CHAPTER FIFTEEN
( HOOKED )
PEOPLE IN THE corridor are muttering to themselves while looking down as her as she passes through, her head lowered as she tries to avert the gaze of any agent that looked her way. She clutches tighter on to her purse, biting down on her lip anxiously as she scans the room numbers trying to find the correct door that would lead to where she needed to go. She had received a text from a strange number telling to meet within the gym of sub-level eight.
She had never been on this floor, mainly because it was strictly off-limits to anyone who wasn't an agent or a scientist. She was sure that most of the eyes that lingered on her were wondering what she was doing down here, perhaps even reporting her to their supervisors. Had they been notified by Fury that she'd be on this level? Why has no one questioned her presence here yet?
A pounding sound perks her up as she neared an area that had double doors at the entrance. She looked at the bold white number by the side of the door 8372. The same as which the text had instructed her to go to.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she nervously places a hand on the double doors, swinging them open to reveal a small gym. It wasn't as large as she thought it would be, and it wasn't crowded with agents learning new techniques or showing off. It looked to be replicated from an old gym from decades ago, nothing high tech.
"Hey!" a voice calls out to her, catching her off guard. Quinn spins around to catch a glimpse of who was calling out to her, only to see a woman walking away from a punching bag, black gloves still on her hands. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, she had clearly been working up a sweat in the gym. "Are you Cruise?" she questions as she grabs her water bottle of a nearby bench, continuing to saunter her way over to her.
"Uh, yeah," she answers with uncertainty, as the woman approaches her. At first, the woman doesn't introduce herself, she stands in front of her, scanning her figure as she drinks from her water bottle. "I'm Agent Norris," she addresses after she swallows her water, sticking out her hand which is wet from the perspiration from her water bottle.
Quinn still gives her hand a shake, acknowledging that she would be training from her. "Fury says that you have some law enforcement training in your background so you know some basics, where do you stand with combat right now? Have you recently been in combat with someone?" she questions, beckoning her to follow her through the gym.
"I accidentally knocked my roommate's boyfriend out a couple of weeks ago," Quinn informs her in a lame attempt to make a joke. Thankfully it works as Agent Norris snorts out a laugh. "Must have a helluva right hook," she mutters out as she stops at the bench closest to the boxing ring in the center of the room.
Quinn shrugs off her purse and sweatshirt and lays them on the bench next to Agent Norris's belongings as Agent Norris scans her over once again. Quinn doesn't seem to notice most of the scopes from Agent Norris, but when she does she feels as if she's being judged. Her cheeks turn a light hue of pink from the constant once overs Agent Norris is giving her.
"I can see it," she mumbles out to herself as she tosses her water bottle off to the side asking if Quinn has stretched. Quinn confirms she has, she did it before she went on her jog this morning. Agent Norris raises her brows at Quinn's commitment to get up and jog early in the morning only to come straight to work to train in self-defense.
"Per orders," Agent Norris speaks up, tossing a pair of white boxing gloves to Quinn to put on. "Fury wants to go over the self-defense techniques first, which it sounds like you may or may not be rusty on from when you last sparred back in college. We'll do a once over at first, we'll practice, and then we'll do one for real for each move I teach you. Got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," Quinn replies, tapping her gloves together to make sure they fit on her hands, balling them up into fists shortly afterwards. Agent Norris is the first to step foot into the rings, offering Quinn help up into it. The canvas of the ring feels squishy underneath her feet. "All right, we're going to learn how to block punches today," Agent Norris announces, stretching her gloved hands out and then clenching them up into fists.
"Remember, when you block a punch, you have to keep your hands clamped together, like so, and putting them up in front of your face," Agent Norris demonstrates this by placing both of her gloved hands together in front of her, blocking her face from view of Quinn as she tightly pulls them in together. Agent Norris turns to the side resting your forehead or pretty close to resting against it," Quinn takes her time in turning to her side just as her instructor.
Agent Norris comes in and adjusts her arms against her body telling her to be tighter, this isn't a languid fighting technique like martial arts this is basic kickboxing. Agent Norris inspects her once again and nods her head in approval. She rounds Quinn in the front, mitts up in a fighting manner. "I want you to try to throw a couple of punches at me to see what it can do and then I'll throw a couple at you," Agent Norris instructs her.
Quinn's hands are starting to sweat underneath the large mitts she was given. She didn't want to throw any punches at anyone but she was being demanded to. Nervously Quinn throws a couple of jabs in Agent Norris direction, none land on her face, just into the mitts, demonstrating the defensive tactic. Agent Norris directs her to stand in the position she was taught.
Quinn does as followed, making sure to keep tight as instructed. Agent Norris gives her a once over, circling her to make sure her form is correct before jumping in front of her and throwing a couple punches her way. Quinn staggers as she's hit, even if it was through the gloves she can feel the burning sensation through them as if she had really been hit.
"Very nice," Agent Norris compliments with a smile. "You're a fast learner. Remember to keep everything tight, and look down so you can still view your opponent," she demonstrates by peeking her head out just a tad underneath her gloves. Quinn follows her lead, earning appraisal from the agent.
