Too close, dear children. Too. Close.

Placing bets

"Alright, our job is going as usual, and we still have three days to get girly here up to scratch as much as we can." Corso said, as they made their way down a small corridor, then pressed down the handle of a door on the right side. It opened and they all bowed simultaneously to let Octavia through. She gasped when she saw the room.

 "Oh my god." She said, and stared wide eyed.

It was about the size of a workshop. The walls had large cushions on them in most areas, some of the cushions had been ripped and had bits of fluff coming out of them. It wasn't pristine. There was marks on the non-puffy wall and all over the floor. Large scratches, puncture marks, even scorched patches. From the roof hung big industrial lights, and there was also ropes, platforms hanging at random intervals, along with rails in similar haphazard positions. There were no dummies however, and Octavia was son going to discover why.

 "For now, we're going to teach you basic defense." Corso said, rubbing his hands together with a smile. "Then later, we can advance into different defense, then eventually offense."

"I thought I was only meant to be an encyclopedia." She said, annoyed.

 "Well yeah, but we still need you to fight." Kane said, picking a sleek spear from a weapons rack. Every kind of weapon sat on racks and shelves around the room, all except explosives or guns. They were all swords, knives, daggers, scythes, sickles etc.

"Okay, what first? After these terrible clothes." Octavia complained.

 "They're not terrible, they're basic." Beck said with a laugh. She still had her jacket on.

"Says you! Unlike you, I don't look good in Sports bras and exercise pants."

 Tove laughed next to her, then said, "You'll get used to them. We wear similar things when on a job, just more protective."

"Urgh," Octavia rolled her eyes, then took off her own jumper and threw it where everyone else was dropping their clothes, including shoes. Beck rarely wore shoes anyway, but in here, no one apparently did. Tove took off her rectangular glasses and hid them among the pile.

 Then Beck took off her jacket.

"Whoa!" Octavia exclaimed, staring at her friends back with wide eyes. She was only wearing a strong sports bra, and now, her back almost completely exposed, Octavia could see what her Disguise chip had been hiding. Two large line of blue started from beneath her hair line and wound down her back elegantly, some other small ones branching off, and her shoulders were covered in blue dots. All of them seemed to be fluorescent, as if they were glowing underneath her skin.

 Beck laughed at her reaction. "You can touch them if you want."

Octavia hesitated, hoping they wouldn't feel too weird, but eventually stepped forward and reached to touch one of the large lines which curved down either side of her spine. They felt like skin, but there was no pores or microscopic hairs. They also felt as if they hummed. A calming purr that increased the longer she held her hand there, but wasn't loud enough that you would hear it unless you were touching them.

 "They call them Light-Lines, or Energy Strips. The colour is individual. I'm the only Blue in my generation. My uncle is a deep red and my cousins are different purples." Beck said proudly.

"What do they do?"

 "Well, remember what I did to that stinking Transparent on the night we got you?" Beck said. Octavia nodded.

"It looked like you bashed him with a rock, instead of just slapping him across the face."

 Beck laughed. "Well yeah, the effect would be something like that. I don't know exactly how it works, but if I Flare or Burn them, which technically is just activating them fully, I can kind of shoot people with energy. I can knock them back, knock them out, blind them, burn them. If I get a hold of their necks or head or chest with both hands, and Flare out both palms, I kill them. Doing only one would easily put them in a coma though. Demon or non-demon, the effects are the same."