37(S3E11)-Rematch

37

(Season 3 Episode 11)

Rematch

“This is fucking, stupid!”  Harry reiterated, pacing back and forth while Jim tapped his knuckles, hands and wrists.  “You can’t fight a girl!”

Jim eyed him.  “That is not a girl, that is a female force of nature.”

They were in the bathroom of what used to be a church.  The building was currently being rehabbed and was in complete disarray.  This was how the fight circle worked, though.  You couldn’t spend two nights in the same place or the cops would find you.  The building was perfect.  There were always noises coming from the large building while it under went construction.  No one inside would think twice about all the screaming and yelling that went into a fight.

Harry shook his head.  “You’re not getting this-”

Jim cut him off, standing quickly into Harry’s face.  The suddenness of the movement forced him to jump back slightly.  “No, you’re not getting it.  This is not about the money, it’s about a demon in my mind with her face on it!

Harry gulped, recalling his courage.  “What are you talking about?  This is just a paycheck, man.”

Creegan realized that Harry was lost to this cause.  He turned and walked out toward the fighting area, wearing only a pair of blood-stained jeans. The fight are was a cleared area were the pews used to be. It was a large open area and the fight fans had made a circle while they bet furiously.

They roared collectively as they saw Creegan walk out, not so much for him but for the fact that the fight was coming.  As he approached, they parted and let him in.  He entered, turned and waited.  Soon the crowd roared a second time and out came Patti.  She was also wearing blood-spattered jeans and a red stained tank top.  Her hair was wet and matted to her head.  She looked like an animal.

Hate and something else stirred in Creegan at the site of the Irish Amazon, his hardest fight and his best friend, all in one.

The crowd closed in the gutted church’s second floor, around the two fighters.  Someone screamed “No more bets”.  That would be the only notice to fight that they would get.

The two stared for a second but there were no words.

They approached and the crowd roared.  Jim liked to fight from the inside.  He appalled punches.  They were strong but the puncher did as much damage to their hand as the punched.  Patti has well aware of this fact but she did not share the same aversion.

Creegan tried to move in fast and ate an unholy right hand to his temple.

The blow was like a shotgun.  He had remembered her punches being weaker when they had fought almost a year ago, and she had been wearing brass knuckles back then.   The blow took Creegan completely off guard and he hit the floor.  The crowd screamed and began the five count.  “One! Two!...”

Creegan shook it off and pulled himself back to his feet.  No sooner was he upright when Patti was on him, a series of jabs striking his chin and nose.  Creegan retreated but couldn’t get away fast enough.  Patti came inside and drilled a hard left uppercut into Creegan’s ribs.

Creegan felt the blow in his intestines and decided that he needed to act or he was going down.  Creegan came down with a hard left-hooking forearm, driving the hard part of his wrist into Patti’s ear. The blow stopped the fight’s momentum in a heavy way.  Creegan quickly placed his hand around the back of Patti’s head and brought his knee up into her face.

Patti’s head kicked up and she stumbled, blood trailing from her lip.

Creegan stepped in and forward kicked in an attempt to boot her in the face, But Patti side-stepped the foot and right-hooked his inner calf.  Creegan yelped and fell to the right and landed awkwardly.  Patti stepped in behind Creegan and punched him directly in the back of the head.

Creegan’s head rocked forward and he fell, running to try to maintain his stance.  Patti charged him and he felt the anger rise.  The beast rattling the cage had broken free.  He roared and charged her back, hitting her dead center of her abdomen.  It was a perfect football tackle and it took all the wind out of Patti’s sails.

Creegan picked her up on his shoulder and rushed backward.  They collided with the unsuspecting crowd.  Seven or eight people all went down in a mass and the remaining crowd became confused with what to do.

The crowd that had been knocked down in the mass tried to scramble out of the fight zone.  Creegan lost track of Patti in the chaos.  He rushed to his feet and felt a presence behind him.  He turned and brought his fist into a desperate right-hook.

His blow knocked out a man named Steve Philips.  He was a factory worker from the east side. Steve, lacking the hardnosed fight training of Creegan and Patti, went down like a sack of potatoes and the crowd silenced.  Creegan stared at the man, hitting the ground, momentarily forgetting about the fight.

One lone crowd member said the word.  “Damn.”

