Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part One (section)

===Beautiful Bloodshed===

The hour came.  Venus and company walked down to the gym, pausing outside the hatch, where small crowds of people were gathering.  Most simply wanted to know why they couldn’t go work out, but a few were clearly hoping for a glimpse.

Venus paused behind the crowd, gym bag in hand.  She wasn’t carrying the same clothes she had used that morning, Jake noted.  She had sent those off for cleaning, and was carrying a few circular containers in the bag instead, plus some green cloth bits.  Venus turned to him.  “Hey, Jake, hon, can you sit this out?  I want to be able to focus.”

Jake nodded solemnly.  “All right.  Kiss for luck?” he asked.

Venus leaned into him, pressing herself from navel to lips flush with him, and kissed him deeply.  “I don’t need luck,” she whispered against his cheek.  “I need timing.”

Jake wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tight.  “Knock him dead, baby.”

She half-grinned, all confidence.  “I plan to.”  She turned and walked down the corridor, parting the crew effortlessly, and disappeared past the guard.

The other party members made for the O-Club, where they had agreed to wait until Venus was done.  Upon arrival, Lieutenant Kines welcomed them back to the bar.  “Hello once more, my friends, what can I get for you?”

“Just some water, thanks,” Remilia said, sitting down at the bar.  Kines filled a glass and passed it to her.  As her fingers brushed his, she smiled as his hand lingered.  His eyes, however, were locked on her arms, his jaw tight.  She glanced down – “…oh.  It’s…” she trailed off, pained.  The scars on her arms were visible.  But then, she was done hiding them.  “It’s long done.”

“Good to hear, Lady Remilia,” Kines said quietly, visibly shaking himself.  “My sister didn’t stop in time.”  Remilia winced, setting her glass down.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Remilia said remorsefully.  “And…sorry if I brought back something unpleasant.”

“Thank you, madam,” Kines said.

Alex shifted uncomfortably on his stool.  Kines shook himself again, and turned to the others.  “What can I get for you, Lord Carlin?”

“Just water.  For all of us.”

“Yes, sir,” Kines said, handing some glasses out.  “May I ask where Lady Venus is?”

“She’s at the gym,” Jake said, picking up his glass.  “She wanted us to go ahead without her.”

Venus stood under the pouring water of the shower, eyes closed.  The water wafted into steam where it landed on her skin.  The girl wasn’t bathing.  She was purging her mind.

Her hands clenched.  She lifted them slowly, opening her eyes against the water.  The world around her was tinged red.  The light from her eyes tinted her vision.  She could shield them with contact lenses, and usually did, so that she could look at the world the way normal people saw it.  They were completely invisible, so nobody would ever know but her.  She had removed them.  Now the world looked like it was bathed in blood.

She ran her hands down her arms, crossing her breasts, and digging her fingers into her flesh until it hurt.  “The fires of Nocturne burn within me.  The hate of the unclean sustains me,” she whispered, repeating the first few lines of the Creed.  “I am the paladin that shields the pure.  I am the inferno that scours the world.  I am the sword that cleaves the unrighteous and the light of the Emperor’s will,” she finished, turning off the water.  She listened to the water drain down into the greytanks, dripping away into silence.  She sighed.  “I am a seventeen-year-old girl and I am gonna fucking die.”

She sighed again and toweled off.  She dried her hair, and stood in front of the mirror, applying her wrap.  She tucked it off under her back and slid a dark green sports bra over it.  After a moment’s thought, Venus grabbed the other container from her bag, and slid a line of bright red makeup across her face.  She drew a thick line under one eye, trailing to insignificance over the bridge of her nose, and widening back up under the other eye.  She looked at the effect in the mirror and nodded.  It looked like her eyes were melting down over her face.  Excellent.

