Again I own nothingggg
In which training begins
Sloane had kindly allowed Evangeline the rest of the day by herself in her room. Allowing Fox to lead her upstairs to the living quarters, she was shown a rather Spartan space, complete with the usual necessities: bed, mirror, closet, a flat surface or two. As soon as she was left alone, Evangeline curled up in the center of that saggy mattress and hugged her knees to her chest. What had she gotten herself into this time? Out of the frying pan, into the fire as they say. She had the nearly unbearable urge to go to Sloane, ad proclaim that it was all a mistake. Surely it was all a mistake. But something in the darkest recesses of her mind told her to stay. As hostile as the environment was, she felt some sort of raw magnetism holding her in place.
Another day wouldn't hurt, right?
Unfortunately for Evangeline, "hurt" was the general theme of the next few days. Almost as soon as she had fallen asleep, Evangeline felt the covers being ripped from her body and a rush of cold air made her instinctively curl tighter into the fetal position. Before she could come to her senses, Fox had tossed a white t-shirt and black sweats on her bed. "Comon kid, we got a lot of stuff to cover today." On her lips was the faintest trace of amusement that managed to escape Evangeline in her sleep induced stupor. Without another word, the girl dragged herself from bed and began dressing.
It was another two minutes before she had found her way out onto the landing outside her room. It was there that she was met with Fox and Sloane. The leader of the Fraternity turned and greeted her with an almost paternal smile. "Ah, Evangeline. I hope you found your room to your liking?" Never one to be impolite, Evangeline returned with a smile of her own and a soft "Yes, thank you."
Sloane rubbed his hands together. "Good good, now did Fox alert you to today's itinerary?" Evangeline shook her head no. "Well then, follow me, and we'll walk and talk." Evangeline scurried after him and began walking slightly behind Fox and Sloane as they led her to what looked like the freezer they were in the day before. The man she knew as the Butcher stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by carnage from the day's slaughter. In his hands he held two knives, sharpening the edges against each other.
The burly man regarded her with an air of misgiving. "She looks smaller than she did yesterday." Evangeline furrowed her brows and gave him a look of mild annoyance.
Sloane gave a small chuckle. "Nonetheless, do what you can with her. Fox?" He gave a small nod of acknowledgement to the woman standing behind him before walking out of the room. Fox remained, and placed herself on a set of stairs near the door.
Evangeline only had a few seconds to survey the situation before her attention was called back to the man standing center stage. "Let's see what you can do with these." Out of nowhere, one of the knives came flying at her head. It was by pure chance that her hand shot out to catch it by the wooden handle. "Alright, come at me."
She stood frozen. Come at him? It perfectly confirmed in her mind that the Butcher was insane. Taking a deep breath and preparing her body to whip through the techniques she had studied since she was a child, Evangeline braced herself before running at the man. The Butcher was surprisingly quick for a man of his size, but Evangeline's lithe form was quicker. The muscle memory left by the strenuous forms she practiced had made wielding the knife in her hand almost second nature. Any blow that the butcher dealt her, she parried. And any blow she parried would come back with a vengeance from the robust arm of the Butcher.
It was another ten minutes, and neither side had landed a blow. With a roll of her eyes, Fox stood up and gave an unexpectedly loud order. "Ok, enough!"
The two bodies moved apart, both breathing heavily, still glaring at each other. It was that high tension scene that Sloane chose to return. He gave a few short claps. "Well, it seems you're comfortable enough with knives. Let's see your facility with guns, shall we?"
Evangeline gave a slightly nervous look. She was still slumped over, trying to catch her breath. "Come along Evangeline." There was obviously no time to stop, and Sloane seemed anxious to depart. Out of pure force of habit, Evangeline turned and gave a deep bow to the Butcher, who watched with an air of incredulity having been treated to such an antiquated nicety. Unsure of what to do, he simply raised a heavy arm to rub the back of his neck uneasily.
"Gunsmith's waiting in loading. Fox, I'll take her on my own. Evangeline here is turning out to be quite an interesting case." With a slight nod, Fox took off in a random direction, (or it seemed random to Evangeline at least) while Evangeline was herded into the long, insulated dock.
An array of targets was lined up against the far wall while the Gunsmith stood in front of a table, arms crossed. Sloane walked in and immediately took his place across from the man. "Well" he clapped a hand on Evangeline's shoulder "It seems we've underestimated our guest here."
The Gunsmith gave a look that screamed incredulity. "We'll see when I'm done with her." Evangeline gulped. The threat was reinforced with a short glare from the man. Sloane gave her a gentle nudge towards the table, and stood back to watch the ensuing scene.
"You ever held a piece before?"
"No."
"Seen one?"
"In pictures and movies I guess."
"Right."
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