Timelord31
I know what you mean but in Isabel's defense her fear was real even if she didn't give people a change to judge her. She saw her brother tortured by her government just for being an alien and even if the Special Unit was a bunch of extremists, in her mind they confirmed all the fears that had been planted by movies and books while she grew up.
begonia9508
Serena or Izzy...
keepsmiling7
Thanks and more to come
DeDe PR
Serena too obvious? Maybe....maybe not.
Baby Zan will be along soon. Not much longer to wait.
Alien_Friend
Serena is a very complicated person and we have a lot more to learn about her but don't underestimate her she has issues.
destinyc
Hopefully by moving in with the guards that normalcy might come about
xmag
You'll have to wait to see if the person is being forced to work for Khivar. But the pain thing, that's all for fun.
cjsl8ne
Well aren't you evil!
Well seeing as their is 5 years between Isabel's dreamwalk and Liz's talk with the President int he future I'm hoping this solution will happen sooner.
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Chapter 10
Her arm extended with familiarity, as though she had executed this move everyday of her life. Twisting at her hips, her other arm then extended, as she brought her arm back into her body. Her movements felt so controlled it surprised her. She knew exactly what she was doing with complete confidence.
Taking a step both her arms came out in front of her, palms up, in a slow controlled movement. Letting her eyes wander along the lines she watched as the serious Bodymen executed this same move. Their movements were focused and precise. In perfect unison they rehearsed the same moves she was doing for the first time. It was a strange feeling. Taking a step back in the other direction she turned her body as her arm extended, before twisting her hips and extending her other arm.
Watching Kyle, who stood in front of her, she was amazed as he moved in perfect time with the Guards around him as though he had been training his whole life. He always was the sporty type so she shouldn’t be surprised, but she envied the easy with which he moved, sure that she would not look as graceful.
Stepping to the side and turning her hips to face the front she lunged again extending both her arms in front of her with her palms facing up. At the thought of what Kyle might say if he knew she’d just called him graceful she started to giggle. Standing up she heard a voice speaking very close to her ear “Maria. You must concentrate.” Turning her head quickly to catch who had spoken to her she saw Jaris standing at her side. Giving her a half smile he mouthed quietly as he started to move backwards “Your out of time.”
Turning to look at her friends she saw that she had fallen a step behind everyone else. Hearing a chuckle she turned back around and saw Kyle facing her as he executed the next move. “You must concentrate Maria” he imitated with a teasing smile as he changed arms.
Squinting her eyes at him she stuck her tongue out as he continued to laugh at her. He could be so immature some times she thought as she quickly fell into step with the rest of the Guards training. Turning around as they faced the back she saw Liz also silently laughing at her as she blew the air out her nose in irritation, turning her attention back to the drills.
Liz, Kyle and Maria had decided to join a group of Bodymen who were training first thing in the morning. They wanted to make use of their newly acquired knowledge of the fighting arts.
It was intimidating at first for the three when they arrived in the main yard of the mountain compound. Jaris had informed them yesterday that the Bodymen ran massed training session first thing in the morning where they ran through their fighting drills and hand to hand combat. When they arrived dressed for a training session the Guards were assembled in groups around the space, talking with each other or variously mucking about. Their arrival caused much of the activity in the room to stop momentarily as the assembled Guards took in their presents.
Standing together near one of the entrance halls the three spoke to each other a couple of times, but mostly watched the Bodymen. These were professional soldiers who had dedicated their live to their protection and while the three of them were not the ones they had originally planned to protect they had extended it to include them without any complaint. The Guards quickly went back to their activities as they waited for the start of their training.
Joining them without their notice, Jaris started speaking “I am glad you chose to join us this morning” he started. Turning to face them Liz smiled and greeted him with a "Hi".
