“Yeah, I’ll admit to not really knowing what to grab other than the bow.” Inei would say with a shrug at Jinny’s statement. “Our dad taught us mostly how to handle more traditional weapons.” He’d add. Thought tat statement caused Kiri to throw a mild glare at his brother. One that Inei waved off without ever looking at it, while rolling his eyes.

“I grabbed the smaller ones because they look like they’ve got a lot of ammo and quantity has a quality all of its own.” He’d point at the uzi’s “And these” He would heft the MP5 “Because I’ve heard that our teacher uses them often.” Which wasn’t a wrong statement. Just slightly misguided, Slade used a lot of weapons often, but wasn’t partial to any one, save for his sword.

“Figured he’d be more wiling to give tips for something he favors, or seeing as he’s a harsher type, whip me into shape so as to not embarrass his preferred tools” Inei would finish as he performed a rather basic survey of the MP5. It was clear in the hesitancy of his movements that he knew very little about fire arms outside of the absolute basics.

“Always a glutton for more pain, aren’t you?” Kiri would snark at his brother, but tellingly enough still had yet to put down the bow for any length of time.

From there most talk drifted off as everyone get in to the rhythm of practice. It was hard to really gauge who was good vs who wasn’t for the most part with this range set up. Two people side by side shooting at the same range could have wildly different conditions for their shots making it near impossible to really say anything of note.

Or at least that was the case. A few minutes into the free-range practice Jinny would notice a small goggled emoji pop up on one of the more out of the way screens. Somewhere she could easily see it, but hard for others to notice if they were just walking by.

It would blink a few times before that screen would be over taken by a simple spread sheet of data. Listing the statistics of all the shooting stalls. Accuracy rating, average shot difficulty, primary weapon usage, average time between shots. Everything.

It would update every few seconds. A comment or two appearing beside some of them on occasion. Such as ‘The hell is this moron thinking?’ next to a shot layout where someone was apparently trying to use a shotgun in place of a sniper for a long-distance precision shot.

Or a ‘Okay, that’s impressive’ showcasing the accuracy rating of someone using twin uzi’s at full auto. Scoring a respectable eighty nine percent.

At first who the hell was feeding this information to Jinny was a mystery.

At least until she looked around and saw Gizmo wearing a pair of rather familir looking goggles. His tension was gone, and a smirk could be seen on his lips as he went through the motions of lining up his targets and taking them out. Seems that the pint sized genius found something rather relaxing in firearms practice.

It was also something that he seemed to be rather good at. His owns stall’s stats reading to be one of the better over all shots in the class. Though it wasn’t without some aid. He had rigged up some kind of clamp system for his revolver and rifle, since he was shorter than even Jinny was, he was obviously using such a system to compensate for the recoil as otherwise he’d lose the guns each shot. It might have done more than just that, but his accuracy wasn’t perfect, so it wasn’t all the machine doing the work.

Still, how Slade would take it was hard to tell. But Jinny would find out before she herself had to be tested, as Gizmo was before her in that line.

Speaking of Slade, that man himself was lurking in the background. Watching as everyone practiced, softly pacing the stalls back and forth. No one lit the stalls for assistance, but weather that was because no one needed the help, or they were a bit too afraid to ask was hard to say for sure.

Still it was one of the more peaceful times that had befallen this class so far.

Jinny couldn't help but giggle faintly at the behavior between the twins. Having a sibling seemed sort of fun. When Inei went over the MP5, she hesitated. There was plenty more to look over on that kind of gun. But would be showing her hand if she told them that? Probably. But she did want to make friends, and they had been nice to her when everyone else was too scared.

"You missed a few things on the guns. Lemme help." She gave them a brief run through of what else to check on an unknown weapon. Then, like everyone else, she started into practice.

It didn't take her long to get used to the weight of the Glock. Once she had the kick handled, she started to mess with the target settings to make things more interesting. The extra screen that she hadn't triggered made her squint in suspicion before it clicked who was intruding. The data was interesting, but she didn't want to be bothered at the moment.

Oh well. This would just have to be a free lesson in ignoring distractions. Otou-san had been working on that one with her before they had left for HYAEP. Jin was not good at it, unfortunately. No matter how hard she tried, a certain level of distraction would yank her out of what she was doing.

Finally choosing a high speed and random set, she inhaled and exhaled, trying to deliberately push herself into the spot in her mind she used for math equations. When she fought Gizmo, she'd worked out that he could do what she could, but fast enough to put it to use. How irritating - that shithead could outdo her at her own game.

The targets flew, fast. Jin's body moved, instincts and training and frustration blending seamlessly. One target after another dropped. It was as if everything else fell to the background like before, but this time on purpose.

