They were interrupted by the entrance of a guy in a long black dress-coat. He was holding a big brass bell.
He rang the bell to grab everyone’s attention and shouted, “Here Ye! Here Ye! Can everyone return to the hall for the announcement of this year’s Gott Prize.”
A hush went over the room.
Game On.
After a short video about Beth Gott’s life and achievements, the Dean and the Head of the School of BioSciences walked up to the lectern.
The Head of School made a brief speech about the prize - even cracking a joke from the movie Top Gun. She finished her speech with the line, “I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here. I still can’t believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot! I’m gonna send you up against the best.“ The geekster crowd of Uni Botanists cracked up.
The Dean took to the lectern and said, “I won’t keep you in suspense.” He pulled out a beige envelope.“I’m sure most of you have already planned how you’d spend the $2000 prize money. Most likely on beer at The Provincial Hotel, I’d guess.”
There was more laughing –then a nervous hush as the Dean ripped open the envelope and announced,
“The winner of this year’s Beth Gott Prize is –Willow Barrant. For her outstanding work in plant micro-propagation and the cloning of new species for arid areas.”
Willow took a deep breath.
A few rows back, Willy rose to his feet, but Shu grabbed his shoulder before he could fully stand. She thought about it for a nano-second, then decided, ‘Fuck the pomp and ceremony’. They both stood up and started cheering.
Willow was on her way to Botany’s Top Gun.
The bikie kicked Freddie hard in the back, making him tumble to the ground.
He pointed the weapon at Willow, making her back away toward the smoldering sheds. He pulled two cable-ties from his pocket and said, “Tie his hands behind his back. Don’t try anything funny!” Willow took the ties and secured Freddie’s hands. The bikie leaned down to check that the bindings were tight.
Willow used the distraction to disarm him. She kicked at the staff and sent it flying into the first row of cannabis seedlings. He stood and faced her.
Willow squared off into a boxing stance. He looked confused for a moment, then burst out laughing. “What do you think you are going to do? Duke it out with me?” he said.
Willow nodded back confidently, which made him laugh even more. “I have a policy,” he sneered. “I don’t fight women. The results are not usually, erm, good for them. Girlie, why don’t you just sit the fuck down and join your friend?”
Willow took two quick steps forward and delivered a quick uppercut to his chin. He instinctively raised his arms, exposing his ribs. She drew back, rotated her torso and transferred her full bodyweight into a right cross that smashed into his ribcage.
He slumped sideways as three of his ribs cracked, then steadied himself as he let out a low moan. Willow was far from finished.
She grabbed the back of his head and lifted her knee hard into his face, splitting his nose open. The momentum made him topple backwards as his head spun and his eyes rolled back. Then his legs gave out.
As he fell to the ground, she kicked him hard, breaking more ribs as the blow reverberated right through to his liver.
“Those the results you were expecting?” She asked sarcastically.
Over in Willow’s corner Addy reached into the spit bucket and grabbed a four inch long glass laboratory vial. She shook the green liquid inside and then uncorked the top. Addy carefully poured some drops of the liquid onto Willow’s gloves. The aroma of eucalyptus and bush pomegranate wafted through the air. Willow quickly shifted her boxing gloves away from her face to avoid the smell.
Curious, Addy took a short sniff from the vial. Her eyes rolled back in her head.
She slumped down to her knees on the canvas.
“Careful babe,” Willow said, “where I come from the stuff in that vial will put a bull Crocodile to sleep in no time.”
The room went silent as the bell rang to begin the first round.
The referee called Willow and the Serb to the center of the ring. Nikolai towered over Willow. He was a good head and shoulders taller, and at least 100 pounds heavier.
“I will crush you like a sparrow,” Nickolai growled.
The betting frenzy started again. Sandi and Addy worked the crowd, taking every bet they could garner.
The bell rang again, and the fight began.
Willow was fast. Weaving back and forth just out of range of Nikolai’s mighty fists, waiting for her chance to strike.
“Come on little birdie,” Nickolai shouted, as Willow ducked and weaved to avoid another blow.
“It’s not really a fight –if you don’t fight back,” he teased.
The main door to the boxing ring swung open and a uniformed NATO officer, entered the room. The crowd paused nervously for a moment. But he shrugged off the attention as he pulled out a wad of money. The crowd turned back to the fight.
The distraction allowed Nickolai to land a bone-cracking hook into Willow’s ribs. She lurched back against the ropes. Winded.
“It looks like the little birdie has a tiny broken wing, perhaps?” Nickolai goaded.
Willow steadied and launched forward. She landed a strong blow on his jaw. Nikolai barely noticed the impact. But he snorted, as the sweet smell of eucalyptus and pomegranate filled his nostrils.
The bell rang and the boxers returned to their corners.
Addy put more drops of the green liquid on Willow’s gloves. This time she held the vial at arms length.
“Two more hits –maybe three?” Addy encouraged, “Nice job playing with him. We’re making a killing on the bets.”
Willow just coughed and cradled her cracked rib cage.
The bell rang, and the fight began again.
“C’mon little birdie. Why don’t you show your Uncle Nikki what you’ve got,” Nikolai taunted across the ring, “Maybe after this round you will be my little bitch –Eh?’
He sneered and gyrated his hips in the air. The crowd of soldiers roared.
Willow used the distraction to land another blow on his jaw. He just sniffed and laughed it off.
“Maybe not even a birdie,” he goaded. “She hits like a tiny mouse.”
Another hit of the pomegranate scent from her boxing gloves entered his nostrils. He sniffed a couple of times and said, “Hmm –a little perfumed mouse.”
After dodging more blows, the bell mercifully rang.
Willow returned to her corner.
Addy held up the vial of green liquid and asked, “You sure this stuff is going to work?”
She added a few more drops.
The bell clanged, and the boxers squared off again.
Willow landed a lucky uppercut to his jaw.
Nickolai looked confused. He grew unsteady on his feet.
Willow landed another glancing blow on his face. He sniffed a couple of times. The massive Serb’s eyes rolled, then he buckled down onto his knees in front of her.
The crowd of soldiers around the ring went silent.
Willow leaned down, close to his confused, sagging face.
He swayed back and forth, in a daze, on the blood-stained canvas.
‘I’m not a birdie!“ Willow said triumphantly.
“And I’m not your bitch –!”
“I’m a Botanist!”
She smashed the massive Serb in the face. Nikolai’s body twisted and he face-planted into the canvas.
Out cold.
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