Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys or any of the book characters.

Thank you: Wendylouwho10 who read over the story for me and made content suggestions, helped with the flow, and provided some spelling/grammar corrections. Typos are mine and I discover them all the time. :-)

Rating/Setting: Rating is T. Setting is blue spine-ish and AU. Timeline: Taken; Recovery; Retribution; Wild Pitch; and now this story. While you don't NEED to read the previous stories, things will be referenced and perhaps even some from my younger Hardys stories.

Author's Note: Decided to post a little early. :-) I'm enjoying Easter break!


Chapter Thirteen

The following morning, Joe and Vanessa had breakfast in the cafeteria as she hadn't had a chance to get any groceries yet. They had some whispered conversation and Vanessa made a point not to look at anyone else while Joe glared at most of them. Her job for the day was to get groceries, a few supplies, and most importantly, leave a message at the coffee shop about the plan to get the information. Joe was to meet Carstairs and begin his evaluation for Tuesday night's fights. As planned, he went to kiss her on the lips in the cafeteria, but she purposefully turned her head so that he got her cheek. They hoped to give the impression that things weren't well between them.

Joe was still staring at the door where she had exited when Teresa's boyfriend, Bobby, sat down across from him. "Hi, my name's Bobby."

"Jake."

"Yeah, I figured you had to be the new guy, Jake, who caused a stir last night."

Joe picked up his coffee cup and took a drink. "The guy was butting in where he wasn't wanted."

Bobby leaned back in the chair making it creak. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Winder is always acting superior to the rest of us."

"Is he?" Joe asked sitting the cup back down.

"What?"

"Is he superior?" Joe asked staring at him.

"Well, in the ring he is-"

"Then that's all that matters until one of us knocks him off that pedestal, right?" Joe said standing up.

"I guess," Bobby replied and stood as well. "Do you mean to be that guy?"

Joe shrugged. "Don't know when I'll get the chance, but when I do, I plan to do my best." Joe looked at his watch. "Are you heading over to practice? Val took the car so I need to grab a ride."

"Sure. Sure thing, Jake."

Joe picked up his gym bag followed Bobby out to a vehicle that wasn't a lot newer than the one he shared with Vanessa, but the paint job was in a lot better shape. "You're car's pretty nice."

Bobby smiled as he pressed the key remote to unlock the car. "Yeah. I was able to buy it after working for Zendel's for about six months."

Looking at him with some surprise, he said, "The money's really that good?" He tossed the bag in the backseat as he sat in the front.

Bobby slid into the driver's seat and said. "Yeah. I mean, you know about getting more for winning. I won a lot that first year."

"How about now?"

"I still do well, but with guys like Winder coming in, they get a bigger cut for being the main event."

Joe turned his attention to the view through the windshield. He could feel Bobby's eyes on him.

"Hey, is that a scar on your head?" Bobby asked as he split his attention between the road and Joe. "Did you have brain surgery or something?"

Joe looked out the passenger window as he replied, "I guess you could say it was something else because it wasn't brain surgery." He turned a cold gaze to Bobby. "Got mixed up with some rough people and got shot."

"You're kidding right?" Bobby gave a fake laugh.

"No. Got some other scars that you'll see when we get to the gym." Joe kept his tone even. He never thought to be discussing his scars with strangers.

"More gunshot wounds?" Bobby asked incredulously.

"No, they're knife wounds." With that he left the conversation drop and so did Bobby. The rest of the trip was spent in silence and that was fine with Joe.

Arriving at the gym, Joe grabbed his bag from the back. "So where do we go? Mr. Carstairs only told me it was in the basement."

"Yeah, we park here in the back and use the employee entrance. There's a door to the basement just inside," Bobby said as he grabbed his own bag and then hit the lock on the remote. The awkwardness of earlier seemed to have left him as he started talking about the facility. "It's a really nice set-up."

"I didn't bring anything for lunch. Is there somewhere to eat?" Joe asked as they entered the building.

"There's a kitchen they keep stocked with bread and sandwich fixin's. If you want anything else, you bring it or you go out," Bobby said as he opened a door that wasn't labeled. It had a security panel beside it and a deadbolt to boot.

Bobby was almost halfway down the stairs when Joe started down. There wasn't anything to indicate what was at the bottom of the stairs other than Bobby's descriptions of the equipment that he should see when he exited. Joe noted that there was another deadbolt and security panel on the door exiting the stairwell. The scratched paint around the panel showed that it had been recently installed. Henry had definitely spooked them when he was caught.

As Bobby opened the door, Joe caught the smell that was familiar to anyone who worked out – sweat. Bobby took a right indicating that the locker room was in that direction. Joe's glance swept across the open area. There was a fully set up ring just to the left as you exited the stairwell and neatly stacked folding chairs lined the wall ready to be set up when needed. Further to the left, Joe caught a glimpse of some mats, punching bags, and the familiar trappings of weightlifting.

