by Lana Hartley
The referee is saying something. The standard fucking boilerplate that ref's always say. Give me a clean fight. As many rounds as it takes. The rules.
I've memorized this shit by now.
Logan holds out his glove and I hold out mine and we make contact.
Fuck, why the fuck am I losing focus here?
Because that moment of contact, I wonder if we really need to even go through with this. Do we need to do this? We've been on a path of no return I thought, but there is actually still time to stop this.
Everything we ever had, and everything that we could ever rescue will be destroyed the moment the bell rings and we start swinging at each other.
Because in that moment, nothing in the world can ever make us stop until one of us is defeated.
Whoever wins will find it hollow because most likely the shadow of the vanquished will still cast a light over everything.
Whoever loses will realize that they've lost everything.
In the end, there will be no winners from tonight's fight. Just two losers.
Before we go down that path, we need to be absolutely sure. Because this is quite literally the few seconds before we push the button that launches the nuclear missiles.
I can tell that Logan is contemplating too. He's got that fucking look in his eye.
And that's when the bell rings.
For a moment, a long moment that would be fatal almost in any fight, we remain silent with our guard down as we stare at each other.
My eyes meet his and both of us seem to realize the implicit nature of what we're about to do. Without exchanging any words or even gestures, we realize we've fucking doomed ourselves.
Our guard goes up the next millisecond.
We back away and begin rolling back and forth on the balls of our feet.
It's time to fight.
Natalie
I can’t even look.
Each punch they land, I feel it deep inside my soul… And it’s been jab after jab, a flurry of punches right from the start. The moment the bell signaled the start of the fight, they ran into each other like sharks chasing after blood. Even though Logan’s trying to outmaneuver Hunter, this is probably one of the most vicious fights I’ve ever seen.
They aren’t fighting for a belt, money, or prestige; they’re fighting for honor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they fought to the death. And all this because of me. I had to go and uncover their secrets, putting them on a collision course. If only I hadn’t used that stupid recorder, none of this would be happening right now.
“Oh God,” I whisper to myself, watching as Hunter lands a powerful punch on Logan’s jaw. He takes two awkward steps back, but somehow manages to regain his balance and ducks Hunter’s next punch. He keeps on bobbing his head from side to side, avoiding punch after punch, but he won’t be able to keep up the pace for long. If he doesn’t start fighting back, Hunter’s going to crush him.
This is even worse than what I expected. I thought that watching Logan spar somehow helped me grow indifferent to all the violence, but Hunter is light years away from the men that sparred with Logan. He’s faster, stronger, and he’s fighting with purpose - sure, it might be a misguided purpose, but it’s still propelling him to move forward.
Around me, the crowd is roaring like a wild animal, chanting Logan and Hunter’s names as if we’re all in a battlefield, watching as two champions determine the fate of nations. By the time the bell rings, marking the end of the first round, I’m already covered in a cold sweat. My hair is plastered to my forehead, and I feel beads of sweat making their way down my spine.
“Are you okay?” Michelle asks me, looking at me with a worried expression on her face.
“I’m okay… I think,” I reply, my voice fraught with tension. Oh, I’m far from okay. I’m a mess right now, and we’ve just finished round one—three nerve-wracking minutes full of pain and tension. How the hell am I supposed to watch eleven more rounds of this?
“You don’t look okay,” she protests, the frown on her face deepening the creases on her forehead. “We don’t have to watch this, you know? We can wait for Logan backstage.”
“No.” Pursing my lips, I just shake my head. There’s no way I’m going to hide in my corner while Hunter and Logan fight. It hurts to have to sit here without being able to do anything about it, but I won’t put my tail behind my legs and run like a coward. I’ll stay here to the bitter end, whatever happens.
When the ring sounds again, they don’t even touch gloves. They just swing away, their arms moving so fast all I can see is a blur. It doesn’t even seem they’re trying to punch each other; it’s so much worse than that. Their hands are like spears, striking mercilessly. And to make matters worse, it doesn’t help that Logan is playing even more defensively than usual.
Knowing that Hunter has been misled, he doesn’t want to hurt him unnecessarily… But if he keeps just defending himself and throwing weak punches, soon enough Hunter is going to bounce his head off the canvas. Unlike Logan, Hunter doesn’t seem to be holding back; in fact, he seems to be putting everything he has into this fight. Ah, what am I saying; this isn’t a fight… this is war.
“Holy shit,” Michelle cries out, covering her mouth with one hand as Hunter throws a straight punch, one that breaks through Logan’s defense and crashes against his face. Completely horrified, I watch as Logan’s neck snaps back; for a moment, he looks completely disoriented and stumbles back against the ropes.
Hunter pushes forward, going straight for the kill and throwing punch after punch, connecting them with Logan’s body. There’s a kind of blind rage to the way he moves, his body glistening from the sweat running down his body.
Miraculously, Logan manages to regain his composure and sidesteps Hunter, throwing a heavy punch that connects with his nose. A splatter of blood flies from Hunter’s face and lands on the white canvas, the bright red contrasting with it.
