Rising Resistance (Mari & Jake)

In preparation for fight club Marilyn had her hair tied in a bun tightly and was clad in all black leggings and a tank top under her black cloak. Her hairdo exposed her back and shoulders and the scars were even more visible, but there were also new scars along her body and shoulders. She'd already wrapped her knuckles for the non magical round that always kicked off a meeting. But there was still a bit of time until she'd leave she pondered as she grabbed an apple.
And suddenly there'd been a knock. So she jogged over to the door taking a bite and opened it.
"Jake? Hello," She swallowed and beckoned him in, "What's up, what's happened?" There was no wasting time with Marilyn, she always assumed the worst simply to be prepared. She hadn't recieved an answer to her proposal, but perhaps that was why he was here. So she waited, head tilted and apple in hand, for an explanation.

Her stance relaxed when he told her to chill and she exhaled deeply. "Merlin, Jake, what was I supposed to think of you showing up out of the blue. I'm glad to see you though."

"Well, actually, I've made my decision on what we spoke about last time." Jake amended, shrugging off his jacket because Mari's flat was nice and warm. "I'll help you in whatever way you need me to. To hell with the consequences, lets save the kids, kick Black Widow ass." (...) "Where do we start?"

Marilyn's eyes widened a fraction before she narrowed them, "Jake... not that I don't agree with you on the 'Let's do this part' but this is quite a different attitude from last time. What brought on the change? I have to ask, Jake. Are you serious?" she looked wary but she was pleased if he was serious. And she'd know just where to start.

She listened to the entire explaation, the wariness leaving her otherwise neutral expression as she waited until he was done. Marilyn knew better than to press for details that she honestly didn't want to have. It was his life and had been his relationship. None of her business.
But she did do one thing that was very difficult for her to do, but she felt it was right. She put down her apple, stepped forward and gave him a proper hug, taking a deep breath to make sure she stayed okay while hugging him.

She didn't lose another word on the subject. Instead she grabbed his hand and looked him straight in the eye, "I know just where to start. Trust me." And with that she apparated them to a sidealley in Knockturn Alley. "Follow me and keep close." she pulled up her hood and swiftly walked down the streets leading to a shabby, vacant looking building.
She knocked on the door and an eye slot slid open. "He's with me." she said calmly.
Then the door opened and she motioned for Jake to follow her until finally they were in a large basement that had once been a storage facility. Then she turned to Jake and lowered her hood, "First, you need to train up. I come here once, sometimes twice a week. It's kind of therapy, as well." she ten gestured to some of the people, mostly wizards with a few witches amongst them, "Welcome to Fight Club. There are two rules. 1.Don't talk about Fight Club. 2.No Killing. If someone taps out then they're out. You'll be healed after every fight. There are three types of fights. No magic, magic only and mixed. Usually in that order. Nothing here is personal. There are no limits." she shed her cloak completely. "You'll need to train fighting, all kinds. You'll learn a lot here, I certainly did. Jake, are you okay with this?"

Marilyn raised an eyebrow, "Fine. Stick to the magic duells then. You'll never find a better way to prepare for a battle than here. The Widows will be aiming to kill and these people are grade A duellers here, you can really learn from them. You can leave, watch or duell. Just let me tell you one thing that I learned when I was trying to fight back when they took me off that train. They don't care if you don't like to fight. They're not gonna let us just walk out with the kids, Jake." her wrecked voice was hushed so the others, who were still talking and waiting for more arrivals, wouldn't hear. "Did you think we were gonna storm in and talk them into giving in?"
She looked back to see one guy stepping up, challenging the round, "Look, think here about it, really think. Don't let false holier-than-thou ideas cloud your judgement. I'm gonna take this fight. Don't think we're here for fun. Maybe they are but for me, and you if you want, this is training." Her eyes focused on him as she spoke before she turned and whipped out her wand, "Mixed Fight." Her opponent growled, and she nodded.

