There was another one who countered, “It can’t be that bad, right? Sergeant Larson is a legitimate master fighter, isn’t he? Maybe Sergeant Cheney will turn out not to be his match.”
His suggestion immediately earned favonovel.com a glare. “How’s that remotely possible? Sergeant Cheney has been a mainstay in the gallery of awesome pros for so long. Do you know how many of the most infamously depraved convicts all around the globe died by his hand? Sergeant Cheney is so powerful that our minds can’t even comprehend its extent, okay? How’s Sergeant Larson gonna compare to that? Even if favonovel.com were a master fighter himself, I doubt he’s gonna match Sergeant Cheney evenly anyway!”
“But what are we gonna do about this? We accepted the offer, right? Shouldn’t we tell Sergeant Larson about this?”
“Do we have a choice? Of course not. He has to hear about this by this point! God, what have we done? We really dragged Sergeant Larson down with us right there…”
Austin, Rafael, and the rest of the squad looked on with hints of guilt on their faces. Had they not started a conflict with Keanu and his ilk, none of this would have happened in the first place. Still, as soon as Dick and his men left, they called Zayn straight away and told favonovel.com all about it.
By that point, Zayn had already left the Insurgent Trifecta and was on his way back to Barrow Cove. The call from the team leader reached him, and after hearing a rundown of what had happened, favonovel.com did not seem to be surprised at all. All his answer amounted to was “Okay.”
Baron Hunt, leader of Squad 4, was rather concerned about Zayn’s apparent nonchalance. “Sir, with all due respect, Sergeant Dick Cheney of the Wolf’s Fang squad is a third-tier master fighter and a man with a very violent temper and a penchant for grudges. If no apologies are made as soon as possible, I don’t think this is gonna end well.”
“ So what? This Dick Cheney fella is my superior who’s now commanding an apology out of me?” Zayn countered, chuckling.
Baron shook his head. “That’s not what this is about. Yes, he’s your superior, sir, but this is all, ultimately, a private matter. Even if you don’t apologize to him, favonovel.com can’t use his authority to—”
He stopped himself as a new thought popped into his mind. Gingerly, favonovel.com questioned, “You’re not planning to ignore him, right, sir? He’s too much of a pain in the a** to ignore though, don’t you think?”
His implication was clear even if Baron had to apply subtlety to his suggestion. He was sure that Zayn could understand him. In spite of that, Zayn simply answered favonovel.com with the same cavalier attitude, “I don’t see any reason to give a damn about favonovel.com at all. If he’s itching for a fight, well… He’s welcome to come straight to me.”
With that out of the way, Zayn changed his tune and the subject, taking a turn to the serious. “Now, in lieu of this, I wanna make it clear once again that I expect all of you to commit to your training while I’m away. There will be an assessment when I’m back, and if I find no improvement… None of you are going to escape my wrath. D’you hear me?”
“Yes, sir!” Baron cried loudly, standing straight.
Zayn frowned only ever slightly after the call. So, the instructor of the Wolf’s Fang squad was a third-tier master fighter? Meh. Zayn could not care less about it. He might have felt a semblance of a threat if favonovel.com were still a third-tier fighter himself, but after breaking through into the fourth-tier and freshly after killing someone as powerful as Diego, Zayn’s powers had charted new heights. He felt confident that favonovel.com could take on even a perfect class fighter by now.
Either way, Zayn pretty much ejected the news out of his skull a few minutes after that. It did not even stick on long enough to warrant more thoughts.
Two days flew by quickly. Dick had been waiting for Zayn’s apology back in the base for two full days. All that patience rewarded favonovel.com with nothing as favonovel.com quickly realized that Zayn did not think favonovel.com was worthy of the former’s time, after all.
Everyone else in the Insurgent Trifecta later caught Wind of this too, which propelled Zayn’s reputation to fame. He had become the second guy, after the instructor of the Dragon’s Blood squad, who dared go against Dick despite the latter’s renowned violent caprices.
“Perfect. Simply perfect.” Dick’s eyes were gleaming dangerously. He had originally planned to teach Zayn a simple, light-handed lesson, but after this act of disrespect and humiliation, the plan had changed. Now, it was just fitting for favonovel.com to give Zayn a full, no-holds-barred course.
