There was nothing special about Bob Franks. Having just seen the birth of his first great-grandchild, he was feeling the years of his age and knew it was time to retire. He was described as "past his prime" when he first started out as fighter, the following years heard this repeated continually. He had competed all over the universe, not by invitation, but by starting over. He'd never won a championship. He'd never walked away from a memorable fight. He’d never even earned a nickname. He tried various personas, which were regarded as hokey, and were dropped. In the last decade of his career, he simply went by Bob Franks.
His family was nothing special, either. Except to those who knew them personally, no one had heard of them. Bob's daughter-in-law's cousin was a former Ophidian gladiator. This was as close as their family came to fame. Bob's father had been a gladiator, who quit before Bob started his career. Bob's children chose not to compete, and settled for tame jobs that garnered no fame, either. This was Bob's third time competing in Grakkan's Union. No one remembered him from before.
Bob's team was nothing special, either. Their "star" gladiator was Egine, who used little cybernetic devices, but pretended to be a mystic gladiator. Then there was Pady, a mutated, four footed, three foot tall creature who could speak five phrases, which was all that separated him from the minions. Pady's trainer, and fourth gladiator on the team, was Seneca Mosr, a minion-less portal gladiator who taught herself all she knew.
This was their first and last season working together. None of them knew if they would continue fighting at all. All had fought previously, and all agreed this was their worst season to date. They were un-victorious so far. Most wins were by total annihilation. Their only claim to fame is they were one of the few groups to lose by annihilation in The Piztor Arena with time still on the clock.
It was quite the surprise when they defeated Team Diamond.
There were several factors that led to Team Diamond’s loss. First of all, this was their first match without the Doombringer on their team. Secondly, The Kid had previously been injured and was still shaken by his mortality. Thirdly, Johnny Alpha had never competed in the Glosmos Cave. Fourthly, Gail felt useless in the cave, with no air current to use as a weapon. But most importantly, it is because Luck is a fickle mistress who is known to favor the underdog.
Lady Diamond was not there the day her team lost. She was in the office of Magistrate Vellun. "Dreena, my darling, you know that I would give my own life to help if I could. But there is nothing I can do. The contract for Grakkan's Union specifically says it is acceptable for one gladiator to kill another gladiator in competition without repercussions. I feel for your loss, I do..."
"With all due respect, Magistrate Vellun, you are not listening to me. The Doombringer is not dead. It would take more than being swallowed to destroy a Doombringer. That amulet has survived the collapse of a star system and transportation on a comet. There are rules about holding gladiators hostage, you could do something about that."
"Dreena, I would that could, but my hands are tied. By all laws he must be declared dead."
"That is wrong. He will..." Lady Diamond looked for a phrase to use in proper conversation, "pass. Can you not hold Lord Slice until then?"
"I cannot, Dreena, I am truly sorry."
The safety glass was put into place, and the unfortunate match began. Johnny Alpha took the command of Team Diamond. "Stay close until we know what we're up against. We don't know anything about them." Actually, they had seen this team fight the last night they were at the Glosmos Cave. Additionally, Johnny Alpha, back in his days, had fought against Bob Franks, and won.
Egine was the first to act. In the palm of his hand he held a small cannon, the size of a writing pen. He pointed at the opposing team and yelled, "Spirit of the Eternal Flame, I summon you to our aid!" He ignited the cannon and shot a flare that burned out in the thin air. Team Diamond collectively stepped back, awaiting the rise of the minion. They were dumbfounded when nothing more happened. "Invisible spirit," commanded Egine, looking to his left, Team Diamond's right, "attack with full force." Team Diamond looked on to brace against the inevitable attack. There was a crack like electricity and a puff of smoke from their left. They turned to see what they thought was an attack from a spirit. Instead, one little cloud of smoke hung, with no breeze to carry it away. "Spirit, multiply yourself!" Egine held two hands up to the roof of the cave; a shower of sparks dropped on Team Diamond, crackling on the way down.
