Forget about me

Choices

Chapter 3

Bullseye!

Throwing knifes was HARD

Hand to hand combat I knew before, I used to go to aikido (self defence martial art from Japan, only possible to use as self defence since there is no attack moves) regularly and when we added Capoeira Moves (Capoeira is a martial art that is from old Brasil that got designed to be more of a dance so it would´t be obvious it´s martial art, lots of kicks and standing on hands) that also helped me being more flexible and use my legs and not be scared of going down to the ground more it really made me more able to be a little bit of a challenge, but in one or two month did´t make me a expert, not even half a year of training would make me a expert but that was´t the point.

Just good enough to stay alive was all we needed.

But when it comes to throwing knives, stars and even rocks things quickly went from defence to attack. A whole other way of thinking for me!

I dodged a fist from David and went down to do a swipe with my legs, kicking him is like kicking a brick wall, made of muscle (..a lot of nice looking m… wait, off topic here!) so swiping his legs is a much better option, the bigger they are the harder they fall!

He jumped up so I continued with my twist to roll around him and with his back to me I aimed another kick as fast as I could but he tucked himself into a ball and rolled forward before my kick could land and came up ready for a sprint attack only to have the knife i had thrown get stuck in front of him.

He froze, looking at the knife and smiled.

“I win! I'm awesome! I AM the master, the holy, BOW TO ME MINIONS”. I did a little jig around my spot and threw my fists in the air (yea gloaty r us).

He laughed and gave me back my knife, hilt first. I put it back on my belt.

“I think we´re done for today, you´re getting better. You want to check out your apartment today?” 

“Yea” I answered, “I paid most of my bills through the internet the other day but i need to check if I have any mail I´ve missed”.

We went inside to clean off, the air outside getting a bit chilly now.

Most of my black and blue body was finally getting strong enough not to be a constant ache, same with the sore muscles (thank god he had a bathtub i could soak in every evening before bed).

My hands had lots of hardened skin forming amongst the red dry chafed skin. That's the thing they don't mention in movies, all weapons chafe on your skin in some way or another, and therefore making your hands and feet look a lot less womanly.. well not that I used to care about my looks since they´ve never been exceptional but I wasn't doing me any favours. 

I changed into some yoga pants and a red cardigan that ended underneath my butt.

Comfortable and good enough. I stared at my duffel bag full of my stuff, maybe it was time to go home, to adapt my training to where I actually lived. I started a bit more at it and decided, enough hiding, if anyone wanted to attack me again (hopefully not soon) then at least i was way better equipped this time… or at least I could pretend. Fake it until you make it the saying went.

When i dragged it down the stairs where David met my eyes he took one long look at me, met my eyes for a while then nodded and turned toward the car. His way of approval.

We took David's car, a black BORING suv (I mean my old Volvo had some style, also it could go through anything like a friggin tank).

When we finally arrived at my apartment, I went up there while checking things out while I put away my stuff.

Everything looked untouched at least. No new mail.

David stood still by the door, while I looked around. 

“I'll come get you tomorrow morning bunnyrabbit, nice and early”. He gave me a smirk and left.

Bunnyrabbit?! “I'll start aiming for your jewels if you “bunnyrabbit” me again!” I shouted out the door. I turned around, put on some music and started cleaning out bad stuff from the fridge and made a shopping list. “Time to get a handle on my life huh”.

I cleaned up all the spoiled food from the fridge, made sure that I had a proper shopping list and took a backpack I could put some food in so I could shop more than groceries and bring back without the car.

The shopping mall was walking distance from my place so I quickly got some more training clothes and made my way toward groceries. Another “no mutants” sign had been put up in a few of the stores including the one I was heading into. Right outside there was a mother with a baby in her arms, and two 5 year olds by her side, arguing with the store clerk, I stopped when I was about to pass by when her teary tone stopped me “I need food! I can't go further away, my husband has the car!” and I guess they tried to stop her, her husband had fur and claws so that might be why.

“Well hello Viola!” I said loudly. She looked at me with tears in her eyes, “how is your little one? and your two minions?, Haven't seen you in a while. What seems to be the problem here?” She opened her mouth to answer but the clerk said: “her husband is a freak and people won't shop here if they see them come in here! I'll lose customers. She has to go somewhere else!”. Now that was utter bullshit and we both knew it.  His business was the only one closeby, he just didn't want them in his store. I looked him in the eye for a moment then I turned around to Viola with a smile. “Well it´s alright. Just follow me and we´ll shop together!” Then I turned back to the clerk and before he could answer I let a fist fly straight into his face. He fell like a stone, knocked out (best use of my newfound strength yet!). “Well little people! Only do that if there's no other way to get rid of bullies” I said to her kids while I smiled. I stepped over him and ushered them in. We grabbed groceries together, a little bit hurriedly but nobody bothered us. Paid at the registry with the other workers not daring to say anything when I gave them a hard look.

Outside, on our way home, I told her that maybe she should start shopping somewhere else or only come with her husband who they wouldn't dare stop. 

“I know, thank you! We had nothing at home but I´ve been home with a cold for a few days so I couldn't shop. You know how strict people are with colds after the Daniel Frost incident”. We didn't talk much more after that. Me deep in thoughts and her keeping track of her little ones that kept throwing glances at me.

When I saw the sky starting to darken I started to get nervous (apparently some effects still lingered huh). 

I felt a little jittery and shaky when I left her at her door, since she lived beneath my apartment (which is how I know her). She thanked me profusely before I went my way up the stairs

I turned the key to my apartment when someone behind me said “Miss Safier?”.

I jumped and swung around. Two guys stood behind me, one of them looking a little tired with a light shadow on his chin, a big black expensive looking coat, hat and a tired smile. The other one in a dark suit stood right behind him, looking at me (I assume) through black shades.

