Chapter 5: Shit Hits The Fan (Part 2)
'Zona stared down from the balcony, watching as Arkansas went up against Agents North and South Dakota. Her boyfriend going up against her ex. She felt her stomach tie up into knots as she watched North take a pudgel stick to the face, and felt even worse when he responded in kind. She knew Ark had been trained very well with his current weapon, but even he couldn't fend off the twins for long without some assistance. 'Zona was utterly convinced that rage was the only thing keeping him on his feet, especially as she glanced at his figure. To the regular eye you wouldn't be able to tell he was tired, but she had known him for far too long to be fooled by something like this. It was obvious in the way he held his pudgel stick; crossed in front of him in a defensive pose, unlike the offence he had been leading previously.
She let out a smirk as South charged at him, still lacking her pudgel stick. Bitch can't even find her own weapon! 'Zona thought with a small smile darting across her face, especially when she saw Ark duck under her fist, and using her own momentum against her, he flung his pudgel stick upwards at an angle. It caught her chestplate and flung her backwards behind him, landing on her ass with a curse. At least, it looked like a curse… Hard to tell from this far up.
North had been waiting for this, however. Before Ark could turn back around to face him, he ran up and swung his own pudgel stick at Ark's legs, knocking him onto his back. Just as North raised the staff upwards in preparation to strike, Ark fought back, cocking both legs back and letting loose a vicious double front kick into North's balls. 'Zona winced as she saw North hit the ground, curling up. A quick gaze around the room showed every other Freelancer in the room wincing as well. Wash muttered something under his breath, hands covering his balls. The sight was almost enough to make her laugh. Almost.
'Zona watched anxiously as Ark slowly stood up, using his pudgel stick like a cane. She wanted to scream out a warning as she saw South stand up and run at his back. Helplessly, she watched as South ran and tackled Arkansas to the ground. When they landed, South was straddling his groin and landing punch after punch on his face while he tried futilely to defend himself. While South herself wouldn't be much of a challenge, the long lasting match against North had taken a lot out of him. 'Zona felt herself blush with anger when she realized that South knew she would be up in the viewing area, watching this. She's sitting there on purpose! Get your own boyfriend! She wanted to shout, gripping the railing all the tighter.
Laying motionless still, North was unable to gloat over their victory over Arkansas. South continued landing punches on him, and 'Zona could see that Ark was too tired to defend himself in the least. He just sat there and received each punch, she wasn't even sure if he was even conscious anymore. With a growl, she spun around and put on her helmet. South needs a lesson, and class is in session… 'Zona thought with an evil smirk on her face as she walked out the doors, then ran for the entrance to the training area.
As soon as the doors sealed shut behind her, she analyzed the situation with one glance. North was still rendered useless, and she felt a pang of regret for him before getting back to the problem at hand. With a quick sprint 'Zona acquired South's discarded pudgel stick, then changed direction and ran up to where South was wailing on Ark. "Hey bitch…" She growled under her breath.
South froze, turning her head around in disbelief, "Why the fuck are you down here?" She spoke incredulously.
'Zona simply swung the pudgel stick with both hands, channeling all her anger into the strike. The female twin went flying, soaring off of Ark and into the nearby wall. Not looking back at South, she knelt down to Ark. "Defending what's mine…" She spoke quietly, gripping Ark's hand. To her surprise, he squeezed back weakly.
"Knew you were coming…" He croaked out weakly, coughing as he sat up. 'Zona made it easy on him, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she helped him to his feet, handing him his discarded pudgel stick.
"If we could interrupt you two lovebirds!" South shouted, sounding further away than they remembered. 'Zona turned to the voice, and saw that she had snuck around to get North back to his feet. Although he stood shakily, she had no doubt he was just as dangerous, if not more than before. "We still have some issues with you two, mainly you Arizona!" She sneered.
'Zona didn't want to remember, but her mind refused to listen as the memories flooded her head.
*Ark merely held his hands up in surrender and jogged over to the doors, smiling weakly. "See y'all around" He spoke, before a teal armored hand shot out from the doors and yanked him through, reducing the rest of them to laughter once again.
