Chapter 2: Enough

The fight with 'Tricky' was somewhat of an annoyance to Velvet. 'Tricky' just seemed to know when Velvet was about to make a move, she even seemed to know exactly what the move was so for awhile Velvet had found it hard to hit the girl. Even though that fight barely lasted three minutes it made Velvet feel as though she was loosing her touch. But as par usual, Velvet won and would soon be fighting the boy 'Quicksilver'.

It turned out that 'Tricky hadn't actually been all that quick, nor had she even really been a fighter, she had just been a minor league illusionist who could only influence one mind at a time – but to no extremes. She couldn't even block Velvet from hearing the selection of viewers shouting Tricky's location for their champions benefit.

Velvet watched as the irritating illusionist was dragged from the cage, contemplating illegal brain surgery on the girl so she couldn't ever annoy anyone like that again. Her eyes then moved to the boy 'quicksilver' as he stepped up for his turn in the arena.

"Took you long enough." He mocked smirking devilishly as he strode into the center of the cage eyes flitting pointedly toward 'Tricky' as she was dragged around the enclosure and through a back door. Velvet just went back to her pre-fight stance, staring blankly at the blood stained floor of the cage.

Through all the years since the Game had started the once white matt had become a sickening brown. There were bleach stains, as well, from failed efforts to return the flooring to its natural color. Velvet stared down at the matt, subconsciously tracing a stain in her peripheral vision.

She hadn't any need to wonder what her next opponent's power was. The boy had made it obvious. If you couldn't already tell by his fluid movements then his code name surly told you all you needed to know. He was a speed demon. Most likely a permanent condition too.

The announcer began to reiterate the rules for the boy but he just looked bored and mimicked the rules more rapidly, finishing the sentence for him before the man was halfway through. The host gave Quicksilver a death glare through his fake smile as he turned and left the cage, mumbling something about ungrateful little shits.

Velvet heard the door slam shut as she waited for the usual ring of the bell. It rang and again her head snapped up. She was not surprised to find that the boy was nowhere to be seen.

Her eyes darted rapidly around the cage in search of the elusive figure. She would have him in her sights one moment but in the next moment he was gone again. Her head snapped to the left as he dashed across her vision delivering a left hook to her jaw, and again the boy was gone.

Velvet was not surprised by this display of speed. It had been obvious that he would be fast enough to get in at least a few good hits. Besides; she would have been disappointed if he hadn't put up a decent fight.

A minute had passed and she had felt two more blows to the face, one to her left shoulder and four to her stomach. Though she knew he would not tire easily, if ever, she was biding her time. Velvet just stood taking every blow, waiting for a way to surprise the boy.

Sure Velvet was fast, but her speed came in short bursts it was not continuous like your typical speed demon.

"Hey, what's the matter? Can't catch me?" He teased appearing in front of her only to disappear again, that devil smirk firmly in place. He stopped in a far corner to display a mock yawn as he said "It's too bad, I was hoping for a real fight." Then he took off again.

Velvets eyes had trained themselves on him. They were catching up with his every movement and soon she would be able to fight the boy for real. Her skin was sensitive and after the first two minutes it had tuned to the air currents, helping her to determine which direction he was moving and when he changed course.

Five hits later, her body was so attuned to his movements that he was no longer as elusive as he still thought himself to be. Mere milliseconds after he delivered another fist to her stomach she could feel him coming up on her right side.

In her own little burst of speed that she knew he hadn't seen coming, Velvet stepped to the side, turned and held her left arm parallel to the floor right in the moment he was passing her. In that same moment she felt the boys' throat connect with the outstretched appendage and she watched as his body was thrown into an awkward, and painful looking back flip.

He landed on his stomach five feet ahead of where Velvet had gotten the drop on him. Another burst of speed and she was standing over him, lifting the still stunned boy by the back of the neck. She knew it wouldn't be long until the boy regained his wits and started up his little wind storm again. She hastily threw the boy hard into the mesh wall of the cage, and followed in a final burst of speed as she decided to keep the boy winded. How do you wind a speed demon? Simple; a good hard knee to that sweet spot right in the middle of the chest does the trick.

Velvet stood back as she watched Quicksilver gasping for air on the dirty floor of the cage. The boy even tried to pull himself back to his feet but soon realized moving only made breathing harder. Soon enough the boy passed out from lack of oxygen and was starting to turn purple.

Velvet then realized her mistake. She had hit him so hard that he couldn't pull the air back into his lungs. He was going to die if she didn't do something. Luckily Velvet was not stupid and far from slow. Less than a second later she was on her knees and had the boy on his back as she gave him mouth to mouth.

