Despite their late night, both Mary and Marshall were up by nine. They took turns showering and Marshall made breakfast. They both dressed for training. The marshal service had a fitness center and firing range set up on the outskirts of the city. They were meeting Teddy and Royce there at noon to test their skills. Both marshals grabbed their gym bags and their weapons and headed out the door at eleven, hoping for a few moments at the gym alone to warm up.
The drive over only took twenty minutes, and it being a Saturday afternoon, few other cars were in the lot. Marshall and Mary headed right for the sparring ring. Dropping their bags by the bench, they quickly got ready. Mary discarded her sweatshirt and slipped off her ring, before quickly wrapping her hands and putting on her helmet. While Marshall wrapped his own, she stretched. The two of them would only be warming up today, but they often went into the ring against each other.
Mary took the far side, and waited for Marshall to step into the circle. She threw him an assessing look and waited for him to nod his readiness. When he did, she immediately dropped into a fighter's stance, as did he. Both hands were brought up and they went up on the balls of their feet. Mary, always full of energy, immediately began bouncing to relieve some of it. Knowing that Marshall hated to throw the first punch, she did it for him. Her right jab didn't land, as she'd known it wouldn't. Marshall was quick on his feet. He sidestepped to the left and grabbed her arm as it moved passed where his head had been. Using her forward momentum, he spun her into his arms. For a second he had her trapped within his embrace, but she didn't like being caged. She brought her right foot down on his and pried his arms open, quickly ducking out of his grasp.
He let her go. Instead, he leveled two quick punches, both of which she dodged. She brought her left leg up, but he deflected the blow. They circled each other for a few moments, catching their breath and looking for weak spots. Of course, after eight years, they already knew exactly where to hit, but they approached every round as if they were facing a new opponent. Marshall came in this time, feinting with a left uppercut and then landing a blow with his right. Mary staggered back but recovered quickly, landing a left hook to Marshall's head. She heard his soft chuckle. Letting the laugh fuel her fists, she pressed her advantage, bringing her left knee up and following that with a lightning fast combination of punches.
Marshall was able to block some but not all of her blows. He should have known better than to laugh. It meant she sure as hell wasn't going to let him off easy. Normally, he took sparring with his partner seriously, truly in awe of her skill. But instead of focusing on the fight, Marshall had been thinking about the ring that had been on that hand up until about twenty minutes ago. Because he'd let his guard down, he'd gotten hit, and that had caused the laugh. Now, rather than just a warm up session, this had turned into a match to the death, or at least, the pin. And he already knew who would be the one on the ground. Of course, that didn't mean he intended to make it easy for her.
Following her example, he swung his leg up, hoping to catch her in the side. She anticipated his move and ducked under his strike, landing two swift hits to his side. He spun quickly to keep her in front of him. When she threw her next punch, he once again grabbed her arm, twisting it and bringing her in close. Prepared for the move, she maneuvered herself into position and used his height against him, flipping him over her shoulder and onto the ground. His breath left in a huff and he laid on his back looking up at her. She had a huge smirk on her face. "Was it good for you too, cupcake?"
Knowing he'd probably regret it, he swiped his foot around, taking both her legs out from under her. She landed on the ground next to him. "Yea, actually it was."
She let out a groan. "I am going to kill you, doofus." She leveled a punch at his thigh. He didn't bother trying to avoid the blow. Knowing the threat was empty, Marshall pulled himself to his feet and extended a hand to help her up as well. She accepted the aid and let Marshall pull her up. They both left the mat, removing their helmets as they went. Marshall moved to the men's locker room, Mary simply went to the bench.
Mary had just picked up her water bottle when she heard a voice from the far door. "Well, well, well, this has all kinds of potential." There was no mistaking the double meaning in Royce's words. And Mary didn't need to turn around to know that the man was appreciating the view of her in her workout clothes.
She rolled her eyes and turned to face the newcomer. "Yea, well, until you prove yourself on the range, you can forget about proving yourself in the ring." She took a sip from her water bottle.
Royce crossed the room, Teddy a few steps behind. "Like I told you yesterday, babe, I'll prove myself to you anywhere you want."
As Marshall joined them, Mary quickly unwrapped her hands, pulled on her sweatshirt, and grabbed her gun. "Then let's go, the range is this way." She led the three men down the hallway to the shooting gallery. All four of them lined up, set the targets at the same distance, and opened fire. They went four rounds, three at medium distance, both hands separately, and once for speed, and then a fourth round at long distance. Afterward they compared scores.
Marshall and Mary, partnered as long as they had been, knew each other's weaknesses. Mary was damn near perfect at medium range, right handed and with speed. Marshall was almost as good right handed, but beat her with his left, barely though. At long distance, Mary was faster, but Marshall was more accurate. Mary could disable a far away target, but Marshall could kill him. Much to Mary's chagrin, Royce was a damn good shot. He tied her on speed, and scored just under using his right. He beat her with his left, though still scored under Marshall. He wasn't as accurate as Mary on the long range, but he was equally as competent. Teddy's left hand was his dominant hand, so he wiped the floor with all three of them, but scored under them all with his right. His long range targeting left something to be desired. His speed was closer to Marshall's but his accuracy was below Mary's.
Mary turned to Royce, "So you don't totally suck, lucky you."
Royce waited till Marshall and Teddy returned to Teddy's stall, where Marshall was giving him a few tips on his stance. Then he leaned in closer to the blonde marshal, "I'd be luckier if you did." He reached forward and rubbed his hand down her arm.
