Location: Temporary Dorm
Time: 8:15 AM, 2/13/08
I threw my bags onto what just became my bed. Considering it was only supposed to be a three day trip, I brought far more than anyone else.
But that's not because I couldn’t decide on what to wear, okay?
I need all those extra clothes. Even though I don’t want to, I’ll definitely say that word by accident at least once or twice. And if I’d touched anything I was wearing I’d need a replacement, pronto.
Yeah, sure, I could just be careful and make sure not to say it, but come on, that just isn’t happening. I don’t even want to think it; out of fear of then saying it out loud by mistake.
I watched as Cynthia carefully unpacked her own bag. She had long dark hair and was tall enough to stand out in most crowds, even though she’d never want that. Neither of us used the dorms at the school, so naturally we were paired together for this field trip.
I’m ashamed to admit I felt relieved about that. Cynthia knew why I was participating in this experimental augmentation training course. She knew I was trying to recruit more augmenteds into W, and she was already willing to support us. Well, she wasn’t overly willing, but her family was.
Cynthia Cyprus, the daughter of the head of the Cyprus Organization. A princess from the largest criminal syndicate in the city.
I can’t say I personally support the Cyprus Organization, but the higher ups are willing to take any help they can get. And while the long term goals of W aren’t in the best interest of the Cyprus Organization, we’re certainly a better option for them than the two imperial children that are flirting with the idea of annexation.
That being said, wouldn’t that make Cynthia the best person to share a room with? No. The safest, definitely. Too bad I wasn’t there to be safe. I was supposed to be gathering talent, but instead, I found myself willing to fall back and rely on the familiar comfort of someone I already know.
I’m definitely not suited for work like this, but I’m the only member of W whose age worked out.
Actually, we did just get the new girl, Lucy, I think. I’m pretty sure she’s around university age, so if they let Henry in I don’t see why she couldn’t have taken this assignment in my place. Why couldn’t she have shown up a few weeks earlier?
I don’t want to do spy stuff!
“Cynthia, trade places with me. Please!”
Cynthia froze, completely unsure how to respond.
“No, sorry, don’t worry about it. That was just a joke.”
“Good, good, you know that little miss isn’t suited for work like that.”
The one responding to me was a stuffed animal. A squirrel dressed up as an old school fighter pilot to be precise. Well, to be even more precise, it was just Cynthia talking. It seemed like we all agreed to just ignore Cynthia’s ventriloquism and treat Frank, the fighter pilot squirrel, as his own person.
“Seriously, what kind of nonsense are you talking about? Don’t mess with the little miss like that.”
Frank continued to go on the offensive.
“Hey, Frank, stop talking to Emily like that.”
Cynthia’s exasperation with her stuffing filled companion seemed too genuine to be an act, but best to just ignore it. We all have our stigmas after all. I understood that better than most.
“Don’t worry, it’s okay. I understand that Frank is just looking out for you.”
She took a calming breath before getting back to her unpacking.
I decided to fall backward onto my bed.
“We’re supposed to meet back in the lobby at 8:30, right? Make sure I don’t fall asleep.”
“Ah, um, okay, but, shouldn’t, shouldn’t you unpack your bags?”
I had to focus on my hearing to make sure I could pick up everything she was saying. That girl is way too quiet!
“Seriously, how lazy can you get?”
I didn’t have any problems hearing Frank though!
“It’s not laziness. For me, unpacking is just too dangerous. It involves touching everything inside bags, all in a short amount of time. It would be a disaster if after that I accidentally said explosion.”
I was blasted off of my bed and rolled into a desk and chair on the other side of the room. For a moment lightly singed clothing rained down around the room.
Good thing I left some spare bags on the bus.
“Annoyed. I heard that. Demanding. My request that you never come within touching distance of Mistress Oakley still stands.”
Hana was yelling at me from the next room over.
“Now, now, she’s trying her best. And that didn’t sound that loud. She’s gotten a lot better at limiting the force.”
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Then for some reason, Kathrin was consoling me from the room on the other side.
“Haha, thanks. I’ll try to limit myself to three or four mistakes like that a day.”
“That’s still too many! Completely abnormal. You shouldn’t be exploding anything.”
Allison’s retort came from the same side as Hana.
“Hey, do you girls think I should go with cherry pink or sakura pink?”
Having heard the four of us, Olivia started yelling as well. Her voice is naturally loud enough that I could hear it clearly, even though her room was on the other side of the one Hana and Allison were using.
“Desist with that unnecessary racket. Augmenteds such as ourselves shouldn’t be acting so childishly.”
Grant’s voice was coming from below. His room must have been directly below mine.
“What’s this building made of? Can everyone hear this?”
“Yeah.”
“Pretty much.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything, but yeah.”
“I’m going to go with cherry.”
“The demons are stirred up and their whispers are loud. Even so, I’ve been able to listen in.”
“Hey, if you guys are just playing around, come back to the lobby already. I still need to explain why I brought you all here.”
The final response was from Ms. Kaldsen, on the first floor. Seriously, what was that building made of?
