CM: Iron Empress

Madonna splashed water all over her face and rubbed her aching knuckles wrapped in bandages after enduring another heavy fist fight. And it was not just her knuckles, her body was aching too, covered in nasty bruises. Let's hope the 5’9 brawler doesn't have to go up against another opponent well over six feet.

“Man that fighter was no woman, she was a giant! She towered me by almost three heads!” Madonna crowned.

Hey, at least you survived for that $2k Donna.

The youthful blonde grabbed the rest of her items out of her locker for band aids and lotion to soothe her aches and bruises to patch them up. After her things were packed, she headed towards the ringleader’s office for her prize money.

Mr. Falcone looked up from his desk to see his favorite client.

“Hey good work out there hun! Here's your 2Gs for tonight. Still can't believe you beat Big Em, she could've pummeled you in one blow if she had the chance.”

“Thanks Mr. Falcone. I'll be back here in few days for the tournament.”

“Bye kid, be prepared. The competition’s gonna be fierce.”

***

Madonna inhaled a huge gust of the nightly, moist air to ease her throbbing head and numb herself from the pain. One glance at the sky indicating morning was nearby. Holding on tightly to her bag, she began her long journey home like she did every few nights for the last eight months.

C’mon Madonna, let's get home before Dad finds out and kills me… again.

***

Mr. Summers was already up to a very early morning after getting very little sleep, re-reading yesterday's paper and looking at his bills, one or two overdue as. The middle-aged man couldn't bear looking at the envelopes anymore and dropped his head, wallowing in his stress. Every since his wife disappeared a few years earlier, Mr. Summers almost could no longer function without her and just went mad with grief over the coming fact that she may be dead. He then lost his job at a high paying law firm and tried desperately to find work to support his two daughters.

Well sort of.

He heard the front door open and knew immediately who it was.

“Madonna.”

“Hey… Dad.”

“Come here.”

Madonna gulped, holding on to her jacket tightly as she put down her bags on the couch and walking to her father.

“So Dad… uh, you're still up?”

“The same can be said for you. Where were you this time? Was it that fight arena again?”

“What? Dad, come on. Not this again. Is everything cool?”

“‘Cool’ is an understatement. These bills are piling up yet again.”

Madonna flinched at the comment, knowing that her family was in the tightest of situations every since her mother disappeared, who was actually the family breadwinner. “You're behind again?”

“Yes.” Mr. Summers murmured hotly, seeing that his daughter was trying to change the subject of wanting to know why Madonna was out late again.

“But really Madonna, we have to talk about your… night job. It's getting out of hand. I can't stand you coming home with bruises and half asleep. It needs to stop! I hear stories about those underground fight clubs, I don't want you get yourself hurt or worst. We already lost your mother and we don't even have any idea what happened to her.”

“Dad! Come on! Do you not realize how bad our financial situation is right now?! This been going on for almost a year now! I mean look,” the girl said while taking out a huge wad of cash, “This is two thousand. And what about you? You're still looking for the classification section of the newspaper.”

Mr. Summers wasn't impressed in the least while he looked at the bundle of little green paper. “I seen those before.”

That sentence struck Madonna, “Wait, what? You been in my room?”

The blonde man sighed again before continuing, “I didn't bother you about it at first, and I did make a habit of taking a fraction of it for groceries and some payments but since I've been noticing you coming home late at night, I just knew  something was up and I would like to know what’d you been doing. What kind of late night job allows you to bring home a few thousand?!”

“Dad, I understand that you're worried about my well-being and all, but are you at least a bit grateful that I'm bringing home almost a third in what Mom used to make? Does that matter to you?”

“I'm not even sure on how to feel about it anymore, but if you were doing honest work--like working at a grocery store, I would be happy. But I'm not stupid, no shop around here pays a hefty salary like that!”

“Alright, what's upsetting you about this job, Dad? What?”

“One: you're not setting a very good example for your sister.”

Madonna felt like she was talking with some moron, “But does she know that? I don't think she even cares at this moment!”

“No, you're right. But she'll start to care pretty soon if you keep hiding your flesh wounds from her. Then she'll start wondering.”

