Power Play (Patreon)

• Commissioned by Jean

War… war never changes. But apparently, it does sometimes take a holiday.

That was the thought going through the young blonde woman’s mind as she looked upon the band of soldiers, maybe a few dozen strong. They were her comrades-in-arms in Militaires Sans Frontières, usually just referred to as the MSF.  Less than 24 hours beforehand she’d seen plenty of them covered in blood, howling to the heavens as they struggled to stay alive in a vicious battle. Seeing them gallivanting, hooting and hollering like a bunch of teenagers at the beach they happened to setup camp at, well it was a bit surreal to say the least.

Even their legendarily hard-nosed leader, Big Boss, aka Snake, was relaxing under an umbrella in nothing but his boxers - none of them had quite planned for a beach stay, bathing suits weren’t exactly on the docket for their mission - watching on with a rare smile, happy to see his men get some deserved time off. 

Of course, strange as the image seemed, it did serve to remind her of something she’d heard quite recently…

You see, the woman in question, her name… well, that’s classified information, but she goes by Paz in their company. She was stunningly gorgeous, and despite the rowdy men encouraging her to strip down in lieu of a swimsuit, she wore a blue blazer and a matching modest knee-length skirt. Impossibly pretty, she resembled a barbie doll in a lot of ways, her diamond-esque blue eyes seemed almost too perfect… and indeed, perhaps they were. For she was far from the innocent little ‘mascot’ for the peace-pursuing team than she’d presented herself to be. For while she’d introduced herself as your average young civilian, she was in fact a double agent, working for an enemy organization known as Cipher. 

She’d hidden her skills up to this point, but she was in fact a trained soldier, as deadly as any of the men running across the sand and tackling each other into the water… if not perhaps moreso. During every little interaction, methods of subduing them in that specific situation, permanently or otherwise, creeped into her head. She’d just been waiting for the perfect time to make a move and impede them…

And in that moment, she recalled the words of her boss, during their last bit of contact. “Big Boss… he’s not the man he used to be, not by a wide margin.” Zero explained to her. “He was once perhaps the most fearsome soldier on the battlefield. But he’s grown soft in his old age. Paz, I truly believe you can take him down… you could humiliate him in front of his entire unit and take his place as their new leader. The influence we’d have then would be insurmountable for them...”

As she watched the veteran soldier just lying there, blissfully unaware that someone like her was hiding within the ranks of his platoon, Paz couldn’t help but see some truth to Zero’s words. Surely the man she’d read so much about wouldn’t be so oblivious to what was going on around him as to drop his guard this much.

A soft chuckle left her lips, a villainous smile forming... perhaps this was the day for her to finally strike.

Casually, she strolled across the sand to where Big Boss lay. He didn’t bat an eye as she came over. “Hey, Paz. How’s the beach treating you?” he asked, his gruff voice calmer than she’d heard in a long while. “The boys aren’t harassing you too much, are they?”

“No, I would say the harassment is about at the level I would like it to be.” she replied, with a small chuckle. 

“Huh, not like you to be funny.” the leader remarked with a smirk. 

“Not like you to just lie around either.” she replied. “There’s perfectly good horseplay going on out there. Why aren’t you getting in on the fun, Snake?”

“Eheh… these old bones don’t heal up as quickly as they used to, I’m still sore from yesterday.” he explained, wincing a bit as he sat up. “Ugh, I think it’s probably best if I relaxed for once...”

She bent down a bit and offered her hand, an inviting smile. “Come on… you won’t play around a little? Not even for me?”

He shook his head, but accepted anyway, taking her hand and letting her help him up to his feet. “Fine… can’t say no to you. What do you do for fun, anyway?”

“Knock around the elderly, mostly.” she answered, lightly jabbing him… effectively just poking him in the chest with her knuckles. “Sounds barbaric I know, but it’s surprisingly entertaining...”

Snake scoffed. “Sure, and I like to beat up young women, and kick puppies on weekends.” he joked, giving her a similar bump to the shoulder. 

“Oh my, now that I can’t forgive… I’m afraid we’re really going to have to have it out now.” she winked as she put up her fists.

Snake laughed openly at this, and though Paz smiled along, she was a bit annoyed at how well her deception had worked. He truly thought nothing of her as a physical threat. 

“Right, sure, you and me are gonna fight, uh-huh.” he mused.

