She should have expected it, in hindsight. In fact, she had suspected it, but she had stubbornly persisted with the belief that although Jason Chan was bold enough to act against Hunter, he would have had more respect for her as a very present danger.
Aera might be stubborn, but she could admit when she was wrong.
She ducked a punch, countering with a fist to the man’s gut. He wheezed and keeled over. She patted his back as she moved onto the next idiot.
7 down, maybe a dozen or so more to go.
She eyed the one in the back, some strange, plated armor strapped across his chest. He held a baton, and so did the few men who were standing in front of him. They were making this out to be gauntlet. And Aera didn’t like her odds. She was strong, but the first round had been more than she’d expected.
She could see Jason smiling from the stands, a gleam in his eye. He was enjoying this more than anyone else. How long had he been planning something like this?
She hadn’t even gotten through the front door of Jason’s office at the bar upstairs when someone had injected her with something. She’d knocked the fucker out, but not before they’d dosed her with enough of whatever it was to knock her out in turn. She’d awoken in the dressing room the fighters used before entering the ring, and had a feeling that she’d be up against something like this.
The door had been locked for an hour before she heard an announcement. She could barely make out the sound of cheering as Jason Chan’s voice rang through the establishment.
“..Witness the downfall of the house of Oberon. I present to you, Aera— Queen of the ring!”
The doors to the changing room opened, and she walked down the hallway.
She wasn’t one to flinch from a challenge. Jason wanted to see her downfall? She would tare the scummy little parasite to shreds before the entire audience. She’d fight her way through the ring, through his guards, through the audience if she had to. She would chase him across campus, and then she would murder the little shit.
Then she stepped into the ring, and saw what seemed to her small army waiting for her to arrive— and didn’t even have time to calculate how she was going to survive before the start of the fight was announced.
Two guys rushed her, and she danced through them. Two men, two hits, two lights out for the next few hours. The third faked a punch, then another, and she wondered what the hell his deal was when she was pushed from behind, and then the boot of the guy in front of her met her gut.
She hadn’t let him get away with that without losing his ability to walk. The guy behind her didn’t fare much better either.
She glanced again at Jason, and saw that he was distracted by a conversation with a familiar young woman. She cursed. Hunter would not be happy when he heard about what Tilda Burner was getting up to in her spare time.
She brought her focus back to the fight, dodged another fist, then repositioned when two more guys seemed to materialize on both sides. She was far too distracted, and whatever they’d tranquilized her with must have still been in her system. She was never this sloppy.
She needed to gain some distance, and come up with something like a plan. She still had barely any idea of what she was up against. Again they charged her and she did her best to keep her distance. She wondered why they weren’t all rushing her at once.
The answer was obvious, this was a show, and they wanted to tire her out before delivering the final blow. Would it be Jason himself to delivered it? A symbolic gesture from the Chan’s to Trey Oberon?
Her pulse pounded throughout her body, but she wasn’t afraid. She was mad, and she was hyped. She hadn’t had a good fight for a very long time.
She decided to go all out. She’d just been forced to have a multi-hour nap. She had some energy to spare.
She reversed course and charged the three men, dodging to the right and punching the closest one in the kidneys. It took a second for the pain to kick in, but he wouldn’t be a problem for a bit. The next one to approach left his crotch wide open, and she accepted the invitation, kneeing him in the face after he bent over in agony.
The third stepped back, and Aera chased him down. She raised a fist, and he tripped over himself. She turned back to the the man who she’d hit first, who seemed to be debating the wisdom of continuing to fight her, but he was surrounded by a thousand vectors of scorn. He glanced at Jason, and he looked at Aera regretfully, understanding that he wasn’t going to enjoy what came next, but unable to do anything but accept it.
It was amusing for her to watch him resolve himself over a split second as he charged her again. She could hear more coming from behind her, and she estimated that they would all meet at approximately the same time. That made the next move obvious. She met the charge of the man before her, and pivoted behind him, pushing him towards one of the newest wave of attackers.
The next one had a baton, and she dodged it as he heart skipped a beat. So, Jason had dropped the pretense of a fair fight— obviously, given the odds set against her. But this was no longer about business, this was definitely a statement.
