Anna slowly circled her opponent, her bare feet gliding across the mat as she sidestepped left, her arms up, ready.  She tried to mimic her opponent’s relaxed stance, but she knew that Zen was far more prepared than she would possibly ever be.  

Katsuhito Kobayashi’s face was impassive, his eyes locked on her, but she knew he was taking in everything.  She could practically feel him measuring her breathing and heartbeat.

She struck suddenly, feinting left and striking hard from the right.

Without missing a beat, Zen blocked her hand, grabbing her wrist and throwing her to the mat.

It was almost like her first turn of service in the LC, getting her ass kicked in training by Callie.

Almost.

While Zen’s speed and skill made it nearly as if he too could see into the future to know what she’d do next, like her precog mentor, the Japanese American hero was professional, courteous, all around very nice as he tossed her around the mat.  He never mocked her for being too slow, or falling for the same obvious trap twice, or, often repeatedly.  But there had been an affection with which Callie had berated her.  It came from a place of love, and while Callie’s teasing during training had annoyed her, Zen’s calm demeanor flat out pissed her off.

The redhead kipped up and swung.  Zen leaned ever so slightly backwards out of the way and reached in, laying his hand on her shoulder.  She’d fallen prey to that move too many times, his almost supernatural ability to find pressure points that would drop her in a second.  Anna had no clue how she was actually supposed to counter or avoid such a move, except one.

“Freeze.”

She could feel his fingers, already starting to reach for those pressure points, when they stopped, clamped frozen on her shoulder.  Zen’s eyes, flicked to her, the only part of him moving.  It would only take him a second for his brain to register that it had obeyed, and without further orders he’d be able to act again, but that second was all she needed.

Anna grabbed the arm clutching her shoulder in both hands, using it for leverage.  She swung her legs up, bringing them up over his head, hooking his neck in the back of her knees, and she threw him down to the mat, hard.  She landed next to him on her back, quickly rolling backwards and popping back up to her feet, braced for retaliation, but it never came.  Zen propped himself up on his hands, his face still a calm mask.

“Oh, damn.  I’m sorry,” she said.  She’d acted on impulse.  The whole point was to train to not be dependent on her voice.  Zen didn’t have the annoying habit Callie had of handgagging her before she tried to issue commands, but she was older now, by a decade, and she was supposed to have more self control.  Even in training, using her power on her teammates was something of a taboo.

“Damn, Kobe, she laid your ass out.”  Peg sat perched on the corner of the ring, the winged heroine watching the sparring session.

Zen cracked a thin smile.  “It’s fine,” he said, rubbing his neck.  “It was a good counter, considering.”

“Still, I shouldn’t have told you to freeze.”

He shrugged.  “Tell me, how did it feel?”

‘What?  Finally taking you to the floor, or using my power on you?”

“All of it.”

“Really damn good, actually.  Again, I’m sorry.  She held out her hand to help him to his feet.

“Don’t be.  You’ve been getting frustrated, and it’s hindering you.  You needed a win, and you took it.  You just have to learn to stop that move without having to resort to using your power now.”

She sighed, running her hand through her short hair, damp with sweat.  “Phuh, like I’m ever going to be able to actually take you.”

“No, but just as you don’t use your power in your training, I too am holding back.”  She realized what was coming, but this time she didn’t have time to open he mouth to speak before he moved, a blur so fast her brain couldn’t fully process.  She felt the jab in her throat, silencing her, and the rest was a whirlwind.  She dropped to the mat with a thud, completely paralyzed.

“Nnn,” she moaned.  She could see bare feet padding softly away from her from where she lay, immobile.

“It’ll wear off in a few minutes,” he said as he ducked between the ropes.  “Give her a cool down when she gets up, would you?”

Peg’s feet landed on the mat in front of Anna.  Her massive wings unfurled, casting the paralyzed heroine in shadow.  “Gladly.”

Anna was vaguely aware that she was drooling as feeling slowly started to come back, her body filled with pins and needles.  She kind of wished she would stay paralyzed, instead of getting knocked around the ring by yet another Legend.



Two weeks.  It had been two weeks since Lady Sapphire had officially given her clearance to actually go out and act as a member of the Legendary Consortium.  And in that time Anna still hadn’t been assigned anything.  The rest of the LC acted independently, coming and going as they pleased and taking care of business on their own in addition to the occasional big jobs that came through Lady Sapphire, but apart from one quick trip back home to Bristol, Anna had stayed cooped up in the tower, training to keep herself busy.  Home had been, well, not home anymore.  On her LC salary, she didn’t have to scrape by to pay up her apartment for the first time in a long time, but the place was cold and uninviting when she went back.  She didn’t know any of her neighbors, and most likely none of them had noticed she was even gone.  