“Just a little friendly sparring session.” Paz clarified. “So don’t worry, I will be be sure to take it easy on you.”

They both laughed at that, but she was in fact giggling at how entirely unaware he was of the danger she posed to him. Still, best to go in slow and scout out just how she measures up before letting him see how serious this really was. She couldn’t have been trying to hurt him much less with her faux-punch, as she limply tapped her knuckles to his chin.

“Aw man, I’m gonna need that jaw wired shut now...” he quipped, before looking out to his platoon. “Hey guys, gather ‘round if you wanna see a scrap!”

Paz was overjoyed to see that, indeed, they shared his amusement in this as a big chunk of the soldiers came over to watch, whilst Snake donned his usual fighting stance. He reared back… and made very damn sure that she could see that he was. After a full second, Paz gasped and ducked. As if her reflexes were truly that slow. Snake of course waited until after she was knelt down to swing, before missing her by a mile. 

“Damn, that’s a fast one...” he chuckled.

“Getting slow in your old age, I see...” she remarked, quick to put her fists up again. “I’m sure you know, the battlefield’s a young man’s game… and a young ladies’~”

“Hmph, watch it Paz, I ain’t too old to dish out a beating.” he commented, seeming to tire quickly of the knocks on his age. “Ain’t like you to talk like that. If I thought you meant it, I’d have to punish you for it...“

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she grinned, before rearing back for a shot of her own. With a truly pathetic little grunt of effort, she limply flailed her wrist towards his head. Snake dodged out of the way with the reflexes of a man half his age, though that kind of speed was hardly necessary. He ended up behind her.

She gasped, darting her head around as if she had no idea where he was.

“Heh, ready to change your tune?” he whispered, inches from her. With a high pitched yelp, she jumped out of ‘fear’, and in the process, slammed the crown of her head into his jaw. When she landed, her feet came crashing down onto his instep, stepping heavily on both of his feet. 

His head rocked back, he howled in pain from this head-to-toe assault, and her actual bit of shocked self-defense hadn’t even started. Masking it as fearful instinct, she drove the point of her elbow into the abdomen of the man behind her. Not with near full force, but enough to make him grunt in pain and jerk his head back forward. She took advantage of that, taking a step back and wrapping her arms just under his chin, putting him into an uncoordinated headlock, much to his shock. 

The surrounding men laughed at this comical display, a few applauding. Safe to say, not a proud moment for Big Boss, and he put a quick stop to it, grabbing her by the wrist and forcibly pulling her arm to break the hold, before applying a hammerlock, shoving her forearm into her back. He held her there with just enough force to let her feel it, and quickly let go. 

Paz whirled around in a silly looking kung fu pose, before uttering, “Snake…? Oh, oh it was just you. Sorry, you took me off-guard there.”

“It’s fine.” He grumbled. “Not a bad little show of self-defense. Really, really lucky, but not bad.”

“Aww, you’re just saying that… thanks though.” she replied, with a ladylike curtsy. All the while, she tried to contain her laugh. She got quite the nice little taste of where he stands in the world of CQC - close quarters combat - and she liked what she saw…

“Anyway I uh, think that’s enough fun for me...“ he grumbled, eyeing his previous spot in the sand. But Paz wasn’t having that.

“Aw, what’s wrong? You don’t wanna get embarrassed like that again?” she smirked. “It was just dumb luck, right? Nothing to worry about. Certainly for a big bad Big Boss like you… heh, what a name. Doesn’t make it sound like you’re compensating for something at all...”

“...That name was a tribute.” he growled. “A nod to my old mentor, who’s not around anymore.”

“Oh… ohh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Paz lied, sincerely. She bowed gracefully. “My apologies. I thought for sure it was in response to you going impotent.”

With an angry grunt, he charged forward, not quite playing now that she’s effectively mocked his master AND his manhood. Paz screamed and hit the dirt, huddling like a terrified child. This ‘just so happened’ to be timed perfectly, as his momentum sent him barreling forward, she ended up clipping him at the knees, tripping him facefirst into the sand.

Paz stood up, peeved. “Hey, this was supposed to just be a playfight! Don’t be a bully!” she yelled, as she gave him a meager, yet demeaning kick to his thinly covered backside. 

Needless to say, the laughter increased a bit here, and by now several more men had joined in to watch the ‘carnage’, so that didn’t help. One even spoke out, “Oh wow, she kicked his ass!”

