Stu walked out on the tracks; Proxy yelled at him, “Where’s your god, worshipper? I’m tired of waiting.”

  Stu stood to the side, taking his scratched gsses off and putting his phone down. He turned back to her approaching slowly as he said, “My name is Stu, of the house Chaos. I’m the one who does her killing. I’m here to fight you.” He felt the fear creep up on him, closing his eyes he thought of Miracle, his blood boiled, he opened his eyes.

  Proxy said, “Oh, I heard this might be true, but I’d have never believed it.. So, are you the one that scared Miracle or is that a lie?”

  Stu said, “Whatever you want to believe, but it’s best we don’t talk about her. She brings out the worst in me, and I can’t be compassionate if we discuss her.”

  Proxy ughed saying, “Well I thought it was too good to be true, it’s obvious that you are terrified of her or we could talk about her. You are just a little scared human, now go get your god so I can kill her. Or I’ll make you wish you had.”

  Another figure came from the shadows behind her, Stu’s rage ignited. It was Miracle… He yelled, “You bitch! Two on one huh? Then I don’t have to hold back…”

  Proxy and Miracle both stood there in front of Stu, and he was sanctioned for this. Little did he know this was his first crowd. There were many eyes on this fight today. The girls sat watching and silently cheering for him from the shadows. Marrow was with them, and he observed the difference, this was pure Statistics to him. His job was to gauge if it was contagious or not. What were the odds, that was his job. Tom assured him this would inform him, win or lose.

  The battle was about to commence, Stu was beyond angry, his hatred overflowed. Miracle.. She would die today! She was a personal score, he wanted to hurt her for the way she’d treated them, especially his friends. He’d rip her heart out with his teeth if he had to. The stare must have unnerved the gods; they didn’t charge him as he gred.

  Proxy asked, “What’s the matter human, getting cold feet?” Stu took off running at Miracle, the two gods rushed him. Proxy reached him first, taking a swing at his head, he dodged her and ran still for Miracle who was avoiding him now. He rushed her time and time again, but she stayed just out of reach. Proxy came at him from the side, and he dodged, throwing his knee into her chest. She gasped falling to her knees; Stu went after Miracle again, who was on the backfoot. He stopped, and so did Miracle. Proxy got to her feet and yelled, “Bastard! It’s my fight, focus on me!”

  Stu asked her, “What is the god of Proxy able to do? Maybe, make a proxy to fight with her.. Hmm..” he turned walking at Proxy, she was mad.

  Proxy said, “You have a lot of nerve, you lied about her. You have done something to Chaos.. You can’t be this strong as a human, what happened to your god? Why are you not weak? What’s going on here? You left me in the dust back there; you hit me once…”

  Stu stood a couple feet away. Coldly, he asked, “You’re rambling, what’s the matter? Are you like Miracle? Are you scared? Should we talk about Miracle some more?” He rushed her, she turned to run, he grabbed her by the hair, throwing her on her back. The railroad track rang like a bell from the impact.

  Stu looked down at her as she yelled, “There’s just no way.. You cannot be the human that worships Chaos.. Where’s the judge? I demand to see the judge!”

  Marrow said, “Yes?” appearing out of nowhere.

  Proxy got to her feet shaking and asking, “What is this? This is a human, with chaos? This right here, this is human?!?” She pointed to Stu.

  Stu asked, “Can I kill her now, I was almost finished.” For a moment he thought he heard Prosperity saying, “Hot!” But that couldn’t be right..

  Marrow sat for a second, he said, “This is the blue blood of the house of Chaos as he is fond of saying. So yes. Any more questions? Should we continue?”

  Stu looked at Proxy she backed up saying, “Alright, no more Ms. Nice God.”

  He asked, “Would you like to continue our talk about Miracle?” He stared at Proxy who stuttered, “N-no. let’s try without that.”

  Marrow said, “Alright, time in.” He was gone.