"You can also slide your arm up," she adds on, sliding her shoulder upwards to block her face with her hand. "If they want to come up to hook you. You have to slide your arm straight up or else they're going to see an opportunity to hit you in your ribs, remember to be tight," she informs nodding towards Quinn to go ahead and try it. Quinn moves her shoulder upwards, along with her mitt as she blocks a slow punch from Agent Norris.
She scans Agent Norris's concentrated expression as she hit Quinn's fist from the opposite side. If she didn't know any better she'd figure she was bored from how slow-paced the training was.
"Moving on," she calls out, her voice echoing against the walls of the gym. Quinn takes this time to slump her shoulders back to their original relaxed position as she watched Agent Norris pace in front of her. "We're going to be learning the slip back," she states, planting her feet in front of Quinn.
"Go ahead and throw a punch," she challenges. Quinn juts out her fist slowly, watching as the agent smirks while leaning backwards. She grabs a hold of her outstretched fist, making sure it stays in the position.
"See how I dodged it?" she says, moving her head somewhat to the side to look at Quinn in the eyes. "When you go back, you want to have all your weight on your back leg so it's easier to dodge," she pat's her left leg, to draw attention to it. "Turn your shoulder in just a little bit, just in case they decide to come in again," she turns her shoulder slowly, maintaining eye contact with Quinn. "But the main point is just to lean back with your weight on your rear leg, so you can strike forward with more power with your backhand," she pushes Quinn's gloved hand back down, dropping it to her side before lifting her gloves up in an offensive manner.
"Show me," she spits out, rocking back on the balls of her feet. Quinn takes note of how agile and cat-like she looks as she taunts her. She exhales as she nods her head, waiting for the strike. Her fist comes from the front at a fast speed, catching Quinn off guard. She lets out a squeak as she staggers backwards, landing on her rear.
She groans at the spiking pain she feels, rubbing her lower back. She peers up to see Agent Norris's gloved hand sticking out to her. "Again," she instructs her.
Quinn begrudgingly takes her hand, as she recuperates from the close call she had with getting punched in the face. Her lips tug down in a determined frowned as she nods towards her instructor. She blocks the jab, but Agent Norris demands she tries again, making sure she has the move handled, even making her try it from the left side.
After Agent Norris is convinced she knows the technique she moves on to the next subject. "Do you know what parrying is?" she questions Quinn, who gulps away at her water. Quinn shrugs her shoulders. "Somewhat. Remind me," she says with a challenging smile that Agent Norris returns as she watches Quinn put her gloves up defensively. "Go ahead and slowly throw a punch," she commands.
Quinn waits a moment, trying to catch her off guard with how fast she throws her fist at her. Instead of surprising the agent, Agent Norris quickly grabs the mitt with both of her hands to stop it. Quinn's brows raise in surprise as she watches Agent Norris smirk.
"Parrying is just a defensive slap. When you do it, you want to slap their hand towards their body," she demonstrates by hitting the outside of her left arm forcing her body to turn to the right. She returns her fist back to where Agent Norris had it originally.
"I'm not doing this," she says as she hits the inside of her left arm. "That gives them the advantage. You've opened them up so they can come in with their other hand and deliver a blow. You want to," she hits her left arm on the outside again.
"Close it off, causing them to put all of their weight on their least dominant side and giving you an advantage to strike the ribs. Try it," she says as she places her hands up defensively once again. Quinn throws another lunch in her direction, easily getting thrown off by Agent Norris's parry. Her elbow stings at the sensation. "Other arm," she calls out as Quinn recoils from the blow.
She thrusts her fist out again only to have the same thing happen to her other arm. Agent Norris grabs her fist and places in front of her, holding it still. "At the same time you want to move your head away from the punch," she demonstrates by moving her head to the left as she moves her arm to the right. Quinn nods her head in understanding. You move your head with the punch," she moves her head along with her arm to the right. "You risk knocking yourself out with their hit,"
Agent Norris releases her glove and asks her to try it. Quinn tries punching her multiple times, only to get pushed away each time. She panting by the time Agent Norris stops her fist by grabbing on to it. She nods her head at Quinn, planting her feet and raising her gloves. Quinn straightens her posture, waiting for the strike.
She blocks Agent Norris's first lunge just barely, she has no time to regroup her mind as Agent Norris's second fist connects with her cheek. There's darkness and stars at the same time in her vision as she falls to the tarp, cradling her cheek.
The sensation is throbbing instead of stinging, her cheekbone feels as if it's radiating heat. Agent Norris is by her side in a moment, taking off her gloves to look at the injury she had sustained. Quinn can't hear anything she mumbling out, all she can hear is a ringing sensation. She grabs on to Quinn's shoulders, shaking her as she looks confused.
"Cruise, are you okay?" Agent Norris questions in a concerned yet panicked voice. Quinn gives her a small smile as she nods. "I can't hear out of my right ear," she answers, pointing to her ear, a lazy smile drifting across her face. Agent Norris huffs out a sigh as she yanks on Quinn's arms, forcing her to stand. "Come on," she groans. "Let's take you to the med bay,"