CHAPTER 76: HADES’S FIRST FIGHT.

Hades Quinn was not sure if he could call himself human anymore. He had one robot leg, it made him half man, quarter machine. Sometimes, when he felt the cybernetic limb and when it spoke to him, he thought he was dreaming. And sometimes, he wondered what had happened to his real leg.

Had Sunshine cut it off with a sow. Had she smashed it to smithereens with he gigantic hammer? Where was she keeping the limb? Did he even want to know?

Thirty people, including the first lady and her children were let out.

They waited, the rain sinking into the flesh of those that had been let out. Soon, they began to show signs of insanity and some killed themselves or each other.

And he thought about the little kiss on his cheek. The cold feeling was gone, but while it lasted it had been like an imprint of her lips on his cheek.

If they were in a car and it broke down, he was more likely to play the role of the beauty standing by while she was the heroic one fixing the tire. It was odd, but it was her and it was part of her charm. The image made him smile, and it blessed his heart with unexpected flutters.

Jerking away, Ceaser’s face expressed disgust. "First of all, I am the only president here and secondly I know what I am doing."

"Bring it on." He answered.

Jo-Stride groaned in frustration.

The fight was to be a bare knuckle fight in a ring of dust. No rules. No protection. Anything went. The two men circled each other and a whistle blew.

Luckily, no one had a broken limb.

****

Whistles blew, many of them and Hades was distracted. He run towards the soldiers that were waving at him, inviting him over.

"Tch!" Hades responded as he got to his feet again. A robot leg that gave dating advise, how funny!! Sometimes he wondered where Sunshine had scavenged the parts from or who had programmed it. It was probably his wife, the woman was a genius at all things mechanics.

"What the hell." Major Elio shoved someone aside. Where was gravity in this fight?

"Amazing! Ha-ha" Ceaser gave a theatrical hand clap, he had been truly entertained. "Lugard, collect samples of this rain. It is a weapon of war and we are at war."

Major Elio smiled like a wolf as he witnessed Hades panting. "Son, would you like to participate in another challenge?"

O’Toole and Elio were like best buddies.

Hades laughed. "I am running, cool your jets."

Hades hissed. "Stop it." The robot leg had taken control of his body. This was not fighting, it was cheating.

He did not mean it literally, the robot leg was actually flaring up below, preparing to launch him into the sky like a rocket.

"I was programmed for motivation, I cannot shut up." Jo-Stride answered. "I am advising you on how best to deal with the unruly hormones in your body that are conflicting with your training. Cold showers..."

It was puzzling because the man had killed Andrew Bell for protesting against him. Perhaps Ceaser’s sanity had returned they thought but, they were wrong.

If you challenged him to a fight, it had to be a fair fight and you had to fight him at your own risk because if he went home with a bruise, his wife took revenge.

"Ha-ha, I love dirty combat." Jo-Stride laughed.

Sergent Major O’Toole volunteered to be the challenger. He was a tall man, masculine in build like a pro-wrestler. O’Toole trained soldiers for a living and it was said, he ate them for breakfast.

Hades groaned in frustration.

"Tighten quads, loosen ankles, your legs are your greatest strength. You have a 21% chance of winning the fight."

After Ceaser was informed that there was a strange yellow rain falling from the sky, he wanted to know what happened when it fell on the human flesh. So, he pretended that he was freeing those against his ideas but in actual sense he wanted guinea pigs to use as experiments.

O’Toole lunged again, Jo-Stride hummed, spikes sharpened out of the sole of the robot leg digging into the soil for traction. When O’Toole’s fist was about to land on Hades’s chest, his body suddenly inclined downwards and the robot leg did a spin with the force of a battering ram. It caught O’Toole in the ribs and the larger man cried out.

The soldiers that had come out for a run at six in the morning gave up. They could not keep up with him, he was leaving them in the dust.

It meant he was a trainer from hell. O’Toole believed that pain made men. Not just any pain but training which they endured to become skilled soldiers that made the nation proud. So he was known for pushing the limits.

He tripped over something and fell down, breathing in some dirt.

When it ended, Hades had two black eyes, a busted lip and many bruised ribs. His opponents were also in pain, Jo-Stride had proven his might.

Hades knew that he was out of his league so he followed the advise Jo-Stride gave him.

Those questions plagued him in quiet moments and they did so at this very moment as he raced around the dirt field which was used for training. He thought about his wife’s awakening. Would it change things between them now?

Hades’s eyes widened. It was no longer a fair fight, it was a dirty gang fight. Fists flew, eyes narrowed, blood was drawn.

Hades almost surrendered when he heard the odds.

O’Toole lunged at him and everything that Jo-Stride had said went out of the window. Fists met and Hades went flying. His jaw was screaming.

"Who here is confident about beating him in a fight?" Major asked the men.

A lot of hands went up. They were determined to crush the billionaire that had spent his life behind the desk while they trained and fought daily.

That went out of the window when he returned home and met Sunshine. As soon as she set her eyes on him, she marched out of the house, went down to the field and handled business.

Meanwhile the people locked away in the presidential bunker felt like it had changed from a sanctuary to a prison. All those that were not in support of Ceaser’s new administration were given a free pass to leave.

When she returned ten minutes and sat down for breakfast, a message was spreading on the base. Hades Quinn had a fierce mommy and he was a tattletale!!

Jo-Stride’s jets kept him from falling. He hovered above the ground and did a backflip, landing on his feet.

Hades picked up his speed. "And I suggest shutting up."

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He picked up speed, running as if the wind was his very opponent. This was the best way to shut the leg up.

"Hades," Jo-Stride buzzed, "you have been slow this morning. I thought that we were making progress. You are thinking about your wife again. Repeat after me, women will only slow down my speed."

By nine, his breath curved paths in the air. He had provided more liquid for the ground in the base that the rain had done since the bubble went up. His sprints were faster and harder, he was cutting through the field like thunder.

Major Elio was nursing bruises and sulking. How could they claim fair fight when Hades Quinn had a freakishly abnormal leg? They were the ones at a disadvantage. But he was not giving up. He would beat Mr. freakish leg and his freakishly strong wife in a fight someday.

Gillian Walker, the chief of stuff moved to stand closer to Ceaser. "Are you really going to let them just walk out of here? What if they implicate us in president Finch’s shooting and tell the world we are holding him hostage?" He whispered into Ceaser’s ear.

"You, you, you. Move in." Major Elio commanded three soldiers.

Hades knew the soldiers followed his commands because he was an owner of the base but they did not respect him as they did the major or other commanding officers on the base. They even respected Sunshine more than him. Respect was earned and she had earned hers. Him, not yet.

"I suggest a cold shower and a sprint up the mountains." Jo-Stride said.

When he looked back at those watching the fate of the ones that had left. He saw fear in their eyes. Like docile sheep, they would be obedient from now on or meet a cruel fate. Wasn’t the acid rain reportedly coming? Which one of them would be his next test subject?