Serix knew Cassie was trying to keep him from putting himself in harm’s way by telling him about the Scout, but her words only gave him more of a reason to leave. He didn’t like the fact that there were others nearby. Would the Scout find the hidden storage room? He doubted it. However, they couldn’t stay holed up in there forever. They would at least have to come out to restock on supplies at some point.

And then there was the long term problem. Whether he wanted to or not, Serix couldn’t go back to the Lunairan ship after all that had happened. It looked like he would be staying on Earth with Cassie. The thought should have made him feel some sort of emptiness for leaving his people, but somehow the emotions weren’t as strong as he expected them to be. He still felt a slight twinge of regret, but the idea of staying behind to live with Cassie didn’t sound like such a bad thing. At least he would have company, right?

The second half of the long term problem wasn’t quite as easy to solve. Once the Scouts finished their mission, they would go back to the base. It wouldn’t be much longer before the rest of his people came down to inhabit the Earth. With that many Lunairans roaming about, it would be almost impossible to stay hidden.

Who knew? Maybe his people would adopt Cassie into their society because of her Lunairan blood. But then again, she might have been right in thinking they would consider her an abomination. The higher powers had decided humans were insignificant enough to wipe out of existence. They might be blind to the Lunairan part of Cassie in their disgust with her human heritage. It wasn’t worth the risk to expose her and find out.

Serix felt her grip on his sleeve fall slack. She had drifted off to sleep. He tentatively brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful – vulnerable, even – in her unconscious state. So different from the trial-hardened way she carried herself when she was awake. He wondered if she thought the same thing about him. He had gone through some difficult challenges since he came to Earth. Had they changed him? If so, was it for better or for worse?

He stood up slowly, careful not to wake Cassie with his movement. Whether or not it was the result of some internal paradigm shift, he wanted to make sure she would be alright. He had to go find out what that Scout was doing so close to their hideout.

Serix slipped quietly out of the room and headed down the hallway. He walked up the stairs at the end until he reached the trapdoor, which he exited through and meticulously concealed again when he was out. He didn’t want to chance that one of the Scouts could come snooping around and discover the entrance to the storage. Once that was done, he headed for the front room of the building.

It only occurred to him when he was ducking through the shadows between buildings – of which there were very few at this time of the day – that he was still unarmed. It would be bad news if he got caught by a Scout here. With that thought in mind, he kept an even sharper eye out for signs of movement.

It didn’t take long to find the Scout. Serix crouched behind a large metal bin in an alleyway to watch him from a distance. The Scout was just coming out of a building on the other side of the street. Serix immediately noticed two things about him.

First: his Silencer was drawn and held ready to fire at the drop of a hat.

Second: he wasn’t alone.

Shortly after the first Scout exited the building, another appeared from the building next to it – he was also carrying his Silencer out in the open. The two regrouped on the street and began talking. Serix frowned in confusion. Why were they traveling together? The pilot had instructed them to take separate routes to cover more ground. What changed? He leaned forward to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“…not here either.”

“The pilot said it happened in this general area. We have to keep looking.”

“I still don’t see the point. If the pilot lost his signal, he’s probably dead. He might have gotten attacked by those creatures. I found a whole swarm of them not long ago. There must have been at least ten. This whole side mission seems like a waste of time. We should be looking for humans.”

“You know better than to speak about the pilot that way. He has his reasons, and whatever they are, they sounded pretty important. His voice was tense when it came through the intercom.”

“Fine. I just hope none of the others get to the humans while we’re looking for a corpse. If there are any left, I want to take the first shot.”

The two continued talking, but their voices faded to unintelligible mumbles as they walked farther away from Serix’s spot behind the metal bin. He waited until they were completely out of sight, then rose to his feet. He’d learned all he needed to learn from the two Scouts. They had been sent to look for him by the pilot. They didn’t know why, but he could guess that the pilot suspected his betrayal. He had to go back to the storage.

Serix followed the same path back to the tall building, reaching it without any trouble. He slipped inside and headed to the trapdoor – again making sure that it would be concealed when he went down – then went down the stairs. He entered the hallway quietly, just in case Cassie was still asleep. Part of him hoped she was, just so she wouldn’t know he ever left.

He rounded the corner and poked his head around the side of the door leading to the bedroom, checking to see if Cassie was still in bed.

Cassie’s rest was pretty good. She didn’t even wake when Serix stood up from the bed and left the room. She merely sighed and rolled over in her sleep, curling up and wrapping herself tighter in the blanket. Not long had passed, maybe fifteen minutes, when she woke up, yawning and sitting up. She felt much better in that time and wasn’t even dizzy anymore. She was all ready to go and see what Serix had done during her nap. No doubt he was probably eating some of that fruit from the supplies from the way he had gulped down them before.

