Doing It to Death

In signing up with Ajax, Hayden realised she had made a deal with the devil. But most people only do so because no one else has offered them with more favourable terms.

She chastised herself for it. Another one of her poor decisions she could cast on the pile the size of Mount Everest.

He was a bad man but not the worst. And Angel was a bad woman, but not the worst either. In fact, Hayden quite liked the brunette woman. She was insanely strong and fast, and had good banter, which is all she cared for in a work associate.

But Ajax grew consistently more brutal and ruthless over the 3 years Hayden was enlisted in his service. She realised that the necessary evil that was their alliance was starting to outweigh the outcome of her revenge.

Hayden's adoptive father trained her and her brother's mercilessly to be killers. They had their own respective fields in which they excelled. Her own was weapons. She was extremely proficient in an array of both long and short range weapons. She could sniper a moving target in a distance up to 1.6 miles away.

Growing up in a male dominated household was tough. Her adoptive father was a cruel, ruthless man who collected superhumans and turned them into his own personal army of mercenaries. She had three older brothers, all of them tall, muscular and built like bodybuilders. And none of them wanted to lose, let alone to their little sister. So she strayed from the hand to hand combats that her brothers dominated and buried herself in weapons.

It wasn't until three years ago that Angel taught Hayden how to fight. After a formidable friendship sprouted between the only two important women in Ajax’s life, she taught Hayden all she knew. It was hard, and tolling on her body. Angel was tall, broad and extremely muscular, and on top of that she was also superhuman. Strength Hayden couldn't fathom a person could possess; Angel did. And everytime Hayden lost it took a toll on her physically and mentally.

Three years, every day, for hours. Broken bones, torn ligaments, and a few too many concussions later and she beat Angel for the first time on the mats.

Both girls knew it was because they had an audience. Ajax watched the spar with a fevered gaze, and when Hayden won, he simply smirked and left.

“Well done,” Angel had praised her, “Your Krav Maga is complimenting your build. Keep at it.”

It had taken many styles and months to see which one was best for her. She wasn't tall, and wasn't built with muscle like Angel, but she was close. Her 5’6 stature posed a problem.

“Krav Maga is good for a little thing like you. It's extremely close combat, which means any enemy who has you in spades in height, arm reach, and strength is rendered almost completely useless. You use your size to disarm the opponent, focusing almost completely on offensive strikes. A lot of them are made to completely disarm or kill your opponent with nothing but your hands.”

“You're still holding back.”

Angel smirked at this. “Again?”

Hayden nodded. “Again.”

~~~

She always enjoyed having her own place of solace. Somewhere there wasn't Ajax’s crushing dominance, somewhere she could relax and unwind.

It was a large one storey loft that used to be an old boxing gym decades ago but was since derelict. It had a small kitchen and bathroom hidden down a hallway at the back. The rest was a large open area which was the floor of the gym. In the middle, under broken fluorescent lights was her huge bed and flat screen TV. In the far corner against the wall was her dining room table which was where she left all her photographs, blueprints, guns and other things pertaining to her work. In the opposite corner next to her large vertical sliding door, was a lone punching bag that kept Hayden's fitness levels up whenever she could be bothered.

But these last few weeks she had been spreading herself thin. When she came home from doing some reconnaissance with Angel she fell straight into her bed. Her head hit the pillow and she was out almost instantly.

Her sleep was peaceful for a few hours. Pure exhaustion kept her from dreaming, until the sun rose. Then the nightmares came.

The fire. The raw heat emitting from her home. The screams.

She woke up in a cold sweat, heart pounding so loud she could hear it in her ears. Her first instinct was to curl her hand around the gun under her pillow to protect herself but after searching her apartment with a frantic gaze she realised she was alone.

She took her hand off the gun and took ten deep breaths to soothe her racing heart. Hayden sighed.

She was always alone.