It all started back at the academy, Skipper could remember it like yesterday.
He was young, reckless, arrogant.
He had just secured a position as a overseer of a class of cadets, something had happened to one of his students, and he stepped in.
Things had been fine, for a long time since. But in his foolishness, his arrogance,Skipper had failed to recognise or even consider it may not all be over and done with since that day, the day Agent Karsakov was expelled from the academy.
The day he noticed agent N Kowalski was being attacked victimised and bullied by a sadistic fuck…
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Skipper strode down the clean polished floors of the academy. Coffee in his right hand clipboard in the other.
Excitement bubbled just below the surface, but eked out a little at the corners of his mouth, and through the glistening of his ice blue eyes.
He was excited about this one.
A student from Poland had shown extreme talent for equations and hacking, although Polish he had lived in America for most of his life, and was on the quiet believed to be the next great scientist of the 20th century.
There was a slight downside though. Cadet Kowalski has expressed a disregard for his own health, Insomnia spanning the whole of his life, and an unwillingness to let his body rest. This however made his accomplishments all the more astonishing.
Skipper would never tell anyone, but over the years he had noticed that the best of the best, the most talented agents, where the most eccentric, the most damaged, the most alien to other cadets, Kowalski was just the sort to become one of the greats.
He could see him now, while striding through the heavy metal doorway into a small rectangle room, two way glass giving him a clear view of the science programme students at their stations.
Agent kowalski looked a little like himself, thick sleek black hair and ice blue eyes.
However this is where the similarities ended. While skipper's body was well built and strong, and although he would never admit it slightly shorter than most agents, kowalski was tall and thin, limbs pale and long.
So much so that he looked comically cramped by the tall lab chairs and table that caught his knees every time.
He had cheekbones that could cut glass and dark sweeping eyebrows that seemed to move more than any other feature on his face, and dark bruise like marks beneath blue eyes. His jaw bone was defined and his neck very thin. He looked like he had been stretched in a taffy factory.
Like most lab going agent's he wore science blacks, though Kowalski liked to embellish the look with braces and a green sweater. There was nothing however he could do about the way his trousers seemed to have had an argument with his shoes, shiny black brogues with the laces tied neatly in a bow a good inch away from the trousers.
"So waddya think boss?" asked ella, her not so inconspicuously chirpy australian accent colouring the empty gray room. Skipper surveyed the other side of the glass, students carrying out various experiments.
Noticing kowalski sat patiently at his table reading a book by someone called Schrodinger.
His legs were folded elegantly on his stool and there was no equipment to be seen on his desk.
"Whats up with Kowalski?" asked skipper in disbelief,astonished that a student who dedicated his entire life to science was not even bothering to carry out his experiment. Kowalski's file said he thrived off challenges, had he just given up?
"Oh, Agent kowalski finished his experiment 33 minutes ago, this is his result" Ella revealed, a slight scathing tone coloring her voice, no surprise to skipper, Ella had failed her science program and had transferred years ago, she had never quite let it go.
Ella then produced a glass vial and walked over to the bland grey table in the corner of the room, a glass box sat in the centre.
She then produced a block of some sort of metallic substance and placed that in the glass box resting on the table. She dropped a few drops of the liquid onto the metal and jumped back quickly as the metal was reduced to ash.
Skipper was overcome by a strange mixture of shock,fear and finally admiration. Kowalski was exactly what he thought, intelligent and dangerous, however weak his body may be.
Kowalski was strong in mind, and muscles although time consuming to gain, would surely appear quickly on such a determined strong of mind Cadet.
That's it thought skipper, He planned to put Kowalski through physical training to be part of a team. Skipper wouldn't let on, but it was not going to be just any team…
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Skipper had been working late, finally throwing his brown coffee cup into the trash and shuffling his papers with a sigh. He had never wanted to be a pencil pusher, but after Manfredi and Johnson…
He needed time. Time to digest what had been done, and on the quiet assess cadets to put together his own team from. He was getting old, old for an agent that is. He didn't want to be put on the shelf. Accruing a team was the perfect solution.
There was a saying in his old HQ, never swim alone. Talented young agents and an old dog who knew all the tricks in the book would be seen as the perfect combination. But…
He was somewhat more unconventional in his choices. The higher ups had always begrudgingly gave him some leash with these things, because the fact of the matter was, HQ never agreed with his choices, but he had some track record when it came to mission success. Skipper got the job done. His plan could not fail, he was there to train the agents. Every step of the way. He would brief Kowalski in the morning, then training would begin.
