"These two women are monsters! Both have taken an unthinkable amount of damage and are still fighting desperately to knock the other down! It's like I'm watching a match between gladiators! Who wants it more? Who has the grit? Who's gonna take it all the way home!?" The announcer's voice roars as I absent-mindedly watch the fight.
"Yikes." Jessie's teeth slowly grind together while their good hand grips their forehead.
"What? What's wrong?"
"I don't think Rosa is going to win."
"What!? But I bet my mortgage on her!" Victoria scoots even further up the seat than when she was watching the match.
"Again!? Where'd you get the money?"
"I bet on you losing the match against Rosa with a loan I took out. Made a good chunk of change and spent what I made on this." How did she take a loan that fast!?
"She's struggling more than I'd expect her to. I didn't come in using my Antique because I heard she was competing and thought she had no chance of losing." They rest their head in their hand while looking at the fight. "This is no good..."
"So what do we do now?" I ask.
"Only one thing to do now! We get the Antique the Curator way!" Their hands disappear behind their back and their revolver that I saw get confiscated miraculously appears when they bring them back out. "Tada!"
"How did you-?"
"A hero never reveals their secrets!"
"The gang leader should have a ton of money on him! And I can get him to forgive the loan and steal back our mortgage and even make a profit!" Victoria goes hunting down her pants and pulls out the Antique I knew she had on her. I don't even want to know where she was hiding it.
"If you both had your Antiques the whole time, why didn't we do this from the start!?"
"Money," Victoria admits.
"Training!" Jessie glows.
"Figures."
"Follow me, gang! We've got to get to the Antique before they bring it out to the winner! No time to waste!" My head is throbbing the moment my knees try to bring me back up. It feels like I got smashed into a million pieces and I'm still trying to piece myself together.
Jessie pushes through the crowd, up the stadium stairs, and towards a black pathway hiding along the wall of the stadium. The easiest thing to compare it to would be the entrance football players come out when they're coming to the field. A man crossing his arms with muscles that crest down to his hands stands before the path Jessie is leading us to. His bright pink button-up shirt glows in the dim lighting, and his black pants hug tight onto his legs. Beside him, a sign is printed in bold black letters.
"That says Clous Roulles members only."
"We can read Ren," Victoria replies.
"What's your plan to get past it then!?"
"I've got it handled Ren. Little detour and we'll be behind him in seconds."
I expect Jessie to pull out their revolver and blast a teleporting bullet past the guard, an idea that's going to draw the attention of the entire crowd of people who already have reasons to hate us. But instead, Jessie pivots and leads us away from the guard. In the complete opposite direction of where they initially wanted to go...
What could they be up to? What reckless plan are they going to make me a part of?
After two minutes of walking through the excited crowd and up a carpeted staircase, Jessie presents the women's bathroom as their triumphant solution to accessing the members-only section.
"I'm not going in there. It's… not right."
"But we need to get the Antique before it's given to the winner!"
"And there's no other way to get inside the restricted area?"
"Not unless you want to go in guns blazing! But if you do, I'm not opposed!"
The shame of walking into the women's restroom within sight of hundreds of people, or the danger of angering the organization responsible for an underground fighting ring this big?
"Let's go in the bathroom..."
The door opens just as we are about to enter, and a chubby woman with short black hair sees Jessie about to grab the handle. Her blue eyes stare at our odd group, focus darting from Jessie, then Victoria, then homing in on me. It's understandable. Out of all of us, I probably look the most out of place inside. Which is why I probably should've just said we should rush the guarded entrance through.
"Don't mind us!" Jessie grins.
"They're with me," Victoria says like it'll be any help. The woman curiously moves out of our way and watches the three of us all walk into the woman's bathroom. I feel as dirty as the look she's giving me.
The inside of the bathroom is clean, better than what I'd expect from a bathroom for a sporting event. The walls are a spotless light blue, the mirror is stain-free. Now inside, something calls to Jessie, leading them to ignore the first and last stalls and walk into the middlemost toilet. My wet feet freeze walking along the tile floor. They couldn't give me a second to put on some shoes or socks? No matter how clean it seems it's still a bathroom floor.
Hanging above the middle stall's toilet, a metal vent attached to the wall looms overhead. "Is this it? How do you know where it leads?"
"I've been here a couple of times. One year I thought it'd be useful to take a tour of the place!"
"Through the vents?"
"Through the vents!"
"So you casually climbed into the vents? What possessed you to do that?"
"Surveillance is one of the sharpest tools of a hero. Learning everything you can about the places you frequent will ensure a mission success!"
Jessie climbs up on the toilet and finds a way to rip the vent door off its hinges with one good hand. They then toss the door onto the ground behind them and pull themselves up into it. Victoria's small body follows through the small shaft with relative ease.
