Adara Vitalos's Story

The solid thump of flesh beneath Adara's fist was almost as satisfying as the flick of the lighter in her other hand. With a tendril of thought the flame jumped to the security guard now gasping for breath. It latched onto his shirt sleeve and tore up his arm in a blink.

That should keep him busy awhile. Adara planted a kicked in the man's gut for good measure and darted down the hall. Time was short. She needed to get in and out of the building before security caught up with her. Well, before more than one of them did.

Xion Corp's building crawled with guards. She'd dropped three of them already, and there were bound to be more further inside the building. The server room lay a few hundred feet up ahead. A left, then a right, the third door on the left.

She'd probably been caught on security cameras by now, but she didn't mind if the company's fat execs saw her. A poor young woman from the streets of Muspell would never be recognized, especially in Nifl. She'd lay low for a few days, keep from attracting attention, then she'd be off, and much richer for her trouble. If you make it back. Eyes on the prize, Vitalos.

She made it to the room unhindered. The air temperature dropped about ten degrees when she entered. The hum of electronics was almost soothing, but nerves caught up with her. First big job. Pays more than the last two fights combined. Can't afford to fuck this one up.

She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and began to scan equipment, searching for a particular serial number. Her employer wanted this bad; the Champion of Muspell's consulting fee was quite high, especially for a simple snag and grab.

There. The number matched the sticker on the side of a hard drive. Adara yanked it out and stuffed it in her pocket before ducking back out the door. Her watch read 0:36. She'd been in the building for too long. Time to make a quick exit.

Adara sprinted back down the hall, past the man laying limp on the floor, his sleeve peeled and blackened. She still held the lighter in one hand, and her fingers itched to use it. Her mind longed for the flame once again. Just once more. She longed for someone else to spot her. Someone she could plant a fist into; someone she could burn.

She got her wish a few minutes later when a young man came tearing around the corner not far from the exit. He wore the same uniform as the rest of the security guards she'd encountered, and she cracked her knuckles in anticipation.

"Stop!" the boy shouted.

Adara couldn't help it; she laughed. But then the young guard was upon her, unleashing a flurry of blows she could barely keep up with. He may be young, with a voice hardly matured into adulthood, but the boy could fight. A few punches got through; she thought maybe a rib was broken. She fought back fruitlessly, her punches blocked by muscled forearms, her kicks deflected.

So Adara got angry. She took a few steps back and flicked her lighter. The fire burst forth, its essence whispering to her mind. Calling her. She answered. The flame grew, feeding off the oxygen of the air around her, until it engulfed her fist. With no regard for fighting form or tactics she charged.

The boy was caught off guard. She tumbled into him and grabbed his lapel with her flaming hand. The fire was eager for something new to consume. She let it and it jumped to his jacket. He screamed, terrified by the sight even before the flames began to lick at his flesh.

Adara vaulted into a backflip. The flames called to her still, but she looked at her watch. 0:45. Too long. With a last, longing look back she headed for the doors, the hard drive still safe in her vest pocket.

She had successfully infiltrated Xion Corp, one of the most powerful companies in Nifl. Yep, feelin' pretty damn good about that. And lucky, too. The young woman disappeared into the night, toward the refuge of the slums of Muspell.

The Fights were in rare form tonight. Adara breezed past the giant bouncer of the week with a one-fingered wave. They rotated shifts every fight; new location, different bouncer than the week before. But they all knew her by now. She'd been fighting for a few months, making her way through the ranks and earning buckets of cash from all the poor losers who bet against a little girl.

"Benny, who am I up against tonight?" Benny was the fight coordinator, a hulking man just recently retired from the pro (legitimate) boxing circuit.

"You're not up tonight, Vitalos!" he shouted.

"What do you mean, I'm not up? Who the fuck IS up? "The crowd was getting rowdy. Adara stood on her toes, trying to see who was in the ring.

"Some new guy, callin' himself 'Illusion.'" Benny threw up a pair of finger quotes that would have Adara burning them right off his hands if they were directed at her. She swore. Looked at the bet counter, which was just gearing up for the fight. Nothin on the new guy yet.

Fuckin' new guy. What the hell, why not? She pulled a wad of cash out of her pocket and tossed it at Benny. "50 on 'Illusion'." She repeated the air quotes for good measure.

