The Ring of Steel

Part 2: Caught

(Jayden's Mech. ^)

The ring was buzzing with excitement, and Jayden was feeling the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He hadn't been in a Mech Fight in a year. He didn't even have time to practice.

"I see that look in your eye," Francis said, walking up with Dom and Ray. "I can read you like a book, Jay."

"You mean you know how to read??" Jayden joked down to his friend from the catwalk next to his Mech. Dominic and Ray snickered and bit their cheeks when Francis gave them a threatening glare.

"I see you've still got jokes," Francis said, or rather stated. He shook his head. "Look, I- we, just came to wish you luck."

Jayden smiled and waved dismissively. "Nah, Luck's got nothing to do with it."

"Cozy up there?" Ray called, his hands in his jacket pockets.

"As cozy as I can be before getting in way over my head." He stated, voicing his doubts.

"No one's saying you have to do this." Dominic reminded him.

"I know," Jayden stated anxiously, turning his gaze to the steel Mech beside him. "But I need to do this, for me." He said confidently, bolstering himself and opening the cockpit Via the head.

"If you say so," Francis shrugged and chewed his cheek. "Now there's no doubt that you're the one exception to the manual piloted agile fighter policy here. It's why I made you sign the waiver before you entered," He paused, "be careful out there."

"I will," Came Jayden's voice from the head of the robot, echoing in the small hanger.

"Alright," Dominic said, rubbing his hands together. "I've got a good feeling 'bout this."

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Three fights into the night, and it was finally time for Jayden to step into the ring. He breathed in and out as the doors slowly opened in front of him.

"Whew, it's go-time." He whispered to himself as the makeshift stadium lights cast a dim light on his robot's frame.

"LADIES AND NOT-SO-GENTLEMEN," Francis yelled over the mic, getting an excited roar from the crowds, drinks sloshing and spilling over the rails of the upper balcony and the stadium floor alike. "ARE YOU READDYYYYYYY?!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, taking a few minutes to settle down.

"Alright! That's what I like to hear!" He said, already feeling the hype from the crowd. "NOW! For the moment you've all been waiting for..." He turned to the opening doors on the left side of the ring. "It's the semi-finals champion you all know and adore. The undefeated season champion, the killer with an iron punch, heeeere's..." He paused, "FRENZYYYYYY- TITAN!"

A black Robot with spikes and glowing red accents came stomping out of the gates. It was Twenty-five feet standing tall, only it crouched and emitted snarls and roared a mechanical roar from its soundbox. Its rather young pilot stood outside of the ring with two wrists augments and a junky-looking headpiece that came down to his eyebrows. He wore black leather pants and a sleeveless skull shirt, his hair obviously dyed black and slicked straight back under the headpiece. He yelled and bounced around, waving his hands and getting an enthusiastic reaction from the crowd. He stuck his tongue out, and one section went ballistic.

"Yeah! My man," Francis rolled his eyes and scoffed away from the mic. "And Now!" The crowd got quiet. "I think everyone here wanted to see Frenzy Titan go against 'The Ravaging Demolisher.' But let's be real for a minute, who comes up with these names??" The crowd laughed hysterically. "Heh. But unfortunately, it's not going to cut the show tonight." Everyone booed and shook their fists. "I know, I know. Really, it's his loss though, because TONIGHT- we have in his place a legend among this ring coming back from hiding away for a year, I think you know who I'm talkin' 'bout."

The atmosphere in the room shifted from anger to confusion, to hushed whispers of excitement. The pilot for Frenzy looked around with a scowl, wondering what was happening.

"Yes, IT'S HIM!" The crowd's cheers began to get louder and louder. "GIVE IT UP- FOR THE ONE!"

"YEAH!" The crowd Roared.

"THE ONLY!"

"YEAH!!"

"IROOOOOOON VINDICATOOOOOR!" The crowd let out the loudest cheer of excitement humanly possible.

Jayden walked out from the shadows, revealing a Mech painted in jet black and white. He threw a signature fist in the air, and the crowd was bouncing in their seats; everyone knew who he was. The Frenzy pilot sneered and balled his fists, activating his bot.

"Is the crowd ready??!" The crowd started pumping their fists to the Iron Vindicator's signature: The Victory Call. "Yeah! I thought so. Now, here's the rules!" The crowd started laughing. "Ha! Good one, right?! But there is one rule, one we should all know. What's that?!"

