Chapter 5 Artemis
I watched as Donovan took to the climbing wall, no chalk on his hands, just pure grit. He climbed all the way up—a hundred feet off the ground, I think. He punched the alarm, and had his moment of applause from everyone else training.
“He’s the best,” Mercy said. “Or he used to be. I heard about what the two of you got up to.”
“It was nothing, we had unfinished business,” I said.
“So, the business is finished?” she asked.
Staring at Donovan’s back as he climbed down the wall with just as much ease and swagger as he had climbing it.
Mercy snapped her fingers in front of my face.
“Yes, it’s finished,” I said. “But I would like someone else to train me. I don’t think he can be professional.
You heard him, he was trying to get me to climb this wall without the harness. I could’ve died.”
Mercy’s gaze cut through me like a knife. “He was testing you, and maybe me,” He red lips pursed before she smacked them. “Either way, you’re stuck together. And you’ll have to work through whatever it is you’re doing together.”
I didn’t know if she wanted us to fuck it out or fight it out. She was impossible to read. Did she really want him to train me? Was this punishment for him, or for me? I had a lot of questions I knew wouldn’t be answered.
“Ok, Donovan,” she said, walking towards him with the sharp clop of her heels. “You’ve proved your point to the trainee.” She gestured back to me without even looking. “Now, are you going to take this seriously? It’s been a handful of days, and I don’t think your heart is in it.”
He scoffed, dusting his hands down his sweatpants.
“My heart isn’t in it,” he said. “You know that already. I want to be out there, not in here reliving the reason why I—” Donovan’s hardened eyes stared at me, they softened a little, like he was remembering the time we spent together fondly.
“Art and I have a history, and he deserves someone who doesn’t know him. ”
“We’re not going over this again, I thought you were fine with it,” she said.
“Turns out I’m not,” he said, raising his hands and his voice.
She struck the side of his face with a slap, the sound echoed.
“Don’t speak to me like that,” she said.
“You owe it to him. If that’s what you want to hear, Donovan.
I’ll tell you it, in front of him, and everyone else.
I asked you—no, forced you to train him because you put him into the line of fire.
We took him, helped him, and now, you’re here to shape him.
If you can’t do that, we’re going to have a bigger problem. ”
“Mercy, he was supposed to go off to college,” he said.
Raising both my hands and waving them. “I’m still here,” I said.
“I wanna train. I made my decision. I don’t care who trains me.
I just wanna learn.” I walked toward the climbing wall.
“If that means proving to you I can follow orders, I’ll fucking do it.
” Without hesitation, fueled by pure adrenaline, my fingers hooked into the jutting stone face, my feet finding their place, I went up.
There silence below me. A single look revealed the heights I’d climbed—maybe halfway up.
Fifty feet off the ground. There was no hardness, no protection.
I didn’t know why I’d done it. For attention was probably the biggest bet, but I needed to prove I could do it since he’d asked—and I wasn’t going to get chewed out for not following orders.
“You can climb back down now,” Donovan said.
“Unless you feel like you can push on,” Mercy said. “There’s got to be some prestige in climbing to the top, besting your trainer.”
She was right. If I could reach the bell and have the buzzer ding, everyone would applaud me again, and maybe I wouldn’t break he record, but I’d definitely earn something for doing it unharnessed.
“Take your time,” Donovan said. “Be careful.”
“Sweeten the deal, Artemis, if you do it, I’ll personally put money in your account.”
It was one of the reasons I was doing this, money could be used to help people out there, it could be used against the people whose one goal it was to target the poor, make them their mules, and kill them.
I didn’t put a second thought into it, and my fingers were itching to keep going, all the way, foot placements became precarious with the ledges being less than an inch out.
Maybe I should’ve used the practice wall with all the colorful hand holds instead of the wall face itself.
My fingers were becoming numb and sweat was collecting on my forehead making a beeline for my eyes, where it was already beginning to sting from the saltiness.
I controlled my breathing, like I remember River telling me before pulling the trigger.
