Chapter 5: Ain't Life a Many Splendored Thing?

Kiara winced in pain as the second paintball made contact her palm. In retrospect, maybe shoving her hand against the barrel of the faux-enemy's gun probably wasn't the best idea, she thought.

But the thought of Finn humiliating her in front of her classmates earlier had enraged her. Of course, he would do that, she thought to herself.

Of course, he wasn't being sincere this morning.

Wasting no time, Kiara seized her opportunity and took advantage of the confused agent. With her opposite arm, she grabbed Finn's wrist and, with all the strength she could muster, pulled him forward before sinking her elbow down on his forearm.

How could I ever believe he would be any different when he's the pure embodiment of what this academy stands for?

Finn grunted in pain, snapping out of his initial shock. Kiara quickly brought her foot up and pushed it against Finn's stomach, sending him back a few steps. She quickly unholstered her gun and—

BANG!

Kiara's eyes widened at the red splatter of paint across Finn's vest, then down at her gun.

I… actually hit him?

Kiara watched as Finn looked down at his vest, seemingly also surprised. But this time, his moment of shock lasted no more than a second as he quickly aimed his gun at her.

BANG! BANG!

Instead of taking cover, Kiara took her chance and leaped onto a rising platform. She got down onto her stomach, bringing her out of Finn's range. She took note of the surrounding platforms that shifted at different paces from one another. If Finn were to pursue her, he would only be able to leap onto the platform from one direction, her left.

Kiara slowed her breathing down in order to listen for his footsteps, but frowned to herself when all she heard were the pillars groaning as they rose and fell. She started feeling uneasy, wondering to herself if Anderson felt the same dread of not knowing where Finn would pop up.

But Anderson took too long to decide, and Wazowski didn't take advantage of the platform's height. That's why they failed.

Kiara hated how clammy her hands felt as they gripped her gun. It felt strange to her, shooting at a real person. Up until then, she had always practiced with shooting dummies. Not once had the thought of shooting a real person ever crossed her mind. But now…

Kiara shook her head. She didn't have time to let that thought settle. Cursing under her breath, she got up and edged her way closer to the left side of the platform. She took a breath before peeking over the edge, her arms quickly followed her gaze. But to her surprise, not only was Finn not where she expected him to appear, he was nowhere to be found.

Crap.

BANG! BANG!

The force of the impact caused Kiara to lose her balance. She tumbled over the edge but landed safely on the platform beside the previous one, the pillar being just a couple feet shorter in height.

Not two seconds later did Finn land on the same platform, just a few feet away from her. But to her surprise, he had holstered his gun. Before she could even blink, he was already in front of her, grabbing and twisting her body so that her back was pressed against his chest.

Kiara squirmed against him until she felt the barrel of his gun against her temple.

"Now I don't know about you, Miss Tenebris," his voice drawled lowly from behind his mask, "but I believe this is what they call checkmate."

Damn, he's strong. Kiara gritted her teeth as the arm around her waist tightened, trapping her arms to her sides.

"Do you surrender?"

The image of her classmates snickering and sneering at her burned itself into her mind. No doubt that's what would happen if she lost. Kiara didn't want to give them a reason to mock her.

Not again.

And yet, there she was, at this trained agent's mercy while he would go on to degrade her even further.

He's just like everyone else.

It only fueled Kiara's rage even more.

"That's not an option for me."

In one swift movement, Kiara threw her head back against Finn's covered chin. She cried out in pain, but felt his arm loosen around her. Slipping her arms free, she grabbed the arm holding his gun, tilted her head away and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

Finn's mask and visor matched his vest's bright crimson hue.

Using the paintball's momentum to her advantage, Kiara spun on her heel, ripped her mask and goggles off, then smashed them against the side of Finn's face. The force of her attack left a visible crack in his visor, rendering him momentarily stunned.

She then, shoved the older agent away, creating a distance between them, and quickly aimed her gun, managing to land two more shots on him, before jumping onto another lower platform that had begun its descendent back down to ground level.

With the small basket within her line of sight— and Kiara wanting to create as much distance between her and Finn as possible— she began hopping from one platform to another, not daring to spare a glance back at the agent.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Only two of three paintballs made contact with her back this time, but Kiara kept running, the sound of her own heartbeat thundering in her ears. She could the feel her body begin to ache and slow down.

