Chapter Five: In Discord and Rhyme
You know, for someone who isn't that good at writing fight scenes, I certainly chose wisely when I decided that the thing in TLC that interested me most was the dynamics of the genetically modified living weapons who routinely battle. On the plus side, it should at least improve a weakness.
Not a lot of dialogue in this chapter, or even plot. I just wanted to have Ze'ev's pack 'bonding', in the way I felt would fit best with canon.
Ze'ev had long since grown used to the screams and the howls that always filled the dining hall. Instead he focused on filling his stomach with minimal violence.
He'd noticed that his standards of 'minimal violence' seemed to be steadily declining. It had gotten to the point that several of his lower-ranked pack mates actively avoided challenging him for meat, after he'd blackened Beta Liu's eye for a week.
Ze'ev's conscience didn't thank him, but his stomach did.
Gnawing on a stringy piece of meat and wondering exactly what animal it even came from, Ze'ev watched the other battles exploding around him.
Betas Troya and Wynn were in a vicious match. The two of them were more or less even. In general, Beta Wynn tended to have the edge over Beta Troya, but today Troya seemed to be winning.
Meanwhile, Beta Sherazi and Beta Liu were in their own fight. There were only three people in the pack who Beta Liu would ordinarily challenge, all of whom had been omega at some point in the two years since Ze'ev arrived. As always, Beta Sherazi's pure ferocity didn't match up against Beta Liu's relatively superior strength and skill.
The most impressive battle was between Beta Tsukino and Alpha Brock. As Ze'ev watched, Brock clenched his left fist for half an instant, and then spun around in a perfect roundhouse kick. Beta Tsukino collapsed under the hit.
Alpha Brock smirked, snatching the large steak they had been fighting over.
Beta Tsukino got to his feet, growling.
Furiously, he twisted around and ripped a small piece of meat from the nearest operative weaker than him: the next table's omega.
The other battles seemed to stop. Jael's pack all looked over, curious, as the other omega snarled in fury.
Between-pack battles weren't unheard of, but they somewhat rare. After all, they were designed to fight each other for status. It didn't matter how successful an operative was against another pack; they might as well slaughter punching bags for all the good it did their position. There wasn't even any point in stealing food from other tables, since there would be the same amount of fight and no hierarchy reward.
But Beta Tsukino wanted a fight with someone who wasn't his alpha, and the random omega was closest. When the omega obliged his desire for a fight, Beta Tsukino flattened him.
The omega leapt into the air, fingers scrabbling for Masaru Tsukino's eyes. It was a technique that no-one in Jael's pack ever used, but Tsukino easily adjusted. He dragged the omega out of the air and tossed him to the ground.
Victoriously, Tsukino took a bite of the stolen steak.
Then he was abruptly thrown back by a vicious punch to the stomach. One of the other pack's betas had not taken kindly to his pack mate's attack.
Beta Tsukino snarled, bouncing on the balls of his feet with surprising grace for someone so big.
"If you want a fight, you'll get one," the other beta warned.
"Good," Beta Tsukino growled back.
Then Ran, always trying to get respect and never seeming to realise that making himself helpful wasn't working, burst into the fight.
Ran crashed into the other pack's beta. The beta was caught off balance, entirely unprepared, and stumbled back several steps.
Ran slashed his sharpened claws brutally across the beta's torso. It was a move Alpha Brock favoured that month, and although Ran didn't have the strength to do it properly, it drew blood.
Whether omega or alpha, every operative had that same glint in their eyes whenever their hands got bloody. Ran eagerly pulled his fist back for a punch.
It never connected. The other pack's omega tackled into him, throwing him off the beta.
Ran gleefully turned his attention to his new battle. Meanwhile, Tsukino and the other beta fell into a brawl.
Ze'ev watched on tenterhooks. Beta Tsukino was able to handle himself reasonably against even Alpha Brock, so Ze'ev had no fear for him. It was Ran that Ze'ev watched.
Ran clawed at his opponent's face, cutting deep into skin and probably leaving a scar. The other omega pulled back, before tightening his fist and punching Ran's nose. Blood exploded across his face.
Previously suppressed instincts were howling in Ze'ev's ears. He had to go protect his baby brother. Still, Ze'ev sat frozen on the bench, remembering Ran's demand that they forget they were related.
