As soon as the two woke up for their guard shift things went back to normal; for the most part. They got dressed mocking one another, Abigail getting so frustrated at one point that she embedded her military grade tatang knife in the wall inches from Khan's head. Their rows continued, getting just as heated as always. The mocking and teasing was relentless as well, always ending violently. However, there was a new curve to their usual fighting routine. It seemed that whenever the two were alone together, generally in their quarters but not always, their more violent rows ended in rough, angry love-making. Although, love did not seem to be in the equation. No, the relationship that surfaced between the two Augments was more of the hatred variety; the sex was simply an interesting byproduct of passionate anger and resentment mixing for too long.
Over the next month and a half that this went on, new training courses were implemented over the grounds. The director had started developing the new program after an Augment had been killed during their rounds on guard. The training course was set up as a maze, equipped with hidey holes and outlook posts for getting one's team or partner out quickly without being put under enemy fire. Two teams of two to four people were exposed to the maze, one at the entrance and one at the exit. The objective was to get to the other end of the course before the other team, disabling them if need be. Violence was encouraged, and 9mm handguns were issued along with the knives they kept with them during their shifts. The idea behind the exercise was survival of the fittest, leaving only the best and brightest of the already nearly perfect Augments in the facility.
"Birch, Khan, Abigail, Calloway! First group!"
Abigail pinched the bridge of her nose as she stepped forehead, catching the wink and smirk Khan cast her way as he stepped forward along with the tall blonde man called Calloway and the stoic, brunette man, Birch. The four made up a strong group, however, they were a bit odd looking as a whole. There was Birch, a tall man around six feet and three inches with chocolate- brown hair, tanned skin, and steely green eyes which fit perfectly with the hard muscle that made him up head to toe. To Birch's right was Khan. Six feet and an inch at the least, he was long and lean with his dark hair pushed back as per usual and icy blue eyes staring forward, a smirk still on his lips. Then Abigail, the shortest of the group, clocking in at about five feet seven inches. Her long, toned body was nothing to smirk at however; she was even more equipped than the larger men to take down a target. Her long, rich waves were swept back into a ponytail in the middle of her skull and her golden eyes burned a hole into the man to her left. To her right was Calloway. His light blonde hair was pushed back out of his handsome face to showcase a pair of kaleidoscopic hazel eyes which held a rather satisfied, arrogant character. He was roughly six feet three inches as well, muscular in every inch with a sculpted jaw and cheekbones. He nudged Abigail, glancing down at her when she turned her fiery gaze up at him. Calloway calmly pressed a finger to his lips and winked at her, gesturing slightly in the direction the other team was standing.
Aurora, Hamish, Vita, and Breccan. Worthy adversaries, but not for long. Abigail was the newest of them all, and, in turn, could take each and every one of them. Even those on her own team.
The two teams were taken to their respective ends of the course, weapons were distributed, and the starting gun would go off any minute. The Augments prepared themselves, checking ammunition, checking the blades of their knives, and talking strategy with their teammates. There was no real captain of the team, but they tended to figure out the best plan without any fuss.
As soon as the starting shot was fired, the team moved swiftly into the course. Since Abigail was the shortest and the least likely to be seen, she moved on to the first lookout post. It stood about twelve feet in the air with no cover, just a simple platform with a ladder to get one up and down. With her weapon at the ready, she stood atop the platform and quickly took in the maze before her. It had changed since the last time she had gone through. Near the center was a more wide open space with a handful of trenches, foxholes, and a ton of ten or so foot tall obstacles for ducking behind and getting cover when under fire. At the opposite side of the course on the other lookout post stood Vita, calling down to her teammates what she saw.
Raising her weapon, Abigail shot a single round and hit Vita cleanly in the left shoulder. The woman quickly retaliated after what sounded like a cry of pain. Abigail dodged the shot and subsequently dropped off the side of the platform. She landed with her knees bent and left hand braced against the grassy earth.
"Twelve meters straight, take a left and go until the third right. Another right then a small tunnel. When you get to the other end, you take another left, then another. One more right and you get to the center of the maze where there is cover to shoot from. We're meant to definitely take out as many as possible." She looked up into the eyes of her group who nodded in the affirmative.
They took off at an easy jog, Khan in the lead as they twisted through the maze. Abigail rolled her eyes at his sudden eagerness to get through. He was such a pain in the ass when the two were paired up, always showing off. When they got to the tunnel, it was a bit smaller than they had anticipated and it took them all a moment or two to squeeze themselves through all five meters of it. On the other side it only took them ten minutes to make it to the center of the course. The three of them, Khan already hidden somewhere behind an obstacle or in a fox hole, edged into the space slowly, not knowing if the other team had made it there or not. Abigail looked around, her ears perked for even the slightest sound as she slowly made her way toward one of the wall structures to crouch behind.
The sky overhead was getting dark and Abigail regretted being the last group of the day to go through the course. Suddenly footsteps sounded from behind her as she stepped behind the obstacle she had picked as her hide out. She spun around with her gun pointing at Vita's abdomen. Before the other woman could utter a word through her smirking lips, Abigail had placed two bullets in the dead center of her chest. The blonde gasped, dropping her gun as she hit the grassy ground. Abigail silently plucked the weapon from the earth and stuck it in the back of her black training trousers. Turning, she caught the glare of the setting sun just behind an illuminated black silhouette. She fired off a shot, seeing it hit the person in question in the thigh. Upon hearing a round of gunfire about fifteen meters to her left, she hurried to the, presumably, man she had just shot.