"Locker room's this way," Bobby called back to him as he paused at the entrance to the corridor.

Joe entered the hallway taking in the layout. Men's and women's restrooms were immediately on the left, which made sense as they wouldn't want people wandering down the hallway too far. The next door was labeled as a janitor's supply closet. A few steps down and Joe passed an open door that was labeled as "office." He glanced inside and saw Carstairs sitting at a desk. The computer on it was stationary and not a laptop. He stopped in the doorway. "What should I do?" Joe asked as he gave a cursory look over the room.

"Go change and then go warm up. Do you have everything you need?" Carstairs said as he stood from the desk.

"I just have a pair of fighting shorts," Joe replied honestly.

Carstairs waved him in and pointed to a shelving unit at the back of the room. "Get what you need, including a couple pairs of shorts."

"Really? Thanks," Joe said as he stepped into the room. Turning to Bobby who had come back to the door, he said, "I'll be along in a minute. I guess the locker room must be down this hall."

"Next door," Bobby replied with a nod and turned away.

Joe checked the room out a little more as he walked in. There were three desks. Two of them had desktop stations while the third had the security cameras for the facilities on a display and a laptop docking station. Between the two desks with stationary terminals was a door. It was the only other door in the room so it had to contain the server that they wanted to get access to. Thankfully, it didn't have a security panel but it did have two deadbolts. Reaching the back of the room, Joe looked through the shorts and picked out one pair of black shorts and one of a royal blue. He then moved over to the items that he'd need: mouthguard, groin protection, and gloves. He put the items in his bag and then headed for the locker room. He glanced at Carstairs' monitor on his way by and saw a spreadsheet with lots and lots of numbers.

When he got in the locker room, Bobby was already dressed and was putting his bag in a locker.

"You're last name's Petrov, right?"

"Yeah," Joe said as he sat his bag on a bench and started pulling off his t-shirt.

"Your locker is right 'side of mine. They assign them to us in case you want to leave something here. Nobody messes with anybody's stuff so it's safe."

Joe smiled at that thought as he tossed the shirt on the bench. Like a small lock would be able to keep him out of anybody's locker anyway. He had just unzipped his shorts when he saw Bobby staring at him. "Hey! You mind?" Joe said gruffly to him.

Bobby turned a brilliant shade of red as he quickly turned. "I wasn't staring at you. I mean- Are those the knife scars you were talking about?"

Really, the guy has no boundaries, Joe thought as he went about putting on the undershorts and his protection and then the shorts over top. He still hadn't answered Bobby. Putting his things in his bag, he finally responded, "You mean these?" Joe pointed to the two scars on his right side.

"Yeah," Bobby nodded when he turned around.

"Well, I certainly didn't have two cases of appendicitis," Joe said as he moved to put his bag in the locker. "Yeah, they're the ones." Slamming the locker door, Joe turned without another word and left the locker room. He could hear Bobby behind him. Vanessa had said that Bobby's girlfriend was a chatterbox and it looked like Bobby was the same. Between the two of them, they would spread the word about anything and everything involving Jake, Valerie, and David.

Joe walked over to a bench and dropped his gloves on it. Looking at the equipment, he grabbed a jump rope to get his blood flowing and loosen up. He watched surreptitiously as Bobby went over to one of the other fighters and started talking. In a moment the other guy's head turned in Joe's direction. Geez, Joe thought. The guy can't wait to spread the word. After the jump rope, Joe did some stretching exercises. It was during those that Joe saw a man exit the stairs and head down the hall. In a few minutes, Carstairs came into the room and headed for Joe. Obviously, the two had traded places. Joe wondered if Carstairs would have locked the door and come out if the other man hadn't come. Standing up straight, Joe waited for him to come over.

On his way over, Carstairs beckoned and called to one of the other fighters. In a moment, both were in front of him.

"Marcus, I'd you to meet our new fighter, Jake Petrov," Carstairs said by way of introduction.

The two teens nodded to each other.

"I'd like you to spar with Jake a little. I need to gauge who to pair him with tomorrow night." Marcus nodded and Carstairs continued. "Standard gear plus headgear. I want to be sure that both of you are able to fight tomorrow night."

Joe grabbed his gloves and followed Marcus over to where the headgear was located. Finding one that fit, he pulled it over and tied the laces. Joe popped his mouthguard in as he mounted the steps. Carstairs himself closed the door behind him. Through the lattice work of the fencing, Joe could see that the handful of fighters who were in the gym at the moment had stopped what they were doing to watch him and Marcus. Sizing up the competition. He couldn't blame them.

His mind was drawn back to the ring as Carstairs said, "Fight until I tell you to stop. Don't hold back."

