The buzzer echoed throughout the entirety of the arena signaling the start of round one. Simmons shouldered the submachine gun she carried. “Come on baby girl, let’s show these boys how women catch their prey!” she pointed in the direction of the center thoroughfare. Morrigan grinned at the precedent her partner was setting. Moving at a steady pace moving around things you would find on a city street: cars, street posts, and so on. Morrigan covered left as they came up to their first left turn, Morrigan moved ahead to sweep around the corner.

She noticed Simmons kept looking up and saw that there were windows in the faux buildings. “Are these buildings hollow?” she questioned.

“Yeah, they’re actually relatively accurate representations of an urban city. Granted there is no way to commit collateral damage, but we train with as close to the real thing as possible.”

Morrigan stopped while aiming down the street, “we should take high ground. Dad always mentioned how important high ground can be,” she stated.

“Someone has been paying attention, your daddy would be proud,” Simmons stopped next to her. “See that building three doors down on the right? It’s connected to the next building across the street by a skywalk. Let’s make our way there and I’ll breach first.”

Morrigan nodded and followed close behind. They began to hear gunfire though the echo gave them no real direction of where it was coming from. “Four contacts on left skirt!” cracked over the comm in their helmets.

As they got to the door, Simmons braced herself to the left of the door as Morrigan took the right, continuing to scan the windows opposing them. “Do you remember what your dad said about following?” Simmons inquired.

Morrigan had to think for a second to bring forth her father’s lessons. “You stop before the first room and I touch your shoulder letting you know I'm in, then we start sweeping?” she said with a touch of uncertainty.

“Very good.” She could hear the smile in her voice. Simmons then stepped in front of the door and kicked the door in. Once Simmons was in, Morrigan swept down the street before entering and tapping her on the shoulder.

They swept each room on their sides calling ‘clear’ as they moved deeper into what seemed to be an office building. Simmons led them to the stairwell she was looking for. It turned out to be an enclosed staircase that went up three flights.

Simmons stopped as she entered the door and turned to Morrigan. “Do you know how to handle stairwells?” Morrigan simply shook her head. She did not like not knowing things, especially when her father went to such lengths teaching her these things.

“That's okay, how this goes is the person leading checks around every corner all the way up while the person bringing up the rear keeps tabs on the lower levels. Easy enough?” Simmons coached the girl. Morrigan nodded. “Good because you’re taking point.”

Surprised at the opportunity to prove herself, Morrigan aimed up each set of stairs as they made their way up. As they made it to the third floor, Morrigan planted herself on the far side of the door. Seeing as the door opened inwards, Simmons pulled the door open to let Morrigan sweep the connecting skywalk.

The pair moved forward hastily until Morrigan spotted out the skywalk windows four silhouetted figures down the street to their left. One held his gun above his head signaling he was out while the others traded shots from behind cover with her father and Johnson. “Wait hold up,” she called to her partner.

Simmons looked at the group, then to the weapon she chose. “How are you on your long shot?”

Morrigan began setting up a firing position using a potted plant as a mount. “Should be good enough, how far are they?”

Simmons pulled out a range finder, “about 150 feet, and we’re about 25 feet above.”

Morrigan did her best to recall ballistics and elevation but could not remember enough to bestow confidence, so she was just going to have to wing it. “Cover me,” she ordered.

Simmons knew Morrigan was trying to prove herself and could not help but feel proud of the young woman. Simmons set up behind cover to watch the end of the skywalk. She activated the comm, “Clarke. Johnson. You have supporting fire from yours truly on the right. Sending in five.” Simmons informed, giving Morrigan a second to finish setting up. “Send it girlie!”

Morrigan switched to semi-auto and released the breath she had been holding. As she squeezed the trigger, the rifle kicked into her shoulder as the concussive noise of her shot was damped by her helmet. She saw the bullet fall short by 15 or so feet but it was close enough to alert the enemy on the ground. She did not feel like she had the time to adjust her sights, so she aimed slightly higher and opened fire.

