Gladiator II

I watched them for a while as I grabbed a piece of armor made of some sort of lacquered material. Then I looked around the room. I had a longsword. But I needed more weapons. The weapon that kept people alive for centuries.

Cooperation.

"Anybody here speak English?" I called out to the room around us.

Everyone looked over at me. After a moment, a few of the humans hesitantly raised their hands. Three of them. "You guys also speak the language the Saur-Lords are using?" One of them dropped their hands. "I need a translator. You mind?" One of the hands dropped like it was on fire. The last person, a short and skinny young man that looked like he was in his late teens, looked terrified. But he clenched his fist and nodded at me shakily.

"Good," I walked up with my longsword and stood next to him. "Repeat after me. And if anyone has questions, translate, kay?"

The kid nodded nervously. He had blond hair covered in dirt, was wearing brown rags, and his blue eyes were shaky. He was a twitchy kid. But he was meeting my eyes.

"Okay. We're about to go into that arena and fight something to the death," the kid hesitated before he began to speak in that hissing and growling language that seemed to be the common language here. The other prisoners stared at me, then at him. "So we need a plan. I want to get in there and survive. More than that, I want all of you to survive too."

German guy snapped to his feet and hissed. Some of the Saur-Lord prisoners joined him, a couple of humans shouting in German.

The kid looked scared as he turned to me. "They're asking why they s-should listen to you. They um… also said something bloody mean."

"Ah, they just have to get to know me first," I grinned at him.

I was faking so much confidence. I had no idea if any of these guys would listen to me or not. But they had to. We had to coalesce, to work together as a team. I tried to mimic Steve, to stand the way Captain America did, to project my voice. I didn't know if I was the best warrior here or anything, but no one else has stepped up to try and bring us together. Not to be arrogant but… none of these guys were likely to have seen what I had in terms of being outclassed in a fight. Hopefully.

God, please don't let this be a mistake.

"Are any of you warriors?" I asked. The kid translated. Some of the group grumbled, looking at each other. "Then you know that those of our little Suicide Squad that aren't fighters are going to die."

German guy stilled at that.

"We have elderly, injured and kids in this little group," I looked around at everyone. No time to be kind or subtle. Just lay it all on the table, Mahmoud. "People who will be first on the chopping block. But if we work together? We can have each other's backs, support each other. Keep each other safe."

I took a step forward, then hopped up onto a table. I was trying to keep moving, to keep all eyes on me. "Some of you hate each other. Maybe it's a generational grudge. Maybe you've been at war with each other," I met eyes with German guy. "But is that going to matter when we're all going to be trying to survive?"

A Saur-Lord spoke then. He was hissing at first. He stopped. When he spoke again, it was in English. Surprised the hell out of me, until I noticed the Omnitrix had begun to glow just a bit brighter.

"-know you won't just hide behind us?" the Allosaurus Saur-Lord said. "You've got a broken arm. What good are you?"

"He asked if you were going to fight with the rest of us, even with a broken arm?" the kid wasn't just translating. He was asking the same question.

"Of course I'm fighting," I scoffed. Everyone in the room looked startled. I guess the Omnitrix translator was kicking in strong. "I'm frontline, broken arm or not. Nobody dies before I do if I can help it."

Got some skeptical looks for that. Couldn't blame them. I was terrified at the idea of dying. I liked my life now. But I couldn't let these people die.

"Look, I get it. I'm not one of you. You have no idea of knowing if you can trust me," I waved around. "But that's your advantage. I'm the only here who doesn't have a grudge. I don't give a shit who you are or where you come from. All I know is, we're being sent in to die, and I've been trained to be able to handle it. We group up, grab the right weapons, support each other, and this becomes a fight we can win, instead of one where we die. And hey," I shrugged. "We're all going together. What've we got to lose by working together?"

There was a moment of silence. I swung my longsword onto my shoulder and looked around. "So how about it folks? Wanna go to war together?"

Nobody cheered the way they did whenever Steve did one of his speeches. But I guess things were just hopeless enough that people were willing to listen to the loudest voice in the room.

"All right then," I looked over at Gresh. "Gresh buddy. How good are you with those daggers?"

He stared at me for a long moment before blinking, like he'd only noticed right then that I was speaking to him. He spoke, and for the first time I heard Gresh speak English. "I was taught by my mother. I can hiss, gragh. Heeeet, caaaa-can fight as well."

The Omnitrix cut out part way through, but he was nodding towards some of the members of his race, who straightened.

"Great," I looked around, marking things out. The people I'd been carted in with had been joined by more people, so we had about… fuck me, 26 people? Seemed like a lot for a gladiator fight. But it would do. "Okay. I have a plan."

I laid things out while the Saur-Lord guards watched blankly. Guess they didn't mind us strategizing. What did they care? We were going to die anyway.

