Part 13 - Tad Snaps

Christie sighed. The final few moments of the last period of this early June school day seemed to be taking hours instead of minutes, and she HATED clock watching! The teacher was conducting review sessions since they'd finished the state's physics curriculum over a week ago. She had dredged up questions from previous years' final exams as graded review assignments. She covered a different core topic area in each class before handing out the associated question set. Christie had already finished today's review questions and checked her answers against the teacher's key. She was ready for the final, the only remaining course requirement. Her projects and papers in her other courses were also done and had already been turned in, so again, except for finals in a couple of different classes, Christie's junior year at Dolley Madison High was finished.

Tomorrow was the last Friday before Finals Week and the day of the DMHS Annual Last Dance. Unlike most school dances, this traditional and free party started early - at six pm. If the weather was clement, the dance would be held outside at the football stadium. The kids would be herded out at precisely nine o'clock and reminded that finals started promptly at 8 AM on Monday. Christie reflected that even Charlie, a regular non-attendee at most school dances, had enjoyed his first two of these parties, and she hoped to do likewise. Except Charlie hadn't had to deal with the specter of the increasingly annoying Tad getting in his face . . . her face.

Deciding that was tomorrow's problem, Christie gathered her bookbag when the bell FINALLY rang and scooted off to head for the dojang. She had already cleared out her locker, so she skipped that stop and just made her way to Valerie's locker. They'd walk together to the studio, take their regular Thursday lesson and then help with the current crop of white and yellow belts.

It was annoying, she thought not for the first time, that only seniors got the privilege of on-campus parking. Even though she had gotten her license earlier in the school year, suitable parking was not available near the school grounds. At least, nothing she considered safe for her beautiful BMW. She could have walked to the nearest protected parking facility and driven from there, but that would have taken her longer than just walking to the dojang from school. And, she didn't have to pay for parking.

Of course, that didn't solve her current 'Tad Problem.' Since their school administrators had put Tad on notice about pulling his crap on campus, the expediency of driving from the school parking lot would have avoided that annoyance. Maybe today, they'd get out and get gone before Tad could get in position to make another scene. And if not? She'd just have to keep ignoring him.

"Hey, girlfriend," Valerie called from down the hall, interrupting Christie's ruminations. "Ready to go show those boys how it's done? I feel like sparring today; how about you?"

"Oh, I think there's a couple of green belts who'd like to . . . uhm. . . spar and, shall we say, improve their mat technique? Hmmm?" Christie teased. Val had been cutting quite the swath through the dojang's teenage male students lately. Her work with Christie and her own successful blue belt test had done wonders for the girl's confidence and self-image. Last summer, Valerie had been reticent about getting down and dirty with the guys; now, she was eager to advance her skills in that aspect of the art. And since guys were usually bigger and stronger than she was, they were now her preferred opponents.

"Oh no! I've got my eye on our newly advanced red belt, Dan Murdock! That lad is going to buy me dinner when I beat him!"

"Does he know that, Val?"

"Probably not, but I won't break my hold and let him go until he yields dinner!" Valerie replied, giggling. That Daniel had six inches and fifty pounds on her never entered Val's mind. That sweet, shy lad was going to hers, and THAT was all there was to it!

The girls' light-hearted mood lasted about fifteen steps past the school property line. Tad Green, wearing a rival martial arts studio t-shirt, stepped out directly in front of the two girls, forcing them to come to an abrupt stop. "Ignore him," Christie ordered herself under her breath. "Come on, Val, we need to get to practice."

Christie and Valerie moved to step around the taller, heavier boy. Tad countered immediately, stepping back in front to block Christie. "No, McKellar, you need to stop and listen to me. I've had it with you and all the snide little whispers behind my back. Your damned mother turned her lawyer friends loose on my old man - some shit about 'a long and documented history of antisocial and inappropriate behavior,' so he's taken away my freakin' car! Old Man Kim has been bitching to the sensei at my new dojo and now I have to listen to and pretend I give a shit about that Eastern philosophical discipline bull again. Donnie Colt is out talking me down on the streets and threatening to kick my ass. And you! You and your bleached blonde buddy over there have impugned my honor and cost me even MORE cred. So, I've decided you're gonna damn well stop! Or else. Wanna know HOW you're gonna make all that happen, bitch??"

"Don't respond to him," Christie thought furiously, "Don't give him any opening! It will only get worse!"