Two more, and it's over!

Seeing only one platform in front of her slowly elevating itself high above the one she was on, Kiara charged. She felt her knees buckle slightly as she jumped, causing her foot to slip.

BANG!

The sound of the paintball splattering against her back willed her to power through the pain and hoist herself up onto the platform, out of Finn's range. Kiara felt her face becoming hotter and sweatier with each short breath that she took, the pounding in her ears seemingly getting louder.

She was almost out of steam, and she was sure Finn knew it too. Nevertheless, she dragged herself over to the opposite side of the platform and poked her head over the edge. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing how close the basket was now.

Fishing the pen drive from out of her pocket, Kiara thought back to how Anderson had feebly tried throwing it into the basket. From this distance, it wasn't that bad of an idea, if not for—

Kiara whipped around and drew her gun, mirroring Finn's stance. He, too, had removed his mask and goggles, and had a few drops of sweat running down his face. He slowly approached her, taking in deep breaths.

"A valiant effort, I'll give you that, Miss Tenebris," Finn breathed. "But we appear to be at a stand still."

Kiara said nothing, afraid that even the slightest movement would end in her loss. She only had to shoot him once more in order to be declared the winner, but risk him pulling his own trigger at the same time.

If not faster.

"Hand over the drive."

The basket was right there. Sure, it was about twenty feet down, but it was within her reach, Kiara just knew it.

'He has his weaknesses too, but none of you are even aiming for them.'

She gripped the small stick in her hand.

There's no other choice.

"You want it?" Kiara breathed, her heart pounding wildly. "Come get it."

Keeping her gun pointed Finn, she took a step back and let herself fall. For a split second, their eyes met, and Kiara thought she saw something else behind his calm demeanor. But then she found herself staring up at the domed ceiling as she felt the cold rush of air all around her.

She knew it was a stupid plan, but it was a plan, nevertheless. Either way…

I win.

BANG!

It all happened so fast.

Finn didn't have a chance to process what was happening as his body rushed forward on his own. One moment the girl had taken a step off the edge, and the next, he had activated his emergency inflatable airbag as he held her close, twisting his body so that he'd be the one who made impact.

He grunted under his faux-enemy's weight, cradling her head against his freshly red-stained chest as his back hit the airbag beneath them. He suspected he had broken a rib or two upon the fall and found himself slightly irritated at the sharp pains that soon followed as he tried catching his breath from all the running.

He closed his eyes as the adrenaline began to fade and the pain began to settle in. The agent found this last-minute rescue 'mission' much too close for his liking.

Had he reacted a second later than he did, Kiara would have—

Finn opened his eyes again when he felt the weight on top of him shift. As Kiara slowly lifted herself from his chest, a few strands of her soft dark purple hair tickled his cheeks, and through his pain, he breathed in an overwhelming scent of strawberries.

Interesting, he thought briefly. I would have expected blueberry.

Having nowhere else to look, Finn couldn't help but stare up at her. Red paint smeared across her damp forehead, presumably from when he broke her fall. Her ruby red eyes gazed deeply into his cool teal ones with a sort of emotion he hadn't seen before, not even back in the observation room.

Finn didn't know what to make of this observation.

As the giant airbag began to deflate, Kiara quickly rolled herself off and took a few steps back as if trying to make sense of what had happened. Finn followed slowly after, quietly hissing to himself with each movement he took. She stared at him in what looked like disbelief and confusion. But Finn couldn't understand what she seemed confused about. If anything, he should have been the one to be confused and in complete and utter disbelief; Finn should have been fuming.

Instead, he spoke to her, keeping his voice steady as he studied her reaction. "Are you alright, Miss Tenebris? You're not hurt, are you?"

Kiara finally tore her gaze away from him, shaking her head.

"You—" Her unusually quiet voice started but was interrupted by the speakers.

"TENEBRIS!" Her instructor's voice roared.

Kiara flinched at the sudden noise, her gaze almost immediately turning cold as she glared at the window of the observation room. Any semblance of what Finn had seen was now gone, as if it never existed to begin with. A moment passed before her instructor was on the field, stomping his way over to the pair.

