don’t know any martial arts or self-defense. But it was common sense that when someone was trying to hit you, you stayed away from that person. Angelica was acting like this was the most important thing in the world to her and it might have been. But me, I didn’t want to hurt her.

She started getting tired. After all, she was doing all the work. It was kinda sad really. Then she got sloppy. She swung too low and I finally reacted. It wasn’t a very hard punch but it connected a little better than I thought. My fist drove into the side of her head, just above her right ear. Angelica screamed and stumbled back, tripping over her own feet. She fell into the far wall and screamed like she was being murdered. I ran forward quickly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her from the wall. She unconsciously slumped into my arms, the back of her pink outfit torn up by the barbed wire and her flesh burned by the electricity. It was clear that there was far too much flowing through those bars than was safe. I checked her pulse, it was shallow but she was alive.

Fugate walked over to the cage and glared inside. “What are you waiting for” he sneered.

“She needs medical attention, right now.”

Fugate didn’t look too pleased. “You know the rules.”

I shook my head. “Are you out of your damn mind?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked over to the cage and opened the door. I wanted to charge him but with Angelica in my arms, I couldn’t move fast enough. He walked to move, shaking his head. At first, I thought he was here for her so I passed her over. It was the worst mistake I could have ever made. Instead of being there to help her, he brandished a knife and shoved it into her rib cage. It was so quick I didn’t have time to react. When he pulled the knife out, he threw Angelica to the floor then turned to the screaming crowd, showing them the bloody knife. Rage filled me, I wanted to rip his heart out but instead I dropped to the ground to check on Angelica. Blood was already pooling underneath her. I checked her pulse but found none.

“You fucking son of a bitch” I said, jumping to my feet.

I charge him but he kept me at bay with the knife. “Kill or be killed” Then he raised the megaphone and shouted. “ROUND ONE GOES TO THE RED DEVIL.”

Terry appeared in the ring between the two of us, bent down to scoop up Angelica’s body then disappeared. I stared at the pool of blood then at Fugate. He moved quicker than me, making a fast break to the door. I almost got to him before he shut it in my face.

“Your just murdered her in cold blood.”

He shrugged. “She was good for a fuck but I was getting tired of her anyway.”

“You’re a bastard.”

He laughed. “Why do you think he picked me?”

“Who’s He?”

He smiled. “I think you already know.”

I looked at him confused for a second and then he turned away from the cage, walking back to address the crowd. “ONE GLADIATOR HAS MET HER FATE AT THE HANDS OF THE DEVIL” he shouted “WHO WILL BE THE NEXT BRAVE SOUL WORTHY TO STEP INTO THE RING OF DEATH.”

It didn’t take long for the crowd to pick Elise.

Fugate shouted. “ROUND TWO, THE PERSUADER VS. THE RED DEVIL.”

Elise stepped into the ring shortly after her name was called, looking a lot like Jason Voorhees bigger and scarier sister. Her glowing blue axe and metal face mask made her look like a force to be reckoned with. I knew there was no way I was going to get away with dancing around, avoiding her. Her axe had to have at least a ten-foot range and I already knew what she could do with it. Visions of those police cars came into my head and I shuddered. I suppose trying to talk to her was out of the question too. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

“Elise” I said, backing up a bit. “Think about this.”

“There’s nothing to think about, you betrayed us.”

I was surprised. “What did Fugate tell you?”

“Like you don’t know, you NARC.”

“He said I was a NARC?” She didn’t respond either way. “I caught him in an alley talking to some criminal I busted back in Illinois. They overheard me so that monster bastard slammed me into a wall.”

She wasn’t listening though. I’m not sure, if she really cared or if she was ignoring me. Whatever the reason she was pretty pissed. It didn’t take her long to start. She came at me just as fast as Angelica but unlike her, Elise didn’t need to get close to me. Her axe did all the work. I managed to dodge it---just barely---but the wind from it sent me stumbling backwards. It scared the hell out of me. Something like that shouldn’t be able to have that much power. I got my bearings and realized that in order to survive this I needed to keep that thing away from me.
She swung again, missing me by inches.

“This is crazy; you’re going to kill me with that thing.”

“That’s the idea”

“I’m not the enemy,” I said, barely getting away from another swing. “Fugate is using you and the others. Look what he did to Angelica; he killed her because she failed to stop me. Does that look like someone who’s playing with a full deck?”

