The room sat overlooking the ring allowing one to see everything with casual ease, though at the moment the ring and stadium around it was empty and silent. The room itself was an oddly warm and inviting place, wooden walls and floors all immaculately polished and clean gave the air of a western ranch house. This impression was reinforced with several cheap paintings of western scenes and nick nacks studded with a lone white star. The room's lone occupant, a man wearing a dusty and worn trench coat sat at a wooden desk contently humming to himself as he slowly built a large diorama of a world war two battleship firing at a pair of giant monsters fighting each other.

The peaceful tranquil atmosphere was shattered as the pair of heavy wooden doors were kicked open by a large man with fiery pupils who stormed his way over to the desk and attempted to loom over the man at the desk. The man at the desk's expression was hidden beneath his hat as he slowly set down his brushes, folded his hands, and looked up at the intruder with a slight smile as he asked with a voice all but dripping in saccharine sweetness. "Yes?"

"Yo, boss man the absolute shit was that match!" the young man known as Peerless Champion in the ring demanded, "I didn't even get to fight before I got knocked out! I totally could have recovered from those injuries! It's bullshit!"

"Yes." the man nodded, smile still in place, "Shame you underestimated your opponents."

"Give me a rematch and I'll trounce all them fools man! It ain't right to not let a man throw a few blows! It's practically heresy!" A fist slammed down snapping the boat in half and rattling the desk.

The smile widened noticeably, "So who would you like a rematch against?"

"All of those deadass yabee chumps! Hell throw everyone ya got in this little rengo of yours! I'll trash all of them ya yastu-ojii."

The man in the overcoat's smile brighten as he happily stated, "Sorry tonto del culo but I'm afraid that we are going to be doing single matches for a bit so unless you feel like waiting a month to be a big cabrón in front of the crowd you will have to work your way through them one by one."

The self proclaimed champion's face darkened and a smile of his own crawled over his face. "My yatsu, am I gonna have to beat your ancient ass to get my fights?"

"Oh pendejo," the man at the desk leaned forwards resting his elbows on his desk and resting his head in his hands, "We both know that's not how things like this are done. You've got to savor the fights, build them up until you have a good long brawl with the big boss at the end. It's no fun otherwise."

The silence stretched before Peerless through his head back and laughed, "Ha! You got yourself a spine and some balls ojii! But damn if ya ain't right about that! Fine, I guess I'll start out beating that stretchy girl since she decided to shove a knife in my head first. That fine for you?"

"Dandy in fact."

"After her I wanna pound that-" Peerless started seeming to get excited at the thought.

"Ah ah ah," a finger came up and waved in warning, "No booking more than one match at a time. The fight might not go as planned or you might find better targets. I'd hate to lock you down if you happen to discover someone you just ha~ve to fight after all."

"Bah whatever!" Peerless threw his hands up, "See you once I'm done stomping the bitch then."

"Do be a dear and go let Ms. Pawn know you're challenging her," the man at the desk called as Peerless stormed out of the office. Alone again the man looked down at his ruined diorama with a small frown, with a small swipe of his finger it returned to the state it had been in and he resumed his work on it again with a chuckle, "Pinche pendejo, so predictable. No fun at all."

~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~

A seven foot giant haunted the long mostly barren concrete halls of the Back Rooms. Her steely gray eyes, one flesh and the other metal scanned for signs of life as he shoulder length black hair wafted softly on the artificial breeze of conditioned air. Yet this stalking giant did not move with the same confident grace she had in her last fight, she was no longer the unstoppable juggernaut who had ruled the ring. Her steps were unsure now, her posture almost slummed as if trying to make herself smaller and less intimidating.

She peaked into one of the rooms, finding nothing but what appeared to be a small public library. Unexpected and interesting, but not what, or more specifically who, she was looking for. Moving on she tried a door across the hall and nearly lost her balance at the unexpected site of the next 'room'.

Behind the door appeared to be a wide open field with blue partly cloudy skies and a single grand oak sitting atop a small hillock watched over by a guardian gazebo. Few small animals scurried about the edges of the field and the sun shone brightly down overhead. It took nearly a minute before she realized the 'shy' overhead was a massive screen displaying a convincing fake with well hidden speakers providing and ambiance that enhanced the illusion. More over, she'd spotted her target sitting in the shade of the oak reading a book while softly stroking the head of a fox.

Entering the park room she advanced on the man under the tree with a pace that grew slowly more unsure as she got near. As she got close the fox fled and the man paused in his reading turning to look up at her with a polite smile, "Yes?"

She hated the fact that she hesitated and struggled to meet the man's eyes before forcing herself to look into the deep dark eyes full of only warmth and kindness. "You threw our match. Why?" Was she being to forceful? Maybe she should have beaten around the bush first.

