Evenfall (61 page)

So it was that they'd picked a day to meet at the Agency gym. It was the first time Boyd had been on the compound since that fateful debriefing.

He arrived early to the Agency, primarily because he had to be certain there would be space for Ryan and him at the training room.  He could tell something was different when he walked
into
the training room; one of the guards looked at him sidelong and smirked. After a closer look, Boyd realized that it was Dennis McNichols. It wasn't too surprising considering he'd run into Dennis and Harry at the training room before, but at least this time Harry was notably absent.

Still that didn't stop Dennis from releasing a low wolf whistle as he walked by.

"Well if it isn't the Agency's latest valentine op," Dennis said to the man beside him, pretending to leer at Boyd. "He must not have been getting enough from his partner if he volunteered for that gig."

"Yeah right, dude. No one volunteers."

Boyd ignored them and kept walking, trying not to let the comments affect him. He wasn't entirely successful. Their words continued to float after him.

"He did. You can ask anyone. Must have been really hard up to get ass pounded to go that route, but hey, whatever floats his boat-- am I right?"

"That's pretty sick. It's not like there's some huge amount of gay valentines as it is. He'll get a lot more ass pounding than he thoug--"

As Boyd selected a side of the gym to meet Ryan, he was glad that he was finally out of earshot. He didn't know who in the unit had leaked the Thierry situation, but it was obviously now well known on the compound. Apparently valentine agents had always existed but the fact that Vivienne's son was one was something to talk about. People who had already disliked him now had even more ammunition to use against him, and Boyd doubted this would be the last incident, or the worst.

He tried to ignore the way that thought clenched his stomach; the way he felt disturbed by the idea of one more private thing about himself becoming public. He'd never been the sort of person to enjoy being the center of attention and having malicious stares centered on him and people joking about his future didn't help matters. It was made even worse by the fact that he regretted the whole thing that had started this all in the first place. His pride felt wounded by having to constantly face his own faults.

He did enough berating of himself on his own; he didn't need help from the peanut gallery.

It didn't take long for Ryan to arrive, and when he did he stopped at the front entrance. Boyd could see him exchanging words with Dennis and the other man by the door, but he had no idea what was being said. Judging from the impatient look on Ryan's face, their trash talk hadn't stopped when Boyd had crossed the room.

Whatever they were saying ended with Ryan exclaiming, "Well you can basically just go to hell.", before stalking across the room. His thin face was screwed up in a scowl but when his eyes fell on Boyd, he grinned.

"Hey!"

"Hey," Boyd greeted in return. He resolved to push away all the darker thoughts he'd been immersed in for the past week and focus solely on helping Ryan. He turned and motioned Ryan to follow him as he headed toward the doors in the back of the room. "I reserved us a private room. I thought it would be easier."

Ryan nodded, unbuttoning the toggles on his wool coat. "Sweet. I wasn't looking forward to making a fool of myself in front of everyone."

Boyd shrugged. "I doubt that would happen but it's harder to learn anything, no matter your proficiency, when everyone is staring at you. Or you feel like they are."

They headed into the private room and Boyd turned around to shut the door. He saw Dennis watching them with a smirk, leaning over to make a comment to the guard next to him. He didn't have to hear it to know Dennis was probably making some comment about what they would really be doing behind closed doors.

Boyd's eyes narrowed and he closed the door firmly. He turned toward Ryan and was glad to see his friend didn't appear to have noticed the exchange. Not that it mattered, since he must have heard enough walking in. Boyd took off his trench coat and set it to the side of the room by Ryan's wool coat, suppressing a sigh.

"Ready?" he asked Ryan.

"Ready as ready can be. Except uh, I don't know how long I'll last. I've gotten a bad cough since last night," Ryan said apologetically. "It's the cold air, I think."

"That's alright."