One of the recruits turned to the skywalk, locating the origin of the shots being taken. It was too late for him though. As he stood, he took two of the rubber rounds straight to the chest, knocking him on his ass. That earned a “ha!” out of Morrigan as she kept firing.

The other two in cover began retreating as Morrigan tried following them, “you're not getting away!” she exclaimed.

Simmons looked at the young Clarke and laughed, she was happy to see the girl having fun.

Distracted by Morrigan’s antics, she did not see the three recruits coming through the far door in time. “Shit!” she opened fire with her submachine gun.

Something hard impacted Morrigan’s ribs that knocked her off balance and onto her butt. She had been shot she realized. “God damn it!” she screamed, her temper flaring as the pain of the rubber bullet started setting in. As much as she wanted to retaliate, she knew the rules and raised her rifle in the air. Simmons spray of rubber bullets knocked two out of the game as the third took cover. Morrigan took the reprieve of gun fire and scooted her way to the door they entered. Once she felt she was at a safe distance she stood with the gun held high and made her way down the stair well.

She made her way back to the waiting area to find Taylor and Peters already there. Taylor seemed to be enjoying himself as he lounged back on a bench. Peter however, looked severely disappointed with his head hung held low.

She kicked a stool across the waiting area, drawing her team’s attention. Taylor immediate stood and walked over to her with his arms out. She took his gesture immediately and pouted as she leaned into his hug. “How did you guys get tagged?” she mumbled.

Peters chuckled solemnly, “four of the assholes ambushed us. Took one in the leg before your boy there nailed one square in the chest with a slug.” She smiled at that, at least Taylor got one as well. She winced as she brought her arms up to hug him.

He looked down in concern as she pulled away and touched around the affected area. She noticed him looking and said, “took mine to the ribs, they got the drop on Simmons who was covering me while I gave dad supporting fire…” she quit touching her ribs, of course she got hit in the one area there is no armor. Peters waved Taylor’s concern off.

“She’ll be fine, the bruise will suck but anything short of a 40 mm slug won’t do much damage… well unless you’re unlucky enough to catch a shotgun slug on a single rib. That’s unlikely though.” He stated.

That did not settle Taylor’s worry, though it did shift it into another reason though. He knew Morrigan tended to lose her temper when she got injured. He recalled a time about a year ago when some mage girl used her magic to trip Morrigan on a treadmill in school. He was not there to stop her and she ended up kicking the girl’s head into one of the wall mirrors before proceeding to beat the girl bloody. It was one of several reasons she got put into therapy.

“I’m fine babe, don’t worry. Though if I find out who shot me, they’ll be in for a world of hurt,” she laughed. She unlocked her helmet and removed it, taking a breath of fresh air. “Besides, I managed to tag one myself,” she said proudly. Taylor smiled and gave her a high five before wrapping his arm around her, leading her to sit down.

As they waited a few more minutes, a call over the arena speakers announced, “first point goes to RED team! You have five minutes to restock and reset before round two starts!”

Within a minute her father, Johnson and Simmons entered the waiting room. James placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder, “I appreciate the assist sweetie, you did a good job.”

Morrigan mostly beamed with happiness at his praise, though she felt the need to point out that she still got shot. Her father smiled, “yeah Simmons told me what happened. I already gave her shit for being a shitty partner.”

As if on cue, Simmons stepped up sullenly. “Listen kid, I’m sorry about that, I was paying too much attention to what you were doing rather than watching the door. Though I’ll admit you handled yourself really well.” she apologized.

Morrigan waved her off, “it’s alright, how did you handle them anyways?”

Simmons shrugged, “little bit of flash bang, little bit of martial arts and a nice burst point blank to the back.”

That made Morrigan laugh. As she leaned on Taylor she looked back to her father, “so what's the plan now dad?”

