Snake Eyes took it easy on Lady Jaye that night, simply having her repeat various movements over and over, concentrating on foot placement and balance. He seemed to intuitively know what she needed to practice to make her fighting stronger. He was a very patient teacher, and she wished that Beach Head would take some pointers from Snake Eyes—browbeating and insulting students only got them so far. Not that the drill instructor was like that all of the time; she'd learned a lot from previous training sessions. But Snake Eyes made small corrections and suggestions that had her suddenly feeling the power behind the movements and understanding the balance involved.
She asked him about it, and he explained a little about how to generate power from the center of the chest rather than in the arms and legs; that if the body was in balance, everything else fell into place. She could feel it start to click; it didn't even hurt as much to move when she managed to fix her attention the way Snake Eyes suggested.
They finished up with a short exercise. The two of them knelt facing each other, and Snake Eyes held her wrists so that she could move but not break free. She was supposed to try to pull or push him over, but no matter how she moved her arms, he diverted the force or used her own momentum against her. They switched after a few minutes, and Lady Jaye grabbed his wrists. Snake Eyes immediately put his hands together and pushed, sending her right over on her back.
"How do you do that?" She asked, amazed.
It's all balance. he replied in sign language. He gestured for her to continue, and showed her how easily he could push her to the side or pull her forward, and she could see that it was all balance; he was obviously using very little strength, but the movements didn't seem to require any.
Finally he stood and pulled her up. Anyone can beat a stronger opponent. You just need to be centered. Find your balance. he told her. She nodded and thanked him, and they agreed to meet yet again the next night.
She fell asleep immediately after Flint left that night and was almost late to PT the next morning. Apparently the others had already been ribbing Beach Head about her, because he looked angrier than usual. Dummies, she fumed. Like PT's not bad enough already. She pushed away a small twinge of guilt that said that she hadn't helped much the day before, either.
"Alright!" he barked. "Change of pace! We're gonna start with hand-to-hand practice today in two teams. You'll fight two on one, changing attackers and defenders after each round." He glared at them, daring them to protest, but even Shipwreck was quiet. "Shipwreck, Gung-Ho, and Lady Jaye will work together, leaving Alpine, Ace, and Leatherneck for the other group. Jaye and Ace are the first two defenders. Rounds are twenty minutes." He glared at them for a moment. "By the way, if I don't think you're giving it your all, the rest of the morning is going to be Hell."
They separated themselves on the mats and at Beach Head's signal began to spar. Gung Ho came at Lady Jaye immediately, swinging a huge fist at her head. She stepped back, and as his momentum carried him toward her, she grabbed his wrist and yanked hard. The marine fell forward, off balance, but caught himself, rolling out of the way. Shipwreck had moved in from the other side, punching at her stomach. Her block was solid, and she put a hand behind his shoulder and pushed. He, too fell over, and Lady Jaye found herself smiling. She hadn't lost the feeling from practice the night before; it was balance, and the way Snake Eyes had showed her to move made sense.
Gung Ho tackled her at the knees, and the fight went downhill from there. Once she lost her sense of balance, it was hard to get back on track. She managed to acquit herself fairly well, considering that she was facing off against two large men whose fighting style ran to brawling, and by the time the first round was over, she had scored a few good hits. Of course, she had taken some, too, but she was still standing.
Beach Head blew the whistle and walked around the other threesome, commenting on certain moves and offering suggestions. When he turned to Lady Jaye his eyes got a shade darker and narrower. "You guys were going easy on her, weren't you?" he demanded.
Shipwreck held up his hands. "No way. I was 'giving it my all.' Really. Don't make me run laps!"
Gung Ho agreed. "Yeah, Beach Head. I didn't pull my punches at all."
The drill sergeant faced Lady Jaye. "I've seen worse. Guess spending all this extra time in PT is paying off, huh?"
She scowled at him. "Oh, right. Running through that insane obstacle course over and over really helps."