"Are you insane?!" He shouted at her.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Though her voice was defiant, she couldn't look him in the eye.

"What you did just now was nothing short of pure idiocy and recklessness!"

"But I did exactly what you said to do!" She argued, "I completed both objectives!"

"That's not what I'm referring to." Fittski shot back. "Throwing yourself off the platform was not one of your objectives! Purposely endangering yourself is never the objective! You're lucky Agent McMissile intervened as fast as he did!"

Ignoring his last statement, Kiara snorted, "That's literally what this class is for! Training us for potential situations where we'll be unarmed; where we'll have no choice but to sacrifice ourselves if it means securing CHROME's intel! Isn't that why you had us go through this stupid exercise?"

Fittski pinched the bridge of his nose, before sighing loudly. "That doesn't apply to you, Kiara. Not in this instance, and don't think for a second that I don't know what this is really about!"

"You—!" As if striking a nerve, Kiara's backed down. She hung her head and mumbled through gritted teeth. "Permission to be excused, sir?"

The instructor waved his hand in dismissal and Finn watched as she shot him one last glance, her eyes briefly flitting down to his chin before looking away, as if repulsed. She, then, briskly walked back toward the observation room. As soon as they were alone, Fittski immediately pulled out an ice pack and tossed it at the injured agent who just barely caught it, scowling at the heavy weight on his wrist.

"I'm sorry about that. You okay? Quite a fall you took there, Finn."

Kiara's eyes still lingered in his mind as he nodded numbly. Meanwhile, Fittski had made his way over to the woven basket and peered inside, letting out a bitter chuckle.

"She really did complete both objectives." He muttered to him in astonishment as he retrieved the small stick.

"Ian," Finn groaned as he pressed the ice pack against his side. "What was that about?"

Fittski ran a hand through his hair before speaking, choosing his words carefully. "Let's just say, Tenebris has a history of… acting out."

"I see…"

Not knowing how to interpret his words, but not wanting to pry for more information, Finn decided to leave it at that for now. Instead, he asked his colleague to call Siddeley for assistance, feeling the pain in his side getting worse.

He's not going to be happy about this.

Kiara instinctively steeled her nerves as she entered the observation room. As exhausted as she was, she still couldn't shake the restless feeling she had knowing her classmates would be judging her.

But as she tossed her vest in the corner with the other dirty vests, she couldn't help but notice the unusual silence. She turned around to face her wide-eyed peers, feeling the restlessness grow.

"What?" She asked, eyeing them.

There was a brief silence before one of them, Wazowki, spoke up. "You actually beat 'im."

Kiara didn't know how to respond. Their expressions were different this time. They weren't ones of scorn and mockery; she wasn't sure what exactly they were exactly. But even still, Kiara kept her distance.

"Yeah… I did."

After a few moments of awkward silence with Kiara returning her training weapon and gear, and her classmates still not behaving like their usual selves, she finally left the room.

Well, that was unexpected. She thought to herself.

As Kiara exited the building and began making her way back to her dorm room, she found herself bothered by her classmates' reaction. Or rather, lack thereof. Though she was relieved to not be faced with their usual remarks and unnecessary comments, her head was now swarmed with new worries and concerns.

Perhaps, they were disappointed that McMissile had failed, and watched eagerly only for her downfall; when she won, they couldn't fathom that as reality and in turn reacted the way that they did.

Kiara nodded to herself. Yes, that seemed like the theory most likely to be true.

As she approached her dorm room, she found a familiar face waiting by her door, holding... her duffel bag! Before Kiara could ask her what she was doing, the blonde girl jumped upon seeing her face.

"Are you okay?!" Erin asked.

"What?"

"Your forehead is bleeding!"

Oh, right. Kiara touched her forehead and grumbled when she felt the wetness of the paint rub off on her fingers.

If I had known we'd be training with paintballs today, I would have waited to wash my hair tomorrow.

"It's just red paint. What are you doing with my bag?"

"Oh!" Erin immediately shoved the bag into Kiara's arms. "You, uh, you left it by the fountain this morning when you, um…"

She fumbled with her words, not knowing how to finish her sentence. But Kiara didn't need to hear the rest to know what she was talking about.

"Am I supposed to thank you now?"

