Warning: SASCH
Chapter 7 – Teaching your lesson
"No." His voice was steady and calm, and even held a hint of boredom in it. It was as though a record played again and again. The sound made a shiver run down on the men's spine although they didn't give away any sign of this. They could have been gotten used to it as he would always speak in that masked tone. The same his face would be.
Panther had never met such man before – he felt uncomfortable in his presence, always on his guard as though on a mission. It was unnerving: only twenty hours had they spent here and he was so stiff and exhausted from the constant tension around the two intruders it felt a disease. He was the youngest in his unit, and most of the time he was silent concentrating more on his behave. He was twenty-one and Cub seemed to be about around his age, still centuries away. For God's sake, the guy can't have passed his eighteenth (relatively) long ago!
"YOU LITTLE BRAT! HOW DO YOU DARE TO SAY ME NO!" It appeared the Sergeant was about to explode. His face turned dangerously purple, his veins markedly beating on his temple and at his neck. The white of his eyes disappeared to change to all red. His shouting was ear-destroying, Panther felt as if he was never going to hear again. He wondered how the blonde guy bore it: he was standing right in front of the shrieking officer, yet didn't flinch one time, his face keeping the all-same expression of calmness and faint boredom.
"'No' means we're not doing it." He replied politely, his quiet firm voice in sharp contraire of the Sergeant's.
Panther could not understand it. They were going to get enough punishment for three lifetimes, not winning anything at all with it: the exercise they were supposed to do was easy enough to go on with, no real exercise actually, just something to keep them busy and get used to the constant concentration and little time for relaxing. He slightly flinched as the Sergeant continued shouting.
Alex was all numb for now. All he wanted was to get free from the stupid exercise they were not able to do and take their time with something actually useful. He was stupid though, saying barely no for the violent and pushy order – he was just too used to Israel, damn it – and his reply yielded straight the Sergeant's need to shout and force them to do it, in order to save face. He could fully understand the man. He saw his point. He knew he would have done it as well, were it him, not having another choice.
But this didn't mean he gave in. He had fought himself the right for a life directed by himself and nobody else's orders, he deserved it. No matter what it meant, he couldn't give him what the wanted. It was against all the rules he played about, against everything sane.
He sighed. God, he was taking his off-duty time! He should have been somewhere comfortable with his wife in his arms, not at an SAS camp in freaking Wales. He had known what it would cost though, he had known that at the beginning, when he had accepted going to Israel, planning the revenge, taking down Scorpia. He had known his life would not be anything but a constant mission from then on. Fully on alert all the time, in danger all the time. He had known, and accepted.
But no annoying, bastard Sergeant had been in that deal.
"Look, it might be obligatory for all the soldiers of the camp to do this every time, but we won't. You can shout for another half an hour at me if you feel like it helps you processing this fact. Or you can do what you should and just let us alone. You will send them a report and they might give us punishment. But this argument is completely pointless." He used the man's sudden lack of air and rushed over the words, calmly, emotionlessly, bored. Before the man could answer, he turned his back towards him and just marched out of the building, leaving the astounded soldiers behind.
Rose stepped in front of him and he let her lead him wherever. He faintly realized they left the camp. The valley it was situated in, had once been the bend of a river, the barracks standing in the place of a natural pool. The water had come into the valley through a high waterfall to the other end where the water made its way through the rocks preparing a narrow hole in the hill. They were heading up towards the sharpest edge, the late waterfall.
Rose didn't stop reaching it and he was beginning to calm down as they climbed up all the way. The cliffs were grey, at some parts covered with green moss and smaller plants. The daily falling rain made the surface mucous and slippery and he was gasping for air to the time they reached the top. She turned back towards him to see if he was alright, then stepped to the side of the huge cave they were standing in.
Alex stepped next to her. The whole valley was visible, the camp only a dark spot in the greenness. He hadn't realized they had come so much, but now he could see it was a long trip up until here. She turned back, stepping close until, from inch to inch, their body slowly got connected. He stared into her eyes, deeply, letting the walls around him fall in.