Smiling to herself at that thought she stood up from the bed and walked across the hall to the storage room, only to frown, seeing he wasn’t in there as she thought he might be. This made her slightly worried, but she hadn’t checked the rest of the hideaway so maybe he was just in one of the other rooms. But, as she looked in each room, she began to grow more and more worried until she was almost in a panic when she didn’t find him in the last room.

Where was he? Had he gone out without her despite her asking him to stay there. Was he okay? Had he turned on her again and went to go get help from the other aliens? Or had he gone out to explore and been caught by the other aliens? What if he was in trouble? Or worse, was he dead?

Raking a hand through her head, she paced back and forth, trying to figure out what she should do. Should she wait longer to see if he would return? Or should she go out and find him, maybe even help him? Why did this have to be so hard to decide? Stopping her pacing she nodded to her and rushed back to the bedroom, quickly grabbing her Silencer and turned, walking a few steps toward the door, ready to go out and find Serix when none other than Serix himself poked his head in the doorway.

At first she jumped in surprise, holding up the Silencer, but when she saw it was him, gave him a frustrated look before lowering it and tossing it onto the bed. Walking up to him, she shoved him, not very hard, but enough to get some of her frustration, which had been caused by her worry for him, out, “Where were you?! Do you know how worried I was?! You had be scared to death thinking something had happened to you!”

Serix held up his hands when Cassie spun around and pointed the Silencer at him. Somehow they seemed to end up in this position more often than he would have liked. After a moment, Cassie’s eyes lit up in recognition and she put the weapon away. He let out his breath when the barrel was no longer pointed at his head. Then, she marched up to him and shoved him in the chest, making him take a step back.

Cassie looked furious. She must have woken up early enough to realize he had left the building. She knew he had ignored her request to stay in the underground hideout. He still couldn’t figure out why she was so mad, though. It wasn’t like he had done anything to put her in danger by going off on his own.

“Where were you?!” she glared at him. “Do you know how worried I was?! You had me scared to death thinking something had happened to you!”

Serix blinked. That caught him off-guard. Cassie had been worried about him? The thought made him feel warm, but he quickly pushed it away. Be logical. Of course she would be worried. He was her only way to find out about her Lunairan abilities. She still needed him. If anything happened to him, she wouldn’t be able to learn how to access her newly discovered powers.

“Sorry,” Serix apologized. “I had to go find out what those other Scouts were doing here. But you didn’t need to worry. I can look after myself, you know.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, his violet eyes glinting in amusement. “You seem to have it in your head that I’m just a big softie. Maybe that’s my own fault for letting you live.” He shrugged. “But I promise you that I can be pretty dangerous when I want to be.” He tilted his head slightly and grinned at her. “So don’t worry, okay?”

Cassie continued to glare at him through his speech, him telling her not to worry and that he was tough. He said he had it all under control and could take care of himself. Still, when he was done talking, she met his grin with a stern expression, "You may be strong, but you're not indestructible. Especially by other Lunairans who have the same abilities and same training you do. You need to be more careful." She said quietly, and once she had that out, her stern face turned into just a small frown as she sighed, moving back to sit down on the edge of her bed once more.

"Dangerous when you want to be? Serix, there's a big difference in being dangerous and being tough. Anyone can be dangerous and kill another person when their back is turned, but being able to fight people off is a completely different story." She felt like she was loosing the battle here and not getting anything sensible through. He probably wouldn't even listen to her warnings and just brush them off.

"Did you find out why the Scouts were out there?" She asked, a curious look coming to her face now. . To her it still seemed pretty irresponsible of him to go out like that knowing he could be caught be his comrades and possibly killed by them as well if they were come to find out he was linked with her still being alive. She knew he saw himself as being nearly untouchable, but over the years in seeing many humans who thought the same thing die, she knew there was no such thing as being that.

She looked up to him, letting her eyes meet his and she seemed a lot calmer than she had moments before. She had to remind herself that even though things could have turned out badly, they hadn't. He was here and he was safe. She had to remind herself that was all that mattered as she waited for his answer to see why exactly the Scouts were here when Serix himself was supposed to be Scouting this area.

Serix followed Cassie with his eyes as she sat down on the edge of the bed. She didn’t seem convinced that that he had made the right decision in going out to investigate. It was true that the others had the same qualifications as he did in becoming a Scout. They had all learned the same fighting techniques and they could all handle weapons efficiently. It was also true that he didn’t want to get caught in a fight, especially one involving two opponents at the same time.

