Chapter 97: Returning to Town

"Is there anyone here that would be interested in having a debut fight for Sadie's newest Match Fighter?" Rickshaw called out to the room.

Most off the Managers stopped working and looked up with mixed reactions. They seemed interested in the fact that their local mess-up, Sadie, was actually starting to do well. While a few of them took one glance at Zane and went back to work. To them Zane didn't look all that special.

"I could." A male manager called out raising his hand. "I have a Tier 20 Fighter that's only had two fights. It's hard for him to find new Fighters out here and the end of the month deadline is getting near."

"Alright then." Rickshaw said turning towards the manager. "Which one are you referring to, Shawn maybe?"

"Watt." Shawn replied.

"Ah, yes. Watt. Well, he does need the experience and it would be a good match for a first fight for Sadie's new Fighter." Rickshaw replied with a nod. "It won't be a headliner fight like Queens, but it should be a good opening for Zane's first match."

"I can schedule Watt for two weeks from now. He's still on border patrol along the Skulls territory." Shawn said as he was looking at the calendar on his personal tabloid.

"That good for you?" Rickshaw asked turning to look at Sadie.

Sadie was still feeling a bit embarrassed about the form and only managed to give a nod in reply.

"Alright then. Two weeks from now it is. See you then." Rickshaw said turning to go back to his office.

Nicky saw all this and approached Sadie and Zane. All the while holding back a fit of laughter. "Sadie, I hope that your new fighter won't end up as a flop."

Sadie turned and saw that it was Nicky speaking and she felt her gut tighten. This unfairly pretty woman always made her so mad and scared at the same time. "H-he won't be." Sadie stammered in reply. "Queen and I will be teaching him. I am sure he'll be a capable fighter one day."

Nicky looked up and down at Zane and gave an exasperated shrug. "If you say so. Though it should be the Managers job to train their Fighter. It only shows how useless you are if you're letting Queen take your job. He looks flimsy and unprepared, so you'll have your work cut out for you."

"Look, I don't know who you are, but I am not some pushover." Zane said stepping forward. He wasn't used to being bad mouthed before as a Black Rat lieutenant. Anyone that did had their face smashed into the dirt.

Nicky rolled her eyes at him making the action as obvious as she could. Tucking her blond hair behind her ear she replied sarcastically, "Sure, sure. Big strong guy type. I am sure you'll manage. I'll wish you luck, you'll need it." Saying that she turned away and went back to her cubical.

"Who was she? She's kind of annoying." Zane said to Sadie as they were leaving the office room and going into the hallway.

Sadie sighed. "That was Nicky. She's the second-best Match Fighter Manager here in the compound so far. She's never had one of her Fighters loose outright, so she knows what she's talking about."

"Really?" Zane said scratching his chin. "I wouldn't have pinned that pretty lady to be that skilled."

"Well, that 'pretty' lady is good at her job. Sorry I'm not her." Sadie remarked with a huff. "Hurry up, let's get back to Lisa already." Sadie griped as she sped up her pace, leaving Zane to catch up.

"Alright, slow down some. I didn't know she was going to get you this worked up." Zane replied cluelessly to her upset reaction.

…

Nicky watched the two leave and shook her head. Thinking to herself she got ready to listen to the rest of her recording, "Still a simple girl. I hope she doesn't lose to badly. I want to be the one to snuff her out."

Again, looking around to make sure the coast was clear, Nicky went to finish the video.

Saul’s voice spoke first as the video resumed. "There was a moment where Queen charged at Golem when he was cornered between a wall and a shipping container. It looked to me like either her ankle or leg twisted, and she moved around Golem with a rather unnatural motion. She then launched herself off the wall to get behind him before he could react properly. It's hard to imagine that a normal human could move like that."

"That settles it then. Queen is a prosthetic or cybernetic user." Rickshaw replied. "From what you described and what you had seen, that's the only thing that makes since."

"So, what should I do?" Saul asked. “There’s none of her type around here.”

"Two things come to mind." Rickshaw replied slowly in thought. "Break or bend the prosthetic. It's no different from a real arm or leg, it's just a lot stronger. The other is if she had cybernetics, create a lot of dust or debris in the air and the system will become sluggish or overworked trying to filter out all the data. The user’s movement will slow and then you can counter easily while they are trying to adapt."

Nicky pauses the rest of the video. This was all she needed to know. Now to come up with her own plan!

