Chapter 12 · Get in the Cage

Ryan shoved the door open hard enough that it banged against the concrete wall. Natasha was already waiting in the prep room, leaning against a steel table like she'd been standing there all night. Two of her techs were pulling gear out of a locker. Nobody looked surprised to see him.

"You got about ninety seconds to tell me why I shouldn't walk," Ryan said.

Natasha straightened up and crossed her arms. "Because you know what happens if you don't fight tonight. Your limiter's cooked. You go home, you seize up in your sleep, and Derek finds you with blood coming out of your eyes."

"Don't put that on Derek."

"I'm not putting anything on him. I'm telling you what your body does when it shorts out." She nodded at the nearest tech. "Show him."

The tech pulled up a holo on his wrist rig. Ryan's biometrics from the last fight. The graph spiked twice, red lines climbing into zones labeled CRITICAL and then one more: FATAL if sustained. The timestamp matched the moment he'd cooked his last opponent.

"You hit that third time, you don't wake up," Natasha said. "But you already knew that."

Ryan stared at the graph.