Brionn
by Alpesco


Brionn

I  worked for Mr Fromann then. I still work for him now. He owns 
the warehouses on the inlet, and a lot of the land along the 
shore. He runs a lot of things in these parts, and I was lucky 
to get a job in his stores.

That day Fromann saw these kids on the shore just by the main 
warehouse jetty. There were three of them, just messing around 
at the waters edge. As usual, the boss went mad, screaming and 
shouting at them to get off his land. They took no notice, so he 
ordered Al and me to go down the steps to move them off. He came 
down behind.

As we got closer, I could see the kids were teenagers, a dark-
haired boy around fifteen-sixteen, a blonde girl around the same 
age, and a younger girl, about 13. The older girl was the 
tallest, about five feet eleven, and two inches taller than the 
boy. I'd guess they weighed about the same, for she was quite 
slim-built in cut-off jeans and a tight halter top.

Al rushed ahead of me. He was like that, always wanting to be in 
the lead.

'Didn't you hear the man?' he roared, waving his arms like 
semaphores. 'Get out of here!' 

'We always come here.' the boy anwered. 'We camp here every 
summer.'

'This is all my property now.' Fromann said, behind me. 'Leave, 
before I have my people throw you off!'

'You can't do that.' the younger girl said.

'You want to try us?' Al gave her a shove.

'Hannah!' the older girl rushed towards her.

The boy turned to give push Al away. But Al quickly grabbed him 
and began to haul him, struggling, toward the main gate. I 
looked at Mr Fromann, thinking he would order Al to lay off. But 
instead he marched toward the taller girl and caught her by both 
wrists.

'You too.' he said. 'This is private property and you're 
trespassing..'

'Get your hands OFF me!' the girl roared. And it was a roar. She 
was really angry as she turned to stare Fromann in the eye. They 
were both about the same height, though Fromann was far heavier. 
There would clearly be no contest if she tried to resist.

But she did try to resist, and with startling success. She 
braced her arms out wide in front of her, and although Fomann 
had an iron grip on both her wrists, he seemed to be struggling 
to control her. Her long arms remained exactly where they were. 
The more he tried to bend them backward, the more those two long 
arms resisted him. I saw Fromann's arms begin to tremble with 
the effort as he strained to prevail against this teenage girl. 
His face was going red, and still he couldn't move those long 
arms a fraction of an inch. I could see the sinuous ropes of 
muscle coiling along the girl's arms as she resisted, and all 
the time she stared him down as I'd never dared look the boss in 
the face.

'Not so clever with someone your own size, are you?' the girl 
said. And at once her arms actually began to press forward! 
Slowly, but very surely she was pushing the larger man's thick 
arms back. Fromann was sweating heavily now, grunting with the 
effort as he tried to hold his arms in place against the young 
girl's astonishing power. But she was unrelenting, her long arms 
incredibly strong as they literally forced his down and back 
against his body.

'Way to go, Brionn!' the boy shouted behind us, still securely 
held by Al, who gave him a heavy crack with the side of his hand 
to keep him quiet.

By now Brionn had the boss completely humiliated, his own arms 
wrapped up behind his back. Now, linking her arms behind his 
back, she squeezed, then lifted, hoisting the 200 pound man a 
foot off the ground in her amazingly strong grip. I stood 
transfixed as this schoolkid held Mr Fromann in a virtual bear-
hug, his arms pinned to his sides, his legs dangling impotently. 
His face was even redder now as those strong arms began to 
tighten their grip. I didn't think she would be able to squeeze 
any harder, certainly not to cause him any pain. She looked so 
thin, so light. But her arms were surprisingly muscular. I could 
see it now as they squeezed and tightened. They were digging 
deep into Fromann's flesh like a fat man's belt, and he was 
beginning to gasp for breath.

'Tell your thug to let Richard go!' she ordered. 'Now!'

'No,' Fromann started to say, but the word turned into a grunt 
of pain as the girl's arms applied another powerful constriction 
that seemed to crush all the air out of him.

I marvelled at this girl's prodigious strength as she stood firm 
beneath his weight on her long, well-muscled legs, seemingly 
without tiring.

'Why are you  just standing there?' Suddenly Al was beside me, 
having left the boy laying on the ground. He grabbed hold of 
Brionn's shoulder and gave her a cuff across the side of the 
head.

This did the trick, she dropped the boss, who fell to his knees, 
gasping for breath. Then came the big surprise. She turned and 
shot four lightning-fast jabs straight into the security man's 
face. It happened so fast, he could do nothing to protect 
himself. The blows were almost a blur, but suddenly Al was 
reeling backward, a red trail of blood streaming down his face.

He tried to shoot out a punch of his own, but Brionn just 
stepped back out of range, then sent a powerful kick lancing up 
into his chest. The solid impact echoed through his chest as he 
was thrown reeling back. Then tall teenager stepped forward once 
more to throw in six really big punches. 