James considered the question, he said they would lay a trap on the second round. After thinking of the layout of the arena, he formulated a plan. Turning to his team he announced, “we’re going to do a bait and trap maneuver. The building we had a group pinned down adjacent to the skywalk has a really good choke point as well as a good overlooking vantage point kitty corner towards our side. Set up in there with one person in the vantage while someone baits them into the trap.”

Simmons nodded before asking the dreaded question, “who gets to run bait?”

James smiled evilly at her, confirming her discomfort in the plan. However, before he could say anything, Morrigan raised her hand.

“Me and Taylor will do it.”

Everyone turned to her in surprise. Her father raised an eyebrow in curiosity, “are you sure you’re up for that?”

She shrugged and gave her father a smile, “well, I don't know shit about setting traps and you know I’m a great runner.”

James crossed his arms, impressed about his daughter’s courage to play such a critical role in the plan. “Why Taylor though?”

The question even had Taylor give her a curious look. Morrigan gave her father a knowing look, “you’re the one who always said to never work alone if you don’t have to. Besides,” she flippantly smacked Taylor’s chest plate. “Look at this hunk. You know he’s a good runner too.” Her comment brought a round of laughter as Taylor smiled from mild embarrassment.

“You taught her well big daddy,” Johnson remarked.

James laughed as he conceded. It was nice to see that his daughter took his lessons to heart enough to use his own rules to make a tactical point. “It seems I have. Alright, you two are our bait.”

Morrigan spent the next few minutes listening and focusing on memorizing her father’s plan before the buzzer signaled for round two.

Taylor and Morrigan hurried down the street along the right skirt. He knew taking point made his girlfriend unhappy with him, especially with his reasons why. He was just an extra body when it came to this training session, only here for Morrigan on her birthday. Though he was finding these training sessions interesting and rather fun, it was not like it was his first choice of venue for celebration, but he had to agree with her father that this would be therapeutic for her. So, he demanded leading because his size would make him a great shield for her if need be. Of course, she protested as the loving and protective angel she was.

He considered that her most attractive trait. Sure, she was a beautiful and full-bodied woman, no one could deny that. Her personality and tendency for violent confrontation against those who consider themselves better, that is what truly made him fall in love for her. Having the courage to stand up for what she believed in as well as standing up for those who could not stand up for themselves. Besides, taking point also showed her that she was not the only protector. He would not publically announce that he would crush someone’s skull for his love, but he certainly would without question. Luckily, he has not needed to prove that, his sheer size usually put off any kind of escalation.

Taylor made sure to pay more attention to his surroundings this time. He also mentally noted that his girlfriend seemed to have quite the knack for being tactical as he watched her out of the corners of his eye. She moved fluidly, checking windows and around corners with almost professional confidence.

“Stop watching me and pay attention babe, we’re almost there” she scolded playfully.

Taylor readied his shotgun as he focused forward. “Sorry, can’t blame me for admiring such a beautiful huntress,” he remarked with a smirk. Simmons playful comment about Morrigan’s appearance seemed to hold more truth to it than anyone realized.

Though she did not respond to his comment, the section that monitored her heart rate picked up slightly knowing his flattery worked.

They had passed the intersection that had the connecting skywalk and kept on for half the block until stopping to enter a building on the left. It appeared to the both of them to be some representation of a government office.

Their entrance was sloppier than when she and Simmons performed building entry, but Morrigan did not hold it against him. She got into the building fast enough to prevent negative consequences from him not stopping to wait for her. That was something she would have to explain to him later.

Despite Taylor’s mass, she was impressed that he could walk so quietly on tile floors as they stealthily made their way through a corridor of offices and cubicles to where they wanted to be. Turning right they had found the lobby her father mentioned that had ground floor windows with enough wall to pocket themselves with cover. Each of them took one side of the building, tucking themselves into the corners with the main entrance between them.

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They waited about ten minutes before Taylor whispered into the comm, “I’ve got three.”

He watched as three of the recruits stalked with a slow, calculated pace, checking for any signs of threat. “Me too,” Morrigan replied.

