- 1,176
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- Seen Jul 18, 2016
- Delta Mayor (featuring Imogen Green & Natalia Zaytsev)
Toulouse, France -
Toulouse, France -
The ability to hear and pay attention was lost due to the snarls, growls, and snaps of the beast's jaw. Fending off the Atlantean hellhound was taking its toll. The adrenaline had already made its way through her system Delta was surviving on the last bits of it. Against her better judgment Delta had tried things Dom's way, which had been quite the mistake. She waited for the creature to approach her again because this time Delta was putting it out of its misery. A grin formed on Delta's face as she raised her gun when the beast launched itself forward. Her opponent never had the opportunity to reach her; a large, metallic hand had its grip around the neck of the beast and threw it backwards into the bay.
"Oakley," Delta hissed under her breath.
A surprised Delta had been teleported to the jets by The Librarian. It was told to her that an Atlantean only had a single ability and two Atlanteans couldn't have the same ability at the same time. How in the world did The Librarian defy this by having teleportation and invisibility? Teleportation belonged to one of Wyatt's partners... Delta knew there was something she wasn't being told about this man. Once everyone had been gathered except Devon whom she hoped was currently drowning. However in the next moment The Librarian unfortunately teleported away and when he came back he was carrying a soaking wet human or, rather, Devon. Emil, who Delta had never seen anything but calm, became an overprotective parent in two seconds flat. His sharp words became accusations thrown at Specs and The Librarian. Amused, Delta just stood there and smirked before she noticed that the Unification Project had their group of Royal Family captures as well.
A series of words strung together by The Librarian drew Delta back to the conversation. He had said he had a wide array of abilities. Surely that wasn't possible, just who was this Librarian? His ability must be some sort of copycat type. This led Delta to ponder how many abilities he truly had. He clearly had power; The Librarian dismissed Emil with the threat to no longer help the organization, which meant he was a resourceful asset. The Librarian turned towards her... and Dom, who Delta only recently started to pay attention to. Words were spoken at her but they were for Dom, to Delta it was only reminded of how not to rely on Oakley in the future. The large crystal on Oakley's hand was chipped at and The Librarian then held up a piece of it while giving an explanation throughout the whole thing. Basically it was an item that made the weak weaker. It made Delta's stomach churn she wanted the full range of her ability at all times.
As if he was some sort of present giver one by one The Librarian gave or did something for them. Before permission was given Dom's watch was fixed and was now infused with the Atlanteanite. Delta's rolled her eyes as The Librarian handed her a key, but refused to tell her what it unlocked until she "mended" her first impression, whatever that meant. Oakley was then told to give Devon some necklace. It was all very showy and Delta didn't like it one bit. She palmed the key before she slipped it on the lanyard around her neck that already held two keys, one silver with spots of pink paint and one gold. After his goodbye The Librarian disappeared and they boarded the aircraft where she sat next to Dom and a serious looking woman.
Per usual they were debriefed; Atticus spoke of the other Atlantean group, which meant Wyatt, Adrian, and the teleportation guy. How the AUP had ten of the captured ARF members and would soon ask them to join their ranks. The best tidbit of information was saved for last, they were finally going to know the true plans behind the Atlantean Unification Project: New Atlantis. Atticus ended his debriefing by saying they could come to him with any important information and those with a certain security level could look at the reports. Curiosity ate at Delta; she wanted to know what the reports said. Perhaps she could hack her way into the right security level, though Annie had taught her skills and was most likely the one who developed the system they used. For now that would have to wait. Was it right to tell Atticus the names of the Atlantean's she had encountered? She had been the only one to actually meet and team up with them... The plane taking off shut down any thoughts Delta had of getting Atticus' attention.
Eventually Delta succumbed to her tiredness, as all the fighting had been exhausting. She had small injuries, lacerations, bruises, and the two bullets that were still lodged in her arm. When they landed in France Delta opened her eyes quickly having not have realized that she had fallen asleep. A shrug of her shoulder slid her jacket down enough for her to see that her arm was still crystallized. Somehow, someway she had to get those bullets removed. The second she shifted her arm back an unfathomable amount of pain would take over. This meant she had to see Specs, great. Having been around to see Dom Delta knew where Specs would be and got there as quick as could be. If she cried, only Specs would see and if he whispered a word she'd be sure to kill him first.
