Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

  Xairin left Aywren’s class feeling disgruntled. He felt cheated. Instead of being happy he had taken on four opponents and downed three rather quickly, he was enraged at the fact he couldn't beat the test.

  Walking out of the class, Troger came running up beside him. Troger was impressed seeing Xairin swirl the shamshir looking blades. The whirling movements Xairin performed by incorporating some actions from the figure skater, combined with the aikido to use the opponent’s own movements against them, was impressive to watch. "Dude those were some slick moves back there."

  "Clearly not slick enough," Xairin mumbled.

  "What are you talking about, you fought with two blades bro, against four guys doing the same thing. Can't you be happy you downed three?"

  Xairin shrugged. "If that had been a real battle, it wouldn't have been good enough. That fourth one kept going and going."

  Troger nodded. "I feel ya there. The ones I was fighting just kept wearing me down. Wish it was something more water-based then I would have been top of my game."

  Xairin smiled at his friend and pat him on the shoulder. "Well, you are a Mer."

  Troger grinned. "Yep. speaking of that, I'm off to aquatic combat, what about you?"

  Xairin sighed. "Aerial combat, you know, wings and all."

  Troger grinned. "Same, webbed hands and feet. Well, you wanna try and do the Labyrinth again tomorrow?"

  Xairin's determination to pass and get on his team before the fourteen days was something he almost salivated at. He nodded slyly. "ABSOLUTELY!"

  Chapter 4.6

  Day 7

  Xairin got home from his last class. He was feeling a bit bored from Aerial combat, so far all they had done was learn to evade incoming blasts and a few swoops to catch a target. Nothing juicy yet like actually fighting in the air.

  He had one can of blood left in his mini fridge. He sipped it slowly. His cells craved for more, but Xairin did his best to only sip, forcing his body to deal with what it was getting. He took almost ten minutes to sip it to completion and sat the can in a recycling tube that sucked the can down, he wasn't sure where it ended up, but at least they were recycling.

  He decided to strip down completely. It hot in his dome, the bat DNA allowed him to endure some of the heat, but he desired to be more comfortable. He had gone through fifteen hours today of training, the obstacle course, and was glad that it was a shorter day versus the eighteen-hour norm. Deciding to give in to his vampiric nature he did a quick leap, a backflip in which his feet morphed, catching the hanging bar above him so he could sleep upside down. His wings wrapped around him shortly after getting comfortable. He loved the feeling of his back stretching while he slept.

  Across from him, there was a mirror. He could see himself clearly. He was starting to put on more muscle. His chest was a bit broader, his arms more defined, and his leg muscles were pleasing. Now all he needed to do was manscape, his chest hair was coming in, and so was his auburn bush around his groin. "No one sucking on me anytime soon with this forest getting out of control," he mumbled. Xairin hated getting hair in his teeth when performing oral, and he felt even worse when it happened to someone else after they had gone down on him. Speaking of that, he started thinking about Ezra. He wished things were different, he really wanted to do more with him.

  Xairin let himself go. He made his hair vanish, his skin turned almost a bluish white as his ears grew long and pointed. His face became fused with that of a bat, though his features were smoothing out more. He had an eerie beauty about his form. Now in his Nosferatu form, Xairin growled at himself, "Grrr, argh." It was the first time he had been silly in a while.

  His red eyes closed, right as his wings reached out from their slits, stretched, and wrapped around his body. The vampire fell asleep quickly.

  Three in the morning came quickly. Xairin's armband began to vibrate, waking the sleeping nosferatu. Xairin had nighttime wood when he woke up. His features reverted to being more human, looking as he hung there. He let out a yawn. He reached down and felt his member throbbing and thick but remembered that damn armband and Abanoub's warning that he joked about. As much as he wanted to rub one out right now, he also didn't wish to get hit in the balls by a taser pistol.

  Xairin got down from the hanging bar, took a quick shower in the shower stall in his dome, and put on his red shirt and tan shorts. He felt good, today he hoped was the day.