'Zona wiped a tear away from laughing so hard, before standing up. "I really should be heading off, gotta get back to kicking Florida's ass." She smirked, remembering knocking him on his ass last round.
Maine growled and Arizona froze, looking back at the freelancer who had also stood up. Towering over 'Zona, he grumbled, "What about North?"
Blushing, she threw on her helmet quickly to hide it and her feelings before replying, "What about him?"
Now Wash hopped in on the conversation, "Well, you two used to date. Haven't you heard the news yet?" He asked, looking puzzled.
It was Arizona's turn to be confused, "Heard what?" She asked.
CT looked up from her book, looking surprised. "You seriously haven't heard?"
'Zona ground her teeth together in frustration, "No, I haven't heard what it fucking is yet! So tell me already and quit beating around the goddamn bush!" She cursed.
Maine growled, "North was caught in bed with Maryland"
Arizona froze in her tracks, feeling her heart sink into her stomach. "….What."
CT simply nodded as though it wasn't super important, not wanting to strain her friend anymore. "Just ask the one who caught 'em…" She trailed off, as said purple and green freelancer sauntered over to their table with a sultry grin.
"Heard you got some questions about North and his new fuck buddy?" South purred, watching 'Zona's reaction.
At that moment, she was thankful that she had thrown on her helmet earlier as it hid the panic rising in her gut. She broke up with him and she was in a different relationship, she had moved on already, this shouldn't hurt… "He wouldn't do that." She spoke indifferently, only half succeeding in shoving her emotions away to deal with later.
At this point, Maine stood up and left with only a small nod towards everyone, but a hostile rumble towards South. She either didn't notice or didn't care, flipping him the finger. "So where was I? Oh right, I walked into North's room to get onto him after some report or other crap he didn't do last night. What do I find?"
'Zona was fighting every emotion she felt at that moment, her voice gaining an edge to it that hadn't been there previously. "A goddamn puppy" She replied, laying on the sarcasm.
South rolled her eyes, "No dipshit, I found North and Maryland naked, in bed, and my god you should've heard the noises she was making!" She chuckled before continuing. "He didn't want this public knowledge, but oh well."
Unable to deal, 'Zona stood up, nearly knocking over South in surprise. "I need to get back to training now, I'll see you around." Without waiting for a response, she stormed out of the mess hall. As she left, she could hear CT begin to defend Arizona, with Wash backing her up against South.
She could hear heavy boots clunking behind her as someone ran to catch up, but 'Zona tried to ignore them as long as she could. Only stopping when the voice cried out, "Arizona, wait up!" It was North.
The heavy weight she felt pressing on her chest alleviated slightly as she turned around and bumped into him by accident. "Oh, sorry…" Once again thankful that her helmet hid her blush and teary expression from his view.
"No, my fault, didn't expect you to turn around…" He muttered with a small smile.
Going against her better judgment, she took off her helmet and returned the smile. "Yeah, well.." She chuckled slightly, running her hand through her hair. 'The fuck? Why am I so nervous?' She wondered in her head.
Leaning against the wall, North spoke again. "Just wanted to make sure you were alright, I know South wasn't playing well there." He sighed.
Freezing, the smile fell right off her face. "Why wouldn't I be fine?" she lied.
Now it was North's turn to scratch the back of his neck nervously, "Well, because of Maryland and me, and how you and I used to date."
She wasn't sure what made her do it, but she leaned forward and captured him in a kiss. He responded immediately, pushing her against the wall as they deepened the kiss.
Suddenly, North came to his senses and pulled back, breathing heavily. "What the hell was that?!" He spoke, his voice rising with anger.
Surprised at her own actions, 'Zona stuttered and tried to speak futilely. North took that to mean something totally different, turning his back on her.
"You may still love me, but I love Mary now. Although, I wouldn't object to you joining us sometime, and I know she wouldn't either." He spoke, a small smirk on his face.
