He felt his heart beating against his chest. Even with all he had been through, this was a rush.
“Eject,” Chief shouted.
Kaiden pulled the lever down. The whole pod shook as he felt it rocket to the surface, he looked at the screen again. One minute until landfall.
He loosened up, preparing for deceleration and impact. Kaiden could feel the adrenaline surging and knew he was ready. The pod slowed as they passed the halfway point, reverse-thrust activating to slow the descent. It struck the earth, and he shifted around in his seat for a moment. Sounds of impact echoed all around him as other pods landed.
He forced the security bar off, and the pod door began to release with a hiss of air as the seal broke. In a single swift motion, he grabbed the Raptor off the rack as the door opened to reveal a cloudy sky and the view of the beach that led to the damp floor of the jungle beyond.
Kaiden grabbed the sides of the door and flung himself out of the pod. He tore across the sand of the beach and headed to the jungle. Other initiates raced off in different directions, all headed to the same destination.
Caught up in the rush, preparing to take on whatever came his way, he heard Chief yell.
“Kaiden! Watch out for the—”
He briefly felt his foot connect with something, then he heard a loud beep before being engulfed in an explosion.
In the excitement, he had forgotten mines were probably something to look out for.
Chapter Twenty-Six
In one blink, Kaiden saw fire and smoke. In another, he was back in the escape pod. He sucked in air and pressed his hands against his head.
“What the hell happened?” he shouted.
“Tripped over a pulse mine. I should probably take some of the blame for that. I did say I would look out for traps,” Chief mumbled. “Granted, you could have been a little less gung-ho than to race into a literal island of death, but we’ll say that we were both wrong and move right along.”
Kaiden growled as he stood up from the pod’s chair, grabbing the Raptor from the rack once again. “So I’m already down a life?”
“Yep, but consider yourself lucky this is merely a simulation. Mines have the habit of exploding all your bits, not merely sending them back to the starting point.”
Kaiden hopped out of the pod, sliding the Raptor into the holster on his back. “So if I die again, I’m coming all the way back here?”
“There are probably a couple checkpoints along the paths, but they would be deep in the jungle. If you want my advice? Play it safe and don’t die again. It’s not like you can punch in a cheat code and get a bonus life in reality.”
“I figured the reaper wouldn’t accept credits.” Kaiden huffed his annoyance, once again heading to the canopy. Now, he moved at a brisk jog instead of a sprint with his eyes scanning the ground and surroundings much more carefully.
“Treat it like you would one of your old jobs—be on your toes and trigger-ready. You may not be able to die, but pain is still a thing. Speaking of which, how do you feel?”
“Well, I’ve got a hell of a headache,” he stated, finally making it off the sandy beach and heading into the dampness of the jungle.
“Be sure to chew some pain meds when we get out. That’ll probably carry over.”
“Oh, goodie,” Kaiden muttered sarcastically. His pace slowed slightly as the incline began to steepen and the wet ground became noticeably slick. “You still keeping a watch?”
“Yeah. Not picking up anything around here. Probably some smartasses in the Technician department having a laugh, seeing if anyone would fall for a trap right at the beginning.”
“Well, I’ll probably end up in a compilation video of Initiate Fails for the year.” He sighed and began to hear the sounds of gunfire—the echoing cracks of bullets and dissonant noise of plasma fire, and even the occasional zap of electricity. Tension coiling at the base of his gut, he quickened his pace. “Looks like that was enough for us to fall behind.”
“It’ll even out,” Chief assured him. “I don’t think all those fighting will get out without a scratch. Some may get kicked back to the beginning themselves.”
“Still, those are enemies we could be getting—extra points,” Kaiden countered. After a few more steps, he came to a split in the road. New tracks branched off in different directions, none of them continuing straight forward. He looked down each path for a moment. None of them provided any clues as to what laid beyond. “Hey, Chief, I know that we didn’t get a copy of the map, but you had to have analyzed it, right?”
“Obviously.” The EI chuckled.
“Care to help me out here? Which way should I go?”
“That’s not so easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, again, this isn’t these guys’ first rodeo. They probably expected everyone to make a copy of the map themselves, but it was really basic. It didn’t show individual pathways and all that.”
“So no good here, then?” Kaiden asked, folding his arms.
“Well, we already know that there are no dead-ends if we keep moving forward.”
“There’s no path down the middle,” he observed, pointing into the thicket.
“I can see that, idiot, but we already agreed that we would probably have to stay off the main path anyway to reduce that chances of being caught off-guard in plain sight. Guess that will happen now rather than later.”
Kaiden removed his igneous blade. “Guess I better keep this one on me.”
“Another piece of advice, buddy. Be careful with that ignition trigger. The blade burns so hot it’s certain to start a blaze, even though most of the greenery is wet. You’ll make yourself and the entire jungle go up in flames.”
“I’m keeping it prepared to cut through shrubbery and potential sneak attacks. Didn’t plan on a barbeque.” Kaiden chuckled, heading down the unpaved path of vines, moss, and overgrowth.
“Yeah, yeah, keep that attitude…” Chief muttered with a roll of his eye. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Commander Sasha was in a private room on one of the top floors of the observatory. He scanned through over a dozen screens, each one with a different view and angle of the action going on in the Soldier’s test.