As he leveled the shotgun towards the closest target he paused, “there are eight on their team, where are the other two?” he thought to himself. With a soft tap on tile, Taylor spun to see the barrel of a gun making a sweep across his side of the room from the extended entryway between him and Morrigan.

Taylor was faster on the draw; with a thunderous roar a solid rubber slug impacted the rounding recruit right in the chest, knocking them back into their partner and messing up the shot they had lined up on Morrigan.

Morrigan flinched as rubber bullets pelted around her. She twisted and placed two bullets on the offender’s chest before standing into a sprint. She caught Taylor doing the same from the corner of her eye. Neither one of them stopped as both teams of three saw them running for their lives through the building and opened fire.

Neither of them stopped as rubber rounds bounced off everything around them. Making it to the intersection the came from she paused, “which side do we fight?” she called out. The original intention was to exit either side of the building that had the least number of opponents if any, fight and hopefully not get tagged so someone could lead the recruits into the trap.

Taylor had another idea though. He had noticed earlier that most of the walls in the arena were either wood or high-density plaster, hopefully he was not wrong in this case.

He passed Morrigan with a simple shout, “neither!” and continued his dead sprint for another length of 20 feet. Bracing himself and tucking his shoulder, he barreled into the wall. The extended pauldron of the older armor took brunt of the force as his excessive weight carried him through the wall and onto the ground in front of the entrance of the next building.

Grinning, Morrigan followed after her boyfriend through the gaping hole in the wall. She lent her hand in helping him get up off the ground before they took off again. It must have been obvious by the loud crash, that they were no longer in the building because both enemy teams rounded the corners of the building and began firing.

As they ran into the next building, Morrigan dropped a flash bang at the entrance. To her disappointment, it had gone off before the enemy team got to the entrance. However, now she knew they were short fused.

They ran through what seemed to be some sort of banquets hall. It was a dangerous room since most the tables were on either side of the room with a set of tables in the way of the exit. Morrigan slung her rifle over her shoulder and grabbed her last two flash bangs as rubber bullets began flying by. Now that she knew her enemy were in the room, she pulled the pins. Reaching the tables, Morrigan leaned into a slide, throwing her arms back and releasing the grenades in one fluid motion.

As she passed under the table, she kicked a foot out catching the end of the table and flipped it behind her. Only problem was, the table was top heavy and flipped completely over, letting her watch the grenades bounce and skid towards the enemy.

Taylor vaulted his table, toppling it towards him which he stopped with his free arm. Just as the dual grenades released their blinding flare, Taylor managed to grab a hold of Morrigan’s back plate and yank her towards him redirecting her vision. Curses and profanity greeted their ears from the stunned team as Taylor pivoted over the table and fired a slug into one of their thighs.

The temptation to make a stand and outshine the veterans was serious, however Morrigan grabbed onto Taylor’s arm as she got to her feet and dragged him away from the fight. Stick to the plan, she told herself.

They sprinted down the hall and out the door. Their final stop before the trap was the building connected to the skywalk. The helmets had obviously reduced the effects of the flash bangs because it was only seconds before rubber bullets were at their feet again.

They booked it through the final building, Taylor tossing his own flash bangs in a less elegant manner while Morrigan traded shots with the other team to keep them from getting too close. They could definitely feel the pressure of running bait this close to their goal. It was stressful and Morrigan hoped she would never have to do it again.

They made it to the exit of the building right underneath the skywalk. Running for everything they had as Morrigan hit the comm, “coming in hot with five!” she called before going through the doorway as bullets impacted near her feet and around the door frame. She had almost forgotten to jump into the darkness as planned, nearly missing the trip wire connected to a flash bang.

As Morrigan and Taylor made their way into the back of the building to catch their breath and shelter themselves, James watched from the vantage point they had discussed. He watched the recruits line up outside the door and relayed the information. “They’re setting up breaching formation.” He watched as the first two entered, followed by a third before the flash bang was set off.

