Perfect School

A faint expression of amusement came to my face as I watched him. "Strip. Too your underclothes." I ordered softly before slowly easing myself up from the table. "Do not mind the guard. He works for my Patron." I slowly advanced across the room, eyes level on him.

 

I walked around him. "Your answer Jonah." I inspected his skin, the closest look I had ever had to his body and the marks he may have. I kept my hands clasped behind me as I walked, still silently appraising him while I circled.

 

I stopped before him, searching his eyes for any sign of untruth. I slowly nodded and turned away, stepping lithely over to the table. As I pulled myself onto it I spoke simply to the air. "Break him." A grin and a short laugh came from behind me as Tobin stepped around the table to stop before Jonah. "Push-ups. Now." He growled to Jonah while I watched with an impassive expression.

Jonah:

I glanced the guard up and town once then got down to do as he ordered. I was disappointing with her, I had hoped she would have been more imaginative, but it seemed she merely wanted to tire me out before hand. One of the things I had trained myself on was endurance, knowing it was a weakness of Kira's.

I watched impassively. It started out as push-ups. Delved into other physical items. When he finished running through the drills it started again. I leaned back on the table with a look of boredom, legs crossing and then kicking slightly.

Jonah:

I was very warm but I hadn't reached anywhere near my limit. I glanced to Kira whenever I had a chance, in between activities. After the second run through I started over before he could tell me to and went through it fluidly, not pausing between.

I sat up, gazing at Jonah. This was boring and disappointing. So far Jonah was failing. We had been doing this for thirty minutes so far. The set of things Jonah had to do took ten minutes. When he began his fourth set I sighed. "I said break him." I called to the air. Tobin glanced at me before looking down at Jonah as he settled into a push-up rhythm once more.

Jonah:

I just had to glance at her to realize what she meant. I had been too eager to obey her that I hadn't thought about what she actually wanted. I finished the set of push ups but stood up before the next one. The look of satisfaction on the other mans face was sad because in the next couple of minutes he was out cold probably with a broken limb or two.

"So far you are being a disappointment Jonah." I stood slowly, removing the knives from my belt. I slammed one into the table to stick it before going to kneel beside the man. I tapped him with the knife, sending thousands of volts through his system. The man only groaned weakly before I pulled back. I tossed aside the knife, away from the three of us before I slowly walked to the table. I drew the knife and twirled it around my hand, sending sparks into the air.

Jonah:

I eyes the knife she tossed away then watched her. I was annoyed but I wasn't showing it. I had expected something more from this, and at this point it wasn't clear where she was taking it.

"You haven't officially accepted the deal, Kira." I said, watching her cautiously. I wouldn't go through all of this without a confirmation that I would be considered for training again.

"Take the other knife and subdue me." I told him, as I stepped between him and the knife. I kept twirling the knife as I watched him. Everything I had done so far, had a point behind it, I was testing him. His patience, his ability to follow orders.

Jonah:

I took everything in, where she was, what it would take to get to the knife. The objective was to get to the knife first, but that didn't mean I couldn't tire her out while I did it. She said she wanted my best, so that's what I gave her. We were still an even match for each other, as it turned out, though she had the upper hand.

I kept spinning the knife in my fingers as I eased back towards the other one. I waited patiently, eyes focused on him the entire time. I had an ace up my sleeve. An insurance that I would win. This wasn't a bat note against him, I wished he would win. But I was under orders to make this an impossible scenario. So unless he did something to surprise me...the game was done. But Marie was watching, she wanted to see what he could do. So I had permission to toy with him. My ace would never give him that chance.

Jonah:

I blocked the knife with my left arm a couple times and it was enough to make it less effective. Kira wasn't tiring, but I was getting close to it. If I didn't accomplish my task soon I might not have the endurance to. But I was determined, I had made up my mind that I would beat her. With a bust of energy, I rushed her and tackled her to the ground. I took the knife to the shoulder and grunted with the pain but it didn't make me back down. I tried to wrestle her hand with the knife down to keep her from using it.

His tackle took me off guard and dropped me to the ground. Him pinning my hand with the knife to the ground made me frown as I fought to regain dominance in this fight. I focused on his left arm, knowing he had taken quite a few jolts to the limb.

Jonah:

I felt my arm shake and give way to her resistance, she would have gotten away if I hadn't acted quickly. I twisted around and managed to get up enough to trap, and grind her wrist under my knee, the one holding the knife.

I gritted my teeth, grunting in pain as he ground my wrist into the floor with his knee. I felt little bones popping and I paled slightly. I couldn't release the knife, his knee also preventing my fingers from opening. I bucked to try and throw off his weight as I considered my options.

 

It didn't matter how tough of a person you were, how skilled. Having a broken wrist slammed into the ground hurt. A lot. With a whimper of pain my hand released the knife. But I had been planning for that. There had been a free knife. If he went for it I would have let him fight. But taking my knife left me only one choice. To use my ace. My free hand wrenched free of his grasp and grabbed my hidden weapon. The shot rang out and I didn't need to look at him to know that my first shot had torn through the center mass of his leg. I then pressed the gun up into his chest, right over his heart.

 

The smell and tang of the blood filled my nose and the world seemed to drop away for a moment. I swallowed and only his body, mine and the weapon in my hands came back. I hooked a leg through his and slammed my hips into his to throw him off balance. We rolled across the ground, struggling with the gun until at the end I slammed my elbow into the wound on his leg and he released the hold of my gun. I shoved the barrel up under his chin as I straddled his hips.

 
 
 

My finger tightened on the trigger right up the catch point. Slowly it began to ease back as the need to end him, to bring more blood into the air, to the floor. His hold on either knife didn't matter, and I brought both hands up to hold the gun.

"Kira, very good, you may stop." The voice sent a shiver down my spine and my finger pulled away from the trigger and I felt drained. Not the same drain that made me collapse. But an emotional one. Slowly I eased off him to go and sit on the table again, cradling my wrist in my lap as I stared blankly at the ground.