Chapter Thirty-Three: War Games
March 20, 2011
Jason finally got Fi to go to sleep around four thirty in the morning, and was so exhausted that he immediately went to sleep himself. He heard his mom and dad moving around at nine, but rolled over and went back to sleep. He woke up a couple times after that, but didn't get out of bed until almost eleven.
He still was up before Fi.
At noon, Dennis and Missy came over in uniform to replace Triumph and Velocity, who were on guard duty. They sat on the couch and talked quietly for close to three hours, before Missy finally went in to check on Fi.
She reported that Fi was awake, but didn't want to talk to anyone. She was just sitting against the wall, nearly curled into a ball, thinking.
At seven, Jason's mom cooked dinner for the family and the visiting Wards, and Fi came out of the guest room to sit at the table and push pasta around her plate, but she only ate a few bites.
At ten, when Chris and Taylor, who had replaced Dennis and Missy, were relieved by Armsmaster and Aegis, Jason was past concern and headed into frantic worry.
Armsmaster pulled Jason's whole family aside while Aegis scoped the perimeter, and tried to apologize for the intrusion into their life. That went over exactly as Jason could have predicted it would: his mother ardently insisted that it was no imposition whatsoever, of course Fi could stay with them as long as it was helping her, she wouldn't hear of Fi grieving alone in the PRT base, no there was no reason to make other arrangements, etc.
As always, his dad just smiled and nodded. He knew how big his wife's heart was when he married her, and he never begrudged her the chance to be generous or hospitable.
Of course, when Armsmaster told Jason that he would be considered officially on-duty while Fi was in his house, and thus exempt from school, his mom looked slightly more chagrined, a reflexive reaction due to her long-running campaign against his powers affecting his "potential for other, equally meaningful careers."
His dad stepped in to remind her to think about it logically, and she immediately blushed in embarrassment. Armsmaster seemed nonplussed, or perhaps confused, but didn't say anything more, accepting his victory with grace, or at least stoicism.
And so it was that on Monday, Jason walked on eggshells around his new home while Fi sat, mostly silent, in the guest room, on the couch, at the table, and outside on the porch.
On Tuesday he was able to get her at least talk a little more. She told him stories with vague details or holes and he didn't ask questions, assuming that the missing pieces were folklore or supernatural weirdness she didn't want to tell him about.
On Wednesday she cooked, starting around nine and lasting well past when his dad came home from work. She made stir-fry for lunch, a slow-cooked curry for dinner, two pies, cookies, a pasta sauce which she froze "for easy dinners later" and a hand-beaten naan that tasted heavenly. His mother took it all in stride, happy to share her kitchen and see Fi improving a little.
On Thursday, Jason took action. Fi was improving slowly, but he knew that they both needed to get out of the house.
March 24, 2011
"Are you sure that's what you want to wear?" he asked as casually as he could.
Fi just obliviously sunk into what was becoming her chair at the table, blinking at her toast as though that would make it magically disappear from the plate. He gritted his teeth in frustration with himself; it was the third time that he'd forgot she was deaf. (He was doing better than anyone except his mom, but she'd never known Fi when she wasn't deaf.)
He forcefully reminded himself that being frustrated wouldn't help anything. Then he wiped the emotion from his face as best as he could, sighed, and tapped her arm.
When she glanced up, he repeated himself clearly.
Fi's brow scrunched in confusion, and glanced down at the sweats she was wearing. They'd brought her meager wardrobe over from the PRT base, but Fi had worn nothing but casual exercise clothes and sweats since Monday.
(Jason was also pretty sure his mom had had words with Armsmaster at some point during his guard duty about getting Fi some more clothes. Nearly everything she had was pretty close to her uniform, and might even be early variations on her costume. If it wasn't a white shirt and jeans, then it was blue running capris and a white sweatshirt.)
Finally, she asked, "Are we going somewhere?"
Jason shrugged, acting casual. "Don't you want to get out of the house?"
Her expression remained confused, but at least she was engaging. "And go where?" she repeated.
Jason shrugged again, then wondered if he was laying it on too thick. "I don't care. Anywhere." He let some of his inner rejoicing at his plan's success leak onto his face as glee. "Hey! Let's go down to the PRT base and test out your new firepower. The rest of the team would probably love the excuse to bug out of classes!"
He'd already cleared it with Armsmaster and Dennis that if he could get Fi out of the house, they'd sign off on missing school for official duties.
Fi narrowed her eyes at him, slightly suspicious, then shrugged off his weirdness and nodded, just accepting the suggestion. "I'll shower after breakfast," she said, and proceeded to eat as mechanically as always.
They started with simple tests. Fi waved her hand this way and that and made a variety of weights dance around. Her telekinesis was relatively straightforward: she could lift, direct, catch, and set down weights up to at least two hundred pounds, with the proper forethought and concentration. (More weight than that would have to be tested with adult supervision, per PRT regulations.)
She could lift up to three or four objects at a time, if she was looking at them, but after more than that she lost her concentration, and unless all four were doing the same thing (moving to the right, orbiting a single object, or some other simple, coordinated task) one or more of them tended to drop or accidentally run into obstacles.
She compared it to trying to count by threes and figure out which letter of the alphabet was in 17th place at the same time: just too much multitasking for her brain to do at once.
For the most part, she needed line of sight to pick up an object and throw it at her target. Without the ability to watch the object travel, she missed her targets about two out of every three times. Jason was still pretty impressed with a 30% blind hit rate, until she sighted a target, put on the blindfold, and then threw the bean-bags by hand, and nailed the bulls-eye every time.
Fi was frustrated by the lower accuracy, and the need for intense concentration, but not discouraged. She seemed to accept it as a challenge to be worked through. Considering that "determined" was a lot better than "depressed," Jason agreed with her and offered to help. This brightened her right up, so much so that she decided she wanted to spar.
It quickly became obvious that Intrepid was outmatched. Even without the ability to fly, she was destroying him. He couldn't seem to connect, or if he did, she used the hit to grab him, throw him, slide past him, trip him, or pin him. He was thrown into the mat, into the padded walls, once even pinned to the ceiling with her telekinesis.
"Need a break?" Clockblocker asked when the rest of the Wards finally arrived.
Intrepid was pinned against the mat, Contract kneeling on his back, with one arm trapped under him and the other being held uncomfortably, but not painfully, by his opponent.
"What took you so long?" he asked, as Contract let him up.
