A scream of pure rage tore through the gym. The morning sunlight illuminated the other fighters perking up at the sound, hoping this was the day he finally snapped and attacked someone. Unfortunately, the man in question was being held back by two smaller men.

“Get the fuck off me! I’m gonna beat it out of them!”

The man struggled in impotent fury, his large frame no help against his traitorous, yet well-meaning friends.

“Thando, fucking relax, you domkop! This is what they want! If you break the rules now, they’ll throw you out!”

“Willem’s right, they’re baiting you. Don’t fall for a blatant trap, bro, you’re better than this.”

Thando looked down at Chan and Willem, then up at the rest of the fighters in the gym who quickly turned away, as if they hadn’t been watching in anticipation. He sighed in defeat. They let go.

“You’re right, but I need my journal. You know I can’t do this without my affirmations.”

Chan, ever-resourceful, pulled a pack of post-it notes out of his satchel.

“Simple, bro. Just write them in here, and go over them while Willy and I find your journal. Still don’t understand why you won’t just use your phone though, this is one of the reasons normal people have everything on soft copy.”

“Stop fucking calling me that.”

Thando took the square shaped pack with a hesitant thanks and threw them into his gym bag on the floor.

“Okay, I’ll go prepare somewhere else,” he said as he gazed around the room, “It suddenly smells like bitch in here.”

Truthfully, it smelt like old sweat and disinfectant, but that didn’t have the same effect when trying to insult a man. He picked up his bag to leave.

“We’ll destroy you, AA!”

Someone shouted at his back, to generous laughter from the rest of the gym. If Thando didn’t know that it was exactly what they wanted, he would have broken the speaker’s face. Ever since his MMA career had started taking off, that nickname had plagued him. He’d been touted as the potential new face of the sport because of his size, his domination in the octagon along with a flashy style of fighting and his charming smile. His enemies, people he’d beaten in the ring or those simply jealous of his success, thought differently. Because of the diversity of his crew, Thando being black, Chan being Indian and the De Graafs being white, they said he was a “family friendly, politically correct” champion whose skill didn’t warrant all the attention put on him. And once the name ‘Affirmative Action’ was given, it stuck to him like a crazy ex.

Only a few more hours. Then I can release this frustration on those fucks.

Thando and his team were in town for a tournament. Normally, events like this wouldn’t be held over only two days, but a few of Vitality’s Inspired had been hired and could heal fighters between bouts. This made it perfect for him, as the referees would allow for greater injury before stopping the fight and he wanted to take his time. He looked back once, to take note of the guy who’d said that name and commit his details to memory.

He’ll pay for that.

Thando walked out of the gym, finding a bench nearby on which he sat. The sun shone directly in his face, still weak this early in the morning, but enough to make him squint his eyes as he wrote.

I am calm.

I am strong.

I am in control.

Each affirmation got its own note, and he spent the next minute just filling out notes. He pulled off the ones he’d written on and put the blanks back in his bag, while the others went into his shorts.

It was nice out. One of his favourite features of Johannesburg was all the greenery compared to other major cities, greenery that was especially verdant in the crisp morning air. A man as tall as he was suddenly blocked his view of the scenery. Thando looked up from his seat with a grin.

“You’re not transparent, bitch.”

Pieter De Graaf, Willem’s fraternal twin and the only one of their group that rivalled Thando in size, looked down at him, smiled and gave him the finger.

“Fuck you, you shouldn’t even be here,” he said as he sat down next to Thando, “How come you’re not inside? I thought you of all people would be trying to get some last minute practice.”

“I was, but some idiot took my journal and I had to get some air before I got myself disqualified. I was actually rewriting my affirmations in these post-its.” He said, as he patted the bulge in his pockets.

“Damn, I run a little late and you almost get yourself kicked out. I didn’t realise you needed me this much.”

“Fuck you Piet, maybe if you could see past the closest set of tits, you would’ve gotten here with the rest of us.”

“All I’m hearing is envy at my impeccable seduction skills. I had a great night, by the way, I know you were just waiting to hear the salacious details but gentlemen don’t kiss and tell.”

“Firstly, I don’t care. Secondly, you’re nowhere near a gentleman. Thirdly, you literally always kiss and tell. One day a gang of angry women is gonna break your door down and I’ll just watch as they skewer you.”

“Hmm. What are they skewering me with?”

“I’m not even gonna answer that, you deviant.”

Willem waved at them from the entrance a short distance away. Thando and Pieter stood up and began walking over.

“Doth mine eyes deceive me? Is this my brother, willingly tearing himself out of the embrace of a maiden to support a friend?”

“Fuck off Willem,” Pieter laughed, “I heard someone took Wonderkid’s journal. Let’s beat it out of them.”

“That’s what I said! But no…”

Willem’s gaze bounced between the two of them before he sighed in exasperation.

“One would swear you two are the actual twins. You’re even the same fucking size!”

The big men chuckled at the common refrain. Willem had always complained that the two of them were more alike than he was with his own twin brother. Though the four of them, Chan included, had been an inseparable foursome since primary school, Piet and Thando had gelled like glue. They had quite literally grown up like two peas in a pod.

