I woke up the next morning to a text message from Lori. It very aggressively warned me against training, which got no argument from me, and it mentioned coming to watch Alex spar with Val. I still had aches running all through me. They were bad enough that I thought I might have gotten a cold or the flu. If the rest of me hadn’t felt fine, I would have taken a bunch of meds and just gone right back to bed. I didn’t even think I’d done enough to have my entire body be so sore. Apparently, I did do enough, and that’s what helped make the hot shower that morning so satisfying.
To be honest, I didn’t want to spend another day in one of those training rooms, even just as a spectator. I kept telling myself the only reason I was going this time was because I wanted to make Lori happy by cheering on her boyfriend. After the healing, we’d seemed to be mostly okay. Things felt just shaky enough that I thought it would be in bad taste to decline her invitation at that moment. After checking that Shelly had the day off and would be able to watch Megan, I made the repetitive journey to the training area once again.
I found their room and went inside, catching Lori going up the stairs to the spectator area. By the door to the proper training room stood Marcus, who gave me a small wave and smile. I thanked him again for fixing me up so well before making my way to the spectator area. Rebecca, Lori, Lizzy, Braden, and Rosie were all there. The two women who fought yesterday got both their faces fixed up. Rebecca got up and wrapped me in a warm hug, then took me by the hand to the empty seat next to hers. Not only was I not bothered by her touching, I was swiftly learning how much I welcomed it.
“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Braden mumbled. There were a few people between us, making it hard to make out what he was saying. “Are you feeling better?”
“I’m sore. Other than that, perfectly okay.” I stretched out my legs to try and get more comfortable, doing my very best to ignore the pain in my muscles that made it difficult. “Don’t be sorry, either. In its own way, it was kind of fun. We should do it again sometime.”
“Easy there, don’t be so eager to get yourself killed.” Rebecca gently placed her hand on my arm. “I like this face a lot more when you’re not on the floor missing an eye.”
Someone—I suspected Lizzy—gave us a wolf whistle at Rebecca’s comment. We both went red and smiled at each other.
“I promise, I’ll be more careful,” I told her. I was eager to get the focus off my injuries from yesterday, so I changed the subject. “What are the rules for this? Do they have to fight around buildings too?”
“No, just a regular one-on-one sparring match,” Lori said, sounding grumpy about it. She moved to sit next to me, something I took as a sign that we were basically good again. “Mrs. Carmichael thinks that we should watch how she fights so we can better work with her. Yeah, sure, whatever.”
“Wouldn’t it be smart, though?” I asked. She gave me a small dirty look out of the corner of her eye. “Well, if we have to work with her, it’d be better to know how she fights.”
“You almost getting yourself killed softened me, I’ll admit.” She was biting her tongue. “We don’t have to work with her. If we didn’t vote to bring her in, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
I wasn’t about to get into a fight with her there, so I turned my attention to Alex and Val. I was having trouble seeing them, moving my head to try and get a better view. Lori noticed this and tapped me on the shoulder. She reached below her seat and pulled out a tablet with a wire attached to it. “Every seat has one of these now. Mrs. Carmichael wants better ways for people to evaluate themselves, especially the leaders. They’re brand new.”
Rebecca and I both reached under our seats to find the same kind of tablet. I started to fiddle with mine and quickly found that it wasn’t really a standard tablet that you’d use for work or something else. On its screen were half a dozen small videos of Alex and Val, each with a different angle or zoom level. I tapped on one that was more focused on Alex’s face, and it followed every head movement he made.
I was still having some trouble getting used to seeing Val not in her armor. For her sparring with Alex, she was just wearing a black sports bra and matching workout pants. The armor had made up so much of the image I had of her in my head that she looked smaller without it. Had I not seen her face in the Tomb Removed from Time, there was no chance I would have believed that they were the same person. In my eyes, the armor was part of her. I selected a square to get a better look at her face, and like Alex, the shot seemed to follow her around wherever she looked.
“These can track movement that easily?” I asked, turning to Lori. When she nodded, I said, “That’s kind of creepy.”
