JOE, BUBBLES & BUTTONS

by Benjamin J. Patterson

  Everyone looked on in horror except Marco, whose facial expression stayed hard and firm while the woman's body twitched on the ground, her blood coating the surface of the cage.

  "You are a fucking monster," Bubbles yelled out.

  "Call me what you want but if any of you want to live, I better see some fucking fighting right fucking now," Marco furiously demanded over the loudspeaker as he banged his fist on the table.

  "Oh...so now it’s two on one... it don't seem fair to me," Bubbles yelled sarcastically.

  A large and sinister smirk slowly formed on Marco's face..

  "That’s one thing you’re right about, so why don’t you wait outside the cage while your friend fights her."

  "HELL TO THE NO...THAT'S NOT FAIR! SHE'S DOUBLE BUBBLES' SIZE.. WHY CAN'T I FIGHT HER," Buttons screamed adamantly.

  "You can't because I said you can’t... why do you think that bitch is dead on the ground now? I am god here and what I say goes, I thought you had already learned this lesson but I see I was wrong so I will give you an absolute lesson. Only one of you will leave here tonight or neither of you will. You will fight the winner of this match!"

  "FUCK YOU MARCO! WE TOLD YOU WE WILL NEVER FIGHT EACH OTHER AND IF YOU KILL US OFF WHAT ABOUT YOUR AUDIENCE, RATINGS AND MONEY," Bubbles angrily responded.

  "I was successful before you and I will be successful after you," Marco replied. He then shouted orders in Russian over the loudspeaker. The armed men opened the cage, forcing Buttons out by gunpoint as they exchanged looks of worry.

  "If I gotta die anyway, why should I fight her instead of just letting you kill me," Bubbles' opponent asked Marco.

  "Great question.... how does this sound? If you win, I will have your criminal record wiped clean and I will pay you a hundred thousand dollars. "

  "Man please...How do I know you're not lying to me and won't just kill me if I win or not?"

  "We are being watched by thousands around the world so I not only made that promise to you but to them also... look." Marco then pointed to the ceiling and all the cameras mounted in various positions. The woman looked the cameras, back at Bubbles then quickly ran to grab a meat cleaver from the cage bars. She faced Bubbles in a fighting stance; Bubbles matched her move.

  "That's the idea but before you start there are some ground rules, no one does anything until I give the command to fight and the winner can only win by holding up the head of the loser," Marco added.

  "FIGHT!" he yelled.

  The woman yelled and rushed Bubbles with the cleaver raised. Bubbles easily sidestepped her, swung and slashed her across the back.

  “Arrrr,” the woman yelled in pain but she quickly shrugged it off, grabbing Bubbles by her throat and slamming her against the cage, causing her to drop her cleaver. The woman swung down at Bubbles but she grabbed her wrist and struggled to keep her at bay.

  This woman stood a good six foot six or seven easily, towering over Bubbles and Buttons. The woman's size and strength was almost overwhelming for Bubbles. As she pressed her attack, Bubbles legs began to weaken and tremble.

  Seeing her friend at a serious disadvantage, Buttons, under armed guard, shouted out "FIGHT BUBBLES! YOU BETTER FUCKING FIGHT! "

  When it came to winning a fight with overwhelming size and strength, Buttons was well suited for it but unfortunately it was Bubbles in the cage with a beast of a woman. Bubbles had a furious fighting spirit; while pinned against the cage and struggling to keep a meat cleaver from splitting her scalp, she punched and kicked at the woman as much as she could but to no avail. The big bitch hardly flinched from the blows, staying intent on splitting her wide open.

  In order to save her life, Bubbles made a desperate move. She dropped all her weight to the ground and as the woman leaned down still gripping her, Bubbles kicked her in the face. The kick stunned the woman long enough for Bubbles to grab the meat cleaver she had dropped.

  CLINK...

  “AAHHH!!!” Bubbles screamed as the woman slammed her meat cleaver down on Bubbles' right hand, sending blood squirting and three fingers rolling across the cage. Somehow, after absorbing the intense pain, Bubbles managed to swing her cleaver, slicing into the woman's Achilles. As the woman curled back in pain, Bubbles took the opportunity to get back to her feet and on the offensive.

