The next day, Dan arrived at the training facility to meet up with his other two teammates. Dan had put on his newly bought Mk. II Stealth suit with the red dragon pattern as well as bringing along his updated seventy-seven rifle and PX300 sidearm. The overcast skies and the occasional cracks allowed only sporadic dusk lighting to reach the surface. Dan saw Li and Angie leaning against the perimeter wall waiting for him.

“Ready to dominate?” Dan asked.

“Oh fuck yeah. I can’t wait to put my curving bullets to work,” Angie said.

“Ready as always,” Li replied.

All three walked together through the courtyard of the facility and saw Jane standing at the front door waiting for them. She stared at them with a blank expression while having her arms crossed.

“Morning, you all have a big day today,” Jane said. “If not for yourselves, your performance also reflects on me. So if you embarrass yourselves in the Combat Games, I’ll kill you,” Jane said. Her tone was so deadpan that Dan awkwardly chuckled while Angie and Li kept their mouths shut.

“You’re always a good motivator Jane,” Dan said. “So how are we getting there?”

Jane gave an upward curl of her lip. “The transport will be landing on our roof in a few minutes. We’ll be sharing a ride with a bunch of other agents.”

“Oh great a school bus,” Angie said. “I thought we would get a more… prestigious ride since we’re Alpha agents?”

“What planet were you born on?” Jane asked. “As agents, we’re not royalty. Plus, it should give you the opportunity to study your competition. I expect you to take this seriously and not as a vacation trip. Is that understood, Bloodliner?”

Angie put her hand over her mouth and simply nodded.

Dan also had to keep himself composed, as the side eye Li gave to Angie almost got a reaction out of him. A reaction Jane would also berate him for.

“Allen was called for another mission so unfortunately he won’t be seeing you off. He wishes you three all the best,” Jane said.

“That’s too bad,” Dan said. “He’s going to miss watching me put our training to use.”

Dan’s ears were assaulted by loud whoosh noises polluting the air. A shadow covered him and the ground he stood on. He looked up and saw a wide-bodied aircraft hovering above them and gradually lowering itself down onto the roof of the training facility. Metallic clanging noises from the roof caught Dan’s attention. He looked to the side of the entrance and saw a ladder lowering itself down ont he ground.

“Take the ladder and climb up to the rooftop,” Jane said. She turned around. “I’ll meet you there.”

Jane bent her knees slightly and then lept from the ground and onto the roof of the building in just one jump.

Jump height: 20.2 meters.

“Well Li, looks like you have something to look forward to once you rank up,” Dan remarked.

“Indeed. Many more tactical options would open up if I had such abilities,” he said.

Li was the first to grab the rungs of the ladder and climb. Dan approached the ladder but turned to Angie. “You wanna go first?”

“No, you go. I might distract you with my ass,” Angie said giggling.

“Fair enough. Just as long as you don’t get distracted by mine.”

Dan immediately began climbing and Angie followed soon behind, muttering something under her breath.

All three of them made it to the rooftop and were greeted by Jane standing and waiting for the transport to land. The legs of the transport planted themselves firmly onto the ground and the large backdoor hissed and cracked open, slowly lowering itself down to the ground.

The door opened and Dan was greeted to a wide variety of faces. Faces of agents he had never met before, all of them wearing the same style of dark long coat and armor. Almost all pairs of eyes shifted towards Jane and the cheers almost overpowered the sounds from the aircraft.

Dan saw an incoming call from Li. “I’m not surprised. Jane Sunheiser is a popular figure. If any of these guys are tier ones, they’re doing a poor job of maintaining their composure.”

He scanned the various faces all goggling at Jane and he didn’t notice anyone who appeared any older than he was. No wonder everyone was acting like fanboys and fangirls.

Jane held her hand up and firmly stated, “You all need to settle down. There are more important matters that deserve your enthusiasm than me.” She looked back at Dan and his teammates. “Get on board. You have a tournament to attend.”

Dan, Li and Angie walked up the ramp and moved through the crowds of other young agents.

Dan’s HUD received a call from Jane.

“Stick to somewhere near the middle of the transport along the edge. You’ll be in view of the most number of agents and you’ll be free to make observations about your competition during the ride.”

“Understood,” Dan said. “Did you guys get that?”

“Affirmative,” Li said.

“Got it,” Angie said.

The crowd became more unruly and Dan turned around to see the reason. His eyes widened when he saw Jane coming on board as well.

“You’re coming too?” Dan asked.

“Yes. This is your first Combat Games and it’s customary for all squad leaders to help their first time teammates attend and help move the process as smoothly as possible,” she said.

“Well, get ready to sign autographs,” Dan said jokingly.

Dan found his way to the edge of the transport and grabbed a handle along the wall, gripping it tightly. He was separated from Li and Angie by just a few people.

