And then silence.
Sean grinned.
Joel looked at him questioningly. “What? What is it?” he pressed. Sean didn’t answer.
Jian and Zhu stopped outside the room. Zhu clamped his hands together, turning back towards his charges. He straightened his back a little. “Okay, so behind these doors is the most important training area on the whole ship.”
There was a yelp, and then a thud.
Paige and Maya looked at each other. Pieter’s sneakers squeaked nervously on the floor.
Zhu continued. “We’re going to head in there in a moment.” Paige’s expression turned to one of heightened anxiety. Sean put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her a little. Maya widened her eyes comically to hide her actual fear.
Zhu signaled down the corridor they had just walked through, and continued his introduction to the APA. “After we take a look inside, you can come back out and get some gear. Changing rooms are down the hall on the left. They’ll have kit you can borrow. Showers are also there for washing up afterwards.”
Brock nudged Crash. “Looks like we’re training, then,” he said, his voice a little disappointed. Crash nodded stoically.
Zhu unclasped his hands and reached behind him for the swinging door. He pushed against it, and then leaned on it with his body weight. The door swung open as he stepped back. “Please come in,” he said, walking the door out of the way, and gesturing with one hand.
The team filed in, as if magically drawn by the gesture against their will.
There was another thud, and those at the front of the line saw a big ass Federation Marine get thrown through the air, and land flat on his face and chest on the blue combat mats.
Sean winced. “That’s got to burn,” he commented.
Joel glanced at him. “I’ll say,” he agreed.
The rest of the gang followed and stood along the sides of the mats, watching teams of marines go up against each other.
Watching sometimes several go up against one man.
And then something happened. One of the guys had taken his pants and shirt off. No one seemed fazed by it. It was just normal. Like he was preparing for a special kind of fight. Maya glanced over at Paige and raised an eyebrow before locking her eyes back on the musculature in front of them.
The instructor gave the word, and the fight started. What happened next, none of the team – barring Sean – were prepared for. Three men went after the one that had taken off his clothes. One minute, there was a nearly naked man; the next, a big ass wolf stood on the mats.
The attacking men didn’t seem fazed. Instead, they used a lot of evasive maneuvers until they got to the other side of the mats, where they seemed to be able to pick up some kind of dart rifles. At which point the two who had made it to the guns turned back and shot darts at the wolf.
At first, the darts didn’t seem to do much; but then after four or five of them had hit, the wolf slowed. With the sixth, it collapsed to the floor just before its clawed hand managed to swipe through one of the attacking men who hadn’t managed to get to the guns.
Joel was wide-eyed. “What just happened?” he asked no one in particular.
Zhu ambled closer to him to explain. “These are Guardians. Not the originals, but the next generation of Guardians. Some of them are enhanced with nanocytes, but some of them have the Wechselbalg gene.”
Joel frowned, his mouth still hanging open.
Maya asked the question. “Wechselbalg gene?” she pushed.
Zhu nodded. “Yes. The Were gene… which allows some of us to turn into wolves. Or cats.” With his last comment he looked to his teammate, Jian.
Jian nodded, and stepped onto the mats, removing some of his clothing.
Paige took half a step backward, trying to pull Maya back with her. They all knew what they were about to be shown, and still they were transfixed.
Zhu continued narrating as Jian got prepared. “You see, when the Kurtherians tried to subjugate the human race back on Earth, they messed with the genes of certain blood lines. These became known as Vampires and Weres. Years later, our queen found a way to fix the fuck-ups they made in their experiments, and use these enhancements to fight the Kurtherians.”
Jian waited patiently for Zhu to finish. Zhu kept talking, but nodded to Jian that he had seen he was ready. “So, we have what we call a changeling, who is guarded by two human teammates. Jian is our changeling.”
Zhu nodded to Jian.
Jian, on cue, turned into his cat form, and then a moment later became a two legged, standing cat. He growled and snarled. Brock screamed and grabbed hold of Crash, stumbling in the direction of the door. Sean put his arm out and caught him, calming him down.
Pieter remained mesmerized, glued to the spot.
Zhu continued his explanation. “So what you see here is Jian in his Pricolici form. This is a more… advanced form, which is only possible once the Were has learned to pull enough energy from the Etheric.”
There was nervous chatter and hub-bub amongst the team. Even the other guardians who had been training turned to look at the newbies getting the up-close demonstration of the Were form.
A moment later, Jian returned to human form, and Shun threw him a set of overalls to cover up with. Paige blushed, and Maya squeezed her arm in both excitement and horror of what they had seen. There was more chatter amongst the team members, and then a loud thud from within their ranks.
Sean spun around first to see Brock had collapsed. Crash was standing looking over him; he raised his hand, then pointed down at his friend. “Erm. I think Brock has fainted,” he reported to Zhu.
Zhu was grinning. He turned and high-fived Jian. “I knew we’d get at least one!” he said happily.
Shun wandered over to the group, and handed some bills over to the other two. “Yup. You called it,” he agreed, paying up.
