Jax threw back his arm, about to set up the perfect throw. As he rounded one of the steel pillars, he went to throw. But he was interrupted by Izzy, flying towards him. There was no time to dodge, and the two of them were hurled back even further until they slammed into another steel pillar.
"Jax Proud, Junior Finance Assistant. Already grabbed 2 contracts off your colleges before your defeat against Izzy." Nat walked towards them, an aura of menace following close behind. "Your work ethic is described as 'An Eye for Detail'... Kinda generic, don't you think?"
Izzy rolled off of Jax, allowing for him to get back on his feet. He broke off into a sprint once again, this time sending kunai towards Nat every time the pillars permitted for it. Nat didn't have to try hard to dodge them, barely looking impressed by the assault.
Izzy finally got a foot underneath him, and charged toward Nat again.
"Your work ethic seems to grant you the uncanny ability to have increased precision with ranged attacks. And your job title likely plays into that by giving you various items to throw. Quite lucky, not everyone's work ethic works so harmoniously with their job title." Nat paid no attention to Izzy, choosing to maintain her focus on Jax.
Jax slid to a halt and prepped three kunai for another throw. His eyes stayed on Nat, but in reality, he was waiting to see what Izzy may accomplish. Izzy closed the gap and threw the hardest punch he could. Nat didn't so much as budge from the attack. Izzy let out a pathetic barrage of strikes, but the effect was comparable to a butterfly trying to harm a bear. Nat swatted him away with a single hand, sending him rolling across the cold floor.
With a smirk, she started running towards Jax. "I was expecting a little more from you two, but it does seem like you're both still just babies after all!"
He went to back off from her, yet with a blink, she was already behind him. He could only freeze as her arms snaked around his neck, catching him in a stranglehold.
"So what happens if someone catches you up close, what's the plan then?" She giggled into his ear.
A purple kunai appeared in his hands, which he thrust behind him in an attempt to scare her off. But instead of impaling her, it felt like the kunai bounced off as if hitting a concrete wall.
Nat laughed, "I know I dodged them before, but in reality, even if they did hit, they wouldn't do anything anyway."
Jax struggled, his consciousness fading fast. The arms around his neck were akin to stone, unmovable. Izzy slowly got up off the ground, coughing, grasping at his chest to get any air in. Why was he so weak compared to last time. He tried to search through the blur of memories he had from the fight. The eyes. He started running again.
"JAX!" He shouted across the room. "LOOK AT ME!"
Jax's eyes were nearly closed. He was close to passing out. But in his final moments, he stared at Izzy. Izzy felt it, the pair of eyes piercing his soul like a spear. A beholder. He sped up, and delivered a stronger than usual kick to Nat's arms, releasing just enough pressure for Jax to slip out and roll away. But before the attack could complete, Nat grabbed him and, in the same motion, slammed him to the ground.
"Looks like you worked it out on your own Izzy! Being seen grants you power." Nat walked away from both of them. "But both of you are still weak, and your jobs grant you vanilla options to play around with. When you get higher up, you'll get something a bit more fun to use... Like this..." She turned to face the two boys, both panting while lying on the ground.
Whilst slamming both hands together, Nat looked up with a cocky composure. Behind her, a watery portal appeared, allowing a mechanical diving suit to enter the arena. It towered over the already tall Nat, entirely steel, intricate yet sturdy looking. Its hands and legs twitched and shifted as it stepped forward, steam bursting from its back as it came to a rest behind her. Every step it took created a small quake in the ground, commanding the attention of the combatants. A single glass pane provided a window into its pitch-black insides. It hunched over, weighed down by its own insane mass.
Nat pointed a finger towards the boys, "let's see if you can survive aga-. Oh?" A ringing sound came from her pocket. "Hello?" She pressed her smartphone up to her ear.
Izzy and Jax collapsed onto the ground again from their attempts to arise.
"Yep... Uhuh... Sounds good." She clicked the phone shut again. "Well, looks like I gotta dash. Maybe we save this till next time." And with that, just as quickly as they'd arrived, they were back in Izzy's office.
The two boys struggled to regain their composure.
"See ya later." Nat walked off in a hurry.
"What the hell was that." Izzy had collapsed into his chair.
Jax was sat on the ground, "I don't know how she could possibly justify that as anything other than bullying us."
"Why does it all have to be about fighting..."
Jax didn't answer, but looked as though the question struck a nerve with him. "I'll head back to my desk for now. Let me know if you want to talk."
"You can bring your stuff here if you want, since we'll be working together from now on?"
Jax stopped before leaving, "sounds like a good idea. Will do that at the end of the day." He left.
Izzy got back to work as well, taking the rest of the day to not worry about battle and how to get better at it. The hours ticked by, and when Izzy spotted that his day was drawing to a close, he went to turn off his monitors. Just before he could, he received an email marked as 'Urgent'.
Title: 'Sponsothon'
The sender: 'Grand General Screen'