Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 23 - Centre of the Universe

When the sun cracked the clouds over Minneapolis Saint Paul Codi had already been awake for an hour. Her kit bag hung over one shoulder, already packed, and on her back was a rucksack filled with a handful of personal possessions and clothes that she had felt worth taking. She stared out of the window of her apartment, basking in this moment of calm. It was the last one she would get for a while.

The sky cars were already moving, rattling back and forth across the cityscape in lines of metal and blue fire. People had started to seethe through the streets like a single living mass, spreading and spilling across every gridiron intersection.

Today the whole world got up early.

Codi swallowed a deep breath and turned from the window. She thought she'd have been used to the nerves by now – after last year, after all she'd put herself through at Battlecast she thought she would be ready. But no, there they were, churning up her stomach like a cement mixer. She wondered dimly if the other Battlecast recruits in the accommodation block were feeling the same way.

Over the months her body had changed. Even under the Battlecast tracksuit her lithe, sinewy frame was clearly defined. She could feel a power in every step she took as she walked towards the exit, borne out of pushing her body to its limits. Codi felt like a coil of iron – hard, unyielding and waiting to be unleashed. She felt ready.

In that time she'd also adjusted to conquer the ground-leg that the turbo elevators caused. She stepped smoothly out into gleaming foyer focusing on her breathing, only allowing a tiny part of her mind to contemplate what today meant: the culmination of everything she'd been working towards. More than just the past year, it felt like her whole life had been one long, arduous grind to finally end up where she belonged. Sixteen crushing years had been a small price to pay to feel what she felt now.

Today the normal compliment of Battlecast regulars was severely depleted. Those not competing would be ferried to the arena in their own bus as VIP spectators. Only Codi and her elite companions were making the trip now.

Ripple and Leela were waiting, along with a boy named Jaxo Samas – another returning contender from last year's contest. The trio seemed oddly subdued. They exchanged greetings, smiles, nods; handshakes. No-one really knew what to say. This was the moment, but until they actually reached the arena it didn't seem quite real. The Battlecast fighters hung in a limbo between normality and the thrill of the Gauntlet.

Eventually, Codi grinned at them. "Let's go win this thing."

They walked side by side out into the blazing glare of the summer day, the heat washing over them, gathering them into its arms in a welcoming embrace. The rays glinted viciously off the glass of the waiting Battlecast shuttle bus. The doors hung open, inviting them to glory.

After a short ride through the humming morning streets they descended again toward the massive pyramidal sprawl of Battlecast. The grounds buzzed with life already as the people worked to organise exoskeleton transport and transit for coaches, technicians and support staff. The sight of the academy logo made things just that bit more real. This was their final jumping off point before their journey to the arena.

She could see the media were already in evidence too. While the main phalanx of reporters would be waiting like vultures at the arena itself, the junior correspondents further down the pecking order would have been shunted onto coverage of the various Earth academies on their home turf before they embarked on their journey. No stone could be left unturned when bringing the Gauntlet to the masses, Codi had realised.

Their shuttle descended into the middle of it. Cameras tracked them like turrets, operators pointing and shouting to reporters. She saw the unmistakable Sol-Net logos plastered on the equipment.