“I shall. Farewell.”
The two of them watched the alien depart, Kaiden chuckling with something that might have been affection. “That guy is just too precious. He’s gonna get eaten alive.”
“Don’t count him out so easily. There was a reason he was selected to be a part of the first group of alien students.”
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me that. I got to hear quite a bit of family history last time we talked.”
Chiyo giggled, a light appearing in her ocular lens. “Looks like it’s my time to go as well.”
Kaiden stood up, extending a hand. “Best of luck to you.”
She shook his hand briskly. “Luck has never been good to me. Fortunately, I have the skills to compensate for that.”
“Damn straight. Go do whatever voodoo you do.”
She gave him a small bow before walking to the elevators, leaving Kaiden alone once more.
“I’m all warm and fuzzy now you’ve got friends,” Chief chirped, his avatar changing to a delighted pink.
“I guess I do. Never considered myself much of a people person,” he admitted with a low chuckle.
“I always had you pegged as a softy.”
“Catch me in the right mood, and I can be downright amicable.”
“So, how do you feel about the test now?”
Kaiden sat back down. “I ain’t too worried.”
“You never really scoped out the competition beforehand,” Chief noted. “Could be some other badasses hidden around here.”
“Maybe,” Kaiden agreed with a shrug. “Don’t got a partner like mine, though.”
Chief shifted to some sort of odd purple color, his avatar turning away on the screen. “Hey now, I’m only here for the food.”
“You don’t eat, smartass.”
“I ain’t going to admit you’re a good guy just yet. Still some stupid we need to fix.”
“I’m sure we’ll get there eventually.” He leaned back into the chair to relax, reaching up to take off his oculars.
Kaiden heard a light beeping. “Hey, don’t get too comfortable. Looks like we got bumped up in the queue,” Chief informed him.
“We did?” Kaiden asked, sliding the oculars back on. He saw a message on his display, telling him to go to hall seven. “How did that happen?”
“Looks like a big batch got taken out all at once. Ain’t that a damn shame.”
“Sure is for them.” Kaiden chuckled, stretched as he got up, and headed for the elevators.
“You want me to do a little cheerleader jig to psyche you up?”
“I’m gonna request that you not. I’ll be fine getting my head in the game.”
He reached the elevator hallway and slid into a cramped carriage. He pressed the button for level four and stood back.
“Here we go, ladies and gentlemen.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kaiden opened his eyes, greeted only by Chief’s avatar floating beside him in the darkness. He was in the Animus.
Either that or dark space. That would be troubling and confusing, he decided.
“Guess we’re waiting on everyone to load in?” Kaiden inquired.
“If I had to hazard a guess, they are probably prepping the loadout screen,” Chief said, floating around the vast emptiness.
“Thought we didn’t get to mess with that much before a mission?” Kaiden asked, looking down and checking his equipment. “Everything I chose last week is here, except my guns and accessories.”
“Isn’t it great that a grenade is considered an accessory?” Chief chirped. “And you’re right. Usually, you don’t get to swap out armor and the like before a mission. You gotta buy it and equip it well beforehand, but you can mod your weapons and swap out gadgets—the small stuff.”
“Got any recommendations?”
“Nah, keep what we got. They play to your strengths, and we don’t wanna get too crazy since we don’t exactly know what we’re up against.”
“Good point,” Kaiden agreed, then he saw wisps of light swirl around him.
They moved up his body, spinning faster and faster as they encircled him. Then, as they continued to climb higher, the lights expanded a few feet all around him. Color and texture began to settle into place, and a chair with a safety bar appeared behind Kaiden. He took a seat quickly. If this chair had safety bars, he would probably need them.
His surroundings finished forming—padded walls all around and the outline of a door in front of him with a monitor off to the side. There wasn’t a lot of light outside of some glow strips on the ceiling. For a moment, he was confused. It looked like he was back in the tube, but after a moment, he could hear the loud roar of rushing wind outside.
“Chief… Are we in a—”
“Ejection Pod. Better snap that harness into place, buddy. Gonna be a bumpy ride, I’m guessing.”
Kaiden did so quickly, pulling the harness down around his shoulders and gripping the handles tightly. The monitor turned on, revealing a man with greying hair in a formal military cut, brown eyes, and Asian features on the screen.
“Good afternoon, initiates,” He stated, his voice smooth but commanding. “I am Head Monitor Zhang, the overseer of the Animus center. I would like to welcome you to your Soldier Division test.”
“Kind of odd to be welcomed into a war zone,” Chief noted.
“This test was designed by a team consisting of members of the Animus Center—including myself and Advisors Palaye, Faraji, and Wilhelm, teachers and officers from the Soldier’s Workshop, along with guidance and design by Nexus’ Technician department and R&D sector.”
“With a special thanks to Mr. Mittens, my house cat, and a special foreword by my children’s nanny…” Kaiden grumbled. “Let’s get on with this.”
“You will enter the test zone in ten minutes. In that time, you are allowed to change the accents section of your loadout, including gadgets and colors, and apply modifications to weapons and armor if you have any.”
A separate screen opened to Kaiden’s left, showing him his loadout.
