-"Oh, just stop it already!" Zinari is waving his arms around as if it might get me to stop, "You can't fight against me and win!"
I almost laugh. Winning has never been very important to me but fighting? Of course, it was. He was asking me to give...
There are a lot of 'should haves' in my life. I should have been with my parents. I should have gotten to her quick enough. I should have started looking for Daniel earlier. And now I should have protected my friends from being kidnapped. But instead, I did nothing. Again. But the thing is, I know I should have been able to pull them back down. My reflexes were supposed to be better now. After, all I've been through how could I just stand there in shock?
"You're beating yourself up aren't you?" Ayda asks standing in the doorway. I'm sitting on a chair in the living room of our house. After the kidnapping, we decided to pick up Daniel and go home. Z went to the grocery store with Daniel to give we some alone time and I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn't even noticed Ayda had stayed with me. "Believe me, you have no reason to. I was in a gang for years and still, they caught me off guard," She shakes her head and strife and disappointment make themselves evident in her eyes," All I could do was stand by idly and I've been training for years! You have never trained in your life and you think you could've been ready to protect them?" Her tone takes a harsher twist but I know she's just as disappointed in her abilities as I am.
"I-I know but I have to be stronger. I could've-" She cuts me off with a hug. I almost cry, it's only been around 30 minutes but I miss them. And I can't explain how scared I am for them.
"You want to be strong, right? Well, we may not have very long but I can train you with what time we do have." I nod and leap out of my chair to follow her. We head down to the weapons room and she leads me through a door I didn't notice was there. Behind the door is a completely empty room except for the padded walls and a closet. She nods to the closet, motioning for me to open it. Inside is an assortment of outfits from karate uniforms to regular cargo pants and tank tops.
"We'll start with your outfit," She glances over my current clothes-patterned leggings and a cardigan and shakes her head," Nothing that restricts movement. Or that's bright. It has to support how you fight. For example... these," She pulls different items out and gives them to me to hold. Combat gloves and boots, cargo pants, a camouflage tank top, and a black cape. "A cape for covert missions and to make you look cool when you swing it off." When she said this I could only guess which Ayda felt was more important- looking cool or completing a mission well.
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"And, of course, weapons," She hands me a dagger, "This can fit in your pocket so you can take it out easily if you need to use it. We'll be focusing on hand-to-hand though so you shouldn't need it. And here is a knife disguised as a hairpin." With one swift movement, she's both pulled my hair into a bun and secured it with the pin. "Ok then, change and we'll begin."
I nod and head off to change. When I finish I feel strangely stronger already. "So what now?" She throws a rounded punch high in the air.
" That was a hook. Easy enough right? Now you try." And after she thinks I've mastered a punch or kick we move to the next more difficult one. We breeze through learning cross punches, uppercuts and backfist punches to side kicks, crescent kicks, and scissor kicks. For one of the first times, my gymnastic classes paid off, though I wish I had taken some martial arts class.
When we're sitting down Ayda looks at me and says," If not for your quick reflexes and anger you may not be where you are right now," Alive is what she meant," You've done well but now you'll have to do even better." She smiles at me and I nod. Then, Z walks in.
"It's time for your mission."
"What's the point in doing it though?" The minute I ask the question I regret asking. How can I be so rude to Ayda? The point in doing it is to get justice for her husband.
Z just looks at me like I'm stupid and explains slowly, " The Black Bones want Ayda back. Her children and one of your friends were kidnapped. Are you seeing what I'm getting at?" And just like that it clicks,
"The Black Bones kidnapped August, Muna , and Jake!"
