"Well I'm not fighting him." Eagle snorted,
"I would have no hope." Snake agreed. Wolf groaned.
"LYNX!" He bellowed, L units leader jogged over,
"Hey Wolf, what's up?" Lynx asked his unit appearing beside him.
"Cub, Cub, Cub guess what!" Robin the weapons expert exclaimed bouncing up and down,
"I don't know Robin, what?" Cub smirked,
"You will never guess what happened to Sarge." Robin grinned manically.
"Did someone by any chance sneak into the command hut last night and move all the rooms around?" Alex guessed,
"Then switch all the name plates on the doors?" Lauren contributed,
"Then blue tack all the doors and drawers shut?" James continued,
"And then lock all the keys in the safe so the only way in was through the window?" Kerry finished, by the end of it the two units were gaping at the four teens, Ben was shaking his head,
"Cub, you didn't, did you?" He groaned,
"Never!" The four exclaimed,
"When have I ever pulled a prank of that nature?" Alex continued,
"Six months ago to Crawley." Ben shot back,
"Good point, you helped. And this one was much less explosive, at least I used none of Smithers things." Alex grinned,
"Sarge." Lynx whispered, "So, Cub you back fighting again?"
"Yes. Cleared this morning," Snake confirmed as the blonde had deferred to his opinion.
"Who are you fighting?" Robin asked a vicious glint in his eye.
"They all chickened out and I have been told I shouldn't fight him." Ben sighed, "You want to volunteer?"
"NO!" The four exclaimed.
"Any of you want to volunteer?" Ben cocked an eyebrow,
"Who would they be fighting?" The SAS and Cherubs jumped as the Sargent spoke, the two spies just turned to him,
"Me." Cub shrugged, the Sargent smirked.
"P unit, they're insufferable little-" He glanced at the teens, "They need to be taught they aren't gods of BB. Raccoon will be the one fighting you Cub," P unit waltzed in obviously arrogant, three out of the four anyway, the fourth was at the back glaring at his three other unit members.
"A schoolboy, we have to fight a schoolboy?" One sneered, he was the leader.
"Raccoon, this is who you shall be fighting." Sarge informed him.
"Places." Robin announced clearly enjoying himself, the two trudged onto the mats.
"A schoolboy." Raccoon repeated shaking his head.
"Sir? Can I fight as a schoolboy?" Alex asked a slight grin at the corners of his mouth,
"Yes." K and L units exclaimed.
"Yes, if you must." Sarge sighed secretly enjoying this.
"Oh he must." Lynx grinned. Alex flashed a slight grin at Ben who sighed and nodded. Alex bowed slightly to Raccoon, the other SAS man glanced at Sarge who raised an eyebrow. Before anyone could register what had happened Raccoon was paralysed on the floor. While he had been distracted Alex had swiftly kneed him between the legs and taking advantage of the reflex of curling on on yourself after that injury he hit the same pressure points on Raccoon's neck as he had James' a few days ago. The result was a groaning, still, no longer quite so arrogant, but very pissed off, SAS recruit on the floor.
"Schoolboy trick." Alex stated suppressing a grin.
Laughter broke the silence. All faces turned to see the fourth member of P unit, Leopard, killing himself laughing. The previously glum face was now lit up huge smile reflecting the amusement in his eyes the amusement at the expense of a unit member.
"Whose next?" Robin asked back to bouncing up and down.
"Me." It was Possum of P unit. He stalked forward and, after helping Raccoon up, took his leaders place.
"Start." Wolf ordered. Possum struck, a move Alex easily blocked. The next kick was grabbed by Alex, then his leg twisted and dropped so the second member of P unit was flat on his back within seconds of the previous getting up. He fourth member was still chuckling to himself, he had moved to stand by Eagle and both were holding onto each other, keeping the other up.
"Me now." The last member of P unit who wanted to fight Alex volunteered. Quietly Leopard and Eagle made bets on how long he would last. The fight started, and was over in under a minute.
