Trinity

Three Words

Explicit

A month later and Quaritch had made up his mind, he was going to tell her. Wasn't exactly sure when he was going to do it but he was tired of wanting to say it and not saying it. He fell for her so fucking fast, he knew he couldn't tell her when he actually wanted to. It was way too early. Literally the first moment her mask slipped, that was it. He was done for. Quaritch had never met a woman that captivated him as much as Tenera. He wasn't sure if he believed in love at first sight, but whatever it was when he finally saw her, yeah that was it.

At this point, pretty much everyone knew about their relationship. A few tried to piss and moan about it being against the rules but she wasn't military, she was an RDA mercenary, no military ties or rank. Ten followed his orders when with his team, but ultimately she didn't answer to him. Any 'projects' she took came directly from the higher ups or the General, who also didn't seem bothered by the relationship.

Finally finished with his set, he raised into a sitting position on the weight bench. Sweat dripped down his back and chest as he racked the weights and walked towards the sparring mat. Grabbing a towel along the way he stared alongside Mansk as Prager and Wainfleet went at it. Lyle was good at pushing Prager's buttons and getting a real fight out of him. He watched them with pride and smirked when Prager landed a damn good hit to Wainfleet's gut. Ultimately Lyle still won.

"Ey! Menace! You fucking ready yet?" Lyle called out past the mat. Ten was working through a rep of crunches up on a bar. She couldn't hear him, music blasting in her ears as she finished the rep. On the last one she dangled and let her muscles stretch back out before putting one hand on the bar between her knees. She flipped and lowered herself down off of the bar in one fluid movement. She noticed Lyle staring at her and took out one of the earbuds.

"C'mon. Prager gave me a real fight, I'm fired up. You ready?" Quaritch stared at the woman he loved as she put her hands on her hips and smirked.

"Yeah I'm ready, shitlord." Ten wiped her hands free of the lifting chalk, having foregone the gloves today and pulled out the other earbud. She threw them in her workout bag and jumped into the sparring area. Ten looked at Lyle expectantly and he smiled at her as they dropped into defensive positions in tandem.

Lyle was absolutely fired up, Ten noticed. Good. Miles, Mansk, and Lyle were usually the only ones who would actually give her a fight. Actually treated her like an equal. She hated it when someone managed to land a hit and she could tell they were holding back. It pissed her off, she was smaller than them and didn't have as much muscle but she wasn't weak, she knew damn well how to handle herself. Technically she 'could' be as strong as them, that's what the energy stores were for, but not without her eyes doing weird and noticeable shit.

"No holding back." She reminded him, a nod in return.

"Oorah." He declared in his gravelly voice.

Eight minutes later both of them are breathing heavily and smiling as they continue to basically beat the shit out of each other. She wasn't stronger than him, but she was damn sure faster. That's usually what got him. Wainfleet enjoyed sparring with her, she kept him on his toes. One last punch thrown at her face and she grabbed his arm; flipped him over and slammed him down on the mat. Just like she did with David a year ago. Quaritch was absolutely beaming with pride as she helped pull Lyle to his feet.

"Almost had you."

"Almost had me a few times, but you keep relying purely on brute strength. You stop doing that dumb shit and you'll win more often. I know you can overpower me, so I do everything I can to counter it. You have to counter that." She critiqued thoughtfully as she tossed him a water.