Chapter 4: Hurting People? Hurting People!
Amber and Aura had always been a great team.
You wouldn't know it from watching them fight together. They both ran on confidence, impulsivity, and sheer adrenaline. But they cared for each other enough that they kind of balanced each other out.
"So. How are we playing this? Knocking them out or murder?" Amber asked as they wandered through the long hallways of the warehouse basement, following the sound of a TV.
"Not sure. I guess we can figure it out as we go along."
As they turned the corner, they came to the end of the hallway. There was a single door at the end of it, with other doors, many open, lining the way. They could hear talking coming from one of the closed doors.
Aura turned towards Amber and grinned. Amber grinned back.
Aura and Amber each walked to the nearest doors, Aura on the left and Amber on the right.
Aura kicked open her door as Amber unsheathed her shortsword. They both plunged inside the rooms.
In Aura's room, men were playing cards around a table. They all looked up at the sound of the door being kicked in, some standing up.
"Hey! Who are you?!" One of them asked.
"Get her!" Another yelled as he ran towards Aura.
Aura dove for his legs, rolling into them and coming up standing, punching the guy who had been behind him in the jaw, knocking him out, then swinging around and punching guy number one in the nose as he stood up. She kicked his legs out from under him and he went down again.
Aura unsheathed her kopis and started wreaking havoc on the other four men, knocking them all out.
She left the room, following the sounds of fighting. The room Amber had first gone into was an empty storeroom, so Amber was now in the next room on the right.
Several men came running from the room with the TV.
Aura ran to the first one, ducking under his swings and punching him in the diaphragm. One of the men tried to grab her throat from behind and she moved out of the way, grabbing on his arm and sharply pulling it out of its socket as she kicked him hard in the kneecap. Another man came up behind her and pulled her arms behind her, yanking her away from the man. Aura was about to slam her head backwards into his nose and punch him in the stomach, but he grabbed her knife from its sheath on her arm and held it to her neck.
The world seemed to quiet. Aura couldn't focus on anything but the cold metal against her throat.
"Don't move, little girl. I won't hesitate to kill you."
The feeling was mutual, so Aura didn't feel particularly upset.
Amber must have heard him, because the fighting in one of the rooms cut off sharply and she came running out.
"Drop the knife and let her go," Amber said, infusing her words with charmspeak.
The knife clattered to the ground and the hand on Aura's arms loosened.
Aura quickly grabbed the knife from the floor, her heart still pounding. She slammed the hilt into the side of his head and he fell, unconscious.
She and Amber moved on to taking down the other men. They were soon the only ones in the hallway still standing.
At least, only for a second or two. They heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway and tensed.
A man with a black mask over the top half of his face turned the corner. He raised his hands in a gesture of peace.
"What are you guys doing?"
Aura and Amber exchanged glances. Amber sheathed her sword, and Aura let the hand with her knife in it fall to her side.
"Wait. Are you Daredevil?" Asked Aura.
"Yeah. Are you vigilantes?" The man asked.
"Not quite," said Amber. "We're here to rescue a kid."
"Me too. He's in that room," Daredevil pointed to the door at the far end of the hallway, the only one that was still closed. He started walking towards it.
"How do you know that?" Aura asked.
Daredevil didn't answer. He walked in between Amber and Aura, who started walking along with him.
Daredevil kicked the door in and started fistfighting with a man inside. Amber stood nearby, ready to step in if necessary, and Aura walked towards the kid, who was tied up and sitting in a corner.
Aura sheathed her weapon and squatted down to his level. He was young and terrified, eyeing her warily.
"Hey, Samuel. Are you ready to go home?"
Samuel nodded, and Aura slowly moved forward, unsheathing her knife and cutting the rope around his wrists and ankles.
The sound of fighting quieted and Aura could hear a body hitting the ground.
She held her hand out, and when Samuel put his hand in it she helped pull him to his feet. He leaned against her, unsteady.
Amber, who was better with kids, put her arm around Samuel and took him from Aura. Amber's gentle smile and protective manner always worked wonders.
"I can take it from here," Daredevil offered. "He'll be safe with me."
"Absolutely not. We can get him home," Aura countered.
They had a silent standoff. Aura was not about to give a vulnerable thirteen-year-old over to a stranger, even if that stranger was Daredevil. And Daredevil had no reason to trust two random teenage girls.
Daredevil sighed. "Alright, we'll take him together."
…
The walk over to Samuel's house was incredibly awkward. No one said anything.
Aura wondered what Daredevil thought about her and Amber, and if he would want to how two teenagers had knocked out the entire hallway. They were both an odd sight. Amber's outfit was decently normal, but it was spattered in blood, and the shortsword in its sheath hanging from her waist kind of ruined the effect. Aura was wearing black cargo pants, sturdy combat boots, and a tucked-in AC/DC T-shirt. She was also spattered in blood. She had a knife strapped to her arm and her kopis was hanging from her belt. Not to mention her reinforced fingerless gloves, which she loved more than life itself.
It was hard to tell how curious he was about them, because his mask covered his eyes.
When they arrived at Samuel Ferreira's apartment, the lights were on.
Daredevil stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Ms. Ferreira? Your son is here."
They could hear rapid footsteps, and the door was unlocked and thrown open.
"Samuel?" Ms. Ferreira asked.
"Mamãe!" Samuel cried and ran into her arms.
There were lots of tears and relieved words in Portuguese. Amber, Aura, and Daredevil just stood there awkwardly.
Ms. Ferriera soon turned her attention to them.
Still clutching her son like he could be taken from her any second, she said, "Thank you. Thank you so much."
Daredevil said, "Of course, ma'am. It was no trouble. We're just happy that he's safe."
Amber grinned charismatically at her, and Ms. Ferriera swooped Aura and Amber into her arms.
"You two are too young for heroing. But thank you. Thank you."
Aura and Amber hugged her back. Ms. Ferriera's joy was contagious.
It was at least twenty minutes before the three could leave. Ms. Ferriera insisted on giving them food, and worried over the blood on Aura and Amber, checking them for injuries. Daredevil was calm and polite, but Aura and Amber were unused to a caring mother figure and didn't know how to react to the attention.
When they did leave, Daredevil was carrying a plastic container of Feijoada, Amber was flustered, and Aura kept yawning, unable to contain her exhaustion.
When the three were on the sidewalk outside of the apartment building, Daredevil turned to them.
"So. Are you two going to explain anything?"
Aura didn't feel like dealing with this. Amber sighed.
"There's really nothing we can say that would reassure you. How about we just call this a success and move on with our lives?" Aura offered.
Daredevil was quiet for a moment. Then he held his hand out. Aura shook it.
"Sure. But please, be careful," he said.
Aura got the feeling that he really did care what happened to them.
Amber smiled cockily. "Careful isn't really our thing. But we'll do our best."
Daredevil smiled in return and the three parted ways.
It was almost ten by the time Aura and Amber got back to Aura's apartment. Amber pulled out her phone and flopped onto Aura's old couch. Aura had never seen her go to bed before eleven. Aura, though, had to be up at three-thirty, so she got ready for bed.
It took a while for Aura to fall asleep. She had a deep feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Something big was going on, and she was going to have to deal with it.