Ze'ev was still hesitating when Beta Rafe got involved.
Rafe darted into the fray, grabbing the other omega and dragging him away from Ran. The other omega spun around, putting all his effort into a clumsy kick which Beta Rafe easily deflected.
Another of the other pack's betas, not the one fighting Beta Tsukino, rushed at Rafe. He brought his leg around in a roundhouse kick, slamming into Rafe's knees. Beta Rafe collapsed with a whine.
Ze'ev left behind his lunch, sprinting over to the battle. Beta Liu was close behind him; Beta Wynn was already in the fray.
Ran was still in the middle of the fight. It was unfortunate that sheer willpower was not actually a viable weapon. The idiot had gone for the opposing alpha. The only reason Ran's head was still in one piece was that the alpha looked too confused by being attacked by an omega.
Ran easily dodged the first punch, and missed the second one by millimetres. The third one struck true, causing Ran to fall back with a cry.
The alpha growled, sharp teeth aimed at Ran's throat.
Ze'ev didn't hesitate, didn't even think. He kicked the alpha as hard as he could in the back. He wasn't quite close enough for it to cause a decent bruise, but it did make the alpha turn around in surprise as Ze'ev finally got near.
Bunching up his fist, Ze'ev punched with all of his strength. It would have broken the alpha's specially reinforced skull, but the alpha caught his wrist.
It was a tactic Ze'ev had never fought before, but since joining the queen's army, he'd learned to improvise fighting techniques. Immediately, Ze'ev wrapped his free hand around the alpha's fist, and used his opponent's arm as leverage to pull himself off the ground. In a moment he swung forwards, bringing his knee up to collide with the alpha's temple.
The alpha ducked away with ease, and then jabbed his free hand sharply into Ze'ev's torso. Ze'ev released his grip reflexively and dropped to the ground.
He didn't get a chance to move before the alpha kicked him in the stomach. Ze'ev gasped and instinctively curled into a ball, even though experience screamed that staying still was a bad idea.
The opposing alpha drew back his leg for another savage kick, but Beta Gibbous Troya intervened first. The alpha yelped with pain as Troya's teeth dug into his shoulder, and stumbled away from Ze'ev.
Troya let go quickly, but not fast enough. A brutal swipe from the alpha split Gibbous' lip.
Ze'ev scrambled to his feet, ready to add his weight to the battle, but Alpha Brock was already barrelling in. Lightning fast despite his size, Brock pushed Beta Troya out of the way. In the same movement, Brock spun around, adding momentum to his punch.
The fist connected. The other alpha spat blood.
Troya glanced at Brock and the other alpha brawling, smiled despite the split lip, and then darted off to help Beta Garson. Ran had disappeared somewhere, hopefully for a battle that was more in his league.
Brock and the other alpha seemed to be at least somewhat evenly matched. Ze'ev scanned the area, looking for any of his pack mates who needed help.
The other forty-eight operative packs in the dining hall hadn't entirely stopped their internal fights, but the battle was garnering interest as mid-meal entertainment. Ze'ev ignored them.
He noticed that Beta Huang Liu was struggling against two opponents at once. Ze'ev started to move towards them, then stepped back as he noticed another operative was barrelling towards him.
It wasn't so much an instinct to dodge as it was an instinct to hide behind his alpha. Ze'ev didn't think about it, but took a quick step to the side to be next to Brock.
Without looking at either Ze'ev or the beta, Alpha Brock slammed out his elbow with perfect aim. The charging beta dropped to his knees.
Ze'ev navigated around him, and shot through the battle to help Beta Liu.
Easily, Ze'ev caught the attention of one of Huang's attackers, simply by slamming his foot hard against the other beta's knee. The beta snarled, and started raining down attacks on Ze'ev.
He was clumsy. Ze'ev slipped into his favourite routine of dodging every blow and patiently waiting for an opening. It came after almost a minute, and Ze'ev ducked under a punch and slammed his palm upwards, cracking against the beta's jaw.
The beta howled, stumbling backwards. Ze'ev let himself feel a moment of pride, before the beta lunged forward again and slammed a fist against his torso.
It was hard to tell if a rib cracked or if it was just bruised, but either way Ze'ev fell. The other beta stamped on his hand, and Ze'ev yelled.
