Jack was fast to move the sphere — but Boiler went into a whole new gear, arcing just outside of its range at a ludicrous speed. His entire sphere whiffed it, and then she was in his space faster than he could've ever imagined.

He had just thought the promised burst of speed had already been seen. Nope. It had been saved just for that moment.

She led into a full-charge punch, her fist coming up. Jack could do little else but try to lean out of the way and interject his shield in time. He did — and then her fist came right through the shield like a giant bullet and slammed into his jaw with a terrible crack. His helmet and his jaw made that sound.

He felt numbness and shock as he was knocked spinning to the ground, the force biting right through his resistance. His faceplate hit the concrete. Immediately thereafter, a force slammed into his back hard and mercilessly, cracking ribs, sending more stunning shock and numbness through his body, senselessness to his head, and then three more impacts came down, crack, crack, crack-

You've hit Critical condition from injury, with internal bleeding likely. The combat is over. Clearing all injuries.

In a flash, he felt fine, with nothing more than phantom pains spinning away into a void. He spun around onto his back in a quick snap, pushing backwards and away instinctively with his boots, but the muscular form of Boiler appeared to be behind a nearby blocking energy wall again.

"Welcome to real heroic combat!" She snapped her fingers and the 'combat form' disappeared, replaced with the familiar form of a uniformed Lindsay. At that point, the barrier between them vanished.

Jack felt at his jaw and the damaged faceplate, and glanced at his still-damaged shield. Damn near useless. He sat up. "You got me with a bluff. It wasn't much. Enough."

"Indeed, I did." She crossed her arms behind her back. "After you got me with a deception. At that point, expecting more deception and dishing some of my own seemed key. At least you did what you would be expected of, team-wise. Nothing better than setting someone up like that, hmm? Hold 'em down for someone else to clean up. But Bruisers are among the best solo artists. If they get inside a Controller's guard and exploit their melee weaknesses, it is essentially strength versus weakness. Not good for you." After a pause, she raised an eyebrow. "What could you do differently with that opponent, then?"

Jack took a deep breath and considered. "Maybe I should've trusted the intel more. Strength, durability, and bursts of speed. Nothing about… whatever you were insinuating mid-match. Momentum change, absorption. Hell, I dunno."

"Suspiciousness and over-thinking can be damning. Used against you. But it's all guesswork without reliable intel. Even then… Well, in the field, especially, you might be right about curveballs. Anything else, Jack?"

"Being ready at a distance a little quicker. Every second counts. Need at least one more layer between. And you were dodging the darts. Maybe I'm wrong about Bruiser resistance to Puncture-type wounds?"

"Something you can investigate and test."

"So, is there a rematch?"

"Next time. I'll let you stew, burn, and consider this loss carefully. Let's have a ranged duel, hmm?"

Jack groaned as he stood, but nodded. "Let's do it."

Lindsay snapped her fingers again, and in a flash of light, he found himself back in the white room with the tools and such around. His prior loadout was all back on his person, his shield and faceplate repaired, and his big steel orb clanged as it rolled a bit on the floor nearby, the extensions still poking out from it.

You are facing an Energetic Controller (Kinetic Beams). This is similar to a Blaster but trades raw power for accuracy, fine control, and active defense improvements through power-based 'parries.' Beams are brightly visible, appearing as light. She possesses good general agility but has no special additional toughness. Avoid deliberate kill-shots if available, aiming any lethal-type strikes for less-lethal body zones. Crushing type Blunt Trauma is fine.

You have two minutes to prepare, and then the table will disappear, and a one-minute cooldown begins. All else is as before.

I think this quick loadout crap is part of my training. Extra motivation to get quicker.

Jack got to work immediately, reinforcing his shield with a new layer and blending it so the whole thing got his material improvement benefits. Heavier, but he didn't think he could rely on dodging against beams. If he couldn't tank a blow, he'd pay for it, but hopefully he could adjust and throw the shield away if necessary.

