Thursday morning - At the Arena
Jul. 25th, 2014 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
masterofgunfuThe next morning I stood outside what had once been called the Cooler, Atlanta's ice skating rink. It was brick and oval in shape and rose at least four stories, stretching into the morning sky for what seemed like forever. Buildings this size were rare in Atlanta. Magic had a way of eating and collapsing anything past two stories.
A hundred yards from the Arena was a wooden tower and perched atop was a set of mounted machine guns and cheiroballistra. Tall enough to cover nearly the whole of the parking lot and close enough to cover the roof of the Arena. I also spied the distinctive red and black uniforms of the Red Guard. In the highly competitive field of mercenary work, there were few corporations and among them, the Red Guard were the best. From every report I've read and every encounter I've had with them, they've earned their pay and reputation. Looks like blood sport paid well though, as the Red Guard charged a premium.
OK, enough rumination. I stepped over a two-foot wide, fluorescent while line (obviously marking where the Red Guard's responsibility began and ended) and headed for the service entrance. I doubted the fighters were expected to enter through the front doors.
I quickly found the check in and gave my name and team to the woman working the checkin desk; Red Guard, again, and someone high in the chain of command, if I didn't miss my guess.
"'The Fools'? Is that a description of your team's intelligence or your need to amuse?" She asked me with a completely blank face.
I smiled, completely friendly-like. "No clue. I wasn't part of that decision."
"Fair enough. Go through those doors and I'll have someone meet you to escort you to your team's rooms," She said, eyeing my three duffles worth of weapons. "And just to be clear, there is no fighting outside of the sand. During a match, you guys can try and kill each other all you want. Outside of one, stay out of each other's way. That clear?"
"Crystal."
A hundred yards from the Arena was a wooden tower and perched atop was a set of mounted machine guns and cheiroballistra. Tall enough to cover nearly the whole of the parking lot and close enough to cover the roof of the Arena. I also spied the distinctive red and black uniforms of the Red Guard. In the highly competitive field of mercenary work, there were few corporations and among them, the Red Guard were the best. From every report I've read and every encounter I've had with them, they've earned their pay and reputation. Looks like blood sport paid well though, as the Red Guard charged a premium.
OK, enough rumination. I stepped over a two-foot wide, fluorescent while line (obviously marking where the Red Guard's responsibility began and ended) and headed for the service entrance. I doubted the fighters were expected to enter through the front doors.
I quickly found the check in and gave my name and team to the woman working the checkin desk; Red Guard, again, and someone high in the chain of command, if I didn't miss my guess.
"'The Fools'? Is that a description of your team's intelligence or your need to amuse?" She asked me with a completely blank face.
I smiled, completely friendly-like. "No clue. I wasn't part of that decision."
"Fair enough. Go through those doors and I'll have someone meet you to escort you to your team's rooms," She said, eyeing my three duffles worth of weapons. "And just to be clear, there is no fighting outside of the sand. During a match, you guys can try and kill each other all you want. Outside of one, stay out of each other's way. That clear?"
"Crystal."
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Date: 2014-07-25 04:37 pm (UTC)"Sling?!?" I yelled in outrage when Raphael explained the team roles to me. The others had come in more or less altogether; Raphael, Derek, Doolittle, Jim, and some kid named Dali. Kate walked in just as I was screaming, so that left just one missing member, since each team had to have seven fighters; Doolittle was our doctor and wouldn't be fighting. The roles were easy to understand and given cute little names, which someone really wanted to all start with S for some reason: Stratego, Stone, Sling, Swordmaster, Shield, Shiv, and Spell.
Jim was Stratego, which as a cat, fit him perfectly. I was Sling, still a stupid ass name. Kate was Swordmaster, Derek was Shield (a defensive fighter), Raphael was Shiv, and Dali was Spell. All that was missing at this point was our Stone, the heavy fighter.
"Sling?" I repeated, just to make sure my outrage was clear, as I started loading magazines. I stood before a table I had claimed and had my babies all laid out; my SIG-saurs, a couple of Colts, a Beretta, a few Smith & Wesson, a pair of tactical crossbows, and plenty more besides.
"It's just a figure of speech," Raphael said, trying to mollify me.
I looked at Kate and grinned evilly. "You know what they can do with their sling? They can stick up their asses!"
"Well, technically it's more of a ranged weapon, Andrea…" Kate said with a smirk. I had walked right into that one.
"Screw you!" I said trying not to smirk myself. "I'm not going out there with a little rag and a pebble."