I saw it but I didn't believe it. The punches were shocking in 
their power. Each of them slammed in to her victim with the 
gathered force of her long, sinuously-muscled body:  legs, torso 
and shoulders uniting in a focussed build-up of  motion to 
generate astonishing power. Each of her punches did appalling 
damage. Six deep grunts of pain echoed across the inlet as the 
blows struck home. Al staggered further backward with each 
punch, blood pouring from a smashed nose and a broken cheekbone, 
his left collarbone twisted out of shape. How could she hit so 
hard?

'Go Brionn!' I heard Hannah's voice cheering the older girl on 
as she dealt out her punishing blows.

Leaving Al dazed and bleeding, Brionn halted her onslaught 
briefly, and turned back to face the boss. Now she unleashed 
five more massive punches, each every bit as heavy as the first. 
They ploughed into his face and body with brutal power. The 
girl's strength was awesome. Fromann was simply taken apart in 
the space of a few seconds. He stumbled a dozen steps backward 
and fell on his ass, his face bruised and misshapen.

Trying to halt her attack, I threw my arms about her arms and 
waist. But even after what I'd just seen, she was so much 
stronger than I expected. I just couldn't force her to the 
ground. It took all my strength to hold her for a few moments. 
Then my foot exploded with pain as her heel crashed down into 
it. My grip loosened slightly and her arms were free.

Before I knew what was happening, one of her arms had coiled 
around my knee, and I suddenly found myself jerked upward, high 
off the ground. I found it almost impossible to take in that 
this girl was lifting me, picking up a two hundred pound man in 
those long strong arms of hers. All of a sudden I was being held 
on my side nearly six feet above the ground, cradled like a baby 
by a girl who could have been my daughter.

'Oh shit!' I cried as I realised what was about to happen.  I 
felt my head tipping downward, then my body followed, head 
first, to crash heavily to the ground on my back. Dazed and 
winded, I heard the sound of four more heavy punches striking 
home above me. For an instant I thought Al or Fromann had struck 
back at this amazing girl. But each blow was accompanied by Al's 
increasingly deep grunts of pain. Brionn was doing the hitting, 
simply finishing off her earlier work. A moment later I felt her 
arms wrap themselves round me again. Surely she hadn't enough 
strength left to...?

'Nooo.' I gasped loudly as she lifted me again, this time in one 
clean movement to shoulder height.

'You've earned this..' the girl's voice was resolute as she 
slammed my body down once more, this time right on top of 
Fromann. I'd like to say Fromann broke my fall, but it still 
hurt like hell. As I looked up I saw this gangly girl with 
barely shoulder-length blonde hair step backward to admire her 
work. Fromann and I were a tangled mess. Al was bent double by 
the pier, dazed and throwing up his guts.

'Are you both okay?' Brionn called across to Hannah and the boy.

'I am now,' said Hannah. 'That was amazing.'

'I've seen you fight before,' said the boy. 'I know you're 
strong. But three grown men! You totalled them. That was 
amazing!'

'It isn't over yet,' said Brionn, turning back to us. 'Get up 
all three of you. I want to know why you wanted rid of us so 
bad.'

'Do you think I'm showing you anything?' Fromann said, rising to 
his feet, with me beside him.

'I really don't think you want me to hit you again,' Brionn said 
matter of factly. 'You're all going to do exactly what I tell 
you to do. I'm trained in Karate, Taekwando, and a couple of 
other skills. In your present state I could put all three of you 
in hospital without breaking sweat.'

'Is that so?' Al had recovered enough to attack her from behind. 
Me and Fromann joined in. It was a disaster. She'd been 
expecting it all along. Her high side kick struck Al in the 
windpipe, sending him back into the stepway, gasping for air. 
Fromann and I took her punches. They came so fast - and they 
were so hard. We were already dazed and slowed down. We were 
just sitting ducks for her to have target practice on. And she 
practiced good.

Those huge punches came slamming in to both of us. Head and body 
shots, each going exactly where she wanted it to, each landing 
with frightening power. I can honestly say I've never hurt so 
much in all my life - even the car crash in 83 doesn't come 
close. Two, four, eight, twelve punches  poured into the two of 
us, and they just kept getting harder and harder. I felt bones 
crack in my side, in my face, and I could do nothing to protect 
myself. I couldn't even see our attacker now for my bloodied, 
swollen eyes. The barrage stopped for an instant as she turned 
to attend to Al. I heard five more huge blows land, followed by 
a long moan of pain. Then she turned back to us.

'Please, no more!' I heard Mr Fromann's voice beside me. 'We'll 
do anything you say.'

'Oh?' Her voice sounded surprisingly calm, even gentle. 'Let's 
see, shall we? Take us up to your office, and we'll look round.'

'Won't they attack us again?' I heard Hannah's voice.

'No, little sis, not any more,' said Brionn. 'They'll be as meek 
as lambs now.'

'That was brutal!' said the boy. 'You're just so powerful.'

