Rise to the Top
Chapter One: Meeting the Crew
"Ok Brutus, I think everything should be stable," the Liandri doctor said to Brutus as he looked over a piece of paper, "you may have to try and take it easy for a little bit, try not to overwork yourself in the Tournaments, or else you may be back here again."
Brutus was, naturally, going to just ignore the doctor's orders. He felt fine, and that was good enough for him. He stepped down off the table that he was sitting on and exited from the medical examination room. The doors slid open with a hiss, and exposed a long hallway. It was very plain looking, just normal doors were placed down the hallway, with different hallways branching off. At the end was a large elevator with a panel. That's where all fun started, was right at that elevator.
Brutus walked down the plain hallway and stepped into his room. It wasn't so much as a room, as it was an actual prison cell. Brutus had been sentenced to the games as punishment, for he was a career criminal. He didn't mind it too much, but then Liandri Corporation, the main company behind the Tournaments, decided he would be the perfect person for several awaited tests. He was naturally well built, fairly large, and the scientists figured he'd be able to handle it. They enhanced Brutus, making him almost twice a human. He traditionally wears large metal armour for when he's fighting, something a normal sized man could wear and still move in. Even outside his armor, Brutus was able to crush a man with his bare-hands.
He turned the knob into his door and swung it open. He stepped in and revealed a fairly well furnished room. It had a couch with a TV attached to the corner across from it. A bed was in the separate room, with a bathroom attached to that. There was no decorations, and if there were at the beginning, Brutus ripped them all down. He was, of course, angered that he had been caught and thrown into the prison, but after his first few days here, after his qualification matches, his help with Gorge in receiving the Tournament Championship and holding it for a year, and then soon after becoming the leader of his own team, Brutus came to learn that it wasn't so bad.
He stepped into the main room, where the couch and TV were set, to see a woman sitting on the couch. It was a fellow team-mate under Brutus' command, appereantly coming to see how the check-up went with Brutus. If the leader wasn't able to fight properly in the Tournaments, someone else would have to take the lead, something any one of the Goliath team-mates were willing to do.
"Whatever it is that doc puts into me each time, it sure numbs my arm," Brutus said, rotating his right shoulder slowly,
"What'd the doc say? Still able to compete?" Titania, the woman on the couch, said to him. Out of all the team members, she was most-likely the most deserving of being appointed leader if an incident were to occur.
"Yeah, he said I gotta take it easy, though. Then again, I never gave his orders much attention, so even if he told me to sit out, they'd have to bring down the guards and hold me in the room to keep me from the Tournaments," Brutus said as he sat down on the couch near Titania. She seemed to have a slight disappointed look in her face, but carried on anyway,
"At least we can still keep our leader. We need to show Gorge that he isn't the only Juggernaut around here." Titania, unlike most of the Goliath team, wasn't placed in the Tournaments under punishment. After losing her husband in a mining accident, and having nothing else to live for, she decided to join into the Tournaments. She was also looked at for being gene-spliced, and was decided that she could handle it. Being a woman, it was significantly different than injecting their gene-booster into her. Brutus looked at the TV that was always playing matches or old matches of the Tournament. Usually in the day, they were to play new matches, since there was generally a new one each day. Mostly in the morning they played qualification matches between new competitors, in the afternoon it was mixed up, sometimes Ladder matches, or still qualifications. But once it hit around evening, that's when all the serious competition starts.
Brutus and the Goliaths have a match to play later this afternoon, it wasn't much, just a small ladder match for them in order to advance through the ranks. They had been competing for about a month, and have managed to climb their way up quite a bit. Only a few smaller matches, then all the difficult ones really started to take place. This year, there was no Champion, though all the old champions from past were there to reclaim. Malcolm had recently recovered from injuries, and he and his team Thunder Crash were quickly rising to the top with little difficulties. Then, the infamous Xan Kriegor was back again, after taking a break away from the Tournaments after being overthrown due to Malcolm. His cybernetic team of The Corrupt were there to make sure that Malcolm wasn't able to regain his title once more. Gorge and his team of Juggernauts were back, as well. Gorge had gained the Championship title, and even held it for a year. He came back to prove that it was no fluke.
Brutus helped gain Gorge his title, but he was then offered his own team, after the Liandri had seen his success, they decided to make a separate team, thinking it would help even more with their publicity.
Brutus grunted at the TV, he never really liked the qualification matches,
"They're just a bunch of jumping idiots when they first come in," he said as he sat back in the couch. Titania couldn't help but agree, they were all nervous their first round, with perfect reason to be. Even though when they died in the game, they didn't actually die, though they did receive the pain and sometimes even a scar, or a serious injury. Titania stood up from the couch
"I guess I'd better prepare for the match, it's only in a few hours. I'll see you then." She walked out of the door into the hallway, and Brutus nodded to her. He continued to watch the match, despite the fact he didn't like it. Watching a match always got him in the mood for wanting to go out there and fight. He rested back in the couch and let the time slip by, until he had to get ready.
Brutus walked from the couch in the separate room, the small bedroom. His suit was piled up on the wall opposite from the bed, with a small dresser at the end post of the bed. Brutus suited up, he looked even bigger and even more intimidating than usual in his armor, it made him appear twice as big. He walked through his room and out into the hallway, a loud metal clang with each step. He stood at the elevator and turned around, his back facing it. He waited for the rest of his team to arrive, and sure enough, they were all coming out from their rooms. The first to approach him was Titania, she stood to his right, her back to the Elevator just like Brutus. The next was Fury. She strangled a judge out of pure rage, and was sentenced to a life in the Tournaments due to that. She faced just like the other two.
The third after Fury was Bullseye. He wasn't sentenced in here, just like Titania, but rather ended up in the games due to his genetic makeup, and he didn't really want to be there.
After him, was Clangor. Clangor is a beast of a woman, but her looks should never be mentioned. No one really knows what happened, but everyone just as well assumed it was during the genetic boosts that caused her to be the way she is now.
The last to file in, was Misery. She used to be the Union Leader of a mining company, where the Tournament originally started, but after being bribed and finding it insulting from an Imperial officer, she cut off his hands, and used his prints to hack into the system.
None of them said anything, but they all turned once Misery joined them, and walked to the elevator. Brutus pressed a button a console in front of them, and a small speaker-box next to the group switched on, "You're opposing team, The Hellions, are ready. Please proceed to the main area." And the speaker switched off. Brutus pushed another button, and the elevator began. The crowd in the arena wasn't very large, it was, after all, just a small battle. But die-hard fans of the games always showed up, especially to support their teams. A few waving banners and flags with the Goliath's team insignia flowed around the stadium, along with the Hellion's mark, as well. Brutus and his team proceed up the ramp into the center, as the announcer boomed in over the speaker system around the stadium. The Hellions, on the opposite end, entered up the ramp and met Brutus' team at the center. Brutus raised his arm in the air and brought it down with a crushing force. The hovering screen above both teams began to flash several different arenas, then slowed to a stop. The announcer boomed back over the speakers,
"Today's arena for our Team Deathmatch is… Deck 17!"
CONTINUED…
That's all for Chapter One. I just wanted to have the members of Goliath introduced, and see if this story gets any attention. I'll have the Team Deathmatch next chapter. Thanks for reading!