Her right arm was on fire.

The pain came fast and throbbing, distracting her long enough to miss his dropkick to the chest. The wind knocking out of her lungs, she gasped and bounced onto her back on the mat, clutching at how the muscles in her arm seemed to be twitching on its own.

"Interesting," Chad hovered from above, taking extreme interest at her shaking forearm, "did you sprain it?"

She flinched when he reached out for her, but it only served to make his grin stronger. "Please. We've been playing for how long? You don't want me to lick your little wounds. That hurts."

Wincing, Rachel tried to turn on her side and had no choice but to let him guide her back into a sitting position, cradling her arm. "I don't want you to make the injury worse." He could try to step on it or break it or...

"I may be ruthless, but I'm not an idiot," he growled and grabbed her by the jaw to look at him fully. "You're no good to me crippled."

Those brown eyes flashed at him. "Your bedside manner sucks."

That got him laughing, the sound sharp and unyielding. Before she could protest, he roughly picked her up and dragged her to a bench at a far side of the empty gym where a first aid kit was waiting.

She fleetingly wondered what their medical operatives thought having to refill their first aid kit every single week. Biting her lip, she tried not to make a sound when he pulled out a temporary splint and started wrapping her arm up.

"You're getting sloppy," he murmured, gazing at the splint before flickering those electric blue eyes back at her. "You've been stuck on that plateau for weeks now."

Plateau? Rachel glared at him, pretty sure she's been fighting at full strength for almost a half a year dealing with his petty behind. "I can't heal in five minutes, sir. You haven't been letting up in months!"

"Wrong," he gripped her injured wrist tightly, causing her shut her eyes hard and grit her teeth. "I've been holding back for awhile now."

Holding back. She sat on her bed and, with a bound arm and a frustrated cry, she shoved everything on top of her dresser and then kicked the drawers. One of the steel frames gave under her shoe.

Just who did he think he was talking smack to her like that?! Holding back? Holding back?! She gave her all and it wasn't enough?!

He was a monster. A true monster. She slid onto the floor and curled into a ball, tired and battered and angry.

"Her arm is sprained, sir," the medical examiner told the both of them when Chad hauled her to the ER sector, "and with unhealed bruises and cuts, in my opinion she's in no state to fight for at least a month. I may have to make it an order."

She wasn't going to let him win.

Numbuh 362 wasn't on the command deck just yet. Instead she was still in one of the small private cubicles for overnights examining herself in the full length mirror. He really let her have it.

Maybe this was why Fanny and the others ran after the first month, but crying and whining about it like them was just going to cement the fact that 274 was right. Worse, she would break the honor bound tradition of KND promises.

She ran bandaged fingers across the side of her throat and winced at the brilliant blue and purple bruise there. It was the product of a headlock that she fought and twisted around in before she managed to slip away.

He'd probably beam with pride if she walked in her traditional uniform like this. He had a kind of sick possession marking her and forcing her to reveal it to all about it. Not this time. Fishing out a turquoise turtleneck, she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.

"So…" Abby began in the elevator and moved her hand away when Rachel flinched, "six month anniversary?"

Has it really been six months? It felt like an eternity to her. "You're not going to beg me to resign from the position, are you? Because I've heard enough of that from Fanny, Patton, AND Nigel." They didn't understand the position she was in and, quite frankly, she dealt with worse pressure during her time as a spy.

Bruises were inconvenient, but Chad was no more than a cruel child like her, only while she hid her darker side with empathy and subterfuge, Chad simply didn't care and was proud of it. This was all just a game, a test of wills. She wasn't going to give in and let him go free reign on her kids.

Our kids, he corrected in her head, like some kind of parasite. She shook her head of his influence and smoothed out the wrinkles of her turtleneck.

"Numbuh 5 doesn't butt in. Just worried," she answered and tucked her red cap over her eyes. "Maybe you can ask him to lay off a bit. Numbuh 5 was there for your last physical and Numbuh 688 said if you don't start resting your arm up, you're gonna lose it."

