Chapter 9 Weights

Chapter 9

"If this is real, please pinch me." I breathed out the words in amazement. I was lifting! I was lifting a whooping 130 lbs barbell - at least from what the holographic numbers are telling me. The barbell that I was raising over my head felt like a small sack of flour. I was still gasping in delight at the absurdity of it all, but it was real.

"You think you can handle more, miss Nathalia?" Skyr asked. He was standing in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. There was a smile on his lips that I could only assume was a reflection of mine. That or he finds my reaction amusing.

"I think so?"

"General." A petite Atlantean girl called out to him running frantically. "Gerald and Klein are fighting again." She said to him. Skyr gave her a nod before turning towards Duncan. "Watch over them while I'm gone." He told him before moving to follow the girl out of the gym - I called it that because this portion of the room reminds me of an actual gym.

Rachel suddenly leaned in and whispered. "Want me to increase the weight?" she giggled. I joined her too and nodded my head excitedly. We were both acting foolishly but the adrenaline of my new found strenght was like a drug to me making me ignore the logical thing to do. Rachel started to turn the knob that adjust the weight of the barbel. It increased by 10 lbs and I laughed at the added weight. "Do more do more." I insisted. Rachel snickered and added another 10 lbs. I could feel it getting heavy, but I can still take it.

"More?" Rachel laughed. I nodded my head eagerly. But just as she was about to turn the knob, we heard someone clearing their throat. We both turned to see Duncan with his arms crossed over his chest and fixing us a disapproving look. I pursed my lips in embarassment while Rachel started looking at the ground and playing with her fingers.

"Can I turn the knob?" Rachel and I both raised our heads to Duncan in surprise. A playful smile appearing on the corner of his lips. Rachel and I grinned and nodded out heads like one of those bob dolls from a car.

"Yes!" Rachel said and clapped her hands excitedly at the same time as I said, "Of course!"

Duncan chuckled as he made his way towards us. He read the holographic digital scale his look became skeptical. "It's already 150 lbs." He looked surprised. "I don't think-"

"Boooo!" Rachel and I chorused in disappointment at his hesitation. Duncan's forehead creased under our gazes. He seemed offended.

"I was gonna say that I don't think 150 is heavy enough." He grinned in satisfaction the moment that Rachel and I cheered. Duncan moved in front of me and adjusted the knob.

160

170

180

190

We were still laughing like idiots. I was too, even though the weight kept increasing. I was too excited. But all our fun and games ended when we heard a familiar and displeased voice to our side.

"What exactly are you guys doing?" It was general Skyr. The moment we saw him, the three of us panicked. I dropped the barbell and we all scarambled on our feet to avoid getting our toes crushed. There was a loud bang as soon as the equipment touched the floor. I chewed on my bottom lip and watched as Duncan lowered his head and stepped forward to face Skyr.

"How'd it go?" Duncan started to ask. His voice trembled a little as he talk and he kept rubbing the back of his neck to hide his trembling hands.

Skyr's lips moved as he shrugged. "Oh you know. The usual beating them up until they know their place. Enough for them not to get too cocky about their new found ability." Then he crossed his arms and gazed at Duncan. "What about you? I see you guys are having fun. Care to tell me what exactly were you guys doing?"

"Um..." Duncan looked back to us for help and Rachel and I immediately didged his pleading gaze. I feel bad for Duncan, but I don't want to be on Skyr' bad side either. I met Rachel's gaze and we made a silent agreement to pretend to be ignorant.

"We were only doing what we were told to do, general." I said, making sure that my voice was steady. Then we both went back to our respective training circuit. Me with the weights and Rachel jumping on a low stool to practice her leaps. I briefly saw Duncan's eyes going wide with disbelief and betrayal before we focused on our training.

"I see our new recruits are are very diligent with their training." Skyrs' words might sound like he was impressed but we all could hear the venom in his tone. We were screwed. "Miss Nathalia." I flinched as I did a few dead lifts with the weights. I saw Skyr circling me like a shark. I tried to focs on my task in hopes that he wouldd let it slide. "Since you like lifting weights so much, you will be cleaning up and rearranging the gym after your workout. You will carry the equipments and place them back to their respective racks." I sighed and fought the urge to click my tongue from irritation. 

I saw Skyr coming at Rachel next. She almost feel from the stool when he appeared on her line of sight. "Miss Rachel, since you are so eager to help miss Nathalia, I guess you wouldn'y mind helping me. Am I right?"

"No, sir." Rachel whimpered.

"And" Skyr continued and I have this image in my head of stranggling him. Can he stop now? "As for one of the squad leader, Duncan, I will leave him in charge for the both of you again. To monitor and help our newbies so they can put everything back on the right rack. That is, after he does 100 leaps over a 10 meter platform." The horrified looks on our faces seemed to please him and it somehow makes me wonder if he. Then he started to leave the room. The glass door beeped and it opens and then he was gone."Make sure to finish your workout before dinner so you'll have time to clean up." I heard him whistling before the door slid close behind him.

***

A few arguments and gruntings later and we were finally done cleaning up the gym. Duncan wasn't very happy about our betrayal earlier that he kept sulking while giving us directions. He would often leave a sarcastic remark that soon tickled Rachel off. It lead to a lof of bickering and fighting that ended up in me doing most of the work. My arms, even though I have the superior gene, felt like they were going to fall. I actually felt like a normal person again - thanks to all the heavy lifting that I did.

By the time we were out of the gym, I have my hands over my ears to drown out their annoying bickering. I have to give it to Rachel though, she have guts to talk back to a squad leader. Lucky for us that Duncan wasn't using his authority on us like another certain Altantean that we know of.

The place was almost desrted. It was because it was almost time for dinner. I guess everyone was strict in following the schedule. I threw the door of the cafeteria open. Eager to eat because I was hungry. The workout plus the added chore that Skyr gave us burned all of my lunch. I probably should have eaten more. 

I was already falling in line when Duncan's communicator beeped. I saw a few people loooking at their bracelet as well when it giving off a sound similar to Duncans'. Then we saw Skyr running towards us - or more like headed towards Duncan. There was a look of urgency on his face. "Duncan, we have a code red. The government are targeting a school this time."