Jinny became aware of her surroundings again once the last target dropped. She blinked a few times, then flinched as everything almost immediately too loud and bright. She muttered several vulgarities under her breath while trying to shake it off. The sensory overload was not physically painful, but it was just as debilitating.

Both Inei and Kiri paid close attention as Jinn gave a more complete rundown of how to check over a modern weapon.
“Seems you are just full of surprises aren’t you Jin.” Ieni would state with a smile, running over the check once more to sink it in a bit better. Kiri would just give a nod of appreciation as he too gave the inspection a run though with his own gun.

Afterwards both of them would dedicate most of their time to getting a handle on the modern guns. Inei seemed to be preferring the Uzi while Kiri was proving to be a decent shot with the MP5. Even with their lack of experience with these tools the fact that they had been trained showed through, leaving them in the upper middle of the class when it came to actual firearms. Their skill with the bow was closer to the top of the class.

Because of their added focus on their new guns they missed Jin suffering from the backlash of forcing a state of hyper focus.

The world suddenly going silent however showed that someone had noticed. Though it might take a moment for her to recognize that.

The screen that had been displaying the rest of the classes range data had been replaced with a single large slider that said ‘Sound canceling control’ above it. On one end it read ‘total mute’, the other end said ‘Off’ and in the middle was ‘Normal value’ The slider was all the way to total mute.

Glancing over Jinny would see Gizmo watching her, the look on his face wasn’t quite one of concern and was closer to shared understanding. He’d tap his goggles and point at her with a raised eyebrow. Silently asking if she’d like a pair for herself.

Before she could answer she’d see Gizmo’s attention snap to the far end of the room, his and everyone else's. Who it was that grabbed everyone’s attention was Slade. But what he said was lost to her for the moment. But seeing as everyone went back to shooting shortly after and Slade approached the first stall in the line it wasn’t too hard to guess what it was that he had announced.

Testing had begun.

Stil Gizmo turned back to Jinny awaiting an answer before he went back to shooting himself.

Jinny, who had been buckling under too much stimuli, froze up when everything went silent. Slowly, she opened her eyes one at a time. The light was still overbearing, but she managed to wipe the tears from her eyes. It took a bit for her to focus. “Huh?” Her gaze went from the side screen, to Gizmo, and the question on his face.

If she had a deeper vocabulary, perhaps her mind could have scrounged up something slightly more eloquent than ‘what the fuck?’, but today was not that day.

When he turned almost with everyone else, she leaned out of the stall. Funny, despite being clear across the room, she’d swear she could feel her father’s intensity. This was going to be interesting.

“Uh. Gizmo, I-” Jinny tried to smile, but it flickered out. “...M’sorry for kicking your ass.” If she didn’t have a gun occupying her hands, her nails would have been toast. “I got mad, or… something…” Weird. Everything had been so clear at the time, but now it was like someone had tried to scrub it out of her brain. It hadn’t even been an hour ago.

"頭痛がします..." She rubbed her eyes. "I really am sorry... you can hit me back later if you want." Jinny didn't know why Gizmo was suddenly willing to help her, but she did need it. "Do those goggles help with..." She made a general circle around her head. "All of this?"

Gizmo would fiddle with his watch for a moment before he answered. His voice filtering quietly despite the mute still being active. “Side effect of being the smartest person in the room regardless of where I am is migraines.” He would explain, “Audio stimulation isn’t as bad anymore, I lost some hearing due to rig failure a few years ago.”

“Bright lights can still fuck off though” He’d add as he turned back to his shooting. Neither of them were close to next, but the pint-sized genius preferred working while talking. “Goggles can do more than just block out light but it’s why I built them in the first place.”

“And no worries about earlier.” He’d go on to say not turning to look at Jinny. “I get it, fighting is one of your things, plus you did warn me earlier.” He didn’t sound offended at all while talking about how Jinny had thrashed him earlier. “I’ve done the same when people used to mock my rig or other things that I’ve built.”

Jinny listened to Gizmo in shameful silence. Her hands needed to work, so she reloaded her weapon. How had it gone empty that fast?

"Migraines suck ass." She agreed quietly. After setting up an accuracy course that would allow thinking time before each shot, she continued. "I only get 'em when I'm overdoing it with my power. But that's never happened before." Her vision was still blurry. Focusing on the tiny, occluded targets on the field was difficult. If this had been the actual test, she would fail.

"I dunno why anyone would dare make fun of you. I mean, you're small, but whatever - just makes you a harder target. By the time they're done laughing, you could pop 'em from orbit." Clearly, she was trying to make amends in her own way.

"How'd you do that earlier, with the chain? I could practically see the numbers but..." Another target dropped as Jinny nicked it with an off center shot. "I can calculate a lot, but not that fast."

