I climb down the ladder, dropping the last few feet to the ground. Nick sprints toward the training room door and I follow. When the door slides open, I see Tinu standing at the edge of the gathering, arms folded and a slight scowl on her face. I hear Boron talking, alternating between addressing the group and Wash, as I walk toward him.

"We don't need you!" Boron says angrily, nearly in Wash's face. He turns to face everyone else around him. "We don't need these people's help, and it's too dangerous to let them stay here. We don't know if we can trust them. You know what happened last time."

I push my way through the group, most people stepping aside to let me by. When I reach Boron, he's facing away from me, about to shout something else in Washington's face. I grab his shoulder and turn him to face me. "Stand down, Boron" I say, trying to keep my tone even but failing to banish all the anger from my voice.

"No" Boron says, shaking my hand off his shoulder. "Not while we have a time bomb like this hanging around." He gestures at Wash as he speaks. From over his shoulder, I see that the Sim-Troopers are now standing behind Washington.

"They won't hurt us" I try to reason. "The last guy was crazy. These people are different."

"Oh, come on!" Boron exclaims. "You're not the only one who's read their files, Silver. You and I both know that this Freelancer," he points at Wash, "is far from safe. He had a mental breakdown and killed three people!"

"He had an AI experience total system breakdown in his head" I point out. "But he's recovered since then."

"You can't go through something like that without it changing you. You have no way to know that he's stable now" Boron says. "We're not safe as long as he's here."

"We're not safe!" I nearly shout. "Period. We have the two largest militaries in the galaxy hunting us down. We are wanted not only by the UNSC, but the whole goddamn Covenant as well. We're not safe, and we won't be safe until we can clear our names and get them off our backs. And these" I gesture at the Sim-Troopers "are the only people in the galaxy who are both willing and able to help with that."

"Help us?" Boron laughs. "How can they help? What can they possibly do that we can't do ourselves?" Without giving me a chance to answer, he turns around, standing face to face with Agent Washington. "What can you do that's better than us? You couldn't even save your own team!" Even though I can't see his face, I can hear the mean smile creeping into Boron's voice. "They said Freelancers were the best of the best. I think we should test if that's true."

I put a hand on his shoulder warningly. "Boron, don't" I start.

"No, he's right" Wash says, anger showing on his face. "You should get to see what we can do."

I glance between the two of them. I know Boron crossed a line with his comment about Washington's team. I could see his face change as he heard the words. Everyone is eager to see what the Freelancer is capable of, and he looks ready to start punching already. I doubt I can stop a fight from starting, but I can try to control it. "Fine" I say, pushing the two apart as I step between them. "If you want to give a demonstration, then I can set up a match for you" I direct this to Agent Washington. "But not with you," I add, glaring at Boron.

"Afraid I'll hurt your new friend?" Boron smirks as he backs up a few steps. I point to the door, not breaking eye contact. Boron turns reluctantly and leaves the room.

"Well?" I turn to face the gathered crowd. "Go figure out where you want to watch from." They all scatter, chatting excitedly, a few climbing to perches high on the walls while the rest crowd around the windows.

I turn back to Wash. The Sim-Troopers have already left as well, not wanting to get caught up in whatever is about to happen. "You don't have to do this" I finally say.

Wash's eyes lock with mine. Most of the anger seems to have left him, replaced with weariness and a small amount of dread. "I know" he says, half sighing. "Let's just get this over with."

I nod. I spot Tinu hanging out near one of the doors and wave her over. "You up for a sparring match?" I ask.

"Sure" she says. She's keeping her voice cheery, but I can tell she's not happy about what just happened.

"Suit up" I say, gesturing to a door that leads to the armory. "Training pads, not full armor." Tinu nods and jogs toward the door.

Wash notices my irritated expression and mistakes it for nervousness. "Don't worry" he says, glancing in the direction Tinu left. "I'll go easy on her."

I smile. "It's not her I'm worried about." Wash gives me a questioning look. "Just… be careful" I say, patting him on the shoulder before leaving the room.

I set Nick at the room's controls before climbing back up to the catwalk. One wall of the box flashes white before displaying the rules for the match. It's a basic hand-to-hand fight, with a ten foot wide holographic circle restricting movement. I know immediately that Tinu will have the advantage in this small space. Her long arms and legs will make it easy for her to push Wash out if the ring. I think about signaling for Nick to change the setting, but decide against it. I want to see how Washington handles this.

Tinu enters the room and moves to stand in the circle. She's wearing training armor that looks like a poor imitation of the Mjolnir armor Wash is wearing, consisting of little more than cloth padding topped in hard plastic, fastened to her chest, arms, and legs with white straps. It looks like it could protect against mild bruising but not much else. Wash glances up at me with a questioning look. I just smile and nod. Tinu will be fine.

Once they're both in the ring, holographic bands rise from the floor to signal the edges. A timer is displayed on the wall, accompanied by a robotic female voice. "Three" the voice starts, and Tinu and Wash both take defensive stances. "Two." They both begin to step to the left, circling around the edges of the ring. "One." Tinu smiles at Wash and dips her head to the side in a slight bow. Wash mimics the bow. "Round begin."

The moment those words play over the speakers, Tinu steps forward and makes a halfhearted punch toward Wash's chest. He steps back to avoid the blow, quickly throwing in a punch of his own. Tinu ducks to the side, then answers with a kick forward. The kick sends Wash stepping back again. Tinu keeps this up for a few more minutes, until with one powerful kick forward she sends Wash stumbling out of the ring.

"Point to Platinum" the voice rings through the speakers.