Rachel snorted. "I'll let him know," which was her typical bureaucratic answer for 'yeah right'.

She nearly dropped her towel in alarm when he answered her. "Sure."

"Sure?" she repeated suspiciously, watching him pat down the sweat from his neck. They didn't spar today for some reason, which had already raised all sorts of warning flags. Maybe he really was a compassionate person and actually listened to their Chief Medical Operative for once.

"That's right," with a smug smile, he tossed his towel away and did his cool down stretches. "I'm giving you a month to relax. Go to a spa, enjoy a smoothie, eat a meatball sandwich."

"Are you making fun of me?!" she demanded when he laughed. "Maybe I should just get fat enough for you to use as a punching bag if you're going to act so blase about it."

He chuckled and started checking his communicator, almost completely ignoring her. "Blase? What eloquence. See, I can use ten dollar words too," he looked up. "You're not the only toy I've got."

Insulted, she walked over and shoved him hard. "I'm not your toy. I'm not anyone's toy. And I won't let you use anyone else! You swore!"

Without warning, he leg-sweeped her. She let out a strangled gasp when she fell onto her back and right on the large bruise there. A soft cry of pain left her lips before he climbed on top of her and pinned her there, missing her bandaged arm completely. Thank Zero for small favors.

"I may be a monster, but I keep my promises," he told her sweetly and delighted in the way she snarled when he grabbed a fistful of her golden hair. "See… this one wants to play. I didn't coerce her into it. So she's gonna be my new playmate and you're just gonna have to deal with it while you fix your cute little self up."

She let out another whine of pain when he turned her head, just barely, and tsked at the blossoming bruise spiraling down her throat. "Yeah, you're not fit to play this month," he purred and, tentative at her flinch, lovingly traced the bruise with his fingers. "My poor little XO. If you weren't so jumpy all the time, I could take care of you more often."

"Stop that," she rolled her eyes and then closed them, tired of his mind games and gentle touches. It was seriously confusing and maybe that was the reason all along. "Since when did you ever actually cared about anyone? You know, like a human being?"

"When have you?" he challenged, blue eyes darkening. "You've got operatives who look up to you, sure, but they don't know you. They see a polite smile and sweet words, but that's it. I've seen you in the darkness, when you're cornered and you snap like a wild animal. I wonder what they'd think if they knew you were actually a demon on the battlefield, with a cold ruthlessness I've ever had the pleasure of seeing."

Rachel flinched and with an explosion of anger, shoved him off. "I'm not like you! Don't you dare put me on the same level!"

He fell back comfortably on the floor and laughed madly. "Says KND's best spy! Two words, McKenzie: Operation URSULA."

Shaking in anger and guilt, she stormed out of the gym and decided a transfer was in order.

Operation: URSULA had been her greatest and most exhausting mission she had ever took in her career and Intelligence promised that it would be sealed up until the end. Numbuh 274 purposefully dragged it out of the mud to get a reaction. And it worked.

She did what she had to do that time. But she didn't act like a heartless shrew about it. She felt regret, but would have done it again, in the name of the KND.

What was one love lost when it prevented the cementing of an unholy villainous alliance that would have brought their very organization to its knees? At the cost of the only adult she ever really believed in, now destined to live forever alone from her 'traitorous' actions.

Chad bringing it up was a low blow. Too low. She leaned against the side of the elevator going down and curled into the corner, unable to shed tears when she had no more to give. She wasn't a monster. She wasn't.

Fate decided to be cruel. The elevator dinged once and opened itself to Numbuh 1, who relaxed on the opposite side as the elevator continued its descent. "You look terrible, Numbuh 362."

"Thanks," she said sourly and bumped the side of her head against the cool wall and then winced. She had forgotten the bruise there. "I think I've had enough of being Numbuh 274's battle partner."

Nigel glanced at her through his sunglasses and then stared at the glowing buttons. "You don't sound like you've had enough."