“Maybe you touched upon a new aspect of your meta ability. No one really has a full understanding of them, from what I’ve read after all. So maybe yours can do more than you thought it could?” He’d offer up as a possible explanation. “A lot of Meta’s figure one trick and decide that’s all there is to what they can do.”

“And the chain was just a lot of pre-running the numbers. It’s steel, which is common enough to have its metrics memorized from repeat use. So while I was putting that piece of junk together. I just ran the numbers to get the upper and lower ends of its reaction vectors. Then I just stayed within those bounds with rough approximations afterwards.” Gizmo would explain. All the while he too kept lining up shots as they talked, same as Jinny, slower targets with more time to aim. “Only worked as well as it did because I was controlling the force and fulcrum, and I still messed up at the end. It might have gone in my favor, but I still got the math wrong.”

“But if you keep up with me at all, Math class has got to be boring as hell for you. Unless you got Mr. Lawton.” He shakes his head at that, “The guy is familiar to me, but I can’t place it. But the equations he puts on the board every class for extra credit are always fun to tackle. Sadly I don’t have him myself, tested out of Math as soon as I frigging could, which was before he got hired, but Mammoth brings me the equations to puzzle out.”

"Honestly, you signed up at a great time. Plenty of good teachers on staff this year."

"I took the placement test this morning. Most of it was really simple. The calc was fun too - and there was a problem on the board that I didn't really get. I got some of it, but I didn't know all the symbols." She couldn't wait to look them up. "But I'm gonna solve it. Eventually."

Another target down. Jinny was starting to feel like herself again. "I got the Spying class left. And a free period, I haven't figured out what I wanna do with it." The pain had eased, so Jinny stopped shooting. They needed to try and relax before the test really started.

"You seem to know plenty. Any suggestions?"

“Well, the first time you hand in a correct answer you’ll have made it in his good books.” Gizmo would mention as he kept pace with his shots. “If you want to find the symbols go looking into ballistic physics, you’ll them in other books as well, but all of them are in that field.”

“As for your free period, I don’t know practice? I use my free spots in what ever workshop class is open. They don’t care if you’re not on the role so long as you don’t give them more problems to clean up at the end of it. Only works while classes are in session though, once the day is over only certain gyms and labs are open.”

“Also, not a bad time to try and find some hidden rooms. Less people to find it alongside you.”

Before Gizmo could continue to give ideas. Another voice would speak up behind them. “Well, the rig means your going to have to run the test twice.” Came Slade’s bored drawl. “Once with and once without.”

The sudden appearance of the teacher had Gizmo jumping, though he had good enough instincts to try and draw on the one surprising him. It was doomed to fail considering it was Slade, but the soft amused hum that came from the assassin was probably a good thing.

From there the test would take place. It was a simple enough thing; three sets of firing, one with each of the selected weapons. Each set had fifty-two targets spread out in the weapon’s optimal ranges. With one located a fair bit closer listed as a ‘Sighting target’ and one at extreme range for the weapon listed as ‘Bonus’. The students had five minuets to shoot as many of the targets as you could, then thirty seconds to prep for the next set.

Slade, for his part, gave no indication of how well or poorly any set went. Just calmly listing the time taken per set, and the number of targets hit.

Still, it was rather clear that Gizmo was actually a talented shot. His rig only acting as additional recoil compensation, as other wise his two runs were rather similar. Though the one without the rig did score worse.

Once Gizmo was done Slade would move onto Jin with barely a word, just a simple “Very well, next up.”

It was only once Jinny had finished with their sets and Slade had moved on would both her and Gizmo notice that Slade had, at some point, placed their grade on one of the monitors at their stalls. With Gizmo having gotten a B+. With a note stating that points had been taken off for Gizmo having ran the test twice.

“Really?” The pintsized student would grumble under his breath, “You’re the damn reason I ran it twice asshole.”

Jinny did not jump when her father appeared. She was used to the sensation that someone was sneaking up. That, and she had just enough awareness that the shadows in the room were wrong before he scared the hair off of Gizmo.

"Hello, sensei." was her very polite response before she stepped out of the way to let Gizmo test. Instead of watching Gizmo's test, she let her eyes slip closed. It was too loud to meditate, but she could at least try to relax. Inhale, hold, exhale. How weird: the exercise Slade had taught her to calm her hyperactive tendencies was now being used to steady her hands to shoot.

She opened her eyes the moment that Slade addressed her, anchoring the rifle and making some minor adjustments to the sight. Then she got to work. While she hadn't addressed it with him beforehand, he'd know right away that she was pulling her shots. The shots with the Glock were average. Some of them were pulled just slightly to the right, off target. The rifle course was worse, but not terrible. It was odd to know exactly where to shoot - and force her hands to move wrong. If he hadn't caught that she was hiding her full skill, it would be quite obvious now. To the untrained eye, she was good, but not great.

