Self Defense

Rayne looked over at the intimidating man, her eyes drawn to his red hair. He had a stern expression and was talking to Brent as if giving orders.

"Boss wants to go to the underground auction that's in a few weeks. I'm going to need you to be there as backup", said the large man.

"I'll be there Ian, don't worry", replied Brent.

Just as Ian was about to continue, he noticed Rayne standing at the entrance. 

"You never told me you got a girlfriend Brent!", said Ian while looking at Brent.

"What? I don't have a girlfriend. She must be the one who wanted to take self dense classes", replied Brent as he turned to look at Rayne.

The two men walked over to where Rayne was standing. They both looked at her, scanning her up and down, when Brent frowned. 

"Hmm, you spent too much time sitting. Your muscles look even more underdeveloped than the average person". 

Instead of getting angry or upset Rayne laughed! "Yes, you're quite correct! My muscles are indeed underdeveloped, but the reason is not because I spend my days sitting around. I actually just recently woke up from a year long coma".

Brent looked a little awkward after hearing the explanation, he cleared his throat a few times to try and mask his embarrassment. 

"Ah I see, forgive me for assuming incorrectly".

Ian looked over at Rayne after she mentioned being in a coma. His younger brother had just mentioned that Dr. Weston's only daughter had just woken up from a coma not long ago. Ian doubted that this girl was the same person. He had received a photo of Dr. Weston's daughter on the day of her accident, and the girl in the photo looked very weak, almost invisible. But the girl standing in front of him now was quite radiant, giving off a strong lively aura.

Shrugging it off, Ian patted Brent's shoulder saying, "Don't forget about what we talked about earlier, I need you there". Then he pushed open the door and walked out of the gym. 

After Ian left, Rayne looked up at her instructor meeting his eyes. 

"Before we begin, let me ask you a few questions so I have a better understanding of how to teach you. First, what are you trying to gain by coming here?", questioned Brent. 

Rayne replied rather straightforwardly, "My main desire is to learn some self defense. I want to be able to protect myself if I were to ever find myself in a difficult situation".

Brent nodded at her response, "Good, good. What I will teach you is something you can use in the real world, not flashy moves that look cool but are useless in a fight. However, we will have to start slowly to give your body time to rebuild some muscle".

After the chat, Brent led Rayne to the section of the gym that had the floor mats and began instructing her on basic stances and positions. 

Rayne was surprised that even though these moves required very little movement, they were quite strenuous on her body. She was soon covered in sweat but she was feeling great! 

Brent was indeed a great instructor! He was able to see places that she struggled in and offered effective solutions.

Soon the 2 hour session ended and Rayne was exhausted, laying on the floor trying to catch her breath. 

"You did very well today. To be honest I didn't think you'd be able to hold up", laughed Brent, passing Rayne some water.

"Thanks", replied Rayne. She was doing her best trying to try and catch her breath. 

"Since this is your first day of heavy physical activity, let's schedule your next lesson next week to give your body time to rest. Afterwards we can plan lessons twice a week", said Brent.

"Sure thing! I'll see you at the same time next week!", replied Rayne happily. She was happy she gave Brent a chance. After the lesson today she knew for sure that she would gain a lot from his lessons.

Rayne dragged her exhausted body back home and ran a hot bath to relax her aching muscles. While soaking in the bathtub, she mentally went over her to-do list for tomorrow. She planned on going to the outdoor camping superstore, but realized that it would be rather inconvenient traveling there if she relied on a taxi or public transportation. She decided that she would go and rent a car, she would need one for her camping trip this weekend anyway.

After finishing her bath, she rinsed off and got ready for bed. She was so tired that she wasn't even hungry, which was very rare. The moment she touched her bed she fell asleep, sleeping deeply through the night.

---

In a dark underground room a handsome man sat staring at another man who was tied up, laying on the ground. There were men in black suits surrounding the man who was sitting on a wooden chair, armed with weapons.

Julian slowly leaned forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his thighs andi his fingers supporting his chin. There was no warmth in his eyes. His eye reflected a cold glint, conveying the deep hate he was currently feeling.

"Enlighten me once more on how you 'didn't mean' to kill one of my men", Julian asked the man who was laying on the ground.

The man on the ground shivered, replying meekly, "I...I really....It was an accident.. I swear! I thought he was the enemy!".

"Hahaha!", Julian laughed loudly, sending a shiver down everyone's spine. "Ian, could you show this poor man the surveillance footage, so that he could get his story right?".

Ian opened the laptop that he was holding and placed it on the floor in front of the tied up man. The video was taken from a hidden angle, only a few people knew of this camera's existence.

In the video, the man who was currently tied up, walked up to another man and pointed towards a car that was parked in the parking garage they were both in. The man seemed surprised and ran up to the car, pulling out his gun. Just as he was going to peek inside the car, the first man sneaked up behind and stabbed him in the back with a large combat knife. 

The man kept stabbing until he was sure the man was dead, and ran away.

After watching the video the man on the floor shook. He had no idea there was a secret camera! He made sure that all of the cameras in the parking garage were disabled, but didn't think there were hidden ones!

Julian let out a chilling smile seeing the man's reaction. "Well I'm glad I could at least refresh your memory. Now, tell me where Damian is hiding and I might let you live". 

Hearing this the man snapped, "HA! Do you think you're even worthy of seeing my boss? Go ahead and kill me! I will never tell you where he is!! But let me tell you, he has something big planned, and it's going to change the world!! Hahahah!!!...ahh...".

Julian put his gun back into the holster after shooting the man. His cold aura freezing everyone in place. Only Ian walked over to where Julian was sitting, placing his hand on his shoulder. 

"We will find him boss", said Ian resolutely. 

"Mmhm, and when we do I'll be sure to kill him myself", replied Julian.

---

The next morning Rayne woke up refreshed, even though her muscles were very sore. She was excited to go to the outdoor camping store and fill her system up with more items! 

She put on some comfortable clothes, grabbed her keys and wallet and left the house. 

She was craving coffee this morning and realized that she hasn't stored any coffee in her system yet! One of Rayne's favorite cafes was on the way to the car rental place and she decided to stop in on the way. 

Opening the door to the café, a very pleasant scent greeted Rayne. She walked in and ordered all of her favorite drinks and pastries, making the girl at the counter think Rayne was buying coffee for her office.

Rayne ended up ordering 10 different drinks, both hot and iced, as well as 6 different pastries. Thankfully the items were all packed neatly into two large paper bags, making it easy for Rayne to carry.

Rayne left the café and walked a few steps down the road to a relatively secluded area. She placed the two bags down and squatted over them for some extra cover. Rayne then reached her hand into each bag and stored each drink and pastry into her system one by one. She replaced the contents back in the bag to avoid suspicion but she wasn't in the mood to carry all these drinks around with her. 

Just then Rayne thought of the small homeless community that lived in the alley downtown and decided to give these two bags to them. She wished that she had stored some blankets in her system so that she could give those as well but unfortunately she did not. 

She pulled out another bag from her system and filled it with water bottles, street food, and even a few bars of soap she got at the hospital. She then went to deliver the three bags of goods to the small homeless community. 

"Hi, I have a few items I would like to gift you all. These two bags contain different kinds of coffee drinks and pastries, while this bag here has a couple of water bottles, street food and daily necessities. Please accept them!", said Rayne to the people who were sitting down on old blankets.

The people looked at her with joy, "Oh thank you miss! We accept! We accept!". 

They then came over to the bags and passed around the items, thankfully there was more than enough for everyone so there weren't any arguments.