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: I'm going to be out of town tomorrow night so I'm uploading tonight. I'll upload again either Sunday or Monday. I know just enough about MMA to be 'dangerous' - which means I don't know much but can use the lingo. I don't claim to be an expert. :-) However, I do research the moves. Hope you like the chapter. :-)


Chapter Fifteen

Joe sat quietly in the locker room. He was cognizant of the movements around him. Fighters that had already fought were nursing their aches and pains while those like him that had yet to fight sat quietly around the room carving out small spaces of solitude. His leg bounced nervously. He wasn't really nervous about the fight but about whether his performance would cause a delay to the mission. Frank wasn't fighting tonight; Carstairs was saving his primary main event draw for the more lucrative Friday night fight. Tonight Juan Fernand was the main event, but the fighters didn't consider this the main event. No, they labeled this top Tuesday night fight as 'headliner.' Main event status was reserved for the Saturday night card. But the billing didn't really matter as long as it pointed in the direction of getting a pairing with Frank. If he did well here, hopefully they would be paired in next week's main event.

A voice sounded from the door, "Fernand, Petrov, you're up."

Joe stood and popped his mouthguard in and followed Fernand out of the room. Both were dressed in just their trunks and gloves. Joe was a little surprised at the size of the crowd when he exited the corridor. He was told this was a smaller crowd than the Saturday night fights but there were at least two hundred men and women present. Some were sitting and some were standing. A mobile bar had been brought down for the event so many were sipping drinks as they milled about.

The advice that Frank had sent him went through his mind. Don't stand up with him. Take him down. Don't stand up. Down. Take him down.

Both fighters climbed into the ring with the ref and the door was closed. The official didn't go over any of the rules. They were already known and to violate them could mean you were suspended without pay. Therefore no one violated the rules on purpose.

Joe's eyes swept around the room briefly locating Vanessa near the main entrance and Frank near the hall to the locker room. Both were in a position to check traffic flow during the match which would be valuable information for their mission planning.

Joe's attention was brought back to the center of the ring as the ref told them to touch gloves. Then the bell sounded and the Head Hunter launched into a flurry of punches. Fernand had a two inch reach on Joe as well as three inches in height and twenty pounds in weight. Joe managed to stay out the range of Fernand's swings only getting one light tag. He fired off a couple of punches himself as well as a couple of small kicks to the inside of Fernand's knee. A weakness needed to be found and other than Frank saying to take him to the ground, he didn't have one. And in fact, just figuring out how to take the man to the mat had kept him awake most of the previous night.

After dancing around the ring for almost two minutes, Joe could hear the crowd becoming restless with the lack of action. Deciding to take a chance on a few punches, Joe moved in. However, Fernand was ready and tagged Joe on the chin sending him spinning backward to fall on his knees. Fernand was on his back immediately and Joe rolled them over. He felt his opponent go for the rear choke but Joe grabbed the arm that was going behind his head to lock the move and pulled it down. He was also able to move his legs around to keep Fernand from locking his legs around him. Joe was able to keep this position for about thirty seconds before the large man maneuvered out from underneath him to gain side control. This put Fernand's body perpendicular to Joe's and his body across Joe's chest. Joe was able to block some of the blows that Fernand hit him with in this position, but Fernand was able to land an elbow that opened a cut above Joe's left eye. Thankfully, the bell sounded and the fighters broke apart.

Joe grabbed a towel that was tossed over to him. Stemming the flow of blood from the wound, Joe thought about his options. Frank had been completely right. There was no standing up with Fernand, but being on the ground with him hadn't been a picnic either. He was going to have to take Fernand down and this time he needed to be the one that was in control.

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

One look at the blood streaming down the side of Joe's face and Vanessa had all the reason in the world to step away for a few minutes. She looked over to Teresa who was sitting beside her and said, "I- I think I need a moment."

Teresa gave her a knowing smile and said, "You haven't seen Jake fight before have you?"

"No. We've just watched stuff on tv together." She looked at Joe who had a towel up to the cut and then back to Teresa. "It's different when it's your man that's getting hit."

"I understand," Teresa said, as Vanessa stood and walked toward the bathrooms.

She didn't even look in Frank's direction though he was in the area. The relative coolness and dim lighting of the hallway was a relief after the warmth of being near the ring and the bright lights. Vanessa looked at her watch, pressed the stopwatch function, and then leaned against the wall near the bathrooms to wait. Five minutes later, Vanessa pressed the stop button and looked down the hall to Teresa and several other girls coming towards her. They were all in an excited state and buzzing with chatter. "What is it?" Vanessa asked with some concern. She knew that sometimes people reacted with excitement when they shared bad news with people and she was already worried about Joe. "Is Jake okay?"

Teresa laughed and grabbed her arm as the other girls surrounded her and began herding her back toward the ring. "Of course he's okay! He just submitted the Head Hunter with a minute to go in the second round!"

