"I think I know what I have to do, and I have to do it before Dad comes back." Nick left the mess, leaving me to analyse if indeed all of what Louis said was true.

************************************

I was waiting for Killer in the ground, when I heard him limp towards me.
I turned around to look, and I stopped breathing.
He had the angriest look ever, on his face, and a stick in his hand.

He planted each step calmly, and the look on his face told me 'You'll not stay alive for long.'

"I told you, not to tell anything to anyone. But I think my words are not enough for you. Let me teach you with something else, then."
I began moving back with hands in defense and a dry mouth "I didn't say anything to anyone! I swear! Trust me!" I was screaming at him, to just listen to me.

But his red eyes told me that he's not going to leave me alive today.
"Stop! Listen to me!"

"Nope, I'm not doing that. Whenever you talk, disaster occurs. You went to Nick and told him to spy on us. You -"

"I didn't! Why would I do that? If he knows anything, he found it out himself, not me."
"No! You told him!"

"What can I possibly tell him? I don't even know anything!" I have no clue, how, in that almost-dying situation, I managed to lie and save Nick and Ren.

He gave that deadly glare to me.
"I swear! Trust me, sir, please! I didn't talk about it to Nick."

"She's right." Nick appeared from somewhere, like my angel in disguise!
He took the stick from Killer, and he didn't oppose it, too.

"She didn't speak a word about anything to me. Just like you." Nick looked into his eyes coldly.
"Nick, I.. just-"
"I don't want to hear anything from you. I've come here to tell you that you have all the time to train in my absence. Today I'm putting up my leave application, along with the boys, so KMA is all yours."

"Nick? Are you-"
"Don't you dare ask me anything." he hasn't cooled down a bit. They look at each other for a few moments. Nick with angry eyes, and Killer with apologetic ones. Neither spoke a word, till Nick left.

Killer turned to me with a face that showed pain and hopelessness.
I wanted to comfort him, but before I could decide how to do it, he was back to his a*shole form.
"We start offence from today."

It's true that my wish to punch him came true today, but it went into drain.
I used all my powers in a punch, and he just puffed and breathe out.
It was like he was made of steel. My punches won't affect him at all! As if he can't even feel them.

He knew I wanted this day to come. So he gave me a chance to live that day, without feeling successful or happy. In the end, he gave me that sadistic smile, establishing his victory, and my defeat.

Not to forget his threat "The force with which you hit me today, is what I'll take as your baseline. If, during any practice session, you get below that level, you'll regret hitting me this hard today."
Trust me, I'm regretting it already.

After first fifteen minutes of hitting him with pure hatred and disgust, my body cooled down. And so did my punches. And his warning started ringing in my ears loudly.

Shit! You can't cool down! He'll cook you alive! Stay strong!

And as he had predicted, I got slower and weaker. I earned a few pushups and crunches along with a long string of curses.
Finally he let me go.

I headed straight to mess, hoping that Nick will be there.
And yes, he was there.
I went and sat next to him.
He looked at me with a smile. Oh thank god, he didn't goof up this time.

"So?" I asked him.
"So?" he replied.

"Don't do that Nick, I have zero patience right now." I warned him.
"Alright alright. I got my leave sanctioned, and I also found the name of the guy who'll tell me everything I want to know."

"You found him?!" I was shocked, and happy at the same time.
But as soon as I realised that he'll go from here, I felt bad. I tried not to show it on my face. This guy needs a break, really. And I should not be the reason he stays back.

"How did you find him?" I asked him curiously.

He smirked at me. Then he began-

"
I stopped for a moment before knocking.
I heard him whispering something. I moved my ear near his door - something I would have died doing, if the real Officer-in-Command was sitting in there. But he wasn't Dad, and I'm not afraid of him, not anymore.
"I didn't tell him anything about you - I'm sorry -"
I knew who he was talking to- the man I'm going to find today.

I must have growled, because he stopped speaking.
I knocked on his door and he called "Get in". He obviously had cut his call.

I went in, angry, expecting him to be sitting in dad's chair, and about to give him an earful. But I was happy to see that Dad's chair had been moved to one corner of the desk, and a simple chair was kept next to it, on which he sat.
That's better, I spoke to myself.

He looked at me, and was taken aback. He motioned for me to have a seat, then picked up the landline. "What will you have? A hot cup of -"
"No thank you. Sir." I said blatantly.