"NO WEAPONS!" The crowd chanted.

"Exactly! Any weapon usage is an automatic disqualification. Other than that- give us a FIGHT!" The crowd was chanting the names of their victors, mostly the Iron Vindicator. "ON MY WORD! READY... SET........ FIGHT!!!"

Frenzy came out of the corner of the ring running full steam ahead. Jayden saw this and smirked from the cockpit. He faked a side-dodge left, angling the Frenzy Bot's trajectory to the side, and then spun to the other with all the speed and agility of a Swift-type bot. Frenzy ran into the steel cables and turned around to meet a mean left hook to the optical plating. Frenzy stumbled but regained momentum. It swung at Jayden with a strand of slow blow-by-blow attempts. The Iron Vindicator carefully dodged, knowing if he were hit once, he would lose every advantage he had against the robot. He parried an attack after the swing was thrown, getting a solid 'left-right' to Frenzy's facial plating and chest armor.

Frenzy again staggered, and Jayden took this as a chance to retaliate. He landed hit after hit on the Mech's body, ignoring the bot's raised arms and slammed at its sides. The pilot for Frenzy stood by with a sly smirk on his face. Out of nowhere, Frenzy let out a damning blow to the chest, sending The Iron Vindicator back into the cables.

Frenzy lashed out, violently hitting the Mech in the chest and abdomen. Jayden could feel the hits jarring him around and moved at the controls with a new strategy. Frenzy went for another blow, but its hand was anticipated and caught by The Vindicator. Jayden smirked and made his bot land an equally fast and hard punch on Frenzy's torso. Waiting for it to double over, he brought his knee up into its forehead and then quickly moved in for a blow to the face. Metal fist collided with both a metal skull-like frame and a fiberglass eye visor, taking the bot to the floor. Frenzy went offline, and the crowd cheered.

"One!" Francis counted, "Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!" The crowd began to count along with him. "Seven! EIGHT! NINE!!" The bell went off. "WE HAVE A WINNER!"

The crowd cheered and started begging for the closer. Jayden grinned tiredly from inside the cockpit, nodding the bot's head. Balling his Mech's fists, he held his left arm out in front of him and brought his right elbow to his left wrist. Then, he pulled his left fist back to his head and held the other outwards, facing straight away from him- to the crowd. The energy was passionate and exhilarating, everyone could feel it. The Legend had returned.

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Jayden had his Mech walk back through the arena doors as they closed behind him, sealing him away from the cheering fans in the stadium. Ray and Dominic came out from the side door in the small Mech garage area as he came out of the cockpit of the Iron Vindicator. They clapped humorously at him, and he returned the sarcastic gestures with a mocking bow.

"Not bad for a white boy," Dominic called up as Jayden was climbing down the latter from the scaffolding.

He reached the bottom and turned to his friend. "I'll say- I was almost black and blue for a second."

Ray interrupted them in the middle of swapping quips when he heard the door open. "Um, guys? We have company." Jayden turned around to see a gang of four people dressed in black clothing approaching them. The closest he identified as the pilot for the other Mech, and he didn't look happy.

"You the Pilot?" The leader asked in a grave tone of voice.

"Uh, yeah?" Jayden reached behind his back for a wrench to use to defend himself.

"You know, I got somethin' to say to you." He said, getting close and personal. Then, unexpectedly, he extended a hand to shake. "I've heard just about as much about you as anyone here in this ring. I've respected your career 'round here for a while. It's been my honor to meet the Iron Vindicator's pilot in person."

Jayden immediately felt terrible and extended his hand forward. "Well, I'm happy to oblige. You weren't so bad yourself."

"Eh, not my best. The round lasted about a minute or two, but I really can't complain much. Say, how'd you get them to let you pilot? Isn't it against the rules to have any manual 'Bot other than a tank in the ring?" Jayden teetered on his feet and looked around as if searching for an excuse.

"I, uh-" He was cut off by the ground shaking beneath his feet. Francis strode in at that moment with a look of confusion on his face. Everyone looked around to see the dust in the room stir and the glass windows near the ceiling shake. It took Jayden not even two seconds to recognize the source of the tremors. "...Mechs." He whispered, voice filled with dread. Everyone in the room stared at him in terror.