"Indeed I did," the man in blue said happily, "Because what would it mater if I won?"

Sawyer's brain shorted a little on that one. Were they not all fighting for a wish, freedom, and to try and beat the ever loving tar out of that smug bastard who had somehow kidnapped them all? And the belt would be nice to, but mostly the thought of beating all the teeth out of that smug Hispanic shit's face. To her further shame all she could manage was a confused, "Uh~"

"Yes, I could have beaten you. I could have even done it quickly and ended the fight with a nice speech about how 'Truth and Justice always wins in the end!' Which I do love to by the way. But if I had done so it would have made the future fights for all those spectators less enjoyable. A man who never loses in these kinds of games is no fun for the audience or the players. This way we can now have another match where I do win and can give my speech and the crowd can always get excited when we face each other because it's anybody's match." Blue Eagle smiles as the fox nervously returns for more affection, "Though in fairness, you might actually be able to beat me, your punches pack a wallop."

"But it's not a game!" Sawyer shouts scaring the poor fox away again, "We've been kidnapped and are being to fight for that smug fuck in a suit's amusement! Why aren't you trying to stop him or make sure you're in the final match so you can punch his head off!"

"First off, language young lady." Blue eagle says with a frown and tone like a disapproving father, "A lovely young woman such as yourself should never dirty herself with such words. Secondly, I believe that our ring master is playing a part as much as I am to make things better for the crowds. No doubt he should have asked us first and I will make my displeasure known when next we meet, but I trust he is nowhere near the brute he pretends to be. Just like you."

"What?" this man just seemed to effortlessly keep her off balance, he was just so forthright, naively trusting, and daddly that he was slipping around all the defenses she'd built up from her life of fighting cybered up thugs in the city.

"Despite playing the roll of a brutish thug in the ring," the scolding tone and disapproving finger came back out, "Something I think you took a bit to far with those kids. You appear to a good and just woman with a good head on your shoulders." the man set his book aside and stood up taking a classic hero pose with his hands on his hips and chest thrust forwards without even seeming to think about it. His cape fluttered in the breeze and despite being shorter than her to Sawyer he seemed to suddenly tower over her as he kindly smiled, "If you should ever want to stop pretending to be a brutish thug know that I'd be more than willing to show you the finer aspects of being a hero."

Despite herself Sawyer found herself laughing at the corny amount of forthright conviction in the man's tone. "Sure thing Blue Eagle, thanks for clearing that up for me." She held out her hand, "By the way outside of the ring you can call me Sharkie. Sawyer's my work name and you seem chill enough to be a bud."

Blue Eagle's smile was sunnier than the fake sun overhead as he firmly shook Sawyer's hand, "A please Miss Sharkie. I'm David Dufraine. Feel free to call me by many a nick name. I've have a very active son so I'm sure I can stand the silliest name you can think of."

"What no protecting your secret identity?" Sawyer barely kept herself from laughing again as Blue Eagle said all of that with a straight face. "Sure thing Dave, say I spotted a sparring ring on my way over here. You mind showing me some of the things you teach your young ward in the ring?"

"It would be a pleasure young Sharkie, just as soon as I return this book to the library. For it always pays to return your books on time!"

~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~

For one Amy Lee, what sat in front of her seemed like a rare precious treasure she feared to even touch lest it prove to be naught but a dream. Her usually cold calculating eyes were filled with desire as she subtlety licked her lips eyeing the hissing mass of charred flesh. She had been quietly ecstatic when she noticed the item on the menu for catering, yet that excitement had turned to awe when she noticed that slider for heat simply kept going. First peppers, then fire, then volcanoes, followed by suns, before finally leading to skulls. Sensing a potential trap she'd limited herself to simply four volcanoes of spice, for now.

The resultant hot wings before her seemed to glow red with palpable malice as the still sizzled as if fresh from the skillet. They reeked of peppers so strongly that it almost stung her eyes simply to remain in their presence. As for taste, well, she was about to find out. Reaching out to finally take hold of one of the tender wings she froze in shock as the door to her room exploded off its hinges and plowed into her table knocking the meal flying and covering it with splinters and dirt.

"Hey gurl!" Peerless Champion smiled from the kicked in door, "Guess what! It's time for a rematch and I'm calling your scrawny ass out ya hear?"

Her hand slowly dropped back to her side, her posture rigid and her gaze ice as slowly rotated her head to glare icily at the large grinning man who had violated her sanctuary and shattered her evening. For several silent seconds she simply considered murdering the man here and now. That would be completely unprofessional though and it was clear that she was not her usual calm rational self. So she'd give herself time and consider then if she should actually kill the man on stage or simple leave him mangled and humiliated again.

