Disclaimer: I don't own Blade or any of its characters. I do Max, Xavier, Rev, and Cam, so no stealing!
Thanks to wannabanauthor and Fairy-Tales123!
Chapter 9: Dare to Move
Max was trying not to hit King, and he was trying not to hit or hit on her. Despite her annoyance with King, she couldn't help thinking she'd met her match. For every witty remark she had, he always had a comeback. It had been three months since she met the Nightstalkers, which Blade still had no idea about, and she had seen every inch of the headquarters except for one place: the weapons room, Hedges' lab.
It was a trust issue which prevented her from seeing it. So, after all those months of earning their trust, and successfully withstanding King's flirting, she stood in a room full of weapons that she couldn't use without Hedges, Abby, or King's explicit permission. King seemed to enjoy the fact that he held that power over her, and flaunted it whenever he had the chance. What he didn't know was that he actually had no say at all.
Still, Max wasn't sure which Whistler she'd be killing first at the end of the day. The old man for basically forcing her to meet King, or Abby for leaving her alone with King and Hedges in this very moment.
"Not many weapons," Max commented, examining the three wide tables in the lab.
"We're low budget," King replied casually, leaning against the wall. Max walked around one of the tables and picked up a garden saw.
"Does this actually do any good?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow, not really believing it would be useful. Just what was Whistler thinking, sending her to a bunch of rookies who used a garden saw as a weapon?
"Silver capped," Hedges explained, snatching it out of her hands and setting it down gently, as if it were his baby. "It's more of a prototype, really," he added sheepishly.
"I told you, we don't have the financial resources," King joked, and Max narrowed her eyes at him. Hedges' moved away from Max and to another table, where he picked up a small device that looked a miniature blowtorch and handed it to her.
"Press the button," Hedges instructed. Max did so, and a red laser streamed out. She looked over at King, who shrugged with a smirk, than back at Hedges with a raised eyebrow, not impressed in the least. "Press it again," he instructed in mild frustration and excitement. With an annoyed sigh, Max did as she was told and repressed the button, and with stunned that a sliver of UV light stream out.
"Oh," she toned, comprehending, and passed the UV flashlight/laser torch back to Hedges, who deactivated it. "Low budget, huh?" she directed to King.
"Well, we spent everything on the walkie talkies and the cameras. That's why the computers look like they were hijacked from the 70s," he retorted. "You know how it is, right?" Hedges sighed, closing his eyes at the man's mocking tone.
"I'm out of here," he stated and practically ran out the room, leaving the two hunters all alone. "You two are far too much alike!"
"Well, that was rude," King stated and pushed himself off the wall. "Over here, we have our finest collection of water guns," he explained as he walked past Max and to a cabinet. She thought he had been joking, but when he opened it she knew he wasn't.
"Now I know I've seen it all," she stated amusedly. "What is that, holy water?"
"Not just holy water, but silver nitrate and essence of garlic," he explained. "We're a triple threat kind of group." King then moved to the table with Hedge's computer, and picked up what looked like a bow without the string.
"What the hell is that?" she asked.
"The UV Arc," he explained with a big grin, and activated Abigail's favorite weapon – besides her bow. The empty space were string was meant to be was filled with a vibrating stream of UV light. "Hedges is working on a way to downsize this bad boy. You know, turn it into a Transformer so it's more than meets the eye."
"I suppose the rest of the money will go into that, too?" she commented. "I could definitely use this," she added, nodding her head approvingly.
"Half the power of the sun," he explained, holding it out to her. Max hesitated a moment before taking in her hands. She swished it around in front of her a bit before moving it around her head with one or two complicated maneuvers. "Great, just what I need. Another woman, who can kick my ass," he stated, taking the arc back from her.
"Maybe it'll do you some good," she told him
"You could have the Arc, if you like, as payment for tomorrow night," he told her straight faced.
""Payment"?" she echoed confusedly.