Tad had maneuvered her up against the school fence. She had no way around him on her side of the walkway. Enough was enough. "Tad. Get. Out. Of. The. Way." She ordered softly, biting off each word. Tad only smiled nastily and shook his head.

"You aren't going anywhere until I say you can, McKellar. I've decided you're going to be my dance date tomorrow. You will go out of your way to be really polite and respectful to me! In front of everyone you two have been lying to about me. I want everyone there to see you answering to ME. After that, you're going to tell all your minions to stop their shit about me! I HAVE HAD IT!!"

The two girls outnumbered Tad, but that didn't mean anything in the tight confines of their current encounter. If they tried to fight, someone would get hurt, probably severely, which was simply unacceptable. It violated the code to which the students of her dojang adhered.

Christie saw only one way out of this that avoided violence. Stepping back from Tad, she deliberately moved into an obviously defensive stance and stared Tad down. A few moments later, she took another half step, moving closer to Valerie over on the roadside of the sidewalk. Her eyes still locked on Tad, Christie centered herself. She let her body go completely motionless, totally focusing on Tad and the threat he presented.

Tad recognised the danger Christie posed, but he just couldn't believe she would actually fight with him. This wasn't the dojang. There weren't rules out here on the street; no wimp-assed referee or pussy teacher to yell 'Kalyeo!' and save her sorry ass from his righteous ass-kicking. And dammit, she was just a girl! Sure, she was reasonably skilled, but so was he! Besides, HE was a guy! A solid and powerful guy!

But she had beaten him the last time they'd sparred at Kim's. Their standoff seemed to go on and on; for long - painfully long moments, and still she didn't break, didn't try to run away. She simply and calmly regarded him, almost smiling at him. Tad began to feel antsy; if this went south, he couldn't be the one to throw the first move. Even if the cops didn't get involved, he'd never live that down once it got out! And dammit, it would get out! No matter what he said, these bitches had cred with the other kids, and he didn't.

Without thought, Tad blinked, shifting his weight back ever so slightly. Christie immediately reacted to that minute retreat and exploded into action. "VAL, RUN! Head for the DOJANG!" She yelled, even as she dropped to her hands and tried to sweep Tad's forward leg out from under him. Then, without stopping the momentum of her leg, Christie spun in place and came up running into the road along the sidewalk, hot on Valerie's heels towards the safety of the Kim dojang.

Unfortunately for Christie, her move had only thrown Tad momentarily off-balance. It had not been enough to put Tad on the ground. He was up and running after her in mere seconds, and he was taller and faster than she was. He was also beyond enraged and irrational. "YOU BITCH!!" he screamed as he gave chase, fists clenched. "I am SO GOING TO FUCK YOU UP!"

Tad caught her before they'd gone an entire city block. He slammed Christie hard in the back, leading with his chest and wrapping his arms around her throat. Using his hold to spin them both one hundred eighty degrees, Tad tightened his hold as he turned.

Valerie had heard Christie's involuntary scream as she was hit and turned to see what had happened. She instantly recognized the hold Tad was cinching up on Christie. Sa Bum Nim had been teaching the girls some of the tenets of Jiu-Jitsu after their regular dojang classes on Saturdays. A jiu-jitsu rear-naked choke was more a sleeper hold than a chokehold. Rather than cutting off the victim's airway, the grip interfered with arterial blood flow to the brain. The human brain goes to sleep after five to ten seconds without oxygenated blood; longer than that, the brain might not wake up. Valerie raced to Christie's aid at a dead run, her mind frantically looking for her best hope counter, and came up blank. Tad was too big and too strong for her taekwondo techniques to work reliably. At the last second, she went 'full girl,' leaping onto his back and reaching around to rake his eyes with her nails.

Screaming in pain, Tad released his hold on Christie and drove his elbow into his attacker's torso. His strike caught Valerie hard on her ribs, cracking several and causing her to start to slide down off him. Tad followed the elbow strike with a back-fist. He might have intended that punch as another body blow. However, since Val was already falling, Tad's fist connected full force at her temple. Valerie collapsed, bonelessly, to the pavement without a sound.

With the pressure on her neck released, Christie immediately retaliated, driving a back elbow of her own into Tad's ribs just below his armpit. Breaking entirely free of Tad's hold, she lashed out with a back kick to Tad's knee, putting every iota of strength and focus she had into that strike. Tad's knee hyper-extended and then broke under the force of her kick, bending almost ninety degrees in the wrong direction beneath Christie's foot.

