“Get back! Get back! Everybody get back!”

The towering form of Uriel Cortez slowly lumbers through the door, barely having to duck the top to get inside of Iris Davine’s office. At either side, three trainers slowly walk him to the back and start rounding the corner to make sure that he can see where he’s going. 

“AAHHHH!” Cortez cries out. 

One of the trainers has a compress against the burn on his face leftover from the fireball.

“Junior… damn it, son... “ 

Right behind them, Cortez’s (now sole) manager Thomas Keeling and Minute both try and match pace with Uriel and the trainers while they seat Cortez. 

“Get him over here! Get him over here!” Iris commands. 

The staff sit him up near against a counter… regular chairs not being kind to him, of course. 

The Titan of Industry gets seated against it and is still seething in pain.n 

“I’M GONNA KILL HIM!” Cortez screams, definitely not the more ususally refined giant he’s known for being. 

Minute looks up at Cortez, worried, but Thomas grabs him by the shoulder. 

“I’m sorry you guys… “ Thomas trails off. “I… I didn’t know this was going to happen. I really didn’t. I’m sorry for all of this.”

Minute sticks by him and grabs his arm.

“¿va a estar bien?” Minute asks. 

“Uh… “ Thomas is still clearly rattled, trying to think of everything that’s just happened. “Uh… yeah, okay, okay. He’ll be okay.”

Minute nods then looks up at Cortez. 

“Okay, here…” Iris carefully switches the cold compress for a fresh one. Uriel winces when Iris puts the new one on the giant’s face carefully. “Take this. Just relax for a few minutes and I’ll…”

“I’LL RELAX WHEN I’VE KICKED THE FUCK OUT OF THEM!” Cortez booms. 

Everybody backs up instantly, even Thomas and Minute. When he realizes his error, Uriel releases a regretful sigh. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, “just… thank you, Iris.”

“It’s okay,” she replies dryly. “Sadly I wish I could say it’s the first time we’ve had a giant person snap at me. 

Finally, DEFIANCE’s head nurse Wesley Miller steps into the room, fresh after looking after another one of the DEFIANCE stars. The comically large nurse (pushing 6’5” and 240) walks up to Uriel and still looks like a child compared the Titan of Industry. 

“Shit, Uriel… you okay?” Wesley asks. 

Uriel chuckles, still wincing from the compress. “I, uh… I might have to come over for cards next time with an eye patch or a mask, but give me a few weeks and I’ll have an adequate ‘you should see the other guy’ response lined up.”

Thomas and Minute both look up at the odd exchange when Cortez grumbles. 

“What? I can’t have friends outside you guys?” Uriel asks. 

Thomas raises a defensive hand. “Sorry… look, I’ve spent a long, long time not doing this sort of thing. My relationships with my clients are mostly business. But what Junior did out there… I’m sorry.”

Uriel uses his free arm to grab Thomas’ shoulder. 

“I should have seen this coming, too, the moment he kept dragging Minute through the mud, I should have just beat his ass… but he’s been like family to me, too.” Uriel says, remorse in his voice. “Minute… Mateo… I’M sorry he did that to and tried to pit you against us?”

Minute shrugs and then bumps fists with Uriel. 

“So… what do we do now?” Uriel asks. 

“YOU’RE not doing anything,” Iris tells Uriel. “We’re setting up a ride for you to go to the hospital right now. They’ll get that burn look at, check out your eye, then we’ll go from there and see when we can get you back in the ring.”

“...You mean we’re not going to a local medical facility?” Uriel quips. Only Welsey laughs at the bad wrestling joke. “Nevermind.”

Thomas shrugs. “Look… I don’t know when he apparently set up this thing with Alvaro de Vargas he has going on, but I’ll do some digging. I’ll find out what he’s up to and we’ll put a stop to this.”

Minute nods while Uriel leans back against the counter some more, holding the compress and waiting for an ambulance. 

“When I can come back,” Uriel tells them, “I’M going to put a stop to this.”

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