I laugh for a second. Tinu has tricked a lot of people with that style of fighting before. She likes to pretend that she's not very good or very strong, or that her mind's not on the fight. Then, whenever she knows her opponent isn't expecting it, she surprises them with all the skill she's hidden. It's how she won her first fight against me. Most good fighters won't fall for it twice, however. Now we'll get to see what Wash can really do.

Wash steps back into the ring and prepares for the next round. I can tell from his stance that he's taking this fight more seriously. He lets Tinu attack first, blocking all her kicks and punches without giving up ground. Once he gets used to her pattern, he starts throwing in attacks of his own. Wash misses a few blocks while pressing the attack, but is rewarded with a few of his punches reaching their targets. Tinu doesn't stop, though. Once she's confident Wash is following her pattern of attack, she changes things.

Tinu switches to a more defensive style, attacking only when she sees an opening. These are few and far between. Wash is definitely keeping his guard up. When she does land a hit, though, Tinu doesn't hold back. Every punch or kick Wash fails to block causes him to back up a few inches. It's slow and it takes work, but after some time Tinu has worked him back to the edge of the ring. She tries to knock him out a second time by landing another kick to his chest. Wash grabs her foot in an attempt to stop her. He pushes her back, hoping to throw her off balance. Tinu yanks her foot out of his grip, and then roundhouse kicks him in the shoulder, forcing him to roll out of the ring.

"Point to Platinum" the announcement plays through the speakers once again. A two to zero score is displayed on the wall.

I know Wash won't last much longer like this. Tinu's longer legs and arms make it easy for her to push him around the small ring. Add to that her strength, and it's nearly impossible for anyone to win against her in this kind of fight. I wave to Nick and signal for him to change the room's setting. He hits a few buttons and immediately the holographic circles around Wash and Tinu disappear.

"Match reset" the voice says. "Full training room now open for combat practice."

Stone columns begin to rise from the floor. Tinu back flips away from Wash and ducks behind one of the columns, disappearing from view. Wash looks in that direction, trying to spot Tinu. The columns are rising and sinking into the floor randomly, and after a few seconds the one Tinu is crouched behind disappears. Wash runs toward her.

Tinu vaults onto one of the columns just as Wash reaches her. She aims a kick at his head, which misses as he ducks. Wash dodges a second kick, nearly losing his balance as he lunges out of the way. Tinu has the advantage with the high ground right now. Wash needs to match that if he's going to stand a chance.

The column behind Wash begins to rise from the floor, and Wash steps back onto it. Once he's on the same level as Tinu she sends another kick toward him. Wash blocks this with his hands, causing her to lose her balance. Tinu recovers quickly. Just a she's about to attack again, her column begins to sink. Wash wants to take advantage of the changing height difference, but the columns are too far apart for him to reach her.

Suddenly, Tinu leaps up and forward, landing on the edge of Wash's column. He stumbles back and manages to jump to another one. This leads to a chase around the room. Tinu flips and jumps between columns like an acrobat while Wash struggles to stay ahead of her. His clumsy and poorly planned jumps remind me of a kid using stones to cross a stream. I begin to think this fight is going to be entirely one-sided until, without warning, he turns around and kicks his foot out toward Tinu as she's jumping toward him. She doesn't have time to stop herself and slams into the foot with her stomach before falling to the ground.

Tinu lands on her feet. Wash wastes no time and jumps down from the stone column, kicking Tinu back as he falls. He advances toward her, never letting them be more than a foot apart. I nod admiringly. It's a good technique. As long as they stay close, Tinu can't use her longer reach to her advantage. Still, it doesn't make her any less dangerous, as Wash soon learns when Tinu drives her knee into his stomach.

Wash responds with an elbow to her chin, snapping Tinu's head back. She sends a clumsy punch toward Wash which he easily blocks with his forearm. For some reason, after Tinu's arm is blocked by Wash's, they don't separate. They seem to be pulling away from each other and I can see an aggravated look on Tinu's face. Suddenly, I realize what's happened. Their arms are stuck together. I lean over the railing, trying to get a better look. It looks like the training pad on Tinu's wrist has somehow gotten hooked onto Wash's wrist armor.

Wash tries to tug free while Tinu pulls the other direction. Wash stops pulling for a moment. Tinu reaches for the strap holding the pad to her wrist. Before she has a chance to release it, Wash ducks down and rolls forward. The motion twists Tinu's arm backward and pulls her to the ground while simultaneously ripping the training pad off her arm.

Wash gets to his feet first and turns to face Tinu. He takes a step toward her. Tinu, still lying on the ground, kicks toward him in a sweeping motion, hoping to knock Wash's feet out from under him. Wash jumps back to avoid the blow. Tinu jumps to a standing position and charges toward Wash, shouting. I recognize that shout. She's angry.

Tinu swings her fist toward Wash, not caring where it lands as long as she hits him. Wash jumps back, narrowly avoid the small but lethal fist. Tinu punches at him again and again, missing each time. Wash continues to back away from the onslaught until he feels his back pressed against something solid. One of the stone pillars is blocking his path. Tinu punches at Wash again and he blocks it with his hands, feeling the force of the hit send shockwaves through his arms. Another punch is sent his way, and Wash ducks, the blow barely missing his head.

The attack Tinu had aimed for Wash's face misses and her fist collides with stone, imbedding itself in the column. Tinu tries to yank her hand out of the rock, but it won't budge. Wash steps around the blonde and turns to face her. He raises a fist toward her shoulder. I hold my breath. I can tell from the angle that he could dislocate her shoulder if he were to hit hard enough. My hand edges toward the pistol on my hip, but I stop it. I tell myself I'm overreacting. It'll be fine.

Wash brings his fist forward slowly and taps Tinu's arm. "Match" he says.

The speakers quickly echo his announcement. "Match complete. Washington wins!"

I release the breath I've been holding and sigh with relief. I knew I could trust him.