  _____

  Xairin made it to the line-up, a moment later his friend Troger came jogging up, shirtless, wearing nothing but his shorts. As horny as Xairin was at the moment, seeing the leanly built Mer had Xairin thinking about trying a merman instead of a mortal, but Troger was straight. Xairin huffed.

  Officer Wisman, from day one, the Aeonian's narrowed facial features watched the recruits like a vulture in waiting. He picked out the weakest ones quickly. Officer Wisman didn't go overboard like a drill sergeant in the mortal military would, but rather a kinder approach. Either way, when he plucked you out, you still had to pay the price for weakness. Five hundred pushups in less than 2 minutes were his usual punishment.

  David Highborn was on the other side of Xairin. He too, had arrived shirtless. Now that was a sight that had Xairin almost wanting to drool at. The perfect amount of brown chest hair, the ideal amount of muscle, not over the top, but just well-balanced like Xairin. He couldn't help but glare at the vampire beside him. David looked over and frowned. "You okay Xairin?"

  Xairin blinked his eyes and got back on the clock. "Yeah. Thanks for asking."

  "I loved those moves you did yesterday in Aywren's class. Fighting with two blades, was a nice touch."

  "Well, good luck you two."

  "Are you doing the Labyrinth with someone today?"

  David shrugged. "I prefer to work alone, and yes. Good luck."

  Xairin appreciated a deep warm voice. "Thanks, David."

  Wisman paced a few times, waiting for the remaining fifty-two recruits that had yet to pass on to their teams early to line up. Once they were all accounted for. The man's distinct British accent carried. "Remember Gentlemen and ladies, treat this course as if it were a real battle. If someone falls, consider them dead. The goal is what is important in this test. Sometimes all it takes is one of us to achieve the goal for our order to win. Remember that."

  He fired his red flare gun. The course began.

  The two started the hill somewhat decently. Troger was more talkative than usual.

  "Xairin, think we will make the seven-point mark today?" The deep-voiced Mer asked.

  His reply was quick, for Xairin, he had too. Xairin wanted to progress to the next steps of this training, and that was joining his team, his official team. He needed to feel like he could do this. If he made it to the team, he would be ready for more intense training. Xairin wanted to be able to defend himself, even if that meant being a killer of killers. His own deep voice shook with the impact of each foot hitting the dirt and rocks of the hill. "I have too!"

  It wasn't a few moments later, and they had reached the mud run. Xairin was using his echolocation to determine which mud puddles were the deeper ones today.

  "Seriously though, why are you pushing so hard?' Troger asked.

  "Xairin you're already topping some of the classes, why push yourself so hard?"

  Xairin took a deep breath as he leaped over a ten-foot mud puddle. "I just want to. I'm ready for the teams' dude."

  Troger smirked. Troger joined up for the money, and nothing more which was something he had made clear here and there. He figured he would just be a glorified animal catcher, given the state of the monsters making monsters.

  "Seriously, we've been work out buddies for a few days now, you're so serious all the time, why are you in such a hurry?" Troger asked.

  Xairin scoffed as he leaped over another mudhole. "I just want to be more Troger. Nothing more, I just want to be more than I am now."

  Xairin looked over for a moment, "You're in this for the money."

  Troger sm
iled, "Dude, do you blame me? The Society pays more than the mortal military of the GA ever would."

  Troger inquired as he leaped over the length of a nine-foot hole. "So, what are you doing with your fifty thousand sign on bonus?"

  "Saving it, what about you?"

  Troger smirked. "Investing it, I guess."

  Now, it was the marsh. The five-mile stretch that required a straightforward rule; your feet can never touch the water at the base of the trees. Xairin saw the swamp coming, water everywhere. It looked like a flooded forest, with lush green plants growing out of the water. The lily pads were in bloom, and the robotic crocodiles looked hungry. Being a vampire, allowed him to see everything in vivid detail given the time of day it was.

