The Iron Man [Serial]

The Rap Battle

There was a rapid series of movements as the six of us near the stairwell drew weapons or struck battle poses. It happened all at once: swirling cloth, a curved sword, tossed hair, three types of dagger, bodies balanced on platform shoes, a pair of revolvers, and a boat hook. Movements slowed to deliberate shifts between targets to establish checks and balances against each other.

Sina held her cutlass defensively in a reverse grip, between herself and Morté, who lunged toward her with a two-handed grasp on the shaft of his boat hook. Beside him, Smokey-eyes showed off a spring-loaded knife by needlessly ejecting and retracting the bade at the flick of a button. He pointed towards Sina with the tip of the blade, "Did I see the young lady there pull a sword from under her dress?" He laughed. The words were in French, but all basic enough that I understood, despite an accent I could not yet place.

Miranda made a slight shift towards Sina, the fingers of her right hand woven through the ringed handle of her bodice dagger. "Stay back!"

"This tapette brought guns to a knife fight," Pallador said. He watched me only from the corners of his eyes, but I did not miss that his curious 3-pronged oriental daggers were angled back, as if he might throw them at me.

Mr. Smokey smirked and snorted.

"Did you just call me a...slapper?" I asked, beginning in French, but resorting to English to avoid defining the unfamiliar word by using the word itself.

Pallador switched to English, "Oh, it speaks le français...intolerably."

At that, Smokey shoved at Monsieur Pallador's arm. "What do I tell you about that shady language?!" His own language was curious in English as in French, and I realized I had heard it before, in the Americas.

"He," Pallador conceded. His eyes flicked towards my face only an instant. "It is 'he'?"

I could not even imagine answering the question asked in such manner.

Morté interrupted, loudly, "Where are those other two?" He took a step toward the interior, but Sina rose out of her lunge and angled the end of her cutlass toward his throat. His hook pushed at her arm.

I climbed up another step to be able to aim one of the Bulldogs at Morté.

"I sent them out on an errand," Miranda said. "They are not here."

"Aje, go search," Pallador said. I was uncertain whether 'Aje' was his name, or yet another unfamiliar term.

"Let him look," Miranda said quietly, "There's no one else here, but I cannot promise they will not return with help."

Sina moved aside to allow

"Are your two ringers here not help enough?" Pallador asked.

I shifted my aim to include both Pallador and his friend, while Sina also moved to put her sword to the long-tail in black. "We have you covered well enough."

"Hardly, Gaol-bait," Pallador said, still refusing to look me in the eyes. He tipped his weapons forward then twirled and spun each about a hand. He then began to move his arms independently, continuing the twirling of pronged daggers. I was convinced, I admit, he had quick fingers and was very well coordinated.

In response, Sina spun about with her sword, drawing the blade with her in fluid arcs and curves, and then coming to a rapid stop and balancing the blade atop her headscarf. They had me, I though, because I'd trained in quick drawing and aiming, but I wasn't about to shoot at Miranda's shop.

I might have expected more flicking of the switchblade, but instead, Smokey-eyes began wailing and doing some kind of fancy wordless singing low to high and back down.