"What?!" Francis yelled in panic. "H-how?! We have a dead zone for phones, we have bouncers, and..." He looked at the windows and bright lights flashing outside and threw a table over. "Dammit!!"

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A man dressed in a dark grey sweater walked through the outskirts of the west side of the city of Chicago. He pulled out a flip phone and dialed the six-digit number he was provided and kept walking to avoid suspicion. The phone rang for nearly a minute, then an authoritative voice came through.

"Have you arrived?"

"Nearly," The man answered, sparing a glance at his surroundings. "But there's been a new development."

"Go on."  The voice replied patiently.

"My colleague has called in sick, I'll risk raising suspicion tonight if I'm attending alone. And, if that weren't enough, phones are disabled in a mile's radius to everyone without the ring leader's permission."

"Then if the communication terminates, we will know if the intel from our source is accurate. Investigate, and use the transponder at your discretion. The signal will be strong enough to break through the cellular immobilization."

"Understood, going into radio silence." The agent said, walking for twenty minutes more before coming across an underground sewer entrance. "The things I do for this job." He sighed miserably and walked into the sewers.

Coming out after ten minutes of travel, he walked a short distance through the woods until he saw people coming in from various different entrances. They all walked towards a gate with dim lights and two incredibly tall, muscular men. The agent walked to the gate and presented the 'pass' he was given. The bouncers took it and conversed for a moment. Beads of sweat ran down the agent's neck as the moment passed, but he was ushered inside with a rough shove. He 'humphed' indignantly and straightened the wrinkles in his sweater.

Walking through the grounds, he took note of his surroundings and remembered why he took the risks he did. It wasn't uncommon for the agency he worked for to locate an illegal bot fighting establishment in the slums outside town. They knew of several other locations, they just watched for the big players which they identified by local sell-outs in exchange a decent commission. This ring was newly discovered, and they were told that the newest in talent was coming tonight for the underworld finale.

He approached the private Vip area and went inside. There he found the putrid smell of smoke and liquor in the air. Masking his discomfort, he moved inside and pulled up a bar stool in the corner of the room. He was to scout out the ring leader and send the ring's location to his superiors. The music around him blared, aggravating his nerves, not soothed by a drunken man hiccupping and laughing at the napkin in front of him.

His head turned when he heard someone's name called out amongst the crowd. He turned to see a young boy, no doubt still in high-school, and a man in his late twenties conversing like old friends. It looked way too convenient, so he moved in to listen in to their conversation.

"...suit up! We've got a big night full of action and excitement! Think you can handle it?"

"Was there ever any doubt?"

The agent didn't hear much, but he knew he had just overheard the ring leader talking to one of the contestants. He grinned in spite of himself, stepping outside to make an urgent call.

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Jayden threw open the side door to the garage to see the ring in chaos. Men in vests with stun guns held everyone in various different places as armored trucks came into the scene. Multiple helicopters shown spotlights down on the arena as police coupled with military forces chased down any stragglers. Amid the commotion, three thirty-foot tall green patrol Mechs were surveying the area; no doubt others were in the general vicinity.

Francis grabbed Jayden and pulled him back through the doors and barred them shut.

"Are you out of your mind?! You're lucky I pulled you out, or else your ass would have been in restraints faster than you can say Juvie!" He glowered intensely. "Now what I want to know is how all those damned cops got into my arena."

"I'm not sure now's the time Francis," Dominic said, looking at the ceiling to watch it rattle.

"How do we get out of here?" Ray said to Jayden, his face a pasty white.

Jayden looked around at the frightened and somewhat angered faces of the Frenzy team, his own friends, and Francis. He then turned his gaze to the Mech. "I have an idea," he turned to his friends. "but I'm going to have to ask you to trust me."

"I don't like where this is going," Dominic said warningly.

"I second that," Ray commented.

"The kid has a point." Francis chimed in.

"Look, would you just trust me?" Everyone went silent. "Thank you. Now, when I give the signal, run. Don't question it, don't argue, just run." He cast a look at the Mech behind him. "I've got one last Mech to pilot." Frenzy team just nodded while everyone else gave him disbelieving stares.

"Jayden!" Ray spoke up, "You know what could happen! They're authorized to use lethal force if there's another mech involved, you could be killed!"

