"Ain't you forgetting something?"
Amanda looked up in confusion at Randy as he leant against the large studio light that she'd been instructed to fix before the next match because of one of the engineers having called in sick.
"TUCKER!" Randy yelled, the nearby stage manager jumping and turning around to look at the scar-faced wrestler. "Get the lady a multimeter!" He ordered, Tucker getting one and handing it to Amanda before returning to his work.
"Thank you." Amanda replied quietly.
"You don't want to end up like me, do ya? This here was an electrical burn." Randy questioned, tapping his finger on the large burn scar down half of his face which had sealed his left eye halfway shut. He then glanced up at the nuclear reactor at the other side of the room, nuclear having been the main power source of the world since the mid 70s when the empire took control of Russia and acquired the technology. "They say for every year you spend by one of these things, you lose a decade off your life expectancy. If that's true, then I'll probably be dead by the end of the week."
'I wish you would drop dead, then I can finally be free of you!' Amanda thought. "You should speak to Hunter about a promotion." She responded, more or less without emotion, before Randy leant closer to her, enough that his breath could be felt on her neck.
"Maybe you could put a word in. You're close with him… and besides, I did you a favour once." Randy replied, Amanda briefly stopping her work.
"I simply asked what it was like… and I'd hardly call it a favour, you enjoyed yourself." Amanda responded.
"Mhm… several times as I recall…" Randy said, glancing down her body before Amanda shifted herself away from him, causing him to turn frustrated and angry.
"This should be ready now." Amanda said, placing the adjustable spanner and multimeter down and Randy headed over to the nearby wall panel with a few small buttons on it, and slammed his hand against one.
"Control! We're ready to light the stadium like a Christmas tree down here!" Randy said loudly, moments before the light came online with a loud click. "Seems I underestimated your abilities as an engineer, Mandy."
"A Diva doesn't just pose on stage and throw slaps for hits, as you might say." Amanda responded, Randy scowling and stepping threateningly towards her… before both of their heads snapped towards the reactor as a loud crackle came from the many connected cables, and sparks began to fly from the one connected to the light.
"Shut it off now!" Randy shouted, one of the stage managers trying to but the reactor screens came up with red alerts, meaning it was overloading. If it did that, the surrounding 6 miles would be uninhabitable for decades, so quickly Randy shoved Amanda out of the way and grabbed the power cable from the light, yelling in pain as it mildly shocked him but also the almost red glowing heat burnt into his hand as he gripped it, until he managed to yank it out and throw it down to the floor, the core slowly returning to normal levels as Hunter ran in. "She fucked it up, almost blew the whole system apart!"
"I've been helping fix these things since I was 14, jackass! And if you had stopped being so aggressive with the advances, we would've been done hours ago!" Amanda responded after Hunter helped her up.
"Well maybe you should have listened to me for once! Had you done that in the first place, maybe no one would have a problem here!" Randy growled.
"Maybe if you learnt a bit of human decency and respect-" Amanda began to respond, cut off by Randy stepping forward and grabbing her neck in his right hand.
"I treat you as you deserve! Personally, I think you sabotaged this light because you didn't like what I was saying!" Randy said angrily.
"Leave off her, Randy!" Hunter said in a tone of authority, Randy letting her go. "Go lay down for a few minutes, Mandy. Show starts in two hours." He said, Amanda reluctantly nodding and heading out of the reactor room.
She was boiling to hit him back, grab Randy and smash his head against the nearest thing… but she knew that under the Terra Nova Empire law, if the incident reviewer decided to not take her favor she could be executed for it, and she'd tempted that fate before. She was lucky to have gotten off with only three burning pole brandings to her right leg, leaving scars similar to that on Randy's face, ones that would never heal.
To her, they were a reminder of how authoritative and controlling the Empire was to everyone who stood below them. And that involved most of the planet, the only few places free of Terra Nova control were a handful of small nations in the Asian continent. But ever since China fell, even they were in danger of falling with it.
"Hey…" Amanda heard, jumping slightly as she'd been walking with her mind elsewhere. She turned and saw Finn, one of the few who would never hurt or try to control her in this world. "You look pretty shaken… was it him again?"
"Yeah, it was…" Amanda said before pulling her long hair back and revealing bruises, Finn carefully wrapping his arms around her and the two embracing each other.
"One of these days…" Finn muttered in his anger towards Randy. "Then again… there are few people these days who won't want to slip a knife in our backs at some point anyway. He always was a… true imperial."
"Someone else can handle the engineering, I'm going back in that ring full time." Amanda said, having finally had enough…
Amanda jolted awake, shaking violently as Finn held her… and both seeing Yuki walk into the room as she had been out in the hallway of the apartment.
"Nightmare?" Yuki questioned, grabbing a bottle of water and handing it to Amanda after she opened it.
Amanda nodded as she drank the cold water until the bottle was empty, soothing her dry throat… she set it aside once she assured them that she needed a few minutes alone and picked up a small light blue and white book, opening it.
On the first page was an ultrasound picture taped to it with Amanda's handwriting below it.
'Baby Balor, 8 Weeks.'
'No one's gonna hurt you, little one… Mommy, Daddy and everyone who loves you will make sure of it.' Amanda thought, absentmindedly running her fingers through her shoulder length hair for a few seconds.
Not many people close to her and Finn knew yet… and she was nervous about their reactions.