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Conning the Arena

Chapter 7

Sponsored by GlynWolf

By Draconicon

The Golden Retriever was surprise enough for Olag, and he didn't need anymore. The dog wanted to get a good look at him? Fine. He'd let that happen, if for no other reason than he liked to show off, anyway.

He stepped into the room, feeling the eyes of the rich dog's guards watching him. They were probably ready for most moves of his at this point, considering all the stuff he'd had to show off in the arena. They probably knew the baseline of what he could do, even if they didn't know just how hard he could go. He hoped that was the case, anyway, and that Malfust wasn't beaming information everywhere just to keep the arena participants more interested.

He'd do that sort of shit, too...

Probably not yet, though. Otherwise, all the other competitors that were going through the dark rings would sell for less, since everyone would want to save their money for the mystery bear. There were those that would want to spend their money on him and him alone, and while that would make for a bidding war from hell, it wouldn't give the peacock that much more money. Olag wasn't great with numbers outside the tactical range, but he knew that selling more was often better than selling small.

He stepped into the middle of the room, arms crossed, shameless as his cock wagged between his legs. He looked between the various armored soldiers, chuckled, and shook his head.

"Planning on shooting me if I get uppity?"

"Not at all. In fact, I doubt that you'd do much of anything to me, even if you had the courage."

"And why's that, hmm?"

"Because you aren't going to risk yourself. You want to live too much."

"Yeah, see, that ain't a good thing to believe about anyone down here."

"Hmm?" The Retriever chuckled. "I think that's good to believe about everyone. You all want to live, so you never push back. It's why we stay where we are, and you poor, sad people stay at the bottom."

"For now."

"Forever."

"Now who's fooling themselves?"

"I'm sure you think it's me. Now, let's have some introductions. You are...Olag, yes?"

"Yeah. And you?"

"Bradford. Bradford Callahan, but if all things go according to plan, you'll call me -"

"Whatever the fuck I want."

"Then I'll start calling you Meat, shall I?"

"...Heh. Go ahead and try it."

"Alright. Come here, Meat."

Olag snarled. The man apparently didn't intimidate easily, but at least he knew that now. He walked a bit closer, exaggerating his gait a bit to ensure that everything showed itself off a little bit more. The low-hanging balls, the constant throb that went through his cock these days, the thick muscles in his thighs: all of those things were on display.

"Stop."

He stopped a step away from the Retriever, eyebrow raised. The dog started walking around him, trailing a delicate finger along the bear's hips as he walked in one circle after another.

"My, my. Such thick fur, and heavy muscles. You are a big one, aren't you? Big...everywhere."

The dog's hand dropped to the bear's dick, and Olag growled in a very different tone as his cock was handled, stroked, teased with a surprisingly knowledgeable hand. Bradford stroked him until he was past half-mast, stiffening up before letting him go. The canine chuckled to himself.

"That thing would work better inside someone than hanging free."

"Ya asking me to fuck you?"

"I'm considering it."

"...Ya ain't think of having me do that now, are ya?"

"Not yet. Not when you're still so wild. But once you break down a bit, once you are augmented for obedience...Mmm. I do so love to see big men get broken. There's such a different flavor to it than seeing the little ones break. They're supposed to. You, though..."

Bradford leaned right into his chest, the dog's fingers sliding through his fur and rubbing his muscles. They dug into his pecs, squeezing them almost like claws digging into their prey as the rich man looked up at him.

"You don't give in."

"Ain't had to yet."

"That eel had you on the ropes...but not as much as he thought."

"..."

"Yes, yes, I imagined that he was getting there, but not nearly as much as he did. You were holding back, weren't you?"

"Ain't saying that I was."

"Come now, don't be coy. I might lose interest if I think that you're weaker than you look."

"..."

"Or are you telling me that he was really testing you?"

The answer was, flat-out, that he hadn't been. Oh, perhaps a little, considering the way that he was trying to hold back, but the fact that the electricity had been the worst of it had been the only real challenge. Body to body, there was no challenge; body to body, Olag won every time.