Seeing as I’d already managed to unpack everything I brought, I headed back down to the first floor. I didn’t notice anyone else coming down, so I figured I had time to stop by the kitchen. After making a quick PB&J I made my way to the lobby area.
Everyone else seemed to be there already, so I decided to quietly join the crowd.
“Am I late? I accidentally used my augmentation earlier, so I needed to get something to eat.”
Half of them turned to look at me as I tried to whisper to Emelia. Joining the crowd quietly: Mission failed.
“Kukuku, I’m sure you’re all dying with anticipation to learn why I brought you all outside of the city.”
Ms. Kaldsen had a smug look on her face as she addressed her gathered students. As a foreigner myself I hadn’t thought about it, but this was probably the first time a lot of the students here ever left the city of Velstand.
“Probably for some kind of combat training, right?” Kazuko answered without hesitation.
“Yeah, definitely live combat.”
“It couldn’t be anything else, could it?”
“No, it has to be for combat training.”
“She’s not capable of anything else after all.”
“If Oliver isn’t here then why’d I bother with lipstick anyway?”
“I hope you’re all prepared, because we came out here for some next level combat training!” Ignoring the comments from her students, Ms. Kaldsen continued to happily describe the purpose of our impromptu field trip.
After hearing her out I went back to my room to think things over and formulate a plan of action. She brought us to a MID training facility located about an hour outside of Velstand proper. And she called it a training facility, but it’s practically its own city. By their very nature, augmentations are dangerous. Apparently the MID uses this prop city to help train its agents in urban combat.
Being strong isn’t the end all be all considering how densely populated Velstand is. A little too much force behind an augmentation could spell disaster for all the skyscrapers that are huddled together all throughout downtown.
Either way, Ms. Kaldsen used her connections or her family name to reserve the entire facility for three days.
And what event did she have planned for the next three days?
Combat training, of course. More specifically, a violent version of capture the flag. We were going to be divided into five teams and given a flag to defend. At the end of the game the team with the most flags in their base was the winner.
Simple, right? I’m glad it was easy to understand, but that was the problem. In such a simple game it really will come down to direct confrontation. The only two rules she gave us were no life threatening attacks, and if she determined you were unable to fight you had to return to her observation post.
And as for how long we were supposed to keep the game going for, she didn’t know. Like I said, she reserved the training facility for three days, starting on the 14th, but she didn’t have any idea how long we’d actually need it for. I can’t imagine us actually keeping the game going for that long. It’s more than likely that one of the stronger students like Hana or Henry would end the game in a matter of hours. Safe to say at least everyone’s Valentine’s Day is being filled up by something like this.
Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, isn’t the capture the flag portion of the game pretty pointless? Unless we somehow last the entire three days the winning team will be whoever can eliminate the other teams first.
Not that anyone should be surprised by that. Ms. Kaldsen confirmed what everyone was beginning to suspect. None of the other instructors were involved with this activity. According to her, they were all busy with their actual work. Apparently some unknown augmented stole some piece of equipment used to develop Numbers, so everyone else at MID was super busy.
Olivia didn’t try to hide her displeasure at learning Mr. Oldridge wouldn’t be attending, but I couldn't have been happier. It’s impossible to talk about anything secretive with that guy around. You never know when he might be listening. Hana was also openly complaining about Vier not being present. Needless to say, I was even more pleased that he wouldn’t be here.
Now, let’s move on to the most important part of this entire operation: the teams. The whole reason I’m here at all is to recruit other augmenteds into W, so an event like this could be the perfect chance.
Emphasis on could. Depending on who my teammates are, my plans might be doomed from the start. If I got paired with someone like Kathrin it would be pretty much impossible.
So then, what are the teams? No one knew, not even Ms. Kaldsen herself. She had us randomly assigned into five teams and left the team roster in a sealed envelope. She was pretty much asking for someone to steal it and edit the teams. Actually, she probably was. This was just another part of the game to her.
That put me in a difficult situation. I really didn’t want to do anything.
Now, don’t take that the wrong way. I joined W by choice. After my hero saved me and gave me a free pass out of the Pacific Empire I could have done anything I wanted. I joined W because I wanted to help. That never changed.
But you know, sometimes you really have to evaluate your own talents. Me? I’ve got a positive attitude and make things go boom. Not the most useful tool-set when it comes to undercover missions like this one.
And now I had to do something really outside of my expertise. I needed to get my hands on that roster. And then I somehow needed to edit it. If I wanted to make any real progress on this trip I needed to make sure I was on a team with members that I could convince to join my side.
“Ahh, my head hurts! I’m not supposed to be thinking like this. I’m a woman of action!”
On the other side of the room, Cynthia flinched as I yelled at the ceiling.
“Hey, Cynthia, your family is involved with all kinds of shady things, right?” I purposely lowered my voice to a point where even Cynthia probably struggled to hear me. “Can you do something about this? Don’t you have some secret techniques to use here?”
“Me?”
She hesitantly pointed to herself.
“Yeah. You.”
“That’s impossible.”
She didn’t even entertain the idea.
“Of course, yeah.”