Well, here it is! The next installment of my Avery fic! Hope everyone enjoys it!
"Dad!"
Eliot turns around in his seat, looking over to see Avery enter the apartment. She practically skips over to him, slapping a flyer on the counter in front of him. Eliot looks down at it, looking it over. He looks back up at her, eyebrows raised.
"The karate dojo is hosting an in-house tournament with their sister schools," Avery says.
"And you want to do it," Eliot says.
"Can I? Its forty dollars," Avery says.
"I don't see why not," Eliot says.
"Oh and um…" Avery begins. Eliot looks over at her.
"What?" Eliot asks.
"I was able to convince Master Galati to let me fight in the men's division. He said he'd let me since I'd be the only female black belt. He just needs you to sign something saying that's okay," Gracilynn says, watching her dad.
"Is that what you want?" Eliot asks, studying her.
"Yes, definitely," Avery says, determinedly.
"Okay," Eliot says, taking the permission slip from Avery.
"You can't seriously be letting her do this?" Sophie asks.
"Why not?" Eliot and Avery ask at the same time.
"Their men," Sophie says as if it's obvious, "They have her by a foot and at least 100 pounds. One hit and she could get really hurt.
"We use control Sophie," Avery says, "No contact to the head and only slight contact to the body.
"Accidents happen," Sophie argues.
"I want to do this. I can do this. I'm good at martial arts. Which means it doesn't matter if I fight the girls or the boys," Avery argues.
"She has a point," Eliot says, "You can't choose who you fight on the street. I'd rather her fight the men anyways. I want her to be comfortable seeing a guy charge at her. No need for her to freeze up when it really happens."
Eliot signs the permission slip and hands it back to Avery. Avery takes it with a grin. She folds it up, sticking it in her back jeans pocket.
"Oh and um… I need forty dollars for the tournament," Avery says. Eliot looks up at her.
"You're starting a little early with that don't ya think?" Eliot asks, earning a smirk from Avery. Eliot sighs but pulls out his wallet, handing Avery forty dollars.
"Thanks," Avery says, pocketing the money as well. Avery turns to leave, stopping abruptly when she sees the guy on the screen. "John Lackey? Why do you have him on the screen?"
"Wait, you know this guy?" Nate asks, pointing at the screen.
"Well, yeah. He only holds the biggest Martial Arts tournament on this side of the Mississippi. Maybe even the country," Avery says, walking back to the counter. "Wait, is he the bad guy?"
"Yeah, he is," Nate answers.
"Does this have anything to do with that kid who almost died?" Avery asks. She climbs up onto one of the stools next to her dad.
"What do you know about it?" Eliot asks her.
"Not much. Just what the news said. That in the middle of the fight the kid got kicked and fell to the ground, smacking his head. He ended up getting a concussion and landed in a coma. The family said it was negligence on Lackey's part. They could never prove it though," Avery says.
"Yeah, well the Collers explained that there is a group of kids that come to the tournament every year. They're called…uh, Bad Boys," Nate says.
"Bad Boys? Really? 'Cause that's not corny," Avery replies, making a face.
"They're out to hurt contestants, cheering when they do. They said this isn't the first time someone's gotten hurt by these guys but John Lackey keeps letting them participate knowing full well how dangerous they are," Nate continues.
"So, you guys…?"
"Are going to get Lackey to hang himself. Kids are getting hurt but parents can't do anything because they signed a contract saying they won't sue because their child was injured," Nate explains.
"He's got a tournament coming up next week," Avery says.
"And that's our way in," Nate says, looking at the screen.
"Isn't it gonna look fishy if we show up and we aren't watching a contestant?" Parker asks.
"She's got a point," Hardison points out.
"Eliot will do it," Nate replies.
"It says here, participants have to be under eighteen," Hardison says, pulling up Lackey's website.
"So I'll do it," Avery says.
"What? No way," Eliot says, "I'm not gonna knowingly put you in danger."
"Fine, but when you guys get arrested for stalking, I ain't bailing you out," Avery says, climbing off the stool and heading to the table. She takes a seat and pulls out her homework.
"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot grumbles entering the apartment. Avery looks up from the table to see the team walk in. Her dad is holding a wad of paper towels to his nose. Avery raises an eyebrow, finding the scene comical.
"What the hell happened to you?" Avery asks Eliot, trying not to smirk.
"He ran in to a door," Parker says, then turning to Eliot and reaching for said nose, "Shouldn't you squeeze it?"
"Don't. Touch it," Eliot growls, glaring at her.
"You ran in to a door?" Avery asks, trying to figure out how he did this.
"It wouldn't have happened if Hardison had done his damn job," Eliot complains gruffly.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know the doors re-lock themselves after someone enters or leaves," Hardison defends.
"By doing your damn homework Hardison," Eliot says angrily, chucking the towel in the garbage and accepting the ice pack from Avery.
"I did my homework. It says nothing about the doors doing that," Hardison argues.
"You know what? Next time I'm gonna do my homework like you did. That way when you get punched in the face…" Eliot says.
"Alright," Nate says, interrupting, "It's not a big deal."
"Not a big deal?" Eliot growls, taking off the ice pack and pointing to the two black eyes beginning to form. "This isn't a big deal? I look like a raccoon."
