Zofia's POV (1 week later) I sat on the couch watching whatever looked good until I heard the door open I glanced over and saw Kye walking in holding his glock, I asked "hey Kye, you got taught Hand To Hand at delta right?" I heard a distracted "Asehi, why?" I asked hopefully "Wanna head to the gym and spar?" He must've paused since he was quiet for a bit "Alright, let's go get my ass kicked" I chuckled as I stood and headed towards my dresser carefully looking through my gym clothes until my eyes landed on my new green digital camo set, "that one" Kye's POV I changed into a tank top and some loose shorts as I carefully removed my feathers and necklaces before gripping my gloves only to ask "Hey Zo, you dressed?" I got a short "Tak(yes)" I turned and felt my jaw go slack.
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I tried to take my eyes off of her but they were glued as I whispered "adawehi(angel)" Zofia looked over and noticed my staring and got self conscious "What? Does it not look good?" I dumbly shook my head before replying "No, no, it looks amazing." Her cheeks turned red before she spoke "don't think flattery is going to keep me from kicking your ass" I shook my head head "Fuckin' 'ell, keep wearing that and we can fight every day" Zofia's POV I shook my head in amusement as I grabbed my gloves "let's go, I wanna see how far you've come" he asked with a slight head tilt "do you have you tablet?" I shook my head "it's more impromptu than an actual progress report" he nodded before extending his hand to me, I gripped it tightly as we started walking to the gym my excitement growing with each step which he noticed "Easy, it'll be over quickly. I don't think I've progressed much" I shrugged joyfully as Ela called "Kye! Zofia! Wait up!" I heard him mutter "every time" I gave him a weird look but he just smiled at me before turning to Ela as she appeared on my right "Need something?" She shook her head no "Nie(no), I just noticed Zofia was in her new gym clothes and you're in yours so what's happening?" I spoke happily "He agreed to spar" Ela gave him a look as if he'd just said the moon was cheese "are you crazy? You're gonna die" he shrugged before replying "The Maker claims more people to his court daily, if only I'd be so lucky to die to something as hot as her." Ela fake gagged at the comment while my cheeks radiated heat, Ela nudged me "it's like when Dad and Uncle got together" I nodded slightly saddened at the memory before I realized Ela didn't say Dad with any anger. I asked "Have you forgiven him?" She nodded looking at peace for the first time in a while. When we walked into the gym it was empty, not even Meghan(Valkyrie) or Craig(Blackbeard) were in here, I heard Kye "Well I guess we have the place to ourselves" I nodded and climbed into the ring as Kye walked around to the speaker and plugged in his phone before scrolling through his playlist until he selected a song and climbing into the ring. Ela appeared in the middle of the ring and pretended to be a referee "I want a good clean fight, no low blows. Touch gloves" I smirked at the antics while Kye just finished putting on his gloves before looking up at me with a look I've never seen before, he was looking at me like prey. I heard another song start playing as Ela spoke "Fight!" I pushed forward and threw a jab that he ducked under as I followed it with a left cross that he lifted his leg to block, the maneuver caught me off guard as he threw a punch that I grabbed and spun throwing him over my back only to watch as he landed on his feet infront of me. He rushed forward throwing several fast but somewhat sloppy punches I easily blocked only to noticed his foot sneaking behind mine, I smirked that tipped him off before I grabbed him and spun throwing him to the ground and preparing to drop down and throw punches. He smiled as I felt his hand grip my heel as he ripped my foot out from under me before he rotated and got me in a leg lock, I grimaced but rolled yanking my foot free as he rolled backwards. I sighed before walking forward throwing a high kick he used both his arms to block before I spun and feinted the kick instead hustling him with 2 right jabs and a left elbow. I bounced on my feet as he struggled to get up he stumbled a bit, he was bleeding a little bit from the heavy elbow he took to the eye but kept his guard up, I was about to charge him again when Ela spoke sounding worried "Kye, maybe you should stop" he shook his head no as he struggled to breathe "I'll die before I quit" he gasped out as I got a nervous look from Ela. I shook my head no slightly before