After Prism and the rest of RED-1 narrowly survived their first official mission together, Pack Command realized that they overestimated his abilities. During Prism’s week-long recovery from his heart failure, Finisome, Liam, Gnapp, and Ursun created a 4-week bootcamp for Prism to learn not just how to be a professional mercenary, but how to use his powers more effectively on a team of professionals without exhausting himself. They presented the bootcamp in the form of an ultimatum; Prism would either complete the training camp or work alone on Command-assigned missions. The Red Wolves couldn’t afford for Prism’s haphazard magic to get their premier team killed.
The bootcamp would require RED-1 to be sidelined for a month so that they could participate in it. But Pack Command saw the benefits of having a well-trained Prism worth the team’s additional downtime.
The Pack Commanders were surprised by Prism’s quick recovery, which was a result of his innate ability to heal much faster than humans. He wasted no time enrolling in their bootcamp the moment they presented him with their ultimatum. Prism’s guilt over his almost-disastrous first mission motivated him to grow stronger. Prism wasn’t sure how long his weakened magical ability would last, but he knew that he needed to learn to work with his new limitations.
And Prism, who’d been working on his own for a very long time before he arrived on Æba, knew that he needed to relearn how to work effectively on a team.
“It may seem peaceful here, but we are still in the middle of a bitter war against half of our world. Time not spent undermining our enemies is time that we are giving to our enemies to undermine us. That’s why we rushed you out on a mission.” Ursun had explained to Prism during his initial explanation of the bootcamp, while Prism stood before the rest of Pack Command within their command center.
“We knew that, pass or fail, we’d only learn how you functioned on RED-1 if we put you out there with them. It was a messy mission, but you fulfilled our objectives. Now we know that you simply need some finesse; finesse that only rigorous training can provide.” Finisome had said to Prism in earnest during that same meeting.
“You have given me all sorts of ideas for new inventions, so I thank you for that, Mr. Prism. And this bootcamp is an excellent opportunity for me to try out some new robotic behavioral algorithms. I’m sure that we will all learn a great deal from your efforts!” Gnapp had said giddily, which drew judgmental looks from his colleagues.
“This bootcamp is for our mutual benefit. Make the most of it,” were the words that Liam had concluded their meeting with.
Prism was glad that the Red Wolves had shown a sort of wisdom in throwing him into the field immediately. And they didn’t harangue him over his mistakes; they simply offered him a way to make things right.
His bootcamp was just as grueling as it would be for any Red Wolves who’d proven strong enough to join RED-1 or any of the other RED mercenary teams. His first week was spent having “Pack” operations and procedures drilled into him while marching and camping through the glacial mountains that lined the Peninsula’s eastern coastline. Prism wasn’t allowed to use magic during that week, which proved more difficult than Prism had imagined.
“Internally, we refer to the Red Wolves Company as our “Pack,” hence the name of our command.” Ursun had explained to Prism. “Even though you’re officially listed as a contractor, you’re still a member of our Pack, kid. That’s why we’re training you to be your best.”
Ursun was his drill sergeant and only company during the first week. Ursun proved to be a merciless taskmaster, never giving Prism an inch of leniency. At many times during that week, Prism came close to hating him. But Ursun pushed Prism further than he’d pushed his other recruits because he soon learned that Prism’s natural physical strength and endurance were greater than even genetically-modified people that Ursun had seen. From what Ursun saw during that first week, Prism was perhaps the fastest and hardiest member of RED-1, even without magic.
The second week of bootcamp saw the arrival of three familiar faces; Lorias, Srell, and Jaik. They all remained in the alpine wilderness with Ursun and Prism and continued to hunt and forage for their food with minimal gear. Prism was still not permitted to use his magic, though he’d begun to get used to the limitation. It was during that week that Prism would learn what made each of his male teammates a special part of RED-1, and how he could compliment their strengths. Each day the four of them were given a series of challenges by Ursun that they needed to overcome as a team.
