And there they were- Killer and Uncle, in the middle of the hall, on mat, ready to fight.

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

Killer was breathing fast, he must have been 'warmed up' properly.
Hell he is warming up since yesterday.

He stood with his hands around his face, little bent. He was fiddling with his fingers, opening and closing his palms thinking of something.

Uncle stood straight, calm, with his hands in front of his chest, his eyes focused on Killer's. He clearly was in no mood to guard his face.

The difference in confidence was so clear, you don't need to be a fighter to understand who's pants were on fire.

They moved round and round, waiting for each other to make the first move. I remember last time, Ren lost her calm and initiated the fight, earning not-so-easy hits. I think Killer remembers too, because he is not even trying to take an extra step.

They walked a few rounds in silence, when Uncle let a small laugh and a nod to himself. He moved a few steps towards his son, who walked the same number of steps back.
I've never seen Killer being so defensive.

After walking around for a few seconds, uncle started targeting blows at Killer's face. He saved himself using his speed and good handwork, till he started getting hits all over his body.

Uncle was hitting him everywhere from head to toe. I don't know when he started using his legs to kick him.
It all happened in a moment.
He started off easy, but suddenly got into Rambo-Mode.

It was clear that Killer was having a hard time defending himself, but he was doing a decent job.
Having seen Ren and uncle, this was definitely three levels up.

Making his hands become numb in defence, Uncle decided to tie them behind his back.
I wasn't sure if he is still planning to practice fight, but apparently he did.
Killer had to use only his legs to save himself from uncle's punches and kicks.
He would dodge a few, defend a few, and taste the rest.

But I must say, he is a great fighter himself. His kicks were flying higher than my head. He would fall and get up and fall again within a second.
Despite of having his hand tied, he was fighting well.
He kicked uncle here and there, with decent force. It's not his mistake that his opponent is made of steel, with all free limbs.

With time, uncle was getting a stronger hand, when Killer bent down to dodge a punch and slid and directly aimed for Uncle's ankles.
That was a planned move, not taking more than a moment for uncle to understand who jumped in air before his feet could even touch him.

What happened afterwards was beyond my imagination.
Uncle was in air, and Killer was still sliding, when he used his tied hands to change his direction and turned towards uncle, kicking on his back.

This made Uncle fall on ground face first. Before he could turn and get up, Killer was standing over him, one leg bent at knee.
As soon as Uncle turned, he let go of his weight, and aimed his bent knee on uncle's face.

It was a matter of just a moment, uncle slid behind and the knee dug deep in mat.
They both stayed in that position for a few seconds, catching their breaths.

Uncle tapped on the floor once and got up, followed by Killer.
He nodded towards his hands, and to my surprise, it took three seconds for Killer to get that rope off his hands, all by himself!

If he knew how to open the knot, why didn't he free himself before?
Stupid brains!

"Drop."
There we go again.

"Mistakes?" Uncle asked killer while he pushed.
"Weaker punches."

"And..?"
"Slow moves."

"No. Your speed is intact. That's good, in fact. It makes me happy that I have engraved speed in each of your living fibre."
You could see Ren and Killer both make a terrible face for a second.

"You are afraid to use your leg."
"I... I think so, Sir. The cast has been on for so long." Killer answer after thinking.

"It will take some time. No need to focus on it and force your brain to use that one limb. Your right is dominant, it will get back with practice. But yes, strength is not there. Your punches are the weakest ever."

Uncle's tone was calm, but unsettling.
"You won't need fighting skills in the coming meet, so I won't stress on this part. But your core requires strengthening, as much as your major muscles. You should be able to fight, be it after five months or five years. You never know when you'll need to. Anyways you have one human life to protect at any cost."

Uncle was standing with his back to me. After what he said, Killer looked at me, with no expression on his face.
"I won't fail you, or him, sir."
He said looking into my eyes, making me feel uncomfortable.

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

Me and Ren were having dinner when Killer entered looking like a zombie.

"You look dead" Ren said and I nodded in agreement.
He quietly came and sat and started having his meal.

We looked at each other, not knowing what to do. We took our seats and joined him.

"Willy..do you need any help?"
"I need some sleep. Badly." he said, breathing out loudly.