I did it. I pressed the alarm, and as everyone applauded me. I had to get down.
It took me twice as long, but I managed. All the way to my shaky feet on the ground and the reddened tips of my fingers which had received some small cuts from the jutted rock.
“I’ll do it,” Donovan said in my face.
Mercy stood behind, a hand on her hip. “You said that once already. If you flake, Donovan. I’ll make sure you feel it.”
He smirked at me, and I saw the old Donovan there.
The guy who went to the store for a pack of cigs and came back to me on the rooftop with two bottles of wine and noodles.
I always asked if he’d paid for it, and he’d avoid it, because I knew he was always trying to prove he wasn’t just a gun for hire, he was a skilled thief too.
“Do I get a say in it?” I asked.
“No,” Mercy answered plainly. “Well done for reaching the top. You should see the medical team about your hands. And less shaking. If you’re not in control of your nerves—”
“They’ll control you,” Donovan finished. “I’ll get him seen, thanks, Mercy.” He gave a brief head turn and nod.
* * *
Whichever floor the medical bay was on must’ve been deeper under ground—or the training floor was, either way, my ears popped numerous times going between the floors.
There were rooms and suites almost laid out like the apartments.
I was busy looking around. This hadn’t been where I came for my psych eval or the blood draw.
Ahead of us was a circular reception desk.
“I have a trainee here, his hands need looking at,” Donovan said.
The receptionist nodded. “Someone will be with you right away.” She gestured to a row of seats.
As we were about to sit, a woman approached in the same shirt-uniform style that all the workers wore. “I’m Annabeth, I’m a nurse here, if you’d like to follow me.”
We followed into a private room and I got comfy on the medical bed. I leaned back as Donovan stood over me and the nurse lifted my t-shirt slightly before I flinched. “What are you—”
“We’re checking in on your vitals, Mr. Grey,” she said. “Just need to put these sticky things on you.”
Donovan smiled, and I wanted for a desperate moment to go back to where we were all those months ago in a bed at noon, the breeze, the sunlight, the only thing on our minds was where we were going to grab lunch from.
“Ok, so you’ve got some blisters about to form,” the nurse said. “Are you hands cramping at all?”
“No, why?” I asked.
“Just curious about your salt intake, that’s all,” she said. “You know, muscle cramping is an issue that hurts a lot of agents when they’re out on jobs.”
“Good to know.”
River walked into the room and sighed, placing a hand to his chest. “Oh my god, I got a notification and it said, Artemis is on the medical ward, and I—” He started laughing. “Obviously, I can see now that you’re just being check up on.”
“I climbed the wall, no harness,” I bragged.
“It was stupid,” Donovan grumbled.
“He told me to do it.”
“As a joke.” His eyes turned to slits as he stared at me.
Annabeth, the nurse giggled as she took care of my hands with some tingling creams. “I think trainers need to remember that trainees are supposed to do everything their mentor tells them,” she said. “Just my two cents.”
“Exactly, thank you, I was being a good trainee.”
“Mhm,” Donovan let out, he leaned in close, his face to mine, the stubble tickling against my earlobe. “Or a good boy,” he said. “If you’re so ready to be my submissive, we’ll have to go over proper ground rules.”
Annabeth made a noise. “Heart rate is increased,” she said.
“It’s nothing,” Donovan said as I could actively feel the monitors stuck to my chest become unstuck from sweat. “I was letting Art know how good he was following my orders.” His hands ruffled through my hair, softer, turning rough with the way he pulled my hair into his fist. “Isn’t that right?”
“That’s right.”
River chuckled. “I can see why Mercy paired you,” he said. “I’ve read all about your relationship.”
“Get out,” Donovan snapped.
He looked at me before running away.
“You don’t have to be so mean,” I said.
“We’re not together anymore,” he said. “You don’t get a say in how I act or what I do.”
“Mr. Kurt,” Annabeth said. “If I could ask you to also leave, I’m trying my best to mend your trainees hands and you’re distracting him.”
