Light peered through the curtains of a motel room, providing very little light to the woman's surroundings. Allegra had been sitting down on a chair, looking out listlessly at the wall across from her. Her jaw was slack, head relaxed against her backrest.
Allegra put a cigarette to her lips, inhaling the smoke, blowing out toward the ceiling above. "You shouldn't be following her. It's a dead end; it won't benefit you. You'll only get hurt pursuing this... turn around, go back to Louisiana." A voice spoke out amidst the darkness.
Allegra blew out another plume of smoke. "I don't think I will."
"And? What does not listening to me get you? You've been hurt so many times, I worry."
"I just want to end this. I need this to stop. This isn't about me."
"This is all about you, no? You don't have to avenge us..."
"That's one part of a whole. I want to end the hurt, end all of the pain that they cause. And she's my lead... she'll help me."
"And what if she doesn't? It isn't worth it, Allegra."
Her attention focused on the voice, eyes half-lidded. As her vision narrowed, the form of the figure speaking to her revealed itself. Their body was halfway melded into the wall, arms pulled back, exposing a blown-open ribcage, the flesh inside fused in a matrix of membranous strings barely holding itself together. Beneath the lungs, a mouth revealed itself, pulled into a frown. Wherever a neck would be, a multi-jointed set of arms is in its place.
"This is stalking, y'know? This isn't normal. Sleep it off, go back to Louisiana, and--"
"I don't want to leave."
"This isn't about you."
"It isn't."
"Then why push for this?"
"Closure... a peaceful rest. A day when I'm not haunted by the nightmares of what happened to you all."
"That's selfishness. You need to move on."
"And what about the others? What about other people affected by those behind this, like Carmen?"
"They aren't behind that. It's... a delusion, like me."
"It's not... Both Alora and my family were involved with these people. Something happened... I don't know what, but something happened that led to their deaths. With this... by shutting this down... the people who caused these incidents, those who had slain so many innocents... It all gets to stop."
"Was it your time in the Navy? As a corpsman? Is that why you're doing this? That... self-righteousness? I told you not to go. You should've just stayed inside... aimed to be a doctor."
"I would have been self-righteous regardless. Nobody who becomes a doctor isn't... not that I became one myself."
A beat.
"Hello?" Allegra looked out into the darkness once more, but saw nothing there. "Oh... the medication kicked in."
Followed by silence, interrupted by the occasional car passing by on the nearby road or the revving of an engine.
***
"Lookin' hot, Carmen! You ready to beat ass!?" An older man clapped loudly and sat outside the octagon. He rubbed his hands together, licking his lips, turning towards Carmen, propped up against the fence. "How are you feeling today? Gonna one-shot this guy as well?"
Carmen tied her hair up into braids, lips pursed, eyes half-lidded. She glanced at the man, a dead look in her gaze.
"Play around with them a bit today, okay? We got some whales comin' in today, and the longer and more entertaining the fight is, the more cash comes in, alright? Cuchita?"
"Don't call me that, Pedro."
The gate for the octagon opened up, letting the two fighters inside. Carmen adjusted the gloves, which were tightly fastened around her fingers. She chewed on the mouthguard, fists clenched. Her body looked like fat more than muscle, but underneath all of that skin were taut, winding bundles of flesh, more dense than iron. Aside from her face, even the rest of her body had spare spots of freckles littering the rest of her body.
Carmen huffed out a sigh, stretching out her body, as her fighter from afar, a 6'5" man with an equal amount of fat to muscle ratio, stands across from her, a befuddled expression painted across his face. "Uh..." A muffled voice from the mouthguard as he turned over toward his coach. "Yo, I've heard about her, but... are you serious? She's a fuckin' midget."
"Don't underestimate her, okay! Even though she's small, she's built like a brick shithouse!"
"If anyone is a brick shithouse, it's me, boss." He laughed, turning back toward his opponent as a referee jumped into the ring.
The referee shouted. "Alright, let's all keep this nice and fair," the man motioned for the two fighters to approach, his hands waving in a significant, arching motion before he took a step back. "No cheap shots, keep it all above board, you two. Don't kill each other. Hands."
Both fighters lift their fists, the referee grabbing their wrists and bringing the knuckles of their gloves together. They go into a stance, the referee squaring themselves.
"Ready...? Fight!"
Both fighters jumped away from one another, Carmen's gaze locked ot the floor, not even looking at her own opponent, who noticed immediately. "Pay attention." The man growled, lunging forward to gauge distance, jabbing at Carmen's guard, who remained unflinching, simply shifting her arm out of the way.
