In Tom’s estimation, the afternoon training session went pretty bad. Everything started off great, too. The new recruits seemed to take everything in stride. Meeting the Titan spirits went off without a hitch, but then it went off the rails during the climbing exercise.

And then there was the Arena. That absolutely could have gone better.

Following the tongue-lashing, Marcus told the team to take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow, training would resume on an individual level. Everyone else more or less retreated to their quarters, and Tom was no exception.

But he would not rest. Tom chose to continue training in his own way. Besides the facilities for training their abilities, the Sanctuary also held a conventional gym with standard exercise equipment. Though their powers gave them superhuman physical attributes, being in good shape helped lessen the strain placed on the body and heart.

Tom dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, pulled on weightlifting gloves, and put his earbuds in place as he began his exercise playlist.

After a quick stretch and warm-up, he loaded up weights onto the power rack and laid on the bench. It was at a moderate level for him, but he wasn’t after power this time—he was focusing more on endurance today.

Tom gripped the bar in both hands and raised it off the rack. He sucked in a breath as he lowered the bar until it almost reached his chest, then he exhaled as he pushed it back up. In his mind, he kept track of the reps, silently mouthing the number of each completed lift.

His earbuds pumped the sounds of AC/DC into his head, fueling his movements. He lowered the bar for another rep, then raised it up. Normally, this was how Tom could escape from his troubles and silence his mind, but it wasn’t working this time. Try as he might to drown out the thoughts that had been plaguing him since they lost Scott and the others, they still crept in.

“Not sure how much more we can take.”

Scott’s final words kept playing on repeat in his ears. The image of the Karkinos being crushed by that other-dimensional serpent. And the fearful expression that Scott’s face was fixed in when Tom found him.

That last one especially proved invasive. Tom had trouble picturing Scott in happier times. Whenever he tried, he just kept seeing that agape mouth and those bulged eyes. He must have been utterly terrified in his last moments. And now that memory was the last image Tom had of the man he’d loved. The man he still loved.

Tom had become so lost in his own world that he failed to concentrate on his actions. Without even realizing it, he’d stopped counting and his body just kept pressing the bar as if on auto-pilot. He didn’t even realize what rep he was on, but he’d pushed himself past his goal.

He felt fatigue in his biceps and pectorals. The bar became almost impossible to lift high enough to reach its resting spot on the rack. Tom exerted all his strength to push, but realized his muscles were no longer capable of responding. His grip tightened, and he pushed as hard as he could, but his muscles were about to give out.

And then, something spared his arms. Someone came and raised the bar up, then set it down on the rack. Tom’s arms fell limp to his sides, like wet noodles. He stared up at the bar and the ceiling lights beyond it for a few moments, blinking while his lungs struggling to catch up.

“If you’re gonna use free weights, you should really have a spotter. It’s dangerous to do this on your own.”

Tom shut his eyes, a feeling of embarrassment falling over him. It was a voice he had only been introduced to recently, but he recognized it. Not only was he stupid enough to lose track of what he was doing, but he had to be saved by one of the new recruits. So much for making a good first impression as team leader.

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Once Tom pulled his back off the bench, he saw Ethan standing in front of him, a face towel held in an extended arm. Tom took his earbuds out and then reached for the water bottle on the floor. As he drank the water, he accepted the towel from Ethan and wiped the sweat from his brow and cheeks, then moved on to his arms.

“What are you doing here?” he asked between gulps of water. “Figured you’d want to unwind after Marcus chewed you out.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to do. Lifting weights is my way of unwinding. Helps me forget about the rest of the world,” said Ethan. “It’s just me and the weights. Feels kind of like my own personal form of meditation.”

Tom could relate. And yet, he kept quiet, avoiding an obvious opportunity for some male bonding with the only other guy on the team. Instead, Tom just gave a nod and took more sips of water.

Ethan, obviously not getting any sort of reception from his attempt at connection, decided to take another track with the conversation. “Though speaking of Marcus, what was that all about?”

Tom shrugged. “That’s just Marcus.”

“I get he’s all about professionalism and taking things seriously. But you don’t think his reaction was a little extreme?”

“Maybe. But considering it from his perspective, he’s responsible for our training and he just lost three of us. This is how he deals.”

“Flipping out because Alexa and I were having some fun is a coping mechanism?”

“What can I tell you? Marcus is all about that stereotypical alpha male bullshit. He doesn’t do so well with healthy expressions of emotion,” said Tom. “My read is he’s just overcompensating to guarantee that doesn’t happen again.”

“I guess that tracks,” said Ethan. “What about you?”

Tom glanced up at him. “What about me?”

“They were your teammates. How are you dealing with it?”

Tom sighed and stood from the bench. “Just fine.”

“What was that you just said about healthy expressions of emotion?”

Tom stretched his arms out as he walked over to a lat machine and set up the weights. His arms still ached from the bench press, so he set the load at a lower level than his usual. He replaced the bar with a rope and started to perform tricep pushdowns. The pain was there, but he pushed past it, hoping Ethan would get the hint.

“Tom…?”

He didn’t.

Tom released the rope and let the weights crash down with a loud slam. He looked in Ethan’s direction.

“Listen, I’m sure you’re a nice guy and everything and I know you’re just trying to reach out and do the bonding thing, but I’m really not in the mood, okay?”

Ethan had a look of surprise on his face—likely from the sound of the weights suddenly dropping, but just as possible, it was from Tom’s comment.

“Sorry, I just thought that with us being the only guys in the Knights that—”

“That we’d strike up a friendship?” Tom looked away and scratched behind his neck. “I don’t mean to be rude, but this isn’t a high school football team. We’re not here to make friends, we’re here because we’ve got a job to do.”

Ethan now seemed to take offense, as exhibited by the narrowing of his eyes. “Well, excuse me all to hell.”

“You want a piece of friendly advice? Then I’ll give it to you right here and now,” said Tom as he stepped closer and pointed a finger in Ethan’s direction. “Don’t get too attached to anyone around here. This place is a meat-grinder. You never know how long it’ll be before you or someone else gets slaughtered.”

“So you don’t think we should learn to work together and trust each other?” asked Ethan.

“To an extent, but you get too personal, it can cause problems. The Omega Force may give you powers, but it can’t make you invincible and it sure as shit can’t bring you back from the dead. At best, it just gives you a fighting chance against the things we face.”

Tom loosened the straps of his gloves and pulled them off. He picked up his water bottle and headed for the locker room.

“Keep it professional and maintain your distance, Knight Jackson. That’s a piece of advice I wish to Christ someone had told me when I first came here.”

In the locker room, Tom stripped off his sweaty clothes and left them in a pile. He went into the showers and allowed the hot water to pour down his body. As he did, he closed his eyes, his mind still drifting to thoughts of Scott.

He didn’t truly believe what he’d told Ethan, but he wished he had. And he was going to try as hard as he could to make it his policy going forward.

Tom was the leader now, and that meant he had responsibilities to the team. He couldn’t afford to let his emotions get the better of him again, not after what had happened the last time.