FF: And I Won't Finish Last (7/?)
“You can’t be serious.”
“You sound fifty years old right now.”
“Shut up, Andy!”
“Ah, and there you are…”
“Look, I know you have a crush-“
“It’s not just a crush. Okay, it is a crush, but it’s also so much more!”
“Dear Gawd. Okay, look, you’ve mooned over her long enough. And, yea, I might have said to ask her out, but this-“
“Is brilliant! Splendid! Fantastic!”
Lily looked at her friend, agape. “You’ve really lost it.”
“Yup, I have.”
“Andy…”
But Andy would have none of it. “What?”
“Don’t pout. I was just gonna say…I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Andy smiled beatifically. “Not a fucking clue. But don’t you worry, Lils, this is gonna be perfect!”
___________________
“Well, students! Today, we have the distinct honor and pleasure of having Miranda as our guest. Now, we’ve covered the basics of the Honor Code, and how to defend ourselves.”
There was a scattered sound of half-hearted noises of agreement from her audience. She looked out at the semi-bored faces, and not for the first time thought that these kids could do with a tall cup of coffee before their class.
Metas these days! Why did her combat class have to be in the middle of the afternoon?
She persevered, intent on impressing Miranda. “Now. It’s time for a demo. I’ve asked Miranda to spar so that we can demonstrate some of the finer points of the Code.”
There was a distinct murmur of interest, and most of the students perked up, sitting up straighter in their cross-legged pose. Andy smirked; she was still ‘cool’ enough to know what would get ‘em.
Andy watched with special interest as Miranda unfolded from her seated position at the front row of students, and walk towards her, stopping the appropriate ten feet away from Andy. Miranda’s body automatically took the semi-casual position of getting ready to spar.
Andy smiled at her briefly, trying not to blush, and then turned towards her students to issue the final dialog of rules. “Now, remember, it’s crucial to take the time to gauge your opponent’s style. You want to learn their weaknesses by-“
And then Andy felt the wind knocked out of her as she landed on her back.
There were stars in her eyes, and it took a few moments to regain her bearings. When she opened her eyes, she saw Miranda on top of her, and before Andrea could pass out from that fact, she noticed that the older woman was smirking.
Before Andy could even squeak out a question, Miranda slowly withdrew, and once again stood the appropriate ten feet away.
Andrea rose up on her elbows, still aghast. She turned automatically, as the young teachers do, to see if her students noticed. Andrea saw their jaws wide open as they stared at Miranda as if she were God itself.
Andrea ground her teeth as she turned back to Miranda, and realized that her opponent had, literally, bowled her over. Before she had even finished speaking to her students! About the Honor Code! Which was supposed to be about the proper rules of fighting with an opponent!
Andrea gingerly raised herself to her feet, and glared at Miranda, who only raised her eyebrows. “What. Was. That.” She ground out, barely able to contain her snarl.
Miranda’s voice was cool against Andrea’s tone, which was as dry as the Gobi desert. “In real combat, the enemy doesn’t wait for introductions.”
There was a snicker in the crowd, and Andy swiftly turned to glare at them. The sound immediately died, a contrite hush falling over her students; they knew she was amongst the strongest metas in the world.
“Miranda. This is a training class. We’re trying to teach them the proper way of fighting.”
Miranda was unmoved, and Andrea was starting to think Lily may have been right. “The proper way of fighting, Andrea, as you define it, is enough to kill one of your students.”
Andrea felt her mind catch on fire as the rage coursed through her, making everything momentarily white. And when she opened her eyes, she was flat on her back, looking at the ceiling.
Again.
She tilted her head forward, and again saw Miranda above her with that trademark smirk on her face. Andrea realized she had, once again, been knocked to the floor.
In front of her entire class.
Before she knew what was happening, Miranda disappeared. Andrea craned her neck forward again, and saw Miranda standing before, staying the dutiful ten feet away from her.
Andrea dropped her head to the floor for a moment, and prayed for patience.
_______________
“So, basically, she knocked you on your ass. Twice.”
Andy sighed, holding the icepack to the back of her had, and glared balefully at her supposed friend. “She didn’t ‘knock me’ anywhere. I was…caught off guard.”
Lily raised her eyebrow, and to Andy’s chagrin, the withering sarcasm that was related by that gesture looked too much like Miranda’s own expression during the training exercise. “Really? She surprised you?”
“Look! Just because I can read minds doesn’t mean…And I hadn’t even given the signal to start sparring! The mad woman just moved! That isn’t even legal! What she did! Was illegal!”
“But it’s a combat class. The kids should know-“
“I had just gotten through the written version of the Code, okay? The entire previous class! An hour! Worth of dissecting and discussing the Code. And then she shows up for the demo, and throws it all out the window!”
Lily couldn’t help it; she finally started laughing. “Oh, my God! You got owned!”
Andy glared at her, wishing she hated Lily enough to impale her on something. So she settled for glowering. “I did not get ‘owned!’ God, I hate her!”
Lily couldn’t even smother her mirth. “You’re the one with the hots for her! She showed you!”
“Stop right now!”
“Or what? You’ll let me knock you on your butt, too?” And then Lily really lost it, and Andy hoped she exited the room with the proper amount of flounce to broadly telecast her disapproval.
____________________
She brooded.
It’s what she did, and she did it rather well, she thought.
Andy had the hunched shoulders, the warning frown, and her lips were, unlike their usual state, turned downward. Yes, Andy was a first-class brooder.
Clearly, Nigel was immune to all of this. “So.”
Andy turned toward him, surprised given that he’d never approached her before. She was in no mood for pleasantries, and only grunted in response. She wanted to go back to her wallowing as soon as possible.
Nigel nodded towards the bartender for his usual, and then turned back to the young woman. He felt sorry for her, but his emotions would do her little service. “I heard about your class.”
Andy dropped her head. Had anyone not heard about it by now? Hell, if it weren’t her at the center of the (humiliating) story, Andy would have been telling the tale at a mile a minute. It was, she groused to herself, titillating to say the least.