Spinning into a defensive stance facing her attacker, Christie took in the scene before her. Tad was on the ground, writhing and screaming, with his lower leg hanging loosely from his decimated knee joint. Valerie was lying in a heap where she fell. Her head was already showing severe bruising in the vicinity of her temple. Grabbing her phone in her left hand, Christie speed-dialed the police emergency number while she reached her right hand out to her friend's injury.

"911 Police Emergency, what is your emergency," a calm female voice asked authoritatively.

Christie took a quick breath, gathered her thoughts, and reported. "My friend and I were attacked on School Avenue, two blocks east of Dolley Madison High School. I need two ambulances and the police. My friend was struck in the head by our assailant. She is unconscious and nonresponsive."

"Police and emergency medical services are rolling, one and three minutes out from your location, respectively. Are you injured, and are you still in danger from the assailant?"

"I'm pretty bruised and banged up, but otherwise, I think I'm okay. The assailant is no longer a threat. He is currently down on the pavement, writhing in agony. The second requested ambulance is for his sorry ass."

"Acknowledged, scene. Stay on the line until Police and Rescue are on scene."

Christie didn't even reply; she simply speed-dialed the dojang. "Kim Young-Soo's Karate, how may I help you?"

Recognizing the 'middle Kim,' Christie almost sobbed in relief. "Master Kim, it's Christie. I need to speak to Grandfather! It's vital! Please!"

"Yes, Jeja, he's right here. Just a moment."

"Christie, what is it?" asked the calm voice of Papa Kim.

"Grandfather, Valerie and I were attacked by Tad Green while going to the dojang. I think Tad caught Valerie with a back fist to her temple area. Papa, my powers. . . I can feel . . . something bad in there, in her head, I mean. I put every bit of healing power I can muster into her, but I think all I'm doing is slowing down the damage. I'm just not strong enough for something like this. Please, call my Mom, and maybe she can do more."

"Where are you, Jeja?"

"Oh, sorry. About three blocks from the dojang, heading away from the high school on Dolley Madison Avenue."

"My son is calling your Mother. I'll be with you in a few minutes."

"Okay, . . . umm, thanks? Oh, I hear the sirens now. The police and the ambulances are coming. I did manage to call 911, but I suspect I'm in trouble there. I, uh, kinda hung up on the operator to call you after she told me to stay on the line."

Paramedics were moving Valerie onto a wheeled gurney when Grandfather arrived a few moments later. Two other paramedics examined Tad's leg and communicated with someone on a cell phone. A police officer was doing his best to calm a very emotional Christie McKellar. As he strode towards them, he saw the darkening shadow of bruising beginning around his student's throat. Clearing his throat to get their attention, Christie spun to see him and then leaped into his arms.

"Calm down, Jeja," Grandfather gently ordered. "Let me get a look at your neck. It's bruising. Rear-naked choke?"

Christie stepped back and let Papa Kim examine her. "He didn't quite get it locked on. I don't think he had his arms positioned correctly because I was still fairly clear-headed when he released me."

"Yes, the bruising pattern indicates he didn't have it applied correctly. Still, had he the time to adjust his hold even slightly, you'd have been in a bad way." Taking her hand in his, Grandfather turned to the officer. "My student may need medical help. I will take her to the emergency room."

The officer clearly did not like that plan. "We can have one of the EMTs check her here. If she's all right, she needs to wait for the on-scene detectives to make her statement."

Papa Kim gave a slightly enigmatic smile and gently reached out a hand to rest on the officer's shoulder. "She needs to be checked by a physician at the hospital."

The officer's formerly stern face went momentarily slack before snapping back alert. "She needs to be checked by a physician. At the hospital." Christie's eyes went wide when the officer suddenly caved to Grandfather's argument.

"You need me to drive her to the hospital," Papa Kim continued in the same soft tone. "Her Mother will meet us there, and Christie can give her statement to the detectives with her guardian present. She's a minor and can't be questioned without a representative."

"I need you to drive her to the hospital," the police officer directed. "Besides, she's underaged, and the law requires a parent or guardian to be present when minors are questioned by detectives."

The pair walked back to Grandfather's car without another word and got in.

"That was amazing. I couldn't feel what you did, Papa, but I saw the policeman's reaction to it."

"I did nothing, Jeja," he replied, his eyes twinkling. "He told us to go to the hospital."

