![]() Day 18 & 19A Chapter by Esana Bridges![]() How good are you, really?![]() The
current head of the Clan family watched the ceiling fall in on a full wall, HD,
plasma TV and became quite amused as both Éclair and Tonnerre’s hair turned
gray from dust. They both dropped to the floor, keeping their eyes shut to keep
dust out. Only Danzin’s eyes were open, his irises sparkling lightly through all
the grit and dust caused by the implosion of the ceiling. Cute ferret. How does he do that? Matthias wondered
vaguely. Once again, it occurred in the back of his mind that maybe Éclair was
only as successful as she was because Danzin was always by her side. It was a
thought that often came to the surface of his thoughts, but one that had
usually been dismissed on the basis that Éclair was a human and Danzin was a
simple animal. Now
though, he wanted to believe that Danzin was something more than just a good
luck creature that Éclair carried around. He trusted completely in Éclair’s
abilities, and Tonnerre would no doubt impress him as well, but a bit of magic
on Danzin’s part might help the two of them complete a task that lay almost
completely in the realm of magic. Mathias
watched intently as a troop of men dropped from the hole in the roof, guns in
their hand, cocked and ready to blow some body parts off. It was unusual to
test unarmed or barely armed fighters against gun-wielding mercenaries, but the
opponents that Éclair and Tonnerre might face soon were far stronger than
bullets. In the
backdrop came a deep laugh. Mathias ground his teeth. He hated the dramatics of
Lynn James, a young woman fighter who was deeply jealous of Éclair and the
success that she had had in the past few years. She’d challenged Éclair
numerous times when she’d first appeared, but each time had been beaten in
progressively less moves: first five, then three, then two, and finally it had
only taken Éclair one move to dispose of her annoying aggressor. Her father was
a director, so she’d spent most of her life before becoming a mercenary in a
staged existence. Still,
she was useful in a situation where he wanted to test the abilities of his
fighters. A little suggestive therapy and voila: she had conjured up a group of
outside mercenaries to attack the two. Originally, Currently,
she was standing on the roof, looking down at Éclair and Tonnerre, laughing her
imitation of an evil villain laugh. “You are
not going to get out of this one, Éclair. It’s over for you, and the Head will
finally see that I am the best
fighter around here.” Éclair
blinked at the group of soldiers standing in front of her, guns just a few feet
from her mostly unprotected heart. She squinted through the dust up at Lynn,
who was still laughing manically. “Are these mercenaries? Paid soldiers?” “…You, a
mercenary, hired mercenaries to
attack us?” Éclair’s voice was splattered with disbelief and bemusement. “And
you think that you’re a good fighter?” “I am!
It’s just that you came along and then -” Éclair
blinked. “Oh. Really?” She shrugged and then shook her head. Next to
her, Tonnerre was looking at the guns in distaste. “How ugly,” She murmured to
herself. One of
the soldiers growled. “You’d better not be talking about us, kiddy.” Ignoring
the side conversation, Éclair called up to Anger
flashed in Again,
Éclair blinked. “What? Oh. Really?” She waved the words and Be nice. Issue a warning first, Danzin ordered. He’d
calmed down a great deal after realizing who their assaulter was, though there
was still a slight tingling in the back of his mind that told him that
something wasn’t right. Still, that could be dealt with after they’d taken care
of the half a dozen or so guns pointed at Éclair’s chest and the equal number
at Tonnerre. Also, tell Tonnerre.
Coordinate your movements with her. Sighing,
Éclair folded her arms together and stared at the soldiers, who glared back at
her. “Okay, here’s your warning. I’m going to knock you all out if you don’t
drop your weapons in the next minute, and if you try to resist any further, I
might break anything. There.” She glanced at the ferret still on her shoulder.
“Was that good enough?” Fine. Tell Tonnerre. But that makes her sound like... Éclair made a face. Like she’s actually my partner. Under
her breath she muttered, “I do not work with people.” To Tonnerre, she called
halfheartedly, “Tonnerre, if they don’t drop their guns, knock them out, okay?” From the
other side of the wall of soldiers, who were starting to look pissed, came
Tonnerre’s voice in its usual rather cheerful tone. “Okay, Ms. Éclair!” Again with the ‘Ms.’ Should I say something? Éclair wondered. She shook
her head and turned her attention back to the situation currently at hand. “Are
you going to back off now?” “Cocky
b***h, aren’t you?” One of the soldiers spat. Éclair lifted her foot
automatically, and the spit landed where her foot had been. The soldier glared,
hazel eyes darkening in dislike. “You think that just cause the world thinks
that you’re such a good fighter that you actually are one? Those stupid lights
can fake anything, moron. This is the real world.” A
slightly muffled Tonnerre cried, “That’s ridiculous. Ms. Éclair is the most
amazing fighter ever! She has never staged a fight! She doesn’t need to!” Without
turning - Looks like he is a
professional, Danzin noted - the soldier spat, “You’re a stage fighter.
