Chapter 14:
Isabella's turquoise eyes snapped open at that piece of information.
"Damn…." She swore, her head turning to see the three men huddling by the doorway, looking as they watched Snake Eyes approach. "Well stop looking!" she hissed at them. Instantly, they pulled back and moved away from the doorway. Isabella pushed herself off the wall and took a step towards the opening thinking that she might as well meet Snake Eyes head on but stopped and faced away from it, tapping her foot indecisively.
"You really don't like Zen Master, huh?" Ripcord guessed as he walked over to where Isabella stood. Isabella shook her head at the thought.
"There's something about him that just sets me off." She answered honestly.
"This wouldn't have anything to do with him jumping you back when we all first crossed paths now would it?" Ripcord asked knowingly as he moved to stand directly in front of Isabella so he could read her facial expression.
Isabella rolled her eyes, "Hmpf…if you can even call it 'jumping'." She replied.
Duke raised an eyebrow at that, "You don't think so?" he returned with a small amused smile playing across his face as he and Breaker formed a small huddle in front of Isabella. Turning her intense gaze upon Duke, Isabella shook her head,
"No I don't." she answered firmly.
"Why?" Breaker asked, "Because he never actually tackled you to the ground?" he answered himself.
"Because personally, I found his tactic cowardly." She declared. "It's one thing to use the element of surprise on someone, its something else when you deliberately attack them from behind as your first move." She explained.
"Ooh burn!" Ripcord stated as he spoke into his fist. "I swear, you've got some major guts for saying that out loud, girl." He praised.
Breaker, who now appeared to be looking off in the distance over Isabella's shoulder, cleared his throat nervously, "Well Snake Eyes is a Ninja assassin." Breaker stated, "That's how he was trained…. it's what he does." He paused for a second, "That's what makes him so lethal to our team."
"Lethal?" Isabella repeated in disbelief. Ripcord shrugged and nodded his head,
"Yeah, I have to admit that that ninja isn't someone I'd wanna mess with." He confessed before shuddering, "Ugh….to be completely honest, he scares me."
Isabella looked over at Ripcord and shook her head while a quick laugh escaped her lips, "Well he doesn't scare me in the slightest."
"So you're saying that you can handle him?" Duke suddenly spoke up.
"Hell yeah." She replied confidently.
Breaker, who was still staring off in the distance, took that moment to softly elbow Duke in his side. And when Duke found what he was staring at he passed the light jab onto Ripcord. When Ripcord finally joined on in with the other two men, he let out a quick swear.
"Oh snap!" he murmured in surprise which earned him other jab.
Isabella, carefully reading their faces, rolled her eyes knowingly, "He's right behind me, isn't he?" she calmly asked out loud. All three men nodded.
With a sigh, she turned about on her heel and found Snake Eyes leaning casually up against the side wall closest to her; his arms were crossed over his chest and his head was slightly cocked to the side.
"Can I help you?" she asked irritably, knowing full well why he was there. Silently, the black clad ninja pushed himself off the wall and came to stand directly in front of Isabella. His towering form, rippling with muscles momentarily caught Isabella's eye but she quickly shook such thoughts off as she raised her chin defiantly to stare Snake Eyes down. To answer her question, Snake Eyes jerked his head softly in the direction of the training arena.
"Of course…." She muttered in a completely false, sweet tone, "How could I forget our little…..engagement." she stated before she grudgingly moved around the black ninja, heading back to the arena. "Lord give me strength." She added in a hushed, aggravated tone.
Nodding once at the trio of men, Snake Eyes turned and followed behind Isabella. For a little bit, he let her lead the way, but then by using his long strides, he easily passed her by signaling that she was now to follow him.
