Even though Lee had suggested that they just not do the sparring the day after the bar, the fact was, this was the perfect time to do it before Kevin came home. She had tons of energy still thanks to going out the night before, and since it was Sunday Tarin didn’t need to watch the time or head back to the shop.

Lee had also decided to kill two birds with one stone. Whether it was a good decision was a completely different question that she wasn’t asking herself at the moment. But Lee had messaged both Robert and Rachel, giving them a time and place and saying that if they still had questions about what she was capable of, or wanted to see, that they needed to come.

She had then essentially ignored her phone.

Which left Lee stretching and warming up a few hours later honestly not sure whether either of them were actually going to show. Lee knew that she could easily fix that; all that she had to do was to stop ignoring her phone, check to see if either of them had messaged. Though that was exactly the reason Lee had been ignoring her phone in the first place, because she was sure that both of them would have messaged much more than just whether they were coming or not.

”Let’s give them a few more minutes,” Lee ended up saying as she looked over at Tarin. ”If they’re still not here, we can get started without them.”

A happy median had been found.

It had been a hard week. Tarin still had the bruises to show for just how hard it had been. They were mostly faded by now, but they were definitely still there.

They’d considered just staying home, following through with Lee’s suggestion from the night before in the elevator. There had definitely been some clothing optional time. Lee still had a lot of energy to burn though, and the timing on this was too good to pass up.

Lee had also invited her siblings to attend the sparring match, and then proceeded to completely
ignore anything that either of them said in response. Tarin was a bit nervous about the whole thing if he was being honest. Rachel had looked horrified the night before when they talked about this and Robert didn’t even know that Lee had been sparring with a dead guy.

That was going to go over well.

Lee was stretching and getting warmed up, and Tarin was watching her, having already worked out for the day and still in his workout clothes. At least he wasn’t too sore to do that anymore. He’d also already taken a couple of Advil in hopes of heading off a headache before it happened this time.

Tony was there and standing docie and invisible to everyone but Tarin, off to the side as he waited for Lee to be ready.

As if on cue, as soon as Lee said they’d wait a few minutes and then start, the door to the gym opened and Robert and Rachel entered together.

Awesome.

”This is either going to go really well or really really bad. Remind your brother not to kick my ass if Tony lands a punch please?”

Lee looked over her shoulder when she heard Tarin speak to see that both Robert and Rachel were walking in at the same time. Lee wanted that to be a joke, but she knew that it was quite possible, quite probably actually, that Robert would hit Tarin if Tony managed to land anything.

”Of course,” Lee told him with a tight lipped smile before turning to face the door. Otherwise, Lee didn’t move, she simply waited for them to walk over.

”What’s going on, Lee?” Rachel asked, almost sounding a little worried. ”And why haven’t you answered any of my texts?”

”Well hello to you too, Rach,” Lee replied. ”And like I said last night, today is the perfect time for me to spar energy wise. And I thought that the two of you might understand things better if you can actually see what I’m capable of.

“Tarin found someone who is willing to spar with me without pulling any punches and also challenges me while sparring,” Lee continued, looking more at Robert as she said this. Her eyes growing a little harder as she continued speaking. ”Which means I might get hit. That is not Tarin’s fault, and if you hit him again, you’ll be in the ring with me next, Bobby.”

It was still aggravating to Tarin that Lee felt the need to do this. After what had happened in the bar last night in front of Rachel, and after what Robert had seen at the build site, neither of them should have had a single question in their minds. Even more, since Lee had told them both repeatedly what she could do, they should have just believed her.

When Lee had brought the idea up, Tarin had wanted to say no. To tell her that he thought it was a bad idea, but he hadn’t been able to make the words form. Lee felt like she needed to do this, so he would help her. So what if he was uncomfortable putting his powers on display for Robert and Rachel.

Lee was laying things out for Rachel and Robert, and she did manage to make the point to Robert that if anything happened it wasn’t Tarin’s fault. Robert just looked confused though.

”Why would it be his fault if you get hit by a sparring partner?” Robert asked and Tarin sighed a bit.

”The person I found to spar with Lee is dead.” he said blandly. ”The only way he exists for anyone but me is if I make it so. I have to concentrate the whole time, so you can’t distract me.” That was a bit of a white lie, it took next to no concentration to maintain a single spirit at this range, but maybe this way Robert would leave him alone.

”Absolutely no...” Robert started to say, ”Oh shut up Robert.” Rachel chimed in and Tarin had to chuckle.

Looking around the two siblings and over at Lee, Tarin shrugged, ”You ready?” he said, then glanced over at Tony, still nonexistent for most of the people in the room. ”What about you, you remember the rules from last time?”

Tony nodded, ”And the multiple times you reminded me today. Whatever she says goes.”

Lee didn’t even get a chance to tell Robert off, or to say anything else to him when he tried telling her that she wasn’t going to spar with Tony. She didn’t get a chance to because Rachel had already told him to shut up.

