Glitch

Beyond The Walls

"This is shameful, Doctor. The Lightfoot was the newest model, one of our best."

"The engineers will have to try harder to challenge the champion', they said. Absolute garbage, as if we haven't been trying hard enough."

"Doctor, the girl broke a record. Fastest Knock Out in the history of Ironski's mutant fighting."

"It's a disgrace to the company name, I'm telling you. They'll be laughing at us when they read the papers. Fastest Knock Out, my ass. Who can take the Lightfoot seriously after that?"

"What will you do, sir?"

"Exactly what they said we should do. We're going to try harder."

SANYA

Pax and Ty were waiting when she came down the stairs.

"That was great," Pax said. He wrapped his arms around her. "You did amazing."

"Don't I always?" Sanya replied, beaming- then flinched, giving Ty a guilty glance. The shorter boy shook his head and threw up his palms.

"It's fine," he assured her. "Don't let me spoil your win." Sanya smiled again, albeit a bit nervously. Pax and Ty were more like brothers than close friends. They'd been created within days of each other (Pax came first), and had been roommates all four years of their lives. Despite being the same age, Ty looked like he could be Pax's younger brother. He was shorter and skinnier, one of the Ringmasters' biggest disappointments, the "runt" of his batch of mutants. Sanya hated herself for it, but she secretly knew that he would be left on the streets any day now- and though she never voiced her feelings, she thought Pax must know it too- deep down.

Sanya could never understand their friendship. After all, Pax always seemed to be on the short end of the stick. He spent precious hours trying to train Ty instead of conditioning on his own, and sparred with him to give him the practice he needed, rather than challenging himself with a tougher opponent. He earned the disapproval of the Ringmasters by loudly defending his friend when they rebuked him, and tolerated teasing from other mutants when he insisted that they stop mocking him. But then again, that was what had intrigued her about Pax from the start- his incredible selflessness. Pax was gentle, a word not commonly used to describe combat mutants.

Besides, the others in their Sector never went beyond light teasing when it came to Pax. The different Sectors were like different families, and in Blue, Pax was the glue that held the family together- a family that Sanya had never been a part of, and never would be. Ty still felt like a stranger to her, or like a ticking time bomb ready to explode. He hadn't been assigned a qualifying match for the past two years. Pax had warned her how sensitive he was about it.

The three were making their way upstairs when there was a loud commotion, and the sound of doors slamming so hard that the floor shook with the sound. They froze.

"-three years of this hellhole, and now you're tossing me out on the street like I'm garbage? And you think I'm going to walk out willingly? You're a bunch of fucking lunatics, the lot of you-"

"Now be reasonable, Angler-" The door at the top of the stairs was kicked open, revealing Angler. The boy's face was thinner and paler than usual, and his expression was contorted with pain or rage. He was no longer in his suit, but in the usual drawstring pants and T-shirt- both stained with dried blood. Bloodied bandages were wrapped around his forearm, but Angler began to rip them off fiercely with his good hand as he strode down the stairs to where Ty, Pax, and Sanya stood.