She nodded and stepped closer. “I know it’s not your fault.” She placed her hand over his wound. He looked down at her hand and then at her. “But please don’t be so reckless.”
“I…uh, I won’t,” he promised.
She nodded and moved her hand away. “Please mean it this time.” With that, she turned and left. The rain slowed as Kaiden stood in front of the dorms. He placed his hand over his wound again; it felt unaccountably warm.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Wolfson grumbled curses to himself as he continued to clean the weights area after his last class. “Damn negligent idiots. You take care of the equipment as much as you do yourself.” He removed the weights from one of the bench press bars and heard the door to his gym open. Kaiden walked in with a small black box. He tossed the weight aside and hurried forward to greet his student. “Well, look who’s finally returned,” he bellowed cheerfully. “You look a little glum there, Kaiden. Did the gig not pan out like you thought?”
The ace shut the door and looked at his instructor, his face pensive but curious. “You don’t know?”
“How should I? You haven’t reported back until now. It’s been almost a week since you left. You’ve missed two classes and personal training.” As he moved closer, he noticed the stoic look on Kaiden’s face. “Is something wrong?”
The ace moved the box from one hand to the other, opened his jacket, and pulled his shirt up. Wolfson looked at the scar, and his face fell. “What happened, boy?”
He sighed as he let his shirt drop. “I guess Sasha wanted me to fill you in myself, which I had planned to do anyway.” He handed the man the box and slid his hands into his jacket pockets. “The gig didn’t go as planned. We ran into a guy named Gin Sonny.”
Wolfson’s hands clamped down on the box so hard the corners at the top and bottom warped. “That killer? The one on the space station?”
“Among other hot spots, including the Amazon, apparently.” Kaiden leaned against the wall and looked away. “This is the last time I give anyone the summary. It’s now become a drag.”
The instructor thought back. He had been in some rough situations during his time in the WCM, but he was typically in a unit with men to cover his back, strategies to consider, and a large battlefield in which to maneuver. He was at a loss, and while he could see Kaiden tried to keep a cool demeanor, he was obviously shaken.
“To cut a long story short, we finished the job, but three members of the team died at his hands. I almost died and would have without the help of two of the others. It’s up there with my worst moments.”
“I see,” was all Wolfson could muster. He was usually good at rallying the troops when the need arose, but that was during times of do or die. When it came to the drop afterward, he wasn’t as good without the assistance of liquor or a round of sparring, but Kaiden didn’t look up to doing either. He opened the box and the recreation of Debonair lay within, slightly scratched and scuffed but nothing he couldn’t fix and shine in a few hours.
“I lost my Tempest and most of my armor, so I gotta replace it the next chance I have some free time. Fortunately, I got extra creds. The bounty hunter I was with gave me his cut—another thing to thank him for.” Kaiden pushed off the wall and looked at the pistol. “It served me well. Thanks for getting it for me.”
“It was your gift for training so hard and winning my scenario in the Alaskan wilderness,” Wolfson muttered. “Raza sent a message while you were away. He wanted to know how you were doing. I should tell him and see how he deals with an angry Sauren warlord on his heels.”
“Don’t bother,” Kaiden requested.
“You know that Sauren live for a good hunt, and he took a shine to you. He would hate it if someone killed you before he did.”
“And I appreciate that particular brand of Sauren comradery,” Kaiden assured him jokingly. “But he is a warlord, and that comes with certain responsibilities. I don’t need him to run off on behalf of a human. Sauren relations are lukewarm and practical. If one of their leaders shows any more of a heart, I would imagine that’s not a good look.”
Wolfson thought about it for a moment and huffed. “I guess that’s about right.” He withdrew the pistol and retrieved the object wrapped in a dark cloth beneath it. “What’s this?” he asked. The dark metal of Gin’s Yokai pistol gleamed in the light.
“That was his gun or one of them at least,” Kaiden explained. “Does it look familiar?”
“It’s one of our development division’s designs,” the instructor muttered.
“I don’t know how he got his hands on one. But apparently, he’s known for taking experimental or high-grade technology from different labs and facilities.” Kaiden shifted and removed a hand from his pocket to rub the back of his head. “Do you think he could have gotten in here at some point?”
Wolfson walked to his desk and placed the Yokai on top. He wondered for a moment if he should tell him but decided that it should be done later—he had enough to concern himself with now. “No, the development center here focuses on creating things for the Academy proper. The bigger facility in Seattle focuses on weapons, armor, and all that for council projects and graduate items. I don’t think he got in there, no matter how good he is or how many doodads he might have. I am almost certain that we would have heard about such a break-in. My guess is that he stole it from a graduate or got it on the black market.”
Kaiden stared at it for a moment before he nodded and headed to the door. “I can’t keep it on me. I’ll probably get expelled, and it’s not my kind of weapon anyway. I already turned it down during initiation. You can keep it or give it to Sasha the next time you see him.”
“Where are you headed, Kaiden?” Wolfson asked as the soldier opened the door.
“Out to clear my head. I have some stuff to make up, and I hear there’s gonna be another test in a week so I gotta prep,” he answered. “I’m still a bit sore. I’ll come back for training in a couple of days. Later, Wolfson.” With that, he left the room and shut the door softly behind him.
