06: TIME FOR BASIC TRAINING.
Leah

When I woke up that morning, I felt different. I got ready, putting my hair in a ponytail, got dressed in my old Nightstalker uniform for today's lesson, and started to go over the lesson plan. It is just something that isn't likely to happen but if the Fifth Gen Fighters got to the ship and they raided - how to kill them.

I had to train these people how to kill a person. But you couldn't look at them like that.

They're the enemy.

Erase what humanity you think you see in them and do not hesitate or else we'll have to tell your family why you didn't make it back.

And went down the list of names for training. It would be all day, so no F-18s, just intimate combat.

And I would start with Bradley.

Shit.

My eyes kept going over his name, almost as if I tried hard enough it would suddenly switch with someone else's. I was completely still and I felt my heart race, remembering the intense crush I had on him as a kid but now it's manifested deeper. Even though I swore a few days ago that I hated him, I knew it was a big fat lie. 

The only thing that that initial hatred turned into was longing, and admiration when I saw him again.

"You alright there, Rampage?" Phoenix's voice startled me and I tried to stay composed.

But then I remembered I blush like a pink crayola crayon and she spotted it.

“Leah Kazansky, are you blushing?” She accused me, and I just put a smile on that would only belong to Hangman.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I strutted past her.

“Bullshit. Who is it?” 

“A girl never kisses and tells.”

“Oh my God, please don’t tell me it’s Hangman-”

“Are you ladies having girl talk? About me?” Hangman appeared in the doorway with a wink, leaning against it.

“Wait,” She ignored him, “no, it can’t be him.”

“Can’t be me? For what?” 

“Trust me, if Rampage kissed you, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.”

“I didn’t kiss anyone! I was just joking,” I admitted, trying to distract myself from the person I really wanted to kiss. But I couldn’t tell if this was just the child within me yearning for my childhood crush or just admiration for my comrad.

“Have you ever kissed anyone?” Hangman questioned just as some of the boys were walking by.

“Huh? Who’s kissing?” Fanboy leaned his head in.

“No one’s kissing, and since I’m leading the lesson today, you’re all officially late and owe me a hundred push-ups,” Being around them loosened me up a bit more, especially after Bradley and I resolved our issues.

“Oh god, no more push-ups,” Harvard groaned, and I noticed someone missing as we all made our way to the deck.

“Hey, where’s-?”

“I heard kissing!” I yelped as Bradley ran up from behind and grabbed my shoulders, “who has tainted Kazanskys little girl? And how are they not dead yet?”

“Dating as Icemans daughter must have been hell,” Payback winced, “sorry but as much as I respect the man, that has got to be torture.”

Couldn’t even go to homecoming without dad or Maverick to chaperone.

“Let’s just say that she didn’t kiss anyone until prom,” My eyes widened and I playfully shoved Bradley.

“Bradley!” That was always the one thing I was embarrassed about. Even during freshman year and I was so close to kissing someone, my dad had walked in and practically traumatized Bradley.

Yup, Bradley Bradshaw had oh so graciously volunteered to be my first kiss. I was scared of being bad so Bradley had said he would teach me, and my heart practically exploded at the thought of my never ending crush on Bradley Bradshaw kissing me. 

“And you had your first kiss under the tables at lunch with Kaitlyn Winters-”

“Admiral on deck!”

We immediately stopped, standing at Attention, as Cyclone walked up to us.

"Why aren't you at your seats?" He asked.

"My fault, Sir. I was distracted, Sir," I took the blame.

"Sir, with all due respect, she's only saying that so that we don't take the blame. We were all catching up, Sir," Bradley jumped in.

Oh no you don't.

"Sir, he's full of shit," I cut in, and I could hear Coyote and Phoenix trying to contain themselves.

"At ease," He sighed, already done with us.

It's great to have my friend back.

"Captain Kazansky will be leading you all in a training exercise incase of an emergency. Recently, one of our drones was spotted and we not only learned that they will take prisoners, but will not hesitate to kill. If you eject, the fight doesn't end there. You'll need to learn how to kill if you want to get out alive," Cyclone explained as we walked over to a giant mat on the floor.

"It's a major if, but we want to be prepared for the worst," Warlock added.

"So what? We'll be fighting each other?" Yale questioned.

"No. We'll be fighting Rampage," Hangman smirked, knowing full well what I'm capable of.

"If you couldn't access her files before, it is because Rampage was part of a confidential unit back in 2011 and has been part of the Nightstalkers ever since. She has led teams on successful top secret missions where no attention was drawn, and other countries couldn't attack without proof and the fact that whatever they were doing would violate peace treaties. Kazansky, I give you the floor."

