-Kate Andersen-
"Things are moving way too fast!" I screamed as I was thrown into a concrete wall, the clumping smack echoing through the gym room. Had I been thrown to the mats I wouldn't be feeling the gush of blood from the back of my head. But the crimson pouring from my nose was a foregone conclusion after one too many knocks I hadn't seen coming.
My skull was thicker than I'd thought, and although it had taken a pounding, it didn't seem to do me too much damage as I slumped to the floor. Hand resting against the cut behind my ear that was already healing itself up. "If I were human still, that could've killed me!"
Swan looked at me coolly, barely a hair out of place of the French plait she'd weaved from the top of her head, neatly down her back. "But you're not human, and I'm not training you to stay on your feet against people who'll simply get you to the mat. I'm training you to stay alive against people who don't give a shit if they use brutal force or not. In fact they'll aim to kill you... It'll be intense from moment one."
"So you're making my training intense from moment one," I growled, holding my shoulder, which felt as if it had taken a pounding. It had. This was not the first time she'd sent me back into the wall. My skin was aching, the bruises deep purple, slowly disappearing. "This is insane!" I panted, wiping the blood away from my nose, onto my forearm.
"Get up, I don't have all day. I've got other responsibilities here you know." She had blood splattered across her skin, all of it was mine. I hadn't even got to the point where I'd made contact with her on my own accord, even when trying to block her. She was too fast.
So I pushed myself up, and moved forward on the mats. My face was quickly met with her foot as it swept up from the floor and took me down in a fluidic motion that made me dizzy. I hit the mat and refused to get up again, until she grabbed me by the back of my ponytail. I felt the sharp tug in my scalp, the spreading pain erupting all over my stretched skin. "I don't have time for you to treat this like a game. If you're going to be approved for any Unit at Trinity Science, you're going to have to be able to survive with or without your team. You cannot be a liability."
I cried, holding my hands to my head as she released. "Yes..." I sniffled, "but I'm new... I don't know the first thing about defending myself, I don't even want to be here. But you're treating me like I should already be able to take on a football team on my own!"
She crossed her arms, snapping "you want to die?"
I shook my head sullenly, about to explain I had time before Jake was even considering putting me up for active duty. Months most likely before I was an official Unit member. But she already knew that.
"Then catch my fist," just like that her fist was coming for my face again, so swift it was a blur, but I held my hands up and caught it. Using the momentum to push it back. I felt myself giggle out an exhausted breath of relief and achievement.
"I did it!" I grinned, as her leg swept low and took my feet out from beneath me. My back hit the mat, teeth jarring together.
"Distraction could be your final end, if you don't focus on the fight at hand instead of your little self gratification in the success of one caught fist." She hissed, rolling her eyes. But this time, she offered me her hand to get up. I took it shakily, warming static travelling between our palms and she pulled me to my feet, "I think we're done for today. Tomorrow, after breakfast, we resume." She sounded a little calmer now, less hateful as she went to pick up a couple towels at the edge of the mats. She threw one at me, that I used on the back of my neck where sweat had gathered and stuck the little baby strands of my hair irritably to my skin. She only needed to use it to get my blood off of her, it seemed.
The doors to the gym swung open and shut, Jake was there like an older sibling picking me up from school in a parents stead, like I was still a child. I didn't mind so much, it felt good to have someone I could compare to a family member who didn't want to keep me entrapped. But actually wanted to help.
"Why does training have to be so..." I wasn't allowed to finish as she held up her hand to stop me.
"Because I'd like for less people to die because of their own incompetence, or circumstances they couldn't possibly have expected. You included." She explained, dabbing down her lean arms.
"How did it go?" Jake looked between us hopefully as he reached us. Although it felt as if there was a barrier up, the kind that masked his vulnerability. Only it didn't make him seem aggressive like I'd seen last night in the van on the way here. Even with pent anger on his skin, it wasn't coming across in the way he carried himself.
I groaned, holding my spinning head. "Miss Swan just tried to decapitate me is all."
"If your head were on the ground I'd believe you." Jake chuckled a little, "although, that is a lot of blood for a first session of training Swan?" He gave her a sceptical glower.
She flicked a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes and glanced over towards the door. Completely unconcerned. "She needed it."
Jake sighed, "can I speak with you for a second, Swan?" His thumb pointed over his shoulder to indicate he wanted to be outside of my general earshot. I took the hint that she was resisting and moved away from them to stand over by the door. Staring off at the large gym, with sections for boxing, a beam, parallel bars and vault for those who favoured agility and balance, and two large blue matted sections of floor for training matches. There were two others present during our session, one had been using the bars to tone their upper body, doing chin ups at it. The other using the other matted floor section on the other side of the room to practice some martial arts, I had no idea what it was. Neither of them were anything like Natalia. She was just dizzying.
But despite the distance and the distractions, I could still hear.
"Natalia, I'm concerned for you," Jake had begun, although he didn't need to say it aloud, his tone conveyed the feeling quite strongly. "I understand you're being hard on her for personal reasons, as much as official reasons. But, you've not been entirely yourself this last week. So what is it?"
Natalia held a shaking hand up to her forehead, her eyes closing. "When I went to the morgue, to bring her back... Her body was gone." Her voice had cracked a little as she spoke.
"What?" Jake's whole body went stiff. "You mean... Amy?"
Natalia nodded her head, suddenly she seemed fragile standing there. "She had been there, I signed her in, I saw her body slide into her unit. But then... gone. No evidence towards who had taken her, not even in security footage. Everything covered up."
"What the hell..." Jake growled under his breath. "Are you completely certain..."
"Yes," Natalia hissed, tears slipping down her cheeks. "There are things going on here, Jake. And duty dictates blind eyes be turned."
"Hasn't that always been the way?" He snipped bitterly. Even from across the room, the pepper of his skin became heavy, filled with frustration and something close to hate.
Natalia had already wiped her face and pulled herself together with a shake of the head. "Duty and blindness." She agreed. "At the moment a missing body is less important than that serum you mentioned. It's possible if you solve one, you'll solve the other."
Jake fought to say the word as he was meeting resistance from his locked jaw, "Agreed."
I realised how far outside I was looking in to a mass of things I couldn't even begin to understand. Perhaps Swan was acknowledging how far my ability to fight was outside of what others, human others, had already accomplished. For some reason, she had applied such urgency to it. As if she could tell something was coming. I started to want to believe she was being harsh for some reason other than because she disliked me.
"When I told you to watch yourself before," Natalia paused, glancing up towards me cautiously to see if I were tuning in, and then back at him.
"I know." Jake nodded, "no more fallen friends." He went to move away when she caught him by the wrist, narrowed eyes driving in a stubborn point.
"Or Betrayers."
All his muscles stiffened, it looked as if gravity had increased on him. He slipped out of her grasp and we left into the hall.