It was the last money in her account, so Chione decided to spend it down on a big breakfast. The only nice things you could get at the stalls were breads and jams, and maybe a small platter of meats. Anything cooked was better to eat quickly during dinner, and the cafeteria wasn’t open this early. So Chione had a small box of rye, ham and strawberry spread. She returned to her familiar corner in the yard, and laid it all out. For a moment she clasped her hands together, but then faltered. She decided to let her hands fall and instead began to eat.
“That looks good. You must be hungry after yesterday.”
With a mouth full of crust, Chione looked up at Zoe Dee lingering over her. She quickly swallowed.
“Ah, yeah,” she said. “I feel like I’m on death row. I mean, it could very well be my last meal.”
“Right, you didn’t get paid since…. Yeah.”
“If I win, they’ll give me a stipend right?"
Dee nodded, and said, “that’s the thinking. But Romanoff doesn’t want anyone off the mines. It could be you get basic pay for every hour of training, higher for battles and, well, who knows –– could be big rewards for every Demesne ship you shoot down.”
“First I need to win,” Chione said, staring ahead. “And whether I will….”
“Doesn’t look good?”
“I beat Zak, and she’s in already. I know I can do better but I still only have two wins out of five. So does Rigoletta, and Vil has three. Melissa only got one, but she’s only had a couple fights so far. She may be small but she does know how to handle a Vio.”
“Alright, who do you have left?”
“I think… Melissa, Patch, Rigoletta and…” she paused, and took a moment to swallow, “and Cheshire.”
“Oh, her?” Dee asked as she raised her brow. “I’m surprised she made it that far. She’s not exactly spry. That’ll be an easy notch for you, right?”
But Chione dropped the bread from her hand and immediately covered her face. A wave of nausea washed over her, joined by the writhing of her blood. It felt like something cold and alien stirring up within.
“Woah, are you okay?”
“I’m,” Chione’s voice shuddered. “I’m fine, obviously.”
She forced her hand from her face, taking in a deep breath to calm herself, then let it out.
“I have to win. I can’t let her do what she does to me every night in my mind. But it’s so…. ”
“Look, just take deep breaths and try to eat as much as you can. You don’t want something as stupid as a panic attack ruining your chances here.”
“I’m fine,” Chione said again. “I bet it’s just the Vio acting up.”
She was lying for Zoe’s sake, but what she said was more true than she realised.
Mid-afternoon, and all the girls were back in the box overseeing the enclosed surface again. The warden wasn’t present, but Danton was, joining McVaughn as she checked them in. She called forward Zak and Roxie, who were respectively on the very ends of the line.
“You two are done as of yesterday,” she explained. “But I understand you’re both gonna wanna give moral support to your friends. The remaining seven of you will fight for the last three places. First up… is Rigoletta Lombardi and Melissa Bogdan.”
Melissa and Rigoletta went down and mounted their VA1s. The fight commenced, and both stuck to their usual strategies –– Melissa rushing for cover and hoping to snipe the enemy, while Rigoletta attacked with overwhelming ferocity. Melissa got one hit, but couldn’t escape her clutches in the other two rounds, meaning she was out.
As Melissa withdrew and Patch tagged in, Chione continued to watch intently from the window. So far, Patch had failed to gain any wins and this would be no different. Despite Patch’s good reflex and overall handling of the Vio Armour, she was paralysed in combat, too hesitant in either attack or defence. Chione banked on a win against her, but her path to five would need two more targets. One possible candidate was the woman who now strode across the field to replace Patch; Cheshire. But Chione could never look at the woman for more than a few seconds. She glanced away, grabbing at her own arm. McVaughn, who was by her side, noticed.
“You’re up after her, Fridge,” she said, somewhat softer than her usual tone. “Rigoletta’s on a roll, but you can bruise her up a bit before her head gets big.”
“Too late,” Chione muttered. “And if she beats Cheshire she’ll qualify anyway.”
