THE MOMENT
"Five million?" Theo-Mega was surprised, but it wouldn't have been difficult to secure. "What's the pot look like?" The two men, one a bulky specimen of fitness with neat hair wearing black spandex and a cape, and the other, a bulky, rotund man with a broad smile and a green Hawaiian-print shirt. They were in Ozone's beachside office with the windows open, letting in the breeze and sounds of the waves. Theo had been unimpressed when he arrived, and he hadn't exactly changed his mind yet, but Ozone had a reputation for being an honest and occasionally brutal businessman as the situation required.
"No pot," Ozone shrugged with a grin. "That's the registration fee, not to be returned," he clarified. "Betting is encouraged; you're of course allowed to place bets on yourself as well, but there's no grand prize."
"Why do I want to fight then?" Theo asked. He'd recently joined the Shadow Enclave, a league of Supervillains, and a lot of them talked about Ozone's fight club. He was always eager to prove his strength, and it didn't take him long to arrange a meeting with the man himself.
"I don't know?" Ozone shrugged. "That's up to you to decide. You came to me looking for information, so there you go."
"A fighting tournament with no prize...?" Theo asked. Bragging rights didn't count for nearly enough without a large purse attached.
"Tournament?" Ozone asked with a tilt of his head. Then, he shook it with a smirk. "You might be getting things confused. You asked, 'You run that underground fight club for superpowered people to resolve their disputes without endangering the public,' and I replied, 'Yeah.'" he chuckled. "Then you started asking questions about the fights and all that until we got to the entry fee.
"Yeah...?" Theo was keeping up and still didn't know where the conversation was going.
"I was still talking about those Dispute bouts," Ozone said. "Those have a higher fee, because both parties need to be committed to working toward a solution. It's not even always a brawl. I just arrange the space so they can talk undisturbed and occasionally flex their powers. But that's a specific service," he said.
"If you just want to get violent, I also have a more standard fight club. Lower fees, huge grand prize once a week," he said. "That one's $1000 to enter."
"Only a thousand! Yeah! I want in on that one," Theo nodded. His mind readily filled with thoughts of his wealthy future. According to the corporation that gave him a Supervillain license, Theo-Mega was one of the strongest Supers in the world; he doubted he'd have much trouble. ".. why is that one so much cheaper though?" he asked.
"Well, the Disputes are designed with tight rules to be fair and as impartial as possible," Ozone replied. "The Weekly Rumble does not have the same setup, and Uniques are allowed to join." He meant Unique Souls, and Theo felt an uncomfortable knot growing in his stomach.
When he joined the Shadow Enclave, he'd learned about alternate universes and, more importantly, Unique Souls. They were described to him as being to Supers what Supers were to the average human. He'd arm-wrestled a teenage girl who was a Unique Soul, and he almost tore his own arm off trying to win. Ozone must've noticed Theo turn pale. He finished his explanation with a friendly chuckle.
"Most people don't stand a chance, and I hate taking everything a person has if they're probably going to die."