Chapter Text
After the match, I took my time cleaning off my hoodie. It had been stained a filthy shade of brown from all the dust Mortis and I were kicking up. The lockers were mostly empty, save for Stu who was getting ready for the stunt show he had scheduled later tonight. I remember him saying that he liked to walk through the course before the show. Helps him visualize the stunt. I didn't really get it but he's the stuntman.
After a few desperate scrubs, I threw the towel in a bin and decided to handle the cleaning when I got home. Bo always seemed to have some remedy for these sorts of messes. Nita and I were masters of getting dirty.
The backstage area of the arena was filled with random props like a massive hose to fill the arena with water. There were also the bungee cords that were mostly used by El Primo when he held wrestling events inside the massive stadium. Any manner of knick-knacks could be found if you walked for long enough.
I, however, made my way to a small office room. It had a receptionist at a desk. An older lady with a cigarette in hand and a tired frown across her lips. When she saw my green hoodie she quickly pointed toward the next door, "Go ahead. They're waiting for ya." Her scratchy voice hid her sweet demeanor. Or maybe it was hiding her growing rage at being interrupted from a phone call.
I just listened without a sound and opened the next door. I was quickly shifted into a darker room with bright lights beaming down on the platform before me. I walked up the steps and took a seat in the nearest chair. With my arrival came a swarm of voices and flashing lights. I had to strain my eyes just to avoid going blind.
I grabbed the water bottle beside me and took a desperate sip while a man to my left took the podium. His hat was in the shape of a star, and he wore an exasperated smile. He spoke of how happy he was with today's show and that he couldn't be more thankful for the performances we put on. He also quickly plugged the stunt show happening later tonight stating, "This will be Stu's craziest stunt yet!"
As the questions slowly began he hushed them with simple instructions. If a question is to be asked a hand must be raised. Then we will pick who we wish to answer. With that, he stepped down and took a seat beside me. Immediately voices rang out with hands raised high.
I managed to reason out a lady with bright blue hair. Her head was wider than her shoulders, so I guess she stood out the most to me. She asked, "Can you tell us what you were thinking?"
I leaned forward into the mic, "I'm sorry can you rephrase your question." I had been taught to always speak respectfully at these media scrums by Bo as well as the other brawlers.
"What was your plan while fighting Mortis? Did you have a strategy? What was going on in your head?"
I blew a sad raspberry with my lips. I always hated these kinds of questions. "Honestly, I'm still way too young to make strategies." I laughed a bit at that sentence and the reporters joined as well. "I guess if I had to describe what I was thinking about."
When the bell rang Leon quickly dashed ahead into the arena. They had been placed into a classic arena. Petticoat Duel. Two massive rows of bushes had grown between them. There were walls within the bushes sectioning each row into three columns but even then, there were teleporters allowing brawlers to jump from the east and west sides of the fields in an instant.
Usually, fighters would use these portals to get a ranged advantage on their opponents, but in a clash of assassins, range wasn't on the menu. Leon knew that he had a small advantage in range and quickly made his way to the middle of the field. He stood behind a single cactus and waited for Mortis to appear.
The dashing assassin is all about flair which meant he'd surely hide within the middle bush segment. A fact that Leon quickly looked to exploit. He quickly peeked out from his small cover of plant life and sent a four-player wave of blades into the center bush.
Now Leon's range isn't the widest. It's not like Janet's sinister sound waves or Poco's loco guitar solos. It was much tighter like the beginning of Shelly's attack cone, or the with of Nita's shockwaves. As such he wasn't too surprised when his first set of blades didn't get any response from the bushes.
What was perplexing was how his next wave of razors missed all but the grassy null ahead. Leon took a moment to think about how this was possible. There were small odds that Mortis would have chosen any bush beside the center. But there was no way that Mortis could have dodged two sets of blades without revealing himself with a dashing slash. All that was left was for Leon to either double down on attacking the middle or take a guess on which of the side bushes he was hiding in. But if he doubled down on the middle bush and was wrong, his ammo would be too low to defend against an undead ambush.
The boy snickered beneath his yellow hood. He took his lollipop out of his mouth and popped a fresh one in. With the used candy, he flipped it in the air and pointed to the stadium's seats. He knew where she was. His awesome older sister was sitting in the front row where she always was. Right beside Bo and next to her friends Bonnie and that narcolept Sandy.
With the exaggerated swagger of a black teen, he called, "Hey, Nita. Check me out!" Then his sucker landed on the ground stem first and began to glow. Suddenly a massive red circle of light spewed out in all directions and Leon disappeared.
Chester's voice came through the speakers. "Leon has brought his signature gadget. The Lollipop Drop!"