Boyd made note of the way Ryan stood. He didn't want to tell Ryan he was checking his posture because he would automatically straighten. Ryan's hands were shoved in his pockets and his shoulders were a little hunched. His head was forward and a little down, his feet placed fairly close to each other.

"First," Boyd said, "I should tell you that although I'm going to spar with you, your true goal should be to avoid physical fights unless you're positive you can put all your strength into the blow and you're aiming to harm. Half-hearted attacks will likely only annoy the person you're attacking, and will do you more harm than good."

Ryan nodded, looking thoughtful about that. He reached up to shove his mess of black cowlicks and curls out of his eyes. "How long did it take you to get good?"

Boyd considered that as he stretched his arms. "I still have a long way to go, honestly. But I didn't start feeling more confident in one-on-one fights for a few months. It takes awhile to learn and I had a steep learning curve. I'd led a very sedentary lifestyle."

"Same," Ryan said, smirking. "Carrying all of my stuff to the Tower from my apartment is as active as I get. But that being said, how did you... I dunno-- how did you know what to do in a fight? Even with training, wasn't it hard to know how to react once you were in a for real confrontation?"

"It was. You never know fully what to expect, which is partially why I try to avoid confrontations in the first place. That's probably the best place to start. And to do that, you have to consider what your body language says."

He nodded toward Ryan's posture. "Right now, you'd be a good target and would attract attention. You look timid, almost apologetic for your existence and that's easily preyed upon. You should stand with your back straight," he demonstrated each point by following it with his own body, "and slide your feet apart about your shoulder length, one a little forward, one a little back. Keep your body loose, particularly your knees, elbows, and shoulders. Acknowledge the presence of those around you, but you don't need to make eye contact for that; you can look at them around their nose level and they'll know you're aware of them even if you aren't necessarily inviting interaction."

He paused, then shot Ryan a questioning look. "I've never taught anyone this before so I'm trying to think what helped me most. But I don't know how much you already know. Are you fine with an overview like this first, or would you rather go straight to physical sparring?"

Ryan shook his head, trying to follow Boyd's directions and just managing to look awkward. "No, it's good! The last person I trained with already expected me to know everything because I'm Connors' ward." Ryan frowned and tried to keep himself loose but just managed to look like he was intoxicated. His face twisted in frustration.

"I look like a wet ragdoll," he complained.

"You don't," Boyd assured him with a slight smile. "You're just thinking too much. This is also something you can easily practice any time, even in your room alone; just try to loosen your joints and strengthen your base. The basic concept is that standing like this," he placed his feet next to each other, "puts me in a position where my body's wider on top, if you look at my shoulders versus my feet.

"But if I put my feet apart and bend my knees a little," and he did so, "the base of my strength is in my lower body. Think of it like..." He tried to think of a way to make it click for Ryan. "Your action figures. You'll note they also stand with their legs apart and knees bent."

Ryan nodded and did his best to imitate Boyd. "I never noticed that about my action figures but it's totally true," he murmured and adjusted his body, bending his knees and rolling his shoulders as he tried to get comfortable in the position. "How's this? Any better?"

"Excellent." Boyd nodded approvingly. "Most of the hostiles we deal with are part of groups that plan ahead, and as a result the individual people likely do too. If someone intends to attack you, they'll probably have at least one scenario in mind that they'll be operating on. If you don't follow that scenario, sometimes you can divert or stop a situation from escalating because the attacker doesn't know how to react. We can work on that more another time if you wish; it's a lesson in its own right and works best if I give you examples."

"Sweet," Ryan said with a grin. He rolled his shoulders and shot Boyd a pleased look.

"For today, I'll give you some pointers for physical attacks. What you want to keep in mind is that, regardless of your opponent or his size, he's still human. He may be stronger or quicker, but he has weaknesses as well. Work with your strengths and aim them at his weaknesses. For instance..." Standing up straight, Boyd pointed to his head. "No human can attack for long if he can't breathe. If your aim is a person's head, think about the what would be most disruptive. Aim for the eyes, the nose... Clapping both hands over the ears can break an eardrum or possibly cause a concussion. You can strike into the mouth or up the chin to cause damage. You could use the edge of your hand on the throat."

