-Isaac Allen's View-
In a few minutes I was going to fight against a particular kid that Joe had persistently told me not to fight. It wasn't because he could beat me in a fight, but because of his family. This kid, was the son of a known mobster here in Central City. His name wasn't important.
I was threatened to throw the fight or else I'd have to "suffer the consequences." So either, I throw the fight and prove that I'm a little pussy who's scared of the mob, or I could fight him and win a bunch of money from my bets and Mick's bets, because everyone is certain to bet against me and this will probably have the most viewers because people expect me to throw the fight.
As of now, I had an undefeated record, so I don't know how much longer my haters are going to bet against me and lose more money out of spite.
I was only this confident to fight him because I knew that in a way, as long as I was in Central City, I basically had an entire police force to back me up if anything were to go down.
I was in my locker room and I had just put my gloves on, practicing my left and right hooks. After that, I meditated before the fight. Meditation helps me relax and gives me greater focus during fights.
I knew that the real reason I wasn't losing a single fight was because of the Star Force. Even though it's not fully recovered, it was still physically strengthening me every day.
Joe was pacing back and forth behind me while Mick stood beside me. Mick was my guy in the corner who told me what to do, my trainer essentially. He definitely treated me differently than every other fighter in the gym.
Maybe because I was the only kid?
"Tate, be careful of his swings, knowing his family background, they probably could've put spikes in his gloves. This match could also be fixed because that referee looked very suspicious-"
"Joe." My calm voice brought Joe out of his rambling state as he looked at me.
"It's going to be okay. I'm better than you think." An official came into the locker, signaling it was time to step into the ring.
"Real quick, I'd like for it to be known that after I win this fight, I'm probably going to need more police protection for my traveling to Starling City for that charity boxing event." I stated confidently.
I was invited to see a couple people fight and fight a guy, plus there was a party after. This was being held in Starling City, and guess who was organizing the event?
The Queen family! That's a surprise right? I mean for the five years that the Queen family lost Robert and Oliver, they had all became depressed and never did anything outside of drugs, not spending time together, and handling the family business.
They left all of the company needs to Walter while Thea Queen tended to sit around all day moping, smoking, and doing drugs. Meanwhile, Moira was planning the Undertaking with Malcolm Merlyn and friends.
'What caused this event to take place? Perhaps Laurel or Tommy?'
Whatever the reason, I was glad to finally fight some other Under-18 boxers in a different city and prove that I am in fact the best under-18 boxer in the country, and no one would come close to me.
Joe agreed to having extra security and made sure to be in my corner for this fight. Anything could go down today after all.
I stepped into the ring, as the referee said the usual things a referee needs to say.
"Turn him into a meat bag kid!" Mickey yelled from behind me. A glanced back at him with a smirk and nodded. I liked when Mick was yelling things in my corner, they were often funny and random remarks that helped me stay calm.
"Touch gloves." When I stepped up to the middle of the ring to touch this spoiled little shit's gloves, I noticed the smirk on his face.
"What?"
"Nothing, it's just that your pretty boy boxing isn't going to get you out of this one. Your face is gonna look like Swiss cheese."
'Okay, so that means that either I'm going to get shot multiple times in the face in the middle of this fight, or he's got something crazy under his gloves.' I thought amusingly.
Let's go with the latter.. hopefully. I'm not that worried, this kid won't even touch me. Swiss cheese my ass.
*DING DING DING!*
I jumped back and started to lightly bounce around the kid, analyzing him and trying to figure out and counter his first move before he even thought about making it.
He unexpectedly ran towards me with his fist cocked back stupidly in a cartoonish manner. I stood there, feigning shock, before slipping his throw, moving to the right and delivered a liver shot with my left.
A bunch of pained "Ooh's" and defeated "Awh's" came from the crowd after that hit.
"Haha! Yeah! He's hunched! Gut him like a pig then KO him with your fists of steel!" Mick yelled. I smiled amusingly at his antics, but decided to do it for him.
The kid was hunched over with a loud groan. I subconsciously was about to kick him in the face because of my Jeet Kun Do practices.
I held that urge back and turned to my left, now directly facing him. I drove my left into his gut, then my right into his face, dropping him onto the canvas, completely knocking him out like a light.