And yet, he had a number of advantages. He knew the area better than the others since he had been there longer than them, so if push came to shove, he could always make a clean getaway. He had also learned from years of sparring that he was quicker than most other Lunairans, a trait he attributed to the lean build he inherited from his father. His reflexes had saved him countless times in matches against the bigger, stockier Lunairan males. If he had needed to fight the two Scouts, he would have just had to get close enough to disarm them and the battle would have been a fairly even match... but maybe he was giving himself a bit too much credit. After all, the other Scouts were just as skilled at fighting as he was. He probably would have been able to take one of them, but two? Well, at least he still had the running away option.

“Did you find out why the Scouts were out there?” Cassie asked. She seemed to have given up on lecturing him.

“I did,” Serix shifted his weight against the doorframe. “The two Scouts are here for me. I had thought the pilot would wait until tomorrow night when I’m supposed to report back to find out why my intercom failed again. I guess that was too good to be true. He’s taking matters into his own hands. I don’t know if he suspects me of treason yet. The Scouts seemed to think he’s only checking to make sure I’m still alive, but he wouldn’t tell them the truth anyway.

“Whatever the case may be, the pilot knows my signal disappeared in this area, so he sent those two to look for me. I doubt they’ll be able to find this place,” he waved a hand, gesturing to the room. “But I don’t think those two are leaving any time soon. We’ll have to be careful if we ever need to go outside.”

Cassie nodded when Serix stated they would have to be careful if they needed to go out for any reason because for a while the two Scouts were gong to be out there. Why was it that when she finally started to think that things would be okay and she was starting to get hope things seemed to worse for the two of them. If just didn't seem like fate was really on their side for this. Moving slightly, she sat cross legged on the bed, her back against the wall the bed was pushed against and she thought about what he said. The pilot had sent the two Scouts to seek him out. As much as she would have liked to believe the pilot wanted to make sure he was safe, something told her it was more trying to see what he was up to.

She looked to him, "He may or may not suspect you of treason, but if he's sending those to after you to see what is going on, he sure doesn't trust you and that's just a step away from suspecting you of something." She commented and went on, "We have plenty of supplies, food and water. Out supplies to re-build the robots.. I don't think we'll need to go out any time soon so owe should be safe for now."

She leaned her head back against the wall, "Maybe they'll count you as a causality and stop searching. Or something similar. All I know is the sooner they get out of this area the better." Getting a little tired of sitting there now she stood up again and went around him, trying to get in better spirits after all this worrying about him being okay and about these Scout running about, "Come on. Let's go work on those robots."

She grabbed the wires and electrical tape, walking down to the door at the end of the hall and letting it scan her hand, the door opened and she walked in, speaking to him, "How about before we start on the robot I get you into the computer's system so you can open the door when I'm not here?" Over to the side, on one of the walls, there was a computerized set up that if she remembered correctly had been mainly used in the planning of the robots but had also been used for other things such as registering handprints into the systems. She just had to remember how to do it.

She thought about it and went through some things on the computer for a little while until she had pulled up the registration process and filled out the first few things, such as his gender, approximate height, age, and other small details. When that was done, the scanner on the side of the computer was flashing green and she smiled slightly, taking his wrist to lead his hand to the scanner, "Hold still. Its going to scan your of recognition."

It scanned his hand a few times and when it was done she nodded to herself , looking up at him, "There. Now you have access to this room if you ever want to work on some stuff and I'm not at hand or I'm not in the hide out or something like that." Walking over to the small robot she had gotten the wore for she kneeled down and began to set to work, grinning over at him, "Wanna watch? You might actually learn something if you do."‏

Serix nodded halfheartedly at Cassie’s hopeful mention of their numerous supplies. He wished it would be that simple; that the pilot would just give up after a while. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen. Even if he didn’t suspect Serix of betrayal, the pilot couldn’t just abandon the search. That would lead to incomplete data. The higher powers wouldn’t allow him to quit when there was the possibility of an unknown threat powerful enough to take out a Lunairan. After all, the entire point of the Scouts’ mission was to ensure that the Earth was a safe habitat for their people. A missing body would definitely raise questions about the security of the planet.

“Come on. Let's go work on those robots,” Cassie changed the subject. She seemed to be trying to distract herself from the knowledge that there were more hostile Lunairans running about. She stood up from the bed and gathered her robotics supplies, and then walked past where Serix stood in the doorway to head down the corridor. He followed her to the heavy metal door where she scanned her palm on the electronic pad again. She stepped into the adjoining room when the door slid open, then turned back to face him.

“How about before we start on the robot I get you into the computer's system so you can open the door when I'm not here?” she said.

