Instead of an answer to Vander's question, the words that next flew out of Audrey's mouth sounded like an accusation. [b]“What kind of awful place is this? That man – he’s butchering people like meat! Why don’t you stop him?”[/b]

There was a delay in her response. Perhaps it was the tail end of the Lucid high making her brain foggy, but for several seconds, the dark-haired woman could only stare, trying to figure out exactly what it was that Audrey was asking her to do. Stop the fight? Why? And more importantly, how? It wasn't as though she could walk into the cage and request they take it outside. The 'why' didn't register in her mind until after she had processed the impossibility of 'how'. Perhaps Audrey knew the teal-haired girl that had stepped into the ring? A stream of half-formed ideas flitted quickly through Vander's mind before the true reasoning became clear. 

This woman was from Zone Alpha. It was as simple as that. Of course they didn't have cage fighting in Alpha. Something that, to Vander, was as commonplace as the hookers on the street corners, was likely traumatizing and foreign to someone who had never left the more affluent regions of New Ancora. To Audrey, fights were a thing to be feared and avoided, not a form of entertainment. Shame lingered at the back of Vander's mind. She had grown up so used to this type of brutality that it didn't even phase her. While she was far too peaceful an individual to ever step into the ring herself, trying to stop a fight was something that had never crossed her mind.[b]"I can't,"[/b] she answered, shaking her head. [b]"It's not butchering. It's...sport."[/b]

She doubted the weak explanation would be enough for Audrey. The first few punches had already been thrown, and the true extent of the violence was becoming apparent. The man in the ring was the reigning champion, and had no desire to lose - even to a woman. The teal-haired stranger, who had appeared initially drunk, showed to be just as ruthless.