  The woman screamed in pain, struggling to get to her feet as Bubbles took a moment to tend to her injury. She quickly tore away a piece of her top to wrapped her mangled hand. By the time she finished, her opponent was back on her feet and armed with a meat cleaver in both hands. Due to her injury she was only able to use one of her legs so she slightly hopped about the cage with her teeth clenched and death in her eyes.

  Bubbles had lost the use of one hand; however, she had mobility on her side and she knew it. So she slowly stalked her like a predator stalking prey, keeping her off balance by making quick side to side movements. As Bubbles closed in on her, she would wildly strike at her and hobble back to keep Bubbles in front of her. Unable to penetrate the woman's defenses with a frontal attack, Bubbles chose another strategy. The entire cage was spotted with about twenty meat cleavers, so Bubbles decided to use them along with her mobility to hopefully win the fight. She crept as close to her opponent as she could while staying out of her strike range and pitched her meat cleaver at her. The woman barely dodged Bubbles' attack and the cleaver flew past her head banged off a cage bar and onto the ground. Bubbles then quickly raced to another cleaver and repeated her action with better success. This time the cleaver spiked into her left shoulder. The woman screamed from the impact and dropped the cleaver in her left hand.

  The sight of the knife in the woman's shoulder and blood leaking pleased Bubbles. With a sly smile on her face and another cleaver in her hand, Bubbles confidently bounced back and forth ready to attack again. The woman, on the other hand, was faced with a dangerous decision because the cleaver in her shoulder was slowly sapping her blood and strength and she could not use her left arm. She could either fight with the cleaver in her shoulder and one arm possibly bleeding to death or drop the cleaver in her right hand to remove the cleaver in her shoulder and leave herself vulnerable to attack. Oh but life is so full of hard decisions!

  The woman gazed at Bubbles, tracking her every movement. She clenched her teeth, dropped her cleaver, reached for the one in her shoulder and yanked it out. Bubbles paused, straightened and stared at the woman as she stood huffing and puffing with blood leaking from her left shoulder and a bloody cleaver raised in her right hand.

  "Come on you bitch... that's all you got," the woman said as she reached down and picked up the meat cleaver she dropped with her left hand.

  "Oh no bitch... there's plenty more where that came from," Bubbles responded. She raised her arm to launch another knife when the woman lunged at her quickly, hopping on one leg. The woman's brave attack surprised Bubbles and she slightly delayed before dodging, which got her slashed in the face. Even though the attack caught Bubbles off guard, she still buried her meat cleaver deep in the woman's back between her shoulder blades. The woman stumbled to the ground from the blow and Buttons immediately jumped her, leaning her weight into driving the cleaver deeper into the woman's body The woman struggled with all her might to get Bubbles off her back but the blood lust in Bubbles boiled to the surface as she violently grunted while forcing her blade into the woman's body as the blood erupted.

  Suddenly there was a cracking sound that echoed throughout the room and the woman instantly stopped moving. Bubbles' blade penetrated her spine and immediately paralyzed her, yet Bubbles kept pushing down on the blade.

  Seeing the end of the fight near, Marco's stone face softened to a satisfied grin at seeing his creation at work. After a while of unleashing her fury on her lifeless opponent, Bubbles suddenly ended her attack. Covered in her opponent's blood and breathing heavily, she slowly stood up and started to walk to the cage door.

  "You can not leave the cage until the job is done in full," Marco blasted over the loudsp
eaker.

  Bubbles froze in her steps, looked up at Marco and silently walked over to her opponent. With her one good arm, she grabbed her opponent by her right arm and dragged her to the center of the cage leaving behind a blood trail. After such an intense battle, Bubbles had forgotten the stipulations Marco put on winning the fight but now that he reminded her she was going to give him what he wanted. She put her foot down on her opponent's back, grabbed the handle of the cleaver jammed in so deep only the handle showed and yanked it out, slinging blood and flesh about the cage.

