“All of you were watching?” Kaiden asked.
Akello pointed to the monitor. “Technically, we’re watching all of the matches, but yours certainly seemed to get the most attention.”
Kaiden elbowed Chiyo playfully in the side. “Told ya I could put on a hell of a performance.”
Akello coughed to get their attention. “Actually, there were bets going on among the early finishers to see how long you would last or how many kills you would get. All but one thought you would bite it before finishing off the last of the enemies, though a couple did think you would make it to the top before getting blown to bits by the other mechs.”
Kaiden crossed his arms and looked at Chiyo. “See, I’m not the only one who gambles. It’s a perfectly normal and fun activity.”
“I’m not sure I would describe it as normal. As far as fun goes, you do realize they were expecting you to fail?” she asked.
“Hey, not everyone is good at it,” he said with a shrug. He eyed the other initiates before looking back at Akello. “So, who won?”
The advisor pointed to herself. “I did, actually, and now I’ve got a group of students to help me with clean up and inventory this weekend.”
This caused the others to groan or sigh in disappointment before Akello hushed them. “Final scores won’t be tallied until the last three teams get done, but I think I have a good feeling on how you did.”
“Don’t need any sixth sense to know that we killed it in there. Along with many a merc,” Kaiden declared.
“The other teams should finish momentarily. Unless one of them wipes out at the very end, we should have a full group of successful completions.” Akello looked pleased.
“Hey, Miss Faraji. You might wanna check out Harrison and Jones. Looks like they are about to fly through an asteroid belt,” one of the initiates called.
“Oh, that sounds like it could be potentially devastating. I gotta watch this…you can relax until the others are finished, but don’t leave the hall.” Akello turned and skipped back over to the monitors.
“Hey, let’s watch that too. I always like to see the ships burst apart in space. With no sound, you just see them turn into a big ball of fiery plasma. It looks like a shooting star that explodes,” Chief said with glee.
“As much as that sounds fun and all, I believe there’s another matter we need to get to first, Chief,” Kaiden stated.
The EI appeared in the air, narrowing his eye in confusion. “What are you on about?”
“Chiyo, you mind taking that tablet out and bringing Kaitō up?” he requested.
She looked questioningly at him for a moment before shrugging and retrieving her tablet from her bag. She activated it, and Kaitō appeared on the screen. “How may I be of assistance, Mister Kaiden?” he asked.
“All I need from you, Kaitō, is to simply be here. It’s Chief who has to do something,” Kaiden glanced at the floating orb, “considering he lost the bet.”
Chief’s eye widened, and he changed from a disgusted green to an angry red, then to an unhappy blue. “Now? Really? Don’t you want me to stew on it for a bit? Really think long and hard about my past misdeeds and personal issues and come back after a few eternities?”
“As much as that would amuse me, I’m also liable to forget about this with how crazy shit gets around here,” Kaiden admitted.
“I know. I was banking on that.”
Kaiden frowned and motioned towards Kaitō. “Do it, Chief.”
Chief sighed as he turned slowly towards the synthetic fox. He rotated his eye over towards Kaiden once more, almost begging for mercy, but Kaiden simply shook his head and waved the EI away.
“Right… Kaitō…you are a nos… You seem to be… Look, I know we’ve never really got along since we first met,” Chief began.
“We haven’t? I always found you a fascinating individual,” Kaitō responded, clearly perplexed.
“You see? Trying to turn this all on me. It’s things like that which gave us such a rough start.” Chief growled with real indignation.
“You are really sucking at this, Chief.”
“I told you I needed time to prepare.” Kaiden glared at him.
Chief shook himself from side to side in frustration before turning back to Kaitō. “Here…just…give me a moment to gather my thoughts…”
As Sasha rewatched the final moments of Kaiden and Chiyo’s test, he continued to wonder about the ending. It was oddly robust for the close of a test mission. Typically, the students had to make their way to an extraction point or they were simply pulled out once their objectives were complete. He zoomed the camera into the screen over their shoulders, seeing the warp gate launch out of its confinement building. It looked like a proper launch sequence, and he wondered if this was based on something real or created simply to add flavor. He’d have to get together with Laurie.
