Hookwolf looked at Menja, and she raised one hand, two fingers extended.  Signalling, she pointed to two of his thirty-four recruits.

Found some with the killer instinct?

Also, what if today’s Slaughterhouse member has snuck in among the recruits?

I’m sure they’d have the killer instinct.

A bald man in peak physical condition and a twenty something girl with the ends of her hair in thin bleached blond braids.  A little too much like cornrows for his liking.

Wildbow is sometimes disturbingly good at writing the perspective of awful human beings.

So, could the girl be Bonesaw? By the sound of it, she might be a little too crazy to go for the sort of infiltration tactic I’m halfway suspecting, though. Or maybe she’s Shatterbird, or the newbie, or Crawler (I don’t know Crawler’s gender). Or she’s none of them, and maybe the guy is one. Or maybe I’m just spouting a load of nonsense and it’s neither of them.

Maybe it was supposed to be ironic.

I suppose.

He liked her first pick, though.  He’d noticed the bald man.  He’d committed their names to memory on first meeting them, but he’d forgotten some.  He knew the man was Bradley, the girl was Leah or Laura or something like that.

Seem like alright names. Bradley – or rather, Brad – does have connotations to jock-hood, I think, but considering “peak physical condition”, that might be appropriate.

His own pick was a lean scrapper in his early thirties, Ralph.

He wrecks things for a living.

The main adversaries of the Chosen were mercenary soldiers, police and trained heroes.

Hm, sounds like they’re not really fighting the Pure. For now, at least. I’m guessing we might learn more about the split later, quite likely before this chapter is over.

Why should the standards of his Chosen be any lower than theirs?  No, if his group was to represent the true Aryan warrior, they had to have higher standards.  They had to be the best.

The ideology he’s backing it up with is disgusting, but from a pure strategical standpoint, his logic is sound. If he really wants to do well against the group’s enemies, why should his standards be lower?

It was that knowledge, that commitment that drove his trainees to give their all.  Too many saw the Aryans as hatemongers, failed to see the greater picture, the hope for raising humanity to a higher level.

Yeah, sure. You don’t think the massive hate crimes and, well, hatemongering might have something to do with that?

Also – and this is not a criticism of Wildbow’s writing or choices – Hookwolf saying “the Aryans” in that fashion legitimately bugs me on a personal level. Sure, it covers almost all Nazis without conforming to that term, but here’s the thing: As the German Nazis saw it, it also covers me and most people I know in real life. The Germans invaded Norway early because we – except the Jews, of course, and others on their no-good lists – were worthy in their eyes.

So when Hookwolf implicitly equates Nazis and Aryans like this? He’s dragging me down with him, saying that in his eyes, we’re equals. It’s like Kaiser staring at Bastion, but unlike Bastion, I’m not a racist piece of shit.

I do suppose he might be saying that others don’t see the difference? Still, though, it does hit personally.

He stopped at one end of the room to watch their progress, watch for the ones who had the killer instinct he needed.  Stormtiger and Menja were at the other end of the room, looking for the same.

I’m sure killing people you don’t like has nothing to do with people thinking you’re all about hate.

Stormtiger had cast off his mask, and wore only face paint.  He still walked a little stiffly from the gunshot wounds that he’d taken to his legs.  Othala had attended to them over the past few weeks, would give him a half-hour to an hour of regenerating ability each night until he was better, but knees were slow to heal.

Hm. Sounds like Othala’s power is sort of like Flechette’s except instead of giving inanimate objects temporary reprieve from physics, she can bestow temporary powers to people. This might be limited to only a few different types, or even just the regeneration. 

Also, it seems like she has a limited amount she can do this, since she’s only giving Stormtiger 60-90 minutes or regen per day. Maybe it’s exhausting, or maybe she has a limited number of uses for each power per day?

Menja wore her armor, her expression stern as she watched the form and habits of the combatants.

This is a long paragraph.

What’s up, Menja? Coping with the loss of your sister alright?

Cricket sat in one corner of the room, typing on a laptop without looking at the screen, taking notes on the trainees.

I suppose there’s no one better to do this. No reaction time, start typing the moment something noteworthy is seen.

The high-pitched song of steel rang through the air as sword parried sword, struck shield and fell to the ground.

Oh, interesting. Some sort of medieval fighting classes, or something like that?

Somewhat less sweet were the guttural grunts and muffled slaps of flesh being battered and struck.

This implies that whoever is narrating likes the sound of these weapons being used in battle against each other. I suppose “song” does too.

Maybe Hookwolf is having his mundane subordinates learn to use bladed melee weapons?

A boot in the stomach, an elbow or fist striking a face.

Looks like they’re not limiting themselves to the weapons, which suggests this leans more towards training for genuine fights than for sparring.

Hookwolf walked between the groups of his sparring recruits.

Eyy, I got it right! 😀

They were tired, pushing themselves through their exhaustion.  All wanted to be here.  The training was too punishing for anyone who didn’t.

That’s ominous.

With small exceptions for eating and sleeping, their days were filled with exercise, hand to hand sparring, gun training, and practice with melee weapons.

Got some variety. That’s good for them. Especially the fact that they’ve got gun training and aren’t foolishly limiting themselves to melee weapons to stick with Hookwolf’s power theme.