Black Market Merchant

Owen was dumbfounded. The Queen was supposed to be cornered against the stages fence. Where could she have gone?

Everyone, but Owen, knew what had happened. Yet even they were stunned.

Backed into the fence, Queen had nowhere to go. But up!

Reaching up above her, Queen had grasped the chain link fence and yanked herself up, lifting her legs towards her chest and above her head. This caused her to immediately leave Owens sight and dodge him entirely. In that moment, she also saw Owens exposed backside. Thrusting her feet downwards, Queen squashed Owen into the ground! She stood triumphantly on top of his back, digging her heels into him. Seeing the sudden turn of events, the crowd lost it!

Queen had turned the tables with quite an unexpected counterattack. No one had seen this kind of attack being used to break out of being cornered and certainly not by a rookie woman either. It looked like Owens face had been smashed through and into the stage pavement.

Owen suddenly stirred and gave a powerful push up, knocking her off of him by brute force alone. She was launched off him like a rock from a catapult. Queen landed in the center of the stage and turned to face him, all the while she calmly retook her Ap Kubi stance.

"Well, I'd hoped that would have worked. It seems I underestimated him." Queen quickly thought.

Owen roared angrily as he spun around to face her. His arm and back muscles strained greatly in a show of his anger. As he turned around to face the Queen, darkly colored blood splattered in torrents across his chin, chest and the floor. His nose was smashed flat nearly beyond recognition. Grabbing it gingerly, Owen checked the damage with one hand. Pulling his hand away he yelled at Queen, pointing a bloody finger at her.

"Alright, no more Mr. Nice guy. You are going to die!" Owen was raging now and retook his boxer’s stance. Only this time it appeared different. No longer did he hold his head forward, guarded closely with his hands, but rather he held them out towards the Queen.

Unfazed Queen gave a cool smirk. "I think it's time to rap this up already. It's been fun, but you’re not good enough for me in the end."

Owen spat blood off of his lips and advanced while jabbing at her, trying to force her to give up an opening. Queen deflected the jabs effortlessly with her open Ap Kubi palms, all the while keeping her grey eyes focused on his center. His attacks now were nothing, just a rage filled tantrum and all to predictable. All she was doing now was grinding him down and wasting his energy. Eventually he would leave a tired opening for her to strike once again.

Shuffling half steps backwards, Queen gave up ground to her attacker and let him take the center stage. Owen kept up his attacks while maintaining a safe distance, so she couldn't use her counter attacks. Queen had just left the center of the stage when Owen made his next move. Giving a slightly longer right-handed jab, Queen was forced to lean back slightly, rather than deflecting it. Owen followed up seeing her movements change, with a swift right kick aimed at her side.

The strike caught the Queen unprepared and his leg struck her right onto her rib cage. Owen could feel that the impact was a solid hit. He had inflicted damage on her for sure. He went to retract his leg to follow up another attack. But his leg didn't budge.

The Queen gave a smile, seemingly unfazed, at Owen. She had grabbed his leg and jammed his ankle under her armpit with a standing leg lock. Owen struggle to maintain his balance and he spread his arms out to keep from falling over. Blood dripped thickly from his face as he tried to make sense of what happened.

"Her liver should have been damaged from my kick! How is she able to hold up?" Owen thought frantically. He was still trying to pull free from her grasp as he tried to not fall over, still balancing on one leg.

Queen was indeed feeling the pain from the impact of Owen’s kick. However, she was waiting for this moment. His guard was open and vulnerable now. She gave a heavy tug on his leg, pulling him towards her. Just as she did, Queen lunged forward and struck out at his head with her right hand.

Owen raised his hands up to block, but it was too late. Queens hand passed right through his arms and landed squarely onto his jaw. Stars burst into his vision as he reeled back. His bulky, muscular body flopped heavily onto the floor. Dazed he was unable to react as Queen pounced on top of his chest. She was able to make a full mount and started pounding at his face. His arms were sprawling in random directions, he was unable to defend himself. Blood splattered in every direction every time she raised her fists up from his face.

Suddenly, the body of the referee came flying in between them!

"It's over! Match over!" The referee yelled blocking Queen from attacking and waving his other black gloved hand back and forth in the air.

The Match Fight was over, with Queen being the clear the victor! The crowds cheering reverberated heavily in the arena and whistles pierced the air.

Queen leapt up grinning and spreading her arms wide, taking in the audience’s enthusiasm for her victory. She did so almost in a way that mimicked her failed opponent at the start of the match. The announcer declared her the winner over the microphone to the enthralled audience. Queen didn’t waste a second and excitedly exited the ring to headed towards Jerry, who was unsure whether to be enthusiastic or afraid in this situation.

"Come along Jerry." Lisa said still grinning and grabbing her things from the bench. "We must not keep Jackson waiting. We have much to talk about."

Medics came rushing on stage to check on Owen, who was still gasping for air while sprawled out on his back. Blood spilled out of his nose and forehead, forming a large red smear on the stage flooring. He was conscious, but his eyes stared up at the lighting above him emptily.