I wanted to toy with him, but taking this fight was putting a big enough target on my back. The last thing I wanted to do, was aggravate the Mob even more.
The referee came and checked the status of the kid and sighed in disappointment. I found that quite funny, because he didn't even try to hide it. I guess we know who he bet money on in this fight.
The referee came over and lifted my hand into the air, declaring me the winner by knockout. Only a few people aside from Mick and Joe had cheered for me, the rest were neutral about the win or mad that I won. Probably because they bet against me.
I stepped out of the ring and went to the lockers to shower and get dressed. Dawned in a blue shirt, black shorts, and white running shoes, I left left the building with Mick and Joe. From the moment we left the door, all the way until we made it to his car, he had his hand on his pistol.
Mick was going to drive home by himself.
"Joe, the match just ended, I think it'd be fine if you took your hand off your holster." Joe refuted.
"Look, the fact I let you take that fight, having my hand on my holster is the least of your worries." Joe stated sternly.
I shook my head and smiled hopelessly at how protective Joe was being over me. I very clearly understood why though.
I gave Mick a hug before departing with Joe back home.
-Thea Queen's View-
I sat on my bed, scrolling through social media on my phone since there was nothing else to do. I blocked any post that had any mention of Oliver's disappearance though, I still wasn't over it. While I was scrolling, there was a certain post and account that had caught my eye. [@therealstar]
(A/N: The social media platform they're using is Facebook for now)
[Starling City, here I come! #ImTheBestBoxerUnder18andNoOneCanContestToThatFact] I giggled at the hashtag, but my attention was mainly on the image of the post. It was a picture of a cute boy around my age holding a belt that he seemed to have won a few weeks ago in some kind of competition.
I clicked the account in interest and began scrolling down. I frowned at an image of him hugging this girl, but it went away when I looked at the caption.
[Happy Birthday Iris! #BestSister]
I sighed in relief, continuing to scroll down, not even noticing when my mom had walked in and saw who's account I was stalking.
'Wow! We have the same birthday? That's cool. Hm, that must be his grandpa. Awh, his mother passed away, but there doesn't seem to be a post about his father?' I was about to research that, but a voice brought me back to reality.
"It seems like you have a crush on the future guest of our charity event. Looks like you're stalking him too." I jumped and gasped at her sudden arrival.
"When did you get in here?"
"A minute or two ago. Usually you notice when I walk in, so I came to see what had you that busy." She said with a knowing smile.
"M-Mom I don't even know him yet. How could I have a crush on somebody I haven't met? And stalking? That's ridiculous" I asked, stumbling over a word and not looking at her directly.
"Yeah sure, I was coming to tell you that Walter and I are going out so you'll be home alone again.." A heavy silence tackled the room after she said that. "Ahem. We'll be back."
I nodded as she left the house.
I sighed and looked back at my phone. Oliver's death has really effected our family over the last three years. The house hasn't been lively for a while now, and me, my Mom, and Walter don't communicate a lot. Well, that was more on my end than anything. I didn't feel like I could connect with them on the level I wanted to.
I grabbed the bag of pills from behind my pillow, intending to take a few, but looking back at my phone, I had to rethink that decision. I had scrolled so far on his page so I know that he had an even more tragic upbringing than me.
(A/N: In the case about his mother's passing, he absolutely does not mention the man in yellow or lightning storms inside his house. That kinda talk tends to scare the girls away lol. All he does is post a picture of her for her birthday and death date saying happy birthday and RIP respectively)
He got to where he is now by hard work and not wallowing in self pity. We're the same age! So what is my excuse for being this way? I can't say that I was closer to my brother than he was to his mother because that's not a fair comparison and that's rude.
'I want to believe that I can be him, but I know I can't. I need help.' I thought with a sigh before swallowing two of the pills, putting them somewhere else in my room. I then went back to my phone and stared at the follow button, pondering if I should click it or not.
'There's no harm in following him right? We'll be meeting each other anyway.' I ultimately clicked the follow button and quickly turned off my phone, not wanting to think about this anymore.
——
(A/N: This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written in my life lol)