Prism learned that Srell was perhaps the most adaptable member of the team. Srell specialized in leading assaults, but he was also an amazing long-distance marksman and hand-to-hand combatant. Srell shot down several birds mid-flight seconds after Lorias spotted them. Those birds became meals for the team that night.
Srell also beat Prism numerous times, both in fighting exercises that Ursun arranged and during impromptu attempts. Prism’s near-superhuman strength seemed to be of no benefit in his bouts with the lean-muscled Srell, who seemed capable of deflecting any strike that Prism sent his way. Prism made every effort to beat Srell in martial combat, and was finally successful on his fifth day of trying. Prism came to learn that Srell’s impressive martial arts were drilled into him at a young age by his native peoples in the nation of Esdegon, who had a rich history of both armed and unarmed disciplines.
“In Esdegon, we learn how to throw a punch before we learn how to walk.” Srell had explained half-jokingly to Prism over a campfire on the second evening of Prism’s second week of bootcamp.
Lorias proved to have many talents as well, but most revolved around hunting. Prism quickly realized that Lorias was the quintessential ranger, having skills centered on tracking, survivalism, and the use of more traditional weapons like swords and traps. Prism imagined that Lorias would be right at home in the low-tech worlds that he primarily visited.
Lorias seemed to know everything about the mountainous woods that they hiked along. He could identify the extensive wildlife from their sounds and various tracks. He knew what plants they could eat and use to create traps. His mind seemed to have a penchant for recognizing patterns and details in even the most chaotic or barren areas. He allowed his team to track and capture a series of marked animals over a 50 kilometer radius to complete one of their challenges.
“It is important to be still, so that you can hear what is going on around you.” Lorias had told Prism during their hunt. Lorias’ wise words reminded Prism of something that his Elementeitan elders would say when he was a child.
Jaik surprised Prism in numerous ways during his bootcamp. Jaik never seemed to tire or even complain during their various challenges and hikes through the taiga. He seemed completely focused on helping Prism make it through the training. Jaik’s naturally ingenuity helped the team in a number of their challenges that week. He enabled them to traverse a large lake together by quickly designing a boat that they constructed out of surrounding materials. He also put his combat medic tools to use when Srell slipped into a glacial crevasse and got a nasty cut on his arm.
“Take plenty of time to rest. Don’t let Ursun push you past what you can safely deal with.” Jaik had said fervidly to Prism while they traversed the stretch of hazardous glaciers. “You’ve only just recovered. Tell me if you feel any chest pain or sudden shortness of breath, alright?” Jaik had reiterated to Prism from time to time.
Prism could still sense the strange connection that he shared with Jaik, sometimes hearing an errant thought or a flash of strong emotion. What Prism felt the most from Jaik was his worry and concern for him. A prevailing thought that kept coming to Jaik was how Prism shouldn’t have been pressured into such a rough bootcamp after suffering a heart attack. Hearing such thoughts and sensing such feelings exhausted Prism at times, but it also warmed his heart.
Prism didn’t attempt to sever the connection, as he feared that doing so might harm Jaik or even himself in some way. Prism knew that their link was born of the raw, wild mana that he’d gotten from Æba’s very soul. Such magic was dangerous to tamper with.
After a week of team-building exercises in the wilderness, Prism and the others made their way to a seemingly abandoned city in the northwestern corner of the Peninsula. There they were joined by Leanna on a hill that overlooked the city, who specialized in urban warfare, cyber warfare, and intelligence gathering. She wore her combat armor, wraparound smart glasses, and her drone pack, just like on the day that Prism met her. It was within that mock city that Prism’s third week of training began. And during that week, he was finally allowed to use magic.
Ursun made sure that the third week of Prism’s bootcamp would be especially difficult, with a scenario that required him to rely on all RED-1 to achieve victory. Ursun had included himself in the scenario, despite still being Prism's drill sergeant. Ursun would be joining the rest of RED-1 for its dangerous journey that week.
The training city that they'd made it to was outfitted with various automated weapons systems, and even had numerous combat constructs that were reproductions of Monarchist robot technology. The city provided an excellent arena to teach and train urban combat.
