When the Cavalry Comes.

XLIV

Cavalry made her way into the room, scanning it for her opponent. Bait stood opposite her, slouched on a bench as he wrapped his hands. Lure was behind him with a clean cloth and a water bottle. Viper was there too, sitting on another bench and studying the sudden tension in the room with interest.

Cav walked around the raised, padded mat in the middle of the room where the fight would take place and stopped in front of Bait as he tied off the tape on his hands.

"May I use that next?" She posed it as a question instead of an order. Bait chucked and tossed it to her. Cavalry caught it and glanced at how he had taped his hands. It was different from the standard support wrappings, allowing supporting the wrist but not padding the knuckles for punching. The joint of his thumb was also taped carefully. His style was more striking from the heel of the palm and sides of the hand, it seemed. Effective, but more movement and momentum based than sheer force. Tape also wound around his shoeless feet and disappeared under his blacks at his ankles. He'd he kicking at her if he got the chance.

Cav could work with that.

She pinched the tape between her thumb and the side of her index finger and wrapped it down, securing her wrist before moving up to cross the pads of her fingers and wrap around her thumb a final time before she tied it off. Then Cav repeated it on her other hand.

She was wearing her best fitting blacks, the thin material clinging to her skin almost perfectly like the undergarments were supposed to. It wasn't a molded fit like Bait's, but it was good enough. Everything was ready, now.

Bait stood barefoot on the mat, waiting for her. She kicked off her own shoes and stepped up meet him, flexing her wrists against the tape briefly before relaxing.

Something shifted, and the sparring match had begun. They circled each other easily, sizing the other up. For Cav's particular skill set to be effective, she needed to play with her cards to her chest. This meant making Bait make the first move. He apparently wanted her to do the same thing; it was down to who got impatient first.

In the end it was Bait who cracked, throwing a test jab towards her left shoulder, attempting to strike with the heel of his palm like she had predicted. She easily slipped to the side and redirected his blow, pulling him forward and jerking up her knee. He twisted to avoid the hit, showing a surprising amount of flexibility.

Bait chuckled lowly. "So the little girl has some skills."

Cav didn't rise to the taunt, a muscle twitching in her jaw as she studied him. They were toying with each other and they both knew it.

Bait attacked once more, swinging at a weak point on her neck. Cavalry ducked and grabbed his wrist. Bait twisted again, expecting another knee to the stomach. Instead, Cav slammed her hand into the joint of his elbow.

Surprised at the direct hit, Bait stumbled forward and grabbed at his suddenly senseless hand. Taking the opportunity she struck him twice more, a hit to the brachial plexus followed by an open palm punch to the left kidney.

As Bait spun back around she delivered a swift kick to the back of the knees, sending him sprawling.

Whiteout cheered. Cav paid him no mind, standing over Bait.

"Do you yield?" She asked calmly. Bait was mad now, his movements losing some of their previous grace in favor of full on attacking her. No more games.

Cavalry couldn't dodge fast enough and he slammed into her shoulder. Forcing herself to react and not let them be carried over, she wrapped her legs around his waist and rolled over him, kicking off and driving him behind her.

Her shoulder throbbed with the glancing blow.

While his back was turned she struck again, managing to get a solid hit on the same nerve cluster on the shoulder she had hit earlier. This time she hit dead on, sending shooting pain through his entire arm followed by numbness. Bait's other hand swung through her blind spot as she did this, striking her square in the jaw.

Dark spots danced in her vision as she staggered back. She shook her head and narrowly avoided another swing, ducking down and driving her fist into his solar plexus.

Bait gasped, but he didn't have much time to think before Cav landed a kick to the back of his head, using her body weight to drive him into the padded mat. He didn't move.

Cavalry quickly knelt down and pressed two fingers to the side of his neck, making sure he wasn't dead. Lure was anxiously pacing the edge of the mat. Cavalry stepped back and met his gaze.

"Take your twin to the infirmary." She said, a little thickly due to her bruised jaw which she rubbed at gingerly.

Lure nodded quickly and knelt down to lift Bait, draping his arm over his shoulder. Bait groaned a little at the movement, but his eyes stayed firmly shut.

Cavalry blew out a short breath. It was done.

Behind her the doors to the sparring room burst open. Viper stood a little ways back; Cav hadn't seen him leave. And standing in front of him was a familiar face from her past.

"CT 5745, I should have known." Grouched a grizzled looking older clone. Di'kut was an old clone who lost his leg in a fairly stupid accident, branding him with an embarrassing name and leaving him stuck on Kamino to help train cadets to not screw up like he did. He had taken an interest in Cav's first squad in general, and had continued watching over her from a distance as she met Neon and joined her second squad.

"I was alerted to an unauthorized and highly illegal change in the chain of command and subsequently sent to detain the perpetrators." He gave her a long hard look. "You wouldn't know anything about this, '45?" Cavalry winced.

"Respectfully, sir, it's Cavalry. As for the change of command..." She glanced at the half conscious Bait still slung over a suddenly pale Lure's shoulders. "Never actually took place."

Di'kut relaxed. "Thank the ever loving stars." He leveled a glare at her. "The two weeks I'm off Kamino I find that 45- sorry, Cavalry has returned to train with her newly assigned squad and is already doing something illegal."

"You know me, Sir. Gotta stay on brand. Fives's influence probably isn't helping either." She joked, now knowing she was out of trouble with her old friend.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Squirt." Di'kut grumbled. "No more leaving me hanging for months this time. I worked my shebs off to get out off world, I deserve to know how you're doing. You have transfer codes to my datapad." He huffed. "And you better not leave out how you managed to charm ARC-kriffing-Fives to be your mentor."

Lure made a slightly choked sound. Cav winced. "Ok ok ok. I'll tell you everything. Now, I have a sore jaw and an unconssious trooper to see to the infirmary. And you have some covering for me to do?" She asked hopefully.

"You owe me."

"Deal."