“Who wants to know?” I said, steeling myself.

“We work for “WIP”, He showed his badge. Can we please come in?”

The “WIP” (World Intervention and Prevention) is a part of the police and government that works as one around the world, they were created to work against worldwide disasters to prevent the earlier mistakes, including environment, security, government corruption and all other things that might destroy earth as a whole. They have the possibility to go wherever they choose and make sure that nothing goes belly up badly enough to mimic historys really bad choices.

I didn't say anything but opened the door and picked up my bags, but I left the door open so they could follow me in.

I stuffed the groceries in the fridge.  Made some coffee and sat down at my kitchen table.

“Well mister, let's sit down and get to the point, I´ve had a tiring day so far and it's just lunchtime”.

He nodded and sat down opposite me, his friend standing behind him.

“Everything that's being said needs to stay between us, miss Safier”. He looked at me until I nodded.

“Well then, you know very well that people are turning against each other. Who against who does´t matter, only that once again people are attacking people for no good reason.

This will eventually lead to us repeating history over again and therefore we need to stop it”. He paused a moment (very dramatic indeed). 

“I got a call from an important source that you are the best choice to lead as a liaison between the mutants and police. With your family name being important for their high class and discretion in business you are a good political choice to choose... However I´m not sure about your investment in this. I want to stress to you how important this is! You can either make things worse or get everything to neutral until people get used to the changes of humanity”.

I stared at him. Me? A bartender and waitress at a police station? Well I´ll be damned. Eh maybe the rest of society is then too i guess. But what did I have to lose? I wanted to be a part of something big, something bringing change, and I was´t planning to sit idly by and let this be a neutral thing. No, I want to stop the harassment that's starting to change our society into monsters that kill people for being different… again (how many times has this happened in history again?). He told me some more details about what the position meant. Basically it was a little bit of “hold some mutant babies and help elderly in front of the camera” to make the police look good.

I said I would think about it, thanked him, got his number and they went out the door.

FINALLY some peace and quiet!

I went for a jog and a long stretch. Later I made some dinner then lied down in my bed to catch up on my netflix series. It's nice to be home again after all.

Part 2

Neighbors.

After a couple of days we got back into our rhythm. Up awfully early, jog hellishly far, stretch to death and some time during the day weapons training or grappling.

David came by to join me almost everyday, the times he didnt I did strength training instead.

I started to shop some things for Viola every now and then, a package of milk and eggs so she always had something and didn't have to depend on her husband all the time. It felt nice to do something for someone. She told me she never put much attention on who I was before and never really remembered me very well  but now she was grateful she had “such a nice girl” living closeby.

“Gah! it's like kicking a rock when i kick you, hurts my damn leg!” I shouted at David during one of our grappling, He chuckled and tried to kick my solar plexus. “No siree” I jumped aside and jumped forward when he stumbled looking behind us when we heard cracking and then a young couple tricked by us (the thickest part of trees in the park was was where we grappled most of the time) giggling, They stopped when they saw David, “Oh sorry, we did=t mean to ruin your alone time,..” They gave him a turn and left. David turned to me, squinted and then looked me in the eyes.

We were quiet for a bit just staring at each other. Eventually he sighed and crouched in front of me.

“You know we have to talk about your power, you kept saying you didn't have one but i=ve seen twice you almost disappearing next to me, as soon as I look away it's like you're there but you still are not. Can you tell me about it? More importantly why did´t you use it when you got attacked?”

I looked up at the sky for a minute. feeling a bit ashamed. He had saved me, helped me and made me feel stronger and more in control, never made me feel as though I owed him anything. If i can trust anyone it's him.

“I panicked,” I eventually said. “I haven't used it very much since it's not useful if someone is focusing on me really hard, I also can't control it very well…. I´ve tried all my life to hide it and make sure nobody knew, or at least that they kept guessing, just like your boss did”. 

“I won't ask you not to tell him, you don't have much of a choice I'm guessing but can you at least be discreet about it?”

He wrapped his arms around me, slowly and carefully as if I was fragile. I should probably have backed away but it was such a nice comfort being in his big (giant) arms and his smell comforted me as it had in his bedroom. I relaxed into him and closed my eyes. 

“I won't tell” he whispered in my ear.

When he pulled away he looked me in the eye and said.

“But we need to start training your power if it's going to be of any use to you. If nothing else you need to learn to control it”. 

I nodded and we decided to go back home in a light jog to cool off after our workout. When we went past the first floor we heard angry shouting from inside. I guess they were fighting again huh.

I did´t know her husband very well but I knew that things were hard for them since you could clearly see he was a mutant with his fur on his arms and his eyes being yellow.

we went inside and then I heard the doorbell soon after. I opened the door to find Viola's two kids standing there.

“Mom said to ring your doorbell when policeman comes” One of them said. I swore. “David! take the kids”. I ran down the stairs just as I heard shots being fired and a woman scream.

The door stood open with a police officer standing In the doorway. He turned when I came running towards him but had barely any time to react when I squeezed past him. He managed to grab my arm when most of me was past him but I saw what was happening. Viola's husband was hunched over.  A pool of blood underneath him, one policeman was standing across from him with a gun up. She screamed with the baby in her arms begging for them to not kill her husband. He did´t lower his gun. He was about to shoot viola and her baby! THE ASS! I felt so angry I could burst into flames, I released my power (I might not burst in flames but I could do something). The police holding on to me shouted in surprise when I turned to smoke in front of his eyes. 

“STOP!” I shouted. The policeman with the gun swung around with the gun in his hand. His eyes widened in fear, Viola screamed, the baby wailing.  

He pulled the trigger. 

To be continued ..