Later on that night Bubbles whispered to Buttons as they laid in bed..
"Buttons? Buttons, don't get up..we can just whisper back and forth just like this ok?"
"Ok," Buttons replied.
"I’m starting to have seconds thoughts about being here. It's starting to smell like bullshit to me... this is just a bunch of dog ass men using women for their own pleasure and entertainment and that means we can beat them because regardless of how smart they seem, they still do most of their thinking with the head in between their legs and that means they're weak. My only concern is for Lil Joe, I think they kidnapped him," Bubbles said in an angry whisper.
"I'm starting to feel the same way about everything, but you do know in order to get away from them before our last fight...we have to kill them," Buttons replied matter-of-factly.
"I know... we just have to wait until the right moment before we make our move."
Before going to sleep that night, they talked about possible options to get them out of their current situation in one piece, free and alive.
3
The Good Life
Finally Buttons and Bubbles had completed their training in that wretched basement! After fourteen long days of fighting for their lives, they earned the right to live inside the house. They would still have to fight for their lives for another ten weeks but at least they would be able to enjoy the comforts of ‘home’.
After their final hard fought victory in the basement, Marco had Joe escort them to a bathroom inside the house to get cleaned up. Even though this was just the beginning of another gauntlet for them, they did have some sense of accomplishment for making it out of that hellish place alive.
"When you are finished cleaning up, Joe will bring you to meet me in the social room," Marco said to them as they disappeared up the stairs with Joe for the first time.
When they’d first arrived, they’d had a glimpse of the house but now as Joe led them to the bathroom they really saw it's splendor. The entire house was lined, floored and walled with marble and gold along with elegant statues and paintings beautifying every available space. There was classical music gently resonating through the walls and a soft scent of cinnamon hung in the air.
Joe led them up three flights of spiraling marble and gold staircase, down a long statue lined hallway to a huge room that resembled those of only royalty. It was truly a sight to behold.
"This is fucking amazing," Bubbles said with glimmers in her eyes.
"Yeah...it’s nice," Joe responded, “this will be your room. It's more than enough for two people and there are new clothes in the closet. I'll be back in thirty minutes to take you to meet Marco..." Having said that, he was gone in a flash.
Buttons jumped on the bed as Bubbles toured the room and is contents. The room was about the size of three regular rooms with a huge walk-in closet. Inside were different sets of clothes marked with each woman’s name.
"This is what I'm talking about! This is how we deserve to live," Buttons said.
“This and more...” Bubbles responded, as she went into the bathroom.
Thirty minutes later Lil Joe returned; Bubbles and Buttons were dressed in sexy evening attire awaiting his arrival.
"These clothes fit us like we bought them for ourselves...that's creepy in some type of way. How is this possible," Bubbles asked Joe.
“We have computer systems that tell us your height and weight through the cameras. As you can see, Marco doesn't mind spending money for the best quality” Joe responded.
They followed Joe back down the marble and gold spiral staircase to the second floor and down another long elaborate hallway to a large room filled with more elaborate statues and paintings. In the center of the room was a large glass table with food and wine with Marco sitting at the head. Marco raised his glass in a toast..
"Welcome ladies! You have now made it to the big time. Please ladies... come sit and enjoy."
As Bubbles, Buttons and Joe took their seats at the table, Marco poured wine in everyone’s glass including Joe.
"You letting him drink at his age?" Buttons asked Marco.
"You're asking me about letting him drink when you and your friend were ready to fucked his brains in the other day," Marco replied with a nasty smirk.
"That's different...pussy and some head ain't going to ruin his life," Buttons jokingly replied.
Marco smiled, "now that you two have made it to the big leagues, you will now stay in the house and if you like Joe will take you into town to shop or whatever you wish. The only limitation you have is don't talk to anyone about anything or you might cause them to lose their life and you yours. Oh... no cell phones or any type of communication devices. You all can leave now but your first performance is tomorrow night so I suggest you give yourselves enough time to rest. "
“Joe can drive too?!," Buttons asked, shocked and adding this info to the plan forming in her head.
"He may seem limited but he is a very privileged young man and enjoys many freedoms," Marco replied.
Bubbles jumped up, pointing at Joe, “come on kid get your keys and let's get the hell out of here!” Buttons and Joe jumped out their seats, making a B-line for the door. They made it outside just as Lil Joe hit a button on the key ring to jump start a black Rolls Royce Phantom parked in the long, circular driveway. They hopped in and off they went, leaving dust in their wake.
"So where we headed," Buttons asked Joe.
"We are headed for downtown Moscow," Joe answered.
"So that's where we are... Moscow huh? Marco told us we were in Russia but not in Moscow. We know why we are here... So, what’s your story," Bubbles asked Lil Joe, studying his face for any signs of discomfort.
"Every since I can remember Marco has been my guardian...that’s about all I can tell you."
"Are you happy there with all the killing and shit that goes on," Buttons asked pointedly.
"At first it was uncomfortable for me but now I'm used to it," Joe replied with complete honesty.
