𝐍𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 | 𝙷.𝚂.

twenty - the attitude ordeal

"Harder."

Nine rolled his eyes.

"Harder," he repeated.

She grunted at him, frustration clear on her soft features.

"Harder," he said again.

"I'm going as hard as I can, asshole," she huffed, slamming her fist into the foam he held up another weak time.

"And it's shit. Again, harder," he commanded.

She listened, this time rearing back a bit stronger and planting her fist into the black cushion. It was better than her last several attempts, he'd give her that.

"Can we take a break?" She asked.

He shook his head, "No. We started thirty minutes ago."

"Yea, and it's been a useless thirty minutes."

"That's because you're weak, Bird. Now get your ass back over here and punch this fucking cushion," he glared.

She let her shoulder slacken, her head throwing back in irritation. 

He knew she didn't want to be here from the conversation she had with Damian, but he didn't really give a shit. She needed this practice, and them training was helping distract him from his conversation with Damian.

It seemed that neither of them had a pleasant time with him.

Bird began throwing small punches back at the foam, holding her stance firm as he taught her yesterday.

He stood stiffly, prepared for any force she threw his way at any moment. Not that she could knock him off his feet anyways.

He's got at least five inches of height on her and was definitely heavier considering his build and her lack thereof. It would take a lot more of this training to get her where she needed to be, and he wasn't entirely confident that they had the time.

And regarding the conversation he had with Damian, time seems to be of the essence.

Damian and his crew in Atlanta were blindsided by a group that associated a bit closer to Uccello than they wanted to admit to themselves. 

So, when they spent longer than they intended there, trying to fix reputations and end others, Nine knew it wasn't necessarily a good sign. It was usually an in and out sort of thing, Damian not wanting to draw too much attention to them or the people under him and The Nine.

But the moment Crab returned for a short period of time, Kite lost his eye. And that raised Nine's suspicions that Atlanta and here were a bit more connected than they'd assumed.

Damian confirmed that today. 

Their meeting solely revolved around the growing strength of Uccello and anyone associated with him. In other words, Uccello was aware of their plan. Or, at minimum the overall idea of it.

This would make getting to anyone similar to Parker a lot harder, thus making Nine's revenge tactics a little more temporary than originally considered. That's what Damian says, at least. And Nine couldn't help but to feel this was partially his fault with his failed attempt at killing Nicholas Miller.

Nick clearly had some involvement, which was solidified by the eruption of attacks in Atlanta directly after he was nearly assassinated. 

Had Nine been able to rid the world of him, Uccello would've at least known that they meant business. 

But no.

He fucked up, received a gash in his side, and had an amateur hacker at his disposal. All three of these things seemed to make a larger impact on the reputation of The Nine than he thought when he blew up on Bird at the apartment last week.