^^^found this fan art of a video game and thought it was perfect for this chapter!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry grabs my coat from my hand without saying a word. He knows that nothing he says will change my mind, so he stays quiet. I turn to Mr. Payne, who's staring at me with wide eyes.

     "Miss, a-are you sure?" He asks. "These fights are dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

     "What makes you think I don't know what I'm doing?" I say, quickly braiding my hair and pinning it into a low bun. "I want to fight."

     Mr. Payne sighs. "Okay, I suppose that's alright. Make it past five rounds, and I'll tell you whatever you need to know," I nod, and he hands me white hand wraps. I wrap them on each hand and they reach halfway up my forearm.

     I look at Niall, who is breathing heavily and pressing a wet cloth to his face. "Harry, take care of Niall. Make sure he's not beat up too bad."

     Harry nods. "I-I don't think this is a g-good idea, Mary," he stutters. "I don't want to see you getting beat up in there, I don't know if I could handle it."

     "Don't worry about me, dear," I smile. "I can handle it. If I get beat up bad, I'll quit before it gets any worse."

     "Don't do this," he whispers to me, rubbing my cheek. "We'll find some other way to solve this case."

     I sigh, "This is our best chance, Harry. I have to at least try."

     Harry pauses for a moment before responding. "Then promise me you'll beat the shit out of you opponents."

     I laugh. "I'll try my best," I notice Mr. Payne walking into the middle of the circle.

     "May I have the next opponents join me in the circle?" His voice booms. I take a deep breath and begin to walk towards him. I hear Harry wish me luck behind me. Once I'm in the circle, I see the man who I'm supposed to be fighting. He's a young man, not too muscular and not too tall. I think it's disgusting that all the men have to take their shirts off. I'm glad I didn't have to take off mine, honestly. "Alright, you know the rules. As soon as I get out of the circle, you can start. The round ends either when one of you is knocked out or you forfeit. Understand?" We both nod, and Mr. Payne wishes both of us luck as he walks out of the circle.

     I get into my fighting stance, and so does my opponent. He smiles creepily with crooked, yellow teeth. I have the sudden urge to knock those teeth right out of his mouth. I want to see him try to smile like a pervert without any teeth. As soon as Mr. Payne gets on the other side of the fence, my opponent takes a swing at me. I expertly duck and punch him right in his stomach. He gasps and bends over in pain. I get back in my stance and start jumping slightly, feeling good about myself. He takes another swing, which I dodge again. I see he's not protecting his face so I go right for it. My fist comes in contact with his cheek, and he stumbles back a few steps. He puts his hand up to his bleeding mouth and his eyes widen.

     "I'm done!" He tells Mr. Payne, and I grin proudly. I can't believe all it took for him to forfeit was two punches, what a weakling. I turn to look at Harry, who's cheering me on and clapping his hands. Mr. Payne climbs over the fence and up to both of us. "And the winner is...I'm sorry, what was your name?"

     "Mary Styles," I breathe, surprised that I made it past the first round.

     "The winner is Miss Mary Styles!" He exclaims, and I look around to see a whole crowd of men who seem confused at first, but soon cheer as loud as they can. "Alright, who's up next?"

     One by one, I kept winning the rounds. The second man was even smaller than the first man, so it was easy. The third man was more muscular than most men here, so I got a few hits, but nothing major. The side of my forehead, by my eyebrow, was cut open a bit and was bleeding. There were a few bruises on my arms, but it was nothing compared to what my opponents looked like. The fourth man was the most difficult to go up against, but he forfeited the round after I broke his leg. I do feel a bit bad, but with the way these men were looking at me, they were asking for it.

     "Alright, time for a short break before this last round," Mr. Payne informs me, and I nod. I walk out of the circle and over the fence. I'm surprised by a sudden hug from Harry.

     "I'm so glad you're okay," Harry whispers in my ear, and I smile.

     "I told you I can handle it," I reply, and he lets go of me.

     "You're so cool, Mary. How can you be so cool?" He asks, and I shrug.

     "It just comes naturally, I suppose," I smirk. I sit down on the chair next to Niall and sigh in relief. It's so nice to relax after all that I did today, but I can't relax for too long. If I do, I'd never want to get back up and finish this fight.

     "How are you doing?" Mr. Payne asks me, and I shrug.

     "I've been better, Mr. Payne, but I've also been worse," I reply.

     "I had no idea you were such a fighter, Miss. I have to say, I'm extremely impressed," he says. "And you can call me Liam."

     I nod. "Surprised you, didn't I?" When he nods his head, I continue. "Yeah, I tend to surprise a lot of people.

     "Well, I hope you continue to surprise me, Miss," he responds. "The last round is going to be much more difficult than the first four combined, so take as much time as you need to get ready."

     With that, he walks away. Niall hands me his wet cloth, which I take and press on my face. I ignore his blood that's on it because the cold dampness of the cloth is so relieving. I remove the cloth and wipe the cut that's by my eyebrow, wincing a bit.

     "How are you feeling?" Harry kneels down, placing his hand on my knee.

     "I feel really good, honestly," I say. "I'm really pumped, I could go on for ten more rounds if I wanted to."

     "Well, you're stopping after this one," Harry replies. "We have a case to solve, and I don't want to be here much longer."

     I nod and stand up. "Okay, I think I'm ready," I walk back into the circle, where Liam is already standing.

     "It's time for Miss Mary's final round of the night!" He announces, earning a roar of excitement from the crowd. "There is only one man here who has volunteered to challenge the defending champion. Come on in!"

