Life of a Street Fighter

Grievances

The figure in Scarlett's room, spun around in shock, her hand going to her throat, and a look of pure panic in her eyes. "D-don't shoot!" she stammered.
Scarlett frowned at her and lowered the gun." Paige. What are you doing here?" she asked in an unpleasant tone.
"I was just-just putting away clothes that Dad told me to get you" she replied, still in an obvious state of shock.
"Dad?" Scarlett asked in confusion. "Oh, you mean Tomas. So, are you almost done here?" she asked, replacing the gun in her waistband.
Paige nodded. "I was just finishing up" she said, closing the top drawer that stood next to the twin sized bed in the room.
"Good" Scarlett replied.
Paige gave a little nod and scurried out of the room with her head down.
Gabe watched her go, giving a little whistle as he turned back to Scarlett. "She's a looker" he said, putting his gun back into his ankle holster.
"She's to timid" Scarlett replied as a door closed with a soft thud, one she assumed led to the hallway.
"Still" Gabe replied, looking around the room and up at the ceiling. "No fair, your room is better than mine"
"Life sucks doesn't it" she replied without a shred of emotion. "You can leave one you know. You know, go pack or do whatever to get ready for tomorrow?"
"Nah, I really don't want to go back to work and what counts as me packing I'd throwing a couple sets of clothes, bathroom stuff, and big guns together into a bag. I'd rather help the rookie figure out what to pack" he said with a grin that was more of a smirk.
"So, then how about you pack for me? I don't feel in a packing mood right now" she said in a disinterested tone.
"And where would you be going?" Gabe asked, the annoying smirk still on his face.
"Why do you care?" Scarlett snapped in reply.
"Woah, calm down. Just curious that's all" he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
"I would slap but then that would be animal abuse" she said in an amused tone and returning his smirk, this one unrelenting and almost cruel.
"Hey! Since when did we get to the point in friendship when we start insulting each other?" Gabe said, protesting.
"Since a few minutes ago, when you made a subtle, hidden question about what I do in my free time" she replied.
"I wasn't implying anything!" he said, denying the fact that he was implying.
"Sure, whatever, Pooch, just pack my stuff" she said, walking out of the room.
"Pooch?!" Gabe yelled at her retreating back. "Where the hell did you cone up with the nickname of Pooch?!"
"Ever since I saw your fucked up face on Animal Planet last night!" Scarlett shouted over her shoulder.
"God, what happened to the nice girl I thought you were?" she e heard him mutter.
Scarlett grinned and said nothing, standing in the other room for a few moments before sitting on the couch.
Later, once she'd heard multiple strings of creative cursing from the other room as Gabe struggled to get her suitcase.closed, he came out, his hair in disarray. "Finished!" he exclaimed.
"You know you didn't really have to pack my suitcase right? I was just messing with you. But since you did it for me, it's a real timesaver" she said, flashing him a grin.
Gabe groaned and face palmed. "Really?" he said.
"Yes, really. You can leave now" Scarlett said, grinning at his look of total defeat.
"Nuh-uh. You have to buy me food for that now" he said.
"Did it ever occur to you that I don't have any money on me, seeing as I'm as street fighter?" Scarlett asked, standing up from the couch.
"Don't you fight for money?" Gabe asked.
"Yeah, but I having fought in a few weeks so...I got no cash" she sais with a shrug.
He pondered for a moment, staring at the ground. "Ok, so how about...you...be nice to me for a whole week" he said, crossing his arms and rocking back on his heels.
"Ha. You're funny Pooch" she replied.
"Than you. Now, since it's past lunchtime, how about we go get something to eat? I can't have you starving now can I" he said, striding over to the door and yanking it open.
Scarlett sighed but followed him out into the hallway, walking through the building until they were back under the hot sun. "So, where exactly are we going?" Scarlett asked, squinting against the sun.
"You'll find out eventually" he replied, with his hands in his pockets and walking with a relaxed posture.
"I hate surprises" she muttered,.glaring her resentment at the sidewalk.
Beside her she heard Gabe snort but she ignored him and watched around her, picking up the glances she was getting from her black eye.