The door to his office opened, and Mya stepped in. He greeted her with a smile as he minimized the viewing screen on his computer. “Hello and good afternoon, Mya. How may I help you?”
“Just coming by to see you and ask how Kaiden and Chiyo did,” she said as she took a seat.
“You weren’t watching?” he asked.
“My duo were doing their mission at the same time, and I was finishing up a report and answering messages. I can only do so much multitasking,” she explained with a weary sigh.
Sasha folded his hands and leaned forward. “And how did they do?”
“Pretty well. They passed, but they had to pull out before getting their bonus objective. Their score is probably a little over average as Jensen was able to take out almost fifty percent of their hostiles with a mortar he was able to repair.”
“You don’t have the final scores yet?” he asked.
“They were in hall five and are waiting on the final teams to finish.”
“Hall Five?” Sasha took a look at his screen. “A happy coincidence. Kaiden and Chiyo were in that hall as well. We will learn their scores in a moment.”
“How do you think they did?” she asked again.
“Chiyo performed admirably. Quick, efficient and no mistakes. She is a gift to her class.”
“Yeah, go ahead, rub it in,” Mya grumbled. “Glad she’s working out so well for you, but considering you didn’t mention Kaiden, I’m guessing he’s not so much of a gift?”
Sasha paused for a moment, looking back at the screen. “Maybe not to his class, but he is a gift to his enemies. In the same way as leaving a wooden horse was a gift to the Trojans.”
“He took out a bunch of enemies too?” she asked.
“He actually took out every last one,” Sasha confessed, and Mya’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Scorched earth is either Kaiden’s favorite tactic or simply his default setting. It makes for a very engaging watch if you are not in the field with him.”
“And to think I once pointed a turret in his face… You don’t think he holds grudges, do you?”
“Not ones that aren’t childish, perhaps. But he’s never mentioned that incident to me, so I don’t think you have reason to worry.” Sasha placed his chin into the palm of his hand. “Though I must say, it doesn’t seem the best first impression to aim a large gun at a new initiate. Quite unlike you, Mya.”
“It was a joke. I wasn’t actually going to fire it…I mean, not unless he really was a trespasser. Though if someone was able to sneak their way into Nexus Academy, they would potentially make a good recruit.”
“That raises a few questions…” A ding sounded from Sasha’s computer, and he looked at the monitor. “I’ll leave the questions for later. It would appear the final team has finished. We are about to get the scores.”
“Oh! Let me see.”
Sasha turned the monitor sideways so they could both look. “Keep in mind this is only for these ten duos. We won’t know the final overall scores until the last group has finished.”
“Still, we get to know the points that will contribute to our League score,” Mya remin
ded him.
“Where are you currently?”
“Bottom ten, but with all the changes with the test currently going on, I can’t say for sure. Yvon did pretty good and got sixty-three thousand points, but if Sandra and Jensen got at least seventy thousand points, the bonus will jump me back toward the top.”
“Then I offer my best wishes to you.”
“Wish I had a wishbone to break.”
“If you find one, you might want to use it to get Chiyo back.”
She sneered playfully at him. “You know, you should get me a drink sometime for giving her to you.”
Sasha chuckled. “I believe we made a fair trade. But once I win, I’ll be sure to invite you to dinner for your contribution.”
“That works too.” She beamed.
The scores continued to appear. Mya leaned in once she recognized the names of her duo.
Sixth Place: Jensen Lovett and Sandra Galileo (Sapper / Surveyor): 72,100 Points
She pumped her fist. “All right, with that score and the bonus I get from the team-up, I’m back in the top five.”
“Congratulations. Now let’s see where Kaiden and Chiyo landed.”
“Oh, like that’ll be a surprise,” Mya said with a pout.
