Lara tossed someone twice her size out of the ring, then glanced challengingly at the crowd of men and women, trying to find someone who would give her a proper challenge…

"Who's next?" Lara asked, her British accent not matching the threatening voice she was trying to get across, but everyone was intimidated anyway…

Who wouldn't be when she had been beating everyone since morning?

"I would like to try?" Zil raised her hand, her small body pushing through the crowd of muscular men and women "Can I try next?"

The crowd tried to discourage Zil from entering the ring…

Don't get in the ring kid…

She'll kill you kid…

Kids these days never listen to advice…

However, unlike everyone else who discouraged Zil from entering the ring, Lara simply took a sip of water and spread the rope of the ring, allowing Zil to barely crawl inside…

As a woman, there was no way that Lara would doubt the ability of other women…

Zil rolled into the ring and rose to her feet, loosening her tie, and unbuttoning her business attire…

Her high heels were tossed into the crowd of spectators like it was garbage, and she wiped away the bright red lipstick that she loathed so much…

Honestly, it was quite a relief to Zil that Lara was also the tomboyish type since walking around looking like a proper woman was mentally taxing…

Finally, Zil tore her pants, allowing her to widen her stance…

She finally felt comfortable in her skin once more…

"I can tell you hate to wear that getup…" Lara stated, recalling that she once wore a dress and spent the night having nightmares about clothing "Why bother?"

Zil shrugged "I actually came to do business with you… will I be able to continue the business negotiations when I whoop your ass?"

Lara shrugged, completely confident in her abilities "If you win, I will give you a million dollars on the spot…"

"I need billions…" Zil corrected, already calculating the exact sum it would take to save the Orphanages across the world…

"That… we'll have to discuss after you win…" Lara mocked, tossing a new mouthguard and some old boxing gloves to Zil…

Zil was quick to put on the boxing gloves, but like Lara, she chose not to wear the mouth guard…

With her beyond-normal bone density, there was little to no chance that Lara could possibly knock out one of her teeth…

---DING---

The bell rang and Lara and Zil circled each other like two predators searching for a vulnerability to attack…

In Lara's eyes, Zil had no vulnerabilities, while in Zil's eyes, Lara was full of them, but none she could exploit without getting a blow in retaliation…

Zil didn't want just another fight, she wanted to be perfect…

Suddenly, both women pushed forward…

As fast as a bee, Zil threw a jab at Lara's chin, but Lara dodged the jab, and returned one of her own directly into Zil's stomach, sending Zil staggering into the ropes…

For the first time since Alice and Elizabeth departed, a serious look dawned on Zil's face…

It had been months since she encountered someone she couldn't defeat with a single blow, and that was due to Alice's and Elizabeth's inhuman training regimen over the years…

But Lara ended that streak in an instant…

Seeing that Lara was stronger than most, Zil didn't bother to reign in her peak human strength any longer…

Usually, she kept her strength suppressed, and though she was not as strong as anyone else in the family, Zil could punch through a concrete wall with perfect technique…

While Zil was adjusting her fighting stance for another round, Lara realized that she had used a bit too much strength in her opening attack against Zil…

But still, Lara knew her body had the tendency to automatically adjust to the threat level of an opponent so that just meant that Zil had warranted her caution…

She was not about to lower her strength and disrespect a worthy opponent…

"This is gonna be fun…" Lara mused, gesturing to quiet the noisy spectators…

A moment of distraction could cost her the battle, and she wanted to enjoy the battle to its fullest…

The two men circled each other once more until Zil attacked…

Before Lara could even see the blow coming, Zil moved her feet like a blur, blasting Lara in the gut…

"Ugh!"

Zil leaned back to avoid Lara's retaliatory left hook, but that was just a feint as Zil took Lara's true blow across the cheek…

"Agh…"

Zil spun along with the momentum of Lara's blow, and retaliated with a backhand slap across Lara's face…

But Lara managed to push herself into Zil's personal space, and both women pushed each other back, giving them some much-needed space to come up with new strategies…

The exchange was a tie with neither woman coming out on top…

"Fuck!" Zil cursed, feeling ashamed by the fact that she couldn't beat someone like Lara…

In Zil's mind, she was trained by the best parents in the world, so it only brought shame to The Crawford Family when she couldn't beat a normal person like Lara…

Frustrated, Zil removed the gloves from her fist, clearly showing she was ready to take things up a notch…

The Reff was about to blow the match to an end, but Lara waved him off and similarly removed her boxing gloves…

Zil and Lara performed leg stretches for a couple of seconds, showing that the boxing match had just turned into a Mixed Martial Arts match…

The look in the eyes of both women caused the Spectators to back away from the ring…

Using her considerable leg strength, Zil leaped forward, attempting to knee Lara in the face, but Lara blocked and hooked her arms around Zil's waist…

Zil was quick to deliver five elbow jabs to Lara's head, giving Lara a weak headache…

Still, it was not in time to prevent Lara from slamming her body onto the ring floor… Zil's back ached due to the power with which Lara slammed her down…

Lara released Zil and hopped to her feet, but Zil was not far behind…

Zil was trained to endure pain, so at this point, the pain was fuel to the fire inside her heart…

Zil used her shoulder blades to absorb the impact of the slam, and shot herself back to her feet, grabbing Lara's head in a reverse-chokehold with one fluid movement…

Pulling both their bodies down, Zil performed an RKO that left Lara dizzy…

Still, Lara reacted on instinct and rolled both their bodies over, clamping Zil's waist between her legs as she performed a chokehold that would make John Cena cry tears of blood…

Zil wiggled a bit on instinct, attempting to overpower Lara, but she quickly realized that Lara was stronger than herself…

Zil focused her mind…

She quickly came up with a counter… flipping out of the chokehold to straddle Lara, but, using strength she didn't know she had, Lara grabbed Zil by the neck, leaped to her feet, slamming Zil into the Ring's pole…

All the spectators were stunned into silence because the fight changed from boxing to Mixed Martial Arts, to just two women seemingly trying to kill each other…

The fighting continued with an equal exchange for another five minutes… Lara and Zil matched each other blow for blow…

Next, Zil and Lara created space between themselves once more, knowing that the fight was about to come to an end with their next exchange…

Lara unconsciously entered The Zone – a state taught to her by Zeel, even if she couldn't remember him…

Zil, on the other hand, adjusted her techniques to become more deadly…

The difference between Zil and Lara immediately became clear… Zeel taught Lara how to fight as a pastime to quell his boredom, but Zil was trained by Alice and Elizabeth to do one thing – survive…

Lara struck a fast, powerful blow at Zil's head, but Zil instantly recognized the blow as a weakness…

Zil was taught to always keep her motions unpredictable, never to commit to a blow she wasn't certain she could hit…

Changing her stance, Zil deflected Lara's blow and followed with two quick jabs to Lara's chest and neck, then a roundhouse kick to Lara's head…

Both women's movements were a blur, so the spectators had no idea what happened… all they could see was Lara slumping to the ground, unconscious…

Zil had won the match…

Still, there was no one happier than Lara… because, for the first time in months, those memories buried in her mind flickered to the surface…

Briefly… very briefly, Lara recalled another time she had been knocked unconscious…and she remembered the person who knocked her unconscious – the love of her life, Zeel Crawford…

Yet, the memories didn't remain, and with her loss of consciousness, the memories were locked away once more…