Shield

Twelve

"Ow.." Izzie dapped at the busted lip as she looked in the mirror. She put coverup for the bruise on her jaw, busted lip, and cut above her eyebrow. It looked off and didn't match her skin. If anything it made it more obvious. There was no way she could get out of Barry and Iris seeing. Izzie took a deep breath before coming to one conclusion. She'd have to run for it.

"Izzie, breakfast!" Izzie grabbed her phone and slipped it into her back pocket before leaving the bathroom and running as if her life depended on it.

"I'm meeting a teacher early, Bye!" Izzie grabbed her back pack and ran out the front door, it wasn't long before she felt the rush of wind blow her hair and Barry was right in front of her. He saw the poorly covered bruises and obvious cuts before she had a chance to react.

"Izzie, what happened!" Barry tried putting his hand to her face but she pulled away.

"Look I'm fine, can I just-"

"No..go back there...right now." Izzie walked back to the apartment with Barry right behind her. Iris looked at her face in shock. Once sitting down she realized she couldn't hold it. It honestly bothered her. She respected them. With their own secrets she knew she could trust them. Telling them she was ready to take the lives of the men who took the last good thing in her life away, that, she wasn't ready to do.

"Izzie how did this happen?" Izzie ran her fingers through her hair and sat up straighter.

"I'm...I'm a fighter. I go to secret fights held at different locations. I make pretty good money to-" Iris looked at Barry for a moment before he turned back to her. "I went to one last night."

"Why though? You don't do anything without a reason." Iris leaned on the table but Izzie just crossed her arms and looked between them.

"Because...it gets me closer to the people who killed Ryan. The cops are to scared to go after them...but I'm not."

"The men who killed him are gang members. Why would you do something like that. It's irresponsible and so reckless. What if you were seriously hurt?"

"I'm unbeatable and in my defence I was invited to this...fight club thing. When I saw the men who killed him there...I took advantage of it. I'm going at them from the inside. So I fight, I get more information on them."

"What were you planning on doing once you got enough on them?"

"I don't know." She knew exactly what she wanted to do. She just didn't want them knowing that.

"What I want to know is how you know how to fight?" Izzie dropped her head."Wait, those eight months you were gone...where you fighting people? We knew you were near an old club but-"

"No...A man, Walter, found me on the street. A man tried to attack me but he saved me from him. Took me to his old abandoned gym let me stay there. He watched over me. Saved me plenty of times after that. He was probably the first man in years that I even let help me. First man I was able to talk to in years." Izzie leaned back in the chair crossing her arms. "Look I'm sorry I lied...But when I'm fighting in that ring. I don't feel the weight of the deaths that are my fault. I don't feel like the world is holding me down and suffocating me. I needed to do something. I can't keep letting the men who killed Ryan walk free another day. His family doesn't deserve that. "

"Izzie these are men who don't care who get's hurt. You're messing with a lot of dangerous things. You could get hurt and then what?"

"I'd be free! I wouldn't have to live another day where all I think about is the people who hate me or the blood on my hand." Izzie felt the energy build in her but she took the deep breaths that Caitlyn showed her. She pushed back the memories of the blood...the pain...and everything in between. "After Ryan died, the beatings I'd been getting, the kids at school...I had reached my own breaking point. Walter save me, taught me everything I know, and then told me the only way I would be okay again is if I get even with people who hurt me. So I took his advice."