Gresh helped me with my armor. I must have made an impression on him because my former bully seemed more amiable all of a sudden.

The armor I was wearing now was ill-fitting. Guess Stend hadn't taken my measurements. Still, it was the best one I could wear. The armor was a mixture of Roman and Medieval-style like a gladiator and knight had come together to design it. And it was all crap. Just mismatching iron and leather. But it's better than nothing.

The chest piece was an iron vest, dented and beaten, with the chest showing the image of a screaming ape. My shoulders and right forearm had leather of different colors and designs to protect them. I'd chosen to use an iron piece of armor to protect my left arm. With the right one out of commission, it was best to protect the one I could fight with. My left leg had the only piece of armor I could find that could fit either one of my legs. Thicc thighs apparently don't always save lives.

So I was looking pretty asymmetrical as we were all lined up and forced to head toward the gates. I did, of course, take time to really support my broken arm, reinforcing it with extra padding made from pieces of leather and a dagger to dull to cut anything. If anything was going to get me killed, I didn't want it to be my right arm breaking again somehow.

Gresh and I stood side by side near the front. I had asked someone to take the first steps out of the door after making sure they were confident in their abilities. Still, I felt guilty for it. So as we walked, I spoke to them.

"Hey. You want any help?"

A feminine voice as smooth as silk spoke back to me. "No need. You were right to place me in front. I can take any blows the moment the door opens, allowing you and Gresh to survey the area and strike with me. I appreciate your concern," the Omnitrix must have glitched again because the next words from them sounded like a boulder cracking.

"Got it," I looked around. The 26 people around me looked scared, nervous, angry, calm… I felt almost happy, personally. I was tired of waiting for a fight. I was beginning to breathe a bit easier. Sure, I was still scared and tense. But the wait had been the worst part.

We came to a set of large doors. They were made of cheap wood, with the sunlight outside coming in shafts of light. The Saur-Lord guards locked metal gates behind us, leaving us to stand in the dark hallway. Dust floated in the air, the scent of sweat and piss noticeable. Along with the copper tones of blood that had soaked this place for years.

I looked at the people around me.

"When those doors open!" I shouted to everyone around me. German guy raised a hammer. "Then all hell breaks loose. But that's okay," the Allosaurus Saur-Lord who had questioned me earlier snarled, his long slashing teeth clenched. "Because we have each other's backs. Don't falter. Don't give up," I clenched my sword high. "They wanted to sacrifice us. So we make them pay. Understand!"

"MAKE THEM PAY!" Gresh shouted.

"Say it!"

"Make them pay!" The German guy yelled.

"Make them pay!"

It was panicky. Desperate. But as everyone around me said it, I began to shout. "Don't stop! Let them hear you! Make them pay!"

"GRAAAGH!" The Saur-Lords shouted. The winged men and woman sang out. My fellow humans roared. The lizard men barked out. And in front of me, the sound of a mountain shattering erupted.

"Make them pay! Make them pay!"

The doors swept open. Outside, a T-Rex Saur-Lord, laughing in enough armor to cover a tank, rushed forward swinging a sword. He'd been planning on striking while we were bottlenecked in the tunnel. Dick move.

And his mistake.

Demi stepped forward to meet him. The T-Rex was startled when his sword bounced off of the stone person's skin, right before Demi's fist smashed into his chest, the sounds of ribs breaking barely discernible.

I rushed around her body and stabbed out. I knew this would suck. Killing people was something I'd never get used to. But in the choice between this and death, I was able to push myself through the feel of my sword stabbing through scales to enter the T-Rex Saur-Lord's chest.

The cheering of the arena around us was immense. I ignored it. We had work to do.

In front of us, a group of men and women of varying types faced us. All Saur-Lords. And all way better equipped than we were. Not to mention, all uninjured, young and more muscular than Ahnold on his best day. I counted them up, ignoring Gresh as he leaped forward with a shrill screech to bring the T-Rex I'd stabbed to the ground, blood spraying while the savage lizard man stabbed the dying dinosaur to death.

Twenty people, well, nineteen if you didn't count the guy Gresh was stabbing, spread out across the battlefield. Fifteen of them were Saur-Lords. Combined with the guy I'd stabbed, that was sixteen Saur-Lords of varying subspecies, most of them being the bigger types. Bit biased if you asked me. The remaining four were human, all just a little smaller than me in muscle and height.

As for the battlefield, while it did have the sand that I expected and was shaped like the great coliseum in Rome, there was something I hadn't expected. Physical obstacles. There was a chariot that had been tipped over and half destroyed in front of us, some crappy weapons strewn all about, and boulders. Two big ones resting randomly in the field, one the size of an RV, the other in the shape of a pillar.

Those opened up options.