"Well, you could." Ering laughed nervously but stopped immediately upon seeing Kiara frown. "Listen, about what happened this morning, I don't know what happened, but I was being serious!"

"About…?"

"About studying together."

Kiara looked around but found the rest of the hallway empty.

"Why would you want to do that with me?"

Erin tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, but it's like I said earlier, your notes are like, way easier to understand than our professor's."

Kiara wasn't sure how to process her words but couldn't find the energy to interrogate the girl about her true intentions, especially after she had just returned her bag.

"Fine," she responded with a weak shrug.

"You don't have to, but— wait, seriously?"

"Come by tonight around ten."

Kiara unlocked her door, lightly kicking it open with her foot. She tossed her duffel bag on the floor as she walked in, leaving the girl by the door shuffling nervously to herself.

"But that's curfew."

"So don't, then."

"No, I…" Erin paused, seemingly weighing her options. "I'll definitely come! Thanks, Kiara!"

Kiara turned her head at the sound of her name, but the girl was already gone. She stared at the spot Erin had stood, before closing her door and approaching the sink in her washroom.

What a strange girl. She thought as she tied her hair up in a loose ponytail.

As she waited for the sink to fill with water, Kiara closed her eyes and tried to make sense of what had happened earlier.

Finn McMissile was an even stranger person to her.

He didn't have to save her; he didn't have to break her fall. He had so many opportunities to take her out but chose instead to let her attack.

Kiara gripped the edge of the sink as the image of Finn's wounded chin entered her mind. It was bleeding again when she left him, presumably from when she hit him with her mask.

Fittski said to aim for his weaknesses, so I did! He's a field agent, he's been through worse. He'll be fine.

But Kiara couldn't shake the guilt she felt. There was no way that was the only injury he had gotten from their fight.

She recalled the look in his eyes when he dove to catch her, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She recalled the way he held on to her tightly, sheltering her from the airbag. She recalled how several strands of his jet-black hair fell from his slicked back style and matted themselves to his sweaty forehead. She recalled the way he smelt of pine, spice, and musk—

Kiara dunked her face into the ice-cold water.

She remained submerged for a few seconds before lifting her head, watching the water change to a light red.

It's fine. He'll be fine.

Kiara wiped her now clean face with a towel as she let the water drain. She promptly walked over to her bed, collapsing on top of it and closing her eyes. A single thought repeated itself over and over again as she slowly drifted off.

He's fine.

"You must be joking."

Finn sighed as Siddeley entered the now empty observation room and immediately began scolding his partner.

"Good god, mate, did you go at it with a bear?! How do you look worse off than this morning?!"

"Sid—"

"I just don't get you." Siddeley ran a hand through his hair, visibly annoyed. "We come all the way here to do a lousy presentation, and you go galivanting off to sate your bloody curiosity."

Finn gave him a pointed look, "It was an experiment."

"Was the experiment testing the bone density of your ribcage? Because you should know by now that it's not as strong as you think it is, mate. Not even Finn McMissile can defy basic biology."

"Siddeley, please."

The pilot only glared at his friend one last time before producing a few large patches from his pocket. He carefully assisted with removing the weights around Finn's ankles, as well as his vest. Finn undid the buttons of his dress shirt as Siddeley opened the patches.

"They're a quick fix until we can get you to restoration centre." He explained, handing them over. "Until then, you're quite literally grounded, it seems."

Finn hissed lowly as he carefully applied the patches to his side.

"Are you quite done now?" Siddeley asked.

Once again, the haunting image of Kiara's jewel-coloured eyes filled his mind. Finn closed his eyes as he replayed the events in his head.

Kiara's movements were fueled by emotion, and though her attacks were effective, their brutality levels included harming herself on more than one occasion, Finn deduced.

She knew exactly what she was doing when she let herself fall.

He opened his eyes and sighed. He had thought he'd seen the potential of a future field agent but found himself utterly disappointed at his own conclusion.

The incident at the fountain truly was just a fluke.

"Yes, I'm done."

"Good," Siddeley said, taking a seat beside his friend, "because we've got bigger problems to deal with."

Finn quirked an eyebrow at him. "Such as?"

Through clenched teeth, he spoke the words Finn had never hoped to hear.

"Axelrod has escaped from prison."

A/N: Damn, Kiara. Chill.