Rafferty tugged on the handle of her sword, but her opponent stepped forward too quickly, and delivered a hard kick to her chest. The blow sent Rafferty rolling. She stopped herself and looked up just in time to greet another kick, this one connecting with her shoulder and glancing off the side of her face.

She braced for another blow that didn't come, as the new girl instead reached down as if to grasp Rafferty with her hands. Rafferty planted her right hand for leverage, and lashed out hard with her left, taking her attacker out at the knee.

You really should have nailed me with a knee or an elbow, and established a dominant position. Oh well. Live and learn.

Rafferty sprang backwards, trying to create some distance. The strange girl was already on her feet and rushing forward. When they collided, Rafferty was peppered with blows, inefficient but painful, that forced her to back up.

She got her hands up to block enough of them to stay on her feet, and when a wild swing missed in front of her face, Rafferty grabbed the girl's arm, turned, and flipped her to the ground.

Rafferty thought she had learned some things in the last few moments.

First of all, getting hit by this girl hurt. Even the punches Rafferty blocked were heavy. Every stupid, wild flail felt like being struck by a Hunter using activated gear.

Second, even touching the girl hurt. The skin on Rafferty's hands where she'd grabbed her felt weird, like warm beetles were crawling just beneath the surface. That was disturbing, and problematic in a fight of any length.

Third, she didn't think the girl actually knew how to fight.

Gus always said that the two things the Engineers couldn't make for them were focus and patience, but that both of those would be as important in a fight as any weapon they could build.

This girl had loads of the former, but none of the latter. Patience wasn't exactly Rafferty's strong suit, but she thought she had just enough to win this fight.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Rafferty stepped back, and shook out her arm. Her bracelets glowed Blue.

All right Calamity, or whatever your stupid name is, let's do this. My guts are right here for the spreading.

Calamity came charging forward again. Rafferty's ears were still ringing, but she was pretty sure that Calamity was screaming. Her mouth was wide open, anyway.

Rafferty waited. Patiently. Then she shifted, just a bit, to her left and landed a solid right hand square to Calamity's face. It was a well landed blow, nearly perfect. Rafferty thought it would've ended a lot of fights in the Box, maybe even against an opponent like Brianna or Foster.

Calamity sank to one knee, but was already rising quickly.

Balls.

Rafferty landed a kick to the knee, and then unleashed an uppercut, swinging as hard as she could. It connected under Calamity's chin, and put her on her butt, sliding away from Rafferty.

She was unsurprised when the Blue-fueled girl started to get up almost immediately, even though it should have been impossible. Her right hand was really starting to burn now. Rafferty's sword, sitting on her hip, practically called out to her. All of her instincts told her to draw her weapon.

Rafferty didn't know who this girl was, didn't know what had been done to her to make her like this, and didn't know if any of that was her problem.

She didn't have time to make a decision, because Calamity was here again. Calamity swung wildly with her left arm, and smacked Rafferty's right shoulder. That hurt, and Rafferty knew she'd struggle to lift her arm above shoulder level for at least the next few minutes.

Calamity kept moving forward, clawing with her left arm. She wasn't using her right arm. It was hanging there at her side. Rafferty hadn't touched it in the last exchange. It was like it had just stopped working.

Rafferty backed up, weaving away from most of the blows, but even the slightest of touches caused pain. Finally she had enough distance to land a kick to Calamity's ribs. Rafferty followed it with a hard left elbow, unblocked by Calamity's useless right arm, that put the strange girl on the ground again.

Rafferty's shoulder felt heavy, and her right hand burned. After that last elbow strike, that joint was starting to feel weird too, and that would limit her range of motion and reaction time.

Calamity climbed to her feet again.

"She can do this all day, Sparkles. She's built for this," she heard Alex call out.

So am I.

Rafferty drew her sword, still not sure if she was planning to use it, or just hoping to scare her adversary.

"Perfect," she thought she heard someone say softly.

Something hit Rafferty in the side of the neck. She tried to turn her head, but her body didn't seem to work. If felt like something had cut all of her strings.

Rafferty sank to her knees as things started to get fuzzy.