Bradford must have seen something in his face, because the dog chuckled and nodded.

"That's what I thought. Guards? You may go. Go on, go on. Shoo."

The armored thugs left the room, the honor guard assembling on the far side of the door. Olag watched them go with a raised eyebrow. He'd never seen someone so confident in their own safety that they would get rid of that many useful idiots while they still had a genuine threat in the room.

Either he's a real idiot, or he knows something that I don't.

Bradford returned to his chair, sitting down and swirling a glass in hand. He kept staring at the bear, shaking his head and smiling, until Olag glared back.

"What the hell do ya want?"

"The biggest and best. That includes you, I think."

"Uh-huh."

"Then I'll have to have you."

"Good luck. I got a lot of shit to go through first."

"Then you best get through it." The Golden Retriever shook his head as he put his glass down. "If it wasn't for the fact that we are only allowed so many slaves at once, I would have bought up the current crop already. The money would come back in short order, but at least there'd be no competition. But, at the very least, I can snap up the best of them."

That...opened a few doors, as far as Olag was concerned. He kept it off his face, he hoped, but he was already thinking of the possibilities there.

This asshole wanted to get the best of the bunch on his team. That meant that he didn't like the other patrons and buyers down here, and more, it meant that there was someone that had sufficient funds to outbid all the others when it came to getting the winners that he wanted. Those two bits of information on their own meant that he had a weak point, something that the bear could play with.

But more than that, it meant that there was a way out of this place without having to rely on Pirn and Verk...or someone that he could push them onto, if he really wanted to. There was a way out of here, something that...

Something that he might be able to make work, if he could solve one other problem. Damn. His boss probably would have seen this a mile away, but hey, at least he'd gotten something out of this.

"Something on your mind?" Bradford asked.

"Just thinking of my options," Olag half-lied.

"Really? And you think you'll get a better off than mine?"

"I think that it doesn't hurt to think of everything."

"Stop thinking and start fighting, sexy." Bradford chuckled, picking up his drink once more. "Trust me, we both know what you're better at."

"Uh-huh. Sure."

"Now, one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Turn around."

"..."

"Turn around, Meat."

Don't piss him off. He's a chance to get outta here, and ya can't turn him down yet.

So, the polar bear turned around. He was all too aware of the conniving, condescending gaze that went right to his ass, and he put his best face on to keep from turning around and ripping Bradford's muzzle off and putting it on upside-down. He kept his eyes straight ahead as the canine chuckled.

"Love it when the big ones have a fat ass."

"Ain't fat. It's muscle."

"Oh? It jiggled enough to have some fat in it."

"..."

"Spread it."

Gritting his teeth, Olag, once more, did as he was told. This was more humiliating than some of the other shit that he had been forced through, though not by much. He pulled the cheeks apart, feeling the cool air of the room caressing his hole. He stared straight ahead -

"HEY!"

Only to shout as soon as he felt a finger brushing against it instead. He whipped his head around, a full-growl ripping out past his teeth as Bradford grinned up at him.

"Ah ah, Meat. You stay still. I'm going to test my future property."

"Ain't yours yet."

"You will be."

The bear could have ripped his head clean off. The temptation was there, the guards were not, and he could have done it without a single bit of interference. The price, however...

And you said I can't control myself. Proving ya wrong right now, boss...

Olag flinched as he felt the dry finger force its way into his ass, wiggling from side to side, testing out the tightness as far as he could tell. None of the usual finger-curling trying to find his prostate, none of the bullshit of trying to make him feel good for taking something up his ass. All that he got was the pressure of that finger working through him, pushing in and out, just opening up his pucker more than anything else.

No commentary, either. Small relief as it was, he took it, glaring straight ahead as he got an impromptu prostate exam. No pleasure from that, this time. The dog wasn't trying to get that from him.

Finally, that finger came free, and Olag bit back the growl of relief that followed. The dog wiped it on his ass.