Everything is staged.” He sneered. “You’re reputation’s probably all made up.” A bit
irritated now, Éclair replied, “I don’t stage fights. Are you going to drop
your weapons?” From
above, “I can
go now, right?” Go, Danzin ordered. And Tonnerre as well. Sighing
a bit at the latter order, Éclair ducked down, calling, “Tonnerre, go!” as she
did so. Mathias
leaned in closer, switching views so that the one that captured Tonnerre was in
the foreground. She had
done the opposite of Éclair, jumping straight up at Éclair’s call. Her hair
streamed behind her briefly before she used the wall to jettison herself at the
foremost soldier’s stomach. She rammed him hard with her shoulder and slipped
through the gap he left as he dropped in pain. A quick spinning kick knocked
over the next two in line, and then she ducked, diving for an outer soldier’s
leg, hooking it out from under him. Two
smacks to the head sent him into the world of unconsciousness and a quick
hoist, accompanied by a grunt, Tonnerre lifted him up with difficulty, using
him as a shield. The remaining two soldiers on her side hesitated, eyes
shifting from side to side. The one that she’d first hit was coughing, but it
seemed that he hadn’t been seriously capacitated. Darn it. I thought that that would keep him
down longer. He’s pretty tough. Tonnerre smiled at the challenge and then
with a muscle contraction that took all her current energy threw the man she
held onto the recovering man and then pushed off his body several feet into the
air. She flipped over the remaining soldiers’ heads, turned and delivered two
quick hits to their backs, then several more under their chins. A bullet
grazed her shoulder. Instinctively,
Tonnerre ducked and rolled, using the bodies as a cover. The one
that she had attacked first was struggling to get his fellow off his shoulders.
His gun was held shakily, which was probably why he’d missed so terribly. Tonnerre
thought for a moment and then grabbed the bullet that the man had shot. She
stayed under cover and then threw it at the man. A gunshot rang out " the man
had pulled the trigger the moment that her hand had come out " and then a cry
of pain as the bullet she’d thrown hit the man’s hand. He
dropped the gun. Without
hesitation, Tonnerre slipped out and delivered a punch under the chin,
effectively knocking the man out. A bit showy, Mathias thought critically as he
watched. But I guess that makes sense
since she did just come from a show fighting career. He watched as Tonnerre
carefully examined the piles of downed men for any that’d escaped her wrath. Still, she’s good at fighting. That should
be enough. He leaned in closer.
Probably. She’s not bad, is she? Danzin looked up at
Éclair, black eyes opened wide. Éclair
made a noise like, “Meh,” and looked away. There was a very neat line of bodies
in front of her, each of which had been taken out with swift chops to the base
of their necks. The guns had been arranged against the wall, and Éclair was
letting Danzin alternate between watching Tonnerre fight and keeping an eye on
Lynn, who was steadily getting angrier above. Still, Danzin considered, she probably won’t do anything because that’s not how a script villain
would do things. She’ll wait until we finish. “Ms.
Éclair! Are you alright?” Tonnerre hopped up after finishing her check and
skipped lightly over to her partner. “I’m
fine,” Éclair said, a flood of mild irritation entering her system. Together,
they looked up at Now that seems
like it’s part of a movie, Mathias thought absently. At least “Should
I take her down?” Éclair turned her head so that she spoke directly to Danzin,
who was also looking up. Danzin
considered the question for no time at all. Go
ahead. Éclair
backed up briefly and then ran up the wall, shooting off at the last moment and
grabbing the edge of the broken ceiling. Just before it broke, she used it to
throw herself onto the ceiling next to That wasn’t very nice. “She’ll
get up,” Éclair responded carelessly, waving off Tonnerre without even looking
at her. She turned her attention to Okay, so if this were a movie, she’d get time
to rant first, Éclair thought as she shot forward. And if it was one of those parodies of movies, then I’d say something
about ‘if this were a movie’. She shrugged mentally as Mathias
smiled. He’d always enjoyed Éclair’s very straight to the point way of
fighting. She would sometimes embellish more on stage, but off the stage, all
her show fighting went out the window. The point of the fight suddenly became
to take the opponent out as quickly as possible so she could get back to doing
nothing. She’s very effective. Confidence swelled in
him. Yes, she can do it. A motion
in the corner of the screen caught his eye. Tonnerre had pushed the bodies in a
three foot pile and was using them to flip herself onto the ceiling, a movement
that was swift and yet very beautiful. She carefully dusted herself off, movements
graceful and elegant. Slowly,
Mathias’ mouth curled in a dark smile. Yes.
They can do it. © 2011 Esana BridgesAuthor's Note
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1 Review Added on November 19, 2011 Last Updated on November 19, 2011 Author![]() Esana BridgesAboutI love mysterious things that send shivers down my back. I like emotion. I love craziness. Fairy tale rewrites or something to do with Alice in Wonderland will draw me in immediately. Feel free to .. more..Writing
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