Volga made the surprise

Andre had his head stick against the windowpane of the car, his sight was drawn by the outside while his attention was lost in the run of his thoughts, he didn't even realize that Matteo had his head resting on his shoulder while he was still in a deep sleep.

Jamal checked on them with a glance up at the mirror of the car, "we will soon be there", he declared.

Andre blinked as if he got waked up from his dream, he turned his head and nodded but didn't pronounce a word.

Jamal was wondering what was he thinking now as he figured out that his feelings must be quite messed up since many things just happened and he has now responsibilities and expectations to fulfill but Jamal just hoped that he would not let the stress consumed him.

A few minutes later and while they were watching Andre carrying Matteo on his back toward their apartment, Lina suddenly grabbed Jamal's hand and winked at him as if she had just read in his mind. The latter was a bit surprised and as he was about to ask her why she quickly declared.

"It's gonna be alright", she paused, "I know you have been worried about him since you have accepted him to join the crew, on our way here you didn't stop taking glances at him and even now you can't help looking preoccupied while looking at him".

"No, it's just-"

"You've already done a lot for him at this point, besides training him thoroughly and watching him at our best, there is nothing more to do, whatever happens from now on it's up to him". Jamal had claimed that he had learned to let loose since he had started to rely more on others and give them more responsibilities but in the end, it only applied to a restrained number of people and, as predicted, when it was other people's lives which were to be put at great risks, he just couldn't sit tight.

He stared at Lina for a long moment before he sighed while the corners of his lips were extending into a smile, there were not many people who could understand him truly but verily Lina was the only one there who could read him so well like an open book.

He chuckled before he let out a long sigh, "you sure know how to always find the good words".

"But I'm no less right, no?" Lina winked at him.

Jamal passed his fingers between Lina's as they were still holding hands, and after shaking slightly his head he responded, "No, you're totally right. From now on it's his journey, and thus whatever he does, that's on him. I just have to learn to accept that fact".

Lina got on her toes, leaned toward Jamal, and whispered to his ear, "Hey, what about going back home now, we look like creeps standing here and staring at those kids. Moreover, I'm very horny right now so if we don't quickly go back I might undress myself and jump on you in the middle of the road" she extended her tongue and licked Jamal's lips sensually.

The latter didn't pronounce a word, he just pulled her by the arm and they rushed inside the car under the hysteric laugh of Lina.

...

Andre knocked on Matteo's door before he passed the head inside to check on him.

"Hey man. Are you okay?"

Matteo was still on the bed, laying straight on his back with his two arms at both sides, after hearing his roommate's voice he tried to respond but it seemed that he could only move limited parts of his body. He curved his neck so he could raise his head as high as he could to take a look at Andre. "Hey," the boy said with an uncomplete nod.

Andre frowned while looking pretty worried, he opened Matteo's door a little more so he could pass the side half of his body. "Is that the position I left you last?"

"So as I thought you were the one who brought back", Matteo mumbled with his voice so low that Andre had to concentrate to understand what he was saying, but then in a louder voice, he continued,  "well you see, since I woke up I found myself not being able to move from this position. Just like Jamal had expected, that battle in my imaginary world has exhausted my body more than I could have imagined, and the result is that I can't move from where I am here".

With the hand he had in the inside of the room Andre pointed to the outside as he told him, "I have prepared the breakfast already, you want me to bring it to you here and helps you to eat?"

Matteo tried to shake his head but ended up doing a weird movement so he eventually gave up and responded normally, "don't bother yourself, I don't think this state of mine will last long, I will be able to move soon and go take it by myself", he paused, "I know you have to go somewhere else now, so don't worry I will be fine".

Andre looked not convinced, "even though you are saying that you are still stuck on your bed without any possibility of moving".

"I'm telling you it's okay, I will soon regain my force back, so don't make yourself late for wherever you are meant to be because of me".

Andre stared at him for a long moment before he finally accepted, he nodded, closed the door but came back two minutes later with a small table transporting the breakfast he was mentioning. He left it next to the bed and as he was leaving Matteo articulated a ''thank you'' for him.