But it was about Andy, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours. She was over it. In fact, she’d been over it for awhile.
She’d been over it since it happened.
So Andy just sighed. If Nigel, her sudden companion, wanted the juicy details of what it felt like to take the brunt of Miranda’s folly, well, he was just going to have to look elsewhere.
The bartender set his drink in front of him, and Nigel set to thoughtfully stirring his Cosmo. “I don’t think you should beat yourself up about it.”
She hadn’t expected that. Andy turned to look at Nigel, the incredulity patent on her face.
He continued with a smile so kind, it made Andy swallow against a dry throat. “She didn’t do it to belittle you.”
“Oh, really? Why then? To prove what a great fighter she is? To teach kids that it’s better to fight with instinct than preparation? For the street cred?”
Nigel tried not to sigh. “She was just making a point.”
Andy nearly snarled. “Oh, yes. She does like doing that, doesn’t she? Handing out her little lessons? Next time, I’ll just tell her to print a f*cking pamphlet and be done with it.”
“Try not to take this personally.”
Andy gaped at him. “Nigel, she humiliated me in front my whole class! Those kids won’t even listen anymore. Now that she’s proven just how worthy I am!”
He frowned. “Why did you invite her? I mean, there are far more appropriate choices. Really, there are only more appropriate choices. You must have heard of her opinion on the Code.”
Andy turned away, and blushed as she looked into her drink, stirring it gently. “Yea, I’d heard. But I thought it would be a thrill for the kids…”
Nigel narrowed his eyes as he caught the reddening of her cheeks. The pieces were quickly falling into place. He tried not to chuckle, and took a moment to compose himself until his tone was bland. “Listen, by tomorrow, someone would have done something more…newsworthy. And then everyone would have moved on.”
She swallowed against the lump in her throat, and turned to him. “Do you really think so?”
Even though Nigel considered him a man of the world, he saw just how potent those big eyes of Andy’s were. He smiled, suddenly understanding why Miranda had accepted this ingénue’s invitation, and perhaps even why his old friend had behaved the way she had. “Absolutely. Enjoy your drink.”
Without waiting to hear her response, he walked away. He needed to talk to Miranda as soon as possible.
__________________
Predictably, he found her in one of the mansion’s many training rooms. He entered quietly, and watched as she blazed through the exercise routine as if the very Devil was at her heels.
When she finally finished, he waited for a moment before making his presence known. “I thought you’d have had enough of a workout to last you at least through the week.”
She stiffened momentarily at the intrusion, and then relaxed again when she realized who it was. She smiled over her shoulder. “Spying on moi?”
He snorted. “Hardly. I just heard the most scintillating tale.”
She turned to him, as she toweled away the perspiration lining her throat and shoulders. “Oh?”
“Yes. Oh. Miranda, what were you thinking?”
Her smirk faded away. “What.”
He stepped closer to her, his frown apparent in his tone. “She’s just a kid. She was trying to impress her students.”
She swatted away his annoyance. “She wanted them to learn how to fight. I showed them.”
“Don’t you mean you showed her?”
Miranda raised her eyebrow in that lethal way she did. “What ever do you mean?”
Nigel sighed. “Miranda. It’s me. Gloves off. You knew that she was dying to impress you. I spent five minutes talking to her, and the girl doesn’t do artifice.”
She clenched her jaw. “Nigel, she should have known what she was asking for when she invited me.”
“But you couldn’t just indulge her, could you? She wanted to have a sort of coup in landing you for her class. And instead of just turning her down, you accept, and then humiliate her.”
“Humiliate?! I was doing her a favor, and definitely doing her students a favor.”
“By showing them the rough-and-ready ways of the world? No, I don’t think so. This was about you. She’s just a kid, Miranda.”
She glared at him now, not liking this conversation at all. “Exactly! She is just a kid. Who needs to grow up, and if it had to happen in front of others, so be it. In a few years, I’m sure I’ll get a very nice ‘Thank you’ note from her.”
Nigel narrowed his eyes. He knew Miranda very, very well, and one of the advantages of that was knowing when and where to strike. “Well, congratulations, Miranda. If you wanted to prove that you’re not human, you’ve done it in spades.”
For the second time that night, he didn’t wait for a reaction, and turned on his heel.
__________________
Andy turned the sword in her hands with an agility that belied her age. Jacqueline watched her student practice, and smiled internally; using their psychic link, she could sense Andy’s fluid movements.
Then she felt it, and spoke. “Andy, loosen your hold. Remember, you don’t want to choke the hilt.”
Andy grimaced, and immediately slackened her grip. She continued through another twenty minutes of the exercise without interruption. By the end of it, she was covered in sweat.
Jacqueline stepped away from the sidelines. “That’s enough for today. Any more, and you’re bound to strain something vital.”
Andy caught her breath as she rested her weight on the sword. “Thank Gawd. I didn’t want to seem like a wuss and pass out.”
Jacqueline smiled slightly. “See you tomorrow.”
Andy guzzled some water, and before she could think the better of it, called to her mentor. “Jacqueline!”
The older woman turned her neck, and inclined her neck. “Oui?”
Andy flushed, but there was no turning back now. “Did you hear about what happened?”
Jacqueline’s brow cleared, and her tone expressed nothing at all. “I hear many things, cherie. Which happening?”
Andy could have probed her mentor’s mind, but given the circumstances, it would have been an intrusion. Especially since the reason Andy didn’t verbalize her query was because of her own cowardice.
So, she sighed and gave up the fight. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Jacqueline nodded, and turned away again. Just as she was about to leave the exercise room, she turned back. “Andy…”
Andy jerked up from her brooding of the water bottle; she hadn’t expected Jacqueline to say anything further. “Yes?”
Without turning back, Jacqueline’s voice still managed to carry through the cavernous room. “There’s a reason why I’m leading the mansion.”
Andy frowned. “Okay,” she said, but she didn’t really understand.
