Will shielded his face from the fast-falling snow. Rubbing his hands together, he jogged the rest of the way to the barracks. He entered the blocky building and navigated through the corridors until he reached the dormitory and found Becca pacing and biting her fingernails.

"Becca," Will called out, finally breaking her out of her reverie.

"Will, I have news," said Becca.

"So do I," said Will. "Where is Remy?"

"He said he would be here in a minute. Oh, there he is," said Becca, looking past Will.

Gasping for breath, Remy entered the dormitory clutching a stitch in his side.

"Did you find anything?" asked Will, and Remy nodded.

"Why don't you two go first," panted Remy. "I need a minute."

Becca dove straight into the matter. "I've asked around," she began, "The exam will be an arena battle."

Will nodded. "I guessed as much."

"Yes, but it's not your standard squad layout," said Becca. "Instead of two teams of three fighting it out, we are going to have a team of six fighting each other."

"Probably to reduce the number of matches," said Will, looking thoughtful. "Anyway, about the shop, I did some snooping. Milton's owner had taken off. There was some kind of family emergency, and no one is updating the documents. Marvin was pretty certain that the owner would return early on exam day though."

Becca nodded and then turned to Remy, who was still catching his breath. He coughed and straightened up. "You are not going to like the news I got," he sighed.

"We have to hear it anyway," said Will, "so spill."

Remy let out a breath. "The exam will start at around three. But we will have to move out from the fort by two."

"Out of the fort?" asked Becca. "Why are we going out of the fort?"

"I went by the motor transport section and was able to wiggle some information," said Remy. "We are going to have an outing tomorrow with all the cadets. They are loading up the vehicles even right now. So guess where they are taking us."

Remy looked at the two of them before answering.

"The exclusionary zone. Or at least the outskirts of it."

Will's face fell, and Becca looked confused. "What's wrong?"

"The zone is outside the network," said Will.

Becca still looked confused, but as the seconds ticked by, her expression turned grave. The full scope of the problem became clear to her.

"No net means..."

"No access..." finished Remy.

"How are we supposed to connect to Milton's all the way from out there?" muttered Will.

A moment of silence passed among the three before Remy spoke. "I have an idea. But it's..."

Remy hesitated, but Will urged him on. "The situation is already FUBAR. You might as well tell me what you think."

Remy told them, followed by a moment of stunned silence.

"That is stupid," said Becca.

"Yes, it is," said Remy. "But it might be our only shot."

They looked at Will, who rubbed his forehead. He dropped his hand and considered the two of them. Both looked determined.

"Let's do it," said Will.

▼.▼.▼

The rest of the day was a mad rush as the three scrambled to get things ready. Night came and went, and the following day preparation for the exam was underway. Around half-past two, they were gathered and stuffed into LTTVs, and the convoy left the fort.

Will swayed in the seats of the armored bus, and Remy was fast asleep beside him. The brunet had worked through the night coding and was barely coherent in the morning. Becca sat a little ways off, her head also drooping.

Will shifted in his seat, wondering if they had done enough. He nervously reached for the device in his pocket but caught himself at the last moment. Exhaling slowly, Will checked his slate instead. It had been linked to the fort's network, and he observed the signal bars tick down the further they moaved away from the fort. Fifteen minutes later, the signal vanished entirely.

That was it; they were out of the network. Will stared at the dead signal bar for a long while before stuffing his slate back in his pocket.

The next hour passed in silence. No one seemed in a mood to talk, and the droning of the bus was loud enough to drown out any conversation. When the bus finally came to a stop, the sudden absence of the noise jerked Remy awake. Becca stirred out of her stupor in the seats ahead and straightened up.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

There were three loud taps on the side of the bus.

"Disembark! Move out of the bus!" came a yell from one of the soldiers escorting them, and the cadets trooped out of the LTTV. Will stepped out of the armored transport and blinked at the sunlight reflecting off the snow.

Dilapidated buildings surrounded them, covered in snow. High rises loomed a few blocks distant, and Will sensed the familiar hint of radiation lingering in the air. It wasn't as severe as in the exclusionary zone, and he judged that they were still quite a ways from the old capital.

"Alright, Cadets!" yelled Instructor Yacob. "You are in the outskirts of the exclusionary zone. Your certification exam will be held here, so make sure to shield yourself properly at all times. Is that understood?"

There was a chorus of affirmation from the cadets, and Yacob nodded. "Now, fall in. Follow me in single file."

Will and the rest of the cadets trooped after Yacob into the abandoned city. They approached a fortified building that looked much better maintained than the rest of the structures. As soon as they stepped into the building, they felt the faint tingle of the irradiated air disappear. The insides were neat and orderly, and the layout looked similar to the ones in Fort Thornfield.

Remy groaned beside Will, and he patted the brunet on the back.

"What time is it?" Remy yawned.

"Half past three," said Will.

"Almost time," muttered Becca.

The three followed Yacob into a large, open room. Chairs were set to the side, stacked on top of each other, and on the wall, a large screen was mounted.

Yacob stopped halfway into the room and addressed the cadets once again. "Now, before we go any further, you need to be apprised of a few changes in the arena battle. Up to this point, you've been engaging in battles in a 3v3 format, honing your skills and teamwork. But now, we're shifting to a 6v6 setup, doubling the size of the teams. And that's not all. Each team will be entrusted with not one, but two beacons to guard. Lose both beacons, and it will be considered a match loss."

