Cecily looked up to Orion, eyebrow raised, then took another sip of the steaming tea.

"No."

Now that only seemed to aggravate the assassin.

So, she picked up her feet and pulled them up the side of the couch, laying sideways on the cushion. Then, and only then, did she meet the assassin's eyes again. Only when she knew she'd managed to piss him off a little further.

"Why not?" He asked. From Cecily's point of view, it looked like he was fighting not to grit his teeth. Or punch her. That also seemed like a reasonable reply.

She took another sip, shrugging her shoulders. "I have nothing to gain."

"It's always about gain with you, isn't it?"

She let a cat like smirk slide across her lips, slow and calculated with all the intention of a true criminal. "Usually."

"Fine. What do you want?"

"Hmm, nothing really."

Orion's hand came up and pinched the space above his nose.

"I want to see you fight too," Zephyr said from the kitchen, where he was digging through the cupboards.

"You never watched the videos?" Reiko asked from the other couch where he was flipping through channels. "The ones from the prison?"

"I trusted your judgement." Cecily listened as his footsteps made their way over to the little living room. "It wouldn't hurt to spar him just once, would it? No weapons, just hand to hand?"

"I never said that," Orion replied.

"It's my own condition. I trust the collar on her neck to react faster than she can choke you but not faster than she can decapitate you."

Orion scowled. "Don't worry about me. I've had enough training to defend myself at least."

Cecily caught Reiko's eye, just waiting for him to stand up for her. Of course, he didn't.

"Don't want to," she said again, taking yet another mouthful of tea.

"You scared," Orion hissed. "Don't think you can beat me, murderer?"

"There's no point in that," Reiko commented. "She doesn't get mad over things like that."

"I'll take away the tea," Zephyr mentioned.

Now he had her attention. Her glare more like. He only returned it with a simple smirk.

"There you go," Reiko remarked, peeking over at her, "now you got her."

---

Scared wasn't one of the emotions Alma felt when Reiko told her that they were going outside to watch Cecily and Orion spar. Worried? Maybe. Concerned? A little. Aggravated? Definitely. The damned assassin was still healing and absolutely refused to sit still. Francis Pugh, Saints guide him, was one thing, a job. This was another. This was pointless, senseless, useless fighting.

Still, she found herself following the eastern guard outside.

"Rules?" Cecily asked from where she was casually standing in the grass. Alma noted that her hands were free of weapons.

Orion was going around, drawing a circle with about a ten foot radius, a twenty foot diameter, around her, before throwing the stick back into the foliage.

"You ever spared?" Reiko asked from the sidelines.

"A bit. Not much."

"This is what most people use around he palace when they're drunk and bored."

"You would know," Zephyr mumbled, smiling.

That earned him a glare from his friend. "Anyways... The rules are simple. No dirty shots, no head shots, and you don't even think about touching his neck. Some either yells 'yield' or gets pushed out of the circle and they loose. Pretty simple."

"Easy enough," Cecily said, turning back to Orion who was dropping at least five blades from where they were hidden in his clothes.

Alma noticed his posture change from casual to something more feral. His strides and stance were larger and his eyes were more focused, like he thought she might actually attack before he gave the ready.

Alma glanced over to Reiko and Zephyr to see them both holding the remotes to her collar, out and at the ready.

---

Orion stepped into the circle, watching the murderer closely. If he was sparring with any of his fellow assassins, he might've noted that her posture hadn't changed from normal, the ready stance she always stood with. After seeing her fight, he knew that she wouldn't break that stance until she attacked.

What about her defense? He wondered. Was that any good? When she fought Francis Pugh, she hadn't needed any defense. Would her posture change for that?

He felt it when her eyes slide to him, examining. He wondered if it was all for show, or if she really just learned as much as it looked like. Which...was a lot, if he was reading her correctly, which he always did.

"Whenever you're ready," he said, waiting for the speedy opening attack.

She didn't move, simply watched him with the same blank gaze. Waiting, he realized, she was waiting for him to move.

