"Sorry."
Castle looked over his shoulder at the girl that just bumped into him on the sidewalk. She had blonde hair hidden under a beanie and a very noticeable black ring around her left eye. He slickly turned and followed behind her, acting like a normal pedestrian on the sidewalk who had places to be.
Man, she was fast, even for Frank. He either thought she was running from something (or someone) or was seriously late for English class. She dipped into an alleyway around a third of a mile down the street, and her followed without being noticed.
She stopped halfway into the alley and just stood there. Frank wondered if his cover had been blown, but then noticed that she started sprinting toward a wall that was clearly much taller than her.
"What is she doin'?" He asked quietly to himself.
But she continued running toward the wall, and pulled herself up and over it.
"Damn, kid."
Frank quickly followed, though he had a much easier time. He didn't even know why he was following her. Maybe his instinct for somethings out of place was ringing around in his head.
She was walking again, and looked around before joining the crowd of people on the sidewalk in front of the alleyway entrance she was in. Frank hid behind a piece of wall sticking out from a crappy apartment building, and quickly slid out into the crowd of people along with her. He watched as she walked into the front door of a kick boxing building. Nonchalantly walking in and pretending to browse the brochures on the wall for a free session wit a personal trainer and yada yada yada, he was just in time to hear the conversation between her and a man that appeared to be the owner. A man in a business suit was lazily following behind him. Looking uninterested until the owner said.
"There she is! We were just talking about you!"
The business man's eyebrows went straight up immediately.
"This is her, huh?"
He walked slowly around her while she stared him down, clearly annoyed at his forward manner.
"She can win a fight?"
"Any fight".
" I don't know, she looks a little…"
"Trust me, she may be small, but she's got one hell of a punch."
"I want to see what i'm buying before I make any payments."
"Oh, of course. Jacks, get in the ring."
"No." This was the first time FGrank had heard the girl talk since the conversation had started.
"Haha, um, excuse me, won't you?" The owner said.
"The business man put up his hands and said "of course".
Frank nonchalantly made his way slowly over to a spot near where the girl and owner were having their little private discussion.
"Jacks, you better listen and listen good. This could mean a lot of money for me. Us. Do you understand. This man has friends and he came to see you fight, so you're gonna show him a fight."
"Dad, I'm tired of fighting. I'm not doing it anymore. Just tell him to fuck off. "
"Jacks, please, what would your mother have wanted?"
"Mom's gone, dad."
"But if she were here, she'd want this opportunity for us to have a better life. You know that as well as me."
Frank saw Jacks look really hard at the ground before she put her hair up in a ponytail, took a deep, annoyed breath, and stepped in the ring.
"Atta girl!' Her father said, tossing he two knuckle gloves.
Now turning towards the business man, the girls father said.
"Anyone in this room she can fight."
"I get that she can fight, Lloyd, but can she win?"
"I'll show ya. Micheal! Get in the ring!"
Frank saw a man who had been lifting weights look up dumbly at the two men, and then at the ring. He looked….screamed almost. Frank was now interested to see how this would pan out. Surely Jacks's father wasn't considering putting his 5'4 daughter in the ring with an at least 6'1 man?
"O-okay, boss."
"Him? You're messing with me, Lloyd." The business man laughed.
"Oh yeah? Just you watch."
And watch everyone did. Literally. Everyone in that building had stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfold. This girl was really about to take on this guy. Even Frank, who wanted to stop its, was intrigued as to how this would pan out.
Jacks cracked her neck. Micheal cracked his buckles.
"3...2...1...FIGHT!" Lloyd screamed.
The first one to make a move was Micheal, ho screamed a battle cry and ran forward, throwing his fist out wards into a right hook Jacks easily ducked it, and went through his legs to jump on his back and choke hold him. The Micheal dude jumped up into the air to try and sandwich the girl between him and the floor, but she was too quick and moved before he slammed to the groiund. Hard. On his back. From there, he got up, clearly embarrassed, and had a look of sheer determination on his face.
"C'mon, kid" Frank whispered to himself.
This time she made the step forward, but was so fast even Frank had to look twice. She had punched him right in the jaw, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Haha! What'd I tell you?" Lloyd and the now impressed looking business man were walking to Lloyd's office, probably to discuss the man's "offer". Whatever it was.
The girl looked down at the now unconscious man lying on the ground before she bent down slowly to check his pulse. Frank wondered to himself if she had ever killed someone in a fight before. Huh. Her punch was definitely strong enough.
Jacks grabbed the same bag she had been wearing and flung it over her shoulder before picking up her discarded beanie and putting it back on her head. She started walking out the door, looking down when she bumped into Frank's shoulder again.
"Sor-" She looked up and waited, recognizing his face. Frank stood there, hands in his pockets of his grey sweatshirt, staring at her the same way she was staring at him.
She looked down and mumbled an apology before quickly walking out the front door.
"Hey, kid, wait!" Frank yelled.
The girl, Jacks, looked back before turning forward and changing into a full on sprint.
"Damnit".
Frank sprinted after her, and he didn't know why. Maybe because he had never witnessed anything like what he'd just seen in that gym before, and he was curious.
They ducked and weaved through the crowd, heading downtown. Not a place a girl her size should be heading to. But she seemed to know what she was doing; she headed down multiple alleyways, jumping over walls, moving through crowds of people like a snake dripping in oil. Frank was trained, though, and he could easily keep up with her.
About ten minutes later, and she stood hidden behind an alleyway wall, breathing hard. She waited for about another three minutes before peeking out and around her. She didn't see him. Good.
She adjusted her beanie and started walking down the alley when a hand came up around her mouth and pulled her against a wall. She instantly went into fighting mode, stomping on his booted foot, and elbowing him in the groin. Nothing was seeming to work, though, and he had an arm around her neck to hold her in place. She tried with all her power to get away, but her expertise lied in fist fights, not this.
"Hmmmmellp!" She tried screaming, hand muffling the words.
"Sh sh sh sh. I'm not gonna hurt you kid."
But she kept fighting him. He couldn't blame her.
She then did something her wasn't expecting. She stood completely still. Hands slowly raising up in an "I give up" motion.