The last targets rapidly set into place, as she cleared the rifle and picked up the darts. One last deep breath, and she took up a handful. The second that the timer started, she let loose. Guns were one thing, but this...

This was important. She wanted to show him how much stronger she had become, how much his teaching meant to her. Determination sharpened her brown eyes, and she let the darts fly. One after another hit their targets, dead center. All this without touching them with her ability, just practice, physics, and math.

It was quite an impressive display. Once she was finished, she stood back. Her body was calm, but her eyes were lit with triumph.

She looked over Gizmo's shoulder at his grade. While she did sympathize, she understood the reason behind it. "Well, no one's gonna get an A+ in this class. I know that already. That would mean you're perfect, and you don't need to learn anything. Besides - the rig may help you, but it also holds you back. Like, what if you were in a fight, and it got broken? Then your shots would be fucked, or the recoil would break your arm." A half shrug. "Guess you gotta build a lighter gun. Or work out."

Gizmo would grumble without any real heat at Jinny’s words. He didn’t like them, but was far too intelligent to not recognize the truth in them. “Damn it all.”

At some point Slade had left, once again with only bare minimum for manners. Though Jinny’s grade was posted along with his parting. ‘B. Skill with throwing weapon’s is notable. But you are pulling your shots too far before the recoil in regards to firearms.’

Gizmo would regard Jinny’s grade with narrowed eyes, something about it not lining up with him. But he seemed to decided against asking. Instead, he would ask something else. “He’s the guy with the eye patch, isn’t he?” Though it was stated more than asked. There would be a moment before he shrugged off that personal revelation.

“Mammoth is going to be happy; I’m finally going to take him up on his offers to hit the gym.” He would mutter to himself as he went back to shooting. Though it was somewhat clear that he was distracted, his accuracy wasn’t dropping but he was taking more time between shots.

After a while more. Slade’s voice would cut across the chatter and gunfire. “I have concluded with all the fire arms testing. You have a few minutes to pack up your chosen weapons, they are yours. Failure to bring them to class when they are required will result in docking of grade and inability to participate until you retrieve them.”

As he spoke the firing range would fold away into the floor leaving them once again with the large padded area that had been in place when they first arrived.

“We have the final test for today, once you have been examined you are free to leave.” He would move to the center of the padded area as he continued to speak. “The test is quite simple. Last as long as you can in a spar with me. Hand to hand only. Being down for a five count, or being forced off the mat both signal the end of your test.”

That declaration sent a wave of mutters though out the class, most of the students wary or resigned to this announcement. With the exceptions being Gizmo, who looked unsurprised. and the Twins, who looked excited.

“If anyone wants to step forward to undertake the test early you are freed to do so, otherwise I will be calling you up in alphabetical order. And anyone who fails to come forward for this testing will automatically be failed for all of today’s tests. Regardless of what scores I’ve given out already.” Jinny could hear the soft sadistic glee in her father voice as he laid out that last bit of information. “You’ve had your chance to back out, now it’s too late. You have three minutes before the last test is open.”

“Figures” Gizmo would say with a sigh as he started to disassemble his guns. “Think he’d appreciate it more if I just threw the first time, he knocks me down. Or if I just walked out of bounds the moment it started more?” He’d ask. “Save us both the time, either way.

At Gizmo's quiet reveal of the truth, Jinny was silent. She simply raised her eyebrows at him, not confirming or denying what he said out loud. In truth, she was a bit surprised. She thought he'd already worked out the connection between her and Deathstroke, and just not bothered to mention it. Maybe he was just one kind of smart, instead of all kinds. It made her feel a little bit better about not being at his level.

When Jinny heard that they would have to keep track of more things, she huffed faintly in irritation. More to think about meant more to forget... annoying. But she quickly went to work, disarming and removing the ammunition from each gun. Cleaning could come later; she wanted to take them apart and get to know them from the inside out.

Unfortunately, she'd had so much happen in this class that she'd forgotten about the hand to hand exam mentioned at the beginning. From the looks on her classmates faces, she wasn't the only one. At Gizmo's question, she shook her head. "Don't be such a baby. He'll make it worse if you don't fight at all. At least try."

It did beg the question of what she was going to do about this fight. No way in hell could she beat him. She knew that he only moved at a pace she could keep up with, because he wanted to teach her properly. Aside from the first morning after she'd 'hired' him, he'd never done anything to overwhelm her.

And he'd been really weird after that one time, come to think of it. She'd never quite figured out why either - it reminded her of how quiet he'd get at certain times of the year. No matter how many times she asked, he wouldn't tell her why. Their hunting trip had been the first glimpse of the truth. That's why she'd cheerfully suggested that he get a girlfriend. That way he would have someone to talk to.

