Chapter Text
Morning broke like it always did in the Cleaners sector—gray and somber. Faint hissing of pipes through the cracked concrete walls, footsteps you could only slightly make out. Zanka stirred on his bunk when Enjin’s fist banged against the metal door.
“Wakey-wakey, Zan-Zan” Enjin’s voice came, calling out in a singsong tone.
Zanka groaned only slightly and dragged a hand down his face. His hair was a wild mess—the blonde and black and tangled from sleep—and the back of his neck still ached from some training the night before. He wanted to call out five more minutes, but chose against it, not wanting to cause even a hint of disappointment with his mentor.
“Come to the meeting room in 5, ‘kay?”
The voice was gone before he could argue.
He sat up slowly, his joints popping. For a fighter, mornings were always the hardest—his muscles remembered every fight before his mind did. The air tasted faintly of engine oil and bitter coffee. He grabbed a small blanket from the chair and shrugged it on, heading out into the dim hallway.
The meeting room sat at the end of the corridor, lit by a flickering overhead lamp. When Zanka stepped in, he noticed most of his team were already there. Enjin, Gris, and Follo by the projector, it sounded like they were chatting, but you could tell it was Enjin doing most of the talking. Rudo leaned back in a nearby chair, Semiu polishing the lenses of her glasses, and Riyo with her arms crossed, resting her shoulder on the wall.
Enjin looked up, eyes tired but focused. “There he is! Now we can start”
Zanka dropped into a chair beside Rudo, both of them stifling a yawn.
“It’s so early… couldn’t this wait?” Rudo mumbled, eyes blinking slowly while he started to doze off.
Enjin walked to Semiu’s desk, slamming one hand down and startling everyone awake. Semiu glared at Enjin, with Enjin choosing to nervously glance the other way in response. Though, it did seem to do the trick of getting everyone’s attention, so she cleared her throat and began talking.
“Well,” Semiu started “We finally have a lead for a Watchman weapon’s location. The person who knows its whereabouts is actually hosting an underground fighting event tonight”
Riyo whistled low. “Sounds exciting, are we all VIPs or something?”
“Not exactly,” Semiu tried to keep her smirk down as she continued explaining, “The event’s female-only. Fighters only. No weapons. Bare fists.”
Zanka frowned, “That’s… oddly specific”
Semiu cut in at this, “The host says they don't trust Givers, and they only want “fair fights”. Their team is made for extensive research, so anyone with a record—Raiders, Cleaners, even Hell Guards—isn’t allowed in the arena”
“So, basically everyone that’s worth watching..” Rudo muttered. “What’s the point of a fight if no one can throw a real punch?”
Semiu adjusted her glasses, light catching the lenses. “Because they’re into traditional ways, and they deem those fights boring. They want feral human strength, but that’s besides the point. The point is we got a tip saying that the Watchman’s currently being shipped, and the host knows to where. If someone can get close enough to the host, they might find where it’s going to be held.”
Enjin nodded. “Exactly, so we need someone inside the ring. Someone who can win the event and get close to them.”
The room went silent as they looked at one another.
Zanka was a bit thankful for the hush, all this information being piled onto his brain after waking up wasn’t doing him any good, so he let himself lean back and rest his eyes for a bit. He tried thinking to himself about what he could do to help, but only drew blanks. Of course, he still didn’t mind. Thinking about an underground arena grossed him out, and the last thing he wanted was another mission that would lead to getting germs and sweat all over his clothes, for scraps of intel none-the-less.
Rudo decided to break the quiet first, “What about disguises? Someone could definitely dress up like a girl!” It was obvious that what he said meant to be a joke, because even if he wasn’t smiling, his tone was dripping in sarcasm.
The others chuckled, Zanka even smiled.
But Enjin took a pause, crossing his arms. “Actually, that’s not the worst idea.”
There was a stunned silence. Then the girls burst out in giggles while the boys widened their eyes to look at him.
Rudo stared at him, “What—wait—really?!”
“Dead serious,” Enjin shared a devious look with Semiu, “Can you use your lenses to scan for who could pass the easiest?”
Semiu rolled her eyes, the corner of her mouth twitching. “You really need my glasses for that?” she said lightly. “I think it’s pretty obvious”, she added on, while her gaze slowly slid over to Zanka.
Zanka stiffened “What? N–.. Why me?!”
“C’mon, most of us here mistook you as a woman when we first saw you,” Semiu remarked quietly.
“What she meant was, Zanka, you are the most refined in hand-to-hand combat out of all of us here,” Enjin added, evidently showing his knowledge of how to get Zanka’s sweet spots, as Zanka could only leave his mouth hanging open, not wanting to refute Enjin. “You can hold your own in close combat. And with some some disguise work,”
“Wha?! C’mon now, ya’ really tellin’ me I’m gonna have ta’ wear a silly costume—“
But suddenly, at the word costume, there were huge thumps echoing down the hallway and that got louder by the second, as if whatever was causing the sound was getting rapidly closer.
“Did..” It started faint, “I..” it was much closer this time, “Hear..” The Cleaners readied their weapons as they turned to face the door. “COSTUUMES?!” August burst through the door, flailing his arms. One hand carried a bag and punched the air, while the other pointed at Zanka. August’s eyes carried gleeful malice as he hollered into the air. “I didn’t think we’d be using this outfit this soon, but who am I to complain?!”