  “IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKING WANT....IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKING WANT!!!!!,” she screamed as she looked up at Marco. She then knelt down and started forcefully hacking at her opponent's neck. Everyone just watched straight faced and silently as Bubbles made a mess of the cage.

  After continuous wild hackings, the woman's head finally separated from her body and rolled awkwardly in a pool of blood. Struggling to catch her breath, Bubbles grabbed her opponent's severed head, stood up and threw it outside the cage.

  "Now you get me the hell out of here and to a fucking hospital...you twisted bastard! "

  The armed men looked up at Marco and Marco nodded his head signaling to let Bubbles out of the cage.

  ********

  The ride home that night was very awkward. Instead of Marco sitting in the back with them drinking and celebrating, he sat up front quietly with the driver. Joe sat in back, tending to Bubbles' injuries.

  "We're going to the hospital aren't we? I lost a lot of blood and I'm not feeling so good?" Bubbles asked.

  "We aren't going to the hospital.. we're going back to the house. We have equipment to be able to take care of you there," Joe responded.

  When they arrived back at the house, Marco quickly hopped out the limousine and disappeared inside.

  "What's stuck up his ass," Buttons asked Joe.

  "He's mad that you two are still alive... he thinks that you are challenging him too much."

  "Are you serious?! He's mad that we're still alive after everything he put us through! That muthafucka had the nerve to be mad at the fact we're the best and we know it," Bubbles furiously responded as she stumbled slightly weak from blood loss.

  Joe and Buttons quickly grabbed her by the arms and led her into the house.

  “We have a doctor on call twenty-four hours... let's take her into the kitchen...” “Marco really didn't want you two to survive tonight's performance but the woman he killed ruined his plans by questioning him so much. He was going to have you all killed but the chairman of the board wants to see at least one more fight with you two because of the ratings you bring..."

  Buttons took this moment to interrupt Joe...

  "And...who is this chairman of the board that saved our lives?” Buttons asked Joe as they walked into the kitchen.

  "You've met him personally before... Mr. Andre."

  Bubbles stopped in her tracks and looked Joe in the eye...

  "You mean that fat muthafucka who wanted us to beat him while he ate our pussy. "

  "Yeah, that's him," Joe replied.

  Joe took them to another room in the house similar to a hospital emergency room. He yelled in Russian into a back room and this little old man waddled out.

  "Who the fuck is that," Bubbles asked impatiently. The blood loss was making her dizzy and the pain was coming back with a vengeance. If something wasn’t done soon, she go into shock.

  "This is our resident physician. He lives in the house and he has been our doctor ever since I can remember. He is very good, so let him help you." Joe was very gentle with her.

  The old man directed Bubbles to sit on a table, grabbing her mangled hand wrapped in bloody cloth. He slowly unwrapped the make-shift bandage to inspect the severity of the injury.

  "Oh shit... you better be careful old man." Bubbles whispered with trepidation. This shit is really starting to hurt she spoke in her mind, not willing to show any weakness.

  The old doctor washed her mangled hand in an antiseptic bath, poured some type of sterilizer like alcohol on it, rubbed antibiotic cream all over the wounds then wrapped it in fresh bandages. He checked her other injuries, cleansing and treating them in the same fashion then disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. He materialized once again as if by magic with three pills, instructing Bubbles to “take these...an antibiotic for infection and 2 pain relievers...” And just like that...Poof...he was gone.

  "Damn this feels a lot better even though I lost some of my muthafuckin fingers... So is Marco going to try and kill us,” Bubbles asked Joe as she gently inspected her neatly wrapped hand.

  Joe was a bit hesitant in responding. He knew the price to be paid for any disloyalty or disobedience to Marco but his love/lust for Buttons got the better of him...

  "He was very upset that you were injured and didn't die. I heard him and the board talking about fighting you two against each other for the next fight..."

  "What if we don't fight..." Buttons interrupted him yet again. “...what will they do if we refuse to fight one another?”

  "He's planning to kill you two off camera and make up some type of brutal story to make your deaths entertaining. He's already planned another trip to go scouting again."