He smiled softly when her lips gently, slowly, touched his. She always knew what he needed.
And then, suddenly, he gave in. His hungry lips crushed against hers and he pulled her closer with a sudden movement. The kiss was uncontrolled and wild, almost violent. He wanted to have her immediately, to feel her soft skin against his, to feel her fragile body around him.
Having sex was their most usual way to get free from the tension recently.
The noise was sudden and quiet, only a crack under a clumsy foot, followed by a subdued swear. They both jumped back at the very moment, their instincts on full attention. At the side of the rock, a red head appeared. Snake. Alex silently cursed, wishing him to hell.
He didn't need to sign Rose, she already stepped back, running a finger through her hair. He sighed tiredly. This was not his day.
Snake reached the top looking around with a surprised expression. He was apparently feeling very uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "You have a meeting with the colonel."
Alex knew he had no choice, so just nodded the man, already starting to climb back down. The tension in him lessened a bit, but the appearance of his unit mate didn't help a lot. At the bottom of the waterfall Wolf was waiting for them. Alex grinned grimly. Of course, he would not climb up all the way. He waited until Rose got down and they headed back to the camp without the men they were supposed to be together as a team.
He even knocked when they reached the colonel's door. What an improvement.
The man explained them how disappointed he was, then followed with the need of discipline at a military camp, and so on… Alex just tuned him out. Apparently, the man realized he was speaking in vain as he suddenly stopped waiting for him to answer or reply, but his eyes were empty, somehow managing to glare at him bored. He sighed. His face suddenly turned very exhausted.
They were dismissed to get to their driving lesson in time – despite the man's ineffective threat he would not permit their lecture as a punishment. Alex felt a sort of pity towards the man though: it was not his fault – he just wanted to be free and live his own life. Usually, he would do whatever he wanted and now, even MI6 handled him more as a grown-up after their child-obsession. And this was all that he wanted.
No matter what they thought of him – of course, his behaviour just ascertained them in their suspicion he was a spoiled brat whose father had wanted to get rid of him – he was fine being alone, and would do fine, would they leave him alone. He was the only target as everybody decided to just ignore his wife – women did not come here.
She was nobody, not a woman, only a shadow disturbing them. Not really comfortable, maybe, but she was way too strong and experienced to whine about it, she just accepted it as always, everything. Maybe found it even better. He sighed. If only there hadn't been anybody bothering them.
Another, unfamiliar soldier changed the half K Unit and led them out from the camp, only the other direction they had walked half an hour ago. They walked up the hill, then descended to see the large concrete square of the landing strip of several helicopters and the parking lot of the countless jeeps, city cars, quads, motorcycles – all sorts of vehicles they could supposedly get in action.
Alex's mood was emphatically improved. Although they couldn't practise with water vehicles this was good for a first. For obvious reasons, they had not been able to practise driving on the streets of Israel, so this was a very good occasion to learn. He was also eager to combine things and try how firing back from a manoeuvring car's window was.
The teacher of theirs was not a soldier, and, from the glances the others stared at him, he was nothing connected to SAS. He stood on his place calmly not bothering with anybody else.
"Ah, here you come. I was starting to get a bit worried." His voice was the same they used, and so Alex immediately knew where he was from. MI6. He nodded reservedly but Rose flashed a rosy smile at him. He cleared his throat. "My name's Nathaniel Davies, but you can call me Nat." He examined him and flinched just a little bit. Alex didn't let it slip, frowned on him.
The man sadly smiled back at him. "I knew your father, I worked with him once then when I get the current position I met him every time. You are his ghost." He admitted.
"Ah." He nodded again, his face closing. The black man clapped his hands.
"We could start this, as well. How can I call you, by the way?" He asked already turning towards the practise place.