"I'm not doing it because I'm tired," she admitted and folded her arms. "I'm doing it because I'm pissed off." Chad can crawl under her skin when he shouldn't be able to. It angered her more than anything. No one should influence her. She's fought far worse demons and somehow decided to dance with the devil himself.

"I know I've been telling you to resign," he drawled, "but that's only because I didn't realize how much you've got things under control. I was just worried about you. Even I don't have the stamina to keep at it every week with Numbuh 274. He's hardcore."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Nintendo hardcore, I know." But, he was right. Operative morale has been at an all-time high the last few months and battle competency skyrocketed now that Chad was off the grid on the Battle Lottery. If she quit now, he'll just go back into the fray and then everyone would suffer again.

There was also the promise of always being there. She may not like Chad, but she always kept her word. This was the consequence of her naivety.

Unbeknownst to them, their Supreme Leader watched their video feed the whole ride down. His electric blue eyes seemed to flicker unnaturally against the light, a violet ring emerging around the irises.

Chad hadn't been kidding. While Rachel spent her time recuperating, his replacement toy came in the form of Numbuh 12 who, despite such an angelic look, was capable on the battlefield. Leaning warily on the bench during combat demonstration, she watched as the older girl and Chad danced on the mat with flips and punches that made everyone cheer. Something curled unpleasantly in her gut the way Chad kept smiling at his 'temporary' partner, but what really got her blood boiling was how playful the whole match was.

No, not playful. Numbuh 12 was playful and enjoying the match because her Supreme Leader was pulling his punches, but with every connected hit that didn't knock him off his feet like it should, there was a tightness in those blue eyes.

It was like forcing a pianist to play a slow Twinkle Little Star for a giant concert hall when he wanted to go full prestissimo Flight of the Bumblebee.

I've been holding back.

Why was he holding back now when he could just throttle her and get this over with? Her eyes narrowed at the way he moved. Sloppy, almost lazy in technique.

Her technique.

She began to shake in anger. Was this his way of telling her that was how she fought him?!

He knew how piss her off, but she knew the art of subterfuge. If he wanted to play by the rules of manipulation, he shouldn't have picked a veteran if he wanted to win.

Her face blank, she got up from her seat and left the gym, uncaring of any gaze following her retreat. No, it wasn't a retreat. She had a month to recuperate. Let him play with his toys like the spoiled child he was.

Because when she came back, she was going to drag him kicking and screaming into manhood.

She press the doorbell and waited until her old combat teacher's little brother answered and looked at her in disinterest. "What you want?"

"I'm looking for your brother," she said.

With a roll of his eyes and a grumble about doing this and that, he shouted over his shoulder. "Do I look like his damn secretary? Hey! Huey! Some girl's lookin' for you!"

She was led to the living room and sat down on a very squishy couch. A boy around her age walked down the stairs and met her on the other side of the living room, his serious gaze calm and mature when he asked his former student what she wanted of him now.

"Let me get this straight," he said coolly and folded his arms, "you want to relearn urban-styled fighting just so you can put the beat down on your Supreme Leader?"

"To put it bluntly," she replied. "It's not a very good reason, is it? There's no philosophical journey to nirvana or any of that self-worth schtick."

Huey shrugged. "Don't care. Good enough for me. I got no problem retraining you, McKenzie. Your arm looks really messed up though."

Unhooking the harness, she flexed her fingers. "I remember you having a very good recovery time. You never taught me that."

"That's because there is no art to recovery. Just common sense," Huey contemplated the ceiling. "Bunk up, McKenzie. I want that arm in working condition before we get to work."

A week had passed. All things considered, Huey wanted her to recuperate a bit more before helping her move past this 'plateau' Chad had sworn she could never pass. Her old mentor tested her arm and then ordered her to show all of her wounds.

"I don't care if you're a girl," he said calmly when she raised an eyebrow and started taking off her shirt. "this is business. You know that."

