JANUARY 6Th - RAS 3

“Come on kid- hit me like you mean it!”

*Panting*

Constantly leaving himself open made it way too easy to ground him. He looked up at me with scorched fury beaming through his eyes.

“Raging at me like an angry bull won’t get you results.” I scolded. “You need to locate your opponent weak spot and create or wait for an opportunity to strike.”

“Shut up will ya!” He lashed out; this time rising up from his kneeled position with a fist in hand thrusting towards my left jaw. I saw his attack coming from a mile away, and I didn’t even have to use my powers. Pushing off with his right leg and using the left as a brace, he left himself quite unbalanced. I ducked, and he, of course, missed, so I quickly swiped his unsteady foundation of a stance and he fell on his back.

I walked over to him, “Much rage, no patience or focus. How did you learn in school might I ask?” and reached out my hand to help him up from the floor.

But he refused, slapping it out of sight, “My guess is that I probably learned because my teachers weren’t a bunch of egotistical tosses you out on the ledge assholes. You can’t just toss someone out of the boat with no life jacket and expect them to learn how to swim. They won’t learn!”

“They will if they want to live.” I corroborated.

He stood up straight, twitching in his right eye. He raised his right hand as an impulse to the blood that came running down his nose. I flinched, not realizing that I had hit him so hard.

“And I don’t?” He disputed.

His anger was as annoying as it was filled with misguided ignorance. I sighed out of pity.

“Alex, I’m doing this for your own good, not to hurt you.” As I started, I walked over to the table and took up the washcloth. “What will you do, if in two days, we get caught in a struggle at the Security Check and I’m too busy myself to save you?” I handed him the washcloth to wipe away the blood. “You have to know a thing or two about defending yourself. What we’re about to do is no game; we could end up getting killed in the process. And if we don’t and they capture us during our attempted escape, we’re definitely going to be executed then.”

I faced him then took the washcloth from his hand, putting on a faint smile in an attempt to assuage him, “I know this can be enervating, but I just want you to be as prepared as possible.”

His slightly cocked his head and finally bent it just enough to face me, “I just don’t want you to get hurt.” I reinforced.

He brought his hand to cover the plush red fever that had taken over his face.

“Alex, what’s wrong?”

I jumped out of concern, initially speculating that he was suffering from a previous blow, I soon realized that he was simply blushing.

“Oh…”I gave out, not realizing the brimmed high cheekbones reddening on my face. This involuntary act of shyness was inadvertently unavoidable.

Sometimes… he's actually kind of cute.

I started to embrace my smile.

“What the hell are you smiling about?” He began to make verbal attacks in an attempt to cover his own embarrassment.

“Oh, nothing…” I replied, intensifying my grin, this time adding in a chuckle. “I just remember the day we met in the shower.”

I began to laugh hysterically, “If you’re wondering why I call you a kid, it’s not because of your age, it’s because your manhood is the smaller than the Barbie’s Ken doll.”

“You asshole!” He came at me.

Throwing his punch hight left, then right. I dodged both attacks then reach for the cup on the table. His wild attacks became slightly synchronized as he tried to observe my indifferent robotic defense movements. Using the cup to block his fist, I was imposing self-inflicted injury upon my opponent disallowing them to get within the proper range of attack.

He makes an attempt to distract me, tossing the bloody washcloth to my high left and wanting to attack my knee from below. I saw it coming and blocked it, then grabbed both hands, floored him and locked him beneath me.

“Ahh…” He cried out from exhaustion.

I released his hands, and they fell to the ground. “That was better.” I praised. “You actually do learn quickly.”

Shifting his eyes, he vaguely smiled. “Whatever, you’re an okay teacher.”

While pinning him down to the floor, I couldn’t help but notice how long and curly his eyelashes were. His deep green eyes were a rare but not uncommon trait, yet on him, they looked unusually beautiful. I imagine that he must have been popular with the girls in his High School.

“Hey, are you going to get off me anytime soon?”

Oh shit…

“Yes, my bad. Sorry about that.”I apologized as I proceeded to get up.

“No, don’t stop there. I was enjoying the show.”A voice called out and we turned to see that it was none other than Ray and Duran.

“So, let me get this straight… we can assume that you are literally just always watching and sneaking up on us?”Alex arbitrated.

“Yep, pretty much.” Duran mocked.

“Hey, don’t be mad at me.” Raymond reprimanded in a haughty tone of voice, “Blame your little boyfriend here. He’s supposed to be a Class A Resistance fighter spy, yet he keeps leaving himself open.”

Raymond loved to play mind games; he knew exactly what to say in order to get inside someone’s head so I try not to entertain his shenanigans. Alex, on the other hand, was not immune to his tricks.

“Enough,” I ordered a stop to the back and forth. The three settled down and I went over to the table and had a seat. They momentarily followed and we all sat down facing one another.

“Now, you still have some questions that need answering, and today’s the day to deliver. So cough em up!” I directed at Raymond.

“Alright then,” He began. “How is this for starters?” And he pulled out and threw to the table from his back pocket, a female Guard I.D.

Warranted bewilder drowned our face and anxious questions flooded our minds.

A quick observation brought forth an immediate concern" This was issued 25 years ago." I gave skeptical feedback "Is that date correct?"

“Who’s Catherine Hegel?” Alex inquired.

Raymond grinned,“The name may read Catherine Hegel, but this woman is none other than my dear Anne Hallowell.”