A knife whizzed past Abigail as she flung herself back, sliding behind the obstacle like a baseball player into home. She came up on her knees, gun in hand and aimed at the man in the grass.
"Son of a bitch," she growled, gritting her teeth as she realized who she'd shot.
Khan glared up at her, pain etched in his face as he kept pressure on the wound in his thigh. He squeezed his eyes shut, his usually smirking face rather pale as the overhead light grew dimmer. Abigail set her gun down, keeping her ears as alert as possible as she moved his hands away from the wound.
"In and out?" she asked, making sure he remained conscious so she could quickly get him out of the course.
"Clean through," he murmured through his teeth, his eyes still clamped shut.
Abigail quickly examined the wound, taking off her scarf to tie around his leg and keep pressure. "You're lucky I didn't get your femoral artery," she hissed, hearing the sharp intake of breath from Khan as she addressed the gash.
"It's my lucky day," he snarled, opening his eyes to glare at her.
She turned her head to catch his gaze, finished with the wound for the moment. His icy eyes stared daggers into her as she bit the inside of her cheek. Her hatred for him was there; wasn't it? Wasn't that the feeling that ate away at the inside of her stomach? It burned and curled and choked her whenever she saw him, whenever he was near her. Like now, as she leaned closely over him it was the hatred that squeezed her heart and made her want to prove she was better. Wasn't it? What other trivial emotion could it be other than hate? He was pompous, felt the need to prove her wrong at every turn, and obnoxiously handsome. This cocky bastard sought to dethrone her, and that was definitely not on her agenda.
Abigail became quickly aware of the way his heartbeat beneath the hand she had absently placed on his chest. The rhythm was strong, despite the bleeding hole in his thigh. Her golden eyes drifted down to the pulse point in his throat. It tripped ever so slightly, the pace so microscopically quicker she wasn't sure if it had even changed. She could feel him scrutinizing her face as she focused on the point in his neck. Suddenly she felt the need to be near him, closer than she already was, just laying with him as she had the first time their fights had reached a tipping point. His breathing was steady, if not slightly labored with pain as she slowly looked up into his face.
Khan narrowed his eyes at her, feeling his heart rate begin to quicken at her closeness before he took a deep breath and managed to slow it once more. She was looking at him differently than she usually did. The malice and annoyance that was usually very apparent in her features had melted away and was replaced with something else. Something very different, but still passionate. He watches as her lips parted just slightly, a half-formed question in her golden eyes. What was she thinking? What was going on in that irritatingly beautiful head of hers? What was she doing when she leaned closer to him with her hand on his chest? Granted, he wanted her closer, he always wanted her closer, but he wanted to know what she was doing. If he could just take a peek into her mind every once and a while, just to know…
Abigail's brows knitted together as she absorbed the questions that burned behind Khan's icy glare. Slowly she cupped his sharp cheek with her hand, leaning to brush her lips lightly against his. She could feel the questions being answered as his mouth responded to her gentle touch. Although it seemed to pain him, he propped himself up on his left elbow, bringing his right hand around to cup the back of her head. They sat there, the world growing fuzzy around the edges as the two sank further and further into their own little world. Their awareness of the ever so slightly damp grass beneath them faded away, replaced with the respective feeling of the other's body. The smooth, warm touch of their lips; the rich, silky texture of Abigail's hair between his long fingers; the warm, steady beat of Khan's chest against her hand…
All too quickly, the moment came to an end. Shots rang out on the other side of their cover, splintering the soft, warm world that had been constructed around the two huddled figures. Abigail sprang to her feet, pressing her back to the wall with her knife in one hand and her gun in the other. She whipped the blade up to press it against the new presence's throat as they walked around the corner.
"Oh, good you found him. Glad you two aren't dead."
Sighing, she shoved the knife back in her boot and glared up at Calloway.
"Who's left? We need to get out of here; Khan got shot," she stated indifferently, handing the blonde the weapon she had taken from Vita's corpse.
"Aurora, Hamish, Vita, and Birch are dead. I got Breccan in the shoulder and my knife's in his calf, but he just started through the other end of the course. We should get moving. Who shot you?" His question was directed at Khan, who was getting up with Abigail's help.
"Abigail," Khan deadpanned, scowling in her direction.
"Whiny baby," she muttered, assisting him toward the last stage of the course and rolling her eyes.
Calloway's lips twitched up, pulling the other man's arm around his shoulders to assist in getting them out as soon as possible. He didn't know the pair too terribly well, but whenever he saw them they were bickering or fighting just like this. It was no surprise that Abigail had shot Khan, it was bound to happen some time. And according to her, he had shot her back in October when they were out on their guard shift. All the Augments fought from time to time, they were aggressive by design and close quarters didn't help, but these two were something else altogether.
"One upside to me shooting you though," Abigail began, grinning sideways at the young man as he leaned on the two of them.
Khan raised his eyebrow expectantly, limping along quickly with his Augment crutches. "Oh? What's that?" There was not a note of interest in his voice.
"Now we're even, darling."