Patti charged out of the crowd breaking the silence.  Creegan, however, was ready.  He stood and in the same motion brought his elbow directly upward in a sweeping motion.  The blow connected with the bottom of Patti’s chin.

The blow shattered one of Patti’s front teeth and blood poured out of her face instantly.

Creegan stepped in to bring a left forearm, but Patti ducked the blow and drove her right hand up into Creegan’s sternum.  He wheezed with the blow, and Patti brought up a left hand and collided with Creegan’s eye, leaving a gash above his eyebrow.

Creegan fell backward, his back hitting a plaster wall.  Patti charged forward, cocking her hand back to destroy her opponent but at the last second Creegan ducked and she sent her hand through the weak wall.  She howled in pain and Creegan grabbed the back of her head and drove it forward into the wall, implanting it in the drywall.  White powder fogged up and he pulled her head back to slam it forward again.

Patti swung her head backward and drove the back of her head onto Creegan’s nose.  Creegan grunted and took a step backward.  Patti turned with a huge overhand right.  It was Creegan’s turn to dodge.  He ducked the blow and stepped in to front-kick Patti in the solar plexus.  The blow sent Patti backward and through the wall, crashing to the other side.

Creegan stopped and leaned up against the wall next to the hole.  That had to be it.  He gasped desperately for air as the blood leaked into his eye and from his nose.

Suddenly, he was struck in the back of the head by what felt like a car.  Patti had punched through the drywall into the back of his skull.  He staggered forward, the blow stunning him.  Patti came through the hole like a rabid dog, her nose and left eye were swollen but the fight still ebbed through her.

Creegan turned and jabbed, resorting to the punch to buy time and keep her at a distance.  This didn’t work.  She walked through them as if they were nothing and hit him in the right side, the blow colliding with Creegan’s wounded eye.

Creegan’s legs became noodles and he staggered backward towards the pulpit.  Patti followed him and, never letting him get a chance to get his footing, she hit him with another right-hand.  Blood went everywhere and a tooth sailed to the floor.  Any real fighter would tell you that once someone is wounded, once you find a chink in the armor, you pound it until the opponent drops.

If Creegan could remember the last right-hook, he would have said it felt like a freight train hitting him in the face, but he could never remember that punch, just the sweet blackness that followed.

****

Creegan snapped awake and everything hurt.  His face was swollen and numb and his body ached.  He moaned and tried to pull himself up to a sitting position.

Things came back to him slowly.  He remembered he had been in a fight and red hair, but that was it.

“So, you are awake.“  Harry’s voice spoke to him as Creegan realized he was back in the bathroom where he had prepared.

“What happened?” Creegan groaned.

“You lost.”  Harry said with disappointment in his voice.  “I told you not to fight a girl but man if you were going to, you have to win!”

Creegan ignored Harry as he remembered the fight.  He remembered everything.  The rage in his stomach boiled over as he remembered what Maggie had done to him and for the first time since the last time he had left her in that garage, he let himself be angry.

That bitch had tried to kill him.

She had used him to destroy two crime lords and put herself in their place and she had done it all without any consequence other than his punch a year ago.

Then he remembered Patti.  He remembered the way she fought, the way she moved and Creegan began to feel something else.

Need.

With that realization came a perfect sense of clarity that Creegan had not had for almost a year.  He wanted to fight.  He liked the pain that reverberated through his beaten body.  It made him feel alive. He wanted to be the bad guy for once and not the victim.  He wanted her.

He suddenly realized that Harry was still talking.  “Wait, what?”

Harry frowned at having to repeat himself.  “Look you lost to a girl.  I’m going to have to let you go, man.”

Creegan suddenly started laughing loudly.  Harry was confused.  “Hey, I mean it.  You are going to have to find another guy to find you fights.”

Creegan stood suddenly and Harry jumped back, startled.  “I think I will manage.”

Creegan stormed out of the bathroom.  Everything hurt on his body but he had to get to her.  He had to find her as fast as possible.  Creegan moved to the bathroom where she had dressed and tried to open it.  The door was locked.

Creegan stepped back and kicked it open.

The door swung open and banged against the far wall.  Patti was washing in the sink with her top off, just a wet sports bra.  She turned when the door opened and smiled.  “What took you so long?”

Creegan grinned back and slammed the door behind him.  They went to each other and kissed hard, their broken faces screamed in pain, but they couldn’t stop.

They didn’t stop, until they were both satisfied.