Garrison watched as Chief approached. He'd done his best to get the Indian angry and, by the way those dark eyes of his were smoldering, he'd achieved his goal. Still, as mad as he appeared to be, the young man remained cautious. That was good. If it had been Casino he'd have simply thrown himself into the fight, glad of a chance to 'give a little something back', like the safecracker threatened to do when he found out they were all going to get a chance to go up against their new leader this morning during this little hand-to-hand exercise. Chief though, Chief kept control of his emotions and stalked him, circling to find an opening. Cold, efficient and, with the knife he gripped in his right hand, deadly.
Garrison took half a step back, luring him in. He feinted with his right hand and then tossed the blade into his left palm. Stepping in close he brought the spine of knife down in a backhanded arc that caught the younger man harmlessly along the left side of his face.
The knife the Warden was using was a fake but Chief's hand automatically went to his cheek. The look in his eyes, fueled by embarrassment, changed from smoldering anger to all consuming hatred.
The padding was thick and the safety gear slowed him down a little. Craig wasn't used to using the suit; he wasn't generally the one in need of protection. They were standing fairly close and when Chief exploded towards him Garrison didn't quite make it out of the way. Their shoulders collided as the young man made his pass. Craig felt the sting of the blade as it grazed the back of his neck, just above the protective padding. He ignored the discomfort, along with the slightly unsettling sensation of blood trickling down the back of his neck and he discounted Rawlins shout of 'Ere now!' in favor of continuing the lesson. Still slightly off balance he whirled to face his opponent.
Chief drove in again, fast and low, plunging the blade into the front of the suit. Garrison felt the very tip of the switchblade bite into the skin of his belly just below his left ribs and wasted a split second regretting the decision he'd made to let the young man use his own weapon. Letting his knife drop from his grip he slumped against the Indian who instinctively caught him under the arms. As soon as he felt both of Chief's hands on him Craig brought his own gloved hands up and caught the scout's head between them. He pushed the young man's chin up and started to twist his head around to the side then stopped abruptly and stepped away.
It took a moment for Chief to meet his eyes. The hatred was still lurking there in the background Craig noted, but a lot of the anger had been replaced by shock tinged with a little fear. Garrison rubbed gingerly at the back of his neck and presented a bloody gauntlet for his opponent's inspection.
"That's good. You got inside, but you still didn't take me down." He retrieved his practice blade from the ground where it had landed. "Now come at me again. Slow it down this time so I can show you where you went wrong."
Chief glowered back at the man they'd taken to calling 'Warden' while he tried to figure out his angle. He knew he'd paid him back for scoring first blood; Garrison even showed him the evidence, but Chief had the feeling that the whole thing had been a dodge to sucker him in close enough for the kill. And…, the young man felt his cheeks grow hot, he'd fallen for it. Well, he'd never make that mistake again, not with the Warden, not with any of them. But instead of taking revenge on him when he had the chance the Warden let him go, and now he was standing there offering to do it all again, to maybe show him how he could come out on top the next time. 'It's gotta be a trick,' Chief thought to himself. 'He's just gonna get me in there close again so he can really let me have it.' He gave half a thought to refusing, but he knew you didn't say 'no' to the guy in charge, not if you wanted to stay alive. And he didn't want Garrison to think that he'd gotten to him, that he was afraid.
They went through the whole thing again from the beginning the Warden insisting he do his best to reproduce each maneuver exactly like the first time. The Lieutenant talked him through each step, telling him what to look for, what he could have done differently. Chief faltered when they reached the point where he'd gone on what he thought was a deadly offensive. He held back, wary of the expected reprisal.
"Come on, Chief, just like before…" Garrison's mouth lifted in a quick smile and his hand briefly rested over the hole in the front of his vest. "Maybe a little less force this time."
Chief settled the blade in his hand and stepped in for the attack. He flinched a little when the Lieutenant reached out and closed his left hand around the knife he held. He expected the weapon to be torn from his grasp and turned against him.
Garrison turned the blade to rest in the horizontal position in the other man's hand. "This way. It'll slide in easier," he instructed quietly and as the young man finally started to move forward again he nudged his arm so the tip of the knife swung in and was driving right for the middle of his body. "You want to go in here, right where the ribs meet," was all he said as the scout made contact and drove the blade through the protective padding of his safety gear.
When he felt Chief finish his lunge and start to pull back Craig shook his head and put his hand out again holding the blade in place. "No. Flick the knife. Back and forth," he quickly turned the other man's hand right and left; they could both hear the padded vest tear. "You've got to do as much damage as you can. If you're in this close you can't give the other guy a chance to strike back like you gave me." He twisted Chief's hand right and left again. "Keep it up until he's on the ground." He pulled his hand to the right and to the left one more time. "Keep it up until you know he won't be getting up again to cause you any trouble."
Chief's mouth was dry when the Warden released him and let him step back. He'd killed before but it had always been during a fight for his own life…more of an accident than anything else. He'd never planned it, never plotted out how he'd do it. He'd never studied the best, the quickest way to get the job done and then practiced how to do it. Chief watched as Garrison retrieved the practice weapon he'd been using and felt a slight shudder run through him as the officer straightened up to face him again.
"Let's try it again. Real slow the first time and then we'll pick up the pace and see if you can do it at speed." Garrison looked down at the protective suit then laughed as he tossed his knife over to Chief. "The vest is shot. You'd better use this one or you'll end up killing me."
Chief looked down at the knives he had in his hands. The one he held in his left hand was made out of metal but it was dull and the blade retracted back into the handle when you struck out with it. It looked real enough but you couldn't do any damage with it. When they'd started this routine the Warden showed him how it worked, showed him that he wouldn't be able to hurt him with it. His right hand held his own blade, sharp and deadly, the sun glinted off the finely honed edge. He could kill with it, and a few minutes ago he wanted to,… but not now, not anymore.
Chief carefully folded his knife away into the top of his boot and settled the practice blade in his hand. Glancing down he shifted the knife so the blade rested horizontal, just like the Warden had shown him.