The Treasure
An Original Elektra Fan Fiction By: Jennifer S. Started: January 24, 2005Finished:
Disclaimer:
I do not own Elektra or any other Marvel Comics characters. This is a fan fiction story meant only for the enjoyment of myself and other Elektra movie and comic fans.
Title: The Treasure
Genre: Action/Adventure, Romance, Fantasy, Comics
Setting: This story is set in the Elektra Movie-verse
Rating: PG-13, for violence
Written By: Jennifer S. a.k.a. AssissinElektra
Chapter 4
"Any idea where we are?" I asked Amanda, looking around at the dark alley the warehouse had opened to.
"We're in New York." She answered simply.
"How can you tell?" I asked, and then we passed a dumpster, and I saw a homeless man sleeping beside it. "Oh." I said, my question answered. "You grew up here, right?" I asked, trying to make conversation.
"If you can call being tortured by The Hand growing up, then yes, I did." Amanda said, bitterly. She stepped out of the alley and onto the sunlit sidewalk, shielding her eyes from the brightness with a hand delicately perched over her eyebrows.
A guy in his mid-twenties walked by and whistled, checking her out. I can't blame him, because Amanda is pretty stunning in her tight leather outfit. You think Elektra had a nice outfit? You should see Amanda's! It's nothing more than pants and a corset, but they are both decorated with ancient Japanese symbols that hold some meaning to Amanda personally. If you took one look at Amanda's perfectly toned stomach and muscular, yet feminine, arms, you would know that she worked out every chance she got. So, I couldn't blame the guy for looking. Amanda, of course, did.
She tripped him first, then—once he was lying on the ground trying to catch his breath—she shoved the heal of her boot under his chin and held him down.
"Women aren't objects to lust after, you pig." She snapped at the man, who was so afraid that he was sweating all over the sidewalk. "Understand?"
"Ye…yeah." He managed to say, looking at her with fear the entire time.
"Get out of here." Amanda said, and the man jumped up and took off as soon as she had lifted her boot.
"Did that feel good?" I asked her, and even I could hear the amusement in my voice.
"Sure." She said, rubbing her wrists.
"Are you okay?" I asked, walking over to her. She pulled away, not letting me see her wrists. "Amanda…" She sighed then finally held her hands out, wrists facing me. I saw the bloody rings around them and knew right away that she hadn't gotten her handcuffs unlocked at all. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked her, gingerly taking her hands into mine.
"It's not as bad as it looks. It's just bleeding a lot." Amanda said, quickly.
"Let me cauterize it." I said, and she nodded. I pulled out my lighter and snatched a small flame from it with one of my fingers. Then, I gently cauterized Amanda's wrists. They stopped bleeding, but I could tell she was in a great deal of pain.
"Let's get to my apartment." I said. "We can bandage them there." I took a step out into the street and suddenly realized that I was lost.
"You know, I've lived here for a year now and I still don't know my way around." I said, smiling.
"We should go to my apartment." Amanda said. "Kismet knows where you live." She added, looking at me.
"You're right. You know, I really am dumber than I look." I told her, and she smiled. "Lead the way." I said, as I followed her down the sidewalk.
She looked at the ground, then looked up fiercely at me. "What's your story?" She asked.
"Well, I grew up like any normal kid until I learned I could control water and fire. As soon as I learned that I realized I was too good for the world, so I broke away from my family and friends and started working for Kismet." I said. "That's pretty much it."
"You're lying." Death had told me, and she had been right. But, how she'd known I still don't know. "There's more to your story."
"Maybe there is, and maybe there isn't." I had told Death, not wanting to get into the story of my life. I wanted more than anything to change the subject.
"It's okay." Death said. "I have a problem trusting people too." She sighed. "There are a lot of freaks out there. People just waiting to hurt you."
"You had to grow up fast, didn't you?" I asked her, and I remember feeling sorry for her.
Silent Death shifted her blue eyes and looked at me. "You have no idea." She said.
"No. He really doesn't." Both Death and I jumped to our feet and looked at Kismet. At the time I had wondered how he got there so quickly, and so silently, because the last thing I had heard he was still in New York City, waiting for me to return with The Treasure.
"But, I know exactly how your childhood went, now don't I?" Kismet smiled slyly at Death, and I was very surprised to see real fear in her eyes. Kismet is an intimidating man, especially for those who know him, but I had never expected Death to be afraid of him.
"After all Amanda, Kismet continued, and she bunched her hand into a fist at the mention of her real name, "We grew up together." He finished.
Amanda's mouth opened slightly, as if she was going to say something, but she did not. Tears swelled in her beautiful eyes as she looked at Master Kismet, and I had wondered at the time what sort of a past she had with him.
"And you, Jeremy." Kismet looked at me. "I'm very disappointed with you." Even though he's roughly my age, Kismet had always held an air of superiority. From his dark hair and eyes to his perfectly toned body, he had always been more of a man than a boy.
"Why do you both look so unhappy? Did you not ask for me to come to you myself? My men relayed the message before I killed them for failing me." Kismet said, smugly. Then he walked over to stand in front of Amanda. She did not move even when he reached a hand out and touched her cheek, she just took deep breaths and closed her eyes at his touch.
