“All right people, listen up,” Stone shouted, bringing us all to attention. “It’s been a week since you started combatives training. We’ve been focusing on the basics, taking it easy on you. Today, we want you to try sparring with each other.”

“Wait, what?” I said, looking at the other Changed beside me. Marcus looked blankly forward. Kemi seemed as shocked as I was and Claire’s eyes were nearly bugging out of her face.

“What didn’t you understand, Delaney?” Stone asked. I hated it when he was in full-on soldier man mode. The nice, likable guy completely faded away and he was all business.

“You want us to fight each other?”

“They want to know how your powers might work in a combat situation, so yes, we want you to spar with each other.”

“Why aren’t we gonna work with you guys?” Kemi asked

“Because, Ms. Kimura, it’s one thing to show you basic moves in a controlled environment. It’s another thing entirely for you to try to contend with each other’s powers and strength. If you fought with us,” he said nodding towards the other soldier who’d helped demonstrate the movements with him, “you might tear us apart by accident.”

“Won’t we do that to each other?” Marcus asked, a second before I could.

Stone nodded. “It’s possible, but you’ve all shown tremendous healing powers. Sadly, we don’t have that luxury. But, yeah, try not to do that. Your goal is submission, not destruction, all right?”

We nodded. I’d fought before, a lot if I was being honest, but it was wild and uncontrolled. It was animalistic rage propelling my tiny body at someone who’d angered me beyond my breaking point. I never had any technique or knowledge of what I was doing. Stone and others had taught me just a little bit about channeling that aggression, but I still didn’t want to hurt any of the others here.

“I’m guessing we can’t say no?” I asked.

Stone cocked his head slightly. “You have every right to sit this out. But you’d be missing a chance to learn something important about yourself. I never thought you’d back down from a fight, Delany.”

My cheeks flushed at that. “I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone.”

“You’ll never learn to control your strength if you don’t train it.”

Okay, now there was someone I wanted to fight. “Fine,” I said, gritting my teeth.

“Good, glad to hear it. You four have demonstrated physical abilities within a margin of each other’s capabilities. That’s why you four are here. Other Changed are in groups of similar skill levels, but you four are some of the strongest we have.”

“I’m nowhere near as strong as them,” Kemi said.

“You can bench almost 600 pounds, Ms. Kimura. That puts you in their weight class. Besides, you are the fastest one here, use that to your advantage. You can’t always be as strong as your opponent, or as fast, you have to use what you have.”

Kemi frowned and crossed her arms. Claire continued to slide towards hyperventilating.

“All right, Ms. Barker, Mr. Dean you’re up,” Stone said.

Marcus looked down at Claire and shrugged. “It’ll be okay, I’ll go easy on you.” She flinched away from him when he tried to pat her shoulder.

The two stepped into the middle of the sparring mat. Kemi leaned over and whispered to me, “This shouldn’t take long.”

Stone taught us basic strikes, kicks, and grapples over the last week. Just enough to not hurt ourselves. Or, hopefully, each other.

Marcus and Claire faced off, taking a defensive position with hands raised to protect the face. We all wore protective gear, but honestly, I wondered what good it would do if we cut loose. Stone gave the signal and they started to circle each other. Marcus threw a couple of wide swings, probably aiming for the side of her head rather than punching her in the face. Claire, predictably, backed away from them.

“Stop telegraphing your swings, Mr. Dean,” Stone barked. “And Ms. Barker, you are going to run out of room if you keep backing up.”

Marcus seemingly spurred on by Stone’s words, mixed it up, and started changing his style. He punched at her face, her stomach, her ears. Claire, to her credit, didn’t freeze but managed to block most of them.

“I can hit harder than that,” Stone growled. “I want to see some of your strength and speed.”

The punches came faster. Claire didn’t strike back, but she blocked his swings or just shrugged them off when he managed to get around her defenses. They were both holding back, but they were still moving fast.

Then Marcus got in close and brought his knee up into Claire’s unguarded stomach. Her eyes bulged as he lifted her off the ground. She landed hard on her knees.

