I punched him in the face, and he dropped to the ground. I stared at him for a second as he held his nose, but he didn’t get back up. Pathetic.

I started to turn back to Carl, but silence gripped the room.

Trouble. This was trouble.

Then there was cursing. Some even called me a few inappropriate names. Chairs scraped against the floor as men got up from their tables. They clearly hadn’t heard about the lessons I’d been giving everyone or about my sparring with Ahiga.

I rolled my eyes and held out a finger—asking Carl to wait again—before I turned to the room.

Everyone was now on their feet staring at me. “This one decided to lick my face,” I said, pointing to Asshole. “This one tried to defend him.” I pointed to Asshole’s BFF. “I’m not here for trouble, but I don’t enjoy being manhandled.”

“Fuck that,” someone muttered.

I shook out my arms, relaxing my muscles. “If you want to try me, please do. It would be my pleasure.” I’d been training people on my day off and after the shifts when I didn’t end up needing nanos, but training and sparring were different than an all-out fight. I wouldn’t have to go easy on these men. That had me grinning like it was Christmas.

This was going to be fun.

The first guy started at me, and from then on, time was a blur of fists and blocks.

Two came at me at once, but I dropped down, sliding on the floor between them, and grabbed their ankles and twisted. Bones and tendons snapped.

I kipped up and kept going, one after another after another. One move to the next. Like each opponent was a piece in a larger game.

A man came at me with a bottle. I caught his arm as he swung it at me, spinning myself into his body. I elbowed him in the stomach as I wrenched the bottle out of his grasp and kicked him square in the nuts.

Another grabbed at me, and I swung the bottle at his head. The glass broke as he crumpled to the ground.

The sound of glass breaking seemed to mark a pause in the fighting. I was now holding a weapon, and no one seemed confident enough to come at me anymore. They were all looking around at each other, trying to figure out what everyone else was going to do before acting.

That was lame.