"Pathetic." Sargent Sanders spat at them. "You couldn't fight a child, you let your arrogance control you..." His rant went on, about their arrogance and how it would get them killed, about their obliviousness, how they were harsh and cruel to everyone they had met. It was obviously a rant the Sargent had wanted to have for a while and resulted in the three members of P unit receiving three weeks of kitchen duty. Then he turned on the last member who was chatting with Eagle and Snake.
"Leopard, isn't it?" Sargent asked.
"Yes sir." He didn't sound scared, but there was no arrogance in his tone. This was duly noted and appreciated.
"I would like a word with you in my office one hour." He stated then pulled Wolf over to the side, the two of them left for the Sargent's office.
"Cub?" Leopard called uncertain.
"Yeah?" He walked over equally unsure, he had just beaten up Leopards unit members.
"Can I have a go, but can you just block? No offence, I need to practice offence and even with those three fights I saw you defence is pretty damn perfect?" Leopard asked. Cub grinned and nodded.
"Can you teach those three while I play with Leo?" Cub asked.
"Leo?" Leopard commented,
"Is that name OK?" Eagle called, "You look like a Leo."
"Leo it is then." Leopard grinned, then swore under his breath. P unit were glaring at him, he was going to get hell when he went back to his hut.
"We'll manage them, you play defence and careful of that shoulder." Ben told Alex who grinned and led Leopard over to a corner. Gradually they began fighting, Alex only doing defence. Wolf jogged back over and pulled Snake to the side.
"What's up?" The Scotsman murmured,
"Sarge gave me a proposition." Wolf informed him in a similar tone.
"What was it?"
"We need a fourth member who is SAS. We know that, Fox and Cub know that, and he gave me an offer." Wolf watched the pair sparring in the corner.
"Who?" Snake asked subdued, the last pairings to their unit had been... unfortunate to say the least.
"Leopard." Wolf stated.
"Well he has ticked all boxes so far, he accepts Cub, he jokes and bets with Eagle, he understands he won't be the best in the room, he talks... Give him the trial run like the rest and if he still wants to stay at the end I say he's in." Snake stated.
"Thanks, I was unsure at first, but seeing him with Cub. After Puma..." Wolf and Snake winced. Puma had been attached to their unit as a possible permanent addition but had been actively against Cub. It had ended up with Puma drugging Cub then beating him up and merciless taunts. In the end he had left the unit with a broken nose, two fractured ribs and a sprained rib. He had been mobbed by those who liked Cub when he taunted him in the mess and the truth about Cub's injuries came out. The Sargent hadn't given any punishment aside from binning Puma.
"I'll check with Eagle but they seemed to get along." Wolf nodded, he noticed Eagle watching the pair fighting and wandered over.
"Leopard can join our unit. Snake and I say that's fine, your call." Wolf told him.
"Yeah, he accepts Cub, that's the main one, we don't want a repeat of Puma. I say he's in." Eagle nodded.
"I'll go tell Sargent." Wolf turned on heel and headed back to the office.
"Leopard. You don't get along with P unit." Sargent Sanders announced flatly.
"No, sir." Leopard replied confused.
"We can transfer you. Is that something you would want?" Sarge asked,
"Yes please, sir." Leopard blurted before his brain caught up. "That would be much appreciated sir." He rephrased.
"K unit have offered you a place. It's that or you can join the new unit when the recruits finish." He stated.
"Sir, am I good enough for K unit, they are the best." Leopard said slowly.
"You had three people saying yes." Sargent told him.
"Fox and Cub sir?" Leopard asked.
"What about them solider?"
"They are part of the unit, what were their votes sir?" Confusion tinged the soldiers voice.
"Can we keep him?" A voice blurted from behind them, Leopard spun around to see K unit plus the two spies. Eagle was the one who had spoken.
"You can keep me if those two agree that I can become part of the unit." Leopard stated nodding at the spies.
"You're in." Alex laughed.