Team Diamond gave in to the ruse, separating. They brushed the sparks off of themselves. "Someone help them if they singed my cloak," The Kid looked himself over. There were bloodstains that had failed to wash out on the first try, but no burns. "Oh, I'm all right."
"What is he doing?" Johnny Alpha asked aloud, his failure to process the tactics converting themselves into an external monologue. "He didn't summon a spirit."
"Hup, hup," commanded Seneca, tapping Pady with her fingertips. Pady launched himself at Captain Impressive, which would have resulted in a funny, and possibly effective, crotch shot. However, Captain Impressive responded with a soft but swift kick. The forward motion and upward force caused Pady to bounce like a ball with a lot of centrifugal motion to it. He hit Captain Impressive in the shoulder and then landed against the back cave wall.
"Attack," shouted Johnny Alpha. Further checks had diagnosed the team to be as weak as they seemed.
Lady Diamond was still pleading her case to Magistrate Vellun, "Who is this Lord Slice that he has power over you?"
"Dreena, this childish attack on my pride is beneath you."
"I bet if my father were here, you'd..." Lady Diamond saw the stern warning in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I am just feeling helpless. A member of team has been taken hostage and it is my responsibility to save him." Magistrate Vellun leaned back and sighed.
The opponents feared for their life as Team Diamond advanced. By all rights, this should have been the start of their end. But Luck had a different plan. Johnny Alpha led the charge, pointed his left, Pol-tec arm, and unleashed a spinning fan blade. This could liquidate anyone it touched, but also provide Gail with enough air current to jump-start her powers. The arm chose this moment to show why it was on the scrap heap to begin with. With the smell of burnt rubber and the squeak of failing brakes, the fan blade freed itself from its axis. It kept spinning. Like a homing-ninja star it shot at Captain Impressive, who was beside Johnny Alpha at the time of the mishap. It tore up a piece of his cybernetic arm, cracked his robotic eye, and continued its path of destruction. The Kid stopped short, saving his life as in crashed to the cave floor in front of him. It bounced up, through his legs, nicking pants and less-sensitive flesh, tearing a fine slot in his cloak, and went after Gail. Gail spun around as it ascended towards her face. It caught her braided hair, severing one thick braid before catching in the other. There is no telling for how many years that blade would have continued on if it had not been for Gail's hair.
That is all there is to be said of Luck in this fight, but it is enough. The rest of the match hinged on one team's poor reaction to the momentary crisis, and the other team taking advantage. Team Diamond surveyed the damage, a task that should have been carried out later.
Bob Franks recalled a time when Johnny Alpha, under the management of Dasher Diamond, had embarrassed him by grabbing an arm of his teammate's and punching him in the face with it. Bob now returned the humiliation. Gripping the malfunctioning left, cybernetic arm of Captain Impressive, Bob brought metal to metal, jamming the hand up under the cauterized connection of head to neck. The damage dealt by the punch was insignificant compared to the damage by the fire, started by Captain Impressive's sparking hand igniting old wiring inside Johnny Alpha's head. Once this junction was in place, Bob brought his elbow into the human eye of Captain Impressive, momentarily impairing vision in the one functioning tool of sight. The two were primed for another attack.
The Kid looked at the opening in his new cloak. Blood he could wash, but a hole... that required a skill he did not posses. He was mindful there was a fight, and that someone was approaching. He readied a thought, a command that he was on fire, and had to put himself out. That was good for a laugh. The Kid did not realize that this idea came to him because he smelled a circuit fire. As the figure approached, The Kid dropped his marred garment and looked up. "Look inwards, to your own soul," commanded Egine.
