“Why the fuck did you recommend I have an outing with that little shitstain?!”
Silently regarding her without saying anything, she begins growing annoyed and instead looks to Phavian. Doing his best to look aloof and innocent, he even refrained from his normal scarfing down food and instead very carefully sectioned each morsel, refusing to make eye contact.
“Don’t you play dumb, fucker! This little outing has your name written all over it! The Headmistress doesn’t give a shit about me, probably because she knows I’ll cuntpunt her unlike the rest of you pussies. So why all of a sudden am I getting an impromptu summons from her to go on a mission with Peter?!”
“Huh. So that is how that turned out.”
“What the fuck do you mean ‘That is how that turned out?!’”
Shrugging, “She asked me why you two do not get along, and what could be done to change it. I simply said it was probably because you two don’t see one another’s worth so you are always at odds.”
“So she decides to send me into fuckwithall for a damn bonding exercise?! She could have signed us up for a pottery class or some shit!”
Thinking it was finally safe to interject, “Do you even know how to do pottery?”
Codi and Anaar both look at Phavian for a moment, completely stupefied, then look back at one another, both mentally refusing to claim him. Finally they both say simultaneously, “Shut up!” then go back to what they were discussing.
Grumbling to himself, “This is why I can’t let y’all get together, this shit is a hostile environment for me…”
“What am I supposed to do about this shit?! He thinks because he has gone on one fucking mission with you, he is automatically the leader!”
“Well, technically per protocol he would be the more senior of you two-” Catching the look of death from her eyes, “But since he has had no training himself, and honestly one mission is hardly something to boast about, it would make more sense that you two are on equal footing.”
“Equal footing?! In what world am I on equal footing with that turd!?”
“Since he does have at least the one mission to draw on, that would put him closer to you who has had many more years of training at this school to draw upon. Instead of worrying about who is the leader, maybe you two should just focus on being partners, understanding what both of you bring to the table.”
Speaking through a mouthful of food, “What the fuck does he bring to the table?”
“Despite your opinion of him, and his penchant for braggadocio, he is probably one of the smartest people in the school. That is without his ability making him a walking library. He still suffers from jitters and is unsure of himself, but in a pinch he can be helpful in a fight too, especially since people most often underestimate him.”
“If he is so fucking wonderful, what am I going for?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a bonding exercise without the people to bond. Also where he falters, you have the experience to pull the trigger. Not to mention if you get captured or in a fight, you bring raw firepower.”
Smirking to herself with satisfaction, “You bet your sweet ass I do!”
“He does have a sweet a-”
Both their heads snapping in Phavian’s direction, “Shut up!”
“Man… We are going to have to limit these interactions…”
“Oh now you want to limit exposure, after Maggie is all but lost.”
Perking up at the mention of Maggie, “What is wrong with Maggie? She is better than ever! She has really grown some balls! Not that balls are useful in any real way other than providing requisite genetic material to create more women…”
For once Anaar and Phavian look at each other, Anaar’s eyes accusing Phavian of allowing such a monster to be born. For a few more minutes Codi continues rambling about how useless of a creation men are and it would be better if women could reproduce without them, until finally she seems to remember the reason for her visit. She had no doubt been feeling the effects of the extremely potent creation Phavian had made, being on her third mug, and gotten lost in the moment.
“You need to get this mission cancelled.”
Taken unaware by the sudden lucidity and the fact she seemed to be awaiting a response, Anaar shrugs and sighs. “Doesn’t work that way.”
“The fuck you mean it doesn’t work that way?!”
“Though the Headmistress is not the client, at least I presume, it isn’t usually a discussion when she sees fit to hand it down to you herself.”
“I’m not one of you wimpy fucks, I don’t care what she thinks of me, I’m just not going to go.”
“Peter is a really good guy, you just need to get used to him. I believe the reason you two pretend to hate each other so much is because you both are quite similar in reality. Not to mention you are his mentor too, can’t you at least try to act like it for once?”
“Are you saying I’m a shitty mentor?!”
“It’s a statement of fact.”
Electricity crackling in the air, “You know what…” She suddenly grins “You are right as fuck.” She stands up from the table and immediately falls out on the floor unconscious.
Anaar looks to Phavian in horror, “What did you put in that drink?!”
“It was so much liquor… I didn’t think she would drink four of them.”
“When has Codi ever turned down a drink?!”
Scooting from the table and picking her up in an almost rehearsed fashion, “Good point.”
◆◆◆
En route to their mission, Codi and Peter sit in barbed silence for almost the entire trip. When they are nearing their destination, Codi cannot help but finally speak out on something that had been nagging her.
“Why didn’t you just wear your own clothes? What made you think they made these things in kids’ sizes?”
Giving her a sour look, no doubt not happy with his appearance any more than she was, “One would have thought my size would have been taken into account. If this is going to be an issue moving forward, then perhaps I should not embark on these missions. Also, I do not wear children’s clothes!”
