Worth Fighting For
SyntheticProduct
Special shout-out to AJSM, who helped me sort out the main character and gave me the inspiration to write another Aliens story. ;)
Chapter One
"Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win," was something her father always told her. Even as a little girl when he came home from work, he'd sweep her up in his arms and whisper those words to her. It was their salutation, their goodbye, and she held those words close to her heart. To her, it was a mantra, the universal truth that only her and her father knew. He was a soldier, a captain of his own fate, his own destiny that promised to protect and serve. In her eyes, he was her world and what she longed to grow up to be. How naive she was.
She was twelve when it happened. She was learning arithmetic and basic computer programming, the classes at her school were considered split lessons and made learning considerably harder since two teachers were speaking at the same time. She was bored, scribbling circles on her tablet and watching it come to life on the screen in front of her. The secretary from the office came in, "Antonina Dragov, you're wanted in the principal's office." The entire classroom erupted in a unanimous 'ooh' and watched as she gathered up her things and followed the older Asian woman. Her mother was sitting in the middle of the office, a pristine white dress with her brilliant blonde hair tied up in a sleek bun; she screamed perfection. Lips outlined in blood red and brown eyes framed with dark lashes. The principal offered her to take a seat but she refused. The room was engulfed in awkward silence before her mother's lips puckered and began to move; the words that left her mouth made her world stop.
"Your father is dead."
A part of her died that day and even more of her was spirited away when an all consuming rage bubbled inside her, her fist landed squarely on her mother's cheek as she spat on her. Her mother dared to look shocked as if she hadn't earned the swing. It didn't even take a moment for her mother to tell her that she'd be staying with her father's grandmother until her father's funeral.
Even after her father's funeral, her mother made no sign to retrieve her. Two days later she officially unclaimed her as her child, disowning her and leaving her parentless. The rage turned into fury, then that fury turned into a monstrous resentment to both of her parents that left her alone in the world.
Her grandmother, an elderly Bulgarian woman that tended to garden her days away, took on the role of her guardian. It lasted a total of five years before her grandmother passed away. Once again, the resentment returned and she was utterly alone.
She joined the military, getting through basic and then getting dishonorably discharged after she engaged in several fist fights with other soldiers.
Wanting to start her life completely new, she stopped going by Antonina and started going by Nina; a nickname that her father often called her.
That's how she got here, binding her hands in cheap tape and spitting blood on a cement floor. The skin on her knuckles was peeling back and several bruises started to form on her face, swelling her left cheekbone and the bridge of her nose; maybe she broke it again. Wiggling the offending bone, she felt the pain spidering down her face and liquid starting to drip down her cupid's bow.
"Definitely broken," Nina muttered, peeking her tongue out from her pink lips and licking it away, "that's gonna cost a pretty penny to fix." The door behind her slammed open, rattling as it hit the stone wall. Nina didn't have to turn to know who it was, only one person was brazen enough to interrupt her cool-down between matches. A booming laugh bounced off the naked walls, "that last match made me quite a bit of money!" The heavy accent wasn't lost on her ears even though his footfalls were booming. His callous hands slapped down on her shoulder, making her wince as an old shoulder wound begged her to shrug his hand off; she did just that. A snarl left her mouth as she physically snapped at him, "don't touch the merchandise."
Felix Gustafson was a large and brawny, years of hard labor under the sun obviously showed with his tanned skin. Several lines across his biceps and deltoids were nearly white, every scar screaming to tell its story. An unruly wispy gray beard and equally wispy gray hair that was combed back, framed his head. Hard brown eyes that always seemed to have a joyous twinkle in them.
He leaned in and winked, "I've touched the merchandise time and time before, Flicka." Her nose scrunched up as her eyes narrowed, "you're a dirty old man."
His laugh was just as deafening as his footsteps, but it soon quieted down, "you still up for another session after your last match? I have my tools set up." Nina gave an affirmative nod before standing up, tapping her knuckles against his shoulder as she turned, "you owe me two for the money I've been making you." Felix rolled his eyes and clasped his hand on her should again, squeezing it softly, "anything for the star of the Old Slums." She scoffed and rolled her shoulder, letting his hand fall naturally as she stalked towards the door he had entered through.
"Make me a hundred more and I'll make it three!" Felix yelled after her and all she returned was a flick of her middle finger over her shoulder. The hallways were sweltering, even the walls were sweating making the mildew smell harsher than usual. Loud thumping came from the next door over and when she pushed through the old, wooden door, the noise and heat burst against her face. The bar grew double in noise as the door swung open, a wave of people screamed her name.
"Nina! Nina! Nina!" A chant, of sorts. Her lips curled into a confident grin as she lifted up her arms, showcasing the bruises and cuts along them. The crowd burst into shrieks as they parted, letting her glide towards the middle of the bar. A classic boxing ring, an antique from the twenty-first century that Felix had paid a pretty penny for. Blood smeared against the material of the mat and sweat staining the rope.