They’d hired a new teacher to replace her at her school.  Probably someone new and personable that got along with the other staff that weren’t hearing impaired.    How easily in her old sanctum she’d been forgotten.  She’d shunned the company of others for years because of her power, but going back, her eyes were opened to just how empty her life had been.

And still was.

She’d seen Tyrese, slinking in and watching from under the bleachers during one of his classes.  How unaffected he was by all the things he’d been through because of her as he taught his kids.  He deserved better.  He fit in here.

She couldn’t bring herself to even spy on Macy, steering clear of her work and apartment.  Anna had hoped that just giving her adoptive sister time was all she needed, but the longer it went, the more impossible the idea of seeing or talking to Macy again seemed.  

And so she’d stayed in Arlington, rarely leaving the tower.  

“How are you doing?” Lady Sapphire asked.  She’d called Anna to her office, sitting across from the newest Legend.

Anna sat uncomfortably in the soft navy blue velvet chair.  There was something about it that brought back memories of being called to the principal’s office as a kid.  Of course, then she’d been able to tell the principal to fuck off, often leading to either comical or disturbing results, depending on how the principal in question decided to interpret ‘fuck off.’  Still though, there was always a natural feeling of nervousness approaching such figures of authority, and even if she wanted to, she couldn’t pull that stunt with the leader of the LC.  “I’m alright.  Taking things slow.”

Lady Sapphire nodding, crossing her hands on her mahogany desk.  “That’s good.  You’re in an awkward position.  I’ve asked you to be part of this team, but I’ve also asked for you to keep a low profile.”

“It’s fine.”

“Well, I have a job for you.”

Anna perked up.  “You do?”

“I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news,” she started, opening a folder.  Her tone had that edge that implied that Anna really should be paying attention to current events.  “There’s someone with a high grade armored suit that’s shown up in Baltimore in the last few weeks, busting up drug dealers and petty crime.”

“I’m sorry, I must have missed that,” Anna admitted, looking at the pictures Lady Sapphire was taking out.  Blown up black and whites from security footage, cell phone pictures, and crime scene photos, depicting a  sleek, grey, full bodied suit of metal armor.  The faceplate was black and opaque, obscuring the person inside the suit.  “Is it flying?” she asked, pointing to one cell phone shot of the suit in mid air, blurry with motion, what looked like flames coming from a the back.

“Yes.  Reports vary, but it has flight capabilities, seems to be bulletproof, and has its own built in weaponry.  No fatalities, yet, but several people have been hospitalized with serious injuries.  On the news, they’ve started calling it the Silver Centurion.”

“It looks grey to me.”

“Never let the media name anything.  Do you think I wanted us to be called the ‘Legendary Consortium’?  Cost us a fortune rebranding to just the LC, and even that’s rubbish,” Lady Sapphire said, her face screwing up resentfully.

“It’s not great.”

“No.  Lady Sapphire grew on me, I didn’t pick that, but it was a lot better than Royal Blue, which thankfully didn’t catch on.”

“I can’t imagine you as ‘Royal Blue’.”

“We have a lot more control than we used to, with a much more public presence.  One of the few good things.  But back to this Silver Centurion.  The public and media are enamored with him.”

“Him?”

“Again, left up to the public, they’ll decide, and general consensus is male, but of course you have people all up in arms about assuming gender.  That’s not the point though.  He, she, xe, whatever, we need to step in.”

“Are you asking me to license them?”

“No,” Lady Sapphire said.  “Unfortunately, that suit is stolen military tech.  A prototype, and because this identity is quickly becoming quite popular, it’s a delicate matter.”

“So I have to get them to stop and turn in the suit?”

“Get them to do it quietly.  No one wants this to become a big incident.  I immediately thought of you.”

It was flattering, in a way, but something about it didn’t sit right with Anna.

Lady Sapphire seemed to pick up on that.  “I imagine the suit probably has internal speakers, so your powers might not work with the helmet on, but I trust you can figure out a way to get through.”

That was an issue, but not what had immediately unsettled her.  “I can do it.”

“I know you can,” Lady Sapphire said.  The sorceress’s confidence seemed genuine.