“Good morning” he replied before continuing “This will be your first training session. Now I understand you will only be beginners at this, and I’ll try and take things slow but this is one of the Guards main training session so I can’t afford to hold your hand. You may watch if you feel you cannot keep up. I have also assigned one of the Bodymen to look after you in this session and teach you the movements…”
Interrupting Jaris before he went any further Kyle spoke up “Actually Serena did this little thing with us yesterday” he started while waving his fingers in front of his chest “she implanted all these memories on how to fight and stuff. So we won’t exactly be starting from scratch”
Seeing the expression change on Jaris’ face he faulted slightly “What did she do to you?” Jaris asked.
“She didn’t really
do anything” Kyle started in Serena’s defence “she just…” struggling to find the right words Liz interrupted.
“She implanted a memory in us.” Liz started silencing any interruption Jaris might have made “so that we all know how to defend ourselves” she said while glancing at Maria. “Now we just know all this stuff.”
“You made that dissension on the spot?” he asked a troubled expression on his face “Just to let her do that?” he asked.
“Look I wasn’t that keen on the idea of her playing in my head” Maria spoke up “but I trust Liz and she knows these things” she said with confidence while giving a confident smile at Liz.
Not sure how she felt about Maria’s confidence in her judgment or her apparent assumption on how she came to that decision she instead watched Jaris. Staying quiet for a moment and clenching his jaw, he ground his teeth as though he was restraining himself from saying something “Well it’s done now isn’t it” he said. Indicating the assembled Guards behind him with a sharp thrust of his head he continued “We’re about to start. So if you think you know the moves try and keep up, I’ll keep an eye on you. Ok.” Turning his back on them he walked out into the centre of the yard and by some silent order the assembled Black Guards started to move away from their groups and out into lines in the centre.
Waiting to see the Guards organised themselves the three hung back for a moment.
“You ready for this?” Kyle asked as they spied a less crowded section to their right.
Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves Maria raised her head to look at the non-existent sky. Lined up along the railings of the balconies where hundreds of Black Guards. Turning around to get a better look at them, both Liz and Kyle also noticed her distraction and looked up as will.
“Wow” Kyle whispered as he took in the large number of people watching the assembled Guards preparing to train.
“They are here to watch you” a voice spoke from behind them.
Turning around they came face to face with an impossibly tall man. He was at least a foot and a half taller than them with skin as black as his uniform. Smiling down at them the whites of his teeth shone against the deep maroon of his lips. Straining her neck to look at his face Liz commented, “Word got around quick.”
“Not really” he replied in a deep African accent “You kinda stand out.” Releasing a chuckle in his deep voice, it invited the others joined in. “You will be joining the practice today?” he asked when their laughter died down. Seeing Liz give a slight nod of her head he continued “Then you better hurry. We are starting”
Looking behind him they saw that most of the Guards had taken their positions in the lines “Oh. Right” she said as they started making their way to the free space left near the edge of the practice yard.
“I am Suto” the Guard told them as he started to walk in the same direction as them. Court off guard and ashamed at forgetting her manners it took Liz a moment to realise that they had not introduced themselves. Quickly wanting to reply she started to speak “I’m Liz” before realising that he was walked away from them, leaving her voice to trail off.
As though hearing her reply he quickly turned around and gave a bow in one fluid motion before turning back in the opposite direction and continuing on his way.
Arriving in the vacant spots the three of them waited as the remaining people joined the lines. Looking around, it was Maria who spotted her first, walking out of one of the lower walkways wearing black pants and an opened black leather jacket. Scowling despite Liz’s assurance of trust she muted “Oh she better not be joining us” as she watch Serena walk around the edge of the yard.
Hearing her comments both Liz and Kyle turned to see whom she was talking about. Seeing Serena walk around the edge of the yard, she walked with a purpose as though she was doing something important. Watching her walk Kyle couldn’t help but appreciate the way the leather ridding pants and jacket accentuated her ‘assets’. Scowling at his thoughts he watch as she reached the end of the yard and turned to the right and walked through a large passageway and out of sight. Turning his head back to Maria he shrugged his shoulders before catching the eyes of one of the Bodymen standing around them who had also been watching her progress.