All she could think while she attempted to resuscitate the boy was I can't let this happen. Everything seemed to move so slowly. She could hear her blood pounding in her ears. She had heard of other the other captive mutants killing their opponents but she had never thought of how it would affect her. She never thought she would be in this position.

Tears started forming in her eyes as she breathed into the boy. Over and over she forced air into his lungs silently wishing she could be someone else, anyone else, that she was not a disgusting murderer and that she didn't have the ability to kill a man with one punch.

The crowd of spectators watched in awe as their once proud champion fell apart. Kid Chaos became hysterical when he didn't start breathing on his own again. She was pulled off the boy, an on hand paramedic took over the attempts, and dragged back to her cell.

The guards dumped Velvet on her stiff mattress and left, locking the door on their way out. She hugged her knees to her chest and cried. The tears continued to flow as hours passed. They never lost their persistence as she drifted into sleep and dreamed of the boys purpling face.

She awoke the next morning with her hair and pillow wet from tears and sticking to her face. Slowly she lifted her head and looked to the door. Velvet wasn't sure what she had been expecting to see. Maybe she had hoped that someone, possibly a guard or one of the medical team, would be waiting for her to wake so they could tell her the boy was alright. She felt foolish when she saw nothing but the cold metal door; she should have realized that these people didn't care if she needed comforting. She was just a meal ticket to them.

She pulled herself from the uncomfortable cot and for the first time in her life it had taken effort to get out of bed. She walked to her small bathroom, discarded her clothing and sat, for hours, under the lukewarm spray of water.

No one came to tell her what had happened to Quicksilver and it was killing her. She had to know if he was okay but knew that they would never tell her of their own accord.

Finally she got off the floor and re-dressed in the previous days clothes. She walked to the door and waited for someone to pass by. After a long while one of the patrol guards walked by looking in on the captives.

He looked into her cell and screamed. Velvet was by no means trying to be scary but he hadn't realized she was standing there. Her face was set in that blank stare that showed how lifeless she felt. When the guard had composed himself she hardened her gaze and asked in a deadly tone "What happened to the boy?"

The guard just scoffed at her and walked away calling her a 'sick mutant freak'.

Over the next week she stood at the door waiting for another guard to come. By the third day she had given up asking and started screaming for them to answer her. Then she had had enough. The last guard to walk by had completely ignored her and she couldn't take it anymore.

In a burst of speed and strength, and a secret power she rarely used, she punched her cell door and sent it crashing into the opposite wall. Velvet was angry.

She stepped out into the corridor and turned to the guard that had so blatantly ignored her. He had his stun gun trained on her and was shouting for her to give up as he cautiously backed away. Velvet heard none of it as she continued toward the man threateningly. The guard squeezed the trigger and held it as he tried to bring her down but his weapon was ineffective.

His eyes widened in fear as she clutched the front of his shirt in her hands. A sadistic smirk drew her features into a menacing scowl as she lifted the man and slammed him into the wall on her left and dropped him. The man just lay there unconscious. She knew that she hadn't killed the man because she could hear him breathing.

Velvet slowly sauntered through the facility making her way to the only exit she knew; through the arena. Multiple 'officials' in the game's organization tried to stop her but the shockwave's of their stun guns seemed to roll off of her like water and, after watching some of their work mates get thrown into walls and knocked senseless, most of them were reluctant to stand in her way.

"What are you doing? Stop her you morons, she's the main attraction!" Velvet glanced to her right at the sound of the gravelly voice. There was a fat balding man in a grey suit standing stiff and red faced shouting orders at his employee's to re-capture her. She turned on her heel and headed in his direction and in an instant his face had gone from beat red to ghostly white.

Velvet marched right up to the man, who was by this point clearly unable to speak from fear of the girl, until their noses were almost touching. "I'm leaving." She stated dangerously. The fat man looked as though he was about to protest until that sadistic scowl returned to her features as she dared him "Try and stop me."

She stared into his eyes, her own flashing an eerie red, until she saw defeat cross them. She turned again, her scowl still firmly in place, and started to leave. From that point on leaving had been a simple task. As she reached the main door to the facility the fat man shouted "You've been here since you were eight, you can't live out there. You'll be back."

"No." She growled. "I won't." Just for show, she let out a burst of speed and busted the doors off their hinges as she left. She continued beyond the reaches of the facility in speed mode just to see how far she could run without having to slow. At that moment she felt so free.