"No chance we'd let you go." Ben confirmed,
"So?" Eagle asked, "Can we keep you?"
"Yes, you can keep me." Leopard fought a grin as Eagle launched himself at the new unit member, "GROUP HUG!" The four others were pulled into a hug, all unable to see the smirk that graced the Sargent's face as they were.
"You have the rest of the day to 'bond'. Dismissed." He barked, they all jumped to attention, saluted, then left.
"How long have you been away from Mozambique?" Alex asked in Swahili,
"Ten years on and off. I miss-" Leopard stopped at the shocked looks from the unit and teens. "What?" He asked.
"What language is that?" Eagle breathed.
"Swahili, but given as it is his mother tongue I doubt he realised he was speaking it." Alex replied as a confused look crossed their newest members face.
"I was speaking Swahili. But that means you can speak Swahili." Leo gaped at Alex.
"Yep, so, why did you leave Mozambique?" Alex repeated, "You left ten years ago, why?"
"University. How did you know it was Mozambique, most would assume Swahili was Tanzania." Leopard was still shocked.
"Your accent, It only comes out when you are tired, like you were after sparring, it is a unique accent, I have only heard it one place, English speakers in Mozambique. And that was concreted by the accent when you speak Swahili, it is a distinctive accent on their dialect." Alex shrugged.
"What else do you speak?" Eagle asked as they headed to his old hut to gather his belongings.
"English, Swahili, German and Spanish." Leopard replied, four adults exchanged glances.
"Not French?" Wolf ventured,
"I can get by, but not well enough." Leopard replied confused, "Why?"
"We'll explain later, lets go get your stuff and try not be killed by the arseholes in your old unit." Eagle grinned clapping Leopard on the back. They entered without knocking.
"Leopard." Raccoon glared, "What are they doing here? This is the unit cabin, not strays of the street." His tone was scornful.
"Well, I am here to move out." Leopard gathered his belongings.
"What?" Raccoon hissed.
"I have been transferred to K unit." Leopard stated matter of factly.
"Yep, he is all ours now. We will treat him like he should be treated." Wolf growled,
"He's not good enough for K unit." Possum laughed.
"Well looks like he is." Snake replied calmly picking up Leopards bag and a few other bits and bobs, Eagle helped then they turned to leave.
"Bye. I hope my replacement is liked better." Leopard left the hut. K unit stayed where they were.
"You do realise you just insulted one of our unit. That means we are all against you. See you in hand to hand." Wolf smiled wolfishly. Then they all left leaving P unit gaping after them.
"So. Where am I?" Leopard asked entering the hut. "It's big in here." He added.
"Yeah, we need room for five, now six, so the made one of the huts bigger so we could all fit. As a result it turned into the communal off time hut with K, L and S units. L won't be near for a few days, until you have settled in and S have been deployed." Wolf dropped on his cot then paused.
"Lets go get you a cot." Eagle grinned, bouncing up and down.
"You guys can either stay, or go, no more training today." Snake told the teens.
"Sleep." The three stated in unison and dashed out the hut.
"Leopard." Wolf called the man back from leaving to head to supplies.
"Yeah?" He asked cautiously.
"Welcome to K unit." Wolf stated.
"You have to put up with me for the month trial before I become a member, but thanks." Leopard smiled slightly.
"You don't smile much. You're not unhappy as such, but you don't smile. I have seen you around a lot and today is the first time I have seen you smile." Alex stated matter of factly.
"And you don't trust much." Leopard shot back, the rooms occupants stiffened hardly relaxing when a slow smile spread over Alex's face.
"He's a keeper. Come on, lets go get you a four poster, queen sized bed, with a feather duvet." Alex frowned as he looked at the supplies list on the back of the door. "Damn, they seem to be out of them, how would a rock hard, military green, small, cold, thin, cot with a paper thick blanket do?"
"I guess I can survive on it." Leopard laugh. Wolf watched as they four others bantered. Yes, Leopard was a keeper.