“What’s she doing?” he asked hoping to get some insight into Serena’s life.
“Who knows” one of the Guards grumbled to his right as, in unison, the Guards started to step slowly through a series of movements. Reacting on instinct that Kyle knew he didn’t have he started to follow the same movements.
“She does what she want” another replied in front of him as he turned and slowly with control extended his arm. Continuing, he follow the movements of the drill along with the other assembled Bodymen concentrating on being conscious of the moves he was making for the first time despite the ease with which they came to him.
But his concentration was interrupted by the sound of a large engine. Stopping his movements Kyle stood to see where the sound was coming from. Looking towards the source of the sound he noticed Liz also standing still. Turning his head quickly he saw that Maria had also stopped along with a handful of Bodymen around them but the majority of the Guards where continuing their movements. Turning back to the source of the noise, which had suddenly got louder he watched as a silver racing bike sped out of the large passageway and up the tunnel, it’s rider dressed all in black. Watching who he was sure was Serena ride off, he wondered where she could be going.
Voicing his question Liz asked quietly to no-one in particular “Where would she be going?”
Giving a quiet “Humpf” the Guard to Kyle’s right gave the same answer as he had given to Kyle “Who knows”
“Whoever she’s going to see, I wouldn’t want to be them” a Guard to Liz’s left eventually replied as everyone stated to pick up the movements again.
~*~*~*~
Max didn’t know what he expected but it wasn’t this. The walls were aqua blue! Walking further into the room he saw a yellow sofa sitting against the wall on a spindly metal frame, in front of it sat a low white-topped chrome table with a Guess Who? board sitting askew on one corner, the game unfinished. Turning around to take in the rest of the room he saw a large oval Art Deco style dinning table sitting against the opposite wall with a leather, moulded bucket style office chair sitting behind it, the other unfinished Guess Who? board sat on the far side of the table next to a small round paper weight. In front of the desk sat two orange, low sitting lounge chairs with wooden armrests.
“Oh. My. God.” Isabel said from his left as she turned around taking in the room.
“What the hell was Terence smoking?” Michael asked from behind him after releasing an uncontrolled laugh when he first entered the room.
“You know I thought he was a bit weird…” Max started to say but was interrupted by Isabel who had been standing with her hand to her wide smiling mouth as she took in the room.
“Ooh, he’s still weird” she said quickly, not interrupting her appraisal.
“The walls are aqua…” Michael said in wonder at what he was seeing as he walked towards the apparent desk.
“The lounge is yellow” Max exclaimed now laughing and was quickly joined by Michael and Isabel.
Returning to their room the day previous, after their conversation with Serena, they were met by Terrance who was waiting in the hall outside Max and Liz’s door. Seeing the majority of the group make their way down the hall – Michael and Kyle were absent making a detour to one of the dining halls for a quick snack – Terrance moved to greet them. After inquiring about their day he was quick to get down to business. Drawing both Max and Isabel away he asked them if they could meet with him first thing tomorrow.
“Yeah, but why?” Max asked curious as to why he wanted to meet with only them.
“You are still our rulers” he said seriously for a moment “We will need to talk.” Holding his serious expression while he spoke, the smile that had been almost a permanent fixture since they had met started to creep back across his face once he had finished.
Giving them directions on where to meet, he turned to leave only to see Michael approaching down the hallway.
“Nice of you to join us Michael” Terrence murmured, giving him a smirk as he made his way down the hallway.
“Had to feed the beast man” Michael replied taking a bite out of one of the two corn dogs in his hand as he rubbed his tummy.
“You’re a pig sometimes Michael” Isabel murmured as he joined them watching Terrance walk away.
Shrugging his shoulders, it wasn’t something Michael hadn’t heard before. “What did he want?” he asked with his mouth still full.
“He wants to meet us tomorrow”
Taking another bite of his corn dog, he raised his eyebrows and grunted an “hmpf” before turning around to continue down the hallway.
