Seda’s score was slightly different since she was a psychic.
Teamwork, eighty percent. Gun-skill, insufficient data. No surprise there. In its place, her special-ability score broke out into three parts. Control, eighty-two percent. Wisdom, ninety-six. Power, ninety percent. Damn, Seda! That was the power level you’d expect from a Battle Psychic, not a Seer.
Glancing over at Raynn’s team board, my jaw nearly dropped.
“What’s wrong?” Ryoko asked me. I only pointed at the scoring board in response. She looked at it and her eyes widened. “By the gods!”
On the screen, extremely low stats belonging to Nioush displayed for all to see.
Teamwork, ten percent. Gun-skill, insufficient data. Control, sixty-five percent. Wisdom, nine percent. Power, Ninety-three percent.
Nioush’s power score may have beaten Seda’s by three percent, but it meant nothing when compared with his other stats and the knowledge that Seda was a Seer and shouldn’t have the high power score she had.
A loud crash and a string of profanities echoed through the room, and the crowd of experiments erupted with laughter.
“Looks like you pissed off your brother, Seda,” Argus observed.
Seda smiled in response. She didn’t have to speak for others to know how she felt about this. Not only had she beaten Nioush in battle, but she also had beaten him in the scores. That was a feat that no Seer had ever been known to do.
The scoring continued, and the board showed a video of Raikidan looking around with his carbine in hand and then showed his score.
Gun-skill, forty percent. Teamwork, eighty-five percent.
Already this looks good. I didn’t expect his gun skill to be much higher. He was still learning. And his teamwork score was above average, looking good for the team and himself. I looked at the last score.
Special-ability, multiple categories, ninety-nine percent.
Well then… I never thought I’d see the day a teammate’s special ability score would rival Ryoko’s, besides me.
Ryoko crossed her arms and huffed in response.
“Aww, is somebody upset their teammate outscored her in her favorite category?” I teased, squinting my eyes.
“Shut up,” she grumbled.
Raikidan chuckled. “Better luck next time.”
She pointed at him, placing her other hand on her hip. “I want a match, just you and me.”
Raikidan smirked. “Fine, it could be fun.”
Ryoko winked. “I’m looking forward to it.”
He gave her a blank stare, showing her how clueless he was, and she stared back with a tilted head and confused eyes. A strange sensation twisted in my chest, but whatever it was, I ignored it easily.
Don’t get your hopes up, Ryoko. There was no way she’d convince him to fight her. I doubted he’d be okay with a wrestling match. Maybe we’ll have to get a special event going for these two in the virtual reality. It couldn’t hurt.
“I don’t see why you’re so worked up over this, babe,” Aurora said. “Laz gets a higher special-ability score than you all the time.”
“It’s because Raikidan is the rookie,” Rylan explained.
Ryoko tossed her thumb at him. “What he said. He’s not supposed to rank higher than the veterans of the team.”
“Doesn’t that just mean Laz made a good choice?” Aurora asked.
Ryoko sighed. “I guess so, but I still don’t have to like it.”
Rolling my eyes, I chuckled and looked back up at the scoring board. The battle leader was always shown last, so my score was being tallied now. The video clip it showed was of me running through a maze corridor and then scaling a wall. I gathered it was when I was going to attack Raynn and Doppelganger.
When my score was shown, I smirked. I had done well.
Gun-skill, eighty-one percent. Teamwork, eight-nine percent. Special-ability, multiple categories, ninety-nine percent.
Glancing over at Raynn’s team score, I laughed. Ryoko looked at me funny but joined in my laughter when she looked as well. “I didn’t know you could have negative scoring!”
Neither of us could stop laughing at Raynn’s displayed score.
Gun-skill, seventy-five percent. Special-ability, twenty percent. Teamwork, negative seventy percent. What an impressive score, Raynn!