"See you later," the young man said before closing the door.

Matteo let his head fall on the pillow with a slight smile on his face as he was pretty glad to have that guy as a roommate.

...

Outside, after Andre left the apartment, he ran into Volga at the parking of the building. She had her butt resting on the car, a pair of sunglasses on, her arms crossed just below her chest while staring at him as he was walking toward her.

When he arrived in front of her, she didn't even let him greet her but immediately told him to get in the car. When he asked her why she was there and why was she such in a hurry she just responded that she had a rematch to make. "I haven't said my last word yet" she declared as she was accelerating her pace.

...

Carla was already dressed and ready when she was in the living room waiting for Natasha to join her down there so they could go together to their training session with Jamal. She heard the door being knocked and she took a quick glance upstairs before she went to check who was at the door.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Volga there standing in front of her.

"Hopefully you haven't left yet" Volga sighed the moment she saw her.

Carla moved her sight and noticed Andre standing behind the woman.

"Hum... hey. I'm surprised to see you here this early in the morning" the young woman declared, "did something happen?"

Volga opened her mouth as she was about to respond but they suddenly heard Natasha's voice coming from behind Carla.

"I'm sorry Carla for being late, I couldn't find my shoes and it seemed that Dana has been playing with my wooden sword last night. Where are you?"

"Right here!" The latter shouted to indicate her position.

Natasha arrived and made almost the same surprised face Carla had done when she saw Volga and Andre.

She stared at them for a moment before she asked, "did something happen?"

"No" Volga shook her head before she immediately asked the two women, "are you both ready?"

Natasha and Carla glanced at each other confused as if they were waiting for the other to explain the situation. They finally turned toward Volga and nodded slowly, "but why-"

The woman didn't let them formulate their question, she grabbed them by their wrist and pulled them both toward her car, "let's get going already, you wouldn't want to arrive late for your training, right?" She installed them in the back as if they were just kids while Andre took the seat in front and together they went in direction of the barrier where Natasha, Carla, and Jamal usually train.

As expected, when they arrived Jamal was already there waiting, he seemed to have already finished his inspection as well as reactivating the security system as he was sitting next to the entrance door of the post looking relax, which meant that they could directly start the training.

He noticed something coming and so he stood up, he took a few steps forward and looked pretty surprised when he saw Volga's car approaching and when they got down, she and Jamal immediately went to face each other, as if he knew the reason for her presence there and that the latter was aware of that.

They stayed there staring at each other for a moment without either of them saying a word and, naturally, those on the sidelines became curious. Natasha and Carla slowly approached Andre, one leaned toward him to ask him if he knew anything of what was happening since he was already with Volga when she came picking them up.

The young man shook his head, "I don't know either", he paused to think a little bit before he added, "I don't know exactly the details but... but I think they got into an argument yesterday". The two women looked at him curiously and seemed to ask him more details, "when she arrived at the apartment earlier, she talked about not having said her last word, I deduced that they got into an argument and she came today to get back at him".

Both young women nodded together slowly before they reverted their sights toward Jamal and Volga when the man finally broke the silence while asking, "why are you here?" His tone was calm and even though he knew exactly the answer, he played the ignorance card.

Volga showed him a fake innocent smile as she replied, "I got bored staying alone in my home so I decided to come and observe you all training", she threw a glance on the side at Andre, "it's gonna be his first session with you, isn't it? I bet it's gonna be interesting, I want to see it".

Jamal scanned her from head to toe, "bored? At this hour Don should still be at home, so you-"

"No, he's not there" she immediately interrupted him, her fake smile still stuck on her face, "you know how devoted he is to his patients. He doesn't allow himself to slack off at all. That reminds you of someone?"

Jamal glanced at the three people on the side who, until there, were observing them silently, he made a move of the head telling them to go head and while they were away he looked again at Volga and, as he started taking some steps back, he told her, "as long as you just watching I won't stop you but just don't disturb us please".

"I would never do such a thing" she exclaimed while acting like she was vexed and surprised but quickly changed her expression into a malicious smile of victory, highlighting the fact that she won the first battle.

