Chapter 60 Doing a favor for Sarge

Luke was taken into an SUV one morning, not yet fully awake, blinking as he was placed in a chair. He looked around at the inscriptions on the walls.

"Medical institute," he mumbled.

A doctor appeared in front of him with a tablet. Luke turned pale, it was the same one who had given him the injection and all the others before that. 

She smiled when she saw him.

"We're going to spend a lot of time together today Luke."

" Uhhh why?"

" Because of your internship," she looked at her tablet. " It says here, we have to do a full physical."

" So I have to lie in a scanner?"

" No. Some things the scanner can't do, that's why I'm here. What do you want to start with?"

"Uh... the worst ones first?" 

She looked at him like a cat looks at a mouse.

"Good."

This was horror scenario number one for him. Giving a stool and urine sample wasn't a big deal since he hadn't been to the bathroom until now anyway. Then she cut off some of his hair and brought his haircut up to date. 

He was fine with that, mouth and nose swab, then something from his ears, that was borderline. She handed him a cup. Luke looked inside.

"I've already peed in one."

" No. A sperm sample is expected."

" What's the point? I'm banned until I'm twenty anyway." 

" Never mind, the technicians can bypass the lockdown in the lab if they have to. That's for the archiving hatch."

" I see." He took the beaker and looked around, she continued to look at him.

"Are you looking for something specific?"

" Privacy?" 

" No, you can't cheat Luke."

" Who cheats in the cup?" 

" There have been some..." 

He looked at her in disbelief.

" Uh... then I can't..." 

" There are 3 options, you jerk off, you take the machine over there" she pointed to a suspicious box " or " she grinned.

" I'll take the machine " he turned and walked over to the thing. He scrutinized it.

He closed his eyes, wondering what he was doing here, was grabbed and held tightly. He opened his eyes, the doctor was standing in front of him grinning, he saw two HULK versions of women. 

Exaggerated to be sure, but muscular they were. 

"Luke, how long have I known you?"

"According to my mother, since I puked all over your clothes when you were a baby," he replied dryly.

She smiled.

" See, I need to see if you've grown healthy. "

"Uh-huh..." 

" And since I've been told that you're at boarding school ..." 

Luke rolled his eyes. She smiled.

" I should become an astronaut and fuck off to the aliens..."

She ran a finger over her cheek.

"You'll have to give something for that, Luke." 

Luke looked at her.

"Really? I thought so, Eal ..." 

"Right, and you've got a lot to learn at university and ..." 

" Let's get this over with..." 

He'd imagined something like this before, but there was no magic or anything. After the donation, he was pushed into the scanning chamber, where he was scanned naked. Needles pricked him and blood was drawn. Then a breath test and so on. 

Then came the sports test, the endurance test, the coordination test. At the end, he was placed on a chair with a table. John put a piece of paper in front of him with a pen.

"Writing test." 

Luke groaned.

" After that, it's over ..." 

" Really? I don't need a doctor anymore..."

The named woman stood next to John and looked down at Luke.

" Yes...?" 

" Nix nix... Hopefully the donation isn't messed up this time..." 

She smiled and John looked at her.

" I can't help it, fell to the floor and..." 

" I don't want to know..." 

Luke started the test, staring at the bundle of questions, wondering who the hell came up with such devilish stuff and what the point of it was. He pondered and wrote down all the gossip his brain could scrape together that he had ever had to listen to from his family.

Relieved, he put the sheet on the table and John took the pile.

"Very good, can you drive him back?" John said to the doctor, who smiled and looked at Luke.

"Of course."

For Luke, it was a horror ride that took forever. 

He just flopped wearily into his bed and went straight to sleep, waking up the next morning. He looked at his watch and wondered why he hadn't been picked up for training. A glance at his cell phone gave him the answer, as Tes wished him all the best for the test. 

He washed up, changed and went to school after breakfast because it was Monday. Relieved, he sat down in his seat.

The class trundled in, Eddie stopped in front of him.

"You look like shit!" 

Luke nodded and yawned. He felt someone holding his head.

"Shit, why do you have so many scratches?" came from Leo.

