After the Second Fall

"See, I'm not mean at all."

"You better be, come fight time," stated John matter-of-factly.

Maggie shot him a dirty look, then turned back to Pip. "How did you know she was looking at you?"

Pip shrugged noncommittally. "Peripheral vision."

"Pip, she was almost all the way to your left. Nobody's peripheral vision is that good."

Pip smiled. "Well, mine is." Maggie gave him her best 'get over yourself' look, which he returned with a smug grin.

"Prove it."

Pip sat up. "Right now, there are..." Pip squeezed down on the Effect again momentarily to provide the time he needed to to examine the extreme edges of his vision. "...four people looking at me: the two women dressed in gray on my left, the big guy on my right who is pretending to be reading, and sandwich woman. Again." Pip pointed as he spoke, clearly surprising the first three. Sandwich woman, whose name was Anna, waved back cheerfully, as did her two companions.

"Unreal," said Maggie, astonished.

After that, it became a game. People in the crowd would sneak glances at Pip, and if he didn't catch them, they would celebrate. If he did spot them, he would point at them, and if it was their first time being caught, would motion them over to introduce themselves. For the first several days, there was a lot of high-fiving, as it was incredibly difficult for Pip to eat (drink) his lunch, have a conversation, and play the ever evolving game. By the time Lilith joined them, it had been two days since Pip had missed someone, despite the larger crowd.

Lilith was absolutely baffled by what was going on. Every twenty heartbeats or so, Pip would point at somebody, and sometimes two somebodies, without pausing what he was doing. It was no more than a quarter bell when her patience ran out. "Enough! What is going on?" To John, she said, "Is he having a breakdown?"

Maggie quickly stepped in to explain what Lilith was seeing, followed by Max's explanation of how Pip's situational awareness had improved dramatically over the preceding week with the constant practice and multi-tasking. Now calm, Lilith's only reaction was, "Huh, how about that?"

The words were no sooner out of her mouth when there came a whoop and the sound of hands smacking together. Pip stood up quickly, pointing at a man with a full brown beard about twenty paces to his left, who was standing smugly with four colleagues, all dressed in white lab coats. "Doug, you didn't look anywhere near me. You were looking over..." Pip's words trailed off as he turned further to look over his left shoulder, only to find another man in a lab coat holding a full length mirror and smiling. "Well, I didn't think of that. Come get some food."

Pip sat down while the six men jogged over, congratulating each other. The day's prize was chocolate cookies, still warm from the oven. Rachel was completely in her element passing out the treats, which were handled with reverence by the recipients. "Are they really that good?" Lilith asked.

Maggie nodded. "Yep, and since Pip is getting so good at catching people, we've been getting the leftovers." Pip just harumphed dramatically and continued sipping his pasty gray lunch, occasionally pointing out another hopeful.

Chapter 16

On the day before the fight, Pip said his goodbyes. Maggie was on the edge of tears, and Rosie was especially quiet, while Rachel gave him a cheerful wave. The biggest surprise of the morning was Director Collins, who gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and a hug, before offering a quick word of encouragement.

With a smile for the ladies, perhaps his last, he turned and walked with John and Max to the transport that would take them to the Arena. As the armored vehicle rolled along, Pip still wasn't afraid, but was certainly ready for the entire ordeal to be over, even though the official pre-fight requirements had not yet begun. "Any questions?" John asked.

Pip shook his head. "No. Max walked me through it a couple times, so I know what to expect. More or less, anyway." John nodded and the trio spent the remainder of the three bell trip in silence.

As they disembarked, Pip got his first in-person look at the Arena. It was smaller than he expected given it's importance to global politics, but that didn't make it less impressive. The entire structure was almost white, constructed of poured concrete. Directly in front of him was an entrance adorned by Rieckenberg's flag, tall enough that Pip could have ridden through on Max's shoulders without ducking. Not that he would ever do such a thing, but the thought did turn up the corner of his mouth.

On the opposite side, his adversary would enter through an identical entrance draped with the Marbelo colors, and in-between was only the Arena, a small control room, and separate waiting rooms for each fighter's support staff. In Pip's case, this consisted of Doctor Shepard and an assistant, who would arrive shortly before the fight.

