Chapter 38: Cold Feet
No POV:
Axel sat up on his bed still feeling sore from yesterday’s training.
He really didn’t like where this was going...
He laid there on his own for two hours impatiently waiting for the poison to wear off while being paralyzed in a very ridiculous position.
He checked his phone, 8:55am. He had about 5 minutes before he had to go through that again.
Stepping out from his room, he walked towards the vending machine in the hall.
"If the devils don’t kill me, this training will." He muttered before sipping from his Cola. He really didn’t want to go through with this but somehow, he found his legs dragging him to the field.
[You did good yesterday but try to last longer this time..]
He groaned as Hades said this. It was much easier said than done. Having to dodge bullets that could basically predict your next moves was way harder than it sounds.
Upon leaving the halls, he was met by someone he hasn’t seen in a while...
"Amy? Haven’t seen you in a while. How’ve you been?"
Amy turned around and smiled. "Oh hey! I’ve been good. It’s been a while since I saw you too.."
"So uhmm what’re you doing here?"
"I came to drop something off for your commander," she said. "How about you? Going somewhere?"
Axel scratched his head. "Just heading to train... Turns out I really need to. The others are waiting for me so I better get going."
"Oh that’s great. Can I come? I mean, I don’t really have anything else to do anyway."
Axel stayed silent for a moment then shrugged. "Sure. If thats what you want..."
Quickening her footsteps, she met up with him. Axel also slowed down to meet her pace as they both headed for the field...
As they walked together, Axel was slightly uncomfortable at the silence that followed them. Sure he wasn’t always one to talk but he felt that he should’ve at least said something by now...
"So uhhhh... How have your missions been going?"
"It’s.. been good. Thanks for uhmmm asking."
’Ahh shit.’
Yup, he blew it...
The one chance he got to start a conversation and he made it all awkward.
’Ehh what the heck..’ Thinking that, he decided to leave it be.
Communication wasn’t really his strong suit anyway...
~~~~~
Upon reaching the field, Jax and Hayley were already there waiting for him.
Jax adjusted the strap of his gun casing and stepped forward.
As soon as Axel saw this, his face contorted in displeasure.
"You finally made it. Thought you were gonna run away." Hayley retorted.
"Well I’m here aren’t I? Beside what kind of man would I be if I bailed?" Axel replied with a scoff. He had dignity to preserve too...
Hayley turned to Amy noticing her presence. "Oh she’s here too.... That’s actually good I was thinking of asking her to help."
Axel raised an eyebrow. "Really...?"
Amy cheerfully waved with a smile. "It’s good to see you."
Turning back to Axel, Hayley replied: "Yes. It would be easier to ask her."
"And why is that?"
"Well we’ve been on a few missions together in the past. And through that, we grew pretty close. She’s practically a part of us." Jax lowered his case. The case looked metallic with blue patterns on it. Instead of unzipping it this time, he pressed a button on the side. The case opened with a *click* sound as steam seeped through it...
Immediately Axel saw this, he internally face palmed...
What was he in for this time?...
"Well now we got that outta the way, let’s get started hmm?"
The gun he pulled out was different from the one he used yesterday. Instead of green lights, there were blue lights that travelled across both sides of the gun.
Looking at what was in front of him, Axel narrowed his eyes... "What? So you’re going to freeze me to death this time?"
"Well, glad you know what this gun does so it’ll save me the time of explaining." He said, checking the gun as if checking if something was out of place.
Then, he continued. "Today’s exercise will be more... Straightforward. I’ll be over there with you trying to get to me while also avoiding being frozen..."
"That doesn’t sound so bad..."
"But here’s the catch. 30 minutes is your target time. And each time you get frozen, your timer increases by ten." Jax interrupted.
"If you manage to stay 30 minutes without getting hit, you pass. If you manage to reach me, even better. But if you keep allowing yourself to take the bullets, then hypothermia sets in. And when that happens, well, you fail..."
So there were two goals now. Either stay thirty minutes untouched or get shot trying to reach him.
"Hnmm.... Still sounds way better than getting paralysed..."
With a laugh, Jax walked over to the edge of the field. "We’ll see about that..."
As Hayley and Amy walked away, Amy said. "Don’t worry you can do it... I’m rooting for you!"
’That actually sounded assuring.’
.
.
.
.
.
Axel walked to the opposite side of the field and exhaled.
Then Jax’s voice came through their Neuro Link.
"Ready?"
"Yeah.... whatever. Let’s get this over with..."
[You have activated phase one of Scarion]
Jax blinked in surprise. He didn’t expect Axel to go all out from the start.
Then with a smile, the reticle appeared.
"Let’s begin."
**BANG**
~~~~~
Axel was running around the field dodging bullets as well as he could. It had already been fifteen minutes and so far, things were going great.
[Wow... You’re doing good. Is it because of her? Are you trying to impress her?] Hades teased.
In all honesty, Axel had forgotten about Amy’s presence. He was just so focused on his training that it didn’t occur to him he was being spectated.
[If so, it seems to be working...]
Axel looked toward where they stood. Amy looked genuinely impressed with his movements and a little bit surprised at the same time...