As Joe finished his statement, he pulled into a enormous parking lot.
“This is the largest mall in Russia... would you like to stop here first?" He parked the Rolls close to the entrance.
"Hell yeah," Buttons responded gleefully, hopping out the car...
********
Bubbles, Buttons and Joe hit almost every part of downtown Moscow, spending great gobs of money before heading back to the house that night. When they arrived back at the house, they found Marco sitting at a desk in the entryway as if he had been waiting for them to return.
"I hope we weren't out too late huh dad," Bubbles said jokingly to Marco.
At first Marco had a look of confusion on his face trying to process what Bubbles said but once he realized what she meant he broke out in laughter.
Eager to put her bags down, Bubbles instinctively headed towards the door leading to the basement. Realizing her mistake, she froze as she grabbed the doorknob and slowly turned around to see if anyone caught her error. Buttons, Marco and Joe all stood silently staring at her.
"If you prefer that room over your new one, you are more than welcome to it," Marco told her with a wink.
"Fuck that," Bubbles said as she quickly headed for the spiral staircase.
"Make sure you two get some rest, you have a long day tomorrow," Marco said as he disappeared down the hallway.
"A long day...we don't fight until tomorrow night. What the hell did he mean by that..." Bubbles directed her question at Joe.
Joe hunched his shoulders to signal ‘I don't know’ just as Marco yelled to him in Russian from the dark hallway. Joe hurried down the hallway toward the sound of Marco’s voice.
*******
That night they talked as they laid in the massive king sized bed...
“Maybe this won't be so bad," Bubbles said.
"Today was a good day but what about tomorrow or the next day or the next. We had good days at Bandits too but we had more bad ones and this is just the same
old shit except we make more money and take bigger risks," Buttons angrily whispered.
"Yea you're right of course," Bubbles agreed.
Buttons continued, "We are just following the orders of all these dumb ass men and allowing them to make a lot of money off of us and pay us pennies. Yeah, were making more money than we ever have but think about how much Marco is making. Don't you think we deserve that and then some?! We are the ones putting our asses and lives on the line every fucking day! "
"We do deserve it," Bubbles replied, feeling a little of the heat coming from Buttons’ angry words.
********
The next morning instead of waking up in a dark dungeon, Bubbles and Buttons woke to a serenade of Russian opera music, the soft scent of cinnamon and breakfast in bed. While they ate their breakfast, Marco walked into the room sounding rather chipper...
"Good morning ladies. I trust you slept well."
"It was wonderful," Buttons said as she ate some toast.
"What's so busy about today? I figured we were just gonna take it easy until the fight tonight," Bubbles asked.
Marco looked at her with a frown, "Winners don't take it easy...they work constantly to keep their skills fresh. For the next ten weeks this will be your schedule. After breakfast you will train for two hours.. after lunch you will attend an opera and then prepare for your performance. "
"First of all why an opera and why do you keep saying ‘our performance’ like we doing a concert or something," Bubbles asked, always so full of questions.
Marco’s answer was as smooth as a baby’s hinny and just as eloquent.
“Violence in itself is an art and when you carry out acts of violence you are creating a work in progress which is the finished product, preferably death. You will go to the opera to learn peace and keep you balance. We work in a violent business but as human beings we need to know peace and opera is the ultimate peace..."These words were rare and a bit out of place coming from a man in Marco’s line of work yet they made absolute sense.
After a long day of training and opera, Marco allowed them three hours to rest or whatever before their ‘performance.’
_______________________
Later that night, just before fight time, Marco entered their room with two all leather bras and shorts.
“From now on you will wear these to your performances. "
`"All leather... Well I guess it beats a ragged shirt and dingy shorts," Buttons said with a smile.
"Have you two ever played baseball," Marco asked.
"Baseball...no why you ask," Bubbles responded suspiciously.
"The theme for tonight's performance is aluminum baseball bats. If either of you played baseball it would probably give you an advantage..." It was stated in such a nonchalant type of way, it was almost missed... Almost.
"What the hell you mean aluminum baseball bats?! Are we fighting with those tonight?" Buttons asked with slight concern.
"The night before every performance, myself and a few select clients hold a drawing for the theme of each performance."
"And the fun begins..." Bubbles said sarcastically.
“At our expense...” Buttons whispered testily.
Everyone, including Joe, met in the hallway leading to the door.
"Does he really have to see this?" Buttons asked.
Marco gave Buttons a hard stare but before he could respond, Joe did...
"Don't worry about me.. you're the ones fighting for your lives tonight."
Satisfied by Joe's response, Marco led everyone to a waiting limousine outside.
********
After a frigid and snow covered ride, the limousine pulled up to a large gated structure with huge marble lion statues on each side of the gate. The lions looked as if they were standing guard.
The gates opened, allowing the limousine entrance; it came to a halt in front of two large doors, seemingly the entrance to the structure. The doors of the structure opened and armed men in snow suits came out to escorted them in. Once inside the building, they were led deep into the bowels of the place until they reached a room with a cage in the center.