So he took the first step-

And she was already less than a foot away. She'd moved a whole arms length in that millisecond.

He was too busy to think, sidestepping the quick swipe that was meant for his stomach. Then he was backing up, waiting for her to follow, but she stayed their.

By the end of their little exchange, they'd flipped sides.

He couldn't attack first, not again. That was all too quick, too fast. He didn't know if he could catch up with something like th-

There she was again, aiming a high kick for his stomach.

He let her hit him, knowing he wouldn't be able to dodge fast enough. Instead, he used the attack to his advantage, grabbing onto her leg when she hit and holding a tight grip, all while stopping the hard impact. Even softened, it felt like someone hit him with a baton or something.

But now she was standing there, her leg in his grip, glaring at him.

"What?" Orion teased. "Stuck?"

She jumped and he felt her hand wrap around the side of his head. A basic escape from a leg grab. He felt all the weight in her leg and waited for her other knee to come up and hit him in the nose, probably breaking it.

Instead, he felt her other leg wrap around his free one while she tried, and nearly succeeded in dropping him while simultaneously pinning him to the ground. She would've been able to land perfectly, the taken leg pinning the arm that held it captive while her other knee perched in his stomach.

He waited for the drop that never came.

Cecily's body tensed in his arm and he felt the tremors in her skin. Her hand tightened on his check before she fell slack. If it weren't for his quick reflexes, she might've fallen to the ground.

Slowly, he set the unconscious girl on the ground, looking up to see the Saint drop to her knees besides the girl. The girl worked quick, checking Cecily's pulse then eyes and then going on to whatever else needed to be done.

Orion, however, was picking out the man who decided to electrocute the girl.

The prince was on his feet, wide eyed, the remote hanging loosely in his hand. Reiko, however, was still holding the little remote in her direction. His expression was tight, but Orion could feel the worry coming off him.

"Why'd you knock her out," Orion gritted out.

"She was going for your neck," he replied, a bit zoned out.

"She wasn't." Reiko finally acknowledged Orion's gaze. "What she did was a different version of a break from a leg lock. Originally, it would've ended with her knee in my nose. In her version? She used my head as leverage to steady herself while she was in the air. Her leg came around mine and she tried to drop me. She went the hard way to avoid hitting my head."

Orion didn't know why he was so frustrated. He didn't particularly like Cecily. Respected her, yes, liked her, not really. Maybe it was because she'd gone out of her way to spare his head. That was stupid. She would've know something like this would've happened if she hit his face. That brought him back to the matter of why he was so mad over her.

"She should've known better," Reiko replied, his eyes falling back to Cecily and the prince that was kneeling besides her.

---

Zephyr knew that the collar would hurt her, maybe knock her out, but he didn't know it'd look like that.

He saw when Cecily's body tensed, the jolts of red electricity jumping on her skin. Her mouth opened like she was going to scream, but nothing came out. And then, when she slacked, he nearly thought she was dead.

"What was in that shock?" Alma asked him, holding Cecily's wrist. "It wasn't just electricity."

Zephyr shook his head. "The scientists told me red energy."

"Re- Saints above help this woman. Do you know the difference between the two, your highness?"

"Red energy is stronger?"

"Well, you're not wrong. Back in the day, people used normal electricity when someone's heart stopped. Now, we use red energy. Not only is it stronger, but it reacts differently with human molecules. Normally, we only use it on patients who can literally be considered dead. But using it on a living person? You gave her several simultaneous heart palpitations which is like giving her- You don't get what I'm saying. Look, think of it this way. She didn't pass out because of some chemical reaction. She passed out because, when the body experiences a certain level of pain, it gives out."

---

And the worst part, Alma thought in the back of her head, watching the woman's eyes focus go in and out, is that she didn't even pass out completely.

Is a normal person had experienced red energy exposure at that level, they would've passed out. But no, Cecily seemed to have such a high pain tolerance that Alma could've guessed only came from past exposure.

From the prison, was the good guess. Judging by the old scars she caught on Cecily's arm when she pulled up the sleeve, maybe from before.