A few minutes later, after she'd almost gotten in a fight with a guy who thought he could beat the shit out of her, they arrived in front of a restaurant. "Maki?" Scarlett read slowly. "What is this?" she asked, looking at Gabe.
"Its a Chinese restaurant. I go here all the time" he replied, smiling as he gazed through the door before he jumped up the two stone stairs and pulled open the door.
Inside it smelled like vanilla, sweet flowers, and Chinese food. It was dimly lit onside with soft lights coming from red paper lanterns. A Japanese sound song was playing softly in the background, all of the elements adding up to a cozy romantic feel.
"So...do you bring all of your dates here or something?" Scarlett asked, frowning at him.
"Or something" he sais with a laugh as a waiter came over to them and led them to a back table that had a window overlooking the harbor.
The table was nicely polished and smelled strongly of tea. As they slide into the booth, the waiter slide two menus onto the table and told them that he would back in a few minutes to take their order, in a barely distinguishable Japanese accent.
Scarlett picked up the menus and studied it with pursed lips, reading over the choices and realizing that she had no idea what any of it was. She peeked over the top of her menu to look at Gabe who was watching her with a small smirk on his face. "Can I help you with something?" Scarlett asked, setting down the menu and returning his gaze.
"Admit it Scarlett. You have no idea what any of this is" he said with a short bark of laughter.
She shrugged. "Maybe. That still doesn't explain why you are staring at me though"
He leaned across the table and put his finger next to an item on the menu. "I would recommend this for you" he said.
"Padthai. What is that?" she asked.
"Noodles and thinly sliced vegetables. Get that with a side of chicken satay. It tastes really good" he said, grinning at her lack of Chinese food experience.
"And what is that?" she asked suspiciously.
"Thinly pounded chicken breast. They put it on a skewer to cook it and they usually serve it with a peanut sauce in a bed of rice. Come on Scarlett, don't doubt me" he said in a mock pleading tone.
"Fine. Dare I ask what you're getting?" she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Squid legs" he said, grinning at her look of horror.
"I think you mean tentacles" she said with a shudder.
"At least I didn't suggest that for you to eat" he said with a grin.
Scarlett sighed as the waiter came over and took their orders, telling Scarlett that she'd made a good choice of food.
Once he was gone, Scarlett raised an eyebrow at Gabe. "You got green tea to go with your meal?" she asked suspiciously.
"Uh, yeah, we're in a Chinese restaurant. What's wrong with that? Besides you need to live a little, Miss-I'm-just-going-to-drink-water" he said, crossing his arms and leaning them against the table.
Scarlett sighed and shook her head. "I don't know what to tell you. I honestly don't know" she said, faking a serious tone.
"Ha, so you have no snappy come back then? Yes!" Gabe crowed happily.
"Did I miss something important?" She asked, wondering why he was happy.
"Nah. Its all good" he said, abruptly calming down. "So tell me Scarlett Brooks, bow are you liking your job so far?" He asked, staring at her as if he was a shrink and she was his patient.
"Can you not stare at me like that? That is really creepy" she said with a frown.
Gabe sighed but changed his position so his head was resting on his hands. "Better?" he asked without waiting for an answer. "Now, please go on"
She raised her eyebrows and looked at his, before sighing and saying. "Honestly, I thought the CIA was a bit more sophisticated than this. I was not expecting so much immatureness and...what the word?...normalcy"
"Well we are people to, we kinda have to live a little" he said with a small sigh, as though he was disappointed in her.
"Well, sorry" she muttered as their food arrived.
Scarlett's food was pretty normal looking, with a bowl if soup and a plate of chicken on rice with a small bowl of brown dipping sauce. It was Gabe's that made her stare.
His plate was full of...moving tentacles. She watched with her mouth half opened in shock and disgust as he picked one up and popped it in his mouth, chewing with relish as his eyes closed. "Mmm" he said, opening his eyes and finding Scarlett staring at him. "What?" he asked, oblivious to her disgust.
"That" she said, pointing at his plate.
"Yeah, what about it?" he asked.
She sighed and shook her head before turning her attention to her own meal.
