17 years before the Split

“Ugh. Unit 2 is falling behind. Still. They’re the worst team in this facility!”

“Hmm… maybe we could fix that. What about the new recruit? What was his name… Steve Berkan?”

“No. Unit 2 has part of his family. And we strictly said no family members in the same unit.”

“They adopted him. They’re not blood related.”

“Alright… fine. But I don’t want him to end up carrying them all to the top.”

“They’re not completely incompetent. They just need that little boost to… push them in the right direction.”

“More like an over-obvious yank.”

1 week later

I opened my eyes, and rose from my uncomfortable plain bed, before taking off the covers sitting down on the edge so I wouldn’t get nauseous from standing up too fast.

“Fuck. This day is not going to be fun.”

C’mon, show a little spirit Steve! You need a team, Pemo encouraged.

“No. I work alone. The last person I worked with… he’s gone. Like everybody I love.”

The walls of my bedroom were grey. Boring. Unoriginal. It’s like they didn’t even try to make them interesting. Granted, I could’ve easily invented a paint that works with the metals used to build these walls, but then again… I like things boring.

Makes it easier to think, without anything cluttering my mind.

In my room, there was the bed, as I’ve explained, which had a grey pillow, blanket, and comforters. Then there was a desk in front of me, with a high tech computer I created in the middle, a microwave right next to it, one that I upgraded so it could act as an oven and stove as well, and… a fucking pencil sharpener, next to the computer.

For some reason, it’s basically rule number 1 to keep your pencil sharpener on your desk at all times until you join your first unit. Those who break that rule as cadets are put into the worst unit possible for them… basically ensuring they’ll die their first mission.

To my right, a dresser, with a mirror atop. Sighing, I stood up, walked to the dresser, and pressed a button on one of the far corners. The dresser swung around, revealing a futuristic metal container with glowing blue lights and wires, and inside the container was a suit.

My suit. A suit I had carefully designed and improved over all my years as a trainee. But now that I had graduated… I could finally use this damn thing outside of simulations.

The armor was fairly skinny, even though it was twice as thick as me. It composed mostly of blue and white colors, making it somewhat resemble the Doom Slayer suit, from the hit video game Doom. Even the helmet looked alike.

But, there was a few things different from it. First off, there was a belt, floating beside the suit. It was magnetically attached together, and contained all my additional pieces of technology that I couldn’t implement into the suit.

Then there were the wrist gauntlets, which, while seeming basic, perfectly blended in with the suit’s arms, making them look like just extra protection. But in truth, they had a lot more.

Finally, there were the Swords of Creation. Just looking at them made my heart pump faster. But, admittedly… they saved me a lot of times over the years. Especially before this whole government thing.

I hadn’t managed to figure out the weird, circuit board-like designs shooting out from the hilt by then. Always felt… alien.

After a moment, everything fell forward, and the suit shattered into millions of tiny pieces, which started moving up my legs and the rest of my body, reforming itself around me. That’s what I love about nanotechnology. Easy to transport, and surprisingly impossible to lose, as long as the nano it’s had a secure connection.

When the suit finished forming, the helmet collapsed into the neck of the suit, and I grabbed the swords and the scabbards they were in and attached them to the backpack on my suit, before attaching the belt and gauntlets.

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“Wait. Before we go.”

I unsheathed one of the swords, gripped the handle with both hands, closed my eyes, and began to make a mental image of bacon.

In a couple seconds, bacon appeared in front of me, before it began to fall. I quickly caught it, and slowly brought it to my mouth.

What is with you and bacon?

It’s my favorite food? I dunno.

I slowly opened my mouth, salivating almost instantly.

Once it was in my mouth, I began to chow down on it, savoring every juice crunch, every drop of grease.

It was almost as good as I imagined eating Rowan’s… cake. Yeah. Cake. Cause I love his bakery. BAKING! Cause I love his baking… totally.

That’s when I began thinking of him again, and my appetite was immediately gone.

So, throwing the rest of the bacon away in a trash can to the left of my desk, I walked to the metal door in front of my bed, which had a blue light shooting down the door. The door automatically slid open, and I walked outside, before heading to the simulation room.

10 minutes later

I stood outside another automatic metal door, with a neon sign above it that was labeled Simulation/Training Room B. So, I stepped up to the door, and when it opened, I stepped inside.

In the next room was a white void expanding so far, it was nearly impossible, even for me, to tell where the room began and ended.

