Shattered Ladder 1-34 (Patreon)

“Ow.”

The material that lined the apartment floor wasn’t all that hard. Not harder than metal or simple plastic. Ken wasn’t sure what it was, other than cold and chemical-scented.  

“Ow.”Unfortunately, it didn’t have to be all that hard for it to still hurt as he was thrown into it for the fourth time in as many minutes. Pain exploded up his shoulder, enough to make his teeth grit tight as he rolled over onto his bare back.

The pockmarked ceiling looked back, judging him as his right arm throbbed and ached in a way that promised to turn into a deep bruise without treatment. Owwwww. He kept the word tight between his teeth, lungs burning as he pulled in stale sweaty air.

“You’re thinking too much.” 

That bubblegum voice was almost an insult on its own, floating down to reach his ears without even the slightest tell that the speaker was breathing hard. 

Because she wasn’t. 

Resentment and irritation both flared hot in his chest as Ken glared up at the girl in a white tank top without even a drop of sweat on her skin anywhere to be seen. “You’re trying to remember where your feet go instead of just putting them there.”

“Feet go on the floor.” The words dragged themselves out syllable by thick syllable, Ken muttering as he pushed themselves up onto his arms. “Usually.”

“Usually.” A mouthful of street meat didn’t stop Don from chiming in, the redhead perched atop the kitchen counter. His legs swung freely, a greasy paper boat of something fried sitting on his knee. “Unless you’re Ken-bro. Then your feet go somewhere near your ears while you kiss the linoleum.”

Purple eyes narrowed as Ken stayed flat on the floor, staring upside down. “Don?”“Yeah?”“Shut up.”

“Just offering commentary.” A grin flashed his way, half-chewed meat poking out. “Play by play, friend. Value added.”

Zee stepped over Ken, a pair of pink leggings almost making it hard to notice the golden eyes narrowed down at him. “Up.”

Evil… Ken groaned as he pushed himself up, back sticky with sweat. 

Thirty minutes of this. Evil.

A whole thirty minutes of getting tossed around the cramped living space by the demon in pink he called a boss. Cruel and vicious, the girl couldn’t hide the smile she wore when she sent him bouncing off the walls, the edge of a table, and the scarred metal door. Pure evil. 

Shoulders squared again, Ken raised both hands, doing his best to ignore how heavy and clunky they felt. 

Like all the other times before, Zee didn’t drop into a stance. This time, she didn’t rush forward, though. No, she just stood there, even more annoyed than when they started. “I don’t get it.”It? Ken raised an eyebrow as Zee tapped a finger against her arm.“You’re strong enough. Fast enough, too.” She clicked her tongue. “Hell, for a stage one, you’re hitting almost like a two. You got the build for it, but something’s… off.”

“Off?” Sweat dripped down his forehead, Ken wiping it with the back of his wrist. “What’s off?”

“Something.” Zee gestured vaguely at all of him. “I saw you out there, you move like you know what you’re doing. Poppin’ shoulders, crushin’ windpipes. It’s clean. But right now…”

“Right now, she’s kicking you a new asshole, bro-bro.” Don tossed a piece of fried whatever into his mouth, humming as he chewed.

“Yeah, what he said.” Zee jabbed a thumb Don’s way without looking at him. “Where’s the ghost I knew? You’re moving like you never been trained or something?”

Ken’s hands fell, eyes dropping to the floor. Where is he? 

He didn’t know. 

Hell, he never knew. 

When someone rushed him outside, things were always different. His heart raced, his veins went cold and everything else fell away. He just… knew how to fight. “I wasn’t.”“Wasn’t what?” Zee leaned back, eyes trailing over to Ken as he finally spoke up. “What are you talkin’ about?”

Ken sighed slow. “Trained. I wasn’t trained.”Her head snapped fully his way. “…never?”

“Unless it was alchemy?” Ken just shrugged. “Never.”

Amber eyes narrowed further, wheels turning visibly behind them. “Never?” She echoed the word like she’d never heard it before, staring at Ken as he simply nodded. “Don’t try and run me like that.”