Frowning at his back, Isabella complied and found that he was not taking her back to the same place as before. Instead, Snake Eyes took her into a separate room that was still connected to the main one they had just came from; only this one was much smaller and offered isolation from peering eyes. As Isabella stepped hesitantly inside, she found that the ground was, instead of its usual concrete flooring, somewhat soft and squishy. Jumping slightly, Isabella discovered the entire ground was made up of a mat, like the ones you'd find inside a gym. Isabella walked slowly out into the room's center where Snake Eyes now stood, waiting. When he made no move towards her, or gave her any sign of communication, Isabella shrugged a shoulder,
"Ok….so now what?" she asked breaking the silence. Briefly nodding his head, Snake Eyes turned away and walked over to the corner on the far left side where a rack of weapons rested. He picked one up and carried it back over to Isabella before he skillfully tossed it to her. Swearing quickly, Isabella reached out and received the weapon of Snake Eyes' choice in her hand as it closed firmly about a metal hilt. Isabella blinked as she let her gaze trail up the katana's blade. While Isabella took some time to look her weapon over, Snake Eyes turned around and approached the wall behind him where a white board hung. Grabbing a marker at the bottom of it, he brought the utensil up and quickly started to write.
When Isabella finally pulled her eyes away from the katana in her hand, she was even more surprised to see that Snake Eyes had finished his message to her up front. Her eyes quickly scanned over his words.
"Take up your fighting stance." He wrote. Isabella had to run that message by her again because the first time she read it, she couldn't believe where he was going with this.
"Uhh…." She began, her eyes locked on the board before she pulled them down to look over at Snake Eyes "You can't be serious, right?" she returned.
In one swift movement, Snake Eyes reached up behind him and unsheathed his own katana before bringing it down by his side.
"Oh boy, you are serious!" she exclaimed softly. Snake Eyes braced his legs apart and took up a very powerful fighting stance, his katana raised up in front like he was preparing to attack. Once again, he signaled to the board with his head.
"Eh…." Isabella murmured, suddenly feeling uncertain about her situation before she tired to mimic a stance by watching Snake Eyes' form. "But I'm not a sword fighter…" she quietly protested.
Underneath his mask, Snake Eyes felt his mouth turning up in a smile. Then in a flash, he lunged for Isabella with his katana raised high in the air before he started to bring it down.
"Whoa!" Isabella declared before she instinctively brought her own weapon up and held it defensively in front of her. The sound of metal clanging against metal gently rattled Isabella's ears when Snake Eyes' katana connected with her own but what surprised Isabella the most was the fact that she had managed to block the ninja's blow. Staring into Snake Eyes masked face with wide eyes, Isabella suddenly found her heart pounding wildly within her chest.
Nodding his head in approval, Snake Eyes drew back before he slowly started circling the young woman. She followed his movement with her head at first before she took up mirroring it. Snake Eyes noted to himself that she knew how to pick up on things quickly before he charged on in and attacked once more, this time instead of leaving it at one blow, he swiped a couple of times to see how'd she react. She dodged the first, blocked the second and when the third came down, she jumped back at out range and retreated back a couple more steps.
"Ok…" she breathed, "I just hope you realize that when I had made that comment to General Hawk about us 'killing each other', I wasn't making any suggestions by it!" she threw at him.
Another smile tugged at his lips before Snake Eyes calmly shook his head. Then he surprised Isabella by putting his weapon away and walking back to the board in the front where he then erased his old message and wrote a new one.
"I was simply testing you." His note said, "And you did not disappoint. You've got potential." When he had finished with that sentence, he turned about to face Isabella who found herself stunned by his words; he had actually given her a compliment. "Uhh…thanks?" she replied uncertain by what he mean by 'potential'.
Snake Eyes turned away to continue writing, "Horrible fighting stance and positioning of your katana though." He added critically.
"Yup, that's what I was waiting for." Isabella thought to herself while rolling her eyes at the comment. "Well better that than learning I'm completely incompetent." She answered out loud.
Snake Eyes nodded his head in both amusement and agreement before he turned away from the board and slowly approached Isabella. Stopping in front of her, he reached a hand out and gently removed the katana from her hand before he went to go put it away. Once that was done, on his way back he stopped at the board to write on last message,
"You're free to go," he wrote, "Though I have a strong feeling thought that we will be seeing each other again very soon." He added before he capped the marker and set it down. When he turned about, Isabella was watching him with her intense gaze. Then once she quickly reread the last part of his message again, a tiny, challenging smile pulled at her lips,
"Don't be so sure of yourself." She replied coolly. Then without another word, Isabella turned on her heel and swiftly left the room, leaving behind an extremely bemused Snake Eyes who watched her leave his sight with a soft shake of his masked head.
