-(JANUARY 27TH, RIGHT AFTER THE COMPOUND BREACH)-
Rebound fell back as the door to the training room slammed into his face. His head rolled forward as he caught himself, and he looked up at the intruder.
In front of him was a towering, menacing woman with wild eyes and an faux-cutesy smile.
"Salut~" she chirped with a small wave.
Rebound took note of his attacker, just how BM had taught him; she wasn't taking this seriously, meaning she was either very powerful or very dumb. Her build was lean, but muscular, suggesting that she would hold up in a typical fight. Furthermore, the potential danger of abilities was never to be underestimated!
Rebound backed away slightly before clambering to his feet.
"Who the hell are you?" he inquired firmly.
"Ummm, is this the right room? I'm supposed to be in the training rooms, but I can't-" the woman said in a slight french accent, pulling out a large sheet of paper, obviously blank, "I can't read maps!"
Wary and confused, Rebound stayed silent.
"Hey, I know! Can you read it for me?" the woman continued, rolling up the sheet and throwing it to him. But as it flew towards him, he noticed something. A glimpse of neon pink...
On instinct, Rebound jumped back - and it was a good thing he did, because the sheet roll seemed to suddenly burst down the middle in midair, in a near explosive fashion!
"Woah! Who the hell *are* you!? Are you one of Twig's men?" he exclaimed, the adrenaline finally kicking in.
The woman seemed almost repulsed by the idea of it.
"You think I'm with Twig? Eurgh... I hate that guy. DV has him wrapped around her finger! And he's such a poser - he holds no value to human life. That makes killing easy... no, I, mon chéri, am Ingrid, and I understand exactly how much human life means! And that... that makes killing FUN!"
Rebound gulped nervously, but kept his composure otherwise. Taking on someone as crazy as she was was scary, but... it was something he had to do. And only someone as uncaring as her would've said that, 'DV'. Was this 'DV' the person orchestrating all of these attacks?
But there was no more time to think! Rebound lunged forward, but stopped as Ingrid simply wagged a finger at him.
"Non, non," she said, bending down theatrically to run her hand across the ground in front of her, leaving a strange glowing pink trail, "some lines are not meant to be crossed!"
Rebound staggered to a halt, remembering what the pink lines had done to the sheet roll. Instead, he threw his ball at Ingrid, but she didn't even flinch as the line drawn in front of her suddenly seemed to burst, flinging the ball high into the air!
Shit, that was one area his ability fell short in - like in his fight with Wren, any kind of non-physical disturbance to the ball would throw it off course outside of Rebound's control!
But even more concerning - in the area where Ingrid had drawn the line, the floor, made of metal, had burst open like a bubble. These lines were dangerous!
And with that, Ingrid made her attack.
She pounced upon Rebound quickly, dashing up to tackle him, but he ducked and sidestepped the attack expertly, catching his falling ball as Ingrid passed and lobbing it at the back of the head to send her staggering forward. Rebound smirked. After all these long distance or support roles he had played in fights and missions, he was enjoying some hand-to-hand combat!
Ingrid faceplanted heavily, and picked herself up slowly. She twisted her head around to look at Rebound, who was awaiting her next move. She cupped her hand below her face, dribbling blood into it.
"Hey, I'm bleeding... can you drink it? I promise, it's an acquired taste!" she muttered feebly, before squeezing her hand shut tight, and flinging droplets of her blood at Rebound.
Disgusted, he flung his arm up in front of his face to block them - before noticing that the droplets that hit him were neon pink in colour!
Rebound gasped in surprise and pain as the droplets suddenly burst, shredding the sleeve of his jacket and stinging his arm underneath with small cuts. That was far too close for comfort!
Ingrid rushed him again, swiping her fingers at him. He knew that a single one of those lines on a part of his body could tear him right open, and so he held an intense focus on every dodging single swing Ingrid took at him.
"What... you don't want my blood?" Ingrid grunted out, seemingly offended, as strange as it seemed.
But then, he felt a swipe graze his side! Quickly, Rebound looked down at his jacket, and saw that the hip was now painted with a thick neon pink line! Whilst the blood droplets had struggled to cut through the leather, a direct, thick line like this had been proven to tear through even metal!
Thinking quickly, Rebound tore off his jacket and flung it at Ingrid. Mere inches from him, it burst to shreds in mid-air, and his head recoiled violently from the blast. Ingrid also took some of the hit, but only seemed to wince.
"Ya know, mon chéri, I used to torture myself every day to build up a resistance to pain! I started as a kid, I genuinely thought it would work... I don't know when I stopped believing that, but I never stopped the torture!" Ingrid yelled, giggling like a maniac.
Rebound stumbled back, and felt beads of sweat run down his forehead. This was the moment of truth... his excuse so far was that the past few fights were just flukes, but he couldn't afford to lose this one. He collected himself, before dashing at Ingrid first this time.
She seemed impressed by this confidence, or, in her eyes, this blind lack of care for his life, and grinned evilly as he approached. She readied herself to take him on, but as he ran up to her, something fell from his hand. And the second it hit the floor... it suddenly changed course and speed, heading directly towards her at incredible speeds!
Before she could even react, Ingrid felt Rebound's rubber ball smack her square in the face, before being quickly followed by a punch to the gut, and a flurry of punches all over her. She flailed out blindly, but her hands found nothing, and she fell hard to the ground as her legs were swept out from underneath her.
Rebound swiftly backed up again, playing it safe, whilst Ingrid rolled onto to her back, dazed, and began to laugh maniacally.
"This... I NEEDED THIS!" she screamed, flinging herself to her feet. Despite his focused fear, Rebound felt a grin spread across his face.
He had needed this too.
YOU ARE READING
Bring The Heat
ActionWho was Wren? Where does power come from? And how will everyone manage this new responsibility thrown onto them? Maybe letting the stars guide you is the only way to move forward...
