Dan ducked under Jennifer’s wooden training sword, runes flaring on his exposed chest as Dan struggled to keep up with her smooth and agile attacks.
He’d never bothered to ask, but Dan suspected that Jennifer had trained in martial arts and edged weapons from a young age. At least he hoped so. She was far too good with her short swords for it to be fair that if she’d just picked them up.
His counterattack missed, Jennifer curling away at the last moment as she melted to the side in an attempt to flank Dan while he was overextended from the thrust. He pulled his blade back, willing a Force Bubble into existence between them.
Jennifer lunged forward, slashing the blade toward his legs, only for her chest to catch the immobile chunk of mana. With an audible whoof, Dan’s spell combined with her momentum to knock the wind out of his opponent.
Before she could recover, Dan dismissed his spell, dropping her onto her hands and knees. Jennifer glanced up, only to find the tip of his practice sword under her chin.
He grinned down at her, sparring blade unwavering as she glared back up through the sweat-slick and tousled hair that had escaped her ponytail.
She blew out a frustrated sigh, brushing aside a damp lock of hair that had fallen into her face with the breath.
“You cheated,” Jennifer said without any heat as she rolled over onto her back and looked up at the station ceiling.
“Damn straight, I did,” Dan replied with a smile, walking over to the weapon rack to return the wooden practice sword to its home. “You’re a scary close combatant Jennifer, I’ll give you that. But that just means that everyone is going to be looking for an edge when fighting you. When you’re struggling to survive, everyone is going to cheat.”
“I know.” Jennifer crossed her arms, using them as a pillow as she kept looking at the metal ceiling. “I just wish I was fast enough and strong enough that it didn’t matter. At some point, tricks just become immaterial before true strength. That’s where I want to be. Not some confused girl banking on her father’s legacy.”
“Since when have you used General Finch’s name for anything?” Dan asked with a shrug, wincing as the motion aggravated a bruise on his shoulder from a previous exchange. “I didn’t even know he was your parent until you brought it up. As for your other achievements? I’m not sure I understand your career as a gamer, but you certainly earned that on your own.
“Plus,” Dan continued, throwing a wink in her direction as he massaged his injured shoulder. “You managed to make it to the top of the heap there without selling out completely like Reggie. I’m pretty sure he’d endorse the brand of handgun someone used to mug him if there was some money in it for him.”
“Darkstryke?” Disdain dripped from her voice. “He hasn’t played a ranked match in years. These days, he mostly streams himself ‘trolling’ new players by camping starting areas and killing the same people over and over until they quit. The guy is a joke, but there are a lot of people who think the joke is funny, apparently. Despite being a mediocre player at best, he’s still around top ten in annual earnings.”
“How’d he get through the tournament, then?” Dan frowned. “As dumb as recruiting a crop of super soldiers from a video game is, I’d think that a tournament would at least weed out the ones that were bad at the game.”
“His ‘friends’ are pros, paid by his sponsors to carry him.” Jennifer rolled over onto her knees, hopping to her feet. “Nice enough guys, but they didn’t have the ‘charisma’ to land endorsements of their own, so Darkstryke changed their handles and ‘rebranded’ them as his first Darkies.”
“God, what an awful name.” Dan shook his head as he dipped a ladle into a trough of cool water, taking a deep drink before pouring the remainder over his head.
“He’s an awful person,” Jennifer replied, smiling slightly as she took the ladle from him.
She drank and replaced the metal spoon to its holder. Neither of them spoke for almost half a minute, each of them unsure what else to talk about, but not wanting to be the first to leave.
“What do you think is going to happen on Earth?” Dan asked, finally breaking the silence.
“Oh God.” Jennifer clapped her hands together, sighing in relief. “I’m glad you said it. I’m fucking terrified. Ibis’ media blitz actually seems to be working.”
Dan ran a hand through his wet hair. “It doesn’t hurt that he’s right. As crazy and dangerous as the old man is, the government is basically gunning for him because they want to take his technology.”
“Apparently grossly mismanaging the government for the last thirty years makes the voting public less likely to trust both parties,” Jennifer replied, chuckling. “Who’d have thought?”
“So are people protesting for Ibis?” Dan asked. “I’ve been busy working on the new flame shroud spell, and I haven’t been able to get to the scrying stone in the last week or so.”
“That and more.” Jennifer shook her head. “They’re protesting, but we’ve managed to scry Henry talking to a couple of his ‘friends’ in DC. Do you remember the legislators that he was claiming had abandoned him?”
Dan nodded, chewing on his lip thoughtfully.
“Now that public opinion has shifted,” she continued, “their opinions have shifted as well. We only heard one side of the conversation, but most of them sounded very receptive to Henry’s concerns and complaints.”
Dan frowned. “That sounds ominous. Is he after them to drop the prosecution or something? Has anyone been able to figure out Ibis’ endgame?”
“Nope,” Jennifer answered unhappily. “And that’s why I’m terrified. We’ve tried scrying the Capitol once I showed the techs where it was, but we haven’t been able to find anything. Sure, there were a couple staffers gossiping about the Thoth Foundation, but whoever Henry’s talking to, they’re smart enough not to use government buildings.”
“Fuck.” Dan practically spat out the word.
“Fuck, indeed,” Jennifer replied helplessly.
They stood, looking at each other unhappily for another half minute, before Dan sighed, breaking the silence once again.
“Look,” he said, “I know I’m going to regret this, but do you want to practice hand-to-hand combat? You’re going to tear me apart, but that’s the only way to get better.”
“It might not be the only way.” Jennifer broke into a grin. “But it is certainly the most fun for me.”
Dan’s only answer was a groan as he set himself in a defense stance and prepared for the onslaught.
About a half hour later, he was walking out of the gymnasium, using a towel to wipe the perspiration off of his face. He winced, gritting his teeth and hissing as the coarse fabric brushed across one of his brand new bruises.
A startled, high-pitched yelp, jerked his head up. Amelia was standing just outside the doorway, blushing and looking at the ground. Dan was acutely aware of his shirtless and heavily-bruised body.
“Mr. Thrush,” she began, ignoring Dan’s flinch as she once again refused to call him by his first name. “Jennifer wants to talk to you immediately. You told us to let you know if there were any major developments dirtside. I didn’t want to interrupt your meditation, but I thought you should know as soon as you finished up. Several of your planet’s nations have changed governments simultaneously.”
