Thank you for your positive responses! Also, if you have any requests or ideas about future chapters, i'm always open.

Lk

Chapter twenty : Crossing The Line

''Sabrina. Sabrina! Come back here!'' Kelly rushed out and just managed to catch her in the corridor.

''What now?'' Sabrina turned around abruptly. She looked around to make sure the hallway was empty. Much to her surprise Kelly put both of her hands in front of her and shoved her back against the wall.

''Why the hell would you do this to me Bri?! After everything I've done to help you?!'' Kelly pointed a finger at her. ''Why would you do this?! Don't you get it that you're jeopardizing everything?! The case, my life, Kris'?! You know what?!'' Sabrina frowned.

''What.''

Red lights were flashing in front of her eyes. She couldn't remember feeling angrier with Sabrina in her life. This was just too much. ''Maybe I should just call Charlie and tell him you're not up for it. You never were. You are a danger to us when you behave recklessly like this. I tried to help you, but you went and threw everything away. I'm done with you Sabrina Duncan.''

Sabrina opened her mouth to ask something but stopped. Then she frowned. ''What the hell are you talking about?''

Kelly fished something from her pocket and showed her a tissue wrapped around something. She uncovered the small needle inside. ''I'm talking about this.''

The other angel went still. ''Where'd you get that?''

''Restroom.''

''Well, since you have it all figured out.'' Sabrina turned to go.

''What you mean?''

This time Sabrina didn't turn around to face her. Her frown was even deeper and she didn't want to see Kelly right now. ''Samantha, girl from my class. She is diabetic. She used the bathroom just before me. But, like I said. You have it all figured out. Go talk to her if you can't take my word for it.''

Kelly reached out and touched her shoulder to stop her from leaving. Her chest felt heavy. Looks like she had made a terrible mistake. ''Bri...''

''Don't touch me.''

If there was a door between them she'd slam it, but she opted to keep walking away and walk outside the building. Kelly didn't follow her. She stood in the middle of the corridor, her hand still reaching out in thin air, as minutes passed by. ''Sabrina...'' she whispered.

It was late in the evening and despite not talking to her after their ''talk'' in the corridor, Kelly was already in the club for the start of the first round. This time there were plastic chairs and tables, while waiters served alcohol. Even so, the place seemed even more crowded. Hope was uncomfortably sitting in a chair right next to her, leaning over the table. ''She's coming.'' Kelly didn't say anything back to her.

Mike was talking happily to the crowd. ''And now welcome the Harrison's representative, Sabrina ''Axe'' Reyes!'' Silence fell heavily through the crowd. They had never seen her before, and they just heard of her. She had to prove she was worthy of applause first. Luckily, Sabrina didn't take it personally. She had been there before, she knew the psychology of a crowd. She was wearing a vest and she had bandages her left elbow, as if to support an injured ligament. She didn't want to fight with long sleeves, it could restrict her movement, but she still had to cover the needle marks in her arm. She knew that Kelly would understand the reason of the bandages, but she didn't care at the moment. She spotted Hope in the crowd and gave her a short nod.

She had put on a pair of soft sneakers, even though she realised she was allowed to wear anything. This tournament didn't have restrictions. She jumped over the ropes, in the middle of the ring, then walked to her corner. Hope had let her borrow some shorts, which were knee length on her. They were very loose and comfortable. Everything seemed smooth.

Her first fight was against a girl from another school outside the county. Seems like this tournament was after all an important even, since fighting in the ''Death Valley'' had some sort of ring to it, no pun intended. Katrina the ''Catapult''. She was brunette and tall, but not as tall. Sabrina recognised her stance immediately, from the way she kept tucking her jaw, almost hiding it on her chest. Full contact kick-boxing. Well, this sucks, she thought. It is one of the most brutal martial arts with Muay Thai the first .

The bell rang once, but none of them moved. Hoping to surprise her, Katrina quickly leaned forward and dealt two straight jabs. Sabrina knew better than try block them. She moved first left, then right, avoiding them. They stood quiet again, looking at each others eyes for a split second. Katrina's small glance to her jaw gave her away, and the angel was able to take a step back and avoid the uppercut. Katrina stopped, breathing heavily, then launched a combination of a left high kick and a right jab when she landed. Again, Sabrina was able to avoid both, by sidestepping. Hope might have been hot headed but despite her slight temper Sabrina could keep it together in a fight.

Katrina decided it was time for something more complex, hoping to force her opponent to drop her guard in order to attack. This way she couldn't side step another attack. She executed two consecutive high kicks with her right leg and when Sabrina side stepped them she quickly dropped for a swift sweep kick. There was no sidestepping these. Consumed in thinking her strategy out she lost track of her opponent's movement. Sabrina was in the air, jumping over the sweeping blow, her right knee moving up, then lowering, giving momentum for her left sole to strike. Semi-crouched as she was, Katrina had finally left her jaw exposed and this was were Sabrina's left foot connected, solidly. Her head jerked back from the upwards kick and she lost her balance.

She watched her fall back as she landed but she remembered Hope's words. She either had to get a KO or a submission, this wasn't an exhibition match, in which hitting the floor means a loss. She launched herself forward, looking to pin Katrina's shoulders on the floor, forcing a submission. In Mixed Martial Arts there are two parts or a fight, one is standing and the other is on the floor, usually known as ''grappling''. The problem was that even though Sabrina had been trained in various martial arts none of them involved ''grappling'' techniques, because most martial arts are defensive. Once your opponent is down you make a run for it.

Because of this, the way she grabbed Katrina was awkward and even though dazed, the other woman managed to escape the hold and stand up. Sabrina got to her feet as well, annoyed with herself. She had almost put an end to this, but she missed her chance. Her only advantage was that Katrina was still -and would be for a while- dazed from the kick to her jaw. She staggered forward and punched but this time Sabrina was confident she could block it without much damage to her own hand. She blocked and took a step back. She leaned over.

''Give a submission.'' She said quietly to Katrina, quietly enough so only she would hear it. The other woman made a grimace.

''Screw you.''

Sabrina sighed. Well. She had tried right?''

She took a step to the left as Katrina gathered all her remaining strength in a blow. Sabrina didn't try deflect this one, rather she caught in in her right palm, and closed her fingers around it. With one swift rotation of her wrist Katrina screamed and fell on her knees, the sound of her breaking wrist drawing a gasp from the silent until now audience. She rolled on the floor and gathered her knees up to her chest, holding her broken wrist in between.

''And this is how you get a KO ladies and gentlemen!'' Mike shouted in his microphone, rushing in the ring to lift up Sabrina's right hand. And in that second everyone in the room realised what had happened and they were on their feet, screaming and whistling loud, shouting her name. But when Kelly met her eyes she saw something else than the eyes of a winner. She saw something very raw, an anger very raw. Sabrina had just crossed the line, she had overstepped some boundaries. Crossed the invisible line that she thought until now separated right from wrong. And Kelly felt she blamed her for this, but maybe after all she didn't. She had been asked to prove herself and she did.

The question was, is there a way for Sabrina to turn back when she had run that extra mile that shattered her boundaries and crossed the line?