"Well, since it was only an hour before we would be out anyway, and your message wasn't urgent, we decided not to push our privileges too much. Didn't know you needed us so badly," Kid Win teased, offering a hand up. Intrepid took it gratefully, and then sank onto one of the padded benches by the door, drinking greedily from his water bottle.
"What are you two up to?" Vista asked, helping Gallant fill exercise bottles for the rest of the Wards. "All Dennis told us is that you wanted our help with something."
Intrepid glanced at Contract, but she was talking to Aegis, who had accompanied the Wards, so she wasn't watching for the question. He decided to answer it, since the powers weren't supposed to be a secret. "As part of Saturday's bargain, Contract has a couple permanent combat powers. We were just testing them out."
"Okay everybody," Clockblocker said from where he'd been listening and talking to Contract, Aegis and Gallant. Gallant was on his phone, texting someone. "Listen up. We've got a rare opportunity here, and we're going to take full advantage of it. Contract has acquired a new power set. We'll talk about the exact details of how and why later. For now, we have a chance to have a fight against a brand new, unknown opponent.
"Gallant is calling Glory Girl and Panacea right now; I'm going to go upstairs and talk to Armsmaster. Assuming that we get everyone's green light, we are going to have a little war game.
"Contract and Intrepid are a new villain group, and we only know Intrepid's powers. We'll have a flag, and so will they. We're going to go over to the Protectorate's obstacle course and have a full-contact encounter, including paintball guns. That's contingent on Panacea being able to be on-sight, of course.
"Intrepid, you and Contract put your heads together and figure out what you think would be even teams to face you two. Break us into teams that you think will give a fair or interesting fight. Neither of you have ever seen the obstacle course, and we don't know what Contract's power is. Keep those limitations in mind.
"Any objections?"
Far from objecting, Contract actually looked eager. She was smirking, already smug. Glancing around at the other Wards, Intrepid saw that they looked mildly surprised, but equally keen.
"The girls are good for it," Gallant said, raising his head. "They're just clearing it with Carol now."
Intrepid was a little surprised, because he had thought that Gallant and Glory Girl were "off again" but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Bring it on," Vista crowed, and Kid Win nodded rapidly.
"Okay," Clockblocker said, already headed for the exit. "You and Kid Win explain the 'full contact' rules to these two, and brief Beetle when she gets here too. I'm gonna call Armsmaster, get clearance, and arrange a ride."
"Better call Beetle now," Intrepid suggested to Vista, "so she can start collecting bugs."
Like the plans to go to the Market, the idea got out of hand in the best possible fashion. Not only did New Wave clear Glory Girl and Panacea, they requested permission for Laserdream and Shielder to join the exercise, which only added to the appeal for the rest of the team, since it wasn't often they got to work with all of the New Wave teenagers.
Likewise, Armsmaster approved and improved their plan. In addition to using the Protectorate's obstacle course, equipment, and combat-simulation paint guns, he authorized the use of the Protectorate's sim-battle protocols. Armsmaster reserved the room for a full afternoon of simulations, however many they could run, and gave permission for Miss Militia, Triumph, and Aegis to join the Wards and New Wave teenagers in the ring.
The rules of engagement were relatively complex. Each team would have four flags they wanted to guard, and these could be hidden together or in separate locations around the football-field sized arena, or even carried on a cape's person if they so desired. Two flags would be hidden randomly on the course, in locations unknown to both teams. To win, either team had to collect any seven of the ten flags.
The teams would start with Beetle, Intrepid and Contract on one side, and Armsmaster, Vista and Clockblocker on the other. Any time a team suffered five "hits," the next person in the queue would join that team, and their team hit counter would reset, so that the weaker team was always reinforced with new fire power, and the field dynamics were constantly changing.
A hit could be any number of things: being splattered by a paintball (it had to actually break), any sort of physical blow, being thrown into a surface or pinned for more than a second in any way. Being touched by Clockblocker was automatically considered three hit points. Basically, if it had the potential to bruise or worse, it was considered a hit.
A cape was considered dead if they took five consecutive hits, or ten total hits. Dead capes would be replaced on by two new capes, have to leave the field, and enter the end of the queue waiting to go into the arena if everyone else was already inside.
Each cape had an earbud to communicate with their team. The comms systems could also transmit to all the earbuds, but only in select modes. The team comm channels would be monitored and maintained by Dragon, who had said, quote, "I beg you, let me watch this," to which Contract had replied, "Only if you translate for me."
(Contract was wearing a new visor over her leather mask, which Armsmaster had evidently made for her. Neither was saying anything about its capabilities, but Intrepid would be surprised if it didn't at least contain a way to translate speech into text.)
To add to the general chaos, the capes waiting in the wings would have very limited information. They would only know the team rosters, current hit counts, and any information which a team chose to broadcast on the general channel, which would also be overheard by their opponents.
The original teams hadn't included Beetle or Armsmaster. At the last minute, Contract argued for adding Beetle to their initial team lineup, on the logic that she was the only other participant who had never seen the arena before, and like Contract and Intrepid, she was a relatively green cape compared to the Brockton Bay regulars. Armsmaster allowed it on the agreement that he would be a starting player for the other side. It was clear from his expression that he expected her to back down from the challenge.
The Cheshire grin that she responded with seemed to unnerve Armsmaster as much as it did Intrepid. He was suddenly glad that all he had to do to stay on Contract's team was not die. "I'll do you one better," she offered, "you can start on their team, and you guys can have thirty seconds head start."
Since their team's biggest challenge in the exercise was the new terrain, Beetle's bugs were forced to wait outside the arena with them, and the three of them would enter carrying their flags, without a chance to place them ahead of time. So Contract's offer meant she was giving the other team a free chance to hide their flags and try to find the two hidden ones.
Armsmaster accepted the deal, but he didn't look sure that it was a good idea.
"Okay, we've got a couple minutes to strategize. Intrepid, as the cape fight veteran, what's your advice?" Contract asked, falling into the leadership position in their dynamic as soon as they were alone.
"We're starting without any idea of the layout of the terrain, which is a huge disadvantage. The faster that Beetle can give us a site map, the better. Our advantage in this round is definitely going to be her bugs: they're our eyes, to eliminate our disadvantage. They're also a good distraction, and they can seek out the other team's flags. The key is going to be staying alive long enough to find them."
"I can search the whole arena simultaneously. We should find them pretty fast," Beetle contradicted.
Intrepid shook his head hard, conveying his immediate disagreement, and spoke as soon as it wouldn't be cutting Beetle off. "No. If they're thinking at all, they'll have Clockblocker freeze their flags, and probably freeze something else over them too. We'll have to survive long enough to not only find them, but wait for that to expire. As long as they're frozen, we can't claim to have them, even if we know exactly where they are."
