Chapter 36: Instructor
Gaude left the building and summoned Laly. It was already getting dark once again. He hadn't realized how long everything had taken.
"How is it, have you found him?"
"Yes, Master. Does master want to go there now?"
"Yes, take me to him."
A moment later, they apparated to a different part of town.
There was an average-looking apartment building in front of Gaude.
Soon, he saw a man climbing down from a balcony, into an alley. He was decked out in black coveralls and a ski mask. Most would've considered him a burglar leaving the scene, but Gaude knew different.
He walked his illusionary avatar closer and spoke: "The infamous rogue asset, Carter Ross. You know, they're offering a good sum to anyone that can bring you back in the fold."
###
Carter had always known that one of these days, somebody with good enough skills would need some extra cash and then they'd come looking for him. He just didn't think it would be that day. He had just got a lead on a big drug operation in the docks and hoped he'd get the name of whoever was running it by the morning.
Now it seemed like he'd be in for a fight of his life instead. The man in front of him looked like he had been hardened through many battles. He was standing in a relaxed stance, but behind it he could feel the readiness to strike. The man's hair may have been streaked with silver, but his arms and legs were bulging with muscles. To Carter, it seemed that this man had killed a man for every month he had lived past thirty.
The look in his opponent's eyes told him there was little chance he'd come out of it without critical injuries, even if he went for the kill from the start.
Still, Carter decided to fight it out. His own freedom was worth at least that much. That way, he'd still have a chance at payback.
He struck out as fast and as hard as he could with his knife, but as if he was a child being schooled by an adult, his wrist was caught in the old man's vice-like grip. He tried again with his other hand, but the same repeated. Even if Gaude wouldn't be Carter's match in his previous world's body, all it took to turn the tables in a fight against a Muggle was magic.
"Relax. I'm not here for that. I used to be like you. Except they took my daughter the moment I got careless. She was fifteen! I was green and naïve back then. I tried to take down the organization that wronged me all by myself and it didn't go as planned.
Then I decided to look for those that could help me in my task. I'm here to extend an invitation and a helping hand. I am building an organization that, among other things, specializes in taking down organized crime with methods that are often outside the boundaries of the law.
The organization will abide by its own set of rules that must be followed to the dot, else I'll be forced to permanently terminate anyone that goes rogue."
Carter was a bit intrigued by the man's words. It didn't look like he was lying either.
He relaxed his posture, but only by a little. "Why would I want to work for you?"
"Well, for starters, I pay good salary. I've completely cleaned the docks from crime, organized or otherwise.
I got a lot of intel when I did that. Turns out they had ties all over the country and even overseas, in New York. They seem to have a thing about economic capitals of nations.
That's just the beginning. I had my men infiltrate twenty other organizations. They've already started feeding me intel. The previous run proved that the training of my men wasn't nearly enough. That's where I hope you'd come in.
Finally, our organization has an R&D department that specializes in advanced medicine. While we can't regrow a lost limb from scratch, we can reconnect it, restore it even if it's been crushed and it'll work like new."
'So, it was about my training the whole time. At least something serving in the Regiment was good for. If even half of the benefits are true, I could earn enough to retire somewhere warm.'
"Alright, I'm listening. But first, you mentioned the rules. What exactly are the rules?"
Gaude simply pulled out a rolled up parchment from the Mokeskin pouch, conveniently positioned right where the illusion's coat pocket was.
###
Irma was standing in the training room. It wasn't her first time in there. She had taken a look on the previous day, too, right after she was transferred to the new facility. However, now there were a lot more people in it. Around a hundred of them were lined up according to height, her near the end of the line.
The vast majority of the other trainees were men of various stages of physical fitness, all throwing occasional glances at her. Irma didn't like the way they looked towards her.
While they were a few floors underground, it didn't feel like it at all. The air was fresh and the rooms were well-lit. There were potted plants by the walls, including some small trees.
There was a stern-looking man standing in front of them. It was him that had ordered them to line up. Mr. Vywin was standing next to the man. On the other side of Mr. Vywin was Mistle, the doctor that had attended to her before.
Mr. Vywin pointed to the stern-faced man and spoke: "I'm pleased to see that all of you are adjusting well. This here is your instructor, Carter Ross. He used to be a close quarters combat instructor for SAS until recently, so don't expect him to pamper and coddle you.
