Iron angel (Book 1 of IA)

[29] The Bigger Man

"Why the hell do I have to clean up shit with a brat like you?" Rumble's voice was muffled through the sanitary mask he wore.

"That's my line you bastard!" I shouted through my mask.

Apparently afterwards, Isa came just in time and knocked out both of us. By the time I recovered, we had both been sentenced to bathroom sanitary duty as punishment.

We stared daggers at each other, then sighed.

"Pass me the sponge." Rumble said, as he turned his attention to the toilet.

"K." I tossed him a wet sponge. I thought he would catch it; but he ignored me and it hit him in the side of face and fell to the ground.

"You piece of shit! You want to die!?"

"Hey, it's your problem for not catching it." I argued, as I stood up for myself.

"You little piece of..."

"What's with the noise? Is there a problem?" Isa shouted through the wall. We both froze like ice sculptures.

"NO SIR!" we shouted in union.

"Make one more noise and you will both be dead meat."

"YES SIR!" we replied. We stayed silent as we carefully listened to her footsteps leaving.

After an eternity, I was finally able to let out a breath.

"Is she always like this?" Rumble asked.

"Yeah, but scarier most times."

"Feels bad." He folded his arm behind his head and stretched.

"Thanks I guess."

"Hey, just because I said feels bad, doesn't mean you're not a brat."

"And you're still a huge douche."

Silently, we exchanged grins.

"What's your name brat?"

"Kardusenn." 

"Kardusenn huh? Alright, I'll just keep calling you brat. It's simpler that way."

"And I will just call you the douche, suits you properly."

"Call me whatever you want, but you better watch your back."

"Same."

"Huh. You're the first person in this camp who dares talk to me like that. Besides that crazy women." Rumble pointed a thumb backwards.

"Yeah. I figured."

"Bucket."

I passed him the bucket this time instead of throwing it.

"Don't just stand there and do nothing, go scrub that toilet," he shouted at me.

"Shut the hell up, I know what to do." I said getting down onto my knees and began scrubbing the floor.

We worked together in silence for a while.

"I'm bored. Tell me how you lost your arm brat." Rumble's voice came from the other stall.

"Not until you tell me how you lost yours first." I called back.

"Respect your seniors, brat. Tell yours first."

"Senior my ass."

"What you just say brat?"

"Quiet, Isa might hear." I hushed.

"Impossible, she already..."

The soft crunch of gravel came from outside and we bent to our tasks once again.

"Fine. I will go first, since I, am the bigger man here." Rumble said proudly.

"Whatever, go on." I said with a shrug.

"Let me state my name again, I am Rumble Ajkn, proud to be born in the land of Spartaz."

"Spartaz? Is it that..."

"...Warrior tribe and nation." He finished my sentence. "And shut up when the big man is talking."

"Fine." I only compromised because I was slightly interested in what he had to say.

"In Spartaz, all children are taken from their parents at 6 to train with their mentors, usually local veterans. Training is tough, many run away, and a few die. But it is nothing is compared to the adulthood ceremony."

"13 in Spartaz is considered adult. When they reach 12 they are thrown into the wild for a year, and may only return by their 13th birthday. All who break these rules are cast out to live in exile. Such exiles are not permitted within our boarders as they are disgraces to the Spartaz name."

The scrubbing stopped.

"In the last week of my trial, I came across a pack of nightclaws, I fought them off with a couple of other kids I met along the way. We fought until morning, I was the only one who lived, but one of those bastard nightclaws bit off my right arm."

He finished his story and resumed scrubbing. I couldn't help but feel a little pity for him. he didn't have a choice; he had been forced into a harsh tradition. I ran into my condition wholeheartedly, but he, he had no choice.

"Don't feel pity for me. It pisses me off."

I stopped scrubbing.

"I lost this arm in glory. I chose my path, and I'm proud of it. If you dare pity me one more time I will make you wish I was beating the shit out of you."

"I see."

"Your turn now brat."

I didn't know where to begin: the day of the attack, or the point at which I fell in love with Illyria?

"Hey! Don't tell me you're gonna..."

"No, just give me a sec..."

I started from the day of the attack; I tried to mention Illyria as little as possible and got to the point where I had my metal arm implanted.

"An elemental girl...huh? That bitch is cold."

"Don't call her bitch." I snapped with more ferocity then I meant to.

"Sorry."

After a moment of cooling down, and realizing what I just did, I replied:

"It's fine. Whatever."

"Hey brat I got another question I need to ask you."

"What is it?"

"When I fought you earlier, you kick harder then you look, are they robotic too?"

For some reason, I decided to spill it all out, from Isa's training, to the first few missions, to the battle with Soul Steel, my plan for revenge and basically everything all the way up till this point.
After I finished I noticed that Rumble had gone silent, more so than usual.

"Alright I am done my side. How about you're side big boy?" He shouted over the stall door.

"Same. And don't call me big boy, it sounds weird."

"Alright then, looks like we're done brat."

"Kard." I let out a breath as I stood up and stretched, "I swear if you call me brat one more time..."

"Brat." Although I couldn't see his face at that time, I knew he wore a smirk on his face.

"Whatever, let's just go and report we're done." I said with pursed lips.

"Great idea, wanna sit in the same table?"

"Sure, whatever."

As the last fingers of light retreated from the window, we walked out of our stalls, grabbed our stuff, and left the washroom. Neither of us said anything, we just inhaled and exhaled deeply. Judging from his expression, I could tell we had the same things on our mind:

Breathing never felt so great.

Q: How often do you clean your bathroom?