Chapter Text
The ground rushed up to meet Crosshair’s back, air forced from his lungs whilst a lightning-crack of pain shot along his spine. Without the protecting carapace of his armour, the bony ridge of his vertebrae took the brunt of the collision.
His involuntary grunt of pain morphed into a snarl as an attempt to launch back to his feet was forcibly aborted. A sturdy cybernetic knee dug into his solar plexus, effectively pinning him whilst also preventing him from recovering his breath, and a strong hand gripped his right wrist whilst the solid bar of a scomp pressed across his left.
Echo’s grinning face swam into view, faint pink spots of exertion showing in his pale cheeks.
“Yield.”
Crosshair bucked ineffectually, trying to free his arms to no avail. His long legs should have given him the leverage to free himself, but Echo seemed to have planned for that already, positioning himself at just the wrong angle for Crosshair to get off a decent kick.
The knee dug harder into his chest and Crosshair gasped and coughed.
“Yield,” came the demand again, something between challenge and laughter dancing in Echo’s honey-dark eyes. The sniper glared sullenly as he went limp and stopped fighting.
“Echo wins,” announced Tech, tallying the victory on his datapad. “His third straight triumph in hand-to-hand combat against Crosshair.”
Hunter looked pleased, and Wrecker led an enthusiastic round of applause. Echo’s knee eased off of Crosshair’s chest and he released his arms, and Crosshair immediately pushed to his elbows to cough and hack the breath back into his lungs.
“Sorry,” said Echo with a remorseless grin. He crouched back on his heels, offering his hand. “Good match.”
Crosshair shot him a wary look before reaching up to take his hand, letting Echo pull him up to sitting. He draped his arms over his knees, shaking his head to clear his thoughts as he poked sulkily at Echo’s legs.
“I liked you better broken.”
Echo threw his head back with a laugh, genuine and carefree.
“Sore loser?”
“Something you will come to know quite well,” supplied Tech with a smirk. Crosshair flipped a rude gesture his way as he sagged back to the floor, chest heaving.
“C’mon.” Echo pushed to his feet, nudging Crosshair with his prosthetic toes. “I’ve got to fight Wrecker next…”