The padthai was pretty decent and the chicken on rice was ok to, it was just the thought of Gabe's food that made her shudder, and her stomach to squirm. So, she kept her eyes on her own plate and didn't look up until she was done eating.
When her plate and bowl were clean except for a few scraps, she looked up and saw Gave popping on last squirming tentacle into his mouth, which almost made her throw up on the spot.
"Did you do that on purpose?" she asked, swallowing her nausea.
"Do what?" Gabe asked, feigning innocence.
"Whatever" she said leaning back against the booth and drumming her fingers against the table as she stared out the window.
She could feel Gabe's eyes in her but she ignored him as she stared down at the sparkling waves in the ocean.
"Ready to go?" Gabe asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah, sure" she said in reply, standing up as Gabe left a tip on the table.
Once he'd played up front, they were out in the crowded sidewalks again. "So, are we going back to work or what?" she asked, shielding her eyes.
"Nah, no one's going to miss us, besides if someone does notice that we're gone, they'll ask around and find out that we're preparing for a mission, so, no worries" he said nonchalantly.
"So, what are we going to do then?" Scarlett asked.
"Walk around the city, go yo the gym...I donna" he replied.
"You have such a good schedule" she muttered.
"Yeah, so don't burn it" he said with a frown.
Scarlett snorted and turned her head away from him, in annoyance, and studied the different types of cars on the road.
Most of them were honking at other cars or people, while others, she could see the driver talking into his or her cell phone, trying to drive the car in a straight line.
A shout drew her attention to the opposite sidewalk and her eyes flicked to further up the street. With all the cars passing by, if was hard to tell what was going on, but as she drew nearer she could see clearly what was happening.
A man stood in front of a little girl, screaming about how stupid she was, while the little girl stood there silently. It was hard to tell but Scarlett thought that she could see tears running down her face.
She nudged Gabe. "Look" she said, pointing across the street, to where the man and little kid stood.
"Yeah, what about it?" he asked in a lazy tone.
"Don't you think we should go help her?" Scarlett asked, shocked at his lack of concern.
"Scarlett, everyone has their problems. You can't save all the children that have drunks as their parents. If you try to help, it'll probably only make things worse" he said, almost as if he were confused by her concern.
"We can still try" she protested, looking back across the street in time to see the man, smack the little girl across the face.
A red haze washed over her, and she jumped away from Gabe, running across the street,the slap replaying over and over in her mind.
As soon as she was in arms reach of the man, she grabbed his collar and pulled him around, punching him square in the face.
He staggered backwards, a look of shock on his face and she punched him again, knocking him to the ground.
When he didn't move for a few moments, Scarlett turned to the little girl and asked, "Why was he yelling at you?" in a soft voice.
"He just found out that he lost a bet on something and then he started yelling at me, how it was my fault" she sniffles.
"Do you have another person to go live with?" Scarlett asked, not about to let her stay with this man.
She nodded. "My aunt lives up the street"
"Can you take me there?" she asked, placing a hand in her shoulder.
The little girl nodded and lead Scarlett up the street away from the man she'd just decked.
A few minutes later, she had dropped her off with her aunt, who seemed like a much nicer person than the man she'd left lying on the sidewalk.
She turned away from the apartment and walked down the sidewalk, back to where she'd last saw Gabe, when he came running up, a furious look in his eyes. "Scarlett! What were you thinking?!" he shouted, stopping in front of her.
"I was helping the little kid" she replied defensively.
"I know that. You can't just knock someone out because you feel like it!" Gabe said.
"I didn't feel like it; I was helping a little kid!" Scarlett said, growing angry.
"That's not good enough!" he shouted, clenching his fists.
"Well then what is, your highness? I'm not your servant who follows orders blindly!" Scarlett said furiously.
"I never said that you were my servant! Just explain to me what you were thinking when you punched the man?" Gabe said, running a hand through his hair frustratingly.
"What the he'll is your problem? Stop getting so hung up on the fact that I knocked someone out. I'm sure you've knocked someone out" she said coldly.
There was a few moments of silence and then she began to walk away from him. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" he shouted after her.
"Away. Tell me one thing, where's the nearest gym?" Scarlett asked without turning around.