Jamal nodded but didn't try to hide his skepticism and wanted to let her know that he was still wary of her.

The training started by the warmups where Natasha and Carla were repeating some quite complicated moves Jamal had shown them beforehand, sword techniques for the former and particular spear techniques using two weapons for the latter, while Andre was repeating some simple moves of hand to hand techniques Jamal was showing him personally.

After that they began doing the sparring, keeping the same formation which was Natasha against Carla and Andre against Jamal, the latter set the rule which was that at every four fights they would be switching partners until the four of them would have been done sparring with everyone.

Without a surprise, Andre had lost every one of his duels but it was admirable how he didn't get discouraged by every single one of those losses, every time he would be thrown down or forced to give up, he would come back in the next fight more determined than before. He didn't even try to ask or complain about why was he the only one who wasn't using any weapons considering that all his opponents were significantly stronger than him and thus it was like adding another great advantage for them.

It was only at the end when he was so overly exhausted that he couldn't get up from the ground he was laying on, that Jamal bothered explaining to him. He said that he wanted to teach him the basics of how to defend himself against an armed opponent when he would only have his bare hands.

"Next time, I will initiate you on how to use a knife and we will be switching with these two until you become comfortable with and without a weapon".

After one long hour and a half of practice, Jamal announced the end of that day's training session.

Both Natasha and Carla went for somewhere to rest but as Jamal was about to do the same, Volga approached him.

He moved his eyes to look at her and noticed that she had changed her clothes. When she arrived earlier she was dressed casually with a sweatshirt and jeans but now she had a black sleeveless shirt on the top and a jogger pants on the bottom and a pair of sport boots. Obliviously, she was letting know that she came now expecting some action.

"I promise to not disturb your session but now I think it's time to discuss seriously the upcoming mission and my role in it" the woman declared.

Jamal looked like he was expecting that as he sighed longingly just after she made that statement. "we already talked about this and we agreed-"

"No" she immediately stopped him there to correct him, "we didn't agree. You decided, without asking my opinion".

Jamal stared at her for a short moment without saying anything and then took one step forward towards her as if to assert his authority, "yes. I decided to not include you. And I exposed you my reasons. You have friends, a fiance, a life to live, why would I be irresponsible enough to bring you on a mission where you could die and lose all those things you have?"

Volga remembered that they had this argument the day before, and though she had valued her right to decide for herself whether she wanted to take that risk or not, she was forced to recognize that Jamal had a good point there. The thoughts of her beloved Don and the life with him, she would leave behind if she took that risk, had invaded her mind, she couldn't find the strength to continue the argument. But now it was different, after having an honest conversation with Don, she was able to take off a huge load of worries, culpability, and stress which was weighing in her heart, and even though she still had that fear of not being able to see him again, she was kinda at peace with her decision.

Her voice wasn't shaking neither did she blinked when she responded, "because you need me". Jamal wanted to refute her and was already pointing to the two women, Natasha and Carla, as they constituted the main forces of his squad and thus his unique trump cards but Volga knew they wouldn't be enough and she didn't let him the time to say the opposite because that would be a lie from him, [I know you hate lying and I won't let you do it because of me] she said to herself. "Those girls won't be enough to do the work by themselves and you know it, so please do not try to put more pressure on them unnecessarily".

"Their principal role is to be the main force in the frontline to take out the huge number of enemies but the problem is that they would need back up, someone to stay close to them to watch their backs..."

She put in suspension for Jamal to reply and the latter pointed to himself as the one to fulfill that role and Volga carried on.

"But then there would need someone to cover your back and hold the enemy's ranks from straying from the fighting lines and go after the city and who would assume that role?"

Jamal looked cornered, he didn't find any suitable response to give for a while, and at a moment, Volga caught him trying to look at Andre and she immediately stopped him. "Don't be delusional, that kid can't do it". Then, they both, along with Natasha and Carla, simultaneously turned around to look at Andre, which made him startle in surprise.

"It's not with two classes of two hours where you showed him how to fight hand to hand and taught him how to hold a knife that would be enough to make him take on such a task", Volga then turned to tell Jamal, almost sounding like she was scolding him, "admit it already. You need me".

