Hawk and Dove

"Genesis"

Sweat poured down Dan's face, droplets collecting at his temples and in the ends of his hair. His breathing came in shallow pants. He leaned further forward, hands on his knees, trying to gather himself a bit. He wasn't used to sweating, because his body was always unnaturally warm and it never needed to cool itself down. But then again, he had never exerted himself like this before.

"Maybe that was too hard?" Phil offered sheepishly, though he also sounded out of breath.

"No," Dan said firmly, "Just... give me a second to adjust."

Phil didn't answer, but his feet stilled on the mat where Dan could see them. He always knew Phil was slightly taller than he was, but Dan didn't expect him to pack so much power in those few centimeters. Even without using his abilities, he was very close to completely overpowering Dan.

"Come on, Hawk," Jim said from outside the sparring ring, "No adversary is going to give you a second to adjust."

Dan straightened and narrowed his eyes. "No adversary is going to tell me I can't burn them," he retorted.

Jim simply crossed his arms. "You want to know how to fight, you have to learn how to throw a punch," he said, "And take one. But it seems as though you can already do that."

"I'm sorry!" Phil said quickly, his voice muffled since his hands were pressed over his mouth.

Dan looked over and waved his hand. "Stop apologizing. This is what we signed up for."

"Let's go, boys, we don't have time," Jim said, tapping his foot impatiently.

Dan huffed, because he was right. Combat training was not the most pleasant thing in the world, but they had to do a lot of it if they were going to be ready to take on MI5 agents. And they had to do it quickly, as they were racing to train up before the labs could make more enhanced agents with Dan's blood. According to Felix and Marzia, they were closer and closer every day.

Dan and Phil had the idea to train with Jim as just the two of them. The entire team was going through it, but as the top authority, the two of them needed to be good to set an example. So, every day, they got an extra two hours with faster paced lessons. After a week of basics, they were onto sparring. That's when Dan discovered that even though he had a good grip on the heat now, he still had so much to work on.

Dan looked over at his partner. "Let's go again," he said.

Phil nodded. Dan took a breath and raised his hands in front of him, and waved Phil forward. Then they started again. Phil aimed a punch for Dan's face but he ducked under it, grabbing Phil's wrist and slinging him across the ring. He stumbled and Dan took a moment to breath, but then Phil was on him again, and he took a well-aimed elbow to his ribs. Dan sucked in a breath, ignoring the bloom of pain, and raised his arm for his own strike. They each blocked a few blows to their faces and then Dan kneed Phil's stomach. He stumbled and doubled over, and Dan jumped on his back and put his arm around Phil's neck. He pulled so that Phil's back was against his chest and tried to think of what to do next. And just when Dan thought he had the upper hand, Phil dropped to his knees and flipped Dan right over his shoulder. Dan landed hard on his back, the mat making a soft 'poof' noise as he did.

"Goddammit!" Dan exclaimed, kicking his legs in frustration.

Phil leaned over him, looking sheepish. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Dan sighed. "It's not your fault I suck," he replied dejectedly, "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said with a nod. He walked around and held out a hand to help Dan up. When he was back on his feet, Jim cleared his throat.