Agent Red In:

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The girl had been in the hospital bed for two weeks without opening her eyes. Her bruises had mostly healed by that point, but the cracked ribs were going to take longer. She had squeezed The Boss’s hand a few times, but that was it. She had an IV in her arm and breathing tubes up her nose. Every SPA agent found the time to visit her, even Agent Orange who had retired years ago. The freelancer Agent Breeze even stopped by with a beautiful flower arrangement. She promised to keep her ear to the ground if she found anything about the person who did this.

They all knew who did it. The entire agency knew. The issue was knowing where she was. Alice Katz had escaped prison and while escaping had come across the SPA Agent Gold, who was out on assignment. The agent was found beaten to a pulp and found aimlessly wondering down the street before collapsing. Meanwhile, Alice had disappeared without a trace. She was using her skills as an ex-SPA agent to blend in and cover her tracks wherever she was. However, this didn’t stop SPA from pouring all available resources into finding her. Every active agent was on the hunt for Alice Katz, each one of them secretly begging for the chance to bring her in.

It was Agent Red who found her first.

Alice was lying low in safe house owned by Victoria Platt. Victoria figured she could pump Alice for some money, but once she realized the amount of heat the ex-agent carried with her she flipped and gave Agent Red everything. Agent Red called it in like she was supposed to, but conveniently missed the message to wait for backup.

The agent pulled up to the brown brick stone building. Victoria gave her the room number, which had a fire escape attached to it. Agent Red took a moment to mentally prepare and then started to climb. She opted for an all-black outfit to try to hide under the cove of the night as much as possible. A black short-sleeve tactical shirt along with the leather pants and high boots. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She climbed the fire escape six stories and then began her work on the window. It slid open with ease and Agent Red made sure to quietly slip into the apartment.

It was mostly bare. A couch and a love seat by a television and a small circular table with two chairs was pretty much all of the decorating. Why invest in the interior design of a safe house? There was a small kitchen area with a bar running from the wall and sticking out into the room with an “L” shape. Agent Red crept forward, heart pounding as she moved towards the bedroom. She slowly pushed open the door and peered in. The bed had the covers wide open and there was nobody in it.

BAM

Agent Red’s head slammed into the wall. She dropped to her knees and felt a foot dig into her back. The agent fell forward onto her stomach as the heel dug into her spine. She let out a cry of pain before a set of hands reached down to her head and banged it against the doorframe. Agent Red’s cries stopped as her face dropped into the carpet. Her body was flipped over and there, clear as day was Alice Katz. The blonde straddled the agent and brought her right fist back then shot it forward, clashing it on the brunette’s jaw.

“You SPA girls,” said Alice. “If you would have come in through the front door you would have seen me. But I knew you’d come through the fire escape. You always come through the fire escape.”

Alice punched Agent Red again. Red lifted her legs back and slammed her knees into the blonde’s back. This sent Alice forward just enough for Red to be able to slide out from under her. As she pushed herself up onto her butt though, Alice sent a kick backwards which connected with Red’s spine. The same spot where she had dug her foot. Agent Red yelped in pain before folding over. This gave Alice the opportunity to spin around and tackle the agent forward. The SPA agent found herself pinned on her stomach. Alice not only had the size in this scenario, but also the skill. She was a much better grappler than Agent Red, at least according to her file. However, she must have been rusty as she opened herself up to a quick elbow, which Agent Red shot back at her face. This opened up a window for escape, which the agent gladly took.

Agent Red got to her feet and turned to face Alice, who was rising as well. They had been carried into the living room between the sofa and the kitchen. The two women lifted their guards and began to play a game of cat and mouse. Alice would shift forward and Red would shift back. Red would shift forward and Alice would shift back. They threw jabs at each other, none of which landed. They were feeling each other out. The fight could be decided within the next few moves… each woman wanted to be careful, but also decisive.

“Were you around during my time?” Alice asked, keeping her guard up.

“I was a recruit when you went AWOL,” replied Red. “You know, you were a hero to me. To all of the girls. I used to idolize you. Then you left, took down half of the SPA force with you, and beat my mentor close to death… the same as what you did to that teenage girl in the hospital right now!”

“Teenage girl…” scoffed Alice. “She’s a highly trained agent of SPA, right? She knew the life she was getting into and the risks that come with it. If you aren’t prepared to die in this line of work, get out of it. I’ll give you the same chance I gave her. Leave, and I don’t have to markup that pretty little face.”