Skipper shut his office door, entering the 16 digit key and turning into corridor 1b. As he was walking, admiring the elegant machinery of the labs in the science section of the HQ he heard a loud jarring noise, like metal being blown apart, but what to him in that moment and context sounded like someone being thrown into a locker.
A hushed soft voice drifted into his ears only to be cut short by a harsh angry sounding one, then another clang. He walked more swiftly, footsteps growing louder and heavier.
easier to hear…
He turned the corner swiftly to see two figures, one tall and broad with a crew cut, the other… tall and thin with short back and sides… dark black hair… and blue frightened eyes.
Kowalski straightened up where he was leaning heavily against a dented locker,chest heaving.
Agent Korsakov somewhat in his space leaning back and straightening up, his whole demeanor changing at the sight of a superior officer.
Skipper didn't like the look in his eyes. If what was going on was going on, that look was obvious, 'try and stop me' the cold emerald eyes said 'like you care' they taunted.
And Korsakov would be right. Most of the other commanding officers cared little about what went on on the quiet. Choosing to ignore things in favour of not getting involved, less work for them.
Unfortunately for Korsakov Skipper was not one of these Officers. Skipper sent a dangerous look towards Korsakov, staring into his eyes with a madness that told of a violent life, a look which scared even the most hardened criminal, 'I know what you're doing' said Skipper's eyes, 'and I don't like it.' he thought.
' is everything alright boys?' he questioned, sending a quick questioning look to kowalski who gave nothing in return, just the same scared stare.
When nothing happened Skipper spoke ' good job today Kowalski..' he said with false joviality 'you should go home and get some rest'...
slowly, but too fast to be natural, Kowalski peeled himself off the locker and made his escape.
Korsakov gave a triumphant smirk, but before kowalski had got through the large key coded doors, skipper spoke again, "I expect to see you up bright and early for physical training tomorrow, you're going up in the world kowalski, we want you to be a fully fledged field agent.'
Ha, thought skipper, that wiped the smirk of korsakov's smug little face. Kowalski grinned, hands stilling where they were entering complex code, they shared a look. 'Thank you skipper!' he exclaimed, 'thank you'.
Skipper smiled a kind smile, eyes dancing, Kowalski had earned this.
'Now you get some rest Kowalski, you're gonna need it!' smiled skipper.
Kowalski slided through the door with a spring in his step. Leaving behind a miserable and angry looking Korsakov. Skipper turned to him
'YOU on the other hand are slipping, I expect more from you Korsakov, much-much-MORE' Skipper punctuated each word with a tilt of the head and a threatening look which had the bully deflating,looking only at his dirty shoes.
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Kowalski's pov
Kowalski stared at the tall gawky figure in the mirror, stood wrapped in a dark blue towel and head cut off slightly by where mirror ended and wall began.
He sighed, removing the towel and rubbing it through his thick black hair to dry it.
He looked up at his thin body and took a deep breath, he wasn't weak, Skipper himself had put him on the training programme… he just needed some practise.
He thought these things to himself, but a small part of himself curled away in a dark corner to cry. Was he really good enough for this? He looked at his pathetic frame, Skipper couldn't have meant it as a joke- Could he?
He then noticed something strange on his pale white skin. The mirror was somewhat steamy so he rubbed away some of the condensation, and noticed a dark brown mark on his shoulder… twisting round he noticed it extended down towards his back, and he then noticed pale green ones on his arms, and wrists.
Fucking Korsakov. He looked through the door of his en suite to his dorm room wall. Sheets and sheets of equations code and timetables, pinned up with such precision if the board was white the arrangement would become a Conceptual piece of art.
FUCK.
There, on a tiny scrap of paper in his spidery cursive was the dress code for training…
A white sleeveless shirt and grey sweatpants… he was fucked. As if it wasn't bad enough he had to show his face in the dreaded gym, ripped men and women surrounding him and giving him funny looks, he had these bruises to answer for.
Kowalski's mind whirred and spun, and he came up with a solution, he grabbed his car keys and set off to the closest shopping complex.
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Hello, I hope you like this! I have no beta so I apologize for any mistakes I made. If you liked this please review! Your reviews will motivate me to carry on with this story, I have a little more written and a huge plot planned out, but your comments may give me ideas and influence my writing, as well as indicate whether or not I should continue, have a great day! Brightsky x