“You guys built all of this just to train your people?” Prism had said as he’d marveled at the scale of the mid-sized city from the edge of the hillside. Even the outskirts of the city had several remnants of gunfire and damage from larger ordinance.
“We take our training very seriously. Or have you not noticed?” Leanna had said with a smile.
“Welcome to Battle City, where you will know the meaning of true terror!” Jaik had said loudly while raising his arms like a wrestling announcer.
“This city was actually inhabited once, over 50 years ago.” Ursun had explained while they stood on a cliff overlooking the city’s skyline. “It was the site of a terrible biological attack that wiped out its population, an attack that made those who lived in other parts of the Peninsula flee in terror back to Inner Ruskeda.” He’d said ominously, sending a shiver down Prism’s spine.
Leanna and Jaik had looked guiltily down at the city after hearing Ursun’s words. They’re jokes about Battle City, which had been constructed using the ruins of the previous city, hadn’t meant to disrespect its history, but had come off as facetious to Ursun nonetheless. The mercenaries all knew the story of the exodus from the Peninsula that had taken place before any of them had been born. But that exodus had paved the way for the Red Wolves to have a place to call their own, and for human life and safety to be returned to the verdant, resource-rich region.
“Who launched that attack?” Prism had asked despite the tension in the air.
“The Queen herself,” was all that Ursun had said.
Prism’s first day within Battle City revolved around him getting familiar with its layout. He and the other members of RED-1 first convened in a small building on the eastern edge of the city, which sat on the same hill that they’d met Leanna on. Leanna went over a detailed map of the city with Prism for over an hour, making sure that he was familiar with the general area. She stressed the importance of always knowing the battlefield and one’s location on it.
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“Your last two weeks of bootcamp will depend on how well you can get through this city.” Leanna said soberly to Prism.
The mission that Ursun gave Prism and his team seemed simple enough; they all needed to make it to the top of Battle City’s central skyscraper alive and stop a mock fusion bomb from detonating there. They only had five days before the fake bomb would explode, and they would need to navigate through the city on foot to get to it.
“Why can’t you just fly all of us up there?” Srell asked Prism after Ursun had explained their mission.
“It’s too far away, and there are too many of us. I can barely fly myself, and maybe for only a few dozen kilometers.” Prism explained to the others with a shrug of his shoulders. He was embarrassed by his magical inadequacy, to say the least.
“You’ll just support us while we navigate through the city.” Lorias reasoned.
Jaik and Leanna nodded their agreement.
“Be aware that this is a live fire exercise. No paint rounds here, kids.” Ursun said gruffly, which quickly turned the mood of the room grim and contemplative.
During their elite-training days in Battle City, Lorias, Srell, Jaik, Leanna, as well as Ursun had all participated in scenarios that had their robotic opponents use real ammunition against them. The training was notorious for being dangerous and difficult. It had resulted in the deaths of several skilled Red Wolves over the years, including a close friend of Leanna’s who’d come up through the organization with her. But Pack Command believed that the peril of their elite-training was an important part of their Special Forces selection process, and simply saw the deaths as acceptable.
“I’ll keep all of you safe. I promise that I can do that much, at least.” Prism said sincerely when he saw the dread on his teammates’ faces.
“If you can make us all bulletproof like you were back on that island, then we’ll all be fine.” Lorias immediately said what many of them were thinking.
Prism smiled weakly after hearing Lorias’ words. He knew that Lorias was right, but Prism couldn’t promise to do that. It was far easier for him to use protective magics of that caliber on himself than it was for him to use it on others, not to mention shielding multiple people at the same time. His lack of confidence was strange to him, and he began to wonder if he was downplaying what he was actually capable of because of his recent blunders.
It yet again made Prism think that he was perhaps better-suited to be a one-man army. But he wasn’t ready to work on his own just yet, not after he’d begun to bond with RED-1.
"Our trek through the city won't be simple. There are various choke points that'll be too full of enemies and automated turrets for us to proceed. We need to find the areas of least resistance so that we can make a proper path to our target." Leanna explained a short time later.