Pushing her way to the front of the crowd wasn't easy, but where an elbow or a dirty look didn't do the trick, a stomp to the foot with her heavy boots did. A few sore toes and ribs were left in her wake, but she was annoyed. Needed to work off some steam, especially after that tedious break-in job. Something to punch would have been perfect.

But no. New guy was the star attraction tonight. Maybe the audience was getting bored with watching Adara beat up guys twice her size. Nah, who could get sick of that? Maybe just leaving them in suspense for next week.

Illusion was facing off against Payn. Nasty son of a bitch. Textbook super-strength metahuman. Boring as shit. Adara leaned against the edge of the waist-high fence that separated the fighters from the crowd. The two of them entered the ring. Illusion was a small guy, but he looked like he was quick on his feet. Not unlike Adara herself.

She watched as he did exactly what she would have; toyed with Payne, dodged his attacks and tired the big man out. The raucous crowd slowly quieted until the room almost consisted of one communal held breath. Payn was pissed, and it was making him even clumsier than usual. Illusion still looked fresh. Boy probably hadn't even gone through half his bag of tricks yet.

Adara waited, eyeing that $28,500 bet for Payn. The end would come soon.

The fight ended with the result Adara had expected, but not the methods. This Illusion was a powerful man. And a cocky son of a bitch. We'd either get along real well or kill each other... The crowd gathered around the arena fell silent as Illusion finished off Payn with style. The guy had a real flair for the dramatic.

The announcer finally broke the silence. "And Illusion wins it in a surprising blowout! Payn is down for the count. Damn that looks painful!" A few people started clapping; probably those that got there too late to place a bet. Adara joined in, clapping more enthusiastically than those around her. A few gave her dirty looks. She gave them the finger.

"And congratulations to the lucky person who bet $50 on Mr. Illusion! You're going home rich tonight!"

Fuck yeah! This had turned out to be a great day for Adara's bank account. She sauntered away as a few men trotted out to remove Payn from the ring. Guy was gonna have a major headache in the morning, a fact which made Adara laugh out loud. She searched for Benny. He had to be somewhere nearby, with a nice fat payout for her.

"Hey! It's not my problem! You bet, you lost. Get over it." Benny was surrounded by a mob of people demanding their money back. He didn't look the least bit flustered, though some of the men and women glared as if they could kill him with their minds. Hell, maybe some of them could.

"I believe that's mine," Adara said. She waved the tips of her fingers at Benny. With a shake of his head the big man handed over the cash.

"Lucky bitch. Be careful on your way home."

"Oh I will." She winked and stuffed the money in the pocket of her leggings.

Adara didn't get far before she found herself surrounded. It wasn't unusual for mini fights to break out in the crowd. People got out of hand, insulted one another's mothers, and blows were traded. These were usually short and didn't attract much attention. This confrontation, though, wasn't going to be a few amateurs trading blows.

A ring of angry men and women shouted and growled at Adara, demanding she return their money. Sore losers. She fished her lighter out of her pocket, flipped it open, and held her finger over the thumbwheel. That antsy feeling returned. She needed to punch something. How nice of these people to oblige.

"Oh, fuck with me. Please."

"Hey. Fucktards!"

The mob's angry rants hushed for a moment in the middle of all of the music blaring in the background and the other fights going on to turn and see this man known as Illusion standing within five feet from them. They separated leaving a direct line between me and Adara and I waved a hand with a frown, as if shooing them off... I sighed and kicked my hoodie back off my head. The light revealed a mob of brown hair that seemed an olive tint in the right lighting and a slender, handsome face on a young man. Of course I was handsome, what else would I be? Dusting a bit of unruly hair from my eyes, I spoke again, "You shouldn't have bet on that fuck if you didn't want to lose your money. You reacted based on my size and your pocketbook suffered. Now fuck off and leave her be, before we tag-team your asses..."

It was then that they saw who she was and realized that fighting a flame-eater and some freak show wouldn't be a good idea at all. Whispers of her being the one to control fire crawled across the crowd swiftly and they pointed with small fingers and bent arms, as if spying some celebrity and trying to remain hushed about it. They slowly dispersed and I took a look at the woman for the first time. She was sexy. Great athletic figure. A smirk crawled across my lips that was more devil than man and I snickered to myself. It slowly waned from my lips though as I saw what was in here hand: a lighter.