You’re acting like you’re going somewhere, Serix wanted to say. He simply nodded, however, as he continued to follow her. Cassie had brought him to what looked like a control panel that was set up against one wall in the storage room. There was a strange looking machine on a table with a screen that lit up when Cassie turned it on. It actually reminded him of Lunairan technology, in a way. The only difference was that his people used holographic screens that could be projected and seemed to have more flexibility in their usage.

He watched in fascination as Cassie adeptly manipulated the machine, pulling up a page with a bunch of words and blank spaces. When she began filling out the blanks, he realized it was a registration format. She was inputting his information using human standards of measurement.

Sex: Male

That one was the easiest to understand.

Age: 20

Serix wondered how humans judged one’s age. The number Cassie used was far different from the Lunairan calculations he was familiar with. He would have entered his own age as 13.6.

Height: 6’

Again, the number was curious. Human measurements must be extremely large, because he would have put 91.44.

Serix watched her enter the rest of his approximated information until she was finished. A small electronic pad like the one by the metal door lit up automatically once the registration form had been completely filled out. Cassie took him by the wrist and guided his hand towards the pad. He placed his open palm flat against it. The surface was cool to the touch.

“Hold still,” Cassie instructed. “It’s going to scan you of recognition.” They both waited while the electronic pad blinked as it scanned Serix’s hand. After a few moments, Cassie seemed satisfied that it had done its job, so she turned it off. “There. Now you have access to this room if you ever want to work on some stuff and I’m not at hand or I’m not in the hideout or something like that.” Again, she sounded like she was going to leave. Her verbiage troubled him.

“Wanna watch?” Cassie asked as she knelt down by one of the smaller robots. “You might actually learn something if you do.”

“Sure,” Serix replied as he crouched beside her. He looked at her searchingly. “Why do you keep saying things like ‘if I’m not here?’ You said there was no reason to leave the hideout. There’s no reason for you to go outside, right?” He hoped his voice didn’t sound too desperate. He had tried to keep his tone level in a way that suggested the question was merely an offhand remark.

Cassie watched Serix as he walked over to crouch beside her and smiled as she set to work, unraveling some of the wire and replacing some of the things in the robot to make it more efficient, her hands working nimbly and with precision. While weapons and fighting may have not been her forte, building things and fixing things like this was something she was good at and had prided herself in ever since she was younger. Her father and his colleagues, when taking her to work with him used to mention her as a young genius or robotics prodigy. She wouldn't go so far as to call herself that, but she knew a lot about these kinds of things and it was all because of her father
“Why do you keep saying things like ‘if I’m not here?’ You said there was no reason to leave the hideout. There’s no reason for you to go outside, right?”

When Serix spoke beside her, asking why she continued to say ‘if I’m not here’ and such when she had given all those reasons why they wouldn’t need to go outside, she paused in her work, hands hovering over the mechanics. She glanced over to him and heaving a sigh she sat down on the floor, speaking, “Yes, we don’t have reason to go out. Not now anyway. But…we’ll have to sooner or later. Our supplies won’t last forever….and….I’ve been thinking…”

She fell silent a moment more and looked to him, “Your people…they are probably going to kill me if we get caught either way because I am part human…..but you, with the right excuse, could get away with being around me. We could talk together and think of something. Like if we get spotted maybe we act it out and can convince them I stole the Silencer and was holding you hostage. Or maybe you could tell them you were trying to gain my trust because you were trying to find out if there was more humans. You could even shoot me with the Silencer again if it convinces them more.”

She shrugged slightly and looked away now, a slight frown her face as she went back to work fixing the robot’s wires with her slender fingers, “I just…think that if we should get caught, one of us should get out alive, and between us, you have the better chance.”

Serix watched Cassie’s hands move deftly over the robot as he waited for her response. She seemed to know exactly to do to make the machine function how she wanted it to. He tried to memorize what parts she changed and what wires she installed, but his concentration was lost on the countless tiny pieces. He suspected it would take many years if he ever wanted to learn how to build a robot like she could.

When she finally answered his question, her response didn’t improve the sense of unease he had been feeling. “I just… think that if we should get caught, one of us should get out alive, and between us, you have the better chance,” Cassie said, continuing to work on her robot.

Serix stared at her. She would be willing to lie to keep him out of trouble even if her life was on the line? She sounded almost resigned to dying at the hands of the Lunairans. It made sense that one of them should try to survive if they did somehow get caught, and he did want to live, but at the same time he didn’t like the idea of Cassie’s sacrifice. They had come too far to let it all end like that. Besides, he had already come to terms with the things he had given up to keep her safe until now. He had nothing to go back to anymore.