Specs was told of her situation and urged her to transform her arm back so that he could see the entry wounds. Instant pain pulsed from the wound when she reversed the crystallization of her arm, so much so that yelled and swore out in Polish. Blood poured down her arm from the two holes, Delta thrashed away from Specs touch, leaving a few vials smashed on the ground and dents in the operation table. Soothed by the anesthesia that Specs offered her Delta was able to lie down and let him continue the operation. It was soon over, Specs had removed one bullet, stitched up the entrance wounds, and wrapped the injury, but one was lodged in a position that was better to leave it in Delta's arm for now. Specs warned that physical activity was best avoided, Delta heard half of that sentence because she already out the door.
Her mind was on the mission, as she tried to shift her thoughts away from the lingering pain, for it had taught Delta that gun's weren't as all powerful as she imagined they were. Another weapon would've been able to slay the beast she was sure of it. Walking away Delta navigated her way through the headquarters to a location where she soon saw Imogen. As much as Delta was going to regret this interaction after their one of the ship Delta needs to be trained was greater than her insecurities.
"Imogen," Delta announced herself presence to the elder girl. Delta knew if she kept a straight face Imogen wouldn't be able to read her, "I need to be trained in other types of weaponry."
Imogen, unsurprised by Delta, raised her eyebrows. Surely Imogen had made it clear enough that she was not the one for 'doing work'. That was for the lackeys. She had much more important things to do. Like, at the moment, her nails were in clear need of a file. Everything else would have to wait.
"Do you now? That's nice, sweetie," she said, her eyes trained on her fingernails as she carefully filed them to the perfect length. "Shouldn't you be lying down somewhere in the recovery position waiting for your next lot of meds?"
Medication would have required being around Specs for longer than Delta could stand. Crystallization was utilized each time the pain reached a level that wasn't tolerable or brought on annoyance. So far, this whole not feeling pain when crystallized part was Delta's favorite development in her ability. Unfortunately she knew there was a downside to it, but for now she ignored it.
With a voice full of confidence and a pinch of arrogance Delta replied, "Perhaps if I were weak, but I'm not." She was still curious as to exactly what Imogen did within this organization though, the sooner this conversation with Imogen was over the better. "Clearly, you aren't capable of training me properly. Tell me who can and where to find them."
"Whatever you say honey." Imogen smirked a little. This little obsession of Delta's was some kind of mixture of confusing and amusing. She was sure she could probably get Delta to do all kinds of unnecessarily reckless things if she called her names. What a child. "Y'know, you're not going to get very far if you keep insulting people you want information from." She looked up from her nails, giving Delta a condescending look, as if Imogen was teaching basic maths and Delta just couldn't grasp it. "See, if you had asked politely, I would happily tell you that if you want to know anything about weapons, you should probably go see Natalia. Since she's the most skilled weapons specialist here. Beside myself. But no, I'm too busy being incompetent and incapable. Sorry!" Her eyes returned to her nails.
"If I wanted advice I'd go to someone I'd actually care to listen to," Delta retorted and began to walk away, how dare Imogen try to act like she was some primary school kid who needed tutoring. She would speak to anyone in any fashion that she chose to. There was always more than one way to get information even if it wasn't the most convenient way. Natalia was the answer, but Delta hadn't the faint idea who she was... Which meant she had to ask Imogen another question.
Delta turned on her heels toward Imogen then she grasped the keys around her neck as a way to focus. "You wouldn't happen to know what she looks like, would you?" Delta asked slowly.
"Better. I mean, you did insult me again, but progress is progress." She placed her nail file on the table next to her, moving onto the nail polish. Today's colour? Bright red. Rather dazzling. "Black hair, a little older than me and she has really good posture. Very Russian looking. But you know, Del... if you say please, I could just tell you where she is."
***
The clicks of her five inch heels stopped once she reached the location that Imogen had provided even if Delta did have to say that word. If there was one place where Delta avoided being it was where AUP members would congregate and that was the function of this room. Even though Delta had visited Russia many times "Russian looking" was a term that was still a bit lost on her. She recognized the serious looking (was that what Russian looking meant?) woman who sat next to her and Dom on the bus who had black hair and looked older than Imogen. Whether she liked it or not Imogen was right. Delta had a feeling that this woman wouldn't take too kindly to attitude.