She watched as the first two brave victims stepped up to battle her father. The first went down quick; she could tell how scared the tall girl was from looking at her stance. More curious was Slade's. He could have taken the first student out in ten seconds... but he was holding back. The second lasted not much longer, but her father was moving faster. She watched carefully at the third fight, before working it out for herself. And then, before she could overthink it -

She raised her hand. "I'm next."

Gizmo would just let out a defeated sigh at that, but despite all of his grumbling he at least always seemed to suck it up eventually and trudge through it. And this seemed to be no different, though Jinny could tell that Gizmo was taking his time packing away his own gear. Resigned to getting his ass handed to him he may be, but that didn’t mean he was in any way in a hurry to make that fight.

---

Over in the center of the mat Slade was, despite his seeming bored stature, very much aware of the surrounding students. Most all of them weren’t worth noting in his opinion, biased as it was, but that did still leave a few notable faces. He wondered if it was just luck of the draw that had most of them in this class, or if it was just a quirk of these kids having had lunch more recently.

Either way he did have to give this class some credit, he had yet to need to start calling people over to the mat. Still the third fight had gone about as far as he had expected it too. Sixty-five seconds was the record for the class so far, and he had a feeling that a only few people here, mainly the twins and the girl with her hair in buns, might be able to make or break the ninety second hurdle.

Before he could muse further his next examinee announced herself. With a casual nod of acceptance, he waited for his daughter to make her way into the ring with him. Of all the student’s here he was curious about her performance the most. Especially after her demonstration with the guns earlier. It was a sly plan, and he was curious what her plan was here.

“On go, fight until a five count or you’re off the mat.” He reiterated, waiting for Jinny to settle into her stance. Once that was done, all that was left was “Go.”

Slade came in quick, or what was quick to most of the students here. He was holding back, a fairly large amount as well. All of his attacks were single moves. A straight or a sweep, a hook or a jab. Honestly the number of students that would fail in the first thirty seconds shouldn’t be high, as out side the speed it was far too straight forward.

Jinny breezed through the starting seconds, to her it was more akin to a warm up then anything to note. If anything, the simplicity of her father’s attacks was throwing her off. As they lacked any follow up. Not that meant it was any easier to land a hit, but Slade was never easy to hit.
Then the first shift came. Thirty seconds after the start. Slade’s speed didn’t much change, but the weight behind his blows got heavier. But more than that was the combinations’ he was now employing. Now each block had to be followed up with another, from a different angle, or a dodge. The window for retaliation shrinking.

For Jinny it was more like the ‘light spar she was used too, but he was still holding back. Still, she held her own. She was able to make attempts at striking back to try and steal the initiative in the fight, and in some cases succeeding. She was still a participant in the fight. And so far, was demonstrating that she was the best fighter in the class so far.

Another thirty seconds passed, one minuet since the start of the fight, and a roundhouse kick snapped out that, even blocked, took her off her feet. There was the strength she was used to facing from her spars. Rolling back to her stance, the fight continued. It was harder now; Slade was precise as always and even holding back he was hitting hard enough to leave bruises if he managed a clean hit. Something that was becoming more of a trend.

His reach, his speed, his strength. All of those factors kept Jinny on the back foot. Something she was fairly accustomed to when it came to sparring Slade. But her own skill and small stature were still things she had at her disposal. She was losing, but it was a slow decline for now.

But she knew that would change. And change it did, thirty more seconds. One minuet and thirty since the start of the fight. Slade’s speed and strength were now beyond what Jinny normally faced. But worse than that, she could see him now actually using his style of close quarters combat. And it hurt. Each strike was bone jarring, and there was scant time to even think between attacks. She had been pushed entirely onto the defensive, relying on near misses and mad scrambles to remain on the mat. But she did stay on the mat, bruises on bruises, ache on ache, she stay on the mat.

Thirty seconds passed agonizingly slowly, as each second required another desperate defense of some kind. But pass they did. And exactly two minuets after the start of the fight. Slade blurred past her defenses. And with a single, powerful, palm strike. Threw Jinny off the mat and into the crowd of students.

Even if she hadn’t been thrown so far, she wasn’t getting up in time, the wind having been violently expelled form her. Taking her ten painful seconds to get the ability to breath back.

Slade from his place, again in the center of the mat, looked out to her. “Impressive.” His voice shockingly loud in the silence that had descended as Jinny fought. It even sounded like he might mean that. “Next” No one seemed willing to test their own mettle so swiftly after the display. “Suit yourselves.” He would say after a moment, before calling out a student’s name.

---

Once Jinny was able to get her feet back underneath her, and Slade’s testing had continued. The first thing she hear was a familiar voice “Damn girl, I figured you had some skill but that was something else.” Bee was standing not far with a look of open respect on her face.