Contract nodded, seeing his point. "We should take advantage of our powers to keep our flags safe too. Beetle, can your bugs hold the flags?"
With some quick experimentation, they found that a number of bugs could work together to hold the flags, but it took a much larger number to hide the bright green cloth and disguise the shape of the swarm.
"Okay, keep the flags low and out of sight, and keep them moving. Use your bugs to find the flags that Clockblocker has hidden, and then seize them as soon as they unfreeze. Try to find the non-team flags too. Even though it will leave us blind, I think that's more important than the terrain map."
Contract glanced toward Intrepid for his input, and he was already nodding. "She's right. We can survive an unknown terrain. It won't be easy, but it's possible."
"Okay. Intrepid, in your experience, is it better to have the high ground, or have cover?"
"High ground. But that's speaking as a mover, who was on a team of movers." Contract nodded, absorbing that input, then nodded again, more decisively.
"Here's the basic plan, then. I'll lead us into the arena, and take any route I see toward high ground. That should let us scope a little too. Beetle, you're behind me. When I see a promising spot, I'll give you a signal, and you break off and hide in the shadows. You're less mobile than both Intrepid and I, and you have the least combat experience. Try to take advantage of not moving to track the players on the field, feed info to Intrepid and I, and deal with the flags."
Contract trailed off, and glanced at Intrepid, her forehead wrinkling. "You need a field name."
He sighed, reminded of the many laments of his teammates. Intrepid did not shorten easily. "Use Red." He glanced at Beetle, ran a through nicknames through his head, and asked, "Bug?"
"Bug," Contract agreed before Beetle could protest, "and just use Fi for me." She shook her head, "anyway, where was I? Beetle, you get down when we tell you to. Intrepid, I think you should cover our backs until Beetle is safe. Staying lower will also keep you from being an immediate target if one of them has set up as a sniper near our entrance. Once she's down, you can use your own judgement if you want to stick with me or break off. My primary focus is going to be engaging the enemy. I want to keep things close quarters and keep the heat on them as much as possible."
"You realize that the more you shoot, the more teammates you give them?" Intrepid objected. The Texas teams were all very big on understanding the objective of an assignment, and knowing what would and wouldn't further that objective. It helped in cases like this one, where the rules and objectives had implications that weren't immediately obvious.
Fi, however, just smiled that scary grin again. "I do realize. I think the three of us can beat them all. The only way to do that is to get them all on the field."
Part of Intrepid wanted to protest. The greater part was cheering "Bring! It! On!" and cycling an imaginary shotgun shell. Well, it was only a war game, so why not?
Just then, basic mission clock in the bottom of his display started counting down from 30 seconds. The Blue Team had entered the arena.
Intrepid adjusted and re-adjusted his grip on his weapon, mentally reminding himself where his spare ammo was, where his spare handgun was clipped, and where he'd put each of the rest of his equipment. As he did so, he remembered another advantage he should mention.
"We have the advantage that I'm accustomed to using a tinker tech gun in battle. Some of our opponents might be so excited to use a paint ball gun they forget their normal tactics."
Contract nodded, and glanced at Beetle. "The inverse is true for you. Don't let the gun distract you from your strengths."
It felt weird to be wearing a different uniform, even though it was obviously a good idea not to get paint on his actual equipment. The standard-issue suit was bulkier, meant to pad against the high-velocity paint projectiles, and it didn't move as well as he was used to. He was glad he'd kept his normal visor, at least, so he had his usual display available.
"Any bugs in there already?" Contract asked. 21.
"None. They vented it, I'm pretty sure," Beetle replied. 19.
"Don't lead with the flag bugs then. Keep them well hidden. Try to get bugs throughout the whole arena as quick as possible, to disguise which parts you're actually concentrating on." 15.
Intrepid noted that Contract was very focused on redirection and camouflage, tactics that would serve a smaller force well against a larger or more powerful opponent. She might need to start thinking differently now that she was a part of a large, well organised team. He didn't say anything, but made a note for the debriefing later.
Contract pulled her own automatic paint gun off her shoulder, and hefted it in a way that said she was extremely comfortable with its weight.
"Beetle, how familiar are you with clock directions?"
Even beneath her mask, (Beetle had chosen to wear her full normal uniform), Beetle looked panicked. "None?"
"Then our entrance is now south. The wall to our right, as we exit, is east, the front is north, and the left is west. Those are new, fixed directions. Intrepid and I will have to adapt." Intrepid grimaced, but there was no time to argue and there probably hadn't been enough time to explain normal combat orientation language to Beetle. 5.
"Dragon's referee," Contract reminded them. "So if you have a creative idea, ask her first. She's got the final word, and she likes us."
"Three." Dragon said over their comms, acting as though she hadn't heard. "Two. One."
The doors in front of them opened, and Contract ran out first, with Beetle behind her and Intrepid in the rear. Behind them, Intrepid could hear Beetle's swarm surge forth in a terrifying cacophony of buzzing. Contract broke right as the swarm boiled up and over them, continuing straight on and dispersing as planned. Beetle followed Contract, and Intrepid stuck with them.
The obstacle course was just that: filled with obstacles. There was scaffolding somewhere near the center reaching up towards the three-story high ceiling, but it didn't look steady. Immediately in front of the door was a number of huge pipes laid on their side, creating a set of above ground tunnels, a maze, and a shelter in one. It was probably a good place to avoid until they knew more about the blind corners and hiding places it would provide to them and their enemies.
By turning to the right (east, Intrepid tried to remind himself), they were currently running towards a set of rusty bleachers that were a few yards away from the east wall, angled north-west as though watching the door on the far side. Intrepid glanced behind them long enough to confirm that they were headed up a slight incline, and that the east side of the arena, at least down near this south entrance, was filled with wooden huts in various stages of total disrepair. As far as he could see, the whole room sloped down toward the east, and perhaps a little towards the south.
There was no sign of their enemy.
Contract ran towards the bleachers, then past them using them as cover as she ran to the east wall. She waved her hand wildly toward the shadows beneath the seats, and Beetle dove into them, finally speaking into her comm link. With the swarm still buzzing over the room and spreading out, she probably wouldn't be heard.
"There's pipes along most the center third of the room. There's one huge pipe running the length of ninety percent of the room like a spine, but most of the pipes are only six or eight feet long. There's more on the south half than the north. The left wall - I mean west wall - is covered in huts. Most of them are connected, some have attics or other hidey-holes."
