Read Connor Rix Chronicles 1: Rules of Force for Free Online

his hand pads and let Hernandez pop off a few
jabs.
    "Good,
good," Hernandez said. "Now let's fight like MoFos."
    He threw an
arcing overhand right to Rix's head, which Rix deliberately let hit him full
on. He staggered slightly under the clanging blow. Hernandez then dropped to
the canvas and whipped around in a leg sweep. Rix saw it coming and hopped over
the man's legs, then dropped down while Hernandez was still on the floor and
secured him in a headlock. He only held it for a few seconds, then released and
jumped back to his feet.
    Hernandez popped
back up instantly, and launched a series of blows. He was fast, Rix decided,
but not world-class fast. Rix allowed some of the shots to hit him directly, but
for most he moved just quickly enough so that the punches only landed as
glancing blows. Just to keep him honest, Rix threw a fast jab to the face that
Hernandez had no chance of avoiding. He stepped back and blinked.
    "Nice
moves," Hernandez grunted. He stopped for a moment and pulled out his
mouthpiece. "Where'd you learn to fight?"
    "Navy,"
Rix responded. He didn't offer any more information. He didn't want to leave
too memorable an impression here.  
    Hernandez
replaced his mouthpiece and moved straight at Rix, throwing jabs and following
with uppercuts. He lunged at Rix's midsection in a classic shoulder tackle,
taking Rix down to the canvas. Rix rolled with the fall, placing his knee
between himself   and Hernandez and
flipped the larger man over him onto his back. Hernandez immediately jumped to
his feet and began an obviously well-practiced series of punches and kicks.
    Rix was trying
to avoid it, but the increased pace and quantity of punches was steadily moving
him into his high-speed response mode. The blood boosts already sharpened
response time, but Rix's adrenal Mod, known in the underground as "Fight
or Fight," was starting to assert itself. The adrenal Modification allowed
great bursts of ferocity and speed. It had come in handy more than once in
subduing other MIs. But once his blood was up, it was hard to control. He
didn't want to display that kind of ability in this setting.
    He called for a
short break, and then he forced himself for a few minutes more to play the role
of sparring partner, absorbing punches, making half-hearted jabs and kicks in
return, showing just enough ability to make his presence in the ring
believable.
    Rix noticed that
Hernandez was getting kind of ragged in his punches, and seemed frustrated at
his inability to land clean hard shots. Rix decided to end his session the
smart way — he allowed one of Bitchslap Hernandez's haymakers to land
cleanly on his jaw. It was a hard shot, and Rix only had to put on a little bit
of an act as he dropped to one knee. This would end the session convincingly.
His jaw ached, but it was the price for getting in the door.
      "Had enough?" Hernandez asked,
trying to control his panting. Sweat streaked down his face.
    "Yeah, it's
a good time for me to sit for a while," Rix said.
    "Alright.
Nice work. Come back again sometime if you want another workout."
    Rix exited the
ring and made a mental note of Hernandez's abilities for the report he would
add to his own files later. Hernandez was clearly using B3s, probably milder
blood boosts as well, to take advantage of the steroids. But nothing else was
obvious. It was a fairly modest list for a MoFo. Rix was frankly more impressed
by the minimal Modifications than if Bitchslap Hernandez had been rigged with
an entire checklist of Mods. He must have spent years doing it the hard way in
the gym. That was still the key for the pure strength junkies. Unless you
wanted to go mech, which was a very different matter.
    Shorty came
around from the other side of the ring and squared up in front of Rix.
"You made him sweat, Burnet," he said. "Not bad at all. A few
good moves. Go get some water and towel off and I'll see if I can find someone
else for you to work with."
    Rix nodded and
headed toward the locker