Relief wet the back of my neck, although I wished I’d been the one to come to my own rescue, but having someone else do it was nice too. Donovan left, but I could feel his presence looming around the corner, probably torturing River no doubt.
“Sorry about that,” Annabeth said. “A lot of the people here think they’re too big or too strong, and just assume they’re the biggest and best in whatever room they’re in.”
“I hope that’s never me,” I mumbled. “I just want to help people.”
She paused, pursing her lips slightly as she stared at me, as preparing to say something. “I think your hands will survive,” she said. “You can use this salve on your palms for the next two days.” She handed me a white unbranded tube. “Don’t let anyone else use it, and don’t let it leave Sanctum.”
“Ok, I won’t.”
“Good,” she said, pulling her gloves off.
“Can I ask why?”
“Property of Sanctum,” she said with a shrug. “They make this stuff on-site, if it leaves, people might reverse engineer it or—something. Sorry, I know I’m trained to answer that question.”
There was still so much to this place I didn’t know. “They have a lab?”
“Of course.”
“Duh, obviously, how else are you running blood samples,” I said, shaking my head. I looked to the side wall, it was all white. She’d be given the tube from a deliverable slot. I wondered what else they would give out. ”You mentioned cramps.”
“If you’re experiencing them, it could be a sign that you’re low on sodium or electrolytes,” she said. “But I know there are sports drinks in the canteen. You know, the ones that are unnatural blue or neon. They’ll help you right.”
“And headaches?”
“Water,” she said. “What are trying to get?”
“Nothing, just trying to make sure I address everything before I leave.”
“If you do need pain killers, we can run full body scans, but if it’s not something debilitating, Mercy will call it a waste and bill you directly,” she said. “So, it’s probably best just to ask for what you need.”
Donovan appeared in the doorway. “Training hasn’t stopped,” he said. “Come on, we’re going to watch some hand-to-hand combat.”
Annabeth chuckled. “Sounds fun.”
“I hope so,” I mumbled. “Just watching?”
He had a wicked smile—I used to love it, but now, I wasn’t to keen.
* * *
A wide room—seemingly endless with shadowy darkness between the spotlights illuminating sparring zones. Standing in the crowd as a man and woman were in a metal cage, no gloves, no protective gear, they were just going at it.
Donovan grinned, grabbing at the front of my t-shirt as he pulled me through the crowd to get a front row view of it. “This is where you’ll be,” he told me. “If you don’t do well. You’ll end up in the cages.”
“No, I don’t—” I had to tell myself to stop being so precious. “When?”
He smiled. “That’s the right question,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not forcing you in here. But I think it’s important you see how ruthless people are. This is the one area where you can actual beat someone else’s ass, and they’ll pay you for the privilege.”
The metal cage clanged as the man’s face was thrashed against it. Yanked back the metal square had left indentations on his face.
“What do you mean?”
“These are sanctioned fights, people bet, people put money on the line, most of it from those two fighters themselves. The cages.”
“And they fight, man and woman?”
Donovan shrugged. “It depends on who you want to fight,” he said. “The moment you see a woman and think she’s weaker, that’s when you’re already on the ground with a knife to your throat. But don’t worry, no weapons in the cage. That one is a hard rule.”
I watched as they fought, going in rounds of ninety seconds.
I wondered why they were such short rounds, but they packed a lot in.
And there was no telling who was going to win, both of them had won rounds, both of them look exhausted, their skin painted in sweat and blood.
The lights above must’ve been cooking them too.
“Tell me you’re not planning on putting me in there anytime soon,” I said.
He laughed. “I can’t make you do this one, I’m just testing you. Once this is over, we need to discuss how things are going to work going forward. Professionally.”
For those fifteen minutes, I’d been panicking about going in there, and now, I didn’t have to.
I didn’t know if I should thank him, or punch him for getting my heart racing—again.
It was his job, and this was mine, I needed to train.
Going into the cage might’ve actually been a good idea—maybe I’d challenge Donovan himself.