**BANG**
"Whoa—!" A bullet streaked past him as he skidded to a stop. The ground where it hit was completely frozen.
"Focus, Axel. The tiniest distractions can lead to the biggest downfalls."
"I know! I know!"
He blitzed backwards avoiding another bullet.
It was easier to dodge but for some reason, he wanted to make it to the other side.
The old him would’ve been completely content with weaving past bullets but that wasn’t him anymore.
The urge to reach the other side was so overwhelming, it was the only goal in mind.
Sadly, he couldn’t make it past the centre of the field...
It was as if dodging became harder once he crossed that threshold.
The shooting intensified, the bullet movements became sporradic.
Soon, he was getting tired....
And he was still 17 minutes in.
[Your breathing is too deep. If you do that you’ll get tired quicker.] Hades said as Axel’s labored breathing became too obvious to ignore.
[Take breaths. Fast breaths. Shallow breaths and hold it in.]
He did as he was told and when he did, he could feel the fatigue leaving him gradually.
Holding his breath while running that fast, filled his bloodstream with carbon dioxide and when he finally exhaled, his speed increased.
Starving himself from oxygen brought about an adrenaline rush and when he inhaled again, his heart rate skyrocketed. This state of self induced adrenaline put his heart in a frenzy. It’s was beating crazily trying to circulate blood fast enough to his oxygen deprived body.
This sped up circulation drastically increased his speed as he was moving at a much faster rate.
"Wow..."
It seems this improvement also impressed Jax. But this surprise only lasted for a few seconds.
**BANG**
"Ghk—!"
He was hit. The ice spreading across his body from his shoulders.
"Ten minutes!"
"Damn!" He had been frozen solid.
~~~~~
Hours went by and they were still going at it. Neither Hayley not Amy got bored because it was a rather entertaining thing to witness...
"Ten minutes!"
"Fuck!" Axel cursed.
Turns out the ten minutes wasn’t just the amount of time that would be added. It was also how long it would take for him to completely thaw out from the ice.
When he broke free, he inhaled sharply and blitzed forward.
He had failed the first objective so now he had to reach Jax.
Crossing the centre, the shots were sporradic.
**BANG**
"Ten minutes!"
His arm was shot. The ice quickly spread to his elbow.
Without hesitation, he ran to a wall and slammed his frozen hand on it.
The ice fell to the ground. He moved forward without wasting a second more. He was okay with adding ten minutes to his time but waiting it out was unacceptable.
His hands were numb. Frostbite was setting in.
But still, he kept moving.
Mist formed everytime he exhaled as almost the whole field had been turned to a frozen wonderland.
Axel however noticed improvements. After repeating the cycle of starving himself from oxygen several times, his body grew accustomed to it. Now, the lack of oxygen didn’t bother him as much as it did before when he waited a few seconds before inhaled again.
His body had learned to trap as much oxygen as possible in the tiny moment he inhaled so he could go on longer without needing to inhale.
Soon, he was very close to finishing.
The bullets were no longer a problem as he could just destroy the ice if he was shot.
[That’s my boy!] Hades praised. Not teasing this time.
Just pure genuine pride in his mastery of the ability.
Jax’s eyes darted through the scope of his gun. He was enjoying every second of this.
As he was shooting, he noticed that Axel had disappeared.
No lagging movement, no red blur. Just... Nothing..
"Hmm?" Peering back into his scope, he was about to turn.
Then...
**WHOOSH**
**BANG**
Axel appeared right in front of him, promoting him to shoot on instinct. The bullet tore through his skull as he began to fall backwards.
**CRACK**
Jax looked in front of him in surprise. Before falling, Axel gripped the gun and crushed the nuzzle. He was grinning, blood pooling from the hole in his head...
"I... Win..."
With that, he collapsed on the floor...
Amy covered her mouth with her hands, her expression was that of horror.
"Is.. is he gonna be okay?"
"Oh, relax. He’s been shot before..."
As Jax said that, his head wound began closing up. The blood remained but the wound was no longer there.
"See?" Then he walked towards him. "Sorry man I shot on instinct." Jax chuckled.
Axel however groaned in frustration. "Aw man, you gotta stop doing that. This is the second time!" He rubbed his head where the wound had been.
"Still, you did good. You actually reached him." Hayley began. "How long did it take?"
"3 hours, 20 minutes...." Jax replied.
"That was impressive Axel. You looked so cool! I didn’t know you could run like that..."
"Me neither. It felt.... Odd. Like it was a part of me..."
"That means the training is working. Congratulations you’ve passed the first stage. Tomorrow, we’ll begin your endurance training."
"Okay... By the way, what was the thing you said you wanted to ask Amy to help with?"
"That’s a little secret. You’ll just have to wait and see." Amy winked and began walking back. "I had a fun time. It was entertaining. See you!" With a wave, she left.
"We better get going too. We’re gonna miss lunch if we don’t hurry."
"Yeah I’m actually kind of hungry..." Standing up, Axel agreed.
They both left the field and went back to the barracks. Day two of his hellish training completed...
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