  He saw a few of the recording orbs circling around the marsh, blue lasers scanning in all directions, waiting to catch someone cause a ripple in the water.

  He looked up and saw the first vine and leaped for it. He swung from one tree to another and grasped the next vine. Troger was right behind him.

  "Man, I feel like Tarzan," Xairin said as he swung to another large tree.

  Troger looked over at him, "Tarzan?"

  Xairin smirked, "Seriously?"

  Xairin reached for another vine, swinging ninety feet over to a large oak, a massive one. The branch alone that he landed on was the width of some of the trees he had leaped to already. "Tarzan is like a classic; basically, the movie and the books are about a man who was raised by gorillas, lived in a jungle and led the gorillas to rise up against, well, humans that were invading their home."

  "So basically, planet of the apes, led by a human?"

  Xairin nodded as he leaped off the large limb, and landed on the other side of the marsh, landing on a large rock. "Sort of, yes."

  Troger landed by Xairin on the same round rock. Behind them, they heard a woman screaming. She was wrestling one of the realistically designed large crocodiles. Xairin wanted so badly to backtrack and help her, but the mission was the critical goal at this point. He had to think of the score, the end result. It was making sure the mission succeeded, and sometimes that meant sacrificing a team member. Sometimes your comrades fall.

  Despite Xairin's kind heart, his mind stayed on the task at hand. He started running the course.

  Troger stood there for a few seconds, long enough to give Xairin, at an Immortium's pace, the ability to make it two hundred yards ahead in those few seconds.

  Now it was the canyon run. Xairin and Troger began to run down a hill, the canyon walls were high, almost above the reach of Immortal eyes.

  A few frog fashioned leaps and Troger was right beside Xairin again. "You're not losing me that easily Mr. Thunder."

  "Keep up then," Xairin mentioned with a quick breath.

  Hidden by newly placed camouflage, were laser blasters hiding the holes carved into the stone. Bolts of blue and red blasts, non-lethal, but enough to scald flesh, hurled in unpredictable directions. Xairin's eyes went red, his ears, elf-like. He tried to predict where they were coming. As for Troger, his skin began to change, blue scales engulfed his flesh, gill slits formed on his throat, while sharp nail-like teeth protruded from his gum lines. Xairin watched his fishy friend, morph. He noticed not a single fin, just the scaled skin, gill slits, red eyes, and webbed hands, though Troger lacked claws like most other Mer.

  In that form, Troger could feel the heat coming.

  The first wave of blasts began, forcing the two to take cover behind a towering, jagged rock. A werecat not entirely morphed ran right past them. Her agile grace allowed for six leaps before Xairin and Troger heard her scream out, sounding like an injured cheetah. The blasts stopped, they emerged and made it to the next round of explosions. As for Kelly Lawrence, she laid there on the ground writhing in pain from the burns to her chest and stomach. When Xairin passed her, even the spots on her fur were smoldering.

  Xairin felt sorry for Kelly. She was the friendly sort, but points would be deducted if he hesitated too long, and Xairin had already been warned twice to toughen up by Officer Wisman. The words, "Sometimes Compassion comprises the mission, and gets everyone killed." Haunted his mind.

  Nine blaster bolts came thrashing at Xairin and Troger. Biosonar gave Xairin ample time to prepare and relied on the movements he had learned by pulling from Brian McCreedy. He looked like an Olympic ice skater for a few seconds while dodging the blasts. Troger felt a burn to his left shoulder. The blue-skinned Mer screamed out with a frog-like screech.

  Troger held his shoulder while leaping over a large boulder. He landed beside Xairin who was waiting on the blasts to halt.

  One of the new four-legged werewolves came blurring past them in his fully transformed form. He was fast, a furry black blur that picked up speed. Xairin figured he would start running and leaped into the air. Troger, however, was slowing down, his shoulder was burning even with the Mer's elevated regeneration.