What followed could only be described as a wall of rubber bullets that pelted the first three recruits and catching a fourth who had stuck out too far into the door frame. Shocked by the displayed massacre, the last recruit stumbled back turning to run. James set his sights on the recruit and put a round into the recruit’s ankle tripping the kid. Following through, he fired again directly into center mass.

“Round two belongs to RED team!” was announced.

RED team cheered as BLUE team grumbled angrily as they picked themselves off the ground. One even protested, “that was bullshit!”

Peters laughed as he exited the building first, “if you know the enemy numbers, you should have recognized something was wrong when you only chased two of the enemy across the arena without coming across the rest,” he said pointedly.

The recruits begrudgingly accepted their defeat and made their way back to their waiting area. Meanwhile Simmons clapped Morrigan on the ass causing her to yelp. “That was bad ass Little Clarke! We heard you guys all the way here, and you even managed to cap three of them along the way!” Simmons congratulated.

Morrigan glared at her, not that anyone would be able to see through the visor of the helmet. Her and Taylor were still out of breath and were not ready for any physical antics caused by Simmons.

Her father approached while everyone piled out of the building. “That was great work,” he praised. Morrigan managed a small smile at that.

“Remind me not to volunteer for that again, that fucking sucked!” she complained.

Everyone laughed at their expense though she could even see her boyfriend’s broad shoulders bouncing in silence. It became infectious as she began to chuckle herself.

“You learned a valuable lesson baby girl, now you know why I was worried,” Simmons said.

“That was honestly meant to be Jen’s punishment. However, I am incredibly impressed that you both did so well, and neither of you got tagged out,” her father said.

Taylor and Morrigan were both proud of themselves. Their plan did not go as planned however, if any of her father’s tales were true, plans rarely did. Santiago had announced a 20-minute break while they set up for the WMD scenario. During that time, they all relaxed and chatted about how well Morrigan and Taylor did along with teasing each other over various other things.

“So how does this next scenario work?” Taylor asked.

Johnson was the one to answer, “essentially we either stick as a unit or divide into two teams and swarm a building, trying to get the bomb specialist to the fake bomb and diffuse it before the timer runs out. Our squad has…” he pointed out James Clarke and Edmond Peters. “Those two as demolitions experts. Well, Ed is the expert, James is the back up specialist.”

“So, do we shoot our way in? Or do we try to sneak in?” Morrigan inquired.

Johnson just shrugged, “dealer’s choice honestly, though most teams opt for a shoot out. The faster the bomb is diffused, the better.”

That made sense to her. Would not want to risk a bomb going off because you took too long sneaking around. That would be bad business.

After the 20-minute rest, it was announced that the bomb was held by BLUE team on the far end of the arena near their waiting area. It was a shitty move since there was a five minute 'respawn' once you made it back to your waiting area. She guessed it was a way to even the playing field seeing as the score was two to zero.

They ended up dividing into two teams in order to do a flanking maneuver. Her father, Simmons and Johnson were the ones to come in from the left flank while Morrigan, Taylor and Peters took the straight ahead.

With the buzzer, they hoofed it into position. Apparently, the bomb team was not allowed outside of a 60 foot radius of the bomb which made it nice to not have to worry about ambushes. The construction side was a combination of flat ground, concrete barricades and those under ground concrete pipe cylinders as well as a mock crane in the center. Of course, that is where BLUE team had their bomb.

They had reached the last few buildings before the edge of the construction zone where they stopped and scouted the area. “We have four on our side boss,” Peters said into the comm link.

“We can spot three by ours,” they all heard through their helmets as her father replied. That meant there was one unaccounted for somewhere, possibly watching the right flank.

Peters turned to the young couple as he unslung a high-capacity assault rifle for this scenario. “Okay so here’s the plan. I’ll provide suppressing fire while you two get in there and clear the place, go in, throw flash and clear. Then radio me and I’ll take care of the bomb,” he ordered. Taylor and Morrigan gave each other contemplative looks that neither could see before nodding.