Snake looked up from the sand to stare at the man, death in his eyes. The soldier took a step back, nervously adding, “I-I mean that literally, she did… j-just saying… eheh…”

Even worse than being tripped into the sand by an amatuer and getting a boot to his rear end for his troubles, was that he felt he actually WAS in the wrong, and overreacting. So as he came up, embarrassed, wiping the sand from his cheek, he lamented, “Ugh, sorry about that… you just, hit a sore spot there. A few of them, actually.”

“Well… I guess I did take the joking around a bit too far. Sorry about that...” Paz relented, offering a hand. “Friends?”

“Yeah… friends.” He smiled, as he accepted her hand.

Bad move. She tightly squeezed his hand and quickly forced it behind his back in a hammerlock, the same hold he had her in moments ago, but this one was much more snug and she wasn’t letting go. “Augh, what the hell?!” he cried out, trying to struggle his way out, to no avail. “Who taught you this?!”

“What, this? Come on, it’s standard self-defense stuff, everyone should know this one, military or not!” she explained, painfully twisting his arm as she dug it further into the small of his back. “After all, it’s the very BASICS of CQC!”

That little phrase triggered a new anger in him. Ducking down low, Snake managed to slide between her legs, pulling her arm with him until she released him to save herself some pressure. Paz turned around in time to see him already standing. He gave a rough shove to her shoulder that sent her onto the sand. 

“Owww...” she moaned, hamming it up.

“Listen little lady, I’ve had about enough ‘fun’ for one day.” Snake growled. “If you want me to teach you how to fight, all you have to do is ask, don’t go for all this silly stuff.”

“Nnnngh… I’ll keep that in mind...” she groaned. “You’ve made your point… but, there’s still something I’m wondering about... ”

Without warning, she sent a front kick rocketing upwards from the ground, her boot slamming into Snake’s knee. The many battles had been real hell on those legs, often the first things to weaken. They gave way, the respected veteran again being taken to the ground by this apparent novice. As he groaned, on his hands and knees, he looked up to see a quick peek up Paz’s skirt, immediately before she sent another front stomp directly to his stunned face, putting him on his back.

As she hopped up to her feet in one motion, she finished, “When is someone going to teach YOU how to fight...?”

“What… the hell…?” he asked, stunned.

Big Boss was so taken aback, he almost wasn’t ready for when she aimed a follow-up stomp at his chest, though now she was merely moving at the speed of a pedestrian who was actually trying to hurt someone. At the last second, he caught her foot, leaving her struggling to maintain her balance.

“I think I’m the one who should be asking questions right about now, Paz...” Snake growled, suspicious of her display.

He slowly stood up, still holding her foot, stretching her leg up. He attempted a maneuver which would see him twist her leg painfully, and force her to either flip onto her back or see her hip ripped out of socket. 

She instead leaped and spun along with it so as to negate any pressure, and as her opposite leg swung, her shin blasted into the side of Snake’s head, bringing him down for a third time. Just to put a stamp on this impressive maneuver, she managed to complete the spiral and land on her feet with a flourish.

“Well, we have one answer to our previous question…” she remarked. “...nobody has taught you anything in the last 20 seconds. That much is confirmed.”

The crowd that had gathered around had stopped laughing at this point, more bewildered as to the situation before them. It was becoming increasingly obvious that this was no fluke. This supposed peace loving girl who everyone was led to believe had zero combat experience or training, and hadn’t even laid a hand on another human being before as far as they knew, was going one-on-one with their leader, a legendary hand-to-hand expert, and… winning! She was actually winning!

Snake struggled to get up yet again, covered in sand at this point. His gruff demeanor was looking more concerned than anything at this point. “...Who are you? Who are you, REALLY? Are you same the woman who joined this group? Are you really Paz, or did the girl we knew as ‘Paz’ never even exist…?”

“Hmhm. The answer to that one is quite simple. I’m The One That Broke Big Boss.” she smiled deviously. “...That’s what I’ll be known as going forward, anyway.”

“Not if I can help it!” he yelled, as he charged towards her, in a traditional big dumb male way, just begging to be countered.

