Mirror: Chapter 20

"It's locked on!"

A trap sprung after Alita inserted her fingers into the motorball's gripping port, it clamped on her hand and wrist.

The magnetic field of the motorball intensified, putting tremendous strain on her arm to keep it off the metal floor.

Clunk!

It slammed into the track and stuck there.

The look she gave Adem reminded him of a fox caught in a hunter's snare.

One of the lighter and faster contestants sped right at her. His intention obvious: remove the best players from the match for a chance of victory.

"Adem!"

As the contestant leaped, raising his fist to attack Alita, Adem's shoulder crashed into him. The assassin couldn't resist Adem's greater weight and power and careened wildly off the track.

Alita studied the other racer's faces. All of them had the same look the would-be assassin had.

Shark and Razor? Those idiots started a brawl in the backline. Pure intimidation and violence failed to produce the results the duo wanted, as the remaining battle-tested players ignored such threats.

"Should I cut my hand off?"

"Don't do that!" Adem said, "We run!"

"How?"

With a forceful grunt, Adem hoisted the motorball off the track and into her hugging arms. By shoving on her back, Adem got the two of them skating again.

The second demonstration of their lock-step synchronicity made the crowd roar in approval, especially now when they were adapting to the unexpected.

"Kid," Coach pinged, "I didn't know about the details of the rule change until now."

"No harm, no foul. I'm guessing the other teams did, and that's why they didn't dive for the ball?"

"This is a rigged game. Who did you piss off?"

"So what're the rules?"

Alita lost a lot of momentum, teetering with the motorball when Adem broke his grip and engaged another chaser. After a short scuffle, Adem crushed the opponent into the track with his elbow.

Alita noticed his faceplate was cracked.

"Iron Ball. Electromagnetic coils in the track are designed to slow the carrier, forcing at least two people to drag it."

"What about the trap?"

"Trap? Variation of Kill Ball. The only way to remove the ball is by severing the limb or eliminating the sportsman. Kid, I've never heard of them doubling on rule changes. This isn't a race, you're going to have to fight to survive."

"Great," she spat.

"Any good news?" Adem asked.

"Yeah, chocolate's half off. Adem, if you have any ideas, now is the time to share."

"My only plan," he said, sucking in a breath, "Is to run faster."

"We're not outrunning them," Alita admitted, "They're increasing the magnetism on the ball."

Adem spun and braced, holding his forearms in an x-block, and a spiked ball and chain bounced off.

Another blocked attack sent  Adem stumbling back into Alita, and she fell forward. The motorball zapped firmly to the track.

"Remember me, girl?!" a giant pigman roared.

"No?" she squinted her eyes.

"I'll crush you!"

The pigman threw the spiked ball into the air and yanked the chain down, with lethal speed.

Alita kicked the dazed Adem to safety, used the excess momentum to flip over, then dragged the motorball clear of the crashing flail. The bell-ringing echoed throughout the arena, and the crowd gasped.

The Damascus Blade traced an arc of light through the air and severed the chain with a shower of sparks, leaving a deep groove in the track.

"That was my favorite!"

The now shorter chain and ball rotated over Alita's head as she twirled it at whistling-fast speeds. An instant later she doubled its rotation by letting it wrap once around her body, directing it with a shrug of her shoulders, and sunk the weight deep into the giant piggy-racer's chest.

Whether planned or not, some autonomous action of the pigman snatched the chain as he fell unconscious, yanking the chain, and Alita with it, taut. Her arm, fastened to the unmoving motorball, stretched with a sickening pop and she briefly whimpered through the pain. Her other arm was tangled.

She was helpless.

All she could do was glare at Razor as he jumped, extending the four fingers of his bladed fingers to stab her.

It never connected.

Adem torpedoed at Razor and connected chest-to-chest, hurtling the wiry Razor into a wild flip. To regain his balance, Razor dragged his claws on the track in a shower of sparks.

A knife pointed at Adem's chest. Four finger-spaced slashes marked his handiwork on Adem's body.

"I'll get the chain off--"

Adem didn't finish, Shark's head rammed him hard enough to throw him clear over Alita, and sliding down the tube.