"Clean, at least."

"Fucking should be."

"You may go."

"Hmmph."

"And, Meat?"

"What?"

"If you want out. Keep winning. I don't want to get bored; if I don't get a show with the next win, I will be very disappointed."

So, it was that kind of asshole. Well, he could work with that. The bear nodded, walking to the door. The guards on the other side fell in rank around him and began the long march back to the barracks.

They deposited him inside without ceremony, and he flicked his eyes around the room. Another fight must have happened while he was busy with the dog, which meant that there'd been a few more people taken out to the arena and possibly to the infirmary afterward. He glanced at the brackets and saw that they were already almost done with the first round. The kangaroo Shelly had pointed out toward the end of the bracket had won easily, and they were on their last fight of the first round.

He shook his head. That was something he could look into more after he finished talking to that bitch-mouse. It was time to find out why she'd lied to him.

The other competitors glared at him as he walked through the crowd. Couldn't have said why. Maybe it was the fact that he was showing them up, or maybe it was him making them look bad. Whatever it was, he didn't care. He just cared about -

He saw a flash of brown through the crowd and pushed toward it. Twenty steps in that direction found him standing over the smaller mouse female, glaring at her.

"Ya got some explaining to do, ya little shit," he muttered.

"You weren't supposed to win."

"Fucking hell, I wasn't."

He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck before she could pull away, dragging her along. Most of the other fighters pulled away. None of the other females came to her rescue, and he saw Pirn and Verk on the far side of the room carefully not-looking his way. He returned the favor, keeping his head on the wall that he was dragging the mouse toward.

Not that she was letting him. She kicked and squirmed, and more than once managed to hit his arm hard enough that if he had been a normal bear, she would have broken it. He held tighter when she hit, and just kept walking.

As soon as they were in reach of the wall, he swung her around and slammed her against it. Not as hard as he could have, but still hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs. Olag pinned her there by the throat, leaning in.

"I want to know why the fuck ya thought that was a good idea, and I want to know now." She opened her mouth, but he pushed down harder, cutting off whatever was coming out. "And I don't want to hear excuses. Don't want to hear that ya thought it was funny. Don't want to hear that I got the wrong idea. There ain't one, it ain't funny, and I sure as hell don't got the wrong idea. Don't waste my time, and I won't waste yours."

"..."

"Now... " He eased back, letting her breathe. "Talk."

"...Do you know...what the hell...you're doing?" she whispered.

"That ain't a reason."

"Fine. Here's one. You -" Shelly coughed, shaking her head. "You aren't protecting me. You're turning me into a target."

"Ain't happening."

"You think? I almost got gang-raped while you were in the arena."

"...Huh."

"They left me alone because I told them I was dealing with you. They're scared of you, asshole. And they know that the only way that they can beat you is by getting rid of me before I tell you how to beat them."

"...Huh."

"So, yeah. I thought it was a good idea to get rid of you before they decided I was too dangerous to leave alive. But fuck...you won, anyway."

She was more pissed than defeated, but she was definitely sagging against his grip. Not the fake-sag that was trying to lure him in, either; he knew the difference. She'd been terrified of how fast he was winning, and more, terrified of what the others would do to her if he kept winning.

Fucking hell. It was one of those barracks. Take down those that looked like competition, do what you could to keep the weak ones around so that you looked good next to 'em, and just play into what the assholes at the top watching the whole thing wanted. Olag shook his head, slowly letting go. She hit the ground, but didn't run. She'd probably given up on that.

"So, what, are you going to kill me now?" she asked.

"...The hell ya talking about?"

"I tried to get you killed."

"Important word there. Tried."

"...I might succeed next time."

"That's depending entirely on if there's gonna be a next time."

"What - you think that you - why aren't you -"

"Two reasons. One, I still need you. Two -"

"You bitch!"

