Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 18 - The Wildcard

The jarring impact of a fist connecting with the tungsten lattice sent Codi spinning. She screwed her eyes up in pain and let her body roll with it, catching her momentum and landing back in a fighting stance to face her opponent. It had been coming for a long time, this clash, and now that it had arrived no-one was disappointed.

Opposite her, Chris O'Leary came thundering forward, his boulder-like fists ready to come crashing down on her again. Codi feinted forward, drawing a swipe, and when it came she twisted to the side, grabbing his arm and hauling him forward. At the same time she swung her right leg up in a vicious arc, connecting hard with his back.

She'd hoped for a little more than making him stumble, but Chris was a big guy and his heavy frame held him in good stead. Codi skipped back to avoid his scything reverse stroke, hearing the whistle as his hand was driven through the air by the servos of the exoskeleton. They reset and the duel continued.

The Olympus Mons singles tournament had been a gruelling one, but she'd fought her way through a tough bracket, all the way to this final barrier: one of her own team mates.

No matter how this turned out, she wouldn't accomplish everything she wanted to this time, ironically because her fellow Battlecast fighters had done their jobs. In the opposite bracket, Ripple knocked out Dustin Morto in the quarter final. Chris in turn dispatched her in the next round, leaving Codi with an unsettled score.

There was no time to dwell on it now though. Now it was time to find out who would be going home with the bragging rights. Codi kicked up and off one of the dozens of squat, box-like projections that littered the arena, to be used as stepping stones or anvils in equal measure. Chris moved up to meet her, but at the last second she slammed up the gravity fields in her exoskeleton and dropped below him, bringing her right arm around in a vicious arc. The swing caught both of her opponent's bulky legs and toppled him head over heels.

He crashed into one of the other blocks before hitting the ground and the crowd exploded with noise. Codi's boots left black scrapes in the plating when she landed at full weight, before releasing the gravity fields and rotating to face him. When he came at her again his face was tight with frustration.

And she knew why. The contest at Battlecast was a three horse race – her, him, and Ripple. Chris had already seen off the other girl, and no-one was under any illusions that this exchange could well be a preview of the Gauntlet itself.

But Chris O'Leary wasn't considered a front runner for nothing. In their next exchange he anticipated Codi's feint and buried a fist into her stomach, with such force that she was lifted bodily and hurled across the arena until she clattered into one of the blocks and slid to the floor. Picking herself up, she allowed herself a grim smile. So much for being on the same team. Right now camaraderie had been thrown out the window.

Breaking into a jog, she loped back into combat, relishing the challenge. She got in close swivelling and pivoting away from the worst of Chris's thumping swings, trying to out manoeuvre her hulking adversary. She rode the worst of it, absorbing what she couldn't dodge with short, sharp blocks. Then the gaps started to open, just slightly.

She clipped him across the jaw with one hand and snapped a kick into his side before he could position to block it. Then she leapt to the side, planted her left foot against the nearest hunk of metal and pushed off hard right back towards him. He turned in time to catch her clenched fist square in the jaw as she rocketed past him.

But this had not been one lucky strike.

Codi's heart thundered as her plan started to fall into place. She twisted her body and jammed the soles of both feet against the block directly opposite her. Again she pushed off with as much force as she could muster, keeping the gravity fields of her exoskeleton as low as possible and using her own momentum to stay airborne. Chris was still reeling when she came back at him, this time lowering her shoulder like a battering ram.