“Indeed, my brother wasn’t wrong when he said you were skilled, but that was still an impressive showing.” Came another voice, one of the twins this time. And judging from the stiffer more formal pattern it was likely Kiri. “Two minuets even. Something tells me that will not be an easy feat to meet or surpass.”

The second that Jinny could breathe again, she inhaled. And then spewed forth an impressive collection of cuss words, punctuated with 'ow' every few seconds. That had not gone how she'd planned. Truthfully, she had been prepared to throw the fight a minute in. But it was like she couldn't stop herself; Slade had trained pride and stubbornness into her in even measures. It had made dropping her guard impossible. She hadn't meant to stay in the ring that long.

She didn't realize she could.

For a moment more, she lay on the floor, eyes shut to hold back the tears. She hurt like hell, and was going to have a palm-shaped bruise on her midsection for days. But that wasn't why she wanted to cry. Her new classmates were certainly going to hate her now - they'd think she was some kind of weirdo.

Slowly, she sat up, only opening her eyes when she was sure she wasn't going to cry like a kid. Bee's comment took her by surprise, and the look on the older girl's face was even more confusing. Then Kiri, too, complimented her. "Thanks. I... I didn't know I could do that."

She watched the fight in progress for a moment, knowing the moment that the student would lose. Since the adrenaline of battle had worn off, she'd started to ache. "Oof... this is gonna hurt tomorrow."

“That makes it simply more impressive” Kiri would reiterate, “It also shows just how far our Sensei is holding back.”

As Jin, Bee and Kiri stayed there for watching the fights as Jinny caught her breath. It was clear by what Kiri had meant by Jinny being a hard act to follow. There were plenty of students left to go, but honestly that didn’t mean much. Most of the fights were over in under a minuet, the average was around forty-eight seconds. With Gizmo being the sole outlier for the bottom half, he lasted ten seconds before he got kicked out of bounds.

Gizmo also wasted no time in leaving, one his fight was over. He cared not to watch more people get the tar beat out of them.

As the tests were quickly churned though, no one came close to matching Jinny’s performance.

It wasn’t until Bee was called up that Jinny got an idea of what it must have looked like from the outside. The first minuet was, dull, to watch. Bee was agile, flexible, and mean not that it meant much against Slade, but it was still clear that the older girl was skilled.

After that first minuet was the first time Jinny had gotten to see Slade fight anyone else. And it was shocking just how fast it looked from the outside. Slade was a big man, and he moved far faster then it seemed like he should be able to. His attacks mere blurs. Bee put up a good showing, but it was clear that she was being overwhelmed.

At the ninety second mark the fight fully turned against Bee. She lasted ten more seconds before she blocked poorly against one of his kicks and was bodily thrown from the ring much as Jinny had been. Honestly it was more of a shock that her arm hadn’t snapped.

It took her a few moments to get up and rejoin Jinny and Kiri, panting heavily. “Shit, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but that was something else.” Bee would say wiping away some blood on her lip from where she bit into it due to her exit from the ring. She would sag to the ground next to Jinny. “I swear my bruises have bruises.”

“One hundred seconds.” Kiri would inform the two of them, and from what Jinny could gather he was just keeping the time of the fights in his head, which was impressive. “After Jin, you now hold the record for the lost time in the ring.” He would add.

“Damn, that last switch up is insane.” Bee would mutter as she shook her head, before leaning over and nudging Jinny’s shoulder with one of her own. “You are going to have to give me some pointers, if you can.”

Before Jinny would reply Inei would get called up. And he would enter the ring with an eager grin. A quick look around the room, had Jin realizing that Inei was one of the last students to be called up, just one other student and Kiri were left.

Unlike most of the students Inei took a much more offensive approach to the fight, one that seemed to work out well for him. At least until the ninety second mark, where he just couldn’t keep pace against Slade. Meaning his attempts at offence left him wide open. A leg sweep, followed up by a shoulder slam had Inei skidding out of the ring in short order.

“One hundred and two.” Kiri would mutter under his breath. Before he started stretching, he was either next, or would be in under a minuet.

It turned out that Kiri had just under forty seconds to get himself ready.

Kiri as it turned out was just as reserved with his fighting as he was with his speaking. He waited for Slade to attack, and then tried to slip in his own unseen underneath Slade’s own. It didn’t work particularly better than anyone else’s attempts so far, but it was different.

It progressed much the same as Inei’s or Bee’s fights did, making it clear that Kiri was also rather talented at hand to hand. The biggest difference was again at the ninety second mark. As with Slade’s shift, Kiri also shifted.

It was no longer a spar as Kiri was focused completely on defense, on survival. It was a frantic and desperate as Kiri was battered around the ring, narrowly making blocks or dodging strikes.

Then Jinny would lose track of Slade. A burst of speed leaving him as only blurry after image, and then Kiri was hurled from the ring. Where he would land and was writhing for a several moments before he forced in a harsh breath.

