Battle Maniac
"Hey! What are you doing here?"
One guy confronted Elena as she approached them. He was the buffest among them and, clearly, overly proud.
"I came to audition," Elena stated calmly, with an almost friendly smile.
Guys laughed.
"She must be lost," a different guy said. He was the tallest one.
"Dancing hall's next door," the first guy pointed in the direction of the adjacent hall.
"I know."
Elena was being rather patient. Guys slowly realized she was being serious about this.
"This is warrior training. No place for girls," the buff guy emphasized.
"Then, what are you doing here?" Elena asked mischievously, placing her hands on her hips.
the rest of the guys seemed impressed by her quip. She raised an eyebrow as if she didn't find it something nifty enough to be worthy of their reaction.
"Ugh, dude, she got you good," the tall guy shook his shoulder.
The buffest guy was pressing his lips together. He wasn't happy about this.
"No girls are allowed here. Get out or we'll kick you out." He seemed married to this idea of excluding girls.
"I'd love to see you try. I'm not leaving. I came here for an audition."
"Girls can't audition for warriors. You're too weak. We don't joke around here. You will get seriously hurt."
"Weak? Amanda says women are superior," Elena knew full well she was challenging them.
"This isn't a place for girls. It is for guys only. Get out!" he was persistent.
"Are you generally afraid of vaginas or are you only afraid a girl's going to kick your ass?" It seems Elena was annoyed she was reminded of being a girl so many times within the past minute and unsubtly began to provoke.
"I'm not afraid of anything."
"Then prove it."
"I don't need to prove anything to you."
"Then, I'll audition, and if I fail, you can get back to rubbing each others' dicks. But if I win, your ass is the first one I'll kick."
He laughed. "You could never beat me, sweetheart."
"I bet I could. While eating a sandwich, even."
Her statement both infuriated and intrigued him.
"Oh, yeah? Then prove it. You don't need to audition to know you don't belong here. I'll show you right now," he began to pump himself up, as if he was preparing for an actual battle.
"Then go make me a sandwich." Elena gave him a cheeky smile that didn't fail to infuriate him further.
"Get in the arena. I'll show you," he sounded serious, now.
"That's what I like to hear."
Elena smirked as she had succeeded in luring him into fighting. What gave her the confidence she could take the strongest-looking guy wasn't exactly clear. It was easy to believe she was insane beyond comprehension.
However, Elena's unbothered attitude changed to astute once in a battle ring. They took their positions in the fighting arena — which was just a bunch of mats arranged on the floor. Elena kicked off her boots and stripped her cleaning jumpsuit and was in a tight black tank top and dark peg-leg trousers.
Some of the guys whistled while she did it. She seemed used to being objectified like that. But it wasn't like she was revealing a lot of skin.
"Okay, then. Ready?"
Surprisingly, the buff guy she pissed off still showed some precaution, not wanting to hurt a girl.
Elena didn't bother to answer. She wasted no moment and attacked first with a high kick to his face. He stumbled back, shocked, then turned angry. He did not expect her first move would be a lightning-fast kick.
He charged back at her, and Maya could swear she saw a smile break on Elena's face.
'She… enjoys this…?'
The guy tackled her to the ground and Elena took the fall, but managed to slip away before he could pin her properly on the floor as if it was an opportunity to get him to the ground instead. However, he wasn't letting her get away easily and pulled her leg from under her as she crawled away to get her footing.
Losing her footing, Elena fell flat on her chest and instantly rolled to the side to evade him catching her there and somehow delivered a nasty kick to his ribs with her knee.
This didn't look like a proper fight. It was a strange scuffle. It seemed like the buff guy's goal was to pin her to the floor but Elena was simply too slippery for it to go his way.
In the next moment, they were both back at their feet. It has already lasted for far longer than he expected it to and he was now infuriated and no longer cared if he hurt her. It showed in the flurry of punches he threw at her next.
Elena guarded with her arms, however, he was the buffest guy in here, indeed, and one of the punches broke through and hooked her straight in the face. Elena stumbled back, pressing her palm to her mouth.
Maya gasped quietly in the dark. It was truly insane. It felt like it landed solidly.
'Why would Elena put herself in a such situation?'
The guy gave her a breather for a second. Or gave it to himself as he was panting rather intensely. Catching her was quite a workout, as she showed to be fast with him in comparison.
When Elena removed her hand, Maya caught a glimpse of blood in her mouth. It seems her lip was split. However, Elena wasn't the least bit discouraged. Perhaps even more motivated. She swallowed the blood and got ready to go again.
The guy was shaking his head in disbelief. His pride wouldn't allow him to stop now if she wasn't giving up.
"I think this was enough. Let's not go any further," one of the more reasonable guys tried to stop them.
"I'm not ending at an impasse," Elena said coldly.
"Come on, Chris. What do you think you're doing?" he tried to reason with the buff guy, but it didn't reach him.
His gaze was dead set on Elena, taking this very seriously now.