“You good?” She asked, breathless.
“Mm,” He mumbled, holding out a hand. She csped it and pulled him to his feet. His dark eyes narrowed and he looked up before straightening his mess of bck hair and fixed his tie. “Tired, but I don’t hurt, your ability?”
“Yeah, I kind of feel it w on everyone else too,” She said, gng at the others as they slowly pulled themselves together.
“Aren’t you guys lucky?” Sonya chimed in from a cushion she was sitting on in the rear of the area, “Having someoh a passive recovery ability training with you!” She smiled and sipped at a co, seeing it made Lillian’s stomach rumble a little, “I wouldn’t tell Bck Lotus if I were you, she won’t be as nice as I am about it.”
The other aspirants all looked Lillian’s way. Some of them frowned while others smiled with gratitude. She rubbed her neck, Mixed rea, great. She thought befng at Sonya who wi her, “I just hope it helps,” She said awkwardly, shifting a bit on her feet.
Sonya slipped off of her cushion and crossed her arms behind her back, “Now! For those of you who want to tiaking my lessons and improving your basibat skills, it’s time to talk about the ultimate expectation,” She said, drawing everyone’s attention. Lillia aside her mild disfort from the gazes of the others and gave the woman her full focus. “Thirty seds and one if grazing blow,” Sonya said, holding her finger up in the air. “That’s it.”
Lillian narrowed her eyes and thehem widen with arm, “Thirty seds?” She gasped.
John frowned o her, “Against you?”
Everyone murmured, “Some of us only sted a sed! That’s nuts!”
Sonya frowhe first time she’d seen the woman actually make a testy expression in public, she turned her glowing pink eyes on the person who spoke. “You ’t st thirty seds against arained CEO? A glorified desk jockey?” She snapped, “Then give up being a hero,” She said harshly.
“But you’re way tougher than some office worker!” Another protest came.
“Yeah, how are you so good at fighting? I heard you were blind up until the fsh!” Alex chimed in, crossing his arms.
“I have maintained myself my entire life,” Sonya said, resting her hands on her hips, “My injury notwithstanding. Just because your lifestyle or career ges, does that mean you should stop perfeg the things yood at?” She demanded, “Should I have given up on my body?” Sonya asked. “I worked hard to get to where I am, suffered a lot, studied a lot, and now I am here teag you and kig your ass, boys and girls.”
The crowd flinched a little as she looked them over, “Thirty seds, one defi, do that, and I’ll sider you passable as a hand to hand batant. However!” She held up a hand, “One more thing,” She cracked her trademark grin, “The one who sts the lo after thirty seds by the end of the ten weeks will receive a special reward from yours truly, as long as it's within my power, I’ll grant your wish.”
A susurrus spread through the room, everyoared at her a bit harder as she turned away and threw up her hand, “Dismissed! I’ll see some of you at the scouting training tonight.”
Lillian watched her go and rubbed her neck, Everybody’s got a story, I guess. She thought and gnced over at John whed and turned on his heel to walk away. Greg walked over to cp him on the bad wave at Lillian while Alex walked over to join them. She bit her lip and looked back at Sonya one more time before nodding to herself. The best time, huh? That’s a bar worth striving for. She didn’t even sider the reward, just getting there was worth it to her. She turned and hustled over to them, grinning and throwing an arm reg’s shoulder.
“You survived!” She ughed.
He gnced up at her, “Yeah, kinda? That Jessica chick is no joke,” He said with a sigh, “I wish we were allowed to use our powers here. Some of us don’t have passives,” He said with a grin at her.
“Hey! You’d be half-dead by now if it weren’t for me!” She tered as they started to walk.
“She’s got you there,” Alex said.
“Shut up, Alex, you don’t get to talk,” Greg said, “You’re just as bad.”
“Oh e on, don’t out me here, shhh!” Alex hissed, holding his finger up to his lips.
Lillian raised an eyebrow but decided this time she wouldn’t pry and step o another ndmine. Instead, she just hung ’s shoulder as they walked out. Across from them in the field, the poor sods under Bck Lotus’ scrutiny were enduring a special kind of hell. She watched as Val ran by, pushing himself while the ruthless trainer shouted; “ON YOUR FEET! KEEP MOVING! I WANT TO SEE YOUR LIMITS!”
