[A/N: Hey guys, I rewrote chapter 22 - Alita's realisation; check it out if you like, but nothing significant was changed. I just brought it more in line with Alita's actual character.]
In response to Ivar's question, Nova glared at him, clearly unwilling to give up despite the fact that she was on the back foot in this fight.
Meanwhile, neither of them noticed Alita had disappeared.
Of course, even if Ivar had noticed, he knew Selene would warn him if anything required his attention.
Regardless, seeing Nova was still unwilling to admit defeat, Ivar advanced on her, intending to finish the fight once and for all.
However, when he got close enough, Nova suddenly smirked as she extended her wings and twirled around, slamming one of her wings into Ivar's body.
The hit was heavy, and despite the difference in strength, Ivar found himself lifted off the floor and slammed against one of the walls with a heavy boom, causing deep cracks to appear.
Ivar felt the breath knocked out of him as he slid down to the ground.
He landed on his two feet, still a little dizzy, but quickly pulled himself together as he prepared for a follow-up attack from Nova.
However, one look at Nova made him realise no such thing was coming as she had sunk back to one knee, panting heavily, after pulling off that surprise wing attack.
Ivar smirked, "That was good! I didn't expect you to be able to do anything with your wings for a while yet, but that was a good shot! I also didn't expect those wings to be so heavy and sturdy; they look a lot flimsier."
He started leisurely walking towards Nova. He still felt some pain from the fight, but most of it came from Nova's final wing attack and wasn't enough to impair his movement.
Of course, he was cautious of another sneak attack by Nova, but no such thing came, even when he was standing in front of her, and she glared at him with anger and annoyance; she still didn't make a move, clearly exhausted and in pain.
Ivar grinned and grabbed Nova by the throat before he lifted her up and made her look into his eyes, "I'll ask again. Give up?"
Thinking about the consequences that would come from a loss, Nova didn't want to give in, but there was nothing else she could do now.
Her body was exhausted and in pain so that she could barely lift a finger, and this man had her by the throat, entirely at his mercy.
She grumbled, but to her credit, she kept her cold look and didn't give Ivar the satisfaction of showing him the anger and disappointment she felt towards herself.
Finally, as Ivar's hand around her throat was causing her more and more discomfort, she spoke up, "Fine."
Ivar raised an eyebrow, "Fine, what?"
Nova sighed, "Fine, I give up. You win."
Ivar laughed, "Good! Now then, time to claim my prize."
As he said so, he grinned while extending his other hand to pull down Nova's hot pants, exposing her black underwear.
Nova immediately lost her stoic expression as her worst fears came true, causing her to panic. She found some energy and tried to push Ivar away, "Wait! Wait! That wasn't part of the deal!"
Ivar was looking at her with lustful eyes, "Maybe not. But as they say, to the winner, go the spoils!"
Nova was frantic as she saw Ivar prepare to pull down her panties, "No! I- I'll hate you forever! Nothing can make that okay! Not even Alita will condone it!"
Ivar just laughed, "What if I don't care? Who's going to stop me!?"
Nova realised he was serious as tears appeared in her eyes; across all her years on the streets, this was the first time someone got this close to raping her, and all she could feel was despair, "P- Please don't."
Ivar suddenly stopped and looked at her strangely, "This is really important to you, huh? Honestly, I didn't expect you to feel this strongly about it after spending so much time living on the street."
Then he smirked as he pulled her pants back and up and released her throat from his grip, causing her to sink to her knees in a daze.
Ivar crouched down and looked her in the eyes, "You can relax; I much prefer willing partners; plus, I honestly respect you as a fighter, and I'll never force myself on you, or anyone for that matter; I just wanted you to know that I could.
Still, I am not a good person; even if I'm unwilling to rape anyone, there are still plenty of terrible things I can do to both you and your precious Sanctuary.
So you best play ball, Nova. Otherwise, at the very least, you will never see Alita again since she will follow wherever I go."
Realising it was all just a way to make her fear him, Nova felt both extremely relieved and furious, a strange combination of emotions she had trouble understanding.
Still, she had known Ivar was dangerous from the start and had expected him to threaten her somehow, so she really shouldn't be surprised or feel betrayed by his actions.
That realisation caused her fury to diminish as the knowledge he was at least unwilling to use, or even threaten, with rape caused her relief to increase.
Tears streamed from her eyes as relief won out among her emotions, and combined with her exhausted and aching body, she collapsed under her own weight.
Before she hit the ground, however, Ivar caught her with a smirk and took her into a princess carry.
Realising what happened and finally calming down a little, Nova glared at Ivar, "Asshole."
Ivar grinned, "Man, are you hard to please! First, I don't force myself on you, then I carry you around like a princess, and I'm still an asshole!"
Nova rolled her tear-stained eyes, "Oh, you just think you're hilarious, don't you."
Ivar laughed, "Well, sure. How does that human saying go? I think, therefore, I am? Well…"
Nova laughed a little despite herself, "That's not how that works! Now, will you put me down somewhere?!"
The relief and even some faint gratitude had broken down some barriers Nova had put up against Ivar.
She still didn't trust the man, of course, nor was she actually sure he wouldn't stoop to rape, and she would prefer he simply pissed off without taking away the power he had given Alita and herself.
Still, so far, his actions seemed to align with his words, suggesting he at least had some lines he wouldn't cross, unlike many other people she had met in her life.
However, before Ivar could find a place to put Nova down, he suddenly heard Selene warning him in his head, "Quickly, suppress her transformation again!"
Wondering what this was about, but trusting Selene, he bit his finger and, under Nova's confused expression, made the same symbol on her forehead that he had made before.
It quickly absorbed into her skin, causing Nova to groan as that pressure once again built up in her head, and her Valkyrie transformation slipped through her fingers.
After it was done, she looked at Ivar with an aggrieved face, about to complain, when suddenly, a little blue ball of energy in the form of a short girl stormed into the room but froze upon noticing the big, muscled man with Nova in his arms.
She pointed at him with all the defiance her little body could muster and said, "You! I don't know who you are or how you got in here, but let Nova go right now, or you'll have me to deal with!"
Behind her, Alita strolled in and scratched her head, "Sorry, there were a lot of people out there, and Molly here kind of slipped past me."
******
A few minutes earlier, when the fight had just started, Alita suddenly realised that a fight between these two powerhouses might alert the people downstairs, something neither Nova nor Ivar seemed to have realised, as they were too focused on their fight.
Deciding it would probably be best to intercept any possible investigations, lest they see something they shouldn't, she moved out of the room to take point at the bottom of the stairs to the penthouse.
It didn't take long before some people realised there was a big fight going on somewhere in the building, and since this was a gang's headquarters, they were quick to involve guns.
Soon enough, a group of people had gathered in front of Alita, with Molly, the nurse, and Ista, the daytime guard captain, in the front.
Ista spoke up in an angry tone, "Why are you blocking the way, Alita?! If the boss is fighting, we need to help!"
They knew it was Nova who was fighting because Molly had received an alert from Nova's health monitor, something Selene had stopped blocking after the conversion was done.
Which was a good thing; otherwise, Molly would have realised something was wrong when she found out Nova had been in a fight without her health monitor showing any change.