With his finger pressed down on the trigger, Avery sent unrelenting blasts into Ezra’s stomach.
Even after firing several times, he did not stop. Not until the program announced his victory.
Fortunately, Ezra did not have any other tricks hidden up his sleeve, and the matched ended when he was determined to have been "killed" by Avery.
It had been a close battle that had swung back and forth, but Avery had managed to eke out a victory thanks to his risky strategy. Had he made a single misstep, Ezra would have taken him out easily.
"Now that you’ve won. Would you mind getting this power armor off me?" Ezra said, interrupting Avery’s internal celebration.
Turning his attention back to his opponent, Avery saw him slumped up against the wall and no longer resisting.
Nevertheless, the bulky Sterkur Power Armor still had its weight against him and was using its artificial muscles to hold the man down.
Of course, Ezra could have broken free if he wanted to, but that would have entailed damaging Avery’s power armor.
"Sorry, just give me a moment."
Pulling out his terminal, Avery sent a few commands to the Sterkur and it released Ezra and backed away a few meters.
Once he was no longer pinned to a wall, Ezra pushed himself off and began rolling his shoulders and twisting his body around to assess his condition.
"You got a little rough with me at the end there. Thankfully it seems that I’ve only got a few strained muscles. I was worried for a moment that you might have broken some of my bones." Ezra said with a light chuckle.
Despite having just lost, he did not seem to be particularly upset. He realized that he had been caught in Avery’s trap and had been outplayed.
This was a competition to see which one of them was more skilled, and while he had wanted to win, he was also satisfied to see how well his junior that had learned under the same mentor had performed.
"I suppose that this puts us at one win apiece. We’ll be deciding this in space with our ships."
With those parting words, Ezra left the training room and began gathering their things. As planned, the two of them would leave the station in five hours and put their piloting skills to the test. Whichever one of them lost this time, would end up becoming the other’s subordinate.
From his terminal, Avery gave his power armor remote instructions to head back to the storge facility and then exited the room.
As soon as Avery walked into the viewing room where the two Woest siblings had been watching the match, Kasandra leapt towards Avery and embraced him. He could feel both her happiness and relief as she held him.
"Yeah, I managed to pull it off at the end. Even if I had to get a bit reckless. Still, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you. Both of you." Avery said, turning his head a bit and looking towards Kaiden.
In response, the older Woest sibling simply scoffed and turned away, but Avery could tell from the slight rhythmic bouncing of his tail that he was happy to be appreciated.
And Avery meant what he said. The two of him had helped him train extensively and come up with strategies to beat Ezra.
Truthfully, it had been Kaiden that suggested he could jump out of the power armor to launch a coordinated attack with it. Though only as a reckless last resort.
"I’m a bit surprised. Ezra lost but he didn’t seem disappointed in the least. It was as if he really didn’t care about the results and was just enjoying himself." Kasandra commented, finding his behavior odd.
"Yeah, I got that feeling to. And while I can’t really be sure, I think I understand the reason." Avery said.
He then told Kasandra and Kaiden what he was thinking and the two of them nodded in understanding. In some way, the three of them were exactly the same.
"Still, you better not lose. I agreed to follow you, not anyone else. I don’t know if I’ll stick around if I have to start taking orders from him." Kaiden said brashly.
"Oh, are you just going to abandon your little sister then? Weren’t you a wreak when I left you alone for less than two weeks. Because I’m sticking with Avery whether you’re with us or not." Kasandra said teasingly.
Kaiden’s expression twisted into a deep scowl at this, and he huffed loudly before walking away. Of course, for Kasandra, it was obvious to tell what he would do in the end. Even if Avery lost, he would be coming with them.
"Well, I have no intention of losing. I don’t think it would be bad to work under Ezra, but I don’t want to follow someone else."
Determination in his eyes, Avery headed back to the Dauntless with Kassandra accompanying him. While Kaiden made his way to his on ship.
Along the way, he took care of the procedures to have his gear returned to his vessel.
By the time they got back, the power armor, laser rifle, and laser cannon had already been placed inside the cargo hold.
"So, what do you want to do for the next few hours? Run some more simulations?" Kasandra asked.
Avery thought about it for a moment but ultimately shook his head.
"I don’t think I’ll be anymore prepared with just a little bit more practice. I’ve done what I can. Now all that’s left is to let my efforts bring results. Also, I can’t imagine losing to another small craft when piloting the Dauntless."
Despite the importance of the upcoming battle, Avery did not feel any tension. He had managed to make it through what he considered the more difficult of the three challenges with one win and one lose. All that was left to do was to trounce Ezra out in space and prove which one of them had the better ship and piloting skills.