The back door of the transport lifted itself up and shut. The roaring engines surged outside and Dan felt the aircraft lifting off the roof and climbing into the air. The slight jolt from the forward acceleration let him know that he and his team were now on their way to the tournament.

Dan stood in place while glancing around at the other agents competing in the Combat Games. His ears mostly picked up side conversations about Jane, either male agents talking about her looks and daring each other to ask for a date while the female agents fawned over her looks and status.

If Dan didn’t know any better, these weren’t combat-hardened agents injected with special serums.

Something tapped him on the shoulder and Dan looked to his side and came face to face with another agent. The agent beside him was a petite young female agent with olive-shaped eyes and dark hair.

“Excuse me, are you Dan Orion?”

“Yeah,” Dan said. “Who’s asking?”

Her eyes lit up and Dan questioned himself if her eyeballs would offer another source of light.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Are you part of Jane Sunheiser’s squad?”

“Yeah, she’s been training me. I get my ass kicked and I’m exhausted, but it’s all worth it.”

“Yeah that’s great,” she said. “Can you do me a favor and get her to sign my armor for me?”

“Come again?”

“Oh come on, I’ll pay you a thousand credits,” she said excitedly.

Dan knew Jane was popular, but he had no idea that some of her admirers would be this desperate. As ridiculous as the situation was, it felt wrong for him to take her money just for the privilege of Jane giving her a signing.

A few other agents beside the two also piped up and began asking Dan questions of their own.

“Holy crap is it true? Can you it for me too?” one male agent asked.

“Hey what’s it like working for her? Can you give me a referral?” Another agent to Dan’s left asked him but then someone else asked him another question.

“Hey, how did you survive that mess with the rebels?” one guy asked. The agent was another male with his hair slicked back.

“Wait, what?”

“Well, in the published mission report, it says that you went together with Jane to another Alpha city and had to deal with rebels who were suspected of stealing from us. You were a tier zero but then somehow survived that entire mess even as a rookie. Seriously how are you alive?”

“Published mission report? That shit is accessible?”

“Well, not to the public. But for other Alpha agents, yeah. It allows us to look back at previous high-profile missions in the Alpha Corp’s history and learn from them.”

Someone grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Holy shit this coat looks fucking awesome!” another agent said. This agent was a male who smelled of alcohol. He looked no older than Dan. “Where did you get this from?”

“It came with the new Mk. II Stealth suit. It was—”

Dan was now bombarded with various questions coming from all directions. In the mess of all this noise, Dan received numerous calls from Angie and Li.

“It appears that none of these guys got the same advice from Jane regarding studying your competition,” Li said.

“Gee, I didn’t notice,” Dan said sarcastically. “Was it the chick who offered to pay me for an autograph from Jane or the asshole who’s tugging at my new coat?”

Angie chimed in and said, “I can’t believe you’re getting more attention than me. Lucky you.”

“Yeah, lucky me,” Dan said.

Even though Dan wasn’t engaging with the crowd of around him, he was still being hammered with questions from all sides.

Dan received another call according to his HUD. This one came from Jane.

“I see you’re receiving a taste of what I have to experience on a regular basis. It’s quite embarrassing conduct for an agent,” she said. “I can understand regular civilians reacting this way, but Alpha agents? It’s disgraceful.”

“Cut them some slack Jane. A lot of these people barely look older than me,” he replied.

“That’s not an excuse. I became an Alpha agent when I was sixteen and I was never this obnoxious or cringeworthy. I was the last of an era where being an agent was serious business. You were basically signing up for the military. The Alpha Corp fucked up with their recent marketing campaigns by trying to glamourize the life of an agent to young kids. Now the execs can brag about increasing their recruitment numbers year after year and make themselves look good at a meeting, but look at the quality. There’s too many clowns in the ranks of our tier zeros and ones.”

“So you’re saying that this… attitude all around me is the norm for Alpha agents? Li told me the same thing when we hung out yesterday.”

Dan spotted Jane at the other end of the transport ans saw her giving sideways glances at all the other less experienced agents. “It didn’t used to be, but now it is. I’ll call it what it is. Our shard has given a bunch of gung-ho brats guns and conditions them to think it’s all a game. Being an agent is ‘badass’ rather than a serious commitment to serving the shard and protecting its land and assets.”

“I guess the Alpha Corp did what they had to do to get their recruitment numbers up. Didn’t someone mention way back that we needed more people to raid the Dead Zone?”

“That’s not your concern… for now. But if this is what our future fighting force looks like, we might be dissolved.” Dan continued watching Jane giving stink eye to another recruit who was waving at her. “I don’t always show my appreciation to you three, especially you Dan. If I were in charge, I’d make sure to run rigorous background checks on any potential recruit. I would steer clear of spoiled brats from the wealthy. Someone like you would be my ideal candidate.”