Contract was still making a decent pace forward, and Intrepid continued following her rather than break off. They were approaching a brick wall, about eight feet tall, just in front of them. Contract was slowing down, like she intended to use the wall as cover to stop and look around, when she suddenly dropped to the ground at the same time Beetle yelled, "DUCK."
By reflex, Intrepid went up instead. This let him see that the brick wall was actually about six feet wide, due to Vista's power. Armsmaster and Clockblocker were laying on top, firing at Contract. As he rose, Clockblocker tried to twist and shoot up at him, but it was an awkward angle because he was lying on his belly.
The paint gun was too long in his hands; he was used to a one-handed tinker tech weapon. It took him several shots to adjust to the range and shooting of the gun as he walked his shots from left to right, approaching the two heroes. Fortunately, he was rising faster than Clockblocker was adjusting, and Armsmaster was still shooting at Contract, who wasn't dead yet and so was probably avoiding being hit, somehow. As Clockblocker's shots started to track more closely, and Intrepid finally starting hitting Armsmaster, a wall of bugs descended in front of Intrepid, acting as a shield.
As soon as he couldn't see the Blue Team, he dropped straight down, assuming they couldn't see him either. "It's Vista," he said into the comm link, while he scrambled to hide behind a car door that was propped up by some sort of wooden spool. "The brick wall is stretched six feet thick."
Intrepid watched as the wall of bugs that had been his shield turned and became a missile headed for the wall. As they swarmed it, there were suddenly two thumps. Clockblocker landed on their side of the wall, while Armsmaster and most of the bugs seemed to be on the other side.
There was a spatter of gunfire from in front of him where Contract was crouched, and Contract painted Clockblocker with exactly five headshots, coating his visor.
"Laserdream enters for Team Blue," Dragon announced over the general line.
Since Clockblocker wasn't declared dead, Intrepid guessed that something Beetle was doing to Armsmaster or Vista must count as a hit or two, preventing Contract from having five consecutive hits. Clockblocker turned north towards his team's entrance, perhaps instinctively looking for his new teammate, and Contract shot to her feet and took off like a jackrabbit, ducking around the other side of the wall.
Intrepid followed her, flying over his temporary shield and then moving at normal running height, horizontal, to make an unexpected target shape. As Contract rounded the wall, she fired her gun with her right hand only, her left waving side to side.
Intrepid rounded the corner to see that Armsmaster was waving an electrified halberd, zapping bugs, and trying to target Contract with the gun in his off hand. She was throwing his shots subtly to the left, making him think he was leading her by too far and protecting herself (and coincidentally Intrepid) from the shots. She dove into a tunnel that was laid approximately east-to-west and Intrepid followed her down the slope, taking a few shots of his own at Armsmaster.
"Kid Win enters for Team Blue," Dragon said.
"Keep going, exit, turn right and fire," Beetle instructed in their ears, and Contract burst out of the pipe at about three quarters of full speed, running hunched, and turned north towards the Blue entrance. They came almost face to face with Kid Win and Laserdream, who were both running full tilt toward the center of the arena, and therefore towards the two of them. Intrepid had been flying with his weapon braced for combat, but immediately dropped it to evacuate Contract instead, letting it swing from its strap.
"Grab her! Get up!" Beetle shouted immediately, and Intrepid suppressed the desire to snap at his teammate. He could see when an exit was needed, thank you. How about not leading them into a trap next time? Contract got off a decent burst of fire before Intrepid grabbed her and yanked them both straight upward and backwards, dodging return fire, even as Contract kept trying to shoot and was a generally uncooperative passenger.
"Don't go to the huts," Beetle added at the last minute, so he kept going up, toward the scaffold in the center of the field, and just a little to his left. "Not too high!" she corrected, just as Kid Win sent a shot over both their heads with his new energy gun, which was mounted to the hoverboard he was riding. Both Laserdream and Kid Win were air support; Intrepid was no longer the sole flyer, and he needed to correct his thinking.
"Go back to the tunnels, and run for the south door. There's a pit about halfway there that's defensible," Beetle told him.
"Miss Militia enters for Team Blue. Gallant enters for Team Blue." While it was a good sign that Beetle was doing damage to the Blue Team, Intrepid sort wished she'd slow down before it was the three of them versus everybody.
"Target Gallant," Beetle ordered, and Contract obeyed as Intrepid dropped back down. She fired exactly five shots before they were back in the maze of pipes, where Intrepid could thankfully drop her. They both scrambled into a pipe barely tall enough to crouch in, and each immediately covered one of the exits. Contract was facing west and north, while Intrepid was more east and south, back the way they had come. The whole pipe was barely five feet long, but it was enough to let them catch their breath.
Dragon promptly announced, "Gallant is dead. Glory Girl enters for team blue. Aegis enters for team blue." Intrepid took the gun strap off his back so he could hold it further from his body, more comfortably as they crouched and waited.
"We have to stay alive for another five or ten minutes," Beetle announced. "Freeze." They both obeyed, and Intrepid watched as Glory Girl zipped past the open pipe end in front of him, going too fast to notice them.
"We won't last ten minutes in a pit," Contract said, "or any simple shelter for that matter. We need to stay on the move, or stay in a very defensible position. Something to bottleneck them."
"There's a really long pipe, that spine I told you about. It's nine feet in diameter in the center of this pipe maze you're in. Go left," Beetle offered, "err, ah, I mean, the closest entrance is north east of your current position. We've just got to keep Gallant off the field because he'll see my emotional aura. Otherwise, I'm invisible."
"No," Intrepid snapped, "you're not. Bullshit tinkertech is bullshit." He was already in motion as he protested. Even as someone who'd always had tinkertech support, Intrepid fully believed in that particular lament.
Intrepid left the pipe at full speed, rocketing back towards Beetle's hiding place under the bleachers, pouring on every inch of acceleration he could safely manage in the close quarters.
As he did so, the space between himself and Beetle stretched. Vista. He heard a spat of gunfire, and then the space collapsed back to normal, and he seized Beetle under the armpits, yanking her back towards the south wall, out from under the bleachers while Kid Win weaved behind them. Intrepid had barely beaten him to Beetle, and now the tinker was far more maneuverable than Intrepid, since he wasn't hampered.
"Vista is dead. Triumph enters for Blue Team. Shielder enters for Blue Team."
"Drop to the pipes," Beetle commanded, but Intrepid ignored her. As much as he was conditioned to trust his teammates in combat, it was becoming obvious that Beetle wasn't very combat experienced. Intrepid would be all too happy to lose altitude, but there was nowhere to come down.