Chad knew where to hit if the diagram Huey wrote up was any indication after examining her torso. "He's been after your sides because he knows they're tender, so he's been after those first. Then your neck. You're not protecting it. You're better off getting a roundhouse kick to the face than the neck. At least you won't break it."

She patted the spiraling bruise on her neck and sighed, feeling like a dope in her undershirt. "He's also been grabbing at my kicks because he knows I use them to move. Then he pins me."

"Do you struggle?" Rachel nodded. Huey propped his hands on his hips, disappointed. "Don't struggle. If you're beat, stay down."

She didn't believe his words and she regretted it later when Huey completely took her down during a practice round. Despite her sides burning from his swift punches, she tried to stand back up only to have his boot come down on her back and force her back down.

"Let me ask you something, McKenzie," he said over her. "You're no Superman, so why are you trying to kill yourself proving that wrong? Every time you get up, you're going to get bounced, and then you've got more bruises to take care of, extending your recovery time. Keep fighting with less recovery time and you eventually mess up your weakened body permanently. Then you won't be able to fight at all."

Was she really overexerting herself? Huey continued to make her eat the floor until her stubbornness gave way, so she could only lay there and reflect. Her body was getting stronger fighting, but her durability was growing weaker in comparison.

"Treat your body like glass, McKenzie," Huey said and lifted his foot off of her back. "You'll be more conscious of how many hits you can take and know when to fold them to fight another day. You only fight to the end when you're looking to die."

But Chad doesn't treat himself like that. Huey rolled his eyes at her remark. "Then I guess that means you've got something learned over that guy. You want to beat him at his own game? You know exactly what to do."

Her eyes shot open in realization and slowly turned onto her back to gaze up at her teacher. "I think... I'm done for today."

Huey smirked.

The art of pacing was underrated, even to Chad, which made Rachel's spiritual journey to butt-kicking all the more sweeter. Her battles with Huey was an upscale climb of checks and balances, deciding whether to take the hit or take the fall. Either way, she pushed against that plateau, determined to break through it and stop Chad before he started going through his entire fanbase waiting for her to get stronger.

Let him wait. Or don't at all. Either way, she was going to come out stronger than ever and he'll start to regret screwing with her.

"You keep saying Numbuh 274 isn't a monster," Huey told her breathlessly in the middle of their battle. He blocked her kick with his arms and held his ground strongly until she had no choice but to pull back and try again, "but it sounds like he's got no one to surpass, so he's become dangerous unchecked."

Rachel hopped on the railing over the second floor and nearly fell over when he tossed a chair at her and dodged. "He's bored too," she panted.

"That's even worse." Huey grunted and tackled her over the railing. She landed on the sofa down below and kept herself prone until Huey jumped away, feigning defeat. He brushed himself off waiting for her to gain her bearings and flip after him. "There's nothing more dangerous than a bored son of a bitch. They don't train your Kids Next Door right?"

She frowned. "They're just kids."

"So are we," he said dryly and raised his fists for another attack on her end. "That doesn't stop us from taking on people looking to give us an ass whooping. Either you're challenged, or you retire. Simple as that."

"Don't see what's the big deal!" Numbuh 12 chirped to her friends before the exhibition fight with her Supreme Leader. "It's actually kinda fun fighting him! And I'm getting a good workout to boot!"

"He's going easy on you," one of her friends teased. "Maybe he likes you." They all giggled.

No, not really, Rachel thought. He was making a mockery of his own operatives playing around like this. It couldn't be more of an insult if Numbuh 12 knew he was treating her like someone not worth an inch of his strength.

Rachel kept to the back, hoodie up and leaning against Abby as the crowd grew with each passing minute. Abby smirked. "So, who did you hang out with last month? Because your physical just passed when it shouldn't be possible."

"An old friend," she murmured and kept herself hidden. "He knocked some sense into me."

Abby snorted. "He usually does."

Chad didn't even tie his hands up which made Rachel shake her head. This was a complete game to him, no worse, a sham. He didn't need any precautions because he already knew his opponents weren't the effort.