…

The flat bed barge drifted slowly up the muddy Colorado River. Frank Seller walked slowly along the railing watching the red and tan rock formations pass by. The cool breeze felt good to him as it balanced the suns heat well on his jacket. The barge had left its last port over two hours ago and would arrive in Moab City the following afternoon. They had to first pass through the final stretch of the Grand Canyon and the river beyond. A very beautiful stretch of river that he always admired.

This pleasant scenery wouldn't last for long. They were getting close to where the northern most Sun People live. Many years ago, people that were trying to find a safe place to hide from nuclear war and aerial bombings decided to settle here and in desolate places like it. They thought that it would have been a good idea to hollow out the canyon walls and create burrows to utilize the natural rock as a barrier to deflect the bombs and radiation.

As time went on, the people fell into isolation from the rest of the world. Scrapping a living off rocks and from the river they started to form their own culture and lifestyles after a few generations. However, this was not a necessarily good thing. They fell back into a state of mystic beliefs and superstition. As the generations went on and continued technological isolation persisted, they became no different than villages found in the deepest jungles of the rainforests.

Often time when a passing ship traveling on the river in current times, went by the area they now lived, the Sun People could be seen doing the oddest of things. Some would completely lather themselves in river clay and mud, then lay in the sun on rocks to "bake" as a symbolic way to worship the Sun. They all wore animal skins and clad themselves in the bones as well. At night they could be seen forming a line of small fires and jumping over them in succession, as if playing some leapfrog game or preforming a ritual. No one actually knew or wanted to know exactly what was going on.

Occasionally they would try to attack a passing boat if provoked, but for the most part they were a peaceful people. They hadn’t become so far gone that outsiders were restricted from their lands. If fact, they were well known to be zealots when it came to fighting Twisted and assisted others if their religious leaders saw it fit. They called them the Radiations Spawn and the Suns challenge sent to judge the humans for trashing the Earth. Defeating a Twisted proved to the Sun that they were still worthy to bask in its glory and not be cast into eternal darkness.

Frank had traveled this stretch of the river multiple times and had seen his fair share of the crazy antics and demonstrations from the Sun People. The smell wasn't all to pleasing either. The Sun People burned something in their fires and claimed that it warded away the Twisted, because all Twisted had an excellent sense of smell.

So, when he caught sight of the sign pointing out the entrance to the Sun People's land he decided to go down below deck and double check the inventory. This sign was the words 'Land of Sun' hand carved into the rocky canyon wall. Each word was as tall as a man and deep enough to be seen for a kilometer down river.

Once below deck Frank picked up a clipboard with a hand-written list of the boat’s inventory. The small ship was one of five similarly sized boats that he owned operated. All were purely capable of only traveling on the Colorado River and many lakes along the way. Shipping processed metal, construction materials and tools to construction companies was a simpler job than most of his larger competitors would run.

Walking past the long containers lined up in neat and orderly rows Frank compared the list to the labels. He took his time as there was no rush to check on everything before arriving in Moab City. Besides, being in the cool dimly lit underbelly of a ship, listening to the soft, sloshing rumble of the engines turning the propellers, was very relaxing to him. After an hour or more he finished checking things over. Satisfied he found everything in order, he returned the clipboard to its place.

"Well, if everything goes smoothly for the rest of the trip and in Moab, I guess I should go see if that Queen lady still wants to conduct her business." Frank thought aloud. Then turning to go up the stairs to get up on the main deck he called out, "Hey Gaston! Everyone doing ok out there?" As he reached the top, he saw his long-haired Match Fighter watching the far riverbank with a Neanderthal-like glair.

"Seems like everyone on board is fine." Gaston replied in his deep slow speech. Then he pointed into the distance along the bank with a meaty finger. "The locals seem to be in a good mood too. I can see children jumping off rocks to swim in the water. The rest of the trip will be just fine."

"That's good to hear." Frank replied joining Gaston at the ships railing. "You ready to meet Queen again?" He asked while stealing a glance at his big friend.

Gaston's normally serious face cracked a smile. "That would be nice. I hope that her beating me wasn't all luck. This time I'll be ready."

"I hope so." Frank replied. "Well, I am going to take a nap now. Enjoy the view and the smell. I am starting to catch a whiff of it now."

"Alright. See you in a while." Gaston replied as Frank left him. Then he went back to watching the riverbank wall slowly rising higher to form the Grand Canyon cliffs.