Learning

Eve actually winced when she saw the recruit hit the ground on his side. He let out a loud groan, rolling on his side. Eve, standing a few feet away by the field control station, watched as the young man struggled to recover from the throw.

"Again." Demanded Sergeant Major Farron, who had been the thrower.

Since training had started, the instructor had ordered the group to run the same obstacle course she had the day before. However, she also picked out individual recruits—going down the roster—to evaluate their hand-to-hand combat abilities. While doing so, she'd ordered Eve to watch the controls and records of the obstacle course.

Eve recognized the recruit. Lozieg Kadaj, if she recalled correctly. She remembered him from the day before official training had started. While she hadn't forgotten his hostile actions on that course, she wasn't the type to hold a grudge. In fact, she probably would have forgotten the incident entirely if it weren't for the other boy, Dajh Katzroy. No, a sneaky and underhanded attempt by a man whose ego was inflated—probably, as Eve assumed, to compensate for something—didn't concern her. Someone taking a blow to the face for her, that bothered her. Which meant so Dajh Katzroy.

"What did I say before the fight?" The Sergeant Major asked, waiting for Lozieg to get to his feet.

"Fight like my life depended on it." Answered the recruit, finally pulling himself to his feet. Inflated ego or not, Lozieg had lasted longer than many of the recruits before him.

"And which part of that did you not understand?" Came a harsh question, no doubt rhetorical, "Again."

After a brief moment of hesitation, the young man ran at her again. He was obviously more of a brawler than anything else but nevertheless, it gave him at least a slight advantage over the others. Still, it mattered little. His opponent easily managed to kick his legs out from under him and pin him, face down on the ground, one of his arms locked behind his back.

"Again." Came another order. He struggled against the hold but failed to break it, "What are you waiting for, Kadaj?" Eve continued to watch out of the corner of her eye, "Again."

"I can't!" Lozieg hissed loudly, ceasing to struggle against the grip. He suddenly gave a pained grunt as the Sergeant Major firmly pulled on the arm on his back.

"The fight isn't over Kadaj, you're still alive." She stated simply, "Now, get up." Another tug on his arm incited another choke of pain. Eve found herself clenching her jaw as she could no longer keep her eyes away.

"I... can't..." The recruit repeated, his voice dripping with defeat. The Sergeant Major held the lock for another few seconds before releasing him and stepping away. Lozieg cradled his arm but didn't pick himself up. While Eve could tell it wasn't broken or dislocated, she could tell the pain Lozieg was feeling probably felt like it. She also knew if it hurt any less, he was the type of person to at least attempt to pull the tough-guy act and claim it hadn't hurt at all.

"Take a ten minute break, Kadaj." The officer near him instructed, "Then get back on the field." Eve watched Lozieg make it to his feet and slowly head towards a small table that'd been set up with a water dispenser.

When she turned back to the Sergeant Major, she noticed the older woman was still staring off into space. Eve had noted she had been distracted all afternoon. She hadn't shown up in the morning so Eve had been forced to cover for her. Though Eve had gotten a strange impression of her the first moment they met, she quickly found that the Sergeant Major was direct and to the point; and most of all focused. Something was bothering the other woman, that much Eve knew. But more than that, she wanted to know the reason for the distraction. She was curious—no, concerned—and it irked her.

Still observing the distracted Sergeant Major, Eve was reminded that not only did she not show up until after lunch, the superior officer had arrived in a full combat CRYSIS uniform—complete with a weapon hanging in a holster behind her. All ranked officers had a light uniform for training and a separate, lightly-armored one for missions. It was rare for and officer of any rank to have their weapons while inside CRYSIS HQ—let alone during a class session not involving weapons training.

"Is there a problem, DeFluo?" The object of her concern snapped Eve out of her own distracted thoughts. Eve found the Sergeant Major staring directly at her.

"No ma'am." She answered quickly, turning back toward the controls in front of her.

"Shut down the course."

"S-Sorry?" Eve looked back over at the other woman. The Sergeant Major motioned to the controls, adjusting her gloves.

"Shut it down."

"Yes ma'am." Eve replied, tapping in the controls, powering down the lasers and lighted force fields. The recruits running the field stopped abruptly, confused. They all looked towards the control station. Eve watched the pinkette wave them over.

"All of you over here." The recruits wasted no time gathering to stand in front of her. Eve powered down the rest of the control station and moved to stand near the group.

"Can any of you tell me what it means to survive?" The question took many of the recruits off guard.

"Be the strongest?" Lozieg answered. Eve could practically hear all the eye-rolling.

"Let me rephrase," The Sergeant Major continued, blatantly disregarding the answer, "How do you survive a fight for your life?" The officer began pacing back and forth in front of the ground, "You're opponent is stronger, faster..." She paused in her pacing, "...possibly smarter than you." Eve actually felt the need to hold back a scoff, "How do you survive?"