Olag whipped his head around. One of the other fighters - a long-clawed velociraptor that he'd missed the first few times around - had snuck up on the pair of them. The dinosaur leaned in, grabbing for Shelly's throat. To her credit, she was fast enough to kick his hand away, and she fell into a more defensive stance. The dino didn't back off.

"You said that you'd take care of it."

"And you said that you'd leave me alone."

"You fucking - you're just making a new deal with him now, ain'tcha?"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"You cheating bitch!"

The raptor lunged for her, and they tumbled sideways. Olag arched an eyebrow at the fight, starting to step in, only for Shelly to flash him a brief glare. The meaning was clear. She didn't want him interfering when she was fighting for her life.

Glancing at the door, Olag saw no sign of the guards. That was another bad sign. Meant that there was either an arrangement or an understanding. Someone else was pulling a string to allow this fight to happen. Either it was one of the fighters bribing the guards to keep from stepping in while they were taking care of Shelly, or it was Dr. Malfust allowing it to happen to see if the bear was going to stand up for his bitch.

Either way, it didn't mean anything good.

The fight was already going poorly for Shelly. She had taken a cut to the face from the raptor's claws, and he was almost biting her throat out every time that he darted in. His jaws clacked mostly against air, but every so often Olag saw a flash of red in the air when the dino pulled back.

Ain't gonna last forever...

If the female could have gotten some distance, she might have been able to make a better fight of it. The fact that she was trapped in this close-range melee without being able to get away, unable to use her kicks or tail, meant that she could do more than soft jabs to the core. The raptor's thick muscles were keeping those from doing much damage, too, and he kept pushing closer, bringing those deadly foot-claws closer and closer to bear.

Olag looked back at her face, debating letting it play out, before finally shaking his head. This was fucking stupid.

The raptor pushed her back, back, back, grinding her across the floor and refusing to let her up even once. She was on the verge of being shoved into one of the goo-bed pools, the top of her head grinding into the slime, when Olag grabbed the raptor by the back of the neck.

"ASSHOLE!" the raptor shouted. "Let me go! Let me fucking go! She ain't yours! She's cheating, she -"

"Ya can shut up now."

He gripped the raptor by the end of its tail and swung him around. The dino screamed once before the force of the swing pulled the bitch's spine apart in three separate places; Olag could hear the three snaps come one after the other. He swung the raptor overhead, and then slammed him down, hard, into the metal floor.

The dinosaur didn't get up. Wasn't dead, but until someone started fixing up his spine, he wouldn't be moving again anytime soon. Olag shoved him away with a foot, sending him sliding toward the front door of the barracks. The guards would be by soon, after that.

The rest of the fighters stopped in their tracks, staring at him. It was even worse than the beat-down he'd given the first asshole, and worse than what he'd done to the dicks in the showers. There, he'd given them the chance to fight back, fought them fist to fist, hand to hand. This...this had been different.

Of course it had. He hadn't held back.

The polar bear picked up the mouse by the scruff of the neck, holding her from behind as he held her out to the group.

"Ya see this mouse? She ain't one of yours. She's one of mine."

There was no response, not from them, and not from Shelly. He lifted her up, holding her higher and higher, until his arm was fully outstretched and her feet were more than four feet off the ground.

"This bitch is mine. Ya touch her, I break ya. Ain't no more warnings on that. I come back and hear that she's been hurt, or threatened? I put yer head through a fucking wall. I see a mark on her, I yank the nearest related bone outta your body and pick my teeth with it. I hear that she's been pinned and used by anyone but me, and I'm gonna rip yers off and use it as a condom while I fuck the living shit out of you.

"We understand each other? Or am I gonna have to make another example?"

The nods that danced across the room were pretty unanimous. He figured that he'd need to make another example in a fight or two, particularly if he got knocked around at all, but until then, they should have some time.

He dropped Shelly to her feet, and she gasped for breath, rubbing the back of her neck. Before she could complain, he wrapped an arm around her hips and pulled her along.

"Come on."

"You asshole."

"Come. On."

