Gonna kill the alien bastard, gonna kill you, gonna kill you, gonna win, he was telling himself.
His hands began to shake a little as the adrenaline flowed through his body. His mouth went dry, and his breathing slowed beyond what was ideal. He had to tell himself to get the air in.
Breathe, breathe, focus.
A trickle of sweat rolled down his face and hit his already dry lips. It tasted horrible and only made him thirstier. He felt a hand clench his and try to lift it, but to no avail. He looked to his side to see the commentator in a white suit and matching bow tie trying to raise his hand for the crowd, but it was only going where he wanted it to.
"Come on," the man whispered to him, "They love you. Play to it."
He gave in and did as asked. He snapped out of his mind-focusing daze to look at his surroundings as he was paraded around for all to admire. He was standing on a metal stage thirty metres wide. Thick armoured clear plastic walls surrounded him and must have been ten metres tall. They were braced by steel supports around the outside of the structure. Floodlights created almost perfect balanced light with only a little shadowing. The floor had smatterings of alien blood. He was clearly not the only exhibit that night, but he was the headliner they had all been waiting for.
As he continued to study his surroundings, the commentator left the arena, and the wall sealed shut behind him. There seemed to be no way in or out now except going upwards. Knowing his Reitech boosters would allow him that was a relief. A section of the floor in the arena slid open, and a single Mech arose from beneath the ground. It was still shackled and made no attempt to break free. He wondered if that was because it didn't want to fight, or if it had simply accepted it had to wait for its opportunity to try and kill him. Its armour had been polished so much that the floodlights glinted off of it.
Weaver began spouting his orders over the comms, but Taylor shut it off. That was the last thing he wanted to hear.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, let the battle begin!"
The shackles opened, and the Mech rushed immediately at him. Like in the previous display, it was armoured but without any weapons. With no finesse, it rushed at him as if in the hope of trampling him where he stood. Taylor quickly twisted his body to void to one side and drove the Assegai up into its torso armour, driving up to the hilt so that the tip would reach its throat.
The creature froze where it stood as he ripped the blade out. Blood poured down its armour and spread across the floor. It went limp and collapsed lifelessly to the ground. It landed hard. The metal on metal clang echoed around the stadium from all of the speakers that relayed every audible decibel for everyone to hear. The crowd was silent and stunned.
Taylor looked over to the side of the arena where Weaver and a few of Ryan's crew were sitting. Ryan was clapping and found it hilarious, but he was one of the few. Weaver frantically beckoned for him to come over to the perimeter. He finally obliged, as there seemed no response from the audience in what was becoming an uncomfortable silence.
As he reached the perimeter, he could see small holes perforated in the wall, just enough so that sound could travel through.
"What the hell was that?" yelled Weaver frantically.
"What you asked for," he snapped back.
"No, you're here to put on a show. That was shit."
"Well, I did say you're welcome to take over."
Weaver's face reddened, and he was boiling over with anger. Taylor knew it was a dangerous move when he was locked in an arena with god knows how many more potential combatants.
"All right, Colonel, let's see how good you really are."
Taylor ignored him and walked off into the centre of the arena where he awaited the next challenge. He ignored the crowd but watched Weaver whispering to the commentator who finally broke the silence.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, well, well, well. Did you ever imagine our hero here could vanquish a mighty armoured alien without breaking a sweat? He truly is an epic champion. But alas, this challenge is simply not enough for such a man. Who wants to see him put to the test?"
The crowd screamed with excitement, appearing to have forgotten the first fight already. It certainly hadn't provided what they wanted or expected.
Knew it couldn't be that easy, he thought.
Everything he had been told suggested it was a one off, one-on-one fight, but he'd always suspected Weaver would screw him over.
The floor hatch slid open once again, and three Mechs arose from the ground. He was only thankful they were still unarmed, for although he made it look easy, he knew they were not to be underestimated. The crowd was still silent, eagerly waiting what they had all come there to see, a fight.
"Right, if this is what you want," Mitch whispered to himself.
The shackles slid off the Mechs, and they approached slowly together in a crescent shape. They were being cautious and working together, precisely what he didn't need. He circled a little to try and get one in front of the other two, but they wheeled around and maintained their formation.
"Okay, if that's how you want to play it."
He leapt to his right onto one at the flank. It swung for him, but he pushed the Assegai into its huge iron claw, stopping it dead. One of the others closed on him quickly. He kicked up his leg into its chest and fired the boosters on his suit. It launched it back and thrust him and his first opponent into the air and rocketing towards the barrier wall. They hit it hard, but the Mech took the worst of the impact. As they dropped to the metal floor, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause; this is what they wanted to see. This is what they came for, a gladiatorial match.
Mitch pulled the Assegai from the creature’s hand and thrust it into its chest. He quickly pulled it out and thrust again to make sure. Having vanquished one, he turned to meet the others, but it was already too late. The one that had been left standing was on him. He lifted his shield as a huge punch came for him. It impacted square on and launched him back against the wall. The wind was taken out of him from the impact, but he was still standing.
He thrust when the creature came at him, but it knocked his weapon arm down and swung again for his head. He ducked under, and the impact hit the transparent screen with such immense force, it opened cracks in the surface layer that spread almost a metre in every direction.
A hammer blow followed it, intending to flatten Taylor. He thrust his shield up and braced it with both hands and took it head on. As soon as the energy was dissipated, he smashed the lower edge of the shield into the creature’s knee joints and then forwards, knocking it off its feet. The crowd cheered as he spun out from under it and quickly covered some ground to get away from the wall.
In that instance, Taylor knew he had won the crowd over, but he wondered what that was really worth. His heart was now thumping and adrenaline was making him pin sharp. He was starting to enjoy himself. Gone was the anger at having to be an actor. The challenge and the danger was the most excitement he could remember having in a long time. He wasn't sure if he should be enjoying it, but he couldn't help it.
One down, easy work now!
The two rushed towards him simultaneously. He took a few paces to one side to get them in line and blocking one another. As the first tried to strike him, he pushed his shield up and slung his body low and thrust down into its leg. As blood poured from the wound, he ripped the Assegai out and thrust it up into its abdomen.
Seeing its companion was finished, the last one grabbed the body that was still impaled in Taylor's weapon and threw it aside as it bore down upon him. He ducked down and slammed his shield up and over so that the creature was launched over him and tumbled hard to the floor the other side. The crowd revelled in the spectacle of it, and began to yell for him to finish it.