Post Fight

The fight had ended. The drones swooped in to remove the top part of the cage. The other parts of the cage followed suit by sliding back into their railings. From a distance, the medical bots arrived on the arena coming out from Drack’s runway.

The robots that helped the stabbed victim came out again to give Drack medical attention. Their bodies moved frantically, sprinting up to the arena’s stairs as fast as they could to put Drack on a stretcher. Each robot moved Drack’s limbs onto the stretcher with precision and speed, to prevent further injuries.

Then the intercom activated, the announcer’s face appeared on the monitors again and bellowed “LAAAADIES AND GENTLEEEEEEEEMEEEEEEEN THE CHAMPION DEFENDS HER TITLE AND ITS TRINA TSUBAKI!!!!” The crowd replied with boos and harsh comments. Trina remained straight-faced through all of it and bottled up her emotions in the back of her mind. Never to give them the satisfaction that their words would be acknowledged.

She glanced at all the members in the crowd tonight, the people in the nosebleed section looked like nothing more than mere black specks. The people that were closer were still your typical run-of-the-mill thug, and some of the people she even recognized are those who attended her previous fights, the fans that truly rooted for her were few and far between now. However, out of all the people that caught Trina’s eyes was the one who is sitting rather far from the arena, a man with a black and white suit, and black sunglasses; his posture meant that whatever he was there for was meant for business.

He sat there leaning in, his elbows on his legs, both hands interlocking together to cover his mouth, and continued to process Trina's performance in silence. Trina looked right into his sunglasses, as the stadium spotlight swayed to where he was sitting, as the light reflected off his sunglasses, Trina could see nothing but the shining reflection from his lenses.

The spotlight passed and Trina just found the person sitting in that section with those clothes to be a bit odd but shrugged off the moment. She started walking down the stairs, the comments from the fans started to crawl to the forefront of her mind. As much as Trina tried to bury her emotions about the comments down they only came back louder and stronger. With each step down the hall, the comments were now ringing in her head, to the point Trina could no longer ignore her feelings that were brewing, they had to be confronted. Once she was far enough where no one could see her, she lashed out all her frustrations building up. She clenched her fist as tightly as possible, where the tension from her knuckles caused the bandages to almost rip, and yelled as she punched the side of the wall. Her punch did not give her the release that she had hoped for and her actions continued to have some violent jerk to them. She rammed into the door's cylindrical handle, the door barged open and as she passed through the door, she continued stomping her way to the locker room.

The locker room had only three lockers, all three were on the left next to a wooden bench, and a bathroom area with showers in the back, shreds of peeled off paint hung from the sides, the fluorescent lights flickered ever so often, and the pipes from the shower sputtered initially before they could work. Once Trina entered the locker room she sat down on the bench for a few minutes and tried to distance herself from the fight by taking some deep breaths and letting go of her anger. The result was ineffective, Trina still had resentment in her mind but suppressed it enough to where it wasn't shown in her actions or her facial expressions. But it wouldn’t take much to set her off again.

Trina walked towards her locker and opened it to grab her backpack. She sat down on the bench, unzipped her bag, and started unwrapping her bandages. She could see the streaks of red on her bandages, it wasn’t Trina’s first time in the ring and to Trina, this was all in day's work as she felt no remorse, he got what he deserved for being that cocky. Right as she finished unwrapping, she heard a bang from outside her locker room, she answered "you can come in," and the announcer was leaning right in front of the locker room entrance.

"Don't worry about that guy that threw the knife at you, guards took care of him," the announcer said.

"Great another psycho that wants my head.” Rolling her eyes. “But, what the fuck is up with those intros Joe, it wasn't always like that," as Trina was rummaging through all the layers in her backpack looking for an ice pack.

Joe tried to explain, "I-I I'm only giving the people what they want . . . to get them hyped. No fans no show and that means neither of us gets paid."

She scoffed and replied, "whatever, fine." Only marginally satisfied with his answer, as she kept this in the back of her mind.

Joe walked deeper into the locker room and stood right across from where Trina was sitting. He tried to lighten the mood "did you intend to keep it that close?"

Trina reminisced back to some of her previous matches. Most of Trina's victories came from her opponents either running away from her and forfeiting the match after a couple of punches and kicks, strangling her opponents in a headlock, or knocking them unconscious. Then she remembered that who the lunatic was trying to kill her was referring to, it was Ed from a couple of fights before Drack, where Trina broke Ed’s arms first by twisting them, then ax kicked him in the head knocking him onto the ground. The fights reminded her of how skilled of a fighter she was and one of the very few things that she could feel that had control over which boosted her spirits a little. She answered with a tiny smile on the corners of her lips, "perhaps maybe a little too close for comfort, but that's how it goes sometimes you know, so where's my cut?" Joe's hand squirmed into his jacket pocket to reach for the money. His arm was shaking as he grabbed the money from his jacket and said "here," and tossed it over to Trina. She caught it with both her hands and separated the rubber band from the cash. Trina squinted her eyes, her anger was riled up again she was still annoyed from Joe’s intro and now another pay cut soured her mood, even more. Dumbfounded as she counted the money, flipped through the bills with her thumb, and hurled the cash to the side of the locker room, the bills dispersed in the air slowly drifting to the ground. Trina shouted, "what the fuck is this only one grand! This is even less than last time". Trina infuriated, stood up and snatched Joe's white leather jacket by the collar, and shoved him into a wall.