Jian smiled over at Pieter. “My money was on the nerdy one, though. But for this, I’m buying you a drink,” he added to Pieter. “In fact, after we get done with a light training session, drinks are on us. You did good, people!” he told the white-faced, shocked, space-struck team.
Zhu took over. “Don’t worry, folks; you won’t be fighting Jian in his cat form today. That’s on the agenda for tomorrow’s practice.”
Zhu chuckled, but no one was sure if he was kidding or not.
Zhu soon dismissed them to get changed and to meet back for some light sparring. The team filed out, most of them feeling weak at the knees.
Joel turned to Sean as they headed out of the APA. “So, I assume you’ve been through all this before…?” he prompted.
Sean nodded and grinned his dirty grin at him. “Yeah, but every time is like the first time with these guys!” he exclaimed, slapping Joel’s back as he ushered him out into the corridor.
ArchAngel, Active Participation Area
Molly pressed her nose up against the window.
Oz, are you sure this is it?
Yes. Certain. Just go in. They’re expecting you.
Molly was wearing a set of borrowed sweats, feeling a little uncomfortable being back in a uniform. She couldn’t put her finger on quite why, but it was making her… antsy. Like a little bit frustrated, and a little nervous.
She shook her head at herself and pushed on the door to the APA.
Thwack.
She saw a body get thrown over Sean’s shoulder and land on the mat in front of him. She looked closer, half expecting it to be Joel… But then she realized it was one of the Guardians. She frowned, uncertain why they were allowing Sean to pull such a move. Something had told her they were way more badass than they looked.
The Guardian, Shun, got back up. He was talking to Paige, Maya, and Pieter who were standing around watching intently, arms folded defensively across their chests.
“You see what I did there as I landed?”
Pieter nodded. “You tapped the ground with your hand?” he ventured, uncertain if
that was the answer Shun was looking for.
Shun nodded and grinned. “Exactly that. And why would I do that?”
The group was silent. Sean just stood motionless, being the dummy for the demonstration it seemed.
Molly ambled over. “Because that takes the energy out of the fall. You break up the momentum, and thus break the impact of the throw. Saves breaking something like a bone.”
Shun spun around. “Ah, yes. Ms. Bates.” He bowed, and Molly returned the bow, making sure to bow deeper to show her respect.
Shun grinned. “It seems like you probably have got the basics of sparring. How about you and Sean give us a demonstration of say… a two-minute round.”
Molly looked over at Sean, who was looking exceptionally confident.
What am I walking into here?
I think they’ve been showing them some basic throws and sweeps. That’s all.
Nothing else?
Nope.
So why is Sean looking so smug?
No idea. Isn’t that his normal face?
You could be right.
Molly narrowed her eyes, and then addressed Shun directly. “What are the fight parameters, sir?” she asked.
Shun turned his body to her. “Open hand combat only. No weapons. No biting. No killing.”
Joel, Jack, and Jian came over and joined the rest of the group. Molly noticed that Brock was sitting to one side with a bottle of water. One of the other three guardians, the one that went by the name of Zhu, was sitting next to him. Their eyes were also on what was happening on the mats.
Shun waved a hand in the direction of Jian. “You’ll both be attacking Jian. Your task is to get from this side of the practice area, to the other.”
Molly looked at Shun with even more suspicion. Paige had clamped her hands over her mouth. There was definitely something she was missing.
“Okay,” she said slowly.
Sean ambled over in her direction, still grinning. “It’s okay, Princess. We’re on the same side this time. We’ve got this,” he said, comforting her.
Molly was anything but comforted.
Jian finished his conversation with Joel quickly, and sent him off the mat to join his team. Jian stepped into the center of the enormous practice area, right between where Molly and Sean were squaring off as though they were starting a race. Their only hurdle? Jian.
Shun blew his whistle, and then dropped his arm from above his head, signaling “go”.
Molly lunged forward, hoping to simply avoid Jian, knowing that he would have to choose between going after her, or going after Sean.
One second, he was there in the corner of her eye; the next second, her body was reacting in sheer terror. She felt the adrenaline shoot through her being before she realized what she was afraid of. Suddenly she was on the deck, scrambling backwards like a girl in a horror movie, trying to get out of the house away from the serial killer.
And what a serial killer he was. In place of Jian was a big ass, feral cat, coming at her snarling and growling, spittle dribbling from his teeth. She was vaguely aware of Sean running at the beast. She saw him fly into it in a kind of rugby tackle.
Molly realized she wasn’t breathing, and tried to catch her breath.
She glanced in the direction of her team, and saw that instead of fleeing, or helping, they were cheering. Something was definitely not right.
She pulled herself up, remembering the ton of research she’d done over the years on social norms, and how things became acceptable when other accepted it as normal.
Okay, social norms. They’re not freaking out, so maybe I shouldn’t.
Sean was still clinging to the beast, trying to get it down onto the deck. Even with all his weight behind it, it wasn’t going down.
She remembered the study about the diffusion of responsibility, and how a woman could be screaming for her life, but no one would answer in a built up area because no one felt responsible. Maybe if there was only one team member witnessing this, she’d have more chance of getting the help she needed. They’d act. But right now, it was like this was sport.
