“I’ve got several,” Kaiden muttered as he crossed into the end zone. He collapsed at their feet as they circled around him. “But for now, I’ll settle for those drinks you promised if I took down that big mechanical dick.”
“That honestly sounds pretty good right now,” Flynn admitted.
“We’ve got a couple of days of downtime after this. I know a great place in town. I’ll get us a feast,” Luke declared.
“Food sounds fantastic too. Didn’t think you could burn so many calories in the Animus.” Kaiden groaned.
“Well, the mind does burn calories if used a lot,” Amber stated, taking out her Stim Ray. “And you’ve technically been running a lot, at least in your head.” She pointed the device at Kaiden and activated it. He felt his energy return.
“Oh, that feels really good.” Kaiden sighed happily, taking a moment to relax before pushing himself off the ground into a sitting position.
“That was my last charge, but I don’t think I’ll be needing to use it again in the next fifteen minutes.”
“So we’re almost out?” Kaiden asked.
“Fourteen minutes, fifty-four seconds, and counting,” Jaxon assured him.
Kaiden nodded before pushing himself off the ground and looking back at the jungle. The sun was beginning to set in the distance, and he could see more soldiers making their way to the finish.
He looked back at the group. “Any of you get that placement bonus?”
“Silas, Cameron, Flynn, Amber, and me,” Jaxon replied. “Though the last three of us just got twenty-third through twenty-fifth.”
“The four of us would probably have gotten the top places if that machine didn’t show up,” Cameron fumed at Jaxon before releasing a resigned exhalation. “But it’s whatever. I still got seventeenth, and it was a pretty fun ride.”
“Agreed.” Silas concurred. “Wasn’t exactly either my plan or Izzy’s to have to deal with a walking war machine, but it was a thrill.” He looked at Cameron and gave him a thumbs-up. “I got fourteenth.”
“Met some…interesting people too,” Izzy chirped as she placed an arm on Silas’ shoulder and leaned on him.
Flynn looked at Kaiden. “Glad I didn’t shoot you back when we first met.”
Kaiden crossed his arms and shrugged. “You wouldn’t have hit me.”
“Maybe not.” Flynn laughed, pointing a thumb toward Marlo. “But Marlo’s big cannon might have.”
Kaiden gave the Tesla cannon a once-over. “That would be…a safer bet, yeah.”
The group went quiet as they watched the sun disappear and the last remnants of the testing group make it in. Soon, dozens of soldiers walked around and chatted easily among themselves.
They saw one last soldier hustle in. “That makes one hundred,” Raul commented.
“Got six minutes left,” Jaxon announced. “But since everyone is here, they’ll probably port us out in a minute.”
Just then, a loud ring sounded, and giant screens formed in the air. All the soldiers looked up to see Head Monitor Zhang onscreen.
“Congratulations, initiates, on not only passing your test but being the only Soldier group so far to pass with all one hundred initiates accounted for.”
“Damn, must have upped the difficulty this year.” Silas sounded irritated.
“There’s still time,” Izzy added.
“We will begin de-syncing you from the Animus in due time, but first, your final scores.”
Zhang disappeared from the screen, replaced by a scoreboard showing the bottom twenty-five positions.
Marlo placed his cannon on the ground and leaned against it. “I wonder who got first?”
Flynn looked over his shoulder. “Still feeling confident, Kaiden?”
“And cocky,” he responded with a raised fist.
The scoreboard continued to climb until it reached the top twenty, showing five positions at a time.
“Hey, Marlo got eighteenth,” Amber declared.
“Not too bad, I guess. I suppose those deaths cost me a bit.” Marlo sighed.
“Oh, come off it mate, you did good,” Flynn said, clapping him on the back.
The board changed again, fifteenth through eleventh.
“I got thirteenth?” Cameron spluttered.
“Hey, I got fifteenth,” Izzy pointed out.
“I got eleventh.” Silas folded his arms behind his head. “Not bad.”
“Killing that death machine really boosted our points.” Izzy looked at the group. “Good job, team.”
