Chapter 58| Ironclap

Chapter 58: Chapter 58| Ironclap

The platform shook again. Probably still resonating from the first hit.

Dex was already on the platform with them.

He’d come up the center walkway while Zane was processing the shockwave damage. Moving quietly for someone his size, the acceleration equipment on his forearm still faintly active. He stood at the far end of the platform. Looked at Zane. Looked at Maren.

Cracked his knuckles.

The sound that followed was not a cracking sound.

The platform vibrated again from the residual resonance.

"So," Dex said. Easy. Conversational. Like they were back in room 714 and he was asking about hero news. "Who wants to go first."

Then Instructor Vael’s voice came through the megaphone from the observation point below.

"Listen up. There are three zones in this drill. The elevated platform you’re currently fighting over, the mid ground directly below it, and the lower obstacle section at the far end." A pause. "You gain ten points per minute per zone held uncontested. A zone only scores when your team holds it with no opposition present. The round ends at fifteen minutes." Another pause. "Right now both teams are on the same platform which means neither team is scoring anything. Think about that." One more pause. "Additional rule. Any player who drops off the platform is eliminated from the round entirely. Choose your footing carefully."

She lowered the megaphone.

The implication landed across both teams simultaneously.

Zane looked at Maren.

Maren looked at Zane.

’We’re scoring zero,’ Zane thought. ’While we’ve been up here holding position.’

Dex looked at his team. Something recalculated behind his eyes in real time.

"Kai," Dex said quietly. "Mid ground. Now."

Kai Rowe turned and headed for the walkway immediately without question.

Maren clocked it before Kai was halfway down.

"Jade," she said. "Lower obstacle section. Move."

Jade Ross nodded and went.

Two zones now being contested simultaneously. The platform fight still unresolved. The drill timer on the facility wall ticked down.

14:23 remaining.

Dex looked back at Zane and Maren.

Now it was just the three of them on the elevated platform — Zane and Maren from Team Three, and Dex from Team Six. Cole Mercer, also Team Three, was holding the center walkway access point below to stop Wren Hale and Dario Marsh from Team Six climbing up and joining Dex.

Dex cracked his knuckles again.

"So," he said again. Same tone. "Who wants to go first."

Zane pressed his palm against the railing support beside him.

Impact Breaker loaded. 0.79 seconds. Ready.

’My roommate,’ Zane thought. ’Who has been walking around the dorm at what I assumed was somewhere near my output ceiling. Eating noodles. Watching his laptop. Denting the desk accidentally.’

’Accidentally,’ he thought again.

Dex took one step forward.

Maren activated Overdrive.

The surge hit her visibly. The specific shift in movement quality that Zane recognised immediately. Faster. Lighter. Her chain activation running clean.

She moved toward Dex without hesitation.

Not waiting. Not holding. Going.

Dex’s eyes shifted to her. Recalculated.

’He wasn’t expecting her to push,’ Zane thought. ’He expected us to hold the center and make him come to us.’

’She changed the read,’ Zane thought. ’In real time. Based on the zone scoring update.’

He understood it immediately.

If they held center and waited they were still scoring zero on this zone until one team pushed the other off. Maren going forward meant she was forcing the engagement on her terms instead of Dex’s.

Dex activated Impact Breaker.

Not through the platform surface this time. Through his palms directly. Both hands raised, forward facing, a short range concentrated burst pushed through the air toward Maren’s approach. The shockwave was visible. A ripple in the atmosphere between them, the air itself compressing and releasing in a tight forward wave that hit with the specific crack of displaced pressure.

Maren cut the angle.

Not straight in. Diagonal. The arc approached her Overdrive carrying her around the leading edge of the shockwave before it could track her redirect. The ripple passed close enough to catch the edge of her training gear before she was already past it and inside his guard.

Dex adjusted faster than Zane expected. The acceleration equipment pulsed on his forearm. Redirecting his own momentum to track Maren’s arc.

They collided in the center of the platform.

Contact exchange. Fast. Controlled. The specific back and forth of two people who both knew what they were doing and were running their respective styles against each other at full output.

Zane watched from the railing.

’I should be helping,’ he thought.

’I should definitely be helping,’ he thought.

He activated Overdrive at 60% and moved.

Whoosh!

Dex had his back to Zane. Tracking Maren’s movement, managing the arc, not watching the second threat.

Zane closed the distance.

Palm contact. Impact Breaker at 65%.

The shockwave hit Dex across the shoulder blade.

Dex stumbled forward two steps. Caught himself on the railing. Didn’t go over, caught himself clean but lost ground and position simultaneously.

He looked back at Zane.

Then at Maren.

Dex stumbled forward two steps. Caught himself on the railing. Looked back at Zane. Then at Maren. Then down at the railing edge behind him. The ground visible far below through the gap in the composite flooring, the drop significant enough to matter.

The easy energy was still there. But something behind it had genuinely recalibrated.

"Hm," Dex said.

Then the timer sounded a short alert from below.

Instructor Vael’s megaphone clicked on.

"Round one update. Four minutes elapsed. Points tallied so far — Team Six holds mid ground and lower obstacle zone. Both zones uncontested for four minutes each." A pause. "Team Three — elevated platform is still being contested which means zero points scored on it." Another pause. "However — Team Six has eliminated two of Team Three’s members from the lower zones. Mid ground and lower obstacle section now belong to Team Six uncontested."

She lowered the megaphone briefly then raised it again.

"Round is still ongoing. Elevated platform fight continues. Team Three needs to either clear the platform or accept the deficit. Fifteen minute timer still running."