They made her take off the exoskeleton before entering the medical wing. After cursing and swearing her way through the tedious process, Codi burst into the room and sent the door banging open like a thunderclap. All eyes in the room swivelled towards her. A woman wearing a set of tight grey overalls emblazoned with a red cross on one shoulder approached.

“Can I help you, miss?” asked the nurse.

“Kye,” she blurted out before she could gather herself. “Kye Recktor, he was fighting the quarter finals. I want to see him!”

The woman regarded her irritably. “He was brought in fifteen minutes ago, and he’s in no state to see anyone. He took a pounding in that fight and needs time to rest.”

Codi’s eyes widened. “Please, I just-,”

“And you are?”

“I’m his friend.”

“He shouldn’t have any visitors right now.” Seeing the anguish on her face, however, the nurse relented slightly. “If you follow me you can wait outside until I say he can be seen. Good enough?”

“I suppose it’ll have to be,” Codi snapped. She bit her lip and the nurse let her squirm for a few seconds before turning and leading her through the medical centre. She spotted a couple of fighters from previous rounds, most of them only sporting minor injuries. One girl’s wrist was in a cast; a boy faced one of the doctors performing circular motions with his right arm. No sign of Kye though.

Then they passed through a pair of automatic sliding doors into a smaller ward filled with maybe twelve beds. One had a fighter lying on it, his leg in a sling while he conversed jokily with another individual wearing the same team tracksuit. A second set of doors waited at the far end.

“Stay here until I call you,” the nurse ordered. Reluctantly, Codi came to a halt at the doors, drumming her fingers against her sweat-soaked leggings as she waited. For what seemed like an age she paced back and forth, worry and anxiousness gnawing at her for every second of that time. Along with her anxiety came more anger. She new damn well that Varlin had set out to make a point in the fight with Kye.

At last the nurse returned. She nodded once. “He’s awake, but he shouldn’t exert himself too much. I understand that you’re worried, but take it easy.”

Without response, Codi stepped past her, through the double doors and into the ward beyond. Only four beds were present, and only one of them had an occupant. Upon seeing Kye she clapped a hand over her mouth in shock. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it hadn’t been this.

He lay propped up on the bed, a massive black eye scarring his carefree features. His upper body was swathed in bandages from chest to waist and she could see the skeletal frame of a setter locked around his entire ribcage. One arm lay elevated in a sling, encased completely in a cast, and his neck had a brace running up and down either side. Another cast covered his lower right leg and she could see fresh cuts and bruises all over him.

Upon seeing her, Kye cracked a crooked smile. “Hey, hey.”

The words came out in a pained wheeze. Codi tried to smile back as she pulled over a chair, but she just couldn’t force the fake gesture. Instead she fought down the lump in her throat and took hold of his uninjured hand.

“God…Kye-”

“Bah, you should see the other guy.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I just went nine rounds inside a tumble dryer full of bricks,” he chuckled, wincing at the pain it caused. “But I’ll live. How’d you do?”

Codi shook her head in amazement at her friend’s attitude. “Well I won.”

“Knew you could do it.” He squeezed her hand weakly. “You don’t look too worse for wear either.”

“It was a close run thing,” she replied. In the moment of silence that followed she couldn’t help running her eyes over his shattered body. Seeing her examination, Kye laughed.

“Yep, Bruno did a real number on me. Seven broken ribs, a punctured lung; broke my arm in two places, my leg in three, and he sprained my neck. Oh, and this beautiful little piece of makeup.” He made an effort to turn his head toward her. “What do you think? Still got my good looks?”

Codi couldn’t stifle a laugh. “Yeah, you’re doing alright.”

“Glad to hear it.” He tried to shift into a more comfortable position on the bed but a groan slipped out she saw his irrepressible features go tight with pain.

“That psychopath is going to get his lumps for this.”

“Oh, don’t take it so personally,” Kye muttered. “We fought, he won.”

“Are you going to lie there and tell me this is normal?!” she exploded. “No offence, but he could have won without putting you in intensive care. He’s made it personal, not me. He’s insane.”

“Maybe, but he’s also the best fighter there is.”

“I don’t care,” Codi hissed. “I’m going to knock that smug bastard off his pedestal if it kills me.”

Kye looked at her. His voice seemed dazed and far away. “You know, you’re really beautiful when you’re angry.”

The abruptness of the remark took her completely off guard. “What?”

“I don’t know what it is, you just kind of glow.”

“Are you drunk?”

“Well, I’m on a fairly impressive spread of drugs,” he returned. “But no, I’m not drunk.”

Codi’s mind went utterly blank and she could only stare at the battered face of her friend. Beauty was not a word she associated with her life, ever. She pulled a loop of hair back behind her ear and her eyes went awkwardly downcast.

“You’re not one for taking compliments, are you?” Kye observed.

“I’m not beautiful.”

“Sure you are.”

“Stop it.”

He cocked an eyebrow and shrugged, or at least he tried to. “Sorry I said anything.” The hurt in his voice hit Codi like an anvil and she cursed inwardly at her own volatile nature. She made herself look at him again and tightened her grip on his hand. Eventually she stood up, leaned over and kissed him on the lips.