He's here to whip you into the best shape that your body is capable of and then push you beyond that. He's going to make top-tier agents out of all of you. You'll be training on every waking hour. To facilitate it, our R&D has come up with quite a few solutions."
Mr. Vywin removed a cloth covering a cart beside him. He lifted up a bottle with a label on it.
"This here is a stamina restorative. You'll be given it once you've reached a certain milestone in your daily training, so that you can continue with the next stage."
He took out two bottles and continued: "These two are a muscle recovery accelerator and a high-protein gel. Always take your protein first and the recovery accelerator second, otherwise you'll be losing muscle mass instead of gaining it. You'll be given both alongside the stamina restorative."
He then took out yet another bottle.
"This is a bone growth accelerator. In case you break or even fracture your bones during training, you'll have to take some to recover quickly."
He then took out a tube.
"This is a bruise-removal salve. It gets rid of all bruises, no matter how deep."
Finally, he took out another bottle with clear liquid inside and spoke: "This is a solution for promoting rapid regeneration in wounds. It emits some fumes as a part of the process."
Then Mr. Vywin pointed at the woman by his side and introduced: "This is Miss Tabernacy, your doctor. When you get injured during training, because you will, she is your go-to. She's trained in the use of these medications and can fix you up better than you were before. Don't piss her off. She can break all the bones in your body while naming them."
Next, four men and a boy that couldn't be older than six or seven walked out from a door in the distance.
"These five are last-minute additions. Each of them is special in a way, some more than others. All of you should try and keep up with at least one of them."
Irma's eyes had widened once she saw the little boy – she had recognized Gaude, except there seemed to be less baby fat on his face and his shoulders were a bit wider.
The five took in positions in the lineup, Gaude ending up in the very last spot.
Mr. Vywin then turned to Mr. Ross and spoke: "I trust you can build an efficient training plan around the support provided. Just remember to follow the rules, we don't have the technology to bring back the dead. However, as long as there's a strand of life left in them, we can bring them back to peak condition within a day."
"Hey, boss, isn't the last one just a kid? Are you sure about that?"
"You don't need to worry about him. I'm sure he'll surprise you."
Naturally, Gaude had wanted to get one of the best close quarters instructors to train him after he had learned dueling from what turned out to be one of the deadliest witches in the world. Naturally, he would try to get some private tutoring from one of the dueling champions, Filius Flitwick, but that would have to wait until he went to Hogwarts.
Irma, overhearing the last bit of conversation between the two due to there being a sudden silence in the line-up of people got a very bad feeling about the training they would undergo, but she still wanted to get the monster that had ruined the rest of her life. Maybe the R&D would even find a way to remove her scars?
Looking around, she saw that the men in line with her were just as terrified as she was, yet none of them had voiced their desire to leave, even though the worst that would happen would be them losing their memory of ever entering the building.
Irma's biggest worry, however, was about Gaude. Was his grandfather insane, sending a child to this kind of training?
"That is all from me. Everyone, work hard. I'd like to see you all on your first field assignment in four months. Oh, just a word of advice. Slackers get extra training."
It seemed to Irma, that Mr. Vywin's eyes stopped on her for a moment longer than any of the others in the line. A small frown seemed to flash over the man's face. It seemed he didn't like the scars on her face either.
Mr. Vywin walked out of the door without saying anything more. As everyone's eyes were on Captain Ross, they hadn't noticed Gaude's figure distorting for just a split second. The elf that had been wearing an illusion of Gaude had been replaced by the actual person.
Mr. Ross shouted: "From now on, you'll call me Sir or Captain Ross. Is that understood, maggots?"
"Yes sir." The line responded.
He shouted again: "Speak up, I didn't hear you!"
"Yes sir, captain Ross!", the men shouted. Irma hadn't raised her voice much.
"You too, girlie. If you want to be heard, open your mouth! It's not for stuffing up on rations!"
"Yes sir!", she finally shouted, beginning to get fed up with the man's attitude.
"Much better. We'll start with getting a look at how weak you all are so I can come up with a plan to turn all of you pansies into fighters."
What followed was a series of exercises that they had to perform until they couldn't anymore.
