After the previous session, Alexa had spent the rest of the night avoiding the others. She took her dinner in her room and remained there for the rest of the night, deciding to go to bed early. She woke up before dawn to find it was still dark out and decided to put more effort into her work. After treating herself to a cup of coffee from one machine in the cafeteria, she went out to the Arena.

The way Marcus spoke to her left her feeling unnerved. She wanted to prove that she was more than some flighty thrill-seeker, like he obviously thought. More than anything, she just wanted to rub it in his face.

The Arena’s controls were pretty simple to use. Alexa could program a sentry program, and then she activated her Omega Gauntlet. The nanites swarmed over her body and locked together, completing her transformation into the Purple Knight.

Once she stepped out into the Arena, the holographic sentries hovered towards her, each one armed with miniature turrets. There were three in this first round, and she thought that would be enough of a challenge to start. She held out her hand and visualized her weapon and the suit responded, forming the Zephyrwhip in her grip.

One sentry came directly at her and began firing its light-based rounds. Alexa leapt and dodged a few of them, but the other two sentries quickly added their firepower.

She swung the Zephyrwhip, cracking it to deflect several projectiles. Alexa turned and ran for the trees, hoping to use them as cover. The sentries pursued her into the forested area.

Alexa retracted the whip, and it flowed back into her armor. The closest branch that looked capable of bearing her weight seemed too far off the ground—at least with her normal abilities. They’d said the Omega Force gave them enhanced physical capabilities when in armored form, and she decided to put that to the test.

She sprung from her dash, her hands reaching for the branch. Her instincts told her she wouldn’t be able to reach it, and she visualized herself falling back to the ground. But in reality, Alexa was surprised when, looking above the branch, she could easily reach and grab it. Almost as if everything had moved in slow-motion.

“Not bad,” she whispered to herself. She looked back and saw the sentries were in pursuit. “No time for reflection.”

Alexa drew on her parkour skills and leapt to the next branch, quickly pulling herself up. She continued moving from branch to branch until she found a length of vine connecting two trees. But just as she was about to jump for it, a sentry intercepted her, blocking her path.

The sentry readied its weapons and Alexa allowed her instincts to take over. It seemed as if the armor knew what to do in that moment. The Zephyrwhip regenerated, and she held it spinning in front of her, all in about a second or less. With the whip spinning, it created a shield that deflected the sentry’s rounds.

The whip spun faster, now generating a wind burst that threw the sentry back. Alexa let her conscious mind take control again, and she remembered the training with Ethan earlier. She cracked the whip and a razor-sharp concentration of air cut through the sentry, causing the holograph to de-pixelate and vanish.

Alexa jumped for the vine and grabbed hold. She dangled over the far drop to the ground below and moved, hand over hand, to cross to the next branch. When she heard a noise, she glanced to her left and saw one sentry there. Then the other sentry to her right.

“Okay…maybe not my brightest idea…”

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She saw the guns being primed for fire and Alexa knew she had no choice. She let go just before they opened fire. Amidst: Amidst the crossfire between sentries, one escaped while the other fell.

Reappearing, the Zephyrwhip targeted the vine with its cable. The whip wrapped around the vine and retracted quickly. As Alexa was being pulled up, the sentry followed her, firing at her again.

She let go of the Zephyrwhip, the resulting momentum sending her flying into the air. She grabbed the vine and swung around it a few times and then released.

The sentry still chased after her. Alexa turned in mid-air towards the sentry and summoned the whip again. She cracked it in the sentry’s direction and the whip snared the turret. Alexa pulled hard while retracting and she and the sentry were on a collision course with each other.

Alexa landed on top of the sentry, using the whip to rein it in. The sentry responded violently, trying to hurl Alexa off its back. They flew straight towards a large tree and just before colliding, Alexa jumped off.

The sentry smashed right into the tree and dissipated.

Alexa laughed at her success, but then gravity took hold. Gravity pulled her back to the ground, and she lacked time to react with the whip. Alexa landed on her back with a loud thud.

“That’s certainly a unique way of waking yourself up.”

Alexa frowned behind her visor when she heard Marcus Kane’s voice. “Great…” she muttered to herself.

She stood as Marcus approached, holding two paper cups with plastic heat lids. He wore his Quantum training uniform that day. For a moment, Alexa thought he was going to admonish her for using the Arena without supervision, but he held out the cup.

“Most people just use coffee. Care to try?” he asked.

Alexa powered down, her armor breaking into the individual nanite components and retreating into her Gauntlet. Slowly, she reached a hand towards him, still not sure if the offer was genuine. In the end, she accepted the coffee and then quickly turned away with a whisper of “thanks.”

She stared at the cup and carefully sipped the drink. It was hot and bitter, but the jolt of caffeine was welcome. After a moment of savoring the taste, she realized he was looking at her. “How long were you watching?”

“Long enough to see you take out three sentries,” said Marcus. “I’m pretty sure we hadn’t gone over the Arena’s controls yet. So how did you—”

Alexa sneered. “Right, because how could some influencer figure out the complexities of a computer system? It’s not hard to use when there are a bunch of pre-programmed routines. I just chose a low-level one that seemed challenging enough.”

Marcus gave a cough. “You didn’t quite think ahead when you went for that vine, did you? Or the fall.”

“Yeah, but I got the job done.”

“True, though if you’d had some forethought, you might have been able to figure out a more effective strategy without landing on your ass.” Marcus realized he was going on too long. He stopped and sipped the coffee before he added, “Either way, it was pretty impressive.”

Alexa looked up at him, somewhat in surprise. She’d only known him a short time, but this sort of praise seemed uncharacteristic. “You think I’m impressive?”

“For a rookie, that is,” he added, as he noticed the look in her eyes.

Alexa gave a scoff. “Right. For a rookie.”

“I spoke to Ethan last night. Tried to speak to you, too, but you seemed pretty intent on keeping your own company.”

“Maybe I wasn’t in the mood for another tongue thrashing.”

“That’s actually why I wanted to talk to you,” said Marcus. “I can get a bit…intense at times.”

“A bit?”

Marcus frowned. “Listen, it’s my job to give you the skills you need to survive. Maybe that means I’m not as tolerant or as fun as you might like, but I’m doing it for your own good. It’s my job to keep you alive.”

Alexa waited for something else, staring at Marcus and wondering if he was going to elaborate further. When he didn’t, she just arched a brow and said, “That’s it?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“That was more than just tough love. You were a complete and utter jackass yesterday,” she admonished. “I get that you think you’re just doing your job, but freaking out just because we were having some fun was ridiculous.”

Marcus looked shocked at first, but he narrowed his eyes quickly. “People don’t talk to me that way.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re an asshole.” She handed him back the coffee cup. “And for the record, I like cold brew. Not that you would’ve bothered to ask.”

She stormed away from Marcus, leaving him alone in the Arena. Once she reached the doors and entered the compound, she leaned against the wall and sighed.

Only the second day here and already she’d made an enemy of her boss.

“You really don’t think ahead, do you?” she asked herself.