As they were assembled in a line for exercise, Kane saw the gorgeous Agent Carter strutting towards them with Colonel Philips. By the looks of it she might be training them, which would also make sense as that is what Stark had told him yesterday. Taking a quick sidewards glance with his eyes only, at the other animals in line next to him, they all had rather obscene gazes as they looked at her. Even Steve, whom Kane stood next to had a sharp inhale of breath.
"Oh boy, this was going to be fun" Kane muttered to himself. A bunch of undisciplined idiots seeing a beautiful women in military uniform is definitely going to cause them to act up. Pretty much all of them think that a women is only good for several things and most of them are derogatory, none of the things however are to serve in the military. The colonel addressed the gathered recruits but Kane filtered out what he was saying. He was not interested in some patriotic spiel that was undoubtedly about to come out of his mouth. After the colonel was finished he walked off and Kane started paying attention again.
"Okay gentlemen, I am Agent Carter a liaison from Britain attached to this project and I will be overseeing your training while you are here. Are there any questions?"
Kane smirked inside and thought here it comes. Lo and behold he was not disappointed. Every instructor generally found fault with someone or a group of people as an excuse to exercise dominance and disciple people. That way they could break them down and build them up the way they want.
"Yeah I got a question Queen Victoria. I thought this was the American army, why are you here and why should we have to listen to you? Of course I can think of several things we can be doing right now and they would all be a lot more pleasurable if you get my meaning and have the time."
The lumbering oaf who spoke took a look around at his fellow recruits after he had said this. Whether it was to show off or gain support from them it was unclear, but he was going to be in for it now.
"Private what's your name?"
"Hodge your majesty, Gilmore Hodge at your service."
"Wow this idiot keeps digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole."
"Step forward Hodge."
The man took a swaggering step forward.
Agent Carter strolled up to him and put her hands on her hips. Then with a punch that wasn't telegraphed at all she had laid the man clean out of the ground. She hit him square in the eye which would give him a black eye and serve as a reminder both to him and the rest that discipline will be enforced. Also just because she is a women she still holds rank and should be obeyed and not looked down upon.
"This is the army and I am your superior officer. Discipline will be enforced and when I give you an order I expect you to follow it to the letter. When I say jump, you don't question how high or how far, you just jump. Are we clear gentlemen?"
"Yes ma'am"
"I didn't hear you, louder please gentlemen."
"YES MA'AM"
"That's better. Now Hodge pick yourself up and stop playing dead over there and give me a lap of the compound. The rest of you will stand at attention until Hodge finished his lap then we will get to it."
After Hodge had run his lap and returned to fall back in line, the callisthenics begun in earnest.
Kane found it easy as expected and was running at the front of the pack when he heard laughter behind him. Turning around he saw that Steve had passed out in the middle of the run and the others were laughing at him. Clearly they still needed discipline or else they would have kept running no matter what happened. When in training the instructor is akin to God and their world is law you don't stop for anything. Kane ran back to Steve and picked him up with still jogging on the spot and placed him on his back and continued to run to the front of the pack finishing the exercise first. The other recruits were a bit puzzled at his actions but didn't say anything as they were embarrassed that even with his burden Kane was still faster then them and able to attain first place. Kane only focussed on helping his new friend and finishing the run so he didn't see some of the officers and non-commissioned officers nodding their heads in collective praise at his actions.
Steve finished the run albeit unconsciousness on Kane's back then was sent to the infirmary. Turns out he had a host of medical problems wrong with him rather then just his small size. He was very grateful but also embarrassed when he returned to barracks and face Kane.
The next day it was the same again with the promise of whoever could climb up a flag pole and retrieve the flag could get a rid back to base. This was a trick as the flagpole was coated with anti climbing paint that was very slippery coupled with fatigue from the run and gear weighing you down it was very difficult to do. After letting everyone else go first Kane sprung up the pole with his superior speed and strength not hindered at all by those petty tricks and after bringing the flag down to stunned silence he then went back up to place it back again. A small trick to shut others up as he had also been picked on by others for his English accent.
Steve looked at the flagpole for a few seconds, then rather then trying to climb it he took the bolts out of the bottom and after the flagpole hit the ground he took the flag and handed it over. Just like that the record of nobody ever having been able to retrieve the flag was broken twice on the same day. Although Steve's way was unorthodox, he still managed to fulfil the conditions so they were both given a ride back to base in stunned silence.
The next day it was an obstacle course and Steve had problems with the rope climbing once again falling down. Kane gave him a few tricks and helped him with his technique and he was able to climb it perfectly.
The days flowed together with much the same thing happening. Lots of physical exercise and shouting. One day was different however and that was because Colonel Chester Philips came down in person to observe them and with him was Doctor Abraham Erskine in tow. This was the first time Kane had seen either of them since the first night and when the colonel addressed them on their first training day so he knew something was up.
They kept their distance and watched them as they were put through their paces once more by Agent Carter. While they kept their voices down to be discrete even though they were at a distance, Kane could hear them perfectly as if they were shouting into his ear while standing next to him. Perks of enhanced hearing.
They were discussing the candidates and thoughts of whom would be selected to undergo the procedure.
"What about Hodge? He is first in every physical test we can give him and he is the best recruit."
"You are being bias Colonel. Hodge is second in every test as private Titan is first in every test you just don't like him as he isn't American. Hodge will never get my serum Colonel as he is a bully and it would ruin him further."
"Well nobody is perfect doctor and we need guys like him to win this war. Titan won't do as there is too many black marks against his name and people up top don't like him and they are the ones who fund everything."
"The black marks you are talking about are nothing more then a malicious fabrication from jealous people. I know him and I know his loyalty and dedication. The only reason that there are two spots to take my serum is because one is for him. I won't allow my friend to be placed on the butchers chopping block just because of some narrow minded people. He has more then proved himself being first in everything so nobody can complain about favourable treatment. The other person I have an eye on is Rogers. He is an American you should be happy with that no?"
"I don't like him and he is too small. Plus he has a myriad of health problems."
"Health problems that my serums will get rid of. Are you really not going to pick him just because of his size?"
"How about we test them then. Watch this."
Saying so the scar faced colonel reached into a box on the back of the military truck and pulled out a grenade, primed it and tossed it towards the group.
"Grenade!"
Even if Kane couldn't hear them, he knew that the grenade would be a dud as they couldn't kill people in training as there would be an inquest. Things were not as harsh or brutal as his training. Since he also made his body more resilient by making everything dense he was confident that he would be unscathed by the grenade and even if it did hurt him so long as his head was okay they he should regenerate. As this was also a test he threw himself on top of the grenade as it landed while everyone else scattered. He wasn't the only one to have done so however as a hairsbreadth after he had moved so to did Rogers. Both landed on the grenade but as Rogers was neared he got to it first and Kane landed on top of him squashing him thoroughly. Kane's body was two and a half times denser then a normal humans so he was a lot more heavy then a similar sized person would be.
After a while nothing happened and the grenade didn't go off. Steve was a bit puzzled and asked if it was a test which nobody answered him.
Turning a triumphant look at the colonel Abraham Erskine just smiled with a twinkle in his eyes.
"He is still too small" the colonel huffed. It was a grudging acknowledgement. It take a lot to throw oneself on top of a grenade to shield allies especially with the way they had treated him and the fact that he didn't know it was a dud.
Their training had ended after only a week and Kane was summoned to the base commanders office.