“You think I care about my face?” asked Red. “You are going to pay for what you did to Agent Gold and to Agent Orange before that years ago.”

Agent Red stepped forward and threw a flurry of blows at Alice. The ex-SPA agent clearly wanted this to happen, however she was woefully unaware of just how fast Agent Red’s hands were. They sliced through the guard of the ex-agent and Alice found herself eating a series of combos. She tried to counter-punch, but Agent Red ducked the hook and sent a kick to Alice’s stomach. The ex-agent’s back hit the kitchen bar. Agent Red came in to dish out some more punishment, but Alice ducked a right and sent an uppercut to the brunette’s stomach. It doubled Red over, and Alice followed that up with a chop to the spine in the exact location she previously attacked. Agent Red shot back up in pain, clutching her back. Alice took Agent Red by the jaw and slipped her leg behind her opponent’s. Then in one fluid motion she slammed the agent’s entire body onto the floor, led by the back of her cranium.

The brunette’s head bounced up on the carpet, but was forced back down again by Alice, who had once more straddled her. Agent Red did what she could to cover up, but this allowed Alice to work the body. She sunk fist after fist into Agent Red’s stomach. The agent knew she couldn’t stay in this position, so she threw a few punches up to Alice’s jaw. They lacked any significant power from this spot, but the agent needed to do anything she could to get out from under her opponent.

The strikes only worked for a moment before Alice was able to recover from them. She took Agent Red by the shirt and brought he head up off of the floor. Then she swung her own head down, connecting their foreheads with a head-butt that sent a cracking sound echoing throughout the apartment. Agent Red slunk down onto the floor. Alice, woozy a bit herself, decided she was going to continue her assault. She picked Agent Red up to her feet and pushed her up against the wall. The agent weakly grabbed Alice’s wrists. Her body language had changed. She looked down at the floor, her lips puffed out, her eyes fluttered. She was totally out of it. A couple knees to the groin forced Red to let out small squeals of pain. Alice ran Red’s body across the wall before slamming it into the corner. The agent began to fall, but Alice caught her by the shirt and sent a slap across her face. She pushed her against the wall again and began to sink punches up and down the agent’s body.

The beating was brutal, and Agent Red eventually began to stumble along the wall. Alice sent a spinning high kick with her left foot that connected on the top of Agent Red’s forehead. A nasty cut split open and the agent fell to the floor. Alice stalked her prey, which was desperately trying to crawl away from her. She grabbed Agent Red again and brought her to her feet. Then she lifted the agent by her throat and slammed her down on the small circular dining room table. Alice climbed on top of the table, once more to straddle the SPA agent.

“So, I didn’t kill the last one?” asked Alice. She began to slip her hands around Red’s throat. She added pressure, pushing down on the brunette’s vocal chords. As Agent Red chocked out, she tried to punch Alice’s under arms to get her to budge, but there was no movement. “I guess I’ll have to finish you off properly then.”

Tears welled in Agent Red’s big doe eyes. Her face was turning a darker shade of red by the second. She couldn’t push Alice off. She couldn’t budge her hands. She was trapped, about to be strangled out. She put her hands above her head and reached for anything… anything at all.

She felt a long, skinny piece of wood with her left. Then a similar one with her right. She grabbed hold of them, and brought them up over her head. What Agent Red had grabbed was a chair, and it came flying forward and nailed Alice square in the forehead. The blonde collapsed off of the table, falling with a loud thump.

Agent Red shot up and gasped out for air. She too slipped off of the table. Coughing and trying to regain her breath, Agent Red looked over and saw Alice begin to stir. She had to get to her before she could recover. Crawling her way over to Alice’s stunned body, Agent Red pushed the blonde over onto her back. Now it was Agent Red who straddled Alice. She threw every punch she had left at Alice’s face. Right, left, right, left until her hands were numb. And then she kept punching. She screamed down into Alice’s face well after the blonde had lost consciousness. Still Agent Red continued to pummel her.

When she finally realized Alice went out she pushed herself off of her. Sitting next to the knocked out woman’s body, Agent Red’s entire body shook. She began to sob. She sobbed for what seemed like hours. Her hands bruised and covered in blood. Her knuckles raw from the punches. Pain shot up her spine. Her throat still felt like it had Alice’s hands around it. She cried because she had come face to face with her own mortality. She cried because she was scared of the limp woman next to her. But mainly she cried because if that chair had been even an inch further away from her, there would be no more Agent Red. She’d be a limp lifeless body on the kitchen table. All because of a woman she used to idolize.