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VII. The People's Voice

Chapter Seven
Steve

I swing the wooden staff around in my hand and collide it with Lee's, the force of the swing making him stumble back. I use his little hiccup to my advantage, hooking the other end of the staff under his outstretched leg, causing him to fall flat on his back. He lets out a yelp of surprise and then a sigh, glaring up at me as I point my staff at him.

"I win." I say with a cheeky smirk.

"You had a huge advantage, you've been training to fight your whole life." Lee replies out of breath.

"I still won."

Lee narrows his eyes. "I don't know whether I want to punch you or kiss you."

I shrug, extending my hand out to him. "You could always do both."

He takes it and lets me help him up, keeping hold of my hand once he's on his feet, using his grip to tug me towards him, connecting his lips with mine. It's a brief kiss since we're in class, but it's a long enough one to make my cheeks burn up.

"I'm glad you went with the latter." I whisper with a near giddy tone.

Lee chuckles, but more to himself, brushing his nose with mine. "I'll kiss you again if you let me win one round."

I grin. "Deal."

"That was excellent form," Uncle Rhodey compliments me as he steps onto the mat we're currently standing on. "I would expect nothing less from the son of two assassins. You have a very similar fighting style to your mother, and you have her competitive spirit, too."

This compliment only makes my grin grow, but it makes Lee look annoyed. "Oh yes, it's excellent until you're on the receiving end of it."

"You are far too stiff when you fight," Uncle Rhodey observes. "You need to loosen up, focus less on the staff being swung at you and more on the person swinging it. The entire time you were watching the staff and would tense up whenever it swung at you. Focus on Stevie's movements, try to find his tells, everyone has them."

With that, he steps back, Lee and I once again alone on the small blue mat. All the students have been paired up into groups of two and have their own training mats where we are being forced to spar one another. Thankfully Uncle Rhodey doesn't have to instruct each group by himself, some Jabari soldiers have offered their services in training us and each group of two has one soldier helping them. Uncle Rhodey is overseeing and assisting Lee and I. The Jabari also brought new weapons to train with since the ones for the school were stolen. I heard Mom say last night that more Asgardians are coming to teach here as well.

"I glance at where I'm going to strike before I strike." I whisper to my boyfriend, hoping this will allow him to beat me at least once.

Now Lee grins. "You'll regret telling me that."

-

Naomi

Jade helped me set up a rally here in Wakanda. Most enhanced people live here, and the Avengers are almost all based here. If I want to get people to pay attention to what's happening in the enhanced's lives, this is the place to do it. We're holding the rally in front of the Avengers base, the symbol of strength to the enhanced people, to all people. Soroya and Sam are going to be standing by my side as I give my speech, they want to show the world that the Avengers support the enhanced through thick and thin. Zy'aire already called in to newspapers and got some press here, I can see their cameras snapping and their lenses reflecting light as I wait in the lobby area of the base.