To say that Val and Fynn were at a severe disadvantage was an understatement. Bri and Celedon outclassed them heavily even one-on-one, let alone together. It was clear that their mentors fully expected to grind Val and Fynn down to a crushing, inevitable defeat. For her part, Val was under no impression that she could win; however, her stubbornness didn’t allow her to go down without a fight. She and Fynn hadn’t even landed a blow against their opponents, but she planned to change that shortly.
As much as the deck was stacked against her, Val did have a few things going for her. Celedon had sparred with her for months on end during her Scout rotation and was certainly aware of Noir’s tendencies, but he didn’t know exactly what sort of subroutines Val had access to now. And since she hadn’t landed a blow yet, she ironically still had the element of surprise. Additionally, while she hadn’t marked Celedon or Bri, Val had marked Fynn in their previous spar. Her nano would wear off in several more minutes, but currently she could acutely feel his position behind her as he was battered around by Bri. And finally: Celedon hadn’t specified that they must stay in their one-on-one matchups.
Sheathing her knife to free up her left hand, Val focused intently on Fynn’s position as he rocketed towards her. He was using the momentum from Bri’s latest kick to propel himself across the pit at high speed. At the last moment, Val pushed a burst of nano through her legs and took an explosive step forward towards Celedon. The speed differential was still large as Fynn hurtled past her, but she managed to grab his extended hand. They clasped wrists tightly as Val was yanked violently forward. Her exosuit whined as it absorbed the strain, although Val still gritted her teeth as her shoulder threatened to dislocate. Thankfully the joint held and was enveloped in a soothing sensation as a small pulse of nano flooded the area to repair the microtears in her ligaments.
With a burst of nano-boosted strength, Fynn picked Val up and tossed her over his shoulder as he continued charging forward. With a grunt, Val pushed herself up to look back towards Bri.
Val: In my mind, this was much less awkward. I remember this thing working much better in the past.
Fynn: You mean when we were kids running around the streets of the inner city? Hate to break it to you, but you’ve gotten a lot bigger since then.
Val: You can’t just go around calling girls heavy, Fynn. What would Yessa say if she heard you treating your best friend that way?
Fynn: That’s not what I — you know what, never mind. Just shut up and cover our backs.
Val: With pleasure.
Fynn had bought them some space from Bri with his unexpected disengagement, but the veteran Defect had closed the gap quickly. Bri’s eyes widened slightly as Val raised herself up and leveled her pistol at the approaching figure. Unlike Celedon, Bri was well aware of Val’s techniques, and conversely Val knew how far she could push her more dangerous subroutines without causing serious damage to Bri. Val fired a single unenhanced bullet at Bri’s face, which the woman easily deflected with the back of her hand. Unperturbed, Val tracked down and fired a trio of bullets into Bri’s chest. This time, Bri sidestepped the tight grouping of rounds, but this was exactly what Val was waiting for.
Noir, gimme a 10% disruption here.
Done.
A veritable flood of power surged through her traces before dumping into the chambered bullet in her pistol. Val winced as her core shuddered at the sudden exodus of energy, but her hand remained rock-steady as she sighted her target. With the light pull of the finger, the imbued bullet leapt forward and slammed into Bri’s knee just as the woman prepared to leap forward. The expression on Bri’s face remained impassive, but her leg crumpled as the flow of nano through the limb was sent into disarray by Val’s attack. The move had only bought a second or two of time as Bri was already recovering, but that would hopefully be enough. Val was just turning her attention back to Celedon when Fynn’s voice cut through her mind.
Fynn: Brace!
Fynn dug his feet into the earth, sliding another three feet before coming to a stop. Val felt the nano rush into his shield as it inflated from a small kite shield into a massive tower shield. Another burst of energy allowed Fynn to slam the bottom of the shield straight into the dirt floor of the pit, embedding the last six inches into the ground. Val dropped down off Fynn’s shoulder and hunkered down behind the shield just as the blast of air slammed into them.
Val’s ears popped as the pressure around them spiked as the nearly solid wall of compressed air was deflected by Fynn’s shield. Through the nano still infiltrating his system, Val could feel Fynn fight to keep them grounded and protected from the hurricane-force winds. With nothing to do until the attack dissipated, she monitored Fynn’s nano and was impressed to see the precise control he employed to balance the incredible forces exerted across the massive shield.
