"Hitch, you expect me to believe that Ruby actually took down Hog Trotter with her own fighting skills, without stealing a gadget from the room. Please stop trying to cover for her, and just tell me the truth," LB requests, extremely weary.

Though, to be fair to her, she had had a long night, as it was hour until midnight, and the last time she'd seen Ruby try to fight, key word is try, Ruby had ended up getting thrown on the mat at least fifteen times.

"Look LB, I know she was bad the last time you saw her. She did terrible, even with her knowing kung fu and a bit of aikido, I won't deny that. But, after what happened there, I decided to train her a bit, and, she's a lot better. She's took me down more than I'd care to admit, and I wasn't holding back. She's good, especially at seeing where her opponent's weakest point is and using it against them, which with Hog Trotter's lame leg, was pretty easy." Hitch says, getting tired of having to explain to LB what happened, since this is the fifth time he's had to go over everything.

"Look, I know you still don't believe me, so why don't you come and see for yourself. We're supposed to practice a bit tomorrow, so you can come and watch, maybe even spar a bit, if you want to," Hitch offers, knowing LB won't refuse him, before getting up and leaving, knowing that both of them need this to end, before it ends in a shouting match, as a few different debriefs have.

The next morning, Hitch wakes up to Ruby running through the house, and, through bleary eyes looks at the time, and sees that she has twenty-one minutes until she is tardy, and school is twenty minutes away.

He sighs, once again wondering why he got stuck with this job, but nonetheless throws on some clothes, and starts the car, waiting for Ruby to run out here for her bike.

"Hey, kid, I thought I'd take you to school today. Are we still on for this afternoon?" Hitch remarks when Ruby comes bounding into the garage and if Hitch doesn't break some major traffic laws, they're going to be about five minutes late.

Ruby doesn't respond, besides jumping into the passenger seat, and grabbing out some math homework that hasn't even been started.

"Procrastinator," Hitch accuses and Ruby just rolls her eyes but doesn't deny it, probably because she can't.

Hitch somehow miracles gets Ruby to school, not only on time, but two minutes before the bell to begin school rings. How many speeding tickets he should expect however, isn't to be mentioned.

After all, Ruby once jokingly said that they should use his driving as a scare tactic to see if they could get villains to talk, but, she doesn't know how close to the truth she might have been. After all, new villains who are in above their head, have been fairly pale faced and ready to cry when they get to Spectrum after Hitch drives them there.

Ruby suffers through the usual boring school day, getting her only sparring match from Mrs. Drisco since her and Begwell are on civil terms still, though that could end any day with how much Del has been mouthing off.

The only thing worth noting, however, is when her arm that she broke back in September started to throb a bit, but, considering she didn't really let it properly heal and kept on using it, she was used to this happening. Sure, practice with Hitch would hurt a bit, but it would be fine.

She goes to the Spectrum gym after school, and starts stretching and warming up, knowing Hitch will be here soon enough.

And he does come along, talking to someone, but, when Ruby hears the traditional gravelly voice, she freezes.

Why is LB here? Hitch and I talked about it after the last time she saw me training, and I told him how I just got nervous about her being here and assessing me, and let it get in my head. He told me that she wouldn't come and watch me spar anymore. Ruby thinks frantically, inwardly panicking.

Hitch comes over to Ruby, as LB takes a seat, ready to watch what is about to unfold.

They get in the middle of the mat, and both take a stance, then Hitch makes the first move, and the spar commences.

There are punches being thrown right and left, a couple of kicks, and a lot of dodging and weaving in, for both parties. After all, Ruby knows that if she's going to stand a chance against Hitch, she has to be fast and aggressive, since she stands no chance of tiring him down, and the idea of her having the size advantage is laughable.

The fight comes to a halt after about ten minutes, when Ruby finally trips Hitch up, and he falls to the ground, and Ruby smiles, happy that she won this round, especially in front of LB.

