Sixteen Years Ago
Seven months.
She was halfway there. Almost. In two weeks she would be but she was still going to have another seven and a half months to go until she was done. But as hard as it had been to get to this point, as covered as she was in bruises, not just her skin or muscles or fucking bone but in her very soul… Tess didn't want to stop. Because they were working. Toughening her up until each and every blow hurt less than the last, until they stopped being able to land as many. One day they weren't going to land any. It had been fucking weird to feel herself changing, not entirely foreign but learning how to surf was a lot different than learning how to run for twenty-four kilometres or to scale a twenty-foot wall, or how to incapacitate and kill someone. But however they wanted to push her she was only getting stronger. But not harder. She was fierce about that, in a way they couldn't understand but she didn't need them to, just to accept it but that was as hard for them as allowing her to be here. And some of them could not accept that.
Later people would say she hadn't heard him because of the running water but she hadn't been able to sense him because she'd been stupid. Because the showers were the one place every instructor had insisted was off-limits, the one place she was supposed to be safe. But she should've known better. The garroting cord hadn't even passed her line of sight when she finally realized someone was behind her but it was too late to stop it from settling around her throat, though she did manage to slip a couple fingers beneath the wire.
Not that they did much.
"Your time is done here bitch." A low voice hissed in her ear and the unoriginality of the insult, along with the frequency of how often it was used pissed her off more than the steel around her neck.
Cranking her elbow low she drove it into the gut of the man behind her at the same time she stomped on his instep, his toes because he'd almost moved out of the way; she tried to throw him over her shoulder but that didn't work either.
He just squeezed tighter, fucking laughing as she struggled. "You're done here. You don't run the fuck home I'm gonna throw your body out with the trash, you hear me?"
Her scream might've been choked but the fury behind it was not and again she threw herself forward, not to toss him this time but so that when he yanked her back up she was close enough to the wall she could plant her feet against it. With all the force she could muster she pushed off and twisted, his hold loosening just enough as he stumbled with her that her head whipped free, her legs swinging out to keep him back. And to keep herself out of the little stall.
Of course it was fucking Brendan.
"Your ego really is as floppy as your dick, isn't it?" Tess rasped but she knew better than to risk rolling her eyes as he straightened and smirked.
"My dicks rock hard sweetheart. Come closer and I'll show you."
His aesthetically pleasing features twisted with the inner ugliness he couldn't hide when she laughed. "Doesn't matter- it's like rock, paper, scissors. A pussy always beats a dick."
It only lasted a second but the charge in the air spiked as she realized that was not just anger in his eyes, or disgust or determination.
That was madness.
And when he ran at her Tess realized this was going to be the fight of her life.
Brendan probably thought he had the advantage in his boots and if, when he managed to kick her they were going to do some damage but she used the slippery floors to her advantage, dodging his tackle enough that she could use his momentum to swing herself onto his back. That pissed him off, as did when she drove her elbow into the back of his neck but despite dropping to a knee he just fisted his hands in her hair and used a strength she hadn't realized he possessed to throw her onto the floor in front of him. It actually helped that it stole her breath because it meant his vicious punch to her diaphragm didn't do the damage he was hoping for, unlike the one she aimed to his favourite place. She barely managed to roll out of the way of his next strike but she did, and even sent her heel into his cheek as she did. But he didn't stop.
They'd always had instructors to pull them apart before, or his goons because this was not the first time he'd come at her behind closed doors but this time... He didn't just want to hurt her or scare her into leaving. That might've been how this had started but not anymore.
No, now he wanted to kill her.
He finally got one of those boots into her hip and this time she was the one dropping but she quickly wrapped her arms around and between his legs, ignoring the hands ripping out her hair, and trying to rip off her nipple to throw him. And it might've been harder since the coward was fully clothed but she did her best to pay him back for that. They were a tangle of limbs, each taking every shot they could so when he leaned in to curse her she didn't hesitate to shove her thumb into his eye.
His scream was both terrifying and satisfying, and it pushed her to drive her knee into his nose but then she was yanked away and the only thing that stopped her was that the person she struck next didn't strike back. Their hands were up, placating, calming, but her heartrate didn't slow, even when she realized they weren't continuing the attack. One of them, Devon, one of the other recruits was actually holding Brendan down, stopping him from trying to run. It was Ian in front of her, another recruit. Neither liked her so she didn't understand why they'd intervened but since it was done now she took the towel Ian hesitantly held out, waving him off when he tried to follow her. As if she needed their help putting herself back together. The clothes she'd gone into the showers with were forgotten, her mind set on getting to her room, not exactly a safe place but she'd guarded it enough that they'd stopped fucking with it. Or being able to at least. All five of her fellow trainees were in the doorways to their rooms, three of them silently snickering at the other two who were getting reamed out by one of the instructors. Probably because he'd found them in front of her room with a jar of mayo.
What she distantly hoped was mayo.
But like it was rehearsed when Kurt's automatic sneer faded as he caught sight of her all the others turned to see why and their own faces quickly fell. The hallway had never felt so long, and they had never been so quiet as Tess made her way to her room, only pausing when Stoll held out a hand, though he wisely stopped short of touching her.
"Danvers-"
"I fell down." She stated evenly but as much as she would've liked to enjoy his horror and remorse she couldn't. It took all she had to turn back to Kurt. "Did you get in?"
He shook his head so she walked past him, not bothering to look back as she shut the door behind her and settled on her bed. Every part of her ached, inside and out and though the tears finally started flowing she refused to make a noise. She would not give them the satisfaction of hearing her cry. All she would give them was the same disdain they'd given her. She would prove they were right to hate her. To fear her.
She was going to become their worst fucking nightmare.