Leanna would utilize her small aerial drones from her dronepack to gather intel about their immediate area while they traversed the city. They would then analyze enemy density and patrolling routes, so that RED-1 could figure out the safest route. Prism was sure that he would need to protect the drones, since he'd heard how they had a habit of getting shot out of the sky at times by the Monarchists' more sophisticated machines.
"Remember, the city is divided into three ring-shaped sections; the outer city, the middle city, and the inner city. Each city section has 12 zones arranged starting from the north like hours on a clock. For example, Outer-12 is the northernmost section of the city. The building at the middle of the city is known simply as "The Center Building". That's where we are headed." Leanna reiterated for Prism's benefit. The rest of them had already completed the same mission before.
"Let's get suited up and then be on our way. We'll definitely need combat armor while we're in Battle City." Ursun said loudly.
RED-1's male members had been wearing the typical Red Wolves uniform during their time in the wilderness. It consisted of red leatherine pants, a thick black shirt, a red leatherine jacket, and black leatherine boots. It didn't take them long before they found the equipment lockers in a smaller room within the briefing building.
Each of the men quickly changed into their combat armor and retrieved their PAWs and specialized weapons. Lorias even had a new variable sword to use during their mission. Ursun brought an updated version of the coilgun he'd used during their mission to retrieve Prism. The newer coilgun was slightly smaller and featured bio-components that prevented its microwave pulse from damaging itself.
Prism took more time than the others since he hadn't yet donned the sleek red armor. With Jaik's help, he was able to figure out how to properly wear the full-body equipment, including its lightweight red combat helmet. The combat helmet protected the head and back of the neck without covering the face. Prism was surprised by how comfortable the armor felt, despite the seemingly-rigid plates of reinforced polymer that covered various sections of his body. It didn't take Prism long to realize that the plates were a lot more flexible than they appeared. Their glossy red surface even seemed to slightly change colors and luminosity depending on the sort of light that it was exposed to.
Prism was also given a PAW to use during the week's mission. He'd thought the word “Paw” had been an interesting thing to call a firearm, though "Personal Automatic Weapon" was a bit of a mouthful. Prism had been given a simple pistol to use during his first two weeks of bootcamp, but the PAW felt far stronger despite weighing only a bit more than his handgun. Prism took a few moments to become familiar with clipping it onto a discrete hook on the side of his chestplate, and then holding the PAW in a firing position.
Prism figured that he could try imbuing the weapon with magic to strengthen its firepower during that week. He simply hoped that his magic didn't destroy his PAW in the process.
Once everyone was outside of the briefing building, they began the trek down from the hill and into the city proper. Prism could make out large and small flying quadcopter robots performing sentry duty around various sections of Battle City. It was then that he realized how extensive their challenge was going to be.
"This is it, kids. Battle City is fully armed and ready to kill each and every one of us. Be careful out there, and stick together." Ursun warned before they proceeded into their first dense area of urban jungle.
The outer section of the city had buildings that were four floors on average. The building density varied, but the team could see down and around the city's wide streets relatively well. There was a wide variety of robotic activity going on in the outer city, though most of the machines were simpler non-humanoid models that had limited sensory capabilities.
Though simplistic, their designs focused on maximizing a specific form of attack. There were small, rolling, rubbery ball robots that could bounce into targets and explode. There were meter-long skittering robots made of blades that could rip flesh to shreds. The danger of them lied in their connectivity; alerting one of the machines could alert all of the surrounding machines simultaneously.
"They may seem harmless, but we still need to be cautious. Let's avoid disturbing them and just move past this area." Leanna communicated with her team verbally to avoid alerting the machines using radio signals. RED-1 stayed close together so that their communication with each other could remain quiet and understandable.
After a few hours of avoiding the enemy patrols, the six teammates took refuge in a resupply building on the edge of the Outer-5 zone. They were at the border between the outer city and the middle city. The middle city was denser and had taller buildings. Leanna had sent up two of her flying insectoid drones before RED-1 quietly entered the building. The drones moved silently through the air despite the beating of their wings.
