After a hearty al, including rescued pies, the group returned to the arena. Ozzy paused along the way, an odd expression on his face. Suzette glanced his way, "Are you all right? I swear I heard your stomach make a strange noise."
He patted his belly. "Just a bit of indigestion down in my furnace. Learned a few new things while I was gone. My driving pupil, Icarus? He might be new to driving a chariot, but damn does he know a lot about managing heat. Sun God stuff, I guess. When he heard about my adventures in the smoke and having an inner furnace, he started talking about techniques and thermodynamic theories for maximizing heat and operating a furnace at full capacity, just under the point you explode. Way above my level of knowledge, and even Apollo was chuckling and rolling his eyes when he got talking. He wants to learn how I make sharks out of smoke, so I told him I'd trade for so lessons on controlling heat for lessons in smoke crafting."
"Good, I don't want to see you explode again. Once was enough."
"We agree on that. I've got a lot more control now, and don't see that happening again. If soone gets that angry, they can burn."
Ozzy noticed the audience waiting for them at the corral and had so concerns. "Hey, Rolly, you might want to warn that herd to move back so. Things may get a little crazy. So of them are up against the fence, and even a bit further. Wouldn't want any collateral damage when Marcy starts swinging her toothpicks around."
Rolly yelled at the sedge beasts, concern in his voice, "What are you guys thinking, pressing so close with your heads hanging over the rail? No self-preservation at all. Everyone take three steps back, and don't let catch you so close again, or no more popcorn." Grumbling, the herd did as he said, except for a trio of unruly calves. Rolly grabbed their tails and dragged them to their mothers.
Marcy was starting the fight with her katanas and putting a fine edge on them with a sharpening stone that glowed suspiciously in the moonlight. "Don't worry, the only thing I'm going to carve up is your tough hide."
"Oh, you think so? Well, I guess we'll have to see now, won't we? But first, I owe you an apology, Marcy, for the last ti."
"Really? What for? Everything is fair in a death duel."
"It is, and I should know that. But I didn't take you seriously last ti, or give you my best fight, and for that I apologize."
He could tell that it annoyed her. "And why wouldn't you? Because I'm a girl?"
"Well, maybe a little bit, I'm a little old-fashioned, and a lot older than I look in the ga. But mostly because you're a sixteen-year-old girl. You appear a lot older in the ga, but you've told us your actual age. ? I was over ninety when I climbed into my pod. Spending so much ti in VR ant I looked a lot younger, but that doesn't change what's in my head. Part of held back and tried not to hurt you. I had a little ti to think on my walk ho to ponder my old-fashioned attitude. I know how hard you've trained, and I don't want to belittle your accomplishnts. It won't happen again."
Marcy was wrapping her head around Ozzy being so close to Vern in age. Vern was a doddering idiot, and Ozzy was anything but one. Still, old people in the real world treated her and her girls weirdly, never taking her gang seriously. That led to a lot of bloody misunderstandings. Most of the blood spilled was from the people who didn't take them seriously. Guns don't care how old you are. The other gangs and bosses were learning to respect their territory. At least Ozzy seed to be over it and was willing to give her his best fight. But ninety? All four of them looked in their mid-twenties. No wonder they acted weird sotis. Not that she was going to cut them any slack.
"Shit, I'm beating up on a senior citizen? Are you trying to make feel guilty, Grandpa? Should I get you a walker for our fight? Did you have your Geritol and tamusil today?"
"I think I'll make it through to the end. I'll let you know if I need a nap. But are we good? I'm ready if you are."
"Oh yeah, we're good. And I'm going to carve you up like one of your sausages. Twice if I think you're holding back."
"Oh, don't worry. I promise to pound you into a bloody paste."
"Aweso. Let's get started."
Ben was the referee for the bout. Marcy had her swords out and ready to fight. Ozzy, by contrast, looked relaxed, with his cleavers in his belt, and was leaning back against the rail of the corral. But he'd said he was ready. Ben called out, "Lay on!"
Marcy flashed across the ring, swords to either side, able to strike in several ways depending on how Ozzy dodged. The Butcher didn't dodge and didn't draw his weapons, taking a long step towards her as she leaped at him, both swords flashing at his neck, and triggering her Double Decapitation skill. She expected him to grow, or use his crazy shield, or breathe fire. Instead, he stepped towards her and punched.
Ozzy threw his right fist forward in a piledriver punch to her stomach, leaning into the blow, backing it with his entire body, and ducking under her swords. tal rang as 'One Fist of Iron' slamd into her tal breastplate, denting it and sending her flying back across the arena to smash into the rails. Ben and Suzette shared a look. Both had seen an almost imperceptible glow around Ozzy, just for a mont, as he struck the blow.
Marcy staggered to her feet as Ozzy inhaled, smoke and heat pouring off of him. She was ready to dodge his fiery breath, but not for what ca out of him. Dozens of tiny sharks made of fire or smoke erupted out of Ozzy in a swarm that spread out and raced for her like a pack of piranha scenting blood in the water. Her swords flashed, but while she had been able to destroy the larger sharks, the swarm was overwhelming her, latching on wherever they could, chewing away at her weak points, destroying her armor, and setting her hair on fire. She killed so, but there were too many. And Ozzy gave her no ti to think. His next breath was pure fire, coming at her like a dragon's breath and forcing her to cross her swords and invoke her Elental Shield ability. The tiny sharks continued to attack as she endured the flas for three seconds.
