Training 5: Taking Orders

Heero hosted the loudspeaker to the front of his face. Today, he was going to try something less dangerous.

Pointing at the loudspeaker, he gave Jess a questioning look.

The girl nodded. "Loudspeaker," she said, naming the object in his hand.

Nodding, he put the end of the loudspeaker to his mouth and spoke: "Today's training: Commanding."

"Really?" the girl squealed, looking positively delighted.

"Hn."

"Good! Go get me some lemonade!" she commanded, pointing in the direction of the door. "I'm feeling very thirsty."

There was silence as everyone waited with bated breath on what Heero's response would be.

Heero put the loudspeaker close to Jess's ear.

"Commanding, yes. You, no," he answered in a low, controlled voice. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Why no?" the girl questioned, looking at him blankly.

"Because I'm the leader."

"Why?"

"Because I say so."

"Why?"

"I don't care! Do I make myself CLEAR?!?!!" Heero shouted into the loudspeaker, completely brushing aside the girl's last question. The wind of his shout nearly blew Jess's hair straight out from her head.

"Oh yes, very clear," Jess muttered under her breath as she gave her head a shake. "So clear it's vibrating in my ears."

"Good! Because you will answer me in Yes sir or No Sir only! Is that clear?!!"

"Ok . . . I mean Yes Sir!" Jess quickly amended when Heero fixed her the mean-eye glare.

"So if I tell you jump off the roof, what is your answer??!!"

"No Sir!" And then she got a real good close up of red eyes and heaving nostrils.

"Objection Sir . . .?" Jess said weakly, giving him a watery smile. "I like to explain sir . . .?" The eyes started to bulge in their sockets. From Jess's point of view, it was really quite freaky to see.

"What's the answer . . . Sir?" she finally asked in a meek voice.

"It's yes sir! YES SIR!" Heero all but screamed; grabbing fists full of brown hair and pulling. "And you must take all orders, whether you like it or not!" Jess watched as a brown tuff of hair floated serenely past her eyes.

"Calm down, Hee-chan. She's new to this." Duo's voice boomed in the system's loudspeakers overhead. At which, Heero's response was to pick up his loudspeaker, place it in front of his mouth and let his explosives go. This was before finally answering: "I don't see you supporting me down here!" And he pointed at the ground near his feet.

Jess winced. The number of vulgarities Heero uttered was enough kill her hearing, not to mention widen her vocabulary.

"Oh I'm supporting you," came the smooth reply. "Can't you feel my love flowing out to you from over here in positive waves?"

In return, Heero's only answer was to curse another stream of vulgarities.

When he had finally exhausted all avenues of "knowledge", he turned his attention back to the girl.

Jess gulped. Duo's intervention seemed to have done more harm than good. No doubt Heero's energy may have been spent, but he was positively more furious than he was before the interruption.

"OK," he barked, hosting the loudspeaker right in front of her face. "Let's do scenario next! If someone is putting a gun to my head, threatening me to order you to kill me, what must you answer?!!?"

". . . Is this a trick question?" she asked, pondering while rubbing her chin after a moment's silence.

"No."

"Or is it one of those "depend" kind of questions?"

"No!"

"Do I get to explain on the answer I choose?"

"NO!"

"Can I have another question? This one's hard."

Heero felt something pop before white-hot pain exploded to spread across his whole head. Then, he suddenly found himself waking up in the clinic's bed with everyone gathered around him and Trowa holding out a glass of water to him.

"You popped a nerve system while coaching her," Duo happily explained while Heero took the glass from Trowa's hand with a silent nod of thanks. "Sally claimed this is the first time she has seen such a case."

"I hope it'll be the last too," Heero muttered under his breath before taking a mouthful of water.

"Yeah, well . . . the girl still have one more question for you."

"Hn. Shoot," Heero commanded, taking another mouthful of water. The water went sliding down his parched throat in a cool, refreshing way. Heero quickly took another mouthful.

"The girl still wants to know the answer to that question. Is it Yes Sir or No sir?"

Water went spewing out of Heero's mouth to shoot across the room, causing the remaining inhabitants to scramble out of its way. Meanwhile the poor boy was left choking and hackling to get the remains out of his nostrils and air passage.

In a far corner of the room, Quatre whipped out a chart and pen. Choosing an empty section, he wrote: "Command-taking needs working. Session postponed till Heero recovers or till we find a substitute."

Then sucking thoughtfully on the pen's end, he reflected on what he had just written.

'Hmm . . .,' he thought and then quickly added: "* Preference: Short Fuse Tolerant!"

AN: That wraps up another chapter till next week where I coincide it nicely with "The Story That Never Was". All answers will be revealed. So watch out for it! :]

To my lovely reviewers: Megami Tenshi, Dianas-Lotus, Raizard333, Death's little side kick and blazinfan. Thank you for writing in with such wonderful reviews. I am truly flattered. To blazinfan: I have only one question. What is Blazin Squad?

For kicks and because you all are such nice people, as hinted earlier, I will be updating "The Story That Never Was" next week too. Hope you have enjoyed these two side fics I updated today. :]