Chapter 164: Back To Training.

『"Training... it’s been a while."』

In the ARTE simulation, the team trained as holographic mechs and drones swarmed them from every direction, forcing constant movement and coordination.

Suspended high above the room was a glowing board displaying a thirty-minute countdown timer.

It was their first full session since recovering from the Perfume of the Gods.

After two days of bed rest, they needed it.

A colossal mech burst through one of the walls, and Amara was already moving. She sliced cleanly through the towering robot with Angel’s Bane.

The mech slid apart cleanly down the middle before collapsing behind her in two smoking halves.

As soon as it was taken down, two massive walls shot toward each other, trying to crush her. There was no time to breathe. She sprinted straight between them to avoid getting sandwiched.

Just before they collided, she kicked against a platform of solid air she’d created beneath her foot, vaulting over a line of spikes that erupted from the floor as well.

She rolled smoothly across the ground before rising into another sprint.

"So they’re really all Aspects?" she asked between breaths. "There’s no such thing as pantheons?"

Another mech descended from above, and Hiro sighed. "Oh, man..." His arm phased clean through the mech’s chest.

The machine froze before exploding into thousands of fragments. "I wish I’d been there." He sprinted toward another target.

"You know..." he pointed toward Raj while he ran. "This is all your fault."

Raj caught a gigantic metal fist with one hand, the impact cracking the floor beneath him.

He twisted and hurled the entire mech over his shoulder, sending it crashing through another incoming robot.

Before he could celebrate, circular buzz saws slid out from the ground beneath him.

"Jeez. What level are we at?" His skin hardened, darkening like stone the moment the blades reached him.

The blades screamed as they scraped across him, throwing sparks in every direction before shattering one after another.

Then Raj looked up toward Hiro. "Oh, don’t act like you didn’t have a part to play in what happened to us."

"I... wha..." Hiro pointed at himself. "I didn’t even—"

"I don’t want to hear it from either of you." Amara severed another incoming energy blast with a lazy swing of her sword.

She was about to slice through another mech when she spotted one charging straight toward Raj from behind.

"Heads up!" she called.

Raj took the incoming punch to the face and the giant arm of the mech shattered on impact. "I’m alright," he said to Amara.

Amara sighed. "I mean, just because you can regenerate and have a tough skin, doesn’t mean you have to take hits you can dodge."

"It’s all good, Amara." Raj grinned, thumbing toward himself. "See? Not a scratch." Then he glanced toward Ethan. "You still have the chalk, right?"

Ethan stood at the center of the room, seemingly doing nothing. Every simulation that attacked him simply destroyed itself against his automatic defenses.

"The Director trusted me with one, very limited piece." He finally made a move, creating a giant compactor that crushed a mech flat into the ground. "I’m not wasting it on a sightseeing trip."

Hiro looked pleadingly at Amara. "Amara, talk to him."

She deflected another cannon blast. "He’s right."

Across the room, three combat mechs surrounded Sophia. They charged at her simultaneously.

She slowly raised one hand, and golden light enveloped all three machines. Metal shrieked, armor bent, and limbs twisted as the mechs folded inward.

Within seconds, all three had been compressed into a single perfectly smooth sphere that dropped heavily onto the floor.

The display was so violent that everyone paused for a split second.

Then Ethan glanced sideways. "You’re awfully quiet."

Without answering, Sophia looked toward three attack drones. Her eyes flashed gold, and the drones imploded instantly, collapsing into themselves like crushed soda cans.

Only then did she answer. "I’m fine." She looked directly at Hiro. "Just peachy."

"Just peachy..." Hiro forced a grin. "...Good one."

Another mech barely had time to land before Sophia ripped it cleanly in half with telekinesis, hurling the two pieces into separate incoming walls and destroying all three machines.

Hiro slowly backed away, moving closer to Ethan. "Dude..." He kept watching Sophia. "Did I do something to piss her off?"

Another robot exploded.

"...Because all I’m getting are murder vibes."

"I don’t know, man." Ethan shrugged while constructing a massive hammer that flattened two incoming mechs. "Just ask her?"

Hiro slowed down slightly. "Right..."

Raj, never one for subtlety, brought up the one topic guaranteed to shift the mood. "So..." He punched straight through another robot. "I’m still stuck on the Director pulling a goddess."

"Please don’t remind me," Ethan muttered.

Amara smiled softly as she dismantled another robot. "I think it’s sweet, actually. The idea that even gods can form connections like that."

"Director Daniel Hale and a goddess, huh?" Raj laughed. "That’s wild. You think they—"

"Touched naughty bits?" Hiro finished.

"Director Yuri, the Lady..." Sophia flew past barrages of cannon blasts. "The Director sure knows how to pick ’em."

"I don’t know about you guys," Raj stopped moving for a second, "but if a literal goddess offered me immortality, I’d have packed my bags."

"That explains why you’re still single," Sophia muttered.

"Hey!" Raj pointed at her. "It’s a choice." A wide grin surfaced across his face. "And I’ll have you know, I’ve been texting with you-know-who for a while now. Nothing serious."

"Duuude." Hiro also stopped, his boots skidding against the floor. "You need help."

Amara let out a laugh and Ethan joined her.

The lights that illuminated the training room suddenly got brighter, indicating that the timer had hit zero.

All the simulations faded, leaving them once again inside the vast, empty training chamber.

"Perfect timing." Raj headed up to the control room to go grab his phone.

Amara and Ethan broke off, heading to nowhere in particular.

"Are you ever going to tell me what I did?" Amara asked as they walked. "I can’t help but feel like I did something so embarrassing, or said something so stupid."

Ethan grinned. "Oh, super embarrassing. Wish I had a tape."

Amara bumped her shoulder against him. "On a different note, I need like a three-hour shower." She slipped a scrunchie off her wrist and gathered her hair into a loose ponytail.

Ethan reached out, interlocking his fingers with hers. "You mind if I join you in said shower?"

Amara bumped her shoulder against his again, a smile on her face. Behind them, Hiro and Sophia met up.

***

Hiro glanced toward Sophia. He took a slow breath. "...Hey."

She didn’t answer.

"I think..." He rubbed the back of his neck. "...I owe you an apology of some kind?"

Sophia didn’t look at him. "It’s cool."

Hiro shifted awkwardly. "Did I... do something?"

She was quiet for a long moment.

"...No," she said at last.

"...Yes." She paused again.

"...Kind of."

Before Hiro could ask another question, the door to the ARTE opened up and Meredith stepped through.

"Found you," Meredith said. "Looks like your vacation is over, because we’ve got a situation."