They moved up another building before Peters set up his firing position behind the tire of a car. “Okay, move up and as soon as someone spots you, I’ll start sending.”

The pair did not bother responding as they moved between as much cover as they could. It seemed someone had spotted them around 40 feet from the edge of the construction zone because Peters’s weapon roared to life. Morrigan spotted the recruit as he ducked behind a barricade. The both of them threw flash bangs as far as they could taking no time to sprint to a barricade to hide behind.

Taylor had perfect line of sight on the guy and aimed his shotgun. The rubber slug hit the recruit right in the armor kneecap with enough force to move his leg back and cause his knee to slam into the ground. He cursed while smacking the barricade before raising his gun above his head.

Morrigan had to admit that Taylor did in fact have a hunter’s aim. He crouched and moved up to the standing concrete cylinder ten feet from the barricade while she covered him as moved. However, she caught his shadow giving his position away via construction light, but it was too late. As Taylor went to round the edge of the concrete pillar and got bull rushed by one of the recruits. Despite Taylor’s size, being caught off guard like that ended with him on his ass and his shotgun knocked to the side.

That is when the whole world slowed to a crawl. Morrigan watched in horror as to the recruit slowly raised his weapon towards Taylor and her brain replaced what she was seeing with a recreation of the night she got arrested. The image of a pistol pointed at the head of a young Eskarii girl; the few seconds of hopelessness that shredded Morrigan’s life down to misery.

Back and forth dozens of times between memory and reality in the matter of nanoseconds, her brain pushed her dread and rage to their peak. “NO!”

Faster than she realized or would have thought possible clutching her rifle like a bat, she cleared the ten feet, taking a wrathful swing.

The stock of the rifle snapped off when the receiver connected to the recruit’s visor sending him full tilt onto his back. Morrigan in blinding speed drew her pistol from its holster, putting two rounds into the recruit’s chest plate.

The apex predator had been unleashed within her as she spotted another recruit leave cover to take a shot at her. Sliding low in a crouch, she sent five rounds rapid fire, all impacting the other recruit.

Taylor seeing the coming threat leering over the barricade directly in front of them, raised his shotgun unstably in one hand and letting it buck dramatically. The slug hit the barricade right next to their line of sight causing the recruit to retreat down.

With her next target revealed, Morrigan sprinted to the barricade for a vault and drop kicked the recruit into the ground. With the recruit having no where to go between her legs, she jammed the barrel of the pistol into their chest and fired three more times.

Her objective was close. Standing to race towards the bomb at the base of the crane, a loud crack resonated over the arena as a large caliber rubber bullet impacted just below the hip joint armor of her right side, sending her into a spin to the ground.

Furious, she stood and chucked her pistol at the ground. “God Damned Mother. Fucking. Cunt!” she screamed as she raised her hands above her head to try and walk the pain off. The sniper round really hurt.

She continued spewing creative profanity as she passed Taylor, who had got to cover during her fit of rage. She was too lost in her own anger to see Taylor watching her. If she could have taken a moment to calm down, she would have been able to sense his overwhelming concern. She slowly limped her way back to the waiting area seething rage, and she proceeded to punch the concrete walls, scratching the plated knuckles of her armor until she felt better.

The following announcement was in favor of RED team again.

The veteran team found Morrigan laying on one of the benches where she gave them a small wave. Taylor, Peters and her father came around her as Taylor took seat on what little bench was available near her head. Her father knelt down next to her, noticing something was obviously wrong by the scuff marks on her knuckles that lay across her chest. “Everything okay sweetie? I saw your heart rate go off the charts…”

Her eyes were closed, a small headache had started brewing in the back of her head. That was okay though, she did not need to see her father to see the concern on his face. Rubbing her eyes with the palms of her gloves she groaned, “I uh–lost control.”

Taylor ran plated fingers gently through her hair, “what happened?”

