True to his word, the next day, Kabal showed her to a larger room on what appeared to be a lower level. This was where he kept remnants of his past; weapons, armor, memories. This was also where he trained Kira. They were 50 feet under the main tunnels, as to limit the noise.

"Did you build this yourself under the existing sewers?" Cassie asked, if so this was an impressive feat that must have taken years.

"It was the first room I built when I sought to establish a home here." He said turning on the main lights. There was more light than usual, to make it easier for him to recognize individual objects. He did come down her on his own, at times, just to reminisce.

"When I saw how easy a room of this size was to complete, it inspired me to create the system of rooms on the upper floor," he replied.

"How long did that all take?" she realized how dumb that sounded as soon as she said it. He had super speed; he probably built all the rooms in a weekend.

"The entire complex? 2 weeks." He said casually.

"of course." Cassie said, holding back laughter.

"Locating materials held back the progress." He added which caused Cassie to fully burst out laughing.

"what?" he smiled, seeing the humor.

"nothing… superman"

"funny-Choose a weapon," he said, motioning to the left wall.

"ANY weapon?" she was surprised by his level of trust in her, "ok this." she picked his police batons.

"really?" he said, examining what she picked. Out of all the possible weapons he had in his collection she picked the most ordinary looking one possible.

"I've seen my mom use them, how hard can it be." She said experimenting with how to hold one.

"you don't swing it like a baseball bat" he said before even seeing how she handled it.

"fine.." yes, she was about to swing it like a baseball bat. She had no weapons experience; only what she leaned from messing around with her mom's equipment.

Kabal showed her proper technique before continuing (using it for defense as well as offense.) He used it in a way that appeared to be upside down, using the main part of the weapon against his wrist. The idea made sense; useful for protection against direct hits, it would just take some getting used to. (But she would later learn- to land a direct hit it was also perfectly acceptable to flip it forward and swing it like a baseball bat.)

There was no doubt; she had talent she just needed to find her way. In the first few days they did strength training, all while talking about their lives. She got him caught up on everything he didn't know about her parents, various earth realm warriors and the events of the war.

"Styker is dead?" He was a little shocked to hear of his former partner's fate.

"Sorry, but that was just what I heard- it all happened before I was born. Everyone thinks you're dead too- so anything's possible." She shrugged while in the middle of a sit up. He had his mask on so she was not sure how badly she offended him.

"Let me tell a happier story-" she said going in to the story of how her parents finally found that they loved each other, when her father threw himself in front of Shinok's blast and found himself surrounded by a green glow.

"Raiden said it's what happens when someone you love is in danger.." she said, like she going through the motions. It was a cute story but it always gets followed by someone asking

"Have you ever felt the green glow?" Kabal said it- and he saw how much is pissed her off.

"nope!- maybe- it –was- something- unique- to -my -dad." She said; the same answer she had said a million times before. "Sorry, I just get a little tired of that question, but I guess if I get tired of that question I should stop sharing that story."

"No, it's a beautiful story, let me tell you one of my own," he told her the story of how ended up in the sewers, and what inspired him to create a massive homeless shelter.

On the fourth day of talking, strength training and beating up on training dummies he felt she was finally ready for a match- blindfolded.

"why? I already suck at hand to hand combat and you can move faster than a car," she groaned.

"it's only fair." he said jokingly. "don't worry you can't hurt me."

"yeah, I know," that was a little too true. She tried to sense, movement but it was useless; she did not have the mastery over her instincts to launch at attack. Every move was over thought; and if she told herself to try and wing it- that made things even worse. She found herself tripping over her feet and running in to walls.

She need not need to worry about getting hit, he did not try to attack her, he tripped her, brushed past her, anything that would cause her to lose her balance and sense of direction. And when he was so frustrated she wanted to kick the wall or cry, he would call it a day.

It took several days; 4-5 hours a day, with rests for meals and sleep- before she finally found a way.

She pictured that night in the shower, how he made her feel, she could feel his body, his pulse, his heartbeat; how the rhythm of his breath changed when they made love, as she let her mind wander she landed a single hit.

"I always knew you could." he said reappearing to her. He raised his mask, pulled her closed, and kissed her lips.

She pulled away, only to take off the blindfold. "I can feel, you" said in a whisper. In that moment she knew what her father must have felt when he protected her mother, all those years ago; this was love.

From then on they were inseparable. She helped with supply runs (despite Kira's protests), visited the rooms with him to check on the guests (something Kira never did anyway) and eventually had a match (thought not with Kira because she would have stabbed her in the throat- even if it meant a disqualification.) Her match was , instead, against someone named "frost" who had projectile attacks. Cassie speed and instinct gave her, her first ever win.

Needless to say Kabal and Cassie had amazing sex nearly every night, trying new things to open their senses. Since only 50% of his body was flesh, she focused her energy on those areas, and enjoying the feeling of his deep, pure, climax. Synching her body to at one point she even asked him to go "faster." Cassie had been there for over 2 months, happier then she had ever been

Then one day out of the blue, Kabal couldn't wake up.