Invincible (AU,M/L,Mature) NEW Part 12 - 12/08/04 [WIP]

[sugarplum17]

First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone who nominated this fic over at Crossovers. It is very much appreciated. Secondly, I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this new part out and for it's length. It's not terribly long, but I promise to try and have a longer part next time.


<center>***
Part Ten</center>

The next day, Liz jumped out of bed with a smile on her face. It was a brand-new day and she couldn’t wait to tell Maria about Max. Not that she was going to clue her best friend in on what she’d been doing as of late, but she was definitely going to tell her the part about Max.

She quickly got ready for school and skipped out into the kitchen. Her mother had made French toast for breakfast. Gingerly, she sat down in the chair across from her mother. Her father was sitting to her left, at the head of the table. “Good morning.” She was aware that her voice had taken on a singsong quality. She smiled happily.

“What’s got you so damn happy at 6:30 in the morning?” Her dad asked, his voice gravelly from sleep.

“I guess I just slept good.” She told him, shrugging.

Her mother looked at her disapprovingly. Liz stared at her, waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t, she returned her gaze to her breakfast. Her mother clearly knew something, or suspected something. She was definitely unhappy with Liz, that much Liz could tell, but she wasn’t going to say anything about it. Not at the moment, at least. Not in front of her father.

She glanced at her mother again, who was still staring at her with disapproval written all over her soft features. Her father reached out and pushed her arm lightly. “Don’t be mad at Liz because she slept good. Grump.”

“Yeah, mom.” Liz echoed. “Don’t be mad at me because I slept good.”

“Oh, I’m far from mad, Elizabeth.” Her mother rarely ever called her Elizabeth. Her full name was only used when her mother was upset with her.

“Elizabeth . . . ” Her dad bobbed his head from side to side, mocking his mother in a cruel way.

Liz finished her breakfast as quickly as she could. This place was starting to bring her down.

<center>***</center>

Running into the school building, she quickly navigated her way through the throngs of her fellow classmates and skidded to a stop at Maria’s locker. “Guess what!”

Maria turned to her, not at all excited or amused. “Oh, we’re playing a guessing game?” Maria shifted her weight and put a finger to her chin, striking a pensive pose. “I’m guessing you’re a shitty friend. Did I guess right?”

Her excitement faded quickly into confusion. “What?”

“You don’t call. You don’t return calls. You’re never at home, which I can understand, but still. You don’t tell me anything. You don’t talk to me.” Maria slammed her locker shut, revealing Alex as he leaned on the locker next to Maria’s. “I haven’t talked to you in like, two weeks, Liz. Some fucking best friend you are.”

“Excuse me?” Liz stepped back, unsure of how to handle this situation.

“It’s like you have this whole secret little life where you sneak off and do things that Alex and I aren’t a part of. We aren’t privy to all the 411 on Liz anymore. So, whatever. I am so over you.”

Liz looked toward Alex as Maria pushed past her, knocking her off balance with her shoulders. She would have fallen, save for the locker she caught herself with. Alex pushed himself off the locker and stared at Liz briefly. He didn’t appear to be contemplating her, or the situation. He was just staring.

“You too, Alex?” Liz asked quietly. “Are you over me to?”

Puckering his lips, he looked away as he shrugged. It was clear that he was sour on their whole situation too. Without a word to her, he shoved his hands in his pockets and followed the path Maria had made.

“Great.” She said to no one in particular as she leaned against the locker she had caught herself with.

“You’re such a loser, Parker.” Pam Troy, her arch nemesis. “You’re such a loser, even your loser friends don’t want to be friends with you.”

She had the urge to hit her. Under normal circumstances, she would have. Instead, she found herself on autopilot. Before she realized what she was doing, she was pushing herself off the locker and walking away. There was one urge she couldn’t resist though, “Fuck off, Pam.”

[sugarplum17]

This part is kind of short, again, but it's all I could manage right now. I'm sorry you guys have had to wait for this. I've been super distracted.

<center>***
Part Eleven</center>

Liz bounced and bobbed as she slammed her fists into the punching bag. Her day hadn’t gotten much better from the confrontation she’d had in the hallway with Maria and Alex, and she was now taking it out on the punching bag. All of her frustrations came through her fists.

Max was over there talking to his blonde Barbie. Alex and Maria were ditching her. Pam Troy was getting in her face. She’d wanted nothing more than to hit Pam in the hallway, but she had held herself back and told her to fuck off instead. She failed a test. She’d gone home to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the gym and her mother had been sporting a fresh black eye.

It was safe to say that her day was just, extremely shitty.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jim yelled as he walked up to the punching bag and grabbed it. He swung it away from her, arching an eyebrow. “What’s with all this power, Rocky?”

