Down With the Struggle

Dinah paused, and then let out a hearty laugh. "Put away the knuckles, she says," She chuckled. "You think I can't still do damage with these?" She held up her bare fist.

"Emily, love, are you alright?"

Emily nodded, and wiped more tears off of her face. "She punched me, and he came after me with a bloody stungun," she said pitifully, like a child tattling to her mother.

"Is'at so..." Dinah was unsmiling again as her eyes swept over Clyde and Duffy. "I'm here for my niece. And if you see Sarah Watson, you tell her I'd like to have a little chat."

By her tone, it was obvious that she did not intend to have much of a conversation with her sister-in-law. The enemy of their enemy might have been their friend, but it was hard to tell which of the British women would pose the greater threat to them.

There was still fear in Emily's reddened eyes, but when she looked at Clyde and Bonnie, there was something else there too. They had taken away her idol. They had pushed her and forced her to do insane things, and now... She didn't know what to think of her aunt Sarah anymore, but she knew that she hated the Gastins with every ounce of her.

"Come now, Emily," Dinah commanded, and turned for the door.

Clyde patted Bonnie down while Mercy talked, she groaned, tossing her head side to side. Clyde pawed under the ref-shirt and spotted a bright red mark where she had been tazed, just in time to hear Emily, the little girl who had been apologizing, lie about the attack!

Clyde lifted up his head quickly towards Emily and Dinah, his mouth hung open. "T-Thats a damn lie! You the one who-!" Argued the drunken Cowboy as he glared at Emily, while the stun gun lay at his sister's feet, exactly where Clyde had fallen after the punch.

"...E-Emily..." Bonnie groaned through the horrid pain in her side from the floor, reaching out for the girl with weak swipes of her hand.

"...You suck..." Growled her brother. Bonnie had already been through enough.

'Damn lying bitch... Mercy thought as she heard Emily baldly lie to her aunt's face. Her fists squeezed tightly and she bored a hole into the back of Dinah's head.

Her eyes cast down at Emily and they burned. She tried to communicate to the red head everything in her mind. Mercy might have been terrified of Dinah but the paralegal held authority over Emily CLarkson.

Mercy was tired of being bullied and manipulated by every person! That was HER job! However, as she opened her mouth to speak, it was Duffy who filled the room with a howl.

"You an yer lyin, piece a shite kin!" She barked and lunged at Dinah, trying to spear her in the back from behind. She wasn't cowardly. She would have come at Dinah if she was facing them if she had the knuckles, hell, if she had had a gun. She just couldn't hold back her anger any longer and charged the brutish woman.

Dinah started to turn when Duffy shouted, and then the Scot crashed into her ribs, making the bigger woman stumble. She grunted and grit her teeth and prepared to demolish the annoying little bitch, but it was Emily who made the first move.

Out of nowhere, the redhead lunged in and threw a high roundhouse kick that caught the back of Duffy's head with her shin, an impressively clean kick from such an inexperienced girl. Dinah didn't waste the opportunity, and she grabbed Duffy's hair, turned and threw her to the floor. She put a knee on her chest and viciously hammered her fist into Duffy's face, rattling off several crushing punches in just a couple seconds.

Then she stood up, grabbed Emily, and shoved her out the door. "Go get your girl cleaned up," she said to the rest. "And if any of you follow me, I'll put you in the fuckin' ground."

She turned and strode out of the room.

"D-DUFF!!" Clyde yelled to the Scot before Emily of all people managed to catch Duffy in the back of the head, stunning her and allowing Dinah to brutally beat down on his sister's lover. Bonnie stirred while Clyde looked on in horror and anger. He didn't give his actions a second thought. The drunk cowboy shakily stood up right as Emily was shoved out the door.

"JUST TRY IT!" Clyde spat in a fury, stumbling on the ground as he grabbed the Taser and tried to jab it into Dinah's body.

Mercy was faster than she usually was. Her heart had been racing for as long as Dinah had been in the room and she was already hurrying towards Duffy after Dinah pulled away when she saw Clyde do something incredibly stupid.

She lifted up her hand and spiked the taser out of his hand when he brought it up and skidded in front of him. She raised her finger and forced it against his lips and looked at him sternly. Her free hand shot out and snapped past him and pointed at Duffy who had her face buried in her hands and was cursing up a storm into her palms while she writhed on the ground.

