Night Marauders

Chapter Seven: Fight Night

Jae usually thought of Ginny's fight nights as the highlights of his week, but ever since the Angel thing and the fight he'd had with his brother, the cage was starting to make him uneasy. He could see the clean spot their janitor had made after he'd scrubbed Angel's blood off the mat; bleached circle was glaring back at him from the left side of the ring. He sat on standby (like always) eyes glued to Ginny as she circled the ring, and he wasn't sure if the feeling in his chest was admiration or worry. He watched the other fighter dart out a punch, Ginny ducked it.

"You think she'll win tonight?"

Jae glanced towards Wonho, the other 'medic' in the fight club and shrugged, "Probably. The other girl in the ring is just starting out."

Wonho nodded, grinning as Ginny threw a punch that collided with the other girl's face in a loud smack, sending her head snapping backwards.

"You ever bet on her?" Wonho asked.

"I don't bet on anybody." Jae said, not taking his eyes off the ring. Ginny landed another kick to the girl's stomach, sending her doubling over. She didn't go down, and Jae could tell that Ginny was getting frustrated; he hoped it didn't make her reckless.

"I do sometimes."

Jae looked towards Wonho, "What?"

"Bet. I bet on people somtimes. Only when I know they can win though."

"Like who?"

"The Demon, Chainsaw, Bulldog," Wonho jerked his chin towards the ring, gesturing to Ginny, "Redcoat sometimes too."

"Didn't know you bet."

"Most people here do. Didn't know you stayed out of it."

"I know some of them personally. I guess I have a hard time separating who they really are from who they are in the ring."

Wonho raised an eyebrow at this, and he had a right to do so. Most of the staff stayed out of the fighters lives, referring to them as their 'stage name' only. They enjoyed keeping out of things, Jae didn't know how they managed it.

"Who do you know?"

"Bulldog and Redcoat."

That's where the conversation ended. Jae could tell that Wonho wanted to continue it, but Ginny landed a roundhouse to the side of the girl's head, knocking her out; the refs waved them over, and Jae couldn't get their fast enough, swiping his kit bag off the ground and stepping into the cage before Wonho could ask another question. It was bad enough that he was neck deep in this fight club already; if he let someone else get closer to him, he was afraid he may drown.

~~~~

There was a terrible need to fight, and it rushed through B like a fucking cancer. In high school he'd managed to earn himself a myriad of suspensions for the sole reason of kicking the shit out of people, just because he'd wanted to. People had said that it was daughter that had calmed him down, and yeah that might be true, if he wasn't still finding a way to satiate that awful violent desire that gnawed at him. As much as Kiki hated it (and as much as B hated to admit it) that fight club was keeping him sane, knowing that there was a place he could go whenever he felt like putting his fist through the wall. He stood in the locker room, black hoodie on, hood pulled up and over his head, mouthguard sitting on his thigh as he wrapped his hands.

"You ready for tonight?" Jin asked, carrying B's gloves in his hands. Jin always eyed those things like they were a one way ticket to a broken finger because they cut off right below the knuckle and B had them custom ordered, with as little padding as possible.