In the following days, Luke hardly saw Hunter at all. He had been assigned to Cage who trained him ruthlessly, like their lives depended on it. And with good cause, because in reality they did.
Cage was unrelenting. Anytime the two would square off against each other to spar, Cage would beat him down. If Luke was able to land to a hit, Cage would hit back harder. They weren't quite at the point where they were matched evenly. In reality they didn't need to be. The thing Luke lacked the most was discipline. Against a weaker opponent he would be ok. Against the tougher bosses, he would always be at a loss because he allowed his emotions to cloud his judgement.
Blood lust was ok. But more important was survival instinct. There were plenty of other ruthless criminals out there on the streets of Arcadia.It was the Soldier's job to be more ruthless. They stood at the top of the food chain, which meant all the lesser criminals were either scared or trying to be them. Soldiers were weapons. Weapons didn't need emotions.
Luke was swinging his right fist at Cage when Cage managed to block him with his left arm. At the same his right arm swung up and under, catching Luke beneath his chin. While Luke was knocked off balance Cage took advantage of his momentum to spin kick him to the side of his face, knocking him to the ground.
Luke fell to the grounding glaring as he spat out blood.
"Bast*rd!! We are only training. Why did you have to hit so hard"
Furiously, Luke stumbled to his feet and swung again only to have his feet taken out by a sweep from Cage's left foot.
"You think the enemy is going to go easy on you?" sneered Cage, swinging his foot into Luke's rib cage. "You think he's going to take his time and let you hit him? Or wait for you to find your feet again?" Yet another kick landed to Luke's ribs.
Luke was gasping for air at this point.
"Get up. A soldier doesn't quit. It's do or die. You stay down, you die" Cage moved into stomp his chest.
Groaning Luke staggered to his feet. Nauseous from the pain as he watched Cage through hazey eyes and struggled to keep his balance. He swung his fists again. Only this time, instead of connecting. He fell over, spent.
"Forget it. Go clean up. You need to get your shit together. Those emotions and that anger will kill you one day. We need fighters, not corpses."
Cage didn't even offer to help him up. He simply walked off wiping the sweat from his brow. For the life of him, he couldn't think of what Hunter saw in this kid. Sure she had potential. And she was violent enough. She could fight. But she wasn't soldier material. She was a f*cking girl dammit! Oh well, it wasn't his call to make. Hunter wanted her trained. He'd train her all right. He'd either train her, or she'd die.
Luke watched Cage walk off as he struggled to stay on his feet. He used the wall of the sparring room to prop himself up. Wheezing and groaning from pain. Bloody hell, Cage could fight. He couldn't remember the last time he had hurt this much.
It was like fighting Hunter. Scary as hell. These two, just didn't know when to quit.
It was at this point when Luke noticed Charlie approaching from the corner of his eye. He tried to smile, even just a little. Charlie had been odd with him lately. He'd been all kinds of quiet and broody. Try as he might he couldn't figure out what had gotten him all worked up.
"Ch-Charlie.." he stammered trying to catch his breath. "What's shakin'?" He joked, amazed, that he could still crack one. Dammit did he ever hurt. He had been expecting Charlie to lend him a hand but instead his friend just stood there, looking at him as though he had to heads.
Luke sighed.
"Alright, spit it out already. F*ck you've been walking around with that stupid look on your face all week" He groaned, fed up. Luke dropped himself to the ground as he looked up at his friend. Waiting.
Charlie scratched the back of his neck, looking at the kid impatiently. This was his kid brother but lately, he was starting to realize he knew absolutely nothing about him, at all. To say it bothered him was an understatement.
"What's going on between you and Hunter. We both know, even though you made it through initiation, you shouldn't be wearing our crest. That's not how he rolls."
So Charlie didn't know? Luke was relieved. He looked up at his friend trying to think of a convincing lie. But He couldn't. However, he also couldn't tell him he was a the truth. So he decided on a half truth.
"Look. I know you're right. Truth is, I was so mad I came back looking for another fight. Boss beat the snot out of me. He was going to send me packing. But I couldn't let him, so I tried to talk him into giving me a second chance." He paused a moment to look up at this friend. To see if was buying it. Seeing as Charlie wasn't about to interrupt he continued. "When Boss refused to let me wear the crest, I lost my sh*t. And that's when you guys found me, It was stupid I know. I shouldn't have started that fight. But they were talking sh*t and I just couldn't take it anymore. So, since Boss had to come and save the day, I'm now his personal grunt. Like it or not. He owns me."
He had been rambling. As he rambled Charlie was watching him. Luke was a man of few words. Unless he wanted to taunt you. If he was goading you there was no shutting him up. Problem was, Charlie knew he wasn't trying to trying to taunt him. But he also knew he wasn't being completely honest. Call it instinct. Normally, Luke would just tell him to stop being such a girl and go about his macho ways. Something was definitely fishy and Charlie had had enough.
"You know Luke, it's fine. I don't need to know. Infact, I will do you one better. I don't want to know. You know what really gets me though? I'm supposed to be your brother. Yet, whatever is. You can tell Hunter, but you won't tell me"
The accusation caught Luke completely off guard. What the f*ck. Was Charlie his keeper now. Was there someone out there playing a cosmic joke? Seriously? It was bad enough Cage had just kicked his ass into next week, but now he had to deal with this too. He sighed.
"Charles, are you a f*cking girl? Did you leave your big boy pants at home? What the f*ck does it matter why I got in? Are you that upset that I succeeded? Is that what this is about? Bloody hell!! You aren't my keeper Charles!"
Charlie blinked at Luke's tirade. He was right. He just looked a this kid who had been his friend and shook his head, dragging his hand through his hair. "F*ck it," he thought.
"You're right. I'm not your keeper. I just thought you were my brother."
With that Charlie walked off. He hadn't even had a chance to ask him about what happened at the school but why bother. It was suddenly clear to him that friendship and feelings were a waste of time, no matter who was, you would always end up disappointed in the end.
Luke watched Charlie walk off and sighed once more. Gingerly he pulled himself to his feet, Winching in pain as he did, mumbling."
"Soldiers are weapons. Weapons don't need brothers."
At least that's what he told himself. There was no way he would admit to anyone, that in the first time in years, since the death of his father, he felt like crying. Charlie had indeed been family.
But there were some secrets, even family didn't need to know.