  Stu said, “Too bad, the tap is turned on, and I feel like sharing the thoughts that are killing me, maybe they will kill you too.”

  Proxy was stepping back slowly, “What is this? Is this a set up?”

  Stu could see the fear collecting on her skin, this god was terrified of the situation, terrified of him. He liked it, saying “Miracle thought she could threaten my friends, my gods. You thought you could just kill my god without seeing her worshipper protect her. I guess things got too real for you Proxy. You look like a God, but you smell like a terrified human.” He could tell she was thinking about running away. Time to go dark.. He smiled at her, “Don’t do it. If you run, you’re only going to die tired.”

  Proxy screamed at him, “You think I’m scared of you? I’ll kill you, you, you monster! You won’t scare me into surrender like you did the other god, I’m no one’s sve or prisoner! I’m a God!” Suddenly, there were three versions of her, as she charged Stu.

  He yelled, “Finally! Let’s py!” Rushing each other Stu focused on his hatred of Miracle, the torture they suffered daily in this tournament, the lost lives he’d taken. The thing is, they were not going to take his God from him, neither of them, not if they wanted to be with him. He felt it, a switch inside him flipped and he knew..

  Proxy in triplicate rushed him, to his surprise these were tangible. Sensing it before he made contact, the first reached him and he pulled both daggers, cutting right through her. She fell to her knees and disappeared. The other two looked at him hesitating. She yelled, “How do you have two daggers?” Stu didn’t stop though, he went straight for the next Proxy, she tried to fight.

  The second Proxy rushed him also; she reached him and grabbed both daggers by the bdes. He tried to break her grip on them, but he couldn’t get her to let go, no matter how much blood poured from her hands. The first proxy came at him from behind, kicking him into the second. They proceeded to knock Stu back and forth, finally throwing him into a freight car. The wood and steel exploded outward from the impact. Pushing a piece of steel off of himself, he got back to his feet saying, “Alright, you got a punch in. Nice moves, you even took my daggers. I was hoping we would actually get to fight, it’s no fun beating up girls..”

  Proxy yelled, “I’m not a girl, I’m a god and I’m…”

  Stu cut her off saying, “Yeah, yeah, you’re older than me. Trust me, I get lectured all the time about it.” He took a defensive stance in preparation.

  Proxy was at a loss, she had never seen a human like this. This couldn’t be human. She may be one of the younger Gods, but she knew what to expect from humans, from blue bloods, and this was wrong. She had heard the rumors sure, but those were rumors to scare fighters. This thing in front of her was not human, she was sure of this. It wasn’t a god or a blue blood. She thought, Marrow you bastard, you did this… that answer earlier was nothing but carefully chosen words. She knew now this was a trap, not for him, but it was for her. She said, “I don’t know what you are, but I know you don’t belong in the tournament! I’ll drive both of your daggers through your heart!”

  Proxy rushed at him, she hit him harder than before, he was surprised. He used his strength to slow the push driving him back. Maintaining his footing, he pushed back on her strike, the motion slowed to a stop. He swung on her and she disappeared. He stopped, looking around, had she run? Where is the other Proxy? The silence was eerie, so much noise and now the quiet reminded him. Remembering Silence, he stopped and stood in the middle of the tracks unmoving. He didn’t want to do this anymore.

  A noise caught his ear; he looked towards a set of railcars. Walking toward them he could hear the shuffling inside. Rolling the door open, he froze because there were two kids hiding inside. He’d expected Proxy. Was it her? Could she do something like this? Should he attack? What the fuck was this? The kids both looked at him terrified. He asked, “What are you doing?”

  The little boy stepped in front of the girl saying, “Stay back. You won’t hurt my sister! We saw you beat up that dy, we heard her say you’re a monster, stay back!” The kid was crying as he screamed at Stu.

  Stu yelled, “Marrow! Get your ass out here now!”

  Marrow was in the car immediately saying, “Yes?”