Now it's my turn I guess. I should probably follow them inside. Yep... Just have to crawl inside a vent inside an underground fight club into a restricted space.
But what if I didn't?
If I run back outside right now, if I sit this one out and just watch the fight while they get up to whatever trouble they're planning, would they be able to catch me? The longer I think about it, the more time I'm giving them to notice I'm gone. If I want out, I'll have to act now!
I turn around, intending to see how far I'll make it before I see them again until something grabs my hair.
"Ow! What in the-"
I turn to see Victoria, hanging halfway out the vent with a clump of my hair in her hand. Jessie's hands are linked with her ankles, keeping her from falling face-first onto the toilet seat. Jessie moves back through the vent, reeling Victoria's body back with them, and because of the iron hold she has on my hair, I'm being pulled with them!
I attack her wrists with my hands trying to yank them away from my follicles, but the extra force only hurts me more than Victoria's pulling. Then I shift to placing both hands on her wrists, putting stress on the bone to make her let go out of fear I might break it. It's not working very well, because she and Jessie keep pulling me up without a care. My feet hover just above the ground and I'm being sucked further into the black hole of a vent.
My fingertips scrape the edge of the vent behind me, and pulling up on it releases the nagging tension that Jessie and Victoria are inflicting on me. I pull harder, lifting myself onto the cold metal lip, and with the help of a profound tug, my body is pulled to rest on it fully. The vent I've been kidnapped into is just big enough to accommodate a little arm movement, but the way forward looks like an abyss.
I should've known running from these two wouldn't be that easy. I should know by now that Victoria's a master at getting what she wants, and her wants have a pattern of bringing harm to me. Even Jessie tends to put their wishes or objectives over those of others, no matter how good their intentions are. But I didn't think they'd go so far as to scalp me to do it.
"What was that!" I scream, soothing the bruised hairs on my head.
"Shhh. They'll hear us."
"Don't 'Shhh' me! You and Victoria nearly pulled a patch of my hair out!"
"It would've grown back, stop whining." Victoria hushes.
"It's not just about the hair! It's the principle of it!" If I wasn't in this vent right now, I swear I'd be taking swings at both of them by now...
"Sorry Ren, but since you're regarded as an Antique, we can take our eyes off you for a second. If you left on our watch and something happened, we'd be punished, and you'd be locked up!"
"There were a million other ways you could have gotten me to stay! You didn't even want to try and talk to me!?"
"We are in a bit of a time crunch. Given that Rosa's currently hanging by a thread in the finals, we need to find the Antique before the match ends!"
"Well, I'm not sorry. You shoulda known better than to try and run away."
"I'm not your dog Victoria. You can't punish me for trying to save myself! And can you move your butt out my face!"
"I can't go any faster, Ren. Just sit back and enjoy the view!"
"The vent is dark! I can hardly see your flat ass as is!"
"Flat!?" The bottom of her shoe punishes my forehead.
"Shhh! The vents aren't soundproof and we should be over their territory by now. Villains might hear uuaaahhhh!" Jessie's voice tapers off below us.
I can't see past Victoria, but the dim light climbing into the metal cave probably means they fell through.
Victoria slides face-first down a sunny hole. Without her blocking my view, I can see a long fall and a swinging hatch at the bottom of the pit. Is Jessie okay after falling this whole way down?
I peek through and see both of them splayed out atop each other on a similar carpet as the one outside.
How am I supposed to fall without hurting myself? There's not enough space for me to turn around a slide, if I'm going down I'm going face first. And that doesn't sound too appealing.
I watch Jessie get up first, scratching their head after the long fall. They look up to see me still safe in the vent and beckon me to come down. I shake my head for obvious reasons.
They hold out their arms, telling me they'll catch me.
I almost shake my head again, but swallow my fear and put my trust in them.
My head sags into the hungry metal pit, dragging the rest of my body farther inside. There's still time to turn back. Pull myself back up and go back the way I came. But that'll probably bring a bunch of other problems my way when Victoria and Jessie find me later. Not to mention what could happen if some woman sees me climbing out of a vent into the bathroom. Yeah, I'd rather break my neck from the fall than do that.
My body slides down, and my stomach drops to my toes as the wind against my ears grows louder. Jessie, you better catch me!
The sprinting air and torrent of fear mix, clamping my eyes shut; and they stay shut until I'm forcefully stopped. My stomach shifts back to normal, and my chest lands on the soft pile of bodies resting below the vent hole.
"Oof!" Both Jessie and Victoria cough out.
I open my eyes and see I'm lying on Jessie, who's fallen on top of Victoria. "Nice landing." Victoria pushes both of us off the pile and sits upright. After rolling off Jessie, I stand to my feet at the same time as the rest of my odd crew.