Jinny suddenly realized that her father, had ejected Kiri in the exact same way he had ejected her.

“Impressive.” Slade would comment again. It would only strike them now, but out of the entire class, only two people got comments on the fights. Jinny and Kiri.

Before anyone could recover, Slade would speak up again. “With that, the examinations are concluded, with no broken bones either a first for today. Regardless, class is dismissed.”

And as if he had planed it. The bell would ring right after he finished talking.
“Ow” was all Kiri could reasonably say as he forced himself up. He looked both frazzled, and also proud. Jinny could relate. He would take a moment to get his breathing back before turning to look at Jinny. “Two minuets flat. And I am not looking forward to tomorrow.”

If Kiri wasn’t already on his feet, Jinny would quickly offer him a hand up. “You did awesome! You all did. Think we’re gonna have to get more ice packs.” She had watched his fight with greedy eyes. Learning by watching had always been a talent of hers. So far, she had several new tricks she wanted to try the next time she sparred with her father. “You two fight so different, too.”

There was a part of her that just didn’t understand why the others weren’t looking at her like a weirdo, like earlier. What was the difference? People were very confusing to her. It was a lot worse with kids her own age, unfortunately. It would be something that she’d have to work out later.

“First aid kit’s on the wall. I gotta pack and get to the last class.” And pack she did. Jinny’s final course of the day was also underground, but up a floor. “Let’s see… where’s the elevators again?” The girl pulled a printed map from her backpack, unfolding it. “Hmm…” In a crowded hallway, with people in a hurry and others not watching their path, sometimes accidents happen.

And sometimes, fate can happen.

“Oof-” Jin hit the ground as someone bumped into her. “Ow-” It wouldn’t have hurt nearly as much if she hadn’t been thrown on her backside 10 minutes ago. A hand was quickly offered down in her direction. "Sorry! You okay?"

youtu.be/IrbwtojdtmY

“I’m sorry! Did I hurt you…?” Jinny took the hand and pushed herself up, and looked up at a freckled boy. He was tall and skinny, and about her age - and he was staring at her. It was different than the stares of her classmates earlier. No, instead of fear and derision, he just looked… awed.

“No, it wasn’t you, I should’ve moved.” He didn’t quite seem to be listening. “Uh… hello?”

“Ah! S-sorry!” The boy shook himself as if waking up, fine locks of red hair falling into his face. “I just. Um.” He started to go red in the face.

Jinny wasn’t quite sure what to say to help. So she darted a glance back at her map, which was torn clean in half. “Aw, dammit. Do you know where the Spying 101 class is?”

“Oh, yeah! Found a shortcut too.” He jerked a thumb backward. “Push the bar on the second water fountain 3 times. And there’s a tunnel. Skips the stairs and puts you right there.” Now that he was talking, he had an accent that Jinny couldn’t quite place.

Jinny grinned wide, and the boy smiled back in response. “Thanks! I haven’t found anything cool yet. Guess I’ll owe you.”

“I mean, I found it by accident, it’s not a big deal.” He rubbed the back of his neck and suddenly spoke again. “Do I know you from… from somewhere?”

“Um.” Jinny stared at him, confused as it seemed to make the boy blush more. He looked a bit like an old classmate who used to bully her. But not enough to where they could actually be related. “Nah, I don’t think so.”

The boy nodded, shrugging his skinny shoulders. “Alright. Maybe I’m thinking you’re someone else-”

A warning bell sounded above their heads and they both flinched. “Ah crap, I’m supposed to be at Weapons-” A note of worry hit the boy’s face.

“Four doors down, that way. And run for it, he hates late people!” The two parted in opposite directions, both hustling to get to class on time.

Jinny would skid into her next classroom with only a minute to spare. The good of that meant she wasn’t late, the bad? Well, that was the fact there wasn’t really a lot of open seating left. To be precise there was only one open seat left.

And Jinny already recognized who was going to be her seat neighbor, the vibrant pink hair and ash gray skin didn’t leave much room for doubt really.

Jinx looked prepared for this class, a notebook opened to an empty page and a pair of pens were already out on her desk. But that wouldn’t be what caught Jinny’s attention. No that would be the charged sensation in the air around Jinx. That and her injuries.

Jinx was sporting a rather painful looking black eye, a split lip, and there was a brace on her left wrist. That all contrasted with the sharp, almost manic grin on the other girl’s face, and when Jinx glanced over as Jinny sat down it was clear that Jinx’s eyes were glowing faintly. A pale pink light, adding an unnatural edge to her gaze.

That gaze seemed to sharpen even further as Jinx recognized Jinayah. “What was your time?” She would ask, forgoing any sort of greeting, or other common courtesies when it came to starting up a conversation. “I got a minute fifty-three.” Jinx would add “What was your time?”

