CHAPTER 12

There was no signal, no words and no questions as Jasmine dashed toward Kaleb, alternating between invisibility and visibility to confuse him. He crouched slightly and lunged at her, but she threw herself to the right and launched a kick right into his shin. The girl winced as her tibia impacted his— she had missed. Kaleb grabbed her leg and pulled her toward him.

Jasmine jumped with her free foot and spun on her axis, aiming for his head. He used his free hand to block her, and he threw her back onto the ground. The metahuman landed on her shoulder and grunted. She was completely winded.

She coughed as she rolled to the side, nearly avoiding a stomp. Jasmine shook her head, trying to regain her focus. The fall had dizzied her, and her shoulder was on fire. It was time to change strategies. Jasmine rose, taking a few deep breaths and regaining her fighting stance. Kaleb was waiting for her to make her move.

The girl disappeared from view, but her steps could still be heard on the wooden floor. Kaleb bolted at her, hitting widely in the girl’s general direction. Jasmine nearly avoided a square hit on the jaw as she hopped over Agnes’ body. Her landing alerted Kaleb, and he lurched toward her, punching her straight in the stomach. Jasmine appeared as the blow sucked out all the air from her lungs. She clutched at her gut, groaning.

“Giving up yet?” Kaleb asked.

She answered by aiming a kick at his crotch, which he carefully avoided by taking a step back. Her stomach and shoulder were buzzing with pain, but Jasmine still attempted to hit the man with another jab. Kaleb grabbed her wrist and held her in place for a split second.

All according to plan.

Instead of jerking backward, Jasmine fully committed, dashing toward Kaleb as she turned invisible. The man’s eyes widened as he prepared to block an incoming hit, but Jasmine simply kept going. Kaleb was certainly bigger than her, but she was still able to push him with enough effort.

Her shoulder burned as he yanked her arm to the left, trying to thwart her advance. And yet, she pushed. They both crashed on the table, breaking it in half. The other soldiers swore as they sidestepped or weaved out of the way. Jasmine cursed internally as she reeled in her arm, which was now free. She punched Kaleb on the nose twice, hurting her knuckles in the process.

The man moaned and covered his face, which was exactly what Jasmine wanted. She slid off of him and turned in one swift motion, putting him in a chokehold with her legs. She squeezed— not hard enough to kill as she had learned, but hard enough to make him submit.

Kaleb screamed in frustration, attempting to claw her legs off of him. Jasmine bit her tongue, not giving him an inch. Her eyes widened as the man jerked his head upward, carrying her with him. Jasmine grabbed onto his head to not fall off and intensified her chokehold. He trudged backward, slowly at first, but then it turned into a trot. Jasmine hit her back on the wall and fell off on her bad shoulder again.

The girl screamed in agony, deactivating her power. Kaleb took a deep, raspy breath as he slowly approached her.

“Holy shit, you’re killing her! Stop!” Agnes said as she stopped playing dead.

“You’re right, I think that’s enough.” He said, almost whispering. “I’m sorry.”

Jasmine nodded as she clutched her shoulder, her eyes watering at the pain. Agnes pushed Kaleb and helped her up using her good arm. Jasmine still winced at the slight movement. Even a slight movement felt like a knife was being lodged right in her joint.

“I think I’m gonna puke…” Jasmine muttered. Agnes stroked her hair with a sigh.

“I’m so sorry. This was a bad idea.” Kaleb said as the soldiers talked among themselves. “Here, I’ll give you the box, I didn’t hold back enough.”

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. ‘Appreciate it.” She answered.

Right as she puked her breakfast all over the floor.

---

The walk back to Franz had been agonizing. Jasmine hadn’t been in this much pain since the concentration camps. She sauntered, one arm around Agnes— and it would have been one arm around Kaleb if she could move it without pain pulsing from her shoulder to her arm and back. Jasmine was also limping because, as it turned out, Jasmine had sprained her ankle during one of her falls. All in all, she was a mess.

“Don’t breathe so close to me, your breath smells.” Agnes spoke, trying to lift the mood.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She answered completely sincerely. She stopped breathing as her body faded away.

“I was joking…”

Jasmine looked at the box Agnes carried and felt anger— or was it just disappointment at herself? She didn’t deserve it. By all accounts, she should have failed the test, but here it was, taunting her about her failure. The girl had thought her plan would work. After all, Kaleb had taught her that chokeholds were good if you wanted to restraint someone. Had she not gone hard enough out of fear?

“We’re here.” Kaleb said as he opened the door.

Franz was lying down on the floor, his hand in his palm. As soon as he saw them enter, he started playing dead again.

“Dude, that was so lame. Get up, we’re done.” Agnes announced. She sat Jasmine down against a wall.

“Ow, please, more gently.” Jasmine yelped. “Franz, I need you to heal me.”

“Oh, shit.” He mumbled. “Where? What’s the issue?”

“My shoulder, mostly. I can’t move it anymore. Then you can do my ankle, it might be sprained. I don’t think anything’s wrong with my stomach, but I got hit there too.”

Franz rushed toward her and crouched. “These aren’t from SIM rounds. What happened?” He inquired as he touched her shoulder. Even through her uniform, she moaned in pain.

“They had some weird one on one fistfight. It was really intense, but she got beaten up pretty bad.” Agnes explained, glaring at Kaleb.