Jane openly giving acknowledgement and praise to Dan was rare. Since they were on their way to the Combat Games, Dan wouldn’t mind the ego boost. So he prodded further.

“So what makes me special from all these other kids?” he asked.

“From what Michael told me, he plucked you from some dystopian shithole in the States. You know what it’s like to struggle and survive. Even without putting you through the shard’s recruitment algorithm, someone like you most likely has an existing background of weighing risk against reward, discernment to dangerous scenarios, fighting and possibly killing others just to survive. I looked up Li’s file and found out his parents were gunned down in front of him by Kodak agents invading our border. That was the fuel that made him into the agent he is today. Have you noticed his demeanor compared to these brats? You and him are the types who would actually take your positions as agents seriously.”

“And what about Angie?”

Jane hesitated and didn’t respond. The slight pause forced Dan to grit his teeth, holding back his laughter. “Well, she survived the heist. She’s at least a step above everyone else on this transport.”

“Only a step? Wow, you’re hard to please,” Dan said jokingly.

Jane ended the call and Dan spent the rest of his time on the transport either ignoring the obnoxious requests for autographs with Jane and tersely answering a few questions regarding how he got recruited and his past missions. He simply wanted to get to the Combat Games and get started.

The transport eventually came to a stop and briefly hovered in the air before entering into a gradual descent. The transport landed with a satisfying thud onto solid ground and somehow this was cause for celebration among the other agents as Dan saw raised fists and rambunctious cheering.

His HUD received an incoming call from Li.

“Quite the enthusiasm for a group that hasn’t done anything yet. I’d say about seventy percent of these fools get eliminated early on,” the stealth specialist said.

The back door of the transport cracked open and lowered itself onto the ground. Many of the other agents around Dan pushed and shoved their way through and rushed off the transport. Dan looked back and saw his teammates Li and Angie.

Li simply shook his head and Angie shrugged her shoulders.

Dan and his team walked across the floor and and then down the ramp of the transport. When they stepped outside, the landscape didn’t welcome them in the way Dan expected. He looked up and saw numerous other transports hovering in the air and slowly making their landings off in the distance. What caught his attention was the sky itself.

A strange brown haze mixed with the overcast conditions to give the sky a dreary greyish brown mixture.

“Wow, it looks like the angels had a problem with their plumbing,” Dan said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sky look so shitty before.”

Li also glanced up at the sky and said, “You’re not too far off.”

Angie’s nose crinkled and she gave Dan a scowl. “What the fuck is that scent in the air?”

Dan sniffed the air and even with his mask and its filters, he could catch a tinge of something. The air wasn’t so pure in this region, which reminded him of the smog-ridden streets of his home town.

The land around them appeared dry and drained. The ground beneath Dan’s feet was cracked dirt. He bent down and dug his gloved fingers into the soil and grabbed a pile of dirt. He hadn’t straightened his back before the ball of dirt in his hand crumbled to bits and fell through his fingers. Dan glanced back at his two teammates.

“Geez, even the soil is crap,” he said.

Li walked up to him and picked up a bit of the dirt from Dan’s palm. Using his thumb and index finger, he grinded the bits of dry dirt until it dissolved. “This place is only a step above a wasteland or desert. But since this is where the Combat Games are hosted, I guess there’s at least some use for this land.”

Dan looked on and saw no noteworthy landmarks or other natural elements such as wildlife. The few scattered trees were skeletal without any leaves or fruit. He squinted and spotted one tree a few dozen meters away with rotting bark and numerous snapped branches.

The biggest attraction in this desolate land was the giant man-made structure a few hundred meters in front of them. Dan saw the crowds of Alpha agents heading toward the building on foot. The giant building was wide with a domed rooftop. The building took up so much space it obscured the distance horizon.

Jane was the last to step out of the transport and she made her way to Dan and his team. She pointed her finger at the structure. “There it is. That’s where the Combat Games will take place.”

“Do you mind if I ask where we are?” Dan said.

Jane glanced at him and said, “We’re standing near the exclusion zone in former Chernobyl.”

Dan jerked his head at her. “Come again?!”

“Relax, we’re outside the exclusion zone so we won’t have to worry about radiation levels,” she said.

“No wonder why everything here looks so dead,” Angie muttered.

Dan recalled a memory of him breaking into a library when he was fourteen and reading a book that explained the history of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster that left the land irradiated and uninhabitable for most living things, minus some wildlife.

He had no clue who in the Alpha Corp thought it would be a sound idea to build the facilities for a combat tournament near such a disaster zone, but in the same vein Dan knew that he was now living in a world where shards ruled the land and gave superhuman enhancements to their agents.

“As long as they don’t expect me to compete while wearing a hazmat suit, I think I’ll do just fine,” Dan said.

“Good, now get going,” Jane ordered.