"No, no treatment..."

Darkness shoved Baxter away with a vague flail. It didn't connect in any meaningful way, but there was still the suggestion of steel under there. Dr. Baxter stepped away, looking down at the bloody smear on his jacket with cringing distaste.

"At least let me stitch you up, you idiot."

Darkness drew himself up, blinking blood from his eyes. He stared at the doctor through his macabre crimson mask. The blood was drying now, flaking away from his skin, but it did little to enhance his appearance. Grisly spectre though he was, he managed to grin and shake his head. "You can't help me. I need to find my friends."

"Which friends?"

"No one you know." He pushed past Baxter and stumbled out into the hall.

Revenant was waiting for him. "They wouldn't let me in," she offered by way of explanation.

"I'm tired," Darkness croaked.

"You should be – you've lost a lot of blood. Hey, you think this is easy for me?" This last she told her mentor as he collapsed into her arms and she shifted his weight so he rested against the wall.

"Sorry, I forget how small you are. It's different in here." He tapped his temple with the index finger of his good hand. He closed his eyes as he leant his head back against the cool bricks. Everything he touched turned to blood.

"That's not what I meant."

"No?"

"Forget it. We need to get you to Tilpin. That was...quite a match."

"It sucked."

"You're just saying that because you lost."

"I lost?"

"Yeah. Pretty much. I don't know what was up with Loop."

"Yes you do."

"Okay, I do. I didn't expect any of that though."

Both of them thought back to the events of that night a few weeks ago. Revenant had led the half-dead Loop out into the hall, looking for...someone...she hadn't been clear herself at that point she later admitted to Darkness when he quizzed her. It was in this terrible state that he found them both.

"What is this?"

"I found him."

"Did you do this?"

"I just told you: I found him."

"He's been bitten."

"I know – and they messed it up."

"His brain is in pieces, I can Sense that much. Look away."

"Are you crazy?!"

"I'm helping him."

"Put that fucking thing down!"

"You know what I have to do."

"He's not an animal! You can't just put him down like a sick dog!"

"Mercy is our greatest gift."

"Stop talking like that! Fuck! What happened to you back in Tokyo?"

"This has nothing to do with Tokyo."

"You killed Cain – are you going to kill this one too?"

"This is different."

"Is it? He's still human."

"Not entirely. The transformation hasn't taken hold yet, but it will."

"So he's halfway between man and vampire, is that it?"

"In a manner of speaking..."

"So what makes him any different from me?"

"C'mon, let's get back. You should really let Baxter help you."

"He knows too much," Darkness said, moving stiffly away from the wall, "I don't like human doctors poking around. They find out things they shouldn't."

Revenant supported him with one arm as they made their slow progress down the hall towards the basement exit that led to the parking lot. "'Human doctors'...I wonder what people would think if they could hear you."

"I stopped caring about that a long time ago."

"I know. You know you're not going to be this Heavyweight Champion or whatever."

"So I understand."

"Does that bother you?"

"I have no idea."

Revenant nodded. "You'll feel better when Tilpin has patched you up and you've had chance to sleep."

"No, I won't."

"No, you probably won't," she agreed, "still, it's something. One step at a time."

Darkness put one foot in front of the other and concentrated on that, even though he knew that wasn't what she meant. His head was swimming. He felt like parts of his mind were sloughing off, leaving blank cavities behind. He was losing everything that made him human. He knew with a horrible certainty that the line between himself and Loop had been downright blurred in the ring and that they had exchanged more than blood.

He knew why he let him live that night. It was the same reason he had let Revenant live years before, and the same reason he clung to his own existence. It may be by fingernails, but it would be enough.

After all, who else do we have?

* * *

"What, I don't get a flat in the fancy buildin'?"

Midnight moved his shades down his nose and gave Spike a flat look. "Show up for matches, and maybe we'll consider it. Also, it's not that fancy."

"Oi, I showed up for the last one – why do you fink I got this, sunshine?" He waved the paycheck at the massive security guard.

"Beats me. Anyway, here are the names and numbers of some hotels that cater to English-speakers..." He let the implication hang in the air.

"S'the Queen's English, mate," Spike snarled, "not that you'd know nuffink about that."

"Anyway. I'm afraid Ms. Stern and Mr. Deng are very busy at the moment." Midnight squared his shoulders and spread his legs slightly, barring the entrance to the skybox with his firmest body language.

Spike waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Oh aye, I bet they are. 'Busy', innit."

"Yes. Busy."

"Well," Spike folded his check and placed it in the breast pocket of his grubby shirt with elaborate care, "Fink I'll see 'ow far this'll get me in Beijing's finest 'ostelries an' public 'ouses. I'm sure they'll welcome a guest of my reputation an' charm."

"I'm sure."

"Right then. See you about, I s'pose."

Spike continued to loiter. After about thirty seconds, Midnight sighed. "Was there something else?"

"Oh yeah, actually...just bin finkin'...see, I di'nt much like the last fella you booked me against. S'why I had nuffink to do wiv 'im an' he got the jump on me before the match."

"Right..."

"So, I was wonderin' who the next bloke I was against might be? Know what I mean?"

"I think I can puzzle it out. I believe your opponent at Breakdown is the only member of our roster without a match already set."

"Oh? I were a little out of it at Havoc – di'nt catch the end of the show, like. Who would this chap wivout a match be?"

Midnight cracked a smile. "Who else? Darkness."

"Oh. That's...int'restin'..."

"Hey, don't worry. With the mess Loop made out of him before the match, you might actually have it easy."

Spike rubbed his jaw and turned away. He had an absent look in his eyes.

"You all right?"

"Yeah...yeah...it weren't Loop though."

Midnight frowned. "What?"

Spike looked up as if noticing Midnight anew. "Loop. It wasn't him that attacked Darkness."

"How the heck would you know that?"

"Er...just an' 'unch. Seeya later, mate!" Spike scurried away up the corridor, leaving Midnight looking after him, the same confused frown etching his features.