After the Second Fall Pt. 01.2

In the moment before impact, Pip clamped down on the Effect again as hard as he was able. Seeing that he could not step aside, Pip immediately began a slide, betting that his adversary could not adjust in time. As the giant slowly moved past, Pip pivoted on his left hip and knee, driving his fist into the larger man's rib. As with Hammer and Ranger, Pip hit his target and bones broke.

Pip allowed time to speed up again and finished the slide by turning onto his front and then pushing into a standing position in one fluid motion. The other man pushed up to his hands and knees, but couldn't go further as he coughed and wheezed, spitting up blood all the while. Looking down at his hand, Pip did not see any bone protruding, but strongly suspected he had cracked the last two fingers again. Watching his opponent crawl and gasp, Pip also suspected that a rib had punctured the man's lung, but not proceeded so far as the heart, which explained why he was still alive.

Fights lasted a full bell, after which the doors opened and the support teams would come in to learn the outcome. If both combatants were still alive, in any condition, the contest would be declared a draw. For the benefit of the fighters, the progress of time was denoted by color projected onto the ceiling, changing from white to blue to yellow to red at each quarter bell.

Given that the initial charge had brought them to this point, Pip saw no reason to risk further injury by trying to finish his opponent, and let the man expire on his own. Given, it wasn't a humane death, but this wasn't a humane contest, and Pip felt neither sympathy nor remorse.

As the ceiling changed to red, Pip moved close enough to verify that the other man was dead, and then began the gruesome task of concealing the victorious blow. All of the corpse's ribs were broken, its pelvis smashed, and skull crushed. A skilled doctor was still likely to determine that a badly punctured lung had caused death and that the other injuries were posthumous, but there was no reason to make the autopsy easy.

When time expired and the doors opened, the support staffs rushed in, having obviously been waiting just on the other side of both doors, each followed by an official dressed in gray, there to verify the life or death of the competitors.

"Are you alright, Pip?" asked Doctor Shepard, confusion etched on his face.

"Sure, Doc. How about you?"

Doctor Shepard was taken aback momentarily, then smiled. "Do you need anything immediately?"

"No, it can wait until we're on the way back."

Pip turned to the doctor's assistant, a middle-aged woman with graying hair named Samantha, whose mouth was slightly agape. "Hi, Stitches."

Embarrassed, she closed her mouth, but her eyes remained wide. After several heartbeats staring at him, she leaned forward and whispered, "There isn't a scratch on you, is there?" The shape of the Arena's walls and ceiling carried her words farther than intended, earning them glares from the Marbelo support staff. Pip put his finger to his mouth, urging silence, then shot her a short smile.

Stepping outside into the cool air of the approaching evening, Pip received congratulatory fist bumps from the two retired Adams that had been standing by with a huge gurney, just in case.

On the ride back to Rieckenburg in the rear of the transport vehicle, Doctor Shepard checked Pip's hand and agreed that it was likely he had sustained fractures in each of his last two fingers, to be confirmed by x-ray upon their arrival. "Too bad they don't let me use the machines built into the examination room walls back at the Arena. If they had, I could verify it's nothing more serious and have a cast on your hand before we get back to the Complex. As it is, you'll have to make do with a splint."

"No problem, Doc," replied Pip. "It's not that bad this time."

Stitches, sitting beside the doctor, just shook her head in bewilderment. "I don't understand how that's possible. No one walks away from those fights unscathed."

Pip gave them both a brief recap of the fight, knowing that he would be providing a detailed report to the Council in the morning. "So he wasn't very good?" she asked.

"Actually," Pip said, "I think he was very good. I recognized him immediately from the pre-fight briefing. He had already won three fights, one of which was against Gracia. I just caught him off-guard. Lucky, I guess."

The doctor raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything more, and Pip decided it was a good time for a nap.

As they approached the edge of the city, the transport stopped. "What's going on?" Pip asked.

"Tradition," said Dr. Shepard. "When our Adams are victorious, they drape the city's flag across the front of the vehicle to let the people know. You'll hear them cheer as we go, and it will be a lot slower from here on."

"To let them see us?"

"Because of the procession. There will be a group of constables waiting for us, and we'll follow them back to the Complex." They resumed their trip, but soon enough, the vehicle's speed did slow, although it was difficult to tell how much given that the three were riding in a steel box without windows. There was another brief pause, and then they started off again.

Almost immediately, voices could be heard, and the volume increased rapidly. Adding to the noise, their driver was now pulling on the air horn repeatedly, which seemed to trigger a response from every church bell they passed.

"It's like this every time?" Pip asked, almost shouting to be heard over the cacophony.

Dr. Shepard shook his head. "The driver will blow the horn more or less depending on how the Adam fared. You're in good shape, so he's using it liberally.

"I'll admit," the doctor continued a little guiltily, "I rather enjoy this part." Pip smiled and turned to Stitches, who had her fingers shoved into her ears, but she, too, was grinning.

When they pulled into the Complex, there was a large gathering of people waiting for Pip. In addition to his usual core group, it seemed that most of the lunch crowd and many others were in attendance. As he stepped off the transport to loud cheering, Pip was immediately rushed by two exuberant women in blue and tan.

It was Maggie that saw the splint first, which led to a lot of fussing and hugging and kissing.

Standing next to John, Max made a disgusted sound and rolled his eyes dramatically. "Seriously? They're fawning all over him because he hurt his pinky? I lost an eye and nobody even cared." Ruth Bower turned and punched him in the ribs, then glared up at him, daring him to keep going. Max smiled and pulled her against his side. "Okay, maybe somebody cared."

"Damn right," she said, snuggling in closer.

John and Lilith shared a look, clearly amused at the pair, before John pulled Lilith tight to his side, earning himself a warm smile.

Pip and his attendees, meaning the medical professionals and his girls, made their way through the crowd to take care of Pip's hand properly. As he departed, another roar went up from the assembly, which earned a smile and a wave from the victorious young man. He was slightly embarrassed when he realized the noise was because the kitchen staff had brought out cases of alcohol stacked on carts, Arena victories being one of the few occurrences when it was allowed within the Complex. Rosie, seeing what had happened, took his good hand with a caring smile and led him toward Surgery-One.