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Ozzy was charging at her as the flas abated, and she dropped her shield. It wasn't the lumbering run of a fifteen-foot giant. Ozzy's strength of 70 dwarfed his 25 agility, but 25 was far more than Marcy had by a point or two. Like many players using heavy plate armor, she hadn't made it a priority, content to earn five points each tier while concentrating on strength and constitution. Ozzy didn't slow, slamming into her and knocking the breath out of her again as she hit the corral hard, and the ironwood rails broke. They tumbled through the corral, forcing the sedge beasts to run for their lives. Marcy surged to her feet, holding one katana as Ozzy advanced, much more in control of his senses than she was. She slashed at him, and he blocked with a steel fist. The other punched Marcy in the head. He didn't give her any ti to recover, driving her stumbling backward, blocking her blows as she'd taught him, and wailing on her with his fists. A hard-throw block knocked her remaining katana from her grasp.
As Marcy bent to retrieve her weapon, Ozzy reached out, grabbed her arm, and pulled her into a bear hug. She kicked and slamd her forehead into his while trying to draw a dagger, but couldn't break his hold. Tighter and tighter he squeezed, and none of her abilities helped her to escape. Ben heard the sound of tal bending and the crack of her ribs. Her eyes were bugging out, and she wasn't breathing. "HOLD! Fight's over!"
Ozzy let Marcy go, and she slumped to the ground bonelessly. Both Ben and Suzette began healing her with spells, and Rolly began using his stamina to heal and refresh her. A minute later, she was able to draw a breath. She stood up and held out her hand, "Ok, now I forgive you. Shit, what a beating. You had right from the start, and I never recovered. I thought for sure you'd react by getting big."
He smiled and took her hand. "Doing the sa thing after you showed that you knew how to fight at that size? Nope. And you'd just watched use my flensing hatchets on Rolly. I needed to do sothing a little more unexpected. I saw a swarm of Rippy Fish once, which gave so inspiration for the miniature sharks." He burped, and another shark ca out. "Excuse . Guess that one got lost. Hard keeping them all under control as I made them one by one during our snack. But they were the right tool for the job."
Marcy looked at the four of them. "You people seem to have a lot of tools. How the hell did Contract Workers get so strong?"
Ben sighed, "We could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you. And that works poorly since you'd be bouncing back up every morning."
She shrugged. "Been doing a lot of that lately anyway." She looked at all four, one by one. "I'm not sure what you've got planned, but I want in. I can feel it. You guys are smart and dangerous, and playing a long ga. Whatever it is, my gang and I want to join up. We're all hard as nails and can keep our mouths shut."
Ozzy said, "Well, Baron Billy is always looking for good people."
Marcy glared at him, "No butcher bullshit. I'm not talking about working for Billy, unless you want us to as part of the deal. You people are the power behind the throne, that's plain to see. I expect you want to carve out your own part of the world and make so money in the real world. and my crew have the sa goals and can help."
Suzette looked at Rolly, "What do you think?"
"Two thumbs up. She hates Vern, fights hard, and Squirmy thinks she'd make a good, sneaky nestmate."
"Ben?"
The Courier spread his hands, "She knows so of our secrets already, I say we bring her on board. If not, I'll borrow my uncle's mory wipe device."
"He has one?"
'If it sounds like a device no one should have, then he has one. I'd rather not ask, though."
"Ozzy?"
"She got my vote."
Suzette turned to Marcy. "You're right, we've got plans. But it's going to an doing so things you might not like, like putting up with Vern, and pretending to be a good little AC employee. It also includes training hard and hitting the dungeons, but I don't think you have a problem with that."
"Nope. I'm good with it all. I don't have to be nice to Vern, do I?"
They all laughed. Rolly said, very seriously, "So grudges are ant to be cherished forever."
Ozzy pulled out a small bottle of sparkling fluid that had a powerful aura. "I propose a toast to our new partner in cri. This is Ambrosia from Apollo. It's got a taste like nothing else in the world. I think he makes it from honey and strawberries. It's got quite a kick to it. One shot had tipsy, and after the second, so of what Icararus said started to make sense. I passed out after the third and woke up with the worst hangover of my life." He poured six small glasses and handed them out.
Rolly tossed his back, then choked a bit and made a face. "Oboy, now that's a drink."
Ben took his ti, enjoying small sips, studying the flavor. "This is...actually, it's hard to describe. You need to get the recipe, Suzy."
She was savoring her own, sipping it slowly and feeling it burn down her throat. "Maybe, in a few years."
Ozzy held up his own and looked at Marcy. "Down the hatch. Trust , nothing else like it."
She shrugged, "Wasted on . Bring it to my 18th birthday party." But she tossed back her shot as Ozzy drank his. "Not bad. You're right, strawberries and honey. And sothing hot, my tongue is burning....oh...shit..."
Ozzy said. "Surprise."
Marcie caught fire and burned to ashes.
Ben's eyes were huge. "I don't want to be around when she gets back tomorrow."
Rolly grinned, "She'll appreciate the ranks in Fire Resistance and Fire Eating. She'll be fine, and it's a lesson in not taking free drinks from Butchers with a strange sense of humor."
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