Joe could feel chills coming down his body. The fire in Trina's eyes made all his muscles tense, and his heart started to race. He had an idea that another pay cut would upset Trina and tried to diffuse the situation, hoping their time together as co-corkers would lead Trina to have some mutual understanding. Joe pulled back his hands to his shoulders trying to explain and deescalate the situation all while trying his best to hide his fear " Trina, the crowd has caught on to what you are trying to do. Take a few blows in the beginning, so you get everyone to bet on the other person. When the odds are out of your favor you pummel them in shortly after, for a higher payout. The crowd and the oddsmakers have taken that into account now. The crowd wants suspense, not some pre-destined outcome, you may have taken home more if you lost."

That statement was a spit in the face to Trina not only taking on more injuries but also stooping so low to let low-life bums kick her ass fully, her pride wouldn’t allow it. Only taking a couple of hits on purpose, was her limit, and even that disgusted her a little. Looking right into Joe's eyes, she rose, her voice growling " first you give me a shitty intro and now you want me to purposely lose fights! You and I both know that is never going to happen as if I would let these lowlifes do that to me. The hits I already let happen are bad enough."

Trina pulled back her fist ready to pummel Joe, while the other hand still pinned Joe into the wall, gripping the collar of his shirt. Joe tired his best give her the truth "Trina please don't hurt me, I'm just letting you know what you have to do to continue working here." Trina turned her head. She thought for a brief moment about Drack and all her other opponents. Trina grumbled for a moment what Joe had said had some truth to it, but she took offense to the idea of thugs like Drack beating her into a near-death experience just to please an audience for more money and more employment. It's always about the oddsmakers trying to make a quick buck off us at our expense. I'm sick of this. She fought against her feelings about what’s the best decision for her by others in society. She yearned to resort to violence badly just to feel she had the authority over her own life. But she knew that this feeling wouldn't amount to anything positive. Deep down her relationship with Joe was mutual and didn’t want to harm someone that has respected her in the past, which is hard to come by in the underground. She knew if she punched Joe she would be out of a job and be enemies of the syndicate, something that needed to be avoided at all costs. So Trina fought back against her emotional desires, trying to avoid repeating the same mistake with how she handled her fans. Let it go, Trina. Trina's entire face clenched up, the tension eased from her hands, she released her grasp on Joe, she snarled out of frustration which subsided into a deep sigh, and said, "fine, I'll take it," then she went on all fours and started picking up the money from the ground trying to avoid looking at Joe for the guilt of her actions. Joe started fidgeting with his jacket's collar desperately trying to undo the wrinkles that Trina caused, then scurried out of the locker room without another word spoken to each other.

As soon as Joe left the locker room he dropped his shoulders and took a deep breath. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his forearm, phew better than I expected. As Joe started taking a couple of steps from the hallway he turned back his head one more time to glance back at Trina. Joe saw the remorse of her actions with her head down, and with her back slouched. With the glimpse from his eye, he could see the remorse gnawing at Trina for escalating her aggression towards him. The pose reminded him of one of the earliest memories that he had with Trina when they just started getting to know each other, a time when she didn't have to fix getting hit for a higher payout.

Joe began to recount the memory. Back when Joe introduced Trina bellowing into his microphone "Innnnnnnnn this corner we have one of our newest fighters, she's all bite no bark, and she's here strictly for business, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN GIVE IT UP FOR TRRRRIIIIINNNNNAAAAAAAA!!!". When Trina walked onto the stage she looked out into the crowd with content, back when she was the hot new fighter and everyone rooted for because of her dominance. Her opponent was an obese slob wearing clothes that were on the brink of tearing for being two sizes too small while, carrying the same arrogance that Drack had. As soon as the bell rang Trina dashed in, before the man could swing at Trina he was too slow. Trina jumped up and gave her opponent an uppercut right on the chin. His jaw broke and with one punch the fool fell unconscious. Once the match was over Trina started walking back into her runway she could still hear everyone in the stands chanting "Trina!, Trina!"

Trina left the arena, before she could enter her locker she was met by Joe, wearing his typical white announcer outfit. "Trina the crowd is loving you out there, here is your pay." Sticking the roll of cash into her palm.

Trina rolled off the rubber band from the money and started to count it. Trina was a bit stunned by the three-grand amount. It was more money than she ever received at the time, and she remained hardened "little bit more than I expected."