Gathered in the office the three were still laughing when Terrance finally arrived. Hearing his approach from behind, the three turned to greet him with large uncontrollable smiles.
“Nice place Terrance” Michael commented when he had got himself under control enough to speak. Ignoring the subtle reprimanded he received from Isabel, her eyes grew wide as she quickly turned to glare at him, he continued with disguised sarcasm “who’s you decorator?”
“I’m glad you like it Michael” Terrance replied making his way further into the room. Sounding genuinely pleased with Michaels compliment he took a seat in the leather chair and continued to address him with his plastic smile “It took a great amount of time and searching for me to acquire these pieces of furniture from this planets recent history.”
“Well you’ve done a great job” Isabel said trying to sound genuine, but despite herself smiling with suppressed laughter.
Smiling his wide smile in evident gratitude he thanked her before moving on to the reason they were in his office. “Your lives on Earth have served the purposes of keeping you hidden so that you may return to free our planets. But your time in hiding will be ending soon.” Slowly loosing his smile as he spoke, he now watched them with a serious expression, or as much of one as Terrance could show. He seemed to have a permanent expression of joy or excitement of his face and while he no longer smiled and a small crease framed his forehead, his eyes still shined as though he was secretly enjoying a private joke. “Your protectors were meant to have taught you these things but they failed you. You have been left ignorant of the people you are meant to rule. So it has been left to me to teach you these histories.”
Straightening subtly where they stood, various expressions of excitement, curiosity and worry passed over the faces of the three royals standing in Terrance’s office. Curious as to Isabel’s reaction he initially thought to ask her about it but decided against it as he noticed the carefully constructed façade which almost immediately replaced any worry she had shown. Taking over her entire body she stood at ease as though she was as interested as the other in their history.
Standing at the back of the group Michael turned, making his way to the yellow couch on the opposite side of the room he spoke to himself “May as well get comfortable” as he dropped onto its thin frame, letting his right leg come up to extend across the remaining space on the lounge as his arms rested across the back of the seat. “Story time” he said with a wide smile facing Terrance, his position spread out across the lounge effectively stopping anyone else from joining him.
Rolling her eyes as Michaels behaviour Isabel turned back to face the two orange lounge chairs. Eyeing them suspiciously she slowly walking around them, resting her hands on the wooden armrests she lowering herself into the low-slung chairs. Sinking into the foam padding further that she expected, she found herself sitting very low in the chair; at eye level with the desk with the back of her head resting on the back of the chair. Internally she criticised herself for letting Michael stick her with these chairs, they engulfed her form as she sank down and had obviously been designed by midgets who had a fear of heights and plainly no legs.
While both Max and Iz took their seats Michael played with the Guess Who? board that was been lying on the table just in front of him. Flicking some of the character chips up and down, “I trust you remember what ones you’ve flicked down?” Terrance asked with an amused smile on his face as he watched Michael change the chips on his other board. Court, Michael looked up quickly and smiled “Of course,” before picking up the character card. Turning the card over between his fingers he noticed Terrence watching him with interest. Turning the card so that it faced Terrence he held it between his thumb and fore finger showing him the character, “Bernard” he mouthed raising his eyebrows and giving him a half smile. Returning his conspiratorial smile Terrence replied quietly “Thank you very much.”
Giving an amused laugh, Michael returned the card to its original position and flicked a couple of chips on the board without any real recollection of what the board had originally looked like. Sitting back on the lounge he waited for Terrence to start talking.
Having sunk into the orange chairs, both Max and Isabel watched for Terrance to start talking. Max was curious as to what he wanted to talk to them about. The information they had been given last night was slim. He wanted to speak to them as the presumptive rulers of Antar. Thinking about that immediately made Max think about Zan. He had put him in so much danger by giving him the seal and he had to do whatever was possible to save him from the fate that he himself had been running from for the past three years. Everything he learnt was vital to saving his son and protecting him from their enemies.