He smiled for a moment and ordered on the phone "Two cold coffees please."
"I said I don't want -"

"Sit down Nick, and cool down a bit. You'll burst, and kill me with the blast." he said calmly.

I heard him for once, and sat down.

I took a minute to take deep breaths. In that minute, I realised that may be I'm getting a little harsh on my senior. It's true that I'm angry at him, beyond belief, but he's not the one to be blamed.
I softened and let my shoulders get loose.

"I told you everything I could. Forgive me, but I can't -" he started.
"I want old records of students passed out from KMA in last fifteen years. I need - "

We were playing the game of interrupting each other.
"I can't." he said in horror.
Obviously, it's nothing less than a suicide to touch Dad's files, without his permission.

"The officer who sits in this room, CAN."
"I don't know all that, I will not -"

"The key is in third drawer from the top, on your left side." He gave me a death glare, and started saying something.
Just then his runner entered with two mugs of nice looking cold-coffee. If not for this man, I'll drink it for the sake of the man who made it.

I took one sip, and just let myself calm down.
He sat across the table in front me and took a sip.

I held out my hand towards him and he looked at it blankly.
"The key, sir"
He thought about it for a second, then stood up. He looked at me angrily. "I apologised for my mistakes, and I'm done with it. If you are caught doing anything illegal here in this room, I will not save your ass, because I was not here." he picked up his mug and walked towards the door.

"Fifteen minutes. That's it." he said without turning back and left.

I laughed at his gesture and hurried to get the keys out. I opened the locker, got the huge record book out and kept it on sofa on the other end of the room. All the while, my hands were trembling out of pure fear, as to where I am, and what I'm doing here. If Dad finds out that I touched his stuff in his absence, he won't let me breathe while he tortures me.

I went to take the coffee mug back, and went to sit on the sofa, getting on the job.

I looked at the huge record and then asked myself. 'You stupid fool, how are you going to find the details of one person you don't even know the name of? Dad gets posted to KMA for a maximum of five years, then gets posted out to somewhere, and then he's brought back to KMA, all because of the quality of soldiers his training produces. So, in last fifteen years of the record, you can only strike off three years. You still have twelve years. Now, this guy can not be our junior, he has to be our senior. Another seven striked off, five left. We have seen two batches senior to us, and there was no one as good as Wills, so strike two more. Three. Sir Louis was talking to him, directly, so I assume it has to be one of his seniors. That means either KMA149 or KMA150. I can already feel my victory.

I took another sip with a smile.

"Thanks for the coffee, sir. It really helped me clear my mind." I told sir Louis, who was not even there.

I took another sip, and went directly to check the batch that first came to my mind. KMA150- the third golden batch, the one that passed out right before we entered KMA. I opened the records, and got it in an instant. There it was - his name shining in my dad's perfect handwriting. Thanks Dad.
He only fills the records of those students himself, who perform exemplary. I came to know about it when he told me how proud he was, to write 'firsts and seconds in all columns' for Wills, when we were passing out. I laughed at the page I saw.

I wrote the details of this guy I'm going to interview soon.

Before closing the logbook back, I couldn't help myself from turning the pages to KMA153- the batch that gave us our identity. The batch that has dad's second hand-written entry. The batch who had my stupid brother as their SC. KMA153- my batch.

I was giggling, remembering the good old days, when Sir entered back. I closed the logbook with a thud and kept it in the locker, placed the keys back and closed the drawer.
All the while he just looked at me, sipping the last sip of his coffee.

"I don't care whether you found him or not today, but don't get in trouble with him. Don't tell me later that I didn't warn you. And don't forget your orientation days, Nick." he said in my face, stressing on the last sentence.

I felt a shudder down my spine, as I felt the same old butterflies in my stomach I had in training days. I relived the nights when he owned our a*ses bad, and the ones where he saved us from some a*sholes.
" Yes sir, Sorry Sir."

I finished my coffee, thanked him, and left, thinking about this name in my hand.
"

He was grinning ear to ear.
I laughed at his state.

"You know what, Jane?"
"What?"

"That guy, poor man, I already pity him. Best performer of the Golden batch, must have got screwed big time for being a part of the famous batch, both from his faculty and the alumni. Thankfully he wasn't the SC, otherwise his life would have been more messed up than that of Wills. But worry not, Mr. Kadner, I'm coming for you."

He let out that sadistic laugh.
I laughed too, along with him.
"And what about your leave?"

I asked him, and his smile faded away in a moment.

************************************

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