sweetcandygirl | Nothing Better than New Years in the Amazon

There are quite a few paths available to the rogue, and choosing where to begin is difficult. The large tent can be left for last, but the others are all decent opportunities. Amelia decides to start with the easiest takedown first, making her way through the trees toward the crates and tents full of supplies.

The soldier guarding the supplies is woefully unprepared for someone coming at them from above. When the tall, stocky woman's attention is directed at a group of supplies at the bottom of the pile, Amelia silently scales the crates of supplies and jumps down onto her shoulders. The momentum of the fall pushes the woman's face into the dirt after falling to her knees. To avoid drawing any attention to the situation, Amelia pulls the dagger out of her vambrace and slits the soldier's throat. The body is left bent over to leave the appearance of the soldier simply checking supplies, and then the rogue is moving on to her next targets.

Guards with guns have never scared Amelia, and two of them near a large fire only makes this much less intimidating for her. From a place just out of sight behind a stack of empty supply crates, she peers out and throws each of her shoes in rapid succession at the two guards to set them off balance for a few seconds. When they call out for the intruder and begin to look around, she hits one in the leg with a dagger and then rushes out from her hiding spot. The men can yell and shoot all they want, but any grazes from bullets are ignored as she runs in.

The wounded soldier, now on one knee thanks to her dagger, makes a convenient launchpad for a jump at the other soldier, and with a little clever maneuvering of her body, Amelia's able to send him flying back into the edge of the fire he was using as protection from Red and her jungle. The other soldier is able to step out of the way of the rogue's jump, but doesn't move far enough back that she can't reach him with the bat. With a loud crack, she brings it down on his head and then, after her feet touch the ground, swings around to catch him in the side. Despite all desires to the contrary, the soldier stumbles into the fire, joining his companion with screams of agony. Amelia leaves no time for either of them to escape from the flames, reaching out with her magic to make the fire burn blue with heat. All sounds of protest die out quickly, leaving only the tent full of soldier and its lone guard left to deal with.

Of course the sounds of screaming and dying soldiers have drawn everyone out of the tent by now, but that makes this a far more interesting fight. Reaching under her dress, the rogue pulls a dagger from a hidden sheath on her left thigh and runs at the nearest of the interlopers. There are shouts all around her, gunshots going off in all directions, and the chaos of the sudden battle is wonderful. Amelia shouts with excitement as she drops to a slide past the closest soldier, catching him at the ankles with her dagger as she goes, and then forces herself to her feet suddenly to smack another across the face with Harley's bat. As the two of them fall to the ground, injured but certainly not dead, she turns to throw the bat at a third soldier, catching him in the arm and causing him to fire at several of his comrades. As the bat bounces off the man and toward the line of trees at the edge of the camp, five of the seven soldiers now have some sort of injury from the initial volley of attacks. There's blood coloring Amelia's skin and cuts in her dress, but it's not enough to slow her down yet. That means it's time to finish this.

With the bat now safely out of range of all of the men and women who dared intrude on Red's jungle paradise, Amelia reaches out to the fire a short distance away and draws it to her with a sharp gesture of her hand. It comes to her in a line of bright, angry flames, catching two of the soldiers and sending them to the ground screaming as they try to put themselves out. The other soldiers attempt to move out of the way with varying degrees of success, but to no avail. One by one the rogue tracks them down, putting them out of their misery with a blade to the chest, a snap of their neck, or a push into a roaring collection of flames, leaving behind her a trail of bodies, blood, and fire. It's a display of violence she's been lacking for too long, and it makes it easy to ignore everything but the carnage she's brought to this place.

As she stands victorious over her enemies, a vicious laugh falls from her lips. For all the frustration and anguish she still feels about her fight with Blaze and the entire reason behind it, she can still revel in the satisfaction of this. She quiets the flames around her as she finds and sheathes her daggers in her vambraces, then kicks them back up as she directs them to consume the tents, crates, and other equipment around the camp. It's more than what's necessary when there's so much greenery around (that she's here to protect, too), but all sense of holding back has been washed away by the adrenaline in her system.

After retrieving Harley's bat, she turns and looks out over the destroyed camp, a devious grin on her face. "Anyone I missed?" she calls out over the battlefield. It's doubtful, but now's the time to check. There's no need for witnesses needed to run and tell the buyers what's happened. They'll find out soon enough.

Harley and Pamela watch the scene unfold before them.

The tactic to take out the guard who was checking the supplies gets a smile of approval from Harley.

She also watches with fascination as Amelia takes down the two by the fire. And kept an eye on where her bat had landed in the jungle.

Pamela steps forward slightly when Amelia calls the flames to her hands. Harley gently puts a hand on her shoulder. "She needs this moment, Red. I promise you that if any damage is done to the trees nearby, both she and I will make sure new ones are planted."