'And there's still some more left in the tank,' she said.  
'These guys have done me a favor. I just love to hit harder and 
harder and harder till I reach my max. These guys were no 
trouble at all once I'd slowed them down a bit. Then they were 
just taking more and more damage while I got stronger and 
stronger.'

I don't know if she said that just to goad or frighten us, but 
we didn't respond. Al wasn't able to anyhow, since his jaw was 
shattered in two places. Once upstairs in the office, the kids 
went through all our books and papers while we sat watching. 
Brionn asked Fromann to open the safe, and he just got up and 
passed her the key. I've never been given the key to the safe, 
but she got it just like that.


'Found anything, Rich?' she asked.

'There seem to be a lot of deliveries.'

'Of what?' she asked. 'Where is it? I don't see anything stored 
here.'

'It's gone,' the boss said. 'To my customers.'

'I don't buy that, Mr Fromann.;' Brionn wiped a wisp of hair 
away from her face. 'This place is too empty. Now you can tell 
us the easy way, or....I'm feeling good and rested now. I might 
try to go for a record punch..'

'Yeah!' said the boy.

'Oh no.' Fromann shook his head quickly. 'It's up at my place in 
the hills.'

'Then that's where we're going.'

Brionn had our arms tied and we were led to Fromann's big 
Mercedes, The three of us were bundled in the back seat and 
locked in. The kids sat in front. 

'Can you drive this thing?' the boy asked.

She simply turned the ignition and pulled us out of the parking 
space. It took her twenty minutes to drive to Fromann's place. 
The goods were in the cellar, piled up high in plastic wrapping.

'What are they?' the younger girl asked.

'Designer labels.' Brionn said. 'Counterfeits.'

'So?' said Fromann. 'And what can you do about that?'

'You're going to burn them,' the girl said.

'How? There's too many.'

'You'll get it done inside a week. You can do it in the yard. 
We'll watch to see it's done right.'

'Do we have to burn them all?' the boy asked.

'Of course,' she said. turning back to us. 'These are my rules. 
None of you are to leave the house until its done. I'll screen 
all phone calls, and we'll stay here instead of camping out. 
We'll do any shopping that's needed. The three of you will sleep 
in separate rooms, and you'll be locked in at night. You're not 
to talk to each other out of my hearing, and you'll do 
everything you're told by any of us, at once and without 
question, right?'

Fromann and I nodded. Al, newly untied, was barely able to 
stand. He had taken the worst punishment of the three of us and 
looked completely out of it. Again I marvelled at how this 15 
year old was capable of doing that to a grown man. She looked at 
him, cupping his shattered face in both hands. He flinched back.

'It's all right,' she said. 'I'm not going to hit you any more 
unless you try something stupid. That jaw's going to need 
wiring. I'll let you go to hospital if you promise not to tell 
anyone what happened here.'

He nodded.

'What if he's lying?' said Richard. 

'Then he and his boss take the rap for these goods. I don't 
think he'd like that. I don't think he'd like that at all.'

Without warning a large man came through the door and made a 
lunge for her. It was a clumsy move, too clumsy to faze Brionn 
at least. She caught his near arm with her left, and wrapped her 
right tight around his neck. Then she stretched slowly backward, 
arching her back to raise him to his toes, supported by her 
tight neck-hold. Straightening to tip-toe she lifted the 
intruder right off his feet, suspended by that one strong arm, 
which was bound tight around his neck. He choked and struggled 
as she held him there but quickly fell silent to hang limply 
from her arm. All the while I could not tear my eyes away from 
the play of dancing muscles on her midriff as she held him 
there. Only after several moments did she release her grip and 
let him slump, senseless to the floor.

'Who's that?' she asked mildly.

'Logan, my security man.'

'He's not very good at his job, but he can help you with your 
work when Al's gone.'

Logan came round a few minutes later. At first he was a little 
loth to accept Brionn's authority. We watched as she showed him 
what was what. Logan was only five feet eight, and the girl's 
height and reach meant she could stand her ground and hit him 
with jab after debilitating jab before he could get within 
striking range. After that, a few of her really big punches left 
him a shattered shadow of himself, sprawled across the concrete 
store room floor.

After that, no one was in any doubt of who the boss was. Brionn 
was absolute ruler of the house. We did what she said, when she 
said so. For five days the three of us worked, spending our 
nights locked in our separate rooms, unable even to talk to one 
another. Even when Brionn or the other kids couldn't see us, we 
didn't dare to disobey orders. Brionn might find out, and all of 
us feared to feel her shattering punches again. It was strange 
to realise that I was frightened of what this girl could do to 
me if she chose. She didn't shout, she didn't threaten, we just 
knew we had to do as she said. If she said to do something 
again, we did it again. If her darn kiddie friends said to do 
something, we did it.

Once everything was burned, they left. I don't know what became 
of them. All I know is that Mr Fromann decided to move business 
headquarters to the big city shortly afterward, and we never saw 
any of them again.