Chapter 13:

Ace smiled and laid back on his chair, he was pleased, he could finally say he had gotten good at CSGO. He had memorised every map, learnt the appropriate call outs and his aim was now abysmally better than it had been when he first started. He was not at a pro-level, but he believed he had gotten good enough to stream the game, and finally begin to achieve the goal the shadow had set for him: "Entertain". Nevertheless, he knew he could not make such a reckless decision such as streaming without first asking for permission, his grandmother would first want him to prove he was good enough to not embarrass her lineage. She would probably also want to discuss it with her security advisors, and if there was even a remote chance it could risk a security breach, she would most likely ban him from playing at all.

He called Samantha, but as usual, Veronica picked up,

"Hello, this is Mrs Goldsign's assistant, how can I help you?"

"Hey Veronica, I was wondering if Samantha would have any time to meet at some point today?", he asked politely, knowing that if there was a spot, Veronica would ensure to tell him.

"No, I'm sorry, she has appointments and meetings the whole day - for the rest of the week, in fact, if you want to, I can ask her to cancel if it's truly important…"

"No of course not Veronica, you know better than that.", Ace said, imagining the approving smile Veronica had on the other side of the line.

"Ok, I hope you have a nice day then young master"

"Ace please", but she had already hung up.

Ace knew that if he made his grandmother cancel an appointment or meeting in order to ask her if he could record himself playing games, it would be the last thing he did in a long time game-related. If there was a tenet that Samantha had engraved unto him it was that you never broke your word - unless it benefited you and there would be no repercussions of course, but those cases should be few and far between, or so Ace hoped since that usually meant getting rid of a competitor in a usually gruesome manner, making of his 'accidental' death an example to all her fellow business 'friends'. Therefore, Ace knew it would be better just wait for some time, honing his skills and enjoying his skills while waiting for Samantha to have time to meet him.

Ace packed a sports bag and walked out of the attic, he walked for a while and arrived at the gym, saying hello to the receptionist as he walked by, scanning his card at the entrance. He went to get changed and stowed his bag in one of the lockers. He then walked through the small tunnel and arrived at the mat area. There was a large expanse of marts, then in an adjacent room, workout equipment and machines were dotted around the floor. In addition to this, in the middle of the mat area, there was an octagon, larger than the one usually used in UFC fights but not by much. There were already two people fighting, a big Caucasian male, and a leaner man, with tan skin - probably Brazilian, if Ace was to guess from all the BJJ [A/N Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu] moves he was displaying. The fight seemed to have just started, shown by the lack of sweat on their bodies, and Ace watched by he stretched, loosening his muscles, he had no real need for it but the other people in the gym looked at him disapprovingly the first time he wished to spar without having stretched first, and from then on, he did it out of force of habit.

The Caucasian male sent out a wide hook, and the Brazilian man grinned, leaning back slightly, however, the hook seemed to have been a feint, as the white man lunged and hit the other man with a hard punch to the ribs. Ace flinched at this, the Caucasian male was big and weighed far more than the Brazilian man, and he seemed to really pack a punch. The Brazilian man heaved but remained standing - a true feat of strength, he backstepped rapidly, trying to circle the white man and gain some reprieve, however, the Caucasian man gave him no chance, he dashed forward feetfirst, in a step-through front kick, aiming at the stomach, if ti landed, the fight was over. However, muscle memory saved the Brazilian man, he gripped the leg and twisted it sideways in a pivoting motion, while sticking his foot out so that the white man would fall, indeed he fell, but he was also able to pull the BJJ fighter down with him, he attempted to pull himself up into a more favourable stance, but once the fight was on the floor, Ace knew it was over, and as he expected, a few minuted later, the white man tapped out.

Due to his enhanced brain, and the large number of books and videos he had gone over, Ace was able to notice things much faster than your average 'good' fighter, this along with his enhanced reflexes should have won him most matches, but unluckily, his not fully developed body stopped him from being able to fully keep up with his thoughts. However, he knew that this would only be a disadvantage for a few years, once he developed some more, he would be in a much better position.

"Whatcha doing there tiger?", a female voice asked him, Ace turned over, already smiling, he saw a brawny woman looking down at him, she was tall, taller than him by a few centimetres, and she had more muscle on her form that Ace had. Behind her, another man stood, looking over her shoulder, he was dark-skinned and extremely intimidating, he stood well over 190 centimetres and seemed to be made of muscle, nevertheless, he was not a bodybuilder, his muscle was built with a function: to complement his fighting style. Contrary to his appearance, Terry - as the man was called, was one of the kindest people in the gym. He and Tessa, the woman that greeted Ace, were one of the first ones Ace had met, and they had ensured that he was treated well by all members of the club, no one wanted to fight neither of them. Tessa could brawl and wrestle with the best of them and Terry's boxing was fearsome, Ace had spared them a few times, but even with them going easy with him, he had come not even close to beating them.

"So, Ace, are you sparring today?"