The Deployment Notice

11.

After watching another three fights, he started to figure out how things worked.

Observation number one: no one hesitated in the fights, there was no goodwill or refusals to fight. It was a dog eat dog world out in the arena.

Observation number two: despite observation number one, no one was trying to kill anyone. Knock outs and maiming seemed to be fair game, but there were no neck snappings or sending someone's nose into their skull. They wanted everyone alive, presumably to keep on fighting and providing entertainment, but still, not a death match.

Observation number three: if you were knocked out or otherwise seriously injured, the guards came out between fights, handcuffed you to a stretcher, and took you away. He wasn't sure where, presumably to some sort of medical station elsewhere in the base.

Observation number four: there was no rhyme nor reason that he could decipher for whose cage opened up. In fact, there wasn't even a limit on how many cages opened at once. The third fight had let out three people from their cages.

Observations number five: after a fight was complete then the buzzer went off. When the buzzer went off then whoever didn't need to be carried off on a stretcher had ten seconds to get back in their cage before the door closed. If the door closed before you made it then you were included in the next fight. You kept fighting until you were either carried off or you made it back to your cage.

Given all the information he'd acquired, he started to make a plan. First and foremost, he needed to get himself taken away on a stretcher. A big part of his mission was getting an accurate layout and finding out as much as he could about how this place functioned and how to navigate it. He already knew where the cells and the arena were, now he needed to see where they took the injured.

However, he also needed to win a fight, secure a decent spot in the hierarchy here. Which meant he'd need to stay in the ring for a second fight. However, he also couldn't look like he was eager to be here and beat up his fellow prisoners, especially not in front of said prisoners. Which meant he was going to have to miss the buzzer and not get back to his gate in time intentionally, and he needed to make it look convincing.

He also needed to make sure he didn't damage his fellow prisoners too badly in the fights, while still making sure that he didn't get too badly injured himself. But still injured enough to be taken away on a stretcher.

This was going to be complicated, but he could handle it.

After two more fights, his cage suddenly opened. He darted out digging around in the dirt arena floor until he grabbed a key and worked his handcuffs off. He managed to get to his feet at the same time the other man did.

It was one of the men from a couple cages to his right, and he was strangely glad that it wasn't either of his cell neighbors that he was fighting. He knew it didn't matter ultimately, they were all prisoners. Still though, the less familiarity there was the better.

He did his best to inconspicuously slip the handcuff key into his pocket as he took his stance and the other man charged. Buck stepped up to meet him and immediately dodged the first fist. He took a few light steps back causing the man to chase him.

He wanted to get an idea of his fighting style and how best to incapacitate the man without doing serious permanent damage. It also helped that prolonging the fight meant a bit of a show, and hopefully more favorable treatment from the guards. They'd said something about being rewarded for doing well after all. He also figured that looking a bit wary and nervous in front of the other prisoners was likely a good thing, no need to seem leagues ahead of his opponents. If he did so then he risked ill placed resentment from his fellow prisoners, even if it wasn't his fault he was in here the same way it wasn't theirs. Or at least not that they were aware of.