006

The next thing Norman saw when he opened his eyes was the vast blue sky, his body felt cold because of the weather, and it was hard to breathe, he lifted his body and realized that the whole landscape had changed completely.

He knew for sure that it was very possible that he was not in New York, he might not even be in the United States, the only thing he could see were snowy mountains, and he was not an expert in geography to be able to deduce where he was with only that information.

He brought his hand to his waist and felt the absence of his weapon, it was logical that he would bring a method of defense to such a meeting, of course it was just as logical to take the same weapon from him.

"It was a good thought" a man's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, he quickly looked to where the sound was coming from and could see Henri still dressed in his black suit while holding his weapon in his hands.

"A very naive one though, did you really believe that a simple firearm could save you?" he asked sounding genuinely curious.

"Probably not, and the fact that I fainted without knowing what was going on confirmed it, but I felt safer with it" answered the Osborn sincerely.

Ducard just shook his head as he approached Norman, being at a close distance he gave him the gun: "Shoot me" he said.

For a moment Norman didn't know what to do, but his hesitation didn't last long, and he pulled the trigger, just so nothing happens, before he could react he felt the gun being snatched from his hand and a blade resting on his throat.

"Well, you didn't hesitate" mentioned Ducard while he kept pressing a kind of knife on Norman's throat: "But you must know that a firearm is not trustworthy" he started to say: "Satellites, drones, firearms, the more you trust them the more screwed you will be when they fail" he finished saying and retracted his blade before looking at Norman.

"But a blade will never fail, their only limit is the person who is wielding it, from now on I will teach you everything you need to know if you can't handle the training then you will simply die" he mentioned before starting to walk being followed by a recovered Norman.

His firearm was left behind, things had turned out better than expected, now he just had to resist whatever they threw at him.

…

Norman didn't really know how long it had been since he arrived in the mountains and Ducard never mentioned it, but in his deductions it was likely to have been about 28 days.

So he would place it on March 6, 2009, and if he was correct Tony must have been kidnapped a short time ago, and he just hoped Bernard would follow his directions, otherwise he would have missed a great business opportunity.

Before he could think about it any further he had to raise his hands in order to block a kick that was coming straight at him, once blocked he hit back hard however he almost fell off the pillars.

One of Ducard's training methods was to fight for hours on several pillars several feet above the ground, one false step, and you would fall directly on the cold ground that although it did not hurt as much as he thought at first, it definitely hurt.

The first martial art that Ducard began to teach him was Savate or better known as French Kickboxing, for what he has learned this type of martial art focuses on the movement of the legs and gives priority to connect fast and effective kicks against the opponent and also serves as an aid to control the balance which was certainly a huge help in the fights, of course he had to give his own style to use the pillars.

"Concentrate!" a strict voice exclaimed: "Your reaction is too slow, you need to stop thinking, your reaction must be like a second nature, you need to predict my movements to be able to counter them, otherwise you will be an open book for your opponents" I explained without stopping attacking him.

Soon he changed his stance, this time he was using Boxing, which was a good martial art that allowed him to dodge the attacks while he prepared to counterattack, Ducard just gave him an evaluative look before starting a series of quick attacks.

Norman simply dodged them while waiting for the opportunity to counter, when he saw it he attacked without any hesitation with a series of quick strikes and finally giving a surprise hook with the aim of destabilizing Ducard to make him fall.

Before he could celebrate he felt how his stomach was hit and practically felt all the air being expelled from his body before he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Argh" an incomprehensible sound left his lips as he felt the pain of the combined blow and fall.

Shortly after he looked at Ducard's shadow and quickly got up from the ground, regardless of his condition they were in the middle of training, so he had to be aware of all types of attacks.

"You can take a break, we have been in combat for 5 hours, I am sure that a little more, and you will faint" he explained and Norman only relaxed his posture before his master's words.

"Besides, that last attack was about to hit me" he added in a delayed way:

-You don't need to lie to make me feel better- the Osborn told him.

"I don't, I wouldn't gain anything from it" he answered: "It was a genuine compliment, only a rookie has been as close to hit me as you, but even she took about six months" he explained without giving too many details.

'She?' thought the Osborn, he didn't ask Ducard because it was obvious he wouldn't tell him at all: "Tomorrow we'll continue with your training" Ducard mentioned to him before starting to walk towards a cabin.

Norman just laid down on the ground, since he started training with Henri it had been worse than he thought, he was basically being used as a walking punching bag, however it didn't mean he wasn't learning, it was just that Ducard was too strong and skilled, which led him to think he was an enhanced individual, but he knew he couldn't confirm that theory, at least not anytime soon.

…

In that way the time passed, after the first 40 days Norman stopped counting how much had happened and only concentrated on everything that Ducard taught him, when Ducard had considered him ready enough for hand-to-hand combat, he began to teach him new techniques.