“One day, you’re going to get tired of repeating that phrase. We get it, you’re jealous that I got the height. And the looks. And the brains. I’d be bitter too.”

“And that’s my cue to start ignoring everything you say, brother dearest. Thando, we ‘convinced’ the guys to give up the notebook, but they tore it up before handing it over.” Willem said, wincing in anticipation of having to restrain him again.

The fighter scowled, his expression mirrored on Pieter’s face. His friend actually stepped forward, before Thando put out a hand halting him in his tracks. His face had lost the frown and was simply resigned.

“I’ll have to do this without it then. You and Chan were right earlier; I’ve worked too hard for this to waste my shot beating on nobodies.”

Piet immediately protested.

“No dude, we all remember how you were before you started journaling and using affirmations. They’re disrespecting everything you, and by extension we, have gone through to get here. You can’t hit them but I can and, on principle, I’m obligated to.”

Thando wanted more than anything to go in and show them, in detail, why destroying the one object that kept his mood stable was a bad idea. But he already had some replacement affirmations and while this tournament wasn’t anything special, Willem had found out that corporate scouts were in the audience watching for him. Likely to offer him a deal that would propel him and the rest of the crew to international stardom and a chance to be one of the greats. At least, as great as a normal human could be. Coca Cola was known for holding exhibition events in their Red Dome for athletes they sponsor and Thando hadn’t even been on the Beanstalk, let alone Mars itself.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me win first.

“No dude, we’re too close to finally making it. We’d just be proving the haters right if we fucked this up now.”

Piet looked conflicted, as defensive as he was of Thando, he understood what was at stake.

“Okay, we’ll play it cool. For now.”

The other two knew that was the best they’d get out of him, Piet was nearly as much of a hothead as Thando used to be.

The group entered in through the doorway to see a line heading into the offices adjacent to the gym. Registration had started and they were about to get weighed in and put in brackets. Chan walked up to them, grinning like he’d just won the lottery.

“Chan.”

“Yes, Willy?”

“What did you do,” Willem accused, “That smile never means anything good.”

“Nothing anyone can prove.”

Piet and Thando snorted as Willem facepalmed.

“I swear I can’t leave any of you alone for a second. I’m going to go get our supplies for the day, Chan and Piet, you’re coming with me.”

The named men instantly protested.

“Come on bro, it wasn’t even that bad, you don’t even know if I actually did anything!”

“I wasn’t even here, what the fuck! And we can’t leave Thando alone balls deep in enemy territory, what if they mess with him again!?”

Willem quieted them with an impatient look.

“On the contrary, Thando is the only person I trust to keep his cool and his hands to himself. He understands what this event means, and I’m obviously going to have to explain it to you two again since you’re so hell-bent on fucking this up for all of us. We’ll be back before weigh-in.”

He grabbed them by the forearms, gave Thando a nod and led them out. Watching them go with a smile, he turned back to the line and took his place at the back. Willem had had to mature fast when they were young and he was still the mom of the group even now.

The signing in process was glacially slow, such that Thando found himself reaching for the notes in his pocket after half an hour.

I am calm.

I am strong.

I am in control.

There were others, but these affirmations always came first. The price of not being any of these things was too high.

Many more people had arrived by now, as a commotion drew his eyes towards the doors. Two Inspired made an entrance, their guards holding the doors open, all decked out in expensive dark green suits. The short, youthful looking men, one blond, the other a redhead, carried themselves with the air of those who know they’re untouchable. Vitality didn’t allow many to use her for Inspiration and so the few Inspired she had were protected by law in most of the world because of how valuable their abilities were. Not to mention those abilities made them functionally immortal and eternally young. These two could be as fresh as they look or in their eighties, there was simply no way to tell. So they were to be respected, even if the all-green motif was a bit on the nose.

Inspired didn’t tend to be as popular as Archons, since they were essentially freelancers at best and a private army at worst, but everyone had or knew someone who had been brought back from the brink of death by one of Vitality’s people. As such, they still had groupies and gratefuls, who swarmed them to the point that they disappeared in the pool of bodies.

Thando simply chuckled and moved forward in the line, as more than a few of those ahead of him had left it to go give their thanks to Vitality through the two men. They interacted with the crowd for a while, shaking hands and offering handkerchiefs for tearful expressions of gratitude, before leaving the building. They’d probably come back when everyone was seated. A large portion of the crowd followed them outside, as Thando moved closer to the front.

An exclamation rang out, a yelp of surprise, embarrassment and shame. Two of his tormentors, the man who’d called him AA and another he didn’t recognise, were frantically jiggling the door handle to the inexplicably locked bathrooms while clutching their abdomens. Giving up, the two ran hunched over towards the door, still slightly crowded from the Inspired visit. As they passed him, Thando’s face wrinkled as the rancid smell revealed the truth of their predicament.

Putting two and two together, he figured the other man must have been the one to tear up his journal. A smile bloomed on his face.

“Chan always was a devious little shit.” He chuckled.

With that little bit of retribution achieved, Thando felt a new hope blossom in his chest. This was really it. The tournament that could make or break his career. His first real shot at the stars.

Reaching the front of the line, he shot the woman manning the station a full smile and, likely surprised, she smiled back just as brightly. He bent down to tap his phone to the card printing machine, when everything went black.