Gods of Arena
Man on a Mission

"That true, man?!"

Kang looked back, fiercely. He felt pissed and buzzed, and he seemed pretty ready to pick a fight with anyone. "Mind your fucking business, alright?"

He turned and kept walking towards the gym. "Now I understand why Jin always had to be there for you!", the mid-tier yelled. "I heard Jae once smashed your head into the wall and you couldn't fight back!"

Kang stepped into the gym and closed the door behind him. He exhaled and opened his eyes.... But he wasn't alone. He straightened up, slowly, and walked to the dumbbells, ignoring the fighters who all had their eyes on him. 'KANG HAS NO SHIN ZHU' was bolded on every part of the wall.

"So this is the guy? The BLANK guy?", a top-tier asked.

"Yea", Todd replied.

His voice was loud enough, pulling Kang's attention. Their eyes met and Kang laughed silently. "Hey!", the top-tier stepped closer. "You're Kang, right?"

"You're who?", Kang asked. "Sorry. I like to know whichever motherfucker I'm dealing with"

The top-tier looked back at the other fighters. He had the same vibe as Jae; just a bit calmer. Jae would have been a lot more annoying. "I am Dylan. It's nice to meet you"

"Yes. You can fuck off now"

"Are you referring to me? I don't want to abuse you as the child that you are", Dylan looked back and jested. "I don't want to abuse you as the child that you are so you really should mind the way you speak to me"

"If you jump at me, I'll wipe the floor with your ass"

"Todd?", Dylan called. "Uh. Can you teach this guy a lesson on my behalf?"

Kang saw that coming... and he wasn't ready to back down. He fought Jae to a standstill but, this time, he was ready to do more than that. He slid his hand in his back pocket and pulled out a pill. He had kept one there in case of a similar incident. He would probably be needing more pills against so many people. "Come on, Todd", Kang said, confidently, and swallowed the pill. "Let's see who's here to teach and who's here to learn"

Todd bent his head and swiped his left hand, swiftly. Kang flipped up, avoiding the wave, and landed on his feet. Todd threw a punch at Kang's face. Kang caught Todd's fist and squeezed it slightly. Every movement he made seemed to give him more strength and confidence, or it was the drug beginning to work. He slammed his elbow against Todd's nose and kicked him back.

Todd staggered backwards. He clenched his fist and swung his arm again, throwing another wave. Kang, on impulse, put his arms together and felt the wave bounce off. He took two steps closer and flipped, kicking Todd by the jaw. Todd fell on the ground and crawled backwards, glaring at Kang suspiciously. "How did you do that?", he asked.

"How did he do what?", one of the fighters asked.

"There's no way his bare hands could have bounced off my wave. He did something", Todd said and got up on his feet.

"Shut up, Todd", Kang said. "I wasn't called the Blank for nothing. I earned it and I will take on any of you"

Dylan stared at him for a few seconds, smiling. He stepped forward, clapping loudly. His loose sleeves rolled down his arms, revealing a metal brace on both arms. "That's a pretty nice one", he said. "I'm not impressed but it's a nice one still" "I'm not going to leave the gym for you", Kang replied and walked back to the dumbbells. "If you need anything else, you can tell me❞

****

"I have good reason to believe the enemy is in our midst", Alexa said, pacing with her hands folded behind her. "And NONE of you is trusted"

Everyone in the lab stared at the ground, hesitating to look at her face even when they were being directly referred to. Ana glanced at her feet, picturing Alexa's angry face in her head.

"You don't think it's obvious, do you?!", Alexa continued, still pacing. "Of course, it's not... but not everyone is an Idiot"

Ana kept her eyes on Alexa's feet, still wondering what her facial expression looked like. Of course, no one could tell. They were staring down, too scared to look up. She turned her face slowly and looked at the other lab workers. Maybe not everyone was too scared to look down, after all. "Matthias!", she whispered, quickly, glancing back at Alexa's feet.

Alexa had stopped walking already. She was standing and glaring at Matthias, who had his head up staring back in her eyes. Ana looked up, wondering what was happening.

The fierce woman stepped closer to him and shot him in the head. Ana gasped, as he dropped dead. He fell on his side, dropping on Ana's leg. She jumped back, immediately. "Are you alright?"

Ana sprung back to reality. "Ana?", Alexa called, standing in front of her and staring suspiciously. "Is that guilt I sense there?" "Guilt? What are you talking about?"

"What were you thinking about?", Alexa asked and turned.

She hadn't shot anyone. Ana was just hallucinating.... But she had done that before. One of the lab workers argued with Alexa so she shot her. Whenever she came around, they felt like they were being led by a tyrant. She had some unclear sort of relationship with King so she seemed pretty free to do all she wanted. Though King had some elements of a tyrant, there was a very clear difference between the two of them. "It's nothing"

"It's alright", Alexa said. "I have my eyes on you now. Every of your movement will be watched...."