"Natalia, right?" Delta waited by the doorway before she walked closer waiting for confirmation. The woman turned her head and nodded. "Del." It was a strange phenomenon, having to think before speaking. "I was told you were the best person to come speak to about weaponry. I want to be taught something else."
Natalia sat behind a computer in the big room, which at the moment was rather desolated. Usually, the big room was filled with activity, members discussing events and watching the big screens which displayed some part of the world. All of the screens were turned off and the room was rather ominous, but Natalia liked the quiet.
"Did you have anything specific in mind?"
"Something..." It had to be something other than a gun it needed to be, "Sharp. A weapon that matches my close range fighting style."
"And have you ever used anything close range before?" Her accent wasn't harsh but it wasn't subtle either. Like she had grown up in Russia and lived the rest of her life in England.
Russian accents weren't as foreign to Delta as American and British ones. It was nice to hear another Eastern European accent but Natalia's wasn't as distinct as the ones she had run across in the past. "No, that's why I'm here." Delta bit her tongue too late. It was a natural reaction for her to retort with a comment laced with attitude. "I mean, I need help learning which one to chose and how to use it in synchronicity with my combat style." God, how she hated this.
"Alright then, Del." Natalia stood up, pushing her chair in. "Let's find somewhere a little more appropriate to do this. Follow me."
* * *
"So are any of these," Natalia had led Delta to one of the training rooms on the lower floors. She gestured to the large collection of close range weapons in the large, chained cabinet (which she had the keys for) at the back of the room, with them ranging from long swords to senbon. All were fairly modernised (some had attachments that could have an electrical current flowing through them) but mostly, they looked dangerous, "what you were thinking of?"
Weapons varied from large and small, blades, sharp points, but the one thing they all in common was they were beautiful and deadly much like Delta. Long swords were nice, their blades would certainly cut an opponent to bits but they were too long for them to work well with Delta's fighting style. She liked to stay up close and personal, which meant the smaller throwing weapons such as senbons and knives were out. Delta ran a crystallized finger over each of the blades after she had taken off a glove.
Her eyes were widen once she sat a gaze on a pair of what she assumed was daggers. "These," her words were soft, as she took one a single dagger from the pair into her hand. The silver blade curved out at a certain point and was engraved with an intricate pattern, which Delta traced with her finger. Its hilt was mostly black excluding the gold band at the top, middle, and bottom. Engraved in the golden bits were the same extravagant styling as the blade, out of the top and middle bands there were claw-like extensions that branched off gold band. They were perfect.
"What about these?"
Natalia nodded, gently taking the dagger from Delta, and pulling the second one out herself. She also pulled out something else before closing and locking the giant cupboard behind her. She placed them all on hooks (the other items seemed to be two sets of wooden versions of the dagger), walking past them and to what seemed to be a record player.
"Close range combat is all about being one step ahead of your opponent. It's important to develop a keen eye and be able to predict where your opponent will be next. As well as that, it's important for you to be able to control your feet and where you place them. A wrong step means death. So, first, you must learn the basics of grace, posture and footwork. This means, you must learn to dance." She put the needle of the record player on the record itself, music flowing into the room. It sounded like some kind of generic ballroom music, a waltz, but Natalia had picked it specifically because you could use it for almost any dance.
"I've invited the best dancer in the AUP as your dance partner. I believe you've met him before." The doors opened as if on cue, and in waddled Misha, that dopey grin on his face like always. Of course, he didn't look like the most graceful of men, but rest assured, Natalia had seen him move.
Delta raised an eyebrow and groaned, "You aren't serious, are you?"
First, dancing? She had danced once before with Nathan and she hated every last bit of it. The men were always meant to be in control they were the ones who led and that was something that didn't sit right with Delta. Second, it was with Misha. Truth be told Delta preferred Misha's company over any of the other higher ups, but there was only so close she wanted to get to him. Hell, Delta was ready to listen to the Misha give the lengthiest book review if she could get out of this. Third, the music. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Natalia frowned slightly. "I am always serious when it comes to training someone in weapon combat. It's either you learn my way, or not at all. Your choice."
