Calamitous (Kaylor)

18

Catastrophe was 16 years old the first time she had someone close to her own age to talk to in the gang. She woke up early one Tuesday morning and quickly did her morning routine, excited for the day. Justice had told her that a new recruit was arriving that morning, and that she expected them to get along well, so the blonde was eager to make a good impression.

As she was walking to the cafeteria, she spotted someone up ahead of her that she didn't recognize. It was a girl with black hair, probably about the same age as Catastrophe. The girl was shorter than she was but looked tough. The blonde figured that this was probably the new recruit and ran up to her, shouting a greeting.

The girl whipped around and stared at her as she approached. "Hi!" Catastrophe said cheerfully. "Are you the new recruit?"

"Yes," the girl said simply.

"This is great! I've never had anyone close to my age around here to talk to. We can train together, and eat together, and maybe even go on missions together! I'm sure we'll be good friends."

The other girl scoffed. "Friends? There are no friends here. Justice said you've been living here for ten years, and you still haven't learned?" She began to circle the blonde, analyzing her with cold eyes. "You don't look very tough," she mused to herself. "Are you sure you belong here?"

Catastrophe bristled. She hadn't been expecting the girl to be so unfriendly. "I belong here more than you do. Where'd they find you? In a dumpster?"

"Pretty close to it, actually," the girl said lightly. "I grew up on the streets. I've been working with several smaller gangs for years. It made me strong, you know. Justice and Luna saw me and decided I'd be perfect for their group - maybe they thought I'd be able to teach you a thing or two."

"Justice and Luna found me on the streets too," Catastrophe hissed.

"Aww, is that what they told you?" the girl said, mock pity in her voice. The blonde stepped closer to her, using her height to look intimidating.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just, you look so soft. No one would ever believe that you could survive on your own." The girl refused to be intimidated and stared up at Catastrophe, a sardonic grin on her face. "One of us will be the next leader one day," she sneered, "and I'm pretty sure it's not gonna be you."

Catastrophe shot forward, gripping the other girl by the neck and pinning her to the wall of the hallway. "I've been on active duty here for six years," she snarled, "and I've been leading missions for over two years now. I can keep up with everyone else here. It's you who won't be able to succeed."

"No wonder they were so desperate for new recruits," the girl laughed. "If you're leading missions, they must really need me." Catastrophe growled and tightened her grip but was shocked by a sudden hit to her abdomen. That bitch kicked me!

The blonde staggered back, wheezing, as the other girl stalked toward her. "Well, that was easy," the girl crowed. "I thought Justice would have trained you better than to let your guard down like that. Has she not been giving you enough attention?"

Catastrophe looked like she was trying to catch her breath, but what she was really doing was waiting for the other girl to come within striking distance. As the taunts continued, the blonde jumped at her, knocking her to the ground. "Clearly you have to work on the same thing," she hissed, trying to pin the smaller girl.

They tussled for a few moments, rolling around the hallway. Catastrophe was glad that no one else was around this early in the morning, because their shouts and curses were echoing in the empty halls. She finally managed to pin the girl, her arm across her throat and her full body weight pressing down, but wasn't able to hold it for long since her opponent clearly wasn't opposed to fighting dirty.