Normally, that would have looked bad for most teams, but it was expected for Raynn’s main team. Most of them didn’t know much about team loyalty, especially Raynn. The ones who did know had split from the main group and tried not to associate with the main group as much as possible. I felt bad for that group, but it was hard to get the Council to allow transfers to other teams with the new living situations and jobs that had to usually be arranged.
“Hey, the battle partner scoring is being calculated,” Aurora pointed out.
I looked back up at the screen, although I wasn’t all that interested in this part. In the past only Blaze and Argus ever made it on this board. As I thought would happen, a video of Blaze and Argus fighting side by side was shown when the computer chose them as battle partners. I was taken by surprise at what happened next.
The video clip vanished after it was done, and the next one shown was of Ryoko and Rylan. The two were shown on a split screen with them talking to each other while they fought at different ends of the battlefield. Although it hadn’t surprised me that Rylan had watched Ryoko’s back from his sniping locations, I was slightly surprised by how often he had done it. He had to have done it quite a bit in order for the computer to pair them.
I glanced at Ryoko when I noticed her shift her weight. Her arms were crossed and a small smile was planted on her face, but her eyes gave away the turmoil inside her. Although she was happy they were paired together, it was her feelings for Rylan that made this match-up conflicting. Taking a quick glance at Rylan, I saw him look at Ryoko from the corner of his eye. The look he gave showed he was feeling the same as her. I wanted to hit them both. It wasn’t a secret to anyone on the team how they felt, but the two were just too oblivious and stubborn to see it themselves.
“Well, look at that,” Seda mused. “Laz, you finally made it up there.”
Ryoko let out a low whistle and nodded.
“What?” I snapped my attention back up to the scoreboard.
As Seda said, I was up there and so was Raikidan. Speechless wouldn’t begin to describe how I felt.
A video was shown of when he carried me, and I hit him on the head, and then transitioned over to when we had our little argument after we had killed Nioush. That video clip transitioned again, to when I pushed him away from me after he had pinned me against the wall to protect me and then again to when we were crouched around the corner, waiting for Chameleon to turn away from us.
In my years of being a rebel, I had never been paired with a teammate. But here I was on the board now with Raikidan, the rookie. I wasn’t sure what to make of this.
Blaze snickered. “Raikidan better learn to stay on Eira’s good side. She’ll make his life a living hell if he doesn’t.”
“That happens to you every day and you’re not her battle partner,” Argus teased.
Blaze glared and shoved him. Argus smirked and shoved him back. I glanced quickly at Raikidan, who was growing confused from the hushed whispers in the crowd around us.
“Well, a congratulations is in order, I guess,” I said to him.
Raikidan’s brow rose. “Why is everyone making this out to be such a big deal?”
Ryoko placed her hands on her hips. “Cause no one has ever been paired with her. You don’t know much about us yet, but Rylan was scientifically designed to be that person, and not even he’s been paired to her.”
“It’s not a bad thing,” Rylan added. “It’s just surprising with how many of these simulations we’ve done.”
Raikidan looked at me, but I turned and walked away before I took the chance to catch his expression. My mind was on other things. We’d run these simulations many times before I left
, and I doubted they’d stopped after I’d gone on the run, either. Blaze and Argus were always paired up and that was that. Nothing ever changed. Why was the outcome so easily changed this time? And so drastically. What made Raikidan so special? None of this made any sense, and it was giving me a headache.
“Is Laz going to be okay?” Ryoko asked someone.
“She will be fine,” Seda said. “She just needs time to think.”
I headed for Aurora’s computer station. She had a small fridge there, and if I was lucky, there’d be something for me to drink. I needed it. Unfortunately, Raynn came out of nowhere and stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him. “What do you want?”
“You owe me an explanation of what your friend is,” Raynn said.
“I owe you nothing.”
Mocha snaked her arms around Raynn’s neck and hung over him. “You owe all of us an explanation.”
I glared as more of Raynn’s team came to back him up. “Quit being sore losers and get out of my way.”