“Sorry, but I disagree,” Serix shook his head. “We’re in this together. If we get caught, we die together.” He wasn’t sure why he felt so strongly about this. He had only known Cassie for three days, but somehow he couldn’t bear the thought of parting ways again. Strange how quickly bonds can form between two people.

He realized that his statement sounded almost identical to the vows made by mated Lunairans. He was speaking to Cassie as if she was his mate. He absently fidgeted with the bandage on his left arm, pretending that the cloth was suddenly very interesting. It must be all the stress, he thought nervously. I’m just not thinking clearly.

“Sorry, but I disagree,” Serix stated, making Cassie a little surprised. She would have thought he would see that as a smart idea, but apparently she had been wrong, “We’re in this together. If we get caught, we die together.”

Cassie slowed down in her working on the robot to look over Serix again after he spoke, saying that if they should get caught they would die together. Why did that statement leave her cheeks feeling heated and a blush spreading across her face. It wasn't like he had said anything profound or even romantically inclined, yet here she was blushing like he had just said the most romantic thing ever. She glanced over at him. He wasn't looking at her, but instead was messing with the bandage she had put on his arm the night before. She looked back to the robot, silent a moment before she finally stopped working on it completely and sighed, "If...that's what you feel like you want to happen, then fine. But, if it ever gets to that point where we do run into any of those Scouts, let's kick their butts and try to get out of there the best we can."

Setting down a few of the parts she had been holding, she stood up and grabbing a rag she had placed beside her when she started, wiped the grease off of her hands before she, like she had the day before, took his good arm, leading him out of the room, "We can continue working on the robot later. Let's re-wrap that wound with clean bandages. If you keep messing with the bandages I put on there it will never get healed." Making it tot he storage room she lead him to sit down before she went to grab the first aid kit. Then, kneeling down next to him like she had the day before she began to unwrap his arm and inspect the wound. Cleaning it with some of the antiseptic wipes she spoke to him, "It looks like it's getting better." She began wrapping it in clean bandages after wiping it down, " I think Lunairans heal faster than humans do."

She looked up to meet is eyes, and feeling an awkward tension there as she wrapped his arm, she was quick to look back down at the bandages as she worked to wrap the wound, that same pink color coming to her pale cheeks and her voice a little softer, "This is so weird, we've gone from hating each other, to kind of taking, to you trying to kill me, and now we're helping to survive and learn about each other. This is a lot more than I expected to happen in just three days."

Serix could feel Cassie’s eyes on him without even looking up. He didn’t have to see her face to imagine what she was thinking right now. She probably thought he was crazy. He knew he had gone a bit too far with that last sentence. Even if she didn’t know what it meant in Lunairan culture, she could probably make some educated inferences. He had definitely overstepped some boundaries.

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye while he fiddled with the bandage on his arm. Her expression surprised him. He had expected to see her giving him an estranged or irritated look. But instead, she was… flustered? His own discomfort faded slightly when he caught sight of the color in her cheeks. What did she have to be embarrassed about?

Cassie recovered swiftly, however. She cleaned off her hands and took his arm to lead him back to the metal door, “We can continue working on the robot later. Let's re-wrap that wound with clean bandages. If you keep messing with the bandages I put on there it will never get healed.” Serix nodded in response. He was just grateful that she had moved on so quickly. He made a mental note to think before speaking next time. Cassie might not be so fast to forget if he slipped up again.

They headed back to the smaller storage room. Serix sat in the same chair as before while Cassie dressed his wound. When she removed the bandages, he saw only a slightly discolored line where the open wound had been before. As expected, it was healing very well. There wouldn’t even be a scar.

“It looks like it's getting better,” Cassie said, mirroring his thoughts. “I think Lunairans heal faster than humans do.”

“You think so?” Serix mused, watching as she wrapped his arm in a new bandage. He wondered if Cassie inherited the rapid healing from her mother, although he wasn’t eager to test that trait.

Cassie suddenly stopped rewrapping his arm. She looked up and their eyes met. Serix found himself unable to breathe. She really was an attractive female. That much he couldn’t deny. Did she think the same thing about him? That doesn’t matter, he chided. We’re both just trying to survive… Still, it would be nice if the feeling is mutual.

Cassie looked away and the spell was broken. He could breathe again.

“This is so weird,” she said quietly. “We've gone from hating each other, to kind of taking, to you trying to kill me, and now we're helping to survive and learn about each other. This is a lot more than I expected to happen in just three days.”

“It is kind of odd, isn’t it?” Serix smiled softly. “I’m just grateful we ended up where we are.” He wanted to slap himself. There he went again, making ridiculous comments like that. “What I mean is…” He had to correct his mistake. “I’m glad I didn’t kill you. And that we’re getting along now. Better late than never, right?”

