A few years went by and Havok turned eight years old, and he gradually became better at fighting. Even though he couldn't win many fights because he always fought multiple kids at one. He did pick up one thing from the fights he both watched and participated in.
The more injured and bloody your opponents ended up, the more others would think about challenging you,
"I'm going to lose, but I'll make sure at least one of you ends up beside me in the infirmary." Said an eight-year-old Havok, with a neutral expression on his face.
The other kids knew that he wasn't joking, during the last few fights he was finally able to cause some substantial damage, granted it was only to one of his attackers.
….
Two weeks ago, four of the kids started surrounding Havok and realizing what was happening he decided to move first.
He picked the kid with the slowest reaction time, something he gathered from all the beatings was their strengths, weaknesses and other tendencies. Havok knew the other kids would start jumping him as soon as they got to him, so he needed to act fast.
He picked the chubby kid. He had tanned skin and a big mole on his upper lip below his nose. His hair was brown and medium length, it stopped just above his ears. in front of him on his left-hand side and sprinted towards him. As he expected the chubby kid was slow to react, Havok was already in front of him kicking him in the groin before he could block or dodge it.
Bam!
"Ugh!"
Once the chubby kid started to double over in pain, Havok used that momentum to jump and knee him in the face with all the power he could muster, breaking his nose and drawing blood. The chubby kid's knees hit the ground as he grabbed his face and bellowed in pain.
Although his knee was throbbing in pain from the impact Havok ignored it. The other kids were now only a few feet away, so Havok knew he had one last attack before they caught him. The chubby kid looked up at Havok with hate and rage in his eyes as he held his bloody nose only to see both of Havok's hands moving towards his eyes.
Havok trying to do something that would have a lasting effect, he dug his thumbs into the fat kid's eyes drawing blood. However, he didn't stop there. His thumbs kept digging deeper and deeper. What followed was a scream that drew the attention of all the kids around them.
"Ahhhhhh! Stop! Stop! Ahhhhhh!"
Looking over towards the commotion, most of the kids were nonchalant to what was happening, they were more surprised by who the attacker was. It was the kid who was often on the other end of attacks, destroying the chubby kid. It only lasted for a brief second before the other kids arrived and started pummeling, but Havok smiled as he had achieved his goal for this fight. He quickly got down into the fetal position and covered his head.
The beating continued until they felt satisfied with the injuries Havok sustained and they needed to leave before the staff intervened. Havok took a deep breath and sprawled out on the ground looking over at the chubby kid. He winced in pain and grabbed the left side of his ribs, but other than some bruising he was relatively fine considering his opponent's current condition. When he saw the chubby kid still on the ground holding his eyes while sobbing, his smile grew even bigger.
"How does it feel? Huh? You better think twice before you decide to pick a fight with me, you fat fuck! On the bright side at least, no one will have to see that disgusting looking mole. Hahaha! Cough. Cough." Havok yelled happily as he mocked the chubby kid until his ribs started to hurt and that's when the coughing ensued. The chubby kid was in position to respond as he was sobbing as he held his eyes. Although Havok was in pain from the injury to his ribs, there was still a smile on his face. He knew that it was nothing compared to the injuries of his opponent.
A few minutes later the medics came with stretchers and picked both of them up. Aside from making sure the kids didn't die, the medics usually only did the bare minimum when it came to treatments. The medics recommended to the staff that Havok not fight for at least a month because he had several cracked ribs.
For the chubby kid one of his eyes was in better condition than the other. Due to Havok being right-handed it's only natural that hand is stronger and causes more damage than his left. His left eye was severely damaged and would take at least a month to heal. The medics blind folded both of the chubby kids' eyes, so they had to keep him in the infirmary. Only after a week would they remove it, then they would give him an eye patch for his left eye for the next month.
After the staff received the report, two people in blue lab coats came and took the chubby kid away for treatment. There were two staff members in white lab coats there and they left the room right after the report. Havok was left in the infirmary all alone. As he was lying down on the bed, he heard the two people with white coats arguing loudly in the hall.
Havok only heard bits and pieces of the staff conversation due to being too far away from the hallway where the argument was taking place, so he was unable to fully understand what they were talking about. He did hear them angry about the two kids missing time and not being able to fight. He was confused about why they wanted him and the others to fight but knew that there would be some form of punishment based on how furious the staff members were when discussing both of them missing time.
Havok was surprised that the staff even cared how injured they got or if they were able to fight. He knew that the people who ran the orphanage were corrupt as could be. They'd place bets on the kids' fights, often beat them for so-called 'disciple' and some of the kids would just mysteriously disappear.
He was thinking about the staff's conversation and the two people who stepped out of the room earlier returned and told Havok as well as the chubby kid who was brought into the room right before they returned what their punishments would be.
They were both going to clean the restrooms until they were healed. Which may not sound that bad at first, but there were dozens of unsupervised boys, and these bathrooms were filthy. If you need to pee it is better to just go and do it outside. As for taking a number two, you would have to use the restrooms because the toilet paper was locked in place. Unless you wanted to use alternative methods for wiping.