Indeed, she was fully ready for his wild punch, adjusting herself to the side, prepared to counter with a judo throw. Of course, Snake wasn’t your average big dumb brute, he could tell at that point that she’d deflect this maneuver. Once he saw how she intended to do so, he hopped to the left mid-sprint, and found himself face-to-face with her, in time to launch a brutal uppercut into her stomach.

Except, it never landed, as this didn’t surprise her near as much as he’d hoped. She caught him by the wrist, stopping his punch, and perfectly setting him up to be judo thrown anyway, and indeed she made beautiful use of her leverage, giving him a perfectly executed toss, that took him back-first onto the sand.

Paz reared back, and delivered a full force punch, though purposefully missing his face. But her fist slammed into the ground with enough power to create a skull-sized crater in the sand, inches away from Snake’s head. 

This served as merely a little warning of what was to come…

“Yes, you see, ‘if’ is indeed the key word...” she chuckled. “...because you CAN’T help it. There’s nothing you can do to stop me. My apologies.”

As she stood up straight and waited for Snake to pick himself up again, the gathered soldiers started mumbling amongst themselves.

Just what was it that they were witnessing? The general mumbles seemed to be concerns that this might be a mutiny, or even a show that Paz had always planned to betray them. Given the ridiculous things that happened in their past experiences, some wondered if perhaps she’d been replaced by a clone or was being possessed by some creepy ESP master. Anything seemed to make more sense than what was going on before their eyes, that their master was being embarrassed in a simple sparring session with a delicate little nobody.

Paz shot them a glance, and they went quiet. They weren’t sure what to make of her, but none were eager to get in her way at the moment. 

Snake grunted, “I didn’t come this far to fall to someone like you.” as he took up a karate pose. “I’ve about had my fill of liars...”

“Hmhm, look who’s talking.” Paz replied, mirroring his stance. “You go around calling yourself a soldier.”

As though in response to her earlier attack to his legs, Snake attempted a sweep, aimed at her shins. She hopped over this, and as he was still kneeling down from this attack, she took advantage, aiming a punch down into his face. But he caught her arm on the way down and tripped her into a wrist lock, painfully stretching her shoulder across his chest as he yanked as hard as he could.

“How do you like that?!” he growled menacingly into her ear, smiling as he heard her scream. “Straight from the Boss to you... one of the first holds she ever taught me. Still just as effective as ever.”

“Ugh… ugh, nngggaaaaaaah… nngghaaaaahhahaha...” her shouts of pain slowly turned to laughter. 

In that next second, she rolled at a rapid velocity, taking herself right out of the hold and before Big Boss could understand what was happening, she had reversed the wristlock, and now had it fully applied to him. Suddenly he was the one howling in pain as Paz cruelly mocked, “Yes, from everything I’ve heard, she was quite the fighter, and a true patriot. Hmhm… shame about her teaching skills... ”

“YOU BITCH!” he yelled, struggling mightily. 

But his resistance was for naught, there seemed to be no escaping that wristlock. Paz held him in such a dominant position, she even added a few mocking slaps to the back of his head to rub it in. 

After cranking the pressure up a little bit more, she had him to the point where a few more seconds would undoubtedly break his arm beyond all repair. And at that exact point, she let go, ruffling his hair a little before standing up. 

“Heh, thought I was about to really hurt you there, didn’t you?” she asked with a mischievous grin. “But of course not… it’s just a friendly sparring session, right?”

“Fuck off!” he yelled as he feinted high, getting her to cover up, before charging in, trying to clip her legs with a takedown attempt.

Turns out though, her reaction to his feint was itself a feint, and she blocked his attempt, simply hopping down on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding his head in place as she slowly reared her right leg up into the sky. The men just behind her got quite a look up her skirt, but they were too concerned to enjoy it much.

“Try and stay awake, Snake.” she challenged.

With that, she blasted him right in the temple with a vicious knee strike. And then she repeated this, her bare knee smashing furiously into his head time and time again. His ears were ringing, his vision blurred by the end, as every shot came with a resounding thud. To his credit, most men would be knocked out by a single one of them. Unfortunately his toughness meant he had to stay conscious to feel every single knee.

Eventually this became a little too much to bear for one of the soldiers, who cried out, “That’s enough… that’s enough! Get off of him!”

Paz froze, just as she was rearing back for another blow. She simply let her leg hang there in the air as she looked back at the offending party. He was a few feet behind her, stepping meekly from the pack.

