Chapter 6:
- Teamwork –
0700 Hours - May 20, 2545
Zulu Training Ground - Sparring Cage
"Alright kids," a Marine named 'Bruce' said, in his usual, annoying tone. Jason thought he spoke like he was trying to talk to a baby, a dog, or someone with diminished capacity. It was degrading. "Your sparring is going to be just a little different today."
"Great," Landon Brooks muttered beside him. "Maybe now we'll actually get to shoot something."
"First up," Bruce said, "Jason Zant and Ezekiel Veron -"
"Oh yeah," Jason said, smirking, "Zeke's mine."
"…Versus Magnus Daniels and Victoria Small. All of you: get your asses up to the cage!" He finished.
A dozen voices stuttered the word "huh?" or "what?" all at once. The Marine smiled at the confusion.
"You were warned that your routine would be changing." He said. "From now on, a few times every day, you'll all be sparring with a partner. Now, instead of your usual fights, 'teamwork' is the name of the game."
Jason glanced over to Zeke glaring angrily. When he turned to face him and didn't change his annoyed expression, Jason averted his eyes to see Magnus nearly drooling over his randomly-chosen partner.
Well, he thought, this won't be so tough. He motioned for Zeke to meet him as he walked over to the cage. Reluctantly, the boy stalked over.
"Look," Zeke started, but Jason cut him off as the cage door swung open in front of them.
"No, you look." He snapped. "You don't like me. I get that. Personally, I'm not a real big fan of yours either. However, this is our new training program. At least for today, deal with it, and I can clean your clock next time we're in the cage together."
Zeke smirked, then his face returned to its stony expression. He led the way into the cage without a word, and a few moments later, both Magnus and Victoria followed them inside.
"Magnus is mine." Zeke said suddenly as the four of them squared off inside the cage. He smirked. "Think you can handle the little girl without backup?"
Jason glared at him for a second, but smiled when he came to his own realization: Magnus was enormous for his age. Zeke was not. If they fought, Mr. Cocky would be having his ass handed to him on a silver platter.
"He's all yours." Jason whispered.
"No," Magnus said anxiously, "this won't work."
Victoria rolled her eyes, annoyed. The big brute had wanted to fight the larger of the two boys, Jason, and leave her to mop up that punk Ezekiel. When he realized that they wanted the match-ups to be arranged otherwise, he panicked.
"Quit your worrying!" She snapped. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, and I don't think I'll have much of a problem with that big oaf over there." She motioned to Jason calmly.
Victoria was fully aware of Magnus' feelings, specifically those aimed toward her, but one of her most defined traits was her pride. She'd make that proud wannabe, Ezekiel, look like the humblest of dogs on her worst days. And besides, she reasoned to herself, I've taken on boys just as big as him in the last few weeks. She closed her eyes, readying herself.
"Well, alright," Magnus said, clearly disappointed. She was still deep inside her own head. "But if you have any trouble at all, just call. I'm not too worried about Zeke inflicting a lo-"
SLAM!
She opened her eyes to see that the boy had covered the ground between Magnus and himself and already swung his right leg hard into her partner's kidneys. In addition, Jason was on the move, and was less than five feet away from her.
She cursed herself. How could she not have heard them coming? Was she that lost in listening to that behemoth, Magnus?
Jason's right hook swung in hard, barely missing her as her knees bent just in time to save her from having her head rolled.
So, she thought angrily, it's gonna be like that, huh? Still crouched, she spun 180 degrees and thrust her back foot hard into the boy's stomach. Jason grunted in pain, but, to her shock, didn't falter. She was so shocked, she forgot to retract her foot in time, and he grabbed it, holding her leg up to his chest-level.
"Cheap shot," he grumbled, pushing her leg forward and causing her to fall hard on the concrete. She felt his footsteps coming closer and sprung back up, her left foot smashing into his thigh. Again, the freak just took it with a grunt and a smile.
That's it, She thought angrily. I know a spot that'll bring him down. I don't care who he is. With that, she dodged a punch that was so half-hearted she regarded it as nothing more than a joke, pressed closer to him, and raised her knee with all the force she could muster. She felt the shot connect.
And Jason Zant hit his knees.
Zeke knew, from the very start, that he was way out of his class.
His weight class, that is.
He was quicker, more agile, and, he believed, much more tactical and clever than Magnus would ever be, but none of his shots packed enough force to so much as interrupt the other boy's staring at the girl fighting with Jason.
He's not paying any attention. Zeke thought bitterly. Magnus hadn't thrown even a single punch since he'd been kicked in the kidney.
"Why don't you watch the fight at hand!" Ezekiel yelled, throwing a kick to Magnus' stomach. The boy's arm rose up.
And he blocked it.
Zeke tried again. This time, he threw his knee forward, hoping to get reach his opponent's thigh. Magnus raised his own knee casually, easily blocking Zeke's.
"Alright," Zeke said, furious at his own feeble and futile attempts. "How 'bout you pry your eyes from that irritating little minx over there and fight me?"
Magnus turned suddenly, staring him down.
"What did you call her?"
Ah, Hell, Zeke thought, the girl's the hot-button. He watched Magnus raise his fists up to his chest, right at Ezekiel's eye-level, a look of absolute hatred in his eyes.