He pulled some of the weight out of his sphere, though also ballooning it more to act as a blocker. He noticed another shield on the table, so he 'reforged' it and placed it in the grip of his sphere puppet. He made another disk-like shield directly from the sphere's metal, protecting downward to eliminate low shots. Essentially, when he was done, the sphere could block his full frame from blasts.

Shield-orb, I choose you!

He changed all his darts to square-tipped and made a few more to toss out from a sack. If he got a direct hit, it was going to be nasty against her, anyway, and he had no desire to aim for arms and legs. He kept his knives, though — lacerations were fair game as far as he knew, except maybe on the neck.

With his last sliver of time, he added a weight to one of his two non-weighted cables, planning on having it dropped and ready for use.

As soon as the time was up, he ran out and dumped everything he wanted ground-bound, then prepared his sphere to lock-levitate it, while prepping a slew of darts ready to fire, arrayed in a long line like a wall parallel to the divider wall. He didn't bother adding more distance this time. It felt like he had more advantage closer anyway, as a likely shorter-ranged Material specialist.

His opponent was once again in a suit, though thankfully not a muscle-bound monster this time. She was average height and lithe, with some sleek muscle definition, not unlike Lindsay, though perhaps it shouted 'gymnast' far more. She was hopping up and down and moving her head back and forth, as though getting warmed up.

"So, what's the name this time?" Jack asked.

"Holemaker," came the modulated voice. It was somehow slightly more feminine than before. "Because I'm going to tear you some brand new ones, shitstain."

"You get a real kick out of these insulting false personas, huh?"

"Your mom got a real kick out of me last night."

"Oh, real nice. Mom jokes."

"Yeah, you gonna do something about it, punkass?"

"Cringe, mostly. What, you want me to trade barbs? Your momma's so ugly, she turned Medusa to stone."

His opponent sighed with a disgusted noise. "Forget it, dude. You're ruining it. Just get ready to lose."

Jack grinned behind his mask. I've won.

20 seconds to battle start.

Jack maintained his setup in silence, ready to act a split second before the final buzzer, to take advantage of his ability to set up compared to her…

3… 2… 1… fight!

He pumped himself up to 92% output, figuring this was not going to be drawn out, and if it was, he could adjust. Just before the 'fight' sound of the count, Jack 'launched' half of his projectiles in a very weak push, but counting that his opponent couldn't immediately tell the difference between a 'firing' and a repositioning. Simultaneously, he moved his shield orb right in the line of sight between him and his opponent, just to gain that tiny window of time right when the battle started.

When it did, he saw her moving sideways immediately, but she did not attempt to split the gap to try a blast at him — because of the projectiles coming at her. She swept her hands two directions in an upward arc, trying to wipe out all his converging darts in an efficient display of bright, knocking energy.

Jack capitalized on this narrow window of opportunity. He grabbed a dart, now just five or six meters from her with a clear shot, and fired it at her with Throw.

She did not catch its sudden acceleration until the last moment, and just barely twitched out of the way enough to take a nasty shot in the shoulder, with an audible yelp. She rolled with it to some degree, however, and this flipped her backwards and spinning.

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Yes, yes, yes!

Jack grabbed a dart fallen on the ground nearby and hooked it up and down, trying to aim for her head to score a potentially ruinous concussion that he could follow up on once again, or even cause the match to get called with unconsciousness dealt.

Her tumble was under acrobatic control, and she came upright and facing forward just in time to twist her hand, fire energy, and batter the projectile away. Simultaneously, she flung her other hand — and a blast of blinding bright energy came right for Jack, utilizing the same sight window he had to attack her.

It was so fast, he couldn't take control and move his orb blocker in the way, and the surprise factor made him fail to dodge aside. However, his instincts were good enough to jerk the shield slightly and block it.

The blast did not hit dead-on, and it slammed his shield and shield arm hard toward the opposite side of his body, the 'kinetic light' briefly seen to redirect and blast the concrete, as he tried to avoid losing his feet from the jostling impact. But then another blast came right for his exposed shins, knocking him down face-first. Various parts of his body stung from the impacts, letting him know he was minorly injured.