The confrontation attracted attention, and my team ran over to back me up.
“No one has ever been chosen to be your battle partner by the computer, not even Rylan, and you want me to accept that this outsider can just waltz in and change all of this in one simulation?” Raynn spat on the ground. “Not happening. Now, what the hell is he?”
I didn’t get a chance to respond. A figure jumped in front of me and slammed his fist into Raynn’s face. Mocha screeched and jumped away.
My brow twisted. “Raikidan?”
Raikidan growled a little. “I told you if you had a problem with me to take it up with me, not her. Now back off!”
“Bastard.” Raynn spit out some blood and wiped away the small trail that dripped down his mouth.
Mocha moved closer to Raikidan and hissed. Rylan moved in front of me and let out a wolf-like growl in response.
Raynn spat more blood on the floor. “What’s wrong, Eira? So weak you have to have your man-toys protect you?”
“You don’t know what loyalty is,” Rylan growled more. “You wouldn’t understand.”
I snickered. “Haven’t you already had your ass handed to you enough by me today, Raynn?”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“That’s not what your eyes told me before I smashed my fist through your face.”
“I know what you’re capable of.”
“You don’t even know the half of what I’m capable of.” I wasn’t going to let Raynn put in another word. With extreme speed and agility, I maneuvered around Raikidan and Rylan and nailed Raynn in the face with my knee. Without a moment’s hesitation, I grabbed him by the back of his hair and smashed his face into the ground and then proceeded to throw him through an empty computer station.
Mocha hissed and lunged at me, but Rylan slammed his fist into her face. She stumbled back and growled at him. “I thought you didn’t hit women.”
He snickered. “You’re right, I don’t.”
Raikidan chuckled and then punched another one of Raynn’s teammates as he attempted to attack me.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “I could have handled it.”
He grinned at me. “I’m now labeled as your battle partner. I might as well live up to that.”
I rolled my eyes and focused my attention back on Raynn, who was getting up with a groan. Broken electrical wires swung and sparked all around him, but he didn’t pay them any mind. His focus was now on me.
“You’re a fucking cunt, just like Amara,” he spat.
Rage burned inside me. “Take that back.”
He grinned. “Aww, did I hit a nerve? Good. She also got exactly what she deserved.”
I lost it. No one insulted her, especially not like that. Before Raynn could react, I grabbed him by the back of his head and forced my knee into his face. Shortly after, I brought my free hand down on him. He was only able to stop me when he grabbed me by the throat. My grip on his hair loosened as his grip tightened, allowing him to stand up. I grabbed his arm and dug my sharp nails into his tough skin, causing him to bleed. Although I was slowly suffocating, I refused to show any weakness.
I fell to the ground when Raikidan slammed into Raynn and air rushed into my lungs. Raikidan pummeled Raynn in the face a few times before Raynn kicked him off. Raikidan stumbled but recovered quickly and stood in front of me as Raynn got up.
I stood up and looked at Raikidan. “This is my fight.”
He turned his head and looked at me. “No.”
I could only stare at him because of the strange look he had. It wasn’t one of a man, not entirely at least. It was much different than what an ordinary man would give when protecting someone. Dragons protect… I sighed inwardly. How could I forget so easily he was a dragon?
The look also made me feel a bit strange.
“We protect them…”
I shook that idea out of my head, as well as the feeling pricking at me. Dragons protected other dragons, not humans. It was something else. It had to be.
“I won’t let him touch you again,” Raikidan stated before looking back at Raynn.
I stared at him and that feeling threatened to come back. I didn’t know what to think now. I was so confused. Today was just one upside-down day.
“How sweet.” Raynn chuckled. “Too bad I’m going to have to cut your lovefest short.”
Raikidan went to say something, but the creaking of the entrance doors stopped him—except it wasn’t just him. Everyone in the room turned their attention to those doors. My heart stopped. Standing in the entrance of the doors were five helmetless soldiers.