Sliding his hand over what they assumed was a small paper weight, a hologram appeared in front of Terrance above the desk. Rotating in front of their eyes the image of a planet appeared. Slowly, as the planet rotated, they could see three large continental land-masses taking up most of the planet. As they watched the planet rotate they could also see two moons circling the planet, their trajectories crossing as they chassed each other around the outside of the planet. “This is Antar” he started indicating the hologram. He then continued “Almost 3000 years ago the Antar were one of many tribal nations that ruled our planet. They managed to rise above many of their neighbouring nations through war and alliance until they controlled the continent of Sǚ.” Indicating one of the larger land-masses he pointed to a region that extended long and broad like a peninsular hanging off the bottom of another, much larger continent. “The Antar made their wealth in agriculture and trade and they were able to accumulate resources from the neighbouring nations they conquered. Technology, precious metals, minerals, the Antar acquired these and traded them out to the other continents. Initially, we believe the Antar lived at peace with their neighbouring continents…”
“You believe?” Max interrupted hoping to get the most information possible.
“We have virtually no records from this period” Terrance replied. “In the time before this, the time of war and expansion, the Antar had writing, they had records there are buildings, but these are all in, what are today, rural areas. During the time of peace the buildings changed, they adopted local styles and traditions, what we see of their culture is totally different. There was some mass destruction event which occurred and destroyed the Antar cities, all the cities on the planet. Very little remains from that time. The Granilith,” he said giving them a significant look “is one of the few thing that we have that predates that great destruction.”
“So by then they had all that technology?” Michael asked from the other side of the room.
“The Silent Times were a time of innovations. The technology we have now is based on what has remained from those times. Very few people survived the destruction. The survivors were few and they had very little food. Some of our stories say that all the planet was scorched, crops were killed and the survivors were too weak to farm it. Searching for food one group found the Antar’s silos. They were located underground, massive cavities that could supply nations with food. They were able to feed the survivors. The few people who had survived came together and called the planet Antar and themselves Antarians after the people who had stored the grain which saved them.”
“Do you know what caused the great destruction?” Isabel asked “Was it war or an accident?”
“We don’t know” Terrance replied “I told you the Granilith came from before that time, it was the Granilith which showed the survivors where to find food. One of them found it in a cave, he found the crystals with it and was shown where the Silos were. The Granilith saved us.” Hesitating for a moment, debating in his head whether he should continue. He did not agree with some of the other theories about the Granilith, but as far as he was concerned it would be too close to lying to leave them out. These theories were extremist babble anyway and most sain people didn’t believe them.
Stumbling to begin with he continued quickly in a dismissive tone, evident that he did not agree with these views “There are some who think that it was the Granilith the destroyed everything” clenching his hand on the table he shook his head saying clearly “but that’s blasphemy.” Looking at them his face was alight with religious passion “It’s our guardian and it shouldn’t have been sent away from Antar!”
From his seat Max watched Terrance in his religious fervor “Well I’ve never been religious” he mumbled feeling a deep regret that he couldn’t give himself to those same religious believes he had seen in his family and friend. Registering too late what he had said out loud he flushed pink, feeling the heat quickly spread across his face as he watched as Terrance’s attention turned to him.
“But there are many who are…” he started slowly trying to judge Max’s reaction to their beliefs.
“He knows” Isabel spoke, up giving her brother a sharp look for his careless comments.
“Yeah” Max cut back in “I respect that.” Mentally kicking himself for his stupidity he listened as Michael tried to suppress his giggles in the background.
“Well–” Terrance said, caught off guard by Max’s comments he absently nodded his head “The survivors mostly joined together, while there was few of them they had the technology to travel around the planet. The first ruling house arose from those who had originally found the silos, they were the House of Zhir and ruled for six generations. Two houses followed this, the House of Tal’him and the House of Loran but it was the House of Thorthenhur, the house of your ancestors” Terrance said giving Max and Isabel a significant look “That created the planetary alliance.