Memories of the car ride came to Luke's mind and made him shudder. 

"I fell into the clutches of a predator."

She looked at him doubtfully.

Sarge came in in a very good mood. He looked at Luke.

" Ah, there he is, I heard yesterday that you fell into the clutches of a predator."

" Unfortunately..."

"What do you mean, Sarge?" came from Lina.

"He did some tests for his internship yesterday and I think there were predators in there too."

"Yes. With the worst of them all."

"Oh come on, it can't have been that bad. They praised you when I had to go to the interview."

Luke cocked his head to one side.

"And I'm supposed to take you to another test today after training." 

Luke didn't believe a word he said.

So first he had to go to class and then to training, where Sarge was waiting for him. They were silent during the ride, Luke staring at the grounds of the base.

They came to a concrete block-like building where they went inside and Luke had to change. He was given overalls, rubber boots, a rubber apron and gloves. He looked questioningly at Sarge, who was still in BDU.

"What kind of test is this? "

" Well ..." 

" Oohh, he's cute!" came a booming female voice and Luke's breath caught as if something was squeezing him. 

"I'm borrowing you, I really need to get a present for Liz." 

Luke was set down, glancing at the pusher. A black bear in female form. He stared at Sarge.

" You want me to do your cleanup?"

"Good luck, Gitte will pick you up." 

He was quickly gone.

Luke looked after him and then at the woman.

" I'm not even in the army. "

"George said you took the test for it yesterday, so think of it as a preliminary exercise. "

" So he was messing with me ..." 

" Kind of yes."

" And what do I have to do anyway and what did he do anyway?" 

" Put on clothes and stuff... nothing bad. Liz has pronounced a taboo." 

"I see, and what should I do now?"

" I'll introduce you to the others and then I'll tell you what your job will be. "

Luke was shown around, there were 4 others, all bears like the woman called Holly, the others were Polly, Karin, Paula and Chantal. In terms of procedure, those who had to come in here had to take off dirty clothes, then decontaminate, then get cleaned and then put on new clothes. Luke just had to collect the dirty clothes and put them in the allocated bins.

The first round was easy, just one squad that was through pretty quickly. In his opinion, the clothes were still in order and the sorting went smoothly.

The second round was a bit more hectic, more material.

Third round was the same until 12, then it became hell. Paula called it the hydra lap. 

Now he saw what Sarge meant by predators, 25 women covered in blood, guts, dirt and whatever else. Chattering and blaspheming.

He had to wait until he got a sign that they were in the next room. And collected the huge mountain of things. He was ready and waiting after sorting.

"Luke, you have to go into the ventilation shaft and clear the pipe."

" Why me?"

" Lil's not here, she's doing it." Luke looked at her. Effortlessly he was lifted up and crawled into the air shaft, finding the pipe hissing away. Grumbling and cursing, he kicked at it until it stopped. Now the only question was how to get out. Holly told him to keep crawling, he would get out through the corridor. 

Sure enough, he came to an intersection she hadn't said anything about. He turned left, which took him into the sauna air shaft, he crawled on, the air shaft gave way, he landed with a crash. He heard voices, opened his eyes, looked into angry women's faces, looked around, all naked, showering. 

"Look, a peeping Tom," came the rumbling voice. 

Luke gave the middle finger, jumped up, dodged their grips, used one as a springboard and shimmied to the other side of the air shaft. Ran away as fast as he could. Landed in the clothes counter, breathing heavily. Where Polly and Holly stood staring at him.

"You didn't say anything about a diversion and you didn't say anything about a rotten vent!" 

" Oh right, maintenance wanted to replace those." 

Slowly the airlock opened, Luke raced behind Holly.

"They're bloody fast ..." 

Holly laughed.

 He heard angry voices.

"Where's the peeping tom?"

Holly clapped loudly.

"Girls, calm down!"

" No, we'll break his bones!"

" It's not his fault, he fell down an old manhole."

" Pppff tensioner remains tensioner."

" Really? And why didn't you catch him straight away?" 

" He jumped and ran away!"

" Then he can't be a peeper." 

The leader came closer.

" He's hiding behind you, come on, we'll teach you a Lexion."