He was now above his own rules.
She grabbed the baton as the man swung it again, and wrenched it from his grasp, smashing his temple, hitting his solar plexus with the baton’s butt end and doing the same to his temple.
Lights out. She assessed the damage she’d caused to the other two. The one she’d tossed to intercept his companion had tripped over his friend, and was getting to his feet. His friend, on the other hand, appeared enraged. He was big, and probably hoped that his ape-like reaction would intimidate her.
Men, she scoffed.
He attempted to grab her with both hands, and she ducked way into his reach, kicking out one knee, pulling back one of his arms as she stepped to the side extending it so that his elbow was facing the ceiling. Then, while holding his wrist, she smashed down on the elbow with all the force she could muster. There was a satisfying snapping sound and the man cried out in agony.
She had no sympathy for the brute.
She’d not seen the next attacker, as his fist met the back of her head. She frowned, and rubbed her head as she considered the man. She recognized him, one of Emelia’s entourage. She glanced around the club, and saw her near Jason, with the rest of her friends. Her intelligence hadn’t said anything about Jason and Emelia having much of a relationship.
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It had said that Emelia had a mercurial side, acting on behalf of aggrieved students to send some physical messages once in a while. She was small, unassuming, and bubbly, therefore the perfect agent for a surprise attack.
She winked at Aera, but she could see Emelia’s discomfort as clear as day. She might be morally flexible, but she even she was uncomfortable with Jason’s display. Still, she’d chosen the wrong side, whether it was in ignorance or not.
When Aera fought her way up there, Emelia would learn her lesson, just like everyone else.
He attacked, she countered, he wheezed, she patted him on the back.
She was starting to warm up, now. But she also knew that soon, Jason would grow worried that his plan might not work out. That’s when he would tell them all to fight her at once.
She prepared herself for the next wave, which was already upon her.
Looks like her prediction was right, Jason had grown tired of his underlings embarrassing him. They swarmed her in a wave of fists, kicks, and thrown bodies. She danced, dodged, blocked, weaved. Flesh met flesh, hers to others and others to hers.
She danced around them as best she could, not letting them surround her anymore than necessary, but there was only so much she could do, especially against the one with the armor. He seemed content to wait for an opening, and Aera didn’t want to give him one. He always kept at least one or two men between him and her.
She wanted to finish him before he had a chance to finish her, but she couldn’t find the right opening.
And she was pretty sure one of her hands was half broken. She couldn’t close it anymore, which meant that her options were even more limited.
She barely made out a familiar scream behind her, and most of her attackers seemed surprised by the interruption.
Then one of them went flying overhead. They were all distracted, especially the armored brute. She saw her chance, and took it. The two big plates meant that body shots were out, and he was wearing a helmet as well, but that just only meant she’d be able to do something she’d been wanting to do ever since she first saw it in the movies. She extended two fingers towards his eyes, and thrust out with all the the force she could muster.
It might have been too much force, and she gagged at the result.
She never wanted to do anything like that ever again. Her attack spurred a new sense of urgency into the surrounding mob, half of which had split off from attacking her.
She sighed in relief. That just left four for her to finish up, and whoever had jumped in to help her could deal with the rest.
She heard more screams, and her attackers paused again. Someone else flew past her.
What the hell was going on?
She didn’t have time to find out. She knocked out another one of her attackers, and tripped another. The other two tried to grab her, and she swore when they succeeded.
She realized that she was exhausted.
That stupid drug must have been effecting her more than she realized.
While one struggled to hold her in place, the other rounded up for a finishing punch. She kicked the moron in the nuts, and he was knocked over when one of his friends from the other group flew into him. She stomped on the foot of the guy who was holding her, and he yelped and let go. She elbowed him in the ribs, turned, and and headbutt him in the nose.
She kicked him in the groin too, and spit on him as he was forced to kneel from the pain.
One more kick to his head was probably enough to knock him out. She didn’t take the time to find out, turning towards the chaos on the other side of the ring.
“Hunter?”
What the fuck was he doing here?
He punched out towards his two last attackers, and they both flew back a few feet, landing awkwardly, their limbs bending at unnatural angles.
She winced.
