Lioness

Negan paced slowly in front of Rick and his group, swinging that damn bat he called Lucille. As he opened his mouth to speak, a sharp voice interrupted him.

"Really? Seriously? You've got these folks on their knees, some of them obviously badly hurt and you're going to pace around and swing that stupid bat around and run your yap for God knows how long?"

Negan stopped in his tracks and frowned. "Who the fuck is interrupting me?" he barked.

From behind Rick's group a man came forward dragging a woman. She was small, but apparently could take care of herself judging from the scratch marks and bloodied nose the man sported. She herself had a swelled and bleeding lip and an eye that would be purple soon.

Negan raised an eyebrow. "Who is this?" he asked, interest obvious on his face.

The man dragging her along smirked. "One of Ezekiels's. Thought we got 'em all, but she slipped away. Tracked her down though and just now got back with her," he said proudly, then yelped in surprise as the woman viciously elbowed him in the abdomen.

Negan laughed. "Well I'd heard he has a tiger, didn't know he had a lioness too," he crooned as he stepped closer to the woman and ran his eyes appreciatively over her figure. She was curvy but fit, with a wealth of auburn curls spilling messily over her shoulder, loose from her struggles with the man. Her eyes met Negan's without hesitation, and she smiled contemptuously before she spit at him. Negan laughed again.

"Damn this little lady has more fight in her than all of you poor bastards put together," he crowed to Rick and his group.

The woman snorted. "Oh for Christ's sake you stupid asshole. You've got them surrounded by your fuckboys after having beaten some of them," and here she ventured a glance at the group, "and it looks like at least one has been shot. What kind of fight do you expect them to have?"

Negan smirked at her. "Am I supposed to just let them go? They've killed my men, a lot of my men, and they have to pay."

The woman snorted again in derision. "And how many of them have you killed? Or Hilltop? Or my group? But that's okay, right? Big Bad Negan can do whatever he wants, everyone else has to kowtow to him." She spat at him again. "Why don't you try fighting fair just once! One on one, none of your fucktards can help you when you start getting your ass handed to you. None of their group can help. If you win, they do as you say. If they win, you leave them the fuck alone," the woman shouted. Her chest heaved and angry tears spilled unheeded down her cheeks.

Negan nodded thoughtfully. "That's a very good idea. I'll let you pick who gets the honor of getting crushed with Lucille," he said as he swung his bat menacingly toward Rick's group.

"I guess you're deaf as well as stupid," she hissed. Negan turned toward her again and glared. "I said you fight one on one. No weapons-and that includes that piece of shit bat you have." She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently.

By now, the woman had Rick's groups undivided attention. Who the hell was this woman? They each considered themselves brave and fearless after all they'd been through-but this woman was purposely goading Negan without hesitation. She was either incredibly brave or incredibly foolish.

Negan growled, his indulgence of this woman at an end. She was no longer amusing –he needed to shut her down before his men absorbed much more of her attitude. "Alright then. I'm game. You pick, and I'll fight that person. If I win, they do as I say AND one of them gets to meet Lucille up close and personal. If they win, and that WON'T happen, they can go and I leave them alone. FOR NOW."

The woman huffed a breath of disgust. "You fucking pussy," she sneered. Negan straightened up as if he'd been slapped.

"You're pushing your luck bitch," he snarled.

The woman shrugged carelessly. "You don't scare me. All you ever do is huff and puff and run your mouth….." here she began to mimic his stance and started to walk similar to how he'd been strutting in front of Rick's group. "Blah blah blah….meet Lucille…blah blah blah….you can cry, you can moan, but you can't scream….blah blah…." She stopped and smiled contemptuously at him. Negan had a look of rage on his face. The woman laughed. "What? Did you think your performances were private? I've watched you do this act a couple of times by now. Had to bite my lip to keep from laughing too loud," she shook her head in bemusement. "Jesus you're cheesy. What movie did you get all that crap from? One of those Xmen, Superman, Batman whatever you fuckboys used to read at those nerdnic book stores? Christ, I bet before all this happened you were lucky to get a date much less laid, you pathetic loser," she snarled.

Negan threw Lucille, barely missing Sasha, and roared. "You fucking bitch!" He stood clenching his fists –looking somewhat like a bull about to rush a matador. If he'd had a tail, it would be twitching.

The woman laughed. "Truth hurts doesn't it?" she taunted.

"I'm going to make you regret you ever met me," he hissed.

"I think it'll be the other way around," she whispered, standing her ground unblinking. Her eyes flicked to Abraham and then to Rick. Abraham's eyes widened and he cautiously looked over toward Rick. Rick looked as if someone had just slapped him awake. All of them started glancing at each other surreptiously, realizing that this was the distraction they needed to hopefully surprise Negan's men so they could make a break for it.

As Negan approached the woman, Abraham and the others with the exception of Maggie and Daryl, stood and began fighting back against some of the closer men. Glen grabbed Maggie and began leading her toward the RV. He would have to come back for Daryl, who was slumped half over barely conscious from blood loss.

Negan paid no attention to his men, confident that they would overpower Rick and his group. He continued to advance on the woman, incredulous that she wasn't backing away from him. As he launched himself at her, she neatly sidestepped him and hurled a kick at his side. He stumbled and looked at her in shock and surprise.

"What's the matter? Don't remember how to fight someone without a hundred guys to back your sorry ass up, and that crappy bat in your hand?" she snarled.

"Who the fuck are you?" he snarled.

"I'm someone who didn't survive all the bullshit going down the last two years or so only to have some miserable bully fuck up my plans," she spat back. "People like you never get it-you never see the big picture. All you ever think about is paying the world back for whatever wrongs you think it did you. Now that you've bullied your way into being some version of evil dictator like you used to read about in your stupid comic books, you think you're a big deal. You forgot that those guys always got their asses handed to them by the end of the story," she continued. She whistled and there was an answering whistle. Negan stared in shock as a group of men swarmed his and began helping Rick's group decimate his. "You fool. Did you really think your man caught me? It was a set up, so my men could follow us back to you." She laughed in derision and whistled again. Four men appeared and roughly began to bind Negan's hands behind his back.

The woman sauntered over and picked up Negan's bat where it lay abandoned. She swung it lightly as if testing its weight, then shook her head in disgust. Striding back she saw Glen trying to get Daryl up and standing and crossed over to help him. She placed Daryl's bloodied arm over her shoulder and began crossing to the RV with Daryl propped between her and Glen. As they passed Negan she tossed the bat at one of the men holding Negan. "Hold onto this for me, I've got something special planned for it," she mumbled. The man nodded and picked the bat up from the ground where it'd landed.

Negan struggled briefly against the men holding him. "Hey what are your plans for me?" he yelled to her.

"That's for me to know and you to think about," she said over her shoulder as they led Daryl over to the RV.