Mary wished for a second that she hadn't left her gun in her shooting stall. But then the idea of wiping that smirk off his face using her fists seemed so much more pleasing. She leaned in closer as well, "Meet me in the ring, now."
Before he could say anything, Mary walked away. She paused outside Teddy's box, and threw Marshall a look, "Let's go." Even if he hadn't been with her as long as he had, he knew better than to disobey. He promised Teddy they'd come back, but insisted that whatever was about to happen was much more important.
"Who knows, you might get to see a wild animal maul an idiot up close and personal," Marshall quickened his pace to catch up to his fiancé. When he was next to her, he whispered, "Should I be worried?"
Mary didn't even look at him. "Just a warning, if you try to stop me before he's learned a lesson, you better be prepared to take his place." It had been two long days of sexist comments and subtle innuendos whenever Marshall's back was turned. She'd held her tongue this long because she hadn't wanted to make trouble for Stan, but that particular proposition was crossing a line.
Marshall could tell by the tone in her voice that Mary was serious. He wondered briefly what Royce could have said to piss her off quite so much, but then remembered the man's comments the day he'd arrived. Though Marshall hadn't heard him say anything else of the sort since nearly breaking his wrist, it was possible that the man had continued to view Mary as a conquest. If that was the case, he deserved whatever was coming to him.
When they entered the sparring room, Royce was already wrapping his hands. Without a word, Mary moved to her pile of things and began to rewrap her own. For a moment, Marshall worried that Mary was rushing into this, worried for a second that Royce might be able to take her. But then he saw the glint in her eye. She was pissed, and she needed to knock some sense into this idiot. Once she did, everything would be fine. Royce needed to be put in his place, but they'd be able to get along just fine afterward.
She moved quickly, snapping her helmet into place. She stepped into the ring, waiting for Royce to join her. Marshall and Teddy took seats on the sidelines, Teddy leaned into Marshall, "Are you sure this is such a good idea, what if he hurts her?"
Marshall didn't take his eyes off Mary, "Trust me, Teddy, she's not the one you should be worried about."
Teddy didn't have time to respond. The moment that Royce stepped into the ring, Mary was on him. She threw several punches in quick succession, each one landing. Royce staggered back from the unexpected onslaught. He kept his distance for a moment, trying to recover. When Mary lunged again, Royce dodged out of the way. He launched his own jab and Mary ducked under it, landing two hits to his chest. She reached up grabbed his head and brought her knee up. Again Royce staggered back. Mary followed this time.
She launched punch after punch, Royce was able to deflect some of them, but she was too fast. After a particularly hard hit to the side of his head, Mary dropped to a crouch and swept her leg under Royce, bringing him to the mat. She stood back up and leaned down to taunt him, "Come on, John boy, I thought you were going to prove what a man you were. You just got your ass kicked by a girl."
The taunt pissed Royce off. His hand shot out and wrapped around Mary's throat. He jumped to his feet, holding tight as she backed up. She brought her elbow up and brought it down hard on Royce's forearm, breaking his hold on her. She could practically feel the rage pouring off Marshall, but she'd already warned him to stay out of this. She threw her left hand out, landing another blow to Royce's headgear. He returned the favor, throwing two quick jabs with his right and a hook with his left. She dodged the jabs, but the hook landed. It threw her temporarily off balance. He took her moment of weakness as an opportunity
He grabbed her right wrist and twisted, wrenching it up behind her back. He wrapped his other arm around her neck, placing his mouth next to her ear, "Come on, sweetheart, we were just getting started." Mary threw her head back at the same time she reached her free hand up to pry his arm loose. She spun around, freeing her other hand. She grabbed Royce by the shoulders and brought her knee up, a solid connection to his sternum. She then swung her elbow and connected with Royce's headgear. Her palm rammed into his chin.
She grabbed his right wrist and twisted, using the same move he'd pulled a moment ago. When she was behind him, she knocked the back of his knee with her own, bringing him to the ground once again. This time she when she leaned in, she dug her knee into his back. "You ever even think about making a pass at me again, I'll make you cry. Understood?"
Royce grunted. When Mary didn't relieve the pressure, he spoke, "I got it, you're off limits."
Mary released the pressure and stood, unbuckling her helmet as she exited the ring. "Glad we could work that out. We should work together just fine from now on."
She stepped up next to Marshall, who held out a towel for her. "Anything I should know about?"
Mary smiled her best 'there's nothing going on here' smile, "If there was something going on, don't you think I'd tell you?"
"Not a chance," Marshall smirked.
Royce followed Mary out of the ring. He, too, had removed his headgear. "Listen, Mary, I'm sorry for the way I acted. I promise, from now on, I'll be nothing short of professional."
Mary turned around, the smile still on her face. Royce had proven himself on the range, and he'd put up quite a fight in the ring, he wasn't all bad. Mary would prefer to be the one watching Marshall's back, but given the current circumstances, she was willing to trust that Royce was almost as good. "That's good to know. But for the record, I don't mind it half as much as I know my fiancé would."
Royce seemed stunned at that, he turned to Marshall and Teddy, both men wearing similar looks of shock. Teddy hadn't known about the engagement, Marshall hadn't expected her to bring it up. "Your fiancé?"
"Yea, pretty girl like me, didn't you think I had someone special?" Though she had her eyes on Royce, she watched Marshall for a reaction as well. Sometimes she enjoyed toying with him. "Now, who's up next?"
Marshall laughed. "Come on, Teddy, we're up."
