10. Fight

As we slowly walk in circles, Brendan analyzes me from top to bottom as he searches for the best way to strike me. A few seconds later, he charges at me. With a right hook, he aims for my face which I duck at the right moment, grazing my ears as it flies over my head. As I duck, Brendan immediately directs his left fist towards my right side, targeting my liver. I shift my weight to my back and drop to the ground, raising my right leg as his fist connects to my thighs, blocking his hit from my liver. 

Using my backward momentum, my extended foot hits him in the chin, making him stagger as I roll myself backward on my two feet. After he gets hit, the crowd starts shouting in excitement as they enjoy the fight. Shaking the blow from his head, Brendan rubs his chin. Piss that he got hit, he charges at me again. Swinging his left fist upwards, he tries to hit me with an uppercut, which I block with my forearm. Using that moment, I swivel my body counter-clockwise, slamming my elbow at the back of his head. 

Daze and out of balance, Brendan fell forward, reflexively landing on his knees and elbow. The crowd cheers as they enjoy the show. Breathing heavily, he stubbornly stands up and raises his fist, back to his stance. Not waiting for him to charge again, I went for the offensive. Noticing my advance, Brendan changed into a defensive stance, trying to block whatever attacks I might throw at him. Using my left fist, I aim at his liver. Anticipating the attack, he quickly blocked it. With both of his arms protecting his midsection, he left his face wide open

With my right fist flexed under my waist, I release it like a coiled spring, aiming at his face. In a split second, my fist made contact at the side of his nose, feeling a crunch as blood started spurting out of his nose and immediately fell to the ground, knocked out. A few seconds later, Brendan groans in pain, holding onto his broken nose as blood drips out. The crowd was silent, watching three people help him off the ground before they place him into a sports car, presumably Brendan's. 

Flicking the blood off my hand, I turned around and walked away, which the crowd went wild. As I was walking away, I heard the familiar sound of a pistol chambering a round, which silences the crowd. I raise my hands and turn around, seeing Brendan with a bloody cloth stuffed up his nose and a gun pointed at me. 

"Where do you think you're going!?" He spoke in a nasal voice, pointing the gun at me one-handed. Naturally, most people from the crowd fled or took cover, while a few were frozen on spot.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"What do I want? I need you to fucking regret doing this to me!" Brendan points at his bloody nose.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to kneel!" He shouts.

Following his order, I kneel. He walks up to me and points the gun at my head, which I hear Ivy shouting behind a car, being held back by Kayla.

"Please, don't do it!"

"Shut up!" He points the gun at the sky and fires. BANG! Ivy and the crowd flinch from the gunshot, silencing her and everyone else. Pointing the gun back to my forehead, he asks me a question. "Any last words?" He grins.

"Yes—"

Inject 1% dose of combat drugs'

<Affirmative. Injecting 1% dose of combat drugs.>

As the drug flows into my veins, my vision sharpens, my perception of time slows down, and my body feels lighter. Faster than he can react, I rack the slide of the pistol, ejecting the unspent bullet and preventing him from firing, before pulling it away from his hand and aiming it right at his forehead.

"You should have never fought me."

The once arrogant grin on his face was replaced with shock. The crowd is silent once again, staring at me with Brendan's gun in my hands. Standing up from the ground, I slowly back away from him, still aiming the pistol at Brendan's face. The drug's effect slowly fades after a few seconds.

"Ivy," I call.

"Y-Yes!" She answers.

"Call the police and tell them my name..." I look back at Brendan, almost all of his mouth is dyed crimson from the blood. "And also ask for an ambulance."

"Ok!" Taking out her phone, she quickly dials the emergency number. After talking to the operator for a minute, she ends the call. "A patrol car will arrive in 10 minutes, the ambulance in 15 or so minutes."

"Good. Can you also grab zip ties from the glovebox of my car? My key is in the front right pocket."

"Y-Yeah!"

Cautiously walking up to me, Ivy fishes the key out of my pocket and heads to my car, before coming back with a pack of zip ties. Thanking Ivy, I grab a single strip. "Hey stuffy face, lay down on the ground," I ordered.

He spits at me, nearly hitting my shoes. "Fuck—" BANG! I shot the ground between his legs, shutting him up and surprising the crowd in the process. 

"Do you want me to shoot your knees next?"

Heeding my warnings, he immediately lies on the ground, face down as I zip his wrists together. Knowing that he's bound and safe, I sat on top of Brendan's back, making him grunt. Knowing better, he keeps silent. No longer having any use with the gun, I field strip it; first removing the magazine, ejecting the chambered round, removing the slide from the frame, before finally placing the components on the ground.

Noticing that some people haven't left, I call out to them. "Anyone that doesn't want to be interviewed by the cops should probably go now!" I yell. The crowd starts leaving, taking the cars they use as a makeshift ring before driving off. Sitting on top of Brendan's back, the recognizable siren of the police wails in the distance, until a cruiser comes into view before stopping in front of me. Exiting the car, a familiar zulaith officer walks towards me with a sigh. "What did you do this time?" An old Zulaith with a shaggy lion's mane walks to me as he places his hand on his waist.