Irma used her anger towards the monster that had maimed her to push herself further than she normally could've, which equated to about five more pushups and so on, still, it was something.
They were given a spoonful of protein gel and muscle restorative each time they completed a set of tests. They both tasted horrible but at least they removed the debilitating tiredness from her muscles.
"Next up is running. The test will last until at least one of you is still running. The rest can return to base. We'll always go by the standard set by the best of you. Except you, girlie. You better be at least second to last to drop out or you'll be training for twenty-four hours today."
It became obvious that the training instructor had something against her.
"Yes Sir!", she shouted, just in case.
"Now get out and run laps on the track. I'll keep my eye on you all until I'm the last man standing."
They departed for a gravel track that ran through a tunnel. Even the tunnel was lit bright as day. There seemed to be a constant wind inside the tunnel.
Irma wasn't able to see any wiring or even grates for large fans, but they had to be hidden somewhere.
###
It was the evening of the third day since the training started. Irma was full of energy just a few minutes ago, but now she was suddenly tired. So tired. She knew the reason, naturally. It was because her system had burned through the stamina restorative and whatever else they were given to recover energy.
On physical training days, they weren't even given much regular food, they were almost entirely on a liquid diet that was complemented by enough exercise to break a person that didn't get those disgusting-tasting medicines.
Irma hadn't been able to keep an eye on Gaude, but judging by the dissatisfied grumbles of the less than fit men in the group, he had managed to stay around the middle during the running exercises.
After the assessment on the first day, which felt more like the instructor was trying to have them die from exhaustion, they had embarked on a training session that lasted eighteen hours. The worst of all was that she had to keep up with the best in each exercise they did. After that, they got six hours to sleep.
They were woken up by getting a bucket of ice-cold water poured over them. They were told that it was their own fault for not dodging out of the way. They ended up spending breakfast time by hanging their bedding to dry.
The following day had been filled with learning the theory of CQC techniques. Apparently, there was even an experimental drug to increase their focus and memory. Irma was starting to wonder whether or not there was somebody in R&D working on a proper cure for cancer.
In the end, it turned out that there was actually a drawback to all these seemingly miraculous meds they'd been given – once the effect wore off, they'd be dead tired.
A week later, Mr. Vywin was with them once more, in front of the line-up with Captain Ross.
"Your instructor told me that you've all made some improvements in your conditions. I find that to be pleasant news. Do your best and perhaps you'll get a day off on the weekend. Irma, step forward. I have something to discuss with you."
Irma quickly followed the order; she didn't want to get extra training. It had already happened once and she had to still keep up with the best on the next day.
The moment she reached near Mr. Vywin, he spoke softly: "Follow me. We have some private matters to discuss."
Irma followed the man to a nearby room and closed the door behind herself.
The room was sparsely decorated. There was a mirror on the wall and a table in the middle of the floor. There were two black leather armchairs by the table.
"Sit down." His voice wasn't loud, but she felt a strong urge to follow the command.
"I have some more information about the kind of creature that bit you. It turns out that after you get infected, another entity appears within you. For the sake of the convenience, let's call it the wolf.
The wolf is like any other wild animal. It seeks freedom and to follow its instincts.
Once you turn, the wolf normally takes control of your body. Unfortunately, that doesn't mix well with civilized society. That's why the suppressant was developed. It can suppress some of the wilder urges of the wolf while giving semblance of control back to the human side.
However, recently I have discovered records of a Native American tribe where the members are all living in harmony with their inner wolf. They seem to be fully conscious of anything the wolf does and even able to guide its actions by 'asking nicely'.
Unfortunately, the method itself hasn't been revealed to the world and the tribe itself is an elusive one. That is why I'm thinking that we should seek them out and ask for help."
"You're speaking as if it's already set in stone that I'll turn!", she exclaimed in displeasure.
"You were showing all the symptoms of going through the initial stage of infection, as well as improved recovery rate. Mr. Ross told me you're recovering and improving almost twice as fast as any of the regular trainees."
She asked warily: "Fine. What do you have in mind?"
"I'm planning a trip to the territory that this tribe was last spotted in. I'm thinking I'll take you and Gaude with me, that way it's going to double as a family trip. Once the agents have tracked down their last known location, we'll be there until we find them."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone