“A device…” He hummed and played coy before he snapped his fingers in mock realization. “Project Wormwood? So dead Professor Lumiya is doing well, then? How’s his daughter?”
“Don’t get cute, Gin,” Zubanz warned. “The professor was so afraid of telling us what happened that even with the drugs, he collapsed in fear when he finally admitted that you broke in and stole it. He had to be rushed to a hospital.” After a few heaving breaths, Zubanz did what he could to compose himself and leaned away from the screen. “What were you thinking?” he hissed. “I gave you the job to sneak into Nexus Academy and take that experimental EI. It’s been months since then. What is your game?”
“My game is your job,” the killer stated equably, seemingly oblivious to the chairman’s rage. “And I’m playing by my rules. Even someone like me can’t simply waltz into the top ark academy in the world like I could, for example, break into a lab developing a new type of stealth technology.”
Zubanz clenched the fist on his deck and his nostrils flared. “I told you, if you needed something that we could provide, to contact the broker I set you up with and we would handle it.”
“I did. It took him three days to get back to me and he told me it would take several months to get the device.” Gin leaned back against the desk behind him. “He had to wait for tests and all that to complete, then had to make a cover story for where it was going. I figured that was far too long to wait. I assumed you wanted this done as quickly as possible, so I decided to take care of it myself at no extra charge.”
“You could have caused an incident,” Zubanz pointed out, slammed his fist down, and rattled the ice in the glass beside him.
The killer’s fingernails dug into the wood of the desk and his eyes narrowed at Zubanz’s accusations. “But I did not. Since you said you did your research into me, you should know that I usually handle such situations very differently,” he reminded the man. “I did that as a favor, thinking that it would mean we could avoid a discussion like this.”
The chairman went silent and looked at his desk but his hand clenched and unclenched to the rhythm of what Gin assumed was the man’s heartbeat “Never do anything that effects the organization. Ever,” he finally stated unequivocally. “I should remind you that no matter how good you are, you are on a planet where millions of soldiers, officers, bounty hunters, and mercs are searching for you—not to mention what I alone could do to end your little escapades.”
The killer said nothing as he stared at Zubanz who continued to avoid his gaze. “If you want to think of this as a game, know you are nothing more than a pawn. One I am paying, which means I control you. You will do what I say and get this done.” The chairman looked up at last and stared at him once more with angry eyes. “Never bite the hand that feeds you, Gin. If you do, that hand will grip your jaw and tear it out.” With that, he raised a finger and ended the call.
He stood motionless for a moment except for a single finger that tapped against the desk. Finally, he straightened and disrobed before he wandered over to the compartment with his gear. He had something else he needed and would have taken the chance to ask Zubanz if he could make it happen if the man hadn’t been so uncouth. He pressed the switch to open the compartment and reveal his armor. After a moment’s thought, he turned and picked Macha up and twirled the blade in his hand. He contemplated Zubanz’s warning. Don’t bite the hand that feeds lest you get your jaw ripped out.
That simply meant he would have to bite through the hand and sever it before it had the chance.
Gin looked at Macha and caught his reflection in the blade. He wanted to smile but all he saw was his grim façade. He would take care to maintain the same requirements as he had at the previous lab, but he could see that was now pointless if Zubanz couldn’t see the obvious show of goodwill he had demonstrated. Instead, he would simply have to show him what could have happened.
He took Macha’s sheath from the compartment and slid her in. With deft movements, he took each piece of armor out and put them on. Once he was done, he was sure that his benefactor would make another call, but he didn’t like how impersonal that call felt.
When he had finally obtained the last item on his list, he would allow Zubanz to make his grievances in person.
Then, the chairman would see that he was not his better.
Chapter Twelve
Kaiden gazed out of the window of the carrier as Nexus Academy came into view in the early afternoon light when the transport turned through the mountain road.
“You, uh, gonna keep ignoring those messages?” Chief asked. He appeared on the ace’s lap and looked up at him.