"You said the magic words," he replied with an evil grin. "But I'm saving that for later. Switch defenders. Shipwreck and Alpine, you're up."
Lady Jaye concentrated on feeling where her feet were as she fought the sailor. She found that small adjustments made her feel more solidly anchored, and that she had more force in her throws. It made her think that everyone should train with Snake Eyes for a while and skip the ropes and mud pit.
After an hour they were done and headed out to the obstacle course. Beach Head opened a large wooden box that had been placed at the starting line, and withdrew six pairs of goggles, which he handed around.
"What the heck are these for?" Ace asked.
"Just put 'em on," Beach Head replied.
They started the run side by side, and as they climbed the first wall, Lady Jaye heard a loud pop and felt a sharp sting on her back. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Beach Head take aim again with the gun. The next shot splattered on the wall beside her, leaving a circle of yellow paint. Apparently the drill sergeant hadn't thought his course was insane enough.
The constant barrage of paintball fire made the run a lot more difficult than usual. After they had each been hit a few times, they tended to duck skittishly at every crack of the gun. Walking along the high beam was the worst. They had to take it one at a time, leaving Beach Head ample time to aim and fire. He grinned wickedly as he shot at each of them in turn. Only Alpine made it across, his sense of balance being much more developed than the others.'
Beach Head made it a point to fire at Lady Jaye the most, but he scored several good hits on the others as well. The group shifted nervously at the finish point as they watched the drill instructor refill the gun's hopper with paintballs. He ordered them to turn around and start the course again; the evil glint in his eye made them all wince. Those paintballs hurt!
Unfortunately they still had a three mile run to do to finish up that day's PT, and Beach Head took the paintball gun along with him. As they walked to the track, Lady Jaye heard him chortle, "I should have thought of this a long time ago."
He sat in a lawn chair in the center of the track, taking the occasional pot-shot at one of the Joes. Seen from outside, it was probably hysterically funny to watch. They ran in fits and bursts, ducking and weaving from one side of the track to the other. It attracted a small crowd, and Beach Head passed the gun around, letting Clutch, Cover Girl, and Steeler fire off a few rounds. Lady Jaye didn't see it, but she was sure it was Clutch who shot her in the butt several times. The four Joes in the center green were laughing riotously, slapping Beach Head on the back in a congratulatory gesture for a fine addition to punishment PT.
They finally ran out of paintballs somewhere around the end of the second mile, and the crowd dispersed, leaving Beach Head to watch them finish. When they were all finally gathered together again, he said, "I almost forgot. Clutch mentioned that a few of the tanks were dirty from the last mission. Shipwreck, Alpine, and Lady Jaye—you get to wash them this afternoon." He waited to make sure they didn't have any sarcastic comments to offer and dismissed them.
Lady Jaye was relieved that her compatriots had gotten through the entire morning without driving Beach Head over the edge about her, but on the way back inside, Shipwreck sidled up to the drill instructor and started talking to him. "So I can understand not wanting to play favorites, but you went at Lady Jaye pretty hard today. Take a little advice from the Shipster: you got to treat a lady nice."
Beach Head rounded on Shipwreck and yelled, "Drop it, sailor! I'm not about to treat Lady Jaye differently just because we're sleeping together!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks to stare wide-eyed at the drill instructor. Lady Jaye stood in shock, mouth open. Finally she sputtered, "Beach Head! What's wrong with you! We are not sleeping together!" She yelled at the others.
"Oh, come on, Jaye. I think they've figured it out by now. Why don't we just drop the act?" Beach Head replied.
She glared at him, noting the evil smirk that showed through the balaclava. She walked up to him and leaned close, saying in a low voice, "Don't think for a moment that you can win at this game. This isn't over."
Beach Head moved so fast, she didn't even have time to react. He drew up the bottom of his mask and grabbed the back of her neck. He pressed his lips to hers for a moment in a kiss. Hidden by the sound of the others' cheering and applause, he said, "No, it's not over. I believe the score is tied one to one." He turned and walked away, leaving her standing there, speechless.