Chapter 47: He's number 6

Holly was observing the recruits along with TC as Bucky and Pan put them through their paces. They'd been riding them hard for about 2 hours now and this was their second round tonight already. It was four in the morning and not one of the recruits had quit yet, to his chagrin. This was going to be a long night. They'd had another talk after John had gotten back from his phone call. He hadn't said anything about it, even if the other three had tried grilling him about it, and about having a phone in the first place. But TC had kept his mouth shut and smiled that smile of his that predicted a lot of humour to him and none for the rest of them. But then they had gotten back to their original problem. Their too large group of recruits.

"We've been going too easy at them." Bucky had argued again.

"We've been doing exactly the same thing we've been doing the last two years." Finney argued in return.

"Yeah, but apparently this group just needs more. We should start forcing the issue. We're still 14 over and only have a week to get rid of them. If we can't cull them, we're just going to have to make them quit. I'd say we put them through the sickener until at least six of them quit."

"You want to do a sickener already?" Holly asked.

"We don't have the time to keep waiting for them to drop. We need the numbers lower and the best way I know how to do that is to run the sickener." Bucky argued.

"I agree." Pan said. "We start the sickener tonight. It's gonna be a long one cause we haven't started rationing yet. Better start sleeping in stages, I think we're gonna break the 24 hour record."

"Anyone opposed?" Holly asked. Not even TC raised his hand, though he seemed deep in thought. "Alright. We're running the sickener. Finney you get to sleep first. You've been at it since this morning. 4 hours. Then you get to relieve Pan."

So here they were running the recruits into the ground again and again and again until 6 of them quit. So far they were all holding up well. Holly glanced at TC beside him who still had that bloody smirk on his face. It had actually increased since they had started their second run.

"Are you going to tell me why the fuck you've been grinning like a loon all evening?" He finally asked, a little irritated. TC's smile only grew.

"No." He replied. "I don't need to. You'll see it eventually. I'm surprised you haven't spotted it yet."

Oh, there was something to see, was there? Holly turned back to the scene, the recruits were lining up before the platform in row's of ten with their barrels. Then came the agonizing task of keeping them above their heads. There were six complete rows and one… But that wasn't right. Holly quickly counted each row to see if he wasn't imagining things. He wasn't. There were 65 people before the stage from which they were watching. Holly frowned. Had Bruskin shown up already. He scanned the rows again but he didn't see the young man's face. It took him another 2 scans before he spotted an unfamiliar face. He watched as the man held the barrel over his head. He appeared to be struggling as much as his neighbours did but Holly saw the eyes go up and down the line, scanning the others and matching their performance. The man was obviously a pro. He turned to the grinning loon beside him.

"What the fuck, TC? We never take on new recruits in the middle of Selection. No matter how much training they've had." TC had the audacity to chuckle.

"He's not a recruit." He said, smirking.

"Then what the hell is he?"

"He's number 6." TC said and then burst out laughing as if he had made a joke. Holly didn't see what was funny at all. About any of this.

"John." He said reproachfully.

"Sorry, sorry." John said, trying to stop laughing. "This is about as funny as when Mycroft walked into that meeting in Buckingham Palace." And he burst out laughing again at a memory he hadn't told Holly about which annoyed him even more before finally calming down. The recruits meanwhile were glaring murderously at John for laughing so much while they were hurting but TC ignored them completely.

"Anyway." TC said as he finally stopped laughing and wiped the tears from his eyes. "He's Captain Steven Ward, Royal Marines." The name did sound familiar to Holly but he couldn't place it.

"He isn't a recruit, you said. Then why is he here?" He asked.

"London needed a place to stash him and they chose to stash him here. Steven is a buddy of mine from when we were stationed in Bastion." TC finally shared.

"Wait, you told me about him before, didn't you?" Holly recalled. "Didn't you want him for selection? And then out of the blue he took off before you could talk to him?"

"Yep, that's him, spent the last 5 years in classified places doing classified things?" TC answered just as Pan told the recruits just how unworthy they were to be here and they had better quit if they wanted to be spared all the pain they would have to endure for nothing before telling them to fuck off to their accommodation. TC threw out a signal to number 6 who didn't seem to notice as he turned around with the others to the barracks and out of sight. TC turned back to him, not at all put out at being ignored.

"Anyway, I'll let you inform the others of his arrival. I left his jacket on the table of our conference room for you to read while I'm doing his medical assessment." And turned to walk over to the med office. Just as he approached the door, a figure detached itself from the dark and followed the doctor inside.

Stephen felt himself crumble the instant the door closed and try as he might he could not keep it together. The thought of finally having someone he could trust watching his back was such a relief it released a flood of emotions. To his despair his cheeks felt wet again. This was what he had wanted to avoid. Or rather the exhaustion that always came after because TC and the others were thinning the herd by throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the recruits and hoping some would quit under the pressure. If he wanted to keep up with them, this was not a great start.

"You double-0's are all insane." TC said in greeting, pulling him into a hug, completely ignoring his tears. "Who in their right mind comes here for R&R. Still it's good to see you mate." Stephen gripped back tightly as he chuckled through his tears.

"Good to see you too, mate." He whispered in return. "I had to come. Nowhere else to go."

"It's fine." TC said. "I've got you, mate. You're gonna be alright."

"Thanks." squeezing just a bit more before stepping back, able to compose himself once again. TC gestured for him to take a seat on his examination table while he sat in his desk chair.

"Right, before we tackle the mental part I want to talk about your physical condition. Anything I should know? Any injuries?" He asked. Stephen was just glad they weren't going to talk about whatever was wrong with him just yet.

"I'm in good shape, no injuries." He reported back.

"Good, any trouble with the routine back there?" TC asked with a grin. Stephen didn't bother keeping the smile off his face.

"Nope, it was a nice work-out." Stephen said which caused TC to laugh.

"I'll pass that along to Bucky. He'll be mighty disappointed you weren't challenged. We plan on doing a session every 2 hours until 6 of them drop out. problem with that?" Stephen's eyebrows rose.

"Damn, I thought our juniors were pushed hard. All though we push them more mentally than physically, I guess." He replied impressed. "How many puke during this thing normally?"

"It's called the sickener. That should tell you something." TC replied.

"I bet. Well, no problem for me. This will be fun." Stephen said grinning. And god was he looking forward to this. Just doing, not thinking, until he was about to drop, with no time to stop and think about what's happened. It sounded like heaven. TC burst out laughing.

"Insane, all of you. You've almost got me convinced this might actually work." TC laughed as he stood. "I'll tell the others to keep the mental pressure off for a few days so you can relax and just enjoy your 'work-outs' but I can't give you any preferential treatment mate, or else the recruits might get ideas."

"No worries, I'll be fine, TC." Stephen brushed his concerns off casually.

"Yes, you will be." TC emphasised and for a moment Stephen almost believed him.