Jacqueline smile was anguished, but she couldn’t stand seeing Andy in pain. “I know how to play by the rules.”
And with that soft pronouncement, Jacqueline left the room.
______________________
An hour later, her mentor’s words still playing havoc on her mind, Andy was still practicing. She knew she should have just given it a rest, but she felt driven by a feeling of inadequacy that was both unfamiliar and haunting.
She nearly lost her balance and impaled herself when she heard a throat loudly clearing in the silence of the exercise room.
Andy turned to the entrance to see another meta, but one she’d never formally met. “Um, hello. Did you have the room booked?”
He smiled and stepped further into the room. “Uh, no. Sorry, didn’t mean to really interrupt. It’s just that I’d been waiting for a few minutes to find a good gap, but you were really into it.”
She raised her eyebrows at his rambling, and smiled. “Yea, sorry, I guess I was pretty involved.”
“Oh, no. Don’t apologize. I should apologize to you for intruding. Um, which I just did.”
Andy gamely went along with it. “Okay.”
He grimaced. “Er, sorry. Again. Anyhow, we haven’t met really. I’m Armin.”
She stuck out her hand, and smiled in earnest. “Andy.”
Armin grinned, and stuck out his hand. “So, listen, um, I was wondering if you needed some help-“
Andy frowned. “Like lessons?” She didn’t think she was that bad, really.
He laughed, and shook his hand. “Um, no, not at this, you’re really awesome. I meant with your class…”
Her eyebrows rose. “Um, what?”
“I’m not saying this well at all,” he sighed. “Let me try again. I was wondering whether you’d like me to demo for your class.”
Andy’s jaw dropped. “You heard?”
He clenched his jaw. “Uh, yea.”
Andy narrowed her eyes, feeling something lurking in his hesitant, sheepish manner. “Who told you?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets, and looked away, shrugging his shoulders. “Oh, y’know, peeps talking…”
Her eyes widened. “Wait a second. Isn’t Miranda your-“
He covered his eyes with his hand. “Oh, God, I told her this wouldn’t work. I’m just horrible at this.”
Now her shoulders squared. “She sent you to ask me? Why? To make up for her showboating? Her arrogance? Her-“
His eyes grew comically wide at her tone. “Look, I’m sorry. But can you please just make all of our lives easier by saying ‘Yes.’ She just wants you to allow her to make this right.”
She fumed, not only because he had cut off her dramatic tirade. “You know what you can tell her?”
He grimaced, knowing that nothing good was about to come out of Andy’s mouth.
_____________________
“Well?”
Armin tried not to shiver, even after all these years, at hearing that voice. “Um.”
Miranda looked up, her eyes placid, but her lips pursed just so. “She said no?”
He swallowed, and hope it wasn’t audible. “In so many words, yes.”
She sighed dramatically.
Actually, he thought to himself upon seeing her subdued yet patent theatrics, these two are made for each other.
____________________
Andrea felt her before she saw her. Even in her meditation, she felt tremors within her physical space. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall opposite her, noting the stucco needed a fresh coat.
Without turning around, Andrea addressed the intruder. “I know you’re there.”
Miranda, who stood twenty feet away, had expected as much. But her eyebrows still rose, impressed. “Hello.”
Andrea sighed silently, and unfolded herself from her seated position, turning around. She was resolved to remain impassive. “Hi.”
Miranda breathed deeply. “Armin told me that he came to see you.”
Andrea’s forehead evened out as she struggled not to grind her teeth. “Then he should have also told you what I told him.”
Miranda smirked, the movement of her lips so slight, it was nearly subtle. “In so many words.”
“Look, you clearly sought me out. What do you want?”
“Have drinks with me.”
Andy’s jaw actually dropped. “What?”
Miranda nearly smiled. “I’d like to make amends.”
Now Andrea was sure she was dreaming. “Uh…what?”
“Say yes.”
_____________________
The first kiss surprised them both; it was soft, giving, and only hinted at things to come.
Andrea was nervous, so much so that her hands were shaking, and she felt the blood rushing through her veins, and her ears burned from the heat of it all.
“Miranda,” she whispered, not really believing this was happening.
The older woman blinked slowly, as if she were emerging from the fog of a rainforest, and she couldn’t believe the beauty in front of her.
How had she never seen it before?
But, for all her faults, Miranda was a woman of action, and rather than replying, she gently grasped Andrea’s face in her two hands, urging the younger woman closer, beckoning her with the slightest tilt of her head.
Andrea was lost.
__________________
She opened her eyes, and everything hurt. She wasn’t even sure if she were still alive, but the brightness of the blurry lights burned her retinas, and she turned her head, squirming against the invasion.
At once, she heard rustling, and then another blurry form approached her. “Andy?”
She recognized her mentor’s voice immediately. “Jacqueline?”
At least that’s what Andy had attempted to say, instead her abused throat only squeaked out a gravely approximation of the other woman’s name. Immediately, she felt a gentle hand in her hair.
“Sssh, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
There was such exhaustion in Jacqueline’s voice, something Andy had never heard, and she felt the adrenalin kick into her system. Everything slowly swam into focus, and she nearly gasped at how haggard the other woman looked.
“…happened?” Andy said, wincing again at the hurt in her throat.
Jacqueline reached to her lift, and lifted a glass of water to Andy, even as she slowly lifted the younger woman’s head to the glass. “Drink first. You need it. Slowly.”
Andy obeyed, and the water felt like liquid fire in her esophagus, but after swallowing, seemed to tame the rattle in her voice. “What…happened?”
Jacqueline frowned. “What do you remember?”
Andy closed her eyes. “God, Jacqueline, don’t play…games.” She leaned back up to take another sip, grateful for Jacqueline’s supportive hand.
She sighed; she’d never been able to last long against Andrea’s pleas. Perhaps that was her greatest flaw in being Andy’s teacher. “The bomb. You were trying to diffuse it. With Rashad. But you sent him away. And you tried to do it on your own…”
Jacqueline paused, unable to get the next words out of her mouth. Now that Andy was awake, the sense of shame and responsibility slammed into Jacqueline, making her shudder anew. She wanted to fall to her knees, beg Andy’s forgiveness, and Jacqueline wasn’t even sure for what she would have had to be.
