Protector of Men Ch 4

When she opened her eyes again, she was in a room, in an entryway to a house. Or perhaps it was a mansion.

Zandra found herself standing next to a bookcase, at its end a table lay that held the phone she just jacked in with. Ahead of her a sofa sat facing away from her, surrounded by two overstuffed chairs. A fireplace faced the group, its chimney reaching all the way to the ceiling, which was thirty feet up. Near the bookcase, to her right, was a rusty spiraling staircase that led to a loft. She thought she could see billiards tables up there. Here eyes fell back down to the ground, where she noticed more bookcases next to the staircase. Directly above her was a dusty chandelier, giving off an eerie glow in giant room. There were Persian rugs and old world trinkets everywhere. Zandra was confused. I'm supposed to fight in here? Maybe Kesia had made a mistake.

She walked over to the couch and gazed towards the loft. Yes, those were billiards tables. Zandra found herself kneading the couch with her knuckles, and was suddenly surprised at how soft the it felt.

"Feels real, doesn't it," said a voice behind her. Zandra whipped around, confused. She had expected Kesia to tell her when to start, when the program would assimilate a machine to fight her.

"But it's not," Shade said, approaching her. He stopped, five feet short of where she stood. What was he doing? It took a moment, but Zandra soon realized what he was there to do.

"No," she said quickly, alarmed. Shade looked puzzled.

"No," she repeated, eyes wide, "Kesia said it would be easy..." She began to back away from Shade, but bumped into one of the chairs before getting far. He smiled apologetically.

"I'll go easy,"

Zandra gulped. She steeled herself, getting ready for the fight, anticipating the inevitable end.

"Really," he reiterated. She mentally sighed. Zandra was tired of being told that she was doing ok, she was doing fine; she didn't want to be coddled during training.

"Fine," she retorted, ready to get it over with. She was tired of everything. "Hit me then."

Shade gave Zandra a look of uncertainty, but she gave him no recognition. He had no choice.

Before Zandra knew he had moved, he was in the air soaring towards her. She moved to run right, but before she could move a foot Shade had knocked her to the ground. She skidded a few feet before at last coming to a stop on the wooden floor.

Zandra winced in pain; her skin burned from skidding on the polished wood. It doesn't hurt, she yelled at herself, but only mumbled the words. Shade stood only inches away, doing nothing but looking down on her from above. Zandra was embarrassed that she had been beaten so early. It doesn't hurt, she told herself again through clenched teeth. Shade held out his hand, offering to help her up, but she didn't move. How dare he.

It's not over yet.

Immediately she swung around and kicked away his hand so hard that he was sent stumbling backwards, landing in one of the puffy chairs. Shade was taken aback, but accepted the changed situation readily. Cover had warned him that she might do this.

As he pulled himself out of the chair, Zandra shot past him and up the circular staircase. He followed. Zandra was lucky she had a head start, because as of then, he was much faster than she was.

Quick,she told herself, you are faster! Upon reaching the first billiards table, she turned back, a feeling of dread erupting when she saw Shade right behind her. She was going to try and land a punch, but Shade did it first, sending her stumbling into the wall behind her.

Shade hesitated again. He hated to see her in pain, but she wasn't being particularly nice about the whole thing, either. Anyway, she had to get trained somehow, and Shade had been deemed the one to do it.

Zandra's abdomen throbbed with pain. She had been caught by surprise, and silently vowed never to let it happen again. Glancing to her left, she noticed a few pool cues on a rack next to her.

It was Shade's turn to be surprised as Zandra raced back at him with the pool cue. She would not be shamed again! He jumped onto the pool table, but Zandra was a step ahead of him. Taking the cue in both of her arms, she swung the cue like a sword and knocked Shade off his feet. Belatedly he tried to jump over the cue, but in doing so, the low fan above him knocked him soaring back into the cue rack, which then fell with a crash. She had an opportunity to escape, and in taking it, she jumped on the stair railing to get back to the ground. So fast, she thought to herself as she spiraled closer to the ground, the room circling around her in a whirl. After diving into a somersault, she was able to stop her momentum and stood next to the couch awaiting Shade's attack.

What she saw next amazed her. Shade completely skipped the steps, but jumped straight to the ground from the loft as if it were nothing. You can do that too, she reassured herself. Shade was approaching her quickly, and she knew that she would have to try and fight 'mono-a-mono' until she had another opening. Anticipate, she told herself. He came up to her with his fists already flying. She was able to block one, two, it's just too fast, three...

Everything stopped. Shade had his balled fist in front of her face. The room was totally silent - neither of them moved. Checkmate.

What was he trying to be, a gentleman? This was a fight, meant to teach her about fighting. You won't hit me? She questioned silently, we'll see...

A moment later, Shade was lying on the ground. It took him a second to register what had just happened - she was gutsier than he thought. Zandra stood motionless a moment longer, her outstretched leg still in the air.

She then took her next opportunity to flee as he got back up. Turning around, she ran as fast as she could towards the telephone. She stepped onto the table and leapt off of it, aiming for the top of the bookcase. She barely made it, but she was up, though still weaponless. Shade was not far behind. He was angry now, he wanted to knock her down, show her what he could really do. She was waiting as he leapt up to the bookcase, and was somewhat delighted to see the shocked look he wore when Zandra kicked him across the room. He hit the chimney at ten feet and landed hard on the ground. Zandra smiled; she felt ready to try the offensive.

She leapt off the bookcase and landed with only a slight thud. The phone rang behind her, but she was reluctant to turn her back on Shade. This was still a fight-or-flight situation.

It rang again, and she still did not move. Shade was getting up from the ground, kicking away bits of the chimney that had been knocked off. The phone rang a third time.

"Let's go," he said, walking up to her - she prepared for another attack - and walking past her, resting his hand on the old telephone.

"We're done here, I'm finished."

With that, Shade answered the phone and disappeared. Zandra too approached the phone and waited for it to ring again.

Was he mad? He shouldn't have been hurt, it was only a program. He could have at least congratulated her on being able to land a kick - it was her first combat training...

So why was he mad?

The phone rang again. This time, she answered it on the first ring.