"How hard did you hit it?" Avery asks.
"Hard," Parker says, "It was so funny."
Eliot shoots her a glare, practically growling at her.
"We were being chased by dogs and Eliot plowed through the door," Parker says.
"Only the door didn't move," Eliot says, shifting his glare towards Hardison.
"One minute he was in front of me, the next he was on the floor. His face when he hit it looked like the ones in the cartoons," Parker adds, laughing at the memory.
"So, let me get this straight," Avery says, "You've gone up against assassins, Russians, mobsters, and other hitters and you get taken out by a door?"
Parker snorts and Hardison smirks. Eliot scowls.
"You know what? Let me lock a door, then you can run full speed at it and then you can make fun of me," Eliot says, irritated.
"Alright. Okay," Nate says, effectively putting an end to the bickering. "We have to go to Plan C."
"Is that the one where I do the tournament?" Avery asks, jumping at the opportunity.
"No, that's Plan K," Nate says.
"Okay, so let's do Plan K then," Avery says.
"Avery," Eliot warns.
"What?" Avery asks innocently.
"Avery, Eliot's right. There's no sense putting you in danger," Sophie says.
"It's the most logical way though, right?" Avery asks. Sophie studies her for a minute.
"You've already signed up for the tournament haven't you?" Sophie asks. The team looks over at her, all of them studying her. Eliot breaks the silence first when Avery gives him a guilty grin.
"Dammit Avery," Eliot growls. "Unregister. Now."
"I can't. Once you're registered, you can't unregister. No refunds," Avery says.
"Fine. You're still not going," Eliot says.
"Dad, come on," Avery pleads, "We help people right?"
"No, we help people," Eliot says, point at himself and the team. "You stay safe," Eliot says.
"Yeah, well last time I stayed safe, my best friends got killed," Avery argues, looking her dad dead in the eyes. They have a stare down before Eliot sighs.
"Fine. But I'm with you at all times and when I say get out, you get out," Eliot says, caving in reluctantly.
"Okay," Avery agrees.
"So, the tournament is in three days," Hardison says, pulling up all the information.
"Yeah, this Saturday," Avery confirms.
"All right, here's the plan," Nate says.
Avery looks up from the book she's reading, hearing a knock at the door. She has no clue who it can be; they were all here at Nate's. It was the day of the tournament and the team was getting last minute things together. Eliot walks by and opens the door, saying hi to whoever it is. Avery couldn't see because her dad was standing in the way. She doesn't have to wait long though, because her dad steps to the side to let Shelley in. Avery grins, setting down her book.
"Shelley! Hey!" she says walking over and giving him a hug.
"Hey kid," Shelley says, returning her hug. Avery pulls away.
"What are you doing here?" Avery asks.
"Well, I can't go to the tournament as your dad if I'm taking over as your center judge," Eliot says.
"So, you're posing as my dad," Avery says to Shelley.
"Yeah. God help me, but yeah," Shelley says with a smirk. Avery smack him lightly in the arm.
"What are you talking about? I'm the perfect daughter," Avery says. Eliot, Hardison, and Nate all instantly snort and begin debating against this. Avery rolls her eyes, but can't hide the smirk, knowing they're all picking on her. Nate takes a look at the clock and claps his hands together.
"All right. We're all here? Let's go steal a tournament," Nate says, walking out the door. Eliot hands Avery her gear bag and the rest of them follow after Nate.
"So, what's the whole story with these guys?" Shelley asks.
"John Lackey…" Eliot begins.
"That famous guy with the really big tournament?" Shelley asks.
"Yeah. Turns out he's been making a deal with a group called the 'Bad Boys'," Eliot continues, only to be interrupted again.
"Bad Boys?" Shelley asks, eyebrow raised.
"I know corny right?" Avery asks. Shelley nods his head in agreement.
"Lackey's been taking money from them to allow them to continue coming to the tournament even after they've hurt numerous kids," Eliot says.
"Wow. What about the judges?" Shelley asks.
"Being paid off not to disqualify them," Eliot answers.
"Speaking of," Hardison says, handing Eliot a piece of paper. "This is the letter Lackey sends to all of his judges and here is your drivers' license saying you are Bryan James."
Eliot takes the license and puts it in his wallet along with the paper. He looks over at his daughter; she had been quiet the whole car ride. He gets up and moves to the other side of Lucille and sits down next to her. Avery looks over at him but then continues to play with her jacket.
"Nervous?" he asks her. Avery shrugs.
"No, not really," she replies, although the butterflies in her stomach say otherwise.
"'Cause, you know, it's okay to be nervous. In fact, it help you out. Makes you better-as long as you don't let it get the best of you," Eliot says, seeing through the façade. "You're gonna do great."
"Thanks," Avery says. "I just, you know, have to make sure I don't get killed."
"Hey," Eliot says, waiting for Avery to look at him. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise. Besides, I wouldn't have agreed to this, even reluctantly, if I didn't think you could handle it."
"Yeah," Avery says, feeling better about this whole thing. "Thanks dad."
"Good," Eliot says, squeezing her shoulder. "Let's go kick some ass."
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