Jinny slid into the seat, quickly unpacking her things as the bell rang in her ears. She had been prepared to ignore Jinx entirely for the next hour. But the older girl's question took her completely off guard. And the additional information made it worse. Jinx had almost tied with her! How was that even possible?

The question was out of her mouth before she could stop herself. "How did you do that?" And because she was proud of herself (and maybe even the bruises blossoming under her uniform) she added - "Two minutes even. And the last 15 seconds were awful."

Some of the more wary students would get the sensation that they were being watched intently. But this time, Jinny was not one of them. Betwen her mad dash through the hall and the general soreness over her entire body, her senses were out of whack.

“Damn,” Jinx would curse softly, though her grin hardly dimmed. “I’m going to guess you did it legit as well.” She would muse softly, Jinny mainly hearing it due to the soft hush descending onto the class.

“I stopped being able to really keep pace after about a minute.” Jinx answered, her gaze sweeping about the classroom due to the sensation of being watched. But she was too distracted by Jin to commit fully to locating who it was watching. “But he was nice enough to let me rest for a few seconds every time I went down.” She would add with faux innocence.

“And Bad Luck doesn’t always strike instantly, it can linger after it settles. Just waiting for someone to step on it.” A dark chuckle follows that tidbit of information, though Jinx grimaces shortly after as well. She is careful, very careful Jinny is quick to notice, as she reaches down and massages her knee. “I’m glad he seemed more amused than anything else.” She mutters under her breath.

"Yeah, he's... like that." Jinny realized two words too late that what she said was probably revealing. "I mean, I beat the shit out of some short mouthy kid and I think he thought it was funny. It's hard to tell with the mask."

As the seconds stretched into minutes, and no teacher appeared in front of them, the lull over the class steadily transformed into a confused murmur. There was one tall student in the back who had taken the opportunity to rest, face down on the desk with their hood up. Students began to talk to their neighbors, conversations crossing the desk.

"Maybe class is canceled?"

"Maybe the teacher died."

"Oh, come on - on the first day?"

“It could happen! I heard there’s a secret fighting ring for the adults…”

“Well, I heard there’s a club for bioweapons and explosives…”

A boy with what looked like feathers frowned, nudging the tall sleeping student at the desk beside them. “Hey. Hey!”

“Mmwha?” A muffled yawn and a bleary stare met him. She seemed annoyed. "What?"

“...Do you actually go here? You – you don’t go here, do you?”

All of a sudden, the “student” straightened up and smiled. That bleary gaze became razor sharp as she pulled the hood back and stared at the feathered student.

“Hm. Not bad. Not bad at all.” She stood, unzipping the hoodie and standing up to reveal that she was indeed, not a student. As she strode to the front of the class, a hush followed. “Mr. Thorpe, right? What was the giveaway?”

The boy balked slightly, but went ahead. “Your pants are the wrong color. They’re gray, but. Um. Too light. They don’t match the uniform.”

“Sharp eye! Well done Mr. Thorpe. Treat yourself.” She reached into her pocket and tossed something across the room. Thorpe revealed a crisp $20 folded into a little crane, grinning as he tucked the money away. With that settled, her attention swept over the assembled class. “You all are about 2 minutes behind the quickest time, but I’ll chalk that up to being the last class of the day.”

She was very tall for a human woman wearing a crisp, ash gray suit and black shirt. Minimal makeup showed the gleam of health in her warm brown skin. Her dark dreadlocks were bound back in a neat ponytail, and there was something about her that exuded a professional ease.

“Good afternoon, class! Let's get started. Ian Fleming. Mata Hari. Benedict Arnold. Aldrich Ames. Virginia Hall. What do all of these names have in common?"

A hand shot up, and the woman pointed to the student. “They are all spies?”

"Yes, good. They're all spies. What else?"

Another hand, another indication. "They're all super famous?"

"Excellent! They are all well known names. Now, what does being famous mean for them?" A confused silence ensued. "No one? That's alright, you're here to learn. What fame means is that every single one of those people has utterly failed as an agent of espionage."

Silence reigned as her statement drew the class' attention further.

"The work that spies do is highly lucrative and in highly demanded. If you are incredibly good at what you do, you can make an extremely comfortable living. But if you are seeking fame, excitement, and glory? If you want your name to go down into the annals of history?"

She seemed to stare down each student individually, pinning them with a cool gaze before continuing.

"You are asking for disappointment, and you might as well leave now."

"End a dynasty? Save the planet? Nothing but silence awaits you. When you do your job properly, very few know of your success and even less praise you for it. If being a very rich, very transient, incredibly untrustworthy, isolated and ultimately, anonymous individual appeals to you? Welcome to Intro to Spying. You may call me Miss Queen – I have a lot to teach you."