Bāyuè 4th 250X Cont.

That afternoon, after having returned to the Vostoko residences, both Prasong and JJ were called out of their training sessions by Dane and sent to Bobik's office.

Prasong figured that the gang boss wanted to give them further information about the upcoming fights. Hopefully they would find out the names of their opponents so they would at least know what they were up against.

Prasong was wearing only a thin work-out black vest and shivered miserably as they exited the hot sweaty air of the gym to walk down the chilly narrow corridors towards the central office. One of the main doors was open somewhere, letting in freezing gusts of Polis air.

“Hey,” JJ nudged his shoulder softly, “take my zip up.”

Prasong nodded gratefully as the larger boy shucked off the garment and draped it across Prasong’s shoulders. The fabric still retained the warmth of JJ’s body and Prasong shrunk back into its enveloping folds.

They reached the door to Bobik's room where the hook-nosed attendant told JJ to go in first. JJ grabbed the rag Prasong was holding and wiped it over his honeyed skin before winking at the smaller boy and pushing through the door.

Prasong sighed and leaned back up against the tiled wall, hissing as his wet skin stuck uncomfortably to the cold ceramic. The door attendant eyed Prasong nervously, his long fingers twitching by his sides.

Prasong huffed and closed his eyes as he rested his head back. Being with the freaks and misfits of the Circus for so long, he'd almost forgotten how most people reacted around helixed.

Prasong didn't really see what all the fuss was about to be honest. He could understand that it may well be wise to exercise caution around some helixed - the ones with two rings or more perhaps. Most of those however, were locked up in asylums or hidden away somewhere by their families.

Prasong on the other hand, didn't feel much different from any other citizen of the Polis. As JJ had pointed out - he had faster reflexes and accelerated healing, but it wasn't like he couldn't be overpowered by someone with the same speed and an effective right hook.

The door clicked open beside him and Prasong looked up to see JJ exiting the office.

"Well?" he asked tentatively.

"Someone called Pax from the Uri gang," JJ shrugged, "hopefully won't be too bad. He says you can go in now."

Prasong chewed on his already bleeding lip as he walked past JJ and into the dimly lit room.

"Little Doll!" Bobik announced with a toothy smile as he turned around from his drinks cabinet. "Training hard I see?"

Prasong forced a smile and bowed respectfully to the gang boss. "Well I'm sure we'll all see the fruits of your labours tomorrow at the fight eh? Let's hope you're not a rotten little sugarplum!" Bobik let out a snuffling laugh.

"Who will I be fighting?" Prasong asked quickly before the gang boss had a chance to regain his breath. Bobik fell quiet as he scratched at his chin thoughtfully.

Finally, he sighed and sat back in his chair, staring up at Prasong. Bobik's eyes trailed down the boy’s sweat shined chest before he smacked his lips. "You are a curious little creature aren't you?" he said, reaching for his drinking glass and noisily gulping down what smelled like fermented wine.

Bobik glanced back up and sighed, "I'm a businessman Little Doll. I make certain deals, certain promises - we call them fight obligations. There's a fighter called Jon belonging to the Beni gang. Well I've obligated myself to put him up against a half decent fighter tomorrow. Thing is, all my other fighters are already fixed up, published programme and all that. So you're it."

Prasong swallowed hard, absolutely none of that sounded good.

"I'd put JJ up against him but Dane says you're performing better in practice. I don't want to lose either of you, especially not you Little Doll - the Ringmaster will have my head. But a deal's a deal and you know what it's like in our business," Bobik shrugged.

"Is he another rookie?" Prasong asked, hoping that the situation would present itself with at least one saving grace.

"Been on the scene eighteen months now," Bobik replied without missing a beat, "made quite a name for himself it would seem. Brutal little creature by all accounts. Dane will go through his fighting techniques with you for the rest of the afternoon."

"Are you kidding me?" Prasong muttered under his breath as Bobik turned for another drink.

Prasong blinked down at the table top, a white haired Zia-li alien stared back at him from the front of a recent newspaper. It looked like someone had begun to neatly rip the picture out in order to keep it.

Prasong tore his eyes away from the exotic alien and let them bore into the back of Bobik's head instead. So he guessed Tris had been wrong about being fixed with someone 'easy' for his first fight. Prasong wondered what the hell Bobik was playing at? Whether the Ringmaster would be angry?

"Is the Ringmaster coming tomorrow?" he asked as Bobik bent down with apparent difficulty to retrieve a box of what looked like salted candy from his cupboards.

"Oh yes!" Bobik exclaimed. "You know he wouldn't miss a performance of yours - whether it's the Circus ring or the fighting ring, he does love to watch."

"And he is aware of my opponent's stats?" Prasong asked, a nervous prickling sensation creeping up the back of his neck.

"Your employer knew the risks when he sent you to be trained," Bobik replied curtly. "Everyone knows the average life-span in the fighting circuits," he added, turning back to Prasong with one eyebrow cocked, "but you're not just any fighter Little Doll, you're a helixed. I'm putting my money on you, and so is the Ringmaster."

Prasong bit at the inside of his cheek as Bobik gave him an assessing look, "To be honest the Ringmaster’s pretty fiscally invested in both of the fights, yours and the other pretty boy's out there. He's clearly got more faith in your abilities than you do!"

Bobik snorted again before slumping back into the chair, metal legs scraping harshly on the bare concrete floor. "You do well in this fight Little Doll, you at least keep your head above water - we'll make sure you get rewarded. I'll take you out - buy you something nice. You look like a boy who likes pretty trinkets."

Prasong nodded, plastering on a tight smile before bowing out of the room.

"Who did you get?" Tris called out as Prasong re-entered the training gym. JJ was already back up in the ring sparring with Cami.

"Jon from the Beni gang," Prasong answered, crossing the room and nodding at the other two.

"Ah," Tris replied with a whistling sound that seemed to cement Prasong's worst fears. "I'll train with you for the rest of today," he added, stilling the taupe grey punching bag in front of him, dirty sand spilling out from the holes in the bottom.

"Thanks," Prasong smiled grimly as he heard Dane come back in through the metal sliding doors on the far side of the gym.

"JJ! Keep your damn hands up and stop getting distracted!" Dane snapped at the two fighters in the ring before turning to Prasong, "Little Doll - I hear you've got a big fight lined up for tomorrow." He huffed out a grim sounding laugh before gesturing, "Time to show me that super-healing skill of yours."

Prasong groaned and wondered if it should worry him that that's what their trainer wanted him to work on.

Dane stopped for a moment by the ropes, sighing and leaning back against the elevated base of the ring. "Jon's a notoriously quick fighter, may even be able to rival you in terms of speed. But he never knows when to attack and when to wait. You can use that against him, your sense of timing is more instinctive than his."

Prasong took a deep breath, "The Ringmaster and Bobik are betting on me."

Dane narrowed his eyes and studied Prasong for a moment before nodding sharply, "Better make sure you win then."