Armsmaster was to the north, Laserdream and Glory Girl rising up behind them in the south, turning their way. Clockblocker was on the ground under Kid Win on the west, who was over the wood huts they'd been told to avoid, and Miss Militia and Aegis were coming around the edge of the bleachers to the east.
"No," Contract cut in, countermanding Beetle's impossible order, "Turn and go backwards, play chicken with the New Wave girls, then double back and cut between the wall and the bleachers and head toward Breen entrance."
Trusting Contract to know what she was doing, he obeyed. His arms were aching, he realized he'd dropped his gun under the stands when he seized Beetle, he didn't know how he was getting past Miss Militia and her air support, but he obeyed.
Laserdream tried to blast them as they moved forward, but Beetle swarmed both Laserdream and Glory Girl's faces, and they pulled back in reflex. "Dragon," Beetle said calmly as Intrepid swerved to avoid fire from Miss Militia, "Kid Win has open exhaust vents on his board. I stuff them with bugs, bringing down the board. To save on actual property damage…"
Immediately, Dragon announced on the general channel, "Kid Win, your board is no longer functioning. Land."
"Go left!" Contract shouted, her comm interrupting the announcement, even though Kid Win was to the right. Intrepid obeyed, shedding altitude and twisting back to the stands. As he did so, he saw Aegis and Miss Militia both fly off their feet and crash into Armsmaster. Evidently, Contract could lift more than 200 pounds.
At the same time, there was a shout of pain over the comm that Intrepid didn't think Fi meant for him to have heard. Since there was nothing to do about it, he ignored it, for now.
They rounded the bleachers and found a steel pipe four feet tall. Intrepid dropped Beetle so she could scramble inside, and then he followed her. Beetle kept going, and considering she had millions of bugs to tell her where to go, Intrepid followed. The pipe was welded, or joined somehow, to the nine foot pipe Beetle had promised, what felt like ages ago. Contract was already waiting for them, staring out a large crack in the pipe.
"Dragon," Beetle said, not acknowledging Contract, "can we talk to you, just the Green Team?"
"It's just us," Dragon said in his ear, and presumably in Beetle and Contract's too.
"I now have seven flags, but I'm not ready for this to end. How about, now that everyone's been out here at least once, when we kill them, they stay dead and don't get reinforcements?"
"As long as they don't manage to steal the flags from you, I will accept that. Are you two alright with that?"
"Absolutely," Contract whispered, still watching out the crack.
"Sure," Intrepid agreed, wondering what had happened to the ten minute deadline. "Why haven't they followed us in?"
"Only three entrances," Beetle answered, eyes unfocused as she continued to pay attention to her swarm. "Both ends of the pipe, and the one branch we came in on. Armsmaster thinks all four of their flags are still frozen by Clockblocker, which means there's no way we could have won yet. He can't wait us out indefinitely, but he thinks he can wait us out a little. Plus, no one wants to wade through the masses of bugs I've got over the pipe entrances."
"The flags are safe?" Intrepid double checked.
"Yes," Beetle said, focusing on him a little more. "What's our next move?"
"How do your bugs count as a hit?"
"I have to tell Dragon what I want to do, and then she tells me whether it's PR friendly and how much it counts for. Armsmaster gave her special instructions for me and me alone, after I sent some into his mouth."
Intrepid shuttered, but Contract looked away from the crack long enough to give Beetle an impressed glance. Intrepid spoke up first. "So what now?"
"Now, we take no prisoners." Contract opened a fanny pack and handed him three small, circular objects. "Paint grenades. I saw them on a shelf as we walked to the entrance. Technically, they're PRT equipment so they're legal. Make them count. You've got the air battle: Glory Girl, Laserdream, and Aegis. Get up on the scaffolding and use that for cover, but don't trust your full weight to it. You'll go out the four foot tunnel, because you can fly horizontally."
Contract turned to Beetle. "You need to take out Clockblocker and Shielder. I can't touch Clock because of his power, and ditto with Intrepid and Shielder." She handed over string, masking tape, hair spray, an exercise bottle mostly full of icewater, and a cell phone. "This is all stuff I normally keep in my purse. Can you use any of it?"
"Maybe?" Beetle sounded unsure, but she looked gleeful, and Intrepid didn't know whether to feel sorry for Beetle, or her enemies. It seemed impossible that those simple items could be used to take down two capes who had both been to Endbringer fights, but it also seemed impossible to doubt the manically eager grins on both girls' faces.
"Give Intrepid your gun," Contract told Beetle, reloading. "Since he dropped his retrieving you. " Intrepid quickly went to reload as well, but Beetle hadn't fired a single shot.
"You realize you have to take out Kid Win, Miss Militia, Armsmaster, and Triumph," Intrepid double checked with Contract.
"Triumph first," Beetle said, "he's using his shout to kill bugs by the bucket load."
"Got it. You stay here, keep running comms." Contract took off her fanny pack. "Feel free to use anything else you want," she told Beetle. Then she picked up her semi-automatic gun. "Let's do this thing."
[-]
Afterwards, as Panacea was healing everyone's bruises, sprains, and other minor injuries, they all watched as Contract and Clockblocker had a throw down about the exact, appropriate meaning of the words "full contact."
Because up until that point, Contract had been holding back.
[-]
Intrepid waited, several yards back from the pipe entrance, for Beetle to give the signal. Then, everything went utterly quiet. He started his two pre-programmed countdown clocks in the corner of his display.
Beetle stopped every bug in place for a single breath, taking away the terrifying buzzing he'd sort of tuned out, and then she brought the noises back at double or triple the volume. He shot skyward, and the four flying capes followed him as the Green Team had hoped they would. Intrepid turned himself toward the Blue entrance and went limp for a moment.
A freight train slammed into him, as Contract jerked all the flyers forward as hard as she could, just for a moment. Intrepid was ready for it, but the others weren't. While they were still disoriented, he got above them and shot down at them, pegging Glory Girl seven or eight times in fast succession until he heard her death announcement. He was able to land three hits on Laserdream before Shielder covered her and Aegis in his shell.
[-]
Contract would try to blame the escalation on Intrepid, who had wanted a slightly more solid plan than just calling targets, since they had the breathing room to work in.
[-]
Intrepid turned tail and headed for the ceiling, easily outpacing the other flyers, as he watched a second clock hit zero in his display. An updraft and several startled shouts told him that the hit from below (a plane of force this time, rather than five equal vectors) had caught the other flyers. Intrepid silently thanked Beetle for her creativity, which extended far beyond just her own powers.
