With the first major cull done, the field was now getting whittled down quickly. Grid Battleforce was not kidding when they said they were looking to narrow the field of prospective Rangers. The assault course, which some had come to dub "the meat grinder" had culled a significant number of cadets, and now out of an original field of 500 candidates only a little over 300 remained, and even they were getting whittled down.
Conduct and discipline were judged very harshly, and now that they had felled almost half the original intake, the standards they were expecting were much, much higher. The assessments were getting harder, the tests getting more regular and the training significantly tougher.
Ravi woke up with significantly less than his usual spirit and enthusiasm. It had now been two weeks since the assault course, and as the competition got more intense, so too did the rumours and snide remarks about nepotism. He liked Ben and Betty, but if he was honest, for the briefest of moments there was a part of him that was happy they were cut. Not just because of any doubts they could cut it as Rangers if his life depended on them, but because they were the kids of General Burke, his mom's direct superior. If they were able to be cut, then surely that proved that no one was above the rules and people would finally stop thinking that a person's surname mattered more than their scores right? Unfortunately, even now that Ben and Betty were cut and were now reduced to menial tasks around the base, the rumours didn't stop. If anything, the closer everyone came to the cut, the more vocal they became that Ravi was only there because his name was Shaw.
He didn't like the fact that he thought this way about his long-time family friends, he knew it was a despicable way to think of them. He was ashamed of the fact he was glad to see them being cut, even if it was only for a moment. They were not the strongest of candidates, but they had more heart and courage than many of the cadets by a long shot. It was a selfish way to think, one that surprised and sickened him, but such was his desperation to just be seen on his talents, his skill, his hard work and his merit that he was growing more and more frustrated. He simply didn't know what he had to do to prove that he was there because he deserved to be.
He heard a little groan beside him, and turned, seeing Roxy wrapped up in the sheets beside him. She was one of the few bright spots left for him on the base. He wasn't sure how his mother would feel about the relationship, he was pretty certain that she'd never approve of the fact that they regularly found themselves spending nights in each other's dorms. That part had surprised even him. He'd never thought about love before. It was something that he was sure would happen at some point in his life, that there would come a time when he was looking to find someone to share his life with once he had set up his career, perhaps even start a family with, but it wasn't something he was actively looking for. Roxy had come at him like a bolt from the blue.
She was utterly beautiful in every conceivable way. She'd looked like an angel to him when she helped him back to the Command Centre after his accident in the park. Their chance meeting was like some kind of miracle he couldn't believe, but it stood out to him as one of the luckiest moments of his entire life. She was more than just a beautiful woman, but a beautiful soul too. She was interested in what he had to say, something that was a novelty for him, she enjoyed life, finding things to smile and laugh about in even the seemingly mundane.
Even some of her habits that could on the surface seem a little irritating he quickly found to be charming. She was an animated person, a fidgeter, the kind of person that never quite seemed to know what to do with her hands, other than being seemingly unable to keep them still for particularly long. In one of the occasions he'd brought her to his dorm to study with him, she'd gone through some of his drawers, and happened upon some old sketch books of his. She lit up when she finally got him to admit that the drawings were his. Ravi had always loved art, even if he had kind of abandoned it after school. While he genuinely had loved it, taking joy in everything from charcoals to water colours and even just simple pencils, he didn't see it as something with a future.
Roxy had begged him and pleaded with him to draw her, but after finally badgering him to do so, he now found he didn't need to be convinced anymore. She was his inspiration. Looking at her now, sleeping contentedly in his bed, he could only see a picture he wanted to capture, to be able to keep forever, but he thought better of it. Instead, he got dressed, left Roxy a note in case she woke up and headed back to her room by the time he returned, and went out for his morning run.
Elsewhere on the base, Zoey was working in the laundry, going through her shift. Now that she'd had a few weeks in the laundry, she was starting to get used to the workload, and she had managed to re-work her section to make things a little more efficient and a little easier for her to handle. Other people had started to notice too and were starting to ask how she seemed to get through her work faster than they got through their own, and before long, she was starting to give them suggestions, which quickly got back to the supervisor and before she knew it, he was having her help him to re-work the entire department to make things a little easier.
There were still some things she could do little about. The heat was something that would never go away, with so many machines running the place was only marginally cooler than the boiler room, and the fumes…that was a whole other thing. The chemicals were strong, and it wasn't the first time people passed out from the combination of the heat and exposure to the fumes until they got used to it. Zoey was starting to become acclimatised to it all, but even she sometimes found herself feeling a little light-headed and a little fuzzy towards the end of her shift.
They pay wasn't great, but it did mean she had some cash in her pocket at least, and she was squirreling some money away to pay Roxy back for her textbooks. Catching up on where everyone else was a few weeks ago was still a struggle, but she was nothing if not a skilled multi-tasker, and while some people would play music while they were on shift, for Zoey, it was a recording of herself reading over her study notes, over and over and over, trying to remember all those little rules and regulations she'd be expected to follow.