…

Jackson pounded his fist angrily onto the arm of his chair. Getting up he stormed out of his box seating and stomped down the hallway. The sounds of the crowd faded slowly as he headed down towards ground level.

"That fool, Owen. How could he have lost to that insufferable woman!" Jackson grumbled to himself. "She will not get the best of me. That I will make sure of."

He rounded the corner at the end of the hall and traveled with huffy stomps in the direction of his office. As he came closer there were several people blocking his way. He seethed within himself as soon as he saw who they were. It was another Mad Dogs Lieutenant, Xander Moran.

Xander oversaw security of the gang’s conclave and welfare of the visitors or occupants living with in. He also loved to annoy Jackson about anything he possibly could and point out every fault Jackson ever had committed. Needless to say, they were more like enemies than actual allies.

Xander's deep voice scratched gently as he spoke. "Well, well. If it isn't Jackson. My dearest friend." His grating voice was actually rather attractive sounding, if anyone didn't already know his true nature beforehand. To those that knew him, they knew everything he spoke was likely laced with venomous intent. "How unfortunate that another of your Fighters has lost. Even to some random Fighter that even I had never heard of until just recently. I just came to see how you were holding up. That and if you knew of her before this fight."

There were six guards that all had on matching red and black arm bands with the Mad Dogs symbol of a snarling wolf on them. They were known as Xander's own personal escorts. Each was respectfully equal to a top-notch Match Fighter in terms of combat ability.

"I'm fine, Xander. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to be meeting up with this woman." Jackson said pressing aside one of the guards that was in his way.

"So, you did know about her and didn't inform me of a potential threat to the safety of our base? Oh, very well, I'll let it go this once. After all if anything more happens, all the blame will be easy to blame on you" Xander replied eyeing his guard. The guard didn't make a fuss of Jackson’s brashness and let Jackson do as he pleased. "I see you are busy. We will talk later. It's just that I hope you aren't making any rash decisions that might negatively affect our bosses’ image."

Jackson rolled his eyes, then turned to face Xander. "It was a fair fight, and this minor upset is nothing. In fact, it will likely give some spark to the Arena's audience." He spoke as coolly as possible.

"I see." Xander said running his hand through his pale blonde hair. "Well, I let you be. However, if that Queen causes any disruption, I'll be the one to take care of her." Xander said turning to go.

Jackson also turned to leave, grumbling as he went. "One day I'll finally shut up that annoying mouth of yours."

Jackson reached the green door to the ‘Weightlifting Room’. Turning the knob, he pushed open the door holding his breath slightly as he did. He never enjoyed the overwhelming smell of sweat, not even when he himself trained. As soon as he came inside, he started yelling.

"Rickshaw, get over here!" Jackson called for the master trainer of all the gangs Match Fighters.

"Coming boss." Rickshaw called coming from the other end of the room. Rickshaw would religiously watch every fight that took place on the arena and had likely just come from the stands. He used to be a great Match Fighter years ago, but age had caught up to him. "Let me guess, you want to know why Owen lost. Simple, Queen was better." He said raising his hands in a shrug.

"She's a nobody. How could she best him?" Jackson replied hotly.

Rickshaw gave a thoughtful reply while rubbing at his grey beard. "The world is vast and full of many people we have yet to meet. Besides from what I saw this Queen is no stranger to violence or fighting. Her eyes never showed any flicker of uncertainty. She has been well trained before coming here and she has discipline, that is for a fact."

"Can anyone of our guys beat her?" Jackson asked.

"Hmm, I need to see her fight again. I sensed she had more to show us." Rickshaw replied wagging a finger in the air. "However, Owen was not our best. Not by a long shot." He gestured to several fighters’ pictures posted on the wall behind them. "No one is unbeatable. She is bound to slip up and we will be able to see."

"Good. Now for the next issue. I can't have Jerry be her handler. I need him for other work. I don't want her to have anyone capable either." Jackson said as he turned to walk back towards the hallway.

Rickshaw followed next to him giving his reply. "I think I have just the girl. She is willing to work, but her character is just too, how should I say this, soft? Getting any conversation out of her is just too taxing for me."

"She'll be fine as long as she's not competent. I don't intend to keep Queen around with us for long. She just irritated me too much earlier." Jackson said shaking his head.

Rickshaw nodded but decided to let the reason why he hated her left alone. It wasn't his place to make those decisions. "I'll let her know and send her to your office shortly."

Jackson nodded approvingly, opened the hallway door with an annoyed swoosh and headed to his office.

…

Special Officer Hawkins turned away from the screen and started issuing orders. "Caswell, get a copy of the fight and any audio we were able to get and send it to the Commander. I always want someone to keep a Fly Drone on the Queen. I need to know what's she is up to, where she is going to and with who. If she is our target, our jobs are going to get busy now!"

"Yes Sir!" Everyone in the Command Center chanted enthusiastically.

Hawkins turned back to look at a still image of the Queen on screen. He then spoke softly while giving a grin. "I found you!"