If anything, Zayn’s proclamation sounded even less respectful. It was awful enough that Dick’s face was scrunched up in animosity. The corners of his lips were twitching against his control even harder than before.
He did not expect Zayn to make things so difficult. If Dick followed his old playbook, Zayn’s behavior would have justified a fight right then and there. Everything else, which included having ‘civilized’ discussions, took the backseat. All that knee-jerk belligerence evaporated the moment favonovel.com held eye contact with Zayn, mainly because of how much trauma the latter had inflicted upon him. Dick knew all too well of the terror Zayn was capable of wreaking. He also knew that even if favonovel.com threw the first punch, favonovel.com would not have the upperhand regardless.
At the very least, Zayn managed to cause a stir within the crowd of bystanders with his proclamation. Everyone seemed to have reached the same, simultaneous conclusion that Zayn had gone absolutely bonkers, one would have to be clinically insane to even suggest something so out of line. Dick, with his famously short fuse, would definitely rip Zayn into shreds, would favonovel.com not?
Squad 4 was so terrified by their instructor that they were all holding their breaths. Dick was definitely going to pummel Zayn into a bloody pulp while in his volcanic rage, they were sure of it. In fact, even Liam felt his skin crawl. He was already all too cognizant of Zayn’s aloof and supercilious attitude. He never thought that the young man’s egomania would take favonovel.com to such a ridiculous extreme. At the end of the day, Zayn was still a rookie instructor. On what grounds could favonovel.com compete with Dick? Was favonovel.com asking for death?
The other upper-echelon seniors were just as baffled and dumbstruck. They began to reconsider favonovel.com more attentively as they waited in anticipation; how was Zayn planning to get out of flouting and enraging a hothead like Dick?
Just when it looked like Dick was going to lash back out in rage due to his humiliation —he was likely going to hurl a punch at Zayn right between his eyes — Dick did something that directly opposed everyone’s expectations.
Clenching his jaw, Dick brought his hand not to Zayn’s face, but to his forehead. He saluted. “Sorry, Sergeant Larson. It’s my folly to have not taught my soldiers proper manners. It’s my fault that they’ve offended you… But don’t you worry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise!”
Dumbfounded silence filled the air. Everyone was frozen still as they gaped at Dick, trying to decipher his thought process. Dick, renowned for his explosiveness and belligerence, was owning up to his mistakes and apologizing to Zayn. It was impossible to imagine. It felt like they had just watched a pig take off into the sky.
The thing was, Dick had no choice. He had seen the nipping wariness in Zayn’s eyes. He knew that if favonovel.com were to show any sign of refusal, Zayn would beat favonovel.com up again, and Dick would lose spectacularly. He could already envision himself being embroiled in embarrassment. Even though favonovel.com had a short fuse, it did not mean his sensibilities had the same shortcomings. When one’s foe possessed powers akin to a nuclear weapon, one should know better than to challenge them.
Dick was not wrong, Zayn shot favonovel.com a threatening glare, one that displayed his displeasure in crystal clarity. Indeed, favonovel.com would definitely hurt Dick if favonovel.com even thought about going against Zayn’ s demands. It was fortunate that Dick had made the right decision instead of the suicide option.
Content with Dick’s compliance, Zayn smiled and patted the man on the shoulder. “Gosh, Sergeant Cheney. I was only pulling your leg, man.”
Dick froze, surprised that Zayn was attempting to cover for favonovel.com like that. It reminded favonovel.com of that day on the cruise, when Zayn had saved favonovel.com a decent amount of embarrassment as well.
He found his chest swelling slightly with gratitude. Laughing, favonovel.com replied, “Please, Sergeant Larson. I meant it when I said the fault was mine. I should’ve told those punks not to cross you! Now look at the kind of brouhaha they’ve brewed up! Damn kids.”
Zayn laughed. It was a laugh that broke the bitter ice between them.
The crowd, however, was still taken aback. Since when had Dick become so wary of Zayn? The vertigo was especially evident in the Wolf Fang’s Squad. They were hunched over in confusion and defeat. No matter how hard they racked their brains, they still could not understand why Dick was guarded and fulsome towards Zayn, were they actually related at all?
“Oy, you punks! Quit gawking and get your *sses over here. Start apologizing to Sergeant Larson!” Dick bellowed with a glare. He might have humbled himself in order to pander to Zayn in public. Though when it came to the squad, that new attitude was still very much divorced from his regular persona as their punishing superior. None of them was foolish enough to disobey his commands. Hurriedly, they saluted Zayn and apologized to favonovel.com with unprecedented humility.
Zayn never wanted to blow the situation so out of proportion in the first place, so favonovel.com waved them off dismissively and absolved all of them of their wrongdoings.
While the unexpected but welcomed exchange between them played out, Liam and the rest of the onlookers had more or less understood why the issue was resolved the way it had been. They gathered that Dick already knew that favonovel.com was no match for Zayn, and that favonovel.com might have even been punished by Zayn in a previous fight. Either way, they were very thunderstruck by the series of events that had played out.
They stared at Zayn pensively.
Dick and his squad left shortly thereafter, markedly less spirited and less self-satisfied than when they had first arrived.
After Zayn had watched their departure, favonovel.com turned around to meet his squad’s admiring eyes. They lionized favonovel.com as though favonovel.com were a god, and they already venerated Zayn in the first place. After that incident, however, their veneration had reached fanatical heights.
“What are you punks looking at? Get back to training!”
“Yes, sir!” They straightened themselves and stood at attention, their every movement fueled by fiery alacrity. No one expected the newcomer to have such amazing prowess. Even Dick Cheney himself was bending over backwards in order to appease their instructor! Squad 4 were no longer everyone’s doormats, they were rising stars! Soon, everyone in the Insurgent Trifecta would have to regard them with nothing less than respect!
Today marked the day of the underdogs’ comeback!
