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Strike of the Hyena
Tigress rubbed her cold limbs. Great, the heat is out again, she thought. Beside her on the mattress, Venus shivered. Tigress piled more blankets a top the small child, and kissed her lightly.
"You deserve better than this. You deserve a father, a nice home, and a good place to grow up. Sadly, Jump City and I can offer none of that," she whispered sadly to the sleeping girl.
Tigress got up and went to the kitchen. Strategically placed pans caught rainwater leaking from the roof. The scratched cabinets, some missing doors, creaked as she opened them to fetch some tea to warm her.
He shook he head. Her new life was interesting, to say the least. A job as a waitress in a run-down diner, a dilapidated small loft on top of an abandoned factory, and a beautiful daughter named Venus.
Flashback
Tigress sat in the hospital bed, rain pounding on the windows outside. She cradled her sleeping newborn. She was small, smaller than a full-term baby should be. But she was already breathtaking. Finely sculpted features, hypnotizing jade eyes, just her mother's. And the hair. A full head of jet black hair, just her father's, a man Tigress was trying to forget. This child would be a reminder of the life Tigress once led, a life she swore never to go back to.
"May love follow you everywhere, and may you embrace it. Be brave, loving and lucky my daughter. That's all you'll ever need."
End Flashback
Hyena waited on the fire escape. He hesitated and mentally slapped himself for agreeing to this. Tigress had been right to leave this life of killing and preying on the timid. Here he was, swords sharpened, clothed in his uniform, and ready to kick butt. He gulped and climbed though window into Tigress's apartment.
Tigress sniffed and heard soft footsteps. Someone was here and it wasn't Venus.
He crept into the kitchen but no one was there. He waited. Suddenly, a woman clad in only a short tight nightgown jumped him. He raised his swords just in time to block the attack. She stood there, sai entangled in his swords.
"Tigress?" he breathed.
"Hyena?" she said surprised. "I guess Slade found me. So why don't you just kill me. I wouldn't want you to go home empty handed." She dropped her sai and waited for his killing blow.
He stood there. She was just handing him victory. Slade might promote him for slaying the Tigress, the one of the best warriors ever born. But this was his friend. What was more important, a better job, or a guiltless life?
He moved to strike and then couldn't. He willed himself to, but he wouldn't move. They stood there for a couple minutes.
Flashback
"Hyena, do dream of a life better than this?" Tigress asked. They sat in the dark living room, rain pattering on the glass. Everyone had retired to their room but him and her.
"Sometimes…" he sighed.
"How did you become, well, a fighter?"
He stared longingly out the window. "I grew up in the high- class suburbs, a time before this. My dad was a stockbroker and my mom, a regular June Cleaver. My beloved sister, May. And then there was Black Thursday. The economy disintegrated. My father, whose whole life revolved around the economy, lost everything. We had to sell the house and move to the tenements. I was 6. May was 8. My father was in and out of these minimum wage jobs. He became a junkie. All the money he made, which wasn't much, went to his habit. We didn't have food or decent clothes. The only thing that kept me hoping was May. She took care of me and she loved me unconditionally. And I loved her. One day, May, who was always sickly, became ill. The health in tenements was poor. Open sewers, communal bathrooms, polluted air. She died. My angel, my savior, gone at 11 years old. My mom, although she'd never admit it, loved May more. Mom was living a nightmare. Riches to rags, an addict for a husband, a dead daughter, and a son she had to raise on her own." He was crying, remembering all that had gone so wrong so quickly.
"Mom took her own life soon after May died. I was left with my father. He was not the man he used to be. He was abusive. I ran away when I was 10. Joined a gang. I was dedicated and the leader noticed. He took me under his wing. Taught me the way of the sword and the streets. The father I had once, reincarnated. He was kind and gentle. By the time I was 15 the gang had doubled in size. I was second in command. One day I was walking through an alley and saw my father. He was a bum, unshaven and wearing beyond tattered clothing. He saw me and recognized me. I stopped and stared him. He told me he was sorry for everything. For May, for Mom, for me. I told him it was too little, much too late. I told him he was a coward and an addict. Told him how if had fought if he hadn't just gone without a struggle like he did May and Mom would still be alive. Told him if he had been a man we would have gotten through it. I told him he was no father of mine. And I'll never forget the look in his eyes. The saddest, most sorrowful look I've ever. I never saw him after that. I quit the gang and tried out for the D.S.F."
