【ｍｉｓｓ ｔｈｅ ｍａｒｋ】| Crosshair x OC (BOOK 1 of the CHANGING WAVES series)

08 | Mindgames

"Please," Rylann begged, dropping her saber to her side. "I want to at least try."

"Your demise," Crosshair added smugly, chewing at his toothpick before tossing it at Rylann's head. She flinched, shooting a glare at the clone.

"I think it'd be wise to add Crosshair last if at all," Tech stated, pulling his goggles onto his head. "And before you say it, yes, I know you say I will recede my hairline, but I do not care." And he continued to rub his eyes. Rylann wondered what was bothering his eyes so much.

Wrecker drew his blaster with an eager look in his eyes. "Is it time yet?" he asked, letting out a maniacal laugh. "I'm ready to get blasting—" He paused, embarrassment washing over his face. "I mean, with the training ammo, and I don't want to hurt you, Lanny."

Rylann smiled. "I know you don't, bud," she said, pausing as she ignited her saber, washing the room with green light. "Too bad none will hurt me anyway."

Tech stood up, taking out his two blasters from their sheafs, spinning them a couple of times. "You sound so sure of yourself, Rylann, but there is only a 13% of you winning this battle."

Rylann smirked. She had taken on Tech, Wrecker, and Hunter before, though all separately. "This will be fun."

She closed her eyes, holding her saber out in front of her. Taking a deep breath, she tried to anticipate Tech and Wrecker's next move.

Wrecker was easy. She could practically hear his thoughts. I'm going to shoot her, she felt him think, before she easily dodged the blaster bolt coming her way.

Tech was harder to read. She had to flip, dodge, and block a lot more with him. But, he had a pattern which was easy to grasp after she kept at it. She felt pretty good at the moment. She force-leaped over Wrecker, using him as a human shield while Tech adjusted.

Suddenly, there was a shift in the atmosphere which made her eyes fly open. She spun around to block a bolt that Hunter shot as he came onto the training circle. He looked her dead in the eye. "This is a real battle, stop dodging and disarm," he stated quickly as he drew his vibro-blade as well.

Ry's pulse quickened. This was unexpected.

Jumping back up, she landed on top of Wrecker, taking the high ground before using the force to grab one of Tech's blasters from his hand. She used the force to flip behind Tech, shooting Wrecker in the chest. She tried to shoot Tech while deflecting his and Hunter's shots with her right hand. Shooting left-handed was not ideal.

Tech shot his grappling rope around Rylann's feet, knocking her to the ground, air leaving her body from the impact her back made with the floor. Tech picked up his fallen gun, pointing it at her. Inhaling sharply, she used the force to leap up, grabbing one of the ceiling beams to hold onto, which knocked Tech off his feet since he was still attached to the rope attached to her legs. She struggled to hold on with one arm, while blocking the shots with her saber. She cut the rope with her light sword, the rope landing on Tech's head.

As he struggled to get up, Ry closed her saber and jumped down onto his back, wrestling with him for the gun. He shrieked an unmanly sound, trying to grab at her on his back, stumbling around, but she was quick to heave her weight and throw him over her with the force. Crosshair, who was watching on the sidelines, only had to side-step to avoid his flying brother. She spun around, using the force to grab both of Tech's guns, shooting the crumpled Tech in the chest after a few missed shots. She'd have to get better at aiming.

Ry's hairs stood up on the back of her neck, but she didn't have enough time to dodge before she felt the painful training bolt slam into the back of her head. The force of the blast blew her forward, crumpling on top of Tech.