Kate just shock her head laughing, while Raphael looked spooked. Silly boy, don't you recognize banter? Kate headed over to the bunks where Doolittle was hovering over Derek, who was laying down reading a book. They chatted for a bit before Kate grabbed a pillow and blanket and walked back out to the common area, just in time for Derek to raise his head and say, "Incoming. Several people."
The Red Guard who checked me in, Rene was her name, as I was to find out, appeared at the door. "Your owner sends his apologies. It seems your original Stone won't be joining you, but Durand sent in a substitute." She stepped aside. "In you go."
A familiar figure blocked the doorway. Everyone froze.
"Play nice," Rene said and departed.
Silence filled the room. Not even a breath was to be heard.
"All right," Curran said. "Let's talk."
He took Raphael by his arm, dragging him off the bench like he was a day-old pup. He swiped Dali with his other hand, brought them both into the bedroom with the other members of the Pack, and shut the doors behind him.
I picked up my two SIG-saurers, loaded them with two fresh magazines, walked around the table, and sat facing the closed door with my guns on either side of me.
"If he injures Raphael, I'm going to shot him. Just letting you know," I told Kate.
"You changed your mind about Raphael?"
"I'm still deciding," I said without turning my head. "And I'm not going to let the Beast Lord take it from me."
"Aim for the nuts," Kate advised before standing up and leaving.
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Date: 2014-07-25 05:11 pm (UTC)Later, after Curran was through chewing everyone out, I sat at my bench cleaning a Browning A5, the pieces spread out before me on a white cloth. Seeing Kate return, I waved and she came over to sit beside me so I picked up the can of gun oil to give her room.
"Where is everybody?" She asked.
"Hiding," I replied. "Except for Doolittle. He was excused from the chewing-out due to having been kidnapped. He's napping now like he doesn't have a care in the world. I got to hear all sorts of interesting stuff through the door."
"Give."
I offered up a sly smile. "First, I got to listen to Jim's 'it's all my fault; I did it all by myself' speech. Then I got to listen to Derek's 'it's all my fault and I did it all myself' speech. Then Curran promised that the next person who wanted to be a martyr would get to be one. Then Raphael made a very growling speech about how he was here for a blood debt. It was his right to have restitution for the injury caused to the friend of the boudas; it was in the damn clan charter on such and such page. And if Curran wanted to have an issue with it, they could take it outside. It was terribly dramatic and ridiculous. I love it."
"Then Dali told him that she was sick and tired of being treated like she was made of glass and she wanted blood and to kick ass."
"So what did he say?" Kate inquired.
"He didn't say anything for about a minute and then he chewed them out. He told Derek that he'd been irresponsible with Livie's life, and that if he was going to rescue somebody, the least he could do is to have a workable plan, instead of a poorly thought-out mess that backfired and broke just about every Pack law and got his face smashed in. He told Dali that if she wanted to be taken seriously, she had to accept responsibility for her own actions instead of pretending to be weak and helpless every time she got in trouble and that this was definitely not the venue to prove one's toughness. Apparently he didn't think her behavior was cute when she was fifteen and he's not inclined to tolerate it now that she's twenty-eight."
Kate started laughing, so I continued. "He told Raphael that the blood debt overrode Pack law only in cases of murder or life-threatening injury and quoted the page of the clan charter and the section number where it could be found. He said that frivolous challenges to the alpha also violated Pack law and were punishable by isolation. It was an awesome smack down. They had no asses left when he was done."
I was done cleaning by now, so I began to reassemble the automatic shotgun. "Then he sentenced the three of them and himself to eight weeks of hard labor, building the north wing addition to the Keep, and dismissed them. They ran out of there like their hair was on fire."
"He sentenced himself?" Kate asked.
"He's broken Pack law by participating in our silliness, apparently."
Kate shrugged with her eyebrows and asked, "And Jim?"
"Oh, he got a special chewing-out after everybody else was dismissed. It was very quiet and angry conversation, and I didn't hear most of it. I heard the end, though—he got three months of Keep building. Also, when he opened the door to leave, Curran told him very causally that if Jim wanted to pick fights with his future mate, he was welcome to do so, but he should keep in mind that Curran wouldn't come and rescue him when you beat his ass. You should've seen Jim's face."
"His what?" Kate asked, the blood draining from her face.
"His mate. M-A-T-E." I said with far too much glee for a faithful best friend.
Kate started cursing.
"I thought that would make your day. And now you're stuck with him in here for three days and you get to fight together in the Arena. It's so romantic. Like a honeymoon."
I was rescued from Kate strangling me by Raphael walking into the room to announce, "The Reaper bout is about to start. Curran said to tell you that your creep's going to fight."