"Run away?" Only a few other recruits dared to snicker at the smartass answer. Eve saw that it was Dajh's friend from the other day—Denzel Abel, she believe was his name.

"I asked you how to survive, not how to be a coward." The Sergeant Major's quick and harsh response quelled the snickering almost immediately, "If your opponent is faster than you, what point is there to run away?" Eve found herself becoming more and more interested in the little game of questions and answers the Sergeant Major seemed to be playing. She watched the officer scan the group of recruits until the crystal blue eye met her own.

"DeFluo." Eve nearly jumped at the sound of her name. The Sergeant Major motioned her over. With little hesitation, Eve stepped towards her, "Now, attack me."

"Ma'am?" Eve questioned, looking between the recruits and the officer who'd given her the order.

"Think of it as... helping me provide... a visual aid for the recruits." Came a cryptic explanation. While Eve hesitated to drop into a combat position, she felt her heart rate increase and a spark of excitement gut, "Now, attack me." The Sergeant Major repeated, "Fight like your life depends on it."

Eve launched herself at her opponent. True to her rank, her hand-to-hand combat skills were a much higher level than the recruits. Due to this, she lasted longer on the offensive. However, thought all her attacks reached her opponent, they were easily blocked or evaded. Eventually, as anyone would expect—even Eve—the Sergeant Major began countering. Soon enough, Eve found herself narrowly escaping blows from her opponent. It wasn't long before she was knocked off her feet by a quick kick to her side.

"Congratulations, your skills are impressive as it says in your file." The Sergeant Major observed verbally. Eve kicked up onto her feet, avoiding a kick aimed for her head, "You've obviously paid attention to your training." She attempted to block the flurry of punches from the other officer, focusing on the most immediate threat, "But I believe I said to fight like your life depended on it." Eve was unable to anticipate and prevent taking a blow to the face which was followed by another kick to the side. It was a swift blow but it was enough to slow her down slightly.

Her opponent didn't give her time to recover as she charged again. Taken off guard, Eve blocked the initial punch out of reflex but the follow-up sent her reeling; a knee to the gut sent her to the ground. She tried rolling out of the fall but was kicked over onto her front, her arm pinned behind her.

"Get up, DeFluo." Eve heard as she struggled against the lock. She winced as her arm was pulled across her back, sending a short, sharp pain through her shoulder, "You aren't dead yet." The voice was firm but there was no malice in it.

There was another sharp pain her shoulder. As she bit back a pained yelp, the thought ran through her mind that she'd lost. Were this a real combat situation, she'd die if she remained pinned. Realizing this, she felt a strange feeling wash over her. It was like a wave of heat; like fire or electricity. She didn't want to lose. She didn't want to 'die'. She wanted to survive.

Tucking her free arm under her body, she used it to help push herself onto her back. She saw a flash of surprise cross the Sergeant Major's face. Using the opportunity, she used a knee to flip her opponent over her head. As she did so, she reached for the holstered weapon and pulled it free. Whatever it was, it would give her the advantage over her opponent.

Jumping to her feet, she felt her hand move on reflex, flicking upwards, then sweeping outwards. As she aimed the weapon at her opponent, she saw it was a blade. A folding blade? With a trigger?

Distracted by the strange weapon, leaving herself open, she received a jab to her side. It loosened her grasp on the handle. A kick to her wrist and she lost her grip altogether; a light blow to the back of her leg sent her down onto one knee. She moved to recover but as she turned she heard a loud clicking sound and found herself looking down the barrel of a gun.

Eve froze. As her eyes focused on the face behind the gun, the heated anger that had been driving her had disappeared completely. Before she could do anything else—think anything else—the Sergeant Major pulled the gun away, deftly folding and holstering it.

"Good." Was all the pinkette said as she helped DeFluo to her feet. Eve was still a little too shaken to read the other woman's face before she turned to the recruits.

"The CRYSIS Corps. protects and to protect you need to survive. To survive is to not give up." The Sergeant Major stated, "No matter how far you fall, no matter how hard it gets." She paused, scanning the recruits in front of her, "Training with me will only get harder. You'll need more than physical strength and speed. If you aren't prepared for this, I suggest you seek training elsewhere." She warned, "There are plenty of others that can teach you how to be strong and fast; I can teach you how to survive."

Listening intently, Eve found yet another strange feeling creep up on her. One she didn't think she'd ever felt before. Admiration? Awe? She was still trying to define the feeling as she watched the Sergeant Major turn and walk away from the recruits, off the field.

"Here endeth the lesson."

A/N:

This is way too long...
And way too... weird...

UuuUuuUUUUUuuuugh
I don't even think I know what I'm doing anymore =\
Other than writing about face-pwnage ala SgtMaj Farron...