Third Place: Roland Zoller and Mack Derringer (Vanguard / Decker): 103,600 Points.
Kaiden whistled. “Getting into the big stuff now.” He looked over to see two large men shaking each other’s hand before they switched positions and began arm wrestling in the air. “In more ways than one, I guess.”
“And just because I tried to sabotage you on multiple occasions, it doesn’t mean that I necessarily wanted you to burn out or deactivate. It was…a measure to keep you at arm’s length or however we EIs try to keep one another at a distance. It was because I wasn’t maybe so accepting of myself…”
“Is he still going on?” Kaiden asked, bewildered.
“At this point, I believe Kaitō is acting more as a psychologist than someone who is being apologized to.” Chiyo chuckled as she switched the tablet to her other arm, flexing the free arm and wincing. “My arms are beginning to tire.”
“Hey, Chief, wrap it up!” Kaiden ordered.
“I’m doing this properly. Don’t rush me.”
Kaiden rolled his eyes as he looked back at the board.
Second Place: Farah Grey and Monica Jest (Diplomat / Administrator): 109,800 points.
“They must have negotiated the hell out of something.” Kaiden chuckled.
“Kaiden, this means we are in first,” Chiyo pointed out.
“That was in doubt?” he asked, truly curious.
“So, to summarize all this…I guess I’m sorry for being a dick, Kaitō,” Chief finished.
“That was…quite a lot to hear. You have truly come up with some interesting ways to describe me,” Kaitō responded.
“I pride myself on my insults game. But from now on, I’ll be sure to only use it to come up with interesting nicknames and the occasional creative curse,” Chief declared.
“Well, I suppose at this point, I should say thank you for the apology I didn’t know I needed. And I accept,” Kaitō said with a nod. Chiyo placed the tablet back into her bag.
“Looking forward to the future, you sharp-nosed…nice guy.” Chief corrected himself hastily at a quick glare from Kaiden.
“That’s about the best way this can turn out, I guess.” Kaiden snickered.
First Place: Kaiden Jericho and Chiyo Kana (Ace / Infiltrator): 200,000 Points.
“Holy hell!” Kaiden exclaimed. “Someone tell me that’s a new record.”
“It’s actually the highest amount of points a team can score during the Co-op test,” Akello informed him. “Though it actually hasn’t happened in over a decade, so congratulations are still in order.”
“Great job, partner,” Kaiden said, clasping a hand on Chiyo’s shoulder.
“You did excellent work, Kaiden. It was fun. Not something I thought I would be saying at the end of a test.”
“It’s the inviting and sunny atmosphere I bring with me everywhere I go.”
“Along with clouds of doom, rains of destruction, and the occasional grapefruit-sized hail of stupidity,” Chief added.
Kaiden frowned at him. “I see your new attitude doesn’t extend to me.”
“It’s the kind of snarky and joyful atmosphere I bring,” the EI chirped, “And since I have your attention, you should know that after all that destruction and data mining, you have a couple synapse points to spare, and as I recall, you made a promise just before we finished.”
“I’ll load it up the next chance I get, probably later tonight,” Kaiden promised. “For now, let’s go see the others. They’re probably down in the lobby.”
“Bloody hell, are you serious? Two hundred thousand points!” Flynn exclaimed.
“Overkill just isn’t a thing to you, is it?” Luke asked. The group crowded around Kaiden and Chiyo in the lobby.
“There was plenty of killing. But Chiyo was the one who actually got the data and the bonus objective,” Kaiden said, pointing a thumb her way.
“We both fulfilled our roles. Although you have an interesting way of leading as an ace,” Chiyo commented.
“I made the same observation while watching you two. It is very hands-on, as you might say,” Genos noted.
“I’m more of a delegator. Besides, I figured if there was no one going after her, I fulfilled my role just as well as if I’d gone the sneaky way.” Kaiden grinned.
“Still, a full two hundred thousand. You’ve got first place, for sure,” Amber stated.