"Don't blame me, Chief. I didn't start the mess,"

`Eileth Vrud: Aurora city's police chief for 20 years.`

He rubs his eyes. "In most cases, you still caused the problem." He looks at the man I'm sitting on. "So? What did the guy do to you?" He points a finger at me and Brendan. 

"Challenged me to a fight and lost, before pulling a gun at me."

Suddenly, Brendan starts squirming under me. "Y-You gotta arrest him! He broke my nose and almost killed me!" He pleads to Eileth.

"Which you pull out a gun with the intent to kill, which is probably unregistered; while he appropriately used force to defend himself under the Terran and Zulaith right to self-defense clause. He could have killed you without repercussions from the law if proven true you know?" Without any retorts, he slumps down on the ground, accepting the outcome.

Kayla, who was silent the whole time, speaks up.  "Sorry to interrupt… but do we have to go to the station to report this?" Kayla asks Eileth.

"Who's the young lasses?" He asks when he notices Kayla and Ivy.

"They're my classmates. They didn't want me to go alone, so they came with me."

"Ah, I see. Well, I shouldn't keep Blaze long then, just gotta make him sign some documents and you three are good to go. I'll take care of the guy" After quickly signing my signature on the tablet, I head back to the car with Kayla and Ivy. Letting out a deep breath, I sink into the driver's seat. 

After a few seconds of peaceful silence, Ivy interrupts it with a shout. "What the hell was all that!? Can you explain everything, please! Like, how can you fight like that!? How can you stay calm with a gun pointed at you!? And why did the police chief personally come here and let us go without batting an eye!?" Ivy rapidly fires those questions like a machine gun.

Tired and annoyed by the constant barrage of questions, Kayla complains. "Can we please go back home now!"

"Nuh-uh! Not until I hear an explanation first!" Ivy argues.

Knowing that Ivy won't back down, I tell her the truth. "I'm an officer."

"A police officer?" Ivy asks.

"No. I'm a commissioned officer in the military."

"A soldier!? That explains how you can fight!" She says surprised. "But, why are you here as a student? Shouldn't you be at a military base or something?"

"I was given an assignment."

"Assignment? What is it?" She curiously asks.

"To be Kayla's bodyguard."

"Are you serious!? Kay told me she has a bodyguard, but I didn't think it would be you!"

"Are you done yet?" Kayla grumbles in the back seat.

"Yeah, we're done," I say to Kayla, before speaking to Ivy again. "Also, can you keep this between the three of us? It would be quite problematic if people knew about this."

Ivy then gives me a playful salute. "Roger that!"

|

|

[The Next Day]

|

|

When I entered the classroom with Kayla, everyone went silent; staring at me with curiosity in their eyes. Confused by this, I notice a student playing a video of me fighting with Brendan, forgetting to pause the video on his phone as he stares at me like the others.

"Morning Kay! Morning Blaze!" Ivy welcomes.

"Good morning," Kayla greets back.

"Morning, Ivy," I reply.

Before I could even ask what was going on, Ivy shortly announces something. "You're popular!" She says to me with a grin.

"Popular?"

"Yep, you're popular now! A video with you fighting against Brendan has spread throughout the school like wildfire! You're the number one topic in school now!" She explains excitedly.

I guess that would happen sooner or later, but I think infamous is the right word.

The next moment, the school chime plays and Terence enters the classroom on time like always. Everyone heads to their respective desks and listens to Terence as he takes out his tablet. "Good day everyone. Before I take attendance, I have to announce that Brendan Wiley will be absent for a few days due to an 'accident.'" He glances at me for a split second before taking attendance. After attendance is done, he starts the lessons. 

Passing my day in school with relative peacefulness, I notice that most of the students are not glaring at me like they usually do; instead, they're being cautious around me. One time I was walking in the hallway after a bathroom break, a student accidentally bumps into me, strong enough to knock the books and himself to the floor.

"Sorry about that," I say to the young student, grabbing his hand as I help him up. 

"I'm sorry too, I wasn't looking where I was going," He apologizes, adjusting the glasses on his nose. Picking up the scattered books on the floor, I neatly stack them before passing them back to him. I notice that he's staring at me with wide eyes before he grabs the books, his hands slightly shaking. "Uh… t-thanks!" Stuttering, he quickly runs off. 

Am I that scary? I thought to myself before heading back to class.

|

|

[3:00 PM]

|

|

With one period left for school, everyone heads to their respective clubs; Kayla heads to her swimming club and Ivy goes to the art club. Due to being transferred in the middle of the school term, I haven't joined any clubs yet so I mostly wait outside the lobby and lean against the wall. While I was checking my wristwatch for the time, a tall man with brown skin, short black hair, and piercing gray eyes walked up to me. 

"You must be, Blaze Orlov. I'm Nassir, Nassir Ross; nice to meet you." He says as he extends his hand out. 

"Hello," I say as I shake his hand.

"I heard about your skills recently and I must say, I'm impressed."

"Thanks," I say, uncertain with his unexpected friendliness.

"No need to thank me, I gave my compliments where it's due," Nassir says. "And due to your skills, I want you to join the martial arts club."

"The martial arts club, huh?"