"Don't be shy!" Misha gave her an encouraging nod. "I promise not to step on toes. Haha!"
Her first choice was to walk out the door that Misha had squeezed in, but no it wasn't an actual option. Delta walked over to Misha, God, if anyone ever saw this she would be absolutely mortified. As soon as it was over she would deny that it ever happened.
"Don't kill me, okay?" A heavy sigh was let out after she had spoken.
"I svear on my mozer's grave." He lifted his hands, gesturing for her to take one. He was polite enough to not put the other hand on her waist, but her shoulder. He was too tall to put a hand there anyways. With a word from Natalia, he beamed at Delta and led the way.
* * *
It turned out the dancing had been a rather vigorous and heart pumping exercise. At first, they had worked on step work and posture of many classic dances. When Natalia had seen enough of that, she had asked Misha to instead of leading the way, let Delta lead the way with Misha using sloppy footing and Delta had to not only avoid it, but try to work with it and correct it. After that, it was a battle of who could step on whose feet, while still maintaining perfect posture and rhythm. Misha had tried to be rather light with his footing but being the large man he was, that wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
"The point of this is that when you are battling close range, the point is that you must fight to be the leader. You must be the one who is leading your enemy, be the one who is one step ahead. If they are leading you, then you will be sloppy and try to follow their footwork. You must be in complete control of everything. Your body, their body. Remember this always."
It was a lot of work. If there was only thing Delta hadn't thought wouldn't be a challenge it was dancing but she had definitely been proven wrong. She just wanted to get to the real combat where she could utilize the daggers. The advice Natalia was giving made sense except if she had done it at the beginning than they could've skipped this whole ordeal.
"Can we actually do combat now?" Delta tiredly asked. Natalia checked her watch. It was getting late, but if Delta had the energy to do this, she would comply.
"I hope you realise that learning this kind of combat cannot simply be done in one night? That after we do this, you'll have to return again to properly learn this. Do you understand?"
A little too eagerly Delta responded, "Yes, yes I know." Who cared if it was only one night because who knew when the next time they would be sent out on a mission? The next time she fought Delta wanted, no, had to use these new weapons no matter how hard she had trained with them. She held out her hand for one or both of the daggers.
"Alright." She tossed Delta a pair of wooden training daggers, Misha taking his seat to watch. She took a pair for herself and wielded them, as if she was ready to strike. "Show me what you've got." Delta grinned and did exactly that.
"Oakley," Delta hissed under her breath.
A surprised Delta had been teleported to the jets by The Librarian. It was told to her that an Atlantean only had a single ability and two Atlanteans couldn't have the same ability at the same time. How in the world did The Librarian defy this by having teleportation and invisibility? Teleportation belonged to one of Wyatt's partners... Delta knew there was something she wasn't being told about this man. Once everyone had been gathered except Devon whom she hoped was currently drowning. However in the next moment The Librarian unfortunately teleported away and when he came back he was carrying a soaking wet human or, rather, Devon. Emil, who Delta had never seen anything but calm, became an overprotective parent in two seconds flat. His sharp words became accusations thrown at Specs and The Librarian. Amused, Delta just stood there and smirked before she noticed that the Unification Project had their group of Royal Family captures as well.
A series of words strung together by The Librarian drew Delta back to the conversation. He had said he had a wide array of abilities. Surely that wasn't possible, just who was this Librarian? His ability must be some sort of copycat type. This led Delta to ponder how many abilities he truly had. He clearly had power; The Librarian dismissed Emil with the threat to no longer help the organization, which meant he was a resourceful asset. The Librarian turned towards her... and Dom, who Delta only recently started to pay attention to. Words were spoken at her but they were for Dom, to Delta it was only reminded of how not to rely on Oakley in the future. The large crystal on Oakley's hand was chipped at and The Librarian then held up a piece of it while giving an explanation throughout the whole thing. Basically it was an item that made the weak weaker. It made Delta's stomach churn she wanted the full range of her ability at all times.
