Twelve hours later, back in the forest near Squad Bastards' base in Bar Harbor, Maine.
"Come on, kid! Put your motherfucking hands up!" Axel barks, his voice echoing through the trees.
Leon is barely standing, arms flailing as Axel sends a flurry of straight punches at him.
Oh my god! Oh my god! Leon panics internally, trying—and failing—to block.
A fist smashes into his nose. Blood spurts, and before he can react, another punch lands in the exact same spot, knocking him back.
"Axel, chill! I thought this was training!" Leon yells, clutching his face.
"Yeah, no duh this is training! Put your fucking hands up!" Axel roars, grin wide and vicious.
Shaking from fear, Leon throws his arms up in front of his face.
"Hah! That defense is ass!" Axel says with delight.
He punches straight through Leon's weak guard, slamming a fist into his nose again, then drives a punch deep into Leon's stomach.
"Fuuuhhh!" Leon wheezes, spitting saliva onto the dirt.
He drops to one knee, but before he can fall completely, Axel plants an uppercut on his chin, sending him flat onto his back.
Axel stands over him, hands in his hoodie pockets.
"Come on, kid. Raven told me how bad you fought on your last mission. How am I supposed to fix that if you won't even block?"
Leon struggles to sit up, blood pouring from his nose.
"Ahhh, fuck, I think you broke it! How am I supposed to learn when all you're doing is beating my ass?! You didn't even teach me how to block!" he shouts, frustrated.
Axel scratches his chin, thinking.
"Well, everyone knows the best training is first-hand experience. How else are you supposed to reach the boom?"
"Dude!" Leon smacks his thigh. "I'm not the main character in some shounen anime! I'm not just gonna magically learn mid-fight!"
"Ugh, fine, fine!"
Axel pulls a grenade from his pocket and tosses it into the air. BOOM! It explodes high above them.
"Okay, now that I've calmed the ticking down, get up. Watch closely."
Leon hesitates, but he wipes his nose and stands. Seeing Axel's serious face for once, he positions himself beside him.
"Alright, kid. Where I come from, you need to know how to defend yourself—or knock someone out. So I'm gonna teach you the good old one-two," Axel says, planting his feet apart.
"One-two?" Leon tilts his head.
"Yeah, one-two. Something my uncle taught me back in the day."
"Wait—you have an uncle?" Leon blurts.
Axel glares. "Yeah, uncle. What—you think I just spawned out of an explosion?"
Leon looks away, thinking. He's right… these people had lives before all this. Even someone like him. Weird to imagine.
He shakes the thought away and focuses.
Axel raises his fists—right hand slightly forward, left close to his chin.
"I'm not some martial arts master. I don't do fancy techniques. That's Roxie or maybe Magnus's lane. But I can show you how to handle yourself."
With explosive speed, he throws a right jab, snaps it back, then immediately follows with a left punch.
"Watch closely!"
Leon flinches, but keeps his eyes locked on Axel.
Right punch. Left hook. Back to stance. Right jab. Left uppercut. Every movement fast, precise, aggressive.
"You see that, kid?" Axel asks.
"I mean… yeah, but it kinda just looks like you're punching the air," Leon says cautiously.
"No! It's the one-two!" Axel gestures at himself.
"You throw a jab, then follow up with something different—a hook, an uppercut, whatever it takes to break someone's guard. I usually jab the nose first. If it lands, I hit it again with my left. If they block, I switch it up. Uppercut, swing to the cheek—you mix it so they can't predict you."
Leon nods slowly.
"Ohhh. So the point is to break through their defense."
"Exactly! Straight facts! And you can do a one-two with kicks too. It's simple—something even a weak-ass, scrawny kid like you can handle."
"The backhanded comment was not needed, but fine!" Leon says, fists clenched. "Let's do it. Teach me the one-two. Maybe I can make it my own!"
"Alright. First, we fix your stance," Axel instructs.
***
For five and a half grueling hours, Axel drills the form into him: stance, balance, timing. By sunset, Leon is covered in bruises, his track suit filthy.
"I can't believe this training just turned back into you whooping my ass," Leon groans, sprawled on the ground.
Axel stretches, laughing.
"What an amazing session. Been a hot minute since I just punched something. Usually, I just blow shit up."
He helps Leon to his feet.
"That's enough for today. Roxie's back from her mission. She'll teach you better fighting techniques than I ever could."
As they walk back to base, Leon raises an eyebrow.
"So you're saying this Roxie woman will train me next?"
"Yeah. Out of everyone here, she's the most skilled in close combat. If you wanted brute force, Magnus would be your guy. Though… he'd probably just ignore you."
"Yeah, okay, I'll stick with skill training. No thanks to being ignored. Wonder what she's like—"
Leon walks inside—and freezes.
Standing in the middle of the living room, completely naked, is a 5'7" tan-skinned woman with caramel-highlighted brown hair and a body sculpted like a fighter's. She holds a beer bottle in each hand, her face flushed bright red.
"Ohhh, so this is the newbie? Damn! Fit but scrawny. A real cutie—or maybe that's just the booze talkin'!" she slurs, stumbling toward him.
"Ahhhh! What the hell?! Why are you butt-naked?!" Leon shouts, covering his eyes.
"Don't mind me! Just got my back blown out real good for the first time in forever! Nothing like a drink after some passionate thrusting!" she says proudly, voice thick with alcohol.
"That still doesn't explain why you're naked in the middle of the damn living room!" Leon yells, flustered.
"Oh, right!" She plants her feet, almost toppling over. She puts a hand to her chest.
"My name is Roxie Vault! How do you do?"
Leon peeks through his fingers, horrified. This… is gonna be worse than Axel.