Way to make me sound like Black Widow.

No pressure.

"How many of you have basic hand-to-hand combat training?” I asked, all raising their hands.

“Aviator training?” Same result.

“Land navigation? Weapons training? Krav maga?” Slowly, hands started to descend.

“Coyote, come at me,” I chose him not only because of his tall stature but because he had a bit more bulk than the others.

“Like now?” 

“Ye-” He tried to catch me off guard, and ran at me at full force. His back slumped and his shoulders sagged, indicating he was aiming to grab my stomach region and bring me down with his weight. I used this and slid to the right before wrapping both of my arms around the back of his neck and using my arm strength to bring my legs up to his throat. I clenched myself around his throat before throwing myself and using his weight to bring him to the ground, the both of us falling. His hands went up to my legs to try and pry me off, but all that did was make my clench harder and I grabbed my gun from my back and aimed it at his head.

It wasn’t loaded and I released him, trying to catch his breath.

“Ten seconds in, and you’re dead,” I looked to see Maverick, arms folded.

“Like Maverick said, that only took me ten seconds. And that’s if they don’t want to immediately go with a gun,” I turned to Coyote, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, just. . .damn, that was so fast,” He said, falling back in line with the others who just stared at me. 

“Who can tell me what I used to my advantage?” Phoniex raised her hand.

“You used his weight to throw him around.”

“Being small does not equate to being weaker, or struggling-” Just as I was about to explain how his weight compared to mine didn’t falter me, I looked to see Bradley staring. And sure, everyone else was paying attention after that takedown, but this was different. His eyes looked dilated, staring at my form and eyeing me until he reached my face. And he didn’t look away first, staring at me with a very recognizable look in his eyes.

“St-Struggling-”

Fuck.

“-in any way, shape or form. Reminder, this is in case the enemy has managed to get you on the ground.”

“That’s right, but treat this training the same you would with your F-18s - as though your life depended on it,” Maverick added in, giving me a smile of encouragement.

“I want each one of you to try and take me down. Hangman, you’re next.”

Hangman failed because he tried going in with just a punch, to which I retorted by grabbing his arm and letting my elbow strike his throat. Fanboy went for my legs, not reacting quickly to the fact that I just kicked his face. Payback and Harvard tried to double team, which in theory should easily bring down an enemy, except when you can use one's weight against the other. Phoenix was quick, but almost too quick as she fumbled over a move. I could say that Bob was the closest but only because I didn’t think he knew any Krav Maga, but his moves were rusty.

“Good luck, Rooster. Gonna need it,” Hangman called out as Bradley made his way onto the mat, and stared down at me.

“Where did Rooster come from anyway?” I asked.

“Take me down and you just might find out,” He said with a smug smile.

“As if-” He caught me. My hands were in position and he grabbed my fist, twisting it behind my back. My elbow went around and got his throat, making him gasp for air. He let go and I quickly slammed the back of my head into his face, making him stumble back and I turned around. But seeing his face, I iimmediately dropped my guard.

“Bradley, are you okay-?” His nose was bleeding and seeing my concern, he lunged at me. The air was knocked out of me as my back slammed into the mat, trying to grab my arms and he used his hips to push my own down. 

“Come on, Rooster!”

“You can do it!”

And there it was. My opening. He got distracted and lifted himself a bit, to which I used my newly freed arm to grab the knife I had stashed on my thigh. My hand wrapped around his collar and brought my neck down, the plastic knife sliding against his throat.

“You’re dead,” I breathed out, a growing grin of victory on my face as I tried to catch my breath.

“Come on!” 

“Where did she get a plastic knife?”

“Damn, should’ve surrendered,” He was close, almost too close. . .

Or not close enough.

“I don’t know, you seem to enjoy being ontop of me right now,” I mused, having no idea if the adrenaline was fueling my sudden confidence boost but it felt good.

“And I think you’re enjoying this a little too much, Rampage,” Before I could reply, we heard a cough and looked to see Cyclone.

“Leiutenant, think you can go on or do you need to see the medic?” He brushed his thumb against his nose and saw some blood, slightly wincing at the sight of it.

And still ontop of me.

“I think I just need a napkin-”

“Rooster. Get off,” Maverick told him, looking like he was going to have to bleach his eyes later.

Oh, right.

He got up off of me, helping me up and I put the plastic knife back in my thigh pocket. And to try and get the image of Bradley ontop of me and smirking, I turned back to the team. They all looked either gobsmacked or like they were going to ask me questions later.

“Who’s ready for real training? Because that was just me kicking your asses.”

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YESSS WE LOVE UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TENSION!!