Lee had to smile at that. Even if Rachel had had a hard time believing a lot of what Lee had told her, even though she hadn’t had the greatest reaction the night before when they’d talked about her sparring with Tony, at least she was on Lee’s side for this. Though Rachel almost always had been when it was something to do with Robert like this.

”Yeah, I’m ready,” Lee told Tarin, then looked back at Robert when she saw Tarin turning in the direction that Tony must have been in.

”I’ve sparred with Tony before, and it doesn’t matter what you say, I’m sparring today. Unless you want to spar with me Bobby. Though I’d still be sparring with Tony after to actually get rid of this energy. The only real choice you have here is whether you stay to watch or not.”

Lee didn’t even wait for an answer from Robert. She turned, stepping over to her bag to grab her mouth guard and gloves before making her way to the ring.

Lee was ready. Tony was ready.

Rachel was ready.

Robert was…whatever Robert was, but that didn’t really matter because Lee was sparring.

”I don’t think it would go well for him in the ring with her.” Tony offered up, looking at Robert.

”God it would be glorious to see…” Tarin said, ignoring the slightly quizzical look from Rachel as he spoke to seemingly thin air.

”Nobody freak out. I’m bringing Tony in now.” he said, then nodded to Lee once more before getting down to business.

Sighing a bit, Tarin opened up his mind just enough to establish a connection between Tony and himself and start channeling energy down the bond. Almost instantly, the man winked into existence and Tarin did not miss the shocked gasp from Rachel as the fighter made his way over to where Lee was getting her gear on.

If Robert had said anything else to Lee, Tarin hadn’t heard it but the other man stepped back and crossed his arms, avoiding looking at Tarin at all.

Fine. That was probably for the best.

”Same rules as last time?” Tony asked Lee when she was ready and held out his hands for her to bump if she was ready to go.

Lee looked over at Tarin with a raised eyebrow when she heard him talking, she assumed, to Tony. About her, she had to guess. But she didn’t question what would be ‘glorious’. Instead she simply adjusted her gloves until they felt right as she waited for Tony to make his way over.

It really didn’t take long for Tony to make it into the ring himself, and ask for confirmation that the rules would be the same as the last time. Even though she had heard Tarin’s side of the conversation telling Tony that exact information, Lee nodded. ”Yup, same rules,” Lee confirmed.

Before she was able to tap Tony’s hands to start the match, almost before she had finished speaking, Lee heard Rachel’s voice calling out. ”Rules? What kind of rules is he asking about?”

”We’re following the rules they use for the professional MMA fights,” Lee replied quickly before turning back to Tony. ”Basically.”

Lee then bumped her gloved hands against Tony’s before taking a small step back. And while her hands were raised, they were not as high as most fighters keeping their hands up to protect their head.

”MMA was outlawed in New York City until relatively recently. A loophole let some underground matches happen. Tony was a good fighter and a decent kid who made some bad choices.” Tarin said after Lee had explained to Rachel what kind of rules they were following.

”Tony loved to be in the ring,” he added, ”Spirits tend to latch on to something, if they can fulfill it they’re calmer…happier. It’s a win-win situation.”

”How do you know all of that?” Robert said, ”About…him.” he said, nodding to the fighter.

”Because I did weeks of research and interviews before we even tried. Despite all that, I can shut this all down in the blink of an eye.”

Back in the ring. Tony watched as Lee took her little step back and raised her fists. She hadn’t had her guard that low the first time they’d fought. Was she trying to taunt him into taking a swing at her head?

He didn’t bite. Instead, Tony moved forward aggressively, aiming a kick low at Lee’s legs, planning to follow up with a right towards her head just to see what she was planning to do today.

Once Lee had finished speaking, her attention was fully on the ring, and Tony. Lee was watching Tony closely, expecting him to rush forward aggressively. Just like he had in their first match.

And Lee was not disappointed as he did quickly move toward her. But he didn’t throw a punch this time. As Lee saw Tony pivoting slightly for a kick, she didn’t even try to block it. Instead, Lee stepped in slightly, pivoting herself as she made a sweep at Tony’s base leg.

A moment later, Tony’s kick did connect, but with her step forward, it didn’t have quite the same force with the contact.

---

Out of the ring, Rachel was watching with wide eyes. She couldn’t believe that Lee was actually doing this. Even more so when Tarin explained that the spirit that Lee was fighting against here had been part of illegal, underground fighting here in New York.

Then the spirit kicked out and Lee moved closer. ”What is she doing?”

Yep, now Tony remembered. It was hard to remember sometimes, what happened and what didn’t. But the woman had done something similar to this the last time that they’d sparred.

She took the kick and moved to sweep his leg and Tony took the sweep but controlled his fall so he landed on his rear and protected his head in a ground guard while he shifted, trying to get his right leg around Lee’s so he could twist his hips and pull her to the ground.

”What is she doing?”

Tarin shrugged, ”Opponents always underestimate her because of her size. Tony made the same mistake last time…” Tarin said, trailing off with a bit of a frown. The man remembered…they’d talked about the…

Ah, he did remember, it was some kind of counter, Tony was trying to bring Lee down to the mat now.

