Gods of Arena
Exposed

He felt an itch, like a warm breath on his neck. There was definitely no one behind him. Once again, he was alone in his room with no one to chat with. The feeling was different, this time. It had never been his fault. This time was different. He was the killer. He tapped his neck, swiftly, as he felt a crawl. It was just the collar of his shirt. He glanced in the mirror again. His eyes were still red. Many days had passed already. He needed to shake off the grief.

He opened the door and stepped out. He could barely see anyone. Everyone was an enemy, once again. There was the forewarning, anyway. He would have felt more like a monster if he had been pitched against Crane... but there was no way to prevent that. The Larger Figures had all the cards and they- the fighters- were just pawns in a game. Ana could never be a friend.

He pushed the door open and stepped into the gym. It was empty... no, Dan was in... Dan

"Hi", Dan muttered. "I'm sorry about Crane"

"You helped him, didn't you?", Kang asked. "You helped Todd win the fight"

"Why would I do that?"

"It's the question I should be asking you"

"I didn't help Todd win the fight, alright", Dan replied. "I didn't even know him till he was pitched against Jae by mistake"

"By mistake? Someone manipulated the spin and I'm sure you have something to do with it"

"How is that even related to this?"

"I heard the conversation, Dan!", Kang retorted. "I didn't wait till the end because I thought you should be trusted. You would never turn against us... Now, I've realized everyone is an enemy. When he said he knew your secret, this is what he was talking about, isn't it?"

"No, it's not... besides, it's not even possible for me to disrupt the system operations from here. The investigation should be going on within the Larger Figures and the workers there"

"What secret was he talking about?"

Dan shrugged, walking past Kang towards the door. Kang held him roughly with his right hand and threw him on the ground. Dan writhed for a second and sighed. "I'm not going to fight you, Kang", he muttered. "I can't tell you my secret either... but you can ask Romeo. He knows I didn't help Todd in the fight. Crane's overconfidence killed him."

**** (A FEW DAYS EARLIER)

"So what are you going to do?", Romeo's voice welcomed him, immediately he stepped back into the room.

He stared at Romeo's bed for a second before replying. "Really? Almost scared me. I thought you were asleep", Dan replied and walked to his bed.

Romeo sat at a corner of his bed. The lights were out already, making his still dramatic pose a lot creepier. "What are you going to do?"

"What do you mean? I'm going to sleep", Dan replied and laid on the bed. "You need something?"

"I heard your conversation with Todd, alright. You're not going to help him, are you?"

Dan sighed. "I don't know yet... it's pretty personal"

"You better know. I will keep my eyes on you", Romeo said. "If you help him, I will know... and just so you know, I know your secret too. If he dies on that Arena, you won't have to worry"

****

"Who was that other guy on the field?", Kwei asked, wearing an half smile. "What was his name again?"

"Which one?"

"The one who refused to use a Shin Zhu and got his ass kicked"

Fred stared back at him and hid his laughter. "It's alright. You want to mock me. We can get past that"

"Oh no. Not so soon", Kwei said. "I can clearly remember you calling me incompetent for creating a fighter without a Shin Zhu"

"I never called you incompetent. What were my exact words?"

"Alright, I can't remember clearly but you insinuated it", Kwei said. "For a moment, I thought the guy would actually start running around the field"

"He was just overconfident. He should have just used his Shin Zhu"

"The truth is he didn't have a Shin Zhu", Kwei cut in. "Mine didn't have a Shin Zhu so we disposed it. We can't take the fighters past their levels" "Yea, al-"

The door opened and Ana peeked in. "Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"No. Come on in"

Her eyes darted stylishly at Kwei, as she walked into the room. Kwei stared at her eyes for a few seconds before getting the message. "I'll just be in the other room", he said and stood up, walking out of the room. "Is this about Crane? Things happen", Fred said and took a gulp of water.

"Yes, and I want to know what happened"

"I told you he needed some training to prepare his Shin Zhu", Fred said. "The power he had was one of a kind. It had to take a lot of time for him to learn control"

"Well, he trained hard enough"

"Were you having any contact with him? How would you know that?"