[-]
Intrepid defended himself passionately, admitting no fault. The purpose of the exercise was to test out Contract's new powers. Until that point, all she had done was shoot like a badass, run like hell, make snap judgment calls, and perform a couple minor force-throws. He was just helping a teammate learn new applications for her abilities.
[-]
Intrepid reached and passed the top of the scaffold, pulling up and over it, looping back to see the other capes, his gun held straight in front of him. Like a fighter jet, he strafed the other flyers, who were not used to being armed with guns in combat. As he'd guessed, their guns were more of a distraction to them than a help, while he had years of practice with the various techniques. Laserdream was too slow on her shield and took her last hits, reluctantly dropping down.
Per his request, Dragon did not distract him with the general death announcement.
At the same time, Aegis was thrown across the entire breadth of the room, impacting the far wall, and was held there until his hits, too, expired.
Behind him, Shielder's field popped as he let it go, and Intrepid took a light blast before Beetle's bugs detonated a grenade in his face.
[-]
Clockblocker gave up on that particular line of attack, and turned back to Contract. He then attempted, in vain, to explain the concept of overkill to her. She refused to admit his point, but Intrepid could kinda see where he was coming from.
[-]
The grenade was designed to simulate an actual hand grenade, capable of clearing a small room. It contained enough paint to coat Shielder's entire body, and Intrepid escaped the blast radius only because he'd been shoved further away by the previous hit from Shielder's hard light.
The last of the flyers dealt with, Intrepid whirled in the air to head for Clockblocker, who was being bombarded by various pieces of debris and masses of bugs. Presumably, this meant that the various other telekinetic attacks that they had discussed had proven to be beyond Fi's coordination abilities. It was time for the last resort.
Before Armsmaster or Miss Militia could make it over to the Ward, Intrepid swept as low as he dared and emptied the ice water over Clockblocker's head. As they'd hoped, he reflexively froze himself, which was enough to tip his hit count over the ten hit threshold. Intrepid then brushed past the entrances of several pipes, taking none of them and holding back from his top speed, the two Protectorate leaders hot on his trail as he dodged their fire.
[-]
The next day at school, Taylor would grouse to Jason that there was now a special list of things Beetle was not allowed to do in full-contact combat simulations, a list of things she was not allowed to do in any combat situation, and a list of things she was not allowed to do, ever.
[-]
Swarms burst from the pipes where they'd been hiding from Triumph's destructive shouts while Beetle allowed Team Blue to believe they were slowly diminishing her forces. This time, she didn't simulate with Dragon, she just out flat swarmed the heroes. Intrepid didn't look back to see exactly what that meant.
Instead, he cut inside the next tunnel and popped out near the center of the obstacle course. He found Triumph, looking startled and covered in Contract's yellow paint splatters. Kid Win as sitting on his gun, and both he and the gun were completely black, which indicated another grenade hit.
They'd won.
[-]
The best part of the immediate debrief, however, came after Contract apologized to Aegis for breaking his bones, even if it was only temporary. Aegis just gave her a confused look.
"It's okay. You didn't break anything."
Contract's brow wrinkled, but she was still wearing her visor so her confusion had nothing to do with actually understanding the Protectorate hero. "I threw you into a wall as hard as I could. Considering the other forces I exerted today, I know I broke at least something. You don't have to spare my feelings."
"Um, Contract, he isn't," Panacea reassured her from the next chair over where she was restoring Shielder's sight after the paint grenade had gotten in his eyes. "I already checked, because the way he hit the wall could have hurt his spine. Nothing worse than bruising."
Dragon piped up. "It was a busy battle. You probably didn't hit him as hard as you thought." Contract snorted in a way that made it clear she doubted that, so Dragon continued in a conciliatory tone, "Maybe you're not as strong as you thought, then."
In answer, Contract turned around and lifted the huge cement pipe that was the backbone of the course. Her pose as she did so combined with his own late night summation from just a few days ago, clicked in Intrepid's brain, and he started laughing.
It was impossible. But she had admitted that she'd been in a rush, and if she'd been thinking about her "new powers" for awhile, she might have nicknamed them. It was certainly the first association he'd made.
"What?" Contract finally ground out in response to his hilarity.
"You're a Jedi," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. Everyone else looked confused, but Contract pinked in embarrassment. She saw the problem immediately, as he had.
Contract hadn't specified a certain strength for her telekinesis, or any other particular limits. She hadn't had the time or the emotional stability to do so. Instead, she'd used her own mental shorthand. Maybe that nickname had referred to carefully laid out specifications, but he didn't think she'd gotten that far, or she'd have already implemented the contract. The details had still been up in the air.
So Contract hadn't thrown in "telekinesis and precognition." She'd thrown in "Jedi powers," trying to encompass all her previous work but not really focusing on it through the distraction of the Endbringer situation and the other contract clauses. But in the Star Wars movies, the physics of the Force never made mathematical sense. People were tossed around and got back up without issue, or perhaps a little soreness at most. Even though Luke could lift an X wing fighter, and Contract could lift what was likely a half a ton of concrete, neither of them would ever kill an opponent by tossing them into a wall.
It also explained why she had just problems with fine manipulation, or manipulating multiple targets. Normal telekinetics could trip people by untying their shoelaces or setting other traps, but "the Force" wasn't that subtle. She could lift a thousand-pound pipe when she was calm, thinking clearly, and focused. But the kind of fine manipulation that they'd tried earlier was never what "the Force" was intended to do.
"Shut up," Contract said as Intrepid kept laughing. He couldn't stop even though he wanted to breathe, so she shoved him over and he ended up hovering to avoid falling on the side that Shielder had bruised. "Shut up," she repeated through her smile.
Beetle didn't know enough to get the joke, but she knew enough to play off of it, "Not the powers you were looking for?"
In answer, Contract raised the paint handgun she still had clipped to her belt, and shot Beetle's chestplate five times.
[-]
"Green Team has won," Dragon's voice said over the general channel as Contract dropped down from the pipe she'd been laying on, landing lightly next to Intrepid.
"Ready for round two?" she asked cavalierly. Dragon evidently decided this response was directed to the general channel, because Intrepid heard the comment echoed in his comm link.
"Excuse me?" Triumph huffed. Contract shrugged, though most of her audience couldn't see her.