"I've missed you." Kismet told her, his voice actually sounding a little tender.
Amanda opened her eyes slowly and looked at him without moving her head. "You chose a life I could never be a part of." She told him, her tone serious. He pulled his hand away and glared at her.
"So instead you chose to kill for a living. Tell me, Amanda, how is that different from what I do?" Kismet asked, his glare intensifying.
"I don't kill the innocent." Amanda had said, and that had been when the first real wave of quilt had swept over my soul. "The people I'm hired to kill are criminals, rich villain who would otherwise hide behind lawyers and their own money. You kill anything that defies you and The Hand." The mention of The Hand had sent violent chills up my spine.
It only took us about an hour to walk to Amanda's apartment. Once we got there, I felt like doing nothing but going to sleep and never waking up again. I walked towards her couch until I realized that she was still standing in the doorway.
"What?" I asked.
"Someone's been in here." She said. "Someone that wasn't me." She added, looking around. She pulled her spear off of the strap that held it to her back and took a cautious step forward.
I focused on the water that dripped from her kitchen facet, harnessing it's energy so that it would become a gushing wave at my command, and held my lighter ready if I needed to use it.
Amanda walked over to the bar that led to her kitchen, looking over every little detail of every stool. Then she stopped and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was smiling.
"It was Abby." Amanda told me, throwing her spear back into its holster. "And she left something here for me." She walked over to her small living room and I followed. We found a brown, leather bag, which looked quite old, resting on her coffee table.
Amanda reached out and opened it. The bag unfolded to form a long showcase of weapons. There were sai strapped in on one end, and on the other end were two golden chains—both thick and strong. In the center there was one small, empty loop. Amanda's mouth fell open as she looked at it.
"Do you know what this is, Jeremy?" She asked me, looking up from the weapons.
"Should I?" I asked, not knowing what else to say. The bag meant nothing to me.
"This was Elektra's weapons bag." Amanda said, gently pulling the two sai out and flipping them around with expert ease. The sai were highly decorated and polished to look more beautiful than any I had ever seen.
Amanda sat them back onto the brown leather and held up one of the chains. "This was Abby's." She explained to me, flipping it around like a weapon. "Funny how she was so lethal with jewelry. I remember I laughed when she told me it was her main weapon." Amanda smiled, remembering something I could not relate to.
Then her face suddenly changed and she pulled a piece of paper out from a pocket in the leather. Slowly she opened it, with ease that showed she knew what it said and did not want to read it. But, she read it anyway, and tears fell from her eyes when she finally sat the paper down.
"Elektra is dead." She said, not looking at me. She just stared straight ahead, burning holes through the wall.
"How?" I asked.
"She was trying to rescue Dare Devil from Kingpin." Amanda told me. "She rescued him, but in the end they were both killed." She wiped her eyes. "I imagine they died happy in each others arms." She said, forcing herself to smile.
"What about Abby?" I asked, and Amanda looked at me finally.
"She's decided to retire." Amanda said. "She said she wants me to carry on the tradition and protect those who can not defend themselves. But, I can't." She added, quickly.
"Why not?" I asked her, but I knew the answer.
"I've done horrible things, Jeremy."
"We've had this conversation." I told her. "And it was you that said we could stay on the good side. Don't forget your own words so soon, Amanda." I said.
"You're right." She said, standing. She reached down and grabbed Elektra's sai, then flipped them and hooked them into her belt. She picked up one of Abby's chains and wrapped it onto one of the sai's handles. Amanda chose to wear the other chain, and the silver color looked great against her skin.
I smiled as I admired her beauty, then walked over to the kitchen to get a drink of water. What I saw sitting on the table surprised me. "Um, Amanda?" She came in quickly. "Did Abby leave that too?" I asked. Her mouth fell open again.
"There was a time, Amanda, when you would beg me to hold you in my arms." Master Kismet told her. "A time when I meant the world to you."
"I was young and naive, not to mention desperate." Amanda snapped back. "But, I learn from my mistakes."
"Is that what you think I was?" Kismet scoffed. "A mistake? I cared about you!" He shouted, showing more emotion than I had ever seen in the years I'd worked for him. "I told you everything, I held nothing back, and I was willing to give you everything!"
"You cared about power!" Amanda shouted back, glaring at him. "You never cared about me or anyone else, and you never will! You are incapable of feeling any human emotion besides hate! Do you realize how much I would have liked to stay? But, I didn't, because even then I could see that you didn't really care about me."
Master Kismet looked at her for a moment in silence, then spoke quietly and calmly. "I freed you, Amanda. They would have held you for years, would still be holding you now, but I freed you."
"After betraying me to join their ranks." Amanda said.
"Maybe I betrayed you because it was the only way to free you, and I wanted that more than anything." He said.
"Then why are you still working for them now?" Amanda asked, her voice accusing.
"Because I realized that they were right all along." Kismet replied. "And I hope that one day you will be wise and see it too."
"Am I missing something?" I asked, and they both looked over at me. I'll never forget the look they gave me—and they both had the same look—it was like I had walked in on them making out or something and they wanted to kill me for it.
"We have a…history." Amanda said, choosing her words carefully.
To Be Continued…
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