Jane's POV-

We entered the hall to see two men.
One lean, slim, fit one was standing, and second, huge, bulky, was pushing on floor, almost kissing the other guy's feet.
The lean one was shouting and cursing the huge one, and the huge one was trying to get faster at his words.

It looked like a badly written script of a low budget movie.
Who puts a lean man as a trainer and a hulk as a student?

But I guess Mr. Hulk is Mr. Kadner, because as soon as he saw us, he stopped pushing and got up.
He stomped each of his foot once and gave a tight salute and stood in attention.
Only after he stood still, I noticed him.
The amount of dark blue on his light blue t shirt, because of sweat, told me he has been sweating for an hour, if not more.

His breaths were really short, and lips dry. Sweat was dripping from his nose and ears.
He had dark circles under his eyes. Poor man looks sleep deprived.

But there was something in that face.
He looks absolutely terrified, looking at the person standing in front him. But he also looked happy. Like he is his last hope to something. It's like a sword that you carry with you. You're scared it will cut you into pieces, but you still feel safe in its presence.

The lean man smirked and said "I've been here for months, and all I get is Hoo-yah, huh Prescott?"

Uncle let out a little laugh and turned towards the lean guy.
"That's my boy!" he said proudly, offering a hand to him.
The other guy shook Uncle's hand and it looked like a 'powerful shake of hands'.
"Colonel James"
"Chief Darhk"
They called out each others' names as if they were thick friends.

"Good to see you Kadner. Now who told you that you could get up? Drop back and get up only when he tells you to rise and shine." Uncle says in one go.

Kadner without wasting a second says "Yes sir" and drops back.

"Damn. I'd slice your neck for such long hair, boy." Uncle laughs.
"UI, sir." Kadner says still pushing and counting, but smiling like a teenage guy.

"Your boy has prepared himself well, for this meeting. Make the most of it, Colonel." Darhk says, laughing.
"That's what I intend to do, Chief." Uncle said with a laser glare on Kadner, making him cringe his nose.

After discussing about each others' workplaces and weather, while Kadner pushes non stop, Uncle looks at me and says, "Oh, I forgot the introductions. The lady with us is Miss Jane"

"And what brings you in the company of these men, Miss Jane?"

"A short stay till my father is on foreign posting"

"That is great. You are in extremely good hands"

"The boys here are Major Louis, one of my boys and Major Wills, my son"

Chief turns towards Prescott and speaks, "These are the boys you told me about?"

Mr. Kadner's lips twitch a little but his face remains poker intact when he speaks, "Yes, Chief."

Chief turns towards Louis and looks him up and down, "He does look like that, Prescott." and laughs. Louis gives a formal smile, clearly wanting to run away from here.

Mr. Kadner releases a small chuckle but says nothing. Chief walks towards Killer and pats him on his shoulder so hard, he almost falls forward, "It is nice to finally meet you. How's the training going, Major?"

Killer gave that look 'who are you, how do you know me, oh i have to greet you because you know my father' reply, sitting a little straighter, "It is nice to know you too, sir. The training is going good, sir"

Cheif turns towards Mr. Kadner and says, "Get the team"

You can see him go a little white but reluctantly steps out to fetch the team from wherever they are.

There is a peaceful silence for a minute before 4 boys and a girl, my age, enter. Damn, are they sweaty and barely holding in their breath!

All of them stand in that posture. Feet apart, hands behind their back and eyes straight. Two boys in the front and the others a step behind them.

Chief introduces the tall, business-man kind man, "Colonel, meet Officer Siddharth Mishra. He is co-director of UI"

The officer turns a little and gives a crisp salute to Colonel. Colonel returns it with a professional nod.

He then turns to the scary looking well built but not bulky man and says with a smile, "Officer Roshesh Vaza , another co-director of UI and you know the rest, Colonel"

He too gives a crisp salute and Colonel returns it with a smirk. One you do not want to be on the receiving end of. I need to know this story, now. God, I wish I had sources here.

"The boys at the back are Cadet Arjun and Cadet Ashwin." Another crisp salute and the only person remaining to be introduced is the girl at the back. She is not bulky like the boys here, neither as lean as me.

Chief smiles towards her and gives her a hard pat before saying, "And finally, Cadet Kyra."

She makes the thumping sound just as hard as the boys but Colonel is on his feet in seconds. He turns towards Mr. Kadner and speaks, "Is she?"

