Judge v. Judge: Erik and Kathryn

((stand alone piece I wrote yesterday with Kage's help thanks buddy!))

“I still don’t understand why you are so worked up right now, Karnal.”

She didn’t expect Erik to understand. Wrapping her hands in tape, she tightened the adhesive around her fists, “Well, clearly, it’s because you won’t return my advances, pet,” The tape snapped on cue, her hand patting it down against her wrists.

“This has nothing to do with me.”

“You don’t say...”

Nachtoberst Reiter squared his stance, his feet spread apart and his arms up defensively. He was a sizeable man, and knew how to take hits. He had agreed to spar with her, so long as no powers were used; not because he was afraid for his wellbeing, but because he didn’t want her to get carried away – after all, Judex needed her in top form.  He was putting a lot of faith into her ability to control her emotions.

The two Judges stood in a training room within the Judex Base of Operations – it was barren – there were no weapons adorning the walls to be grabbed at haphazardly; there were no seats for onlookers; there were no gadgets. This facility was designed with the purpose of pitting Judge against Judge.

With her hair tied back in a tight bun on her head, she took a deep breath in, centering herself. She could no longer call upon her abilities to see through her technological mind’s eye, but she could still feel him in the room even as her eyes were closed.

Without warning, she charged him, head down as if to head-butt the man, her speed frighteningly fast even without her using her implants to enhance her skills. Stopping just short of running into him, her right leg came above her head in a graceful arc, her toes pointed, the stiletto heel turned away from her sparring partner as to not damage him.

He adeptly blocked with his forearm, knocking her off of him – it was clear he wasn’t going to fight back. He was simply going to elude or take it.

Flipping off of his counter with ease, she landed on her knee, her right hand clenched into a tight fist that was now aiming for an uppercut. She used the power of her pushing off the ground to put some force into her attack. But Karnal was not dealing with an amateur; he leaned back just as quickly, dodging her blow.

She grunted, irritated and unused to her targets simply not being shocked at her abilities. Karnal Sin tended to downplay her skills to fight – only swooping in to assist under normal circumstances. But she had been training with this man, he knew what she could do, and even if he hadn’t been studying her intentionally, he had already adapted.
 
Turning on a dime, she hooked around with her left elbow in one sweeping motion, connecting with his neck – a hit that would have choked out most, but not Erik. He reached one large, dusty hand to the offending joint, squeezing firmly, causing the woman to cry out.

“You do not want me to be rough, Miss Sin.”

Practically hissing at him, she backed off momentarily, shaking out her arm, knowing full well she would be heavily bruised in the morning from his simple grasp on her tiny form.

“Do not presume to know what I want, Reiter.”

She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, and watched in half excitement and half fear, as his emotionless, hazel eyes began to glow a sickening red, his unarmored body emanating a form of energy she couldn’t quite decipher.

Game on.

Returning the charge up, her own normally playful eyes narrowed, flicks of energy escaping her threatening glare at her comrade. With her hands at her sides, muscles taut, a violent crackling of the air whipped around them, spheres of raw energy forming and shattering in a chaotic maelstrom around her claw-like gloves.

“Then by all means, Kathryn…” he raised a hand in her direction, beckoning her, mocking her, “Come at me.”

In a burst of light, she flew at him, the pulsating, glowing orbs of red twisting around her fists as they came above her head, her body moving in and out of the shadows. Mid-air, with her knees bent, she descended on him, the quickness in which she moved the only advantage she really had.

Erik hadn’t seen her, only the energy radiating from the petite woman, but as she slipped out of the shadows, his reaction was exacting. Lifting his hands, he gaged her attack, and instead of blocking it outright, simply grabbed both of her wrists, rendering her temporarily useless as she was held, in shock.

He twisted her wrists, once again eliciting a yelp from the woman, accented by the energy flaring at him, knocking him away from her and flinging her back in kind. Protecting his head, he kneeled from the sudden energy shot, his massive arms taking the brunt of the force.

Far from a winning move, he looked around, but she had once again sunk into the darkness around them. The problem was Erik DID know what Karnal Sin was capable of, and despite her dramatics, she was not using the full range of her abilities. She was toying with him – no, she was testing him. This was not a man who liked to be tested.

He stood slowly, his eyes opened, letting them adjust accordingly to the dim lighting. He heard her, the soft, almost child-like laughter intermittently far and close. In this game of cat and mouse, he couldn’t win – she had that advantage. So instead of chasing, he stood, waiting for her to take the bait.

The former Fifth Column member didn’t have to wait long.

She blindsided him on his right, the severe hook cracking her knuckles against his jaw, only for the agile woman to move away into the shadows yet again.

Erik stretched his jaw, a loud pop of the cartilage the only sound save for his steady breathing.

He barely had time to focus again before a steel tipped and heeled stiletto came at his face. The man deflected by turning his shoulder into the blow, but not before her hands, glowing a furious red gripped onto his head, his attacker’s legs wrapping around his neck as she attempted to use her momentum to flip him onto the ground.

She severely misjudged the physics.

Karnal realized her error when two massive hands reached for her torso, forcing the air out of her lungs, her sparring partner effortlessly plucking her off of him and slamming her into the hardened ground. Her relatively fragile frame bowed under the force of the knock back, her back arching as she yelled out in pain. What light in the room she could see through her eyelids was abruptly blocked out as Erik stood over her fallen form.

Not one to be bested so quickly, she charged the particles around her, manipulating the matter to push herself underneath his standing and straddling stance, his hands reaching down and grabbing nothing but air in her wake.

He sighed, turning around quickly, but already knowing he wouldn’t see her – though he smirked, ever so softly to himself as he heard her haggard breathing from the shadows.

“Want a break, Sin?”

She grinned, her breathing beginning to level out. Karnal couldn’t help herself – she was enjoying this. No amount of externally provided chemical escape could rival the thrill she felt when she was battling, stalking, and tearing away at someone. It didn’t matter if she won; it was the rush of engagement – the awareness of being of use. She wasn’t entirely sure of why she was so frustrated. Perhaps it was her general lack of direction, that even in adopting the Judex code, protocol, and conditioning, she still felt that there was something more she could and should be doing.

The former Consort answered with an energy blast jolting across the floor, the erratic pattern in which it traversed in his direction misleading his defenses. The attack was weak and he knew it, and his eyes instinctually following its path was exactly what she wanted. As he tried to tear his attention away from the brilliant brightness of her distraction, he felt her lithe body come against his from behind, one of her tiny hands on the base of his skull – the heat of her energy laden fist causing him to sweat through his hair.

“I could’ve killed you, Erik.”

“I can still kill you, Kathryn.”

She wasn’t sure if the tone in his voice was just sparring banter, or if he had just genuinely made a threat. She tried to disarm the growing tension in her confusion, “But you won’t.” Keeping her hand at his nape, she lifted herself and placed a quick peck on his cheek, thinking the fight over.

Not yet. Erik had to get the last word, or in this case, move, in. He couldn’t stand her affections and found them tawdry and useless, much preferring the violence they had been sharing as colleagues only moments before. Reaching a hand back behind him, he grappled at her thigh and tossed her aside, discarding her as she hit the ground with her backside, laughing.

“Feel better?” He questioned her as she casually stood up, dusting off her knees.

“I do, for now. Thank you, darlin’.”

He simply grunted at her and stalked out of the room, leaving the woman alone.