She shook off the remaining chain and crouched, ready, with the Damascus Blade illuminated in plasma.

"What are you waiting for? Scared?" she demanded.

Both grinned at her, giving her a wide berth and casually rolling away.

They weren't targeting me, she realized, they were baiting Adem.

"Stop! Where are you going? Fight me!"

Her sword swung futilely at them, out of reach and slowly advancing on the unconscious cyborg ahead.

"Fuck!" she screamed, like a banshee, the slammed her blade on her elbow. It was a clean, unhesitating, cut.

Razor noticed her first, feeling his impending death, an instinct honed over years of knife fighting. He threw himself to the ground and scrambled away as the Damascus Blade flashed and sparked about him.

In spite of his desperation, he still lost a leg and a foot.

Shark grinned, opening his mouth to snap down on her.

Her severed arm flicked, blue cyborg blood splashed across his face. As he wiped his face in surprise, she slid on her knees between his legs, slashing a knee open on the way through.

"Don't approach her!" Razor yelled, staring at her savage expression. They wanted Adem, and she crouched protectively over him. Neither side could change the situation.

"Next race, he dies," Shark said.

The announcer declared team Quick Triplets the victor.

---

Alita and Adem hung in the repair assemblage like mutilated animals, facing each other with grim expressions. Sweat beaded and rolled off their faces and they gulped down deep breaths as if they were rescued from drowning.

Alita's injury was, ironically, the easier to deal with despite severing an arm. After a simple replacement at the shoulder, the machine freed her.

Adem was another story. Blue cyborg blood spilled from the slashes on his chest, dripped from between his knuckles and elbow seams, and red trickled from his mouth. When Coach popped open the chest plating, a mixture splattered on the floor.

She gasped, then matched eyes with Adem.

"Kid, go get a bag of blue and red from medical."

Her gaze fell to the floor, staring at the growing pool.

"He's fine. Kid, go."

The moment lingered before she tore her face away and stomped out.

Once he could no longer hear her, Coach said, "If you were your old self we would have won, and this would be over."

Alita had two red bags and as many blue bags in her arms as she could carry, and restraining her self from sprinting back.
Then she stopped, and the bags dropped with plopping noises.

"What," Alita whispered.

"Hello, Alita," Sarah said, flicking her blonde hair, "It's me, Sarah. You like my facelift?"

Somehow, Alita knew before Sarah opened her mouth. She was looking at her own face, an imitation worn like a mask, mocking her with disdain.

At some point, Alita realized she had grabbed Sarah by the neck, lifted her off her feet, and slammed her into the wall. Her hand, exploding with unmitigated plasma, would have speared her head and ended her right there if Shark wasn't there to hook his elbow into hers--

--and Shark was struggling to keep Sarah alive. Alita failed to notice him there at all, enraged to such a point by the insult.

"If you touch me," Sarah screamed, trying to push Alita away by the head and face, "I'll tell Razor to kill your father!"

"What did you do?" Alita screamed back, her hand shaking with more might and Shark slid and nearly lost his balance, "What did you do to my father!?"

"Nothing yet!" Sarah moaned, "But Razor is waiting for my check-in. I die, he dies!"

Alita could feel the strength waning in her arm, and Shark gave her a rough shove to the side. Her face turned numb, and hyperventilation overtook her lungs.

Alita's hand snapped to her temple.

Ido's connection kept returning a no-presence signal.

Sarah's arm rested on Alita's shoulders, whispering in her ear, "You see, I wanted to try out motorball, just like my big brother! It's so exciting, and I wanted to know that for myself."

After blowing on Alita's ear, which sent her skin crawling, Sarah walked to her other side. High heels clicked.

"You better pray," Alita could barely manage the words through clenched teeth, "That a bounty never comes down on your fucking head."

After giggling, Sarah said, "But, I don't like all these rules, and winning isn't that interesting. I want something else."

"What is it?"

"My brother, of course. You can win if you want. But, if you want to see Dr. Ido again, you need to give me my brother."

The no-presence signal persisted.