Hue

five - chioma

"The arrow to her heart was far worse than the knife to her back."

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After Rocket announced that we would be testing Silk's skills, we all headed down to the training room and got ready to fight. I couldn't help but be skeptical about her skills. This was all a little too convenient, in my opinion. I mean, Rocket spent so long looking for a new member for our group that would have the needed skill set and all the sudden, this girl shows up at our door, demanding to be a member of our group, claiming to be a skilled fighter, racer, and hacker.

Focusing on my stretching, I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I wanted Silk to join our gang because of the money. Any other skills she has are just a bonus, right?

"I wanna fight her first," Molly demanded, discreetly slipping on her brass knuckles.

"No," Rocket replied shortly. "And no weapons. Silk will go against the worst fighter and make her way up to the top fighter. Amos, you're first."

Amos rolled his eyes at the subtle insult but nodded his understanding.

"When does the fight stop?" Silk asked casually, causing me to narrow my eyes at her. Such a simple question, but it had a lot of weight behind it.

"The fight stops when one of you is unconscious or concedes," Rocket answered, smiling slightly at her in appreciation of her question. His smile both startled and scared me. Rocket didn't smile that often and certainly not at people whom he had only recently met, yet he keeps smiling at Silk. This worried me that Rocket was quickly getting attached to her with no real reason.

Silk didn't return the smile, merely continued on the sparring mat with her arms at her sides and her back ramrod straight. I think the only time I've seen a spark of emotion from her was when she began to talk about her gambling. With a shake of my head, I marvel once more at how strange Silk is.

Amos climbed onto the fighting mat and got into position. He may have been the worst fighter in the gang, but he was far better than the average person. If Silk wasn't really a trained fighter, it would be clear from this first fight. Amos frowned, noting the way that Silk still stood the same way. Unmoving, she watched as Amos began to move closer. She still hadn't gotten into a fighting position, she was standing the same way, almost like a soldier standing at attention.

Amos took a step forward, throwing his arm out in a jab and that's when Silk made her first move. She startled all of us with her speed and ferocity, moving so quickly I could hardly make sense of her movements. Within a second, Amos was laying on the ground with his arm in Silk's hand. Her foot put pressure on his back and pushed him into the ground and she pulled his arm at an unnatural angle.

"I give up! I give up!" Amos gasped, his eyes wide with pain as she continued to pull at his arm.

Just as quickly as the fight started, the fight was over. Silk was once again standing off to the side with her arms at her sides and her back straight. Her blue eyes watched all of us without emotion, analyzing our movements. The fear I felt at that moment was only natural.

After a moment of stunned silence, Cooper spoke up, saying, "I guess I'm next. Right?"

Rocket nodded at him and Cooper slowly made his way on to the mat as Amos climbed off, clutching his arm. Cooper wasn't the tallest, but he was incredibly strong and the oldest one of us being almost twenty years old. The only reason why he was the second worst fighter was that Cooper hated fighting. Cooper only joined the gang because of his sister; he couldn't handle hurting people the way we could, but he was a genius with explosives, so we took him in despite his dislike of fighting.