The instructor folded his arms and his fingers tapped against his elbow as he thought. He picked Debonair up and primed it. It still seemed in working order. He examined it for a few seconds before he turned it off and retrieved the holster from the box. Calmly, he slid the pistol into it and grabbed his coat.
Kaiden walked through the academy grounds and looked aimlessly around. It was almost lunchtime, but he didn’t feel particularly hungry. He received a network notice from Flynn but ignored it and canceled the screen.
“That’s the fifth invite you’ve declined in the last two days,” Chief muttered. He retrieved his optic shades and put them on, and Chief’s avatar appeared in the corner. “They’re worried, partner. Sure, some of them come from military families, but this is probably the first time they’ve really had to deal with something like this.”
“I know, but I can’t deal with the questions and all that right now,” Kaiden admitted and continued his walk. “I’ll be fine. I ain’t going to be worth much after I get out of here if I let one near-death experience rattle me, right? I’ll probably have a few more of those come my way, at least.”
“You’ve only gone to two workshops,” the EI noted. “It’s your time and all, but if you miss exams and missions, that’ll cost you in more ways than one.”
“I’ve already told you I’ll prep for the test next week,” he retorted and stopped in front of the Animus Center. He looked at it for a moment, and a small tremor of concern raced through him. It was quickly replaced by annoyance. “I think I’ll start now.”
Kaiden appeared in the middle of a circular cave with two tunnels on either side and platforms above him.
“You can begin the trial when ready,” Chief informed him and appeared over his shoulder “Are you sure you wanna run one of these?”
“It’s only a three-wave horde match,” Kaiden responded. He opened the loadout screen, selected his saved option, and his weapons appeared
—the Raptor in his hands and Debonair in its holster on his side. “It’ll last fifteen minutes, tops. I gotta shake off the dust and stretch.”
The EI studied him for a moment before he moved to Kaiden’s HUD. “Droids and explosions. It’s good to be back to something normal,” he quipped.
“Begin,” the ace ordered. A loud alarm clanged, and words appeared on his visor.
Wave 1 Commencing
Several Security droids appeared. Kaiden spun and obliterated three before they could so much as take a step. Two others fired, but he dodged their slow shots and returned fire to blast one’s head and drop the other with two rounds to the chest.
A few more spawned in, but he found his rhythm and eliminated each of them with a single shot before they had a chance to fire.
He vented his rifle and Chief scanned the room. “Nothing poppin’ but you have some hostiles approaching from the tunnel in front of you. By their readings, they look like Guardians.”
Kaiden took a shock grenade from the container and held the activator down. Three Guardian droids appeared, rolled along on their tracks, and took aim. He threw the shock, and the blast froze the droids as he ran closer and fired several shots at their weaker bottom halves. They toppled and disappeared.
Wave 1 Complete
“Maybe I made it too easy,” the ace mulled to himself.
“This one’s got Guardians, Brute droids, and those zippy Sentry bastards.”
“Flying or ground?”
“Both.”
Kaiden looked at the platforms above. “Then I should probably scale up a bit.” He made a running jump against the cave wall and used that to launch himself higher. As two Guardian droids appeared below, he grabbed one of the floating platforms and hauled himself up. Quickly, he switched to ballistic rounds and fired at the treads of the oncoming enemy. The shots maimed them, and they immediately fell.
“Brutes at four.” A trio of bipedal, red, stocky droids aimed their arm cannons at him. The ace leapt upward and fired at the top of the middle droid’s cannon to knock it down as it fired. The mechanical was destroyed in the blast and the other two tumbled to the ground. As Kaiden landed, a stinging blast struck him in the shoulder and he glanced up. Sentries flew above him, and a few clung to the side of the cave wall.
He growled as he swapped his Raptor for Debonair, leapt between the platforms, and focused his fire at the sentries on the wall. They were eliminated with ease and their stun shots missed, but another slug from a flying droid struck his shin and he almost tumbled from his platform. He spun quickly and shot the attacker out of the air, but two more circled above, dove toward him, and fired. Kaiden flung himself off the platform to one below and hurled a shock grenade above him. It exploded, and the droids lost control. They spiraled before one slammed into the platform Kaiden was on and another flew past and into the cave wall. He kicked the malfunctioning sentry off the platform, and it crumbled and disappeared.
Wave 2 Complete
“Nice shooting, Tex,” Chief chirped.
“You know you haven’t used that pun as much as I would like you to.”
“I gotta keep it fresh, right?” the EI snickered
Wave 3 Commencing
“All right, this will have—” the EI’s words cut off as the lights in the cave dimmed and darkened. Even with the visor’s light enhancer, the ace could barely see in front of him.
“This ain’t right. It’s supposed to be another wave with some Havoc droids. What’s with the blackout?”
“I don’t see anything,” Kaiden said. He hopped off the platform and landed on the ground below. “A glitch maybe? A special round?”
“Animus glitches are rare and even then, are usually visual,” Chief stated. “You might have met the conditions for a change-up. They did want you Advanced class guys to shake things up, but I don’t see— Wait, someone’s accessed the console. Someone with high clearance.”