“How about we go and celebrate?” Kaiden asked.
“What about us? We’re up next,” Cameron huffed.
“Oh right… Well, fair is fair. We’ll watch you guys eat it and then go party,” Kaiden jeered.
“Acting all cocky now. We’ll put on just as good a show,” Raul challenged.
“Looking forward to seeing what you got,” Kaiden retorted.
“After the tests, we get a break for the holidays. What are everyone’s plans?” Marlo asked.
“I’m hoping to head up to the mountains and do some skiing. Silas will probably be bundled up in about a dozen covers if he goes,” Izzy joked.
“Surprisingly, living in the Caribbean doesn’t really prepare you for snowy weather.” He deadpanned.
“Helping my mom make and study new serums and medical devices, a merry medic Christmas,” Amber said sarcastically.
“I’ll probably stay at the Academy; my folks are going up to the Ziggy Station till the middle of January,” Flynn said.
“Same, though I might make a trip to Seattle to see a friend. But I figured I might as well keep up with my talents.” Kaiden whipped out his pistol and twirled it. “It might shock you, but you can’t stay this good without practice.”
“Humility must also dampen your skills,” Cameron quipped under his breath.
“I will shock you with this,” Kaiden taunted as Cameron raised his hands in mock surrender.
“A few other Tsuna and I will be reporting back to the delegates. Once we return, I will begin further training in preparation for the deathmatch,” Jaxon said.
Kaiden almost dropped his pistol and snapped his neck turning to Jaxon. “Your conclave is going to make you guys fight to the death?”
“No, Kaiden, he’s talking about the Academy’s deathmatch,” Amber said, sounding reassuring despite what she was talking about.
“We’re going to fight each other to the death?” Kaiden paused for a moment before looking back at Cameron and raising his pistol. “Can I start now with him?”
“Kaiden, it’s another test. The final test for the initiates,” Chiyo explained. “It will take place within the Animus. Please, put the shock pistol down.”
Kaiden lowered and then holstered his gun. “Deathmatch… Well, that certainly sounds like something I would participate in, usually for money.”
“Technically, it’s th
e much more plain ‘squad match,’ but most students and faculty have picked up the nickname,” Silas interjected.
“Group Red, would you please report to your designated halls for the final group of Co-op tests,” a voice announced over the speakers of the center.
“That’s us,” Raul said. “We’ll see you guys afterward, then we’ll have that party.”
“Best of luck to you,” Genos exclaimed.
“Go and kick ass!” Luke bellowed.
The rest wished them luck, and they turned to go back to the observatory one last time.
As they walked across the pavilion, Kaiden took a moment to really look around the Academy and at the group beside him, thinking about what he came there with and what he had now.
For a moment, he recalled everything he had been through before making it there. And as he observed the comrades he had made and the partnerships he had forged, he took a moment to wonder.
“What’s up with you?” Chief asked. “You’re falling behind the others.”
“Yeah, I’ll catch up,” Kaiden acknowledged. “Hey, Chief, you know how you felt when you got that first upgrade?”
“Oh, I’m still all aflutter, but what about it?”
“That moment when I first activated it, and you went dark…what did you feel?”
“Uh, I don’t really know. Things were a little wonky at first, and then I simply felt like a completely new me. Even better than my already majestic peak.”
“I think I feel ya there.” Kaiden pulled out his oculars and put them on, bringing up the talents screen.
“What are you doing?”
“I’ve got some time to burn, and I did promise you that I would give you your next upgrade. Figured I’d go ahead and do it now.” He opened the EI tree and looked through the options. “Might as well get it out of your system before you keep me up again tonight.”
“I think all that time in the Animus has started to make you weird, even a little sappy. But I ain’t complaining if it gets me my fix,” Chief declared.
Kaiden hovered over the ‘Next-Gen’ talent icon. “You ready?”
“Hell yeah, let’s bring on the new me.”
Animus series Boxed Set Page 62