Sami squared his shoulders and looked between the two fighters approaching him. There was a definite reluctance to their movements, but they closed in nonetheless. The ring was a good thirty foot diameter, giving him plenty of room to run, but the cage loomed over him and his opponents.

  “Guys,” Sami tried to appeal to them again. “Drop the fight and we can work together to get out. Let me know your powers and we’ll work together from there, I promise.”

  A slight hesitation in their step, but they continued to move forward. Sami frowned deeply. Almost in anguish, one put his hand up to his head and plucked a hair clean off. Whipping it out, the strand of hair stretched out and snapped firm into a pole three feet long. The other held out his hands and clapped a few times.

  Blinking, Sami almost didn’t believe what he heard. The other fighter had just clapped four times, mimicking the “nice to meet you” communication that Sami had provided when in the prison area. Clearly a signal, but what did it mean? Their mouths were free, but they couldn’t talk?

  Suddenly, the pole of hair spun out and went straight for Sami’s neck. Leaning back, Sami sent one Shadow Hand to deflect the blow and another to the base to wrench it away from its user. Caught off guard, the fighter lost his weapon quickly and Sami snapped his phantom hand back, only for the weapon to wither away into a strand of hair by the time it reached him. A weapon only useful to its maker. If the power wasn’t being used against him, it’d be really cool.

  Already, another hand was going for his hair, so Sami slapped it away with a Shadow Hand and charged in. Baring his shoulder, Sami bashed against the fighter and tossed him to the ground to the delight of the crowd. The second fighter zipped in close, clocking Sami in the face and kicking a leg out to shove him to the ground. It was so fast, Sami couldn’t even read his movement.

  Then the fighter slid back and assisted his ally off the floor. Literally slid. As in, his feet never moved, his body just moved like it was a broken asset in a video game. Sami almost got vertigo watching him operate without movement. Another super cool power being placed behind a cage for a fight for maniacs.

  Two Shadow Hands under his arms, Sami pulled himself back to his feet and tried to read his enemies. Still their eyes were downtrodden, ashamed of everything they’d done so far. Anguished to be there. Exactly like what Sami would expect of people who would stop fighting. Maybe he should have stopped discounting the fact that they must have been terrified. When it was life for a life, people would kill even if ashamed to do it. But then why the clapping? There was something more to it.

  “All right, one clap yes, two claps no. Do you actually wanna fight me?”

  To his surprise, both fighters clapped twice. The answer drove him crazier than he expected. If they were so keen to avoid a fight, then just stop fighting! But the fact neither spoke was alarming.

  “You guys mute, or something stopping you from being able to talk?”

  They looked at one another, nervously.

  “Oh, duh, that wasn’t a yes or no question.”

  “Get back to fighting!” Cassandra snapped.

  Immediately, the two rushed in. One sliding and the other with a newly plucked hair. Sami didn’t back down, stepping forward and holding up four hands. His real hand rose to brace against the hit from Slider, bearing the brunt of the force while his Shadow Hand jabbed out right into his ribs, causing him to lose balance and slide into the fence.

  The second brought the pole down with blazing speed, cracking against Sami’s Shadow Hand and breaking the limb apart in a clean smack. Sami used his corporeal hand to swipe him across the jaw, then sent his Second Shadow Hand right into his face, pushing him into the ground while a new Shadow Hand quickly formed.

  Spinning his stance to make sure he always had sight of all fighters this time, Sami’s brain fired on all cylinders as he tried to think and fight simultaneously. His opponents could have been great fighters, but it seemed like they were either fresh to fighting or holding back. On top of that, they didn’t want to be fighting to begin with.

  An obvious conclusion was fear, but the more compelling one was coercion. Maybe the Fight Nights organizers had their family hostage, and that’s why everyone stayed quiet except for Sami. He had nothing to lose, where none of them risked saying the wrong thing. So, even clapping to communicate was a risky act.

  Hair Striker got back to his feet as Slider zoomed forward in a blur. Whipping a Shadow Hand out at an angle impossible for a human hand, he clotheslined Slider, spinning him in a painful flip before he smacked against the ground to the joy of the audience. Sami winced.

  “Sorry! I’m still trying to figure this out!”

  Hair Striker clapped his hands three times in acknowledgement, then pulled another hair and threw a solid black spear at him. Sami leaned back just in time for it to whoosh over him and pass through the fence. The audience screamed until the moment where the kidnapper with the umbrella shield power protected them at the last second. So the hair power could maintain its form if the user wanted it to? Even cooler.

  Wiping a pool of sweat from his forehead, Sami breathed hard through cracked, dry lips. He should have requested some water from his captors, the lack of hydration was blurring his brain. Hair Striker clapped just before attacking. So, it was still a good idea to communicate.

  “Do they have your family hostage? Somewhere in the area?” Sami asked.

  Two claps. Sami grunted to himself in frustration as he realized he didn’t know if that was in response to his first or second question. He really needed to field this out better, but it was so hard to think, stand upright, and prepare for assault.

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  “Do they have anyone hostage?”

  Two more claps. No? Sami blinked, putting up three arms as Slider rammed into him, throwing him back a few feet and stumbling before a Shadow Hand plucked him upright. Hair Striker brought out another hair and Sami wondered if he was going to form a bald spot from all the forced hair loss. The hair turned into another pole and Sami shot out a long fist of shadow, punching him between the eyes, then using that same hand to swish down and pull a leg to flip him onto his back.

  More insane cheers. As much as Sami hated every second, he was putting on a great show. He wondered what the crazy audience was being charged to watch this fight. There was no way they were putting up such an organized event for free. Lights were blaring overhead, they had at least two hundred folding chairs set up, and Cassandra had a microphone to announce with. Not an overnight setup, some planning went into this.

