Chapter Seven: Training to Be the Best
Ty and Risika both woke up early the next morning, not wanting to risk losing any more valuable training time then they already had. Although Ty had seemed to finally put his issues with Zack behind him, and move on, Risika still had a full two days' worth of training on him, being how it was that Zack wanted some time alone to train with Risika. And although Zack said nothing of it to Risika, he had trained more with her, knowing that with her position as S.I.C, she would take his place should the day come, if something ever happened to him, he wanted Risa to be prepared. The few times that Zack had tried to broach the subject with his younger sister, she would have none of it, refusing to accept the possibility of something happening to Zack. He thought differently however. He once told his siblings that he would rather die then go back to Manticore. Over the last eleven years, Zack had been captured at least ten times, and the technicians had attempted reindoctrination on him several times, but he fought it. He fought it so hard, promising his brothers and sisters that he would not let them down, that he would get out of there. And each time he did, he got out of there, and kept on doing what he was meant to do. Protecting his siblings, and saving them at all costs, was his life. And although Risika refused to accept even the possibility of something happening to her brother, Zack knew that she was ready. Ready to take his place, should something happen to him. She was born ready for this position, just the way Lydecker and all of the other superiors often said that Zack was born ready for his.
Ty and Risika crept down to the kitchen quietly, not wanting to risk anyone hearing that they were awake. Risika's adoptive parents were away at a conference, but being as it was that the Crashdown opened at six, they were worried that someone might have wanted to come early, despite that the fact that it was only four in the morning. They ate in silence both trying to digest what lay before them, and what had happened between them and their brother the night before. Ty couldn't wait to see the rest of his siblings. What was Syl like?? What was Krit like?? And, Max, baby sister Maxie, how was she?? How were all of them?? Ty tried to picture what his siblings would look like, eleven years since he had last seen them. He tried to picture the faces his siblings would have, what kind of lives they had leading the last eleven years. And most importantly, why Zack had picked the five of them to do this mission?? Risa cleared her throat, interrupting her brother's train of thought. "Ty, before we go train with Zack, there's something you should know." Ty whipped his head up, and stared at his sister quizzically. "What is it, Risa?? What do you have to tell me??" Risika nervously cleared her throat. "I'm not sure how to tell you this Ty……………………" Ty just shook his head. "Just tell me Risa, I'm a big boy I can handle it." Risika took a deep breath, and just blurted out what she wanted to tell her brother, in one long sentence. "Ty, Tinga and Ben are dead. Zack wouldn't tell me how Ben died, but, he said that Tinga was killed by Manticore." Ty's eyes turned cold, hard, emotionless. "Those fucking bastards killed our big sister??" Risika nodded, as upset as he was, but, doing a good job of keeping her emotions in check. "I think that's the main reason Zack chose us for this mission. He knows, that besides him, we were the closest to Tinga, and that we'll avenge her right." Ty nodded his head with conviction. "Then let's go, Risa, we don't have another second to lose. The harder we train, the better chance we have of beating those bastards at their own game." Risika nodded her agreement, and the two left in a hurry.
Their brother was patiently waiting for them, where they said that they would meet in the desert, which surprised them both, because patience had never been Zack. Apparently, their older brother had changed, Risika knew the reason why, but she would never breathe a word of it to Ty, seeing how hard it was already for Zack to tell her about Jessica. Ty and Risa placed their gear on the ground, and started to train. Hand-to-hand combat, weaponry, weight-lifting, running, cardio, they did it all. They trained non-stop for at least four hours before, the ringing of Risika's phone, disturbed the bubble of concentration the siblings found themselves in. Suddenly, Maria's voice filtered over the line, "Elizabeth Ann Parker!! Where the heck are you??!!" Zack scowled at the unexpected intrusion, and made a sign at his younger sister to get rid of Maria. "Maria, I have to go, this isn't the place or time to explain this to you, so I'll talk to you later." And with that, Risa hung up on her once best friend. Zack nodded with approval. "Very effective little sister." Risa shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips. "Hey, I learned from the best didn't I??" All three siblings laughed. "That you did," Zack said finally. "Time to get back to work soldiers." Ty decided to speak to Zack about Ben and Tinga later, right now, Zack was right they needed to concentrate on training, if they were ever going to shut Manticore down.
tbc……………………………………………………