“I’m just grateful we ended up where we are.”

Why did that sentence make her cheeks turn that pinkish color again when he said that. Where were they even? Allies? Friends? Something else? She couldn't be sure about that right at this moment with her sitting there, her heart racing at that comment. And what made this situation even worse was he was stumbling to continue on with what he had said. Yet, even with all of this, why was it she could do nothing but smile at him saying all those things, even laughing softly a little, "Yeah, better late than never." She finished up his arm, tying it there securely into place and looking up at him again, she looked up at him, grinning as she half scolded him, "Now, don't mess with the bandages this time."

Standing up, she stretched a little and looked over to him, "Hey, I have an idea. We've practiced with my mental abilities and all. And we've had few struggles. But, I've never actually seen you fight for real before." She grinned back at him over her shoulder again, "How about you teach me some combat? You learned that from your people right?" She turned to him now, a curious look on her face, "I was never really good at fight and that kind of thing. I'm going to have to know if we're going to survive this thing together though, so why don't you teach me?"

“I won’t,” Serix rolled his eyes as Cassie told him not to touch the bandages again. He rolled his sleeve back down over his arm and stood up from the chair. The cloth she used on his wound didn’t shift when he moved, but it didn’t feel constricting either. She had done a good job wrapping it on.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Cassie’s eyes lit up. “We've practiced with my mental abilities and all. And we've had few struggles. But, I've never actually seen you fight for real before. How about you teach me some combat? You learned that from your people right? I was never really good at fighting and that kind of thing. I'm going to have to know if we're going to survive this thing together though, so why don't you teach me?”

“You want me to teach you combat?” Serix grinned at her. He couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. His fighting skills were one the things he prided himself in the most and he loved the adrenaline rush that came with a tough melee battle. “Of course I can.” Thinking about it now, his techniques would actually work well for her. He based them on speed rather than brute strength which, in comparison to the other Lunairan males, was an area in which he lacked. He doubted Cassie would be able to overcome one of his people by force alone and she seemed agile enough to learn his moves.

“Let’s go somewhere with more room,” Serix said, heading for the door. He walked down the hallway, poking his head into different rooms until he found an old storage space that looked like it had been emptied out. “This will work.” He stepped inside and turned to face Cassie. “How much do you know about fighting already?”

Cassie followed him to an old storage room that had been emptied out, leaving the room bare and with enough room to move about when they were training. It would work really well. She turned to him and she couldn't help but to smile at how excited he looked at this moment. He seemed so thrilled at the idea of teaching her how to fight, and to be honest, she was pretty excited herself to learn. She beamed at him, and shrugged, "I don't really know much. No one ever really taught me how to fight. I was too young when y parents were around for them to teach me and my uncle said he was really hesitant to teach me. He said he thought I might get cocky and try to fight something I couldn't take on." She laughed slightly, "Which that does kind of sound like me, so I can see his point."

Stretching her arms she thought for a moment, "I can do a front hand sprang? And a back one too. If that counts as a fighting tactic?" She looked at him and did a back hand sprang as an example, taking a step back, just enough so that, when she did her back hand sprang it didn't hit him in the face, yet came close enough so that he could feel the power behind the movement of her leg when she did it. She landed rather gracefully. She wasn't sure if her gracefulness and flexibility in doing that was her human or her Lunairan side, but either way she loved the rush of it every time.

"I learned that I was a little girl. My parents put me in gymnastics as a kid and that was one of the things that just kind of stuck with me." She shrugged sheepishly, "I'm sure your people can probably all do that though, right? So, it probably won't do me any good?" Again, seeing as she didn't really know much about his people, she had no idea what most of them were or weren't capable of, relying soully on him for that kind of information.

She stepped forward again to stand in front of him, "So, now that you know what I can do, what is there you can show me that I don't know?"

Serix watched Cassie execute the handspring, her leg coming close enough to his face to rustle his hair with the wind it created. Cassie moved with all the grace and poise of a female instructor he had as a child. Beautiful, yet deadly. She definitely had the makings of a talented fighter. He just had to teach her the proper techniques.

“Not bad,” Serix said when Cassie stood up straight again. “Unfortunately, that kind of move is more for looks than efficiency. Exposing your torso when you’re that close to your opponent is generally a bad idea. If I had a bladed weapon, I could have cut you in two.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “It might work on slower enemies, I suppose.

“Since you know next to nothing about combat, I’ll just start by showing you the ropes,” he moved to stand closer to Cassie so he could demonstrate. “All of your power comes from your legs and your core.” He put a hand on his own stomach. “During a fight, you need to keep these muscles tense. It helps add strength to your own attacks and it also helps lessen the sting of your opponents’. Trust me; it hurts a lot worse if you get punched when you’re relaxed.