"You two go with those guys," Marco ordered Bubbles and Buttons.
An elevator opened up in the hallway and some of the men escorted Marco and Lil Joe inside it while the rest of the men escorted Bubbles and Buttons to the cage. While walking to the center of the room and possible death, Buttons looked up at her surroundings, spotting a glass encased room above them with a group of wealthy looking people including Marco and Joe standing in it. The men then led Bubbles and Buttons inside the cage and left. Buttons moved close to Bubbles and started pointing with her eyes.
"Look... they're all up there in that box looking down on us. "
Bubbles peered up at them,"how much money do you think those filthy rich muthafucka are paying Marco for this shit?!"
"I don't know but if he's able to pay us what he's paying then it has to be a helluva lot," Buttons replied.
They both laughed in a joking moment to help ease the tension but it was cut short by the appearance of more armed men escorting their opponents. Two long legged, long armed women, frizzy haired and both tattooed from head to toe. They were dressed in dirty gray overalls while the chains on their feet drug across the ground as they did a sort of slow drag marched to the cage.
One of the armed men carried a large black bag on his shoulder. Once the other women were in the cage, the man put the bag down, opening it to reveal two aluminum bats.
"You two come here and take one," he told Bubbles and Buttons. He then pulled out two more bats and literally put them in the other women's hands, closing their fingers around the grips.
"Get in the opposite corner and stay there until you hear me announce the word fight," Marco voiced over a loudspeaker.
Bubbles and Buttons gripped their bats tightly as they raised them in readiness for combat. One of the armed men then removed the shackles and pulled out the ever present syringe filled with the clear substance. The man then injected the two women as they all quickly left the cage, locking it behind them.
Bubbles, Buttons and everyone else watched and waited for the serum to take effect, while Marco watched his watch in anticipation.
"Do you remember how long it took for that shit to work," Buttons asked Bubbles.
"I don't remember exactly but I know the shit works fast." The adrenaline had begun to pump so the ladies didn’t have time to feel nerves or anything else. It was fight time!
Just as she spoke those words the women began twitching and that was Marco's cue...
"Fight!" he yelled over the speakers.
Bubbles and Buttons froze for just a second afterwards because the women were just twitching and not moving towards them. In their hesitation, their opponents woke suddenly in a rage.Within a blink of an eye, the women went from twitching husks to raging mad beasts.
As they rushed Bubbles and Buttons, they swung their bats so wildly, they hit each other, at times, without the slightest reaction. They had blood shot eyes, specks of dried blood on cracked lips and they foamed from the mouth as they wailed like banshees barreling at Bubbles and Buttons.
The women came at them so hard and fast, all they could do was try their best to parry the women’s strikes and back up against the opposite end of the cage. Marco’s gladiators had some help with deflecting the blows by the other two women themselves; their wild swings hitting each other was a big plus but occasionally some connected with their intended targets and even though the wild women were rarely hitting Bubbles and Bubbles, those few blows compared to their none, signaled they were losing this fight.
Marco stood with a look of disgust over his fighters being dominated while Joe ran to the edge of the glass with worry etched all over his face.
As the wild women pummeled them with blows from aluminum bats, Buttons looked up at the glass long enough to see Joe watching. The look in his eyes said they were in danger of being killed! At that moment, Buttons decided
she was not going to lose that fight or her life.
As she barely fought off her attacker, she chanced a look at Bubbles and saw her in the same situation; that pushed her to act and act quickly.
Buttons reached deep inside her dark soul and forced all the rage inside to suddenly explode outward. She handled the bat with both her hands across her body and exploded forward, driving her attacker to the ground. She swung her bat at the head the woman attacking Bubbles and knocked her to the ground as well, leaving behind a mist of blood and teeth.
"Fuck girl...you alright?"Bubbles asked.
"I'm good...just trying to live, they ain’t dead yet so we needed to finish them quick before they finish us," Buttons hurriedly said to Bubbles.
As soon as Buttons turned to face her opponent, the woman was already in striking mode and caught her on her left arm before she could fully block. Buttons quickly sidestepped the woman, grabbed the bat with her right hand and cracked her opponent across her face, sending her to the ground a bloody mess.
Bubbles took full advantage of the breathing room Buttons provided her.. before her opponent could get up, she jumped on top of her, violently smashing her opponent’s face and head with the end of the bat. The woman screamed, kicked and clawed at Bubbles but fortunately her training had kicked in and she was solely focused on beating the life out of this woman.
Buttons had made her opponent drop her bat and had her pinned against the ground with the bat across her throat crushing her windpipe. The woman kicked, clawed and screamed with what little air she had as her eyes popped from their sockets due to the pressure. Buttons pressed her weight down on the bat with serious intent and squeezed. The woman's efforts to survive slowly deteriorated as blood flooded her brain. Her eyes grew bloodshot and blood began to leak from the sockets, giving new meaning to ‘blood tears’. She was bleeding from her ears, nose and mouth as well.
JOE, BUBBLES & BUTTONS Page 5
