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Chapter 2

Welcome to the family

John woke up in what seemed like a blur, he feared he lost his eyesight, before sight gradually came back to him, his dark black eyes gradually adjusting to the new bright light in front of him, he sat up and he realized he was on a bed, the room around him was stark white, and the sun's bright rays came in and bounced off the walls, lending the room an otherworldly effect, it was a simple white room, but as seen through the eyes of john, it seemed like he had died and gone to heaven, he noticed how small the room was with walls barely inches away from either side of his bed, he noticed a door in front of him, with no other option left, john got up and walked towards the door.

With slight hesitation, john turned the knob on the white door,

and entered into what seemed like a dark hallway, there were no lights here but john could tell there was a steel floor underneath him just by the sounds his boot made on the floor, he was still in his wrestling attire. John felt his way around the room before coming to a dead end. After feeling around a little bit more, he could feel a door was in front of him, he felt at the door to find the knob, gradually his persistence paid off and he turned the knob, on the other side of the door was a familiar face waiting for him.

“Ah, John I see you are up”, john squinted to his eyes to see a familiar face, maybe in his 40's, with slight wrinkles appearing on the by the sides of his two eyes leading downwards to the cheek. It was Alfred.

“Sorry to have made you wander through the dark” Alfred remarked, “you see, we still don't have lights in this part of the mansion, its an old bird this, its been in mam's family for four generations and I guess it never learned to fly away” he said with a smile. “thats okay, but am I being kidnapped or something, because if I am, I have the right to know” John said sounding rather serious. Alfred let out a huge laugh “Oh my” after a brief moment of regaining his composure Alfred said “Mr.John, you do have a sense of humor don't you, nobody ever reads the contract do they?, you will know soon enough, please follow me” Alfred led john down a long hallway this time Alfred illuminated it with a torch, john saw walls that looked they belonged from the 18^th century. “this place on the request of madam has been left untouched, she considers it a part of her heritage” Alfred filled in seeing john's interest. “here were are sir, here's where I shall bid you farewell, please madam shweta will be waiting for you in there” John without much of a second thought opened the door, inside was a huge room but this time unlike the old hallway, the new rooms were sleekly designed, minimalistic in nature, even the furniture seemed to be carefully chosen to fit in with the place, to put it in johns words, the room wasn't smooth, it was crude, it seemed as though it had been composed entirely lines and angles meeting one another and forming abstract shapes, the walls were deliberately designed to fall in one another and in places they seemed to be bigger on one side than the other, everything was out of proportion but in a futuristic positive way.

John felt he had traveled into the future, the stark contrast between the ancient hallways and this room looked daunting to him, “I see Alfred has shown you in, welcome john” John recognized that voice

he turned around to see shweta standing there beside him, “sit down make yourself comfortable” shweta said with a polite smile. “not till you explain to me, what is going on?” john said in a rather impatient

tone. “There is nothing to be worried about, sit, everything will be explained to you” john sat down uneasily. Shweta opened a copy of the contract in front of him and said “as it clearly states in your contract, I will pay for any treatment that may be required, should the an opponent be injured or sustain ailments during the fight” john looked down and saw his body was covered bruises but most of the lumps had gone leaving behind only purple marks on the body, then for the first time, he noticed shweta her body had no bruises, no lumps, no signs that she was in a fight at all. At first john wondered if he had been out for longer than he thought he was. “I am sorry, how long was I out for?” he asked slightly shaken. “you have been out for 2 hours, John” John was slightly taken aback, “ I have bruises and lumps all over my body, and you have nothing, you are sitting here wearing short khaki cargo pants and that little top, and you dont have a scratch, on you and I have bruises and lumps all over my body”

Shweta laughed at Johns remark. “Well you see john, my body is different than yours, I heal much faster than you almost instantly, in fact” John remembered though the fight, even when she was taking punishment she barely had bruises at all. “..and to tell you the truth, even I don't know how I got it, except that its been in the family for ages, all my family members have superior healing” john thought he was in some science fiction movie, he literally pinched himself to check wether he was dreaming. Shweta laughed when she saw him pinching himself. “As I was saying, your lumps and bruises are covered and taken care of, you will be treated and all your medical bills will be paid, think of it as insurance.”

John sat there a little relived that he wasn't being kidnapped, “you are one hell of a fighter, Shweta, I bet you have beaten a thousand

guys like me before” Shweta gave a faint smile and thanked him” You aren't that bad yourself, you definitely put me through my paces, I was getting my ass handed to me at one time”John gave a slight smile back. Shweta came and sat closer to John, “You know, you are different than a lot of men I have fought” “how is that” John asked

“well for one, you have a lot more endurance and stamina and you lasted really well, unlike some other men who were reduced to broken down machine parts” John flinched slightly at the mention of broken body parts, “..and you are one of hell of a fighter and you don't seem to be pissed off or angry at losing to me, most men just sit where you sit and curse and whine and talk about rematches” she said looking into his eyes.”well do you beat them again” John asked intently “Of course” Shweta quipped with a gleam in her eye. John smiled and said “Thought so”.Both of them shared a laugh together.

“..say what john would you like to work for me?” Shweta asked out of the blue, “Depends on what the job is” John said intently. “You be my contact in the streets, get me fighters that I can fight, Alfred will

help you show you what I want from man who I want to fight” Shweta said motioning her hand towards Alfred who was standing next to a table in the room. “on one condition, Shweta, I want a rematch and perhaps a little less bruises next time” Shweta and john laughed together. Shweta held out her hand towards john, which john took and both of them shaked hands. “Welcome to the family” said Shweta with a soft smile. “Its going to be a wild ride.”