"Just around the corner. If you're not back at the room by the end of the day, I'll tell Thomas and Luke that you quit the CIA" he shouted after her retreating back.
"You do that" she said with a scowl on her face as she began to jog towards the gym.
Leaving Gabe behind on the sidewalk she entered the short long building that said, 'Latitudes' on it.
Once inside she strode to the counter and asked the lady who had to many plastic surgery's on her face of they had any boxing instructors available.
After staring at Scarlett's eye for a few moments, she began to tap on her keyboard. "Uh...yes we do. Ryder Starui, he's in the training room" she said, glancing back up at Scarlett through her glasses.
"Where's the training room?" Scarlett snapped in reply.
"Just up the stairs and to the right. But you need a membership-"
Scarlett walked away, and resisted the urge to yell 'fuck off' so she instead raised her middle finger to the lady, cutting her off in the middle of her sentence.
She sprung up the stairs, two at a time until she reaches the second floor. She glanced down the hallway to her right and saw a room labeled 'Boxing Training' a few doors down.
She pulled open the door and entered, seeing a rubber mat on the floor with a leather punching bag off to the side. She saw no one and strode over to the punching bag, letting her anger out through her punches that had the bag swaying back and forth after awhile.
Her muscles were straining after a while and she was getting sweaty. She stripped off her shirt, leaving her only on a sports bra, without breaking stride.
After a few more moments, her anger had all but evaporated and she began to work on her fighting techniques.
She badly wished that she was back on the streets, facing off with someone who would give up more of a fight than the league bag.
Suddenly, a hand clamped down on her shoulder and spun her around. Startled she sprang backwards and held her fists up defensively.
A man stood in front of her and cocked an eyebrow at her raises hands than began to attack her, with no warning.
Her muscles singing, Scarlett began to fight back against his hard blows.
He fought much quicker than anyone she'd ever fought before and seemed to know all of her tricks before she could attempt them.
Her mind was quick to follow his movements and she enjoyed the challenge that this man was giving her.
Eventually, when she was breathing hard, then man abruptly dropped his guard and smiled at her. "Good job. I enjoyed myself back there" he said in a slight British accent.
"Who the fuck are you?" Scarlett asked warily.
"I really should be the one asking you that question" he said, without losing his smile.
"Yeah well I asked you a question. Now answer it" she snapped.
"Ryder Starui. And who might you be?" he asked in reply.
"None of your business" she said.
"I like your moves" he said suddenly. "Not many people can keep up with me" he said.
"Yeah, that's nice. What are you trying to get at?" Scarlett asked, suddenly weary of everything that was going on.
He shrugged. "I could show you a few stronger defenses. It seems like defense isn't exactly your strong suit" he said.
Scarlett narrowed her eyes at him. How the hell did he pick up on that? "...sure you can" she said, laughing in his face.
His fist suddenly snapped out and she quickly grabbed it, angling it away from her and caught his other fist just as he tried to catch her off balance. He raised his eyebrows. "Hmm, I'm impressed"
"I don't remember me asking for your opinion" she said, wanting to kick him on the balls.
"Ok...just chill already" he said.
"Fuck you" she replied, not liking his smiley attitude.
"Yes, well as much as I'm sure you would like to, I'm afraid I've got my agenda filled for today" he said, smirking at her.
"Man-whore" she shot back, disgusted at him. Did he just work in a gym so he can fuck all the girls who have a pretty enough face for him?
He shrugged. "Is something wrong, bitch?" he asked, revealing a bit of his rotten core as he asked in a slithering voice.
"No, nothings wrong...with me" she said in a falsely sweet smile.
"With...you?" he asked in confusion.
"Yup" she said, popping the 'p'. Then she swiftly kicked him and as he bent over, she kneed him in the chin.
He collapsed over backwards and Scarlett retrieved her shirt from the floor, slipping it over her head.
Feeling a strange sense of satisfaction, she walked out the door, leaving him lying on the floor, groaning in pain.
As she walked down the hallway, she realized that she was missing, street fighting. She was missing the adrenaline rush and the satisfaction of winning a fight. As soon as you kill Kaiden you can go back to street fighting and leave the CIA, she thought.