“The further back we go the less we know about these first contacts. Your ancestor, Jien Thorthenhur stated the expansion” placing his hand over the circular object on his desk, again the hologram changed, bringing up the V constellation. The bottom most star of the formation pulsed brighter than the rest “For many years Antar had known of a nearby planetary system that had life, but it was Jien who decided to contacted these people” the first star to the right of the centre most star then started to pulse before the hologram zoomed in on it showing first a planetary system with four plants before zooming in again to the first planet. “Through a treaty the Hyar became the first planet to swear allegiance to Antar.”
The next planet, Gaiia, was rich in Mica” zooming back to the V constellation the second star on the left pulsed before zooming in to show a star system and a large ringed planet “it’s the key ingredient in much of our technology and the sources on Antar were drying up. The war with the Miran lasted for 50 years before we won and were able to establish rule on Gaiia.
“Lornin Kirgen, Jien’s great-granddaughter was the next to expand the alliance.” Returning to the V constellation, the last star on the right pulsed bright before zooming in onto a small blue planet “Lornin was more interested in her pleasure gardens than ruling the people, she wanted Syljet as her personal playground. The native inhabitants, the Tio were pacifists. To welcome Lornin’s delegation they had made a giant mosaic out of sand. Her soldiers cut them down where they stood and any of the survivors were sent to one of the other alliance planets. For almost 500 years Syljet existed as the personnel pleasure garden of the Royal house before Syan gave it back to the people and established law there. It now has rule like any of the other alliance planets but unfortunately there are virtually no Tio descendants alive today.”
Returning to the constellation the first star on the left glowed bright before drawing into a star system that had almost twenty planets circling a giant sun. Drawing closer to one of the last of these planets, a predominantly blue planet with patches of green appeared as the focus. “The last planet to join the alliance was Marj’ih. Almost 600 years ago the planet was discovered by accident when the King, Hanet Syson sent an expedition out in search of a fleet of lost ships. Between Antar and the Marj’ih’s planetary system is a large asteroid belt, the Korom, the fleet had gone missing in there. During the search some of the ships were damaged. Coming out of the Korom they found Marj’ih hidden and protected behind the asteroid belt.”
Looking down from the holographic image of the planet, Terrance explained to the group “The Quor’trn were a tribal people who lived a subsistence lifestyle on Marj’ih before we arrived. A group of them saw our search fleet set down and came to investigate. They thought they were gods so they helped feed them and many Quor’tr started to move to their landing site. They told the crew that they were expecting their visit, ‘a fallen God’ they said, had foretold their arrival. For a long time the fleet thought that this was just a story, a myth that the Quor’tr told to look forward to better times. When they finished their repairs the Quor’tr took them to show them their Gods resting place. This was a great honour for the crew, to be shown this site, very few people were allowed to go there…It was a crash site. The missing fleet had crashed on Marj’ih and the survivors were found by some of the Quor’tr. This was the first contact they had had with any other race and they had no way to communicate, so they used a skill they had developed for hunting. A type of telepathy that let them read the minds of the dying crew, that’s how they knew the second fleet would come, the crew knew that a search party would be sent out and something in what they saw made the Quor’tr believed that the Antar fleet were Gods. The crew were buried like royalty, on raised platforms like their great ancestors, you could still see those graves until a couple of years ago but they were destroyed by…” he trailed off, lost for words as his gaze slipped back to the hologram which continued to rotate slowly in front of them, the planets many moons rotating around the large orb.
Following the shift in his focus Isabel turned her gaze back to the hologram. The look on his face showed regret and disappointment “skins” she supplied, seeing the answer in his face, the slight inflection in her voice giving away her dislike.
Dropping his gaze when Isabel spoke he mumbled “They don’t like to be called that.” Addressing Isabel directly he continued “You, maybe should talk to Serena. She might be able to offer some insights –”
“Done that” Isabel replied giving a small, derisive smile after she spoke.