Morrigan sighed, she did not want to talk about it really, even if everyone on her father’s team knew what happened. Except she had told herself that she would try to be more honest, “when you got knocked down–all I could see was that night, and I guess… well–I lost my shit,” she forced out.

Her father nodded, he had her retell him what happened that night several times over the initial year. “It's okay baby,” he said sincerely. Peters, however, began chuckling as he found the humor in the situation.

“Darling, the only one who lost their shit was Higgins. That’s because you knocked it out of him!” he joked as he patted the knee she had up. Luckily it was her good leg, thankful the pain was beginning to relax. She knew Taylor had seen what she had done since he was literally right there, she had no idea Peters saw too.

Her father gave Peters an inquiring look. A second to register, Peters told him, “Oh! Our girl here went for a home run on Higgins’s face, broke her rifle doing it!” He looked over Morrigan before giving his attention back to his partner. “It was like she became a CoU Berserker, took out three of them before that sniper tagged her.” He chuckled some more having watched the entire spectacle from a distance. “Honestly boss, your daughter has a vibrant vocabulary too.”

“Yeah, she didn’t learn that from me or Helen,” he said pointedly as his gaze went to Taylor, who raised his free hand and shook his head in denial.

Their comments made Morrigan blush, “well that shit fucking hurt, whoever shot me is lucky I had no idea where they were,” she grumbled as she gently touched the spot to find it extremely tender still.

James watched her wince when she touched her upper leg. Frowning he placed a hand on her shoulder, “sit the next one out, I’ll have a cold pack brought to you.”

She shook her head, “no dad, I’m fine. I’ll get over it.” She moved to sit up, but Taylor placed a hand on her chest plate keeping her down. That earned him a glare until her father stood laughing.

“That was my way of trying to keep you here instead of telling you it's been decided that you're being penalized for knocking out a recruit out.”

She was startled by that, “I knocked him out?”

Taylor began laughing as he patted her chest plate and returned to playing with her hair, “out cold hun, pretty sure he was out before you shot him.”

Morrigan shook her head, embarrassed about doing that. Yes, she lost control, but it was not the recruit’s fault. Flash backs broke the lock of her anger, and she did not want an innocent recruit paying for her instability. The harm was done though, leaving her to sigh in defeat, “well I suppose I'm stuck here. Might as well take that cold pack.”

Peters nodded with a chuckle and went to fetch it.

Morrigan laid there while the next round continued. She did not know if her being out made a real difference, but her father’s team finally lost a round and not being there made her feel guilty. She prayed nothing like what happened would reoccur in her life. She hated not being in control of her emotions and when her emotions took control of her, things got messy very quickly.

The last two matches were the hostage scenarios. It seemed BLUE team wanted pay back since they had selected her as their hostage. She was not fond of being tied up and made to do nothing, but regardless she accepted her role.

By the end of the training session, RED team won at a five to one. Which meant her father’s team celebrated by having the recruits pay for drinks at a local bar. She and Taylor were invited to tag along but seeing as neither of them were old enough to drink and Morrigan being exhausted by that point, she opted to go home.

Back in her father's truck, she curled up in the back seat with her head on her boyfriend's lap where he proceeded to run his fingers through her hair. She was tired and sore but more at peace than ever.

She was barely conscious enough to hear what her father spoke, “thanks for coming along Taylor, glad you didn't talk me out of setting this up.”

“You knew?” she mumbled as she reached up and flicked his nipple.

That made him jump which made her smile. “Hey, what was that for?” he asked.

“You’re not supposed to keep secrets from your girlfriend mister,” finishing with a yawn.

He chuckled as he continued playing with her hair, “that may be true, but did you have fun?”

Her only response was a nod and delighted noise as she buried her face into his leg, getting more comfortable. Today had definitely been a good day, she thought as she drifted off to sleep under Taylor’s gentle touch. “Happy birthday love,” was whispered into her subconscious.