"I'm sorry but..." Ren tried to pacify him.
"I know. I'm not getting an ounce of it till tomorrow midnight. And I'm not afraid of not getting enough rest, but afraid to disappoint him by performing poorly because of the lack of sleep." he said calmly having bites of food.

"So you are not worried about.." I start to ask him surprised.
"No I'm not. I have stayed up for 5 days with a max of 3 hours of sleep per day, and I survived that. So I'm sure I'm not going to die this time."

"What has he planned for tonight?"
He sighed loudly before answering that.
"Five tasks to be completed before sunrise."

We looked at him waiting to complete.
"one - night parade of six point five miles in full combat gear.
Two - cleaning of all rifles in the arms room, disassembling and then reassembling, followed by labelling, cross checking with the records, and sealing them back.
Three - two guard duties at main gate, thirty minutes each.
Four - waking up Major Louis and teaching him everything about upcoming cadet recruitment, to prepare him for a presentation tomorrow. Anything he doesn't know will be paid by me.
Five - tie a red cloth on the highest branch of trees that he has marked. God knows how many of them are there. I can't afford to miss even a single one."

Both of us were looking at him in shock.
"No cell of your body will feel unused, honey. But will you be able to do all this by sunrise?"

"I have to. If I don't want my room inspection to shift to tomorrow night. It is scheduled for first light of tomorrow morning. If I'm not done with the tasks, he will do the inspection while I am with Jane, delaying the contact between me and my bed, and that is something to worry. Anyways he has promised it to be a detailed one, so I'm not expecting any good news."
He said cleaning the sweat from his face.

"Damn it! Someone tell him you are not a cadet anymore! There's a complete house-keeping staff for room maintenance of Officers! There's no point in doing any inspection of your room."

"We don't have the privilege of HK staff, Ren. We never had. He has told us clearly, to maintain our workplace and living area ourselves. And God help me if he sees that dirt on top shelf of my cupboards - something I was waiting to clean after getting that stupid cast off - I'm dead."

"That cast has been gone for so many days, Willy!"
"I know. I just kept delaying it. Great time to appreciate and regret the laxity." he said shrugging his shoulders.

"Sunrise occurs around 0530 hours. It's 2230 right now. You have almost seven hours to finish all this. I can help you with the room cleaning if you want, when he is with you. That's the max-" Ren was trying to help him.

"Don't even think about it! He will come to know and I'll be dead before I can explain." well that's true.
"I guess so." she agreed too.

So killer is on his own in this.
Poor man- instead of sleeping in his cosy bed after a day in this chilly hell, he will be doing crazy things all night, with no idea about the next time he'll get to take rest.

He left after securing enough reserves for working whole night.

"All these tasks don't seem as easy as they sound." I tell Ren.
"Nope. Not even close. Colonel has ensured to make him cry by the time he's done. The combat gear in itself is 10 kgs in weight. For a night parade, you carry an additional 25 kgs backpack. It's not a normal walk. It's the typical parade you see on tv by soldiers. Every step is measured in distance, time and height. The back goes for a six. It's exhausting and never ending."

I imagined Killer's state.
"Rifle cleaning is usually done by the cadets under supervision of arms room guards, in sets of 50 or 60 per day. It is a multi-step procedure. Each step requiring absolute fine work by your fingers. Imagine weapons for three batches and 10 officers and staff and also the reserved ones- the count crosses two hundred, as compared to fifty. His fingers will be cursing him for coming days."

"Guard duties and that cadet recruitment thing with Major Louis - will require 100% of his attention. Guards are allowed to sit during their two hour duty, but I'm sure Wills will not take that risk of dozing off. And that last task- climbing trees - it will be funny to see a zombie monkey running around in the dark." she laughed at that.

I couldn't laugh, I was feeling worried.
"Then in between he has his other task too." I said reflexively.
"What other task?" Ren asked.

"One where he will ask for help, and the one helping him will not like it."
I replied absent mindedly.

Before she could interrogate further, Killer came back in his combat uniform. But there were tens of extra items added to it, making it look bulky and heavy. So that's the full combat gear, I assume.

