69. The Calm

Thompson stared at the gangsters from around the corner.

“Fix a fight?” she gasped, unconsciously repeating the words she heard said to Truman.

Gonzo slammed his hand over her mouth, but it was too late.

“Hey!” the gangster screamed as Thompson pulled her head out of view. “Who’s there!”

“Run for it!” Thompson hissed as her and Gonzo sprinted down the halls.

The two ran on for twenty minutes down the wandering corridors, not daring to look behind them as they went.

“In there!” Thompson shouted, pointing to a random room as the duo scurried inside, slamming the door behind them.

The two stood behind the door in silence, watching its handle with care. A whole minute passed by before the two of them let out a collective sigh of relief.

“I think we lost them,” Thompson breathed out. “Who were those guys anyways?”

“I don’t know, boss,” Gonzo replied as he pressed the buttons of his camera head, “but I got a nice shot of the big guy’s face.”

“Good. We’ll start asking around if anyone knows who that guy is starting tomorrow. The main thing we need to do until then is to act totally natural when we’re around…”

The door to the room swung open as Truman stepped in, his towering figure casting a shadow over them.

“Well, well,” he spoke with a blank expression over his face, “color me surprised.”

Thompson and Gonzo stepped back, their legs shaking uncontrollably.

“Truman, w-wait!” Thompson stammered. “I can explain!”

“I just can’t believe you’d do something like this,” Truman went on, stepping forward as Thompson and Gonzo continued stepping back. “I thought I had you pegged Thompson, I really did…but it looks like I was dead wrong.”

Truman continued staring with his blank expression for a few more seconds, than turned his face into a warm smile.

“Really now; who would have thought you’d be the first to arrive to the organizer’s meeting!”

Thompson blinked.

“The…the organizer’s meeting?”

“To tell the truth,” Truman laughed, “I was convinced you’d be so late that we’d have to postpone to tomorrow morning! But here you area, all ready to go!”

Truman patted Thompson on the back.

“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, friend.”

“Oh…oh it’s alright!” Thompson said with a forced laugh. “I’m just uh, trying to do my part and all!”

The trio waited in awkward silence for a few minutes before Hayes teleported herself in. Taft showed up a moment later. He tried squeezing his wide body through the narrow doorway before Hayes teleported him straight into the room.

“Thanks,” Taft said, taking a glass of champagne before plumping down onto a sofa and rubbing his cramped shoulder.

“Of course, pal!” she said, pouring herself a cup of lemonade.

“Now that we all have our drinks,” Thompson said as she clinked her glass of whiskey against Truman’s cup of bourbon and Hayes’s glass, “it’s time to celebrate the end of the first day!”

Thompson turned to Taft, but he remained seated in silence.

“Hey!” Thompson exclaimed. “Quit killing the vibe with your moddiness. Today was freaking awesome!”

“It was,” Taft groaned, “except for Davis making it past the first round…”

Truman lowered his gaze to the floor, then turned over to Hayes.

“Any leads on her Confederate?”

Hayes shook her head.

“Nothing concrete. She had one encounter with Pierce after her match where she said something our audio couldn’t pick up, but outside of that we haven’t found any significant interactions between her and any other Presidents since entering the city. As for our primary suspect Athur, we saw him take out a locket while he was staring intently at the side of the bracket which contained Davis’s name, but again there’s nothing definitive for us to latch onto.”

Truman gave a sigh.

“I was afraid of that…”

“Actually,” Taft spoke up, rubbing his chin as a slight smile crept over his lips. “Maybe our lack of leads is actually a good thing!”

“How do you figure?” Truman asked with a frown.

“Think about it! If Davis didn’t interact with anyone before the bracket was made, then she couldn’t have coordinated with her Confederate while they were choosing their spots in the bracket. As such, there’s a good chance her and the Confederate are up on opposite sides of the tournament, meaning the two will likely be out of the tournament before either of them can give each other byes!”

“That’s true in theory,” Truman grumbled, “but knowing our luck…”

“Enough with the pity party, already!” Thompson shouted, wrapping her arms around Truman. “Focus on the positives Truman, the positives!”

“Thompson’s right,” Hayes agreed. “Yes, we may have had our little slip up with Davis, but other than that everything’s been running smoothly! My EP’s successfully teleported away all the outlaws that have been trying to make their way into the city, and we’ve ended all our fights without any major injuries or death.”

“Yes…” Truman mumbled, regaining some warmth in his face. “Yes you’re right!”

Truman gave a grin, then raised his glass high into the air.

“I’m proud to say we didn’t lose a single fighter under my watch! And with any luck, we’ll keep it that way!”

The four organizers clinked their glasses together, their minds blissfully ignorant of the fact that by the time the tournament would come to a close, three of their current fighters would meet their ends within these coliseum walls…and moreover, the first of these tragic deaths would occur the very next day…

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BONUS CHAPTERS! In order to get more interaction from you all/to make it not feel like I’m posting into the void every week, from now on I’ll be posting a bonus chapter each week whenever someone makes any comment on any chapter. So go and let me know: do you have any favorite fights, fighters, or EP’s so far? Any predictions on how the round 2 or later fights will go?