Andy blinked up at her, moving her hand involuntarily, and slowly, haltingly grasping Jacqueline’s hand. She nearly winced at the suddenly tight grip enveloping her fingers, but she was grateful for the connection.
Andy gingerly probed her mentor’s mind, and was surprised to suddenly feel it slam shut.
“No,” Jacqueline said vehemently. “I can’t let you in there. Not now, not yet.”
“Jacqueline. Please. Tell me what happened.”
She looked down into her student’s eyes, and for the first time in a long time, wished she could see what color Andy’s eyes were. Or, for that matter, see anything of Andy. Jacqueline clenched her jaw; this trauma was not about her, and she wouldn’t start making it about herself now. She grimaced even as she continued. “You were gone. We could only sense bare glimpses of you. I tried pushing my thoughts everywhere, but you’d fade in and out. I rolled to the scene, and Rashad told me what happened. I mean, he hadn’t seen what happened either, and we tried everything. And, then, I realized that I couldn’t do this alone. Every moment I tried, and couldn’t find you was just another second when you could’ve been…”
And even though she tried with Herculean effort to get the story out in one go, Jacqueline failed miserably. She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying, until she felt a gentle hand against her wet face. Jacqueline flinched, nearly dislodging her grip on Andrea’s other hand. “No. Let me finish this. Please.”
Andy silently nodded, removing her comforting fingers from her teacher’s tear-drenched face.
The older woman exhaled, and closed her eyes. “…We came back, and had to tell everyone. And Miranda…”
Suddenly every sense in Andy’s body went numb with dread. She felt an unstoppable need to rise from the table, and she did with lots of expletive-laced grunts.
“Andy! What are you doing?”
“I need to sit up for this. Help me up.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed at this rate.”
Andy felt her body begin to kick in, and start healing itself. Her mind was only vaguely starting to recall the events that Jacqueline was describing.
“Tell me the rest. Tell me about Miranda.”
_____________________
Miranda couldn’t believe her eyes. “It’s not…possible,” she whispered to no one.
“Does it matter, Mother?”
Miranda’s eyes begin to tear up from the force of her unblinking stare, and she clenched her eyes, hoping against hope that what she was seeing was only a hallucination of her affected mind.
She opened her eyes, and nothing about the tableau had changed. “This isn’t possible.”
The form that seemed to be Caroline only smiled cruelly. “You can think that this is a trick, if you’d like. But I’m just surprised you remembered who we were. How many years has it been?”
The twin next to her turned to Caroline. “What? Ten years? Or more?”
Caroline shrugged in response, never looking away from Miranda. “Who knows? But we’ve turned out pretty well haven’t we, Mother?”
Miranda felt a pain lance through her entire body, as if she’d been pierced through her solar plexus and then split completely asunder. Perhaps that would have been less painless than witnessing this. “You’re not…real.” Her mind refused to accept it, even as her heart raced in timeless recognition; a mother always knew.
Now Cassidy addressed her directly. “Even if we’re not, you’re never going to believe what you’re going to have to do. To save yourself, your team, your precious Andrea.”
At that, Miranda froze. Her voice wouldn’t work, and she could barely process anything.
Caroline laughed. “The clock is ticking, Mother. And to save everything you desire, you’re not just going to helplessly watch as we die. No. This time, you’re going to have to kill us yourself.”
___________________
Andy tested her legs as she clambered off the surgical table, and flexed her hand carefully. “So it’s artifical, huh?”
Jacqueline stepped up to her, laying a calming arm on Andy’s shoulder. “Just the thumb. It’s a fully functioning prosthetic. It even matches your skin tone.”
Andy gulped with such fury that the words just slipped out. “How would you know?”
Jacqueline flinched at the rancor, but before she could even respond, Andy turned away. “I’m sorry.”
The older woman let her brow clear. “Emily told me that it was the perfect shade.”
Andy tried to breathe deeply to calm the bubbling rage within her. “Where is Miranda now?”
“On James’ sub, trying to kill him.”
Andy raised her head, and stared at the glass window, somehow knowing that Miranda had watched her through it, as Jacqueline had tried to revive Andy. And suddenly the anger had broken through. “I’m going.”
“Andy! You can’t! You’ve just awoken from a long and-“
Andy whirled on her feet, and nearly spat out her next words. “Say what you want, Jacqueline. But I’m going. Now I’m not going to scream and shout or even waste anymore time. Just try and fucking stop me.”
And with that, she walked briskly out of the operating theater, leaving Jacqueline fuming and alone in the chilly space.
____________________
Miranda slowly withdrew her sword, seeing the disbelieving look on her opponent’s face freeze and then dissipate as Caroline slowly died from her wound.
Miranda closed her eyes, knowing that what she had done, she had done for the right reasons, but it also meant that she would probably never sleep again.
From a distance, she head a clapping sound, brisk and sarcastic in its tone. She turned slowly, knowing that she was close to collapsing.
And then she saw him. James was grinning as he brought his hands theatrically to his mouth. “Wow. I never thought you’d actually do it! Congratulations!”
Miranda growled, never one for patience with madmen. “I’m going to kill you next.”
“Oh, Miranda, you shouldn’t be so rude. After all, I helped you work out more issues in the past day than ten years of therapy.” He looked at her slyly, knowingly. “You should be thanking me.”
Now Miranda was really pissed off. “I’m going to cut you from shoulder to hip, and then…I’m going to f*cking cut your head open.”
“And then what? Feed my brains to the sharks? C’mon, Miranda, I’ve always loved your theatrics, but isn’t this all a tad…pedestrian?”
He was trying to goad her, she knew, but Miranda wasn’t entirely certain she cared anymore. She strode toward him, giving him ample warning, and then before she knew it, he had a sword in his hand as well, and then there was only the sound of the clash of their blades.