Joe was content to let Marcus make the first move which was a solid kick to the side of Joe's thigh. Marcus definitely wasn't holding back. They went back and forth for a couple of minutes with neither of them doing anything noteworthy. Joe was getting impatient and made a move to close in and grapple. All of Marcus' kicking was starting to irritate him and make him sore. Joe was able to get some jabs in to Marcus' body before the other teen was able to push him off. It seemed that Marcus wanted to try something different and threw a couple of punches himself but soon realized that Joe's reach was longer and so he moved in to grapple again. But Joe was ready and grabbed Marcus' arm and spun him around so that he had Marcus' back. Quickly shifting his arms so that he was grabbing Marcus' shoulder from below, Joe jumped and put his feet on the backs of Marcus' knees. With the pressure on the back of his calves and Joe's weight pulling him, Marcus fell over backwards. Joe immediately wrapped his legs around him and shifted his grip to a rear naked choke. Marcus struggled for less than a minute and then tapped as Carstairs said, "Stop!" Joe released Marcus and stood up.

Carstairs was clapping and grinning. "That was great. I think between what I saw yesterday and what I saw today, I have enough information." He motioned to the gym. "Work out as much as you want today and just lightly tomorrow. I think the betters are going to love you, Jake."

Joe gave him a nod as he went down the steps leaving a still gasping Marcus in the ring.

Bobby was nearby and clapped him on the back. "Man, that was awesome!"

"What else did you expect?" Joe asked with a cocky smile.

"Well, you never know," Bobby said as he looked past Joe to the stairwell. "I think you made an impression on the Main Event as well."

"Who?" Joe asked as he turned. Then he understood. Frank was standing at the entrance to the stairwell with another fighter that he'd seen him with the previous night. "Oh, well," Joe said as he turned his back on his brother, "I don't expect him to be the Main Event much longer."

"Well, he is tougher than Marcus. You should watch him tomorrow night so you can see what you're up against," Bobby said as he headed to the weight bench.

Joe said, "Yeah, that would be good." He turned to look back at the stairs but his brother had already headed down the hall to the locker room. He let out a deep breath as he watched Marcus head in that direction. Probably going to give his friend a report on me, Joe thought. But Frank already knew him well and Marcus would just be telling him what he already knew.

.**********.

Frank was pulling up his shorts when Marcus came into the locker room. He turned to see the other teen lean back against the wall. "Well?" Frank asked.

Marcus snorted derisively. "You saw him take me down. Submitted me in what? Ten minutes?"

"Might have been closer to fifteen," Taquan joked.

Marcus gave him a scathing look. "We'll see if you're joking after you go against him. He's definitely had some training and I heard Bobby telling Head Hunter that the dude has scars from knives and guns."

"Really," Frank said as he sat down. He knew that ORT had shaved Joe's head on purpose to showcase the scar. Add the tats and his two abdomen scars and Joe looked like some kind of gang enforcer. It went to the part he was playing and Frank understood, but he still didn't like ORT using the scars of Joe's recent past for their benefit.

"Yeah. You know Bobby; he's a talker and Jake rode with him here and will probably ride back. Maybe he'll have more info to share tomorrow," Marcus said as he rubbed his side.

"Well, did you learn anything interesting as far as his skills?" Frank asked, wondering how good Marcus was at assessing his brother in the short amount of time.

Marcus closed his eyes a moment and then looked at Frank. "I don't think he's much into the kicking game. He's more of a striker." He rubbed his ribs again. "Packs a really good punch. I think if he got you on the chin you'd go down. He's probably good on the ground too. Definitely would be a ground and pound kind of guy. So yeah, go with the kicks."

Frank nodded; it was definitely his brother's style. He stood up and started walking to the door. Taquan and Marcus moved to follow him.

"So how long before you think the two of you will be in the Main Event?" Taquan asked.

Laughing, Frank said, "One submission and you guys already put him in the Main Event? It could have been luck. Let me see him take down a couple more guys and then I'll give him the time of day."

"I heard you were giving Jake's girlfriend the time of day down in the laundry room," Marcus said snickering.

Frank turned and smirked. "Wouldn't you? Did you see her legs?"

"Yeah and sounds like you want to see more."

Shrugging, Frank said, "Wouldn't mind and she deserves better. Only punks hit women." Frank looked across the gym to where Joe was weightlifting.

"I bet he gets Head Hunter tomorrow night," Marcus said as he headed toward one of the cycle machines.

"Yeah, that would be good," Taquan said as he followed.

Frank stood where he was looking at Joe and then to the tall Latino known as the Head Hunter. Frank had beaten him twice since he arrived but they were some of his hardest matches. Hopefully, Carstairs wouldn't put Joe with Juan Fernand yet. But he had a bad feeling.