“She knew the rules.”

I scoffed. “C’mon Elise, you’re smarter than that. You know this is wrong.”

She hesitated before swinging again. I thought I might have gotten to her but she shook her head. “Stop talking and fight.”

Her next swing got close enough that it cut some of my hair. The force of the swing through me back and I hit the barbed wire. The sharp metal cut into my back and the electricity tore through my body. I screamed in pain. I tried to push myself off but the barbs dug into my flesh and held firm. Every time I struggled, it just hurt even more. Elise stomped toward me and raised the axe, ready to bring it down on me---executioner style. The crowd cheered. I’m not sure what happened to me. My body got hot just like I was used to and the next minute the pain was gone. I roared in rage and anger, knowing that the masquerade was over. Gone was Ellie the sweet demure girl trying not to fight and in her place was my true self, the real Red Devil. The crowd fell silent, even Fugate was at a loss for words. Elise hesitated again. My anger took over. I screamed as I pulled myself off the barbs and charged at her full force. She recovered quickly enough, throwing up the axe across her chest to protect her.

I slammed my shoulder into it, knocking her back. She was a lot heavier than I expected so she managed to stop herself from hitting the wall and getting stuck there. But she wasn’t quite strong enough to force me away. I pushed with all my strength, which sadly for her wasn’t enough for her to hold. She screamed as she lost some ground, giving it one final push. She was aided by stomping on my foot, taking me off guard. I let go of the axe handle, she punched me in the face and I stumbled back.

“What in God’s name are you?”

“This is really me,” I said, my voice rumbling. “Ellie is a disguise, nothing more. This is what I really look like, the Red Devil incarnate.”

“You’re a demon?”

I shook my head. “I’m a human being just like you. And seeing as both of us are humans, we can stop this before it gets any further.” I held out my hand toward her, hoping she’d drop her axe and help me. “Are you a human or something else?”

She didn’t say anything for the longest time. She did lower the axe, which was something. She turned and looked out of the cage, looking at the crowd. Then she scanned the faces of Fugate and Desmond, her eyes finally locking with Terry’s. There was something there still, a spark maybe. They stared at each for the longest time and then nodded.

Elsie turned toward me and tore off her mask, smiling. “I’m a human but I can’t be involved with this anymore.” She tossed her axe on the ground at my feet. “For what it’s worth, Rose was never involved. He threatened to call her father and hand her over if she didn’t help him. Go easy on her, she really does love you.”

Terry appeared in the ring, wrapping his arms around her. He looked at me. “Thanks for trying to help Angie and for not killing my girlfriend.”

I nodded and smiled. He nodded and the two of them disappeared.

As soon as it was clear they weren’t going to reappear somewhere else in the ring, the crowd rioted. They started to boo and hiss and tossed things at Fugate. He put his hands over his head to block the projectiles. Me, I transformed back into Ellie, letting out a big sigh of relief. Hopefully this was enough to ruin the son of a bitch. I watched as several people started getting up, storming toward the exits. Fugate looked frantic; he raised his megaphone, trying to call them back. But no matter how he shouted, they wouldn’t listen. He looked desperate until he looked up into the stands and saw Rose. Now the people were filing out, she looked directly at me.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, HOW ABOUT A VERY SPECIAL TREAT. ONE TIME ONLY, RAVAGER VS THE RED DEVIL.”

The shock on Rose’s face mirrored my own. I shook my head and shouted at him but he ignored me. There was no way I was going to fight Rose in the ring. She seemed to shout something too. I looked over at her; she pushed Fite to the ground and jumped out of stands. Then she stalked over, putting one of her blades underneath Fugate’s chin. Desmond stepped forward to stop her but she snapped the other one around, keeping him at bay too.

“That was not a part of the plan.”

Fugate smirked. “Plans change.”

“I’m not getting into the ring to kill my girlfriend.”

Fugate turned and looked at me then at Desmond. He smirked. “Either get into the ring with her now or else I’ll have Desmond break her in two while you stand here and watch.”

Rose looked at me, tears streaming down her cheeks. I shook my head, tears running down mine. She lowered her swords and walked slowly over. I shook my head again. “You can’t do this, run and get the police. I’ll be all right, I can handle Desmond.”