“I’m gonna be there in ten minutes,” Kaiden retorted and continued to stare absentmindedly out the window.
“Well, I tried to tell you on the flight back to Seattle.”
“I find messaging impersonal.”
The EI gave him a quizzical look. “More impersonal that not responding at all?”
“Are you my caretaker now?” he asked and glared at him with an expression of real displeasure.
Chief shrunk his artificial body and floated to his shoulder. “I worry, sometimes. Plus, you haven’t had proper sleep or eaten your veggies.”
“Spare me,” Kaiden said flippantly. “My head still isn’t on completely straight at the moment.”
“I told you four bottles would be over your level,” the EI mocked and turned an amused pink.
“Celebration knows no limits,” he defended as he rubbed his temple.
“Not when you leave dignity with the coats.” Chief chuckled.
He looked out the window again, his stare fixed on the fish that jumped out of the water. “I completed a level-seven mission and got a good deal on that jet bike.” He crossed his legs and leaned back. “A double win.”
“You know that Halo chick probably had some sort of tracker on that thing.”
“Hey, it’s not my property anymore.” Although Kaiden didn’t look, he could visualize Chief’s eye-roll.
“Technically, not yours to begin with,” he grumbled. “All for a little R and R after a gig. But you did burn through more than your allotted time. You’re gonna have some workshops to make up.”
“Yeah, that’ll probably take the rest of my day.” Kaiden sighed. “All for the better, I guess. I’m not sure going into the Animus with the last of a hangover is the best idea.”
“You managed to fly back in all right.”
He lifted a hand up and shook it side-to-side, “Kinda. It was a test of willpower and abdominal fortitude.”
“Remember when Luke and Cameron went in after a night of partying?”
He laughed heartily. “Yeah, that was probably one of the few times they went into the med bay not because of me.”
“I’m reasonably sure you should probably not say that last part so nonchalantly,” Chief prodded.
Kaiden shrugged. “They know what they’re signing up for when they jump into the pods with me.” He glanced up again as the Academy drew closer. “By the time I check in and put my weapons and armor away, it will be around lunchtime. I should probably meet up with everyone and see how they’re doing on their tests.”
“Probably farther along than you are,” Chief chastised. “Between getting to the mission, completing it, then ‘celebrating’ before you returned, you’ve burned through three and a half days of time.”
“We’ll be good. We still have two weeks left,” the ace pointed out.
“Eleven or ten days, actually, if you consider the fact that you’ll probably spend the rest of the day and most of tomorrow catching up and heading to classes.” Chief popped a small screen open and acted as if he was reading from it instead of simply bringing the files up.“I won’t go through the whole thing, but the cliff notes are that Genos and Chiyo both sent roughly a dozen messages asking about your whereabouts and which days they should schedule to complete the long mission test.”
“They need to have more faith in the team.”
Chief scoffed, “Oh, that’s rich.”
“Or at least in me.”
“There we go.”
The carrier drove up the long road to the entrance of the Academy and waited for the barrier to lower. Kaiden stroked his chin. “I’m serious, though. We got off-world and in a matter of a few hours, we have a location to the base, ship, station whichever. All that’s left is to get in, blow it up or otherwise compromise it, and then get the hell out of Dodge.” Kaiden clapped melodramatically. “Done and done. If we don’t finish it the next time we drop in, it’ll be done the time after that, no worries.”
“I’m inclined to agree for the most part,” Chief said as he floated up to the window and twirled around. “But you should also agree that the missions and training sims you’ve gone on have definitely stepped up this year—and the ones last year weren’t exactly a cakewalk.”
“I make things look good, not necessarily easy,” Kaiden retorted. “Sometimes, both happen, but I count those only occasionally.” He straightened, stretched, and prepared to disembark as the barrier around the Academy lowered. “It’s more than only me, Chief. I have a damn good team who know what they are doing but as I said, they need more confidence.” He looked at the small orb. “That includes you too, by the way.”
