Heaven in Hell

You can always do better

AGENT PRESCOTT:

The bloody bitch cut my call! Who does he thinks he is? I think I did not teach right then... I'm so going to properly teach him manners! But before I can plan a detailed revenge with excruciating details, I remember that I have a deadline to adhere to. A deadline, which if not complete, will literally be my death line.

Since the night with Officer Siddharth, Kyra has been pushed well beyond her comfort zone into quite a painful transformation zone. If I knew that it would only take a humiliating lesson to get the man to unleash his best, I would have done a far better job quite earlier. Would have saved us a lot of trouble with Chief Darhk! Anyways, better late than never. 

It is time to check with Officer Roshesh about Arjun's progress. I have handed Officer Roshesh the list and asked him to note the timings of Arjun and Ashwin. If Arjun has not fared at least equal to Ashwin, if not better, then I think I need to have a session with Roshesh. 

Roshesh is well aware of this and seems to be confident in his training abilities. Well, he has yet to figure out that Ashwin has a far greater threat, or motivation, whatever you want to call it, to do better. Game on, son!
--
ARJUN:The list of the tasks seem unending and I'm already dying. Agent Prescott couldn't have possibly chosen a worse day to do this. Officer Roshesh just finished a grand screwing of almost 18 hours with minimal break. My body is literally breaking and right when Officer Roshesh was completing his session and giving me some rest, Agent Prescott walked in with this idea of checking my progress. Could have done that any time in the last 18 hours, I wanted to scream at him!As soon as Agent Prescott walked out to take a call, I plonked my ass on the ground and closed my eyes to get some rest. Officer Roshesh can kill me for it later, if I survive this. 

Surprisingly, he said nothing. In fact, he had Ashwin warm up in ways that were painful but sweat-free. Man, he is preparing to weaken the enemy. However, my relief was short lived. Agent Prescott barged right in and had a smile that is sure to give me nightmares, if I ever make it to a bed alive!

Next 4 hours, every inch of my body did its best to ensure that I completed before Ashwin. While Agent Prescott stood there with a glare fixed on Ashwin, Officer Roshesh constantly pushed me to do faster and better by his string of curses, threats and motivational words. The man was literally the only reason I was even going right now. I have no idea of the result, but I hope I did good enough to at least sleep for some time before shit storm starts again.
--
ASHWIN:
Arjun was dismissed after our little test. Religion hadn't featured much in my life before that, unless you count curse words as remembering God. But today, I was willing to convert to any religion if they accepted an early entry into their hell because Agent Prescott had promised worse than hell if I under-performed.

As soon as Arjun left, Officer Roshesh handed over the pad to Agent Prescott, who read it out loud for me to see exactly how I performed.
In runs, I was a little behind but in rest, me and Arjun were neck-to-neck. The only things I was able to beat him included weights. 

Agent Prescott looked at Officer Roshesh with a glare but Officer Roshesh merely shrugged saying, "You can't develop muscles overnight. He is not far behind in any of the activities and this is after going through an 18 hour training session. I say he did far better than cadet Ashwin here." Fuck!

"So?" asked Agent Prescott in a tone that had Officer Roshesh re-evaluating his surroundings.
"He deserved some rest, sir. However, these reasons have no effect on our deal, sir."
He had a deal with Officer Roshesh on whose boy performs best. Oh God, I'm so screwed! I don't think any religion can save me now.

Agent Prescott turned towards me with a glared and spoke to Officer Roshesh, "Well, you are right. He performed much better under the circumstances. You have one more week to produce better results with weight. If you don't, be prepared to have an 18 hour session of your own. Dismissed" I was holding a breath, hoping he would let this go but it was all lost when Officer Roshesh was dismissed. 

As soon as Officer Roshesh leaves, I take my opportunity to beg for him to go easy on me. Arjun is not the only one who had quite a day. While my last session was not that long, but Agent Prescott does not need much time in bringing you to near exhaustion. But my begging falls on deaf ears, when he utters one word "Drop". I know that not dropping immediately will only worsen the situation so I shut up and get on all fours waiting to be killed. 

"You embarassed me in front of a junior officer. I had made it much clear to you what happens if you fail. All of your timings are worse than your last timings, so stay in a plank until you can explain exactly how that happened. I do not want to hear sorry or your excuses."
What? How am I supposed to explain that I was tired and I messed up without them sounding like excuses. Shit! My headstone is going to say 'Died in plank'. 

No matter how hard I thought, all I could come up with were apologies and excuses and my entire body was shivering from the plank. I was about to drop when he spoke in a voice that promised a far worse fate if I did not explain before dropping. 

With shaking arms, I spoke, "No explanation, sir. I fucked up" right before I dropped face first.
Without letting me rest, Agent Prescott spoke, "You are going to complete all those exercises 10 seconds before Arjun's time before we leave here" I gulped. There is no way my body can do that. But 'yes, sir' was the only valid answer.

This time, Agent Prescott was on me, breathing fire and burning me up in flames anytime I even thought of slowing down. Except the run, I managed to complete all the exercises in one go without having to repeat it again.

When I failed to perform better in my second run, Agent Prescott took me on the tracks. The run to the tracks was the fastest that I have ever run because his words were clear, "If I cross you in the run from here to tracks, one round on the track and back, tracks will become your second home" 

When we made it there, I was breatheless and too tired to move. I requested and begged for some rest before we did the run on the tracks. The allowance came with a clear signal that the run on the track is going to be faster than one to the tracks. I don't think I can go any faster but I cannot fail either. 

Just when my tongue wasn't lolling like a dog, Agent Prescott ordered the run. My lungs were burning and my legs were screaming and wobbly, but I managed to complete the run just half a step ahead of Agent Prescott. There is no way I could have beat the guy. He is letting me win, I think but only barely. These runs were definitely faster than the ones I failed at.
Again, the begging started. After all, I needed the holy breath to survive. Thankfully, he agreed with an additional penalty of 20 push-ups when we reach back. I would have rejoiced just 20 any other day but today, my body is crying. Again, a 'yes, sir' followed. 

The run back was the hardest run of my life. I pushed through in step with Agent Prescott but I had no energy to even beg for mercy. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wanted to cry. My body was killing me! 

But before I could throw myself a pity party, Agent Prescott spoke, "Next time, remember that you can do much better. If you do it right the first time, you could have made life much easier for yourself. Give more than your 100% once or else.."
I nodded and then, realising my mistake, spoke 'yes, sir' but my body refused to move from the position i was in. In my knees breathless and ready to give up.

But I had a debt to pay. 20 push-ups before I could even think of a bed. Grunting, I got myself in push-up position but before I could start counting, Agent Prescott spoke, "It is rapid fire. Name of our first president"

Down was the answer and up was the count.. 40 shaking words uttered right and freedom, or rest for some time, was mine. Thankfully, I had my brain attached today and I made no mistakes in answering them.