“Bull fucking shit.”
“Well, I do wear children’s shoes.” Seeing her laserlike stare with thinly veiled amusement, “Fine, I wear children’s clothes! Are you happy?!”
Stifling a snort, “Hey, you do you. It’s better to live in your truth, whatever it is and own it, rather than try to hide and act like you are something else.”
Though she was clearly mocking him, there was something refreshingly genuine and caring about her statement which took him by surprise. For the rest of the trip he sat in quiet contemplation about who this crass woman really was. Upon arrival they noticed the building was not guarded in any suspicious manner, but chances they would be able to just waltz through the front door with a gun was unlikely. Choosing to case the building, a side entrance was found behind a gate.
“Do you have any plan of action how we will make our entry?”
Sneering at him, “I thought you were the almighty fucking mission master, the leader I am supposed to follow. Don’t you have that worked out?”
“If I could find out what type of security mechanism that is, I could perhaps find the manual override for it. Other than that, I am fresh out of ideas.”
“You could do that?”
“I could only presume the manual would be fairly public knowledge, and even if it were not, there has to be others versed in such nefarious deeds that I could draw from.”
Looking at him with a smidge of disgust, “You were almost acceptable for a moment before you started talking like someone from the 15th century… Guess it means we go in guns blazing.”
“That still does not get us through that gate.”
“Oh, that is no problem. I just thought we had a stealthier option available. Oh well.”
She rushes off toward the gate before he could stop her, leaving him to run after her in pursuit. When he reaches the gate winded, he
notices it springs right open despite it clearly being locked before.
“How did you-”
“It’s an electronic lock idiot, let’s keep moving. I don’t know if that will trigger any alarms.”
Though Peter wanted to say something, he could not help but be impressed. When he was with Anaar, it seemed appropriate for him to make situations look effortless. He had never expected the same with Codi. For all her excessively foul behavior she really did seem to have some skills worth merit. He moved quickly along after her as the next lock to the building was just as easily breached.
As they moved through the building, guided by a map on Codi’s Vizer, they did their best to seem as inconspicuous as possible. For most people it worked, with only the smallest of scrutiny, but for those it failed on, much like Anaar, Codi seemed to have some built in detector for aggression. The only difference was Codi waited for the assailant to act aggressively toward them before quickly dispatching them, whereas Anaar attacked people what felt like randomly.
Their choice to use the side entrance ended up rather fortuitous because due to their point of entry they had bypassed most of the more difficult checkpoints. Unlike his last outing, this complex had an unguarded server room which would grant him access to what he needed. Things were going so well he was wondering if his last mission was indeed a freak accident. His collection of the data he needed went completely unimpeded and they were able to exit almost unscathed.
The thing neither of them took into account was the time which had passed. Though the antagonistic people they came into contact with were painstakingly hidden, most of them men much bigger than the two of them, there could only be so much time in which they had not checked back in before things went south. Backtracking the way they had come suddenly became much more dangerous as the number of patrols had increased. Not only that, now they were on alert, so simply passing by was not an option.
Running down the halls, Peter was able to see Codi in her element. He had never considered it before, but she consumed electricity like most people breathed air. She could sense its density and stagnation, making her quite adept at fighting in very low light conditions. By absorbing the energy around them, she caused the people they were against to be at a disadvantage, all while replenishing and boosting her own abilities.
He found she was so adept at what she did, he never once had need to draw his weapon. He knew she was one of the top ranked in her class, but she had not made it to be in the top of the school. With how well she performed he seriously began to wonder just what type of people stood at the top of the school if she was not one of them. Could it be possible he would be as competent with as many years of experience under his belt?
Their entryway proved to still be a viable escape path, possibly because they had been underestimated and it was expected they would be captured long before reaching it. No longer had Codi played at being stealthy, everything was a flashy spectacle of rippling electricity which left people and inanimate objects alike at her mercy. Cameras he had never spotted were short circuited without a second thought. Guards were shocked into submission rather than paralyzed. The entirety of their mission’s success came off the back of this woman as he simply played tech support.
Back at the extraction point, once they had been recovered, he sat across from the woman, remnants of power coursing around her. From the looks of it, she thoroughly enjoyed herself and there was palpable adrenaline seeping from her. When it seemed she had begun to settle down, he finally decided to speak to her.
“Please allow me to apologize for how I treated you up to this point. Though we are both Air Affinities, there is an obvious chasm between our status. The power your family wields easily surpasses most Water Affinities. I thought your attitude was a reflection of your elitism and I found it distasteful. Seeing you do so many amazing things made me realize you are not just your name.”
