Sweat and Blood

by Jack Stornoway

the miner with both hands.

  The miner's knees buckled and he to dropped to one knee, but Artemio backed off and waited for the miner to get back to his feet. The miner looked surprised, and moved in on Chico Violento again, but when he began throwing his fists there was nothing behind them. He seemed to have misunderstood why Artemio had backed off, perhaps the thought Chico Violento was going to throw the fight. Lots of fighters got paid more by gamblers to throw fights than they would get from the ticket sales, but all Artemio wanted was the fight to last longer. He needed a workout. He needed to get this miner back into the fight, and as the miner threw ineffective fists Artemio struck out slamming a fist squarely into the miners nose.

  The miner was knocked back, and briefly stunned, but when he returned to the fight he was back in it. The miner kicked up at Chico Violento just missing his chin, and followed through with a right fist that knocked Artemio back into the cage wall. As Artemio tried to push away from the wall he was met by a barrage of fists as the miner bored in. It was something he hadn't felt in a long time, a relentless pummeling by an enraged opponent. His body was numb again, as disconnected from his mind as a vehicle he might be driving. It felt somehow good, familiar. Violento waited his moment, and as the miners hands slowed down, and drove a fist from the bottom of his feet up into the miner's jaw, snapping the miner's head back. The miner stagger back, and fell unconscious into the floor of the cage.

  A medic entered the cage to check the miner. He was still alive, but out cold with a shattered jaw. The fight was over, way too soon for Artemio, and there wouldn't be another fight until they got to Yangi Toshkent a week later.

  After Chico Violento left the cage Delia approached. "It didn't look good for you. What did you hit him with?"

  "My fist," Artemio answered, somewhat disappointed the fight had ended so soon. "Can I fight again tonight?"

  "Max one fight per event," Delia told him what he already knew.

  "You should pay him something," Artemio stated. "At least cover his medical bill."

  "That wasn't our agreement," Delia argued.

  "I'll win every fight," Artemio stated. "I'm sure you can make more than enough off the side action."

  They left Madhabani that night, before the Arean MPs swarmed through the city looking for the fight cage. Yangi Toshkent was in the Gale Crater far to the northeast at the cusp of the Hesperia Planum and the northern lowlands. It was once an Uzbek Cerium mining colony, founded by Mars Mining and Metallurgy Combinat. MMMC had not invested greatly in agriculture, building a few greenhouses producing a mixture of wheat, barley, corn, rice, cotton, sesame, onions, flax, tobacco, and melons. During the Colonial Era many Sudamérican farming corporations had built greenhouses in the region around the Gale Crater, leaving the region with a largely agricultural economy.

  Delia had booked them on a passenger airship to Yangi Toshkent, which took three days, stopping briefly in Noua București. The passenger airship was large and luxurious, nothing like the tiny cabin that he had travelled from Multan to Èkó in. It gave him the opportunity to meet the production crew and other fighters working for the UFL. With the exception of the fact that they were criminals, it was like it had been when he was young.

  The fight in Yangi Toshkent took longer than the one in Madhabani, but not much longer. The fighter he faced was a slugger. There were various ways one could fight, and this fighter had no training in any martial arts. He had one skill-set, he could hit hard and he could hit fast. Violento could have defeated him quickly using a variety of techniques, but the fighter was a good slugger, and so Artemio fought him in a slug-fest. The fight took less than twenty minutes, and ended with the slugger laying unconscious on the floor like miner in Madhabani. The slugger was disappointing to Artemio, but he had kept the fight going as long as the man could hold up.

  A week later they were in Karācī in Aeolis Mensae, northeast of Gale Crater. Yangi Toshkent and Karācī were connected via maglev system, so the ULF crew and fighters traveled by train. Delia liked to change their mode of transport whenever she could, to keep the MPs from tracking them. Aeolis Mensae was a tableland in the lowlands north of the Hesperia Planum. It was one of Mars' strange inverted features, the remnant of an ancient riverbed that rose high above the surrounding lands that had eroded in the half a billions years since the river dried up.