“That means the rest of us got into the top ten,” Luke noted.
“Let’s see who’s top dog.” Cameron chuckled.
The board flashed, showing tenth through sixth this time.
“Sixth.” Raul huffed his annoyance “Could be worse, I suppose.”
The screen changed, showing the top five one position at a time.
5th place: Amber Soni 75,000 points
“I got fifth,” Amber shouted, jumping excitedly in the air.
“You’re Doctor Soni’s kid?” Kaiden asked, looking over.
“Could be a different Soni,” she pointed out wistfully. “But in this case, you’re right.”
Kaiden scratched the underside of his chin. “I see… About that blue stuff—”
“Look, it’s changing,” Izzy announced, cutting him short.
4th place: Luke Kruger 79,500 points
“Fourth,” Luke declared, grinning broadly.
Raul whacked the side of his helmet. “Luke beat me? That is worse.”
“That means the three of us are at the top,” Flynn commented.
“Wanna place some last-minute bets?” Kaiden asked.
“I’m already getting the group drinks, so no need to burn more cash.” Flynn snickered, “Besides, I only bet when I got a chance to win.”
“So then, who do you think got it?” Kaiden asked. Flynn stared at him a moment before looking back at the screen.
3rd place: Flynn King 89,200 points
Flynn whistled. “Those turrets and drones must have been worth a dollar-pound.”
“What the hell is a dollar-pound?” Kaiden asked.
“Next up is second,” Silas observed. “They usually show the last two positions at the same time.”
Jaxon tapped Kaiden on the shoulder. “Either way it goes, it was good working with you,” he said with a salute.
Kaiden reciprocated, though his salute wasn’t as formal. “Right back at you.”
“Figures the top positions would go to aces,” Amber said.
Kaiden knocked against his chest a couple times. “Hey, it’s in the name.”
The screen went dark for a moment before the scorecards burst onscreen.
2nd place: Jaxon Cage 101, 900 points
1st Place: Kaiden Jericho 113,500 points.
“Holy hell,” Flynn cried. The other soldiers in the test cheered as bursts of different color lights erupted in the sky and the screen declared, “Congratulations, Initiates!” in bright white letters.
“We did it, partner.” Chief’s orb popped up next to Kaiden, awash in a happy pink glow.
“You really need to stop being so pessimistic.” Kaiden chuckled.
“Like I said, can’t let you get too full of yourself.”
“Will you let me gloat for a while at least?”
The EI’s eye looked to either side for a moment before looking back at him. “Within reason, but you’ve earned a little cockiness.”
“You know that was already there,” Kaiden jeered.
“And it’s worked out so far,” Chief admitted.
“You two did amazing,” Silas boomed. Kaiden looked over to see the group huddle around them. “Both your scores are the highest anyone has ever gotten during these tests.”
“The last high score was one hundred thousand even,” Jaxon noted. “Feels nice to surpass it, even if I’m not the new high score.”
“Like you said, probably got some extra points for dealing the k
illing blow,” Kaiden responded. “But we’ll have other opportunities to go at it. Nice to know I got some real competition in the aces. Might convince me to stick around.”
“After what I’ve seen, I recommend it. Gives me some motivation too,” Jaxon answered with a nod.
“Aw, is this your EI, Kaiden?” Amber asked, poking the pink orb. “It’s adorable.”
“Well, uh, thank you, darlin’,” Chief said sheepishly.
“Pink is a pretty color on you,” Amber chirped before walking off.
“It’s…uh, not my natural color. I got this emotive skin thing…come back, please,” Chief cried, floating after her.
“First time I’ve seen Chief flustered. Have to remember to use that on him,” Kaiden mused aloud.
“So that’s Chief, eh?” Flynn asked, walking up to peer at the orb. “Pretty neat. This here’s Jeeves.” He held out his hand to show a translucent kangaroo in a yellow color and tuxedo top.
Kaiden snickered. “I thought you told Marlo that stereotypes were a bad thing.”
