Chapter 69

69 Rising Heat, Pt The four pilots split up the moment they arrived on Helios. It wasn’t as though they didn’t enjoy each other’s company (well, for the most part anyway). Simply, they had spent a couple hundred hours with each other, in that lab. They were sick of the project, of brother and sister Chase, and of each other as well.

They seriously needed a break from all of it.

So they bid a temporary farewell to each other, then headed on their separate ways.

Redstar went off to find her racer and jock buddies while Merlin spent some time with his crew. Miko decided to visit a hackerspace and get her coding game on.

Eva decided that she needed to sweat a whole lot. Though she had worked her mind to death the past two weeks, her body had languished to some degree. Being the kind of person who needed to keep moving, she associated sitting in a core for hours to plain torture.

And now that she was free of that cage, she was eager to get her body moving. So she changed into her workout gear and went straight to her sparring gym.

Although the refugee players had bodies like video game characters, and never truly tired or aged, they still changed. At least, ever so slightly.

She certainly felt stronger, and her body appeared more defined. She almost wished to see a stat screen of her capabilities through her DI, as that would have made her growth that much easier to track.

Besides, she simply wanted to stay sharp. And the best way for her to do that was to get physical.

.....

So, she spun up one of the training automatons, set it into overdrive, and pushed it around a bit. Just the one felt rather inadequate, so she decided to add a second training one into the mix.

It was a constant back and forth against the two of them, and she ended up evading their relentless attacks one after the other. Ultimately, she became used to their movements and fended them off with skill. She slipped in between their swings, and delivered her own punishment in kind.

Eva even gained a small group of admirers who watched as she toyed with the two automatons. Some of them were enraptured at her, and watched for a good long while.

Not that she even noticed. Her thoughts were lost in a myriad of things – Prometheus, Commander Chase, Miko, immortality, Mack, the omnicast.

And Pelli.

He had kind of a boyish charm about him which she enjoyed very much. She was often objectified by most men, which she absolutely hated. In contrast, she found Pelli’s goofiness refreshing and endearing and very much welcome.

And they ended up messaging each other as she worked out with the automatons.

—

Freya: Hey, I’m back in Helios. For a week, anyway.

Pelli: Ugh finally.

Pelli: You’ve been teasing me nonstop for two weeks!

Freya: Aww did you miss me?

Pelli: Oh, yeah, totally. I’ve got fond memories of you...

Pelli: Knocking the breath outta me...

Pelli: Pinning me down...

Pelli: Making me tap out...

Freya: How romantic! <3

Freya: Wanna spend more time under me?

—

After roughly an hour, Pelli came by the gym, goaded by Freya's incessant flirting.

His initial impressions of her had been wrong. He thought that she was some hyper-aggressive, punch-happy madwoman. Very cute, but a little too deadly for his tastes. But under it all, he found something rather magnetic about her, and couldn't help but try to get closer.

He simply needed to know more. So when she invited him to hang out, he found that he couldn't refuse.

"You'd better bring your A-game this time around," teased Eva. "Or you might end up on your back more often than you like."

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He jokingly frowned at her remark.

"Aren't you a bit presumptuous," he retorted. "How do you know I won't end up on top this time 'round?"

She grinned as she finished wrapping his hands off with athletic tape.

He flexed his hand in and out of a fist. The wrapping moved cleanly, and kept his knuckles packaged up and protected. She did an excellent job, and it was clear she had done this hundreds of times.

"Ready?" she asked.

He looked up to nod at her, but she had already launched her attack. She came at him with a grin and a fist, so he had no choice but to get the hell out of her way and dodge.

She missed him by a hair, and he shoved her away to increase the distance between them.

"Well, aren't you eager?" he said.

She quickly spun back around to face him, and advanced on him without delay.

"Hey, I've been stuck on a rock for two whole weeks," she countered. "I'm a little pent up."

Eva launched another attack, but was quickly parried by Pelli. Before she could get her bearings and continue her assault, Pelli decided to launch his counterattack. It was a simple left-right jab, and she evaded them easily.

But he didn't exactly let up, and continued throwing quick and light strikes at her.

She was rather impressed with his advance. In fact, it seemed as though he was trying out all sorts of new things. The first time they had sparred, his stance was sloppy, his strikes were weak, and his defenses were nonexistent.

But now...

Looks like he's been practicing a bit, she thought. Did he do that for me?

She smiled inwardly, thoroughly elated by his gesture. They had been talking about getting together to spar again over the past couple of weeks. With a little flirtatious banter thrown in for spice.

But she didn't think that he would actually work on improving his skills. It impressed Eva greatly.

After she was done admiring him, she observed his strikes and looked for an opening. It didn't take her long to find a few.

All Pelli saw was Eva flash a grin before she slipped between his attacks, grabbed his wrist, and yanked him forward. He was taken completely by surprise by her move, and couldn't help but stumble in her direction.

At the same time, Eva surged forward and threw an uppercut at his ribs.

Pelli was unbalanced and unguarded but did his best to roll his body to minimize the damage. He didn't do so well, so her strike rang true. Her fist connected squarely with his ribs, and pain radiated from the point of impact.

But he fought through it, lowered himself, and swept at her legs in retaliation. Eva backstepped quickly, and gave him some room.

He lightly rubbed at his ribs, and worked the pain out a bit.

"You hit hard," he said.

She scratched the back of her head apologetically.

"Sorry sorry," she replied. "You showed some new moves, and I got a little... excited."

"Try to get a little less excited, please," he teased.

"I am holding back, you know."

He was certain that she was pulling her punches. He had watched firsthand just how much energy she could put into her strikes, and he was astounded.

Everyone knew that the refugees were stronger and tougher than normal. But Eva was a class above that. He and his buddies had even tested it. While they all had varying degrees of strength, none of them came close to what Eva could do.

Whatever training she went through had turned her into a powerhouse.

"Well, you literally wiped the floor with me the last time around. So my friends taught me some stuff. Told me I needed to stand up to bullies."

She gasped at him with phony shock.

"I'm not a bully!" she exclaimed. "But I can be if you want me to!"

Then she leapt forward at him and launched another attack. She threw some strikes at him, albeit with less intensity. And he dodged them, but only just so.

He realized that if this was a real fight, he would have felt as though he was being toyed with. He also realized something about her: her eyes had grown wilder with lust as they traded blows.

She loved every moment of their sparring.

She had called herself a raven, but there were times where she was more often a falcon. The grin that was etched on her face revealed that she lived for the thrill of the hunt. And of the kill.

Because she did, every strike she made sharpened her talons even further.