He tried to tug his hand free, failed, and then bit at the exposed ankle, all within a second. The beta jerked in surprise, and Ze'ev released his jaw before he got kicked in the face.
The bite had drawn blood, although just barely. Ze'ev had learned to hate the taste of human blood more than anything, but he would never show it.
"You okay?" Beta Huang Liu said, not taking his eyes off the beta he was circling.
"Yeah," Ze'ev said, getting to his feet and cradling his hand. He'd had worse. "Are you?"
"Yeah, thanks."
The beta Ze'ev had been fighting had sprinted off to help one of his own pack mates, who was being savaged by Beta Wynn. Ze'ev didn't follow, and instead looked around for someone else on his team to help.
"And where, might I ask, is Beta Sherazi?" Jael asked.
"Hospital wing, Master Jael," Alpha Brock answered, straight backed.
The pack was standing in formation, each of them nursing new injuries and trying not to let Master Jael see weakness.
"I see," Jael said, eyes locking in on Crater Brock.
Brock didn't flinch under the scrutiny, but Ze'ev thought that his left shoulder rose slightly whenever he was uncomfortable.
"And why, might I ask, was Beta Sherazi so badly injured to need medical attention? You know that the ward is only for the most serious of cases."
"Yes, Master Jael," Brock nodded. "I accept full responsibility for sending him away without permission."
"That doesn't answer my question."
Brock paused, obviously trying to list the symptoms in as professional manner as he could. "There was a lot of blood and he couldn't stand up," he said finally.
Jael seemed to accept that.
The hospital wing was only to be used in absolute emergencies. Ze'ev had only seen his pack mates use it seven times since he first started. He'd yet to be admitted – that tended to be those who actively challenged Alpha Brock for his title. Still, he'd gone there once to escort Beta Wynn when he couldn't walk on a broken leg. He'd found that the lab was as state-of-the-art as anything in the training facility, if rather small for five hundred operatives to share.
Technically, Ze'ev thought that the standard for what was a medical emergency was probably lower than they used. But it was a mark of weakness to admit to injury, and most operatives powered through whatever they had to deal with.
Aziz had been willing to struggle through the day's training. Brock had refused to let him, and ordered Betas Tsukino and Garson to get him to the hospital wing without jarring injuries.
"Who was Beta Sherazi's opponent?" Jael asked.
Alpha Brock frowned. "I don't know."
"Oh?" Jael glanced at the rest of the pack, inviting an explanation.
"Omega Carter," Beta Garson answered. "And Beta Strom contributed."
"You fought another pack?" Jael glanced at the various injuries as if that answered a question he never asked. "I hope you won."
Brock nodded once. "We did."
That was a matter of opinion, Ze'ev thought. The battle had stopped when the lunch hour finished, about fifteen minutes after Tsukino snatched a piece of meat. Both packs had a single pack member injured enough to be sent to the hospital wing. Of course, there were only fourteen in the other pack, as Ze'ev had found out, so technically they had a better average.
Either way, Ze'ev understood the motivation to tell Jael they won.
"Well, you are one operative short. As you promised to take responsibility, Alpha Brock, that means you will go through the course twice, before we continue today's mental exercises."
Brock nodded obediently. That was no issue for him; Brock could go through the obstacle course twelve times before he became tired. Jael obviously didn't care too much about Beta Sherazi skipping a training session, although if he wasn't back by the next day-cycle there might be more issues.
Beta Rafe started the course, stepping in a way that made Ze'ev think he had a broken rib.
Keeping his posture straight, Ze'ev slowly let his eyes wander to the left. He could smell the direction their opponents had gone, and saw the thirteen still standing operatives, at attention.
Their thaumaturge wasn't looking, and Ze'ev was sure he got a glimpse of a smile on most of them. With his ears strained, he thought he caught a snatch of a giggle.
The other pack had enjoyed the battle as much as they had. Not necessarily the fact that it was a bloody fight, although Ze'ev didn't doubt the blood was an appeal for at least some of them. But no, the pack probably also enjoyed the teamwork, the absolute proof that when it came to it their pack brothers would be willing to fight for them too.
Or maybe Ze'ev was just projecting his own pleasure onto others as well.
Either way, the fight was worth the bruises.
Thanks so much to those who reviewed last chapter.
I would really appreciate more comments, especially since this type of chapter is not in my usual style.