“While this is a test of each individual initiate’s skills and actions in the field, it will also be treated as a practice mission. In accordance with this, familiarize yourself with this map of the test zone and an index of potential hostiles and traps you may encounter.”
Kaiden saw a new tab appear on the loadout screen. He clicked on it and saw a bird’s-eye view of the area. A spot highlighted in yellow was titled “starting point,” while on the opposite end of the map was another area highlighted in green and titled “end point.”
“You will not have access to this map in the field. You are to rely on your personal acuity and the abilities of your EI to help you reach your destination. It does not matter what it takes to get there but reaching the endpoint is the bare minimum to meet victory conditions and pass this test. The first twenty-five initiates to succeed will receive extra points toward their final score, with first place being allotted ten thousand points.”
The screen changed again, showing the index of hostiles and cycling through them.
“Of course, we are here to test your mettle along with your mental capabilities. There are numerous enemies along all paths. They vary in difficulty and in abundance, and each of them grants points upon take-down. Their values depend on difficulty rating, so it is up to you whether the risk is worth the reward.”
Kaiden pressed the option for the glossary to appear in sections. He scrolled down the page, seeing the usual suspects—some random merc grunts, a few heavies, some robotic enemies of various types, and even a couple of mutants.
“Guess we’ll get to see if you’re a natural-born mutant slayer.”
“Yeah, maybe…” Kaiden whispered, his focus on the index. When he reached the bottom, he saw the silhouette of an enemy with the statistics and descriptions left blank. “Hey, Chief, what do you figure this is?” he asked, pointing to the unknown being.
Chief hovered closer, scanning the picture
. “I got nothin’. No info appears in my databanks.”
“Can you take a guess from the silhouette?” Kaiden quizzed him.
“Already thought to try, but still nothing. Whatever it is…I mean, maybe we probably shouldn’t mess with it.”
“I’m sensing that there is a reason we should?”
“Well, the only field that is filled in is the points it’s worth. Take a look.”
Kaiden did, letting out a sharp whistle. “One hundred thousand. You think that would put us safely out on top?”
“Oh, hell yeah. If we did somehow take this thing down alone, we would have to either die or not make it within the time limit to fail.”
“…should you not make it to the endpoint in the allotted time.” Kaiden snapped back to reality with Zhang’s warning.
“Damn. Probably should have been paying attention for the last couple minutes,” Chief mumbled sheepishly.
“You will begin to lose one hundred points per minute, and you get five-thousand for getting to the end point, which again, is the bare minimum needed to pass. If you have less than five-thousand by the time you arrive, or you lose all three of your allotted lives, you will fail and be subjected to any number of punishments and/or corrections decided by the leaders of your division along with a talk to your assigned counselor.”
Kaiden shuddered. Considering that Mya had pointed turret barrels at him as a joke, he was slightly concerned at what she might do if he actually fucked up.
“This is the end of the test introduction. Once it signs out, your ten minutes of preparation shall begin. At the prep time’s conclusion, you may jettison your pod at your discretion within a certain time limit. If you do not, you will be considered forfeit and fail the test.”
Kaiden tabbed back to the map, zooming in at the starting point. He saw a number of paths, fields and mountainsides, each with potential pros and cons such as being near enemy bases or on higher ground.
“With that, I shall sign off. Good luck, initiates. Show us what our future soldiers are made of,” Zhang commanded, the screen going black as he finished.
Kaiden looked over the map again. “Chief, got any suggestions on what we’re looking at?”
Chief disappeared to reappear on the screen and hover over the starting zone. “Most of the map is jungle. The starting zone and the edges of the map are beaches, random hills, and ridges, and a couple of mountains that we probably won’t have to worry about… Though I would bet my color-shifting skin that there’s probably some aerial hostiles coming from there we gotta worry about.”
“No doubt,” Kaiden concurred, looking back at the index and seeing a few flying drones and some sort of mutated bird-of-prey. The name read Devil Bird, and it had deep-red flesh with only a smattering of feathers, a long lance-like beak, and talons like scimitar blades. He would be happy to not have to bother with it.
Chief moved down into view, getting Kaiden’s attention. “Let’s make a game plan. You trying to get that finishing bonus?”
Kaiden shook his head. “I ain’t a sprinter. I was gonna shoot my way to a win if it’s all the same to you.”
“Figured that. Smarter move. Some of the preppies probably got cross-country medals.”
“Speaking of them, do we gotta worry about them turning on us?”
“I wouldn’t sweat it. Most will probably be too worried about staying alive and getting to the finish to go commando on everyone else. Plus, you don’t get any extra points for taking out other initiates.”
Kaiden sighed. “Well, there goes that backup plan.”
Chief’s avatar turned a slight red. “Wait, you were planning on doing that?”
“If it was an option…and depending on the point value.”
The EI cooled back to its natural blue. “You know, I was gonna say somethin’, but at least you’re showing initiative.”
“Don’t make a pun.”
“Tempting, but no. Besides, if it was an option, that would mean most of the class would be kicked out in the first five minutes in a clusterfuck of gunfire. Not good for the Academy’s bottom line.”
“Good point…what about working together?”