"Diffindo!" She slashed out, as they circled each other. He retaliated with a curse that felt like a kick in the gut. Remembering what she'd learned the last week she shot a hex at him that clouded his vision and jumped off a crate nearby, crushing his head from behind with her thighs and flipping him onto the ground, quickly jumping up and away as he tried to grab her legs and shooting spell after spell as he, somewhat dazed, regained most of his vision and hit her with a cutting hex, a long cut appearing where it hit her on the shoulder. So they continued, it wasn't a long fight and it definitly wasn't nearly the most brutal they'd had. But in the end she'd disarmed him and had her wand at his throat, signifying the end of the fight. And some other guy started hashing it out with his neighbor as she let herself be healed, the cuts not even leaving scars this time, though she did have a few bruises. Now to listen to Jake..

Marilyn watched closely as Jake began to fight, hand on wand out of habit. But she knew the rules, it was always one on one. As she watched she saw him become more into it. She didn't hold any expectations in the fight, especially since she knew he was more defense than offense. But with training she knew he could hold his own either way.
And then he was down, the fight was over and the next people started fighting.
She went to where he was carried and assisted in the healing, deciding to mend cuts and wounds before waking him up to spare him the sting. It took ten minutes and then she tapped his forehead gently with her wand, "Ennervate."

"Hey Jake...good fight. Really, he almost never loses, you did well for your first time. How ya feeling?" Marilyn asked, offering a hand to help him up if he wanted to stand. "I helped with the healing, but you might feel a bit sore."

"No more Hand to Hand, Okay. It's not the most important fighting style for you anyway. Stick to perfecting duelling if you want. Speaking of which." She handed him a bottle of water if he wanted to take a drink, watching the fight going on, it was a duell. She observed tactics, not seeing anything new to her yet.


"Want to take me on next round? Magic only or Mixed. Your pick." Marilyn saw the area clearing and stepped into it, wand out and waiting, "Come on, Jake. Show me what you've got. Don't be afraid to hurt me, Nothing's personal." her stance poised to move as soon as he agrees.

Marilyn blocked his stunner as she twisted away, flicking her wand out, a stinging hex flying out at him as she moved. This fight was interesting as both were extremely competant duellers, and while Marilyn was the better fighter, it wasn't always easy to land a blow in a mixed fight.
"Diffindo! Relacio!" She didn't expect him to be majorly effected by those, because of his level of experience, but they were still strong spells. Marilyn was glad she had a good grip on defensive magic, using her free hand for a wandless magic shield against most spells sent her way, recast everytime a spell came, concentrating harder than she had all evening, sweat beads gathering at her forehead.
Then she got an idea.
"Avis Oppugno!" she cast and a swarm of birds flew out of her wand, swarming Jake. In the confusion of the swarm she moved quickly, her eyes not once leaving him and she jumped in a kick to the head from the side, quickly rebounding back, landing in a judo roll, wand out in expectation.

"Thanks" She replied, still focusing completely on him. But then she couldn't. She dodged the paralysis spell with her shield, but in the fumes it was impossible to see, she was about to clear them when she felt a foot hit her legs and she was knocked to the floor landing on her butt (ouch that'd be a bruise), luckily hidden in the smoke. She heard his Gotcha and located his rough position by sound  and moved extremely silently, sneaking up behind him with a safe distance and her hand ready to shield, "Eviscerate, incarrcerous, Levicorpus, Obscuro!"She whispered. Eviscerate cleared the smoke as her second spell sent ropes shooting at his extremities. Levicorpus would dangle him in the air by an ankle.  Obscuro, if it hit, would blindfold Jake, giving her an advantage until he got rid of it.

All spells hit, to her pleasure and surprise. "Libracorpus, Finite Incantatum" The Blindfold disappeared and Jake was released from her hold. Marilyn held out a hand to help him up from the ground, "Come on. Enough for you for one night." For once she didn't need to be healed, mainly because Jake had seemed to refuse to hurt her. She gathered her cloak and pulled her hair out if its tie, letting it cover her shoulders again. When they stood outside she looked up at her friend, "Don't take this the wrong way,  I think you're better with making contacts, you're better with people than I am, and teaching some defense to other members and I'll focus on the aggressive fighting and teaching offensive spells. I'm glad you tried this. Maybe you even learned something," her tone turning teasing, "I really am glad you're in this with me. I don't think I could do it alone." with that she meant the resistence. But also her recovery. Her rehabilitation. "You should rest up, Newbury, Until the next time I see you, which I hope will be soon, try to get some people to join up. I'll do the same. "

She lifted the hood of her cloak so as to not attract attention in the Alley and looked back up at him.