They emerged into view, Luke cursing. He ran for all his legs were worth. A new definition in his world when it came to a chase. Except now his pursuers were Hydras of different colors. He was surrounded and Leader came up to him, grinning.

"Dead end, kid, we're just going to slap you around."

Luke cursed at Sarge.

"Can't you guys just pretend nothing happened? I mean I saw more of all that commotion than I did in the few seconds I was in the room earlier..." 

He saw was the wrong choice of words.

"Get him!" 

He cursed, fighting for his life. 

He dodged the grabs, kicked the grapplers legs away, delivered the next blow to the head and made a break for it. This time he had a target. The chamber where the contaminated items were packed into containers. He hurried inside and closed the heavy door. As soon as he entered the room, there was a banging on the door.

" Room out you little piece!" 

" Fuck you church bells! You have to drag me out of here!" 

That seemed to upset the man even more. He banged even louder. 

Luke squatted down on a folding chair and took a breath.

"So... what now... I don't know..." he looked down at his gloves.

Luke didn't know how long, at some point there was a knock on the door.

"Luke, please open the door. " came from Gitte.

"What about the Furies?" he got up and went to the door.

" They won't hurt you."

He opened the door, Gitte stood there in her BDU, behind her the whole pack of women staring angrily at him.

She scanned him, confused.

"Holly said they chased you and surrounded you."

"Ran off after I gave them a few ..." 

"He was tense!" came from the leader, pushing herself forward.

"Yes, if you rush me! Of course I can see your tits, asses and pussies! "

A vein throbbed on her forehead.

"Come on, you little piece of shit!" 

" Yeah? Last time you got punched in the head and cried!" came from Luke.

"Annabelle, Holly said it was an accident and Eduardo from maintenance said he wondered why the shaft hadn't come down before. So.Luke didn't do it on purpose."

Annabelle growled. Gitte looked at her.

" Luke apologize to them."

" What? For what?"

She looked at him.

" Do me a favor and you violated their privacy."

" So, they wanted to lynch me ..." 

He got a slap on the back of the head.

" You'll apologize, too."

"And if not?"

Gitte smiled.

"Annabelle, do you really want to talk to me about it?"

" He called me a church bell!"

Gitte looked at Luke.

"What? She only has church bells..." he got another slap.

"What did I tell you about that?" 

" Yeah, I don't know, you gave me an earful when I called you that. "

" How do you even know him?" came from Annabelle.

Gitte looked at her.

" That's Sue's little one, really...3/4 of you had him in your arms as a dwarf."

"That's the curly-haired gnome..."

Luke rolled his eyes.

After an hour of apologizing, moving. Was driven home by Gitte. He was allowed home. Inside, his mother was sitting on the sofa with Liz, both looking at him.

"You're late Luke, training can't take that long."

" I had to do a >favor< for Sarge, that was hell Grandma Gitte picked me up."

Liz raised an eyebrow.

"Why would you do a favor for George?"

"He just said he was going to get your present and left me in hell ..."

Liz stood in front of him.

" He was supposed to clean up today..." 

"Yeah. That really sucks, my respect to the four of them that do that every day. " He wanted to go to his room. Liz stopped him. Clicked something on her cell phone.

"They say they're from a cheeky, blonde, short-haired three-headed boy," she looked at him. 

" You covered the hardcore squad of Hydras?" 

"Uh, no. I was supposed to fix a shit pipe, the shaft collapsed and then they chased me. "

"So you peeping then," came a grin from his mother, who was sitting on the sofa.

"It's not like I've never seen naked women before," came from him emotionlessly. 

Liz felt him over, looking at the scratches on his back.

"These are from yesterday..." 

"I see, and how did you get them yesterday?"

Luke thought about it, he couldn't say he was eaten alive.

"I had a date." 

"You were dating?"

" His clothes smelled of perfume Liz and Luke uses deodorant."

Liz looked at him scrutinizingly.

" Dates... who from your class?"

" One from my class. Liz, please...."

" So someone else, and since you've been pretty broken by Tes and us when it comes to women." 

He was dragged to the sofa and sat down.

" So what kind of guy was it?"