Nina's current opponent stood within the ring, bouncing on the pads of his feet and shaking out his arms. If she knew one thing, it wasn't to judge a book by its cover; he was a lithe looking man, scrawny arms, and beady eyes. Completely bald with tattoos across his scalp and spotted across his face. Swinging her body low, she crawled into the ring with catlike grace. The crowd had started to gather around the ring once again, screaming and yelling out over the blaring music. The adrenaline in her veins that had started to die down started back up again.
Nina stretched her arms out, rolling her neck all while keeping her eyes trained on the man standing in front of her.
All while this was happening, she could feel hundreds of eyes settle on her form, but she failed to notice to two people in the back corner of the club piercing her with their gazes. When a bell rang overhead and she threw herself into her opponent, the gazes followed her and the people turned to each other, speaking briefly before downing the rest of their drinks and joining the crowd.
Nina let a war cry rip from deep within her chest, an animalistic shriek that was louder than the crowd that only served to spur them on. The man was quick to block, joining his forearms together in front of him, but with a quick twist of her front landing foot, she easily bowed herself down and put all the power behind her fist as she reared it up underneath his arms. A crunch from his jaw resonated down her arms as she uppercut him, letting him stagger back before kicking her right foot out against his knee.
He stumbled to the ground, kneeling in front of her very much like a knight would do to his queen. When she went to hook his jaw, he jarred his head back and dodged easily. As he fell backward, with the speed of a viper, he hooked his leg around the back of her knee and pulled her towards him.
She was taken off guard for a split second, but as she fell she used the momentum to pile drive her shoulder against his sternum. He spluttered out a breath, his forearm immediately meeting her throat in a chokehold. His legs wrapped around her waist, pulling her back flush with his chest as he arched up. Nina didn't waste time to pull his arm away from her throat, but instead bent them and started ramming her elbows into his ribs. Her shoulders screamed as they stretched back, the bruises from the matches before pulled her muscle cruelly. She didn't give him the satisfaction of feeling her throat expand to retrieve shuttering breaths, instead, she held it and tightened her abdominals; peeling herself away from his chest and his body followed hers, rightfully so. His arm tightened against her throat as she moved against his hold, crushing her esophagus in a painful way; that'd bruise soon.
As they both sat up, Nina wedged her arms in between the small of her waist and the bend of his knees, beginning to force his hips back. He let out a small cry, his breath hitting her ear as she reared her head back and slammed it against his face. Her skull rang, but the gratifying noise of breaking bone drowned out all around her. His arm left her throat and she could finally breathe. Nina didn't give him a reprieve as she yanked her arms back, flipping his legs over her head as she ducked down; his body slammed against the mat.
She rolled away from him, using her forearms to spring up to all fours before bringing herself up to her feet. Nina coughed harshly while the blood pumped in her ears, wiping away the snot that ran from her nose revealing that the bloody nose from earlier had started to mix with her watering nose. She grunted and waited for the man to get up; there was no honor in beating a downed man.
"Get up you cunt!"
Someone screamed from the crowd.
"No grown man wants to be bested by a woman, of all things!"
Nina growled towards the direction of that cry, eyes narrowing as she searched the crowd. She could tell her mouth lifted in a sneer as she noticed two people that looked out of place. They were towards the back, but one was in a casual suit and the other was in a full blown military uniform. While the bar had seen its share of military personnel, none had come in with an entire military uniform on. While the military man and she had locked eyes, the distraction earned her a nasty hook to her jaw. Her teeth rattled in her mouth, biting down on her tongue as the skin along her jaw warmed from the punch. Her eyes left the military man and landed on her heavily breathing opponent; blood started to stream from his nose and it was already bruising.
Nina snarled before barreling towards him, spinning away from another wild punch before shoulder checking him making him trip over his own feet. Her hands unclenched and clenched again, stretching her fingers as she landed a kidney punch as his arms flung out to catch himself. Pulling back when she sucker punched him, she reeled back her arm before slamming her fist against his ribs. The breath left his chest as he fell like a tree that had been cut from the trunk. His eyes were dazed, but he was breathing before his eyes fluttered closed, raising a shaky arm in the air to signal his defeat.
If she thought the crowd was deafening before, her ears rang from the shouting and screaming now. With the prowess of a wild cat, she makes her way over to her opponent before yanking him up to his feet. She raised both of their hands high above with receives a louder response before she made her way down from the ring. It was then that Felix comes from her right side, leaning up against her injured form and blocking hands from what he liked to call "adoring fans". Felix led her to the back room before departing shortly after, leaving her to tend to her wounds and lick some wounded pride.