Next, their food rations were cut in half, although what they were served would only be described as 'food' by someone who has never tried it before. It was still something that Havok would need if he didn't want to be on the verge of starving constantly.
Their sleeping time was lowered for Havok; this was the punishment that damaged him the most. He spent about half of his day sleeping, it was his favorite thing to do after all.
Havok was escorted from the infirmary back to his room. He made sure to breathe lightly to make sure that he kept the pain to a minimum.
Over the next couple of weeks Havok would often have to listen to the staff complain about him costing them money. He knew that they placed bets on fights that broke out between the kids, but there were always injuries, so he didn't understand why they cared so much now. In addition to his punishment, the number of times that he was hit by the staff increased drastically, which is not something that would help him heal quicker.
'If you want me to fight, then let me heal properly. Stop hitting me because one of these times you are going to cause another injury or reinjure my ribs. I also need sleep and food; these people really are idiots.' Is what Havok thought as he climbed up off the ground after being kicked in the back by a staff member, but he knew better than to say that out loud as that would just lead to more 'discipline'. Currently, it was just one or two hits, and he preferred that over getting a full-on beating.
When he was younger the adults in charge didn't seem to care much when fights broke out, in fact they would encourage the kids to fight each other for their own entertainment to make some extra money. Usually, the fights only ended when someone was unable to fight back. However, after returning from the infirmary Havok noticed that the staff stepped in earlier to break up fights to avoid any major injuries. He figured it must have something to do with them being so concerned about injuries all of the sudden. He figured this must also have something to do with why the staff was so furious that he and the chubby kid were too injured to fight.
Havok was sitting on the bleachers even though his ribs had yet to fully heal. He knew that it was risky to be walking around with the possibility of getting into a fight, especially with an injury that could easily be worsened if he got hit in the ribs. Even though he wanted to just stay in his room, any time he fell asleep the staff would show up and wake him up and they were certainly not gentle. He decided that the risk of getting injured was higher by being hit by an adult that is several times larger and stronger than him for sleeping, rather than someone his age with a similar size and strength. He just made sure to look out for anyone looking to pick a fight with him.
The other kids in his group had already participated in a few fights and were talking about it. Havok for the first few weeks after his injury only completed the tasks he was given for punishment. Other than that, he spent all of his time in his room, making sure to avoid any fights while he was so vulnerable. Today was his first day going to the backyard, so when he heard what they were talking about he made sure to get close enough to hear all about it.
A lightbulb seemed to light up over Havok's head as he heard what they were talking about. The reactions by the staff earlier finally made sense. The number of kids in the orphanage was always in flux, so losing two fighters was not good for the staffs bottom-line.
He also thought about the new kids that had been showing up recently. Havok barely interacted with the kids who have been here with him from the beginning, so could not find a reason to get to know the new arrivals. He didn't even know the names of the kids that have been here all along and that would be the same for the new kids. What is the point if they might not be here for long? Kids would often just disappear. Besides, the only person he actually spoke to was himself. Unless he was taunting someone before, during or after a fight, you would think that he was a mute.
The past couple of weeks while he was completing his punishments, he noticed several new faces. They all looked different from each other, from pale kids to darker skinned kids and everything in-between. Until now all the kids he saw had lighter skin tones than him. This was Havok's first time seeing someone that has the same color skin as him. Other than observing them for a few extra seconds, he didn't care that much. If they got into a fight, it would not make him take it easy on them and he had no desire to have friends. It has been 'friends', who are the most ruthless people here. The betrayal was endless, all it took was for someone to get jealous or angry or just bored and the 'friendships' ended rather abruptly.
He snapped out of his thoughts and continued to listen to what they were saying.
The fights were set up tournament style, every kid that was eight years old was forced to fight unless they wanted 'severe discipline'. Normally if an eight-year-old fights it would be rather boring since they didn't really know how to fight unless they were properly trained. However, the kids here have been fighting ever since they could walk. The way the others were describing their fights they were both bloody and brutal.
The staff kept all the kids' wins and losses recorded, so that they could make sure the betting odds made sense. They never explicitly told the kids what their records were and the kids didn't keep track of it, but you could tell who was doing the best based on their treatment from the staff. The few kids who won the staff money got to choose from a few extra perks, like switching rooms, getting more 'food', more time in the backyard or things of that nature.
Havok frowned when he heard about what the winner would get. 'These morons, all of those perks are trash. Only an insane person would want more 'food', all the rooms are basically the same and we already spend most of the day being allowed to go to the recreational area. How boring.' Havok thought as he let out a sigh.
Right after Havok lost interest, one of them brought up the library. Havok's eyes lit up and his interest in their conversation was renewed as this was a word that he had never heard before. "It's just a dusty place that has a bunch of boring books, stories about other people and other stuff that I don't care about. It's not like any of us can read anyways. What idiot will pick that if they win?" One of the kids that seemed to be in charge of the few kids around him said with disdain.
Havok, who was listening to their conversation, smiled as he was intrigued. None of the other perks made him excited. This one did, even though he didn't know how to read, he was confident that he would be able to teach himself.