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V ers’s eyes opened sharply, and she felt like she had been awake for hours. She never seemed to sleep very soundly, as if she was always on the edge of awareness, ready for anything. It was morning, she could tell.
Sitting up, Vers swung her legs over the side of the bed. Like her sleeping quarters, the bed itself was spartan, made not for comfort, but for functionality. She took a deep, long breath, held it for a moment, then released the air from her lungs.
She’d had the dream again.
The same dream she’d had seemingly every night, ever since she could remember.
As Vers collected herself, she became aware of the slight hum of the metal disc that had been implanted in her neck. A photon battery. She balled up a hand, making a fist, and squeezed. Almost immediately, the fist began to glow, as photon energy swirled around it. Then she relaxed the hand, letting it open, and just as quickly the energy dispersed into thin air.
She couldn’t remember anything before the photon battery had been implanted. Truth be told, she couldn’t remember that, either. They had told her about that, after the fact.
The shade covering the window slowly rose by itself, revealing dawn already in progress. From her quarters in the Kree Military Tower, Vers could see a world—her world—starting its day. Vehicles soared through the air, occupying the space above the busy streets below, streaking in between the tall, thin buildings that dotted the landscape.
This was Hala, the capital city of the Kree homeworld, and the seat of all Kree civilization.
Vers sighed once more, and rose up off the bed to take on the day.
“Do you know what time it is?”
Vers stood in the doorway, and gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. “Can’t sleep,” she said.
Yon-Rogg, the Kree Starforce commander, looked at Vers searchingly, his features a mask of familiar exasperation with just the slightest hint of concern. “There are tabs for that,” he finally said.
Vers smiled ever so slightly, as Yon-Rogg stared at her, still groggy. “Yeah, but then I’d be sleeping,” she said.
Two things were now immediately clear to Yon-Rogg. One, Vers wasn’t going anywhere. Two, he could just forget about going back to sleep.
“Dreams again?” Yon-Rogg said, understanding in his voice.
Vers nodded. Then, not missing a beat, she said, “Wanna fight?”
Yon-Rogg didn’t, not really. What he wanted was his remaining hour of sleep before a long, demanding day of responsibilities took hold.
He knew better.
Blam!
Vers felt herself lifted high into the air, her body slamming to the mat a second later.
“I slipped,” she said, rolling quickly from her side to her back.
Standing above her, Yon-Rogg stood with his feet planted perpendicular to one another, his hands clenched into fists, ready for the sparring match to continue.
“Right,” he said, the sarcasm evident from his tone. “You slipped as a result of me punching you in the face.”
Before Yon-Rogg could do anything, Vers was already back on her feet, assuming her fighter’s stance.
“I was already slipping when you happened to punch me in the face,” Vers said with a smirk, correcting her commander. “The two events were not related.”
The two warriors stood face-to-face, each looking at the other for any sign of weakness, any potential opening. These early-morning training sessions in the Subzone gym had become something of a ritual for Vers and Yon-Rogg. Especially since her insomnia seemed to have been growing worse as of late.
“Tell me about this dream,” Yon-Rogg said, as Vers threw a punch. The Starforce commander expertly evaded her fist.
This sparked the competitive spirit within Vers, who let loose a volley of blows, any one of which would have been devastating.
Had they connected.
Which they didn’t.
There were a few other Kree warriors in the gym at this hour, trying to sneak in a workout before the start of their busy days. They stopped what they were doing momentarily to watch Yon-Rogg and Vers in action.
In a blur, Yon-Rogg grabbed Vers by her throat and grasped her by the wrist. “Anything new?” he said, still referring to her dream.
Vers slipped out of Yon-Rogg’s grip, then threw another punch at her commander, who ducked the blow. “No,” she answered, barely out of breath. Then she leaned over, raising her leg in the air, and spun around, kicking Yon-Rogg.
Or rather, kicking the empty air where Yon-Rogg had been less than a second ago. Right before Vers’s foot would have connected, Yon-Rogg crouched down low, and the leg zoomed right over his head. Then he rose, fists raised, fighting posture resumed, as Vers closed in on him once again.
She could feel the fire burning inside, and she wanted to take her commander down and teach him a lesson. Vers unleashed another punch, missing Yon-Rogg again. Before she could retract the arm, Yon-Rogg grabbed it, then raised it upward.
“You have to let go of the past,” he said, grunting, struggling to hold her arm.
“I don’t remember my past,” Vers shot back.
“It’s causing you doubt,” Yon-Rogg said. “And doubt makes you vulnerable.”
Yon-Rogg took hold of Vers’s arm, then swung her onto his shoulders. Then Vers flipped over Yon-Rogg, landing right beside him. The Starforce commander still held Vers’s arm, though. In control of the combat, Yon-Rogg fell to his knees, pulling Vers over his shoulder once more, and launched her into the air, until she landed on the mat a few feet from him.
A ringing slap resounded as Vers’s back hit the mat, nearly knocking the wind out of her. But Vers wouldn’t let that stop her. She rose to her knees defensively, as Yon-Rogg grabbed her arm and began to twist.
Then she felt something else.
Something building up from inside.
And her fist began to glow.
“Control it,” Yon-Rogg said, panting.
The words somehow seemed to reach Vers, who looked at her glowing fist. Slowly, the glow subsided. She stood up, steadying herself, and Yon-Rogg stood before her, grasping her hand.
“Lose control again, and you’ll have to commune with the Supreme Intelligence,” he said. He let go, and placed his hands on Vers’s shoulders. “There’s nothing more dangerous to a warrior than emotion,” he added.
Then he shoved Vers back, and both resumed their fighting stances. “Humor is a distraction,” he warned, throwing an arm toward Vers. She blocked the blow with ease.
They traded increasingly harder punches, each blocking the other’s. It was a circular match, with neither opponent able to gain the upper hand. At last, frustrated, Vers let loose a wild punch, arm swinging wide. Yon-Rogg, ducked, then grabbed her arm, and pulled it behind her back, up to her neck. Vers tried to kick her way out of the grip, to no avail.
“And anger?” Yon-Rogg said, not through lecturing for the day. He released his hold on Vers, who swung her arm free. “Anger only serves the enemy.”
They spun around to confront one another. Quickly, Yon-Rogg delivered a blow to Vers’s face, knocking her back and onto the floor.
It might have been over at that point, if Vers’s fists hadn’t begun to glow once more.
This time, she didn’t talk herself out of it.
Without a word, she unleashed a blast of blinding photon energy from her hands, hitting Yon-Rogg squarely in the chest. The impact from the blast sent him flying backward in an arc, until he landed on his back with an echoing oomph.
Vers wanted to smile in satisfaction, but thought better of it.