“They’re going to kill each other,” I mumble, completely horrified. “I have to do something!” I cry out, looking at Michelle for support.
“There’s nothing we can do…” she whispers, her unblinking eyes focused on the carnage happening just a few feet away from us. Even though I’m looking at her now, I can still hear the heavy impact of the gloves against their bodies, each punch that lands on its target sending a shiver down my spine.
“There’s gotta be something,” I continue, balling my hands into fists and trying to hold back the tears. If I don’t stop this fight right now, I’m afraid of what might happen. Just look at Hunter; his eyes are glazed, and he’s fighting like a madman. He doesn’t care about titles, records, or anything; he just cares about crushing Logan. I doubt he’ll stop even if the referee tells him to.
Oh, they’re going to kill each other!
Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes for a few seconds and try to remain calm. No, I’m not going to let this happen on my watch.
Whatever the cost, I’m going to stop this fight.
“Michelle… Do you know anyone in here?” I ask her, feeling more confident that I’ve felt in months.
“Like what? There are thousands of people in here,” she replies, her expression a bewildered one.
“In the press, I mean,” I insist, and she scratches her chin as she looks away from me.
“I know a few of the guys handling the live coverage, yeah… why?”
“I’ve gotta a favor to ask you.”
Natalie
Clutching my purse against my chest, I jump up to my feet and narrow my eyes, trying to see who’s sitting ringside. I know that the Gazette’s owner sent Ed some VIP tickets, so I expected him to be sitting ringside; he’s nowhere to be seen, so that means he must be in a private booth somewhere.
“Are you sure about this?” Michelle asks me, slowly standing up and looking at me apprehensively.
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life,” I reply, gritting my teeth and trying to push all thoughts of Hunter and Logan to th
e back of my mind. The best thing I can do for them right now is focus on the task at hand. “Let’s go!”
Michelle follows after me as we head down the long aisles, hurrying toward a cordoned area.
“Hold on, this is a private area,” a security guy in a black suit stops us, stepping in front of us and staring us down. Thinking fast, I reach inside my purse and bring out my press pass from the Gazette. My departure from the newspaper was so hasty that I didn’t even bother with handing Ed my badge. And thank God for that, or else my plan would go up in flames this very minute.
“I work for the Gazette,” I tell the bouncer, trying to sound as if I’m anxious - which isn’t hard, since I’m definitely very anxious. “There’s been a problem with our recording equipment, and the live stream has stopped. I need to speak with my editor right away!”
“Uh,” he grunts, taking the pass out of my hands and squinting his eyes at it.
“Alright, come with me,” he says, turning his back to me and walking down the aisle. With a parting nod toward Michelle, I trail after him, hardly believing that he bought into my lie. The Gazette is just a newspaper, which means that it’s pretty obvious there’s no live stream going on. Thankfully, this security guy seems blissfully unaware of that little detail.
He leads me up a flight of stairs that seems to never end, and stops in front of a door where another security guy is standing, hands behind his back.
“It’s a journalist from the Gazette,” he announces me, and the guy standing by the door simply nods and opens the door for me. With a triumphant smile, I step inside the room and look around.
There are a few men sitting behind a glass panel, looking at the ring down below, and they haven’t noticed me yet. From where I’m standing I can already see Fat Ed's thinning hairline. I cough into my hand and most of the men look back with a startled expression; gritting my teeth, I take one step toward him.
“You should be ashamed,” I say, looking each and every one of them in the eyes. Aside from Fat Ed, I also recognize Mr. Moreau, the Gazette’s owner, and one more person. He has a scar that goes from his chin to his lower lip, and this time I recognize him almost instantly: it’s Hunter’s agent. As I suspected, these guys must've all plotted together to put Hunter on a warpath.
“Natalie… What the hell are you doing here?” Fat Ed cries out, surprised, and jumps up to his feet.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves!” I repeat once more, allowing the rage to course through me. “You’re the reason they’re down there right now, fighting each other!”
“Calm down, Natalie,” Mr. Moreau starts, standing up as well. “This is just business. It wasn’t personal.”
“Of course it was personal. These men down there are friends… and look at what you’ve done!”
“You still haven’t learned to shut that mouth of yours, have you?” Ed laughs, relaxing now that Moreau has his back. “Of course we were the ones behind this fight. But don’t act so innocent; you helped us, each step of the way. We have been trying to have them fight for ages now, but we only made progress the moment I pushed you into their arms… It was smooth sailing from there on.”
“You sick bastard,” I growl, doing my best not to rush toward him and punch him straight in the face.
“A very rich bastard,” he laughs, one hand over his paunch. “Do you think we care about these two idiots down there? We don’t. But they’re the means to an end…”
“That’s right,” Moreau agrees, an evil glint in his eyes. “We’ve bought stakes in all the companies involved in this fight, and that right before anyone knew the fight was going to happen.”
