bjornwilde

I mentioned this to

camwyn this morning and she mentioned she would have loved to had read it, so since I needed to write something, here it is. This was part of my head canon for Ultimate Ben Grimm following the events of Ultimatum. Apologies for any typos and bad Air Force protocols. I just did a quick Google search for proper terms.

The rain started just as they fell into ranks after their run and the Master Sergeant ordered a round of pushups. Falling to it, Ben, nonetheless, rolled his eyes at the pointlessness of the whole PT thing. Okay, sure the running and obstacle course bits were good for his agility, but he was so far past needing endurance or strength training it was a joke. Still, he knew the drill; keep your head down and follow orders. The whole things was really just a foot ball camp on steroids. He also knew as soon as he rolled his eyes that he had screwed up.

"Is there a problem, Grimm? Am I boring you?" the Master Sergeant exclaimed as he stalked up and got into Ben's space.

"No, Master Sergeant. No problem." Ben replied awkwardly to the ground as he worked out the pushups.

"On your feet, Grimm!"

"Yes, Master Sergeant!"

"Now, Airman, I will ask once more, is there a problem?!?"

"No..." Ben started to say but caught the vicious glint in the other man's eye. "Permission to speak freely, Master Sergeant."

"Oh, yes, please do Airman Grimm. Please regale us all with your super hero wisdom."

Ah, so that was it, Ben thought before clearing his throat. "The things is, Master Sergeant, I can bench press that transport over there. Pushups are kinda redundant for me. I'll take the time but I'm not getting much out of it."

"Oh, dear," the Master Sergeant replies coyly. "We certainly wouldn't want to waste your precious time." Ben knew he had seriously messed up now.

"AH-TEN-CHUN," the Master Sergeant cried out and the entire squad jumped to their feet. "Drop into the position, Grimm!" He continued and Ben fell to the ground. The Master Sergeant began to pace before him. "Mister Grimm here isn't feeling adequately challenged and I'd hate to be the one to disappoint him. Airman Stevens, climb onto Mister Grimm's back if you would. Give me 100, Grimm."

As Ben started, he had to be careful not to knock his fellow Airman off, though it was still easy. "Wilson, Rhodes, Danvers, Gough, join Mr. Steves if you would."

Ben struggled not to knock any of them off, which began to be it's own challenge. "O'Brian, Weeks, Tybault, join your fellow Airman!"

Ben kept going but the effort of keeping everyone on his back and safe was beginning to show.

The Master Sergeant crouched down to look Ben in the eye. "Have I made it enough of a challenge for you, Airman."

"Yes, Mr. Gutsy," Ben replied, distracted. As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had screwed up again.

"THAT"S MASTER SERGEANT AND WHAT THE HELL IS A GUTSY?!?!?!"

"A combat robot, Master Sergeant. From another dimension. Very nasty and you could only hit them in one spot to knock them out."

"I like that," the Master Sergeant mused. "Airmen, from now on you will refer to me as Master Sergeant Gutsy and the first eight Airmen to the strip get to ride Mr. Grimm's shoulders instead of their morning PT."