StV: Blackhand vs. Jade, part five

"Keep your armor up," Blackhand warned, and Jade nodded behind her green-and-white helm. She raised sword and shield, and he stepped in, bracing his right wrist with his left hand and then shoving a lance of his power out and down to pin her foot to the ground. 

It was a new move; he'd never tried anything like it before, and he didn't know whether Jade could match his reach or not. If she could, she didn't manage it fast enough. Her armor held, but her foot was still pinned and she stumbled, stamping with her right foot to catch her balance. It was exactly what Blackhand had hoped for. 

He withdrew the lance and formed armor as he sprang, pushing her sword and shield aside so he could catch her torso, sweep her right leg, and drop her onto her back. She grunted as she landed -- surprise or pain, he couldn't tell -- and let both sword and shield withdraw as she converted her armor to be covered in spikes. 

It wasn't enough to get through his black skin, and with his power active he was stronger than she was. He slid around, less smoothly than he was used to, and managed to position himself for an arm lock. Her armor might absorb the impact of hitting the floor, but he was betting it wouldn't prevent him from dislocating her arm.  

Still, he was absolutely shocked when she reached up and tapped out, fingers impacting firmly on his thigh.

"There you go," she said, sounding pleased. "That would have taken me out, or at least reduced my effectiveness."

Blackhand let go of her arm, scooted back, and sat up. "Could I actually have dislocated your arm?"

"I think so. I haven't had to work on preventing that sort of thing, and you caught me off-guard, so yeah: if it had come down to it, that would've worked."

"Holy shit," he said. 

"Yeah," said Jade. "I didn't expect that at all. I should have known better than to underestimate anybody who could survive Harbinger." She hesitated. "If you're looking for work, I could use you on Team Phoenix."

"...You're serious."

"As a heart attack, as my gram used to say." Jade was sitting up as well. 

"You don't think our powers are too similar?"

Jade shook her head. "You can spot other Anomalies. I don't think anybody else on the team can except maybe Shunt, and he won't always think to look. And Team Phoenix is... I mean, we train for combat, obviously, but we're we're much more of an investigative, exploratory team. So yeah, I think we could use you. Plus, I like the way you think."

"That's... You know I'm part of DAAT, right?"

Jade nodded. "I know. And if that's a problem for you, you can always say No and I won't push it. Wouldn't want you on the team if you didn't want to be there."

Blackhand fought down a moment of panic. Mongrel would rip his heart out of his chest if he defected... but Mongrel was dead, along with his mother and a lot more of the upper leadership that had shaped DAAT into what it was. The old guard just didn't have the grip it once did on the Program.  "That's... I've got to think about that."

Jade nodded. "Just let me know."