“Mrs. Carmichael insists they’re only used in the training rooms,” Lori replied, lacking the confidence that told me she believed it.
“Um...” Rebecca nudged me with her arm. She held her tablet up and had a nervous, shy grin on her face. “Can you help me out?”
“Oh, right.” I started to show and explain to her that she could tap on each square to bring up a different angle. She leaned in closer to me to get a better view of what I was showing her, and I had to ignore some curious eyes from those around me. “You can hit this little arrow up here to go back to where they’re smaller, then you can choose a new one if you want.”
“Okay, so it’s not too different from the phone,” she said, playing with it a bit more.
“It’s basically a bigger phone. These are for viewing what’s going on in the training room. There are other tablets that can do more.” I was glad that it looked like she was getting it more and more. “Some tablets are more like computers now.”
“I still haven’t really figured out the phone thing yet,” she said, not taking her eyes off the tablet. “That’s one of the only things that I didn’t have anything close to back in my time. I guess computers too. I need a support group for all this new age tech.”
I zoomed in on the camera that focused on Val, and she didn’t look ready for a fight at all. I didn’t think it was fear I was seeing. I couldn’t place what it was in her eyes. Reluctance, maybe? They weren’t the same eyes of the woman prepared to kill all of us in the Tomb. They weren’t even the eyes of someone getting ready for a training exercise. She didn’t look ready in the slightest.
Val started it by taking off flying toward Alex, who stood there with his arms glowing bright. She brought her sword down on top of him, her long arms and sword creating an impressive swing. Effortlessly, he just caught it with his bare hand. He looked surprised, but not like he was shocked from stopping her attack, more that her offense was weak. It looked like the kind of attack that even my developing Shimmer-Armor could stop.
Using her sword as leverage against his airborne opponent, he flipped Val over his head and slammed her into the ground, hard. She was in a kneeling defensive position almost instantly having rolled through the landing. She looked angrier from the rough landing. The scowl on her face was clear as day. She still didn’t look at all into the fight. I had to wonder if she was so hesitant because she was worried about hurting one of us, no matter how lightly, even in a sparring session. Or maybe getting thrashed was the only way she could see that would make us accept her.
“She’s not even trying,” Rebecca said, echoing what I was thinking.
“I don’t care how much she tries as long as she loses,” Lori added with a shrug. I knew that both of us apologizing didn’t mean she had to feel any better about Val. It would have been so much easier if she did, though. There was no way it would work out if Lori was ready to tear her throat out all the time.
Val lifted off the ground and circled Alex, casually throwing sword swings out without any pattern or consistency. Even from her practice swings I saw at the gazebo, I knew she was capable of much more than what she was showing. Alex effortlessly caught or deflected all the attacks. Even through all the motion and glowing, I could tell he hadn’t taken a scratch yet. Once again, he easily caught the sword and flung Val over his head. She landed with a hard crack and just stared at the ceiling. Her eyes were empty, completely devoid of any emotion.
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“If you’re just going to mock me by not putting in any effort, I’m leaving,” Alex said, turning toward the door. I was surprised at how clear and crisp the audio quality coming through the tablet was. “I have thousands of better uses of my time than dealing with this.”
“Wait, don’t.” Val slowly got up, but still wasn’t resembling anything close to a warrior. “We’re not done here yet.”
“Done? We never even started.” Alex shook his head, a huff lifting his broad shoulders. “You’re not fit for any kind of combat. You’re a shred of the threat you were last month. I don’t know what happened to you, and frankly, I don’t care. I’m not wasting time on a half-assed turncoat who can’t muster the effort to take this seriously.”
It looked like that woke her up a little. Even with the dig at her pride, it still wasn’t enough. Her swings came in harder, faster, and with more focus. Alex was still dodging them with little effort. With each miss, he grew more frustrated with her. He was right. The entire mental ordeal she was going through was making her a fraction of the threat she had been only a month before. The woman who had popped up in my bedroom was infinitely scarier than the one who was wasting Alex’s time.
