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Chapter Five: Tessa
Tessa stands at the edge of the ring, preparing for the next fight. She's set everything she needs on the chair in front of her in perfect precision. A thin veneer of order among the chaos around her. Reaching for the second wrap for her hands, she lets the wave of shouts and screams wash over her, reminding her of the truth that she’s learned over the years.
This is what she deserves.
She’s tried many times to make a living outside of the ring. She even tried to leave the station entirely but by the time she saved enough money the price was raised. It was always just out of reach. So she resigned herself to the basement where she was paid to lose.
Maybe if she tried she could win, even without TK. But that wasn't the point. The real money was in the charade.
The bell rings and Tessa turns to face her next opponent only to watch Voss’ new protégé, Ley, strut into the ring.
‘You have got to be kidding me,’ she groans. She looks to the referee as he closes the gate. ‘Come on, get her out of here.’ He shrugs and points to Voss who stands in the crowd and waves. Ley walks to the centre of the ring. ‘It’s not funny, kid, go home.’
Ley stops in the centre and steadies her feet on the ground before glaring up at Tessa. It would be intimidating if she wasn’t half her size.
‘Go. Home.’ Says Tessa, pointing at the door.
‘No,’ says Ley. ‘I paid to fight a loser.’ Tessa coughs out a laugh, she can see why Voss likes her but she wasn’t in the business of fighting children.
‘You don't want to do this. You can't use your head in here, that's the rules.’ The bell rings and Ley’s hand shoots out in front of her. Tessa can feel her power wrap around her legs like a vice before she drags her to the centre of the ring. With a flick of her wrist, she sweeps her feet from underneath her and Tessa hits the ground with a thud.
The crowd goes wild as Ley saunters up to her and peers down with a smirk.
‘I paid for an exception,’ says Ley.
Tessa can’t believe it. If she ever used her TK in a fight they hated it. But seeing her get thrown around like a doll made them happy. It suddenly dawned on her that they didn’t hate her using TK, they just hated her.
Ley starts to jog around the cage, soaking it all in. Tessa gets back on her feet, maybe she should join the fight - teach her a lesson. But she shoves the thought aside.
‘What do you want from this?’ She asks.
‘Pangere won’t sponsor me without you. So, two choices: train me or lose like a loser and then train me.’
‘I’m not going to fight you,’ says Tessa. Ley raises her hand, focusing on Tessa.
‘Last chance.’
‘No.’ Ley flips Tessa with a twitch of her hand to a roar of applause. Winded, Tessa forces herself to ignore them as she catches her breath and slowly gets back to her feet.
‘You don't know want to enter the Games - it's not a fair fight.’
‘I don't care.’ Ley moves her hand again and Tessa goes flying towards the cage wall. Whether it’s the thought of the wire cutting her skin or the look of pure ecstasy on the faces of the crowd, she decides she doesn’t want to lose anymore.
Tessa throws her shields up and stops herself from slamming against it. But Ley’s hold is too strong. She can’t force her to let go so she fights against Ley’s grip in the air, inches from the fence. By her very nature Ley was more powerful and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to get around that.
But this wasn’t her first fight.
She spies her chair at the edge of the ring and sends it flying at Ley, forcing her to swap her focus and stop it.
It works immediately and Ley drops Tessa, letting her fall to the ground.
‘This is over,’ she says, brushing the dust from her pants. She’s proven her point but Ley doesn’t give in. She lifts the chair back into the air and sends it flying towards Tessa. Tessa dives out of the way before rolling back to her feet.
‘You do realise that you only know one trick?’ She says.
‘Then train me!’ Ley moves the chair back into the air, aiming it straight for Tessa but she holds firm. She keeps Ley’s attention while she unbinds the cage wall behind her. The metal fence becomes loose strands of wire that whip out to Ley and catch her by the wrists and waist. She drops the chair as Tessa makes the wire’s grip tighten.
‘No,’ says Tessa before she closes her fist and the wire yanks her back to the wall catching her like a fly in a spider’s web. Ley struggles against her restraints but even with all her strength, she can’t get free.
‘That's not fair!’
‘No shit,’ says Tessa. A sharp whistle cuts through the air - Voss. She finds him in the crowd and he points to the ground next to Ley where she spies a piece of paper that’s fallen from her pocket. She picks up the note and reads Voss’ familiar scrawl: you'll get 10%.
10 percent - that would cover her ticket out of the station. She could buy the whole plane for that kind of money. She finds Voss again and he gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up.
‘I have to fight!’ shouts Ley, dragging Tessa’s attention back to her as she pulls against her restraints.
‘You can't even beat me,’ says Tessa. ‘What makes you think you can beat anyone at the stadium?’ But Ley can’t hear her. She’s turned her focus from the wall to the floor of the ring. Tessa’s trying to work out her play when she feels the floor begin to rumble. The crowd steps back, away from the ring that's moving in the ground.
She’s going to lift the ring.
‘Quit it, Kid, it's too much.’ But she doesn’t listen and Tessa is thrown off her feet as the ring dislodges from the ground and starts to lift into the air. The crowd is staring in horror at the movement but Tessa has her sights set on Ley. Her nose is bleeding as she pushes herself over the edge. If she keeps trying to move it, she’ll die.
‘Enough!’ Tessa sends the chair flying and hits Ley in the face knocking her out cold. The ring drops to the ground with a crash.
A foreign silence spreads throughout the basement before murmured questions start to chase it. How could she lift the ring like that? What else could she do? Suddenly she wasn’t just a little girl, she was a threat.
But Tessa was more concerned with why. What would force her to do that? She reads the note again: you’ll get 10%.
Was this really just about the money? She turns the note over and finds a prescription. Their first conversation comes roaring back to her. It wasn’t just more of Voss’ bullshit; her mum is sick. She’s not entering the games for nothing.
Voss pushes his way into the ring and rushes to check on Ley.
‘You could have told me,’ she says, waving the note in the air.
‘You could have listened,’ he says, checking Ley’s pulse. He picks her up and casually starts to carry her out of the ring. ‘Just like old times, aye?’ Tessa watches him leave the ring, dumbfounded. How was he always so calm? He calls over his shoulder:
‘Are you coming or not?’
She studies the note that he had left her to find. It was all a big manipulation. She knew that. But the money was real and Voss was now carrying her ticket out of the station. She knows she’s going to regret it but she makes her choice.
The great Tessa Kellar was going back to the Games.