The Kid knew it was not his own soul that he looked into, but just a mirror. Still, his message came out his eyes and bounced back in. He saw through his own trick, but his thoughts doubling back on himself gave him a stinging headache. Egine still held the small cannon his hand. He gripped it like brass knuckles, landed a punch in The Kid's gut, and dropped him to his knees. This attack would not have crippled The Kid so much had he been at full health, but he started with a lot of life already missing. Once down, Egine fired the cannon again, this time singeing The Kid's cloak. He threw in another punch, just for good measure.
Gail struggled with the blade wrapped up in her hair. It blocked a portion of her peripheral vision, the portion Seneca and Pady were in. Only too late did Gail see the rampaging mutant coming at her. She held up a hand to summon a defensive wind, but there was none to support her. "Take this," squeaked Pady like a three-year-old girl as his bulbous head found Gail's stomach. Gail keeled forward, and inadvertently swung the braid clinging to the fan blade like an axe. Gail's hair was long enough to put Seneca in the reach of attack. And indeed Seneca would have been hit had she not produced a minor portal that pulled her back the necessary inches to avoid it.
Seneca then opened a portal below Gail's feet, causing her to fall in. The other end of the portal was opened on the cave ceiling. It was meant to pull her through and drop her. But Gail was stubborn. She gripped the rocky floor, finding enough traction to hold on. She was waist deep in the portal. "Just fall through," Seneca was shaking. "I can't hold it open... you'll be crushed."
"No," grunted Gail. She was looking for a wind inside, planning to use herself as a human bullet. At last Pady came to the rescue. He charged at Gail, leapt over the portal's mouth, smacked her in the face, and together they fell backwards. Seneca was still shaking after. Pady placed one foot on the fan blade, keeping Gail down. One foot stayed on the cave floor for balance. The other two feet pummeled her face and fought off her hands until she was out.
Ask most people what kind of gladiator Bob Franks was, and they won't recall him using any kind of discipline. But the fact was he trained in cybernetics and bio-tek. He chose these disciplines for the sole purpose of using the Affliction Belt. He had seen it once as a child and knew he wanted that as his weapon. Used primarily as a torture device, it required a gladiator to be skilled in both of those discipline's to use, and so was not commonly seen. Also, it was ineffectual against anyone who was not at least part human. It also required about two minutes of preparation, without interruption. It was rare Bob ever had that. But with Johnny Alpha on fire from the inside, Captain Impressive blind and stuck, and the others occupied with their own battles, Bob had a couple of minutes. He pulled out one of the Affliction Belts he carried, and started strapping it around Captain Impressive. Once in place, he typed in the password and the command. It started up, gave a flashing "Loading" message, and then the sweetest message in Bob's opinion, "Bug Unleashed."
A few microbots buried into Captain Impressive, doing little damage themselves, but leaving a trail of a honey-like residue. Following them were lazy but hungry virus-like insects that were particularly fond of the taste of this residue. As they ate, their outsides produced a neurotoxin that sent an instant message of pain to the surrounding nerves, without leaving any after effects. Those that have experienced this say it is like a snake made of pure fire slithering in the stomach. Captain Impressive wrestled with this internal suffering until the victors were declared.
Johnny Alpha shut down all systems until his nano-mites extinguished the fire. Unresponsive to the world, Bob Franks had to do little more than poke him in the face to topple him over. When he was down the fight was called. Bob Franks had single-handedly (well, with the help of the hand of Luck) taken down the legends Johnny Alpha and Captain Impressive.
"Before the end of the season, I can promise nothing," Magistrate Vellun said with heavy, reluctant words. "While the team is competing in the union, I have an obligation to them," Lady Diamond started to protest, but Magistrate Vellun put a stop to it. "As I have an obligation to you, as well. However, if they were to fail out of the games... Well, I've said enough."
"If anything comes up, please let me know immediately. I need the Doombringer for the championship match."
Magistrate Vellun chuckled as if at the end of a night of joking, "So certain you’ll be in the championship?"
Lady Diamond gave a smile of hauteur, "Of course we'll be in the championship. We're running an undefeated season."
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