While looking out of the north-facing windows, Prism could see that the machines in the middle city were far more sophisticated. There seemed to be a lot more of them and their behavior seemed erratic compared to the slow, rhythmic movements that he'd seen from the outer city robots. While he was peering further out of the window to get a better look at a large treaded robot, he felt a strong hand suddenly jerk him back away from it.
"If those machines detect you looking out like that, they'll blow your head off. If you're gonna look out of a window, make it quick. Don't linger in front of them." Lorias calmly explained.
Prism simply nodded before joining the others, who were standing around a circle in the middle of a nearly-empty room. Leanna's glasses were lit up with data while her flying drones performed reconnaissance. After a few minutes, she tapped the brim of her sleek glasses and motioned to everyone that she was ready to present her findings. Everyone in the circle leaned in closer to her with anticipation. Soon, her glasses displayed a 3D holographic depiction of a five block radius around them, complete with models of the robots that her drones had seen.
"It looks like the inner city out there!" Srell whispered loudly. He was trying to mask his angry yelling, but he did a poor job.
"The complexity of these formations and enemy behaviors is bothersome. It seems like you significantly increased the difficulty of Battle City for our new friend here." Lorias said collectedly to Ursun, who simply shrugged his large shoulders while he had his arms crossed.
"This mission is supposed to teach us how to best utilize Prism's abilities. We couldn't do that if Battle City was the same as it was when each of us completed elite-training here." Ursun said matter-of-factly.
"We're almost certain to run into combat once we enter the middle city. My drones can barely even avoid the aerial patrol units that are nearby. Those quadcopters will spot us before the heavy units on the ground will." Leanna lamented.
"So if I get rid of the aerial units, will that help us proceed undetected?" Prism asked.
Leanna turned to him and shook her head before crossing her arms obstinately.
"Destroying the aerial units will put the entire zone into an alert-status. All of the robots in this surrounding area will swarm us, leaving us no way to escape." Leanna said with certainty.
"Can't you hack them remotely?" Jaik asked.
"Not without alerting the other machines to our presence. The moment they detect my radio signals is the moment they'll also go into alert-status. My drones and I are communicating using terpenoids, which is why there is a lag in the data feed." Leanna said.
"Chemical communication...that's very cool. Now I know what those trails are that I kept seeing around you." Prism said softly to Leanna, eliciting irritated looks from both Srell and Ursun. After a nervous clearing of his throat, Prism continued with a more useful thought. "By the way, if I downed a quadcopter robot, could you plug into it and hack into their network that way?" Prism asked Leanna.
"You'd have to knock it out without destroying it or alerting the other machines, but yes, yes I could." Leanna said with an excited look on her face. The others looked at Prism with interested eyes, though half of them didn't think that he could pull it off.
"I'll have to go up to the ceiling and locate one of the aerial units. Could you come help me, Leanna?" Prism asked politely.
"Of course. I'll get a clearer terpenoid stream outside of this building, anyway." Leanna said with a smile. "Oh, let me get all of you connected to my dronepack before I go, so that we can all see the feed from my drones." Leanna said before tapping her glasses.
A cloud of aromatic chemicals that were invisible to the humans of the group was released from Leanna's dronepack. Soon, each of the organic LED arm displays on RED-1's armor came to life, showing video and other information that the aerial drones were sending to Leanna's dronepack. Unlike the others, Prism could see the trail of chemicals flowing from Leanna's dronepack, and he could even see the trail flowing from outside, to-and-from the aerial drones. His eyes could see much of nature that normal humans couldn't.
"I'll need to see a schematic of the drones, if you have it. It will help a lot." Prism asked.
"Uhh..sure. I'll bring them up right now." Leanna said, a bit flabbergasted that Prism had an understanding of technical things like robotics. She still saw him as a fairy out of tales from the ancient world, before silicone and electricity dominated their world.