"Well, we've only covered what, like, twenty percent of the arena? And I'm betting y'all haven't figured out my powers yet. So unless Panacea is getting tired, I'm ready for round two. I don't want to take advantage of her in the least, but I'm locked and loaded."
Contract paused for a moment, as though something had just occurred to her, but Intrepid could see enough of her facial expression that he wasn't fooled. "Actually, I was wondering about that. Panacea is doing the most work of any of us here, but she gets the least amount of fun. Why isn't she running around with a paintball gun?"
Panacea's voice came over the line, sounding a bit meek. "Well, I can't heal myself, so it's not safe."
Contract sniffed. "Regular people go paintballing all the time. And the PRT suits are pretty decent protection anyways. Oh! Here's an idea! We'll make you the flag! One team is tasked with protecting you, the other with kidnapping you.
"And since you're a highly respected and very valuable healer, if either team harms you in the least, it counts against them in twice the number of hits. I mean, you're not made of glass, but we shouldn't take unnecessary risks, either."
There was an awkward moment of silence on the line, before Contract stumbled on, sounding a bit embarrassed. "Unless you don't want to, of course. I don't want to make you uncomfortable and if you don't want to be in here, then far be it from me to pressure you. I just thought… well… I want you to get something out of this too."
"No, no," Panacea hurried to reassure Contract, "that actually sounds like a ton of fun…" she trailed off. "So who's protecting me?"
"I think that's your call," Intrepid answered. "You want New Wave to do it?"
"Let's take ten minutes, outside, and do this right," Armsmaster cut in. "You and Contract go back out the Green door so you don't see more of the arena. Everyone meet in conference room six, and we'll lay out the next set of encounter parameters."
Round two started with Intrepid, Panacea, and Contract entering from the Blue door with exactly thirty seconds of head start. The round would last ten minutes, or until a team was completely killed. Whichever team had "possession" of Panacea at that time would win.
The rules for the hits had changed, and basically boiled down to Dragon determining what harm a hit could have done in serious combat, and then crippling capes accordingly. Beetle, Vista, and Glory Girl were waiting in the wings to join the Blue Team if they managed to live past the three minute mark.
(Armsmaster had forbidden Beetle from starting on the Blue Team a second time, since she'd effectively seen the whole arena already with her bugs. He'd also changed Contract and Intrepid from the Green team to the Blue team so that they'd be entering the course from new territory. After brief discussion, Intrepid and Contract had agreed that for their purposes the Blue door was still north, the huts were still west, the Green door was still south, and the high-ground sparsely-shielded wall was still east.)
Kid Win, Triumph, Gallant, and Clockblocker represented the opening Team Green, and they would be reinforced by Shielder, Laserdream, and Aegis at the five minute mark. Miss Militia would enter the arena at the seven minute mark as her own team, working just to kill off other players. Armsmaster was sitting this one out.
As soon as the buzzer sounded, Intrepid pushed the door open and flew up into the air, looking for a good place to surprise the other team from. Meanwhile, Contract took Panacea and went towards the wooden huts, looking for a place to hide out and pick off the other team. They were hoping to end the round early and easily, before Team Green gained the aerial advantage, but it would be difficult without the grenades and other extra equipment, which had been removed from Contract's inventory.
Well, the used and revealed items had been removed. Intrepid thought she might still have a few more tricks that hadn't been explicitly banned yet, but they were going to try to save those for round three, assuming they were still on the same team. If they weren't, Intrepid was having her strip searched. She was terrifying enough without whatever she had snuck into her pockets.
"We're set," Contract's voice said in his commlink as Intrepid chose a pyramid of pipes stacked three tall as his perch. It put him a little south-east of the middle of the field. "Pan and I have switched guns, so she's shooting yellow shots and I'm pink. About twenty yards from the south wall. She's in the window in front of mine. We've got connected houses we can drop back to."
"Good idea with the bait and switch, Fi."
"Actually, it was Pan's."
"Good idea," Intrepid repeated. "Ever shot before Pan?"
"No," she admitted. Intrepid cursed the fact that they hadn't had any chance to prep outside the door this time. They'd come straight from the team gathering to the Blue door and Dragon had ushered them into the field immediately.
"The key is just to keep firing." Contract told her. "These bullets are cheap, they won't do any damage, and one shot gives away your location just as well as twelve. Fire in bursts, then pause to breathe and flush a little adrenaline, then fire another burst."
"Head's up," Intrepid interrupted Contract's impromptu tutoring, noting the last five seconds counting down on his display.
When the counter hit zero, there was a pause before the Green door opened, then the four Green opponents entered, all on foot, and all in identical PRT jumpsuits. Kid Win didn't even have his hoverboard, so there was no way to distinguish them from each other.
"Hold fire," Contract barked. The four capes ran for cover, then all stopped and surveyed the silent battlefield. No one stirred. Intrepid had line of sight on three of their enemies from his position, but he wasn't sure of his ability to kill them. "Aim for the back of the knees," Contract whispered on the comms. "The material is thinner there for flexibility. Dragon, you told us to pick what bullets we're firing for you to do your calculations. Pan's got hollowpoints for their punch value. I've got 22 magnum to take advantage of my accuracy. Red's firing armor-piercing rounds. Make sure to add his velocity where applicable."
One of the capes held fingers above his head, counting down from five. Intrepid relayed into his comm, "Movement in five, four..."
"Fire as soon as they jump, Pan. Red, only if you've got a clean shot," Contract spoke over him.
"...three, two, one!"
The three capes closest to the wood huts left cover and raced toward the entrance to the 9 foot tall "spine" tunnel that Intrepid's team had used in the previous round.
"Three in the spine!" Intrepid reported while he lined up a careful shot on the one cape who was lying stretched on the ground, covering his team's advance.
A burst of firing from the huts had the prone cape bringing his gun toward the girls' hiding place, so Intrepid fired and hit the back of his left knee. The bullet burst and the cape jerked in actual pain. Intrepid fired a small burst into the cape's back, shoulder, and chest as he turned.
"Gallant is dead. Remain where you are, Gallant," Dragon instructed.
All three of the running capes had made it to the spine, and they hadn't come out yet. Panacea's voice came over the channel.
"Red, cover the spine exit by you. Fi's going to the north end of the huts to cover the other side from in here. I've got a good hiding place in a tiny attic about the middle of the neighborhood. We've switched guns back, because Fi nailed two of them in the right hand. We're hoping that they'll assume she's shooting pink and I'm yellow, when really we switched back."
"I can see both south spine exit and the little branch, but I can only cover one while I'm sighting and ready to fire."