Jack executed a favorable fall, rolling sideways and keeping his shield facing forward. Kinetic blasts hit it hard, dead-on, as he felt the steel dent, and he was rung like a bell several times in succession. Fortunately, he was anchored flat on the concrete, braced more or less.

I'm glad I reinforced this bastard. Wish I'd added some springs or something. This doesn't feel too good.

Gauging where the blast was coming from, and feeling through Interpret where his shield-orb was in respect to it, he took control and moved it between them, immediately hearing the strange bwong sounds of the energy hitting his metal. Jack rose to a crouch as he saw his opponent come around on the left, but this time he easily twitched his shield-orb into the blast that was attempting to bypass it. The shield of his orb cracked on the edge from blocking a blast, but he quickly sealed it back up.

Jack took a moment to consider what to do. He could move closer, but with the speed of her blasts, he'd eventually not be able to move the orb in time to block. He could bullrush with it, maybe, but he did have other stuff closer…

His opponent blasted the shield-orb again. Time to strike while the iron is hot!

Jack felt with Interpret to find one of his darts, and as luck would have it, one was seemingly beyond where he assessed 'Holemaker' to be. He took hold of it, pumped himself up to 100% output, then had to peek around the orb to see her and get at least some sight picture. Immediately, he fired the dart at her from a relative flank. Sadly, it wasn't completely behind her.

Holemaker was apparently completely ready for this. She snapped her head over and blocked the dart hard with a blast, while firing half-blind with her other hand — but it wasn't exactly hard to aim for the same place.

When she hit the shield-orb, he didn't have control of it at that precise moment, so the blast knocked it somewhat aside, enough for a persistent, continuous blast to carry through at him.

Jack was ready with twitchy defensive reflexes, blocking and bracing with a shield as he twisted his body sideways…

But this time, the blast passed rather quickly and easily from his shield into the concrete, and was still blasting it for a brief flash — before it then rebounded as if hitting a perfect angle, and came slamming right into his gut.

Shit! Why does the intel never tell me everything?!

He felt resonant 'virtual pain' and disorientation from the gut punch, with an extra kind of 'sick' feeling, which all-in-all knocked him down and tumbling.

Mini chimed almost instantly within the bundle of sensations, to report. <Significant injury — Serious equivalent! You might be able to recover! Fight it!>

Jack felt another blast hit his shield, thankfully. When he tried to get his bearings, he was sweeping his head side-to-side and grimacing, hiding behind the shield. He panicked somewhat, not able to see, still fighting disorientation and foggy vision. Adrenaline was pumping hard to keep him going, and whatever else was juicing up in his simulated, improved body was helping him to recover far quicker than he should, but seconds were squandered…

His instincts finally made him look up — he saw a figure as though flying, propelled by a kinetic blast from the ground, right before a blast hit him right in the face.

He saw a bright light, then stars at the edges, and then blackness as he was knocked totally out of it. Pain largely disappeared, at least.

Serious-Unstable hit to the head. Concussion suffered. You've been knocked unconscious. The combat is over. Clearing all injuries.

Fatigue Status at Minor, borderline Serious due to Allotment strain. A break out of VR is advised.

Jack was lying flat on the concrete, staring up at the brilliance of the stars.

Damn it. Expect the unexpected, I guess? Be suspicious of the tricks powers can pull. Anticipate them.

Lindsay was suddenly there, looking over him from above, smiling apologetically. "Are you alright?"

"You already know I am. You, ah, aren't cheating, are you?"

Lindsay didn't seem offended by the question. "I guess it depends on your perspective. Am I 'gaming things,' am I extracting everything I possibly can within the power limits I'm constrained to? Yes. That's entirely the point. To lead you to do the same. Squeeze all you can be out of you." After a pause, she sighed and shrugged. "Am I utilizing knowledge I shouldn't have? I try not to. But anyone could know things about you, without you knowing about them. Read between the lines."

"So the odds are stacked against me, and it isn't supposed to be fair?"

"You're entitled to your perspective. But this is training, not a contest, however that it is framed as such. Mother considers you the type capable of dealing with it quite early in the scheme of things. Some never are, because being challenged in this way isn't useful for them. People can opt out if they want."