"They're armed with stun rounds for rounding up civilians. Besides, they're checking the back doors for any cowards willing to run away- that's you guys, by the way." There was a collective eye-roll. "It's the riskiest plan, no doubt there is a chance they have live-fire rounds, but it's our best bet right now." He walked to the scaffolding stairs and began to climb. "Now on my signal, open the doors- and we might all make it out alive and free."

The Frenzy team had no hesitation and walked to the Mech hangar door; Francis followed after a moment's hesitation. Ray looked at Dominic, who was staring after their friend climbing into the Mech's headpiece and sealed it above him.

Ray smiled sympathetically. "Come on Dom, he said we'd all get out of here. I trust him, don't you?"

Dominic let out a distant sigh and met Ray's gaze. "Yeah, I do." He looked back at the Mech. "Crazy bastard." Ray chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yep, that he is." He said as nostalgia crossed his face. He remembered the first time he met Jayden, how stupid he had been on that day.

Three years prior, he had been walking home from a bot fight, and carelessly walked into the street. The next thing he knew, a pair of arms wrapped around him and pulled him back just as a truck came barreling by. He looked on in astonishment as the truck faded into the distance, so much so that he barely heard someone trying to get his attention. He looked at the face of a boy no older than him, one he had seen at his own school. After some brief introductions, they hit it off well and have been best friends since.

Ray shook him out of his trance and gestured to a door. "Come on man, we gotta go!"

"Right, right." He said, taking a position in front of the panel. 'Dammit Jayden, I hope you know what you're doing.'

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Two green Mechs stood nearly the full height of the Mech gates, almost fifty feet in all. Their pilots were patrolling the area for stragglers when their comms activated.

"Search the back near the Mech hangers. Set weapons to standard rounds; there could be a group of renegades trying their luck with a Mech in there. We don't have the statistics, but they could be armed and deadly."

"Copy that." The 1st pilot confirmed, looking to the second to see a nod of confirmation.

They moved around back and observed that it was dark. The pilots turned on their head and torso lights that shown ahead of them. They cautiously approached the Mech door and trained their massive 75mm rifle cannons on the steel door.

"Should we try to open it? There could be stragglers." The second pilot asked curiously.

"Our orders were to search and survey. And if we're attacked, we hit 'em back." The first pilot replied confidently.

"Exactly! Survey and- get this -search." The first pilot sighed, frustrated.

"Charlie, you do this every time." He said exasperated.

"Come on, what we don't know might end up costing us. We should at least check, right?"

The first pilot growled in annoyance. "Fine! But when we get ambushed, I'm blaming you."

"You worry too much!" The second pilot said, knocking on the door.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Pilot one whispered frantically.

"Oh chill, we've got this under control."

Inside, Jayden flashed a mirror that cast a brief beam of light down to the others.

"Okay, go!" Francis urged quietly. Dominic pushed down on the lever, and the door rolled up.

Both green Mechs held their guns up as the door opened, but they only saw a dark hanger room. They saw the black and white Mech standing idly by the scaffoldings, inactive.

"T-6 to Commander, we've located an inactive sparing Mech. No weapons accounted for."

While they were talking, the teens and Francis ran out the open door. Ray tripped over a metal pipe, causing a loud metallic grinding noise that echoed through the hanger.

"Over there, pilots! Set weapons to stun!" The first Mech pilot turned and aimed his weapon.

The lights of The Iron Vindicator turned on and Jayden reared back a fist.

"Look out Randle!" The second pilot's warning came too late. Jayden delivered a swift blow to the Mech's face and leaped in the air to give a flying knee strike which he followed by blocking a fist with his right forearm and swinging his left elbow into its facial mask to deliver the final blow before it sunk to the ground. The second pilot readied his rifle but couldn't fire in time to match the Iron Vindicator's speed. Jayden grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed it up as it fired a loud burst of random shots. "Get off!" The second green Mech pilot cried, his pleas falling on deaf ears. Jayden took the butt of the rifle and slammed it into the Mech's torso and then pointed the gun at it. "P-Please! Don't shoot!" The pilot begged, tears streaming from his eyes.

"I can, and I will," Jayden said, firing two shots into the other Mech's legs, severing it at the kneecaps. "I strongly suggest you don't follow me." He mocked. The man inside the green Mech passed out from shock.

Jayden unloaded the magazine from the gun using the remaining rounds inside to blow up the main computer terminal, destroying any evidence and connections to anyone involved in the underworld mech fighting arena. He threw the gun on the ground and stomped it until it was unrecognizable. He took the other and did the same, watching as the pieces were rearranged into scattered strands of metal. He then turned and ran out of the hanger, still in his Mech.

