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Classified hit the floor with a dull thud, mentally cursing before standing back up. He swung at his opponent, trying to get a hit in, but missed and was flipped over onto the ground again. The rubber mat was painful, but thankfully more forgiving than concrete. He sighed and pushed himself onto his forearms, looking upwards at his “attacker”, Kowalski, who was currently trying not to laugh. Skipper was on the sideline, supervising as the two sparred, as he had been the one to point out that the North Wind agents needed to have more physical combat training. The other Penguin agents had been paired off with the rest of Classified’s team, and thankfully for Classified, they weren’t faring any better.
Being honest, Skipper had done well pairing off who would be most challenging to train against, including handing off Short Fuse and Corporal to Rico. Neither of them were exactly excelling at matching his erratic attack pattern. Meanwhile Eva was getting irritated with how quickly Private was able to navigate around her. Him being the youngest and the shortest definitely gave him an advantage.
Frustrated, Classified stood up and got back into position, this time trying to come at Kowalski from a different angle. Outsmarting him wasn’t an option, and neither was outmaneuvering him. So, he did the only thing he could think of: he attempted to body slam the other man. Naturally, this didn’t go well, as he was once again promptly flipped over and dropped onto the floor. Finally, Skipper called for his teammates to give their sparring partners a break, and Classified gave a sigh of relief.
Skipper walked over and offered a hand to Classified, which he accepted as the other man helped him up.
“That was better than last time wolfie!”, Skipper chuckled, “maybe I’ll pair you with Rico next time”.
“Yeah, maybe don’t pegwing. I’m going to have enough bruises as is.” The other man smirked at him, and Classified had come to learn that whenever Skipper made that expression, he had an idea that was always going to end up involving himself somehow.
“Then how about the next training session we work with weapons instead of hand-to-hand combat?” Okay, that wasn’t as bad as Classified anticipated. Normally he kinda thought Skipper was going to do something outlandish or unconventional. This time though, it looked like it was going to be a relatively normal plan. Thankfully, he was pretty decent with weaponry so maybe he’d have a better time working with them in the next session.
The next day, Skipper dragged both teams out of the base extremely early, and somehow piled everyone into the Penguin’s car. Silently praying it wasn’t going to end up being some five hour road trip, Classified leaned against the window and stared at the passing scenery. In the background he could hear a debate between Kowalski and Eva, with the other members of the group chipping in every so often. The conversation got rather loud, and Classified couldn’t help but think of the last time he had ridden in the car with Skipper; the silence had been peaceful with only occasional humming from the other man and music quietly playing on the radio. He kinda wanted to do that again, it was nice.
Come to think of it, Classified had found himself enjoying Skipper’s company more and more. He was pleasant to talk to, and was one of the few people who didn’t judge him for every little thing that he did. Whenever Classified had tried to pull all-nighters more than one night in a row, he had started to get gently scolded by Skipper, and told to “take a break, we don’t need ya exhausted again capiche?”. It felt good to have someone checking on him. Even if they didn’t get the chance to have full conversations often, it had slowly started to become one of his favorite things to happen. Maybe he could come up with an excuse to go on a drive with Skipper again, just the two of them, so maybe they could have a conversation in peace and quiet.
This thought process was cut short when Skipper pulled into the parking lot of a grey building; it had a neon snake sign on the front with the title “Cobra Laser Arena”. Skipper then turned around to the rest of the group to explain how he rented the place for the entire day, and that he expected them all to push themselves. The Penguin agents looked rather excited, so maybe this was something that Skipper had done with the group before? Either way, Classified shuffled out of the car with the rest of the group and followed everyone inside.
The lobby of the Arena had that stereotypical arcade patterned carpeting, bright orange walls, and neon blue counters. An irritated looking attendant was standing behind the front counter, and upon seeing the group, they sighed and gave the most “customer service” smile that one could possibly make. It was a little disturbing how they never dropped their smile, even while talking to Skipper as they checked the group in. They didn’t stop smiling or staring at the group until they were almost out of sight, which made Classified give a light shudder. Nothing was wrong of course, and he knew this, but it was still a little unnerving. He couldn’t have been more thankful when they got out of there and into the vesting area.
The attendant in the vesting area wasn’t as smiley as the one in the lobby, and all he really did was show them where the sensor vests were while explaining the rules. As long as they didn’t cause any damage to the arena itself, they would be absolutely fine. Since Skipper had rented the place for the whole day, they didn’t have to worry about a timer. The attendant unlocked the door and essentially told them all to “go bonkers”.
The arena was dark, lit only by neon floor lights and black lights, making the brightest parts of the arena look like they were glowing. There were multiple climbable structures and blockades, and a few towers that looked like they’d have stairs hidden in the backs of them. It was a bit difficult to see in the dim lighting, so Classified had to squint as Skipper gave out the instructions. They were going to be doing stealth style weaponry training: split up and hide, wait for a bit before heading out, if you’re shot you’re out, it’s everyone for themself, once only one person was left, the training exercise was over and they would run through it again. As soon as Skipper finished talking, everyone scattered and the “game” had begun.