The coursework involved not only procedure and rules and regulations, but also an extensive history on previous Ranger teams. While some of the Rangers were still around, they had all long since retired and gone on to other things, most never revealing their identities to the public and simply disappearing into obscurity. At times she did wonder what exactly someone would do after being a super hero, but since she knew at least one had ended up serving two terms as President of the United States, she had to imagine they had to have pretty remarkable lives after their tenure.
"Reeves!" Her supervisor called at the top of his lungs. He tapped his watch, causing her to look at hers. It was the end of her shift. She gave him a grateful nod and bundled up her last batch, putting it aside for the next shift, before heading out.
She went to the mess hall to go and get something to eat before she would go back to her dorm to shower and get dressed. One benefit of the base was that there was never any issue about being able to eat, and while others did like going off-base to eat, here in the Mess, GB picked up the tab.
She managed to get herself some muesli with currants and bananas, something she was sure would keep her going during the day. She pulled out some textbooks and opened one up to start reading while she ate. There weren't many others around, most cadets spent the time before classes to themselves, but it did mean that she was going to get some peace. Another reason she wanted to be out of the dorm room was she wanted to give Roxy's boyfriend time to leave. She never could keep track of whether Roxy was with him or he was with her, it was exhausting enough trying to keep her distance while they just got on with their own thing. Zoey was glad they were happy, but she did wonder if they forgot that Roxy wasn't the only one in that dorm room at times.
She was reading up on some history coursework when some of the cadets came in from the basketball courts, making a little bit of a racket as they did. She tried to just ignore them, concentrating on her coursework while they got a table to themselves. She did cast a little glance over, seeing Blaze was with them and rolled her eyes, before turning her gaze back to the books.
She had no idea why, but a lot of the cadets were starting to look up to Blaze, he was one of the top scoring cadets in many areas, but he was an insufferable jerk with it. He always had to brag and make a show out of everything. While he did have a dorm on site like the others, he never actually stayed in it, living off site. She imagined he didn't want to give up the life he was accustomed to, and since he normally bribed or bullied someone into valet parking his motorcycle for him. She didn't know what was worse, the fact he expected the other staff to park his bike or the fact more often than not someone actually would.
She didn't know who was talking Blaze up more, the legion of fans he seemed to have following him everywhere, stroking his ego, or Blaze himself. Even though she hadn't seen the game they had just played, within a few minutes of them arriving she was sure she could probably give a detailed commentary of the game. Through her mom, she had figured out who Blaze was pretty early on. Blaze was the only child of the Winchester family, one of the families that had invested in the Morph-X development. The Winchesters were already one of the wealthiest families in the country, and being on the ground floor when Morph-X hit the market with a significant share of the market would undoubtedly only increase their wealth.
Blaze was well-known in his own right. A multi-time world karate champion and even a model on occasions, he pretty much had the world at his feet. She didn't get involved in his childish little slanging matches with Ravi, but she did think it was more than a little bit rich of him to accuse Ravi of nepotism when his family owned a significant share of Grid Battleforce, and much of the things he said about Ravi could easily be said about him. Of course she never wanted to lower herself to slinging mud like him. Speaking of mud, her attention was raised when something hit her. She looked down to her clothes, seeing a goopy mess on her uniform, possibly oatmeal or maybe porridge. Given the laughter, she could tell it came from Blaze's table.
"Hey!" She protested. "I know eating's difficult but how you miss a target the size of your mouth is beyond me!"
"Hey, calm down laundry girl, we were just messing around." Blaze chuckled. She looked to the other members of Blaze's party and saw that they all had similar stains on their clothing. They must have started a food fight while she was concentrating on her books.
"Laundry girl?" One of the other cadets asked. Zoey just cringed hearing this. She had a feeling it was no coincidence that Blaze had encouraged a food fight when he saw her.
"Yeah, don't you guys know? This here's the girl that keeps our whites white and our colours nice and crisp." He told them, eliciting a laugh from the others. "Hey, nice job on the pressing by the way. I did always wonder how you get those nice, sharp creases…then I remembered I don't have to do any pressing so I really don't care."
"You don't clean up after yourself, what a surprise." Zoey responded wearily, starting to gather up her books. Blaze came bounding over to her, barring her path.
"Not very sociable are you?" He asked. She just looked to him. "So, tell me, your work in the laundry, is that like a wax on, wax off training kind of thing? Because if it is then it really isn't working looking at your place on the rankings."
Zoey tensed up as she heard the others laughing and mocking her. She knew all too well that her scores on the league rankings weren't exactly spectacular. She was doing everything she could to improve. Nate had kindly offered to let her use the firing range any time he needed to work late, something he had to do quite a lot for some reason. She really did wonder why his bosses didn't do more of the late shifts. Roxy was helping her with her karate, even bumping her up another belt and she was studying like mad to get her reading up to speed, but she was still very close to the bottom of the table.
"Yeah, well some of us weren't born with a silver spoon up our asses!" She snapped at him. "Some of us actually had to work for everything we have!"
Blaze picked up a carton of grape juice. She just stood and watched as he considered it for a moment.