How many stupid people would try and assault this maniac before they realized it was a bad idea? Mercy was pretty sure that Dinah could eat a taser shot considering what it took to bring her down the LAST time she saw the woman. Either way, if she went down or not, Clyde's angry yelling would tip her off to his plan and he'd STILL probably get punched to death.

That would leave her and the other psychopath to fight it out until one side recovered another member and she was pretty sure it'd be Dinah before it was any one of the people that had HER back.

Clyde wanted Emily, he didn't care if she was scared or sorry this time. She, her stupid, arrogant aunt and now her other stupid Aunt were hurting his family! He didn't want to fail them a second time today. But his drunkenness caught up with him as Mercy Wrenn managed to out maneuver the high-flyer and slap the taser out of his sloppy grip before.

"MER-Mh!" Mercy silenced the boy, who nearly fell over from the 'push' of Mercy's finger pressing against his lips. But behind Mercy he remained, while his fists shook watching Dinah, the one Allison spoke so 'highly' of and that little twerp Emily. That little twerp that they used and publicly embarrassed.

"GIRL! Ya besht... Ooooh!" Clyde yelled to  Mercy for her interference before he stopped, turned around to hide his eyes while hr ran his fingers through his hair, feeling stupid and useless for failing his family yet again.

"E....Emilyyyy!!" Bonnie bellowed  as she forced herself up slightly, clutching her side as tears ran down her face. Emily had been a jerk during their first meeting but Bonnie now knew what she had done to her. And she felt like a total dick, who couldn't argue with this karma.

She tried to get on her knees and crawl over to Duffy, putting her hand on the girl's face. "B-Babe..." She muttered, trying to check her.

Mercy held her position until she was certain Dinah was long gone. She then leaned against the wall and slid down partially, heavily and looking back at Duffy.

"Is ... she ok?"

Duffy felt Bonnie's touch and brushed it away. he rolled onto her hands and knees, and let her nose drip blood on the carpet. Her fingers dug into it as well and she cursed and spat and mewled angrily.

"I... guess so?" Mercy said. if she was still able to curse, she'd probably be ok. Once she felt Duffy was going to be alright, she furrowed her brow at Clyde. "I hope you weren't calling me girl, Mr. Gastin." She said tersely. "I can't... believe you just did that!" She said. "No... I CAN believe it that's the problem..." She started to rub her temples. "I don't even care..." She muttered to herself. "Bonnie, what are you going to do now? I'm sorry but... if Dinah Clarkson is involved, I think you should consider dropping all of this business. Allison

Bonnie was sullen as Duffy brushed her hand away and got up on her own, frowning woundedly at the sight of her lover's blood dripping from her nose. She felt dumb for trusting Emily but wanted to reach out to her. She felt so weak today, failing against Allison and failing to help her Family against Dinah and Emily.

Clyde had his face buried against a wall as Mercy grilled him. He felt stupid. Stupid horny drunk who couldn't hold onto a relationship to save his life. Wasn't good enough for one. His ex was here and he was only going to make shit worse, he told himself. Why was she even pissed anyway? Probably because he was stupid. Either way, he wanted out of the room.

Bonnie sat on her knees and sighed tiredly. Everything Mercy was saying was shit she didn't want to hear. "I don't know if I gotta a choice in the matter. Emily is a problem I created, I'm just reaping what I sowed." She said so vacantly, bearing the responsibly like a heavy burden.

"Her hands were... Like bricks..." He muttered while rubbing his face, dragging his feet over towards the fallen tazer that Mercy had smacked out of his hands.

"Is she?"

Mercy said, crossing her arms under her chest. "She's a child. She ran off to Japan before she was even legal age to do anything. It seems to me like she really has no clue how to handle her life. Everyone in her world is just telling her what she shouldn't do. How would YOU react if that was your life?" She bit her lip. Now wasn't the time for scolding and she definitely wasn't trying to take Emily's side.

Duffy sat up and sat on the couch. She was still holding her nose but she shook her head. "That's shite!" She barked. "lil piece a shite should get 'er arse kicked in! ALL of em should!" She said, glowering at Mercy.

Mercy sighed. "I'm... sorry. Now's not the time for a lecture, I know... but... " Mercy stopped and looked at Clyde. "Clyde. Leave it alone and come here." Though her words were commanding, her tone was soft.