Broker-Chapter 257

Sonya hopped over one of the two chairs in the observation room while Amos slipped into his own chair. He waved a hand and various screens came online, images of the arena from every angle as well as a constant stream of data. She eyed it briefly before deciding she’d rather not have anything to do with it and focused on having a good time. A few clicks sounded in her ear as Amos put on the finishing touches. He glanced her way and raised three fingers, two, one.

Sonya leaned forward, “Hello, Darlings! Sonya here! We’re back and ready to get this party started! For those of you who are at home, I’d like to welcome you again and please take a moment to look at the rules panning over the screen right now!”

On one of the screens she watched Marta settle into the seat that had been vacated by Guildmaster-what’s-his-name after he and his people had been disqualified for being chumps. The two Guildmasters on either side of her looked more than a little nervous, and her friend seemed incredibly pleased by it. She waved to the camera as Sonya made sure to focus on her for a moment. “As a reminder to the participants, we can intervene to pull someone out of a dangerous spot but risks are unavoidable, you signed a waiver when you decided to participate!”

Her smile turned bright and innocent, “So don’t forget! If you go overboard and kill somebody, Handmaiden will drag you off, kick your ass, and I will litigate you into the next century! If you think the rules don’t apply to you, call my bluff!”

The crowd around Marta all went stone-faced, and Sonya had the pleasure of watching the heroes on the field go a little pale while Marta grinned and brandished a fist.

Sonya leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. “So without further ado! Let’s start the timer!”

Amos gestured and one of the screens floating above the arena turned into a sixty second countdown. The excitement was practically bubbling under her skin. Ever since the War with Liberty and her little play-commentary while watching Barry kick the snot out of Otis, she’d been thinking about this. Not that she wanted Otis playing in here. The last thing she wanted was him getting any more famous.

“Got a lot of promising players here today, huh Doctor Carter?” she said, her voice carrying over the stadium.

“Quite a few actually,” Amos replied and panned the camera over a young man with orange-gold hair standing in the northeast side. He was wearing a plain white dress shirt and black slacks making him look like he’d come for an interview rather than a fight. His arms were crossed and his eyes were closed. “That’s Hero Sol from Newcastle. The only Mythic here at the competition, and according to the comments on the live stream, a favorite to win.”

His ability has something to do with sunlight, right? This could be interesting.

Her eyes scanned the crowd and she saw Nietz standing on the opposite side of the field surrounded by a bunch of irritated looking young men and women. They were glowering more at his grayscale armor than Nietz himself. Probably aren’t happy that a Pandora Committee hero decided to participate. I’m surprised they let him wear his armor. Oh well, if he can’t make it through that he’s out. She paused. I still want to figure out his ability though. He’s the only other person besides Otis who has been immune to Broker.

“I guess we’ll see!” Sonya replied, getting her head back into the moment. “Looks like Glint and Armory made it as well!”

The camera panned to a pair of heroes, a man and a woman standing next to each other and waving to the crowd. Both had dark hair and complexions with tattoos on their arms. Both of them wore simple tank-tops and cargo pants with practical shoes for moving around quickly. “The twins are pretty famous here in Australia,” Amos commented. “Their teamwork is something to really pay attention to!”

“Oh? Have you heard things?” Sonya asked.

“Their first mission was in a Rare dungeon only four months ago; they cleared it out on their own,” Amos said. “A force to be reckoned with.”

“But there can only be one winner!” Sonya chimed in with a laugh as the timer hit three seconds. She leaned forward and planted her hands on the console. “Let’s get this battle royale going!”

BWEEEEEE!

The crowd exploded into shouts and cheers as the buzzer went off, but that paled in comparison to the sudden outbreak of violence in the arena. Powers went off immediately, abilities of so many different varieties that it was basically a kaleidoscope of color. The biggest show off was Sol, who released a flash of sunlight around himself and blinded anyone who was too close. “There he goes! Sol is starting off with immediate crowd control to establish a little territory!”