She daubed a few more spots over her clothes and skin, then pulled a matching green set of boxing underwear on, spreading a bit more dye over her them.  It was the color her eyes were if the glow was absent, and it was slightly iridescent.  The effect was such that it looked like she had cracks in her entire front side, from the soles of her feet to the base of her hair.  She washed her hands off and glanced over her appearance, finding it appropriately terrifying.  “One last touch,” she said, removing the drakeshead necklace from her bag and trying it tight around her left ankle.  The ceramite chain could easily handle the stress.  She paused as she looked over her reflection, and a smile quirked her painted lips.  “Oooh…I know,” she said, grabbing her green drake skin bandana, and tying it off around her head.  She carefully tucked her hair under it.  “Perfect.”

Venus took a deep breath and walked out into the gym, passing an inactive servoskull that she had brought with her.  She carried it to the ring and climbed in.

Isaac was there already, tying some tape over her his fingers.  He froze when he spotted Venus.  “Oh…my goodness, Venus.  You turned into a beautiful young woman since I saw you last.”

“I did,” Venus said.  She turned the skull on and carelessly tossed it into the air, letting it hover over the ring.  “And…good luck,” she said.  The room brightened as her heart rate picked up.  The fire in her eyes lit the makeup, and the lines in her face glowed.

“I see…nice touch,” he said quietly.  He cricked his neck and flexed his arms, settling into a stance.  “How shall we play this?” he asked, shifting his balance experimentally.

“First one to surrender, of course.  Or black out,” Venus said.  She bent at the waist, settling into a stance.

“Brave girl,” Isaac muttered.  He had been a youthful twenty-eight when Venus had trained under him first.  Now he was pushing forty, and he still moved with a snakelike grace that put a chill through Venus.

“Record,” Venus said loudly, triggering the floating skull.  A tiny light blinked to signify its recording status.  Isaac smacked his palms together and bowed.  Venus mirrored him, and they both settled into stances.

Isaac slowly turned, walking backwards around the ring.  Venus followed his movements, watching carefully.  He was gauging her.  He wasn’t ready for the kill yet, he was checking to see how she had changed.  She was a foot taller now.  Her defenses would be higher.  Her center of gravity was much higher.  And she had certainly never worn bloodpaint before.

Isaac paused his circling, inching towards her.  Venus tensed her shoulders, raising her hands to navel height.  The wiry serf lunged, snapping his hand at Venus’ face.  She froze.  His knuckles stopped a hairsbreadth from her face.  “Give me some credit,” she whispered.

Isaac nodded, then attacked.  He opened with a vicious kick across her knees.  She took a step back, avoiding it, and advanced, entering his guard.  He threw four vicious punches at her stomach, which she either deflected or absorbed.  Even as his arms were moving, she launched a counterattack.  She jabbed high, then feinted with her left fist and swept her legs as he dodged high.  She nicked his shin as he lurched back, but he recovered, stomping his foot down between her legs so hard the mat deformed for an instant.

Venus recoiled, slamming into the back of his legs.  Isaac stumbled, off-balance.  Venus rose, punching deep from the shoulder, directly into Isaac’s clenched stomach.

[[Image:Venus_WIP2.jpg|thumb|right|Venus, wearing her bloodpaint and making it look good]]

The serf stumbled, raising his hands in defense, as Venus slowly rose to her feet.  “You’ve learned a few dirty tricks, Venus,” he whispered hoarsely.  Venus nodded.  She didn’t know if it was the makeup or what, but she was feeling like she hadn’t felt since before Morticia got hurt.  The light from her eyes was painful for Isaac to look at directly.  Her skin was aflame.

“I’m alive,” she whispered.  Her voice was unnervingly deep.

“You feel the fires of our world stir in your heart,” Isaac said, meeting her eyes with effort.

Venus nodded, then charged.  She closed the gap with blinding speed, slamming her elbow forward to catch Isaac’s guard.  He gripped her arm and redirected her away, bringing his knee up to collide with her stomach.  She bent around the blow, and brought her diverted arm up to grip him by the knee, throwing it down.  Venus lunged upwards and drove her fist towards Isaac’s face.