Never. "So, basically, I should consider it a compliment that you're beating my ass into the ground?"

Lindsay just laughed and shrugged.

Jack shook his head, smirking a bit behind his mask. He held his hand up, and Lindsay helped him up. When he was upright, he said, "You knew I was going to use a projectile?"

Lindsay made a 'kinda' gesture. "I was paranoid, those things being the nearest metal in play, some scattered on the flanks. But I was using Interpret, common to Controllers, and with this specialty, that's basically any physical movement. I baited you to make a move by tossing a useless blast, knowing your hamster wheel was turning back there. My plan kinda tumbled down from there into the brilliant symphony that clocked you." Her tone was ironic, not arrogant.

Jack snorted. "Hamster wheel. Hey, look, you can't use the self-deprecation I use against myself against me later. That's out of bounds. Also, me have good brain."

"Sure you do, Jack." She smiled.

"Arrgh! Damn it! Sensing any physical movement?! That's damned handy. Too bad that wasn't in the intel."

"I mean, it could go on and on and on about the advantages, Jack. You just need to learn them. That's why we're training. Do you want to read a book about it or have the importance drilled into your noggin at high, undeniable speed and accuracy?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"No."

"Bah! I wish I could sense all movement, though. Maybe with higher Interpret, right?"

"Don't hold your breath, because a level or two won't cut it, but high Interpret for metal could eventually sense the metallic in the blood and body. Sure. Or magnetic differences, I guess? It's just not your specialty. Other than that, you'd need a Secondary Mutation of some sort. Or just do your distributed dust trick. Scatter metallic fog in the environment. Make the medium your medium."

Jack nodded appreciatively. "That's true. Preparation is king, hmm?"

"Truer words were never spoken. But training accounts for those times when you can't do things like that, or shouldn't."

"Against monsters… or rampaging animals… I could have them breathe in the dust, then frag 'em up from the inside. Right?"

"Yes, Jack. You could. Gruesomely. You'd have to work through Interpret, which wouldn't be the same as having eyes, but you would have lethal capability to some degree. But obviously not to be used against other cadets or agents. Or humans at all, under the vast majority of circumstances. And you'd need to damage a suit first for those suited up, or break through the filters. They are as heavy-duty as it gets."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just saying… hypothetically."

"Mm-hmm. Don't fall for the delusion that the insides are always vulnerable, though. Various forms of protection via Systemic works function regardless of the angle to the flesh. Just because you saw it in a movie doesn't mean you've found the advanced tactic: 'I've reduced your defense to zero, bitch!' If you deign to risk, make sure you've calculated the risk with sensible math. Not math involving such things as the probability that the producers find the action 'too boring' or 'not helicopter enough,' or will need a last-minute Wilhelm Scream added in post-production."

Jack tried to mimic the famous Wilhelm Scream. "Hyeaaah! Okay, so don't get eaten by a monster to reach their soft spot that will make them literally explode into a thousand pieces with one attack… is what you're saying?"

Lindsay breathed out a faintly exasperated breath. "I'm gonna go with no? Just as a general principle of non-suicidal behavior. Something tailored to eat human-sized snacks is going to crush the shit out of you on the inside. But something plainly, physically hard on the outside might be weaker inside. It just depends. Honestly, throw a grenade in there and see what happens."

"Heh. Good point. Also, if you're a movie nerd — and wow, by the way — but how have you not seen The Matr-"

"Anyway, let's log out and see what the System tracks as far as gains, hmm? You did a ton of stretching out your power use at speed in these two matches. Honestly, the stress improvements are very high, Jack. Well done. Seriously."

Jack was a bit surprised. "Really? Felt like I was a step behind."

"Behind full operable status at peak efficiency. You're feeling what you can do at your fingertips and stretching hard to make it there."

"Good to hear. Anyway, yeah, let's Jack Out! Hehe. Anchor's Away! Catch ya on the flip siiiiiiiiiiiiide…" He waited… and then he winced and cleared his throat. "It was supposed to switch back. Yeah, when I was doing that. Toot-too-too… Come oon! Man, now it's just awkward…"

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "You're such a dork…"

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