Chapter 9:
Gaia walked down the street, on her way to meet Chrissy at Krispy Kreme. She wasn't sure if she'd ever graduate from high school. It seemed so useless and so completely boring. She was a genius. She knew that, but apparently it didn't count if she didn't graduate. Just then, she heard someone talking. It wasn't just the bustling people of New York City; she knew that voice. It was Chrissy.
Gaia narrowed her eyes and blessed her incredible hearing. Halfway down the block, she stopped, putting her ear against a crack in the flap of the plastic curtains shielding the construction site.
"You want to fight?"
"If I win, you let me see Gaia one last time. I won't say anything important. I just want to tell her I'm ok. If you win, I leave right away."
"If you say so." Gaia's eyes widened. No. She suddenly bolted around the side of the construction site, dropping her backpack, uncaring about any of her schoolwork, and found a back entrance. As soon as she got to the opposite side, away from other pedestrians, after knocking down several people, she halted at another flap in the curtain and peaked in, moving it ever so slightly.
And what she saw made her blood boil.
She saw who it was. And she couldn't believe it. Sam had been right. Oliver couldn't do this. He wouldn't. This must be Loki. After everything that had happened, Loki was going through all this trouble to keep her secrets secret. God forbid she tell someone about what happened that night.
Gaia suddenly hated herself for what she'd done to Sam. After she thought that Oliver was completely back to normal, and she knew he had been, he'd wanted to make amends. And she'd made Sam go to meet him. Then Sam had freaked out. And it was understandable. Loki had kidnapped him, among other things. But he had been right. Loki was back.
Gaia's muscles tightened angrily and she gnashed her teeth together as she saw Loki hit her hard on the side of her head. After forcing herself to wait until he had circled around three steps, when his back was to her, she and leapt inside the area. The arena. That's what it was. She was going to fight him and she didn't care how badly she hurt him. Because nothing she did could ever make up for what he'd put her through. It wasn't Oliver anymore. She could finally beat up Loki.
A flying kick smacked him in the back, catching him off guard, and he fell to the ground with a grunt. Gaia fell into a strong fighting stance.
"Chrissy, back off," she ordered, keeping her gaze locked on her uncle. "Why are you doing this?" Gaia hissed to Loki. He looked up to her before he swept her legs out from under her, bringing her down to his level before he stood up. She gnashed her teeth as she fell to the ground. He stood up, glaring at her for a moment, before he started to walk away. She stood as well.
"Why?" she yelled. He turned around.
"There is no way something like this is happening again. I couldn't stand when it happened with Mary. You named names so quickly with Chrissy and you cannot do that. Confiding in someone like this…" Gaia suddenly couldn't hear him anymore. She stopped breathing. She could only stare into his cold, hard eyes.
This definitely wasn't Oliver. This was Loki. And he had just admitted to killing Mary.
Gaia took in a quick breath before tightening her position and attacking. She threw punch after angry punch. The mercy her father had taught her was completely gone from her mind. Any leniency she would have given to a punk in Washington Square Park was gone. She only thought of one thing: the facts that her uncle himself had given her. The training he had used. What she had learned at the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument.
Keep your combat strong…fight…until your enemy is dead…
He blocked the strikes quickly, but the adrenaline Gaia was pumped with gave her strength like she had never had before. Round-house kicks. Left hooks. Right hooks. Some strategies that she had only used while training with him when she was six.
He had a firm expression on his face and did his best to defend and attack as well. Gaia remembered when she thought she'd been fighting someone Skizz, Mary's drug dealer, had hired. And she realized now that it had been Loki. All along, it had been him. And she'd almost beaten him, but she realized that Mary was dying so she had to go to be with her.
After so much fighting, and after him even striking back, attempting to subdue her, Gaia knew that she could win. She knew that, even though Oliver would always win at combat with her father, she could win against him. She had anger in her that she'd never known before. And, although her father had told her that anger could hinder her combat skills, she controlled it. And propelled it into strength.
And finally she got the opportunity that she'd been looking for. She grabbed his wrist and slammed her elbow into his stomach before snapping up her knee, simultaneously snapping his arm down. She heard the crack he was looking for before flipping him over her shoulder.
The slashing dragon. The one move that her father had been horrified Loki had taught her when he'd taken her out of kindergarten lunch to train her.
He hit the ground hard, but she wasn't done. She picked him up by his shirt and punched him in his stomach and his face, time after time. He finally fell, unable to get up, making a feeble attempt to block off the attack.
And that's when Gaia saw the gun.