"Is that good?" Vanessa asked as she was led back into the bright lights. She looked over just in time to see the official lift Joe's arm in the air as the winner.

"It's VERY good! Only Winder and Mason have beaten Fernand," Teresa said excitedly.

Vanessa moved over to the ring exit and when Joe came down the steps he swept her up in a tight hug, oblivious of the blood and sweat on his body. "I won!" he shouted as he swung her around. She knew his excitement was just as much a result of moving toward their goal of a Winder/Petrov fight as it was of beating a good a fighter. She could feel the eyes of the other girls on her and knew they were watching. Feeling like she didn't have another choice and wishing she could have warned Joe, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face towards hers. She felt him resist for just a moment before he squeezed her tightly and returned the kiss, drawing a few whistles from the nearby fans.

When he sat her down, he pressed his forehead against hers and said softly, "I've got to go change. See you back at the apartment?"

"Yeah," she replied as her arms slipped from around his neck to rest on his forearms. Then he pulled away as was gone leaving her surrounded with well-wishers.

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

Joe had ridden back with the fighters in one of the vans that had transported them over. The night's fighters always rode in vans provided by Zendel's. It was their way of making sure everyone was accounted for and on-time. Climbing out of the van, he received some more congratulations and a few glares from those who were friends with Fernand.

When he entered the apartment, Vanessa came over and tilted his head so she could look at the small bandages that held the cut together. "It didn't need stitches."

"Hmm," she said. "I know head wounds bleed a lot, but you have to admit, that seemed like way too much blood." She took his bag and then moved further into the room. "Do you want me to fix you anything to eat while you shower?"

"I'll be happy with a bag of pretzels and some water."

"You've got it," she said as he went to the dresser and got out the clothes he slept in.

"I'll be out in fifteen."

"Take longer if you need it," she said as she moved back into the kitchen.

It only took Joe a few moments to shed his clothing and climb into the shower. His body relaxed under the hot stream of water. The hits that his body had taken from Fernand were making themselves known and he knew that he'd be sporting a swollen black eye and a number of bruises on his upper body. But those would only tell part of the story as he knew he would be aching all over whether he was bruised or not. He'd need some pain killers with those pretzels when he got out.

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

When Joe came out of the bathroom, he started laughing. Vanessa had set up a tv tray by his side of the bed. On it was a bottle of ibuprofen, an ice pack, a heating pad, bottled water, and a bag of pretzels. "You read my mind," Joe joked as he headed to the bed. Sitting down, he picked up the heating pad and looked for a plug.

"Let me get that," Vanessa said taking it from him. She plugged it in behind the nightstand and then asked, "Where do you want to put this?"

Joe put two pillows against the headboard and then patted a spot. "I think I want it behind my right shoulder. It's feeling pretty sore. Once it heats up, I'll move it to my ribs on my left side." Leaning back against the heat, he asked, "Move the tray a little closer for me?"

Once the tray was moved, Vanessa opened the bottle of pain relievers and dumped out several. Handing them to Joe with the water bottle, she said, "I got the cold pack for your eye if you want it."

After swallowing the pills, he handed the water back to her and said, "Yeah, I'll give it a try." Taking the pack from her he placed it against his cut brow. Closing both eyes for a moment, he let the numbing relief of the ice relax him. Then he opened his good eye and asked, "So what did you learn?"

"I left right after the first round when you were putting a towel to your bleeding face." Vanessa grimaced. "I was in that hallway beside the bathrooms for five minutes fifteen seconds and no one came through."

"Just five minutes?" Joe asked perplexed.

Vanessa smirked at him. "Well, it could have been longer but someone submitted the Head Hunter with a minute to go in the second round. Obviously all my friends had to come tell me the wonderful news."

Joe frowned. "Yeah, sorry about that. I should have made it last longer-"

"No," Vanessa interrupted. "I was joking, Joe. I'm glad you didn't go longer. I mean, look at you. You didn't need to go longer than that with him."

Joe chuckled as he closed his eye. "Glad to see that you are filled with confidence in me."

"You know, I'd throw something at you right now if you weren't all ready injured."

"Well, thank goodness for small favors," Joe joked back.

"Keep it up and I'll go get my inking pen," she threatened with a laugh.

Joe's eyes opened with a serious look, "Not that. I really don't think my ribs could take you coloring on them tonight."

"Then count your blessings that I'll wait and do that tomorrow night."

Joe sighed. "Thanks." He put the ice pack on the tray table. "I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to stay up and eat those pretzels. Feeling really tired now that I'm lying down and warm."

"And have some pain meds."

"Yeah, that too."

"Well, you can't sleep with that heating pad behind you. It could give you a burn. Move it to the front on your chest and I'll stay up awhile and remove it once it's had a chance to relax your muscles."

"Thanks, Van," Joe said with half-closed eyes as he moved the pad to his chest.

"You're welcome," was all he heard before drifting off to sleep.