“Zee, I’m not lyin’.”

“Then you’re fricking crazy, cause nothing works like that.” Zee shook her head. “Nobody, nobody, ever moves like you do with no training. You’re spewing if you think I’m buying that as instinct. That’s a style and I -” The girl clicked her tongue loud, thumb jabbing her chest through her white tank top. “I know styles. Somebody built that.”

What do you want me to say? He wasn’t angry and he wasn’t exactly there to be frustrated yet but he didn’t exactly have the word to describe the heat in his chest. “I don’t know what to tell you, Zee. One minute I’m me. The next…”

His gaze slid down to his hands, calluses standing out against dark skin. The next…

“…it’s like I’m watching someone else move my arms and legs. Everything gets quiet.” Five fingers curled tight into a fist, Ken staring at the knuckles. “And it feels… wrong.” Like I’m stealing it.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…” The sound of chewing from the kitchen counter slowed down as Don lowered the paper boat, no grin on his face anymore. “Watchin’ someone move your arms and legs? You alright, Ken-bro?”

Ken looked from Don’s suddenly tense face to Zee’s unblinking stare. These two… they were the closest thing he had to a wall at his back. They were bleeding with him. 

Earning with him, too.

They probably deserved to know at least half of what was going on with him anyway. I already told them a bunch of it anyway. “Remember…” Ken let out a long low breath, shoulders already half-slumped before he lifted his head again. “Remember how I said I used to be weak?”

Zee crossed her arms tighter, one eyebrow disappearing under her bangs. “You’re still pretty weak, turtle.”

“Yeah?” Don pretended like he didn’t even hear her.

Ken’s mouth turned down in a frown, already half-regretting the nothing he’d said. “Out in the Valley… outside the City. I was real sick, been that way since I was born.” Still don’t know how I didn’t kick it as a baby. “I had bad shakes, and I couldn’t breathe and the villagers…” He bit back a sigh. “The villagers didn’t like that much. A bunch of kids pretty much could do whatever they wanted to me and one of them…”

The feel of blood under his fingers was there like it had never even left, Ken’s right hand still tight in a fist. “One of them used to beat me for fun.”

He swallowed, the taste of copper dust on his tongue. “One day, I had a rock and…”“You killed ‘im.” It wasn’t a question and Zee clearly wasn’t asking. 

“I didn’t mean to, but yeah…” Ken closed his eyes for a second, the bright red splatter clear against the gray as his fist clenched tighter.  “I ran and ran until Old Wei found me. He’s the only reason I’m even in the city right now.”

“Waiiiiiit,” Don’s voice broke the silence as the redhead hopped off the counter, paper boat forgotten behind him. A thick finger jabbed over at Ken, a question spilling out of the redheaded boy’s lips with each movement. “You related to Wei?”

Wha- Ken’s brow furrowed. “You know Wei?”

The techead snorted, hand running through his red hair. “Everybody in the Four-Four knows Wei. Man’s a real herbalist, no sump-doc or nothing. Man’s an actual master with a shop. You know how hard those are to find, ones that ain’t pushing drugs on you? Maybe twenty in the district.”Twenty in the district? Purple eyes blinked over at Don. Out of a billion?“He’s got everybody wondering what happened to his shop and… wait?“ That same finger jabbed forward again. “I saw the name on your card when Jiro printed it, but I was like ‘there’s too many Weis down here, no way it was that Wei.’ People been losing it over that herb store going down.”

I guess… Confusion still reared its head but it didn’t take long before logic slapped it down. That makes sense, though. The apothecary had a steady stream of customers, both people with deep pockets or nasty wounds. Sometimes both. Usually, he’d been in the back doing whatever else when the bell rang — grinding roots, picking herbs or reading texts.

“Yeah, Wei was my grandpa, pretty much. The old man spent three years getting me healthier than I’ve ever been my whole life.” Ken pushed all other thoughts aside as he focused on bringing the story back on track. “He taught me a lot of things, mostly alchemy and a bunch of anatomy, sure. But Old Wei never taught me how to fight.”