“I-I mean it…” he stuttered, clearly nervous. “You proved your point, okay? You’re a badass! We all see that! Y-You can stop now...”

Another two stepped forward from the crowd, one at either side of Paz. 

“Agreed. Lay off him now, alright?” one of them spoke up.

“That’s still our leader, dammit… show him some respect!” the other yelled.

Paz glanced back and forth between the three brave souls who spoke up. And then, with the most innocent smile yet and a lovely little giggle, she sent the most devastating knee yet right square into Big Boss’ nose. She made damn sure they all saw as she shattered it right before their eyes.

“That’s it!” the first man yelled. Frightened but loyal, he rushed in to his respected commanding officer’s aid and the other two followed suit, looking to close in on Paz from both sides and take her out at once.

The speed with which Paz stood up and turned towards the first man was unbelievable, nigh on imperceptible. And her first strike was all the faster, as she leaped up into the air and performed a splits kick, her skirt billowing as the bottom of her boots simultaneously smashed into the chests of the men at either side of her.

She landed just as the first man was finishing his charge. In a flash, she sent a palm strike hurtling towards his face. It was a wonder he saw it coming, but he did manage to stop in his tracks and bring his arms up to block.

Paz licked her lips at the opportunity, as her punch stopped just short, a feint of her own. Now that his hands were up lie, she quickly struck low, a vicious punt right between the legs. Her nearly bare leg was a blur until her shin exploded into his waiting groin. The man’s howl was blood curdling as he clutched his nuts and slowly sank to his knees. 

“I’ll send flowers to your testicles’ next of kin!” she mocked, as she leapt forward. Both of her solid, bare knees connected flush with his face, knocking him out before his back even hit the ground. And just to add insult to injury, she spread her legs, purely to ensure that she landed crotchfirst, her womanhood straddling his head.

As she sat like that, one of the two men she nailed with her splits kick was groggily standing up, while the other was still leaning on the shoulder of one of his comrades in the crowd. The first of these two approached Paz, but if he was trying to sneak up on her, he did a bad job, as she whirled right around to face him, grinding her groin against the face of her last victim in the process.

Nonetheless he came forward and aimed a kick her way. Staying perched on the man’s face, she blocked this, knocking his leg away with her palm. Similarly she blocked the attempted hammerfist that followed. “Shouldn’t you have the advantage here…? You have the high ground and all that, right?”

The third man emerged as well and stood beside his cohort, and the two of them both unleashed a flurry of blows that Paz was able to deflect from her seated position. After reveling in this for a few moments, laughing and shaking at her head at their surprising ineptitude, she began to counter.

A swift kick to the knee staggered one, enough for her to fire a double palm strike up into his chest that sent him stumbling backwards. For the other, a punch to the gut doubled them over, and an elbow to the side of the head sent them falling to the sand.

“D’aww… Big Boss taught you guys everything you know, huh? How sweet...” she cooed.

Finally, she stood and the crowd of men around her seemed to collectively take a step back, quite frightened of whatever Paz was… she certainly wasn’t anything like the mild-mannered girl they once knew.

The two within the circle still fought however. The one who took the palm strikes ran at her in pure desperation, and got a judo throw for his troubles. Paz held onto his arm and stomped heavily onto his face, making sure to grind her heel contemptuously right between his eyes.

She heard the other man trying yet again to sneak up on her. Paz responded by putting all of her weight down on the man’s face, as her free leg hiked up high into the air. She then performed a ballerina style twirl, the sole of her boot gnashing the man’s face as her extended leg landed in a roundhouse kick, square in the other man’s temple, knocking him out on contact.

Paz finished off the poor bastard beneath her by hopping up off of him and adjusting her body in mid-air, so as to come down in a wicked elbow drop, the very point of her elbow crashing into his head, putting his lights out as well.

After she got done toying with those three, she stood and looked over her shoulder at Snake who, impressively, was stirring, getting up on his hands and knees. With a series of very necessary backflips she closed the gap between the two of them, and proceeded to coil her leg painfully around his neck. Her muscular calves flexed to choke him as she looked out at the audience. 

“Anyone else feeling brave? Hm?” she asked. “Any of you other men feel like getting dismantled for this old man?”

Awkward glances were exchanged in the crowd, but none of the few dozen men had the courage to summon up an answer.

“D-Don’t bother...” Big Boss eeked out, even with her leg clamping around his neck. “I don’t… need help… it’s my fight… m-my… my battle...”