That is, until she hears LB speak up, "That's fairly impressive Hitch, especially since I don't think that she was holding back. But, she has been sparring against you a lot, so she knows your pattern, so she had the advantage in this fight. To truly see her skills, we need to spar."

Ruby tries not to show fear, pretending that her breathing rate increasing is because of the fight, and not because of her panic.

She goes over, takes a drink of water, and closes her eyes, gathering her thoughts and how she's going to do this. That and trying to ignore her arm, which is still aching.

She goes back and takes her place on the mat, and LB also takes a stance, her warming up while Ruby is taking a break.

Once again, someone else makes the first move, and Ruby reacts to LB's punch, by sliding out of the way.

After that, she goes to punch LB, with a set-up in mind. LB catches her arm, and twists it behind Ruby's back, which Ruby pretends to kneel down in pain.

When LB starts to relax her grip slightly, Ruby sweeps her legs out from under her, expecting LB to let go as she falls.

And that's when everything goes wrong.

LB doesn't let go, and instead falls over Ruby, still having an iron-tight grip on arm.

LB tumbles off Ruby, still gripping her arm, and Ruby tries to tear away, to get LB's grip off of her arm which is positively throbbing, but LB won't let go.

And that's when it happens. LB is on the ground, and tugs Ruby's arm, planning on getting her to fall to the ground and continue this fight, to see how good she does, when everyone in the room hears a crack, and Ruby does her best to suppress whimper of pain.

LB immediately lets go and gets up, trying her best not to show worry. Ruby pushes herself up, and moves away from LB, taking a few deep breaths.

Hitch rushes over, feeling angry with himself. He knows what Ruby was trying to do; end the fight quickly, but with a showy fashion so she doesn't have to spar with LB long, but still impresses her. He also knew how she feels about sparing with LB watching, and knew she had to be nervous and not thinking straight. He thought this would help her learn to think when she's nervous, but clearly not.

"Kid, are you okay?" He asks, not even bothering to try to keep the worry out of his voice, though, to Ruby's luck, Blacker and Froghorn walk into the door to use the gym right at that second.

"What's wrong little girl? Hurt yourself by trying to gain some muscles?" Froghorn snarks, to which Ruby cooly snaps back.

"Oh, wow, I didn't know that a desk worker like you even knew where the gym was, or how to work out."

"He does have an idea, Ruby; are you okay?" Blackers asks, trying to keep those two from getting into a snark battle, forgetting who all is in the room.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine, Blacker. I just broke my arm again sparring, that's all." Ruby dismisses it, and Froghorn scoffs in disbelief.

"Please, if you broke your arm you would be on the floor crying."

"Actually, I broke it before, and I didn't cry by the way. So, I know what a broken arm feels like, and it's broken. The fact that it's already swelling, and you can see a knot forming on either side shows that it's a buckle fracture." Ruby says, gritting her teeth as she takes her hand off the arm, showing the swelling and the knot on either side forming.

LB's brain finally kicks into action, and she puts her hand on Ruby's shoulder, and starts to steer her out of the gym, towards Dr. Harper's office.

"LB, what's the matter?" Harper asks as she sees LB come in, and then sees Ruby cradling her arm, and knows what happened.

"Broken arm again, Redfort?" Harper questions, before immediately probing her arm, and leading her to the X-Ray room.

Knowing that Ruby is in safe hands, and that she is no longer needed, LB leaves and misses out on an important conversation between Ruby and Harper.

"So, LB broke your arm while sparring huh? This hasn't been the first time."

"It was my fault. I tried to do a move I've only seen in movies and never in real life, but it seemed so simple and easy. I thought it would hurry up and end this spar, and I would never have to spar LB again. Not only that, but she would stop pestering Hitch about me being such a bad fighter. I was too over-ambitious and anxious, that I was being stupid and not thinking straight. And now I'm paying for it." Ruby replies glumly, and Harper smartly doesn't comment, but starts taking x-rays, and, to no one's surprise, Ruby's arm is broken.

LB travels to her office, and enters to find Hitch in there.