How had he done that? Hunter saw her and breathed a sigh of relief. He reached into his pockets and pulled out devices which mirrored the ones that she only now noticed he was wearing. He walked over to her and handed them over.
“Thumb this little button when you want them to go flying, but make sure they’re close enough,” he said, heaving between breaths. He looked at the devastation around her, pausing at the big man with the armor whose eyes she’d destroyed. He was on his knees, grasping around him, sobbing and asking for someone to help.
She felt pity for the man. Maybe she’d gone too far?
Her attention was caught by movement at the top tier, above the heads of the crowd, some of whom gawked in disbelief as the result, others cheered at the top of their lungs.
Jason was making a run for it.
“We can’t let him get away with this,” Aera snarled. She expected Hunter to protest, but he was staring grimly at the armor.
“Hunter, let’s go,” she said, pointing towards Jason and his group.
He managed to wrestle his gaze from the armor, and he saw fury in his eyes. His eyes followed her finger, and he laughed as he saw Tilda Burner trying to leave with Jason.
He sighed, and Aera could see the deep disappointment in his features, and she watched as grief cycled through him.
Confusion, disappointment, anger, and then he shook his head.
“Let’s just get out of here,” he said.
They both started running their way out of the arena, jumping the small fence that separated the ring from the bottom tier. She made her way for the stairs that lead up towards the entrance.
Jason’s group hadn’t left yet, as they were fighting a crowd whose attention was transfixed by the two fighters on an intercept course. Jason grew more desperate, outright pushing people out the way, some of whom were thrown down entire tiers.
Aera was exhausted, but nothing energized her like the sight of Jason running in fear. He shouted at his men, and they turned to her, ready for a fight.
“Get out the way if you don’t want to get hurt,” Aera yelled at the surrounding crowd as she approached the top tier, Hunter following close behind.
She decided to test out this new toy.
She thumbed the trigger as soon as she reached the first man-sized obstacle, and he was blasted back as if he’d been hit by a truck. Aera laughed at the sight, admiring the device that Hunter had handed her. Too bad her other hand was all mangled up, she’d have loved to see what two could do if she used them both at once.
She grinned at the next guy in her way, and he pretended to trip on himself, falling to the side. She shook her head in amusement. She didn't meet much more resistance on her way to Jason, who was nearing the entrance. Aera jumped onto tables and over heads as she ran towards him.
The door to the club basement slammed shut as she reached it, and she heard it lock from the other side. She cursed. Hunter was heaving as he caught up to her.
“On three,” he said, aiming both of his fists towards the door, and Aera grinned as she caught on. She aimed hers as well.
“Three, two, one.”
They triggered their devices, and Aera expected the metal door to go flying, but was disappointed when it merely slammed open.
It must have been built pretty well. She didn’t know much about doors, but hoped that whoever had designed this place had been well imbursed for their effort.
They heard a groan down the alleyway, and she saw Jerry half submerged in a pile of trash.
“Sorry, Jerry,” she said as she and Hunter passed him. Jerry was alright, just doing his job. She’d investigated most of Jason’s employees, and was surprised to find that although he was one of the most intimidating guys in Jason’s employ, the man was practically a teddy bear who was just paying his way through school. Hopefully he’d be alright.
They exited the alleyway, and looked both ways. There was no sign of Jason.
“He’s probably in his office,” she said, glancing at Hunter. He didn’t look so good.
“You alright?” she asked. He nodded, but she could tell that he was exhausted.
“Yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ve been through worse,” he said.
She wasn’t confident in his answer. He looked like he was in worse shape than she was.
Not literally, of course. She was pretty sure she’d need to visit a hospital after they were done here. The world kept tilting sideways, and she had to keep correcting it. She couldn’t even feel her right hand anymore, and it hurt to breathe.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, taking the lead and cutting through the line of people waiting to get into the bar.
They got some concerned glances as they passed people, some even trying to stop them ask them if they needed help. Aera gave them the most threatening look she could, while Hunter told them that it was best if they went elsewhere for the evening. Some people threatened to call campus security and law enforcement, and she was pleased when Hunter laughed at them.
The meek kitten was growing into a promising little lion.