Sagittarii
Half the words don't mean a thing
One Week Later
“How the hell did you learn to fight like this?” Oliver groans as I help him off the mat. “This isn’t some Booty Boot Camp stuff.”
I roll my eyes before going over and picking up my water bottle, taking a long gulp of it. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight. And it doesn’t mean I do those stupid workout videos. I’m trained in Krav Maga and SAMBO among other things. I’ve been going to trainers plus having my stepmother train me since I was 16. I’m good.”
“If you’re so good, why did those guys manage to grab you?” He asks. His tone isn’t condescending like the lawyers, it’s careful. He doesn’t want to come off as an asshole, but in my brain it sounds all the same.
My muscles tense up and I just shake my head, “five guys that make the Wolverine look like a wimp against me aren’t great odds. Only a few people I know can do that, I’m not one of them.” I grab my duffel bag and start towards the stairs.
“Austen wait!” Oliver calls out, running towards me; grabbing my arm. I quickly turn around and stare at him. The look in my eyes mimic that of a cornered animal, or so the look in his eyes tell me. He quickly lets go, “look, I’m sorry about bringing that up. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was making fun of you. I was just curious.”
“My brain can’t tell the difference anymore….”
”Miss Barton, it says here you’re trained in various styles of self defence; mainly Krav Maga and SAMBO, is that right?” Cade’s lawyer asks, smug look on his face and his voice dripping with condescending tones.
“Yes, I am.” I dryly reply.
“Care to explain to the jury what those kind of styles are?”
“Krav Maga is a martial art and self-defense system developed for the Israeli military. It combines techniques from various fighting styles like boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and realistic fight training. It focuses on real-world situations as well as extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks.”
“And SAMBO?”
“SAMBO is a Russian martial art and combat sport. SAMBO is an acronym and in Russian it translates to self-defense without weapons. It was developed in the 1920’s by the Soviet Red Army to help them get better at their hand-to-hand combat.”
“So you’re saying you could have taken these men on yourself if you truly wanted to?” The lawyer asks, “you’re after all trained in several self-defense styles. You could be a weapon if you truly wanted to.”
“There were five guys there that night,” I begin, “all of which almost puts Captain America to shame in build. All of them weren’t against ganging up and fighting dirty. The one smacked me around before using chloroform to knock me unconscious. Weapon or not, I wouldn’t have been able to defend myself. So before you pull out my license to kill card, why don’t you think up a better defense strategy?”
**
“I can’t believe they’re ripping her apart like that.” I hear Steve say behind me as we all walk out of the courtroom when the judge called for break.
“Of course they’re going to, they know she’s capable of fighting back; they’re not going to let that go so easily.” Natasha explains.
“You okay Songbird?” I hear my dad whisper in my ear as he puts an arm around me. In the courtroom I remained my mouthy self but now, being out of there, I can’t help but let those words get to me. Francis looks at me with worry in his eyes and I can feel myself being pulled closer to my dad just as the tears start falling.
“How the hell did you learn to fight like this?” Oliver groans as I help him off the mat. “This isn’t some Booty Boot Camp stuff.”
I roll my eyes before going over and picking up my water bottle, taking a long gulp of it. “Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I don’t know how to fight. And it doesn’t mean I do those stupid workout videos. I’m trained in Krav Maga and SAMBO among other things. I’ve been going to trainers plus having my stepmother train me since I was 16. I’m good.”
“If you’re so good, why did those guys manage to grab you?” He asks. His tone isn’t condescending like the lawyers, it’s careful. He doesn’t want to come off as an asshole, but in my brain it sounds all the same.
My muscles tense up and I just shake my head, “five guys that make the Wolverine look like a wimp against me aren’t great odds. Only a few people I know can do that, I’m not one of them.” I grab my duffel bag and start towards the stairs.
“Austen wait!” Oliver calls out, running towards me; grabbing my arm. I quickly turn around and stare at him. The look in my eyes mimic that of a cornered animal, or so the look in his eyes tell me. He quickly lets go, “look, I’m sorry about bringing that up. I didn’t mean to make it seem like I was making fun of you. I was just curious.”
“My brain can’t tell the difference anymore….”
”Miss Barton, it says here you’re trained in various styles of self defence; mainly Krav Maga and SAMBO, is that right?” Cade’s lawyer asks, smug look on his face and his voice dripping with condescending tones.
“Yes, I am.” I dryly reply.
“Care to explain to the jury what those kind of styles are?”
“Krav Maga is a martial art and self-defense system developed for the Israeli military. It combines techniques from various fighting styles like boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and realistic fight training. It focuses on real-world situations as well as extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks.”
“And SAMBO?”
“SAMBO is a Russian martial art and combat sport. SAMBO is an acronym and in Russian it translates to self-defense without weapons. It was developed in the 1920’s by the Soviet Red Army to help them get better at their hand-to-hand combat.”
“So you’re saying you could have taken these men on yourself if you truly wanted to?” The lawyer asks, “you’re after all trained in several self-defense styles. You could be a weapon if you truly wanted to.”
“There were five guys there that night,” I begin, “all of which almost puts Captain America to shame in build. All of them weren’t against ganging up and fighting dirty. The one smacked me around before using chloroform to knock me unconscious. Weapon or not, I wouldn’t have been able to defend myself. So before you pull out my license to kill card, why don’t you think up a better defense strategy?”
**
“I can’t believe they’re ripping her apart like that.” I hear Steve say behind me as we all walk out of the courtroom when the judge called for break.
“Of course they’re going to, they know she’s capable of fighting back; they’re not going to let that go so easily.” Natasha explains.
“You okay Songbird?” I hear my dad whisper in my ear as he puts an arm around me. In the courtroom I remained my mouthy self but now, being out of there, I can’t help but let those words get to me. Francis looks at me with worry in his eyes and I can feel myself being pulled closer to my dad just as the tears start falling.
♠ ♠ ♠
AustenAusten (flashback)
comment&subscribe? Short chapter. But I didn't want to introduce the new characters in this chapter.