“Sucks that,” McVaughn said, rolling her shoulders back. “I kinda tried to fuck her over yesterday. I think it killed her momentum and stopped her racking up too many wins. But you can only delay the inevitable.”
Chione looked over at her.
“Why would you care who wins?”
“Hey, I still have to keep the new unit in formation. I’ll be drilling you little crybabies every week. But Rigoletta’s psycho, I don’t wanna deal with that.”
The other girl returned to staring out the glass.
“The others aren’t much better.”
McVaughn grinned, “what, and you are?”
But before Chione could either retort or pointedly ignore that barb, a new development unfurled in the bout below. Those watching widened their eyes, and McVaughn, catching on, was stunned for a moment, before fumbling for her comm.
“Ah… uh,” she muttered for a moment, “well, alright. Rigoletta, you’re off. Rover, you’re the new challenger for… for Cheshire, I guess.”
Blinking, Chione looked at the parked VA1s, as a fuming Rigoletta jumped down and stormed off. Surely it was some fluke, or perhaps Cheshire had unlocked some hidden skill with the Vio. If she hadn’t been distracted by conversation, Chione could have seen it unfold and at least make a mental note of it. Now she didn’t know what to expect. Rover being up didn’t help. The diminutive black girl may be a rough-houser in person, but mostly flailed about in the machine. That, and there was a possibility she was throwing like Roxie did for Rigoletta. Either way, she lost, and Cheshire ––who had finished yesterday with zero wins–– was now on two.
McVaughn sent Patch on, and Chione somewhat relaxed. But the knowledge that the fight would come sooner or later started to rise in her lower intestine, like the tense pang of indigestion. Perhaps she shouldn’t have eaten this morning after all.
“Yes, yes!” now by the trainer’s side, Zak was excitedly pumping her fist, “just one more!”
Patch was pounding Cheshire, and in one last well-timed blast of her laser, scored that third point. Over-thrilled, Zak cheered and clapped against a sound-proof window. Throwing her a side-eye, Chione cooly remarked:
“She can’t qualify, you know. If she won all her outstanding matches she’d only have four.”
“Urgh,” Zak groaned, not looking at Chione, “did you memorise everyone’s score? Anyway you haven’t qualified yet either. And Patch… she’ll give you hell so don’t underestimate her.”
It was time for Chione to go down, and she finally returned to the VA1. She ascended the ladders quickly and jumped through the hatch in one single motion. Back to the unseemly iron smell and oven heat, but this time it didn’t seem as revolting as it was the first time she entered one of these. Once she locked into place, she heard Patch’s voice come in through the radio:
“You know when Zak first came here, she was just a kid. She’d grown in tough places but she wasn’t prepared for a life like this. But even then, she was full of heart, and I was just happy to see her smile. Now I try to be nice, and I’ll let what you did to us go by. But you better think hard before you needle her again.”
“Are you finished?” Chione asked.
“Yeah, just about.”
Patch’s VA1 came to life, lifting its arms, rifle in hand.
When Patch returned to the box, she found Zak awaiting with a look of broken apprehension. It was a very familiar face, and as always Patch just smiled and gave a soft sigh.
“Hey, it happens,” she said.
Zak came up and hugged her. Patch brought it in, laying her hand on the small girl’s back.
Chione Eosides, or ‘Fridge’ as they were calling her, was the emperor-of-all once again; three wins up and three challengers left to face. The first of these was Cheshire, who couldn’t stop a small smile creeping up her face when her name was called. She headed to leave, but Melissa quickly rushed forward and held her hand.
“Be careful out there,” she said in a tiny voice. “I think that girl is dangerous. She’s not happy with us.”
“Ah, dear,” she slid a finger under Melissa’s chin, “you worry too much. I’ve had to deal with bad debtors, and I’ve disciplined bad girls. It’s all the same. She’ll fall in line like the rest.”