"Figures," he muttered, trying to think of a way to fight back before Magnus closed the gap between them and inevitably crushed him to a pulp. "Maybe if I-"
Too late – Magnus charged and hoisted Zeke into the air by his neck, holding him with both hands. Ezekiel pushed the older boy's arms with both hands, but they were lodged tight, being held purely by Magnus' rage.
Well, this is familiar. Zeke thought. Okay, fine. You'll get the exact same treatment I gave lizard-lips. Immediately, Zeke raised his knee hard, thrusting it into the bottom of his opponent's chin…
And he took it. He took it without even flinching. His hands only grew tighter around the younger boy's throat, anger burning brightly in his eyes.
"Temper…temper!" Zeke stuttered angrily, trying desperately to control his breathing and think of a way out. Suddenly, he found himself subconsciously wishing that Jason was the one fighting this giant, or at least come over and help him.
No, he thought furiously as he regained his focus, that's ludicrous! I don't need his help! He was instantly ashamed he'd thought of it at all.
And then, he got it.
With so little oxygen available to him, and his vision already starting to blur, it took all the energy he had to pull his knees up to Magnus' forearms, inches from his own face. He could barely make out the older teen looking at him with a puzzled look on his face, before the rage returned to consume him.
In that open second, Ezekiel lashed out with both legs, pressing the heels of his feet hard into the other boy's chest, just below his throat. Even though, as he'd expected, Magnus' adrenaline kept the shot from really hurting him, it did at least put Ezekiel in a position to remove himself from his death-grip.
His knees were partly bent, and he knew that, no matter how big Magnus was, or how long his arms were, his own legs were longer.
Zeke extended his legs another inch, and felt Magnus' grip loosen around his neck. The monster of a teen wouldn't let go, but Ezekiel found that, at the least, he could breathe. And, over his opponent's grunts and moans of agony in his straining arms and chest, one thought rang out in Ezekiel's mind:
Push…Harder…
Victoria simply could not believe what she was seeing. The big oaf in front of her, Jason, was slowly standing up from his knees. She'd kicked him, hard, and when she'd tried to hit him as he collapsed to the ground, he'd snatched her foot off the ground and flung her – literally flung her – into the side of the cage.
Now, he was back on his feet. And he looks pissed. Not that I can really blame him, she confessed to herself.
"Now that," he growled bitterly, "that was a cheap shot." He started walking slowly toward her as she stood up from the floor. "I don't like fighting girls," he continued, "but after that, I'll make an exception."
She tried to think of something, anything, but before she could react, he'd grabbed her under the arms and tossed her high, up into the side of the cage, letting her fall a full six feet to the ground. As she hit, she finally panicked. She couldn't help it. As he reached down again, she heard herself scream.
Ezekiel could feel Magnus' grip loosening again. Now, he'd grown bored with actual fighting and was simply testing the older boy, seeing how long his rage and adrenaline would allow him to ignore the pain his body was no doubt screaming about inside his head.
And Zeke still had two more inches he could stretch his legs, if he'd wanted to. By now, he believed, the pain Magnus must have been feeling simply had to be worse than anything he was going through in his legs or neck.
"What's…" he stuttered, gathering the air as best he could, "What's the matter, Magnus? Your…your arms sore?" He mocked.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a terrible, blood-curdling scream, and Magnus' grip vanished instantly. Zeke, still pushing, flew back and landed flat, knocking the wind from his lungs.
Magnus turned around and took off for Jason and Victoria. Unfortunately, Jason's back was turned, and only Victoria could see the adrenaline-pumped, rage-fueled monster charging them.
"Ja – Jason!" Zeke tried to warn him, tried to yell, but there was still not enough air in his lungs. The words came out in quiet gasps.
Magnus closed the distance, and Jason turned just in time to be tackled by him, sending them both skidding across the concrete floor. In a second, both were pushing and throwing punches as fast as they could manage.
Finally, Magnus got up and stepped back, allowing Jason to groggily pick himself up off the floor. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck.
Make it a semi he thought. Then another thought penetrated his mind. Zeke! You couldn't have warned me? He looked over and saw his partner trying hard to stand, and failing miserably, and he understood.
"Victoria," Magnus said, turning away from Jason and reaching his hand down to the girl. Jason saw his chance instantly. Before 'Romeo' could even finish his sentence, he planted his foot in the giant's stomach. Unlike Ezekiel, he was big enough to bring the gargantuan to his knees with such a shot.
As Magnus doubled-over, Jason grabbed his hair, pulled his head up to chest-level, and hammer-punched him in the face with his right hand. And with that, Magnus Daniels fell, unconscious.
"That's all, folks." He said quietly. He was quite proud of himself for bringing down the strongest of the trainees, even if it was with the help of a major distraction. Suddenly, he was plunged back into reality by yet another scream. When he turned, he saw Victoria on her back on the ground, with Zeke's boot planted firmly on her windpipe, exactly as Blaine had done when he entered the cage.
"You attacked me from behind!" She spat, struggling for air. Zeke smiled cruelly.
"Should've paid more attention to the fight at hand, and less attention to your boyfriend on the ground over there." He said, motioning to the crippled giant at Jason's feet. The girl's hand came up as she flipped him off, and he dug his boot a little deeper. She coughed once, then let her arm fall.
Not too bad, Jason thought, admiring his team's feat. After all, he and that scrawny smart-ass, Ezekiel, had somehow brought Magnus to the floor.
And the girl too, of course, he thought, choosing to omit that part from any future stories he might tell of this particular day. Not bad at all.
