Messier-17

Chapter 4

After I get over the initial shock of receiving a memory for the first time in years, I remember that I'm short on time and have a mission to complete. I reel in my emotions and shove them to the darkest corner of my mind. "Where is your wife? I don't have time to talk about the weather with someone I can barely remember." I demand coldly. Mr. Black gives me a side glance and continues watching children laugh and play. "Why do you need to know?" He asks calmly, avoiding my question. I glare at him from the corner of my eye. "That's classified." I reply sharply. "Of coarse it is." Mr. Black retorts flatly, his faint New Jersey accent seeping through his words. "Tell you what, if you beat all of my guys in hand-to-hand combat, without killing them, I'll tell you where you will most likely find her. The truth is, not even I know where exactly she is most of the time, despite being married to her." I'm considering his offer, it is a good deal, and I seriously doubt I'll have any issue defeating his lackeys. This mission is extremely important and I absolutely must retrieve Vanessa Black within the next two days, so I think I'll take his deal. "Challenge accepted." I reply with a smirk.

I may not like to kill people, but I thoroughly appreciate the art of fighting a formidable opponent.

And I doubt any of these idiots are one of those formidable opponents.

"Wait, we're supposed to fight her?" One of Raymond's men asks him incredulously. Raymond nods his head, "Yeah, that's the deal." Most of them look dumbfounded. "But she's just a girl!" Another lackey exclaims. I scoff and shake my head, looking down at the ground before making eye contact with the guy who wrongly accused me of being 'just a girl.' What a joke. I'm about as far from normal as humanly possible. Although, I suppose I'm not entirely human, either. I've been genetically modified and enhanced on more than one level. I keep a blank face, making eye contact with each and every one of them. I'm honestly too excited about getting to fight with hand-to-hand combat for the first time in what feels like ages to actually feel sorry for them. I feel my hands twitching in anticipation, so I grab a knife from one of the hidden pockets in my leather jacket and start skillfully twirling it around. I see a couple of the men visibly gulp at the sight. "Okay, here's the rules: no weapons, and nobody dies. Any dirty tactics you want to use are up to you. Any questions?" Raymond states. One guy raises his hand awkwardly, "um, yeah-" but Raymond interrupts him, "Good! Now, without further ado, let's begin!"

There is a slight pause as I place my knife securely into my jacket pocket, before one of twenty men across from me runs forward and prepares himself to punch me with his right hand. I easily evade his sluggish punch by stepping to my left, lifting my right knee to collide with his solar plexus. He immediately collapses and struggles for a couple minutes to breathe again. One down, nineteen more to go. I look down at him with an emotionless face before looking back up to see another two guys running at me. I pivot my feet to the right and jump into the air, spinning around while I lift my right knee and then my left leg and kick the closest guy to me on the side of his face, effectively knocking him out. I continue my momentum and hook punch the next man in the jaw, making his entire upper body snap to his left. While he's bent over, I roundhouse kick the back of his knee with my left leg to make him kneel before I lift my right leg and kick his face, knocking him to the ground. That's three. This is kind of boring, everyone is playing tag-team instead of going all out: it's almost insulting. A young woman calmly walks to me before getting into a fighting stance. I nod to her as a form of respect and she nods back. She takes a step forward and begins throwing endless punches in my direction, but I block every single one of them.

She appears to be left-handed and favors her left side, leaving her right side more open for me to attack. After a series of punches from the boxer, I take her by surprise and snap kick her solar plexus. She clutches her stomach and tries to catch the breath I knocked out of her, bending over forward and giving me the chance the sink to her level and uppercut her in the jaw. Four. I glance up with cold eyes and see four guys starting to form a square around me, thinking that it will make a difference and give them the upper hand. But, I was trained for this, so they have, in no way, gained the upper hand. I side kick the guy in front of me with my right leg while simultaneously punching the one behind me with my left fist. I swing my foot down and use that momentum to hook punch the man on my right with my left fist. Seven. The guy behind me bear-hugs me, trapping my arms to my sides while two other guys come towards me. Before I can let myself get into more trouble, I throw my head back and it collides with his nose, he loosens his grip around me and I elbow him hard in the gut before swiftly turning around, grabbing his shoulders, and kneeing his ribs. Eight. I turn back around and immediately lift my left leg and kick the next guy in the jewels. Nine. I see a few of the lackeys cringe at the sight and the other man running towards me pauses for a second.

I smirk and turn my body slightly to face the man a few feet away from me. I snap kick his stomach with my left leg, jump into the air, and use my right leg to snap kick his nose. Ten. I land and cross my arms, I still haven't broken a sweat. Five of them run towards me and I keep my arms crossed over my chest until the last second, when one of the five delinquents pulls his fist back for a punch. I move my head to the side and grab his wrist, turning around and putting my back against his chest before throwing him over my shoulder. Eleven. I spin around and throw my hand in front of me like a spear, hitting a man's throat. Twelve. The only reason I'm not stepping over bodies is because as soon as they catch their breath they're desperately crawling or limping away from me. I feel my powers itching to get out, but I restrain myself, not wanting to lose this deal because I accidentally killed his men. So I ignore my buzzing hands and continue to fight off his men. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a foot quickly coming towards my face, I dodge the kick by ducking under it and kicking the side of the guy's knee, making drop to the ground. Thirteen. I sense another one coming from behind me, so I kick my right foot behind me, where it collides with someone's gut. I spin around and hook punch that same person's jaw with my left fist. Fourteen.

One of the men paused, so I used this to my advantage and ran forward, sliding under his legs and hooking my own with his ankles to trip him. Fifteen. I roll and stand up, now closer to the last five men. I tilt my head a little to the side and smile a sickly sweet smile that makes them all involuntarily take a small step back. Got back into a fighting stance, and in an instant, we all snapped into action. I spin around and roundhouse kick the guy closest to me on the side of the head before he had the chance to get a hit in. Sixteen. I keep my momentum going and spin once more, coming to a stop when both of my palms come into contact with another man's chest and diaphragm, shoving him harshly to the ground. Seventeen. When I'm about to palm strike a man in the nose, one of them punch my jaw. My head snaps to the side and I grab my jaw, widening my eyes slightly at the surprise hit. That's the first time I've been hit during this entire fight. Damn, I'm out of shape. I've gotta hand it to him, that was good timing. I slowly turn to look at the imbecile that punched me and grin at him. I kick him hard in the chest and watch him tumble to the ground, but I'm not done yet. I kick him brutally in the ribs and watch him lift up from the ground before dropping again. Eighteen. I sense a punch coming my way and catch it effortlessly, turning it sharply to the right and snapping the wrist like a twig. Nineteen.

I hear him scream and I spin around and kick the last guy on the side of his head, knocking him out instantly. I look around at my work and exhale. I turn around to smirk in victory at Raymond, only now realizing how much he doubted that I would succeed. Raymond looks around at his men in disbelief. He quickly composes himself and clears his throat. "Well, I suppose I should show you the place to find Vanessa." Raymond suggests. I give him a curt nod and follow him to a black car with tinted windows. He nods at his driver and speaks, "take me to Vanessa." Raymond's driver looks at him in disbelief and glances at me cautiously. Raymond nods his head. "It's alright, she's with me." He assures his driver. "Yes sir."