“Don’t make it sound like it wasn’t close.” Jasmine said.

“I think it might be dislocated. I need to set the bone properly before I heal you.”

Jasmine’s eyes widened in fear. “N—no… you don’t.”

“It’ll only take a few seconds and the pain will be gone. I learned it from the medicine and anatomy books they had me read.”

“And then you failed the test, did you not?” Agnes sneered. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I am one hundred percent sure. Hold her still.”

Kaleb held her, determined to keep her unmoving. Jasmine bit her lip to distract herself from the pain as Franz grabbed her arm and pulled it toward him. Numbness began to overtake her arm, which was a welcome development. Numbness turned to relief as she began to feel her arm again, this time without any of the agony involved.

“There we go. Can you move your arm? I also fixed your ankle.” Franz asked as the two men let her go.

Jasmine paused at first, scared to try anything, but after a few seconds, she moved. First slightly, rolling her shoulders, and then fully swinging her arm.

“It’s perfect. Thank you so much!” Jasmine beamed with a smile. “I’m so glad you’re here, Franz.” She added as she got up, hugging him.

“Well, shit, I guess we did it then. What now? Do we just go back to Loeb?” Agnes asked.

“Yes, you’ve passed the test.” Kaleb declared. “Jasmine, can I speak to you for a second? Just you and me?”

The girl nodded, and after a few grumbling protests from Agnes, they were alone in the building. The soldiers playing dead had all left by now, including the ones outside.

“If you want to apologize again, you don’t need to. It was a good fight.”

“It’s not because of that, although I believe I did go too hard on you. Sometimes I forget that you’re just a teenager.”

Jasmine scoffed, low enough that she hoped that Kaleb hadn’t heard her.

“Laugh all you want, it’s true. I was your age once, and I remember it clearly. You think you’re ready for anything. You’re on top of the world, and nothing can stop you. It’s funny what being sixteen does to your brain.”

“I’m seventeen now, and what are you lecturing me for? You were the one who suggested the fight, I went along with your plan. I lost, and I don’t deserve the box, but you gave it to me anyway. Franz fixed—”

“This has nothing to do with the fight.” Kaleb said, interrupting her. “But I wanted to warn you since this might be the last time we can see each other one on one. At least in a while.”

Jasmine’s eyes widened as she realized this fact. In all her desire for victory and the adrenaline rush of the fight, she had forgotten that she would be leaving the research center tomorrow morning. The girl stood there, frozen. He continued.

“You’ll be serving the country, fighting fucked up, broken individuals, each one more powerful than the last. More powerful than me by orders of magnitude. I saw the way you attacked me. You rushed in with a plan— a bad one. In a real fight— no, a real battle, you have to be more cautious. Your life will be on the line every single day out there.”

“I know that.” Jasmine replied, feeling frustration building up within her. “It wasn’t a real fight. We’ve sparred before when you were teaching me.”

“That was as real as it got without weapons, Jasmine. And I’m not accusing you of being ignorant, I’m reminding you to be careful. What happens out there will be even more brutal than this, and you can’t always count on Franz to heal your shoulder.”

“What, you think he’s going to refuse to heal me?” Jasmine said incredulously.

“No, Jasmine. I’m saying what happens if he dies during a fight with the MSA? Then you have a fucked up shoulder for weeks. Or a fucked up ankle, or a fucked up knee. He won’t always be there.”

“He won’t be fighting, he’ll be a doctor.” The girl answered weakly. “It’ll be fine, this is my duty. Why are you saying all of this now? You’re the one who convinced me to stay— to do what’s right.”

Kaleb blinked. “There is a difference between fulfilling your duty and fighting recklessly. And yes, I am glad you stayed because I believe you and your metahuman friends can help fix this country. And even though it is deeply flawed, even after witnessing the death, the needless destruction, famine, and war that the old regime put us through, I still love Azeris with all my heart. I hope you understand that.”

“I do understand, but I did not stay here for Azeris. I stayed because I want my people to live a normal life free from discrimination and oppression— or what remains of us, I mean.”

“That’s fine, that’s more than I can ask for. Just be less… brash. Think more before you act, or you’ll regret it during your final seconds.”

“I’ll… keep it in mind.” Jasmine said as she nodded.

“Thank you. I hope I’ll see you tomorrow before you leave?”

“Yes, you can come to see us. Do you know where you’ll be going?”

“Eh, I’m being redeployed up north, near Kouver. MSA’s been ramping up their activity there since Adelind is chock full of personnel these days to avoid another attack.”

“Ah.”

Jasmine grimaced. Kouver was far up north, and it was Azeris’ fourth-biggest city.

“That’s further than I thought,” Jasmine added. “Why so far up north?”

“The TIA is smelling blood in the water, and they don’t have enough policemen to enforce order in case of an attack.”

“I see. Well… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yep. Tomorrow.”

Jasmine awkwardly left and opened the door, knocking an eavesdropping Agnes to the ground.

“Shit! Franz, can you heal me too?” She asked as she got up slowly.

“Nah, I told you it was a bad idea. How’d it go?” Franz asked.

“Just some general advice stuff, nothing more.”

Jasmine shot Agnes a look, making sure she wouldn’t tell anything. And so, the trio left the makeshift hamlet, somewhat victorious— they had gotten the box, after all— making their way back to general Thomas Loeb.