“Not a bad option. There would be chances of survival, and around twenty percent of initiates do go in groups during the test, but there are some problems. Two particularly important ones.”
“Such as?”
“Well, the first issue is you, in that you would have to actually have to find at least one other person who wants to work with you. To get in a party, you have to have someone accept an invite you sent or have someone send an invite to you.”
Kaiden scoffed. “What? You think I can’t make more new friends?”
“Not quickly. Besides, with the all-black get-up and the mask you got on, you look like a cyborg grim reaper.”
Kaiden opened his collar with a dramatic snap. “I happen to think it looks good.”
“Maybe not too bad for striking fear into your enemies or impressing the other non-conformists at the Academy, but it doesn’t make a great impression for small talk.”
He scowled. “Do I gotta remind you that you helped me pick this out?”
“You’re the one who hit the ‘okay’ button,” Chief said with a roll of his eye. “Wasn’t my place to judge.”
Kaiden tapped a finger against his head in annoyance. “We’ll circle back to that, maybe. What was the other problem?”
“Well, when you are in a party, points are shared. Which means we probably won’t end up in the money unless we genocide the island.”
Kaiden nodded, crossing his arms and tapping a foot. “That’s definitely an issue.”
“Figured you didn’t want to share.” Chief chuckled
“That’s not the problem,” Kaiden stated, shaking his head. “It’s that there probably isn’t enough time to comb the island and kill off every last point piñata.”
“You know, it’s a good thing that we’re talking about virtual people and things right now. Otherwise I might have to report that to a psych evaluation.”
“Hey, remember what Sasha said? We do whatever we need to do to complete our jobs, and we are very good at what we do,” Kaiden reminded him with a smirk. “Could we just shadow a group?”
“Nice idea, but no, you’d be automatically linked if you are too close to another initiate or party for too long.”
Kaiden leaned back, his fingers tapping a tattoo on his arm. “Can’t you game the system? Get far enough away before you’re linked?”
“Might work if we weren’t being monitored, dumbass.”
“Oh…that’s right.” He grunted, crossing his legs. “Clever bastards.”
“Less clever and more we’ve been doing this for more than a day.”
“Think that’s called wisdom, Chief.”
“Which you lack, you unwise ass.”
“Worth a shot.” Kaiden shrugged. He looked back at the screen—four and a half minutes left till ejection. “So we’ll go solo. Where should we start?”
“How do you wanna get to the end?”
“Why not simply go through the middle?” he asked, looking at the map. “I don’t see any dead-ends or hazardous terrain—a few enemy camps and possible patrols, but as long as we stay just off center, we’ll be off the open road and won’t make for easy targets.”
“Guess I can’t fault that logic, but it seems a little too obvious. Probably lots of traps that way. Plus, I’m sure at least some of the others are thinking that way too.”
“Maybe, but all it means is that we got some meat shields around just in case.”
“Your sense of empathy is staggering,” Chief stated sarcastically. “But, if that’s how you wanna roll, I’m good with it. I’ll keep more of a lookout for traps, and you focus on moving and taking out…point piñatas.”
“Sounds good. So where should we hop out?”
“Right here,” Chief announced, moving the map back to the starting zone and marking an area at the northern end o
f the zone. “I’ll give you a mark, but we’ll jump right before the countdown ends. It’ll land us on a high ridge that we can use to sneak into the canopy. There’s a small camp we can take out for some points, and we’ll go on from there.”
“Gotcha.” Kaiden nodded. “Now that we got a better understanding of the field, you sure we shouldn’t pack anything different?”
Chief opened the loadout tab “We should probably change the armor colors, give you a bit of camo,” he suggested, changing his individual pieces, from his mask to his boots, to a jungle camo pattern and the suit underneath to dark-green. “As for the weapons, don’t got any mods yet, but I doubt anyone else has either so no big loss there. The barrier and the thermals…perhaps change the thermals to shock or smoke grenades and the barrier to a chameleon generator for a stealthy approach?”
“Most of my points are gonna come from kills, Chief, so probably better to prepare for a big fight than try to keep everything on the low.”
“Good point. Subtlety ain’t really our style, anyway.”
As Kaiden looked over the choices, he noticed a new box at the bottom of the screen. “What’s that new field, Chief?”
The EI moved down and hovered over the box. “Supply pouch. Can’t change it. There are items you can collect on the field—health packs, different ammo types, grenades, stems, that sort of thing. An extra pouch is standard in the field.”
“Good to know.”
The lights went red. Kaiden looked up to see that the timer had hit zero. The map changed, showing a triangle moving across the screen, heading toward the starting zone.
“Right on cue. Get ready to eject in twenty-five seconds.”
Kaiden saw Debonair appear in its holster on his left hip, along with his other gadgets and clip of ballistic ammo for his Raptor materializing on his belt. Said Raptor appeared on a rack next to the door of the pod. He felt the security bar press against him slightly, locking into place. Kaiden steadied his breath, the timer reaching its mark.
“Pull the red lever on your right in ten.”
Kaiden looked up to see the red-and-white patterned handle, taking it in his grasp.
“Five…four…three…”
Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance Page 23