Edogon -- Revised (2018)

Chapter 8: Threats

Dune

I know I had been thinking whatever, Avery needed to learn what Stark really was like and that I'd pick up the pieces afterward but...hearing the trepidation in her voice as I walked down the hall, I couldn't have lived with myself after if I didn't step in when I did. What kind of man would it have made me to walk away? Not one I wanted to be. Part of me was rethinking my whole entire position, but I wasn't ready to let my pride fall just yet. However, letting Avery blow off some steam by taking potshots at me was something I was more than capable of doing.

Avery was quiet as we made our way to the combat room, she had taken off her heels and held them in her left hand as we walked. Her feet making soft pit-pat sounds against the cool metal floor as we went. Part of me wondered if her toes were freezing from the sensation of the metal.

Reaching the combat room I scanned my hand and then Avery scanned hers before entering, we all had to log whenever we entered the room. Something about an annual fitness and wellness report being tracked through our activity in the combat room and how often we logged in. We all had quotas we had to meet yearly for being employed in the military.

Once we were inside I went off to the left to drink some water while Avery went to the right. When we were both done we came to the centre and looked at one another.

Avery gave me a skeptical look.

"Aren't those stiff and restricting?" She asked, pointing at my jeans. I laughed as she pulled on some shorts she'd just grabbed from her locker underneath her dress.

"You kidding me? These things are the most comfortable pants ever. Like anything, the best of things take time and breaking in." I said. Avery snorted.

"If you consider unbreathable comfortable, it's no wonder you're so strange." Avery tugged at the bottom of her dress then and rolled it up languidly, my eyes traveling with her hand before resting on her face when she was free from the material again.

Damn.

And then my eyes drifted down to her chest and I had to hold back a laugh. She had been wearing a sports bra under that fancy turtleneck dress that did more for her figure than I wanted to think about.

"Says the one always wearing a sports bra." I quipped back, nodding at her chest.

"What? They're supportive. And you never know when you're going to fight." Avery muttered. That was Avery for you, always prepared.

"Then why weren't you wearing shorts too?" I said. Avery puffed out her cheeks in retort then let it go. Clearly there was no reasonable explanation to always have shorts on underneath her normal clothing, and I wouldn't have expected there to have been one.

"Don't those things feel like a mini corset just for the pecs? Isn't that incredibly uncomfortable?" I said as Avery flipped her hair up and into a ponytail, her wrist flexing with ease, well practiced at the motion.

"Well they can be. But they're not the worst thing ever." Avery said, she sunk down into position. "I'd say that goes for another article of clothing." I too got into position and raised my brows at her.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Avery just smiled at me and didn't give me a verbal answer before dashing straight for me.

I swerved to the side, just barely missing her swipe at my waist. Turning around I faced her and watched as she grits her teeth. Smiling I ducked low as she came at me again and rolled past her with ease, my shoulder gently thudding against the mat. I didn't get up however, I waited for her to pounce again and turned to lash out with my leg for her ankles as she drove an elbow towards my cheek. Dipping my face as far left as I could I hooked my toes on her ankle and pulled, Avery started to come down on top of me and brought her hands down onto my chest as we both hit the floor.