"Aerians, take the platform!" I barked, pointing out the biggest rock.

The winged people, who were the aforementioned Aerians, flew upward. There was a large cage surrounding the top of the arena, but they had enough room to fly up to the platform and land. Winggirl watched them before running to join me, Gresh and Demi. German guy roared while running with his own group.

In some attempt to get us all out alive, I'd made the most basic of strategies. The fact was, I'd need months of work to get us all working with any amount of synergy. So instead, I just had to mash us all into groups based on who could fight and who needed help. Sadly, there weren't a lot of fighters in our group.

Counting Winggirl, there were six Aerians. I advised them to grab long range weapons like spears so they could provide air support. Even though two were an elderly couple and one was a kid in the middle of his teens, they were the best I had to work with. Luckily the two left over were a former hunter and a warrior.

They were only six out of our group though. 26 People. And I was pretty sure a lot of us would die. I tried my best to mitigate it, to group everyone up and make up strategies for them to follow. But of our group, there were just too many injured, elderly and inexperienced.

Whatever. Focus on the battle. Move to help when you can, but focus on the fight.

In front of me was a group of three, one red-headed human woman carrying a trident and net, a Ptero Saur-Lord with green skin holding a short sword, and the biggest one, a Triceratops man holding a giant battle ax in one hand and a shield in the other.

"Gresh, new targets!" I barked out while running forward.

He snarled, rather than answer me, flipping off the T-Rex and moving forward. Demi, slower than us, went in as well, Winggirl hovering in the background.

The plan was surprise at the start. Don't fall into the enemy pattern. Instead, rush in and take the flow of battle for ourselves.

I headed for the Pterosaur, moving as fast as I could. The Pterosaur, who had been temporarily horrified at the death of the T-Rex, adjusted quickly, raising his blade to meet me. We met in the center and began to clash, my longsword and his shortsword clacking together.

He was faster and stronger than me, but I had reach and technique. My broken arm meant I couldn't take the advantage as well as I wanted, so I had to work twice as hard.

He stabbed at my stomach, I dodged and tried to take his head off with a short cutting slice. He ducked under it and stepped back. I noted the way the guy was built. Despite being a pterosaur hybrid, he didn't have wings. Instead, it seemed like he was designed for speed, with lean muscles and quick reactions. Best for me to face him.

I parried a sword slice at my arm, our blades clanging on contact. Gresh sped past me to head for the human woman, who raised the net in her hands high. The triceratops ran for Winggirl, Demi moving to intercept. Then I was forced to focus on my opponent.

I raised my sword high and brought it down as fast as I could. My opponent raised his blade to block it. Too bad it was a feint. I pulled my arms in during my swing, bringing my sword to my hip, then thrusting forward while twisting my hips out.

"Raagh!"

My sword sliced through flesh again, entering through the Pterosaur's chest. He gasped in pain, stabbing at me again. I tried to back away, but he was too close. His sword entered my right shoulder.

"Fuck!" I hissed, pulling back. He swiped at me as I pulled away, the short sword slicing into my cheek. He fell to his knees as blood poured from the new hole in his chest. I stared at him hard, sword raised, then slashed outward to cut into his throat. I ignored the horror deep inside me at the fact I'd killed again to spin on my heel and rush for Gresh.

Gresh had gotten wrapped up in the human woman's net and was trying to cut himself out. As he sliced his way out using his daggers, he snarled and shouted, looking enraged as his blades slid across the ropes.

I'd tried to warn him. Retiarius, fighters who wore light armor and carried tridents and nets to battle, were pretty famous when it came to Roman gladiators. They were among the worst kinds of fighters to take on, trapping you in their nets before striking with a trident while you were trapped. A simple and dangerous tactic. I heard they had a rough reputation, but I gave less than a shit about that.

What mattered was that this woman was trying to stab Gresh with the trident.

I slashed out at her while she was trying to bring the three points down on his skull. She was forced to dodge but still got him in the thigh. Gresh shouted out in pain as a single spike sliced through his scales, then pulled back out with barbed hooks when the woman pulled back to face me. I tried to stab her in the throat, but she twirled her trident to send my thrust out to her right. She reached for her side, where a dagger was hanging, taking it up to stab at me. Cursing, I stepped back. The woman snarled at me in frustration. Somewhere behind me, I could hear the sound of metal bouncing on stone as Demi and the Triceratops battled. Gresh was slicing himself out of the net.

And the sound of someone dying filled the air from where I'd last seen the other fighters.

I raised my sword and took a deep breath. The stab wound I'd gained on my shoulder was sore, but adrenaline let me ignore it a bit. The retiarius woman in front of me was unharmed and pissed. Whatever happened next, it wasn't going to end clean. I rushed forward and got ready to put more blood on my hands. That or die.