  He pointed at the kids asking, “What is this? There are kids in this car, they shouldn’t be here. They could get hurt! Who’s brilliant fu…” Stu looked at the kids, then said, “Who’s brilliant idea was it to not clear the pce before the fight?”

  Marrow said, “Rule three, remember?”

  Stu said, “Yep, and I don’t care anymore. I’m taking these kids home. The fight is over, just call it a tie or something. I really don’t care.. Thees kids had a long night and are going to need therapy for a long time. I’m done.. Proxy doesn’t want to fight anymore either. Right Proxy?”

  Only silence followed. Marrow said, “I think he knows you’re up there. Might as well come down.” Marrow looked up, Proxy had shoved herself between the ceiling and a crate in the railcar.

  She came down slowly running behind Marrow. Proxy said, “You lied Marrow. That’s against the rules! This thing isn’t human!” She was visibly shaken.

  Marrow said, “I didn’t lie, He is exactly what I said, now wait for me outside.”

  Stu said, “I’d like my daggers back too.”

  Proxy yelled, “I’m not giving these back! You’re going to kill me!”

  Marrow didn’t look at her saying, “Give them back now and wait for me outside. This fight is over.” She id the daggers on the floor before running out of the train car.

  Stu looked at the kids asking, “Are they real?”

  Marrow said, “As real as you or I. The thought hadn’t crossed my mind that children would interfere here.. Let alone that it would stop a fight.”

  The little boy was still scared but protecting his sister. The little girl peaked over his shoulder and asked, “Mr. Monster? Why does your kitty talk? Is it a monster kitty or is it a good kitty?”

  Her little brother yelled at her, “Don’t talk to them!”

  Stu looked at Marrow and gave him a subtle gesture, trying to get him to reassure the children. Marrow sighed and said, “I’m a.. good… Kitty…” That sentence hurt his pride as he walked over to her. She slowly reached over, petting him. The boy reluctantly pet the cat too, but not as much as the little girl. He was wary of Stu.

  Marrow sat next to Stu after, with his hair messed up. The kids let their guards down slightly. He said, “Stu, you know that other Gods won’t care about kids in the arena. If proxy hadn’t been a fair match, then you may have had to decide whether you or the kids lived. There wouldn’t have been any third option.”

  Stu grinned. “Yeah, I know cat but let me tell you this much.. Today, there was a third option, and I’m taking it.”

  The cat said, “I’m not a cat, I’m a…”

  “Yeah, yeah.. a judge, older than me, not this, we’re that… I get all the lectures.” He said looking at the kids again. They were talking amongst each other like they saw an action movie today. He couldn’t believe he doubted their humanity, what was happening..? He asked, “Something is happening to me. The more I fight, the more I feel like I change into… something else… Do you know what it is? Would you tell me, if you did know? Why am I suddenly doubting my own humanity?”

  Marrow looked at him saying, “You’ve met the criteria for rule 19 to be unredacted today. This is a big deal in the tournament. Guard your unlocked rules from others or they may use the knowledge against you.”

  Stu sighed, there were never any easy answers in this tournament. He looked at the boy, “Were you scared today?”.

  The boy must’ve been about nine, he looked at Stu and said, “Yeah, were you?”

  Stu smiled and said, “Not until I saw you.”

  The boy smiled wide and asked, “Really?”

  A tear fell down Stu’s face as he said, “Yes, really. You terrified me.”

  The battle at Oleman Railyard has come to an end. Final report - Death toll: 0 - Gods involved: Chaos vs Proxy – Victor: Tie – Projected winner under normal conditions: N/A - Report filed in: Godly Sea Food District - Battlefield notes: No major damage, minor cleanup; Recommendations passed on to GSFD Rep. Marrow; New supervision Request Proxy– No Dispatch: Code Midas – Situation Perfect: See Code Midas– End Report.

  Code Midas

  (a) Resulted battle was almost perfect match.

  (b) No major uncontainable events occurred.

  (c) Reduction of Resources in local area do to over estimation of containment procedures.