Ace

4

"That's good, Ry, very good but what happens when you have to fight someone bigger than you"

"But I thought we are not supposed to fight above or below our age rank, I mean" he says looking around the spar room "no one else is fighting a bigger opponent"

"I know but what if. I'm bigger than you now and we are sparring"

"You're teaching me, there's a difference"

A week has gone by since she requested to train him and she could see the changes in him. He had a bit of a smart mouth and wasn't afraid to use it. He still gets sad sometimes but always held his head up especially when she was in a room.

At first everyone was shocked. The new comers couldn't believe their eyes when they saw her train with him and the older ones thought it would never happen again, not since Baby Doll.

It gave way to fresh gossip. Clarissa felt a little jealous of Ryder. She couldn't help but feel if she had bad mouthed him to her Alyssa would have picked her to train. The good thing was, he wasn't crying all the time again.

They had all asked her what Alyssa wanted that day after she had inquired about Ryder. They had wanted to know what she had talked about and nobody understood why, until now.

"Why do think she chose him out of all us to train with" Peter asked after they were done with training. The group watched as Alyssa and Ryder left the training ground both whispering to themselves.

"Maybe she felt pity for him. I mean, the kid's pretty hopeless" Trevor remarked. Clarissa also wondered but wanted answers and not just speculate on what they thought was happening.

"June" she called out to the higher rank that had talked to them before. The girl turned and smiled at them before walking towards them.

"Hey guys. What's up"? She had a pretty good idea why they wanted to talk to her. Alyssa speaking to the kid, the cry baby was worth the gossip and she prided herself in knowing stuff other people don't.

"Does this happen often" Clarissa asked, nodding off to the main topic as they left. "I thought you said she always keeps to herself, doesn't talk to anyone".

"Ya I said that and she really doesn't do this. She mostly keeps to herself or speak to the guards and bosses". Alyssa was the only captured kid that spoke to the bosses. Even some of the guards don't have that kind of leeway to just go up to the boss' office but she does.

"Then how do you explain that. What's special about him or are they making her talk to him"? Jennifer asked. She was always quiet, listening in but was too curious to keep silent.

They had all thought Alyssa was a lone wolf who didn't associate with anyone, much less the kid. She had always had this aloof feeling about her, her face was always a blank canvas so it was more than weird to see her interacting with someone other than her spa partner.

"Listen, she's only done this one other time". She said as they all made their way outside the training room. "Last year I think with this girl, she was so annoying always so bubbly and sweet. Well Alyssa pretty much did the same thing with her. Talked to her, took her under her wings, trained her"

"What's her name and what happened to her? I mean since we got here, we haven't seen anyone with Alyssa so how do you explain that" Clarissa asked.

"Well Baby Doll was in The Pit a week before you all got here so she's been in the infirmary ever since. I bet you'll see her soon. Well, see you guys at the lounge" June said and separated from the group to go to her room. She had a feeling they would still come to her with questions.

###

It's been a month after the last Pit.

Ivan had arranged for there to be a match twice a month. One minor, one major. The minor consists of the lower ranked captives. From 12 down while the major matches involved higher ranks and she was always the main event.

The minor matches was just that, minor, to whet the appetite of some patrons, for more things to come. The patrons where given a chance to buy a fighter of their hands especially if they are good and many wanted to purchase Alyssa but Ivan refused to sell. She was making him more money than he could have hoped for.

As they gathered in the lounge, groups talking about new strategies, about Alyssa and her new friend while the pair sat in a corner talking in hushed tones uncaring of the rest in the room.

Donovan came in with the list of pairing for the match the coming weekend. He scanned the room for her. He always had a soft spot for her but didn't want the others to know. He felt terrible when they started lashing her, worse still when the experiments started.

He sighed. He couldn't do much about it so he went with orders, trained her to the best of his abilities and now she could defeat even him.

Posting the match-up on the wall, he left the room allowing the children to check who was up for a fight and against who.

Alyssa didn't bother standing up. She never knew who her opponents were. About two years ago, Ivan had decided to up her 'wow' factor, putting her against two opponents at a time instead of one and they were all seasoned fighters, brought in to face her, to see how well she would do against 'Ace'.

She always won.

That was why she was the main event. The wow factor in their operation but that would change soon. Immediately Clarence became able to convince Ivan to let her go, that would be it for her.

The room was abuzz with the posting, everyone talking about who would win which match up and the kinds of injuries sustained. The new captives listening in, learning of this new life they were thrust into and wondering when they would get their own match ups. This was the atmosphere Maggie walked into.

She didn't have to look to know where Alyssa sat but what she didn't expect was to see a little boy, malnourished by the looks of it, sitting beside her and staring out at the room. She knew Alyssa knew she was in the room, she was weird like that.

As she made her way towards the pair, a person blocked her path. June, she was in her rank but was majorly annoying and always seeking attention. Plastering a big smile on her face, the type that made people think she was a descendant of Harley Quinn, she focused on the girl.

"Hi June"

"I thought you'd last longer in the infirmary Baby Doll. What happened, they discovered that you were getting high on the morphine" she laughed. Her voice was loud so she had gathered a bit of attention, especially from the new comers when they heard the name Baby Doll.

"Oh no no no no" Maggie stated, maintaining her happy-go-lucky tone "I leave the getting high to you June, that's your department, I was just figuring how to poison someone without leaving a trace" she finished.

Snickering rang through the room as June flushed. Maggie gave her a smirk and just walked passed her, finally reaching her destination as she came to Alyssa and the kid.

"You know, a punch would have just sufficed" Alyssa said. Eyes closed, head tilted backwards as she just listened to the room. Ryder stared at the new comer wide eyed and slightly leaning towards Alyssa should this new person be a problem.

"I know but it wouldn't have been as fun" she sat down on the other side of Alyssa, facing the room as well. "So who's the kid" she asked in a low voice.

"Ryder, this is my friend Maggie" he gave a small hi, trying to maintain eye contact the way Alyssa had showed him. "Go sit in the corner, I'll signal for you later". He was hesitant but still obeyed, moving just a few feet from them.

"So why are you talking to Ryder"

"Because we're taking him with us".

*Thanks for reading 😘
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