In that way he began to train him in stealth, espionage, combat with weapons, even in spite of Ducard's reluctance to firearms the Osborn managed to get Ducard to train him in firearms.

The Osborn immediately understood the reason for Ducard's words, the more time he spent in training the more demanding he was, he was sure that few people could reach the end of their training.

Even he himself had thought many times about dropping the towel, but then he would grit his teeth and beat himself up over the thought, there was no way he would do something like that.

The only breaks he had from his training was when he was practicing computer skills, in Ducard's words the only reason S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't discover him was because he intervened otherwise Norman would have been discovered when he stole the information from his file.

Something that ended up not making sense in Norman's mind was about the abilities Ducard himself had, he knew he was at Marvel, but still it was a complete exaggeration all the knowledge he possessed.

Besides whom exactly was she? Many times Ducard compared him to a woman saying he was certainly on par with the best apprentice he ever had, but he never answered who she was, the Osborn only knew he had an affection for the woman not a romantic one, more like a paternal one, but his view of Ducard could not see him as a father.

Those thoughts were always coming and going in his mind, but they were exterminated as quickly as they appeared, if Ducard didn't want to tell him then there would be no point in thinking about it.

Currently, the Osborn found himself meditating a bit, Ducard always said it was a good way to calm down and be at peace with yourself or at least try to find it, so that was what he was trying to do.

Two days ago Ducard had left the mountain only leaving behind an antique sand timer, he mentioned that it had taught him all he could, and now he had to walk by himself however he mentioned that he was only allowed to leave the mountain when the timer was empty.

Norman just nodded at the man's indication, in all the time Ducard taught him he began to form respect and a bit of admiration for the man and because of that he was willing to follow his last order, anyway he would only have to wait one more night before he could go home.

…

Norman woke up sometime during the night, he simply could not fall asleep, his instincts would not let him.

A blade was in his right hand, it was the last and first gift Ducard had given him and if his instincts were correct it would be the first time he would use it.

Using the darkness of the night the Osborn moved stealthily as he had learned and hid in a blind spot that would allow him to see his room, not long after leaving his room he watched as three people entered the room all of them wearing a completely black suit that covered their entire bodies.

However, they soon left the room finding no one in it, the leader gave a few orders in a language he could not understand, but probably was from an Asian country, when they finished speaking both the leader and another began to leave the cabin possibly in their search leaving one of them completely alone.

The perfect opportunity for Norman carefully and silently the Osborn approached what he had qualified as his enemy and once he was in range he extended his sword and cut off his head without giving him a chance to respond.

Quickly and naturally the Osborn dressed in the clothes of the man he had just murdered.

Regardless of the blood on the uniform the Osborn began to head for the exit of the cabin, his first thought was to go for the leader, but it was certain that of the three he was the most experienced in combat, so he decided to go for the other man.

He found him near the pillars where he trained every morning, a plan formed in his mind, and hopefully it would be loud enough for the third man to hear him and that way he could take him by the lower lair.

Soon the sound of the training pillars falling to the ground could be heard in the quiet night.

When the third man arrived at the place he only looked at his two partners, one of them was buried by the huge pillars and only one hand was visible, the other seemed to have been in a fight as his clothing was covered in blood, but he could tell that he was still breathing even if it was weak.

With care and his weapon ready he approached the body of his partner as he was close to him, he knelt down to see his condition, but his good intentions were greeted with a slash to the throat as a blade pierced his stomach, surprise was the last feeling his eyes showed before he died.

Norman for his part only retracted his blade and threw away the dagger with which he had cut the person's throat and carefully cleaned the blade with his own clothing.

He had killed three people on this night and despite feeling a little strange there was not really any negative feelings, in his old world his hands were stained with blood maybe not in a direct way, but they were, so he was prepared to take a life.

Finally the Osborn removed the uniform from his attacker and began to head off the mountain, no matter if it was Ducard who ordered the attack or not, this place was no longer safe so there was no point in carrying out his order.

With that thought he started down the mountain he needed to find a way to communicate with Bernard as soon as possible.

In no time he noticed two people watching him in the distance, one of them was Henri Ducard, but the other person was a relatively young woman who was dressed in a black combat suit that could not hide her natural beauty.

"Is it really necessary to test him like that?" asked the woman.

"Maybe" answered Ducard without giving a concrete answer: "If he had not met your expectations you would have killed him, wouldn't you?" the woman said again changing her question.

"But he did it, in 6 months he learned what it took you a year to learn" he said simply: "If he had not been able to do this then it would not make sense that he had so much power and knowledge" he continued saying.

"A blade incapable of killing is a useless blade" he finished by saying and this time the woman did not answer, she just watched the retreating silhouette of the Osborn.

When it was impossible to see Ducard and the mysterious woman left the place.