Once again, another jab, gauging the distance between the two. Carmen's small size posed a difficulty for the significantly larger man. One would typically think that the larger fighter has an advantage in a fight, but in reality, it's more balanced. Sure, there is a greater advantage to being a higher weight class or even significantly taller than your opponent. Still, when targeting a smaller opponent, one would typically go to grab one's opponent. For a striker, things get much more complicated.
Carmen's opponent was a striker, which was her forte. More important context revolving around Carmen herself didn't help either. Small, but most definitely stronger than her opponent physically.
Eventually, her opponent aimed for leg kicks. Once again, Carmen easily defended herself, blocking with her thigh before taking a step back, both of them hopping around the arena in a cautious dance.
Finally, after Carmen's opponent sent out another jab, she let him hit her shoulder, rolling it and jumping to the side, hitting him with a cross, sending him off-balance, almost staggering into the octagon's fence. Pushing herself off from her strike, she distanced herself from the man, eyes now focused on him.
It took one hit-- the man flexed his fingers. F-fuck... my arm feels numb. How is it even possible to hit like that? He sighed, a welt quickly forming across where his bicep and forearm connect.
Instinctually, the man's body lurched back. Carmen, like a blur, fired forward, left foot out, right foot in, her fist missing its mark, aiming for his abdomen. As a split-second decision, both of Carmen's arms were raised, her right leg being thrown out in a wide, swinging motion, slamming straight into her opponent's inner thigh.
The man spun, falling straight to the ground, immediately trying to get back up before being quickly interrupted by Carmen's relentless pursuit, both of her arms wrapping around his legs. He felt himself being lifted from the ground, slammed straight down onto the octagon's mat, the sound of a massive slap echoing across the entire room.
Shit! Carmen's opponent brought his knees in, kicking her off of him. It took minimal effort, and it seemed as if she wasn't aiming to keep him on the ground for long, straightening herself and keeping distance as he lingered on the octagon's floor.
He stood up after a moment had passed, wincing as he put pressure on his front leg. What the fuck? How can a girl like this hit thathard? The man lifted his gaze, witnessing Carmen as she hopped in place. She easily made it a few feet into the air, jumping off from the mat below, which shook the octagon's cage.
One, two, three, four hops, at the fifth, the instant the balls of her feet touched the ground, she disappeared, and everything went dark.
"Once again, an overwhelming victory to Cuchita!"
Carmen walked out of the arena, Pedro throwing a towel over her shoulders, though not a single sweat bead had formed across her brow the entire fight, not even a slight bit of perspiration coming from her body.
Pedro sighed. "Well... uh... good enough, I guess." He laughed. "Anyways, let's get you over to the lockers so you can get your clothes situated, alright?"
"It's whatever."
"Alright, I'll be waiting."
Carmen entered the lockers, crossing over to the bag that she had left on one of the benches inside. She zipped open the bag, scrounging through the inside, sifting through various types of spare clothing.
Carmen, not fully turning, shifted her body in the direction of a shape she sensed before entering the room, sitting down on one of the wooden benches set out in front of the lockers. Carmen twisted her lips together, her pinched gaze now fully turning towards the object of interest, legs crossed as they watched, her head resting on one of their hands.
Carmen sighed through her nose. "Who are you?"
"Allegra, Allegra Caccia." She tilted her head to the side, her sapphire gaze cautiously observing the girl in front of her. "You are Carmen 'Alora' Garra, no?"
"I don't like your emphasis. What do you want? You a scout or something?"
"Scout... a bit apt here, I suppose. What should I call you?"
Carmen quietly observed Allegra for a moment. "I don't know you well enough, call me Alora."
"Your sister's name? Are you sure?"
Carmen flinched at the words. "Hey... what the hell is your deal, huh? Why do you know that shit?"
"'Cause I've been looking for you."
"For what?"
"For help. I need your help. And I think you'd be very interested in what I need help with. I can't do this alone."
"Do what alone?" Carmen scoffed. "What the hell are you talkin' about, chica? What is this, some fuckin' movie?"
"No..." Allegra shook her head. "It's much worse than that. You're related to what happened, so I came here looking for your help. So far, you're the only other person I could find that is like me..."
"Like what? Like you? In what way?"
"A survivor."
Carmen snickered. "Survivor? Okay, if you're gonna go spouting off bullshit, do it somewhere else, alright? Fuckin 'survivor', what the hell am I a survivor of, huh? I ain't a survivor, I'm a hunter."
"No... You survived. You somehow weren't dragged into your sister's misery, just as I had managed to survive being dragged into hell as well."
"If my sister is anywhere, it ain't hell."
Allegra sat in silence for a moment. "I would say dying is hell." Allegra pulled her bangs back, revealing a scar on the right side of her forehead. "I'd know."