”Anyway, they can’t outmuscle her, not when she’s like this. If you were asking about the moves and stuff? I have no idea. I don’t
know a thing about fighting.”

”She’s going to get hurt.” Robert said.

”No…” Tarin said, shaking his head, ”Well, maybe a little, but she’s already been hurt before. This is helping make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Lee's sweep worked and Tony fell. He fell maybe a little too easily, Lee thought as Tony landed on his rear. what was doing and what was he waiting for, Lee wondered when Tony wasn't immediately starting to get up.

Lee took the opportunity to aim a kick at Tony's shoulder.

Only for Lee to feel Tony's leg wrapping around hers. The timing was horrible. For her, it was probably perfect in Tony’s mind, but Lee went down. Hard.

Hard enough that it partially knocked the air out of her lungs when she hit. But immediately, Lee pulled her legs in toward her so that Tony couldn’t get one of them in a lock.

Lee didn’t hear Rachel’s shocked gasp as she fell. Or see her hands lifting to cover her mouth.

Lee then used her heels against the mat to help her scoot back, away from Tony to give her room to get back to her feet.

Lee went down hard. Tony had baited her in and managed to get her on the ground. Tarin winced at the sound as she landed and reminded himself that this was exactly why Lee wanted to do this.

Rachel was reacting exactly how Tarin would expect her to react and Tarin shook his head, ”It’s okay.”

”She’s okay…” Tarin said, though he was watching really closely. Lee had told Tony not to hold back, and spirits could be really literal. ”You have to trust her.”

Robert was antsy, Tarin could tell, but he stayed where he was.

——
Tony pulled off the move and was highly satisfied when he managed to bring the woman down. It had taken a significant amount of time to accomplish that the last time.

She was trying to scoot back to get to her feet though and Tony knew if that happened, she would be able to dance around because she was a lot faster than he was. So Tony sprung forward, intending to get his shoulder into Lee’s sternum so he could pull her legs out from under her and get her into a hold.

Lee was scrambling backward, but Tony launched himself at her. So fast that with being on the floor she couldn’t avoid him. But that was where her size was an advantage, because before Tony was able to lock in the hold he was trying, she’d managed to pull herself away.

The rest of the match kept going back and forth. Tony managed to land another kick and a punch, as well as coming close to landing a few others that Lee had just been able to block or dodge at the last split second. While Lee landed a couple kicks, as well as managing to successfully sweep Tony again and throw him once.

They went for a while, much longer than Lee was sure they should have for a round if they were following the ‘rules’. But as Tony was dead and Lee had tons of energy, they didn't exactly have the same need for a break.

But finally after around 15 minutes, Lee called for a break. She wasn’t tired, but she could definitely use some water and a breather to relax and just…stop for a minute.

Once Lee was sure Tony had stopped, Lee turned and made her way out of the ring, heading directly to her bag and water bottle.

The fight went back and forth for a while. Tony didn’t get tired and Lee didn’t seem to be getting tired either.

Tony also held his own a lot better than he had the last time too. He definitely remembered the last time. Lee took a couple of pretty hard shots, they were going to have to break out the frozen vegetables.

Tarin was tense, trying to keep Tony full corporeal and talk Rachel and Robert down whenever Lee took a hit or hit the ground was basically a job. Nobody hit him though, so Tarin considered it a win.

Lee was stopping now, moving to her water bottle while Tony stood in the ring and waited for her to come back. He didn’t need a drink, he wasn’t out of breath. Tarin cut the link for a minute, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

”See, she can hold her own against the closest thing to a professional as you can get.” he said. ”The guys in the gyms won’t fight her, and the last time she found someone who would fight for real…” Tarin said, looking at Robert, ”You saw her after.”

”Why does she need to do this though?” Robert said.

”Why does it matter?” Tarin said, then made his way over to Lee.

”You good?” he asked, something seemed off, but he couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was.

Now that she was out of the ring, Lee could hear what was being said. And Lee couldn’t help but smile slightly as she drank when she heard Tarin comment that she could hold her own against virtually a professional fighter.

And Robert was asking why she ‘had’ to do this. Lee simply shook her head to herself as she watched Tarin walk over.

And he asked if she was ok. ”I’m fine” Lee told Tarin with a smile. ”Just thirsty. And that went on a lot longer than these kinds of fights normally do without a break.” Reaching out, Lee took Tarin’s hand and gave it a slight squeeze. ”But yes, I’m good.”

Lee then looked over Tarin’s shoulder toward her siblings. ”And which reason for why I ‘have’ to do this do you want to hear?” Lee asked, using air quotes for ‘have’. ”Because I’d rather know how to and never have to do something like this for real again? Because it’s not always me being ‘reckless’” more air quotes. ”That ends up putting me in situations where I need to fight? Because people have broken their hands and feet by doing things the wrong way, so I need to know how to do it right so I don’t do that or worse when I’m using more strength and speed.

“Are those enough reasons why, or do I need to keep going?”