"Cover the main. I'll watch the branch opening at top of the slope," Panacea assured him.
"Movement in a crack three quarters of the way down the pipe, to the north," Contract cut in.
"Shifting shadows on this end too," Intrepid answered her. The three Green capes had split up.
"When they come out, Red, fire a bunch then fly over above where Pan was at before."
"They'll come straight for you if you don't have someone covering," Intrepid argued, but the other capes were already bursting out of the spine, two on Contract's end and one on Intrepid's.
Intrepid took a moment to assess the situation, then decided to do as he'd been told. If nothing else, he could present an alternative target. He got in several main body shots, but the other cape wasn't slowing and Dragon wasn't talking, so Intrepid fired at the feet instead as he launched himself towards the huts. He settled a little north of where Panacea's occasional pink bullets were coming from.
The cape that Intrepid had hit sat down, probably at Dragon's insistence, but kept firing at Intrepid. Panacea's fourth pink splatter hit his neck and Dragon declared, "Clockblocker is dead."
At this, Triumph suddenly shouted, activating his full power, and most of the northernmost hut disintegrated. In answer, Contract fired a lot more bullets and Intrepid and Panacea turned their weapons in that direction too. It was over pretty quickly.
All in all, they ran twelve rounds, and only three lasted longer than ten minutes. Intrepid ended up on a team that wasn't Beetle's exactly twice, and both times he was grateful when he was killed and spared her attention. He never faced Contract, which was surely thanks to someone's purposeful planning. Though whether he could thank Clockblocker, Armsmaster, Dragon, or all three of them was a question he wasn't going to investigate too carefully. Over the course of the rounds they worked together better and better, enough that enemy teams started to realize they had to target him just to cut down on Fi's mobility.
Contract participated in ten of the twelve rounds, and lost only two. First, she lost to a vicious combination of Beetle, Vista, and Clockblocker who coordinated beautifully to find her, trap her, and freeze her in just under a minute after his own death.
The last round was Miss Militia against Contract, and went on for eighteen minutes and twenty-two seconds, with the two women sneaking around each other, taking shots, and failing to connect. It finally ended when Contract took a gambit of rushing Miss Militia, levitating a shield in front of herself, only for Dragon to insist that Miss Militia's bullets had shredded the paint-covered shield. Contract later sheepishly admitted to Intrepid that she'd forgotten that Miss Militia, unlike other players on the field, got to change simulated ammo as often as she liked.
Overall, the day included just under ninety minutes of simulated battle, and more than four hours of preparation and debriefings. They broke it up, having a debriefing after round four, and then following every other round thereafter.
It was exhausting, but also very satisfying.
After they made it back to the Wards base, and everyone had a hot shower and change of clothes, Fi plopped into a seat next to Jason, still wearing her combat visor, which had been scrubbed of paint but still held evidence of their war games in the cracks.
"I'm gonna sleep here tonight," she said without preamble. "It's nothing against you, I promise."
"You sure?" Jason asked, a little concerned about her staying here alone. "Want me to stay with you?"
"No, Jason, go home to your family. I need a little space, and I need to talk to Armsmaster, and I want to give everyone a night without guard duty while I use today's wild success to convince Armsmaster I don't need a constant guard." She glanced down at her hands, and Jason gave her a minute, letting her gather her thoughts.
"You've been an absolute rock. And I appreciate that. You stuck up for me about the Triumvirate, you heard me out on Saturday night, you've been nothing but straight with me and I needed that. I needed someone to lean on. I might need that again tomorrow. But tonight, I have to know what happens if I'm alone. I have to know if I'm going to break down completely, or not."
"You don't have to do that tonight," Jason told her, even though she hadn't looked up. He trusted her tinker-visor to write it out for her.
"I think I do," she whispered back. "Today was great, don't get me wrong, but it also highlighted just how badly my situational awareness has been affected."
Jason bit his lip, remembering her face during the debriefings. The other capes had been thrilled with her precognition, and the barely-in-time warnings it gave her. It was the only way she could survive in a battlefield environment without her hearing to let her watch her own back. But despite her precognition, she had taken a lot of glancing blows. Her shoulders and arms had been covered in deflected paint by the end of the day, evidence of her dodging not-quite-far-enough and her partially-failed telekinetic deflections. He could tell that she wasn't satisfied with the substitution.
He remembered other things too, things he hadn't decided whether he was writing up for Armsmaster and Clockblocker or not. During her fifth battle, against Vista, Clockblocker, Gallant, and Aegis, Contract had managed to scale the pipe-pyramid, and then had run the length of the top pipe, leaping the distance to the scaffolding, where she'd caught herself one-handed. Or rather, failed to catch herself.
She'd fallen nearly two stories, landing on and breaking her left wrist. The snap had echoed over the whole course, and Contract hadn't moved. Her teammates had raced towards her, both in worry and (maybe a little) for the purpose of the battle. She'd shot them on their approach, with the gun she still held in her right hand, and Dragon had determined that the point-blank shots were "fatal" for the purposes of the round, giving her victory.
Clockblocker had assumed the injury and fake-out were purposeful and had given her a hard time about appropriate levels of intensity in a mock battle, but Intrepid remembered that she'd sacrificed some use of her left hand, and he didn't think it was intentional.
That had been just one out of a number of close calls. Contract had slid by on the skin of her teeth in multiple encounters, and when the praise was handed out during the debriefings, she accepted it with stoic grace. It could be good sportsmanship, but Jason was pretty sure that she was berating herself for not running faster, jumping further, shooting better, dodging quicker, or hitting harder.
He wasn't sure what to say, in the face of all of that.
You'll get better? She might not, and certainly not quickly. She was deaf, she was short, she had given up dexterity. These were not easy things to compensate for.
It's okay? It wasn't. They lived in one of the most dangerous cities in America. Her life now revolved around routine field combat. More worryingly, there was a slim chance they'd have to fight Scion, or fight some of the Triumvirate for the right to hear the information needed to fight Scion. Contract couldn't hold her own in a simulation against half a Wards team, and her abilities were better than his.
"Call me, if you need anything," Jason offered. "I'll come over, or I'll come pick you up and take you to my house, or we'll go sit on the Boardwalk." She didn't answer. "Promise me, Fi. Promise me you'll call if it gets bad."
She was quiet, but he waited. Finally, she murmured, "I promise." She stood up, considering the conversation closed, but Jason wasn't about to let her walk away depressed.
He reached out to touch her as he said, "Goodnight, Jedi."
She turned and smiled, small but genuine. "Goodnight, Red."