She remembered the thing about how chimpanzees are terrified of snakes, and how baby chimps were only afraid after they’d seen how their mama reacted to a snake.
Is that what is happening? No, they’re not chimps. And they’re not afraid.
Molly’s mind raced, piecing jumbled knowledge together, and trying to distract herself from the churn of emotions going through her mind.
Then she remembered her objective: get to the other side of the mats.
There was nothing else to figure out. Seeing that the beast wasn’t hurting Sean – merely keeping him distracted, or vice versa – she pushed off from the mats and ran as fast as she could to the other side of the mats. A few strides out, she was aware of something big and hot behind her, but she didn’t stop. She pushed harder, her fear propelling her body forward more than her muscles.
And then there was the wall, not a meter beyond the mat. She tried to slow herself, knowing the danger should be over. She slammed into the wall, and turned to avoid hitting her head against it. She’d done that before.
The side of her body reverberated with the impact, and she slumped back against the wall, seeing the beast slow in front of her. In the distance, she could hear her team screaming and cheering, and was aware of Sean laid out on the mats, but still holding onto the cat’s hind leg, having been dragged the length of the gym.
The cat-monster came to a stand still, and Sean released his grasp, collapsing onto the mats. The cat was still snarling, and a moment later, turned and disappeared, leaving just the man. The Guardian she had met earlier. Jian. Naked.
Shun came jogging over the mats and handed Jian some pants, which he pulled on before turning back to face his two combatants.
Molly slumped down against the wall, her back against it now, catching her breath and trying to recover her wits.
Sean looked up from the mats, clearly exhausted from his tussle. “Good going, Princess. Most people don’t have the presence of mind to do anything the first time they see a Were shift.”
Molly didn’t say anything, but allowed Shun to amble over and help her up, and walk her back to the group. Still stunned, she let him hold her hand up, announcing her the winner.
Her side throbbed like a motherfucker. It was quite a thwack she took, when she slammed into that wall. She was grateful the nanocytes would heal it quickly, because that kind of injury was a bitch for trying to lie down to sleep.
ArchAngel, Outside the APA
Molly managed to pull herself together during her shower. Feeling somewhat refreshed, and having had Paige and Maya explain what the hell was going on, she felt rather pleased with the way she had handled the situation. After all, it wasn’t every day you were thrown into such a terrifying scenario and still expected to act.
Of course, she thought to herself, I am the leader. That is exactly what the Federation expects me to do.
Dressed in her own clothes again, her hair still a little damp from the shower, she headed out to meet the rest of the gang in the corridor.
Sean, Joel, Jack, and Brock were ready. The others were still getting changed.
Zhu had been chatting with those assembled, and Shun came out of the guys’ changing room. “How about you guys go on ahead. Jian and I will bring the others when they emerge.”
Zhu nodded, and told the group to follow him. “You did very well with that last test,” he said, turning to Molly. “You have the clear head of a leader.”
Molly thanked him politely, even though she knew she had been anything but clear-headed at the time.
A few corridors later, they arrived at the mess hall. Zhu led the way through, and explained the system and what food they were serving where. He pointed over to a large round table in the seating area. “See you over there when you’ve gathered what you want,” he told them.
The group thanked
him, and then scattered to forage for something yummy. Molly looked at all the different foods. Most of it was foreign to her. Even the labels were of little help. She tried to understand what one of the great smelling stews or curries were, but there was no one around to ask. She felt someone at her side.
“Try it.” It was Sean’s voice.
Molly turned her head and looked up at him. “No way am I ever trusting you again,” she told him. “For all I know, it’s sasquatch meat drenched in pig urine, and you’re encouraging me to eat it.”
Sean shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he grinned, spooning a helping into a bowl for himself.
Molly wasn’t convinced. After all, the man has been known to eat dead animal, she reasoned.
She found the salad bar, and loaded up a plate of vegetation. At least I’ll be safe and nourished with this, she reasoned. Even if it isn’t adventurous.
Just then, Joel came up behind her, holding a tray that carried a plate loaded up with various buns and bits and pieces. She spotted he had pizza. Without them needing to say a word, he pointed over to a serving island behind him. “Veggie on the far side,” he told her.
Molly grinned, grateful for the tip, feeling loved and strangely understood. She headed over, almost skipping with glee when she saw the cheese-loaded awesomeness ahead of her.
Eventually, with her plate full, she made her way over to the big round table. Some of the others had already arrived there, and the stragglers from the changing rooms were heading into the hall, too.
During the meal, the team explained to Molly everything she had missed. Jian even caught her up with the whole Were/ nanocytes thing.
“That explains a lot,” Molly muttered under her breath, her thoughts returning to some of the research she had accessed on the dark web when she was a kid.
Jian didn’t question her, and was secretly glad she wasn’t going to hold it against him – scaring the living daylights out of her, and all.
Sean sat across the table from her. “Did you see her face, though? It was a picture!” The crew was laughing and joking. It was Pieter who jumped to her defense. “Yeah, and she still managed to beat your cyborg ass to the other side!” There were hoots and high-fives, which resulted in Sean putting his little buddy into a headlock and messing up his hair.
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 112