He dragged her along by her tail when she didn't immediately follow, and she quickly got the point, turning around and running along after him. He beat feet for the far side of the barracks, approaching Pirn and Verk, The latter looked around as if seeing if they should run, but the giraffe kept the rat in place.

Soon as they were close enough to not have to shout, Olag nodded at his mouse.

"She's part of this, too."

"Lovely," Pirn said as neutrally as possible. "Any other pets that you plan to bring along?"

"Shelly?" Olag muttered. "Go ahead."

What followed was a kick as fast as the one that caught him in the nose when he'd first arrived in the arena. Pirn wheezed as the mouse's foot connected solidly with his stomach, stumbling back a step as he sucked air to try and recover what he'd lost. By the time that Verk was between him and Shelly, trying to look intimidating, the damage had been done, and more helpfully, the point made.

"Okay..." Pirn wheezed. "Okay, so...she's not a pet."

"Never call me that," Shelly muttered. "Whatever this asshole said, I'm not his bitch, either."

"That ya are," Olag corrected. "And that's the only thing keeping ya safe in here until we make a point. So, best keep quiet about fighting it, eh?"

"...I hate that you're right."

"Best be glad I am; otherwise, they'd be doing worse than that raptor was." Shaking his head, he nodded at the other two. "These idiots are trying to get out. They ain't that good at it."

"We're...better than you...think," Pirn wheezed.

"Ya tried to bribe me with that rat's sorry ass to get me to get past the defenses that they have on the exits. If ya were stupid enough to come down here without a plan for getting out, that's your stupid problem."

"Yeah? And how...how were you going to get out? You sound like you had a plan, but all I've seen you do is fight," the giraffe muttered.

"That's different. I'm a good enough fighter that I could fight my way out without a plan. That said, I got one. And a good one."

"...I don't like it when someone like you gets plans," Shelly muttered. "It usually means bad things for anyone else that can't keep up with them."

"I just saved yer ass from the rest of the barracks, so I think I'm owed a little gratitude. And that ass, but we'll get around to that later. Ya still got a lot to make up to me for sabotaging me in that last fight, so don't think that yer off the hook for that just yet," Olag said, shaking his head. "Meanwhile, plan. I got a buyer out there, one that wants the best fighters he can get."

"...So?" Verk asked.

"So, we rig it. He wants the best? We make it look like we're the best. I already am -"

"Not yet," Pirn muttered.

"I will be. And after that, it's just a matter of getting whoever else we can into the top. You, me, Shelly, Verk. We get there, he buys us, and we get the hell out of here."

"...What makes you think that he'd actually go through with it?" Pirn asked.

Olag hid a smirk. He knew that kind of question. Someone that was already half-sold on the idea, even though they didn't like the risk. He was halfway to getting what he wanted already.

"He hates everyone else having slaves from the rings. We give him a chance to get the best, and fuck over the rest of the rich guys - and I know why ya came down here, Pirn; ya wanted to do something about the ring - this man'll take it."

It was a long-shot, and they clearly knew it. They were trusting to luck that a rich man, someone that was benefiting off the system that they were trapped in, could be manipulated into destroying it for the sake of ruining his competition. It wasn't as absurd as one might have thought, but it was a risky shot.

If his boss was here, Olag knew that the matter would be a forgone conclusion. That mouse was too fucking good at manipulating people, and he probably would have had Bradford signing over his resources and contacts in the first meeting, all too eager to be part of the plan. Olag had still been figuring out, measuring the risk, and hoping he was getting it right, and more, had been too distracted by everything going on in that office. No point in trying to push when he was still not sure if he had it right.

But now...

Now, he was all but sure that it was their best chance, and if they didn't follow through, then they just had to accept being fucked. He glanced between his partners, measuring their resolve with a quick stare to each of them.

Verk was probably less than eager to risk it, but the way that he kept looking back at the giraffe, it was clear that he would follow Pirn's lead on this. No surprise. He'd been almost silent the whole time, so it didn't feel off that he'd wait for the giraffe to decide for him.

