Inverted (a Neil / Tenet fanfic)

Chapter 3

Close combat wasn't her favourite sport.
Her rival, agent Jenny, had a wild attitude. She stared at her like a hungry predator.
But Crystal never allowed anyone to treat her as a prey.
Ives was cheering her loudly, but his noise was only an annoying detail that fuelled her anger, motivating her to fight with more zeal.

When she was about to knock out her arrogant rival, Neil called off the duel.
Crystal helped a pissed Jenny up, then turned to smile brightly at the blonde agent. But as usual, Neil ignored her and focused on complimenting Jenny instead, murmuring her some tips to improve her moves.

Was Jenny the kind of women that Neil preferred?
To Crystal she looked like any petty girl who overreacted and lingered too much on a mere training session, instead of aiming at bigger ideals.

In her first days at the training camp, Crystal had tried to learn more about Neil's tastes.
The Protagonist already acted like a friend to her, but the blonde, younger man was his right hand and she needed his friendship too if she wanted to deepen her spying job. She wasn't safe if someone like Neil was keeping his distance but at the same time always waiting for her to make a wrog step.
And if he already had any proof that she was a spy, he was a fool because he didn't denounce her to the Protagonist.
If he wanted her not to be recruited, then he failed when he had the chance to persuade his boss to send her away.

Protected by his diffidence and his silence, Neil managed to remain a mystery to her.
While Ives was an open book.
She trained on him to discover all his tastes and in few days about him she knew already more than she wanted to know.

"Are you hurt? You know that I'm good at healing any kind of wound and bruises" Ives teased, waking her from her brooding.
Neil had disappeared in another room with Jenny, so Crystal sighed and turned to offer a comforting smile to her friend.
"I'm alright. I keep any bruise and scar as trophies" she grinned and hurried to change her clothes.
She knew that Ives was spying her even when she close the door of the changing room. But again, it wasn't anything new to her.

Ives invited her to eat some meal together, looking excited to share some news.
"I persuaded the boss to make you join our more advanced training session, that is scheduled for tomorrow".
"How advanced?" she asked, letting a piece of bread roll between her lips and teeth in a way that made his jaw drop a little.
He blinked, confused by that distracted view, then explained "We are divided into two teams. The blue and the red one. We just need on work on team coordination. We are given a task, then the two teams have to fight each other to complete that task".
"Sounds like a rugby match" she commented with disapproval.
He chuckled, swallowing his Coke "Yes. It's just some easy practice, before the even more advanced trainings".
And again he used that mysterious tone he used whenever he tried to mention something bigger and more secret about Tenet.

At first she thought it was his trick to fascinate her and make her believe that Tenet was a sort of Wonderland.
Then she realized that he indeed had some secrets to keep from her and no matter how she tried to persuade him to give we more hints about that secret stuff, he kept his mouth shut.
She hoped that she didn't need to squeeze him between her legs in order to loosen his tongue.

"I'm not sure if I prefer that we end up in the same team or not. I'm sure it will be hot anyway" he winked with a malicious grin.
She laughed softly, enjoying the idea of something to look forward to.

In the next morning she was recruited in the blue team with Ives.
Each agent had just some blue fabric on the sleeves of their uniforms to distinguish them from the red team.
She and a dozen of other agents jumped on a grey truck that carried them to a new training field, an abandoned, decaying building.
Crystal was intrigued by the fact that also Neil was joining the mission, recruited in the red team with Jenny.
It was going to be fun, Crystal thought with new confidence.