I lofted an unseen brow, buried beneath all of the hair that covered my eyes and I approached her with a bit of apprehension and caution as Benny approached me and tapped me on the shoulder with a chuckle, "Hey kid. This is yours." He handed me a rather fat roll and nodded, "Your first sanctioned fight, right?" I took the roll of money with a shrug and flipped out a grand and handed it back to the man who stared at me like I was crazy. "You won that. It's yours."

"I understand. And now I'm tipping you what I think you deserve for doing this." Benny looked at me skeptically and then looked at Adara with a bit of confusion, before apprehensively taking the money and pocketing it. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome. I'd like to set up another one. Weed out all of these people who are larger than life..." I gave the man a mischievous grin before looking to Adara, knowing she knew what I was talking about and then I nodded to her, "Wanna grab a bite to eat?"

Benny chuckled at patted me on the back, "You're just looking for trouble now, kid. Where you from?"

The question was so fucking loaded that the man would blow a gasket if he really knew. I smirked, "Hm. Everywhere, man. Everywhere."

That skeptical face came back, "What's your name?" He asked instead.

"Call me Dante."

"Benny."

"Pleasure." We shook before he nodded to Adara and walked off, leaving us to ourselves.

Hugh scratched his dark brown hair as he entered the arena. His latest offer had just come from Waterson, one of his contacts, concerning the "eradication of one notorious gang 'Terror Engineers.' " Though he had handled cases as these in the past, getting inside the factions and taking the Engies out quietly was going to prove difficult on his own.

"Just my luck that Chum and Bramminond are out..." thought Hugh.

Hugh has always detested The Fights. Whether it be for the reason that it stole Ross away from his life or for the resentment of watching others stoop to killing themselves to obtain a living. However, desperate times called for desperate measures- the Engineers needed to be eradicated, and Hugh was running out of options for potential teammates before the op was to start. There were only two places to find desperate souls looking for work- the bar, or the Arena. Though he was no connisseur of the Fights per se, he keeps a solid record of some of the more renowned celebrities, and Adara Vitalos was a consistent winner. Since this was an impromptu visit, he wasn't quite sure if Adara was on the docket to fight, but if he could somehow catch her and persuade her to join in this op, it would make his job that much easier- and perhaps set her up to find a more "healthy" way of living.

Luckily for Hugh, as he entered the arena, who would be standing close by but the illustrious Adara Vitalos herself, accompanied by a shady man Hugh had never seen before. Making his way through the crowd, he finally stumbled upon Adara, making his presence known just loud enough to be heard over the crowd.

"Adara Vitalos, right? The name's Hugh Baselard. I know you're busy, so I'll cut to the chase- I have a business proposition for you. I think you'll find that it's tailored to your, erm, "talents" to a t."

As he extended a hand to shake Adaras, he took notice of her companion. He looked a little slender to be considered for this kind of work, but Hugh knew better than to let a first impression get the better of his judgement.

"I'm not sure how accustomed you are to getting your hands dirty, but I assume an acquaintance of Adara has to be able to hold his own as well. You're more than welcome to come along as well, Mr...?"

"Shit." Adara pointed at Dante. "That's two fights you've stolen from me tonight." Her fists tightened, and she had a strong urge to merely change the fight's participants. But the guy did just win her a huge payout. With a great effort, Adara pocketed her lighter. "You probably saved a couple lives though." She looked the stranger over. He was a small guy, but not without a certain charm.

"Food... okay. But your treat. To make it up to me." She glared, but there wasn't any real venom in it.

Before they could leave, another man approached. He was tall, well built, and unassuming. But his perfectly-styled blonde hair said he took a certain pride in his appearance. The polar opposite of Dante's careless good looks. I'm popular tonight, considering I didn't even knock anyone out.

"Adara Vitalos, right? The name's Hugh Baselard. I know you're busy, so I'll cut to the chase- I have a business proposition for you. I think you'll find that it's tailored to your, erm, "talents" to a t," the man said. This conversation was getting tedious already; Adara just wanted to hit something.

But. Baselard was offering a job ... and a job meant money. Can never have enough of that. She thought longingly of the punching bag back at her apartment, but it might be worth it to see what he had to say. He held out a hand for her to shake. Interesting. Not many people in Muspell bothered with niceties these days.