When Mr. Kadner nods sheepishly, he exclaims, "Oh my! She has grown up."

He walks towards Kyra and says, "He got screwed relentlessly to even get a glimpse at you. Holding you was a privilege he earned. You have one hell of a father" Uncle said with a wide sweet smile.

You can see the surprise on Kyra's face! She stutters out, "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir! Yes, he is. Though I did not know that this fact affected his training.. "

Mr. Kadner is quick to interrupt, "It .."

Colonel turns around with a glare at Mr. Kadner, "SHE DOES NOT EVEN KNOW ABOUT ME?!"

Mr. Kadner shakes in fear at the tone with his eyes trained six feet below the ground, "Sir, I didn't.."

Colonel interrupts him again, "We will talk about that later, my boy! Right now, it would be rude as a guest" never letting the glare come down a bit.

Chief turns towards Kadner and the team, "You stay here. The rest of you, resume your training." Poor team! Chief doesn't look like the trainer I would like!

Once they leave, Chief says, "Won't you get something for my guests, Prescott?"

Before Kadner can speak, uncle turns to him and says, "The name has still stuck?"

Chief looks confused and looks at Kadner, who looks at the ground and sheepishly speaks, "My real name is Per.. umm Kadner and not Prescott, Chief Darhk. We made that up to get me into Navy Seals"

Before Chief can react, he hurriedly speaks to uncle, "What would you like, sir?"

Uncle laughs, "Do you even have to ask, boy?"

Mr. Kadner smiles and speaks, "No, sir. What would you like, Miss Jane?"

"A cup of coffee would be wonderful, Mr. umm Kadner" I didn't know what name to use. This man has two senior people calling him by two completely different names!

Mr. Kadner turns towards the boys and asks in a polite tone, but even a deaf man can hear the undertone in his words, "And what would you like, boys?"

Both boys are quick to reply 'nothing, sir' before they get killed for asking their senior to serve. When Mr. Kadner turns to Chief, he gulps and before he could speak, Chief says, "a coffee for me and the boys. We shall talk later, Prescott."

When Mr. Kadner runs out of there, Colonel turns towards Chief and speaks, "You have a great training place here". Chief replies, "Prescott found it and arranged for it." It was said with a straight face but you could hear the pride in his tone. Mr. Kadner must have done a fine job to get that tone.

A little chatter goes on and Mr. Kadner enters with cups of hot drinks in minutes.

The moment he enters, Chief looks surprised and asks him, "I didn't know we had coffee in this building" in a scary tone.

Mr. Kadner gulps, "Chief, I never made one for myself"

Chief looks at him in a scary way, "So, you were waiting for me to leave?"

Mr. Kadner looks at the ground and speaks, "Chief, I wouldn't have done it without your permission."

Colonel interrupts this serious moment with a question of his own, "Since when did you become a fan of coffee? I tried it so many times with you. "

"Circumstances, sir. I could not get my hands on some ingredients of tea there and I got used to coffee"

I guess it is Chief's turn to speak, "You know how to make tea and I never got to taste one?"

Colonel laughs at him and speaks, "I can bet you would never drink coffee again if you try his tea. He has got me addicted to it." With that he sips his tea and releases a loud sigh of satisfaction. "Ah I missed this, Kadner. I hope it washes a few of your sins."
He smiles a little.
"I'm not washing your sins, Prescott!" Chief brings him back to earth.

Mr. Kadner is quick to say, "I'll get you a tea, Chief and take the coffee away"

Chief immediately holds the mug tighter and speaks, "Not so fast, Prescott. This one is going down the drain. There is no coffee for you"

I don't know if he is disappointed or not. His poker face is intact and he is quick to say a 'Yes, Chief' before he rushes to get a tea for him.

Before they finally sit down to enjoy their drinks, uncle turns towards Kadner and asks "We are here. Now what boy?"
Mr. Kadner shudders at his words but quickly replies, "Yes, sir... Chief?"

Chief looks at me. I do not have anything to do here, Chief. Please do not look at me. My imagination is cut short when he says,"Miss Jane, we have a lovely private beach here. This would bore you. You can take a walk around if you like." He then turns towards Uncle and speaks, "If you wish, I'll send somebody with her. Though it is perfectly safe otherwise too."

No no, I want to stay here and find out more. But I know that they won't talk if I'm around. Damn!

