Punch after punch connected with Akande's head. His opponent was much faster, and much stronger. With every hit, even the mat underneath them would shake. Akande was overwhelmed, and barely able to move his arms. However he kept them up with whatever power he had left to block the barrage of death-bringing punches. The roar of the crowd seemed visible like mist to Akande, his guard on the verge of fading. If his opponent had kept the pressure up, he'd be down for the count. Even with his guard steady Waka's uppercut drove right through. Gloved fist smashed into chin, sending Akande stumbled back.
Out of nowhere, Akande smirked, despite the blood dripping from his arms, despite his weakening stance, and despite the damage to his skull. He smirked in the quick second that he knew his opponent had failed. A single strike had missed, and it was all that it took to uppercut his opponent Waka Fisher and create space between the two. Before Waka could comprehend what had happened, Akande had already zeroed in. Bent over into the style of a rugby player, he charged into Waka and tackled him onto the ground. Only a few powerful punches connected with Waka's skull as the half of the crowd rooting for Akande had burst into cheer. Without delay, Akande had wrapped his legs around Waka's waist and his arms around Waka's throat, locking him in to a sleeper hold. Before Akande could even apply all of his pressure, Waka had already tapped out.
Sweat fell from Akande's body, his heart racing. He struggled to lift his arm, but once he did, he formed a fist with his hand. Both sides of the crowd cheered as he pushed his weakened arm into the air to celebrate victory despite his hardship. It was a fight to remember.
The rain fell onto Akande. Even this feeling of rain brought pain to his sore body. He paced back and forth outside of the MMA arena in a fit, mumbling to himself. Swearing, he throws a few sloppy punches at the air. It wasn't enough. They had paid Akande only 30% of the winnings from his match, when they had agreed with 40. All he could do was keep on walking, back to his small apartment.
He called his pops.
"Dad, can you believe this bullshit? They only gave me-" Akande began to complain.
"Listen, Akande. You have to come to the lab. I've come up with a new cybernetic that'll save lives!" His pops spoke louder than usual on the phone.
"I don't care about that. I just-"
"Whenever you change your mind, give me a call, you're the perfect candidate!" His pops interrupted.
There was silence for a moment. Beeping. His pops had hung up.
On his Akande's way home, he looks down an alley. He was just a few blocks away from his apartment, which he rented at the age of 17. This neighborhood was terrible to live in, however. As he looked down the alleyway, he saw a woman being held at gunpoint, the children screaming as they were kicked away by the criminals goons.
It wasn't any of Akande's business, so he kept walking. But the second he took a step forward, something began to speak within Akande's mind.
"You fool. You're not going to leave that woman to die, are you?"
"Huh? Who's there?!" Akande turned around swift, only to find some old man limping on his cane, too far away to whisper in Akande's ear.
"It doesn't matter who's speaking. You're a failure if you leave that mother out there to die." The voice continued.
"She might have brought this upon herself." Akande spoke to himself in the middle of the street.
"Please, I'll give you anything! What is it you want?" The woman said.
"I want your life. Me and my boys, we're gonna have real fun with those children of yours."
"No!" She yelped.
Before Akande knew it, he had ran into the ally. In the rugby style position from earlier, he attempted to tackle the criminal. He looked up to find that he was much to heavy to tackle, only accomplishing a rough push backwards.
"Who the hell are you?!" The criminal asked.
Before he could finish, he was knocked out flat with a single upward punch. However, his fist was right in the position for one of his goons to shoot it. With the zap of the bullet, he found his right hand useless.
"Run!" He screamed to the children, the mother petrified. One of them darted, the other staying.
"Ma! Ma, this is no time to be scared, ma, we've got to go!" The older brother held his mothers hand
The other goon executed the mother with the press of a trigger. Akande sweeped the older brother up with his left arm, carrying him with his bicep. He ran as fast as he could, away from the scene.
The phone rang later that evening. Akande had a strong cloth wrapped over his right hand, reaching uncomfortably with his left to answer.
"Yeah, pops?" Akande said as he answered.
"I heard what happened on the news. Come to my lab, now. We'll get you your arm back." Pops said before the phone hung up.