“No you can’t,” she sobbed, closing her eyes and opening them a second later. “He’s going to kill you. I’ve already seen it.”

“The future can be changed.”

She shook her head. “Not the kind I see.”

She tossed her swords on the ground, probably hoping to make things fair. But there was nothing fair about her fighting me. She’d be able to tell everything I was going to do before I did it. That’s why she was such a good fighter after all. It would be no contest and I think she knew that. She lowered her head as she walked over to the door. Fugate looked like he was on Cloud Nine. He walked with a skip in his step as he unlocked the door for her.

“If you kill her, I’ll give your father fake coordinates, send him on a wild goose chase somewhere.”

Rose nodded. “It doesn’t matter,” she said softly.

“Have a good match ladies” he said and then eyed us both. “Remember the rules and don’t forget, the world is watching.”

He stepped away from the cage then addressed the crowd, firing them up. Only small portions of them were gone. The rest were back in their seats, ready to watch our fight. Rose and I were both crying, pacing around the ring in a circle. Neither one of us wanted to make the first move. She already knew when I was going to go so as long as I stalled things maybe the two of us could tire the crowd into boredom and get them to leave. It was a long shot but Fugate was nothing without his precious crowd.

“I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work.”

I bit my lip. “We have to try something.”

“There’s nothing,” she said, sobbing. “So quick, change into the demon and strike me down. I won’t budge an inch.”

She stopped moving.

“I’m not going to kill you.”

“You should, I’m a horrible person,” She was openly crying now. “I didn’t just meet you by chance in that boutique; I knew who you were before I went in there.”

I was confused but didn’t care. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does. I’ve been with Fugate for about two months. Terry picked me up two days after I ran away from home, he brought me here. Then about a day before we met, Fugate told me he had a mission for me. I was suppose to go to Iowa and get you. He said if I did that then he’d let me go. So I agreed and Terry teleported me to the shop. I didn’t know who you were; you were the means to an end. All I had to do is get you to come to LA and his boss would be happy.”

“His boss, who is he?”

She shrugged. “Fugate said the guy’s name was Mr. Darksyde but I overheard him talking to someone once, he called him Neroc or something.”

I groaned. It hit me like a weight to the chest. “Neron?"

She nodded. “That’s it.”

I groaned. It made some sense now. That’s why he hadn’t gone after me; he was having Fugate do it for him. He was a slimy bastard but a smart one too. I should have seen it from the beginning but I was too stupid. I bit my lip. “It doesn’t matter; you’re the only thing that matters to me now.” I turned and looked at Fugate and Desmond. “We can take them, then the two of us can get out of here.”

Rose shook her head. “You don’t understand. If we flee, Desmond will kill us.”

I shook my head, reaching out and taking her hand. “I won’t let anyone harm you.”

“LADIES WHY ARE YOU HOLDING HANDS” Fugate sounded pretty pissed off when he shouted into the megaphone. “YOU SHOULD BE TEARING EACH OTHER APART, NOT GETTING ALL TOUCHY FEELY IN THERE.”

“Go fuck yourself, Clock King,” snapped Rose, giving my hand a good squeeze. “We’re tired of playing your stupid game.”

Fugate smirked. “VERY TOUCHING BUT VERY STUPID” he turned to Desmond and shouted. “RIP THEM TO PIECES.”

Desmond stomped over to the cell. He took a hold of the side of the cage, the electricity and barbed wire had no effect on him either apparently. He gave it a good yank and tore the wall clean off, tossing it behind him. There was several screams as it hurled into the stands, narrowly missing several patrons. The spectators started to flee after that, I think they knew when things were over. Fugate tried to call them back but there was nothing stopping them from running. He looked a bit hysterical in his shouting but it was clear he was finished this time for good.
We were finished too.

“I’ve been waiting months to smash your smug little face into the ground, Wilson.”

Desmond stepped into the cage and cracked his knuckles, grinning at the two of us. I let go of Rose’s hand, pushing her behind me then transformed back into my demonic self. Desmond laughed, clearly not intimidated. He took one thunderous step toward me, raised his hand and prepared to bring it down on my head. I flinched and saw a streak of green. It came out of nowhere. It stunned all three of us. I looked down at our feet, at the foreign object sticking in the mat separating him from us then I smiled.

It was a green arrow.