He darted from his spot and with a flicker of movement sent twelve people to the ground in a series of sharp jabs. Immediately, a green light shone down on him and the crowd lost its mind. He turned away from his victims and took a single step before flickering again, several tiny bursts of sunlight creating a trail between where he started and the stage where he landed, and stood with his arms crossed behind his back.

“Look at that!” Amos called. “Twelve already down and Sol has claimed the first spot in the next round. Don’t worry, folks. ASTA Medic-Dolls will be there momentarily to retrieve those who’ve been knocked out.”

As soon as he said it, one of the doors usually set aside for a sports team opened and several silver-bodied robots raced out, leaping over the fighting heroes and landing amongst the defeated ones. More had already begun moving into the fray, avoiding attacks and retrieving others who’d been downed. It was absolute pandemonium.

“A little bit of shameless advertising folks!” Sonya laughed as two more green columns appeared over the field. “There’s Glint and Armory!” she crowed as the twin heroes stood back to back, Glint holding a floating mirror between his hands and Armory wielding what looked like a pair of eighties-style rayguns in her hands. They turned and sauntered through the mayhem, most quickly avoiding the pair as they approached the center.

That was when a new sound went off.

BRRRRZZT!

Sonya whirled and the camera panned to a red-haired young man in a set of combat gear holding another hero by the shirt with his fist raised. It was starting to crackle with tiny bolts of electricity. His target was already limp. Sonya got to her feet, but before she could even say anything, the two had been separated, and it hadn’t been by Marta. Nietz drove his foot into the side of the red-head’s face and kicked off just as Marta landed and grabbed the offender. She held up a hand and her voice carried over the stadium. “Disqualified! Attempted a lethal blow!”

Sonya disabled the microphone for a moment and glanced at Amos. “Next time let's give points for saves to encourage that kind of thing,” she said quickly.

He nodded. “Got it, I’ll let Colin know.”

Sonya reactivated her mic. “A heroic save from Pandora Hero Nietz!” she called. “Well done!”

The entire stadium paused for only a few seconds as they watched Marta drag the now unconscious red-head off before the fighting resumed in earnest. The intensity of some of the attacks going around had visibly diminished. Sonya smirked. It took someone actually getting caught for them to really let it sink in. Some people take multiple lessons to learn, she thought as she scanned the growing fight. More green flashes were coming down and more were being dragged off to be treated by Amos’ dolls. freewebnøvel.com

Above the fighting, the screen that had shown the countdown now read with a number that was plummeting rapidly. It had already reached just over a thousand when another green light flashed. She shook her head wryly and leaned back. It’s hard to commentate on so much going on, she thought. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch though.

There were elementalists, psychics, magic users, and martial artists. There were those with weapons and those without, young heroes using esoteric powers and even those who were using simple physical prowess while avoiding using their powers all together. All of them seemed to be employing different strategies as they carved their way towards being one of the last two hundred standing.

–

Nietz ducked beneath another swing. The big guy in front of him was wielding what could only be described as a literal column of stone. He could feel the wind pass over his head as he dove forward and drove his fist up and into the big guy’s gut. He winced when the guy didn’t even budge and he threw himself down and to the right, rolling out of the way when the column came straight down to where he had been standing.

That was close, he thought only for his body to bend in half as the column hit him in the side. He felt his ability absorb most of the blow but the rest of it transferred through. He coughed and hit the ground before quickly getting to his feet and turning to face the big guy again. The hulk of a hero was grinning ear to ear.

“Just one more and I’m in the next round, Pandora Boy!” he shouted.

Tch, this guy isn’t even winded, Nietz thought. What’s the point of being able to take a hit if I can’t dish it back out?

A bang rang out behind him and he felt something pelt him in the back of the head. He blinked and frowned while the big man tilted his head in confusion. An audible gasp went through the part of the crowd closest to them. Nietz glanced over his shoulder to see another hero standing there with a wide-eyed expression, a smoking pistol in his hand. Nietz raised an eyebrow. “Did you… just shoot me?” Nietz asked.