"What the hell is that?"
"Bullet wound. I was shot in the head when I was six years old. Survived by a miracle, it was my mentor Abel who had saved me."
Carmen couldn't believe what she was hearing, her eyebrows taut as her nose twisted in frustration. "Quite the eventful life you've lived. How is that my business?"
"You've lived quite the eventful life as well. A life where your sister got involved with the same issue my family got involved in. They played with the same fire and got burnt, along with everyone else around them."
This time, no response from Carmen, her glare growing stronger by the second.
"Sometimes... it makes you almost want to cry... but I've already shed all of my tears. That well had dried up years ago." Allegra licked her lips. "And now I'm here... and I need you... please."
"You're gonna need to be a bit more specific, chica..." Carmen growled, muscles visibly bulging from under her skin from a bubbling rage.
"I want to avenge my family, and all of those who have been dragged into this... this trail of bodies. I want to avenge your sister... I want to avenge all of those who fell prey to these people, the people truly behind the hell that we're in now."
"Hell?" Carmen paused. "Nah, I'm good. Hell?" She scoffed. "I'm pretty content."
"Doing illegal underground matches, forced to move state to state as a nomad? You're content with that?"
"Yeah, what about you? You couldn't find something to be happy about, so you decided to drag someone else along? I've had my closure, I've shed my tears. I've seen reality. I'm good. I don't get what you're trying to drag me into, but I don't give a shit about it, okay?"
"Even if what happened to you...? What happened to us happened to someone else again? Continues happening to hundreds of other people across the United States?"
"Where the hell are you gettin' all of this information from?"
"I've looked pretty deep into it. Dealers, murderers-- a bunch of criminal lowlives are involved in this, like some underground organizational effort to perpetuate their sick desires. I don't know what sort of... thing it is... but there are too many bodies involved in the same things my family were involved in-- what your sister was involved in."
"And what's that?"
"I don't know... that's the problem. But it's always the same pattern. They get involved with an anonymous outreach program, and their life either seems to fall apart or their lives improve drastically until finally, everything related to those people is murdered in cold blood, leading to someone either having their charges dropped suddenly, or, in my case, nothing. No evidence, nothing for cops to get a lead on." Allegra sighed, straightening her posture, both feet now firmly planted on the floor. "And you were different. The main guy involved, you managed to do something about it without getting targeted, without getting yourself, or your Uncle killed in the process."
Oh my God..." Carmen facepalmed, now pacing across the room.
"And now Daniel is dead, and no one has even bothered to put you down, regardless of how massive a liability you are. They don't care if you're a child or not after all... my younger sister and I are evidence of that."
"What?"
"Trade one life for another. Whose life do you think had to have been lost for me to survive that scenario somehow miraculously? These people don't care about who they kill, my baby sister is evidence of that, so why are you still here?"
"Why are you so confident that Alora-- no, Daniel even had anything to do with all of this, huh? What evidence do you have?"
"I don't have enough... which is why I need your help. I can't do this alone."
"Maybe the bullet scrambled your brain, but I'm not gonna fuckin' follow you and do this bullshit-- especially when I barely know you based on some shit that could very well be some sort of delusion, okay!?" Carmen scoffed, "Fuck, what-- what is this bullshit? I've made my peace! I don't need you bringin' back bad, bad... old memories, okay?"
Carmen is about to take her leave, but Allegra stands in the way. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that. When I say that I need you, that isn't me being scared or being unreasonable; no... I need you, Carmen."
"What did I say about my name?" A rumbling growl escaped Carmen's throat. "Step the fuck... aside..."
"I'm sorry, I'm not doing that. I'm heading to California to expose this conspiracy once and for all, and I need your help! I reiterate... I genuinely do need you, Carmen."
"Wh-" Carmen reeled her fist back to hit Allegra but stopped, suddenly staggering, lightheaded.
"I don't want bad blood between us, but I'm not someone to sit idly by as innocent lives are destroyed when I know I could do something about it. I'm not delusional, and I may have some mental scars, but it doesn't stop me from functioning. If my word isn't enough, I'm willing to even send you all of my credentials at the very least."
"What the fuck did you do to me?"
"Oh... you probably can't see it, but if I say it, you'd know what it is, no?"
"What are you talkin' about?"
"At first, I thought you were like me in this aspect as well, given your unnatural gifts after all, but you're something else. I don't know what it is, but at the very least, you should be able to sense it, no? My Boon? From what I've tested, though... I should be able to show it off as well..."