Seems like I’m not the only one who has improved over the last few weeks.
Indeed. I admit to being pleasantly surprised with his control over his body enhancement and nano construct subroutines. A standard combination, but certainly not one to underestimate, especially with the good foundation he’s showing.
Well, I’m not surprised. His mother is one of the best unarmed combat Guardians in the city, and she’s been training Fynn from a young age. His traces skewed a little bit more towards nano constructs than his mom’s pure body enhancement, but those lessons are still useful regardless.
Hmm. Oh, look alive – looks like you’ll have your chance here shortly.
Val turned her attention outwards as the intensity of the winds blowing past Fynn’s shield started lessening, downgrading from a hurricane to a moderate tropical storm. As Noir mentioned, she knew they wouldn’t get a much better chance than this. Celedon was just too skilled and powerful to leave large gaps between his attacks. They would have to make their move in this small lull before Celedon’s next wall of air struck them or Bri could catch them from behind.
Fynn was apparently of the same mind as Val. Without a single thought exchanged over their link, they burst into movement simultaneously. Fynn yanked his shield free from the packed dirt and pivoted forward, letting the backside of the shield catch the waning breeze. He leapt downwind as the combination of his own nano-empowered legs and impromptu sail carried him across the fighting pit quickly. He finished his half-turn and slammed his feet into the ground, collapsing his shield back into the kite form and bringing it up just in time to deflect Bri’s fist as it came crashing into him. The force of the blow immediately forced him to back-pedal.
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Fynn: Could use a hand here.
Val: One sec.
She hadn’t been sitting idle while Fynn was repositioning and drawing attention. In the last moments before they split, Val had charged her next round with the final subroutine she hadn’t used today yet. The armor-piercing subroutine was designed to blow through nano-infused metal, but it would also help cut through the whirlwind of air surrounding Celedon. She grinned as she watched the bullet blast through Celedon’s defenses, catching the man in the shoulder. The impact barely did any damage against the man’s advanced exosuit, but the flicker of surprise on his face was satisfying to see.
“As tricky as ever, I see,” Celedon said as he fixed his emerald green eyes on Val.
“I learned from the best,” retorted Val as she started backing away from the Scout Guildmaster.
“Aww, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me.”
“Oh, I don’t,” replied Val. Her eyes stayed fixed on Celedon’s face, but her mind was counting each foot that he hovered forward. “But you see, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some pretty unique individuals recently. Most of them are pretty straightforward, but one of them… well, he’s a devious bastard.”
A frown marred Celedon’s face. “One of the Defects? Not sure I know who you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure you do. It’s hard to forget him, he’s got quite an… explosive personality.”
Celedon’s eyes widened and flicked downwards just as he levitated over the spot where Val and Fynn had hunkered down. Which just so happened to be where Val had left her own little surprise. She didn’t have Wallon’s skill, but she’d spent a few hours each day adapting his schematics into her own nano disruption grenades. She hadn’t had much time to test them, but there was nothing like live demos under pressure. With a thought, she detonated the disruption grenade before Celedon could dodge further away.
A wave of material exploded out from the ground, coating everything within 5 feet of the grenade in her nano. Most of it landed harmlessly on the ground, but some of it landed on Celedon as well. He desperately slammed a wall of air down to try and contain the cloud of nano, but Val’s nano was specifically programmed to counter opposing nano. The wind died upon contact with the grenade’s payload, the slight breeze dispersing some of the cloud but not preventing Celedon’s exosuit from being covered in a light dusting.
Even in trace concentrations, the effect of her disruption nano was undeniably effective. The wind currents around Celedon sputtered out, causing him to drop to the ground. He took one unsteady step before recovering his balance, looking at Val in shock. His expression was mirrored on her face, but unlike Celedon, she had been ready for this exact moment.
She emptied the rest of her pistol’s ammo into his chest. None of the bullets were enhanced in any way, but Celedon didn’t know that. With a burst of power, Celedon pushed a heavy dose of nano through his traces and into his exosuit. His armor blazed with energy, overriding Val’s nano with sheer brute force. Air shifted with tremendous speed, leaving behind low pressure zones that collapsed with a pop. He brought his defenses to bear just in time to catch the salvo of bullets, but Val was already moving on to go help Fynn.
