Chapter 8: Living up to Expectations

Hannock was a full member of Black Team now. He had survived the trial by fire known as “Hell Week” and joined the ranks of the soldiers of Regiment 25. He rolled over in his bed and sat up. The communal alarm, an alarm that’s set at the front of the room to wake all of the team members up at once, had not gone off yet. The alarm didn’t go off every day but when they had battles or specific drills they were going to practice. All of this was always decided by X-Ray or his higher ranked members. It was one more thing that proved how much the soldiers managed Project Shadow as they felt was best.

Every soldier on the team had a role much like an MOS in Active Duty. The only difference was their roles were all some form of maintenance, development research, or information gathering. Hannock hadn’t been given a role from X-Ray yet, but was supposed to be receiving it within the week. X-Ray ha mentioned that he took his time with assigning jobs to new recruits to have time to find what suited them best. He had a philosophy that it would be more efficient in the long run to put them where they were most comfortable and had the largest impact. He had pointed out that the impact they would have in their fitting job would outweigh the small number of days lost where he hadn’t assigned them.

As he made his way around the quarters he noticed a blinking light on the panel on his locker. He tapped on the panel and the screen flashed on with a message icon in the center. He tapped his finger on the message icon and the box grew to read a summons from X-Ray to the In-Reality Training Area. He quickly threw on his new fatigues and ran out of the room. As he moved through the commons area, he noticed a few soldiers already sitting by the main table eating breakfast. They gave him some half waves and a couple ‘good morning’s as he walked by. He waved back and continued on his way. He went through the far right door in the commons made his way down the long corridor. He passed by various glass doors leading into empty rooms. He didn’t see X-Ray in any of the first few rooms, but eventually found Reaper standing in the middle of another identical room as the others, only that one had a large mat in the center as well as a various pads hanging on the wall. Hannock cracked the door open and peeked his head in, “Hey, Reaper right? Have you seen X-Ray around here?”, he asked, “I was summoned by him, but you’re the first person I’ve seen here.”

“Yes. He was planning on meeting you here; however, he felt that he needed to meet with one of his strategists suddenly and substituted me to meet you instead.”

“Okay then. So what did he summon me for?”

“He wanted you to learn a few extra tricks about awareness in combat. He has noticed your incredible reaction speed from the simulation and an apparent sparring match with you.”

That’s right, Reaper wasn’t there for the fight, “So you’re here to teach me instead then?”

“Correct. I am well versed in hand-to-hand combat and so X-Ray trusts my knowledge to teach you in his place."

Hannock understood what he meant by ‘well versed’. Reaper was a very smart fighter and often the most aware of his surroundings. The only one more aware was Eagle. This made him dangerous in a close quarter fight because he was able to fight with what was around him, specifically making him a self-aware fighter. Hannock had been reading up on the various profiles of the Elites to see what skills they had that made them as dangerous as they were.

“I want to see how aware you are with my own eyes,” he said walking to the other end of the room, “Take a stance, advance towards me and try to land the first strike.”

Hannock did as he was told. He lowered himself into a strong base and raised his hands up to his face. As all other evidence would suggest, he had been quite familiar with fighting since before he came to the Regiment. He was no stranger to the way his heart pounded in anticipation. No stranger to the aura of intimidation he felt from a strong opponent. Even though he knew this fight was entirely for the purpose of learning, he still felt the need to win. It was similar to what he felt when fighting X-Ray. To him, a fight was a statement. Whether it was only sparring, it still told you, ‘I could kill you’. A fight was never just for fun. Once the decision was made, someone had to win and someone had to lose. No matter how much better you may be, once that fight starts, you have a chance to lose. All because you are in the fight. That is the philosophy of a fighter, and it was why Hannock never felt comfortable in any fight.

Hannock began to step towards Reaper. He moved cautiously. Waiting for any sign of attack from that man. Reaper waited, watched. Hannock hesitated more. He wanted some form of information, anything he could use. He received nothing. Reaper was a strategist, a position that very few could earn. He was incredible at gathering information and well aware to not give up any of his own. Hannock’s heart was beating faster. His palms were sweating. He wanted to wait longer, but he knew that he wouldn’t gain anything from him. He proceeded to step towards him again. He moved very consistently, not showing a move until he was close enough to strike. He was only a few feet from the Elite by then. He quickly snapped his right leg from the back of his stance into a front kick towards Reaper’s head. Reaper simply stepped back, dodging the hit well before it would’ve landed. Hannock was irritated. The kick was, by no means, slow, yet he clearly saw it coming. He needed to strike faster. Hannock exploded off his left leg towards Reaper’s right side and spun to through the back of his fast into his chest. Reaper blocked the hit with his forearms and responded by striking with his knee. Hannock saw it all. He noticed his failed move and could see Reaper coming back with his own attack. He was able to shift his hips back to keep his midsection away from the hit. During the dodge, Reaper had grabbed Hannock’s arm with his blocking hands. Hannock noticed this as well and used his shifting weight from his hip movement to try and pull Reaper to the ground. While he successfully slammed his opponent onto the ground in front of him, Reaper was already making his next move rolling Hannock over the top of his body and slamming his back to the ground behind him. Reaper used the extra time to regain his stance. While Hannock, too tried to stand back up Reaper was already in front of him. Without having time to get decent balance, Reaper put his foot on Hannock’s shoulder and kicked him back to the ground. Clearly that was the first strike, and Hannock had now lost two sparring matches in a row.