"Boon...?" Carmen thought for a moment, searching through her own mind for the term, and then it finally clicked. A rare assortment of people who carry the abilities of the supernatural. It isn't common knowledge among the average person, but for those more knowledgeable, it was a topic frequently discussed online, particularly among individuals with supernatural abilities. It wasn't as if there wasn't video proof at times, but to meet one face-to-face was an entirely different matter. "A Boon...?"
"Dirty Air."
From behind Carmen, a hand reached out, the hand of an astronaut. "What?"
"Apparently, you can show it off to people who are targets of a Boon's effect, but you can't naturally see it, which is shocking to me. Like I said, you're unnaturally strong, something that shouldn't be humanly possible, something that can only be chalked up to the supernatural, yet... you're normal. You can't see what I see.
The Boon revealed itself in full, a looming astronaut with stylistic markings on its body, colored red in the shape of hearts. Within the visor, a head floats, a skull.
"Dirty Air... that's my Boon's name."
"I see..." Allegra could feel the air shift, the upper half of her body firing back into the wall behind her, narrowly avoiding Carmen's fist, which clipped a part of her chin. "Sorry if I still find it hard to believe you. But I ain't fuckin' doing this, chica!"
"Carmen, please don't--"
"Stop calling me that, I ain't friendly with you, you tall ass bitch!"
Allegra put a palm to her bleeding chin, her sunken eyes half-lidded, looking down at the girl before her. "If I fight you and win... will you please... help? Will you help me get closure for my family... please?"
Carmen hesitated for a moment before smirking. "You know what, I actually kinda like that deal. Always wondered what it'd be like fighting against one of you freaks." She laughed, taking a stance.
Allegra's eyes widened, her head shooting to the side as Carmen's fist barely grazed past her cheek, partially degloving it. Dirty Air, Allegra's Boon managed to react in time, redirecting the blow ever so slightly to mitigate the damage even more before blocking two other attacks coming straight from the smaller woman, each hit sounding like a gunshot.
Allegra stepped to the side, stumbling to a more open area in the locker room. "Dirty Air!" Suddenly, the air became constrictive, and Carmen struggled to breathe. Her eyes widened, quickly feeling lightheaded as it felt like the very air she was breathing was stolen straight from her lungs. Allegra sighed, straightening herself against the lockers behind her. "My ability is a bit unfair like that. Oxygen is a hell of a thing."
Allegra created distance between her and Carmen, Dirty Air standing in the way. Carmen lunged forward with a kick, prompting the Boon to jump to the side, the kick narrowly missing the spirit before stomping straight into the ground, using the momentum as she fired a cross straight into Allegra's side, sending her spiraling into one of the benches with a gasp.
Dirty Air stepped in between the two, fist reeled back. The Boon slammed into Carmen, a small bubble forming around her stomach, sending her flying back into the wall behind her. Air returned to the room without her realizing, but the impact still knocked the wind out of her. Carmen couldn't help but laugh, cause it was the first time in years she had been knocked around like this. It was the first time in years that an opponent had legitimately hurt her.
Carmen continued to laugh, pushing herself off the floor. "This shit is crazy... I've never been pushed like this, not in a long time at least."
Allegra blinked away the pain, going through her coat to grab a small medkit from within, along with a cold patch. Dirty Air stood in the way, obscuring Carmen's view as Allegra lifted her shirt, slapping the patch onto her side, along with a small bandaid for the two small gashes that remained on her face, wiping away the blood in the process.
Carmen jumped off from the wall, landing right in front of Dirty Air. "For some reason, my fists can hit you!"
Two swings, both miss, but suddenly her leg flew into the air, slamming Dirty Air straight into its visor, sending it spiraling into the lockers beside it. Allegra did the same, now heavily injured by the blow that was just dealt to her. Allegra's head cracked open, blood dripping down her face, the smell of iron permeating her nostrils, a ringing now persisting within her ears.
"Oh? So... if I hurt the big sci-fi Astronaut man, I can hurt you as well? Interesting." Before Carmen could say anything else, the air was once again siphoned from her body, causing her to stagger, but this time, she was more readily prepared. Carmen held her breath, her entire body clenching as hard as it could. It didn't matter, though, cause Dirty Air was reeling back for another hit.
Dirty Air's fist connected with Carmen's jaw, an air bubble forming once they made contact, exploding out and sending the girl straight into the wall beside her, just as she did to Allegra earlier. Allegra was significantly injured, but through a narrow upset, she had managed to win. Carmen was now lying unconscious on the ground before her.
Allegra pushed herself up from the bench, letting out a sharp inhalation of breath, clutching her head in pain. She blinked again, seeing double. After a moment, her eyes finally focused, seeing the girl, Carmen, now splayed out on the ground.