She sits down, not behind her desk, but in the chair beside Hitch, and puts her head between her hands.

"It's my fault," She whispers hoarsely.

"No, LB, if it's anyone's fault it's mine. I knew Ruby gets nervous when you watch her spar, but I thought that this would help her learn how to fight while nervous. I should have known that she would try her best to end the fight as soon as she could, while still looking like she was a good fighter." Hitch says, trying to take the blame, as he feels that he deserves it.

"No, Hitch. If I had just believed you, none of this would have happened. Or if I hadn't insisted on sparring with her. Or, if I could have seen what she was doing, or if I had let go for goodness sake! If I had just let go when I feel like what I should have, she would be fine. Instead, she's having to get a cast on her arm, again, twice in one school year both because of me. Both of them because I got her involved in Spectrum, and she's paying the price, getting herself hurt because of this." LB replies, her voice full of pain, and if it had been anyone else, Hitch would have wondered if they were going to burst into tears.

"LB, no-" He starts, before LB interrupts.

"No, Hitch. Bradley made me promise him, when I became leader, that I wouldn't bring a child into this world. I broke that promise, but I justified it as this had to be done. It turns out she would have been brought in anyway, with what secret lies in her eyes.

"But, Hitch, before he died, before he went to rescue her, he made me promise to protect her. To keep her out of harm's way no matter what. And, with every mission I send her on, even though she's trained, I get her hurt. And now, now, I hurt her myself. I broke her arm." LB says, before getting up and leaving Hitch alone.

Hitch sighs, but leaves the office, just wishing that LB wouldn't feel that way, and see that it was his fault for setting this up, especially with the background knowledge that he knew.

Hitch goes and collects Ruby, and she's silent the entire car ride home, expecting a lecture on being smart during a battle and not panicking, but it doesn't come.

"Ruby, it might be a good idea to stay away from LB for a couple of days. She needs some time to cool down and think things over, since she thinks that it's her fault." Hitch says as they pull into the drive, and Ruby has a shocked look on her face.

"But it's my fault. I'm the one who did the move without thinking of what could happen. If I had been smarter, and not tried a move I didn't train for, I wouldn't be hurt," She starts to protest, and Hitch just shakes his head.

"That's where both of you are wrong. It's my fault, since I set the whole thing up, even though I know how you feel about LB watching you spar, and I knew that she would probably want to watch you spar," He answers solemnly and Ruby looks confused, and then starts to laugh.

"I fail to see what's so funny about this," Hitch growls, slightly confused.

"It's that we all blame ourselves for this, when, in reality, it was a freak accident. The chances of it happening again are practically zero. It was an accident, yet we all think that it's our fault, for something that we didn't cause, and have no control over."

Hitch just shakes his head, but realizes the truth in Ruby's words, and makes a mental note to tell LB, knowing that that will make her feel better and laugh.

It's just something that sounds so much like what Bradley would say. Bradley always knew how to make LB laugh, and she does that so little now. She mainly plays the blame game, but especially when Ruby gets hurt, for reasons Hitch has ideas, but has enough common sense not to voice them.

And, LB did find it amusing. She smiled that soft smile that she usually saved just for Bradley, when he said something funny or stupid like that, and just shook her head, saying that the kid was loyal and smart. 

Fast forward two months, the day Ruby gets her cast off, she makes a remark about being ready for round two, both LB and Hitch respond in unison, "No!", which causes all of them to start laughing. 

After all, in the worlds of the great Bradley Baker "Sometime, freak accidents, cause pain, but,  later on, you learn how to laugh when they happen. After all, all three things make up more of life than anyone thinks, or what they want to admit."

He said this while in the X-Ray room, after getting his leg broken, while sparring with a certain girl and trying to do a crazy move, but then, she imitates it perfectly while he's still venerable. 

This was also the time that he realizes a fourth thing makes up life; love, which he felt for the girl who was blaming herself for him being an idiot, which, to this day, she still does far more than anyone will ever know.