Codi had the urge to point in his face and exclaim just how awesome she was. She wanted to make him repeat what he had said over and over as if she could not hear him. She wanted to revel in his newfound cognizance of her skills. All of these things were so enticing she could almost taste them, but she refrained. She remembered what Anaar had told her about Peter, and though she wanted to block it out, she could not deny his usefulness.
In all honesty when she evaluated his performance, it was much better than she could have mustered with barely a term under her belt. She had become so accustomed to people like Maggie and Anaar, bona fide prodigies in their own right, that she had forgotten they were by far the exception, not the standard. She knew well enough just how different the abilities of those she was close to stood in comparison to others, yet it was difficult to go back to normal.
“You did good too kid. Didn’t shit your pants or anything. You aren’t half bad. If I hadn’t been such a hog you might have been able to show some of your combat skills too. I admit I was wrong about you. If you repeat this to anyone, you die. Slowly.”
Peter could not help but laugh, side splitting laughter that caught the attention of their escort. When he had finally composed himself, he smiled and asked, “What about Anaar?”
“Are you kidding me?! I’m sure he planned all of this down to the word. Shithead. He is really freaky like that.”
“I will admit he makes exceptional look like the most mundane. I would completely agree he was the true mastermind behind all of this.”
“You know what, I must give him credit though, I haven’t had the opportunity to cut loose like that in a long time. You forget how simple most of the world around you is when you live in a place like Sophangence for so long. You expect every fight will be your last, and it will take every ounce of your strength to pull through.”
“Will things really get that much harder for me?”
“You haven’t even begun to see the dark shit that goes on. Just wait until your first Melee. If you don’t piss yourself after your first fight you will be lucky.”
Peter clung to Codi’s words with a sense of foreboding and unbeknownst to him, anticipation. He had completed his second mission, his relationship with Codi seemed as if it was turning a bend, and he only had great things to look forward to in his future. His own adrenaline was wearing off and he was reminded of the long journey ahead of them. As he closed his eyes to rest, only one thing resounded in his mind: Missions without a Transporter are terrible.
18
With a hard gulp, Stefani puts her flute to her lips and begins to play. After a few moments of her playing have passed, an arrow whizzes directly into her leg. For a moment she panics, but she realizes the arrow, though it touched her leg, it did not penetrate it, instead it was more like a light impact. She collapses to the ground overwhelmingly relieved she did not need to go to the hospital.
“You did it Stef! Good job!”
Maggie runs up to the still trembling girl on the ground, extending a hand to help her up. Shakily standing, Stefani lets out a heavy breath as she is comforted by her friend. She hands Maggie the arrow, which she gratefully takes, and she wonders to herself just when she crumpled to the ground in the first place. Even with how far she had come, there were still things that absolutely terrified her, and Maggie was one of them.
“If we can get you more consistent with blocking those shots, we can work on getting you faster on the draw in the future! Who knows, you may even be able to do it without previous knowledge it was coming!”
“Maggie, have you ever been shot before?”
“God no! I do my best to keep that from happening.”
“Well I have, and your arrows are like fifty times worse, especially since they are completely silent!”
“That is why we have been putting in so much work! We want to make sure you aren’t getting shot… by people who don’t love you.”
“I don’t think being shot out of love changes the fact you have been shot. I’m sure Sophia was doing it out of love and it still made for an agonizing experience.”
“Since you seem a bit shaken up, why don’t we call it a day on that then?”
Stefani could not have been more thrilled to hear those words. Since Sophia’s departure months ago, Maggie had taken her place as her trainer. Though their exercises differed, they both were astronomically talented women who cared about Stefani’s wellbeing. Out of pure habit, Stefani had continued the rigorous circuits and obstacle courses Sophia had frequently put her through, even if to a lesser degree, but Maggie’s approach to fitness and conditioning was completely different.
Though she had never put much stock in the differences attunements and echelons made, it was clear as day when comparing Sophia and Maggie. Sophia had done years of training to steel her mind to stay calm in the face of pain and injury. Maggie on the other hand simply relied on her increased resilience from being Earth attuned, and fought through any pain that occurred. She was much more comfortable taking a hit than Sophia was, if only because she knew the effects would be reduced.
The circuit training Stefani had become so accustomed to had her in the best shape of her life, but even with all her efforts she still could not come close to being as small and shapely as Maggie. This puzzled her because rather than intensive cardio and weight training, Maggie favored activities such as Yoga or Pilates to stay in shape, which brought about a new realm to Stefani’s fitness, but was radically effective. In some ways she was thankful Maggie was so different because it exposed her to new ways to improve herself that she was not used to. In other ways however, she was absolutely identical to Sophia.
“Okay! Let’s try something different. Instead of arrows, we will practice with my fan. At this point you have at least gotten to the point where you can negate most of the force from one of my arrows, even though it was not fully powered up. This should mean bullets will be a walk in the park for you since that is what you will more likely have to deal with.”
Apotheosis (Song of Sophangence Book 3) Page 23