Sage scoffs and kicks her feet against the concrete. “A mix of all three I suppose. I heard about Atlas’ power surge, and I'm interested to see if Gabe has one too. I hope you guys don't mind having an audience. I can go back home, if you want some privacy.”
I glance back at Gabe, just to check in, but I’m also desperate to hang out with her, so I’m sure all he’s seeing on my face is that.
He shrugs and replies to her, “There's still no sign of my power surge, which I'm taking as a sign that I was already the most powerful shifter on record and there's no upgrading what's already perfect.”
I smile back at him, and Atlas makes a gagging sound of annoyance. Their friendship is mostly a competition of who can be the most childish. “You're so full of shit, Ardern. You just need to have a bit more patience, or maybe we need to drop a bathtub on your head again without me saving your ass and see if it finally draws something out of you.”
Gabe clutches a hand to his chest. “I would, but your Gift got in the way last time without you even trying, so I doubt it will work.”
Sage turns her head until her lips are close enough to my ear that they won’t hear her and whispers, “Since when have these two been best friends? It's weird.”
I giggle and pull her with me towards the training room. “It’s freaking bizarre, and they figured it out all on their own. We're very proud.”
When we get into the training area, I immediately move over to the mats to start stretching out, something that is even more important than it was before, thanks to our competitiveness running down here. Sage drops to the mats next to me and follows through my stretching routine with me. She's a little more subdued than what I'm used to, more like the shy girl that I had first met when I got to Draven, but I'm not surprised at the change in her at all.
There are a lot of TacTeam personnel eyes on us.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they're all put off by Sage and I being here. I'm used to them all looking at me, but today I’m hyperaware of it because I don’t want anyone making her uncomfortable now that she’s finally ready to join us out here again.
Kieran and Gryphon both notice it too, and while my Bonded is good about ignoring it most of the time, his second-in-command is not quite so calm. Within the space of the time it takes the two of us to stretch out, every single TacTeam personnel who dared to side-eye us is put on some sort of terrible job, groaning and muttering under their breath as they are sent off in all different directions.
Sage grimaces as though she feels bad for them, and I give her a sardonic look back. “If they were smart enough to keep their opinions to themselves, they wouldn't be in this mess. That hasn't got anything to do with us.”
She shrugs. “I don't blame them though. They're all just looking out for Kieran. I can't blame them for that, can I?”
I shrug back. “You can because their superiors have told them to get the fuck over it, so they're not the good little soldiers they should be, are they?”
Gabe scoffs at me from where he is stretching out next to us. He’s not usually so enthusiastic about it, but I think that the extra attention has him on edge as well. “Since when have you been a good little soldier, Bonded? You’d have to keep your opinions to yourself for that.”
I smack him on the leg gently, hurting my own hand more than him, and shrug. “I haven't heard any complaints yet. I’ll have you know that I am very good at keeping my head when things go to shit around me, and I’m more than willing to learn new ways to fuck up the Resistance. I think that makes me a fantastic soldier.”
Sage leans forward to grab her feet and stretch out her legs. “I didn't think that I would ever be able to fight or be much help in this, but I think that the option of sitting around and letting everyone else do it for me isn't viable anymore. I only used to show up here to learn defensive techniques, but I think if we find the person who got into my head and made me do those terrible things, I will happily throw a fireball at them.”
I give her a gentle pat on the back. “That's the spirit. Looks like you're working your way through the stages of grief really well. Next thing you know, you'll be compartmentalizing like a pro, and we'll be able to swap war stories.”
She huffs a small laugh under her breath, and then her eyes flick up as Gryphon and Kieran approach us again. They both look pissed off, but I doubt that it has anything to do with us. Nope, it’ll be whatever updates they’re getting from the other TacTeams that are currently deployed out in the Wastelands.