"Are we there yet?"
"Amber you asked that 5 minutes ago..."
"Why did I let you drag me on this trip?"
"You're the one that dragged ME! You just grabbed me by the arm, hauled me into a bus and then payed for all the seats so it would just be the two of us!!!!!"
Joan and Amber bickered on and on, the bus driver trying his best to drown out the little squabble between the two girls.
Amber had decided to come to Tallahassee 2 weeks ahead of the opening ceremony for Brawlhalla and she dragged her deputy along for the ride. Now they were alone on the bus because when you're a kick ass gang commander you can rent all the seats.
"Why are we going to Tallahassee anyways? What wonderful reason does The Scarless One have for dragging me on a 6 and a half hour drive?" Joan massaged her temples, getting slightly frustrated with her Commander's childish behavior.
Well technically Amber was still like a little kid...she was only 14 for God's sake.
But no matter how dumb, childish, evil or cold the girl acted, Joan still saw her as something of a younger sibling. She couldn't help but smile whenever she recalled the first time she and the grey haired girl met for the first time, in Broward County Public School 4 years ago.
**************Flashback************
A young Joan was walking down the halls of Broward County Public School, her brow creased as she hurriedly thought about ways to escape her daily torment at the hands of her bullies.
She wasn't the only one though, everyday hundreds of people ranging from staff to even the elementary schoolers had to deal with the ever present danger of some form of bullying or the other. Be it getting stuffed in your own locker or getting your lunch money and sometimes even your lunch, taken from you.
Joan had certainly come up with the shortest straw in life, because as luck may have it she ended up being targeted by the worst of all the bulky groups. And every day they made her suffer in one way or the other. Every. Single. Day. Sometimes they even followed her to her house (how they got her address, she doesn't know till this day).
But today however, she hadn't seen even one of the individuals in the 'Bully Group' as they were often called by other students. Hell not even he own personal bullies had been seen today.
Curious, she set off to find them (stupid am I right?) She had a free period anyways so why the fuck not? For a few minutes she searched the interior of the school, not finding them in any of their not so secret hideouts; which ranged from the school basement, to the boiler room.
But when she did find them next to the school dumpsters behind the school, boy was she in for a surprise.
The entire Bully Group was laid out on the floor, all of them either groaning in pain or unconscious. What caught her eye though was the distinct lack of a finger on each of them, much to a younger Joan's shock. Their leader who was at least 16 at the time was getting the ever living shit beat out of him by a girl who was no older than 10.
The girl at the time had messy grey hair, and bright--almost sparkling--blue eyes. Her baggy overalls were splattered with blood and she had a bored expression on her face as her fist repeatedly made contact with the bully's nose.
"Hm? Who are you? You one of 'em?" A young Amber asked Joan without even bothering to look at her, instead focusing all her attention on one of the front teeth of the bully leader's, narrowing her eyes like she was aiming at something before suddenly pulling out the tooth, earning a small scream from the boy who was now on the floor; clutching his mouth and rolling around on the floor in agony.
Joan felt her blood run cold.
If this miniature destroyer decided to target her then she was finished. Even more frightening was the fact that this small, bitch ass kid had just jumped 5 teenagers who had terrorized the area for years.
"Hello? You mute or something?" Amber waved a bloody hand in front of a stunned Joan's face, something she had to stretch to do because she was 2 years younger than Joan. The girl noted the grey haired girl's eyes had a certain kindness to them despite the brutality she had just committed.
"N-no I can speak perfectly..." Joan stuttered nervously, trying her best not to upset the tiny warrior in front of her. "I'm just not used to the sight of our local terrorist's getting laid out like this"
"Oh them? I saw them jumping some poor middle schooler so I decided to jump them. Normally when you see a 5 on 1 you expect it to be in the group's favor....." Amber trailed off, leaving young Joan to stare at her future commander in admiration.
"My name's Joan Wilder! Thank you for freeing us from our captors!" Joan bowed at a 90 degree angle, crying genuine tears of joy that she never had to hide lunch money under her tongue ever again.
"Oh? Cool. Name's Amber Fucking Alvarez. Does this makes us friends or something?" Amber picked at her nose, not sounding or looking as enthusiastic as she really was.
"Yes. I guess we are friends now" Joan and Amber shook hands firmly, though the 10 year old accidentally fractured one of Wilder's fingers in the process.
Joan could tell. That becoming friends with this monster...no...this Devil...was going to be the start of one long adventure.
********Flashback End**************
Joan stopped day dreaming and picked up her phone, mindlessly scrolling through it when a notification from her default browser (curse you Phoenix notifications) popped up.
And it made a chill so cold run down her spine it practically turned her into a living popsicle.
Someone was killing gang commanders. And apparently from some unknown source they had initially planned on striking Fort Lauderdale first.
Be it stroke of luck or God almighty they had somehow avoided a gruesome end.
Joan was about to show it to her commander when she was spoken to first, Amber asking her a question that often destroyed family bonds, caused insanity and caused hundreds of mental breakdowns to many inhabitants of the earth.
"Are we there yet?"
"AMBER FUCKING ALVAREZ!"