From far behind him, a shot was fired and sent deep into the torso of his Mech. Jayden cried out in pain and maneuvered the bot into the trees where he could take cover. He looked down to see that an armor-piercing round had nearly torn off his own leg and was lying buried just inches away from his foot in the Mech's metal frame. It had just clipped his real calf, and already it was oozing blood.

The frame began to send an active warning message to the cockpit; the main power flux conductors were damaged. There was no way the primary power source could supply a stable source of energy without overexerting the conductors; It meant that the Mech would explode if he didn't cut power to it. That left him with a problem: he couldn't escape if he didn't use the Mech.

'If I can just transfer over to auxiliary power,' he thought, typing rapidly on the interface in front of him, 'then it might last long enough to make it out of here.' He cut the primary power and switched the power relays. 'This won't last very long, and I can't risk transferring power from primary sources without taking the same risks. Guess I'll have to make do with what I have.'

With a grunt of pain, he pushed the Mech to its limits, maneuvering through the forest for the next fifteen minutes; until it ran out of power. "No, no, not now!" He cried in desperation.

It fell down hard and landed sideways against a tree with a loud metallic 'thud.' He cursed and opened the cockpit. His friends were supposed to meet him at the spot behind his house, so he decided to set out for there first. As he opened the hatch, he tried to steadily remove himself from the restraints holding him in place so he wouldn't fall. He unclipped himself and scaled down the side. He grabbed a branch to steady himself as he made his way down to the Mech's thigh. He gasped in horror as it snapped and fell the remaining seven feet on his ankle. He winced again in pain as he tried to stand but fell to his knees as the immense pressure from standing became too much for him to support himself. He stared at his foot in disgust, but he knew deep down he had it coming after going his whole life without so much as spraining something, anything.

"Heh, just my luck; a gash the size of a small crater and a sprained ankle both on opposite legs." He spat and glared at the ground. "Freaking A."

Panic coursed through his nerves when he heard the heavy stomps coming from where he had fled. He looked down and realized with dread that he was in no position to run, much less fight. His calf was torn and bloody from where the bullet had luckily just grazed him, and his ankle looked more and more swollen by the minute. The metallic rumbling sounds got closer, and he made the decision to try to find cover in the woods around him. Adrenaline alone fed his movements as he limped away as quickly as he could from his pursuers. He looked back to see lights following him in the distance.

"Dammit." He whispered, despair settling in.

He moved quicker, beginning to move into a slow trot. The lights behind him began to redefine their courses, searching from the downed Mech to his retreating form. He limped through a section of trees, his adrenaline making the throbbing in his leg almost nonexistent. Then men behind him were gaining, and fast. Jayden gave it all he had and moved through another set of bushes, but his foot went down on nothing but air. He pulled back at the last second and teetered on the edge of a steep drop off. He turned around and looked with wide eyes at the armored officers that were within fifteen feet and closing.

"Drop any weapons you have, you're surrounded!" The squad commander shouted over to him.

"Stay away from me!" Jayden screamed, partially in pain and otherwise in desperation.

"Come easy kid, there isn't anything else you can do." The commander warned.

Jayden bent down and clutched his sprained ankle in anguish, knowing he had lost. The officers, however, thought he was reaching for something else.

"Gun-gun!"

Jayden looked up and froze. Loud noises pierced the air, disrupting the peaceful night setting. He could barely feel or hear anything, except for the cold night air tickling his skin. He looked down to see three large blood spots growing and running down his shirt; one near his left shoulder, one that had gone through him on the right side of his torso, and the final one hitting just below the right side of his collar bone.

The officers all inspected his ankle, expecting a gun or at least a holster, and saw it was only swollen. They all paled and raced forward to catch him, but the blood loss and numbing pain became too much, and consciousness evaded him. They were too late to save him, and he plummeted fifty feet below to the ground, landing on his back. He lay motionless until his eyes just barely opened. He took one last look at his surroundings, seeing a clear sky full of stars and feeling the crisp, cold air of the night. A trickle of blood escaped his mouth and ran down his cheek to the ground. He smiled and braced himself for the darkness that was slowly enveloping him, a stray tear falling from his eye as the last thing he saw was nothing but pitch black...