“Well, sure…but just look at this cute little bugger,” Flynn cooed, holding the avatar closer to Kaiden as it hopped in place.
Kaiden gripped the marksman’s wrist lightly and moved it out of his face. “Nice to know that a guy whose job it is to put bullets through skulls has a soft side.”
Jeeves disappeared, and Flynn put down his hood and unlocked his mask, revealing sea-blue eyes, long blond hair, and a beaming smile. “I can be sentimental, sure.”
“It’s one of the things that keeps us sane in all this.” The two turned to see Jaxon walking up, his helmet in hand. The dark blue skin, seaweed-like hair bundled into one long braid, and dark black eyes surprised him.
Flynn whistled. “A Tsuna, huh? Haven’t seen too many of you among the Soldiers.”
“Almost all have come to this academy for engineering, scientific, or medical purposes. I was chosen to represent the warriors of my species.”
“Doing a pretty damn good job of it so far,” Flynn assured him.
“Where’s your, ah…” Kaiden motioned around his neck. “Breathing water circle thing?”
“My hydro insulator, as the device was called, is on me in the pod. I do not require it in the Animus.”
“That’s nifty.” Flynn nodded.
“So I guess we’re doing a big reveal thing here?” Kaiden asked, taking off his hat and unlocking his mask. “Don’t be too amazed by what you see.”
As Kaiden removed the mask, Flynn chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll have any feelings of inadequacy around you, Kaiden.”
Kaiden gave him a pensive look. “Sassy Aussie bastard.”
“Comes with the territory, although I would like to know how you got that scar.” He pointed to the line just to the side of Kaiden’s left eye.
Kaiden traced it for a moment. “I’ll tell you over those drinks later.”
Flynn nodded. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Kaiden saw others begin to disappear in a flash of light. Chief popped back onscreen.
“Time to get out of here. You can initiate de-sync when you’re ready.”
“Gotcha,” Kaiden acknowledged, looking at the others. “I’ll see you all on the other side.”
“Make sure you do.” Jaxon tapped the side of his head.
Kaiden saw a prompt pop-up.
Jaxon Cage would like to network Y/N
“What’s a network?” Kaiden asked.
“Oh, good idea, Jaxon,” Flynn exclaimed, tapping his head too. Kaiden received another prompt.
“It’s to keep track of each other in the Academy—set-up studies, partner up for tests or training, or keep social,” Jaxon explained.
As Kaiden accepted the requests, more appeared from each of the soldiers he’d fought beside. He took a deep breath and accepted all of them.
“Guess we’ll have our own battalion soon enough,” Silas noted.
“We did pretty damn good here. They should probably split us up if they wanna challenge us,” Amber declared.
“Don’t give them any ideas now.” Marlo chuckled.
“Besides, we’re plenty dangerous on our own,” Cameron added.
Jaxon pressed the side of his head again. “I’m heading out. See you all at the ceremony.” With that, he disappeared in a flash of light.
The others nodded and said their goodbyes before disappearing, leaving Kaiden alone for a moment. He looked over the island one last time, watching the sky darken.
“They’ll kick you out automatically if you take too long,” Chief informed him.
“I’m going. Go ahead and start the de-sync.” Kaiden sighed. “This actually turned out to be pretty damn fun.”
“The test?” Chief asked as Kaiden saw the island vanish.
“That too.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Kaiden flipped the circular medal in the air, catching it before looking it over one more time. The rank-up medal was a silver coin, no bigger than an archaic half-dollar coin, the Nexus academy symbol etched into it with a number 2 at the top.
“Hitting the big time now, huh?” Chief asked.
Kaiden put his oculars on. “Maybe not big time, but I’m a hell of a lot further along than before.”
“And in less than a couple weeks. Way better than I initially figured you’d fare.”
“Why? What did you think?”
“Honestly? Figured you might get held back a year,” Chief admitted with a roll of his eye.