- TBC
“You sound fifty years old right now.”
“Shut up, Andy!”
“Ah, and there you are…”
“Look, I know you have a crush-“
“It’s not just a crush. Okay, it is a crush, but it’s also so much more!”
“Dear Gawd. Okay, look, you’ve mooned over her long enough. And, yea, I might have said to ask her out, but this-“
“Is brilliant! Splendid! Fantastic!”
Lily looked at her friend, agape. “You’ve really lost it.”
“Yup, I have.”
“Andy…”
But Andy would have none of it. “What?”
“Don’t pout. I was just gonna say…I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Andy smiled beatifically. “Not a fucking clue. But don’t you worry, Lils, this is gonna be perfect!”
___________________
“Well, students! Today, we have the distinct honor and pleasure of having Miranda as our guest. Now, we’ve covered the basics of the Honor Code, and how to defend ourselves.”
There was a scattered sound of half-hearted noises of agreement from her audience. She looked out at the semi-bored faces, and not for the first time thought that these kids could do with a tall cup of coffee before their class.
Metas these days! Why did her combat class have to be in the middle of the afternoon?
She persevered, intent on impressing Miranda. “Now. It’s time for a demo. I’ve asked Miranda to spar so that we can demonstrate some of the finer points of the Code.”
There was a distinct murmur of interest, and most of the students perked up, sitting up straighter in their cross-legged pose. Andy smirked; she was still ‘cool’ enough to know what would get ‘em.
Andy watched with special interest as Miranda unfolded from her seated position at the front row of students, and walk towards her, stopping the appropriate ten feet away from Andy. Miranda’s body automatically took the semi-casual position of getting ready to spar.
Andy smiled at her briefly, trying not to blush, and then turned towards her students to issue the final dialog of rules. “Now, remember, it’s crucial to take the time to gauge your opponent’s style. You want to learn their weaknesses by-“
And then Andy felt the wind knocked out of her as she landed on her back.
There were stars in her eyes, and it took a few moments to regain her bearings. When she opened her eyes, she saw Miranda on top of her, and before Andrea could pass out from that fact, she noticed that the older woman was smirking.
Before Andy could even squeak out a question, Miranda slowly withdrew, and once again stood the appropriate ten feet away.
Andrea rose up on her elbows, still aghast. She turned automatically, as the young teachers do, to see if her students noticed. Andrea saw their jaws wide open as they stared at Miranda as if she were God itself.
Andrea ground her teeth as she turned back to Miranda, and realized that her opponent had, literally, bowled her over. Before she had even finished speaking to her students! About the Honor Code! Which was supposed to be about the proper rules of fighting with an opponent!
Andrea gingerly raised herself to her feet, and glared at Miranda, who only raised her eyebrows. “What. Was. That.” She ground out, barely able to contain her snarl.
Miranda’s voice was cool against Andrea’s tone, which was as dry as the Gobi desert. “In real combat, the enemy doesn’t wait for introductions.”
There was a snicker in the crowd, and Andy swiftly turned to glare at them. The sound immediately died, a contrite hush falling over her students; they knew she was amongst the strongest metas in the world.
“Miranda. This is a training class. We’re trying to teach them the proper way of fighting.”
Miranda was unmoved, and Andrea was starting to think Lily may have been right. “The proper way of fighting, Andrea, as you define it, is enough to kill one of your students.”
Andrea felt her mind catch on fire as the rage coursed through her, making everything momentarily white. And when she opened her eyes, she was flat on her back, looking at the ceiling.
Again.
She tilted her head forward, and again saw Miranda above her with that trademark smirk on her face. Andrea realized she had, once again, been knocked to the floor.
In front of her entire class.
Before she knew what was happening, Miranda disappeared. Andrea craned her neck forward again, and saw Miranda standing before, staying the dutiful ten feet away from her.
Andrea dropped her head to the floor for a moment, and prayed for patience.
_______________
“So, basically, she knocked you on your ass. Twice.”
Andy sighed, holding the icepack to the back of her had, and glared balefully at her supposed friend. “She didn’t ‘knock me’ anywhere. I was…caught off guard.”
Lily raised her eyebrow, and to Andy’s chagrin, the withering sarcasm that was related by that gesture looked too much like Miranda’s own expression during the training exercise. “Really? She surprised you?”
“Look! Just because I can read minds doesn’t mean…And I hadn’t even given the signal to start sparring! The mad woman just moved! That isn’t even legal! What she did! Was illegal!”
“But it’s a combat class. The kids should know-“
“I had just gotten through the written version of the Code, okay? The entire previous class! An hour! Worth of dissecting and discussing the Code. And then she shows up for the demo, and throws it all out the window!”
Lily couldn’t help it; she finally started laughing. “Oh, my God! You got owned!”
Andy glared at her, wishing she hated Lily enough to impale her on something. So she settled for glowering. “I did not get ‘owned!’ God, I hate her!”
Lily couldn’t even smother her mirth. “You’re the one with the hots for her! She showed you!”
“Stop right now!”
“Or what? You’ll let me knock you on your butt, too?” And then Lily really lost it, and Andy hoped she exited the room with the proper amount of flounce to broadly telecast her disapproval.
____________________
She brooded.
It’s what she did, and she did it rather well, she thought.
Andy had the hunched shoulders, the warning frown, and her lips were, unlike their usual state, turned downward. Yes, Andy was a first-class brooder.
Clearly, Nigel was immune to all of this. “So.”
Andy turned toward him, surprised given that he’d never approached her before. She was in no mood for pleasantries, and only grunted in response. She wanted to go back to her wallowing as soon as possible.
Nigel nodded towards the bartender for his usual, and then turned back to the young woman. He felt sorry for her, but his emotions would do her little service. “I heard about your class.”
Andy dropped her head. Had anyone not heard about it by now? Hell, if it weren’t her at the center of the (humiliating) story, Andy would have been telling the tale at a mile a minute. It was, she groused to herself, titillating to say the least.