"Well you are the champ after all," he said. Joe was hoping for a reply from Trina but didn't get one, she just stood there looking a bit shocked from the money she had just received.

Then Joe started to walk away from Trina until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and all he saw were 5 one hundred dollar bills lying on the ground. Joe picked up the money looking at Trina walking away to leave the arena with her hood up. Puzzled by Trina's actions Joe wanted further explanation running towards Trina yelling "Trina… I …I…can't accept this!!". By then Trina had already disappeared and at that moment Joe understood and was grateful for her actions.

She didn’t have to do this; it's usually everyone for themselves in the underground, Joe thought. Joe tightly grasped onto the dollar bills in his hands and whispered all to himself "thanks, Trina."

Joe snapped back to the present. But, the emotions of gratitude from his memory lingered on. He knew deep down that Trina did have a soft spot and did feel some guilt for Trina’s intro. Suddenly Joe stopped walking, time to return the favor, so Joe finally decided to turn back and head towards Trina's locker room again.

Looking at Trina defeated, Joe re-entered the locker, sat on the other side of the bench, he unhooked the button from his pants, reached into his back pocket to find a hundred dollar bill, and handed the bill into Trina's lap. Trina could see Joe's hand in the corner of her eye "thank Joe but… but… I can't accept this," she said. "Hey I know it's not much but please take it as a gift, I know the heads are making it tough, but I know it ain’t your style" he replied. Joe just stood there for about a minute with the money handed out next to Trina. Begrudgingly, Trina eventually plucked the money from Joe with her index finger and thumb and took a deep look at it. He really didn't have to do that. "Thanks," she answered solemnly.

"I'm really sorry about what I did back there." Trina still avoided eye contact and kept her distance away from Joe. Joe understood.

Joe tapped Trina on the shoulder and said "don't worry about it" and Joe gave Trina the thumbs up. Then Trina understood. Both felt relieved they came to a mutual understanding of one another and cleared the tension.

"Trina your next fight is a week from now, you know the usual. I'll make sure you have a safe exit tonight, good night." he said.

"Got it," she answered.

Joe finally walked out of the locker room and vanished from Trina's eyesight. Trina went back to looking for an ice pack; she eventually found one at the bottom of her backpack. She took off her sweatshirt and rolled up her undershirt. She looked down at her abs and found a blistering red welt, where Drack kicked her covering her entire stomach area. She pressed the ice pack on her abdomen, the cold temperature initially created a stinging sensation which caused Trina to hiss. Once the nerves became numb she enjoyed the cooling sensation of the ice pack giving her time to attend to her wounds and allowing her to catch a breath after the intense fight and Joe's conversation. She slowly took it off after applying the ice bag to her stomach for about ten minutes, fearing for any longer it might damage the nerves.

She put her backpack on her back and tugged on the loose strings to tighten the straps. She walked out of the locker room, walked up to the lock pad, and punched the numbers on the keypad, then the clear cylindrical tube with a metal platform opened up to take her back to the surface. As the elevator rose these elongated beams bolted on the side to form the main pillars for the walls, and across from her she was able to see the platforms the fans took and the various levels for where they would get off to enter the arena. While she was in the elevator, her stomach let out a childish rumble, damn I need to eat, she thought. She thought of a few places then settled on an idea.

Once Joe entered back into the control room, he flipped a couple of switches to turn off all the lights in the arena, entered in a password to put the building on lockdown after he and Trina left the vicinity. The monitor had various lines of code displayed in neon red and a photo confirming it was him, where it finally asked Joe to confirm his actions. Joe pulled out his keycard so he can authorize all these actions and stuck it in a slot and twisted the card. All these tedious security protocols day in and day out annoyed Joe. Finally, the screen's background changed to black with a green writing "LOCKDOWN INITIATED", done finally, god why does this have to be so long. And Joe went into the elevator that whizzed him to above ground.

Trina was able to enter the side of the ticket purchasing area, the force fields that once prevented trespassers temporarily deactivated to let Trina through, the soldiers acting as security have left, the ticket stands which were once so lively and eventful with people a couple of hours ago had become desolate and empty. Once Trina started walking up the stairs for combatants the whole building went into lockdown mode. The force fields went back up again and the lights above the ticket stand plaza were now turned off and green plasma laser's formed in a grid pattern covering the entire plaza. Cameras with lasers activated ready to alert anything of suspicious activity.

When Trina could see the night sky in the distance, she made one final sprint up the stairs to get to the surface. Once Trina was above the surface and walked out of an alleyway she looked at her surroundings. The neon lights, the swathes of people rushing to get to their destination, skyscrapers that would touch the clouds, car engines revving up for night drag racing, hover trucks darting back and forth picking up trash or delivering packages, all left Trina with a deep breath. Trina put her hood up and blended into a group of people, the city’s environment never failed to mesmerize her and let her live in the moment.