Uncle looks at me and I nod my head. I turn towards Chief and say, "It would be lovely to take that walk alone."

Without considering last word of my sentence, Colonel is quick to say, "Wills or Louis would go with you."
Nobody is after my life here, please!

"No need, Colonel. Officer Roshesh will. I'm sure, just like me, Prescott has some catching up to do with his boys."

His boys?
Mr. Kadner knows them? Not Killer and Nick, definitely. Then? Louis? Wait! Kadner is Louis senior, like Nick said!
Why else would he appoint him for the job of extracting all that information from Killer?

Oh boy! Major Louis is Mr. Kadner's dog! Oh double boy! Does that mean Wills ass got saved by his super senior boss?! Killer won't survive for sure!

Oh wait, I have to go with the scary dude! Shit! I would prefer Nick over him, any day.

Once Mr. Kadner summons Officer Roshesh in, he gets an earful of instructions from Chief. Just as we are about to leave, Colonel walks upto the Officer and whisper something low in his ears.
I don't think I was meant to hear him say, "I trained your father. Imagine how worse I could get if I had a reason to kill you." No wonder poor man was shaking when he whispered back a 'Yes, sir. I won't give you a reason, sir.'

"Keep your butterflies in check, too."
"I'll keep her safe, nothing else, sir!"
Oh come on uncle! Not every guy hits on every girl he meets!
But thank god for making it clear to him, it would be really creepy otherwise.

----------------

We proceeded to the beach.
I have to admit, it was beautiful! So serene and peaceful. I think in last so many days at KMA, I got so pumped up, that this feels too quiet.

Roshesh was walking a step behind me.
I stopped near the sea shore and he stood a step behind.
"You can join me, please, umm sir.."

"No!" he was shocked I'd call him sir. Well why not. I call Killer, sir too. They're both of similar age.

"Excuse me?"
"Don't call me Sir. You can call me officer Roshesh. In fact I'd like it if you don't use just my name. I don't want Colonel thinking that I'm getting too casual with you." he said with a faint smile.

"Haha alright. Officer Roshesh. Is that fine?"
"yes sure" he said with a laugh. May be he's not that creepy afterall.

"So? How is it going here? You guys are training right?"
"Don't even..." he started to swear in reflex, but controlled his words. "I mean, yes, it's going nice." his sarcasm was clear.

I laughed loudly. He looked at me with wide eyes.
"Officer , I've been living at KMA for almost two months. I've seen Colonel James training Wills, Nick and other officers. I've also seen Wills, Nick and Louis train the cadets. I know how 'nice' the sessions are. I myself, luckily or unluckily, am training under Major Wills." god it's so difficult to call his name, when I've been calling him Killer since ages!

"So, yep. You can bring out the curses uncensored. Trust me, I'm a keeper." I winked at the last statement, encouraging him to open up and make it less formal.

He laughed.
"Well you must have seen everything, if you've seen Colonel training someone." he shivered a little.

"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just dread looking at the man who trained my dad. They met today like dear teacher and student, but I know how dad must be feeling right now. Standing straight without shaking must be so difficult!"
"Kadner is your dad!!?!!"
What is wrong with the world!

"He adopted me when I was 12. So not biologically, but legally, yes" oh thank god!

"So coming back. How is he as a trainer?" he enquired.
"Uncle? He's.. Strict. And very strict. He doesn't give a damn if the person in front of him is a woman, or his own son. His punches get stronger everytime. Rude to say, but he's heartless when he's on ground."

He smirked.
"That's how my dad's heart got stoned. He got the perfect trainer to turn him into who he is. Thank God, I was not at KMA. I feel pity for Dad, poor man survived three years under him. i can't imagine anybody doing it. Or becoming like Colonel"

I smiled along with him.
"His own sons did both, kind of. Their training was tough but they have turned out quite good. Kil-" shit shit! "I mean Major Wills, is a black and white photocopy of Colonel, according to the reviews I've got. Nick turned out to be little different. He's a sweet friend of mine, but equally hard on boys.'

"So it runs in the family, yeah?"
I joined him in the laugh.

"Killer, is it?"
Damnit! How can I screw up in front of everyone! And how come everyone catches it!

I close my eyes and lips tightly, in embarrassment.
"Haha! Don't worry, I'm a keeper too." he said.