Watching how Amelia tracks down each of the men, Pamela settles a little. She can relate to the desire for that level of violence. Both she and Harley can.

She watches as the flames consume the tents, crates and equipment. Not a lot of damage is done to living greenery, as the logger camp had already destroyed most of what was closest to them. So that helps Pamela to stay focused.

Harley looks around the camp, and yells out. "Not a fucking one!"

It's a little disappointing to find her opponents have all fallen already, but Amelia's always preferred efficiency to playing with her opponents. Still, she did well and thoroughly enjoyed herself, so there's no reason to let not having more opponents frustrate her. She exhales a breath and lets go of the edges of the fire she's been holding onto with her magic before turning away from the camp and making her way back to Harley and Red.

Upon arrival, she offers the bat, handle first, to Harley with a grin. "How was it from here? A decent show, I trust?" It certainly felt good in the moment and got her adrenaline flowing. Enough that she hasn't really felt the pain from the few grazes across her upper arms, the one along her side, or the several that have torn the skirt on her dress above her knee on one side. That'll come later after she's calmed down a bit.

"I am sure once word reaches others of today, no other log jammers will try to disturb this part of the jungle." Harley moves to take her bat, swings it back to its place on her hip. And wraps an arm around Amelia's shoulders with a smile.

Pamela has drifted off for a moment, checking the tree line to see if she can save anything from the damage done by the loggers.

"You feeling a little better?"

Amelia's gaze follows Red for a moment (Are there more loggers? Is there someone else to rain violence down on?), but she pulls her attention back to Harley when an arm is wrapped around her shoulder.

"A little." Her chest feels tight when she takes a breath, but it's not from any pain. She still wants... something more from all this, but she's not sure what. She got the fight she was looking for, though, and that will have to be enough for now. "Need some time to cool down, I think. Wasn't expecting a chance for a fight tonight."

Harley slowly leads Amelia back to the tree house, knowing that Pamela needs her time to check on her jungle before returning herself.

"Maybe it was a good thing. You had a chance to get rid of the unsatisfying feeling in your stomach, before the start of a new year."

"Red and I are here for you. We understand you."

Following a fight that felt one-sided with one that felt less one-sided hasn't taken the feeling of needing something... better from her entirely, but Amelia can admit that it helped. She nods along with Harley's words and carefully wraps an arm around her friend's waist as they walk.

"I know. I wouldn't have come out after the fight with Blaze if I didn't feel safe with the two of you." A beat, and she smiles ruefully up at the other woman. "I appreciate you letting me take some time out of our night for this."

"It is important to find those safe places."

"And we are always here. If you need a fight. If you just want to talk. If you just need to sort your head."

"We just want the best for you, Amelia."

She's never certain how to react to someone want good things on her behalf. Her instinct is to reject it and force it back on the one who offers it, but she loves and respects Harley enough to know the woman means what she says. It's still difficult for Amelia to accept, though, and this time is no different. Her smile fades into a neutral expression as she nods again.

"If I need something from you, I'll let you know. It might be more physical for a while. This fight with Blaze... I'm more unsettled from it than I like. Staying active keeps me from focusing on the worst of it." It also prevents her from properly processing the issue at hand, but that's fine. She can deal with that later. There's always time to deal with the worst things later.

Harley knows that Amelia's instinct is to push away a good intention.

It is Harley's instinct to be persistent. And stick to her like glue, no matter how many times she has seen this reaction.

"I get it. You are unsettled. And I get staying active to keep focused. I been there. Done that. Was Mayor for two years."

"But the thing you got to remember, is if you are burning bridges as you go along.... not everyone is like me and is willing to walk through fire to get to you. To stay by your side."

Harley clicks her tongue, thinking for a moment. They return to the banquet table at the tree house. And she picks up a fruit drink. Then she turns to lay one more card on the table.

"Red cares for you in a way I have not seen her do for anyone else in a long time. And you came close to hurting something that is precious to her."

The rogue huffs indignantly as she takes a seat at the table. "I haven't burned anything that wasn't poised to spark into flames on its own. Blaze and I were never friends, and I don't care if the Guardians continue to want nothing to do with me."

They never did anything for her anyway, and now that Steve is with them and not the man she cared for anymore, there's even less reason for her to care about what they want. She highly doubts her parting message of a blade in the snow is going to cause any trouble.

She tilts her head slightly at the card, but doesn't reach out to touch it. Her gaze turns up to Harley as the woman speaks, a frown pulling at her lips. "But I didn't. Everything out there was far from Red and her plants because those assholes cleared all the trees and foliage from the area. I didn't do anything wrong by taking care of those assholes and their camp the way I did."

She crosses her arms in front of her chest petulantly, wincing as she touches one of the graze wounds on her upper arm. Ah, that does sting. She'll get to that in a bit.

