Raven

Chapter 6 - Initiation

I came to and blinked against the morning sun, squinting and covering my eyes from the light. If I had been my cousin, I would probably have hissed and pretended to be a vampire for a few moments; but I couldn't deny that the sunlight on my arm was warm. It was also about then that the events of last night returned to the front of my mind, and I lay there for a few moments contemplating my fate and all of the choices that led me to this moment.

My overall impression from the memories that I skimmed over: What the fuck, Estella.

Yeah, that pretty much summed it up. 

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the complaints from all of the muscles in my torso, and sat on the floor to stretch. Slowly but surely, I worked out all the stiffness in my body and went to change into my combat clothes. Loose black pants, a grey singlet top and sneakers made up the simple ensemble, but I put the thick coat from last night back on since the morning was cold. I put the quill pouch and belt around my waist, securing the leather as I hummed a tune and then stepped out.

I plodded towards the kitchen, tying my hair back in a ponytail, and made myself a sandwich for breakfast. While doing so, I saw a potted plant on the windowsill blooming lovely pink flowers and smiled a little more. That must be Kira's oleander from last night. I nodded, happy to have made the connection, and walked out into the living room to eat my breakfast. Then I got a better idea, and climbed out a window to perch on one of the branches. About twenty metres below, Ella and Joel were sparring, and I sat for a little while, watching the two fight. I almost choked on my bread when Ella tossed her brother over one shoulder, but Joel recovered fairly quickly and attempted to sweep her feet out from under her. Ella hopped over the leg, and I made a "huh" sound. Looked like neither of them were top notch at hand-to-hand combat.

With that observance, I had finished my breakfast, and gave it a few minutes to settle before swinging down off the bottom of the branch and then dropping down to the bush floor. That proved to be one of the stupidest things I had ever done, because despite performing a pretty damn good stunt roll at the end of that few seconds, I lay on the ground for a couple of minutes, winded. At one point I looked up to see Ella, curious as ever and hovering around me.

"What'd you do? I saw you fall and now you're just lying here oh gosh." I laughed for a moment, then worked on sitting up. I felt my limbs and determined that nothing was broken.

"I jumped out of the tree. And I'm okay, just winded."

"Jesus Christ, that's some Harley-level bullshit." Joel had joined us, and I took the hand he offered to help me stand up. "And trust me, we don't need another reckless one." He and Ella shared a glance, and once again I wondered what I hadn't been told. Probably a lot, since I was new to the whole crime thing. "Anyway, you have good timing, it's about five to nine; I'd stretch the wind back into myself if I were you, it might be knocked back out in a little bit."

"Righto." I did stretch once more under Ella's guidance, while Joel went to talk to Wills whom was descending from the tree. Harley, wearing his usual attire, jumped out of the tree similar to how I had, but rolled easily to stand. Showoff, I thought almost bitterly, and pulled a face as I straightened up. Kira leaned out of the kitchen window for a moment, but then vanished from sight. 

Ella skipped over to talk to Wills, and I walked out to the middle of the small field, rubbing my hands together to warm them. I zoned out for a few moments, fiddling with the end of my ponytail, until it registered Wills had said something. That came in the form of everyone looking at me expectantly, and I snapped back to reality with a start.

"Pardon? Sorry, still half asleep I guess." I got smiles in return, which relaxed me a little.

"That's alright, this time. As I was saying, Are you both ready to start?" I sent Harley a side-eyed glance, silently challenging him. He didn't seem to notice, and instead nodded to Wills. I did much the same, and couldn't help but smile. This would be fun. "Alright. Have at it. Hand-to-hand, so pass me your weapons. And don't kill each other." Wills, Ella and Joel took a few steps back after retrieving my pouch and Harley's guns, leaving Harley and I to face each other. As a quick afterthought I threw my coat at Ella.

I took a few steps back, widening the space between my opponent and I, which was quickly closed when Harley sprung into action- literally. He jumped, flipped off of his hands, and twisted so that he would have kicked me in the face if I hadn't moved out of the way (which I had, luckily). Oh, okay. So that's how we're playing this one. I pivoted and aimed a roundhouse kick which missed by what felt like millimetres, and as a result only barely managed to block the punch thrown from his left hand. Left? So glad to know he's going easy on me. 

I huffed, took a step back and rolled my shoulders before going in with a couple more punches in quick succession. One landed, much to my surprise, a good hit to his right arm. I jumped over the next low kick, and started to try and get behind my opponent. Go for the tendons, my training told me.

Feeling like I was on a bit of a roll I grinned, took a step back and dropped into a crouch, about to dart forward and around him, but instead brought my leg up to hopefully get Harley in the stomach. Naturally, he jumped over me. On instinct I grabbed at where my pouch usually was to slow him down, but cursed aloud when I remembered that it was over with Wills.

That lost couple of seconds resulted in being tackled by Harley but I was able to roll upon hitting the ground, and kneed him in the stomach on my way up. Using the momentum I stood, but screeched when a hand grabbed my leg and I was pulled back down.

"Ow!" I had braced myself on my hands but it still hurt, and I sat back up, breathing heavily. I was going to try and continue when a voice cut across my analysis of the situation.

"Okay, stop you two. I've seen enough." 

I crouched, breathing heavily, and steadied myself with one hand on the ground as I got my breath back a bit. That took a lot out of me, I noted with a grim surprise. Hopefully I could get past that over the time I would spend with The Crime Lords, and raise my fitness even higher. I looked at Harley and felt a prickle of satisfaction that I'd at least caused him to break a sweat. He looked impressed as he caught my eye and nodded, the familiar grin returning to his face. It might have just been me being weird, but I swear I could almost feel that I'd surprised and impressed all of the others. 

After a moment, I stood up and shook out my arms. "Gonna bruise because of you." I complained in a joking tone to Harley, and graciously accepted my coat back from Ella. I then turned to Wills, aiming for a pleasant smile. "So?"

"I'm impressed." Called it. "Once Acrobolt comes to me and tell me how he thinks you went, I'll give you your results." With another nod, Harley stood up and walked over to the leader, and the two boys spoke in low voices that I couldn't make out for a few minutes. I felt irrational fear beginning to build in my chest, and scratched a little at my hand in an old nervous habit of mine.

"Don't." I started in surprise, and turned to see that Kira was standing beside me. She looked at my hand intently, and shook her head. "Don't do it." I dropped my arms to my sides.

"Sorry."

"And don't be sorry either. It's okay, just don't put yourself through that." I nodded slowly, and only looked up when I heard Wills clear his throat.

"Okay. Congratulations Raven, we've decided that your skills are of a high enough level. You're debuting as our third Commander, qualified to lead patrols and missions if you ask me about them first." I blinked, unable to help the smile that began to cross my face. That sounds pretty cool. 

"Yessir," I chirped, half-teasing as my smile grew. Wills took it in stride, returning the expression; even if only for a moment.

"Dismissed, then."