“Aw, well, ain’t that sweet,” the EI chirped and returned to its normal golden hue. “So about how much of that was hot air?”
“Hot air? None at all, of course.” Kaiden stated and folded his arms sternly before he looked off to the side. “Cockiness? Maybe fifty to sixty percent?”
“That’s about what my bullshit meter detected.” Chief chuckled.
“Just remember…” Kaiden began as he stood and hauled his container from the compartment above him. “That means the rest was honesty.”
Hundreds of students walked around during free time or lunch when Kaiden walked out of the office and looked at the plaza. He remembered feeling rather overwhelmed the first few times he saw the hordes of soldiers, techies, medics, and the like but now, it was oddly comforting.
“All right, Chief, set me to active on the network and let’s see where the others are.”
“Doing it. Bringing up a map on your oculars.”
He whipped the shades from his jacket, put them on, and immediately identified a few green spots some yards ahead near the cafeteria. One in particular was in a familiar spot.
“Well, let’s go and greet the guys and gals. I’m sure they’ve felt ever so lonely,” he said with a smile before his stomach rumbled demandingly. “But first, some sustenance should probably be procured.”
“I’ve heard it does wonders for things like continuing to live.”
He set his tray down on the table, sprawled in the booth, and smiled at Chiyo across from him, who poked at a piece of fish. “Howdy. Things suddenly feel a little brighter now, huh?”
She continued to poke the partially eaten fish and completely ignored him.
Kaiden lowered his oculars and blinked a few times. “Is she seriously doing this?” he asked Chief through the clenched teeth of his smile.
“I told you that you were being a dick,” The EI chided.
“Yo, Chiyo, are you there?” he asked and waved a hand in front of her.
She looked up, expressionless. “So now would be a good time to answer you?” she asked, He heard a small amount of annoyance under her clearly affected monotone. “I wondered if you had taken up a new lifestyle that involved no conversation or replying to messages.”
“Oh, this might go somewhere fun.” Chief chortled and a small, translucent popcorn box appeared beside the avatar.
“When the hell did you get that installed?” Kaiden asked and glared at the lenses.
“Don’t look at me. You are my entertainment now.”
Kaiden removed the oculars and placed them on the table. “I didn’t mean to make it look like I was ignoring you or Genos—or Jaxon or Flynn, come to think of it.” He tapped his chin. “Will I have to go through this a few times? I should probably send cards or something.”
“They are on their way,” Chiyo informed him. “Well, most are. Others, like Flynn and his team, went to the Animus Center to continue their missions.”
“Right. Right, I’ll get to them,” Kaiden stated. “But back to the first thing. I wanna say that I didn’t mean anything malicious. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that I don’t really do messaging—it seems too impersonal, you know?”
“More impersonal than not replying?” she questioned.
Even with the oculars off, Kaiden heard a deep laugh from Chief in his head.
“I was coming back and I was a little preoccupied,” he said. “Okay, I was dealing with morning after problems, but I didn’t message ya’ll the last time I went on a far-off mission.”
“That would be because you were bleeding out in the Amazon,” she reminded him and took a mouthful of her meal.
Kaiden was silent for a moment as the mental gears turned, then the realization hit and his grin dropped. “Oh… Oh, wow, I’m a dick.”
“At least you came to the right conclusion quickly enough,” she mumbled as she finished a small bowl of glazed carrots.
“Uh, yeah…” Kaiden fumbled for words. “The upgrade you gave me was very helpful.”
“I’m glad,” she stated and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “The mission was a success, then?”
“Yeah, yeah, it was.” He nodded and finally felt easy enough to eat his own meal. “I didn’t manage to retrieve the droid—had to destroy it and return the scraps that I could, so I ended up with only the head.”
“What happened to the rest of it?”
“It’s probably still under the building I dropped on it.”