“Is money that important?” I hiss, now turning my attention to Hunter’s agent. He’s watching the scene unfold with a serene expression on his face, but the moment I point one accusing finger toward him, he narrows his eyes at me and clenches his jaw. “You’re his agent! How could you plot against him?”
“It’s hard being his agent,” he merely shrugs, his voice flat and emotionless. “I wanted to leave him, and what better way to do it than with my pockets full of money?”
“You lied to him…” I continue, realizing that he must have been the one whispering into Hunter’s ears, poisoning his mind.
“And so did you,” he shrugs again, and Moreau and Ed start laughing, their voices making a shiver run up my spine. “Sure, we’ve made this fight happen… We got your little tape, leaked the story, and then we made Hunter believe our own version of events. But you were instrumental to all of it, you’d be wise to not forget about it.”
“You’re going to pay for it…” I whisper, allowing my gaze to linger on each one of them - I want them to remember the face of the woman that’ll bring them down. Without a word more, I turn on my heels and march out of the room, slamming the door behind me.
The moment I’m out of the booth, I start running as fast as I can, doing my best not to twist an ankle as I go down the stairs. Michelle’s already waiting for me there, anxiously tapping her foot against the floor.
“So?”
“Here,” I tell her with a smile, taking my old recorder out from my purse and pushing it into her hands. “Let’s do this.”
Hunter
Another hit to his jaw.
Another hit to my side.
Jab. Block. Shuffle position and dart. Block. Block. Block.
I'm seeing red. Trying to stay calm.
That's a haymaker headed my way that I see in slow motion and I pull my torso back. It misses me by a fraction of an inch and I see Logan's glove swing wide and travel by. I would have some serious shit to deal with if he had made contact with my fucking face.
But I'm not going to dwell on that. I'm taking the initiative now. I'm jabbing. Moving left and jabbing. Heading right and jabbing. I feint and try to jab through his defenses but he blocks me.
The rounds go on and I don't really pay attention.
By the third round, it's safe to say that I'm exhausted. Sure, I've taken some hits. I've been pushed against the ropes once but I got out of it. I cornered Logan once too, but he was able to get out of it just like I was.
It's the fifth round before I realize that I'm starting to get tired.
Don't get me wrong. I can fuck with boxers for hours and hours on end. But one thing you gotta remember when you're fighting an enemy like Logan, it's that he's almost as good as me.
I mean, don't fucking worry. I'm not being humble or anything. I'm just stating a fact that needs to be mentioned.
Logan trains just as hard as me, if not more. Boxing is his life, much like it is mine. Logan may be my enemy, but remember, he takes this shit seriously too. And when I mean seriously, I mean if the two of us fought side by side, we could probably out-fight anyone the judges threw at us. That's why even though it would be a fucking blessing to have Logan on my side, it also means that it's a goddamn curse to have him as my opponent.
Logan darts away as an uppercut travels up. However my arms on that thrust leave me open to attack.
And attack he does. The first uppercut that he throws finally hits home and I feel the power of his fist as his glove hits me. My mind blanks out for a moment and I let the stars explode in my field of vision.
Most people would get knocked out with a blow like that.
But remember that I'm not most people.
I'm a force of nature.
Even still, I'm a bit dazed. It's all I can do to hold my gloves out and block Logan's shots.
That's when the next hit comes. To my side.
I double over and Logan takes a step back. He's getting ready to knock me the fuck out.
It cannot end like this.
I will not let it end like this.
I have visions of the woman I love. Natalie. Enjoying Christmas dinner with Logan. It's the two of them. There's a third chair and a third placeholder set at the table. But it's empty. I know that it's mine.
Images of Natalie speed through my brain. Her looking in sadness as
Logan packs and leaves. Natalie and I moving in together but finding her looking with sorry at old pictures of her and Logan. No matter what we do, feeling that Logan is watching over us.
I know, I know. You're thinking that this is fucking crazy that I would have all this go through my head during a fucking match.
And normally you'd be right.
But you haven't felt Logan's punch. And back to back in short order, it's fucked me up a bit.
Until I realize all the shit that's flashing before my eyes is telling me one giant thing.
There's no fucking way I can lose. No fucking way I can get knocked out.
I don't know what I'm going to do. But I know I need to stay fighting Logan. I can't give up.
I get my bearings and get away just in time as Logan comes sweeping down.
I dodge and dart until I'm ready again and then I confront the motherfucker.
Block. Block. Feint. Jab.
This time, I connect home. I manage a nice, clean head shot. I packed each of those punches and this time it went home.
He's dazed.
I follow through.
Next one to his head. He's dazed but he's aware enough to hold up his gloves and block the rest of my head shots. I aim for the torso and I go after him.
My shots aren't as powerful as his, but they're more frequent and more of them connect.
He's dazed. This is my classic attack. Move fast and hit hard with a multitude of quick shots.
But Logan resists falling.
He's got a gleam in his eye. A fury that keeps him going.
He's fighting for her.
The same as me.
Natalie.
The round ends and I go to my corner. Get cleaned up as best I can.