The man seemed to be out of arguments to refute her, but he just bowed his head and refused to respond.

Natasha was very surprised, she rarely saw him in such a speechless state, she remembered him losing arguments only against Lina. [This woman is the real deal] she thought while staring at Volga.

"Still" Jamal finally spat, he slowly raised his head to look at her in the eye when he gave his final, "we will figure out a plan, but you stay here. Safe with your loved one".

Volga let out a long sigh, "I see you won't change your mind like this", she paused and took a step forward toward him and declared, "then fight me in a duel, here and now. If you win I will renounce and promise to stay safe here quietly, but if I win you will have to accept take me in no matter what".

Everyone was surprised, they didn't know what to say about it, or rather the words couldn't come off their mouths. They stay a long moment staring at Volga wondering if she was truly serious about that.

Jamal finally broke the silence baby chuckling, "I knew it", he let out in a very low tone before he told her out loud, "come on, you know you can't beat me".

Volga had a confident smile as she was stepping back, "I wouldn't be so sure about that".

"He's right boss", Carla came to support Jamal's claim, "even I with our superhuman capacities we couldn't win a single time against him".

"Well, I'm not like you guys", as she was slowly taking her distance, turning her back to Jamal, she tossed something at him as she said "here. You have sweated a lot earlier, you might need this".

In the air, Jamal couldn't see very well the bottle she threw at him due to the sun rays hitting his eyes, he managed to catch it anyway, but when he realized it was already too late.

The metallic bottle exploded, liberating an amount of gas in the air just around his face. Jamal quickly threw the bottle away but he had already inhaled too much of the gas.

Suddenly, he saw Volga running at him and he was barely able to raise his arms to protect himself from any hits on the face. The former threw a hard front kick on his chest that pushed him two meters back, and after a few rolls, left him laying his face against the ground.

Everyone on the sidelines was shocked, Carla and Natasha instinctively stood up under the effect of the surprise Volga had created.

"A sedative gas, huh?" Jamal growled as he was standing up difficultly, he could feel his strength leaving him second after second making it hard to keep his balance after taking such a hit which normally wouldn't have had done this much damage in his normal state. "I see, you're cheating" he chuckled.

"A sedative?!" The two young women exclaimed at the same time.

"Surprise" Volga said dramatically, "that's how mere humans like me fight against superhuman monsters like you".

"I'm a normal human though"

"Stop kidding, we haven't stated any rules, you should have known that it was never meant to be a fair fight since you normally are stronger than everyone else", Volga shrugged, not feeling any shame or guilt at all, "I thought about putting it in your drink as I would give it to you but since I arrived you were already cautious of me moreover you would have smelled it immediately if I had given it to you as a drink".

"And you really think you're capable of beating me just with the help of a dose of tranquilizer?" Jamal smiled as he was putting his guard on.

"We will see".

Volga ran toward him again, Jamal tried to intercept her with a left punch but it was quite slow and Volga could avoid it quite easily. He threw a couple of punches but the woman kept avoiding them, she then decided to counterattack, going for some combo of punches but Jamal dodged them all as well.

The woman was surprised that he could so well despite the sedative, but she wasn't done yet, she charged forward with a high kick, now, aiming for his left side but Jamal blocked it with the left arm. He intended to grab her leg and throw her away but Volga was quicker, she jumped, put her other leg on his right shoulder, with her left leg she locked his neck tightly and pushed herself back, and in an acrobatic move she threw him away.

Jamal was on his knees with his hands on the ground as he was trying to stand up but Volga wasn't intending to let him room to breathe as she was already in front of him, she threw a kick in a bottom-up motion aiming for his face, hopefully, Jamal reacted in time as he quickly rose his upper half body to avoid, in extremis, the hit but Volga wasn't intending to let him go so easily. She stopped her leg up in the air and suddenly brought it back down, with force, going for an axe kick, this time touching the target.

Jamal received the hit on the top of his head and combined with the effects of the drug, which had been eating his strength and making him slower since he inhaled it, made him lose consciousness and he fell down, knocked out, face on the ground.