Boyd pointed down to his chest. "Targets in the middle of the body are generally less serious and are more likely to disrupt your attacker's breathing rather than cause permanent injury. The solar plexus," he pointed to where his ribs came together in the center of his chest, "is a sensitive nerve area that you can aim for. You can also try the stomach, or, of course, the groin. It's generally more effective to knee upward into the groin rather than kicking into it.

"The lower body is best to aim for when you want to limit the mobility of your attacker. The knee is the most serious. You can knock a person completely off balance with a properly aimed strike at the side or back of the knee, or break their kneecaps if you go from the front. The bones are difficult to break at the shins and ankles but attacks there can be very painful. The top of the foot-- the instep-- is generally more sensitive and less protected than the toes. Bones are also small and breakable there, making them a good target."

Boyd paused. "I know this is a lot of information at once so stop me any time with questions. But does it make sense to you so far?"

Ryan nodded slowly, taking everything in. "Yeah it does, it's actually pretty easy to remember when you think of it in those terms." He looked Boyd over for a moment and focused on his chest. "So for someone like me, what would be the best to strike at first? The chest so that breathing is difficult or the lower body to temporarily immobilize?"

"It depends on the situation and the distance," Boyd said with a shrug. "When you attack, you'll need to keep in mind what weapons they may have and what your intentions are. If you're trying to get away, you'll likely want to limit their mobility. But if, for instance, they have a gun, even if they can't run they can still shoot you, so at that point you'd want to get away however you possibly can and run for the nearest cover. Consider two main questions: what do you have free and what targets are available? Your arms and legs are weapons in and of themselves, as is anything else you may have with you. Keys, a pen, a bag-- anything can be a weapon if you want it to be."

He walked closer to Ryan, stopping within the usual speaking distance. "That being said, in my experience, I tend to go for the head or legs. For you, I can't be certain until I see what would affect your lungs the most, but I feel as though short staccato attacks will be best. If you uncoil your limbs from beside your body and pivot your hips with the movement, you put more strength into the hit. By limiting yourself to quick bursts of energy, I think it may keep you from overexerting yourself. If that's the case, I would suggest going for the legs if it's a less serious situation, and the head if it isn't. The reason I say that is it takes more strength to affect a person seriously in the chest and if you want to disrupt breathing you can aim for the throat instead."  Boyd tilted his head slightly. "It's difficult to answer since so much of it is dependent on the situation."

"I guess the only way to know for sure is to experiment or whatever, right?" Ryan paused and smiled sheepishly. "Don't be too hard on me, okay? I'm kind of a wimp."

"Attack me first and I'll see what your natural strengths and weaknesses are," Boyd replied, walking within reaching distance. Ryan looked a little uncertain, but Boyd waited. "Be confident; even fear or anger can be used against you, or make you an easier target. Your greatest asset is a solid base that allows you to breathe and access the inherent strength you have in your body."

After a few moments, Ryan suddenly lunged. Boyd stepped to the side easily, caught Ryan as he passed and pulled his arm up behind his back with his other hand held at his neck. He was smooth and firm with his gestures, but he didn't hurt Ryan at all.

"If I had a knife, I could have killed you there," Boyd said into Ryan's ear. "I wasn't able to evade because you're weak or useless. I was able to because I could easily anticipate your intentions from your body language. You haven't had proper training, so you were a little clumsy and you put yourself off-balance almost immediately, which gave me easy access to doing what I wanted. In the future, know exactly what you intend before you do anything and have several scenarios as contingencies in case I, as your attacker, anticipate your moves."
Boyd released Ryan and walked in front of him. "Just now, I suspect your sole goal was to attack, right?"
Ryan looked a little embarrassed. "I told you I sucked," he said almost apologetically.