Venture Unleashed (The Venture Books) Read Online Free Page A

Then why do you look so pleased to see me? Have you never seen me fight?”  
    “I saw you in a point-fighting tournament, when you were younger. Last year you beat Will Fisher—,” he glanced anxiously at Fisher, but Starson had a pleased smirk on his face, so he pressed on, “for the Championship title, your first year being old enough to absolute fight. Everyone said you should’ve tried for an exemption to the age requirement when you were younger. That you might’ve been able to take the title when you were still under nineteen.”
    Fisher clenched his fists and regarded Venture with utter contempt.
    Starson said, “It worked out all right,” and stepped between him and Fisher. “Sounds like you know enough to understand I’m going to beat the stuffing out of you, right?”
    “Oh, yeah.”  
    Starson shook his head. He muttered something about the kid being crazy or stupid. “You want to stretch out first?” he offered.
    “No thanks. What’s the point, really?”
    Starson laughed. “Let’s get this done, then.”  
    “Mr. Starson?” Venture asked as he followed him to the middle of the mat.
    “Yes?”
    “How does this work? Can I fight you back?”
    “I hope so. It won’t be much fun if you don’t.”
    Right away, Venture was foot-swept, then punched in the face as he lay on his back. From there, Starson took hold of both of his arms, expertly locked both of them at once, and forced him to tap out with his foot.
    “How old are you, kid?” he asked once they both stood up again.
    “Fourteen.”
    “What are you doing here? A bondsman and too young.”
    “I’ll be fifteen in two weeks.”
    The whistle blew again.
    “Well, happy birthday, kid!” Starson kicked him right in the gut.
    He tossed him around for awhile and choked him several times, but this rough, yet relatively damage-free treatment didn’t please Parker. Or Fisher.  
    “Dash, we don’t have all night. Let’s get on with it!” Fisher said.
    In spite of Venture’s best efforts to defend himself, he took two more swift blows to the head, the second of which landed him flat on the mat.
    “Hey, kid, just stop getting up,” Starson whispered, leaning over him. “Then I can stop.”
    “No thanks,” Venture said between gasps for air.
    Venture rose, hands up, ready to fight. He dodged a jab and swung his right leg in a high round-kick. Starson lowered his left hand to his ribs to block it, but Venture’s kick went higher and made contact with the side of Starson’s face. Starson stepped back in surprise, but he caught Venture’s leg on its way back down, and took Venture down onto his back.
    Starson laughed as he held him down. “That really stung,” he said. “I never would’ve thought you could kick that high.”
    Starson beat on him some more on the ground. Venture hurt so bad, he had to fight the threat of tears as well as the Champion. Warm blood dripped into his eye when a cut from a couple days before reopened, and his eyebrow puffed up, making it increasingly difficult for him to see.  
    “Come on, seriously, don’t get up.” Starson urged after he tapped him out with an ankle-lock.
    But Venture pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and shook his head stubbornly. So Starson battered him some more. He wanted to crawl away, curl up, cry, and then go to sleep in the warmth of the training room, but he kept hearing Beamer’s voice saying, Where’s your fighting spirit? He was going to keep getting up, like he always did, and he wasn’t going to give up on the inside this time, either.
    Starson took him down to the mat and pinned him on his stomach. Both of Venture’s arms were trapped underneath his own heaving chest. Starson rested on top of his back, his powerful legs wrapped around Venture’s legs, hooking on the inside of them and lifting them up with his feet. Venture had no way to tap, and Starson’s adept hands slid swiftly along the sides of his slippery, sweaty neck before forming fists,