Walking lightly down the stairs, she nearly bumped into someone. She drew back, annoyed. "Oh, it's you" she said, glancing at Gabe before continuing down the stairs.
"Hey, I uh, just wanted to apologize for yelling at you earlier" he said, following her down the stairs.
"Its all right" she said without pausing in her descent of the stairs, and without a trace of sincerity.
"Are you sure? I mean I don't know what came over me. I just didn't want you to get hurt and-" he broke off as Scarlett interrupted.
"Don't you dare worry your ass off about me. I can take care of myself!" Scarlett snapped, glaring at him before traveling down the stairs at a faster pace.
It was a few moments before she heard his footsteps follow behind her.
Once out in the open air, She realized that the sun had begun to sink lower into the sky, so she put her head down, hoping no one would notice her and walked down the sidewalk, towards the apartment, hearing Gabe's footsteps following faintly behind her.
Scarlett rolled her shoulders as she walked, feeling her muscles stiffening up after a rigorous exercise and then doing nothing.
She paused for a minute, deciding whether or not to go back to the CIA office building or to go back to her apartment.
"We should probably head back to the office" Gabe's low voice said.
"Yeah? And why is that?" Scarlett asked, turning around to face him.
"Look, you don't have to if you don't want to, but it would probably be for the better. I can maybe snag a few notes and plans about our mission in France, so we can review it in more detail and then you can go where ever you please" he said in an almost tired tone of voice.
Scarlett turned the idea over in her head. I suppose more detail would be better, but I can manage otherwise. I wouldn't exactly have anything to do at my 'apartment' so, eh, what the hell? Just do it. "Yeah, sure" she said, making it clear by her tone of voice that she could care less about it.
"Cool" he said, offering her a small smile, which Scarlett ignored.
It was amazing how quickly things fell apart in friendship after one little spat. Just an hour before, they were laughing and joking, and now Gabe was trying to get back onto her good side, having no idea how he got onto her bad side in the first place, and she was ignoring him, being distant and cold, to his warm and friendly.
We're opposites, Scarlett mused. How did we even end up in an even remotely good friendship in the first place?
At her side, slightly behind her, Gabe was talking about something but Scarlett wasn't paying attention to him.
You hid. Her brain discussed her. You hid you street fighter in hopes of becoming like a normal person.
Scarlett almost laughed out loud. Almost being the key word. Then she realized that it was true, that she had hide herself in order to try and impress people who she would be run away from before, thinking that she would've been caught. She was caught in a way though. She couldn't leave the CIA until she'd killed Kaiden, then she could leave. A binding contract that I didn't even sign, she thought in a somewhat depressed amusement.
A few minutes alter they, arrived back at the building with 'Central Intelligence Agency' on it. Scarlett gazed up at it with a very differnet feeling an she she'd had the first time that she'd been here.
Gabe was already climbing the stairs so Scarlett quickly followed him. He must've realized somewhere along the way that she wasn't listening to him, so now he was silent, like her.
They traveled side by side, more or less, until they got back to the Communications room. It was less busy than before, so they had an easier time navigating through the chairs.
Luke wasn't at his desk, so Gabe merely leaned over and grabbed the folder markets France and opened it.
"Good, it's all here" he said in a satisfied voice.
"Why wouldn't it all be there?" Scarlett asked in a monotone.
He glanced briefly at her and scowled, an expression that twisted his face into something ugly.
"So, we leave at eight in the morning, like Luke said, then we go to the airport and go to then bathroom, eat breakfast, whatever. The plane leaves at nine in the morning, do we'll get to France at about...um, eleven. We get our luggage and travel to the hotel and review our plan again. The rest of the day after, we scope out the places. Day after we start shooting. Hopefully we'll be done by the end of the week. Got it?" Gabe asked without looking up at her.
"Yup" she murmured and stood up, maneuvering around the small amount of people in the room.
She travelled down the hallway and back into the air, where the sinking sun, cast a dying orange glow on the scenery around her. Her fingers closed around the smooth, thin key in her pocket and her fingers traced the jagged edges of it, reminding her what her life had become.
Scarlett walked down the sidewalk as New York City slowly came to life with its lights.