The arena takes a few seconds to process that the fight is over.
The barrier dims first. Then the force pillars ease the blue pulse climbing through the structures, and the low sound of the OXI machines drops until it's only a vibration in the walls. The suspended screen holds the result a while longer, until the crowd in the bleachers starts to talk.
[VICTORY: TEAM TWO]
Rhayne is still on her knees, one hand on the floor, the other braced on her thigh. Her face has returned to normal, but there's something wrong in her breathing. Not pain. More like puzzlement. She studies her own body the way she studies an enemy, trying to work out what's happening to her.
I go to her before I look at anyone else.
"Can you stand?"
She tries to answer fast, fails on the first breath, and closes her eyes for an instant. "I can. I just need… a little OXI."
Coming from her, that weighs more than a wound.