Prism thanked her after she showed him what he needed to see.
"Be safe up there. If anything goes wrong, give us the danger signal." Ursun said before Leanna and Prism went up the nearby stairs. Jaik followed close behind to guard the stairs and possibly treat any injuries that their attempt might cause them.
It didn't take long for Prism and Leanna to make their way to the rooftop. They both crawled along their bellies to avoid being detected by a smaller quadcopter unit that was making its sentry rounds above them a few buildings away. Prism pointed at it, and Leanna silently nodded her agreement.
Prism's right eye flashed green while his left eye flashed blue. He gestured with his left hand towards the aerial unit and soon created a strong gust of wind that blew it off course and towards him and Leanna. But before its sensors could detect them, Prism pointed his right forefinger at the machine. The circuitry that controlled its sensors and cameras began to corrode, as did its copter circuitry. By the time it had skid across their rooftop and stopped right in front of Leanna and Prism, it was little more than a large computer.
"Well done." Leanna said with a respectful nod to Prism.
He simply smiled while she pulled a cable from her dronepack and plugged into one of the open ports on the exterior of the quadcopter unit. In mere seconds, she had hacked into the unit and its larger network. She bit her lip when she soon realized that the aerial robots were on a completely separate network than the ground machines. She couldn't risk using the quadcopter units to hack into the rest of the robots within that zone, as she was sure that the violation in operating procedures would trigger an alert-state in all of the robots.
"I can shut off all of the aerial units, but I can't hack into the rest of the robots. Their operations are in lockstep with each other, meaning that if one of the land-based machines starts acting weird, then they all go into alert-status." Leanna explained to Prism and the other members of her team, who could hear her words in their ear clasps through their chemical connection.
"Alright. I can fight off a lot of those machines down there with my corrosive magic." Prism said.
"No need. We can stick to the rooftops now and continue to avoid detection." Leanna said after she sent the command for all of the quadcopter units in the Middle-5 zone to land and enter a low-power state. "We're good up here; we can keep going." Leanna said aloud.
The rest of RED-1 soon met up on the rooftop with Leanna and Prism. They looked around and saw several quadcopter robots resting on the few rooftops that they could see in front of them. Srell gave Leanna a pat on the back, which made her give him a playful yet annoyed shove.
"Good work." Ursun said to Leanna and Prism. "But we won't be able to travel by rooftop in the middle city. Average building height over there is seven stories. The building in front of us is fine, but we'll run into some height discrepancies pretty quickly. It will require too much backtracking." Ursun stated.
"Leave that to me." Prism said while boyishly pointing his right thumb at his own chest.
Prism's left eye glowed blue once again as he created a sky-blue spell circle within his left hand. He then hurled the disc-sized circle of light at the other end of the roof. An area of fast-moving wind appeared on a section of roof that bordered the next building that they would need to jump to. They were all athletic enough to make the jump, but Prism saw it as a perfect time to show them a new trick that he could perform to their benefit. Jaik looked excitedly at the circle of silvery wind that awaited them. He figured that it was a fun way for them to get around more easily.
"You want us to step into that?" Srell asked, ever the skeptic.
"Yup, just to try it out. It'll help you jump higher, faster, and farther." Prism said confidently. "I'll show you. And don't worry; it will make sure you land safely, too."
Prism ran over to the faint silvery vortex and jumped into it. He was immediately blown upwards a few meters before landing softly on a flat section of the next rooftop. Srell covered his mouth while Jaik took off running towards the vortex as well. Jaik too was blown over to the top of the neighboring building, with him and Prism being the first to enter the middle city. Though initially hesitant, the rest of RED-1 made the leap, and were glad that they landed without any ill effects.
"And you can make these jumping pads without any problems for yourself?" Lorias asked Prism once they were all standing on the middle city building's rooftop.
"That's right!" Prism said happily before waving his hand over to the wind pad that he'd created. Its spell circle reappeared and flew over to Prism's hand, which caused the vortex to disappear from the other roof. "Shall we continue?" Prism said gleefully.