Kaiden chuckled as he placed the medallion on his capsule bed. He stood to put on his academy jacket. “To be fair, I was contemplating if I should even be here for quite some time.” He picked the medal back up and put it on the collar of his jacket. “Guess it didn’t turn out so bad.”
“Wow, for once I was the optimistic one,” Chief observed.
Kaiden zipped up his jacket. “Speaking of you, I’m surprised you didn’t want me to get you one of those fancy new skins. Since I beat the high score, they basically let me choose my winnings. You could have gotten something real shiny.”
“Maybe, but I’m feeling all right about my current look. Chicks dig it.”
“Apparently.”
“Plus, I saw that kangaroo in the suit and realized I could be a lot worse off—or that you could’ve gotten some rather horrible ideas.”
“I won’t confirm or deny that.” Kaiden shrugged. He looked around the SC dorm, empty except for him.
“You finally gonna get out of this place?” Chief asked.
“I’m one of the last ones here, but yeah. While the space is nice and all, I’ll be moving to the Soldiers’ Dorm when I get back.” Kaiden stated.
“Moving on up.”
Kaiden shook his head as he started to leave the sleeping quarters. “Speaking of soldiers, you know why they had to tap their heads to talk to their EIs?”
“It’s the device that they use. Tapping prevents EIs from taking unnecessary action or misunderstanding orders. Sort of a fail-safe,” the EI explained. “The typical soldier EI isn’t as complex and astute as I am.”
“Well, aren’t I lucky.” Kaiden scoffed.
“Plus, I can read your mind.”
Kaiden stopped in his tracks, glancing at the EI at the top of his lenses. “You for real?”
“Well, not in a creepy way. I can read neural functions. Add that to normal EI readings of their partner's physical stats, and I have a better way of knowing when to follow commands or assist you.”
Kaiden sighed before smiling. “I learn something new about you every day.”
“I’m an artificial being of unique character and many talents,” Chief declared proudly.
“There’s at least a little truth to that,” Kaiden admitted. He turned to look at the SC quarters again. “Might be that I’m a little resistant to change, but I think I’m going to miss this place a little.”
“You don’t have to leave. You’re still an SC. But it would probably be a little odd that one of
the best soldiers isn’t staying with the others.”
Kaiden left the sleeping quarters and closed the door behind him. “Well, that, and the Soldier’s Dorm is a bit nicer.”
“Yeah, but don’t you get better quarters either way with the rank-up?” Chief asked.
“The SC Dorms don’t have level two rooms, but the Soldiers’ Dorm does.”
Kaiden could see Chief roll his eye again. “So now, things are fitting into place.”
“Hey, if they’re gonna offer me fancier digs, might as well use them, right?”
“How pragmatic of you.”
“It is a good thing that I am aware of your unique bond with your EI, or I might have to warn the psych ward.”
Kaiden turned to see Commander Sasha making his way up the hall.
“Howdy, Commander, haven’t seen you in a hot minute,” Kaiden said with a smile, offering his hand. “You come all this way just to see little old me?”
The commander took his hand in a tight grip, shaking it once before letting go. “I wanted to congratulate you on your success in the test. I had some business to discuss with Professor Laurie so I couldn’t make it to the ceremony.”
“I understand. I was surprised Laurie wasn’t there—over-blown festivities seem to be his thing.”
“Well, he is normally a recluse, if you recall, though your being here seems to have certainly made him more active in the last few weeks than he has been in years.”
Kaiden rolled his eyes now. “I seem to have that effect on people.”
“It’s a special gift. Don’t put it to the side too casually,” Sasha advised, clasping his hands behind his back. “I heard you chose a rank-up as your prize for taking first place.”
Kaiden nodded. “Got a small treasure trove of goodies too—some special skins for my armor, a few thousand academy credits, even a couple mods for my guns along with the one I got in the test.” He leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “Gotta say that y’all take care of the winners around here.”
“The saying that success is its own reward may be true, but incentive certainly brings out more enthusiasm,” he said, looking off to the side. “I hear that you’ve been training with Officer Wulfson?”
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