After his brief appraisal, Pip held out his hand to Max, who shook it firmly, looking Pip squarely in the eye before giving him a nod, which Pip returned. Pip turned and offered his hand to John, who looked at it for a moment, then back up at Pip.

"Good luck, Pip," said John as he stepped forward to give Pip a hug. If Pip was surprised, he didn't show it, and returned the hug with only minimal awkwardness. "I'm not giving you a kiss." Pip smiled and nodded, then started walking toward the door, clapping John on the shoulder as he walked past.

When he was gone from sight, John and Max stood side by side, not yet ready to go back to the city, the smaller man rubbing his now tender shoulder. "I think he did that on purpose."

Max nodded. "Probably. Maybe he figures it'll be something for you to complain about when you see him tonight."

John nodded without enthusiasm. "Real opinion time, Max. Do you think he has a chance?"

Max responded immediately. "Better than just a chance. I can't get near him anymore. I know I'm a step slower than I used to be, but even in my prime I wasn't that fast. And for a little guy, he hits hard." He took a deep breath. "Do you know the expression 'a puncher's chance'?" John nodded. "That's what we're hoping against. Whoever he's staring across at will probably be half again as big as he is, and if any one thing goes wrong, that could be the end of it." Max let that unpleasant thought hang in the air for several heartbeats before continuing. "But to be honest, John, Pip is as close to a sure things as I've ever seen."

Inside the Arena building, Pip came to a closed steel door. On the wall next to the door was a shiny steel sign with instructions.

Disrobe and leave your clothing and belongings below this sign. Then pull open the door and enter the room in front of you. Close and latch the door, then look for additional instructions.

Pip complied and found a longer list inside, preceded by a strongly worded statement.

Notice: In this examination room, full compliance with contest regulations will be ensured. Violations will result in immediate disqualification from the contest and death for the competitor.

1) All waste is to be deposited directly onto the grate in the corner marked Waste. Failure to deposit both liquid and solid waste prior to the contest will be considered a violation.

2) A blood sample is to be deposited directly into the tube in the alcove marked Blood. Using the provided razor blade, fill the tube completely. Failure to deposit an adequate amount of blood will be considered a violation.

3) Sustenance is available in the alcove marked Sustenance.

4) Water is available in the alcove marked Water.

5) The time until the contest is shown on the Timer.

6) When the Timer reaches zero, the door marked Arena will open and the contest will begin.

Pip quickly took care of the required samples, finding that a small nick on the bottom of his hand provided more than enough blood, which was whisked away through the wall as soon as it reached the fill line on the designated tube. Just to be sure, Pip filled the tube again, but nothing more happened. With the proscribed activities completed, Pip sat down for what the Adams referred to as 'The Long Wait'. For Pip, this amounted to just over six bells before the door would open, and he found himself wishing that his ability to affect time could also be used to make it pass faster.

Pip tried to sleep, but the floor was cold and hard, so instead he meditated, reflecting on his life. He spent a long time thinking about his girls, Rosie and Maggie, and the way their relationship came together so quickly. He considered Rachel and Director Collins, Max and John. Thinking of John standing outside the Arena, dead serious, rubbing his arm, Pip couldn't help but smile.

When the Timer reached two bells, Pip was at peace and had no trouble falling into his familiar long-form stretching routine.

With half a bell to go, Pip began to elevate his heart rate with a tailored plyometrics sequence.

As the final time trickled away, Pip's skin was damp, his heart was thumping, and his mind was blank. Then the door opened and he strode through, knowing that it would only stay open for a short while, and was in the Arena for the first time.

The Arena itself was circular and fifteen of his paces across, with straight walls going up to just higher than he could reach and then coming together to form a dome. It was entirely white, and entirely empty, save for his opponent, who was already charging across the room at him.

Pip quickly used the Effect, slowing time so that the man was barely moving. Naked like himself, the man was at least as big as Max, and likely broader, with bulging arms and thighs. The man had a professional, determined look in his eyes, like you might find in an assassin. 'Apropos', thought Pip, given their shared profession.

