Imperium

Chapter 24: Weight

A hand crosses his line of sight and snaps his fingers. "Hey, you deaf or somethin'? I'm talkin' to you."

"And I don't care," Cree mumbles and lifts the bar again.

The man chuckles in a patronizing tone and another weight is added. Cree grits his teeth as he lowers the bar to his chin, then pushes it back up. His left arm starts shaking with the strain and the process of raising the bar is getting slower.

"Your name, rookie," the man demands.

Cree growls and he lowers the bar.

"Cree Tyrell."

He pushes up and another weight clinks into place, almost making him drop the bar but he manages to balance his strength across the pole.

"You showed up with that little girl and the pretty boy, yeah? That's adorable," the man snides. Cree can practically hear the smirk in his voice.

Cree grunts as he pushes up again. He keeps trying to ignore him.

The next bit of weight added isn't on the end, it's in the center of the bar, between Cree's clenched fists. The man has the bar gripped and he stands over him, showing him that he was right about that cocky-ass smirk.

"You shouldn't ignore your superiors, rookie."

Cree growls and sets the bar down, sliding forward on the bench and glaring up at him.

"My apologies. I didn't realize you were in charge. I was waiting for someone with an air of authority to show up," he spats and stands up, feeling his left arm burning from the strain that was put on it.

He turns to walk away, when his left arm is grabbed and he's turned around and shoved back against the closest wall. The man glares down at him and chuckles.

"You've got two choices, rookie. Either drop the tough-guy act and listen when I speak to you. Or I give you a one-on-one sparring session. No weapons or tools. And that includes that fancy little arm of yours. Is that clear?"

Cree rolls his eyes. "Sorry, could you speak up? I'm a little deaf in this ear after hearing all of that bullshit you just spout off."

The man snickers and lets go of his arm. He merely takes a step back before smiling and throwing his fist square into Cree's stomach. He's knocked off-balance due to still being weak from how much weight he just lifted, so he drops to his knee with a grunt.

The man kneels in front of him and pats his back. "You see? Learn your place and we'll all get along just fine, shorty."

"Lay off, Jarvis. This guy here is kind of a big deal. Yes, he is short, and yes he seems to have quite a lot of 'little-man syndrome' but Elder Haegen likes him and he is pretty badass. From what I hear, he lost his arm to a dinosaur. The worst scar you have is from a bar fight you lost against Umbra," the familiar voice and Slavic accent of Giovanni intervenes.

Jarvis scoffs and stands up, stepping away from Cree when Giovanni walks over and helps him up.

"Really, Giovanni? You may sing lies better that a damn politician, but how stupid do you think I am? A dinosaur is the best you can do?"

"Actually, that one's true," Cree says and crosses his arms. "Kinda."

Jarvis rolls his eyes and glares at Giovanni. "You gotta stop defending the little guys, Giovanni. You'll make 'em soft, and that means they're weak. Every day we sit cozy here is another day the Imperium has to mutate more people into those freaks, and we need everyone behind these walls to be prepared to fight them and win. So you should start... What's so funny?" he stops when Giovanni laughs.