He brought his guard up and caught it, wincing at the bone-crushing strength behind her blow.  He shook his stinging arm and dodged high, ducking under her follow-up.  He threw himself sideways at her, slamming into her with his shoulder.  She staggered back, guard up.

Isaac nodded.  “Good.”

“Ever the teacher,” she rasped, hot air spilling forth from her lips.

Isaac swung.  Venus tilted her head back and let his punch roll off her collarbone.  He swung again, a combo of four rapid-fire punches, and she deflected them.  As he swung again, though, he suddenly lunged, driving a kick into her midsection.  She leaped backwards, eyeing his legs.
He advanced again, done holding back.  Venus winced as he drove a cruel punch at her neck, which she just barely managed to dodge.  He wasn’t relenting, either; he punched again, a vicious blow to her breast that staggered her, and somehow the wiry man got clean past her guard.  He got a few punches through to her waist and stomach.  Venus nearly gagged.

She swatted him away, angrily driving a knee strike at his groin.  Somehow, he managed to pivot away in time, and took the blow on his thigh.  The force of it was enough to drive him back a pace, and Venus pounced, swinging her hands like hammers at his ribs and stomach.  Finally on the offensive, she drove in relentlessly, forcing him back several paces.

He threw himself backwards, landing in a half-crouch.  Before he could even straighten up, though, Venus tensed her legs and lunged.  He managed to jerk his head back from the line of flight of her kneecap by a millimeter.  He could feel the heat roiling off her flesh.

She was on him, fists blurring into his guard.  Isaac’s defense bent and flowed around her vicious punches, diverting them away instead of letting them impact.  She wasn’t going to tire, though.  She was more than human.

Venus suddenly shifted her tactics, driving her left knee at Isaac’s groin again, but stopped short, planting her bare foot on the mat.  Isaac tried to sweep the leg out from under her with his own leg, but it was like trying to kick down a hundred-year-old tree; he couldn’t even get it to budge.  Suddenly stuck in place, he drove both thumbs at her eyes, trying to blind her.  She planted both hands on his suddenly stationary knee and rolled herself forward, slamming her entire body into him with bruising speed.

Isaac slammed into the mat, caught completely by surprise.  He tried to roll away, but she was gone.  Somehow, she was halfway across the ring already, perfectly still.  She was resting one knee on the mat, crouching down.  Isaac slowly rose to his feet.  “Very well done,” he panted.  “I completely didn’t see it coming.”

Venus smiled.  With the lines of bloodpaint over her lips, the effect was positively daemonic.  She rose to her feet in silence.  With a few quick steps, she was back in his guard, and the battle resumed.

Isaac kicked high, trying to force her back with his greater height, but it didn’t matter.  Venus was fighting like a monster, and even his speed wasn’t saving him now.  Every few blows, one got past his guard.  Finally, his guard fell aside for an instant, and Venus moved to end it.  She crossed once, knocking him back.  She followed up with two quick shots to the ribs, and as he bent forward slightly to block another, she slammed her forearm across his chin.

He crumpled, sagging to the mat.  Venus stepped back, blinking sweat out of her eyes.  “Yield,” she growled.

Isaac glanced up at her, but he was done.  He tapped the mat.

Venus closed her eyes for a moment, letting the red mist fade.  When she opened them again, she smiled.  “A good fight.”

Isaac climbed the ropes, nodding.  “Well done, Venus,” he managed, working his jaw.  “You’ve improved considerably.”

“Thanks.  I’ve been practicing,” she said coyly.  “Now…” she stood back and bowed formally.  Isaac did as well, and both climbed out of the ring.  “Stop recording,” she said as she passed the skull.  It fell into her hands.

With a few presses, the recording popped out on a data card.  She left it on her bag as she went to clean up.