He came and stood directly in front of Ren, giving her a notepad and a pen.
I was trying to hide my smile, knowing exactly what is going to happen.

"Ren, you wanted to help me, right? I need your help now."
That's a good trap, Killer.

"I... don't really feel good about this help..."
Before she could react to her guts, Killer made her write 'For Dear colonel, from Capt Renee Scott.'

He smirked when she did as told, then kept the notepad on floor and started doing Pushups over it.
I bent a little to see what he was writing with each count.
"Even a cow knows when to stop moving it's mouth. I too shall learn when to stop talking. "

I had to put lot of efforts to control my laughter.

After he was done, he got up, rubbed his hands on Ren's arm to clear the sweat, and picked up the notepad.

She gave him a glare, but stopped when she read what was written, then she laughed loudly.
Killer took this opportunity to make her sign at the bottom.

He started leaving, then suddenly turned back and said "Captain Renee, you will be having an interview with Colonel James tomorrow. Please let me know what happens, based on that, I will choose my helpers for rest of the days." he winked and left, leaving a dumb Ren behind.

"He.. He tricked me into this!" she finally realised.
"He was supposed to beg you." I informed her.

"Tell uncle that he requested you, otherwise he will be more miserable than he already is." That's the maximum I can do for the Killer.

Ren was still thinking about it when she got a call. The phone almost slipped off her hand when she saw who called her. It was Uncle James.
Killer left just seconds ago!

She stood up and answered the call.
"Good evening, Sir!"
He has this effect on all these people!

"Yes sir..?" she kind of asked and answered at the same time.

"Yes sir I do."

"A medic, sir."

"Yes sir."

A long pause, followed by a slow gulp.
"0800 hours sir?"

"Right sir."
With that she kept the phone down and looked at me like she talked to a ghost.

"What did he say?!" I almost screamed at her.
"First he confirmed that I signed Willy's task. Then he asked me if I knew what it meant. Then he asked me what post do I have here. Lastly... He told me to report him for a viva on this med care centre tomorrow at 8. I'm dead."

Damn! He is doing what he said!
"What's wrong with the viva?"

"Jane, he's going to ask everything from dirt to roof! Even if I stay up all night, I won't be able to inspect this med care and answer all his questions. I hate you Wills! I'm not helping you again!" she shouted the last part.

There it is. Uncle's plan working exactly how it was supposed to.
Ren is going to curse Killer nice and hot, tomorrow.
Also, bravo, Mr. Killer! You used Ren to test the waters. I really find it funny how friendly these rivals are!

Day 3

Next morning I reached med care after breakfast, and saw a pale Ren entering at 0900 hours.

What happened in the meeting?
It took her a few moments and two glasses of water to start speaking.

******

I knocked and heard "Come in, Captain Scott."
I went in, saluted him crisply and stood stiff in attention. He usually lets people stand at ease, but today this was about making it as hard as possible.

He nodded and checked his watch.
"Five seconds before you created trouble for yourself, officer." he said looking straight into my eyes, causing me to shake in fear, despite of standing in full attention.
The only parts of my body that were allowed to work were - my brain, eyes and mouth. Any sign of any other activity would earn a glare from him.

"So Major Wills came to you?"
"Yes sir."

"He ordered you to do it?"
"No sir."

"Then? Why did you help him?"
"He requested me, sir."

"I see. Now it has your name and signature on it, you are responsible for this piece of paper. Am I right, officer?"
What other answer can I give? "Yes sir."

"Why is it so dirty, then? And crumpled? Looks like someone dippped it in water."
"Major Wills did Pushups over it, Sir. It might be his sweat." I said the truth, mentally cursing that brinjal!

He looked at me with a look that said 'Don't give stupid explanations for your goof-ups'

"Whatever. Ensure that this paper is clean, the next time you stand in front of me, with your sign on it. Okay?"
"Yes sir." never again, sir. Never!

"Major Wills gave you a good opportunity to let me know how aware are you, of your workplace. You mind answering a few questions?"
"No sir."
That's the height of sarcasm!
I'll die of this build-up!

"Great. If you know the answer, shoot. If you don't, just say you don't know. Don't waste my time in fumbling and guessing. So, how many beds you have at the centre?"
"Five plus three in reserve, sir."