"Right," Christie drawled. "Oh, you so did do something! I just don't know quite what. I know! You Jedi Mind-Tricked him, didn't you, Obi-Wan Kim-nobe?"

"Really, Christie? Kim-nobe?" Shaking his head ruefully, Grandfather pulled out into traffic.
"Besides, you aren't the droid they're looking for."

The silly exchange drew some of the tension out of the young girl. She put her head back on the headrest, closed her eyes and tried to relax. The post-fight or flight adrenaline crash was hitting her, too.

~-~

Amanda rushed into the curtained treatment area, where her child rested on the bed. "Mom!" Christie yelled as her Mother laid her hands on her arm. Christie felt the soothing warmth of her Mom's healing power flowing into her from the link between them.

"Thank God, there's nothing serious," Amanda breathed as she released her grip. "You're going to be sore, and I don't think swallowing will be pleasant for a while, but I cannot sense any sign of more serious physical damage."

"That confirms what the nurses told us," Grandfather Kim said from behind Amanda, where he'd been sitting. "Christie was examined by the ER triage team when we arrived at the hospital and then was quickly moved to this location to await a fuller doctor's examination. While her apparent injuries to and around her throat region were of concern, they did not appear immediately life-threatening, so the current priorities were Valerie and Tad."

"Mom!" Christie hissed out in a semi-whisper, "Val took a severe blow to the head, right on her temple! I could feel the damage, you know, with my gifts, but I wasn't strong enough to help her! I think I managed to slow down the damage, but that's all, and I'm not even sure of that. You have to HELP her! Please!"

Amanda pressed a hand to her forehead, closing her eyes as she focused her other senses. She could 'feel' Valerie's presence a couple of cubicles over. Amanda also sensed the frenzied thoughts of at least four other minds working frantically in the girl's immediate vicinity.

"There are too many people in there with her right now," she told her daughter sadly. "And you know I have to be able to lay hands on a subject to focus my limited healing abilities. I can't get close enough to her."

"Let Papa Kim help! He can use his mind whammy so you can get to her. Mom, she's my best friend. You have to save her! Please!"

"Darling, I don't think . . ."

"Amanda," Papa Kim interrupted gently, "I might be able to assist you in this. I have some skill in using qi, or perhaps as others call it, chi. Those medical professionals are entirely focused on young Valerie. I should be able to fog their peripheral senses so that we will not register on their conscious minds. Then you will be able to slip inside with her and do your laying of hands. The doctors will be momentarily focused elsewhere."

Looking at the elderly man in shock, Amanda momentarily sputtered and then blurted out, "What did you say? 'Fog their senses?' What are you? The second coming of Lamont Cranston? You mean can really do that??" At Grandfather's smiling nod, Amanda just stood - wanting to help her daughter's friend but not quite believing such a thing was possible. Finally, she shook herself and straightened her shoulders. "Oh, what the hell. The worst that will happen is they'll call Security and throw us out of the hospital. Okay, Papa, how do we do this?"

~-~

Grandfather Kim and Amanda were back in Christie's cubicle about ten minutes later. "That was just amazing. You know I'm a sorceress, and I might have been able to handle one or two of them covertly, but you did five! And they never stopped what they were doing. They just never 'saw' us."

"I am afraid that the Shadow's trademark laugh is beyond me, and there was certainly no evil in the hearts of those working on Valerie, so we will just leave it at that."

"Were you able to help her?" Christie demanded.

Amanda sighed and took her daughter's hand in hers. "I was able to stop the further spread of damage and stop the bleeding in her head. I was not able to repair what had already been damaged. Doing what I did wiped me out. I'm tapped magically, at least as far as more healing goes. She shouldn't get worse, but I don't know enough about brain injuries to know if she can heal herself. I can visit her when my power recovers and try to do more, but . . ."

"But, what, Momma?"

"I just don't know, dear. I'm okay with bones, muscles and blood vessels. That's how I stopped the bleeding from putting more pressure on Valerie's brain. I've never been very good with nerve-related injuries and diseases. I can 'sense' how those are supposed to 'fit' together and, for the most part, effect repairs on them. I don't know if I'm powerful enough to do that with something as complicated and interconnected as brain tissue."

"So, where does that leave us?"

"First, we need to hear what the doctors say about what they can and can't do. Then, we will see. Maybe another or a more powerful healer will be needed. Until we know what needs to be done, all we can do is help keep her from getting worse."

"Oh."

~-~