     I gasp at the man who walks into the fence. He's incredibly tall and muscular. I look at his face, where his nose seems to be permanently crooked and his black hair is greasy. Overall, he's disgusting and brutish.

     "Hell no," I hear Harry say. "Mary, come back here!"

     I turn to him and shake my head. "I can do this."

     Liam wishes us both good luck again, and steps out of the circle. I take a deep breath and get into my fighting stance.

     "You think you're so tough, little girl?" The man speaks with a rough voice. "Let's see how you do against a real man."

     His words make my blood boil, and I make the mistake of striking first. He stops my right fist with his hand and slowly twists it, causing a shooting pain to go up my arm, and I wince. He lets go of me and I grab my wrist, hissing at the pain. I'm scared to remove my hand wraps because I don't want to see what it looks like, but I just know it's broken. How could he break my wrist with only his hand?

     I take a few steps back and rethink my decision. I don't want to fight him, but I don't exactly have a choice and I most certainly will not forfeit. I slowly step closer to him and raise my arms, protecting my face.

     I take a deep breath and decide to throw a punch at him with my left fist. It's not going to be as strong, though, since I'm right-handed and my right arm is useless to me now. Before I have the chance to attack, I duck just in time to dodge his massive fist. I take the opportunity and grab his extended arm and twist it behind his back, pushing him down on the ground head first. I put my foot on his back to stop him from getting up, and I twist his arm even more. I wince a bit when I hear a crack and he shouts in pain, but it doesn't bother me as much as it should have. I bend down to his level.

     "What were you saying earlier?" I ask him. When I get no response, I stand back up and let go of his arm. The man is lifted up and carried away with nothing but a broken arm. Liam runs up to me in the middle of the circle and the crowd seems to have gone mad, cheering for me.

     "Miss Mary Styles wins again!" He announces, lifting my uninjured arm up. "Can I get a cheer for the toughest woman we've ever seen?!" The men in the crowd are the loudest they've been all night, and I laugh in joy. I can't believe I actually won. Liam and I leave the circle and I immediately go up to Harry, who has the biggest smile on his face.

     He wraps his arms around me and picks me up. "I can't believe you beat him! I'm so proud of you!" I giggle as he sets me down. I hardly noticed the elderly man standing by us next to Liam.

     "Congratulations," Liam grins. "This man is a doctor, he's going to check your wrist. As soon as he's done, you'll all join me in my office and I'll tell you anything you need to know."

     He walks away from us and the doctor examines my wrist. I really hope it isn't broken. "Good news, it's merely a minor sprain," he says. He takes my arm wraps off and grabs a new one from the table. He wraps my right hand and wrist, and goes a bit up my arm as well. "It should be good as new within a week or two."

     "Thank God," Harry breathes. He helps me put my coat back on and grabs my uninjured hand. Then, he helps Niall stand up. I notice that Niall has put his shirt back on and he looks like he's been cleaned up. There are still some cuts on his face and he's got a black eye, but he looks like he's going to be fine. We head over to the nearby small building where we saw Liam go into, and walk through the doorway. It's a small room with a table and a few drawers. Lots of papers are scattered everywhere and the room is lighted dimly. Liam is sitting behind the table, and he gestures for us to take a seat. We sit on the chairs in front of the table, facing him.

     "What would you like to know?" He asks, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table.

     "Have you heard of a man named Thomas Cutbush?" I ask, and he nods his head.

     "Of course I know him, he's in here nearly all the time," he responds. "He owes a lot of people money. Why do you want to know about him?"

     Niall speaks up. "We think he might be Jack the Ripper."

     I turn to Niall with wide eyes, "Niall!"

     He looks surprised. "Were we not supposed to tell people? I'm not in my right mind, I just got my head bashed in a bunch of times."

     "You think he's Jack the Ripper?" Liam asks.

     "How do you know about Jack the Ripper?" Harry asks.

     Liam chuckles. "Everyone knows about him. It's not Thomas."

     "What?" I confusedly ask. "How can you be so sure?"

     "Well," he scratches his head. "He was here last night, when the most recent murders took place. It's all over the news, so don't ask how I know about that. Anyways, he was here until three in the morning. But, if you still want to look for him, have you tried The Ten Bells?"

     I nod. "Yes, we were just there today, there was a drunk man who directed us here. Do you know what times he's usually there?"

     Liam nods. "He'll be there not tomorrow, but the next day at precisely six in the evening. I'm telling you, it's not him. But, you should still go to the pub at that time."

     "Even if it's not him, I suppose we can still ask him about what happened, since his name is on the list," I tell Harry, who nods. We stand up and are about to leave when I turn to Liam. "Thank you so much for your help, sir."

     "My pleasure, Miss," he replies. "Should you ever need my help, you need only ask. I'll be more than happy to offer my assistance."

     I smile. "I'm sure I'll be coming here more often," and with that, we leave.

     "What are we going to do until Cutbush visits the pub?" Niall asks.

     I shrug. "I don't know. I suppose we could try to figure out if there are any other suspects, since Liam said that Cutbush isn't the Ripper. Strange, he told us that Cutbush couldn't be the murderer, but he still told us to go to the pub in two days at precisely six in the evening. I can't help but wonder if there's something he hasn't told us."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the way this story is progressing, I won't be surprised if it's done in less than 15 chapters. I should be done with this whole story soon and then I can focus on TDQ and Tame.

What did you think about this chapter? Took me quite a while to write it but I finally got it done haha

Vote and comment if you want :)

Love, Tori