"I always had my eyes on the camera, alright? I was just-", she paused and held her forehead. She was definitely not ready to make him suspect her interaction with any of the fighters; at least, not after she was almost caught with one. "I was just starting to like his character. What's up with Alexa?"

"She's still conducting the investigations. Honestly, I think it's totally unnecessary"

Ana took her seat and sighed. "I was there with Thomas, that day. It just happened"

"She thinks it's one of us that manipulated the results, since the fighters couldn't have done it from the hall"

"Isn't it possible that the system just had a glitch? The machines might have malfunctioned and probably needed to be serviced."

"Well, she's not taking it easy. She thinks one of us is having contact with the fighters and trying to protect some of them. You stopped that, didn't you?"

****

He clenched his fist, throwing punches at the bag; each hit harder than the previous. He literally shut every real sound out of his ears. All he could hear was Jin prodding him.

Sweat streamed down his face. He could see the bag and everything else in slow motion, inhaling and exhaling as if sucking energy out of the air and emitting fierce anger. "Fuck!", he howled, throwing the bag out of the ceiling mount.

"Are you alright?"

Kang turned slowly. That was the last person he wanted to see. He closed his eyes and straightened up slowly, fuming. "You shouldn't be here, Todd"

"Uh. Are you still mad about Crane?", Todd asked and walked to the treadmill. "That's pretty bad 'cause... I got over it, long time ago."

"I am not in my right senses now... please, leave the gym", Kang said and sniffed. "Leave the gym and come back in ten minutes"

"You're not in your right senses so why would I listen to you?... Besides, what are you going to do if I don't leave"

Todd left the treadmill and stepped closer, daringly. He had an annoying sheepish smile fixed on his face. Kang definitely wanted to punch hell out of that face. "Don't make me fight you, Todd. Leave the gym❞ "You know what it'd seem like to me if that happens? It'd be like bullying an armless kid", Todd said, confidently. "I know your secret, Kang. It's sweeter that the others don't know it"

"You always say that, don't you?", Kang said, stepping closer fearlessly. "You think everyone has something to hide so you think you can use that against them. Sorry it isn't working"

"Wait! You think this is a joke?", Todd chuckled. "I know you don't have a Shin Zhu"

"How does that change anything?"

"You probably think everyone already knows that.... They don't. The moment they do, I bet the rest of your life here would be hell."

"How did you know about my Shin Zhu?"

Todd turned, walking towards the door. "I happen to be at the right place at the right time when someone is about to spill the beans... just so you know, I only came here to let you know. I don't do gym❞

****

He had glanced at the second bed, about a billion times since he woke up. He almost called Crane to wake up, then he remembered he was alone. The Larger Figures were probably preparing a new roommate for him, at the moment.

He slowly stood up from his bed and glanced at the clock. He had fallen asleep early, the previous night, thinking of his Shin Zhu. It would be nice to get one now, while Todd thought he was weak. The realization of how possible it was to have no Shin Zhu; that was pretty disheartening.

He fell on the ground and began push-ups.

"Kang?", a voice called, from the hall, followed by a consistent knock.

"25... 26", he grunted, as he pushed his body up. "Who's there?"

"It's Romeo. You need to see this. I think we might have a problem"

Kang stood up and grabbed a bottle of water. "What's that? I'm coming", he replied and gulped down.

He pushed the door open and stepped out. "What were you doing?", Romeo asked.

"Exercising. What's it?"

He didn't need to hear an answer to that. It was glaring back at him from every corner of the walls. "Someone managed to get red paint. Did you tell anyone about your Shin Zhu?" "Does it matter? Everyone already knew this, didn't they?"

"No, Kang", Romeo replied. "You are about to find out what they'll do if they know about your Shin Zhu. You know who did this?"

"It's Todd"

"He seems to know a lot... You'll have to prove him wrong before they start coming at you"

"How am I going to do that?"

"I have no idea"