  Slider charged him down with his uncanny move and Sami blinked angrily, frustrated that he wasn’t focusing on the right thing. But his head just wasn’t keeping up as the fight wore on and the roar of the crowd ensured he couldn’t hear himself think.

  Slider came for him and Sami sent out another outstretched Shadow, only to be anticipated this time. Zigzagging across the diamond ring, Slider spun Sami in a dizzying circle three times before charging in. Sami put his foot forward and braced himself at the last moment, only for a lasso of hair to appear around his ankle and bring his weight out from under him. Yelping, he went face first and bashed into the floor, causing the audience to echo in a long cheer.

  Head spinning, Sami forced his head up and saw two drops of blood on the white ring under him. Another drop spilled, coagulating into a blobby mess. Not good. Dehydration and blood loss meant he wouldn’t last very long, especially with all the energy he had already put into the fight. He needed to convince them to join him in breaking out, or he was going to die here. If not this fight, then any fight after this would do him in unless he got recovery time and some water.

  “What else?” Sami asked himself aloud, breathing heavily and feeling sweat fall from his chin. “You guys too scared to not fight?”

  Two claps from each. Shaking his head in confusion, Sami could barely put thoughts together.

  “Puppeteering? Someone’s controlling you?”

  One clap from each. Sami lit up, fueled by the revelation. Someone had a mind control power and was using it on them. Was that why everyone wasn’t talking to him? What kind of power could run so many people’s minds at once?

  Risking a glance away from his opponents, Sami scanned the crowd with Power Sense. While many of the crazies were Awakened, very few of them had a shining bubble indicating that their power was active. Few dotted random spots in the crowd, and Sami started counting them off in his head, reaching seven before he suddenly stopped at the uplifted stage standing atop the arena.

  Cassandra gripped tightly to the microphone in hand, grinning menacingly at him. And the blue Power Sense bubble glittered atop her, running at a consistent rate. Was it that easy?

  “Cassandra?” Sami asked desperately.

  One clap. Then both rushed in for more blows.

  Stumbling to his right, both drove in to punish his weakness. But it was a feint, and he jumped hard the other way, lashing out two wild Shadow Hands.

  Off balance, Slider couldn’t stop his momentum from another collision with a solid Shadow Arm and Hair Striker’s face bashed into the back of Slider’s head before tossing them both to the ground. Wincing at the pain he caused his fellow prisoners, Sami rushed around the arena, keeping his eyes on the two fighters the entire time. Moving as fast as he could, Sami stopped with his back to the cage wall closest to Cassandra’s raised platform. Then he established himself, sliding his feet and remaining strong on the ground.

  Hair Striker and Slider stood with new shining bruises, and blood ran freely from Hair Striker’s nose. Sami scrunched his face apologetically, and both looked somewhat understanding, given the circumstances. Breathing in deeply, Sami cleared his vision with sharp focus and a shadowy slap to the face. Then he bared his teeth.

  “Bring it! Rush me!” Sami called, smacking his chest boldly.

  The crowd ate it up, calling for the others to answer the call. They hesitated, sharing a quick glance.

  “Fast as you can move! Rush me!” Sami repeated, this time clapping four times to add a signal.

  Nodding nervously, Slider placed a hand on the back of his throbbing head and wiped sweat with the other hand. Then, without warning of change in posture, his body blurred forward, followed by a spear of hair next to him.

  Prepared, Sami launched two Shadow Hands to grab the cage around him and slingshot himself upwards. With “oohhs” from the audience, it looked like a flashy way to dodge the attack, just as Sami planned. Then he snapped the Shadow Hands up the cage and sent himself even higher, keeping eyes on his opponents and looking like he was preparing a super attack from above. With a third fling up, it became clear what Sami was doing as soon as his head crested outside of the cage.

  “Hey!” Cassandra snapped. “Stay inside or I’ll…”

  Flinging Shadow Hands out again, Sami threw his body as a projectile right toward her. She blinked and could only take a single baffled step back before Sami crashed into her, foot-first to the face. Rather than react in shock, the fans seemed to adore the twist in battle. Her two lackeys screamed from outside the cage and scrambled to run up the platform.

  Ignoring everything but Cassandra, Sami kept a Shadow Hand clamped over her mouth to prevent any Manipulation from leaking out. Regretting the fact he didn’t have time to think, he forced her flat on her back and covered her throat, mouth, and nose with three hands, looking away from her wide, terrified eyes. Not kill, he told himself, just incapacitate. As soon as she was knocked out, he could convince the fighters to help again. But if that didn’t work… The Shadow Hand on her throat felt especially heavy as the thought of permanently severing the mental puppeteering crossed his mind.

  “Drop her!” Miguel screamed.

  “Let her go immediately, or die!” Shield Guy exploded.

  Neither rushed up the scaffolding to her point above the arena. The audience continued to cheer for Sami, none of the attention left on the arena. An auditorium of anarchy. All that mattered was entertainment, no matter the cost to bring it. Disgusted by the faces of the eager fans, Sami felt the pressure against him from Cassandra suddenly cease. Double checking with a scrutinizing glance, Sami guessed that she was down. His brain didn’t have the energy to think of a great way to get a feel for it and he lightly released her nose, fearful of doing anything worse than knocking her out.

  Looking back down over the arena, Sami gave a thumbs up and called down. His throat was too dry and it was a half cough of sputtering encouragement. Even without the words reaching them, Slider and Hair Striker looked elated.

  “We’re free!” Slider screamed up at the prisoners watching from their open cell. “Let’s bust out!”

  Sami thought it was crazy before, but as soon as all the prisoners used their powers to break out at once, the true pandemonium began.