Madonna couldn't argue any more. Her father was right. But what other choice did she had? A job at a grocery store was not going to help pay the mountains of overdue bills. In all honesty, Madonna couldn't understand why her father was glad that they weren't begging in the streets or suffering at a crappy homeless shelter.

“Daddy? Is Madonna home?” answered a small voice coming from the hallway.

“Agnes! Go back to bed dear. Your sister just got home not too long ago.”

The tired child ran to give her sister a hug before going back to bed.

Mr. Summers breathed heavily before standing up and rubbing his temples.

“Madonna, I'm asking you for the last time, don't go to any more fights. Please. Think about your sister. She has a school play in two weeks and she’s begging me to make you come and watch her.”

“But Dad…”

“But what?!”

Madonna shuddered at her father's growing anger. “There's a tournament around that same date….”

Mr. Summers felt his eye twitch. “Madonna, I forbid you from going to that tournament. I rather live on the streets than having you not come to Agnes’s school and instead get yourself killed. Are you really going to put money over your family like this?”

“I'm only trying to help the family.” Tears began to wilt in her eyes as Madonna pleaded.

“Madonna, just go! If you can't be settled with what you have now, don't bother coming back.”

So that was it. Madonna trudged to her room to salvage the rest of her belongings and money and walked out.

There was no way the girl was going to see her family struggle. Why did it had to be like this? Why couldn't her father that he just drove out the only source of income just because he was about safety? It wasn't fair. Some people work in dangerous conditions everyday to bring bread on the table. The thought of it all just made Madonna wished she had left a lot earlier….

Madonna started weeping as she ran out into the streets while rain began pouring.

***

After days of grueling training for the tournament, Madonna was able to get in and bested everyone to get the $50k prize money. And yes, it was the hardest thing she ever done and that deserved a long rest of relaxation and many family remedies to restore full health. She managed to rent a small apartment instead of returning home.

However it was as if time between leaving home and training went by in a breeze as if she was forgetting something very important….

Madonna tried to shake the feeling off by turning the television on. She switched the channels until something urgent was flashing on the news. A mass shooting happened at the local elementary school…. Madonna was outright horrified.

No, no, NO! The play! This can't be at Agnes's school! No, no, no, no!

The blonde girl scrambled for her smartphone and tried to contact her dad. No answer.

No, no, no, no! Madonna practically ran out of her apartment and headed to the school.

***

There Weeks later

The young woman was sitting in front of two tombstones marking the names of her father and younger sister.

The girl now lost everything. First it was her mother and she had lost hope of any possibility of her being alive, and now it was her sister and father who were both gone.

She collapses to her knees, screaming in anguish. It was all her fault, she should've stayed at home that day and be with her family like her father wanted, but no. Her selfishness and disillusioned need to provide for the family was the ultimate source of her loneliness now. The people who were attending the funeral were just family and a few friends. They offered the orphaned girl if she needed a home to stay but Madonna declined as she already had her apartment.

A terrorist attack happened at her sister's school, and out of all things it happened while a play was going on. The attackers broke into the school, busting into the first place which was the auditorium where the play was performing. Nearly everyone inside was killed--parents, students, teachers. Madonna almost threw up when she read the report. It was a full-on massacre and judging from the severity, it almost seemed like the attackers were after a specific group of persons. And it wasn't over, the terrorists were still at large. Either way her family was gone.

***

Madonna almost never walked out in public for a long time, a little over a year in fact, her grieving eventually shifted into depression. She no longer participated in the underground fight ring after telling the ring leader and surprisingly he understood, seeing how traumatized her current circumstances were. So Mr. Falcone let her go, seeing it was for the best.

The girl was able to keep her fight money and stored it somewhere safe and eventually getting a job to pay rent instead. After settling in the girl decided to do something fun to take her mind off things. Unfortunately she hadn't keep up with her friends after the funeral, but judging from getting rare access on Facebook, she could tell that she missed out on one year of activity. Most of her friends went to college, local or out of state, and one friend even got married. She missed so much on her social life as well, she even didn't get hang out with them as much before she joined the fighting ring.