"Very well," Pawn stated slowly her voice devoid of emotion, "I shall see you then."

"Ha! Like ya even had a choice!" the man boasted seeming even more energetic than before, "I hope you're ready for a proper fight this time because there's no way yer scrawny ass is going to get the drop on me twice in a row, ya hear!"

Pawn did not reply, simply continuing to glare at the idiot as he turned around and strutted out of the room. Slowly turning to look at her destroyed table and meal she huffed in disappointment reaching for her room's land line. She had already waited months for a good plate of hot wings, she supposed she could wait for them to cook up a new batch. She did hope they were quick about it though.

~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~

A fit Asian woman threw another punch, slamming the punching bag hard and following it up with a kick and three more rapid punches. Sweat dripped from her attempts to wear herself out, yet a fury still burned in her breast that refused to go out. She steadied the bag as she gasped for air wiping her black hair out of her face as she visualized a mans face painted in wolfish design. Her teeth grit almost to cracking as she resumed her attack on the bag. After an indeterminable amount of time the woman was finally forced to sit down on a bench and draped a towel soaked with cool water over her head as she wheezed for air. She remained on the bench long past the point her breath steadied glaring at the floor and her hands.

She didn't look up when she heard the door to the gym she'd found open, nor when she heard someone approaching. She did finally look up when she heard a childish voice ask her, "Hi there! Are you okay?"

Looking up the woman who'd titled herself the Yakuza Queen threw her dirtiest glare at the voice, only to blink in surprise as she found her glare counted by the sunny smile of a little girl with pitch black hair and deep chocolate eyes. "You look really down, wanna be friends so we can talk about it? Friends share what's troubling them after all and that always makes someone feel better."

Yakuza Queen huffed as she looked away from the shining beacon of optimism and friendship grumbling, "Sure kid."

The girl threw her arms up in a 'whoop' and threw herself at the older woman wrapping her in a hug before sitting next to her on the bench, her short legs kicking happily as she asked, "So what's got you so down. Oh wait! As friends we should know each other's names. Hi I'm Charlie! Oh, wait, am I still suppose to use the other name?"

Despite herself Yakuza Queen couldn't hold back a snort of laughter at the girl's precociousness personality, "Nah, don't worry about it Charlie, those other names are for the stage," a frown flickers across her face as she realizes that means this little girl is also fighting in the ring doesn't it. She waves the thought away for the moment, "Name's Kaos. And yeah I guess I am a bit flustered. My match didn't go like I expected it to."

Charlie's kicking slowed as her smile dimmed, "Yeah, mine too." Her brightness returned in full force, "But don't worry there's always next time! I'm sure my next match will totally want to be my friend and avoid this stupid fighting."

"I don't doubt it kid," Kaos chuckled ruffling the girl's long black hair, "But I'm not looking for a rematch. I'm pissed I lost at all much less to a fake fighter who peacock's around the ring and doesn't even have the creativity to use his own damn moves." She clenches her teeth and a growl escapes her throat, "Damn that cheating thief! Stealing a win by letting everyone else do all the fighting and jumping in to steal the win like that."

Charlie stands up on the bench to wrap the older woman in an enveloping hug and stroking her head, "You shouldn't let something so small and unimportant bother you. I'm sure you're a great fighter and will totally trounce that bully next time you meet."

Kaos isn't listening her eyes still locked on the memory of Zevon using her own move against her as her vision slowly blackened from loss of air. She unwraps Charlie from around her as she stands up, "Hey kid, I'm going to need a bit more time to work these feelings out, you mind?"

"Not at all!" Charlie beamed plopping herself back down on the bench, "As long as you don't mind me watching and cheering. This place is so big an empty and no one is around any more."

"Knock yourself out," Yakuza Queen grunted returning to kicking at the bag.

Unseen by either woman was a short man standing in the doorway. The man's face slowly shifted from a look of surprise into looking affronted before finally settling into a snarl as he left the room with murder in his eyes.

~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~

Terri stood looking at one of the concrete walls making up the maze of corridors under the ring with a look of confusion. She rubbed her finger across it and noticed that it certainly felt like concrete and looked like it, yet it wasn't registering on her senses or responding to her earth manipulation. In fact she was struggling to pick up more than a few specks of earth anywhere. Something was wrong about this place, beyond the man in a trench coat who had kidnapped and drafted them all into this game in the first place. She was so focused she nearly jumped out of her skin when someone else entered the hallway.

"Ah, Sediment Terri, I was looking for you!" a buxom blond bimbo said happily with a wave, "I wanted to thank you for... I'm sorry but why were you examining this wall so intensely?"

