Chandra was back at the fights. Zach had asked to come, but she didn't want to expose his bright personality to the darkness of the ring. Yes, light overcame brightness, but there was much more darkness here than the light could pierce. She didn't want him to get hurt. Layla had been sniffing around. Chandra wasn't inclined to think that Layla was following her, but the evidence was pretty startling. When she had left out her invitation to the fight (No one knew it was hers, it used her fighter's name) and came back, all the plant life in the area had died. She knew Layla knew about the fights. What the girl would do about it, however, Chandra wasn't so sure. Layla couldn't have been stupid enough to go to her fight. Right?

A fist flying at her face brought Chandra back to the present. Chandra dodged under it. People always underestimated the short chic. They never really thought that she'd beat them. Well, their loss and her monetary gain. She grinned ferally as the 6'2', 180-pound man in front of her thought that a flying leap to pin her would be a good idea. She ducked under his frame. Unlike Speed, she didn't need a superpower to move quickly. Chandra used her position beneath him to flip him over her by standing as his legs passed her. The man had missed. That could have something to do with the eye that had swollen shut due to her punch.

"You know, I think you gave the scar to yourself. You wanted to fit in with the boys and decided a scar would make you look tough," her opponent needled.

She scoffed. "I have seen more danger than a rich boy pretending to be tough like you ever has. I earned this scar. Did you earn the one over your eye?" She smirked evilly over her shoulder, as she had turned away from him. He launched himself at her, but she twisted, grabbed his arms, and threw him over her shoulder. He lay there, wheezing and gasping. He attempted one last dirty move and tried to remove her mask. She grabbed his wrist and squeezed so hard that it broke. So what if she used a little bit of her superpower to break it? That guy had it coming. She had worked too hard to keep her identity a secret and had earned that scar. She in no way wanted to be like the big lug underneath her. The buzzer went off, signifying her win. She got up and offered him her hand. After all, it did no good to earn enemies. He hesitated but took it. Well, this guy had more maturity than she did. At least he knew that he pulled some dirty moves. Or it could have done with the fact that he had twisted his ankle during the fall and couldn't use his wrist to push him up. Chandra wasn't responsible for the ankle, not directly anyway. She hadn't used her power for that one.

As he hobbled over to the sidelines, she used her grasp on his arm to steady him, and to heal his ankle slightly, making it seem as if he was walking it off. By the time they had reached the steps, he was able to walk on his own. He took his arm off of her shoulder and offered his uninjured hand for a handshake. As she shook it, she felt something shift behind her. Whirling around, she intercepted a…woman's hand, which had tried to untie her mask. She looked back to the rich boy, he seemed just as surprised as she did. So it wasn't his doing. Who else would want to unmask her? She looked at the nails. Green nail polish. Layla's favorite shade of green.

Instead of throwing it aside like she would have had she not recognized the hand, she grabbed Layla's arm and pulled her forward and off-balance, dragging her out the door.

"What are you doing here?" Chandra demanded.

"What am I? Excuse me? What are you doing here? How does a healer even think to inflict pain on people for money?" Layla accused.

Chandra was offended. "Because some people need the money."

"Not this much money!" Layla exclaimed. "I saw the scoreboards. Each point translates to 8000 dollars. You have 12 points! And the brackets said you weren't even done with the night yet! That's 96000 dollars! What could you possibly need that much money for?!"

"Medical bills!" Chandra cried before she meant to.

Layla went quiet. "Medical bills?"

"Yes, someone I care a lot about needs a 150,000 dollar surgery."

"But who? You don't have any family."

Chandra, who had turned to go, slowly turned back towards Layla. Layla stopped talking. She knew she had crossed some invisible line, and she couldn't step back.

"How did you know that?" Chandra whispered harshly. Layla went to speak but Chandra raised her hand. "You were eavesdropping at the nurse's office, weren't you?" Layla nodded mutely. "But why did you follow me?"

"Because I was worried, okay?!" Layla exploded as her emotions rushed to the service. "I hear that your mother was killed in some gruesome way, I assume that the man that killed her was her significant other, and, yes, I know you're more powerful than you let on, but I wanted to be certain that you would be safe."

"Then why did you try to take off my mask?" Chandra asked, strangely calm.

"Because I wanted to see if you were still the same person from school. I needed to know that it was you, and I wasn't going to get another chance to do it in private. I had to get to you before you vanished."

Chandra looked at Layla. Despite the flower girl's obvious misgivings, she seemed to genuinely care about Chandra and was still worried even after she had seen her fight. And for a person who despised fighting, she knew, Layla was remarkably calm. Then Layla said the words that Chandra had been hoping to hear.

"I accept you." Layla softly spoke. "I may not approve of your approach to getting the money, but I also can't think of a better idea. So, know that I accept you coming here, but please don't do it alone. What if you lose and then have no one to help you home?"

"I don't have a home," Chandra replied seriously.

Layla started. "But…you won all that money, couldn't you at least afford an apartment?"

"I could, but that's $2000 a month that wouldn't go towards the medical bills. And I don't have much time until it's too late. It's getting worse."

Layla looked around as if the trash that riddled the ally would give her an idea.

"You can stay at my place!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Chandra asked, aghast.

"Yeah, I have a trundle bed that never gets used and my mother certainly wouldn't have a problem with it. You'd have to become a vegan, but you could still eat meat at school or outside the house."

"Your mom's the one who talks to animals then?"

Layla smiled sheepishly, "Yes."

Chandra stared at the girl for a moment, contemplating her offer. A free place to stay and free food meant more went towards Ms. Braun, and it meant that when it rained, she didn't have to take shelter in a dumpster.

"Okay," she said.

Layla looked shocked and then a smile spread across her face. "Let's go!"