The cadets muttered at the pronouncement.

"Stay sharp, stay focused. Just remember your training and you will do fine," said Instructor Yacob. "And finally, there were some last-minute changes to your team compositions. Confirm your current team for the upcoming battle."

Yacob gestured to the monitor behind him, and it sprang to life, displaying a list of teams. Will found theirs quickly enough.

Team Iron:

Rebecca Wagner

Remy Soto

William Dunn

"At least they didn't separate us," Remy muttered. "Hey, look at the team next to ours. It's Kade."

Will glanced back at the screen.

Team Rampart:

Patricia Wagner

Rowan Kade

Victor Maxwell

"When did Victor end up in Kade's team?" asked Becca.

"I'm not too thrilled about it myself," came a grumble.

"Victor!" Remy exclaimed as the round-faced boy slid up to them. "What happened?"

"Kade's cronies were messing around in their mechs. My team was unlucky to be next to them. Most of them are in the infirmary, and now the teams had to be reshuffled."

"That sucks, Vic," said Remy.

"Tell me about it," grumbled Victor. "I hope there aren't any more surprises like these."

"You got that right," said Will as he glanced at Yacob talking to a group of soldiers. One of them tapped his wrist, and Yacob nodded.

"Attention, cadets!" yelled Yacob. "Your test will start in a few minutes. You will now be assigned your beacon. Step forward when your team name is called out and then proceed to your newly assigned base."

Yacob gestured to a soldier standing by the 2nd exit, and he called out, "Team Alpine, step forward."

A group of three students rushed to the soldier, who gave them a card and directed them to where they should go. They quickly departed, and the soldier continued to call out for more teams. When he reached the tenth team, Remy muttered, "Are they sending all of us out at once?"

"Yes," said Victor. "The exam will be finished in one sitting."

"They want to wrap this up as fast as possible?" said Becca.

"Not surprising given what is happening outside," said Victor.

"What's going on?" asked Will.

Victor looked around before speaking. "Don't go spreading this around. They are trying to keep this on the down-low."

The three huddled close, and Victor spoke. "There are massive riots going on around the special administrative zones. The military has their hands full."

"What?" Remy exclaimed, and Victor shushed him.

"Team Rampart!" came the call, and Victor looked towards the soldier. "That's me! Wish me luck."

Remy and Will thumped Victor on the back and watched him make his way towards the soldier.

"What do you think?" asked Remy.

"If the military is not interested in keeping us here any longer, they would try to end the exam as fast as possible," said Becca.

"Which is exactly what we don't want," said Will. He glanced at his slate; it was 3:40. Twenty minutes to four. "We need to stall as much as possible. Try to lengthen the match past four."

"Team Iron!"

"Come on," said Will, and the trio made their way down the room. Will stepped up to the soldier who handed him a card with "B7" written on it.

"Go to building B7. Directions are on the card."

Will nodded, and the trio exited the building. They walked down the snowy city and found their base about 200 meters away. It was a run-down building that looked no different from the rest of the high-rises around them. The trio made their way to the fifth floor where they found their mechs all lined up neatly against the wall. And a little bit further in, they found their beacon.

It was a large cylindrical device the size of a fridge. It was already powered on and emitted a dim blue glow.

"There it is," muttered Remy.

"See any cameras?" whispered Will, and Becca jerked her head to the side. Mounted on the wall was a camera aimed right at the beacon.

"Okay," Will licked his dry lips. "Cover me."

Remy and Becca moved to either side of him, and Will casually placed his hand on the beacon. From his sleeve came a small microbot. The electronics of the bot smoked a little as soon as it came into contact with the outside radiation, but Will quickly enveloped it in his field.

It scurried up the beacon like a little spider. Stuck to its back was a flat rectangle the same color as the beacon. The bot proceeded to unscrew a small piece of paneling from the beacon and then slotted itself in its place.

A few seconds later, Will received a ping on his slate. He glanced at the datapad and saw a single signal bar.

Heart beating fast, Will turned to Remy who nodded. "Signal is coming in strong. We are in."

Becca breathed a sigh of relief, and Will wiped the sweat off his brow. They were piggybacking off of the beacon's signal. Remy correctly assumed that there was a local network here connected to the outer web. Now all that is left is to last till four.

"Attention base. Your team match has been decided," came a tinny sound from a speaker next to the camera.

The trio turned towards the speaker.

"Team Iron with candidates Rebecca Wagner, Remy Soto, and William Dunn joins up with Team Rampart with candidates Patricia Wagner—"

"We are joining up with Victor?" Becca exclaimed.

"Kade..." Remy muttered.

Will bit his lip. "The team is not bad. Victor is a good pilot. Kade isn't bad as well."

"Versus Team Valkyrie with candidates Harold Hugh..."

"Did he say Valkyrie?" asked Becca.

"It's a V. V for Val..." began Will.

"Don't say it," said Remy.

"Valerie Maxwell!" finished the announcer.

Remy buried his head in his hands. "We are so screwed."

Will let out a breath and clenched his fist. "Come on, you two. Four is the goal."

Becca laughed in spite of herself, and Remy shook his head. "I guess we just fight!"

Will turned to their mechs. "Let's suit up."