  Two vampires in nosferatu guise were closing in. One of them was tall, very tall. Right as the pair passed by Troger, Ambrose stuck his foot out and tripped Troger right as they blurred past him. That trip caused Troger to take a blast to the back. His blue flesh erupted.

  Xairin turned for a split second and saw his friend lying there. He knew exactly what had just happened with his sonar being active. His attention diverted to the duo that passed them. He knew that the tall Nosferatu had to be Ambrose. Every fiber in his being compelled him to rush to Troger and help him while another part of him tempted his own beastly form to morph and leap at Ambrose. He hesitated for a second while controlling it. He almost took a step towards his friend when a blast came directed at him. The electrical imprint of the incoming projectile formed in his mind; he could see it through the sonar imprint easily. This got him back on task. He ducked down fast, rolled on the ground, missing four more blasts and came up on his feet after coming out of the spin. He hated to do what he was about to do. He hoped his friend would understand. He left Troger behind.

  Xairin increased his pace with zeal. He made it to the hurdles and cleared each one without incident. Upon clearing the last one, he looked back to see a man stuck on the top being assisted by droids hovering with jetpacks. The man had landed in such a way that two spikes were coming out if his left leg, one through the groin, and another through the right shoulder. Xairin almost wanted to puke. "Damn." He mumbled.

  He picked up his pace and made it to where he realized he was going to have to do it alone. The time had come, He reached the caverns.

  Upon entry to the first chamber, laser lights in red displayed floating words. "ALL IS FAIR IN WAR. INJURING ANOTHER RECRUIT WILL RESULT IN POINTS GAINED. KILLING A RECRUIT WILL RESULT IN YOUR OWN DEATH. CALCULATED INJURIES ONLY!!! TEAM PAIRS OF TWO ALLOWED!!!" After the laser display, there was a handprint identification module built into the rock on both sides of the tunnel he had to crawl down. You scanned her hands by placing your hand, and your partner's hand at the same time on one of the kiosks. Xairin had hoped Troger would have made it this far with him. He took a breath as he placed his hand on the module for single entry right as he willed his fingerprints to form. The screen showed his name and gave a touch screen prompt, "NO TEAM MEMBER PAIR DETECTED, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE KIOSK YOU WISH TO REGISTER ON?" Xairin pressed the screen, and it promptly lit up. "ENTER."

  He made sure that his red eyes were honed in. His ears elongated an extra two inches. His claws were sharp and glistening in the faint light offered by the glowing blue moss. He had to be ready.

  Entering the Labyrinth was easy. Xairin walked through the stalagmites coming from both above and below and entered the tunnel that he had to crawl through. It was tight and restricting. He had to worm his way through this part.

  After wiggling his way through a half-mile pipe, he chattered his teeth to make sure no one was waiting on the other side for easy pickings. It was clear. He came out inside the metallic Labyrinth. There was no way to see above the walls for they met with the steel ceiling above. He had arrived just in ti
me to see the twenty entry paths change as they flipped around, going from twenty entry points to seven. He took to heart everything Abanoub had told him about the Labyrinth. It changed every so often to make it more challenging, and to ensure no one could memorize the paths.

  Behind him, his ears caught the breathing of a werewolf coming behind him. This was his first chance to make an injury point. His eyes could see the recording nodes circular orbs built into the walls watching his every move. He stood on the side of the tunnel and waited. The wolf coming through was in his hybrid form, a beta or an alpha. The creature was large, barely able to fit in the pipe. This gave Xairin an idea. When the werewolf's head emerged, Xairin dropped his elbow down hard, knocking the wolf out, and also plugging the tunnel until someone pushed his body forward. This would buy him some time. His armband glowed.

  He chattered his teeth and picked an entry point. He knew that twenty feet in, someone was invisible and waiting to strike. He could tell that the woman waiting was an Aeonian. This gave him somewhat of an advantage since she wouldn't have heightened animal senses to alert her.