Pip let time move forward more quickly and began to close the distance himself.

For Pip's opponent, this must have been a dream scenario. The man across from him was clearly a runt, probably chosen as a sacrifice given the low apparent value of the disputed territory. So when he saw Pip obviously telegraph an initial punch with his right hand, he knew instinctively that it had to be a feint, and decided instantly to absorb the blow while using his superior body mass and strength to win the fight. In a feat of tremendous athleticism, the Marbelan launched himself forward at Pip's midsection, arms wide, while they were still half a dozen strides apart.

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. 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 hour.

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.

"Okay, Pip?" asked Doc, clearly relieved.

"Sure, Doc. How about you?"

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

"No, it can wait until we are 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. You doing okay, too?"

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.

On the ride back to Rieckenburg in the rear of the oversized ambulance, 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 coming days. "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.

When they pulled into the Complex, there was a large gathering of people waiting for him. 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 ambulance to loud cheering, Pip was immediately rushed by two exuberant women in blue and brown.

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 they saw him depart, 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 alcohol was allowed within the Complex. Rosie, seeing what had happened, took his good hand with a caring smile and led him toward Surgery-One.

Chapter 17

Early the next morning, Pip met John in the courtyard, a chance to talk before the formal fight debrief. Like after all the other Arena victories Pip had experienced, the lawn was strewn with bottles, trash, and discarded clothing, as well as some of the night's revelers, many of them clumped together in pairs. The two men walked slowly, making their way through the unintentional obstacle course, a concession to John's hangover.

"Good night?" Pip asked.

John nodded slightly, preferring not to move his head. "Yeah, pretty good," he replied with a smile. "I'll pay for it today, of course, but it was a bit different with you fighting. I didn't realize how wound up I was. You?"

"Pretty good," nodded Pip in return. "The girls took good care of me. They were even more affectionate than usual."

"Does 'girls' include your magical personal assistant, Ms. Rachel?" John asked, rising his eyebrows suggestively. Pip didn't reply immediately, and John's eyes widened. "Really? All three?"

"Well... I guess it's a matter of definition."

John looked at his charge incredulously. Pip shrugged. "After Doc put on the cast," he said, raising his hand, "we went back to my room."

"Broken?"

"Yeah. A small crack in the third finger and the fourth finger was actually worse than I thought. It broke all the way through, but stayed together, so at least that's good. Doc says the cast can come off in three weeks, but it'll be eight or ten until I can spar again, and probably six more until I can fight at full intensity."

"Not so bad, really, for an Arena fight."

"That's what I thought," replied Pip.

After a pause to redirect his thoughts, Pip continued. "So when we got to my room, Rosie and Maggie were pretty... insistent about, uh, things. Rachel excused herself, but Rosie didn't want her to go. Then the three of them had this really intense whispered conversation at the other end of the room. I heard a few words, but really tried not to listen."

John nodded. "It seems like they've been getting closer recently, especially during the lead up to the fight. I think Maggie really latched onto Rachel's positive attitude about it."

"Yeah, I saw the same thing. There's something about her confidence in me that is really... convincing. To be honest, it's a bit intimidating.

"Anyhow, after this conference, or whatever it was, Rachel is crying just a little bit, but happy tears, if that makes sense? Then Maggie kisses her, not like make out or anything like that, but really intensely, and I can see Rachel's pretty surprised. Then Rosie kisses her, only softer.

"After that, Rosie and Maggie come over to me and Rachel sits down in the chair next to my bed. Rachel is looking genuinely happy, like when you complimented her food that first day at lunch. Rosie is smiling, and Maggie looks like she's going to eat me alive."

"Did she?"

Pip didn't make eye contact, but his dark cheeks reddened slightly. "To be honest, I think last night was more physically demanding than the fight itself."

"Doesn't surprise me even a little bit," John said. "Don't take this the wrong way, Pip, but I know I'm not man enough to keep up with those three women."

Pip still wasn't looking at John when he replied. "Rachel didn't actually... directly... participate. She, uh, well, took care of herself. Then when we were done, she slept next to Maggie."