I lie in the hospital bed defeated and feeling hopeless. "When you were fighting Isaiah why don't you fight back?" It was Gretel one of Olivia's bodyguards…I think. "I've never really been in a fight; everything was moving so fast," I explain. "Hmm… An Exile doesn't know the ways of battle?.. odd; very well Gretel shall teach you the ways of combat." Shocked about this news and at the same time very excited I respond saying "wait what about the training room?" She scoffs "do you think they'll really help you? I shake my head because she had a point. "Great! You'll meet me at the Black Ops facility, the training will commence there, you'll have to return back to the military camp in a week so make the most out of it."
With renewed hope, I am able to relax a little. Until I hear a knock at the door, a boy about my age or maybe a tad bit older walks in. "Hey, you're the kid that got beat down by Instructor Isaiah." I look down in embarrassment and reply "Yep, that's me." I look back up and he sits right next to me. "I hope you don't mind; this place gets really depressing after a while and you seem like you're fun." I smile and laugh "so you've been walking into people's rooms and seeing if they're boring or not?" He laughs and responds "or dead" we pause for a little, then crack up again.
Some time passes and we're still talking. "So, what's your name?" I ask. He lets out a heavy sigh. "Oh, I'm sorry you don't have to say. It doesn't really make a difference." He smiles and says, "It'd be wrong for me not to introduce myself; my name is Dante Ortiz." I smile "wait do you know who Olivia is? Oh, wait I'm sorry that was wrong of me to assume." He bursts out laughing "it's fine it's fine, yeah that's my older sister." I have a sigh of relief and smile. "Are you a part of the Black Ops?" I ask. He nods "I'm in intelligence but I get a piece of the action every now and then." I look in total admiration.
A few more hours pass. "So how did you end up in good ol' Téleios" I fidget with my hands for a little bit. "A raid on my school and I helped everyone I could, and I ended up getting captured instead." He was obviously perturbed by the news I had just told him.
"I-"
Before I could finish he says, "don't you dare say sorry, there's nothing you could've done but you went in and helped them anyway." I smile, "that's kind of my weakness I guess I put people before me, that ends up screwing me up in the end I guess." I chuckle. He stands up and exits. What did I do wrong? I lay on the bed and let out a huge sigh.
Before I notice; it's morning and I have to get ready to meet Gretel. I get dressed and I head out. On my way there the courtyard of people watching me was beyond uncomfortable. I arrive and Gretel greets me at the door, I see Dante in my peripheral vision, and I wave, he turns away with his tablet. "Ahhh so you've met Dante, he and his sisters are just the sweetest things and amazing at what they do! I'm sure their father is so proud." I smile "Who is their father?" She points up at a white room at the top of the facility, "The Commander of the Black Ops; Ezequiel Ortiz!" I look up in amazement then my eyes slowly fall where Gretel has entered. "This is the Black Room, where your training will take place." The other huge bodyguard walked in as well standing right next to Gretel. "My name is Hansel, and I will be here to assist you alongside my sister Gretel" He announces to me. I smile and I respond, "thank you for taking time out of your day to train me!" They keep a stern look and gesture me to follow them onto a pedestal surrounded by multiple monitors. "This is Training Room Beta, hand-to-hand unit," Gretel explains to me. As she gets into a fighting stance and Hansel corrects my fighting stance.
"Now throw a jab," Gretel shouts. I step and throw out a weak jab making a pitiful sound on impact. "You're weak, there's no muscle on those arms." Gretel harshly states although I knew I was very skinny. "But you're nimble and flexible, you can use that to your advantage, we'll make a training regimen suited to you," Gretel says as she grabs 10-pound dumbbells and what exercises to work on. "Now we can't help you gain a significant amount of muscle before you must return, but you don't have to have muscles like us to be strong!" She inspirationally states. We spend a few hours training and by the end of it, I felt as if my muscles have been lit on fire. I walk out of the room and catch a glimpse of Olivia and Dante speaking.
"Hey so did you meet the new trainee; I'm interested to see his improvement when he returns to finish up his camp," Olivia says in an excited tone.
"Oh yeah, I saw him," Dante says in an uninterested tone.
"Are you mad about him being an Exile?" Olivia says in an annoyed tone.
"No, I just think it's a little unfair that we're using them for some think of e-" Olivia covers his mount before he could finish, I understood though.
"You know that's not my decision." She says in an aggravated tone. He removes her hand from his mouth.
"I know who's decision it is," Dante says while looking up to his father's office.
"Dante please, he's better now, he's sorry." Dante rises from his chair and his voice along with it, "There you go again; siding with him, you see what he's doing, how can you turn a blind eye to this!"
"Blind eye to what Dante?" A deep voice comes from the tall figure that is Ezequiel Ortiz.
I have one out of two options.
One: don't say jack and leave right now and Dante's secret that Olivia tried to hide from their father would be known.
And then there's two: make up a lie and save their skin, and maybe get in serious trouble.
....... "Commander Sir! They were telling me how I could turn a blind eye to not wiping off the equipment in the training room." I say in the calmest and respectful tone I could muster. Olivia looked ecstatic, Dante looked pissed, and Mr. Ezequiel looked overjoyed surprisingly. He ran over to me began to inspect me in some way.
"At ease trainee, I'm happy that you're joining our ranks and my children have told you the customs of the facility. Yeah, remember to wipe that stuff off." He says in a chuckle, and he takes his leave.
Olivia runs up to me and gives me a huge hug. "Oh my God you saved Dante's ass!" she says while laughing hysterically. She eventually composes herself. "But seriously thank you so much initiate!" I smiled and I returned the hug. Dante walks away.
"He has a really big heart you know. That's why I protect him, but it seems like these days he seems to close himself off. Once he opens up you can feel so much warmth, but he's been scorched so many times he just pretends to be cold." I smile in understanding and grab my bags and prepare to leave.
"See you tomorrow!" Olivia says while I walk off.
"Bye Olivia!" I respond exiting the facility.