In the middle of the room was five people. Two women, and three men. They all had suits similar to mine, except for one of the men.

The first two, you already know. Dylan Davis, who was wearing a green and black suit similar to mine, and Issac Smith, who’s body from the neck all the way down to his feet was replaced with a grey, robotic body.

The two woman were talking to each other, and the first one was black with brownish hair and green eyes, and had a red and black engineer suit, while the other woman was white with blond hair and blue eyes, darker than mine. She had a fairly simple green and black suit, resembling a camouflage outfit.

Finally, there was a large, muscular redhead man, with brown eyes and freckles on his face, and was wearing a thick, yellow and blue suit. He had a nervous smile, one that seemed to be hiding something… but aren’t we all?

When the black woman saw me, her eyes lit up, and she ran up and grabbed my hand, greeting with a chipper expression “Hey. I’m Rose Myers. I hear you’re the new person joining us?”

We shook hands as I replied “Sure. But just because I recently graduated, don’t assume I’m inexperienced.”

“Oh, really?” The white woman remarked, crossing her arms.

“Don’t mind Isabelle. She’s a little rough around new recruits.”

“And there’s a reason for that,” she added.

Isabelle then firmly grasped my hand and shook it, saying “My friends call me Izzy, but you can just call me Isabelle Lindsey, as you’re not my friend.”

Oof. You two would be perfect for each other, Pemo quipped.

Shut it.

Finally, once Isabelle stepped back, the muscular man brought me into a hug tight enough to nearly snap my spine in half.

“Hi! I’m Luke Tinnel!”

“Hi…” I trailed off, confused.

“But him,” Rose continued, “He’s kind of the opposite. He’s like a dog with how much he loves new people.”

Luke released me from the hug, and I gasped for air, before Issac and Dylan walked up to me and both gave me a gentle group hug.

“How you doing son,” Dylan asked.

“Oh, aside from nearly losing my ability to breath… I’m fine.”

Rose giggled, and I gave her a cocky smile.

She digs me. I think I might like her as well.

Yeah, sure. Whatever you say.

“So… how long do you think it’s gonna be before I manage to leave this unit?”

“Look, Steve,” Dylan said, placing his arm on my shoulder, “Like it or not, you need to learn how to work with others.”

“I know how… when the situation requires it.”

Suddenly, a voice rung out through the white void on what sounded like an intercom.

“Alright, looks like everybody’s here. Welcome to your first training simulation together! This will test your skills as a team, and see how you are able to work together.”

“This time, we’ve decided to take you all to one of the most blood battles in history. D-Day. The day marking the beginning of the Allies’ attempt to storm Normandy.”

“Your goal will be to infiltrate the bunkers, clear them, and then hold them for the rest of the time. You will have one hour to keep every bunker secure, assuming you instantly capture each bunker. Good luck! You will have five minutes to prepare!”

Then, a frameless monitor appeared up above, showing a picture of a beach with six bunkers. Two to the right and left, which were closest to the water, one giant combination of two bunkers in the middle, somewhat behind the first two, and two bunkers beside the middle one.

“Alright, I say we have one person each attacking a single bunker, and then Dylan, Steve and I will go around the bunkers placing defenses before going back into battle ourselves,” Rose suggested.

“Hmm. Good plan,” I complimented, making Rose blush.

“But, unfortunately, that won’t work. Dylan and Issac have to be near each other, because if something happens to Issac, aside from me, Dylan will be the only one able to repair his body.”

“Wait!” Isabelle said angrily, stomping up to my face, “Why can’t Rose repair Issac?!”

“You’ve been on the same unit with Dylan and Issac for a year. Haven’t either of them explained why?”

“No. I never asked them.”

“Well, basically,” I said, walking past Isabelle.

“His suit is very… specific, and unless you’ve memorized the exact blueprints… you won’t be able to repair him.”

“Oh… alright.”

“If you don’t understand, tell me now before I lose the will to repeat it.”

“You over arrogant…”

“What? I don’t have room for incompetence. So if you can’t understand what I say, then we shouldn’t be working together.”

Suddenly, green, grey, and dark blue colors filled the white void, until we were on long metal boats with World War 2 soldiers crowding us, as the boats approached a beach with bunkers embedded into dark green hills.

Wow. Going from a really traumatic chapter to a chapter taking inspiration from arguably the most traumatic battle ever.