1.6.2

Sparring with Sparks

Astrid fell into position, hands raised in planks, while Romo’s balled into fists.

Her reflexes served her well. Romo’s first two punches swished air. His third grazed her hair as she spun and danced away.

“Come on, girl, you’re gonna have to fight sometime. Don’t make me piss you off to get you to strike.”

Astrid snapped her arm to drive the flat edge of her right hand against his shoulder. The left chopped at his neck, with more vigor than he anticipated, and he darted to the side before a third hit could land.

“There you go!” he teased with cheer.

As surely intended, Romo’s patronizing smugness sprouted a menacing desire to affect more harm.

He encouraged the sentiment with a few provoking blows, and soon they dueled through the air between.

While his fists struck like rocks, Astrid’s formed into tighter tools. His landed like maces, but hers, like batons, sharp and concise.

She quickly realized she battled a man quite familiar with fighting. He shrugged off her strikes, even when he grunted, and the steel under his skin resisted her strength at every turn. His compact form lay packed with muscle unrelenting. Nowhere on his chest or torso seemed to hinder him, so she adjusted to stay at the neck and shoulders.

Twice he tried to snatch her, to grapple and test her recovery. But though she could not compete with his strength, her escapes and agility kept him from constricting her longer than a few seconds at time.

With enough distance, and with his hands invested in defense after a flurry of blows, she spun and vaulted her shin into his waist.

He staggered and gripped his obliques at the shot, but his face lit in delight. “Haha! Hell yeah!”

She’d never seen him so vivacious. While normally so controlled, the action stirred him alive.

In a rush to please, she came at him again, and this time, he met her with equal zeal.

He brawled harder, tested her, until a hit cut her lip on her teeth and blood beaded over the tiny wound.

Anders straightened to attention, but Astrid only licked the fresh cut in surprise.

“You alright?” Romo asked. But his tone toyed with the edge of mockery.

It triggered something new in her. Something completely foreign. Channelers were not allowed to revel in pain, on either end of it. And were never pitted against one another so fervently.

She began to understand why. Lust for retribution thrust to the surface like a rocket. Adrenaline kicked in, and Astrid reached a new level in her ferocity.

She swirled as her hurled hands cut like small axes through the air.

“Don’t get sloppy in the pain, now. Let it anger you, but don’t lose focus. Gain power!” Romo coached.

Astrid pressed, harsher, and twice, in her mad attacks, Romo was able to use it against her. Once, he caught her leg and threw her balance. It effectively tossed her on her ass, and she hissed. The metal hull bruised her tailbone, but she leapt back to her feet in defiance of the throbbing jolt.

“More,” he said again.

She drove forward. Even as she landed another hit, he baited further, convinced she held back.

“More!” he insisted once again. “Like I’m someone you have to end.”

It didn’t help. It wasn’t in her nature to be aggressive. Seeing this, Romo struck her along the temple. It rattled her brain, and her ability flared.

Romo radiated intensity with each passing moment, his energy stampeded past her boundaries. Fearless like a stallion, it threatened to bowl her over.

So, she shoved it back at him with all her strength. And when her foot booted into his sternum, it blazed in a wisp of pale sparks.

Energy force beyond the physical knocked Romo two meters and onto his back.

Astrid’s hands flew to her own mouth in alarm.

“Oh my god, are you okay?!” She immediately bounded to him.

Anders, too, bolted over. “Romo!”

Romo lifted his head, stupefied, but upon seeing Astrid’s horrified concern, the agent barked a laugh that filled the whole hold.

“Haha ha! Holy shit, that was awesome, Astrid! Nice work!”

Anders passed an exhaustive sigh and rolled his eyes, but finally relaxed to see the man okay.

“I’ve never-- I mean, I don’t know how I did that!”

While Astrid talked, Anders extended a hand to his teammate, and with locked forearms helped his friend to his feet.

“Well, you should!” Romo grinned. “You’re a small girl, Astrid. Your hits will only slow someone down so much, but something like that, that will get them out of your face completely!”

“That’s not something I should practice on you!”

“We’ll get a bag hanged for ya.”

“Where did you even get the energy?” Anders next crossed to Astrid and shifted her face in the light to inspect her injuries.

She would be bruised, but fine.

“I don’t know!” she confessed. “Romo, maybe? His energy was just so... vivid. For a second it was all I could feel, and I just wanted to push it back.”

“It definitely felt like you were trying to put me back in my place,” Romo sniggered. “So, we’ve learned something. Someone gets too much ‘tude around you and you can use it against them. Won’t help much against assassins or soldiers, but that trick’ll make barfights a blast!”

Astrid blushed and turned her face from the men. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right.”

“You can’t play defense all the time, Astrid,” Romo comforted. “Eventually, someone will do something that’ll make you want to put their head through a wall. It’s good to know when that time comes, you can.”

Reticent to agree, Astrid tucked loosed strands behind her ears. Suddenly her body felt an alien vessel capable of strange and unnatural things.

“I’ll hook up the boxing bag for you to work later. We should see how viable that skill is for long-term use. It’ll definitely give you an edge. Tomorrow we’ll be testing your reflexes for tactical defense. Using cover and avoiding weaponsfire.”

“I thought I’d be learning firearms.”

“You will,” Romo assured. “But we don’t have weeks to commit you to basic like the rest of us. For now, we need to focus on your survivability so you can live long enough to learn the rest.”

Astrid swallowed as the man retreated to his station in silent dismissal.

Anders watched the way she peered at her own hands.

“You look troubled.”

“I am,” she replied. “I could have really hurt him.”

“Good.” Anders emphasized the word. “Next time you go to toe-to-toe with someone, it might not be practice.”

~~~

By the time she and Anders trekked to mid-level for their own lesson, Astrid felt dizzy.

“You okay?” the lieutenant asked when she braced herself a moment on the corridor wall.

“Yes. Maybe it’s that I just haven’t used my ability that way before. My brain feels a little weird.”

“Romo got a few good hits in, too. We should go see Ishioka if you’re feeling off.”

“No, it’s probably just fatigue.”

“Let’s get you a snack then so we can at least rule it out.”

Anders collected a handful of pressed granola bars from the mess and accompanied Astrid to the War Room, now empty without the others.

He dragged a crate over the floor to serve as a bench and instructed her to sit.

“I’ll really be okay,” Astrid assured him.

“Probably. But if you’ve never done this kind of work before, you can’t know that.”

It was an awkward source of kindness for her, to be the center of so much concern. Something about having the lieutenant’s complete focus, with no one else to detract attention left her feeling vulnerable.

One she started eating, however, Anders seemed to relax a little.

“Romo really lights up in a fight, don’t he?” He commented with a fond smile.

Astrid found herself entertained by his choice of words.

“Yes,” she readily agreed. “He really does.”