Codi moved gently, closing her eyes and being careful not to press too hard against Kye’s bruised features. She felt him flinch for an instant, before he relaxed and his fingers found some strength. He squeezed her hand. Her mind emptied for those few seconds, a blissful melting away of the blanket of reality.

But when she pulled away, opened her eyes, and saw Kye’s battered face the real world came crashing back down in a haze of fury. Codi let go of his hand and took a deep breath.

“Codi-,”

“I’m not beautiful,” she interrupted. “But thanks for saying it.”

Kye shook his head with a smile. “Don’t go doing anything stupid.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Codi stood and made for the door. She paused to glance back over one shoulder. “I’ll say ‘hi’ to Bruno for you.” With that she stalked from the room, shoulders square, fists balled tightly at her sides. Everything about the tournament faded, replaced by the smug image of Bruno Varlin’s face, the fighter who everyone feared and hated in equal measure. For her, the events of the quarter final had given hatred a sizable advantage.

Heads turned as she stormed back through the medical wing with pure, unfiltered rage stamped on her features for all to see. If she ran into Varlin right now then to hell with the tournament; she’d kill him there and then. She gathered up her exoskeleton on the way out the door, thundered up to her room to dump it there, before making her way back to the fighter’s lobby to watch Max’s progress. Through every corridor she watched for Varlin, but the Battlecast fighter was nowhere to be seen.

She made it back down in time to find Max limping from the arena, leaning heavily on Lita’s shoulder with Vasco close behind. Codi didn’t know whether he’d won or lost, but right now she didn’t care. Striding over she grabbed Vasco by his arm.

“We need to talk.”

“Not right now,” he snapped.

“Look, that psychotic son of a-,”

Vasco yanked his arm free and grabbed her by her top. Glancing back at Max he nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute, kid.” Then he dragged Codi bodily out into the corridor, away from the other fighters and the reporters. Once there he shoved her into the wall and slapped her across the face.

The stinging blow scattered Codi’s thoughts. She put a hand to her jaw in amazement, staring at Vasco. He trembled with barely suppressed anger. Releasing his hold on her tank-top, he took a shuddering breath and glared at her with more ferocity than she thought possible.

“You selfish little brat,” he snarled. “Just because you made it through your quarter final doesn’t mean everything is suddenly about you. So your boyfriend got dinged up pretty bad: suck it up. This is a combat tournament.” Vasco pointed back the way they’d come. “You think Max didn’t try just as hard as you? That kid just fought his heart out. And he lost. Frankly, you ought to care more about him than your new crush.” His voice dropped to a dangerously low pitch. “Do you even give a damn? Because Max was cheering you on for every second of your fight.”

By the time Codi managed to process what Vasco had said, he was stomping back off down the corridor towards the medical wing. She slumped back against the wall, the shock of her coach’s reaction still sinking in. Then she felt the surge of shame and closed her eyes for a moment in silent admission. Frankly, she could have laughed at the absurdity of it all. Some things never changed. Once again her firecracker temper had made her alienate those close to her and land her in more trouble than she stared with.

Exhaling a calming breath, she followed Vasco’s path back to the medical wing. She slipped in quietly this time and saw Max getting levered into position on one of the beds, his lower right leg encased in a setter with Lita and Vasco by his side. She crossed the room towards them, lips pressed tightly together as she walked.

Max spotted her first and he cracked a smile. “Hi.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to-,”

“I know.”

Vasco looked at her. His face was still stamped with annoyance but he gave her a nod of acceptance. “Feeling better?”

“Not really.”

“No hard feeling about that crack I gave you?”

Codi shook her head. “I earned it.”

That got a smile from the old fighter. “Then forget it and move on.”

She looked to Max. “Sounds like I missed a serious scrap.”

“It was closer than I thought it’d be,” her team mate replied ruefully. “But big Dustin’s no slouch. It was all going okay until he cracked my tibia.”

“Ouch.”

“That’s one word for it,” he laughed. “Though you’ve been doing some damage of your own.”

Following his pointing finger to the far corner of the room, she saw Ripple seated on one of the beds, a nurse attending studiously to her bloodied forehead. However, it wasn’t the other girl that filled Codi with surprise. Standing beside her, arms folded as he watched the proceedings, was Bruno Varlin. Though she couldn’t hear them, she could see the pair exchanging words as the nurse worked. Then Varlin glanced across at her. It was a look that said: you’ll get yours. The shame swelled again when she realised that even Varlin was supporting his team mates more than she was.

A tap on the shoulder pulled her gaze away and back to Vasco.

“Listen, I know you’re angry,” he began. “And you’ve got every right. I’m behind you every step of the way, but keep that anger and use it where you’ll need it.” Pausing, he clapped Max on the shoulder. “You alright, kid?”

“I’ll be fine,” he answered, nodding.

“Go do what you’ve got to do,” Lita interjected. “I’ll stay with him.”

“Right then,” Vasco declared, turning back to Codi. “Then you come with me. We’ve got some training to do. I’ve about had enough of that arrogant little scud. It’s time somebody knocked him off his pedestal.”