“Rachel?”
“No.”
“Linda?”
“No.”
“Judy? Joyce? Louise?”
“No. No. No.”
Fin squinted. “Wait.. you don’t have a middle name! Goddamn it!”
Aisling laughed at her stupidity, and after a moment Fin joined in. The two were sitting on an extra cot in the area above the shop, where Aisling had been living the past few months. They had caught up on everything a few hours back, and were now talking randomly at each other.
Just like old times... The thought flashed through Fin’s mind, making her smile waver a little, but she dismissed it. I will fix this. It’s not over yet.
“How about your middle name?”
“You’ve gotta guess!”
“Ugh.. Diane?”
“Nope.”
“Toni?”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Shonnel? Kirius?”
“What?”
“I don’t know, just tell me!”
Fin giggled, then sighed. “Marion.”
Silence. “Oh. I’m...”
“‘S alright, you didn’t know...” She smiled at Aisling, who pushed at her. Her smile grew to a full grin, and she pushed back, and they got into a shove fight, which turned into a little wrestling match on the ground, until something on Aisling’s wrist beeped. She stared at it, then back at Fin, then gave an apologetic look. Fin waved at her, saying “go ahead,” and Aisling answered.
“Yes?”
A voice crackled on the end of the line, then the screen lit up, and Scarlet’s face came on, worried. “Informant A, we got a little problem.”
Aisling immediately became as serious as possible. “What kind of problem?”
“A very... heated one. She’s heading your way, you’ve got to get yourselves out! I’ll be there in--” The com cracked, and the signal was lost.
“Scarlet? Scarlet?! Shit!” Aisling snapped the cuff shut and got up, while Fin sat on the floor, shocked at her usually quiet friend’s outburst. “What? What’s going on?”
“Mercy’s coming to us.”
“Um.. Mercy’s controlled, isn’t she.”
“Yes, she is. You need to get out of here now--”
A loud blast followed por a wave of immense heat interrupted whatever Aisling was going to say, and they were both knocked down. Flames began licking at the floor, edging closer with every second, and Fin looked to Aisling to see what she was going to do. She suddenly panicked at the sight of her friend trying to push herself back up, but the brunette was struggling and eventually collapsed. Fin rushed up and forced the flames back, picking Aisling up and moving her away. “Stay safe, girl, I gotta go...”
She ran out of the building and extinguished the flames, only to be knocked over por something else. Rubbing her head she sat up, groaning, then gasped and deflected the sudden flame. Muttering, she flipped up and turned, glaring at the person responsible.
Mercy gave her an insincere grin. “Hey you!” she exclaimed, her peppy voice laced with deadly poison. Fin twitched, but a smile spread across her face, all knowing and ready. “Hey yourself, Merce. What’s up?”
This was how it began. They’d fought many times before, and they started with simple chat, always ending with someone nearly getting killed...
Fin knew this time there wouldn’t be a nearly.
For some reason, Fin swore she heard a song playing. Wait.. it wasn’t just her. Fin really could hear it, and Mercy looked confused for a moment. “You still have your iPod?” she asked, obviously surprised. Fin shook her head. “Crushed and taken a long time atrás por Del.”
“Ah, Delta.. she’s done some good stuff.”
“Sure. How is she? And how are the newbies?”
“She’s alright. Doing quite well, I think she’s almost out of her--” Mercy laughed. “Nevermind.”
Fin shrugged, pausing to listen to the song. She nodded. “You set this up?”
Mercy shook her head no. “I wish I did. It’s a good song.”
“Damn straight.” And as the song peaked into a loud remixed part, Fin ran up and kicked Mercy in the face.
Mercy stumbled back, then looked up, grinning with a nose bleed. “And it begins.”
The two began a hand to hand, Fin twisting Mercy’s arm back, Mercy slipping away while keeping a hold of Fin’s wrist. The redhead flipped Fin onto her back, and went to let go, but Fin held tight to the arm and slid herself under Mercy, letting go only to push herself up and flip kick the other girl. Mercy growled and lit her hands up on fire, throwing it at Fin, who dodged and returned the favor.
The battle continued, fogo coming out every once in a while and being thrown towards the two. Both were becoming equally tired, Fin a little mais than Mercy however because of the recent fights she’d had in the past day. Mercy could see this, and was pressing on, gaining on Fin. Fin was fighting back with everything, on defense mais than offense.
Mercy knew Fin didn’t have long before she was down, so to speed it up, she brought out a small hand grenade, throwing it into the air. Fin kept staring at Mercy, trying to advance, when the bomb went off. Mercy threw herself away from the falling ashes, but watched Fin as she was coated in a thin layer of the stuff. “What is this?” Fin growled as harshly as possible, but por the way she was feeling, she thought she already knew.
Mercy giggled. “We managed to get loads of this stuff! From off the rebels, you know? We melted it down and made weapons out of it. This is just one of those weapons.”
Fin grimaced, falling to her knees. “Sunteţi într-adevăr sunt o curva uneori, nu? De ce am lăsat vreodată voi stiu despre problemele mele, nu voi sti niciodata.**”
“Speak up, can’t hear you.” Mercy giggled and took out a small pinkish red triangle-- Fin instantly recognized it as the ‘Starrotech’ that controlled people. One of those on her neck, and it was all over.
“I don’t think she wanted you to hear her...” a voice came, and Mercy was knocked to the ground. She growled and looked up, only to have her face kicked back down.
Fin felt a hand resting on her shoulder. “Need help up?” Glancing up, she smiled and allowed Scarlet to pull her to her feet. “Thanks. Do you happen to have--”
Scarlet pressed a syringe into her hand, and Fin gratefully accepted it, injecting herself. “This stuff is really helpful.” Mercy stirred, and the two of them glanced at her, then back at each other. “You ready?”
Scarlet laughed. “Born for it. We’ve never sparred, just the three of us, have we?”
Fin shook her head, and lit her hands on fire, Scarlet doing the same. Mercy finally got up, seeing Scarlet, and was the last to bring out the flames. Before they threw, Fin paused and turned to Scarlet.
“Did you do the song?”
Scarlet shrugged. “Thought it’d be mais epic this way.”
“You were right about that.”
And the battle began again.

**You really are a cadela, puta sometimes, aren't you? Why I ever let you guys know about my problems, I'll never know.**

If you guys were wondering, the song that was playing was Seven Nation Army Remix por The Glitch Mob. I like that song.