Richard 'Dick' Graykilla

Chapter 9

Deathstroke shoved me back into the base. I looked around.

"Great, back in this hell hole."

"Shut up and go to bed. You're gonna be up early tomorrow."

"Yeah yeah. We'll go on a five K (kilometres) run, I can handle that." I said, walking towards my room.

"It'll be twenty-five K actually." Slade said.

I stopped and turned back to face him.

"Say what?"

Slade shrugged. "It's not far. I'm sure you can handle it."

"You're a Dick, you know that." I said.

He smiled. "And you are a literal Dick."

Wow. I think he just made a joke.

"NOW GO TO BED OR I'LL TIE YOU DOWN IN IT!!!" He added.

"Okay. Okay. I'm going. Jesus."
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I've been running for so long. I can't feel my legs. Is that good because I can't feel the pain they are in or is it bad because they might fall off.
My body can't take much more. I'm about to die.

"Keep going!" Slade demanded, not even puffing, "only two Kilometres to go."

"*huff* two *huff* they never *huff* made us *huff* do twenty five *huff* Kilometres *huff* in training." I nearly passed out getting that sentence out.

"You're right. And that's made modern assassins soft. I need to harden you. Let's add another five km's"

"*huff* this is *huff* child *huff* Abuse!"

"Pfffffst." Slade spat. "Don't give me that crap. These days parents protect their kids to much. If the kid wants to play in the mud. Let him play in the mud."

"There's *huff* a big differ *huff* rence *huff* between letting *huff* your kid play in mud *huff* and forcing them to run twenty five k!"

"Uh uh. It's thirty now remember. Now stop talking. By the sounds of it you need as much strength that you can get."

I didn't make it the extra five k. At three kilometres left I collapsed and couldn't move. Instead of checking if I was alright, Slade continued to run.

"I'll see you back at the base," he said as he ran past me.

My eyes followed him as he disappeared in the distance.
A part of me (mostly my legs) wanted to just stay there and die peacefully. But the other part wanted me to get back up and show Slade how strong I actually am.

I slowly started crawling. Until my legs regained consciousness. Then I got up into them and started walking.
Three km left. I can do this.
I then got into a light jog, getting a little big faster as I went.
Eventually I could see the base. Slade was standing out the front drinking a coffee. As I arrived at the doors he handed me a bottle of water. But I didn't take it because I had passed out before I could even think about grabbing it.

I woke on my bed. Every part of my body ached because I didn't stretch. So when I tried to get up, it was harder than it should have been.
I walked into the gathering area and saw Slade sitting. Drinking another coffee and reading what appeared to be a gun magazine. When he saw me approaching he put the magazine and coffee down.

"So you've recovered?"

"Barely," I answered. "Every muscle in my body hurts."

"That's because you didn't stretch after you'd finished."

"That's probably because I was unconscious!"

"Y'know, people run over a hundred k's for marathons and stuff."

"Long distance running isn't my thing. I'm better at..."

"Sprinting. Yeah. It said that in your file."

"You read my file?"

"I need to know who I'm training to be able to train them."

"Wait, so you knew I was terrible at long distance running and you made me do it anyway?"

He nodded.

"Why?" I asked.

"To see if you could handle it. Doing things you don't like or can't do. And you can handle long distance running. You could've stayed on that ground until someone eventually found you, which would be unlikely. But no. You got up and made it back to the base because you knew you had to. Because you knew you needed to do this to beat your clone."

"How's running going to help me beat my clone?"

"Because if we train you to sprint and run long distance while your clone can only do sprints. You'll have the advantage." Slade explained.

"How do you know my clone can only do sprints?"

"Genetics. If your clone is exactly like you then he'll have the same physical attributes."

"Ah ha." It made sense. Kinda. "Wait. But what if he's trained his long distance too."

"Well wouldn't that be unlucky." Slade said taking a sip from his coffee.

A silence fell between us for a few seconds. Then Slade opened his magazine again. The silence continued until I broke it.

"Hey Slade?"

"Hhmn" he mumbled not looking up from his mag.

"What else did my file say? Like anything else i'm good at or.."

"It said you're a grade A assassin, you succeeded in all of your classes and could become an elite one day. If your cockiness wasn't holding you back."

"My what?"

"You're too arrogant, brash. You think you can do and handle anything that's thrown at you. Those aren't good traits for an assassin."

"I don't think I'm cocky..."

"Of course you don't. That's what cocky people think of themselves. To you you're perfect. To others, your an asshole." Slade explained.

"Hey. You're an asshole too."

"I'm an asshole because I've earned the right to be an asshole. Unlike you."

"Whatever," I said getting up. "Are we doing anymore training today."

"Yes you are. Go and stretch for about half an hour and then just do some basic exercises."

"What about you?"

"I'll check in every now and then. Now Go!"

He then went back to his magazine and coffee. While I went to the gym.