Hannock stood back up to see Reaper watching him, nodding his head. Reaper spoke up to him, “We clearly have something we can work with. That was a very impressive fight.”

Hannock, still catching his breath, responded, “Really? You thought that was good?”

“I have little concern with your fighting style. I feel you could learn a few things about signs though.”

“You mean like my opponent’s signs?”

“Correct. You are very self aware and are able to protect yourself from harm, for the most part, but you would be even better if you were able to notice what move your opponent is going to make before you have to block it.”

“Oh, I thought was hiding myself pretty well. What did I show?”

“The first move you tried was the one I noticed most. The problem with a back leg kick is the extended time it takes to complete; however speed was not the major issue,” Reaper stepped back into the same stance Hannock had a the beginning of the fight, “There is a small but consistent difference between stepping forward in this stance and throwing a kick from this stance,” He gestured to his front leg, “When you step forward with your back leg from this position, your front leg will generally stay straight. When you go to kick with the back leg from this stance, your front leg will tend to bend slightly. This is common among most people when they fight. Most exceptions are among trained martial-artists who have practiced to keep their leg straight when they kick to keep height in their kick.”

Hannock listened intently, taking away as much information as he could from Reaper. He clearly knew a lot about martial arts and Hannock wouldn’t be surprised if he had been trained as a kid. This time Hannock spoke, “Wow, that’s a lot for such a small thing. But I can see what you mean. You look for little things that are different from how someone would act when moving normally.”

“And that is how I recognize an attack. The best fighters are those who can mask their attacks the longest. But that is not the only matter I want to inform you of. When you moved to attack me at my side with that spinning strike, you showed me that move as well. When you made your lunge, you landed on your right foot with that foot being closest to my side. The only option you have to strike me in that position is to spin over your left shoulder and use the momentum to land a strong hit. To someone who may not specialize in hand-to-hand combat, that move may surprise them and you will be successful. I am not inexperienced and you may have many opponents who are not as well.”

“So what do you suggest I do instead?”

“I suggest you gauge your opponent when you fight them. Watch them as they fight or as they move and decide for yourself what you think they can do,” Reaper took a few steps back from Hannock, “Now,” waving his hand, “come at me again.”

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            X-Ray walked out of the third room down the quarters corridor. He walked out with his hand to his chin, clearly thinking about something. Reaper entered the corridor from the commons area and went to meet with him. As he approached he turned around to walk with him as they talked. X-Ray spoke first, “How did he do?”

            “He is clearly just as his profile reads. His reaction speed is the most impressive.”

            “I noticed that speed of his too,” X-Ray didn’t look up at Reaper as he spoke, “He’s quick to protect himself. What about his awareness?”

            “I worked with him on his ability to notice opponent’s movements, but his self-awareness seems to complement his reaction time.”

            “That’s good to hear. Movement speed?”

            “He is able to strike quickly, not nearly as fast as he notices attacks, but quick. He may be able to challenge your own speed one day.”

            “I’ll just have to keep working then,” he seemed to be more into the conversation by then, “You seriously think a new recruit is that good?”

            “He is a strong fighter. There is a strong will in him. A will to win it seems.”

            “I see. Do you think he’ll be able to hold his own in the simulator?”

            “From what I’ve seen, he will definitely be able to protect himself at the very least,” Reaper looked back down the corridor, “What did you two find out?”

            “It’s gonna be hard. We may have beaten Blue already even with their defensive advantage, but Yellow has been trying out some new strategies in practice from what we’ve gathered.”

            “Is it likely that we will be fighting them next?” The two entered the commons again.

            “Looking at the numbers it seems us and Yellow are the only teams who haven’t had a second battle yet this year so it’s a good chance that we’ll meet them soon.”

            “I’ll meet with him soon,” Reaper gestured back to the corridor, “to discuss various troop formations during battle.”

            “Please do. We’ll be getting into the larger operations soon and we need to brush the rust off as soon as possible.”