But it was about Andy, and it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours. She was over it. In fact, she’d been over it for awhile.
She’d been over it since it happened.
So Andy just sighed. If Nigel, her sudden companion, wanted the juicy details of what it felt like to take the brunt of Miranda’s folly, well, he was just going to have to look elsewhere.
The bartender set his drink in front of him, and Nigel set to thoughtfully stirring his Cosmo. “I don’t think you should beat yourself up about it.”
She hadn’t expected that. Andy turned to look at Nigel, the incredulity patent on her face.
He continued with a smile so kind, it made Andy swallow against a dry throat. “She didn’t do it to belittle you.”
“Oh, really? Why then? To prove what a great fighter she is? To teach kids that it’s better to fight with instinct than preparation? For the street cred?”
Nigel tried not to sigh. “She was just making a point.”
Andy nearly snarled. “Oh, yes. She does like doing that, doesn’t she? Handing out her little lessons? Next time, I’ll just tell her to print a f*cking pamphlet and be done with it.”
“Try not to take this personally.”
Andy gaped at him. “Nigel, she humiliated me in front my whole class! Those kids won’t even listen anymore. Now that she’s proven just how worthy I am!”
He frowned. “Why did you invite her? I mean, there are far more appropriate choices. Really, there are only more appropriate choices. You must have heard of her opinion on the Code.”
Andy turned away, and blushed as she looked into her drink, stirring it gently. “Yea, I’d heard. But I thought it would be a thrill for the kids…”
Nigel narrowed his eyes as he caught the reddening of her cheeks. The pieces were quickly falling into place. He tried not to chuckle, and took a moment to compose himself until his tone was bland. “Listen, by tomorrow, someone would have done something more…newsworthy. And then everyone would have moved on.”
She swallowed against the lump in her throat, and turned to him. “Do you really think so?”
Even though Nigel considered him a man of the world, he saw just how potent those big eyes of Andy’s were. He smiled, suddenly understanding why Miranda had accepted this ingénue’s invitation, and perhaps even why his old friend had behaved the way she had. “Absolutely. Enjoy your drink.”
Without waiting to hear her response, he walked away. He needed to talk to Miranda as soon as possible.
__________________
Predictably, he found her in one of the mansion’s many training rooms. He entered quietly, and watched as she blazed through the exercise routine as if the very Devil was at her heels.
When she finally finished, he waited for a moment before making his presence known. “I thought you’d have had enough of a workout to last you at least through the week.”
She stiffened momentarily at the intrusion, and then relaxed again when she realized who it was. She smiled over her shoulder. “Spying on moi?”
He snorted. “Hardly. I just heard the most scintillating tale.”
She turned to him, as she toweled away the perspiration lining her throat and shoulders. “Oh?”
“Yes. Oh. Miranda, what were you thinking?”
Her smirk faded away. “What.”
He stepped closer to her, his frown apparent in his tone. “She’s just a kid. She was trying to impress her students.”
She swatted away his annoyance. “She wanted them to learn how to fight. I showed them.”
“Don’t you mean you showed her?”
Miranda raised her eyebrow in that lethal way she did. “What ever do you mean?”
Nigel sighed. “Miranda. It’s me. Gloves off. You knew that she was dying to impress you. I spent five minutes talking to her, and the girl doesn’t do artifice.”
She clenched her jaw. “Nigel, she should have known what she was asking for when she invited me.”
“But you couldn’t just indulge her, could you? She wanted to have a sort of coup in landing you for her class. And instead of just turning her down, you accept, and then humiliate her.”
“Humiliate?! I was doing her a favor, and definitely doing her students a favor.”
“By showing them the rough-and-ready ways of the world? No, I don’t think so. This was about you. She’s just a kid, Miranda.”
She glared at him now, not liking this conversation at all. “Exactly! She is just a kid. Who needs to grow up, and if it had to happen in front of others, so be it. In a few years, I’m sure I’ll get a very nice ‘Thank you’ note from her.”
Nigel narrowed his eyes. He knew Miranda very, very well, and one of the advantages of that was knowing when and where to strike. “Well, congratulations, Miranda. If you wanted to prove that you’re not human, you’ve done it in spades.”
For the second time that night, he didn’t wait for a reaction, and turned on his heel.
__________________
Andy turned the sword in her hands with an agility that belied her age. Jacqueline watched her student practice, and smiled internally; using their psychic link, she could sense Andy’s fluid movements.
Then she felt it, and spoke. “Andy, loosen your hold. Remember, you don’t want to choke the hilt.”
Andy grimaced, and immediately slackened her grip. She continued through another twenty minutes of the exercise without interruption. By the end of it, she was covered in sweat.
Jacqueline stepped away from the sidelines. “That’s enough for today. Any more, and you’re bound to strain something vital.”
Andy caught her breath as she rested her weight on the sword. “Thank Gawd. I didn’t want to seem like a wuss and pass out.”
Jacqueline smiled slightly. “See you tomorrow.”
Andy guzzled some water, and before she could think the better of it, called to her mentor. “Jacqueline!”
The older woman turned her neck, and inclined her neck. “Oui?”
Andy flushed, but there was no turning back now. “Did you hear about what happened?”
Jacqueline’s brow cleared, and her tone expressed nothing at all. “I hear many things, cherie. Which happening?”
Andy could have probed her mentor’s mind, but given the circumstances, it would have been an intrusion. Especially since the reason Andy didn’t verbalize her query was because of her own cowardice.
So, she sighed and gave up the fight. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
Jacqueline nodded, and turned away again. Just as she was about to leave the exercise room, she turned back. “Andy…”
Andy jerked up from her brooding of the water bottle; she hadn’t expected Jacqueline to say anything further. “Yes?”
Without turning back, Jacqueline’s voice still managed to carry through the cavernous room. “There’s a reason why I’m leading the mansion.”
Andy frowned. “Okay,” she said, but she didn’t really understand.
Jacqueline smile was anguished, but she couldn’t stand seeing Andy in pain. “I know how to play by the rules.”