BRRR-

Before the disqualification could even play out, he whirled and grabbed the guy by the wrist, knocking the weapon out of his hand before pulling him down and driving his knee up into the guy’s gut. He brought his elbow down next onto the back of his neck and pushed him aside.

-RZZT

“We’re gonna count that one. Looks like Hero Nietz might very well be bulletproof!” Sonya Chernovna’s voice carried over the field as Handmaiden landed next to him. Her aura was so strong it made him want to back away, but he held his ground as she fixed him with a stare, looked him up and down once, before shrugging and grabbing the gunman.

“Use of Live Rounds! Disqualified!” Handmaiden shouted and darted away.

Nietz scratched the back of his head and turned back to the big guy with the column. I’m so glad we spent time making me immune to bullets during basic training, he thought before looking the big guy in the eyes and raising his fists. “That’s nine for me now too,” he panted and wiped a bit of sweat from his lips. “Ready to keep going?”

The big guy grinned, “I take it back, I like you! You’re funny! I’m Pillar!”

Nietz returned his grin. Creative name, don’t exactly blame him though. “Wanna go take someone else out and meet later?” he asked.

The big guy tilted his head thoughtfully and then threw his head back with an even bigger laugh. “Sure!” He shouted and immediately turned away, “See you in the next round Pandora Boy!”

Nietz didn’t immediately turn away from him, hopping back a few paces while keeping his eyes on his surroundings. Only when the big guy started swinging at a surprised group of fighters did he shift his attention. I’m not an idiot, he thought just as a sword came swinging towards his shoulder. It struck and started to dig into flesh before he pulled his body out of the way and it slid off his skin, his ability dispersing the damage.

The swordsman with long blue-green hair and a pretty-boy face stared at him in disbelief as he reared his fist back. “Hey! Thanks!” he said brightly and drove his fist between the swordsman’s eyes. He glanced down at his arm as green light shone down on him and flexed his fingers. That’ll take a little bit to heal but it was strong enough to cut my skin, it won’t get me next time, he thought happily and turned to the stage to start running when another hero in a hood dashed past him and slapped him once in the chest.

He furrowed his brows. Huh?

He pulled his head back as yet another fighter with a baseball bat looking weapon dashed past him as well and struck the hood-wearing hero who went down in a heap, cradling the back of his head. “What the hell? I saw you tank that Pillar guy’s hit!” the hooded kid shouted. “Why didn’t it work?”

Nietz brightened, “Oh!” he laughed. “One-off powers like that only work on me once!” he chuckled and started walking. “Someone’s already tried to copy me before!”

He pushed his way through the rest of the crowd and hopped onto the stage, rubbing his injured arm. He was already a little out of breath from all of this and he had no idea how fast things would progress from here. More green lights were starting to shine down as the fighting was ebbing into the final phases. He scratched his head and looked around. “I’m kinda surprised nobody’s gotten killed.”

“Hero Nietz?” A chilly voice called out from behind him.

He turned and met the faintly glowing eyes of the guy who had to be Hero Sol. Nietz tensed a little, but relaxed when the guy extended a hand in greeting. Nietz glanced around at the others who’d made it to the stage and most of them were frowning at him or glaring at Sol. He took Sol’s hand and shook it. “That’s me, what can I do for you?”

“Hero Fizz is one of my guild mates. You saved his life earlier, and I wanted to thank you,” Sol said.

Nietz's eyes widened a little. He was so used to most Mythics being self-important assholes or distant forces of nature that he was a little shocked for a heartbeat. He smiled back at the man. “No problem. It’s what we do, right?” he said with a shrug. “Shame I didn’t do it faster. I would have liked to have gotten a point out of it too.”

The glowy-eyed Sol chuckled. “You’re a blunt man. I hope you make it to the finals.”

Nietz grinned. “I’ll do my best.”

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