Luke looked at him.

" Yeah I don't know it was a blonde, with fingernails and a full bosom..."

His mother scowled at him.

" What? There's nothing running around that I really want anyway." 

"And what do you want?" 

" What do I want? "

They both nodded. Luke looked at the ceiling.

"I'm not getting that."

"And why not?"

Luke grinned.

"Because you broke me, so I have to find something. Something close to the standard."

They both looked at him uncomprehendingly.

"So something like Tes or," he looked at Liz, "something like you, but ... " He grinned. 

" There's no such thing. " 

Liz looked at him in silence.

" Why me and not your mother? "

Luke looked at her, then at Liz.

"You almost look like twins, and Dad said you both used it to fool people when you were teenagers."

"She's got more boobs than me..."

Luke stood up.

"But you have one thing in common."

They both looked at him.

"You both snore like chainsaws."

He barely made it into a room and leaned against the door. He had to keep his mouth shut, it was getting dangerous. 

The next day school went quietly, Sarge acted as if nothing had happened, after practice he was picked up by Min. Luke looked around confused as it wasn't in the direction of the house.

"Ehh where are we going? "

" Little punishment work because you did so much yesterday."

" Why? Should I have stayed there and broken my bones?" 

" That would be the easiest way out."

He looked out of the window.

"Ttzz ..." 

He was driven to the loading bay, dropped off in front of a grumpy Cuban and had to spend the rest of the evening lugging crates of freight.

This went on all week, sometimes he had to collect casings from the shooting ranges, then refill cartridges, rehang targets. Then cleaning buildings with a mop. Slaving away in the laundry.

Or serving food in the canteen, trying to keep a straight face. No matter how big the slogans were. 

It just got him all worked up, so that the next day at training Tes touched him on the head and gave him a worried look.

"You don't look well."

"They've been dragging me to stupid jobs for the last few days..." 

" Work... what kind of work?" 

So he told her what he had experienced so far. The more he told her, the angrier she got. So it was just fitness training that evening. He left the facility and Mei stood there waiting.

"Really now? "

" Sure. Better to learn about the shitty job now than regret it later."

" So let me get this straight, you're sending me to this shit because I want to do exo?" 

"Something like that, yes." 

"I see, and if I refuse?" 

"Try it and you'll see." 

He walked past her to his scooter, stepped on the gas and sped off. He didn't get far, a police patrol stopped him and played dirty. No driver's license, no vehicle documents, etc. etc. He was taken to the nearest police station and put in a cell. Luke looked at the cell.

"Oha, there's something new." He lay down.

He fell asleep and nothing happened. They let him stew in there for three days. Until Bettina got him out without comment. He had to go with her to the nearest ministry to get his driver's license and registration papers. Then they unloaded him in front of his house. Luke got out, stretched, looked at his grandfather's house, where John stood grinning. Bettina looked at him. 

Luke didn't give a damn, went to the door, was stopped by Sarge.

"Where have you been?"

He looked at him.

" In jail Sarge, because I didn't feel like doing their punishment work." 

Sarge looked at John.

"Sarge, if I dropped out of school now, what kind of degree would I have?" 

"In terms of grades, A-levels, enough for university..."

" Ah, thanks." He disengaged and went inside. He had to wash up and change. He sat down at the table and searched the net for the subject. 

In the morning, he was taken to his grandfather's house and saw on TV how the company's troops were preventing the removal of goods, the access gates to the facilities were sealed off.

Gitte looked at the television.

"Tz they're exaggerating..." 

Alex sighed.

" Luke, there won't be any more stuff. "

Gitte hurried over to him.

"What, why? You said yesterday ..."

Alex pressed a voice message on a tablet.

"Alex Tes complained that she hadn't seen Luke for days and before that he looked more shit than healthy. Then she told me he has to work without pay. I'll wait for your decision, until then I'll cancel the next transports."

"What transports?" came from Gitte.

"All of them..." 

She turned pale.

"Then I don't have to do the work any more?" came dryly from Luke.

" You're free..."

" Thank you..." Luke left, got on his scooter and roared off to school.

Sarge had told them he was ill.

He said nothing.