The door of the Type-66 closed with a thump as V walked away. He had undone the top button of his shirt, The muscled man standing in front of the keypad for the door gave him a once over and a sneer as he told V to fuck off. V's voice was rough with tiredness and anger as the relic caused his vision to glitch, again. The threat he forced out as his muscles clenched in response to the pain was enough to scare the glorified door man. When he turned his back, the rush of air of the MaxDoc took the pain away and his limbs felt looser. He was here to fight, and he had plans for it to go as well as the previous ones, meaning he would be the one left standing.
The mountain of muscle did nothing but give him a frown as he stalked forward, undoing the buttons of his jacket, the material more flexible than most would give it at a glance. The name 'Undertaker' floated above him as his orbital mods scanned the man, no doubt he was doing the same. So V was shocked when the man wished him luck when he issued the challenge of looking for a fight. The mountain of muscle hooked a thumb backwards, and V saw her, she lounged in a dark recliner, an impassive face with an indifferent expression, but the brown eyes that locked with his held a fire that caused him to pause for the barest of a second in his steady gate forward.
She was not as large as the Undertaker man that had followed behind him, standing at a respectful distance away as V and the woman sized each other up. Johnny appeared then, his words distracting and infuriating as the lady, Rhino, talked to him, not moving from her reclined position. He tried to study her features, scars littered her shoulders, and the slight bend in her upturned nose told him it had been broken more than once. Her hair was cut short, the longest strands barely touching her shoulders, which were wide and strong. She did not want to fight for money, which V was fine with, though he was surprised she fought only to make a name for herself. Though everyone had different goals, and he wasn't one to judge, it was just his job to fight and beat her, and he would do his job as he had done other jobs before.
Her relaxed posture when she was sitting hid it, but she was a half head taller than him, and now that her muscles were tensing in preparation of a fight they seemed more dangerous than the always bulging ones he had seen on fighters before. The circle wasn't that wide, maybe only 10 feet across, and the size for its depth. V rolled his sleeves up and stretched out as Rhino did the same.
His nod was what changed the atmosphere. She was faster than she should have been, her jabs were fast, and connected with his forearm before he could think of blocking, instinct keeping him on his feet as his feet stumbled for purchase. The next punch came with many more behind it. Cold sweat flooded his body as V scrambled for some semblance of defense against the overwhelming aggression he was faced with. Rhino's eyes burned with a passion and lust for battle, but they were not blinded by it, obvious by the fact her next punch caught him in the ribs and he definitely felt the strong protective bones creak as the heavy hand collided with them.
V's foot connected with something sturdy and strong as he shoved it out in front of him. The sturdiness fought for an agonizing micro second before it gave and the oppressive weight of blows was moved away from him.
His brown eyes locked to the brown eyes across from him, and he watched a bead of sweat trace its way down her angular face and his gaze found the small grin on her face as her knuckles collided with each other as she pumped herself up. V had underestimated her, and his body was already aching from the mistake of it, but he would not fall victim to that mistake again. He watched her movement as they circled the small pit of an arena, her feet were solid, that of a striker, and she had proved that her muscles were not just show. He spit out blood as it pooled in his mouth from a cut on the inside of his cheek from where a left fist had jarred his teeth. He had used kicks to keep distance between them, but she had caught the last one he had sent into her sturdy side. And the blood that flowed from his nose and the stinging in his eyes told him it was definitely broken from her counter. The fatigue was setting in rapidly, they had been going at it for what felt like hours, but in reality it was at most a handful of minutes that had passed. That was the reality of fighting and adrenalin. V had never felt this way in a fight. It was a challenge, one he found he liked.
He took a quick moment to think that when he beat her he would keep her contact info, it would do good to keep his skills sharp, if he lived through the whole Johnny Silverhand thing.
His fist caught the tip of her chin as hers caught him above the eye, both of them sent stumbling backwards from the simultaneous counters, His vision swam and her head shook, causing her short hair to wave around her face. She was distracting in a way that pulled something in his gut. V shook his head one more time and waded through punches so forceful he felt the air rush past him on the ones that he moved his face out of the way of. His right hand connected painfully with the bone under her eye. He saw the smirk and knew it meant trouble, he found himself wrapped in strong arms, and his world spun as his feet left the ground, and his back met the solid concrete wall on the other side of the pit.
He blinked, then blinked again, his face slightly slack as he looked at the full 10 feet that separated them. V was not a small or light person, and this woman had just tossed him away like he weighed nothing. There was that strange pulling sensation in his stomach again, and V did something he never did in a fight. He smiled, and an unbelieving laugh escaped his throat. Her smile was vicious with its passion for a fight. It was, in a way, beautiful. Her passion for the fight, just the act of it seemed to cause her to glow and her muscles ripple in anxiousness. A true lover of the act.
The met in the middle of the pit, V's feet leaving the ground as he threw all his weight into a punch that started far behind him, it met her guard with a noticeable thud as it met flesh, muscle, and bone. His momentum carried him into her guard, his body weight enough to send her stumbling back and V felt like he had scored a point in a way, having finally shaken that solid stance. V used his momentum to carry his body low allowing his leg to reach higher, and he was not surprised when it didn't connect, she had proved to be just as good as defense as she was offense. Her head movement was smooth and quick as he kept using the momentum to chase her around the pit. V was certain both of them were actually having fun, while beating each other to a pulp. It was weird, but there was an old saying V had heard when he was running with the Bakkers, from an Elder of the Clan. "Only when fists meet, can two warriors truly understand each other."
V finally understood the meaning of those words now, with his heart pounding in his chest and the sound of blood rushing in his ears, they moved forward again, blows being traded in a flurry. Lefts, rights, kicks, and she had a forehead made of iron, or it felt that way at least from where it had collided into his own.
He felt it, the exhaustion, hit him when he could not quite clear the blurriness in his vision before another huge fist crashed into his jaw, sending him stumbling to the side, blood filling his mouth again from a fresh cut, he could feel himself falling forward, awareness shot to hell, vision swarmed by black dots. A blow from below caught the bottom of his chin, and he suddenly found himself falling backwards instead of forward.
There were seven bright lights directly above the pit, funny what you realize as you are knocked flat on your ass with your hard ware doing its best to restart after having been beaten into shutting down to save its user from further punishment. He heard two words being repeated in a voice rough from ragged breaths but he could hear the happiness in the trio of "I Won". The strange feeling multiplying at the sweet undertone it carried.
As his vision swam in blackness as his optics rebooted, strong hands picked him up, and he knew it was her as she hauled him out of the pit with one arm holding him close and the other taking them up the ladder.
Plastic was pressed to his mouth after he had been laid on the floor, and he breathed in quickly as the MaxDoc took effect, soothing the aches and pains he had as his system used the boost to start repairing the damage done by the fight. Strong and rough hands gently moved his head as something soft was placed underneath it.
The strange feeling in his stomach moved to his chest and V knew, without a doubt, he would be visiting again, and maybe not just for a rematch.