“Oof,” Greg grunted.
“Uhuh,” John mumbled.
“Gd I stayed in shape before ing,” Alex said.
“Me too,” Lillian winced.
“Hey,” A small voice rang out behind them. They turned as oo see Jessica standing there, she reached up and pyed a bit with her hair. They all looked at one another and then back at her as she stood there awkwardly for a moment.
“Sup?” Lillian chimed in, “You alright?”
She smiled a bit and then looked at Greg, “You put up a good fight, hang in there!” She said quickly before hurrying off. They all watched her go, blinking simultaneously. They looked at one ahen down at Greg. Greg stared into space as the three of them started to grin. Lillian squeezed his neck a little more and he shrank a bit into her muscles.
“Oho?” She was the first to chuckle, leaning in and leering at him.
“What do we have here?” Alex asked, rubbing his and leaning in too.
“Prote is in the medical office.” John added in his usual monotone, poking his head in from the side.
Greg threw Lillian off with a grunt of frustration, “Fuck you guys!” He shouted and stormed off, “Fu’ goddamn, fu’ what the hell was that!” He barked, his ears a bright red as the three of them ughed.
They watched him go and Lillian rubbed her neck, “One of us should probably keep an eye on him,” She said.
“I’m on it!” Alex ughed and raced off to catch up with his friend. He practically tackled him, throwing his arm around Gregs shoulder as the two bickered in the distanbsp;
Lillia out a breath from her nostrils and smiled at them befng over at John who stood stiffly at her side. He was kind of an awkward guy, stiff and blunt, it was refreshing but also made it really hard to start a genuine versation. She scratched the back of her head and cleared her throat, “So uh… css?”
“Lunch first, health is important,” John said ftly. “Also I like food.”
She saw a faint twinkle in his eyes.
“Sandwiches?” She asked as they started walking.
“Perfect food, be anything,” He said thoughtfully, “Protein, fiber, all nutrients be in a sandwich. Easy to hold, looks on a pte. Perfect.”
She tilted her head and crossed her arms, thinking over what he said, “Huh, I guess you’re right, sandwiches are the perfect food aren’t they?”
“You uand, that’s good. Sensible person,” John said with a small smile, “I like you. Good in a fight too, surprising since your training is in mobility.”
She shrugged, “I went to a few martial arts csses while doing my training, nothing permahough, just enough to get some ideas.”
He tilted his head as they reached the door to the on area, “Wise, overspecialization would be bad for you. You also need a on. Knife is too short, with your arms and upper body strength, you need reach. Like Jessica said, sword is good. Bck Lotus will be teag the sword.”
She marveled at him for a moment, he was a startlingly analytical person. He looked up with that bnk expression of his and broke into an actual smile, “You’ll be fine,” He said and wandered off to the buffet.
“Lillian!” A familiar voice shouted behind her just as she was about to follow him inside. She turned and saw Sonya standing there oiptoes and waving at her, “e over here a moment, I want a word!”
She shrugged and hustled over, sliding to a stop in front of the diminutive CEO. It was still hard to believe a woman so small could move like she did, let alone fight that well. She was holding a small box in her hand, “Yes ma’am?”
“I have something for you,” She said, “I need you to wear it while you’re doing group training. As good as your ability is for morale, the other students o feel the strain a bit or they won’t get used to it. You ’t be around all the time,” Sonya said with a sad smile. “I’m also going to want to see yuidebook, I’m scheduling you with Bck Lotus for one oraining.”
Lillia her heart sink, she looked down at the box and had a feeling she knew what was ihey’d e out almost six months after the Vegas disaster, Maraint cuffs. MRCs. They were usually used for criminals who were on trial or in prison and were a hotly debated issue. She looked down at her hands, she’d just gotten her power and now she was being told she o restrain it. She pressed her lips together in a frown, “Will-will it really help the others if I reign it in?”
“You only o wear it when you’re in group training,” Sonya repeated with a small smile, “I’m sure the others will appreciate you taking it off afterwards. You keep snuggling with that cozy ability, Miss Landrey.”