Seeing his sister’s disdain for Serena getting the better of her, Max was quick to react. There were few people who Isabel outwardly despised; to the majority she portrayed a façade of wide smiles and easy conversation or disinterest and indifference, carefully hiding whatever were her true feelings. But her reaction to Serena was violent, her years of practiced control was irrelevant as she let her emotions take over.
“If the Quor’tr are from another planet how is it that Serena is a member of the Black Guard?” Max asked hoping to return the conversation back to more important issues.
Caught by the change in direction of the conversation, Terence stumbled over his response “Well, her father is Anterian.” Composing himself quickly he amended what he said as he continued “But that is irrelevant anyway, anyone from the five planets can join the Black Guards. The ruling House of Antar is the official royal house of all the five planets, so anyone from these planets can enlist to protect the Royal House.” Seeing Max opening his mouth, Terrance interrupted knowing the question “Each planet has autonomous rule but officially the King of Antar is their Head of State.”
Quickly glancing down at his watch, on the inside of his left wrist, he reached out with his right hand to the small orb sitting on his desk. The hologram disappeared as soon as he touched the device. Leaning back in his chairs he laced his fingers together, resting them on stomach “I think that might be enough for today”
Absorbed in the story Michael was broken out of his concentration by the sudden disappearance of the hologram “What?” he asked seeing Terrance remove the main prop in his story “no more?”
“Maybe tomorrow Michael” he replied, his smile returning to his face “It is almost dinner time”
~*~*~*~
Walking out of the room Isabel faulted in her step as she looked back at Terrance’s room.
“I might catch up with you guys” she said her hand loosely waiving back in the direction of Terrance’s door. “I… I think I forgot something”
Turning and walking back in the direction she had just came the two boy turned back and continued down the hall towards the open walkway.
“I can’t believe it’s almost dinner” Michael mumbled to himself as he made his way down the hallway his hands fiddling with his hair.
“I know” Max responded, distracted by his own thought about what they had been told “It didn’t seem like that long”
Coming out onto the wide balcony which overlooked the courtyard they started making their way around while casually watching a small group of the Black Guards training in one corner of the yard. They were practicing throwing each other over their backs and incapacitating them. The speed, from when they throw them until they had control of their partner was phenomenal. It was one fluid movement that lead from the throw to the incapacitating grip. Watching one of the smallest ones there step up he saw a giant black man step up to partner her. Stopping in his tracks Michael wanted to see this. There was no way that small lithe of a girl could throw her partner but it would be funny to watch. Two sets of partner had stepped up and throwing his hand out he got Max’s attention as they made their way to the balcony. Before they had even reached the balcony the movement was over. In one fluid motion the tiny guard had propelled her partner onto the ground his arm held at an awkward angle behind his back.
Getting off her partner she offered her hand to her fallen comrade before turning to her other thrower and giving an excited squeal. That squeal was familiar and as she turned around to find another partner from her small group a shot of recognition gripped him. As the svelte blond figure partnered with another giant of a Guard he watched as she again throw him with an ease and grace of years of experience.
“Damn” Michael murmured in appreciation, as he watched the ease with which Maria exhausted the moved. Her tiny frame looked as though she should brake just standing next to these men but the ease that she performed these moves with made her incredibly irresistible. He couldn’t look away.
“I know” Max murmured from next to him his gaze focused on the small brunette now partnering up with Maria.
Seeing what was about to happen, they had finished executing their move before Michael had had a chance to respond “I’ll have to remember to thank Serena”
“Me too” was Max’s distracted reply.
Changing partners again this time they were standing behind one of the large guards. Stepping up to them they were on the floor before either Max or Michael knew what was going on. Standing there in delayed shock they watched as the large Black man held his had out bowing to Liz, with a wide, white-toothed smile, as he helped her up.
“Or maybe I’ll just kill her” Max continued gripping the balcony wall with white knuckles.
“I’ll help.”
~*~*~*~