At her helm, Chione was still as she awaited for her opponent to arrive. Cheshire waltzed in, taking her time to climb the machine and access the hatch at the top. Though she didn’t directly look her way, Chione could feel the woman sensing her gaze ––and there was always that ghost of that smile on her face. She tightened her fingers around the handles like a clamp. Finally Cheshire was in, and in the silence Chione braced for the voice to come. She hoped it would be McVaughn who spoke first. But as the crackle came on the radio set, it was Cheshire.
“Why don’t you give me this round, and we’ll call it even?”
“Even?”
Chione’s breath was ripped from her lungs.
“Yes,” Cheshire tittered, “you broke faith. And after everything we did for you. And all your pouting is putting my girls in a lot of distress.”
“Because… I’m a freeloader? Because they accepted the costs and I won’t. That just proves that all three of you know it’s wrong! Because… because…”
But she couldn’t do it. She felt the hand, wandering to her breast and playing with it, or the lips storming their ways onto hers. She had been nothing more than a thing to play with, and despite all her rage she couldn’t reverse that. It happened. It will always have happened. Her breath was ragged, the steam clouding the glass. McVaughn’s voice finally came but it was muffled to Chione’s ear. She couldn’t stop it because she was just a thing. She was just a thing.
“One!”
Cheshire kicked off and attacked. Chione was still. Her hand aimlessly wandered to switch then lever then handle but she did nothing. The enemy took full advantage. Closing the distance it knocked her mech down, and Chione was flung back–– but yanked back into place by her metal harness.
“1-nil,” said McVaughn. “You might wanna get up Fridge.”
“Are you throwing for me, dear?” the other voice on the comm twisted like a knife. “That’s sweet, but I decided not to hit the core yet. I need to hear you say it. Say it. Tell your mommy you want forgiveness.”
With some effort, Chione wrangled the VA1 back onto its feet. Her heart was pounding, but there was even more fire below in her gut. She had just let Cheshire take a point from her without a fight, and now the woman was asking her to beg? Was Chione really going to let a worm like this decide her fate? As McVaughn now counted down from three, Chione flexed her fingers along the ends of the primary levers, as she fixed her gaze on the opposing machine. She had made her decision.
Cheshire wouldn’t get out of this fight alive.
McVaughn signalled the fight to restart, and both girls were off, immediately closing the distance, clashing their arms against one another. The metal scraped and clanged, especially as Cheshire tried to pivot and force the barrel of her gun into the space. Chione didn’t let her get the chance.
“Eheh,” Cheshire’s voice still came through on comm, “so you’ve still got some fight left, well––“
“Die, die, die!” Chione shouted with the fullness of her lungs, just to drown out any other sound.
Her mechanical fists landed, battering down on the opposing arm. Cheshire continually tried to brace, but the fists came down so fast and hard the plating began to tear off, and then the whole arm began to break from its socket. Cheshire must have realised her predicament. She jolted the thrusters and tried to break free, but Chione followed in pursuit. They both rose, higher and higher into the air. The first cut thrusters, and the momentum carried her up against the weak gravity, but the second kept flying up and quickly gained height. It was Chione, whose angle now swivelled and menaced down on the VA1 suspended in air. Cheshire tried to take aim, but Chione rushed her in seconds. She crashed into her. It sent them down.
“Let g…., go! Chione… both going… crash!” the voice in the comm sputtered in and out.
But Chione just took the opportunity to pummel her mid-air, beating Cheshire’s machine again and again while they hurtled down in one drop. Metal, glass and fibre splintered off with every punch. And then, with one last hit, one of Chione’s fingers was rammed right into a crevice of the enemy armour. It was sparkling, crackling and blue static was spitting into red flames. With one motion Chione yanked both her levers back, and her mech finally ripped free, with barely a second left to go.
It was a crash, and then a boom. Slag spilled everywhere, just as there was a second boom of Chione’s VA1 tumbling into the ground. But hers was at least intact.