Chiyo finally showed some emotion. Her eyes widened in surprise, looked at him with something of a mixture between confusion and suspicion, and finally returned to normal as she sighed. “If nothing else, you return with interesting stories.” She placed her utensils on the tray, folded her hands together, and rested her chin on the back of her hands. “How did you manage that?”
Kaiden’s grin returned. “Well, the droid had been activated by the gang members and it had this weird shield, so my normal attacks didn’t work. Eventually—”
“Hello, friend Kaiden!” Genos called. Kaiden and Chiyo turned as Genos, Jaxon, Silas, Izzy, and Julius walked up.
“Hey, guys.” He waved and quickly finished a piece of tri-tip. “How are ya?”
“Happy to see you,” Genos said merrily. “Kin Jaxon was worried, although I’m sure seeing you has relieved that stress.”
Jaxon pressed a hand against his face. “You needn’t tell him that, Genos,” he muttered, moved the hand away, and raised it in greeting. “It is good to see you back, Kaiden. From what Genos and Chiyo told me, we expected you in yesterday morning.”
Kaiden rubbed the back of his head. “I got a little caught up basking in the glow of victory and all that,” he said sheepishly. “I’ll, uh…” He looked at Chiyo. “I’ll work on messaging in the future.”
“Good to know.” Julius nodded. “I don’t see you that often anyway. I kind of hoped you would have some injuries I could treat for practice.”
“I wanted to say that we don’t seem to run into each other enough.” Kaiden chuckled. “But if that’s what it takes, I think I might focus on staying acquaintances.”
“We’ve learned that it’s his kind of small talk.” Izzy laughed and placed an arm on the biologist’s shoulder. “Ever since the Death Match, he keeps asking Silas how his foot is even though he damaged it in the Animus.”
“Keep in mind that once the Synch ratio gets higher, physical harm will be the norm,” Julius pointed out. “Even if it’s a foot blown off in the Animus, it will lead to a sprain.”
“We do have a med bay,” Silas said with a glance at Julius as he walked to Kaiden.
“I could be running it one day,” he retorted.
“Considering that I know th
e daughter of the current lead, I doubt that.” Silas chuckled and offered a hand to Kaiden. “Good to see you in one piece. After the last time, I wondered if all your stories of running gigs as a kid had been your imagination running wild.”
Kaiden slapped his hand against Silas’, “Even after seeing me in the Animus?”
“I figured she had hacked in and made you look good,” he said and nodded at Chiyo.
“She still does, but those kills are all mine,” the ace responded.
“So what were you guys talking about before we interrupted?” Izzy asked.
“Kaiden apparently dropped an entire building on a droid,” Chiyo said. He watched with amusement as almost all of the present party responded the same way she had, although Genos, for his part, merely blinked and nodded.
“That does seem to align with the normal way Kaiden handles situations,” he remarked. “Although it is a new one.” He reached out his own hand to the ace. “Congratulations on your ingenuity when it comes to destruction.”
Kaiden smiled and took the Tsuna’s hand as Chiyo lowered and shook her head. “Genos, you're encouraging him.”
“What was that, friend Chiyo?” the mechanist asked.
She waved him off. “Nothing. On to more of a pressing matter.” She looked at her teammates. “When can we continue our test?”
Kaiden let go of Genos’ hand and turned to her. “I have a few things I have to catch up on, but after I get them done, I should be free.”
“When do you believe that will be?”
“Tomorrow afternoon sometime. I have a workshop after lunch but I’ll be free after that.”
Genos tapped a finger on his infuser. “Ah, right, that reminds me. Officer Wolfson wished to see you. He said that you haven’t been ‘grounded’ in some time.” Genos looked at Kaiden’s feet. “You seem to be fine, however. Gravity is affecting you normally.”
Kaiden frowned, “Honestly, I’d prefer physics to whatever he might be thinking,” he mumbled. “Okay, I have that too. But after that, I’m free.”
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