He’d been watching her. Obviously, something was bothering her. She was training today with an intensity he had yet to see her train with. He’d been surprised when she was jumping rope that she wasn’t breaking her ankles.

She rested her gloved hands on her hips as she tried to catch her breath. She’d worked up quite a sweat, pounding away at the punching bag. “I had a bad day.”

“You wanna talk about it?” He asked, genuine concern filtering through his tone.

She looked toward the ground, unsure of how to handle his concern, and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Well, why don’t you start from the beginning while you hit this bag.” He suggested, swinging it back at her and standing behind it to hold it steady. “But, not so much power.”

She complied, staying silent for a few moments. “My best friends don’t want to be my friends anymore.” She threw a right hook.

“Why not?” He asked as he braced himself for the impact of her hit. “What’d you do?”

“Nothing!” She began hitting the bag harder.

“Not so much power, I said.” He scolded. “Now, what happened with your friends?”

“They’re upset because I have a ‘secret life’ now.” She told him after a few moments of silence. “I haven’t told them what I’m doing here and they’re pissed off that I don’t call and I’m never around.”

He nodded his head in understanding. “Why haven’t you told them?”

“They wouldn’t understand.” She jabbed the bag roughly.

He was about to ask her how she knew they wouldn’t when he noticed it. She was visibly stiff and her muscles were riddled with tension. He wondered then, for the first time, why she was doing this. Why did she want to be a boxer? Why did she want to fight?

He eyed her critically for a few moments, taking in her movements and watching her face carefully. “Do you?”

His question stopped her in her tracks. She looked at him as though he had just accused her of stealing something, her tone was defensive. “What?”

“Do you understand?” He asked again, watching her reaction carefully. He didn’t quite know what he was looking for, but he was hoping to find it somewhere in her face.

“Of course I do.” She didn’t mean to sound so snotty, but she couldn’t help herself. Who the hell was Jim Valenti to be sticking his nose in her business?

“Enlighten me.” His demand was soft, but it was a demand none the less. He wanted to know why she was doing it. He wanted to know if she truly did understand why she was here, what she was doing this for. He wanted to know if she knew, and he wanted to know himself.


She was silent for a moment, before she pulled off her gloves in an exaggerated, choppy way. She stared at him, her face set in determination. “What’s it to you?”

He blinked. For a moment, he was seeing the girl who had first walked into the gym. The girl who had demanded to be trained. He was seeing a girl with an attitude and a chip on her shoulder. A girl he hadn’t seen since he’d started training Liz Parker.

She scoffed as she backed away from the punching bag. “See ya.” She turned her back to him and started toward the closet she used as a dressing room.


“What’s up with her?” Max asked, sidling up beside Jim and watching as Liz disappeared into the closet.

Jim shrugged. He didn’t know any better than Max, what had crawled up Liz’s ass. All he knew was that there was definitely something up there.

“PMS.” Michael shouted from a few feet away. A few boys around him laughed.

[sugarplum17]

Alright, so here's the deal. My life has been insane as of late. My uncle with cancer and recently passing away from it and me with my own health problems and work. All of that just didn't leave a whole lot of time, or energy for that matter, to write. I'm sorry I didn't come and post a note.

But, I'm back and I totally plan to continue writing this. As well as Breakaway. But, with a life as crazy as mine, updates will probably be few and far between. Never the less, there will be updates. It's just a matter of being willing to wait for them. If you're not, I completely understand. I can be extremely frustrating, this I know. However, if you are willing, the payoff is a finished story. It's up to you to decide how much that means to you.

Once again, I'm terribly sorry for the wait. Here is the new part.

<center>***
Part Twelve</center>

Liz emerged from the closet glaring in Michael’s direction. He just thought he was so fucking clever, didn’t he? He just thought he could say anything he wanted and get away with it. As if he were some kind of king or something. Well, Liz was going to teach him. She was going to clean his clock and knock his arrogance away, once and for all when she knocked his teeth down his throat.

“What was that, Guerin?” Her voice silenced everyone, but she barely paid attention to all the people looking at her.

Her source of irritation looked at her and laughed before turning his head away from her dismissively, inciting a burst of fire inside of her. She sauntered over to where he was jumping rope, her hips working overtime with the weight of her anger as she did so.

“I said,” She reached out and grabbed the rope in mid air, ignoring its sting on her hand and yanking it from his hands, “what the fuck did you say to me?”

“Back off.” Michael warned, his patience quickly slipping away from him. This girl had spunk and he had to give her that, but who the hell was she to talk to him like that? He’d never before hit a girl, but he was coming dangerously close to it now as his muscles tensed and his back hunched slightly.