Lillian flushed, “Wh-what?”
“Mhm,” Sonya chortled, “Okay, here it is. It’s yours to keep. It might e in handy iure too until you get your ability fully under trol,” Sonya said and put the box in her hands. “Do you have yuidebook?”
Lillian looked down at the etal box in her hands before looking up and nodding, “Right, are you really signing me up with Bck Lotus? you do that? She should be made avaible to the others, right?”
Sonya made a plicated face, somewhere between a frown and a grimace before it shifted to a smile, “We have an agreement, she’ll tutor you three days a week for extended periods. The rest will be open to the others,” She held out her hand, “Guidebook?”
Lillia awkward but it was also a huge opportunity. The world’s number one hero would be giving her exclusive training three days a week for ten weeks. Thirty sessions. She gnced over at the grueling effort that her friends and other aspirants were going through. Bck Lotus took her work seriously, if she was really going to give her that kind of attention. Who was she tue? It just meant a better ce at being who she wao be, she only wished that her power was better suited.
She let out a breath and got out of her own head, I keep going down that loop. Gotta stop.
“Here,” She said, pulling the booklet out of her pocket and handing it to Sonya.
“sider this my first act as your sponsor and agent,” Sonya said as she pulled out a pen and started flipping through pages, writing things down and cirg spots, “I’m also putting in a few suggestions for you to sider,” She said before closing the catalog and handing it back to Lillian with a nod, “Do me proud.”
“I will,” Lillian said, “Thank you ma’am.”
“Mm,” Sonya grunted with a nod befng over at the field, she frowned and turned away with a breath, “Go eat! I o prepare for the scout css tonight.”
Lillian broke into a smile, “Sure thing! I’ll see you there!”
“I hope I will!” Sonya called bad waved at her, walking back to the dojo.
Lillian watched her go again befng back at the field and Bck Lotus. She felt an uneasiness in her gut that she couldn’t expin. She shook her head and rolled her shoulders, gripping the box tightly in her hand, “Focus!” She told herself before striding towards the on building and slipping inside. She got into line and grabbed a whole mountain of food, making sure to snag a couple sandwiches, before meeting the others at the usual coubsp;
They were decidedly unhappy to hear that the instructors wanted her to wear a restraint while they were in training but ultimately uood the point. It was true, she couldn’t be around them all the time and if they didn’t get used to the ache of effort and to pain from injuries thehey were on the field it would be a terrible experience. She assured them that she only had to wear it during that time, which got some relieved looks. After a while, Val, Ollie, and Snow came stumbling into the on area looking like ghouls.
None of them grabbed food, instead, they just trudged over to the group and y there for a while in Lillian’s aura. Snow practically fated into her p while Ollie colpsed into a chair, Val just gave up and y on the ground, groaning and staring up at the ceiling. The three stayed like that food ten minutes until her power helped them recover enough to move on their own. After that, they immediately raced over to the buffet to grab as much food as they could, much to the others amusement.
Eventually, everyone recovered enough to talk like human beings.
“We got to know our limits!” Ollie hazarded, too tired to do the usual adjustment of his gsses, “She said she’s ing up with exercise routines for each of us.”
“Ollie, you’re cool, but shut up,” Val mumbled, holding his head, “I’ve never run that mu my life.”
“Hey, be nice dude,” Greg grunted, “Man I’m feeling it again. Even with Lil’s aura.”
“Still tired, a body only do so much a day, regardless of how much we are healed,” John pointed out, pig up his thirteenth sandwid biting into it, “It is good that the csses are mostly academic.”
They g him before sighing in universal relief, “I pletely fot,” Alex sighed, “Thank you John.”
Lillian, Alex, and John looked at one another befng down at Greg who frow them, “Don’t you dare.”
And so began the releeasing as they went over their exploits and failures during the bat training css. Lillian savored it, the little moments, drank it all in. After one day of this camp she knew without a doubt that it was going to be the hardest experience of her life. If she hadn’t met these amazing people around her, she didn’t know if she would have been able to do it. She smiled at them as they ughed and argued, teased and joked, she’d barely known them more than a day and it felt like she’d known them for a lifetime.
I get used to this.