And with that soft pronouncement, Jacqueline left the room.
______________________
An hour later, her mentor’s words still playing havoc on her mind, Andy was still practicing. She knew she should have just given it a rest, but she felt driven by a feeling of inadequacy that was both unfamiliar and haunting.
She nearly lost her balance and impaled herself when she heard a throat loudly clearing in the silence of the exercise room.
Andy turned to the entrance to see another meta, but one she’d never formally met. “Um, hello. Did you have the room booked?”
He smiled and stepped further into the room. “Uh, no. Sorry, didn’t mean to really interrupt. It’s just that I’d been waiting for a few minutes to find a good gap, but you were really into it.”
She raised her eyebrows at his rambling, and smiled. “Yea, sorry, I guess I was pretty involved.”
“Oh, no. Don’t apologize. I should apologize to you for intruding. Um, which I just did.”
Andy gamely went along with it. “Okay.”
He grimaced. “Er, sorry. Again. Anyhow, we haven’t met really. I’m Armin.”
She stuck out her hand, and smiled in earnest. “Andy.”
Armin grinned, and stuck out his hand. “So, listen, um, I was wondering if you needed some help-“
Andy frowned. “Like lessons?” She didn’t think she was that bad, really.
He laughed, and shook his hand. “Um, no, not at this, you’re really awesome. I meant with your class…”
Her eyebrows rose. “Um, what?”
“I’m not saying this well at all,” he sighed. “Let me try again. I was wondering whether you’d like me to demo for your class.”
Andy’s jaw dropped. “You heard?”
He clenched his jaw. “Uh, yea.”
Andy narrowed her eyes, feeling something lurking in his hesitant, sheepish manner. “Who told you?”
He stuck his hands in his pockets, and looked away, shrugging his shoulders. “Oh, y’know, peeps talking…”
Her eyes widened. “Wait a second. Isn’t Miranda your-“
He covered his eyes with his hand. “Oh, God, I told her this wouldn’t work. I’m just horrible at this.”
Now her shoulders squared. “She sent you to ask me? Why? To make up for her showboating? Her arrogance? Her-“
His eyes grew comically wide at her tone. “Look, I’m sorry. But can you please just make all of our lives easier by saying ‘Yes.’ She just wants you to allow her to make this right.”
She fumed, not only because he had cut off her dramatic tirade. “You know what you can tell her?”
He grimaced, knowing that nothing good was about to come out of Andy’s mouth.
_____________________
“Well?”
Armin tried not to shiver, even after all these years, at hearing that voice. “Um.”
Miranda looked up, her eyes placid, but her lips pursed just so. “She said no?”
He swallowed, and hope it wasn’t audible. “In so many words, yes.”
She sighed dramatically.
Actually, he thought to himself upon seeing her subdued yet patent theatrics, these two are made for each other.
____________________
Andrea felt her before she saw her. Even in her meditation, she felt tremors within her physical space. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall opposite her, noting the stucco needed a fresh coat.
Without turning around, Andrea addressed the intruder. “I know you’re there.”
Miranda, who stood twenty feet away, had expected as much. But her eyebrows still rose, impressed. “Hello.”
Andrea sighed silently, and unfolded herself from her seated position, turning around. She was resolved to remain impassive. “Hi.”
Miranda breathed deeply. “Armin told me that he came to see you.”
Andrea’s forehead evened out as she struggled not to grind her teeth. “Then he should have also told you what I told him.”
Miranda smirked, the movement of her lips so slight, it was nearly subtle. “In so many words.”
“Look, you clearly sought me out. What do you want?”
“Have drinks with me.”
Andy’s jaw actually dropped. “What?”
Miranda nearly smiled. “I’d like to make amends.”
Now Andrea was sure she was dreaming. “Uh…what?”
“Say yes.”
_____________________
The first kiss surprised them both; it was soft, giving, and only hinted at things to come.
Andrea was nervous, so much so that her hands were shaking, and she felt the blood rushing through her veins, and her ears burned from the heat of it all.
“Miranda,” she whispered, not really believing this was happening.
The older woman blinked slowly, as if she were emerging from the fog of a rainforest, and she couldn’t believe the beauty in front of her.
How had she never seen it before?
But, for all her faults, Miranda was a woman of action, and rather than replying, she gently grasped Andrea’s face in her two hands, urging the younger woman closer, beckoning her with the slightest tilt of her head.
Andrea was lost.
__________________
She opened her eyes, and everything hurt. She wasn’t even sure if she were still alive, but the brightness of the blurry lights burned her retinas, and she turned her head, squirming against the invasion.
At once, she heard rustling, and then another blurry form approached her. “Andy?”
She recognized her mentor’s voice immediately. “Jacqueline?”
At least that’s what Andy had attempted to say, instead her abused throat only squeaked out a gravely approximation of the other woman’s name. Immediately, she felt a gentle hand in her hair.
“Sssh, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”
There was such exhaustion in Jacqueline’s voice, something Andy had never heard, and she felt the adrenalin kick into her system. Everything slowly swam into focus, and she nearly gasped at how haggard the other woman looked.
“…happened?” Andy said, wincing again at the hurt in her throat.
Jacqueline reached to her lift, and lifted a glass of water to Andy, even as she slowly lifted the younger woman’s head to the glass. “Drink first. You need it. Slowly.”
Andy obeyed, and the water felt like liquid fire in her esophagus, but after swallowing, seemed to tame the rattle in her voice. “What…happened?”
Jacqueline frowned. “What do you remember?”
Andy closed her eyes. “God, Jacqueline, don’t play…games.” She leaned back up to take another sip, grateful for Jacqueline’s supportive hand.
She sighed; she’d never been able to last long against Andrea’s pleas. Perhaps that was her greatest flaw in being Andy’s teacher. “The bomb. You were trying to diffuse it. With Rashad. But you sent him away. And you tried to do it on your own…”
Jacqueline paused, unable to get the next words out of her mouth. Now that Andy was awake, the sense of shame and responsibility slammed into Jacqueline, making her shudder anew. She wanted to fall to her knees, beg Andy’s forgiveness, and Jacqueline wasn’t even sure for what she would have had to be.