"We're Ama and Cub here." Rose answered casually. The man waved towards one of the helicopters, a smile spreading on his face.
"I heard your first day here hadn't been exactly interesting so I thought I might as well teach you something new as well. Have you ever driven a helicopter?" He shook his head while Rose frowned. "What?" He asked.
"It was… not actually driving, more like... well…" She didn't finish her sentence, but the man understood her and gave her a sympathetic smile.
"Ooookay. Then… You need to know the general things about the driving and we can just hope you won't need it-"
"A-a." Rose cut him off. "We need to have enough skills to get a license. I mean… helicopter-driving license, if something like that exists." The look on his face was a bit weird, but he nodded.
"This complicates some things, but right. A license, you say?" He was muttering on his way to the helicopter. He quickly checked everything, unstoppably speaking and explaining in the process, making sure they got the main things about the safety's issue, then taking a step forward – they were not likely to be able to do safety checks for too long during an operation. The SAS didn't come close enough to be able to overhear them, still they kept their voices low.
Alex felt himself back to life now. This was what he would do, his job. Nathaniel treated them like adults, much like the way Scorpia did – obviously, MI6 had learnt from its mistakes and Grant took care of them keeping his promise. They sat inside the machine absorbing the instructions about the different buttons, handles, displays, switches, which covered the instrument panel glinting in different colours, having interesting shapes to make sure the pilot was able to distinguish the right things, but using all the space available. Davies spoke for more than two hours constantly not caring if they actually remembered anything of it, rather bubbling about the issue with well built logic and order.
He talked about driving a helicopter as he was ordered to, giving them all the details in a speeded up way – his pupils were said to be smart and quick on the uptake. He did this however following his orders, the couple could discover the well hidden signs of his disbelief: he didn't think they should do this, he didn't honestly believe his orders, all the things he was told. But he did what he was supposed to not questioning his bosses or his orders. Another difference between spies and SAS.
He came to an abrupt halt. Alex was organizing his newly received knowledge, making sure all the little folders in his mind he had been making during the lesson were in order, then he jumped from one to other conclusion and connection to see if everything made sense and every case was where it was supposed to be. He had learnt this from Rose, and although when she had talked about it the first time, it simply sounded ridiculous, soon, he had had to admit, this "organizing tool" was useful and helped him a lot.
"Right." The developer of the method nodded; she was visibly ready with her check-up. "But what if the height is increasing and the balance on… for example the right side? This and this will be red," She waved towards the instrument panel. "this will have the increasing numbers, this will show the second 'danger sign', and… yeah. That's all, right?"
"Er, right." He closed his face quickly, but Alex was able to see the deep astonishment in his eyes appearing for a moment. He felt a wave of smugness. His wife was quite a quick learner.
Nathaniel was astounded, but he had been told they had been unusual teenagers. If he had been told they had been teenagers. He processed the fact quickly, moving on to more special cases, making sure they were using the freshly absorbed knowledge and by the repeating and rementioning of the key words, everything stuck in their minds. He was a good teacher and they were good pupils.
To the time Alex and Rose got back to the hut they had a basic knowledge about the working of a helicopter in general. It was not that hard considering they were experienced in other types of 'driving'. When they returned however, they had to face with reality: it had been only some hours ago he had refused a Sergeant's order, and although the official stick-giving was already behind their back, the soldiers stared at him (and so her as well) strangely.
Eagle stepped to him apparently not being able to bit his tongue any longer.
"Could you please tell us why you aren't able to do some UFF?"
To be continued…
I hadn't really been fascinated by the amount of reviews I had got, but anyway, this hadn't been the point.
I haven't been having any time the past few days fearing I would fail at the first turn of a Chemistry competition as I haven't learnt anything for nearly half a year now since past year's competition ended (where I failed quite miserably... anyway, it was miserable for me).
Yeah. My personal problem, but I thought you might deserve an explanation for my 'long' absence.
Yep. I don't know anything about helicopters, so don't blame me.