Chapter 178: Rust and Recovery

Sweat beaded off Rachel’s brow, the heat of the dying sun nowhere near capable of shaking DC of its chilly March wind. She slowed to a stop near the grass of the rec center near the White House and dropped to her back, Alexa and Little Nia joining her, trying to collect themselves.

A chuckle came from Barbara, Anthony, and, shockingly, her big brother, all standing on the sidewalk without a drop of sweat on them. Rachel felt like she’d never worked out a day in her life, and her pride took a hit upon seeing Selvaria puff to a stop near the three. How was Selvaria, the uber-weighty sea monster, still standing when Rachel was on her butt?

"W-We going another lap?" the leviathan gasped, taking deep breaths and bending over, her hands pressed against her knees. "I... don’t think I have another one in me."

Nam flashed a grin at the three of them on the grass. "Naa. We’re at the end, Selv."

"Oh, thank God..."

"C’mon, Lexi," he teased as the sea dragon stretched out, "just a bit more, and you can beat my sister!"

"I can’t!" the blonde gasped, her fingers clutched against her chest. "I am... s-sorry—so out of shape..."

Anthony snorted, hands held behind his neck as he looked down at them while they gasped for air or, in Rachel’s case, felt her muscles burn in ways she hadn’t since she was thirteen. "C’mon, Rach, I had money on you. The sun can’t be this bad on your cardio. Scarlet had her five dollars on Nia, too."

"I tap out!" the little girl groaned, wearing her brand-new jogging outfit. "Ugh. Why does the sun affect me, too, Major? Why do... do we need to test out the thing... the no energy thing— Blah... I want to throw up!"

Arm held over her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat, Rachel forced out a laugh and peeked out to see Barbara offering her a hand. Taking it, she let out a rumbling groan as she was helped up before stretching out her tired muscles.

"Mmmgm! Thanks. I didn’t know you could keep up with Legends, Nam," she joked, accepting a towel Anthony offered her as Selvaria trudged over to a fountain to absorb some liquid. "Next time, Mom will probably show me up..."

Her brother reached down to help his wife to her feet, turning her around to massage her shoulders and making her groan; the blonde had only just started training, but she seemed adamant about it.

Nam was careful with his wife. "It’s good that Mom and Dad are able to spend some personal time together, and Grandpa grabbing Mason to spend a few months with him might be best. He was failing out of school, anyway; he’s already been kicked out of two private schools."

Rachel rolled around her own neck, a little jealous of her sister-in-law having someone to work the knots out every night. Nia had offered yesterday when they’d started this testing phase, but the kid had absolutely no idea how to give a massage.

"I see where your mind is: no concern for your little sister."

More chuckles from the others followed as Alexa tentatively asked, "How are you feeling? It’s hard to tell between you having Lunar Energy and without. Is ten days enough time to start exercising again?"

Barbara went to her nearby parked SUV to pull out some water for all of them as Rachel thought about her response. Selvaria returned to snag one, still looking dehydrated in her smaller, teenage form; since her size, and to some degree her age, changed with her water levels, the woman opted for more elastic clothing.

Rachel accepted a bottle and guzzled half of it before looking back at the rec center doors, where Scarlet and Coral waited inside for them to finish; the Halloween bun did take a small amount of solar damage, but it was due more to her ghostly attributes than to her being a slime bun.

"Physically, I think I’m in top shape—"

"Your pace says otherwise," Anthony cut in. "Even when you had Lunar Energy last night, you were choking at times."

Rachel scowled his way as the redhead pulled out the two basketballs that Barbara brought for after the workout, wanting to play a game. Nam caught the ball that was tossed to him, dribbling a few times.

"He has a point, Sis. Sure, you’re not collapsing out of bed like you were last week, but you’re hardly up to a military mission if you can spontaneously collapse out of nowhere jogging."

"Which is why I wanted to test my Strength, Endurance, and Stamina without moonlight," she added, helping Nia relax by sitting down to massage her legs and making the girl’s ears sag over her face. "I’d like to do a Quest with you guys in another three days or so, and I’ve got the private Congress and Senate discussions coming up, where I’ve been called to speak. I can’t sit still anymore and go over my notes."

Anthony tossed Nia the ball, making the girl’s ears fly up. "Then prove that you won’t be a liability because the Quests recently have been pretty combat-intensive. Barb and Selv will tell you. It’s put a lot of things into perspective regarding your whole private military company idea."

"Wait, do I get to join and not Big Nia?!" the bun excitedly asked as she got up, causing Rachel to sit back as the girl used two hands to dribble. "I want to try making it into the hoop."

"You can play a one-on-one game against me," Selvaria said with a big grin. "I’m not good with the fast stuff, and we can practice together."

"Yay!" Nia cheered, tossing the ball into the air to catch. "I’ll get good enough to beat the major!"

"Good luck with that, Captain Little Bun," Rachel chuckled. "As for the Quests that you’ve been doing, I’ve heard the scope, and it’s more or less bandit pruning—nothing huge. We’ll see how I feel in a day or two. Let’s get ready for the game and meet up with Scarlet. Maria and Fiona are supposed to be back from Miami tomorrow, right?"

Barbara put her quarter-empty bottle of water under her arm to press the button on her SUV’s door, triggering the automatic close before locking the vehicle. "So far as I’ve been told. They’re bringing her lawyer friend back with them, apparently, although... I don’t know how much use she’ll be for you," she added with a strained smile.

Rachel scratched her temple and followed them into the building, her crippling weakness dissipating greatly the second she was out of the sun’s rays.

"Yeah, Fiona said she went through a bad breakup, and due to her self-image, it’s been tough on her; her other friends aren’t helping, saying she looks like a gorgeous fox girl now, but that doesn’t address how she feels. In any case, I figured having something to preoccupy her mind might help with her heart. Fiona said they’ll look over the legal arguments Congress and the Senate will bring up that Tom gave us, but I’ve studied it myself over the last few days."