  The fighter he met in Karācī was the opposite of the slugger in Yangi Toshkent. This fighter had a mixed martial arts background, and the fight was technical. This was the kind of fight Artemio had been looking for, something that would sharpened up his skills. The fighter was a challenge, not to beat, but to beat without killing. Artemio didn't want to kill him unless he had no choice, he didn't want to raise Chico Violento's profile any more than absolutely necessary. Sooner or later someone would notice that Chico Violento wasn't loosing, and his profile would skyrocket. When that happened Artemio would need to disappear. Terminal fights would raise his profile quicker. Everyone wanted to bet on a terminal fighter, no one ever threw a fight against a terminal fighter.

  The fighter knocked Chico Violento down, and Artemio realized he wasn't paying close enough attention. The fighter stepped back waiting for Chico Violento get back to his feet, he wanted to win a clean fight. Artemio could respect that, he was trying to win a non-terminal fight. He got up and waited for the fighter to close in again before attacking. He dodged the fighters feet and plowed his left fist deep into the fighter's solar plexus, sending the fighter stumbling back a few feet with a worried expression on his face.

  Artemio advanced and slammed a right foot into the fighter's heart that made him stumble back a couple more steps. The fighter returned with a quick series of fists aimed at Chico Violento's head missing all but one glancing blow to the chin. Artemio dodged to the left and feinted a right swing, before raising his left knee into the fighter's sternum. The fighter had stepped into Artemio's knee trying to avoid his right fist, and as he stumbled backwards a right fist slammed down into his temple knocking him out cold. Artemio knelled down to check the man's pulse before the medic rushed in, he was still alive.

  After the first few fights they all seemed to blur together. For weeks he fought a series of miners, farmers, and mechanics. Several of the fighters were technical, but the majority were just local strongmen that fought in a variety of innovative ways. The fighters weren't of the calibre he needed to face to prepare for Mudiwa Kachote, but they were all real fighters with some skill-set, that allowed him to sharpen his own skills. As the weeks passed and it became apparent that Chico Violento wasn't going to loose, Delia started fighting him against the best of the contenders. The unbeaten streak also got the attention of gamblers across the planet, bringing Chico Violento to the attention of Chichi and Yousaf.

  "Artemio started in the HFL," Yousaf said. "He'd been fighting in a mask before that. I don't know the name, but it could have been Chico Violento."

  "His style isn't like Artemio's," Chichi said as they watched a replay of one of Chico Violento's recent fights.

  "It changes with every fight," Yousaf said. "I downloaded all of them last night. Whoever Chico Violento is, he's toying with these contenders."

  "You really think it's Artemio?" Chichi asked.

  "Yes," Yousaf answered. "It makes perfect sense for him to run back to Hesperia and fight in the UFL."

  "Why the mask?" Chichi asked. "Not many fighters in the UFL fight in masks anymore."

  "The UFL is illegal," Yousaf observed, "and he was an MP."

  Chichi paused considering, and then looked up eagerly. "Send Brijesh Misra to challenge him. There's no way the ULF will turn down a challenge from a major Multan FC fighter. Offer them some extra Arean Credit to keep Chico Violento in the dark."

  "How much?" Yousaf enquired.

  "₡100,000 should be enough," Chichi answered. "The UFL is a pretty small operation."

  As soon as Artemio saw Brijesh enter the cage, he knew his time in the UFL was over. Brijesh was taller than Artemio,
but not as muscular. He was one of the top fighters in the Multan FC, and one of the dirtiest fighters Artemio had ever seen in the cage. On the way into the cage Artemio had overheard one of the techs say they they had a record number of subscriptions to watch the fight. His ego let him think it was because of him, now he knew it was because of Brijesh.

  The cage doors locked and Brijesh moved quickly yet cautiously towards Artemio. Brijesh jabbed a left that knocked Artemio's head back like he was a bobble-head, and then swung a fast right. Artemio dodged the right and moved in close, slamming his knee up into Brijesh's muscular abs. For most fighters the knee would at least pause them for a few seconds, but it had no effect on Brijesh. He smashed his left elbow up into Artemio's chin, knocking him back and down to one knee.

  Artemio dropped and rolled backwards away from Brijesh, rising to both feet and drove a right straight into Brijesh's mouth. Brijesh stepped back, paused for a second and then advanced on Artemio again, missing with a right, but connecting with his left knee, and then his right elbow. Artemio was