She gripped his hand, hating that she had to look up so far to meet Baselard's eyes. "I don't have the patience to stand around here any longer. Dante here just offered to treat me to dinner. I'm sure he won't mind one more." She eyed Dante, daring him to contradict her.

She was certainly feisty, which was more of the reason she made it through Xion Core without much trouble -- skill was an excellent asset for her as well. Along with this ... charming personality. I was scolded, but with a boyishly cute and charismatic grin, she turned her attitude elsewhere before calming down some. She was attractive and this spit-fire spunk just was icing on the cake. I'd take a little pain with my pleasure, I smirked in thought.

She accepted to dinner and as they both made to move, some bombshell beauty showed up, except he was a fairy. His hair was way too perfectly placed and that strong jaw probably tackled the ladies emotional walls into submission. He was a bit charming, but he had a Keith-like flare about him that I shrugged off without much concern. He spoke of work to the woman and she looked to anger, but perked at the sound of financial motivation. So, she's a merc. Makes sense...

I stretched and shrugged. My tail wrapped about my waist like a belt, tucked beneath the ebony jacket and out of sight before giving a lithe, careless nod of approval. "I just made fourteen grand, along with Ms. Vitalos, here. So I'll be more than happy to spring for dinner for both of you. I made half the take and those who voted on me made the same. If one person bet on me, they'd make what I did. An extra five hundred was cut off the top for the set-up of each fight. They made a killing most nights. Know any good joints around here to eat at?" I asked in a random, aimless fashion that seemed to fit my personality well - at least for this withdrawn, rogue-sort that I was pretending to be. Besides, I never ate in a dump like Muspell, unless I prepared the food myself. I didn't want to catch anything nasty. You know -- like AIDS. The Clap. Or Gonnhaherpasyphilitis. Muspell wasn't exactly clean or known for their expertise in hygiene or cleanliness...

Stuffing my hands into bare pockets, I turned to see the other crowds slowly dissipating for the night and both the fights ending. A group of suits stood in the background, lingering in the darkness beyond the dense mob that had slowly began filtering out and I lofted a brow and turned by back toward them, whispering softly, "Behind me. Six o'clock. Friends of yours?" Dark chocolate eyes were focused on Adara's face, knowing that she could look over my shoulder and spy what I'd glimpsed and then with a bizarre change of attitude, I burst into laughter and lifted my hands, taking her and Hugh by the shoulder and spinning them toward the crowd. We'd be lost in them for sure and none would be the wiser.

Besides, dinner was on me and my acting career was just getting started!

Matching Adara's grip, Hugh enthusiastically returned the handshake, pleased to have piqued her interest. Perhaps his trip to the accursed Arena had proved fruitful after all! In addition to obtaining two potential colleagues for this significan op, he was getting treated to a free meal! Though he had mixed feelings about taking advantage of someone's blood money, it had been quite some time since Hugh had had a decent meal.

"And the more I think about it, how much different these people than me?" Hugh reasoned, "Money seldom crosses my palms unless there's blood at it at the request of an employer..."

Before more niceties could be exchanged, however, Hugh noticed the peculiar mannerisms of an even more peculiar group of people from across the crowd. Hugh made an instinctual grab for Masks chain, but was stopped abruptly by Dante's observatory gesture.

"Behind me. Six o'clock. Friends of yours?" the stranger asked.

"I don't have any friends." Hugh answered, tightening the grip on Masks memento.

Before he could take any action, however, he found himself swept away by Dante's escape plan. Agreeing with the course of action, Hugh went along with it, joining in Dante's laughter. Unlike Dante, however, part of Hugh really was enjoying the moment. If even for a split second, he was feeling something of companionship- something he had not felt in a long, long time.

"I'm thinking this guy will prove useful as well." Hugh observed.

Adara hadn't really processed what was going on yet when Dante grabbed her and steered her back into the crowd. There had been a rough-looking group coming their way. Tougher than the angry gamblers had been. Professionals, if Adara spotted the signs correctly.

She glanced back. The group of men split and fanned out into the crowd, pushing through the throngs of bystanders. That itch for violence returned, and Adara stopped short, planting her feet. One of the strangers was about fifty feet back and headed right for her and her companions. Just one little fight... This guy's getting way too close. She mentally justified her next action. Besides that practical reasoning, she also wasn't going to let Dante keep her from another fight tonight.