Fang quickly queued up, "It looks like he's chosen to dominate the center of the map. Now Mortis is the one that will have to guess."
While the commentators and crowd complimented the decision Buzz made a silent analysis. He noticed that Leon dropped the pop directly beside the cactus. With such proximity, he'd be able to effectively walk directly beside all of Mortis' bushes. He grumbled under his breath, "And that's exactly what Mortis wants."
Inside the cover of his nearly separate reality, Leon walked forward. He decided that the east bushes would be the first he checked. He didn't need to leave his cloak but the moment he fired a shot Mortis would be able to spot him for just a moment. He had to predict this correctly or else the element of surprise would be lost.
Imagine his surprise when the moment after he let his fingers release a group of projectiles Mortis came flying out of the center bushes. Leon's eyes shot open like a horrified rabbit. Mortis's bright blue eyes glowed against the crimson aura encroaching on every corner of his skin. And he had a killer's grin when he caught sight of Leon mid-attack.
The dashing assassin had cleared twice his normal distance with his first swing and landed a crushing blow against Leon's arm. His hoodie tore with a bit of yellow fabric flying off into the sky.
Chester screamed, "And Mortis counterattacks with an awesome use of his first and most impressive dash."
Mortis doubled down just as Leon began to release another wave of blades. He dashed forward again and cut clean across his chest with the edge of his massive axe. Leon's head was aching from the soaring pain now flooding his stomach. But even still he knew he needed to continue.
The young boy turned around and landed four clean shots to Mortis's back. A volley lodged itself deep into his marrow and threatened to push out his front. Mortis's response was a lightning-quick 180 turn. A third massive swing slashed down the center of Leon's chest. Leon couldn't feel his toes now, but he had an opportunity. Mortis was directly in front of him. This is where he does the most damage.
Leon prepared to deal as much damage as possible. He'd even opted for his Invis-heal Starr Power so that he could survive that one extra hit once he got his super. Maybe even fully recover the damage.
Before he could turn around and attack Mortis once more he felt his body get light. In one final swing, he cleaved clean through Leon's torso. The massive axe was covered with yellow cloth. And Leon had a brief moment where he could see his legs drifting away from his body.
A poof of smoke exploded from the separated halves followed by the ringing of a bell. Mortis brandished his weapon and rested it on his shoulders. Even with his blank blue eyes he still managed to look like a smug king. He pointed a thumb to the sky and called, "Your soul is mine!"
I guess looking back on it, "I should have noticed he brought that reload gadget. It could help him close the distance and finish me off in the final fight. But my biggest mistake was thinking I could predict him. I guess I wasn't living in his head, but he was in mine." The reporters murmured a bit and scribbled down my weightless opinion.
It's not that I thought Mortis was predictable. I just didn't think he was unpredictable. Mortis, however, must have viewed this as comedic. He had taken a seat during my questioning. He'd ditched his ridiculous costume for his usual black suit and top hat. Now he sat reclined in his seat with a relaxed smile.
He snickered a bit at my response. "Honestly who could blame the boy. Everyone wishes they could be me." A slew of hands went up to get his attention. He sent a bat out from his sleeve which plopped down on a gloomy-looking boy in the back.
The reporter meekly mumbled, "Umm... sir. How would you score your opponent on a scale of 1 to 10?"
"Oh, goody. Ratings." Mortis didn't bother to hide his judging gaze. He stared a hole through me. "I'd say. He's an 8 in strength. 5 in wits. And his style is a flat 1." Honestly, I'm a bit hurt my style was so low. He tapped his hand against his cheeks, "So a solid 7 out of 10."
How did he land on that number? I guess even his math is ridiculous. The rest of the questioning went as per usual. Questions about what're our plans for the next tournament. Who will we be teaming with in the next Super Showdown? And more boring questions that we were contractually obligated to answer.
Upon the meeting's conclusion, I was able to catch up to Mortis just outside the exit. He was currently playing with the buttons on his bat-shaped smartphone. No doubt checking Emz's Starrgram page.
"Yo Mortis." I tried to keep it casual.
He returned the sentiment with his least eccentric response, "Greetings, Leon."
"I wanted to ask you a question."
"And as the greatest assassin alive, I shall graciously answer it."
"How did you dodge those blades? The ones I threw into the middle."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've thought about it a hundred times. Those first two volleys were not dodgeable. Nobody is fast enough. Not even Max."
"But somehow I avoided them without dashing." Mortis placed his phone against his lips to punctuate his statement.
"Yes exactly. That's exactly what I'm asking. How'd you do it?"
Mortis decided to somber along as he gave a playful response. "Tell me, Leon. Have you ever heard of..." He lifted his coat to reveal a strange purple cog- "Gears."