It was time he started taking things seriously. A challenge he was long overdue for.

Numbuh 12 danced on the mat and Chad dodged every single one of her hits with an easiness that excited the crowd, but only served to annoy Rachel for every waste of a punch. This wasn't a battle. This was a ballet recital.

"Is that all?" she asked aloud once the applause died down. Everyone murmured to themselves, most confused, but there was no one in the gym but the two of them the way her and Chad's eyes locked right then and there. She moved from Abby's side and walked down the path people started to part for her. "Your hands aren't even wrapped. Why don't you just pick her up and do a pirouette while you're at it?"

While those blue eyes of his flashed with something akin to amusement, Numbuh 12 stepped forward, insulted. "That's not nice! This is an exhibition match!"

"So you're holding back?" Rachel pushed her hoodie back and had a stare down with the older girl. "If you really want to impress someone, why don't you fight for real? Because Numbuh 274 isn't even breaking a sweat."

"You think you can do better?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Hopping over the barrier of wires wrapped in protective padding, she pulled off her hoodie and tossed it aside, moving in an undershirt and loose athletic pants. The crowd around them started to cheer which pressured Numbuh 12 to start circling her newest opponent and prove her salt for once.

Someone sounded a whistle and Rachel moved swiftly first. Numbuh 12 didn't even see her coming when Rachel jumped in the air and dropped kicked her right in the chest.

"I wasn't ready!" Numbuh 12 whined from her place on the mat, but this wasn't a game and there were no rules in battle. Not until the whistle sounded or your opponent surrendered.

Rachel wondered if that was Chad's whole problem when she tackled Numbuh 12 and started to tumble her around like an animal, punching at her sides. The lack of challenge and force of restraint could drive a person crazy. The older girl screamed in pain, but Rachel was relentless until the sound of the whistle and she jumped back, still coiled and ready for a counterstrike.

"Are you crazy?!" One of Numbuh 12's teammates called out, loyally climbing over the barrier to defend her. "You're playing too rough!"

Chad stood back, dangerously smug, when Rachel attacked the lot of them, everything fair game on the mat. She uppercut the first one and then used the second operative's head as a stepping stone to side kick the third in the face.

"NOW WE'RE TALKING!" Wally shouted in the sidelines, punching his own palm. "NONE OF THIS NINNY CRUD! GET 'EM NUMBUH 362!"

Numbuh 12 wasn't done. Angry and bleeding from her split lip, she came at Rachel from behind, forcing her to flip back onto the mat to dodge her punch and jump back up to elbow her in the chest.

That was when Chad jumped into the fray and grabbed her wrist before she finished off Numbuh 12. "Easy there," he warned in his Supreme Leader voice, but his eyes told a different story. He was begging for more.

So she obliged and kicked him in the chest. "Watch it," she spat and smirked. "Don't make me hold back."

"When you fight for real, you don't see a person," Huey had told her. "You see an enemy. Holding back is going to kill you if the other guy's free from that influence."

He had been holding back on her like he was holding back on Numbuh 12 because she wasn't of worth. But he's injured Rachel to the point of crippling. So what did that make her?

She never saw Chad as an enemy, or a monster. She saw him as her Supreme Leader and that was the problem. So her punches never really connected and she never injured him as much as she would have if he had been a real enemy.

But he had. And when he started wearing her out, he...

I've been holding back.

Jumping smoothly to his feet, Chad glared down at Rachel, his words soft enough to be meant only for her. "Come back to play again, are you?"

"No. The kid gloves are off. And you're going to regret pushing me to this," she replied.

While Numbuh 12 and a good few others whined and moaned on the mat, Chad started his turn of circling her, looking her up and down. "The one time I allow you to eat meatball sandwiches and you don't," he teased. "What have you been doing the last few weeks?"

"Learning to kick your ass," she retorted and twisted into his personal space. Long since anticipating Rachel's style to dodge and run instead of engaging, he didn't expect her to start pounding away at his sides with her fists and he doubled back, flipping over one of the operatives to gain some distance.