Adara dropped to her haunches, ducking out of Dante's grip and rolling past the legs of a few people nearby. She stayed down, knowing she'd be lost in the sea of people, until her target walked by. She popped up and slammed a punch straight into the man's kidney.

He spun around, pissed, and a crowd of onlookers instantly formed around them. A glint of recognition sparked in the man's eyes. He knew who she was. So did much of the crowd.

"Kick his ass, Adara!" someone shouted. Adara grinned. That's exactly what she planned to do.

Tha man went on the attack, attempting to use his height against her. Typical. He was obviously used to more academic fighting conditions—his movements were well-timed and well-executed, but mechanical. Adara waited until he was almost on top of her, then planted a boot in his groin almost casually. The guy fell like a dropped slab of concrete.

What the hell? That doesn't even count as getting to fight!

Zeban Hawk walked through the shady streets of mudspell he needed to recruit someone with some skill. He needed to find another metahuman who ever wanted the weapons was paying very well he could easily afford to hire help and still make a rather large profit. Shadow followed behind him tail wagging hoping to find some new adventure.

He decided to head towards the arena a good start as any maybe there would be some local skill there the fights were over but many people often stuck around. Soon after wading through the alleys he knew so well he was at the entrance. The bouncer was turning people away but when he saw the local gang leader he let him pass shadow following close behind. He weaved through the crowd before stopping at climbing to a small stair case to get a view of the crowd.

Looking out on the crowd he saw a group forming and saw Adara standing over the fallen man. He thought she looked familiar then he remember seeing her in the fights. Then he proceed to scan the crowd.

Hugh facepalmed- he had not anticipated a fight so out in the open like this. Weighing his options, he quickly decided that it was in his best interest not to leave his colleague-to-be out to herself. It was discourteous, not to mention very un-chivalrous.

"Let's test the waters a bit..." Hugh pondered, cracking his knuckles.

He casually spun out of Dante's hold, surveying the immediate perimeter. Though it appeared that the big boss had fallen to a rather nasty groin-punch, one of his cohorts was attempting to get the drop on her from behind. Though not near as trained as Adara's most recent victim, this one was concealing a knife, poised to plunge it into Adara's unsuspecting back.

Hugh briskly walked in the direction of Adara, abruptly abouting face just as he passed the assailant. Catching him off-guard, Hugh was able to land a resounding haymaker to the mans jaw. The crowd roared at this new development, completely drowning out the dissaproving groan from the mystery attacker.

Upon decking the mobster, Hugh took his position at Adara's 6 o'clock, facing opposite of her.

"I'm guessing that these weren't the only two thugs," Hugh observed, "Looks like we'll be working together sooner than we thought."

"Well shit, Hugh..." I mumbled, spinning around to see the crowd which were leaving beginning to suddenly form up around the young woman. This suddenly altered the flow of any movement leaving the garage because of the amount of people dumping back into the construct. The flow had performed a perfect one-hundred and eighty degrees leaving the escapees to fight instead of merely meandering out of this challenge.

I turned to watch for a moment. She was hungry for combat more than food, meanwhile, my stomach gnawed on my backbone. Shifting burned a ton of calories in a short period of time and required me to eat more often than most others. It kept me lean and fit, but also left me starving more often than I really wanted to be. I mean, seriously -- what kind of bad-ass walks around with a Nutrigrain bar for some in-between meals snackage? Uh -- none. It surely was gay looking, and I wouldn't have any of that.

I stuffed a hand into my pocket and pulled out a stick of gum from a package of Stride and held the Wintergreen scented pack toward Hugh for an offering. Regardless of whether he wanted one, I stuffed it back in my pocket and unwrapped my piece and began chomping away. Anything is better than nothing. I slipped off around the crowds, watching what seemed to be like a legion of men in suits trying to fight their way into the middle of the crowds. As I passed, I decided to bring on the pain, unleashing the metallic tonfa sticks from their sheathing on my lower back and as I humbly sauntered by -- I gave them a crack in the side of their knee.

Ha.

Dick move; me, one. Them, none. One lunged and only found the ground, with me standing on top of his back, lifting a leg and stomping hard against the back of his skull. The splatter of blood looked like a Rorschach test from his broken nose and he cried, curling up into a fetal position on the ground. It forced a fake yawn and stifled laugh as I peered into the pit at Adara who seemed bored already with the lack of competition they provided.