The two men jogged out of the warehouse space...only to discover Ryan, Esposito and Beckett standing behind Blair, chasing them

back

into the space before turning the lights on. "Your turn, Matt," Beckett instructed them. "This is as good a place as any to begin your training."

"Okay," said Matt. "What do you want me to do?"

Ryan and Esposito surrounded the young Sentinel. "While you live in the spirit realm," Esposito explained, "you stubbornly refuse to believe that that's what it is."

"Matt? Stubborn?" joked Foggy. "No way."

Ryan, Matt and Esposito all ignored the comment. "Matt, you think that because you can combine hearing, taste, smell and touch into a sensory net that that net is enough to deal with anything that comes at you."

"It isn't?" asked Foggy, impressed solely by the description of what his friend was capable of.

"Not this time," Ryan replied, his voice heavy with the weight of experience. "Not against the fog."

Matt's hands twitched as he used his 'trusty' net to track Ryan and Esposito's movements, waiting for either man to make a move...

Foggy noticed Matt jump. "What is it?" he asked his friend.

"They're gone," said Matt. "They just...disappeared."

Foggy shook his head. "You're wrong, Matt. They haven't moved since you guys started."

"Open your 'sight', Matt," Beckett instructed. "See for yourself."

Matt gasped when he opened his eyes and saw the auras that surrounded him. "How...?" he exclaimed.

"That net of yours is a crutch," Esposito declared. "When you were a kid, Stick got you so convinced that sight was a distraction that you learned to trust every sense except for your sight. Now that we know what your 'sight' consists of, that's a habit you need to break. Now."

Beckett sat down next to Foggy, watching as Ryan and Esposito started to close in on Matt. Foggy, for his part, was surprised to see the Guardian sitting out the sparring session. "You're not jumping in on this?" asked Foggy.

"It's already three against one," Beckett replied.

"Three?" asked Foggy, confused by the number. Beckett nudged Foggy's attention to the petite, attractive, dark-haired woman in the corner of the room. Foggy opened his mouth to ask about the woman...then was stunned into silence when that woman moved faster than anything he had ever seen before. 'What the hell is that?!" Foggy gasped.

"'That' is Katya," Beckett replied.

Foggy started to study Katya, surprised by the instinctive feeling of dread that washed over him. "What is she?"

"A vampire," Beckett replied with a casual shrug. "But don't worry, she only bites her husband."

Foggy's mouth dropped open as he tried to process Beckett's comment...and failed miserably. "She's married?!"

Beckett nodded. "To my boss."

"Is...is your boss a vampire, too?" Foggy asked nervously.

"Nope," Beckett replied. She could practically feel the waves of dread coming off the young Guide. "Look, I can tell what you're thinking. But Katya's a friend. And she's here to help."

The idea of a helpful vampire was completely lost on Foggy. "How?!"

"Think about it," said Beckett, trying to phrase her answer in a way that would keep Foggy focused on the needs of his Sentinel. "Matt needs to get past using only his physical senses. His hearing in particular. Did you know he distinguishes people mostly by their heartbeats?"

"No," Foggy admitted. "I didn't know that."

"The Black Sky doesn't have a heartbeat. Or a voice. Or a soul. It looks human so it can blend in and fool the rest of us, but if Matt uses the tricks he uses against normal humans..."

Foggy was starting to understand Beckett's point. "He'll get his ass kicked."

"He'd be lucky if that's all that happened to him," Beckett countered. "But that's where Katya comes in. What better way to learn to fight a non-human being than to fight a non-human being?"

"So...she's not going to hurt Matt?"

"Nothing that Lanie can't heal," Beckett replied with a sly smile.

While Foggy understood Beckett's logic, the nervous knot in his stomach told Foggy how much trouble he was having 'rolling with it'. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to this," he admitted.

"It takes time," Beckett agreed. "But it gets easier. I promise."

As Foggy watched his friend slowly gain the upper hand against the two Guardians, he started to realize just how little he actually knew about the Guardians. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Anything," Beckett replied.

"I know your husband's a wizard," said Foggy, "but what's your ability?"

Beckett smiled. "Hypersenses. Like Jim."