“Oh I see.” She stepped a little closer, her head tipped up toward him and her tone soft and fooling. One would almost think they were going to kiss, rather than beat each other senseless. “I see now. You can talk a lot of shit behind my back but when it comes to saying it to my face; you’re nothing but a little bitch. Right?”



Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement. Jim was hurrying toward them at a rapid pace and Max was hot on his heels. No doubt they were intent on breaking this up.

“Alright you too, break it up!” Jim barked out as he neared them. “Put your d-” Dicks? No, he would only say that to two boys. “Put your egos in check.”

Liz was contemplating taking a swing at Michael as she stared up into his eyes and felt nothing but hate for him. Reflexively, her fist balled up against her side and just as she was about to bring it up to connect with his face or stomach, hands stopped her and pulled her away. Albeit, with less ease as their owner had been anticipating.

She didn’t bother to turn around and see who it was. She knew when she felt an arm snake through the space between her arm and her side and wrap itself around her flat stomach. The scent of him enticed a different kind of fire to burst inside of her. The feel of his sculpted, sweaty chest on her back stoked its flame.

Jim reached out and grabbed hold of Michael, pulling him back and away from Liz.

“I want a match with him.” Liz announced flatly as she stared at Michael. “I want to spar. With him.”

Michael laughed and she felt the urge to hit him intensify. She moved against the broad expanse of chest behind her and wanted nothing more than to close her eyes and groan. Behind her, she thought she heard a sudden intake of air.

“Yeah right.” Michael shook his head, still laughing. “I’ll spar with that bitch when hell freezes over.”

Michael’s trainer, Tico, appeared suddenly from behind Michael. He had no doubt been in the office smoking a Cuban with Herb, the owner of the place, when the commotion between the gym’s resident jerk and resident woman broke out.

“Consider it froze.” He slapped Michael on the back, rubbing his hand over the cotton material he found there.

“Tico!” Michael shouted, taking his eyes off of Liz for the first time. “What the fuck?”

“Should make good match.” He said in a thick Spanish accent. He turned to Jim. “Your girl, my guy.”

Jim stared at him for several moments contemplating his options. He could always say no. He could refuse it, but as he cast a glance at Liz he knew he couldn’t. Either they fight in the ring or they fight in the street when his own female version of Rocky Balboa went after her very own Mr. T. “When?”

Tico contemplated Michael before turning to Jim. He needed time to talk Michael into it. “Tomorrow.”

The two men shook hands in an effort to seal the deal. Their fighters were sparring tomorrow. “Done.” Was all Jim said as he let go of Michael and walked toward Liz.

Still wrapped up in Max’s arms, Liz’s lips curled into a smile.

“You can’t be serious, Jim.” His breath blew past her caressing her skin. “She can’t fight him!”

Reluctantly, Liz broke free of his hold on her moving away from his body. She turned to face him with a disbelieving expression on her face. “You don’t think I can do it?”

“It’s not that,” he explained carefully.

“Then what is it, Max?” She pushed her hip out to the left and crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him hard.

“It’s just that Michael is,” he looked toward Jim, his eyes pleading with his ex-trainer to help him out of this situation, “Well, Michael is…”

Liz rolled her brown eyes. “Michael is what? A man? And I’m just some helpless, defenseless, stupid little girl?”

She backed away from them both. “Whatever.” She said angrily. “Fuck you, Max. Nobody asked you to be my big strong protecting man so get over yourself.”

It stung as good as a hand across his face and she knew it. She turned her back on him, missing the hurt expression that took up residence there, and walked toward the closet. She vaguely heard Jim apologize for her and by the time she reached the door, she couldn’t hear Max’s response to him. Oh well. She thought to herself as she entered her changing room.

She dressed quickly, smelling the pungent smell of body odor on her. She would definitely need to shower when she got home. Stuffing her clothes into the small duffel she had adopted as her gym bag, she quickly slipped on her shoes and checked her watch. She was so unbelievably late. Her mother was going to be pissed.

As she emerged from the changing room, she found Jim standing there waiting for her. She raised an arched eyebrow.

“Be sure you know why you’re doing this, Liz Parker.” He sounded very serious and was that a hint of warning in his tone? “If you’re doing this for the wrong reasons, you won’t hurt anyone but yourself. So, you think about it long and hard young lady.” He paused. “And while you’re at it, talk to your friends.”

He turned abruptly, leaving her to think about what he had said. She rolled her eyes but decided then and there that she would go see Maria. Even if Maria hated her for being a shitty friend, even if Maria didn’t understand, Liz thought she deserved an explanation. Together, she hoped, they would tell Alex.



To Be Continued!