“Who did—wait, did you hear that?” The ace drew his Raptor and looked around. “Scan the cave.” The white grid appeared but revealed nothing. “If something’s wrong I would have de-synced by now. What the hell is going on?”
A brief, faint click sounded behind him, and Kaiden spun and fired. It didn’t seem that he had hit anything but the wall, but he could have sworn he saw something in the light of the laser fire.
Without warning, he was tackled to the ground and he dropped his rifle. In a split second, a metal hand closed around his throat and held him in place. A droid with a skull-like head and burning red eyes stare down at him.
“Assassin droid! Reaper-class!” Chief cried. The mechanical continued to glare at him before it raised its other hand and a large, jagged blade emerged from the top of its wrist. It leaned back to strike. Kaiden raised his hand as the blade descended and it cut through his palm. He cried out in pain and struggled to keep the blade from advancing, but the droid was far stronger. The ace flicked his other wrist and his heat blade popped out. He activated it as he turned his head quickly to avoid the droid’s strike. The blade plunged into the ground and twisted his arm back painfully.
Kaiden inhaled sharply and struck at the droid’s bladed arm with his knife but managed to only cut into it and not through it. It seemed to be enough to stop his attacker from using the arm, but it tightened its grip around the ace’s throat. He retaliated and swiped his blade toward the droid’s head. It leaned back to avoid the attack, and he used the opportunity to slice into the arm around his throat. He had to saw into it, even with the heated blade, and the arm finally came off. It still clutched his neck, but he was able to roll away and used the blade to hack the hand away. The remains of the droid’s arms ejected from its body. The sides of its chest opened, and two new arms unfolded to take their place.
“Dammit,” the ace cursed and retrieved his last shock grenade along with debonair. The droid charged at him. He threw the grenade along the ground and fired at it to create an electrical explosion. The mechanical’s advance slowed as it stumbled, but it recovered rapidly.
“Those kinds of droids are better protected from shocks. That won’t do much.”
Kaiden fired Debonair until it overheated. The blasts did little against the droid’s barrier. He needed the ballistic rounds. The ace dove for his Raptor and grabbed it as he tumbled and managed to land on his knees and turned to fire. When he had the droid in his sights, it pointed its arm at him. He hesitated, and the mechanical fired a blade from its arm directly through his head.
Kaiden dragged in a shocked gasp of air as the Animus pod opened. He stumbled out and fell, his vision blurred, but he saw someone large standing over him.
“Wolfson?” he asked as his eyes adjusted.
The instructor observed him for a moment before he picked him up, steadied him, and looked at him once more. The ace looked at the console that displayed a feed of his trial.
“You were watching?” he asked.
“Aye.” Wolfson nodded. “Come with me, Kaiden. We have more to knock out of you than dust.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
A wave of déjà vu swept over Kaiden as he sat on a bench in Wolfson’s dropship. His thoughts pulled him back, both to the Arctic and to a week before and the beginning of his gig. Fortunately, this time, Wolfson dragged him along somewhat willingly. He wasn’t sure exactly what the man had in mind, but he had never seen the security head with such a determined or serious expression, even during their most intense spars. He stood and walked to the cockpit where Wolfson watched over the autopilot process. The view through the window revealed a mass of thin trees below.
“Where are we?” he asked.
The instructor glanced at him for a moment before he answered, “Ontario.”
“Canada?” Kaiden questioned. “Are proper border protocols merely a silly myth to you?”
“Relax, idiot. I already took care of that before takeoff.” He shushed him with a wave of his hand. “I thought I told you to put your armor on.”
Kaiden
looked at the black underlay suit he wore. “I told you, my armor is wrecked. You haven’t told me what we’re doing. Is this reconnaissance training or something?”
“I don’t remember you being this yappy,” Wolfson mumbled. “Think of it as an adventure for now.”
“You make that sound more foreboding than enticing,” He huffed and sat in the co-pilot’s chair. He looked at the land below in a viewing screen as they passed over a large wall. “What’s that?”
“A wall. It blocks things.” Wolfson snickered.
Kaiden shook his head. “Funny. Why are we here, Wolfson? I told you I wasn’t up to any training. I thought this was an errand or something until you slapped this underlay into my hands after we took off.”
“And I didn’t hear a peep out of you when I did,” the large man pointed out. “But…I suppose I should fill you in and make sure you’re at least a little ready.”
“That is usually standard, yes.” He folded his arms and looked expectantly at the head officer.
Wolfson was quiet as he considered the right words to say. “I haven’t told you much about my past boy—some of it because it seems pointless, and other times, because I think it wouldn’t really stick in that feeble mind of yours.”
“Thanks. I wasn’t using that bit of ego anyway,” Kaiden snarked.
“But a lot of it is because there are things I’d rather not discuss and some I would prefer to be rid of all together. Seeing you back at the gym brought up a few of those moments when I was a commander and leader of a fine group of soldiers,” he continued, his voice now quiet and solemn. Kaiden gave Wolfson his full attention in this rare moment of emotion.
Advance (Animus Book 4) Page 19