Opening my eyes I stare at the ceiling in anticipation. It won't be long. I can beat him, right? He is the one who trained me for the most part and he's also the one with the most ring-time with me. No one knows me better than him. What am I even thinking, of course, I'll beat him, I have the ability advantage. That should be enough, I hope.

Well, this is awkward. What are the fucking chances that he would be leaving the training room as I passed it? Even Wayne doesn't know what to say, I guess I just have to accept this awkward silence.

"I like to think of it as a peaceful silence."

SON OF A BITCH! You have to give me a warning before you just jump in my head like that. Do you know how weird it is for other people to hear a voice, that isn't your's in your head? That's not even mentioning the fact that we've been walking like this for a while without any exchange at all!

"I didn't catch any of that, you're thinking too fast."

Dammit, just try to give me a signal before you start talking in my head. Especially if we have been walking, SILENTLY, for as long as we have.

"Well, you weren't looking in my direction, and we have only been walking beside each other for a few seconds."

Oh, I must have had more than my base perception on without realizing it then. It's because I'm on edge.

"Glad to know I can still get that reaction out of you."

It's not because of you... Well, it's only part of it.

"So it must be Angel then, I heard about what happened between you two. He tried something like that on me too."

Really? How did you survive the fall?

"I don't think a fall from that height would necessarily kill you, but it doesn't really matter because he didn't drop me. He tried to but I heard his thoughts before he got to me. You would be surprised by the number of people who scream out attacks in their heads before they do it. It's something I will never understand."

So you fought him?

"What, no. Why would I fight him? At the time I was already fourth-ranked and that was just because people kept challenging me. I knew I couldn't beat him, or even if I could have, I didn't want to bother putting in the effort it would take to do so. It's not like I want to become one of the dogs that are agents."

So you denied his challenge?

"No, he never challenged me. I told him I knew I would lose if we fought, that seemed to satisfy him enough to leave me alone. Enough about that, are you ready for our fight?"

I was ready yesterday, don't you forget!

"Sure you were, now I'll give you the option. We can fight, with or without, our abilities."

Is this you admitting you can't beat me if I use my ability?

"Of course you would take it like that. No, I'm only giving you the option. We both want to win but I would feel bad if I beat you considering why you want to win. So I decided to give you this choice."

So if I lose you can tell yourself it's because of my choice? I wOUld hAtE to mAke you fEEl bAd abOUt WinNing!... Why the hell do you want to win anyway? Let me guess, just can't let someone beat you?

"No. If you beat me everyone below you will think I'm not as strong as I used to be, or never was. Then I'll have a flux of people challenging me that I can't refuse. More time in the ring means less time with Veronica."

I can't tell if that is more, or less, petty.

"Choose."

I might be stubborn but I'm not stupid, if I would have fought him without my ability it probably would go the same as all the other fights before.

We stepped onto the platform side by side, neither of us trying to put distance between us.

"The match will now begin."

I'll start with double my base perception and see how he handles that. He might be able to hold out a little bit with this.

Looking at each other we both take a deep breath, a smile forming on my face, a slight smirk on his. It's been a while since we've done this. Out of habit, we both take our shirts off to stop from staining them with the blood that is soon to come. Looking at him now he definitely doesn't seem as big as he used to be now that I have grown. However, even with our similar size, the density that his muscles display tells me that he would still beat me in feats of strength.

Surprisingly he is the first one to attack, his leg flying out in front of him. It did catch me by surprise but with my perception, it doesn't really matter. I strike the inside of his leg, throwing it to the side. That felt weird, almost like his leg was already moving in that direction. I noticed his whole body rotating in the direction while he was jumping.

So he can still keep up with my thoughts at this speed. He had known I was going to strike his leg and had already shifted his weight and jumped to kick me with his other leg. I spun in the direction of my strike, jumping away from him as I did. I landed in a roll and got back up to my feet, he was already on me. I bumped my perception up some more, his movements coming to a crawl.

He had thrown a right hook at me. I moved just enough so it would barely miss me and threw a punch up and over his arm. It connected with his jaw and I felt the nostalgic feeling of punching a human.

When I spar with Red, every hit feels like I'm striking concrete. No give, no recoil, nothing. Compared to her, punching a solid bone is nothing. The feeling of nostalgia left quickly. As much as I liked hitting something I knew I was hurting instead of punching a wall, I knew Jason was as used to the feeling of being hit as I was. This was only the beginning.

"No, way! He just hit Jason!"

"Calm down, this isn't the first time."

"What, I thought Jason had never been touched?"

"I heard that in their wing, he and Jason train like animals. Punching each other until they are covered in blood and bruises. That's why they take off their shirts."

"I wish they wouldn't, look at that guy's body! It's disgusting how many scars he has, I don't even want to think about how he got them."

"No way, that can't be true. Even if he can hit Jason that doesn't mean he can do it consistently. I mean, he's Jason!"

"Well, I heard that's the same skinny guy who fought Red and put Trevor into medical. Just look at the scars, it has to be him."

"But this guy is twice the size of that skinny guy!"