As if he was some sort of present giver one by one The Librarian gave or did something for them. Before permission was given Dom's watch was fixed and was now infused with the Atlanteanite. Delta's rolled her eyes as The Librarian handed her a key, but refused to tell her what it unlocked until she "mended" her first impression, whatever that meant. Oakley was then told to give Devon some necklace. It was all very showy and Delta didn't like it one bit. She palmed the key before she slipped it on the lanyard around her neck that already held two keys, one silver with spots of pink paint and one gold. After his goodbye The Librarian disappeared and they boarded the aircraft where she sat next to Dom and a serious looking woman.
Per usual they were debriefed; Atticus spoke of the other Atlantean group, which meant Wyatt, Adrian, and the teleportation guy. How the AUP had ten of the captured ARF members and would soon ask them to join their ranks. The best tidbit of information was saved for last, they were finally going to know the true plans behind the Atlantean Unification Project: New Atlantis. Atticus ended his debriefing by saying they could come to him with any important information and those with a certain security level could look at the reports. Curiosity ate at Delta; she wanted to know what the reports said. Perhaps she could hack her way into the right security level, though Annie had taught her skills and was most likely the one who developed the system they used. For now that would have to wait. Was it right to tell Atticus the names of the Atlantean's she had encountered? She had been the only one to actually meet and team up with them... The plane taking off shut down any thoughts Delta had of getting Atticus' attention.
Eventually Delta succumbed to her tiredness, as all the fighting had been exhausting. She had small injuries, lacerations, bruises, and the two bullets that were still lodged in her arm. When they landed in France Delta opened her eyes quickly having not have realized that she had fallen asleep. A shrug of her shoulder slid her jacket down enough for her to see that her arm was still crystallized. Somehow, someway she had to get those bullets removed. The second she shifted her arm back an unfathomable amount of pain would take over. This meant she had to see Specs, great. Having been around to see Dom Delta knew where Specs would be and got there as quick as could be. If she cried, only Specs would see and if he whispered a word she'd be sure to kill him first.
Specs was told of her situation and urged her to transform her arm back so that he could see the entry wounds. Instant pain pulsed from the wound when she reversed the crystallization of her arm, so much so that yelled and swore out in Polish. Blood poured down her arm from the two holes, Delta thrashed away from Specs touch, leaving a few vials smashed on the ground and dents in the operation table. Soothed by the anesthesia that Specs offered her Delta was able to lie down and let him continue the operation. It was soon over, Specs had removed one bullet, stitched up the entrance wounds, and wrapped the injury, but one was lodged in a position that was better to leave it in Delta's arm for now. Specs warned that physical activity was best avoided, Delta heard half of that sentence because she already out the door.
Her mind was on the mission, as she tried to shift her thoughts away from the lingering pain, for it had taught Delta that gun's weren't as all powerful as she imagined they were. Another weapon would've been able to slay the beast she was sure of it. Walking away Delta navigated her way through the headquarters to a location where she soon saw Imogen. As much as Delta was going to regret this interaction after their one of the ship Delta needs to be trained was greater than her insecurities.
"Imogen," Delta announced herself presence to the elder girl. Delta knew if she kept a straight face Imogen wouldn't be able to read her, "I need to be trained in other types of weaponry."
Imogen, unsurprised by Delta, raised her eyebrows. Surely Imogen had made it clear enough that she was not the one for 'doing work'. That was for the lackeys. She had much more important things to do. Like, at the moment, her nails were in clear need of a file. Everything else would have to wait.
"Do you now? That's nice, sweetie," she said, her eyes trained on her fingernails as she carefully filed them to the perfect length. "Shouldn't you be lying down somewhere in the recovery position waiting for your next lot of meds?"
Medication would have required being around Specs for longer than Delta could stand. Crystallization was utilized each time the pain reached a level that wasn't tolerable or brought on annoyance. So far, this whole not feeling pain when crystallized part was Delta's favorite development in her ability. Unfortunately she knew there was a downside to it, but for now she ignored it.
With a voice full of confidence and a pinch of arrogance Delta replied, "Perhaps if I were weak, but I'm not." She was still curious as to exactly what Imogen did within this organization though, the sooner this conversation with Imogen was over the better. "Clearly, you aren't capable of training me properly. Tell me who can and where to find them."