The now-empty pistol slotted back into the holster on her exosuit, Val dropped Noir’s signature weapons from her vambraces before connecting them together and extending the spear form. It was still the version of the weapon that she was the least familiar with, but it gave her the range she needed as she stepped up behind Fynn. For his part, Fynn continued to bravely fulfill his part as Bri’s punching bag. He had given up on maintaining his sword, using his newly freed hand to support his shield arm. The extra support just barely let him keep deflecting Bri’s punches, but he managed to stand his ground as Val ran up behind him.
Val: Any chance you can immobilize her for a moment?
Fynn didn’t respond over the channel, but gave an affirmative grunt as he took another blow from Bri. Or at least, I’m choosing to interpret that as affirmative. Val set her feet behind Fynn and prepared to stab forward with the spear as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
Not sure that is the most likely interpretation.
Shush. I have faith in Fynn. Now get ready to help me. I don’t think I have the timing down on this swap yet.
You definitely don’t. Fine. But this is going on your training regiment later.
Val didn’t have any time left to respond as Fynn suddenly leaned into the next blow. A flicker of surprise registered on Bri’s face as her fist blew through Fynn’s shield unexpectedly as the nano construct purposefully collapsed. His hands clamped down onto Bri’s arm as he tried to pull her off-balance. It wouldn’t last, but it was exactly what Val was waiting for.
She leapt forward, nano whirring on the tip of her spear as she plunged the tip of the weapon through Bri’s armor into her shoulder. She felt her nano start to move in complicated patterns as Noir took over and they issues a sequence of tightly bundled commands.
The spear split apart, leaving the spearhead-now-turned needle embedded in Bri’s body. A pulse of nano disruption emanated out from the needle as Val’s hand slid to the handle of the smaller weapon. Val gritted her teeth as the pressure on her core escalated as she fought against Bri’s absurdly resistant nano. Finally, she let the effort drop as the second haft of the spear morphed back into a needle that she slammed down towards Bri’s chest. Nano whirled around the tip as another piercing subroutine engaged, the quick switch between techniques stressing her nanosystem as the different flows of nano crashed through her traces.
Time seemed to slow as Val’s hand descended. Fynn had thrown his full weight onto Bri’s right arm, leaving himself fully exposed and trusting Val to make the most of the opportunity. With the targeted disruption, Bri’s other arm moved sluggishly.
We can actually do this.
The last thing Val noticed before time snapped back to full speed was the flash in Bri’s eyes and the widening of her grin.
Oh shit. Noir!
I know, but we’re already pushing the limits of your nanosystem. Brace for it, this is going to hurt.
The high-pitched keening around her upraised needle died as Noir rerouted power from that subroutine into the body enhancement subroutines in the armor. Fynn stiffened up as silence dominated, realizing something was wrong when Val’s blow didn’t land.
A powerful surge of nano coursed through Bri’s body, completely replenishing the strength to her left arm. Stuck in midair, Val had no chance to dodge as Bri’s fist caught her in the ribcage. Val’s momentum reversed abruptly as she was thrown back into the air ten feet. Fynn’s body slammed into her just as she reached the apex of her flight, having been thrown like a bag of rice instead of the heavily armored human he was.
A sudden burst of wind arrested their horizontal speed before blasting them straight into the ground. Thankfully for Val, Fynn landed first and broke the hard crust of the dirt arena, but his armor didn’t provide the softest cushioning either. Groaning, she watched Celedon hover into view with a smug smile on his face.
“Nice try, but leaving your backs exposed is never a good idea.”
The air whipped around Celedon, clearly back under his control after Val’s improvised knockout grenade. Val groaned again and rolled off of Fynn, who was embedded a solid three inches into the ground. He dissolved the extra layer of nano around his armor, freeing him from the ground but he made no effort to move yet.
The sound of heavy footsteps came closer until finally a pair of boots came into view. Val craned her head upwards to see Bri’s smiling face looking back down at her. Letting her head drop onto the ground, Val looked over towards Fynn and made eye contact. She could see he knew the same thing she did.
“Looks like we’ve got a long way to go.”