  "So he's really gonna to kill us.... what do we do now," Buttons asked Bubbles. All their suspicions were confirmed; this had been Marco’s plan all along. He never intended to let them leave here alive!

  "We'll talk about that later... right now I just want to get some rest if you don't mind Joe," Bubbles responded. She was no longer sure Joe could be trusted.

  "Sure, no problem. I will let you two get some rest. I have to check in with Marco anyway," Joe gave Buttons a tender kiss and headed off.

  "I know this shit is fucked up but don't forget Joe has always been in our corner Bubbles...” Buttons had correctly interpreted her concern and couldn’t imagine Joe would betray them.

  "I know he’s always helped us but shit is real now... even though you fucking him, we don't really know just how loyal to Marco he is..." Shit had really come down to life or death and Bubbles just wasn’t willing to take chances with their lives that could easily lead to their deaths.

  That night, Bubbles laid out a plan that would either grant them their freedom or cost them their lives. They had just fought and weren't scheduled to fight until next week so whatever they were going to do they had a week to do it and do it right.

  ********

  The next morning Bubbles, Buttons and Joe ate breakfast at their usual time but Marco was unusually late. When he finally arrived, he was dressed in a sharp Italian suit, similar to what he wore when they met him, rushing for the door. He turned to look at them as though they were an afterthought before replying...

  "I almost forgot about this meeting... I have to fly out and I will not be returning until next Friday, right before your next performance. Andre will be staying over until I return." Marco lowered his brow and squinted his eyes with intimidation at the three of them, "I expect no problems," he added on his way out the door.

  "I can't believe it...a whole six days without his uptight ass. I know he's going to recruit more girls but this is also our time to plan our escape," Bubbles uttered, fixing her eyes on Joe to judge his reaction.

  Joe looked at them with sadness in his face and in resonated in his voice, "you're planning an escape?"

  Buttons walked over to him and pressed his face deeply into her bosom as she hugged him, "Yeah baby, we have no choice but to escape or die and I know you know that too... "

  "He did say something about you two becoming more and more defiant each time you win." Joe looked close to tears.

  Bubbles walked over to put a hand on Joe's shoulder.

  "You do know when we go you are more than welcome to come with us."

  Joe began to shake his head in the negative...

  "I will miss you both greatly, especially you Buttons, but my place is here with Marco for now..."

  "What?! I love you Joe and
I thought you loved me too," Buttons countered, her sadness matching his.

  Joe placed his hand gently on Buttons' cheek..

  "You are my first love and you will always have a place in my heart but this is my life and I'm not ready to leave it. I will give you all the help you need but I can't go with you. "

  A single tear fell as she tenderly kissed him, "I understand...thank you for everything and I will never forget you."

  "There will be plenty of time for goodbyes later ...right now we have to figure out how we're going to do this without getting you into any trouble," Bubbles said to Joe, her heart breaking at the thought of leaving him at the mercy of the monster.

  While they talked in the kitchen, the doorbell rang. As always, one of the servants answered and seconds later Andre walked into the room, "my friends it's good to see you again."

  "It's good to see you too Andre and thanks for getting us out of that bind Mr. Chairman of the board," Bubbles said.

  "You two have been the greatest warriors we’ve ever had and I could not stand to see you go down in such a dishonorable fashion."

  "You think there is anything honorable about her fighting at all with a fucked up hand," Buttons asked Andre heatedly.

  "It is a sad thing, her injury, but that is part of this business. Unfortunately, you're going to have to make do with what you have," Andre answered as he took a seat at the table and lit a cigarette. "Well since I'm here and we have all this time to kill, how about we have a little fun. " His eyes held that sadistic twinkle in anticipation of his version of “the pleasure principle.”

  "We'll beat your crazy ass damn near to death if you want if in return you let us go while Marco is away," Bubbles said to Andre in a serious and frustrated tone.

  "Sorry my dear but it don't work like that. Even though I was able to spare your lives for but a moment, you can only escape death by winning out. When Marco started this great organization he did so for my pleasure and entertainment while he was a prisoner himself. Not only did everyone enjoy it but we made lots of money and..."