Foggy frowned in confusion, trying to process the detail Beckett added into the comparison. "Like Jim, but not like Matt?"

"The spirit plane's the big difference between us. Jim can barely see it at all. I can read big auras, but I have to really concentrate to see anything else. But the spirit plane is how Matt sees."

"Really?" Foggy asked, amazed by the idea. "Wow." He sat for a moment, trying to resolve what Beckett had just told him with what he had seen when he was looking through Matt's eyes. A new question stood out. "So is Blair your Guide, too?"

Beckett shook her head. "Don't need one."

"You don't?" asked Foggy.

"Technically, no," replied Beckett.

Foggy realized he was probably going to start dreaming about a day when he didn't feel totally lost. "Define 'technically'."

Beckett pointed to the blond-haired Guardian. "Ryan's ability is telepathy. You know how you and Matt can read each other's thoughts when that link kicks in?" When Foggy nodded, Beckett continued, "we communicate like that all the time. Blair's theory is that since I'm so used to having other people share the space in my head, it tempers my focus enough that I don't need a Guide."

"Why would you need to 'temper your focus'?"

"Did you ever concentrate so intently on something you were reading that you didn't hear someone talking to you?" asked Beckett.

Foggy nodded. "All the time."

Beckett nudged their attention back to Matt. "Imagine what could happen to someone like Matt. If a Sentinel narrows their focus too much on one particular sense they can forget to breathe. It could kill them."

Foggy's eyes went wide as he considered the implications of what Beckett was telling him. "Ever since I found out about Matt's abilities, I've noticed how distracted he gets when he's focused on his hearing, but I had no idea..."

"Your friend's not the only one with a crucial role to play here, Foggy," Beckett declared.

"Yeah," Foggy agreed weakly, "I'm starting to get that."

The conversation between the Guide and the Guardian ended when Ryan and Esposito stepped away from the sparring session with Matt. "Is that it?" Matt asked, calling out to the two men between ragged gasps for air. "We done?"

"Not yet," Katya declared.

Matt wheeled around where he stood, the 'disembodied' voice shaking him to his core. "Who are you?" he asked.

"I am Ekaterina Fallon," Katya replied, circling the room to continuously shift Matt's attention.

Matt first opened up his hearing, then his sense of touch...and was shocked by what he found. Or rather, what he didn't find. "I can't hear your heart beating," he told her, assuming that someone exhibiting such predatory behavior already knew his 'secret'.

"You cannot hear what is not there," declared Katya.

Matt's eyebrows flew up with shock at Katya's statement. "You don't have a heartbeat?"

"Not one that you can detect on your own," Katya replied.

"What are you?" Matt gasped.

"I am vampyr," said Katya. "And a friend to the Guardians. I am here as the next level to your training."

Those may have been the last words Matt expected to hear. "You're here to train me?"

A wind with the power of a truck barreled through Matt, knocking him on his back. Once he got his breath back, he recognized what had just hit him. Or rather, who. "Open your Sight, Sentinel. Find me."

Foggy felt the tug on his mind, and closed his eyes, losing himself in the bond with his Sentinel. Never losing focus on their shared goal, he double-checked Matt's gaze, looking for anything that felt out of place...and then he heard it. It only happened once, but its identity was unmistakeable. A heartbeat. Lower left corner, he 'told' Matt. Heading east.

Thanks, thought Matt. He took Foggy's advice, sprinting toward the slight distortion in his field of vision...and making contact with Katya's foot as she leapt over his head.

Foggy severed the connection with his partner, smiling as he watched the determined Sentinel start to get a lock on his new adversary. "C'mon, buddy," he whispered under his breath, "you can take her."

It took a lot less time than Foggy would have thought. The fight was a brutal one: Matt took a lot more punches than he gave out as he studied Katya's combat patterns, but in a matter of minutes, he had the vampyr on her back with one well-placed, unanticipated clothesline to the neck. But even though Matt knew that Katya had the strength to get out of his chokehold and probably break his fingers in the process, she never moved, allowing him to take the win. "While your fighting style is...crude, to say the least," Katya declared, "you have made great strides. See Lanie. Tend to your wounds. You are ready."