Horrified, 'Zona backed up away from him. "What the hell North?!" She ran off without a second glance, unable to help the tears that fell from her face as she ran and locked herself into her room. She set the comm. to monitor when Ark and York would arrive back before curling up on the bed, unable to hold back the pain anymore.*
All this went through 'Zona's head within seconds, only helping to further enrage her. "You got a plan?" She growled at Ark, who simply nodded in response.
"When don't I?" He laughed, before doubling over with a cough. Standing back up, he whispered to her. "Follow my lead…" Then shouted back at South, "I was wrong South!"
'Zona could almost see South's eyes narrow in suspicion. "Right about what?"
Nodding at 'Zona, he replied, "I don't need 'Zona to win a fight, whereas you can't do shit without your brother backing you up!" He ended with a taunt.
She was surprised, that seemed pretty mean by Ark's standards, even as a taunt. Then remembering what South said to her and tried earlier, the female twin lost 'Zona's sympathy.
South lowered her head and charged at him, fists swinging with a yell. Expecting this, Ark moved out of the way and swung at her back, easily knocking her to the ground.
North ran forwards, swinging at 'Zona with his pudgel stick. She rolled backwards, avoiding the strike before slamming her pudgel stick upwards into his groin. Not falling for it again, he blocked with his own staff.
"Zona, staff!" Ark yelled, and without hesitation she threw her pudgel stick towards him, watching as he spun it between his fingers and then slammed them both into North's shoulder blades. He shouted in pain as he hit the ground. "You deal with South, I'll take North…" Ark growled, advancing on North as he stood back up, gripping his own pudgel stick tighter.
'Zona nodded, turning around to see South struggling to her feet. "Don't you know when to stay down?" she taunted, cracking her knuckles.
South growled something unintelligible, before rushing at her. They exchanged punches quickly, too even to get a hit in on each other. 'Zona grunted as she was punched in the gut, before responding tenfold with a right hook to South's helmet, knocking her off balance. She took full advantage of that, punching faster and faster as South was unable to block as many. Blocking a pathetic counter-punch, she slid forward, delivering an elbow downwards into South's chest, knocking the agent to the ground.
Smirking, 'Zona realized she knocked South unconscious before looking back at how Ark and North were doing. Ark was a blur of motion with the dual pudgel sticks, deadly and beautiful in a way. The same way an explosion was beautiful, he arced back and forth with the now deadlier weapons. North seemed to be doing all he could to avoid getting hit, and failing at that. Stumbling backwards, North had his pudgel stick ripped away with one smooth hit by Ark.
Whirling both pudgel sticks, Ark creamed North in the helmet and knocked him unconscious with a grunt. No way could anyone stay conscious with that hit. 'Zona thought to herself as she walked over to where Ark stood, panting.
"Nice shot" She complimented him, standing over North's body next to Ark. He looked back at South's unconscious body, then back to 'Zona.
"I could say the same to you…" He chuckled, struggling to conceal his limp as he started walking out of the training room.
Sighing, 'Zona followed and helped support him. "Quit faking it, I know you're hurt, so we're going to the infirmary." She spoke, putting on her sternest voice.
'Zona literally felt him stiffen against her, trying to divert their path as she continued hopping him forwards toward the infirmary. "No, no, no, really not necessary!" He urged pathetically, gaining a laugh out of 'Zona.
She shook her head and brought him back in, sitting him on one of the unoccupied beds. "Oh shut up, you know you need the help."
He groaned and took off his helmet, staring at her. "No way I can convince you otherwise?"
'Zona took off her own helmet and kissed him quickly, before giving smirking. "Nope." Then laughed as Ark stuck his tongue out at her and laid down in the bed. "I'll be back later Ark, got some business to take care of first." She promised, waving one of the docs over to where Arkansas lay.
He sighed, shaking his head. "Fine, just don't forget to come back alright? You would not believe how boring it is in here." His eyes widened as one of the doctors glared at him. "No I don't mean you guys! No wait, come back!" Ark cried, while 'Zona barely stifled her laughter as the doctor flipped him the finger and went to another patient instead. As she walked out the doors, the last thing 'Zona heard was Ark and the doctor in the room arguing over the medical properties of Aloe Vera.