Suddenly, Alex stopped and stood still with her blade speeding its way to his exposed neck. Lori gasped, nearly popping up out of her seat in alarm, and Rebecca squeezed my wrist. Right when the blade should have cut through his flesh and decapitated him, it stopped. Glancing at my tablet showed Val’s surprised face and Alex’s infuriated one. He looked about ready to take her head off. He settled for quickly popping her in the chin.
Val hardly flinched, but she was done for. I could see it in her downward glance and the rest of her sullen expression. She tossed her weapon to the ground, where it landed with a harsh clang that echoed in the chamber. It was a little disheartening to not see them duke it out. Whatever they did back in the Tomb I missed, on account of nearly being sliced and diced like someone’s dinner in a bubble of illusions. The chance to spectate a good, melee fight like that was more enticing than I was ready to admit. Disappointingly, it didn’t look like I was going to get that.
She fell on her backside and grabbed the side of her head, her fingers getting lost in a mess of blonde curls. It looked like she was about to have a breakdown, and for all the evil that she’d done, I did feel bad. I’d sat like that in my bed after nightmares plenty of times through my teenage years. It just was not pleasant for me to watch someone be in that kind of position. Since I’d been there myself with my parents and more recently after Eric, I saw too much of myself in her there. Moments when I felt like I was just one gentle nudge away from shattering into a million pieces, completely beyond repair.
That’s why it agitated me when I saw Lori with a huge half-smirk on her face. I got it. Val killed someone that was like family to her and there was no taking that back. I didn’t blame her for holding that as something that couldn’t ever be forgiven, no matter how hard she tried. What I did blame her for was looking quite satisfied at someone trying to be better when they were struggling. If the man who killed my parents tried to turn his life around and I saw him in a psychiatric hospital, needing to be restrained because he wasn’t in control of his own mind, I wouldn’t be glad to see that. It would be upsetting.
Right when I was about to give her a piece of my mind on the matter, there was a large explosion from somewhere in the building, causing our room to shake like we were hit by an earthquake. A protective instinct came over me and I grabbed onto Rebecca, pulling her close to my body, not that it was going to help during an earthquake. My body wasn’t going to shield her from either the ground opening up or the ceiling collapsing on us, but what was I supposed to do? Let my girlfriend get hurt without trying to help her? The reward for my outstanding heroic behavior was a look of warmth from her thankful eyes, and that was more than I could have asked for.
Shame we couldn’t have had that moment last just a little bit longer.
“What the hell was that?” It was Lizzy’s voice I heard over the shaking of the room. It was surprisingly calm, but there was an edge to it.
“McLeod, probably,” I replied. I felt myself start to get nervous, but I was calmed by the presence of the girlfriend I was nearly burying into my chest. “Day or two early?”
“Yeah, if she didn’t lead him right to us to begin with.” Lori jabbed a finger down at Val. We all started to get up to get out of the confined space. I took one last look at Val’s face and I knew she didn’t lead McLeod or anyone to Luna. She looked terrified.
“Lori, I need you to put your hate for her aside for now.” I took her by the shoulders and looked right into her eyes, trying to tell her that I was serious. “If he’s actually here, I need you to lead, and that means leading Val too. Can you do that?”
Something changed in her eyes, and she nodded, pursing her lips together. Lizzy was barking orders at her own squad to get them ready to fight. None of them planned on running. I felt Rebecca squeeze my hand and knew that she’d be with me no matter where I went. Honest to God, I had no damn clue why I wanted to stay and fight. I had never been competitive before in my life. In that sparring match with Braden, I realized that I wanted to win. Wanted to win so bad that I felt like I needed to win or there was no point in showing up. I didn’t know where it came from, but it stayed with me. As a part of Luna, I needed to beat McLeod and see my home, friends, and family kept safe.
Lori grabbed her tablet, tapped the top corner, and brought it close to her face. “Alex, Val, get up to the spectator area now.” For once, there wasn’t venom in her voice when she spoke Val’s name. Even if they were only baby steps, I was proud of my friend.
