Sophia hadn't moved; she held her position in front of the barracks door. She watched Ray's eyes as they darted around, Sophia was in her breaker state, virtually invisible to the naked eye, well until his eyes adjusted to the dark.
Ray slipped out of his chosen lower bunk with his power. In an instant their breaker states collided and both materialised.
"Shit", they hissed in unison, their nerves on fire from the resistance of The Manton Effect. They found themselves pressed tightly against each other, arms tangled around one another.
Sophia's arms dropped but halted just as fast as her hands caught his waist. They slowly slid up from the sides of his stomach, she let her nails rake against the raised scars that ran across his ribs and the taut layer of muscle beneath his shirt. His breath hitched in his throat as Ray stood paralyzed, unsure how to react. She watched him blink over and again, his sight still not adjusted, trying to make sense of her features so close yet hidden by the dark.
Sophia felt the growth of his body's reaction as it strained his boxers and pressed against her stomach. Her face pressed against his rough cheek, lips near his ear.
"Well hello to you, too", she whispered.
Sophia dragged her nails down his sides but really let them dig in this time.
"Ahh, don't - shit, this is happening. I'm - I'm Ray, fuck."
Sophia quirked a smile he couldn't quite see, "Alright, Ray Fuck. I was hoping we stuck to our cape names, but-"
She twisted and dug her nails into his flesh, his shirt barely keeping them from piercing through. Ray's legs buckled but remained standing.
"-since Dogfight is dead, Call me Sophia."
His hissed her name like an invective releasing his pain and she felt a thrill she usually felt right before she struck a man with a sharp bolt.
"Say it again, say it."
"Sophia".
"Again".
"Sophia, the hell are you doing to me?"
This thrill was far from enough. She twisted her hand up into his shirt, pulled him harder against herself and made her other hand into a flat edge. She thrusted the point of her hand into his armpit and deadened his entire arm.
Pain lanced through his body, shut his eyes and damn near saw stars. His body diffused on its own and he was laid on his back in his bunk again.
With a low guttural growl she launched herself at his bunk, and his foot caught her in the face, arresting her attack and splitting her lip. Sophia crouched a few feet from the bunk and wiped at the blood with the back of her hand.
"Sophia, stay the hell back. I mean it, I don't know what you're up to - hell, I've never done anything like this and even I know this is beyond fucked up."
Sophia picked herself up from her crouch, for once she spoke like a rational human being to him, "This your first time… Ray?"
Ray sat up slowly, clutching his numb arm, "Getting my ass kicked? Not even remotely close. Being alone with a girl and rounding a base, yeah."
Sophia looked down at her blood on the back of her hand and shook her head.
"I'm not used to this urges stuff, I feel things inside and my reaction is to attack, okay? You're different, you're not exactly my caliber in the looks department, Ray."
"Hey, the door is right behind you. You can take your baggage and vamanos. I got a matching set all my own, chica."
Sophia grunted her frustration.
"Floor lights on", her command cast a faint orange glow to the barracks.
"What I'm trying to say is, I was always competitive before my powers, and I saw my aggression gave me an edge. I - I felt a fire under my ass so long as I hated: hated my coaches, my teammates, the competition. It fuels me. Then I fucking trigger and I'm - a hammer and everything is a nail and nails royally piss me off."
She held her hand up and let the meager light catch the blood stain there.
"So you made a move on me and when I screwed up by not engaging how you wanted…?"
"Pretty much took it as a challenge. You freezing up was rejection and you calling me on my shit was an attack."
Ray nodded along, "Right, right. Ahh, I know I'm the furthest thing from a prize when it comes to looks but, present ass kicking and past bitchiness aside, and I know I literally just kicked you away from my bed but - I wouldn't kick you out of it in an actual skin on skin type situation."
Sophia ran a hand over the top of her head and grabbed the base of her ponytail, as she did so she noticed Ray staring at her body. Her hand reached back, tucked her ponytail into the neck of her shirt and pulled her old band shirt off.
"Oh-kay, I uhhh think this is officially my new longest, most fucked up night", he said with a crooked grin.
"Uhh, damn my dumb ass, but how old are you, Sophia?"
She shook her head and laughed, "Old enough to have done this before Mr. Protectorate."
"Sophia, I don't have any con-"
She interrupted, "They did, but you don't - ever".
~~x