Part III
Beginnings
"My, my… Aren't you one feisty little shit?" Laughed a man of which Aya had not heard before. Her gaze was hazy but clear enough to see she had been put into a bed so that she could rest. "Not many of you women dare speak to filth of those types. You impressed me!"
"Uh… Who…" Aya rubbed her head as she slowly sat up, holding the covers over her chest. "Who are you..?" She then asked as she tried to scan the room she was in. It certainly wasn't hers.
The man chuckled. "Ha! You went through a tad back there. May be still a little confused to be asking questions, don't ya think? So let me ask some simple ones. What's yer' name, little fury?"
She rubbed her temple, eyes closed as the room was still slightly spinning. "… Aya." She mumbled, looking over and then up at this towering figure. "Aya Tybur." The young woman then lifted her arm, as best she she could, showing a silver bracelet embracing her wrist with small engravings on it. "That's how I know myself."
"Tybur, ey?" He replied, though that wide grin dropped quicker than he was able to slash at the throats of those men. The way he said Aya's surname, she couldn't help but feel that he had heard it once before. "Aye, may as well giver yer' my name. It's Kenny. Kenny Ackerman."
Aya shrugged her shoulders, using her tongue to then clear out her mouth as an awful aftertaste lingered within. "You say your name like you expect me to have heard it before?" She sighed, glaring up at him. "Look, 'Kenny'. Thank you for… doing what you did. Can't say that they never had it coming. But this a window for me to get out of this place now, right? And I don't want to be held back from getting up to the surface anymore..."
Kenny chuckled heartily, gaining a confused look from Aya. "This is why yer' such a little fury, kiddo. Despite what those men where doin', you had some fight stored away, am I right?"
"You don't know anything about me!" Aya snapped, lifting her legs to her chest to then wrap her arms around them. A show of vulnerability. "For all I know, you're one of them... For all I know... Everyone is one of them..."
"You don't know anything about me." He mimicked, causing more agitation with Aya. "Nah, I just think you ladies deserve more than what those poor bastards were giving you. One thing I taught my nephew, that! Never raised yer' hand to a lady!"
"Oh. How gentlemen of you…" Muttered Aya, clearly being sarcastic, folding her arms.
Kenny knelt down on one knee. The room silent for a moment as he simply stared at her. It was a gaze that unnerved Aya and she felt uncomfortable. "I suppose I have it in me to help yer' out." Kenny somewhat offered. "I can teach yer', how to defend yourself. How to survive, like all fighters can. I taught my nephew all I knew and now he's left to live life how he see fits. You can have that too, little fury."
Aya rubbed her arms as he spoke to her. To get anywhere in life these days, for women especially, they get further when they know how to fight. How to live with purpose, focused on a goal. Maybe this is what Aya needed. Maybe this was her out to a better life. Be it down here in the Underground, or up there in the sun among the rest of humanity. Aya looked up at Kenny, her eyes filtered with water as tears strolled down her pale cheeks. "Why…? What's in it for you?"
The man just simply shrugged. "I ain't gonna become your stand-in father or anything. I'll make that clear. But this is all I got... Can you afford to say no?"
