Grunt Work

Fear

I stepped into the war room, a little nervous.

Okay, a lot nervous.

The others - the guards, the officers, the grunts, all went silent and stared at me as I made my way to the front row of seats, directly in front of the podium on the stage in front of us. Because I was beastmaster, I had a higher position in the company than most of the people there, even though I'd probably been there the shortest. I sat down and everyone continued talking again. I turned to my neighbour, but they had my back to me, and the woman to my other side was ignoring me. I slumped down in my chair, hoping to be ignored. I felt pretty lonely, not gonna lie.

'Who do you think we'll go up against?' said someone behind me, and I started to turn, before I realised he wasn't talking to me. I settled back into my chair, but I kept my ears open.

'Tough choice,' said a woman. 'It has to be between Thunderbird and Hiéro, since we're hitting the Caribbean. North or West Elemental.'

'Fire or Metal.'

'Mhmm.'

'Least it's not Wood. I'm still taking splinters out of my arse.'

I shivered. That didn't sound too good.

'I'll take splinters over a lightning bolt, anyday,' said the woman.

'You want to be burned alive?' said a new voice, one I vaguely recognised from orientation, and it felt good to hear someone that I was familiar with, even only a little bit.

'What's Hiéroe going to do anyway?' asked the first man. 'Turn me into a statue?' he laughed.

The others, I noticed, didn't laugh.

'Yeah,' said the woman.

'Pretty much,' said the newbie. I remembered that his name was Avery.

I had to admit, it did sound pretty bad. I'd heard stories of grunts being trapped in metal boxes, suffocating to death while others tried to drill air holes into them.

'You think splinters up your jacksie is bad,' the woman pointed out, 'imagine a giant metal stake up there instead. Impaler style.'

I heard the sound of the chairs squeaking, and I guessed the other two were squirming. I was, too. Oh god, this was making me feel a little bit nervous. I don't want anything up my arse; that's one way only.

'Could be worse,' said the first man. 'Could be Qi Force.'

'No.'

'Fuck no.'

'Oh yes,' he said. 'I was there in the last battle. Half of us nearly suffocated to death because she took all the air away. And we were outside, too.'

'No way.'

'Way.'

'How do you even do that?' asked Avery, which was good, because I was thinking that too.

'Beats me,' said the first man. 'These Elementals are something else. Not like the regular supers you go up against. They're just so powerful.'

'I heard she can sap you of all your strength, said the woman.

'Well, she can control energy, not just the wind, you know. Just draws it right out of you, so you can't move. Terrifying stuff.'

'What are the odds that it'll be her?' Avery asked. He sounded pretty scared. I was too.

'Has to be pretty low,' said the woman. 'It's a quick in and out. Just a robbery. I doubt that she'd come from...wherever it is she comes from, just for that. Nah, it'll be Hiéro, mark my words.'

'I don't want to be Han Soloed,' Avery mumbled.

'You want to be burnt alive?' the first man answered, a little testily.

'No,' Avery said, a bit sullen.

'There you go then.'

I turned around. 'Hey, look, I'm sure it'll be fine. We've got a good team going in. I think we can handle it,' I said, smiling reassuringly at them.

'It's all right for you,' said the first man harshly, an older man with white hair to match his scarred skin. 'You've got a bloody big fish to protect you. You see what we're wearing? Cheap body armour that wouldn't even stop a bullet.'

I looked at their armour and, to be sure, it did look pretty banged up. Nothing at all like my polished yellow aquasuit.

'I just mean that it'll be a quick and easy job,' I mumbled, feeling their hostile stares and trying to duck my head into my vest to avoid them.

'Quick and easy for you, you'll be sitting out most of it,' said the woman. 'Us lot will be on the front line, taking the heat. Literally, probably.

'Sorry, I mumbled. 'I'll try to have Mr Huggles shoot some water over your way, to help you out.'

'Mr what?!' the older man snorted and laughed loudly. 'It's a bloody killer, not a pet.'

'He's my friend,' I said stubbornly.

'It's a nice name,' said Avery, giving me a smile. He was a young black guy, younger than me, and I smiled thankfully at him. At least I had one friend in the room.

'For a puppy,' the woman interrupted. 'This is a supervillainous organisation, you need a proper name for it. Creature from the black lagoon, or something.'

'Blue lagoon,' the older man said.

I turned away and tuned their words out, just sitting there, staring at my hands until Winnie stepped into the room.

'Shun!' she yelled, and we all stood up and to attention.

'Hey guys, gals, non binary pals, what's happening?' said Kaptain Kraken, stepping into the room behind her. He gave us all finger guns, which I almost returned, until I realised that that was probably not professional. He took to the stage in front of us. He waved us down. 'Please, sit, let's not stand on ceremony. Eh, stand?'

'Laugh,' Winnie told us. We laughed. I thought it was pretty funny.

'Now then,' said the Kaptain, and we all went silent. 'Who's up for a little thievery?'