The place we've landed is a poorly lit sort of hallway. Some faint fluorescent lights stretch along the corners of the ceiling. Down one side of the hallway, a different kind of light tries to illuminate our dark path and just barely stretches a fraction of itself to us. Accompanying the light, roars of the crowd race into the tunnel like words through a throat. The pocked silhouette of the man guarding the VIP area is outlined by the light.
We've made it. But just barely.
"We're lucky the cheers drowned out the sound of the vent falling. Not the exit I was going for, but the covert ops team on the scene!" I silently hush Jessie's announcement of our arrival.
Looking back at the guard of the entrance, thankfully Jessie's right and he didn't hear our horrible landing over the lively crowd. Ahead of us, the path takes a sharp right turn, cutting the line of sight between the main stadium and whatever is beyond it.
As long as we stay hidden, we might be able to find this Antique without a fight. I just have to try my best to keep a leash on Victoria... And contain Jessie's flamboyant outbursts...
"Is that where we're going?" I whisper.
Jessie sends a thumbs up and pokes his finger towards the corner. Victoria and I get the memo and get moving. As we round the corner, escaping any possible scrutiny from the guard at the front, two sets of eyes catch our fledgling covert infiltration.
Damn it they've seen us.
Underneath a pair of aviator sunglasses, a man wearing plaid checkered pants a tee shirt, and a denim jacket watches us. A tattoo of a crown is painted on the man's neck. Next to him a round woman with jogging pants and a long sleeve shirt with flowing green sleeves eyes us with sudden surprise. The same crown tattoo sits on her hand. They stare at us conspicuous Curators. Jessie and I stare back like deer in headlights, while Victoria runs headfirst into them.
Their faces pop with panic and they both reach for their sides, setting their guns' sights on her. But she weaves to the right, setting the man's aim off-center. By the time he corrects the gun's sight, Victoria has already swiped her card on his exposed forearm. His body freezes, locked by the cage Victoria put around his mind. The emotion washes from the man's face, looking like a robot. Has she not been running with all she has back home!? She cut through the space between us and the enemies so fast!
But the woman's glinting weapon is still a problem. She's maybe a second away from poking a hole through Victoria's head!
Out of the corner of my eye, Jessie's revolver is rising to attention. Their quick hands are bringing the weapon to its place faster than the woman can correct her aim. But Victoria's so close to them. Shit, should they even shoot! A gunshot will blow our cover! The guard at the front will hear us, and he'll bring their whole group down on us!
"Knock her out," Victora commands before Jessie can take the shot.
The man swings his arm with little build-up, setting the course for his partner's head. Gripped at the end of his hammer arm, the butt of the gun pokes out just enough to be used as a bludgeoning tool. I catch a warm bead of sweat running down the woman's face. She probably could've put a bullet into Victoria by now and maybe freed her friend by killing Victoria. But her need for self-preservation takes over her instinct to kill, and she moves to defend her head instead of pulling the trigger.
Before her arms can truly block the front of her head, the rough steel beats into her head, and stars circle over her head. A punch to the back of the head from Victoria turns the woman's stagger into a coma on the ground. With the order complete, Victoria's slave stands motionless, visibly unresponsive to helping knock out his friend. This is the first time I've seen someone else inflicted by Victoria's mind control. Is this how I normally look to everyone else?
"Good job Victoria! You took care of these guys excellently!" Jessie's smile sends a glow to Victoria's ego.
"Yeah, I'm pretty great. Something like that is simple for someone like me!"
"You almost got shot," I comment, trying to douse her raging pride before it grows too big.
"What almost happened doesn't really matter though does it?" Victoria grins at her robot. "I saved us and that's all you need to care about."
Looking at this man's silent body is making me uncomfortable... "Can you free him? Or at least knock him out?"
"Wait before you do that." Jessie says with a full grin, "I have the perfect idea."
Jessie slides the jacket off the man while also fighting to get their arms out of their costume. Then they move onto the man's shirt, then they grip at his pants and I sense I don't want to see the rest of it.
"What are you doing!?" I ask as I turn away from Jessie stripping some random guy.
"Well, I assume Victoria would want the girl's costume. But if she doesn't, I could try and fit into that too."
"Why are you even taking off his clothes!"
"Well we don't know who's going to be waiting for us beyond this, and our clothes kind of make us stick out like an artist change for your favorite comic series. Especially since they were likely watching us compete. So, some new clothes seem like the best solution!"
"Weren't you the one who said we had a time limit!" Then again, the longer we sit here, the more I get to spend not fighting whoever's got the Antique. If Jessie feels like wasting all their time trying on new clothes and misses the Antique, I'm not the one getting hurt.
"You're right. I'll make mine quick, then we've got to run!"