Chereads / Abomination Incarnate / Chapter 5 - Chapter 5. Infancy and growing up III

Chapter 5 - Chapter 5. Infancy and growing up III

The next day Avol woke up feeling sore all over his body. He tried moving his body but no matter how he turned his body or how gently he moved, he felt as though he was hit by a bull.

"I promise to never try that again. I don't know what came over me yesterday but I felt that if I didn't reach at least the seventh lap I would lose something important. But right now, I don't feel it. Well, I just hope I have improved their impression of me in their hearts" he thought while still trying to move his body in the least painful way.

As he was battling with his body, he heard a knock on his door and then answered for whoever was knocking to enter.

As the door opened gently, the familiar smiling face of Annabeth peered through the open space before she fully entered his room. She then spoke.

"Fufufu. It seems like you are struggling with your body. Want me to help you get up?"

Avol wanted to reply positively but he suddenly got a chill down his spine before he quickly shook his head indicating that he didn't need help. Annabeth just pouted knowing that she got found out but inwardly she was thinking of how he was quite observant. She then spoke

"Since you don't need my help then you have five minutes to wash up and get to the to the training ground. Today we will begin your training proper. It mainly consists of the things you will be learning and perfecting for the next two years. Now get moving."

Avol struggled to get up and was able to reach the training ground in five minutes. When he reached Annabeth, she then said

"Good you're on time today and since your body still aches, we won't be running laps. Instead, we will focus on one of the essential skills of any fighter which is footwork. I'll be showing you a set of footwork for you which you are to memorize and master in one month." After having said that she then began to demonstrate the footwork to Avol

At first all he saw was a bunch of erratic movements but the longer he watched her, he began to see a pattern as well as the obvious significance of each movement.

After she finished her demonstration, she then told him to perform the same. Although he could remember most if not all the movement and their various patterns, that didn't mean he was able to perform them. The first reason was due to his severely untrained body while the other reason was that the movement takes about a year even for highly talented people to become proficient in it. So how could a five-year-old pop out of nowhere and suddenly become proficient in it.

Avol kept practicing his footwork, he suddenly stopped and then asked a question that had been bugging him.

"Is this the footwork that everyone practices here?"

Annabeth looked at him first before answering with a smile.

"No."

Avol then asked,

"Why not? I mean if this footwork can help improve the overall performance of the hidden corps then why not share it with everyone."

Annabeth still with a smile answered him

"Do you think that everyone here is on the same page? You might not know this but not everyone here was recruited by your father. Some of them were recruited by those old coots and are like sleeping cells waiting for the time to be activated. I'm sure you must have noticed but your father and them aren't on the same page since he refuses to follow certain traditions. So why should I teach them something that could cause me a disadvantage in the future. Aside from that, no one is born equal so it isn't a must nor is it necessary for me to teach them the best of what I know."

Avol pondered on her words as he continued to practice the footwork but later shoved it to the back of his mind as it would become a distraction if he kept thinking about it. And like that, he continued practicing his footwork.

------------------------------------------------TWO YEARS LATER-----------------------------------------

In a certain office you can see three people discussing or more like two of them were receiving orders from the third person. These three were Gerard, Annabeth and Avol. Gerard was giving Annabeth and Avol a mission briefing on the mission on information gathering that hey had just finished and although Annabeth could complete it on her own, this was also part of Avol's training.

Two years had passed since Avol started training with the hidden corps. He was able to reach a satisfactory proficiency in his footwork in the first year. After that, he was trained in observation skill for the next six months, where his was taught to read between the lines and see underneath the underneath. Although he couldn't be considered the best among information gatherers, he could still be considered a highly proficient one as he always had been quite observant since he was but a babe. For the final six months, he was trained in the basic strategies and quick decision-making that could save ones' life in case a mission goes wrong as well as some hands-on training. That means he was taken on missions like stealing classified information either for the Lancaster family or for other clients.

When he began taking missions, he was given the codename Hawk as the name Avol was one-of-a-kind and it was easy to make a connection to the heir of the Lancaster family, because how many people name their children Avol.

Today, he just came back from an espionage mission together with Annabeth even though all she did was sit back and monitor him throughout the operation. Avol would have about a month for break before he would come back for the complete combat training course for the next five years. Gerard was the first to speak.

"Good job Hawk and Eagle. The mission went without a hitch and we were also able to obtain information about an Elder's servant who had been selling information to outsiders."

(A/N: Annabeth's code-name is Eagle)

As he said this, he couldn't help but look at Avol in appreciation as during the last six months, he was able to uncover a lot of secret transactions done by either the Elders or their people. He didn't know whether he was just lucky or if he had developed a sixth sense for sniffing out such things. Aside from that, Avol had grown quite well over the last two years. At this moment, he stood a 5" and had a lean build and was quite the lady-killer even though he still had baby fat on his face and cheeks.

After hearing what Gerard said, Annabeth carefree face became a bit stiff before she asked

"Which of them?" to which Gerard answered,

"The third elder."

Annabeth could only sigh before saying,

"I always knew he was dumb but I didn't expect him to not notice that the other elders were using him to test the water of the Family head."

By now Avol already knew the what they were talking about as he had personally seen and heard with his eyes and ears, the misdeeds and cruelty of the elders, including his grandfather. At first, it affected him and caused him to think about it but after a talk with Annabeth, he got over it rather quickly and instead of sulking, he sought for a solution to eliminate the elders' actions permanently, even if it meant uprooting the whole body of the council of elders; although that would be a last resort.

Gerard then spoke.

"Well, its not our business to handle and we already know that the patriarch is just bidding his time. So, all we have to do is wait for him to call upon us. And although I don't like it, we will be doing a proper sweep in the numbers of the corps to fish out the bad eggs."

Gerard paused for a moment before he continued.

"Avol pack your bags. It's time to go home and boss will be here in about ten minutes."

Avol just hummed as he left them in the office and went to pack his bags. After he left, Annabeth was the first to speak

"He's a good kid and although I didn't want him to be exposed to all this so early, it's better to do so now letting him be better prepared for the future than for him to find out by himself that the 'great' Lancaster family is not all roses. That would definitely leave him devastated."