Zanka was shocked for a second, but quickly regained his posture and started backing up, “Don’t you dare—”
“Too late!” August grabbed his wrist before he could retreat. “Come on, pretty boy! For the mission!”
The rest of the team watched as Zanka was dragged out and into the hallway, Zanka latching onto the door, clawing at the ground, and calling out for help in desperate attempts. Rudo and Enjin ended up laughing so hard that they started rolling on the floor together, Riyo’s knees buckled as she clamped a hand over her mouth, trying her hardest to hold back her laughter, Semiu smiling faintly while shaking her head, and the supporters just staring disappointedly at the scene unfolding in front of them.
***
Half an hour later, the door creaked open again.
Everyone turned their head, staring at what would walk through the door in a mix of curiosity and anticipation.
August strolled in first, his hands on his hips, looking as proud as an artist presenting his masterpiece. And behind him stepped in a Zanka—or was it? They knew they were expecting Zanka to be dressed up a little differently, but there was no way this was her– or him– or whatever!
His hair had been the same blonde with hints of black, but this time it split into a messy-side-part-blowout, a few loose strands brushing his cheekbones and laying on top of his nose. His skin glowed faintly under the light; it seemed like August had dusted his face with some makeup that softened the already feminine features of his face, highlighted his long eyelashes, and added an even more rosy tint to his cheeks and lips. The outfit was just Zanka’s classic one he regularly wore, except it was off shoulder and much more fitted. Really pronouncing his curves, and especially his waist. It somehow turned his slim frame into something more feminine than it already was, and even if they were doubting the disguise because of how similar it looked to Zanka’s normal outfit, the face and hair made up for it. They also wouldn’t dare to question August’s ways, for this was more than enough.
Zanka moved stiffly, like every step betrayed him.
Rudo’s brow furrowed, “Zanka’s… sister?”
Semiu slapped a palm into her own face, “That is Zanka, Rudo.” she said, scoffing when Rudo went into shock.
Riyo bit her lip in a poor attempt to hide her shit-eating grin, “August, that’s terrifying”
“Thank you,” August said, smug, taking a photo with a polaroid and sticking it on a random place on the wall, “My work here is done.” And with that, he dusted his hands together, humming and walking off.
Zanka stood rigid, glaring angrily at the whole room and summoning His Lovely Assistaff. “Say one word,” he warned, “and I swear I’ll…”
“You look—” Semiu began.
“Don’t try me.” Zanka snapped with a menacing laugh.
Enjin finally declared something with a clap, “This is great! You’ll definitely pass inspection.”
Zanka groaned and de-summoned His Lovely Assistaff.
“Thanks, Zanka,” Enjin said calmly, “You’ll enter as ‘Kana,’ maybe.. a new fighter looking to debut! Your goal is to get close enough to the host, or, at least close enough to overhear and identify where the Watchman will be kept.” Enjin looked over Zanka’s gloomy state, “Don’t worry, I know you got this Zanka, you always manage to get through the most tedious of missions.”
Zanka couldn’t find it in himself to argue. A small part of him wanted to throw the wig, the makeup, and the stupid outfit in Enjin’s face. But a much bigger part of him didn’t want to look like a baby from prioritizing his ego, rather than the mission.
He took a deep breath in, “Okay,” he said finally, voice low. “But if I see any one of you take a single photo..”
Rudo snorted, “Too late”
Zanka smacked the back of his head with his staff.
Zanka sighed, tilting his head toward the reflection on the window. His reflection smiled faintly at him, painted lips and all, but the scary part was how he couldn’t tell if it was because he was embarrassed, or kind of proud.
***
Zanka had been dropped off to an extremely large, and rather basic looking dome made of grey bricks.
His team had wanted to enter the large dome with him, but if they had, it was said that they would have to hand their vital instruments over and be constantly followed by security, so it was clear they weren’t welcome. Eventually, they decided on letting Zanka know about how they’d stay at a neighboring civilization, around 6-7 minutes out.
He pulled his hood up and turned toward the door as he watched their car drive away. Sighing to himself as he got past the first layer of security.
Unexpectedly, there was a blinding amount of lights, so he ended up squinting as he walked inside the dome.
After finally adjusting his eyes, he looked around, not expecting much, but was extremely taken aback by the sight before him as the wind blew his hood back down.
It was a whole ‘nother city inside. The dome was much bigger than he had expected, and he wasn’t even able to make out the ceiling. He noticed how there were multiple streets everywhere, leading to different directions, and how each side of each street had a line of small vendors. The smell of food wafting in the air made him drool, and there were so many people that he could probably get lost and walk in endless circles if he didn’t pay enough attention. Everything was bright and vibrant, but there was something very clearly standing out compared to the overstimulation around him. There were bright arrows, paired with a large sign that read “FIGHT ON!”, which pointed to an area—he could probably guess that that area was where the event was going to be held.
He wanted to get familiar with his surroundings before blindly walking forward, so he decided to take a glance around–which is when he spotted a flyer that was stuck to a lamppost, quickly running over to it and reading what it said.
Apparently, he had around three hours before people could get access to the arena, so he thought about what to do with the plenty of free time he had on his hands—until his stomach grumbled. Hence, he knew the next thing we would be doing was going to grab a bite from whichever vendor that was creating that mouth watering scent.
Stuffing the flyer in his pocket, he trudged forward to the direction of the good smell, but while walking, he couldn’t help but wonder about the event. Particularly about how excited he was.
He hadn’t been able to get a good hand-to-hand fight in quite some time.
He was so ready.