***

Madonna was drinking some tea and eating a few rolls at the mall cafe, casually listening into the ambience of the mall, something she didn't thought she'd loved to hear in a long time. It felt good being a normal girl afte struggling for a long time, it almost made her shed a tear in comfort. Donna took a deep breath and leaned back in her chair.

Suddenly cries of panic broke into the mall ambience as gunshots blasted off. Madonna cringed and hid under the table, hoping to not be spotted. She peeked up to see what was happening and saw a group of men in ragged militant attire, holding guns, bayonets, and a few bladed weapons.

She overheard one man who must be the leader, “Men, I don't care what it takes if we have to invade every public place, but there's another member of the targeted family who needs to be dead and we have to find her. Soon.”

It was confirmed once hearing the horrible truth, they were looking for her. They were the ones who raided her sister's school and almost wiped out everyone….

Anger quickly rose in Madonna as she never thought in a million years that she would be in the same room with her family’s murderers.

SHIT! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE FAST!

The blonde girl prepared herself for an escape, she watched the mercenaries carefully, eyeing their positions of whether they were too close at where she was hiding or far enough away. Finding the right opportunity, Madonna sprinted from under the table and headed for the nearest door.

Madonna covered her head as she desperately ran.

“Hey! There's someone trying to run! Shoot her!” A gunman shouted.

A bullet grazed near Madonna as she narrowly jumped to the right and barrel- rolled before getting on her feet. Another bullet shot at her arm, causing her to scream.

The thuggish militants closed in on to check up on the victim, holding their weapons out.

“Please! Don't hurt me!” Madonna winced and cried.

The men stared at her carefully, pondering if this was their last target. One of the mercenaries pulled out a photograph and passed it around to his colleagues before showing to Madonna, “Hey, is this you, love?”

The blonde girl gasped at her own photo. It was her in at a party with a few friends, her face was circled in red.

“Where'd you get this? Who are you people? What do you want with me?”

“We were sent to kill your family and you.”

“WHAT?! My family did nothing wrong! What did we do to have bounty on our heads?!”

“We don't know, all we know is that we are supposed to kill you and your folks.”

One thug smirked, “There's no point in running missy. Now just turn around and we can kill you quietly.”

Madonna screamed and broke through the crowd who automatically fired more bullets at her while she continued to run until…

Something trickled on the back of her neck, it was blood. A bullet hit near her neck just below the skull. Madonna collapsed to the floor, writhing in pain.

The men circled her, preparing to finish the girl off. “Your family didn’t even put a pinky of a fight! The old man ran towards us with a chair after we shot the little twerp.”

Madonna felt hot tears dripping on her face and shivered. Sadness and despair began to cloud her mind, knowing these were her final moments of being alive. Her heart beating like a fast-pace drum, dreading each passing second to her oncoming death.

Suddenly her hair turned white and her body surged with power. The killers stepped back in confusion as what was happening. An instant miracle was in the making as Madonna’s wounds were healing! Her physique turned slightly muscular as power was surging through her. Letting out a yell of releasing energy, the blast knocked the men several feet away and some ended up fleeing, knowing instantly that they failed their mission.

Madonna slowly rose, feeling this newly power letting loose within her she didn't existed, but that didn't matter. Those monsters killed the rest of her family and they were going to pay for their misdeeds. The girl sprinted towards the mercenaries at full force and destroyed them with her bare hands with a few energy blasts and a few breakings.

The blonde girl stood in front the dead mercenaries, astonished that she actually killed someone, with new powers she didn't know she had.

“Dear God! I did this? Wow... I-I didn't know I had these powers… I don't understand…. Is that why they were after me? Then... why did they had to kill my family too?”

Madonna had so many life-changing questions that swirled into her head like a whirlwind. How did she get her powers? Did her family know this? Was her mother deceased because of it? 

Nothing made sense…. And it was all too confusing. What was Madonna supposed to with her powers now? 

But that didn't mattered now…. All that matter was the coming deaths of remaining murderers who killed her family. And also begin to look for answers on she really is.

Madonna bellowed as power build up within once again and she began to fly out of the mall (another ability she didn't know she had), beginning her quest to hunt down the remaining killers and avenge her family as the Iron Empress.