Shaking his head, he glanced back at Zee. “I think Old Wei did something, though. I don’t really know…” The lie slid out halfway before Ken could even think about it, a moment of silence before he swallowed the rest down. “I mean, I’m not really sure what he did to me but now… now… when I’m scared, when I need it, it just happens. My body just does the math.”

Zee didn't say anything for a long time, amber eyes unreadable as she just stared him up and down.  “Yeah, whatever.” She uncrossed her arms, rolling her shoulders as her neck let out a crack sharp enough to nearly echo as she popped it. “Math is boring, ghost. No more math, okay? You’re just gonna try and hit me until I get bored.”

“Until you…” Ken’s mouth hung open for barely a second before he snapped it shut. “That’s a really vague stopping point, Zee.”

She didn’t seem to care as stepped forward, closing the distance between them in two fluid strides. “Hands up, turtle.”

Ken scrambled back as fast as he could, bare feet squeaking on the floor surface as both hands flew up to guard his face,. “Wait, wait, wait, I just told y-”

“And I just heard you.” She dropped into a stance, her usual one; low, coiled and her weight perfectly balanced on the balls of her feet. “Too bad for you I don’t really care what you think. I’m the leader here. I’m the one who thinks.”…I disagree with that.

And judging from the way Don was whistling up at the ceiling, so did he.“You need muscle memory, not thinking anyway.” Zee grinned wide, all bright and white thirty-two just a bit too sharp. “So, I’m gonna give your muscles something they won’t forget.”

She lunged.

Ken swayed right to dodge the straight jab aimed clean at his nose. Son of a- 

A tired body wasn’t his friend, though, and Ken immediately regretted the move as soon as he made it. Bi- One bare foot caught on the edge of the table as he stumbled back and then forward, Zee’s fist surging into a palm-strike mid-motion.

“You’re gonna learn Quickfang.” She stepped forward, trapping his left arm against his body with her forearm.

“Quickfang?” The words came out two syllables as he tried to twist away, but strong painted fingers had his leverage pinned.

“Quickfang Southern Tiger Fist.” Breath hot against his ear, Zee’s leg swept out. “This.”

His back kissed the floor yet again, air escaping his lungs in a single whoosh. The air left his lungs in a sharp whoosh.

“My style…” Zee stood over him, looking down. “Dad’s style… my family’s style.” She frowned, tilting her head. “I don't know how good you’re gonna be at it, though.”

Ken groaned, rolling onto his side as a cough left him. “Why?”

“She’s saying you suck,” Don supplied from the kitchen, another paper container of street-meat in hand.

Zee ignored him. “Because your body doesn't want to move that way. Instincts might mess you up trying to learn Quickfang. The way you do your thing, you’re definitely more an Eastern Tiger style.”

Eastern? Ken pushed himself up to a sitting position, rubbing the back of his head as he glared at her. “Well, can you teach me that, then?”

“No.”

He frowned. “Why not?”

“Cause I don’t know that style, idiot.” She dropped back into the low, coiled stance Ken finally had a name for, bouncing on the balls of her feet once again. “I only know what I know.”

And that’s not really a lot. Ken bit back the insult with a sigh as he pushed himself back up to his feet. The exhausted noise filled the room as his eyes dropped on Don, the other boy grinning around a mouthful of grease. A second later, he allowed himself to look back at Zee, golden eyes locked on him like he was meat.

“So… what?” Voice flat as he could make it, Ken asked the only question he had left.“You’re just gonna beat me up until I can fight exactly like you?”

Zee didn't answer with words.

She stepped in and grinned.

Ken didn’t have time to dodge or duck as the world flashed white for a split second. His cheekbone exploded with pain as five small knuckles connected solid with his face and introduced him to pain again. His head snapped back, locs falling free from their ponytail as his back hit the ground for the sixth time in as many minutes. 

Evil… He pulled in a ragged breath. Pure pink evil.

“Yes,” Zee’s voice floated down, bright and cheerfully violent. “Get up, turtle. We got another hour before you make me dinner.”