Classified ran behind one of the blockades and followed a mini hallway-esque path for a bit before hiding behind one of the climbing structures. The main tower was visible from his hiding place, so his main worry was someone would climb up there and be able to try and shoot him. Glancing down at his watch, he made the decision to stay hidden for about ten minutes before looking for the others, just to be safe. It was a little boring waiting, since he was all on his own. Ordinarily he’d have someone to talk to, since he’d be hiding with another teammate, but their little battle-royal kinda was preventing that. How were his teammates doing anyway? Not like he could go check without shooting them on sight.
His watch gave a buzz to let him know that ten minutes had elapsed since he picked his hiding place, so he slunk out and made sure to have his finger already on the trigger. He could hear the sound of one of the laser guns going off, giving him an idea of where to go. Rico had already gotten Corporal, so he was walking over to a bench on the side of the area in a closed off area. As Rico wasn’t paying the most attention since he was scanning the area for other people, Classified sniped him from behind. This confused the Penguin agent, and since he still couldn’t see who got him, he just walked over to the bench with a baffled expression. With a pleased chuckle, Classified slipped away to go after more team members.
There were only eight of them after all, how hard could it be to get the rest of them out? Of course, he couldn’t let his guard down or get cocky just yet; he’d already experienced that before and it ended pretty badly for him and his team. Another sound effect grabbed his attention, causing him to snap his head towards Private; who had just gotten Eva and Short Fuse out. To avoid the kid’s gaze, he rolled behind the tower he had been next to. When Private tried to run past, he was promptly sniped from the shadows. A quick glance over to the bench let Classified know that Kowalski was already out, which meant the only one left in the “game” was Skipper.
This was going to be more of a challenge, as Skipper was skilled. How long had the Penguins been agents again? Skipper had mentioned them working separately from the government since they had been in their young teens, and they started doing freelance spy work later on. In all honesty, they had probably been working as general spies longer than he had. The only reason that was a concern was this meant Skipper had more experience with sneak attacks than he did. Classified’s watch gave a buzz, letting him know it had been an hour since he had last checked. He knew he couldn’t hide forever, but he could take a short break.
He climbed up into the tower and sat crouched behind the wall up at the top, giving a sigh of relief that he had lasted this long. It wasn’t like a mission where he knew he’d have someone to back him up, so it was a welcome challenge and excellent practice in case he ever was needed to do a solo mission. Pushing his hair back out of the way, Classified scanned the arena briefly, not seeing Skipper anywhere. All he could see was the rest of the team sitting on the sidelines talking. Where could he be hiding? There were only so many places in the arena he could be, and it’s not like he left the room.
Crouching in the tower wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and Classified had decided he had been up there long enough. Maybe if he started moving around, he’d be able to hear Skipper. Thankfully, the stairs didn’t make noise as he went back down. He stuck the laser gun out of the door first, just to be as safe as possible. After sweeping the area around the tower and finding no sign of the other man, he slipped back into the little hallway bit and started moving between the different parts of the arena. He couldn’t help but feel on edge the entire time, as it was unnervingly silent. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a series of quick footsteps.
Flipping around, Classified scanned the surrounding area, but he couldn’t see anything or anyone. He would have checked to see if it was someone from the bench area, but from where he was he couldn’t see them. After a few more minutes, he heard the footsteps behind him again. Just as he turned to see where they were coming from, a hand was pushed into the wall he was standing next to. He was met with Skipper, who had leaned in really close to Classified’s face, who was now backed against the wall.
He probably would have screamed, if he hadn’t seen the look of amusement Skipper was giving him. He looked like he was seconds from laughing at the other’s shock. He leaned in closer, leaving only about an inch between them. It was hard not to notice how deep his eyes were, with him standing so close. That color, it had to have a name right? Such a deep, warm brown; almost like freshly brewed coffee. It was familiar, comforting even. Classified could feel heat rise into his cheeks, and immediately was grateful for the crappy lighting, as it meant that Skipper hopefully couldn’t see that he was now blushing. It felt like they stood there like that for forever, despite it really being only about a minute.
“You’re good at hiding wolfie”, Skipper grinned, “shame I still have to do this”. He promptly shot Classified, and moved away from his face. Skipper gave the laser gun a light twirl gunslinger style, before signaling Classified to follow him. Classified stood for a moment, still slightly stunned from being sneak attacked like that. After a few moments, he trailed behind Skipper over to the bench area.
Skipper was announcing a break before they all went at it again, but Classified wasn’t really paying attention. He was more focused on how playful the other was being, and specifically looking at his eyes. Maybe they’d be stuck in a stalemate again next round, just so he’d have an opportunity to stare at his eyes again. They looked nice, just like Skipper.