"Well, since you know so much about the subject…I've heard that this is quite hard to get out." He taunted her. "What would you do about it?"
"Well, the first thing is, in your case, I'd suggest putting it in a sippy cup since you seem to have the mentality of a toddler!" She replied. Blaze didn't see the funny side of that, and instead just squirted it all down his shirt.
"Now, would you look at that?" He asked. She just crossed her arms. "Now, how about you go and clean this up like a good little girl?"
"My shift is over." She told him. "But you can put it in the basket and it'll get cleaned…"
"But why do that when you're right here?" He asked her. He took off his shirt, flexing and posing as he did so. Zoey could hear some whistles from his entourage as he did so. He held out his shirt. "Go on, take it."
"Are you deaf or just stupid? I said my shift is over!" Zoey snapped at him. Blaze rammed it into her hands.
"Look, you can pretend, play at trying to be a Ranger all you want, but people like you? The fact is, sometimes in life, society just needs someone to clean up." Blaze told her. "Now, how about you be a good little girl and stop pretending you have a shot at being a Ranger and accept that you'll only ever be the one who cleans up afterwards?"
Zoey was about to answer, but she stopped stock still when she heard a sharp cough and someone appeared behind Blaze. He did too, and turned slowly around to see Commander Shaw standing behind him.
"C…C…Commander Shaw." He stammered, quickly standing to attention, as did everyone else in the room. Commander Shaw had only arrived at the tail end. She honestly didn't know what was going on, but she'd been in the military long enough to see enough bullying to know when someone was getting ganged up on.
"Mr Winchester. May I inquire as to exactly why you're in a state of undress?" She asked him.
"Uh…" He said as he tried to think. Blaze was a strong candidate, his scores spoke for themselves, only Ravi was beating him, but she hated the attitude he carried himself with. She was reminded of exactly who his parents were, and while she ultimately had no issue cutting him if she could legitimately say she believed he would be a threat to the team, she was balancing up more than a few things that other instructors were telling her. She could see that he was already getting a following from other cadets, and some had suggested his ego and his self-importance was leadership skills.
She couldn't argue that many of the cadets would probably follow him and he had been put in leadership positions in some exercises as had Ravi. As two of the strongest candidates, she wasn't just having to size them up as Rangers, but potential to actually lead the team as well. She did see her son as having the knowledge, experience and wisdom to know what to do and to give orders, but she did acknowledge her son could be stiff, and others did sometimes find it difficult to warm to him and go to him for guidance. Blaze, as abrasive and arrogant as he was did have a charisma that people looked to which she couldn't deny. She was worried, of course, about his attitude and how he would fare if he was challenged, something she wasn't sure wasn't happening with Zoey. She just glared at him waiting for his explanation.
"I…spilled something on my clothes." Blaze told her. "This…um…she…she works in the laundry, so I was giving her my clothes to take for cleaning."
"Really?" She asked, sounding completely unconvinced. She knew all too well that Blaze was the source of the rumours about her son, and while she couldn't prove anything, especially since he never made any direct accusations, she did see an opportunity. She folded her arms.
"Well, don't let me stop you." She told him. Blaze looked confused, and just pointed to the shirt in Zoey's arms. "Well? Go on!"
Blaze reluctantly started to undo his pants and pulled them down, taking them off and handing them to Zoey. Commander Shaw just raised her eyebrows.
"Are you done?" She asked him.
"Commander Shaw…"
"No, this is how you seem to think it is appropriate to deal with your laundry." Commander Shaw told him. "Or is something else going on here that will require a visit to the General?"
Blaze took a deep breath and took off his socks, handing them to Zoey, before turning back to Commander Shaw. She just coughed and flicked her eyes in the direction of his boxer shorts. Blaze gulped, but sheepishly removed them, leaving him standing completely naked in the middle of the mess hall with everyone watching. Blaze started to cover himself up.
"I'm sorry, did I dismiss you?" She asked, causing Zoey to start sniggering. Blaze by now was starting to go bright red. "TEN HUT!"
Blaze had little option but to stand to attention. He stood bolt upright, saluting her. The others were struggling to keep from laughing.
"Hey, I don't think he's quite to attention yet." Someone said. "It looks more like he's at ease."
"Anyone still here when I count to ten is doing 500 laps of the base." She told them. "DISMISSED!"
They all quickly scrambled from the room, all except for Zoey who she gestured to stay for a moment. Commander Shaw carefully picked up Blaze's underwear and handed it to her.
"Ms Reeves, please ensure that Mr Winchester's clothing is put in with the laundry. I'd hate to think he had too long to wait." She told her. Zoey scurried off, struggling to keep a straight face as she did so, leaving Commander Shaw alone with him. "As for you Mr Winchester…you just remain here at attention."
"For…for…how long?" He asked her. Commander Shaw took a step closer, right into his personal space and looked down her nose at him.
"Until I tell you to do otherwise." She replied, before turning on her heel and walking out. As she left, a smirk crossed her face. It wouldn't be the first time she'd had to knock some of the arrogance out of a recruit. The fact she enjoyed doing so was just a bonus.