"Heh," he rubbed at his sides and suppressed a wince, "you changed your technique."

Her gaze steady, she started chasing after him again. "Nope. Just got a little more smarter!" She was relentless, treating Chad less like a Supreme Leader and more of an enemy that needed to be taken down at all cost. Because that was Chad's secret with her all along.

This time he was on the defensive from her flying kicks and punches until he was forced to bear down and used his own strength as a barrier.

Good. She was going to whittle his energy down. Because that was what was wrong with Numbuh 274 and she had promised to take care of his monstrous behind. "You're holding back, sir!" she punctuated with each punch. "Is this what the great Numbuh 274 has to offer?"

The crowd whooped and cheered while their Supreme Leader had to protect his face and snarl. He spun around, breaking her momentum, and sucker punched her in the stomach. She drew her stomach muscles taut before the hit, but it still knocked the wind out of her, enough for him gain ground and reach for her.

Dancing around like she did before wasted energy. That was what he was hoping for. Instead she grabbed him by the arm and tried to bend it, risking a kick to her side in the process, but to her advantage, he couldn't grab a hold of her and use her weight against her. She twisted around his arm and judo chopped him in his lower back at the cost of him punching her face in the process.

They both stumbled away from each other. Rachel tripped over Numbuh 12 while Chad fell against the wire barriers, gritting his teeth from the pain racing up his spine.

She had too much adrenaline in her to process where she was injured though her head started to throb. Her problem had been ignoring the limits of her body so, despite Chad still moving towards her, she turned onto her back on the mat and centered herself, letting the adrenaline sink away with a few calming breaths until pain hit her in numerous places.

Never go beyond your limit. It'll only screw you over in the long run. Take the beating and grow from it the next time.

Rachel opened her eyes and found Chad towering over her with a bloody nose and a black eye. He pulled back, ready to finish off his opponent, until she raised her hand up in surrender. "That's it." Chad had caused far more damage to himself than Rachel had. That was the balance she was looking for.

They were like magic words. His fingers shifted away from a fist and the beastly look in his eyes quelled, satiated from the no holds barred beat-down however short. The crowd cheered and Rachel let the medics swarm them. For once, she didn't black out from the pain.

People started avoiding her afterwards. Despite showing nothing but calm professionalism after that day, even those that weren't in attendance overheard Numbuh 362 going batshiz crazy on five whole operatives, including the Supreme Leader, in some show of alpha female aggression. That hadn't exactly been the response she was looking for and she was starting to wish she just had fought Chad in private like usual.

But Numbuh 12 and the others had really pissed her off, belittling the many months battling her buns off just because Chad was playing with the lot of them. Apparently she was the only girl in this Zero-forsaken Moonbase that had any Whooper balls to actually go toe-to-toe with a legendary operative seriously and live to tell the tale. Someone had to tell the poor girls that their place was off the mat and back to playing Rainbow Monkeys.

Numbuh 274 was her battle partner.

"Congrats," someone purred from behind. Callused fingers ran up from the base of her neck to the side of her temple where an extremely ugly bruise discolored her forehead there. She flinched, only a bit, and let Chad slip into her personal space like he belonged there without comment.

"You planned this," she murmured, watching random operatives see her and then turn back around in fear. The warm fingers disappeared and was replaced with something cold and wet. She instantly grabbed the ice pack and sighed, letting it seep into her bruise. Licking wounds, indeed. He got what he wanted.

Chad slid against her side and then winced when she grabbed his lower back where she injured him and squeezed in warning. "I didn't plan anything. You did," his smile was dark and infectious, "when you turned into an animal and took what you wanted."

"I didn't want this," she hissed under her breath, shivering as water started to leak from the ice pack and down her jaw. "Now they're afraid of me."

Leaning into her, she could feel his hot breath against her cheek, chasing away the cold droplets before pressing his cracked split lips against her ear. "That's right," he purred. "You're a monster. Just like me."