Guarded Hearts

Chapter 4

"Alright recruits" Ian's voice echoed throughout the training room, catching the attention of the recruits who immediately quietened down and lined up in front of the three of you. "Thank you all for arriving on time, I appreciate that you're not used to training this early"

You inspected the recruits from where you stood, to the left of Ian, Ethan on his other side, looking at their tired but eager expressions as they lined up in front of you. Your gaze soon focused on the two figures behind them, biting back the smile that graced your face as your eyes met a familiar set of blue eyes before catching the gaze of an unfamiliar brunette next to him before bringing your attention back to the recruits.

"Before we start, we'd like to explain how training is going to work" Ian turned his head towards you, gesturing for you to take over.

You could feel your heart beating in your chest as you stepped forward, the excitement rushing through your body as you remain calm and composed. The three of you had agreed that each of you would lead a specific part of the training, being able to take it in turns rather than just having Ian lead and Ethan and you follow. It was the best outcome for the three of you, each of you possessed unique skill sets that all the recruits could benefit from, and you made it clear to the boys that you were very much interested in focusing on the girls, especially with combat. Being a smaller size automatically led to being at a disadvantage, and you wanted to show them how to use their size and agility to be able to take on any opponent, not matter the size.

"Your training will be different to what you endured during initiation, whilst we're here to develop your skills individually, we're here to train you as a team" you say with confidence, making eye contact with all the recruits as you eyed them down one by one. "Each stage will be led by one of us, Ian will be focusing on combat, Ethan on weapons and myself on interrogation" you smirk slightly as they all turn to look at each other.

"Interrogation?" a voice pipes up, turning your attention to Christina who looks at you with a concerned and confused look on her face.

"Yes interrogation" you nod and claps your hands behind your back. "Your all training for leadership here and it's been made very apparent to me that a lot of you would all like to be leaders by the end of it, however there are of course limited spaces" you say, glancing at Christina momentarily. "Being a leader isn't just about how well you can fight or shoot, it's about how far you are willing to go to protect your team, how well you can handle and take control of dangerous situations you may find yourselves in"

"When we trained as recruits, we had three stages we had to pass, combat, fear landscapes and interrogation". You say as you glance towards your men next to you. "Consider this a warning – don't underestimate the interrogation stage – it was the one stage that was closest to breaking all three of us mentally and physically, and just because you aren't training to be mercenaries, doesn't mean we are going to hold back" you say, not being able to hold back the small smirk that graced your lips as you watch their curious faces turn into ones of worry.

"Will it kill us?" Peter asked, earning a scoff from the blonde leader stood behind them as he stared down the boy from behind.

"It won't kill you" you pause "But it might make you want to kill yourselves by the end of it" you say, holding a serious look on your face as you take the opportunity to assess him.

The room fell silent, the ambient sounds of the rest of the compound waking up echoing through the door as the recruits stared at you in apprehension. Before any more questions could surface, Ian pulled up a remote from behind his back, pointing it at the large screen mounted on the wall above your heads.

"We've been given access to your results during initiation" He said as the table of names appeared above you. "Of course this gives us good insight to your progress, however we want to assess you ourselves – so consider this void" A large red 'x' appeared across the table, causing commotion to rise amongst the recruits.