"If I may ask, why are we not investigating the fighters?", Thomas asked.

"Because they can't do anything from in there. Only you can do something from out here and I have reasons to suspect you, since you were monitoring the spin, that day... unless you have created a fighter with an ability to manipulate regular technology"

"I don't think that's part of our Shin Zhu options, ma'am"

"Since you know that, investigating their abilities and the moves they made will not help"

"Sorry...", Ana muttered, raising her hand for permission. "Isn't it possible that the system just malfunctioned?"

"No, Ana", Alexa replied, glaring. "It has never malfunctioned since it was created... it didn't malfunction after the spin either. One of you is growing wings and standing in the way of our normal procedures. I will clip those wings before I leave.... Note; if you know who did this and refuse to speak, you will bear twice the allotted punishment for the crime"

She turned and walked out of the lab. Ana exhaled and looked up. No one looked guilty of the crime. If anyone looked guilty at all, she was probably the one.... And if Alexa was right about this being an act of one of them trying to protect a fighter, then another Larger Figure must be seeing a fighter. It was most possibly Dan but she couldn't guess who the Larger Figure could be. Dea was no longer with them. Fred walked up to her.

"Are you alright? You seemed shaken by her words"

"No, I'm totally fine", Ana replied.

"You did not do this, did you?"

"I swear I'm not the one"

"Then you shouldn't be worried"

****

He waited for the last person to walk out the door. He took a step closer and looked in Kang's glaring face. "I see nothing special about that fight, really", Dylan said. "Todd has never impressed me in any fight. Even Crane almost beat his ass without a Shin Zhu"

"What do you want, Dylan? It doesn't look like you are interested in working out", Kang replied.

"I want to know the truth", Dylan said. "I want to know if you are intentionally hiding it.... Or it's a special one we can't see❞

Dylan raised his left arm, clenched his fist into a ball of ice, and swung it. A fleet of ice balls shot at Kang, sliding him off his feet. Immediately, Dylan pushed his hands out, throwing a cold wave against Kang.

Kang slammed his back against the wall, as the wave hit him. He felt cold and stunned for a second. Like walking out of the bathroom after a warm bath, he could feel the breeze streaming into his pores.

"Get up and do the same thing you did with Todd", Dylan said, loudly, and glanced at one of the cameras. "There's a reason they call you the Blank, right?"

The cold blue spread up his arms, as he clenched tighter. Three blades sprung out on both fists, sharp and shaped from his cold ice. Kang got up, slowly. He was hyped.

He dived at Dylan, swiftly. Dylan swung his ice blades at Kang. Kang raised his arms, blocking the attacks impulsively, and punched Dylan in the face throwing him back. Dylan rolled back and bent on a knee. "That was a great hit", he said and sprung up, immediately shooting a ball of ice at Kang.

Kang ran towards the coming attack. He grabbed the ice ball and shot it back immediately. Dylan pushed down the ball, walking towards Kang. He swung his bladed arms at Kang. Kang dodged the attacks, blocking with his bare arms, like he had some armor on them. Dylan grabbed him swiftly by the clothes. The blue ice spread up to his head and he nodded at Kang's head.

Kang staggered back. He rushed back at Dylan and nodded at his head, throwing Dylan to the ground. Dylan fell on his face, stunned. He rolled on his back slowly and faced up, rubbing his forehead. He could feel a dent on his icy forehead. He sat up, glaring at Kang who had his fists clenched tightly.

Kang pushed one fist forward, waiting for Dylan to get back up. Dylan sat there, reluctantly, staring fixedly at Kang's right arm. "Are you done?"

"How can you do that?", Dylan asked, still staring at Kang's arm.

Kang glanced at his arm. It was covered in smoking ice, though he could barely feel it. The ice slowly disappeared from his arm, as he unclenched his fist.

"How's it going, Dennis?"

"I told you to watch so I don't have to tell you everything", Dylan spoke into the brace on his wrist, as quietly as possible, holding the bathroom door tightly. "I'm not making much progress. I have my eyes on-"

"You don't have to waste your time. Just try to find out if any of the fighters can manipulate technology"

"How's that even possible? That's not a Shin Zhu option"

"I know that. Just try to relate with every fighter and know their capabilities", the voice replied. "King has a mission for me on the other side so you have a short time"

"How long do I have?", Dylan asked, nervously. He tightened his grip on the door handle, as he heard voices of the fighters in the hall. "Alexa, come on. Let me know how much time I have"

"Who the fuck closed the door on the inside?!", one of the fighters howled, banging the door.

Dylan let go of the door and the fighter walked in glaring at him. "Sorry", he said. "I closed it on impulse"