"Whatever you say honey." Imogen smirked a little. This little obsession of Delta's was some kind of mixture of confusing and amusing. She was sure she could probably get Delta to do all kinds of unnecessarily reckless things if she called her names. What a child. "Y'know, you're not going to get very far if you keep insulting people you want information from." She looked up from her nails, giving Delta a condescending look, as if Imogen was teaching basic maths and Delta just couldn't grasp it. "See, if you had asked politely, I would happily tell you that if you want to know anything about weapons, you should probably go see Natalia. Since she's the most skilled weapons specialist here. Beside myself. But no, I'm too busy being incompetent and incapable. Sorry!" Her eyes returned to her nails.
"If I wanted advice I'd go to someone I'd actually care to listen to," Delta retorted and began to walk away, how dare Imogen try to act like she was some primary school kid who needed tutoring. She would speak to anyone in any fashion that she chose to. There was always more than one way to get information even if it wasn't the most convenient way. Natalia was the answer, but Delta hadn't the faint idea who she was... Which meant she had to ask Imogen another question.
Delta turned on her heels toward Imogen then she grasped the keys around her neck as a way to focus. "You wouldn't happen to know what she looks like, would you?" Delta asked slowly.
"Better. I mean, you did insult me again, but progress is progress." She placed her nail file on the table next to her, moving onto the nail polish. Today's colour? Bright red. Rather dazzling. "Black hair, a little older than me and she has really good posture. Very Russian looking. But you know, Del... if you say please, I could just tell you where she is."
***
The clicks of her five inch heels stopped once she reached the location that Imogen had provided even if Delta did have to say that word. If there was one place where Delta avoided being it was where AUP members would congregate and that was the function of this room. Even though Delta had visited Russia many times "Russian looking" was a term that was still a bit lost on her. She recognized the serious looking (was that what Russian looking meant?) woman who sat next to her and Dom on the bus who had black hair and looked older than Imogen. Whether she liked it or not Imogen was right. Delta had a feeling that this woman wouldn't take too kindly to attitude.
"Natalia, right?" Delta waited by the doorway before she walked closer waiting for confirmation. The woman turned her head and nodded. "Del." It was a strange phenomenon, having to think before speaking. "I was told you were the best person to come speak to about weaponry. I want to be taught something else."
Natalia sat behind a computer in the big room, which at the moment was rather desolated. Usually, the big room was filled with activity, members discussing events and watching the big screens which displayed some part of the world. All of the screens were turned off and the room was rather ominous, but Natalia liked the quiet.
"Did you have anything specific in mind?"
"Something..." It had to be something other than a gun it needed to be, "Sharp. A weapon that matches my close range fighting style."
"And have you ever used anything close range before?" Her accent wasn't harsh but it wasn't subtle either. Like she had grown up in Russia and lived the rest of her life in England.
Russian accents weren't as foreign to Delta as American and British ones. It was nice to hear another Eastern European accent but Natalia's wasn't as distinct as the ones she had run across in the past. "No, that's why I'm here." Delta bit her tongue too late. It was a natural reaction for her to retort with a comment laced with attitude. "I mean, I need help learning which one to chose and how to use it in synchronicity with my combat style." God, how she hated this.
"Alright then, Del." Natalia stood up, pushing her chair in. "Let's find somewhere a little more appropriate to do this. Follow me."
* * *
"So are any of these," Natalia had led Delta to one of the training rooms on the lower floors. She gestured to the large collection of close range weapons in the large, chained cabinet (which she had the keys for) at the back of the room, with them ranging from long swords to senbon. All were fairly modernised (some had attachments that could have an electrical current flowing through them) but mostly, they looked dangerous, "what you were thinking of?"
Weapons varied from large and small, blades, sharp points, but the one thing they all in common was they were beautiful and deadly much like Delta. Long swords were nice, their blades would certainly cut an opponent to bits but they were too long for them to work well with Delta's fighting style. She liked to stay up close and personal, which meant the smaller throwing weapons such as senbons and knives were out. Delta ran a crystallized finger over each of the blades after she had taken off a glove.
Her eyes were widen once she sat a gaze on a pair of what she assumed was daggers. "These," her words were soft, as she took one a single dagger from the pair into her hand. The silver blade curved out at a certain point and was engraved with an intricate pattern, which Delta traced with her finger. Its hilt was mostly black excluding the gold band at the top, middle, and bottom. Engraved in the golden bits were the same extravagant styling as the blade, out of the top and middle bands there were claw-like extensions that branched off gold band. They were perfect.