Paz released him, letting him tend to his throat as she faced him. With a finger to her mouth and a playful, inquisitive head tilt, she asked, “Fight? Battle...? I thought this was just a sparring match… hm. Well if you want a real fight, I wouldn’t mind showing you what I can really do… heheheh...”

With the visible dread of a man heading to his own funeral, Big Boss stood before her, struggling to even get his fists up anymore. He put the last ounce of his strength into a karate chop, but before it could even land, she sent a palm strike into his throat that stopped him dead in his tracks. As he moaned in pain, she sent a solid fist to his stomach, doubling him over for a fierce uppercut to his face. A roundhouse kick to his side bent him unnaturally, a front kick to that same exact knee got him falling forwards… but a leaping knee lift to the face reset his balance. 

He stood there, utterly defeated, punch drunk before her. Casually Paz glanced past at him, looking at the soldier directly behind Snake. “Hmhm… give my regards to Johnny.” she remarked, before proceeding to send a devastating jump kick to his chest that had him staggering backwards, right into Johnny’s arms.

The rather meek soldier looked out at Paz, terrified. 

“Throw him back to me.” Paz demanded.

Johnny looked at her, and then back at the broken down leader he’d sworn himself to so devoutly. He whimpered a bit, unable to make a move.

Paz stomped her foot into the ground and loudly ordered, “Throw him back to me!”

“S-Sorry about this…” Johnny squealed as he did as he was told, shoving Snake back towards Paz.

Paz grinded her boot into the sand, as though she were adjusting something, whilst Snake’s body limply, unwillingly stumbled her way. The beautiful blonde proceeded to unleash a roundhouse kick… but stopped just short of nailing him. She paused, just long enough to let this sink in to even his battered mind. Was she… having second thoughts about this clear betrayal? Was she perhaps, still his friend…?

These thoughts were short-lived, as with a rapid flick of her ankle, she actually managed to send her boot flying off of her foot, and it sailed right into Snake’s face. He was so wobbly at this point, that impact was enough to bring him down. He fell into the sand one last time, left deliriously looking up at the blue skies.

Oddly Paz wasn’t wearing any socks, so her right foot was now bare and enjoying the feeling of the sand as she lorded over Big Boss. She stepped forward and placed her foot on his face, wriggling her toes to further embarass him. Paz proceeded to smack him with her foot, lightly batting his cheeks time and again, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

She took a few steps back, making sure she was still in his view. “I realize it’s way too late for career advice… but if I were you, I think I’d have retired the day my dick stopped working.” she taunted. “It’s a clear sign I’d say.”

He groaned, and she giggled. “What, am I wrong…?”

Paz turned around and bent over just a bit, whilst hiking up her skirt. Panty shots were nice, but this was taking it a lot further, blatantly showing off her ass to him, even giving it a wiggle. 

Snake couldn’t have been more miserable. He’d been thoroughly beaten, humiliated in front of his most loyal, betrayed by a friend who he’d been tricked into grossly underestimating… and to top it all off, she had the greatest ass he’d ever seen. And there he was without a single tingle in his loins…

“Yes, that’s what I thought… how sad.” she lamented, dropping her skirt and facing him once again. “These days, those balls are only good for one thing.”

Sudden as could be, she let out a loud “HI-YAH!” as with her bare foot, she delivered a truly brutal kick to his crotch, the impact coming with an ear-splitting crunch. That FINALLY put him past his pain threshold, and he blacked out.

Placing her foot upon his groin and pressing down heavily, she scanned the men around her, looking them in the eye, one-by-one.

“...MSF has a new leader now. Understand?” she declared. 

Their terror was too great for them to dare resist, they all nodded and some even bowed to her presence. Paz smiled proudly, content in the knowledge that she was free to do whatever she wanted with her enemy platoon, including running them right into the ground…

As she looked down at Snake’s fallen form, she found herself shocked at how easily she’d destroyed such a famed soldier. Maybe he had gotten soft and lost his touch, maybe age had caught up to as much as she kept suggesting… but the beatdown was SO thorough and one-sided, she felt that probably didn’t matter too much.

Yes… even in his prime, he wasn’t ready to deal with her. She was just stronger, she was simply the better soldier, the true master of CQC. And thanks to her, the time had finally come for his long-awaited retirement...