Nobody's Hero (A Black Veil Brides fanfiction)

Chapter 8

        When working with Jake and Andy to find exactly what I was good at, we hit quite a few walls...to put it lightly. I learned that when dealing with certain things, Jake had very little patience. He was always the one to get extremely frustrated and walk off for a good ten minutes, even though he was playing teacher instead of student. He would come back, face still flushed and hair a mess, ready to try again.

        Andy, on the other hand, was a great motivator. If I did something wrong, or if he thought it was wrong, he would show me a new way of standing or thinking. While Jake was off calming himself down, Andy would encourage me to keep at it, telling me that not everyone was good at everything and that we'd find my talent soon enough.

        Finally, we decided to se if I was any good at the things the Wild Ones did. Ashley was almost always the one that came up wuth battle plans and mapping out the area for the rest of us. Jinxx was a sneaky little bastard, he was the best at sneaking around security systems and disarming them. CC had this really cool talent-he was able to control the elements with different movements. He was the only one out there-that they knew of-that had this talent. Jake liked technology-he was the first to examine a new piece of equipment that was brought back to the camp or found while in an Uprising. He would smile like a kid in a candy shop when he was playing around with different systems.

        Now Andy-Andy was the most brilliant fighter out of all of the Wild Ones. Whether it was a verbal or physical battle, Andy would always be the one to come out on top. He could fight with any weapon he could get his hands on-a sword, daggers, a staff, hell he could defeat anyone with a bamboo stick. If you went trying to pick a fight with Andy, you certainly wanted to die.

        Much to Jake's surprise, the three of us found that I was quick to unlock and open a city gate by hacking into the selected city's network. It took me under a minute to hack into the network, this earning a boatload of respect from Jake. He says that I'm the fastest 'student' he's ever had, which brought him great hope for the future Uprisings. "With you and I working the gates, the Legion would hopefully get in and out safely, with no one left inside to be doomed to F.E.A.R's punishments." Jake murmured while rubbing his chin, studying the results of the tests he'd put me through. Since he didn't have much more to say to me, I quietly left him with the results, searching for Andy the second I stepped out of Jake's tent.

        Andy was estatic to find that with daggers in my hands, I was a killing machine. The camp had been attacked, daggers being the first things I grabbed. Andy had watched me from afar, noting the way that they weapons became an extension of my arms as I fought. After the camp was safe once again, he found me and gave me a pair of daggers that glinted gold in the light, but faded to a dull silver when the light was taken away by the clouds. They were cut into the shape of a rolling wave in the ocean, the curve of the metal smooth against the pads of my fingers.

        "Be careful not to cut yourself or anyone you care about with those. They're coated in a deadly poison that will kill anyone in a matter of minutes, granted they are still alive after you're done with them." Andy grinned. 

        I trained long hours with Andy using the wooden practice dummies that Tagen and Anthony had built for me using a special wood that wasn't destoried easily. With each slash to the dummies, a cute would appear, the edges of it sizzling with poison and turning black. Andy had his own weapon- a sword that Juliet had given to him long before she died. He trained with me, giving me a different set of daggers to practice fighting against him. By the end of the first day of battling against Andy, both of us were covered in little cuts and bruises; nothing that a little time and rest couldn't fix.

        Andy brushed his bangs away from his face and blew out a tired breath. "Damn." Was all he said before trading the daggers I currently held for my lethal ones, which were now sheathed so we wouldn't cut ourselves by accident, and leaving for the comfort of his tent.

        "Jessie!" I heard Tagen cry. I turned to see her running towards me, either tears, sweat or both were running down her cheeks. She crashed into me full force, arms wrapping around my torso. She burried her face into my neck.

        "Tagen?!" I blurted out, surprised by her actions. Where had she just come from that put her in this state? "Is everything okay?"

        "No..." The tiny girl whimpered. I pulled away from her so I could start to inspect her limbs. "Brandon and Anthony are fighting." I looked past her, towards the way she had come from. I knew the camp well enough by now that they were near the weapons room. Anthony could usually be found in there, working on new weapons for the Wild Ones and the Legion to use. He was quite good at what he did, since he used to work in a sort of blacksmith's shop once upon a time. Rumor has it that he was the one who crafted my daggers, which were now attached to my hips.

        I cursed under my breath. "Did one of them hurt you?" I asked as I found a dark purple bruise starting form around her small wrist in the shape of someone's hand. How anyone could even think of hurting the little thing that was Tagen? Granted she could hurt you if provoked, but this was not one of those times. Someone must've grabbed her and thrown her out of their way. "Who did this?"

        Tagen sniffled, her tears now nothing more than dried trails on her dirty cheeks. "It was Anthony." She held her wrist carefully against her chest. "He was helping me build you a new weapon when Brandon showed up and said something that made him angry..." She started to cry again-out of anger or pain, I don't know which-so I brought her to the girls' tent, leaving her with one of the others to be taken care of while I hunted down those boys. "Anthony's scary when he's angry," I heard her murmur as I left. Anthony's been known to lose his temper every now and then, but it never got to the point where an innocent bystander got hurt because of him.

        The second I exited the tent, I burst into a run, feeling the pounding of my feet against the hard, dust-covered earth gave me the rush of adrenaline I needed. It had been so long since I ran like this, it felt nice to hear my pulse in my ears and feel my blood pumping through my veins. The wind whipped my hair away from my face, allowing me a clear view of my surroundings. People jumped out of the way as I ran by, some even stopping completely to make sure it was me that had passed. The run down buildings that almost completely encased the camp were long, mostly empty things that one might find in a city history book. They gave me cool shadows to run under, protecting me from the blazing sun that constantly beat down on our little camp.

        I finally made it to the weapons room, where other members of the Legion were standing around the entrance, gawking at whatever was going on inside. I pushed my way past them, some cursing at me and shoving me back before they saw who it was. "Brandon! Anthony!" I screeched when I finally broke through the crowd. The other people who usually worked in here were pressed against the walls, some of the girls hiding behind groups of boys.

        Anthony and Brandon stood in the center of the room, occasionally throwing punches and swearing at each other. "Take it back, you fucking prick!" Anthony growled at Brandon, throwing a left hook that landed sharply in his stomach. When he bent, clutching his stomach, Anthony took the opprotunity to swing again. This time, a crack! filled the air- he had definitely broken Brandon's nose. Blood flowed steadily from one of his nostrils as Anthony smirked and turned away to wipe off some of the blood on his hand.

        Everyone was paying too much attention to Anthony to see that Brandon had grabbed a longsword from off a nearby table, getting to his feet. I knew what his intentions were-I knew all too well. "No!" I ran towards the boys just as Brandon brought the blade down.