Andy blinked up at her, moving her hand involuntarily, and slowly, haltingly grasping Jacqueline’s hand. She nearly winced at the suddenly tight grip enveloping her fingers, but she was grateful for the connection.
Andy gingerly probed her mentor’s mind, and was surprised to suddenly feel it slam shut.
“No,” Jacqueline said vehemently. “I can’t let you in there. Not now, not yet.”
“Jacqueline. Please. Tell me what happened.”
She looked down into her student’s eyes, and for the first time in a long time, wished she could see what color Andy’s eyes were. Or, for that matter, see anything of Andy. Jacqueline clenched her jaw; this trauma was not about her, and she wouldn’t start making it about herself now. She grimaced even as she continued. “You were gone. We could only sense bare glimpses of you. I tried pushing my thoughts everywhere, but you’d fade in and out. I rolled to the scene, and Rashad told me what happened. I mean, he hadn’t seen what happened either, and we tried everything. And, then, I realized that I couldn’t do this alone. Every moment I tried, and couldn’t find you was just another second when you could’ve been…”
And even though she tried with Herculean effort to get the story out in one go, Jacqueline failed miserably. She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying, until she felt a gentle hand against her wet face. Jacqueline flinched, nearly dislodging her grip on Andrea’s other hand. “No. Let me finish this. Please.”
Andy silently nodded, removing her comforting fingers from her teacher’s tear-drenched face.
The older woman exhaled, and closed her eyes. “…We came back, and had to tell everyone. And Miranda…”
Suddenly every sense in Andy’s body went numb with dread. She felt an unstoppable need to rise from the table, and she did with lots of expletive-laced grunts.
“Andy! What are you doing?”
“I need to sit up for this. Help me up.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed at this rate.”
Andy felt her body begin to kick in, and start healing itself. Her mind was only vaguely starting to recall the events that Jacqueline was describing.
“Tell me the rest. Tell me about Miranda.”
_____________________
Miranda couldn’t believe her eyes. “It’s not…possible,” she whispered to no one.
“Does it matter, Mother?”
Miranda’s eyes begin to tear up from the force of her unblinking stare, and she clenched her eyes, hoping against hope that what she was seeing was only a hallucination of her affected mind.
She opened her eyes, and nothing about the tableau had changed. “This isn’t possible.”
The form that seemed to be Caroline only smiled cruelly. “You can think that this is a trick, if you’d like. But I’m just surprised you remembered who we were. How many years has it been?”
The twin next to her turned to Caroline. “What? Ten years? Or more?”
Caroline shrugged in response, never looking away from Miranda. “Who knows? But we’ve turned out pretty well haven’t we, Mother?”
Miranda felt a pain lance through her entire body, as if she’d been pierced through her solar plexus and then split completely asunder. Perhaps that would have been less painless than witnessing this. “You’re not…real.” Her mind refused to accept it, even as her heart raced in timeless recognition; a mother always knew.
Now Cassidy addressed her directly. “Even if we’re not, you’re never going to believe what you’re going to have to do. To save yourself, your team, your precious Andrea.”
At that, Miranda froze. Her voice wouldn’t work, and she could barely process anything.
Caroline laughed. “The clock is ticking, Mother. And to save everything you desire, you’re not just going to helplessly watch as we die. No. This time, you’re going to have to kill us yourself.”
___________________
Andy tested her legs as she clambered off the surgical table, and flexed her hand carefully. “So it’s artifical, huh?”
Jacqueline stepped up to her, laying a calming arm on Andy’s shoulder. “Just the thumb. It’s a fully functioning prosthetic. It even matches your skin tone.”
Andy gulped with such fury that the words just slipped out. “How would you know?”
Jacqueline flinched at the rancor, but before she could even respond, Andy turned away. “I’m sorry.”
The older woman let her brow clear. “Emily told me that it was the perfect shade.”
Andy tried to breathe deeply to calm the bubbling rage within her. “Where is Miranda now?”
“On James’ sub, trying to kill him.”
Andy raised her head, and stared at the glass window, somehow knowing that Miranda had watched her through it, as Jacqueline had tried to revive Andy. And suddenly the anger had broken through. “I’m going.”
“Andy! You can’t! You’ve just awoken from a long and-“
Andy whirled on her feet, and nearly spat out her next words. “Say what you want, Jacqueline. But I’m going. Now I’m not going to scream and shout or even waste anymore time. Just try and fucking stop me.”
And with that, she walked briskly out of the operating theater, leaving Jacqueline fuming and alone in the chilly space.
____________________
Miranda slowly withdrew her sword, seeing the disbelieving look on her opponent’s face freeze and then dissipate as Caroline slowly died from her wound.
Miranda closed her eyes, knowing that what she had done, she had done for the right reasons, but it also meant that she would probably never sleep again.
From a distance, she head a clapping sound, brisk and sarcastic in its tone. She turned slowly, knowing that she was close to collapsing.
And then she saw him. James was grinning as he brought his hands theatrically to his mouth. “Wow. I never thought you’d actually do it! Congratulations!”
Miranda growled, never one for patience with madmen. “I’m going to kill you next.”
“Oh, Miranda, you shouldn’t be so rude. After all, I helped you work out more issues in the past day than ten years of therapy.” He looked at her slyly, knowingly. “You should be thanking me.”
Now Miranda was really pissed off. “I’m going to cut you from shoulder to hip, and then…I’m going to f*cking cut your head open.”
“And then what? Feed my brains to the sharks? C’mon, Miranda, I’ve always loved your theatrics, but isn’t this all a tad…pedestrian?”
He was trying to goad her, she knew, but Miranda wasn’t entirely certain she cared anymore. She strode toward him, giving him ample warning, and then before she knew it, he had a sword in his hand as well, and then there was only the sound of the clash of their blades.
- TBC