He's a nice guy.
"So? Major Wills is training you? That's interesting."
"Don't ask about it! I jumped into the ditch and asked for mud to cover me!" I hid my face "Long story cut short, he hurt my ego, and in a moment of anger and stupidity, he ended up as my trainer. I initially thought, well I still think, he wants to kill me. But others say I've learnt quite a lot, so may be, he won't kill me anytime soon."

"Yeah. We hate our trainers. They make us push boundaries, get us out of our comfort zones. A thing nobody likes. But when results come, they are happier than us."
"That's true." he's right. I've learnt this in last few days.

"How do these people live there? I mean how's their personal life? I'm sure Colonel will not roam around calling them sons, or let them utter the word 'father' in academy."
"Oh they dare not! Nick calls him Dad when they are at some level of casual conversation. But I've never heard Killer calling him anything other than Sir. And about the boys, they never miss an opportunity to pull each others leg. They are real fun when cadets are not there. It's an entertainment show in itself. "

He looks at me like I'm speaking alien, "You are saying Colonel's son, the people who train cadets, can be entertaining and fun?! Are you sure we are talking about the same persons?"

I chuckle at his tone, "So, you are saying you are as serious as your poker face all the time because you are co-director of UI?"

He laughs and says, "You have got a point there."

I stop walking and find a nice spot to sit and pat the spot besides me.

"No, thanks. I don't know how Colonel would react and I'm not inclined to find out either. But I'm sure that Chief would kill me if I rested on my ass. I'm supposed to be 'training' remember. I'm surprised he did not order me to exercise while I kept an eye on you"

I laugh at his assumption, "Oh come on, you won't earn more than a few crunches or push-ups" He shakes his head, "Not if you are 'Prescott's son' and part of Chief's team. Please, Miss. You don't have the authority to order, otherwise I would generously accept the offer"

I sigh, before getting up to my feet. There is no point in straining my neck to look at him and talk. When I do so, he immediately starts looking around, "No no no! Sit, please. I'll join you"

He looks terrified but grouches down on his toes and says, "Is this fine, Miss?"

"Are you crazy? Your toes would kill you!"

He laughs, "All of us are crazy here. And my toes can take some training. Don't worry about them. I'll get up if they hurt too much"

I laugh at his posture and sit back down.

"I really wonder what's going on back there." I sigh.
"Slaughter. What else. The way Dad was preparing himself for this day, I thought aliens are coming to attack him." he chuckled and I laughed too.

"Well,they are nothing less than aliens. Not for me, atleast." I continue to laugh.

"It must have been difficult to live amongst them, right? I mean the lifestyle, the vocabulary, the restrictions and everything."

His one sentence summarised by efforts to adjust at KMA. From tolerating Killer the first time, to saving my food from the cadets, yes I've grown up.

"Yea. Very difficult."

We stayed like that for a few hours or minutes, I have no idea but eventually, Chief walked upto us and asked me to join him. Poor Roshesh! The training is back on!

---------

Prescott's POV

After Miss Jane left, it was just us, Colonel and Chief. This was the time I dreaded. Both looked at one another with an intensity that was pressing on my nerves but neither said a word or lost the smile on their faces. I was not sure if there was a conversation happening with just their eyes!

I was about to open my mouth and break the suffocating silence when Colonel spoke, "How about a game of chess, Chief?"

I have never seen Colonel with a face so calm, with a constant smile. I hope I'm not the reason it goes away.

Chief smirks, "Only if is blitz chess, army style" Oh God!

Chief turns to me, "You remember the rules, right, Prescott?"

How could I forget that, Chief?

When I say 'yes, Chief', he asks me to repeat it and I do, "My plank decides the time a player has to make a move. Any time my player loses a piece, I do push-ups depending on the importance of that piece"

"He is a fast learner, Chief" Sir says proudly.

"Except when it comes to learning when to keep his mouth shut" No no no! This can't be happening.
So I'm not the only one who had prepared for this meeting!

Chief continues, "Am I the only special person he speaks to without a filter or was he the same with you?"

Oh boy! Please don't answer, sir! Please!

"Should I, Kadner?" Sir turns around and asks me.

"Sir..." I say knowing that both yes and no will get me killed.

Sir smirks and I know, I'm going to be dead very soon.

"Fine. If you behave, I'll stay mum."

"Yes sir!" I say loudly and breathe a little knowing that he would keep my secrets safe!

However, Chief isn't Chief without a reason. "Well then, Prescott,