Chapter 2 -- Mistakes and Penances
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It wasn't normal and she didn't like it! Nadya stalked out of the publishing house and down the street, unheeding of the 5pm pedestrians about her. She'd been screwed with for the last time!
The first time, she'd been confused. The second, annoyed. The third, righteously indignant. Now, she was plain bloody angry!
When she reached her split-level studio over the Seacouver Bay, she threw her things down and punched the PLAY button on the answering machine. As if the poor white contraption had done anything to her, but she'd recently come into a serious dislike of telephones and answering machines.
The messages began to cycle through as she grabbed a Pepsi from the fridge, opening it hard enough to snap the metal tab clean off and toss it in the corner.
'The annoying prick...' Her mind was suddenly full of ways that she could kill him.
No messages from him. Only MacLeod.
"I could use a visit to the dojo." With that, she stalked to her bedroom to change.
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Duncan smiled as he felt a faint tingle, almost a tickle in the back of his brain. Nadya's pre-Immortality was getting easier to sense by the day.
"Hi, Nadya!" He turned with a smile only to see her lay two kicks—the best he'd ever seen out of her—into the hanging punching bag.
"Tell me, Mac, how'd you like a 5,000-year-old Quickening, hmm?" There was anger dripping from her voice.
'Uh-oh!'
"Something wrong?" Just then, a very powerful buzz hit Mac. 'Oy, your timing really sucks, old man!'
Nadya saw the telltale head-bob-and-scan and, immediately grabbing the short sword that he had been sharpening, she stalked towards the door...just as Methos entered. Now, a mortal girl against the oldest Immortal ever. Not much of a fight, right? But think of a girl who has the temper of a cat and a wiry frame to back it up...angry...with a sword.
When he saw the sword, Methos was a little confused but then he saw the look on Nadya's face. She wasn't Immortal yet—didn't even know she was—but she bore the look of someone ready to start chopping off heads. His brain immediately went into fight-or-flight mode: the tendency to fight back when attacked or to run for protection. And Methos usually chose the latter. But there was no need to choose this time, as it was chosen for him.
MacLeod easily disarmed his student and picked her up around her waist, tucking her small frame securely under his arm. "Let me down! I'm not going to do much! Just kill him a few times is all!" she screamed, kicking. "I, uh, think you've upset her." Mac indicated to the scowling young woman.
"No bloody joke!" Methos snatched the gladius from Mac.
"Let's find out how and why, shall we?" With that, Duncan turned for the stairs but not before Methos revenged himself on Nadya by smacking her backside with the flat of the sword. 'Might as well amuse myself if I am to be scolded,' though he had not the foggiest idea what for.
"I'm going to kill you with my bare hands!" she shrieked at him.
"Now that sounds familiar," the old man muttered to himself with a cynical curve to his mouth. 'Except there's not a cage between the psychotic woman and me this time. Wonderful way to start an evening.'
"Sit!" Duncan ordered, depositing Nadya on the nearest couch. She had calmed down considerably. Being tucked under the Highlander's arm like a sack of grain will do that to your pride.
"Now, what's wrong?"
She wouldn't speak.
"Come on, Nadya. Act your age," Duncan pleaded.
"I lost my job today," her voice was still threateningly low.
"What? Why?" Methos was taken aback. Nadya worked too hard for them to fire her.
"That book that Adam James has been promising is three months overdue. The company is losing deposit expenses with printers and booksellers. So they found it easier to fire me than to track you down."
Mentally, Methos kicked himself. Hard. He had promised Nadya's employers a book on Nefertiti, what with the entire buzz about her remains being found. He needed the extra funds. 'She was another homicidal hose-beast,' but that train of thought was for another day.
"Uhm....I forgot?"
With this revelation and lame explanation, Mac handed Nadya the sword again. "So sorry to have interrupted. Please, continue." And he left for the kitchen.
"Come on, Nadya. I'll fix it; I'll make it right. MACLEOD!! What have you been teaching her?"
"Come here, Methos. I want to show you exactly what he's taught me." Nadya took a well-aimed swipe at his mid-section. 'I'm not going to really kill him, just make him hurt for a while. Just a while.'
Mac got a cup of coffee and ignored Methos' cries for assistance. This time, "flight" indeed had the upper hand.