Shelly wasn't pleased, but he could see a difference in the way she stood. She'd made her decision, now, and he'd blocked off her chances to stay uninvolved. She couldn't back out, so she'd have to commit twice as hard. He had her on his side.

Which just left the giraffe. The long-necked man tapped his chin, wincing and shaking his head.

"There's a hundred ways that this can go wrong. You have to see that."

"Yeah. Couple ways that it can go right, too, which is better than just bashing our way out."

"It was never - that wasn't going to be the plan."

"And? What was?"

"...I was still thinking of that."

"Well, stop thinking of that and start thinking of how we rig this. Shelly's got info on lots of fighters. The two of ya start talking about how we find a weakness in 'em, and then we see how we can take down the ones ya can't beat before we hit the arena. We do it long enough, either they call it off and just have the auction early, or we hit the top and we got it done. As for the buyer..."

Olag hated the idea of having to play someone. His skills were better used breaking someone down physically, not smooth-talking them. Sure, Bradford had a desire for his 'Meat', but that didn't mean that it was going to be easy to manipulate him and make the Golden Retriever do what he wanted. Hell, it might make it harder.

But they needed someone on the other side that could apply pressure on Malfust to keep the process going. They needed someone that was so interested in getting the best - getting him and the others - that the tournament had to keep going. If it stopped, if they started 'adjusting' the fighters too much, then their insight would be useless, and they'd be going in blind every fucking time.

They couldn't win with that. Hell, he didn't know if he could win with that.

"I'll keep him on our side. Ya stay with me, and I'll get us out of this. Good enough?"

"...Good enough for us," Pirn said.

"Not sure I get a vote in this...seems like suicide to me," Shelly admitted.

"That's cause ya ain't worked with me before." Olag chuckled. "Trust me. I got this. Now...Pirn, Verk, ya start thinking about how ya plan on making it through yer next matches. Me and this mouse...we got words."

He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck again, dragging her along. She didn't fight it, at least, not much. She was not happy, that much was clear, but he was pretty sure that she understood that she'd brought at least a portion of this on herself. There was only so much forgiveness he could muster for someone stabbing him in the back the way she had.

That said, he wasn't going to fuck up a tool that they needed. His boss had taught him that much, at least. An ambitious tool could be controlled, the mouse said, but a broken tool had a very hard time being put to use the way that it had been designed. Olag tried to remember that when people got under his skin, these days, and most of the time, he was able to with a little work.

They went to as private a corner of the barracks as they could get, and Olag let her go. Shelly grunted as she hit the floor again, shaking her head.

"So, what happens to me, now? Going to rape me?"

"Ya gonna call it that?"

"That's what you call sex you don't want. Haven't you heard?"

"Means ya ain't had it proper with me just yet. I fucked yer throat. I ain't fucked ya yet."

"It's the same difference. It just goes in a different hole, and it might get me pregnant depending on what the hell you're lugging around in those mega-balls of yours."

Olag took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. He put his hands on the mouse's shoulders, and he leaned in, his voice low and deep as he whispered to her.

"Ya complain about me not doing enough. Ya complain about me doing too much. Ya complain about everything. But one thing ya ain't ever gonna have cause to complain about is what I'm about to do to ya. I'm gonna make sure that ya stay safe, and ain't never gonna have to worry about what the hell the other fucks in this room do to ya. And when we hit the surface, ya ain't gotta do anything else for me.

"But until we get there...I'm gonna get paid for it. And trust me when I say this...ya ain't gonna regret it. Not the protection, or the paying. Now...turn around, and bend over..."

The End

Summary: Olag meets his potential buyer properly, and then goes back to find out why Shelly fucked him over.

Tags: M/M, Fingering, Nudity, Size Difference, Blackmail, Golden Retriever, Mouse, Rat, Polar Bear, Giraffe, Raptor, Serious Injury, Series, Dark, Sex for Safety,