scooting forwards like I did at the beginning of the match but instead of throwing a punch I lunged and gave him a tight hug. I felt his knees give out as we dropped to the mat, my arms tightly around him "It's okay, breathe" he whispered out "I told you, I'm hopeless" I leaned back as Ela gave me a disinfectant wipe and I carefully tapped at his wound "I told you, keep giving me you effort and I'll make you the second best fighter we have. You've gotten better, you're actually guarding effectively and you set up some traps. It's progress" he shook his head "I'm no good, I just can't do it" I sighed before gripping both sides of his head "Listen to me, you're not hopeless. I promise you, you have potential but I need you to persevere with me so we can make it work" he nodded as Ela rested her hand on his shoulder. "If anyone can get you kicking, it's Zo'" he looked down as I asked carefully "You wanna go and do something else?" He spoke somewhat depressingly "Vtla(no), I think I'm just gonna go study." I glanced at Ela who wasn't trying to hide her worry as Kye stood and took a second to get his balance before he climbed down from the ring and grabbed his phone before walking out. I sat in the middle of the ring looking at the door as it closed until Ela asked "What's wrong?" I glanced at her "He was in such a good mood before this, now he's so disappointed with himself" she spoke tiredly "Zo, I can't tell you what to think but it's not your fault. It's no ones fault, he's just seeing the short comings he has instead of the progress he's made" I nodded "I know, I just wish I could make him see the progress" Ela was quiet for a while causing me to look at her before she spoke "Your tablet, you mentor him so you have his stats. Show him how his Hand to hand scores increased, he think by the numbers anyway" I paused gówno(shit) I didn't think of that "thanks Elzbieta, I think it'll work" she smiled before pushing me towards the door "now go, he needs you" as I took off out the door after him. Kye's POV I slowly walked towards the dorm until Julien found me "hey Kye... woah, that's a pretty nasty wound, what happened?" I waved before speaking "I sparred with Zofia, I was right I haven't gotten that much better" he sighed before shaking my shoulder slightly "Sorry bro, I couldn't sworn you got better" I shrugged as I looked up at the ceiling panels "Maybe I'm just destined to be shit at hand to hand" he shook his head "Maybe Gustave should fix up your eye" I waved him off "I'll handle it back at the dorm, we have the supplies" Julien laughed "everyone does, Gus made that much for certain" I shook my head in slight amusement "Like who forces an entire organization to put proper medical supplies in every dorm? Gus, Gus does" Julien laughed as we arrived at my dorm and he spoke "Ill catch you in a while, I've gotta help Emma trouble shoot her drone" I nodded before suggesting "tell her to make it jump" He flipped me off as he walked away and I disappeared into my room and headed for my desk, I pulled out a textbook on explosives before looking over pictures of Typhon's latest bomb both assembled and disassembled. I compared them with known IEDs and the firing mechanisms until the door flew open and a wild looking Zofia stood breathing heavily, I waved half heartedly "Oh hey Zo" she walked over to her bed wordlessly which caught my attention, she almost never ignores me unless she has a mission. I watched with growing interest until she straightened and held her tablet before walking over and sitting on my lap "you always say you haven't gotten any better at hand to hand" I nodded into her shoulder "'cause I haven't" she tapped on the screen a couple of times as I watched over her shoulder until she presented the screen to me and it showed milestones on the calendar. "What's all this then?" I asked causing her to reply "these are all the times you created a new personal best or overtook another operator on our Hand to Hand leaderboards." I watched as she flipped through the months and milestone after milestone passed until it got to today's date "Currently you're middle of the pack, a long way from the bottom when you first got here" I nodded grumpily into her shoulder "you and your damn numbers making me proud" she laughed before standing and turning "see? Just trust that I'll get you where you want to be" I nodded as my eyes traveled despite my effort to keep them on her face. She laughed before walking to her dresser "now how about a drive?" I stood and changed into more casual clothing "sounds good, you wanna drive?" She nodded as I tossed her the keys.