"For when you sleep with me," he replied with a dubious smirk. Max narrowed her eyes, and in that instant King knew he had made a mistake. All of sudden, her foot came out of nowhere and collided with the side of his head. "OW! Okay, that was just rude!" She scowled and did a roundhouse kick to his face, and he went down to the floor with a thud. Max stood over him a moment before crouching down to stare at him as he sat up on his elbows. "Yep, I was right," he stated, groaning in pain. "Another woman who can kick my ass."
"Kick your sorry ass, you mean," she corrected, standing up again. King looked up at her, a charming smile on his face, and held one hand out to her.
"Come on," he begged childishly, "help a brother out!"
"Ugh, only if you never say that again," she replied, and he nodded. Against her better judgment, Max helped him up. Unfortunately, he used his feet to propel himself into her and sandwich her between him and a table.
"You know, we've got time to fill before you have to head on back to the big man," he mused, face still close to hers. "Why not head down to our little training gym?" Before she could even open her mouth to say a word, he was walking away from her and out of the lab. "Besides, your snap kick could use some work," he called back teasingly.
"WHAT! No, it doesn't!" she shouted in offense, jogging to catch up with him. King just smirked at her.
"So touchy!"
"Oh, I'll show you touchy!"
"Is that a promise?"
"Go stun gun yourself, fuckhead."
"Ask nicely, and we'll see," he said as they entered the room.
"What do you mean my snap kick needs work?" she asked defensively, but he could hear the curiosity in her voice. "My snap kick is fine!"
"Keep telling yourself that, sugar butt, but I just happened to notice that, right before that nice little roundhouse and before I fell on my deliciously luscious ass, that you swung off balance when you brought your leg back," he told her. "It wouldn't really matter if you were fighting a human, but a vampire would know how to exploit it and – BAM! Before you know it, you're a midnight fucking snack, a Vampiric Nutter Butter, and full-on fucking dead."
"How colorful," she mumbled, cringing at his description.
"I know. I'm special like that," he explained cheerily, and pulled her over to a large punching bag. "Now, start kicking and, if you need me, I'll be in the kitchen making breakfast. Have fun, sugar butt," he told and walked away. Max watched him leave the room completely and sighed.
"Ass wipe," she muttered and focused her attention on the bag, starting to kick it.
King, being the clever bastard that he was, had lied to her. He wasn't going to make breakfast; he was really watched Max. He watched in fascination as her body shook out when she kicked then returned to the tightly coiled position. She kicked out again, with her hands in the left guard position, signaling she was right-handed, and he heard her curse in frustration. She finally realized what he had been talking about, and he smiled in success. Finally, his latest opponent was taken down a notch. The next instant, she had turned and flung something towards him. King realized it was a knife, and it hit the wood just beside his head.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" he shouted at her. "You almost hit me, you crazy bitch!"
"I don't like being watched by some fucked up perv when I train!" she snapped.
"Maxie, sweetheart, can't we talk about this? Seriously, honey," he said, walking towards her calmly, "I'm having issues with our lack of communication skills right now."
"You're going to have an issue with my foot up your scrotum if you don't leave me the hell alone," she retorted, hands on her hips.
"Or maybe you could try and snap kick me again," he offered, deliberately taunting her. Max's shoulders tensed and his smirk grew. "Look, don't take it the wrong way," he began, hands held up in way of a peace offering, "but you are really shitty at it."
"Oh, don't worry, King. I don't take it the wrong way at all," she assured him kindly, but discretely grabbed a second knife from the waist of her pants behind her back. As soon as she pulled it out, King's hands were up in defense again. She started to walk towards him, and he started to back away. "Than again, I've never been one for constructive criticism. I think I'll castrate you."
"Back up and drop it, or I swear I will snap kick you, I don't care if I'm breaking the honor code of no hitting women," he proclaimed, and she looked at him in disbelief.
"You really know how to make a bad situation worse, don't you?"
"Yeah," he shrugged, "kinda my strong point." Max sighed, and placed the knife back where she got it.
"Okay, fuckhead, make it better.
A/N: I feel really bad about posting this the day before I go on vacation, but I hope to come back in a week to reviews. "
P.S.: Four pages total.