"How many windows?"
I started counting in my head when his scary trainer tone came back.
"You had all night to count that, officer. I'll consider you don't know this. Next - number of i.v. stands."
"Twelve, sir."

I could see a long rapid fire session coming in.
"Distance between med care and main gate."
Holy Roses! How much was it! Wills told me once.
"1.5 miles-"

"Wrong. It's 1.8. Number and type of ambulances"
"Two of Type A, one of Type C, sir"

"Number of patients with hypothermia in this month?"
"Five, sir."

"Number of warmers."
"Six, sir."

"What's the power of each, in watts?"
I'm a doctor, right?
"I don't know, sir." better to embarrass yourself, than waste his time.

"Three of 400 watt and three of 800 watt. All six operating on 230 volts. Check this when you go back and tell me if it's wrong."
"Right sir."

"Number of patients reporting with fever, this month?"
"Ten, sir."

"Number of thermometers."
"Three-"

"Number of ice packs."
"Four, Si-"

"Wrong. You have five. One broke last month because you filled more water in it, than permitted. It expanded and cracked in the freezer. Brush up your physics, and tell your assistant, who did this, to meet me."
"It won't be repeated, sir. I'll inform him."

The whole scary interview went on for hours, it seems. From number of tiles on floor, to amount of time it took to build each wall, he covered every atom in that building.
Every time he moved to next question in his rapid fire, I regretted signing on that stupid paper!

"I'm running out of time, otherwise I would have made you realise how ignorant and uninformed you are, of the facilities available to you."
I bent my head down in shame.

"Stand straight officer! You are still in attention."
I corrected my posture, but continued to look down. I couldn't meet his eyes.

"You might want to be someone else. But don't forget who you really are. I'm not questioning your capability or commitment towards your profession. But you have to be more alert. Next time we meet, your viva will be about gym. Dismissed."

I saluted him, turned on my heels, marched out of his office and let out the breath I was holding inside, all this while.

A viva on Gym?
No. Never.
I'm not signing on anything, other than my own documents, that too after cross checking them thrice.

*****
Damn, he can make people sweat without moving a muscle! That was so scary!

"Didn't I tell you it's 1.8 miles?" Killer entered the med care shouting at Ren, breathless.
Awesome! He gets to pay for Ren's wrong answers too?
Uncle is proving to be scarier with each passing moment!

"You! The day I get my hands on your neck, I'm gonna pierce your carotids and watch you bleed to death! You pushed me into hell, and you bloody knew it!" Ren screamed equally loudly at him.

"You completed the tasks in time? Inspection?" I asked getting both their heated attention, but preventing a possibly horrible war.

"Just in time. Though, not only did he notice the dust, he also saw my dirty mirror, untied shoes and a hundred other little things." he said in a straight tone.
Shit he's a dead man.

He was in his PT dress, having patches of mud and grass over it, clearly showing not a pleasant morning session.

"Meet me at gym at 2200 hours for the practice tonight, if I stay alive by then, that is."

No Killer you won't. After staying up all night yesterday, and after everything you'll be made to do today, if you reach gym tonight, I'll salute you!

"Weight checking?" He said to Ren who was still furious at him.
"I'm busy" she barked.

"Don't blame me if he asks today's reading. I might not show my face till I shed a few more kgs today." he said with an exhausted smile.
"Fine" Ren replied with clenched jaw.

He followed her to the machine where she checked his weight and noted down.
"You have lost 2 kgs in two and half days. With this rate, you will cross the minimum and I'll have to ask him to stop shredding your skin." she said, worried.

"No don't do that. Write one kg more than today's. Make it such that by the end of next week, I'm good. Not before that."
"Why would you do that yourself? You know he'll keep screwing you with this progress."

"I know he will. But I want.. Never mind. Just do as I say, please."
"No. I'm not listening to any more of your please." her angry tone was back.

"Look Ren. I didn't know he'll terrorize you so much. I just knew he'll try to intimidate you, that's it. I had no intention to humiliate you in front of him." Killer could cry any moment.

She looked at his puppy eyes for a few seconds,