"Oh I am sure you stand by your decision of what happened to Blaze." Harley is also sure that Amelia is not thinking of the ripple effect. Of how sending that one message might not just end at the Guardians.

Harley is definitely not going to get in the middle of the slight right between Red and Amelia right now. She knows that Red will do what she does when she is mad at Harley -- calm down on her own, and not talk about why she is upset.

Both these woman are so damn good at not talking about their emotions. But no matter how many times they say they need time alone... or want to be left alone... Harley is going to stand by their side. And be that light of friendship for them.

She leans out the window, and looks out to the moss ball. "Do you think if I attach several little of the fruit skewers together I could reach it better?"

If Harley's going to change the subject and free Amelia from having to talk about what's happened, the rogue is fine with it. She'll distract herself from following Harley with her gaze by removing her vambraces, though.

"I think that will give you a better chance than trying to climb out onto the tree to get it." She intakes a breath with a hiss as she finds the bullet wound on her side with the chair. Damn, another? Alex is going to be incredibly upset when she hands him the remains of his Art. "You could also try cutting whatever's holding it up in the tree while you're waiting underneath to catch it."

"It is one of Red's vines holding it up. Cutting it would upset her." Harley notes, deciding against that idea.

She starts collecting fruit skewers, eating a few of the fruit every now and then as she works.

Harley has a point about the vine, but Amelia simply shrugs in response. The silence that follows is likely a prompt to get her to speak up about what's bothering her, but she simply doesn't feel the need to deal with it right now. She does need to worry about some of her wounds though. Now that she's bumped the one on her side, what little had clotted has broken loose. Amelia groans softly in pain as she tears off a loose section of fabric from the bottom of her dress and presses it over the wound to slow down the flow of blood.

"Does Red have a first aid kit? I need a few bandages." A beat, and then she adds, "Maybe a few stitches. I can't tell yet until I clean myself a bit."

"Ummmm … I am not sure about that. She has her own healing abilities... as do I. She might have some plants around here that help with healing..." Harley steps away from where she was tying skewers around to look around a small lab in the back area.

"I will find something." Pamela returns to the room. She pulls some plants off the shelf. "Here you go."

She hands over some bandages and healing herbs to Pamela.

Amelia accepts the supplies with a soft 'thanks' and then silently gets to work. It's not her best work and she still might need some stitches on her leg, but the plants from Red will likely do a better job than any ointments or herbs the rogue has at her apartment and all of her wounds are properly covered. Once she's finished, she wipes her hands off on the scrap of dress she tore off then slowly looks up at Red.

"Everything all right at the camp?" she asks softly.

Pamela carefully sorts through a few plotted seedlings in her lab, and tilts her head at the question.

"The soil is damaged in a few areas. It will be difficult to regrow anything because of the harm they have already done."

Harm they did. Not her. She did nothing wrong. She didn't burn the jungle down, just the camp of those looking to destroy this place. Amelia exhales a silent breath and nods.

"Is there anything from the Nexus that could help the soil? I'm certain I could find anything you can think of."

Pamela won't be able to recover the soil of the camp at all. It is mostly the fault of the damage of the loggers. But the burning of the group contributed to the issue.

"No offense to the Nexus... but I doubt there is anything that could duplicate my abilities. It will just take time to reclaim the soil."

Amelia shrugs, not at all offended by Red's comment. "I wasn't certain, so I thought I would ask. I trust your judgement on the matter."

The tension neither of them are addressing is stressful, and the rogue isn't certain how to deal with it. She sighs softly and finally offers, "I apologize for any disruption I caused. Ruining our evening is the last thing I wanted for tonight."

"You were in a bad head space not because of us." Harley notes, returning to putting together her spear contraption.

"Can you put it behind you?" Pamela asks.

"What happened tonight? Of course. If you tell me everything is fine and that we're all right, I believe you and can accept and move on from that." She offers each of the women a small smile. "I'll recover from my wounds over the next few days and all will be well then."

There's more to it than that, but everything else calls back to her fight with Blaze. That's not what Harley and Red are asking about, and so Amelia won't comment on it. As far as the rogue is concerned, there's nothing more to worry about between herself and the other women in the room, and that's all she needs to know right now.

"Just because everything is fine between us... does not mean that everything is fine with you, love." Pamela notes.

"No, but I will be fine. Some time and distance from what's bothered me will be enough to get me there. Until then, I have good company with friends who make me feel safe. I have no desire or need for anything else while I settle."

Everything else can wait. She didn't bring it up, so she doesn't want to talk about it. The itch for more violence is passive beneath bandages and slightly dulled pain, and her anger is momentarily abated. Nothing else matters right now.

Nothing Better than New Years in the Amazon

Incoming novella (with a cw for all kinds of violence)

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