"What about these?"
Natalia nodded, gently taking the dagger from Delta, and pulling the second one out herself. She also pulled out something else before closing and locking the giant cupboard behind her. She placed them all on hooks (the other items seemed to be two sets of wooden versions of the dagger), walking past them and to what seemed to be a record player.
"Close range combat is all about being one step ahead of your opponent. It's important to develop a keen eye and be able to predict where your opponent will be next. As well as that, it's important for you to be able to control your feet and where you place them. A wrong step means death. So, first, you must learn the basics of grace, posture and footwork. This means, you must learn to dance." She put the needle of the record player on the record itself, music flowing into the room. It sounded like some kind of generic ballroom music, a waltz, but Natalia had picked it specifically because you could use it for almost any dance.
"I've invited the best dancer in the AUP as your dance partner. I believe you've met him before." The doors opened as if on cue, and in waddled Misha, that dopey grin on his face like always. Of course, he didn't look like the most graceful of men, but rest assured, Natalia had seen him move.
Delta raised an eyebrow and groaned, "You aren't serious, are you?"
First, dancing? She had danced once before with Nathan and she hated every last bit of it. The men were always meant to be in control they were the ones who led and that was something that didn't sit right with Delta. Second, it was with Misha. Truth be told Delta preferred Misha's company over any of the other higher ups, but there was only so close she wanted to get to him. Hell, Delta was ready to listen to the Misha give the lengthiest book review if she could get out of this. Third, the music. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
Natalia frowned slightly. "I am always serious when it comes to training someone in weapon combat. It's either you learn my way, or not at all. Your choice."
"Don't be shy!" Misha gave her an encouraging nod. "I promise not to step on toes. Haha!"
Her first choice was to walk out the door that Misha had squeezed in, but no it wasn't an actual option. Delta walked over to Misha, God, if anyone ever saw this she would be absolutely mortified. As soon as it was over she would deny that it ever happened.
"Don't kill me, okay?" A heavy sigh was let out after she had spoken.
"I svear on my mozer's grave." He lifted his hands, gesturing for her to take one. He was polite enough to not put the other hand on her waist, but her shoulder. He was too tall to put a hand there anyways. With a word from Natalia, he beamed at Delta and led the way.
* * *
It turned out the dancing had been a rather vigorous and heart pumping exercise. At first, they had worked on step work and posture of many classic dances. When Natalia had seen enough of that, she had asked Misha to instead of leading the way, let Delta lead the way with Misha using sloppy footing and Delta had to not only avoid it, but try to work with it and correct it. After that, it was a battle of who could step on whose feet, while still maintaining perfect posture and rhythm. Misha had tried to be rather light with his footing but being the large man he was, that wasn't the easiest thing in the world.
"The point of this is that when you are battling close range, the point is that you must fight to be the leader. You must be the one who is leading your enemy, be the one who is one step ahead. If they are leading you, then you will be sloppy and try to follow their footwork. You must be in complete control of everything. Your body, their body. Remember this always."
It was a lot of work. If there was only thing Delta hadn't thought wouldn't be a challenge it was dancing but she had definitely been proven wrong. She just wanted to get to the real combat where she could utilize the daggers. The advice Natalia was giving made sense except if she had done it at the beginning than they could've skipped this whole ordeal.
"Can we actually do combat now?" Delta tiredly asked. Natalia checked her watch. It was getting late, but if Delta had the energy to do this, she would comply.
"I hope you realise that learning this kind of combat cannot simply be done in one night? That after we do this, you'll have to return again to properly learn this. Do you understand?"
A little too eagerly Delta responded, "Yes, yes I know." Who cared if it was only one night because who knew when the next time they would be sent out on a mission? The next time she fought Delta wanted, no, had to use these new weapons no matter how hard she had trained with them. She held out her hand for one or both of the daggers.
"Alright." She tossed Delta a pair of wooden training daggers, Misha taking his seat to watch. She took a pair for herself and wielded them, as if she was ready to strike. "Show me what you've got." Delta grinned and did exactly that.