Sophie
Gisela didn't move. Her expressionless mask faltered, and for a second, Sophie thought she saw hurt. It was so human an emotion that Sophie was momentarily confused. From what she'd seen so far of Keefe's mother, she was a heartless monster. It was so hard to believe that she and Keefe were even related.
But then the feeling, the sign that Agent Gisela, leader of the Neverseen, had a heart, left as soon as it came. And what remained was indifference with a tinge of disappointment.
"Then so be it." There was something hard about those words, like she was trying to convey the message the Keefe had made a terrible mistake. It almost made Sophie want to take a step back, but she did not move from her defiant stand.
Agent Gisela snapped her fingers, the snap reverberating through the air. And that was when chaos broke out.
The Neverseen moved so quickly that if Sophie hadn't been a trained spy, she wouldn't have seen them. But she saw them advancing on the Black Swan, while some, almost unnoticed, hung back, taking out long range weapons. It was obviously a practiced formation. And it was terrifying.
Then they leaped. Like shadows, onto the Black Swan.
All of a sudden, everyone was fighting.
A weight pinned down Sophie, talking her by surprise. She wasted no time in reaching inside her boot for her trusty dagger. A sting burned her left cheek, the pain gradually increasing by the second. She got her dagger out just in time to stab the person on top of her in the shoulder. The person did not scream, or even recoil. Instead, they took their hood off, showing fiery blue eyes and blond hair. He pulled out the knife like it was nothing, and smiled.
"Nice to meet you, Moonlark," he hissed. It was then that Sophie saw the weapon in his hand. It wasn't a sword, or a knife, or any of the standard weapons of the Neverseen. It was a lighter.
Before she knew it, her wrists were on fire. Inside, she was screaming in pain. She was writhing, kicking. But the only indication on the outside that she was affected was her eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. Well, her eyes must have been showing her anger, her worry, her pain. Everything.
Sophie adjusted the Sucker punch Dex had made her, and punched him square in his pale face. His head snapped backwards, and Sophie used that opportunity to kick him off her. He tumbled away, but quickly got to his feet.
He smiled, his bloody teeth showing. "I would have thought you'd be harder to beat, Moonlark."
Sophie swept her foot under him, a trick she had found useful more than once. Unfortunately, he anticipated it and jumped over her foot. He landed in front of her.
Trying her best to channel her inner Biana, who was good at seemingly disappearing, she moved so fast that he went cross-eyed looking at her. She reappeared behind him, ready to stab his shoulder. But a hot hand grabbed her wrist, which was already tender from the burn.
"Not so fast, Moonlark." Burning blue eyes held hers, before she felt that flaring pain she had felt in her wrists just a few seconds ago. Except this time she felt it all over her left arm. And this time, she could see the flames licking at her, coming from the second figure's lighter.
"Nice job, Brant," the first person, the blond one, congratulated who must have been Brant. It disgusted Sophie how sadistic they were.
The pain made her whole body feel like Jello, but she knew she had to move. If she were anyone else, she would have been on the ground by now, huddled in a shuddering ball. But she was Sophie Foster, Agent Moonlark. She was determined to be harder to beat.
Sophie forced herself to yank her arm out of Brant's hot grip, and flipped over him expertly. By the time she had landed, she was already twisting around to kick him. She hit his pressure points, and he crumbled to the ground like a doll.
And Sophie was left facing the blond Neverseen member. She rushed forward, noticing his hand closing around her wrist too late. The world turned upside down, then Sophie was on her back, groaning. Some part of her mind registered that he had judo-flipped her, while a smaller one, the one that reminded her of Keefe, thought of that scene in The Mark of Athena where Percy got judo-flipped by Annabeth.
The world was too bright. Fire danced in front of her, and her suddenly sluggish mind realized that it was the lighter. She blinked slowly, black dots dancing around her vision. But she was losing precious time. With each millisecond, the fire was getting closer. Accepting her fate, she closed her eyes, bracing for the oncoming pain.
It never came. Something cool splash her face, and for a second, Sophie thought it was that feeling when something was so hot it was cold. But when the world came into focus again, she saw the blond on the floor, Linh standing over him. In her hands were a nunchuck and...a water gun?
A cold hand wrapped itself gently around Sophie's, and she was hoisted to her feet.
"Thank you, Linh," she panted. "I would have been dead without you."
Linh shook her head. "You just need the shock to wear off." And in the midst of a battlefield, Linh smiled softly. A weird sight during a fight, but something about it rejuvenated Sophie. It brought hope to her.
"Thank you," she repeated, knowing she probably owed Linh her life.
Tam
He finally knocked out some Neverseen member who had decided that Tam was an easy target. He heard the body hit the ground with an eery thump, then lay still. Tam didn't like violence, but he was not afraid to use it when his friends and sister were in danger.
Two feet away, he saw Linh save Sophie from someone who seemed to favor fire over anything else. He felt a glimmer of pride at his sister, but an arrow missing him by an inch shooed it away.
He spun away, glaring at the archer. Before the archer knew it, Tam had three throwing stars zooming in the air towards him. None of them missed. They did not hit the vital organs, but they did hit the archer's arms. Meaning he couldn't shoot with his bow anymore.
Satisfied, Tam surveyed the area. His eye was caught by someone hanging on the outskirts. Except this person wasn't aiming a weapon at the Black Swan, or the Neverseen. This person was just...standing there.
Tam knew he should go find someone to take down. But this person both confused him and intrigued him. He backed into the shadows, disappearing from view, then stealthy crept up to them.
"What are you doing?"
The person gasped, and turned around. The white eye on their cloak glared at Tam, as if yelling at him that this was the enemy.
"Who's there?!" the person exclaimed quietly. Her voice made it obvious that she was a female.
"Agent Shade of the Black Swan," Tam said. He tackled her right then, pushing her shoulders onto the ground. It felt weird to engage with a Neverseen member without his hood on, but he ignored the feeling in his gut.
The person tried to kick him off, but Tam had her arms and legs pinned to the ground in a flash.
"What I want to know," Tam snarled, "is why you're on the sidelines. Is this some part of your elaborate plan?" He scowled.
"I don't want to fight you," the girl mumbled dejectedly.
"Why?" Tam growled. "Don't try to trick me." He slipped his last throwing star into his hand, and pressed it to her throat.
"I've been trying to leave the Neverseen for years," she said in a ragged whisper. "Please."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" He didn't let himself believe her. The Neverseen was sneaky. They liked playing with people's mind, twisting things that should have been so simple until no one knew what was right and wrong anymore.
"Ask Keefe about me," she choked out. "I'm Glimmer."
Tam glared at her. "Give me one reason not to knock you out right now."
The girl took her hood off, revealing eyes that bore into Tam's. "I'll tell you about the Gorgodons."
"Friends don't lie."
^ If you get that reference, comment a certain number that happens to be the name of one of the characters in that series.
*cough* My fight scenes still suck *cough*
Repost Author Here: Can all my readers here go check out my original sokeefe fanfic, Clarity? It would be really nice, and I promise you'll like it!