8589/Mercy Does Not Exist In This Dojo

Mercy Does Not Exist In This Dojo
Date of Scene:	07 November 2021
Location:	Slade's Grounds
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Slade Wilson, Thea Queen

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Slade Wilson has posed:
Combat.

The crucible in which the great warriors of the world are forged. Combat is how the world changes, the basest instinct of humanity in which things get done. And there is no better teacher than the Terminator himself:

Slade Wilson. Deathstroke. The Black Knight. He has many names, and his teaching style is aggressive, to say the least. But to be the best? You can't ever rest, or settle for second best.

That's what he's doing here, with Thea. Training her as he has.

"Again."

Slade's voice emerges from him as he stands there, sword in his hand as his hands are clasped behind his back at the wrist, his one eye staring down the protege as he prepares for her to try again. "Strike me if you can. Use everything in your Arsenal. I will do the same."

Thea Queen has posed:
It had been a bargain with the devil. Or at least that's how it felt when Thea had to wake up near every day at 5am to train. To improve herself. Long gone were the days in which she depended on the drugs. And also .., her dependency on her brother. Which means she had to branch out, to seek out those who could make her take that next step.

And who better than one of the greatest assassins of all?

Thea had been anything but a slacker ever since they had picked up their training and that showed in the way she stood her ground, feet slightly apart, brows furrowed and her lips forming a grim line. Focused, looking for openings on her opponent. She knew she'd find no mercy here if she failed or took a mistep. So it was time to put up her best 'game' for show.

"This time it will be different." It never was, but not from lack of trying. A foot steps forward, a tell that she is about to attack and then she lunges forward, elusive and fast. She had been gaining muscle and elasticity ever since they had began their training, her evolution in sword fight natural. Unlike her brother she seemed better with a sword than with a bow.

Slade Wilson has posed:
"We'll see."

Slade was ever much a serious man. He had seen more bloodshed than most, and rarely had he experienced failure after he had become Deathstroke. Before his eyes was someone who was young, a killer in the making of blooming into a deadly flower, one who did not need her brother or her father or her lovers, just herself at the end of the day. Even if Slade must step into the place of one she sought to eminate. His blade then prepared his weapon, holding it out in one hand while he held the other behind his back.

He was ready.

She lunges forward like a cat who had finally found it's prey, her movement is graceful and acrobatic, but a good strike is more than just how pretty it looks. Slade counterlunges, dragging his sword along her blade's edge hard enough to cause sparks, attempting a flourish of his blade to push her sword away from him and following it is an attempted strike with the flat of the blade for her face.

Thea Queen has posed:
Feet move in a blur during her approach, Thea holding her sword with both hands and a shout escaping her lips when the blades meet. It was to be a quick in and out, not one to go toe-to-toe with what she knows is a superior opponent. Of course that the blade flourish makes her shift off-balance, the young woman attempting to bend back to escape the counterstrike that she knows is to come..

It still brushes her cheek, Thea rolling back on the floor to then slide to a knee and up to her feet once again. Hand goes up to feel at her cheek. Sore. That would be hurting later. Yet it was improvement, not long ago she would had been lying flat on her back. Probably unconscious too.

So of course that she brazenly speaks up, "Missed me." determined gaze to those blue eyes. A killer's gaze? Maybe not just yet. If anything those morals from Oliver had somewhat rubbed off on her.

Somewhat.

"I thought you were going to use everything. But you still got that hand behind your back.." Is she frustrated? She goes in again, a feint this time. Moving right, spinning to strike from the left. A low strike aimed towards a leg, blade lashing out like a serpent.

Slade Wilson has posed:
Thea was quick.

Slade just happened to be quicker. Enhanced vs. Natural talent/ability happens to go in the favor of the former unless one starts striking smarter. Slade smacks Thea across the face, watching as she rolls to the floor and get back onto her feet. Normally, she wouldn't get up at all and that would be teh end of the session, but he's managed to help forge her into someone who was hardened and strengthened by the pain. "You don't have time to stop and examine your wounds!"

Her swings move towards him, a feint. He's seen the body language before, but it's a good trick. Float like a butterfly...

He looks ready t oblock, though her comment about his hand makes him smirk, but doesn't earn a reply just yet. His blade comes low, blocking her strike with a sound of ringing metal. He wasn't going to play nice with her. A merciful teacher he was not. Life isn't going to be kind to you. Your enemies will attempt to do their worst to break you and kill you. He's teaching her how to not give her enemies that satisfaction.

That hand that was behind his back? It emerges as a fist, attempting to help him push against his sword and make an opening, for an attempt to lunge with a stab, trying to pierce her shoulder.

"Your enemies will not play fair. For all you know, I'm doing this as a psychological trap so you get frustrated. Frustration means anger, anger is blind, blindness is sloppy, and sloppy is death."

Thea Queen has posed:
Now is perhaps not the time to mention those enhancements, even if Thea can sometimes be sore loser enough to go there if she is angry enough.. Nothing like justifying her losses! But in the middle of the fight? It could earn her a nice trip to an hospital bed. And now that she is getting wise in her 'old' years it means she focuses fully on the fight. Of course that one could also wonder on the wiseness of training with such a deadly assassin...

Teeth grit as she brings her weight into her strike, feeling those vibrations up her arms as it's blocked. The press back? She expects a counter so her feet compensate near immediately, keeping her balance even if not attempting to go toe to toe in a strength contest. Instead she attempts to swing her blade free, defensively...

The strike comes fast, perhaps too fast. But she is learning to guide herself with instinct now, hours upon hours of training. And .., harrowing near death experiences. She indeed seems different after these months. More mature. And as that blade comes to her shoulder? It meets her own blade that just barely deflects it, the tip just inches from finding it's mark on her shoulder but going past her shoulder.

Swords are still together and she rushes forward, blades sparking together, "The world doesn't play fair." is her reply just before she lunges in. One of her hands has let go of her blade and moved to her belt, the glint of a smaller blade there as it goes to attack Slade's chest. Of course that now she is very up close and personal though. No safety distance or way to disengage for Thea. She is all in!