Chapter 1: The Match

Wash stood in the Rec room, chatting with York. C.T. was playing ping pong against Carolina. C.T. was crushing her. The rest of the freelancers except Tex (but nobody cared where she was) were playing Halo 3 and cussing when one of the others would kill them. Suddenly Wash heard boots clanking against metal. He went out into the hall. Marines were racing down the hall. Wash stopped one.

"Where are all of you going?" asked Wash.

"New guy's going up against Texas. Like anybody would ever beat her," the Marine explained. He then raced away. Wash leaned back into the room. "Texas is going up against a new recruit. Want to go watch?"

They all responded Yes, and the walked to the VIP area, where they could watch matches in comfort. The man was facing Tex, and appeared that he was losing. He was weak. He tried to throw a punch, but Tex caught his arm and threw him into the wall. His helmet fell off, revealing his face. He was in his 40's, with brown hair and pale skin. She had already won 7 rounds, out of 17. F.I.L.L.S. announced Tex's 8 win. Carolina voiced what they were all thinking.

"If this guy doesn't turn this around fast, He's going to get his ass kicked."

We all nodded, as the man stood up. Wash glanced up at the board. His name was Magneto. Magneto stood, an evil look spreading across his face. Wash shivered. 'That smile freaks me out. It looks like he's seen pure evil and survived.' He donned his helmet and stepped up to Tex. The new round started. Tex flipped him to the ground and started beating him. All the Freelancers winced; half of them had felt that punch, but not repeatedly. Then their faces turned to ones of shock. Magneto had grabbed Tex's fist in mid-punch and grabbed her throat. He got up, still clutching her throat. He grabbed her chest plate and one of her legs. He dropped to a knee and dropped her so that her stomach landed on the bony appendage. Wash actually felt sympathetic for Tex. He straightened his leg, letting her slip to the ground, and waited for the next round.

South broke the silence that had engulfed the room. "Wow," she said, "I'd, totally go out with him." That raised some laughter. They watched, round after round, Magneto take down Tex time and Time again. Sometimes he used holds; other times he'd use take downs. He won all of the hand to hand. It was obvious somebody taught him martial arts. Carolina, an expert on Hand to Hand combat, told us that he used pankration, an Ancient Greek martial art. Tex won staves easily. The final round. The paintball round. The most deadly round. The round where York lost his eye. Magneto sat and closed his eyes. He seemed to be trying to sense something. He stood and the round began.

It was intense first Magneto would be up by 2, then Tex would catch up, and so on. Finally, the scores sat tied at 7-7. Tex started shooting, but, Magneto did the most amazing thing; The paintballs stopped in midair.

They just stopped. Magneto jerked his arm towards Tex, and the paintballs followed his command. Tex's own paintballs splattered her against the wall. Magneto just stared at her. F.I.L.L.S. announced his win. He walked off towards the locker room. All the boys went to the locker to congratulate him, except Wash. The girls went to the girls to tease Tex. Tex stood and pulled her knife. Wash watched in horror as she threw it at Magneto's back. Magneto turned and put his hand up into a stop motion. The knife stopped 3 inches in front of his heart. He made a twisting motion with his hands. The knife twisted and slowly ripped off the handle.

"Nice try," he seemed to mouth, but of course, the room was sound proof, so he couldn't tell. Magneto turned back to the door and loped towards it. Tex shook her head in shame and trudged towards the other door. Wash went to the locker room to see this master.

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