“Well, well, well, look at what we have here,” one of them stated as he held his gun at the ready.
My mind was abuzz. What were they doing here? How did they find this place? What were they doing in the sewers in the first place? They couldn’t be allowed to expose this place, so I said the first thing that came to mind. “Kill them.”
Chapter Twenty
(Ryoko)
Rylan instantly reacted to Laz’s order, shifting to his wolf form and going in for the kill. His first victim suffered a ripped-out throat. Not to be outdone, Raikidan shifted into a wolf as well and took out another soldier in the same bloody fashion. I also wanted to jump in, but I needed the right target. My brute strength wouldn’t be good against another Brute if we wanted this done quickly.
Laz ran in, targeting a cowardly soldier attempting to run. That left me with two choices, but as I locked onto them, one stuck out to me. Him. I rushed in and tackled him, pulling him into a tight headlock. He struggled but wasn’t a match for me. His comrade aimed a gun at me, but Rylan and Raikidan teamed up and took him out.
“Ryoko,” Laz called out. I looked at her to find her taken care of. “I want that one alive.”
Knowing why, I grinned down at him. “You’re going to wish she had me kill you.”
Fear flashed in the man’s eyes, and he struggled more as I began dragging him to our interrogation room, but my hold on him was too good.
“Are things always this exciting here?” Raikidan asked. I looked back to see him back in human form.
Laz held up her hands. “It’s just another day in paradise.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. She had a strange but amusing sense of humor. I’d missed it so much and was glad she’d returned. She hadn’t told me yet what convinced her to come back, not after the reason she’d ran in the first place, but I was sure the truth would come out soon enough.
“Raynn, quit daydreaming and move your ass! We have work to do,” Laz called out.
“Don’t tell me what to do, wench.” Him calling her that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I hated him so much.
“Fine, I guess I’ll have all the fun.”
“The hell you will!”
He ran after her, and I didn’t understand. How could she put aside everything and work with him like that? After everything he’d done, and a
fter everything he’d just said to her before all this went down?
The soldier struggled in my arms, bringing me back to my task at hand. I smiled at him. “I like things a little rough. I hope you do, too.”
His facial reaction told me he wasn’t sure if he should be intrigued or afraid. I loved doing that. It made things… exciting.
I dragged him into a room with a single light and a chair. A rebel stood waiting with rope in his hands. I looked down at the soldier again, a grin on my lips. “I get excited when rope is involved. Do try to make this fun for me and beg.”
I shoved him down in the chair and the other rebel tied him up.
My compatriot and I opened the door to the interrogation room and exited, leaving our half-conscious victim tied up and alone. Laz leaned against a wall nearby and Raynn did the same to an adjacent wall.
She looked at me and I shook my head. “Not a word.”
Raynn grinned. “Well that’s good. Means we still get our fun.”
Laz tapped her fingers on her arm. “We’ll see. He may be close to cracking, based on the blood on Ryoko’s hands.”
I looked at them and nodded. I’d been pretty rough with him, but nothing that would cause him death. But there was only so much a person could take before they broke. “We’ll wait in the observation room, just in case you need us.”
She nodded and the four of us split. The other rebel shut the door behind us and took a seat on one of the chairs in the observation room. I chose to stand, watching Laz take in the scene before her. Raynn circled the man, commenting about his state. Unsure if the soldier was alive, he leaned in for a closer look. I chuckled when the soldier spat in his face and muttered a few curses. He had spirit.
Raynn punched the man and Laz shook her head. She walked behind him, asking for his name. She received no response. Same for me, Laz. Try something else. She asked again, and he still kept his mouth shut. Raynn punched him again, but that didn’t work either. Dingbat, I tried that!
Laz rested her folded arms on the soldier’s shoulders and leaned close. Her expression changed to a rather alluring one and she murmured in his ear, low enough the microphones weren’t able to pick it up. The man glanced at her, his eyes wide. What did she say to him? I wanted to know so bad.
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