I sent Shelly a short text telling her about the explosion, urging her to get Megan and herself to safety. I didn’t want them anywhere near the building if the explosion was really McLeod. Both Megan and Shelly were given two of those teleporting stones that my team had for the trip to the Tomb. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get enough for everyone who elected to stay behind, so there were planned evacuation routes that led to vehicles, and a bunch of different routes for those. Mrs. Carmichael just made sure to give those two those stones to my sister and the kiddo. I felt like I owed her a lot for that.
“Val, do you know anything about the people McLeod brought with him?” Lori asked. Even though she hadn’t said my name, for some stupid reason, I thought she was talking to me before I saw Alex and Val enter the room.
“No, he was very tight-lipped on who he had under him. There’s Patrick, the guy who looks like a doctor. He has telekinesis. Eloise is the woman he forced into teleporting for him, but I know he didn’t teleport here, so I don’t know if he brought her along.” Val ran a hand through her hair and looked stressed out. Her gaze fell on me. “He probably brought Heather with him. She blames you for Eric’s death, so she’ll be gunning for you. Her brother was the only reason she didn’t bring that cave down on your heads. Now that he’s gone, she doesn’t have anything to hold her back.”
“Great,” I mumbled. She looked freakishly strong, and I would take a hundred beatings by Braden over having her set a target on my back.
“Give me your hand,” Lori commanded. Val wasted no time and Lori took a firm grip of her right hand. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a few seconds. “She’s telling the truth. Or at least she thinks she’s telling the truth.”
“Ethan, can you handle someone like that?” Alex didn’t sound condescending when he asked it. He was worried about my capabilities, and maybe even my safety. The big guy was going a little soft on me.
“No, I don’t think I can. Not yet.” Rebecca squeezed my hand again. I put my arm around her and pulled her close. “If she’s really pissed, she’ll probably be sloppy. Sloppy might be bad since we’re in a mountain. I don’t know if she’s strong enough to bring this entire complex in on itself, and I’d rather not take the chance.”
“Val, you’ll go with Ethan and Rebecca,” Lori decided. She unzipped her hoodie and pulled out a handgun from a holster that looped around her chest and shoulders. She checked over it, made sure it was loaded, and flipped the safety. “Alex, you’re going to stay with me. I’m not going to tell any of you to let someone live if you want. If you’re going to kill someone, be ready to do it. No second chances.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Rebecca stepped forward. “You want us to split up?”
“I don’t want all of our fighting power put together. If there are people anywhere else that need help escaping, it’s our job to get them out. We are the good guys here.”
We all took off outside the spectator room, down the stairs, and out the heavy safety door. We all moved in unity, and for having five people going at the same time, we didn’t get in each other’s way. It was actually pretty cool. It was almost like we were all prepared to work together on some kind of subconscious level. Maybe in a past life, the five of us were all a team and we had some genetic memories that kept that cohesion together. Just maybe.
When we hit the long training room hallway, all five of our heads were on a swivel. We looked up, down, and side-to-side. There was nothing. Even Lizzy’s team was long gone with no sign of having been there. It was weird. I felt on edge, the same way I felt when I was walking in the empty Luna hallways alone. Except there was actually a sword-wielding murderer there. And a rock-wielding murderer explicitly with her sights set on me.
“Hold on, I’ll try to pick up on any unfamiliar emotions.” Lori shut her eyes and concentrated again. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I just couldn’t help myself.
“Whoa, that’d be new. When did you pick that up?” I guess more happened than I thought in the month I was out of commission. Looked like I wasn’t the only one who got some practice in.
“Recently, now shush. I can feel people nearby, so give me a second and I’ll tell you where they’re coming from.”
“Thank you, but that won’t be necessary.” It was a voice that made my blood run cold. It sounded so much deeper and more menacing in person than it did on TV. McLeod stepped in from a connecting hallway that I didn’t know existed, or maybe it was a hole from the explosion he caused. He had a wide grin on his face and had his arms stretched out. “Well? Is this how you Luna people treat your most esteemed guests?”