Calloused

11

"What do you want to brush up on first?" H asked, setting his duffle bag down on a table and turning the lights on.

I looked around the large room. Exercise equipment was scattered about. There were a few hallways that lead to different parts of the facility as well.

"I could use a warm up." I shrugged, heading towards the far corner of the room. A few treadmills were lined up. I started stretching, trying to get my muscles ready.

"I'll go easy on you." H chuckled, stretching beside me.

"How polite." I rolled my eyes.

"Not really, I just don't feel like dealing with you passing out again." He scoffed. A smirked found its way to my lips as I finished stretching.

Without another word I stepped onto the treadmill. I started off with a brisk walk then slowly stepped it up to a jog. H followed my lead, stealing glances at me to make sure I was holding up alright. I pretended not to notice.

As time passed, our bodies started to sweat. 1 mile suddenly turned into 5 miles. I felt the familiar burn in my legs as my lungs started to ache.

I lessened my speed, getting ready for the cool down. I slowly returned back to a jog, then a brisk walk once more until I hopped off the treadmill. H went straight to his duffle bag and pulled out a bottle of water. He tossed one in my direction. I took it immediately, my body begging for rehydration.

"Thanks." I said.

"Clearly you still have stamina." H grumbled before taking a gulp of his water.

"Still want to test me some more?" I smirked, challenging him. He always hated when I was right, witch only made it that much sweeter to prove him wrong.

"We'll see." He frowned, realizing that I saw this as a game. I could see his competitive nature fighting to come out but he was trying so hard to mask.

"Your turn." I shrugged again.

"How about self defense." He practically smiled.

He was in for a royal treat. H and I had never sparred before. He had always trained without me because he didn't want to accidentally hurt me. I guess now he really wanted to see how far he could push me.

I smirked at his challenge and shrugged.
"I might be a little rusty but I'll try my best." I played it off.

"I'm not going easy, just so you know." He smirked back, his familiar cockiness had surfaced.

I didn't say anything as we approached the mat that sat in the center of the room.

We got into our positions, ready to fight one another. I was pretty sure this wasn't what my father had in mind when he said we would have to work our issues out. Talking was never our strong suit. We were much better at communicating through our physical abilities.

We circled each other, waiting for someone to take the first move. I was careful, remembering to stay light on my feet. I was much smaller than H so I would have to use my agility and speed to evade any attacks.

H Finally made a move and tried to grab me. I slipped from his hold immediately. I aimed for the back of his legs in an attempt to bring him down. His knee caps wavered but didn't give in. He turned to face me once more and tried to put me in a head lock. He lost hold of me once more as I dropped all of my body weight downwards towards the floor.

He went to grab my arm. Out of instinct I grabbed it and twisted it behind his back. He growled in protest as I used all of my strength to try and flip him over.

I was unable to due to the fact that he had already gotten out of my hold. He was always quick in his movements. He moved so effortlessly.

We continued on for an hour before I finally managed to pin him to the ground.

"I think... I still... got it." I said as we were both breathing heavy in an attempt to catch our breaths.

I felt my cheeks warm up as I realized what position we ended up in. I was on top of him with my knees on each side of his hips. My hands were around his throat. He took the opportunity to flip us over so I was the one below him. He smirked at my surprised expression.

I glared up at him as I quickly flipped him over and off of me.

"Damn, no wonder your father doesn't worry about you too much when you're out in the field." H groaned as he sat up.

"I told you years ago, I was trained by the best. Numb nuts." I rolled my eyes as I got to my feet.

"Still think I need a training session?" I smiled wickedly at him.

"According to the boss, yes. You do. It's called an evaluation Princess." H snapped at me. I felt my smile fade as I processed his words.

Of course my father ordered this. I rolled my eyes at H again.

"Whatever, let's just finish this so I can have a shower." I glared. He didn't say anything after that.

I followed H down one of the long hallways to the right of the building.

"Oh, how I've missed this place." I hummed more to myself than him. We entered a familiar room at the end of the hallway. H closed the door behind us.

I turned my attention to the far wall where several different weapons hung. AK47's, shotguns, pistols, hand guns, you name it and it was there. The only thing we didn't have was a rocket launcher.

I traced my finger over each weapon as I started to feel my blood pump harder through my veins. I could feel H watching me interact with everything.

He moved across the room and flipped a switch. The room extended a good distance. There were several stations set up. Plexiglass separated the four lanes. At the end of each one there was a paper cut out of a human body. Target practice, some would call it.

Different parts of the body were highlighted to indicate the vulnerability if shot. The blue areas of the person meant the less likely the target would die if you were to hit them.
Yellow meant harmful and red meant deadly.

We were all trained to hit the red areas because, if I'm being honest, you'd want to be the last one standing in a shoot out.

"Pick your weapon." H said, gesturing back to the arsenal of guns. I didn't hesitate to grab one.

I gripped it firmly in my right hand as I approached the center lane. A counter sat in front of it, waist high. I set the gun down for a moment to pick up the ear plugs that were laid out for me. H put his in as well. Next I grabbed the earmuff looking things and placed them over my ears. He waited for me to begin.

I held the small, black hand gun steady as I aimed it at my target. I took a few slow breaths before I took the safety off.

I aimed for the paper cut outs chest and fired several shots. Once I was satisfied I lowered my weapon and put the safety back on. I removed my earmuffs then the earplugs.

I handed H the gun.
"Tell the boss I'm not who I used to be. I'm much more dangerous." I scowled as the words left my lips. They were laced in poison, threatening, and most deadly.

It was true, I was ready to destroy anyone who got in my way. I was done being broken over things. It was time to switch everything off.

"Welcome back, Ice Queen." H smiled mischievously.

The fun has just begun.