“You should also keep your hands up by your jaw when you’re not taking the offensive,” Serix held up his own fists to demonstrate. “This way your arms protect your upper body and you’re in a position to counterattack quickly if you see an opportunity. Make sense?” He dropped his hands again and took a step back from Cassie.

“You’re not very big, so most of your attacks would be aimed upwards or to the side,” he said thoughtfully. “So to start out, you should learn how to uppercut and roundhouse kick. Those moves aren’t very hard.” He planted his feet shoulder-width apart, bending his knees slightly, and performed a simple uppercut, straightening his legs and thrusting his palm upwards. “With proper form, you get most of your power from your lower body.” He tapped his thigh. “If you rely on your arms alone, you might end up hurting yourself just as badly as your enemy.

“Now for the other move,” he adjusted his stance, placing his left foot a bit ahead of his right with his knees slightly bent. He pivoted on his back foot and effortlessly kicked his other leg out behind himself, compensating for his balance by leaning forwards so his body almost made a ‘T’ shape. He dropped his foot back to the ground and stood up straight again.

“Which one do you want to learn first?” he asked, grinning at her.

Cassie watched him and listened intently as he told her what he was doing and how exactly to do it. From the sound of it he seemed to have a lot of training in all of this and it was honestly kind of intimidating. She had close to no combat training and felt like she would probably need a lot of help to learn the ways he was doing these things. As much as she might not admit it, she was prideful, and so to be bad at something like this was something she wasn't used to and would probably be embarrassed about. Still, despite that feeling, she wanted to learn this and the only way she was going to do so was to just learn from him and practice, no matter how horrible she might be at it at the beginning.

"Umm....I guess the uppercut?" She said, and remembering how he set himself up before. She tensed her muscles and put her feet shoulder width apart, before she thrust upward, performing the uppercut, and as she did, the move felt okay but for some reason it also felt like she had done something wrong. She straightened up from her position, frowning, "I feel like I did something wrong...." She had to of done something not right because the move wasn't performed with the same intensity and precision as Serix's uppercut had been. Sighing, she looked back to him.

"Tell me what I did wrong. And maybe help me fix it?" She asked, and soon she was going back into the starting position of the upper cut, looking over to him, eyes expectant for criticism, "Is this right? Or do I just look like a goof?"

Serix watched Cassie attempt to perform the uppercut. Contrary to the grace of her last technique, she moved in a less confident manner this time. It made her clumsy and a bit awkward. Still, he could see an underlying shadow of her true potential. While she wasn’t a natural-born fighter, she definitely had the ability to become one. She just needed to be more sure of herself.

“Is this right?” Cassie asked as she readjusted her stance. “Or do I just look like a goof?”

“That looks right at a glance,” Serix replied. He stepped over to her and gave her shoulder a push, knocking her off balance. “But you’re still not using your core. You’re relying too much on your arms and legs to do the work.” He took the proper stance next to her. “See? It looks the same, but if you try to knock me over, I’m not going to budge.”

He followed up by doing a slower demonstration of the uppercut so Cassie could see the motion better. He pushed his palm upwards with his wrist bent back at a ninety degree angle, straightening his legs from their bent position to add extra force to the move. Then, he dropped his arm again and turned to Cassie.

“Do you think you get it now?” he tilted his head slightly. “Here, go back to the first position.” He waited for her to do so, and then moved to stand behind her. He rested one hand on her waist. “Remember to keep your core activated.” With his other hand, he took her wrist to guide her arm in the uppercut motion. “Also make sure you brace your shoulders. You won’t feel it until you actually hit someone, but the impact can be jarring if you’re not prepared for it. For now, just try to imagine your hand actually connecting with something.”

Serix realized he was still unnecessarily holding on to Cassie’s waist and arm. He stepped away and continued talking to cover it up, “Okay? Try it one more time.”

Cassie watched him as he approached her, taking the stance next to her to show her how she needed to set herself up. She kept an eye on what he was doing and tried to mimic his posture, , though when he came up behind her, his hand on her waist and her arm, suddenly her mind went from learning how to fight, to how close he was to her. It made it extremely difficult for her to concentrate on the task at hand. He spoke to her, moving her arm in the uppercut motion, and she did her best to listen and take these tips in. When he finally moved away from her, she realized she had been holding in her breath and she released it slowly so as not to draw attention from Serix for it.