"Well," the red head suddenly found herself feeling embarrassed, which was impressive considering how often she fought in public wearing a skin tight suit, "I thought the walls seemed weird?"

"Really?" the blonde machine asked resting her own hand against the wall. A look of concentration crossed her face as she pressed on the wall, "Fascinating, under passive observation these walls appear to be simple concrete when in actuality they appear to be a very tough plastic foam with a slight bit of yield which are effectively more durable than steel as a result yet would probably be lighter than wood. A fascinating design. I do wish I had some tools to take a proper sample as this material would likely revolutionize orbital infrastructure and ship building."

"Wait you can tell what this stuff is by looking at it?"

"Somewhat," the machine calling itself Hot Mama stated, "This body sadly lacks a lot of sensory instruments my old one does so my conclusions are rather surface level."

"Better than I'd managed in the same time," Terri admitted, "Say would you be willing to help me?"

"It would depend on what you want help with."

"Look something about this place is wrong," Terri found herself beginning to pace, "I'm not sensing any Earth more than what people have tracked in her anywhere, that stadium was filled with a lot of mutants and people like I've never seen before, and of course everything about our host is just screaming Trouble with a capital 'T'. I want your help figuring out what's really going on here and maybe even finding a way out."

The AI tilted her head for a moment and then nodded, "That seems reasonable, I would very much like to escape this space station."

"Space station?" Terri blinked in surprise, "What makes you think this is a space station?"

"The lack of any exterior windows anywhere," the blonde started counting off on her fingers, "Your notice of how oddly clean the place is. The odd micro-fluctuations in gravity. The large amount of alien life forms hinting at a space based civilization. And of course the fact that during the fight I could hear some announcements about 'Keeping the station clean' outside of the stadium."

"You could hear things over the noise of the crowd?" Terri asked sounding impressed.

"I am a very well built piece of machinery." the AI preened, "My senses far outstrip the levels of simple organics."

"Yet you still lost," the red head teased.

"You are made out of rocks," the blonde pouted, "That was not calculated and blatantly unfair."

"Sure it is," Terri smirked patting the other woman on the back, "What's your name anyways? I don't exactly want to keep calling you Hot Mama while we're trying to find a way out of here."

"I am known as Caelia, though I am clearly a hot mama and thus dissever to be called such."

"Sure thing Caelia."

~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~

"Where the heck even am I?" the young man with long black hair muttered looking down the various unmarked stone hallways. "I know other worlds can be odd and this smooth stone castle certainly fits the bill for that. But I could have sworn this led to the library I spotted on my way to my room." An oppressive silence filled the halls as the self titled Son of Thorns shouted down one, "Hello? Is anybody around?" A annoyed huff escaped the young man, "What are you even suppose to do if you get lost here? Nothing seems to be marked and we were given no directions. If I'd known this was such a maze I'd have grabbed that loaf of bread out of my room and used it to mark a trail.

All the lights in the hall flickered briefly and a deep ominous pressure seemed to fill the hall. Two knives leaped into the boy's hands as he quickly checked down each of the halls his ears peeled for the slightest sound before he slowly forced himself to relax and sheath his blades.

"Damned place is creepier than a graveyard. Maybe I can retrace my steps."

He turned to try and follow his path back only to stumble backwards a cry catching in his throat as he fumbled for his knives again. Somehow standing silently behind him was the towering form of the ring master, his dusty coat and hat casting deep shadows in the wane light of the halls. Despite this a wide toothy smile seemed to glow and twinkle like stars down at the shorter younger man. The Son of Thorns also happened to notice a smell that did nothing to put him at ease, for under the thick scent of dust and oil that surrounded the man was an omnipresent smell of old blood.

Resting his hands on his knives the young man did his best to try and not show how shocked and disturbed he was by the man who'd some how approached him. He knew he was failing utterly, but he stilled tried, "Ah, sir. I don't suppose you'd be able to guide me to the library or my room?"

"I could," the towering man said his tone filled with amusement.

The silence stretched for several seconds before Thorn asked, "Would you be so kind as to lead me to them then?"

"Not a chance," the unnaturally radiant smile widened, "I've got other plans for you this week." The giant advanced a step and Thorn drew a knife in one hand and his special golden needle in the other. Before his blade had cleared leather the hand was grabbed and locked in place with a grip that felt like it could warp steel. His needle hand was like wise grabbed and slowly twisted to shine in the dim electric lights. "Ah good, you brought your needle. That will save us some time. Come along now, I have something to show you little Sorrel."

He resisted, kicked, and screamed for help as he was dragged deeper into the maze but his capture was slowed for naught a second.