“And that’s all she wrote,” Kemi said, shaking her head.

Marcus bounced back. “You okay?” he asked.

“Are you out, Ms. Barker?” Stone asked.

Claire’s head snapped up, a look of anger twisting her normally meek features. With a growl, she leaped to her feet and threw herself at Marcus.

Swing after swing, she struck Marcus, driving him back across the mat. Now, he was struggling to scramble out of her way, barely able to block her hits and staggering from the force of her blows. When he did try to take a swing, she was in the opening, punishing him.

It was awesome.

“Come on Claire,” I shouted. “You got this!”

Knees and fists pummelled the poor boy until with one powerful swing, she clocked him across the jaw. He flew off the matt and would have crashed into the floor if Kemi hadn’t jumped into his path and caught him. I couldn’t believe how quickly she covered the distance to grab him.

Claire kept on coming.

“Ms. Barker, that’s enough,” Stone barked, moving forward to intercede.

He didn’t need to. His authoritative command cut through her red haze and she stopped short. She blinked several times as she looked around, and her eyes widened and she covered her mouth when she saw Marcus swooning in Kemi’s arms. For a brief second, I was certain a grin flash across her face before it was replaced by a deep frown.

“Ms. Barker, I didn’t know you had it in you,” Stone said as he clapped a hand on Claire’s back.

“Neither did I,” she said, almost too quiet to hear. “Are you all right, Marcus?”

He shook his head and blinked repeatedly. “Damn, girl, I’m sorry for everything I’ve ever done to you. Please don’t kill me,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender.

Kemi pushed him upright with a snicker. “Yeah, I think he’s fine.”

“Still, Mr. Dean, we should keep an eye on that jaw. If it gives you any trouble, report to the infirmary.”

Marcus gave a half-hearted salute before pulling his gloves off. “No problem boss. I’m just going to sit over here and take it easy, while the girls fight.”

“Kimura, Delaney, you’re up,” Stone barked.

“What? I have to go up against the Hulk?” Kemi said.

“Ms. Barker has earned a break. Besides, you have more hand-to-hand training than she does. Strength isn’t everything.”

“I’m right here,” I grumbled as I stepped up to the mat.

Kemi smirked. “Ok, that’s a fair point.” She took a defensive stance, not one that Stone taught. “I’ll try and go easy on you.”

“It’s brave of you to say that, considering what happened to the last person to say shit like that,” I said, circling her.

I’d barely finished talking when her spin kick smashed into my hastily upraised hand. I tried to grab her leg, but it was gone. Staggering back, she pressed her advantage. Two, three punches came in rapid succession. Barely, I managed to stop two of them, but the third got me in the face and snapped my head sideways. The hit was so fast, I didn’t register the pain until I turned back towards her.

But she was just starting.

She threw fists, feet, knees, and elbows at me. My counters were sloppy. I’d never been hit so hard in my life. My responses, when I could attempt them, were slow and awkward. Kemi blocked or dodged everything I had.

So much for being a superhero.

I took a shot when I saw Kemi recover from a kick. Before I could land it though, she was pirouetting around it. She spun past me, and I caught her elbow in the back of my head for my trouble. The mat rushed towards my face. Everything went dark when I kissed the ground.

The world came back into view as I was halfway up. “The fuck?” I growled, whipping around to face Kemi.

“I thought we were learning the basics, Stone.”

“You learned that nothing is fair in a fight. That’s pretty basic, Ms. Delaney,” he said. “However, if you are hurt, you can tap out.”

Kemi gave me a shrug and a grin. I think she was trying to ratchet things down, but it just taunted the animal in me. “Let’s go another round.”

The pain receded. I wiped the warmth from my lips.

“You sure?” Kemi asked, her eyes narrow.

“Totally,” I said, rolling my shoulders. Stone was right, fights weren’t fair. I’d lost my fair share of them, but won more than I should have. I realized my mistake. I’d been fighting like Stone taught us, with rules and styles and form.

That was bullshit.

I was done with bullshit.