Tigress was silent. "Hyena, I will always be there for you," she said at last. "When we escape this life, will you be there with me?"
"Yes. I could be your nanny."
Tigress chuckled and together they watched the rain pour down.
End Flashback
"I can't." He dropped his swords and pulled off his face covering. "I just can't. I can't kill a friend. But Slade will torture me for my decision not to kill you…"
Hyena brightened. "But, long ago, I said I would be pleased to be your nanny…"
Tigress smiled, remembering that night. She rapped three times on a nearby dresser, which slid away, revealing another bedroom, a safe haven.
Slade seethed. It had been 2 days and Hyena had not returned. He paced before the remaining D.S.F.
"Hyena has failed to complete his mission. This failure is intolerable and if he ever shows his face here again, he will be killed. Oh well, Hyena was always weak. Too compassionate. Furthermore, failure in this mission means DEATH! Anyone who either dies trying to kill her or hides with her, as I fear Hyena has done, will die a traitor." Slade said.
"Bear you will go now." Bear turned to leave but Slade's menacing voice stopped him. "If you find Hyena, kill him, too. And Bear remember. If you don't kill her I will kill you. Do you understand?"
"Yes my lord."
Hyena played with Venus while Tigress was at work. It had been a week since Slade had given him his assignment. He frowned, knowing that another one of the D.S.F. would be here to kill all three of them shortly.
Venus sensed his anxiety. "Is something wrong, Uncle Hyena?"
He stared at the 4 year old. "No. Nothing." He smiled. "Show me your new moves." As if a power switch had been flipped in her brain, Venus launched into complex martial arts maneuvers. She twirled her sai with expert precision. She finished and bowed. Hyena ruffled her hair. "Now you're one tyke I wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley." Venus smiled shyly.
Unbeknownst to Hyena, Bear watched from a neighboring rooftop. He lowered his binoculars and talked into his walkie-talkie.
"My lord, Hyena is hiding out with Tigress. I repeat, Hyena is in the loft with Tigress."
"Excellent," came Slade's voice through the static. "Kill him when you kill Tigress. Maybe a nice gunshot to the head."
"My lord," Bear continued, "There is also a child."
"A child?" Slade didn't bother hide his surprise. "So Tigress is a mother. How old?"
"About 3 or 4."
"Hmmmmmm... kill the child too."
Bear almost gasped but held it in. "It will be done." With that he flicked off the power strip and stared at the walkie talkie. He sighed. Killing a child. He would burn hell for this. Not that he wasn't going already. He almost wished he hadn't ratted on Hyena's whereabouts. He didn't want to kill him or the girl. Or Tigress for that matter.
"I'm sorry." He whispered to the wind.
Wolf sat on his bed. He knew that Bear would fail. Raven might too. Tigress would defeat Mamba. She would not defeat him like the first time they met. A fight for which was forever branded into his back.
Flashback
Slade walked into Wolf's infirmary room, avoiding looking at Wolf's bandaged back.
"Have we learned our lesson, Wolf?" asked Slade rhetorically.
"Yes." Wolf said. Slade nodded in approval. He ran his hand over Wolf's back. Wolf hissed in pain. Slade smiled. "You, Bear, Raven, a dagger and small weapons expert, and Tigress, the broad who beat you, have all been chosen for the team. Congrats."
Slade turned to leave but stopped in the doorway and hissed, "And if you are ever beaten again, you'll thing that branding was day the park compared to what I'll do to you. No son of mine, adopted or not, gets beaten by anyone. I rescued you from the orphanage and trained to the peak of human perfection. Don't disappoint me." And with that he left.
End Flashback.
No, Wolf would never be beaten again.
Well that's it for Chapter 2. Hope you liked it. You know the deal. 5 reviews new chapter. Until next time, adios!