She nodded when he asked her to try it one more time and getting into the stand, she grinned at him to get over the tension of having him touch her as well as to stop she the butterflies she felt in her stomach, "I won't feel it until I hit someone, huh? I could always practice on you next time you get on my nerves." She smiled then though to show she was joking and proceeded to do as he said, bracing her shoulders and keeping herself well grounded, yet steady as she thrust her hand upward. It definitely felt a lot better than it had the first time she had tried to do the upper cut. After she did it, she straightened up and smiled more, "That actually worked pretty well." Was it wrong of her to feel proud of herself for doing something like that? She had never really learned any real fighting moves, so to get one that was even this close to being right made her feel really good.

Crossing her arms, she grinned at him again, "So, before we go on to the round house kick, show me what else you can do. What other fighting skills have you learned that is more.....impressive?" Which she was sure there had to be more than this from the way he had said he was starting her off with something simple and with the confident way he had first approached her when they met on the roof tops of the city. Not she really wanted to see what he was capable of and what she could possibly learn in the future if these training went well.

She waved for him to tell her or show her, a bright smile on her face, "Come on. I want to see what else the Lunairans taught you."

“Much better,” Serix nodded in approval when Cassie performed the uppercut the second time. “The more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll feel with it. Let’s move on to the next one.”

“So,” Cassie grinned challengingly at him. “Before we go on to the roundhouse kick, show me what else you can do. What other fighting skills have you learned that are more… impressive?”

“More impressive, huh?” Serix raised a brow at her. Despite his attempts to act professional, he couldn’t help the upward tug of his lip. She was blatantly asking him to show off for her. How could he refuse? “I perform best in a real fight, but I do remember a few sequences from my childhood training.”

He took a stance and closed his eyes, taking a moment to steady his breathing. He opened his eyes again when this was done, executing a precise jab at where he envisioned his opponent’s throat was. He swiftly followed the motion with another punch at the invisible enemy’s stomach and used the momentum from both attacks to sweep his leg out as though knocking the enemy to the ground.

As he straightened his posture, he brought his elbow back as if a new opponent had approached him from behind. He pivoted on his foot and swung his other arm up and around the invisible enemy’s neck, using the momentum along with a subtle motion of his foot to trip it and to throw it to the ground.

Next, he executed a roundhouse kick to another imaginary opponent like the one he had demonstrated to Cassie, except instead of simply dropping his foot back to the floor, he jumped to alternate his legs and strike his fake opponent twice in the side. He finished the spin by bringing his elbow down on the enemy’s neck to knock it down. At the last second, he pivoted again and lunged toward Cassie, shooting his arm out and stopping his hand a mere hairsbreadth from her throat. His fierce expression gave way to a mischievous simper and he took a step back.

“That’s what else I can do,” Serix said.

Cassie was excited to see what else he could do, and she really had to admit that she was very impressed with what all he could do. Watching him perform all those moves, she had a feeling it would take her years to get to the point Serix was with his fighting, if she even got to that point at all. Still, either way, watching him move with such strength, yet grace, she felt her heart pounding in her chest again. He really was handsome, wasn't he? She watched with a huge smile on her face, taking in every move as he battled invisible enemies, a fierce look on his face that somehow made him even more attractive and the her heart to pound even more in her chest.

He brought another enemy down and for a moment she thought that would be it, only suddenly he lunged toward her, making her gasp, eyes wide, his hand so close to her throat that Cassie marveled how he had stopped so precisely. Looking up at meet his gaze, she grinned back at the mischievous look on his face, giving a soft laugh as he took a step back from her.

"Wow." She said, her voice breathy for a moment at she attempted to stop her heart from thumping so wildly and when she had made sure it had slowed down at little, she spoke again, "That was pretty amazing. A little scary too. At least you didn't use any of those moves on me when we first met. That would have really brought me down quickly."

She shrugged, "I don't think I'll even be that good at hand to hand, but I am pretty good with weapons. You know, guns and things like that. I guess that's why I'm glad I have the Silencer now. I lost my gun trying to get away from you the first time we met so I really haven't had any means of protection since then." She frowned in thought at that, "But, I guess I still do need to get another one. After all, the Silencer will only take me so far with it being non-lethal to your kind."

She hated thinking that way, but right now his people would kill both of them if they got the chance and knocking them on their butts would only take her so far. They were still faster than her. Stronger than her too. So, if the two of them wanted to survive she would have to get a better weapon. But there was also the fact that it was still very dangerous to go out right now with those two Scouts around. She was at a loss on what they should do.

Looking back to him, she frowned slightly, an unsure look on her face as she spoke to him, "Do you....think we should try to get more weapons? I mean...I know where the weapons store is, but....its just a matter of getting there with those Scouts out there...do you think we should try to go soon or do you think it might be better to wait?"‏‏