He watched as some initiates triumphed; enemies that fell to their blasts, the circumvention of traps, claiming hidden items for bonus points…all good. Then he would move over a screen or two and see other initiates failing. Hard. They would die in hails of gunfire or spike pits, or random beasts throughout the jungle would leap out of the darkness and slay them. Sometimes, they would simply fall to their own idiocy. Sasha saw one initiate somehow entangle himself in a vine. He went to cut himself down without realizing there was one wrapped around his neck, and when he cut the vine trapping him, he fell to the ground, the other vine holding and snapping his neck.
Then there was what happened to Initiate Kaiden… He made a note to save it and have a copy on his pad the next time the ace wanted to give him lip about his abilities.
“Well, hello there, Sasha.”
He turned to see Laurie enter the room with a giddy smile and waggling fingers.
“As I recall, I set the lock on the door to private. How did you get in?” Sasha grumbled.
The professor scoffed. “Please, you really think something so basic could stop me?” He held up a silver card with a black line on it. “Plus, I have a universal access card.”
Sasha sighed as he turned to look back at the monitors. He reached down to a panel in front of him and began pressing different keys. The views on the monitor changed accordingly, showing different views of the field or switching to follow certain students.
“Aren’t you supposed to be overseeing the Animus operations?” Sasha asked.
“That’s technician Arvin’s job now. What’s the point in me training other people if I still have to do all the drone work?” he asked, making his way to a miniature bar at the side of the room and pouring himself a drink. “Sin
ce I’m feeling so bold, I think I’ll retort by pointing out that you are usually the one designated by the Board to be the adjudicator for these sorts of tests.”
“A rather fancy way to say umpire,” Sasha gibed. “And I have been for the last ten years. They sent in a replacement. The board wanted me to have a break this year.”
Laurie walked up beside him, swirling the glass in his hand. “I see…I feel we need to have a talk about your comprehensive skills, Sasha,” he said and took a sip of his drink. “Either that or an intervention for your addiction to work.”
“How many robots have you tinkered with in your free time? Or new devices you came up with while daydreaming?” Sasha inquired.
Laurie took another sip. “Oh, somewhere in the range of shut the hell up, smartass.”
This caused a genuine grin to appear on Sasha’s face. “By-the-by, I am not watching the tests due to workaholism. I am observing the various students due to personal curiosity—plus preparation, of course.”
Laurie gave him a confused look. “Preparation? Oh, yes, the League. I always seem to forget about that every year.”
“Am I to assume that means you won’t be taking part?”
“Perhaps not. I always seem to delegate a subordinate to watch over my rosters for me anyhow,” the professor noted. “Plus, I would probably say that it is safe to assume that both you and I would be trying to get a hold of at least one student.”
Sasha left the console, walking over to a group of four chairs in the middle of the room surrounding a table with a large monitor in front of each seat. He sat down and took out his tablet. “If you are referring to Initiate Jericho, he is a potential on my list, but it takes more than one student to create a winning team.”
“Well, that sounds surprisingly dismissive, coming from you,” Laure stated. Sasha connected his tablet to the monitor and obtained an isometric view of the island the Soldier’s test was held on. Laurie took the chair across from him, turning his monitor to the same feed. “After all the little nudges and special treatment, I would have thought Kaiden was an obvious choice for you.”
“Preference doesn’t always lead to better outcomes, Laurie. I see potential in the boy, but I like to win. However, as of right now, he is still my top pick, but we’ll see after this test.”
“I suppose you do have a title to keep,” Laurie said with a hint of mirth. He paused as he was about to take another sip. “How’s he doing so far?”
“Well, he began the test by exploding.”
Laurie froze, his expression startled. “Exploding what?”
“Himself. He tripped a mine.”
Laurie placed his glass on the table and leaned back in his chair. “That’s not good for either him or me.”
“I suppose the higher-ups will wonder why you gave such expensive and advanced equipment to someone who appears foolish to the point of suicide, but that’s just a guess.” Sasha chuckled.
“He can make up for it before the end,” Laurie avowed, running a finger along his jaw in thought. “Though I wonder if his EI warned him. Its defensive systems should be running properly. I made sure to restart them after the diagnostic.”
Sasha looked at Laurie from across the table, surprise evident even though his eyes were obscured by his dark optics. “You had to repair his EI already?”
Laurie waved him off. “Not repair, but he had a glitch during training, and I looked it over—which is a nice way to circle around and tell you why I came here in the first place. You see—”
Sasha held up a hand. “Quiet for a moment. It appears Kaiden is coming up to his first Merc group.”
Laurie looked at his own screen and saw Kaiden ducked down behind the large base of a tree, his shotgun in his hands. A patrol of mercenaries—four basic and two heavies—came through the deep jungle, seemingly unaware of his presence. “Well, let’s see if he’s kept up with his studies.”
“You gonna engage?” Chief asked.
Kaiden pressed the Raptor against his chest. “Obviously.” He kept his voice to a low whisper. “Need the points to make up for that loss of a life earlier.” He crawled carefully around the tree as the merc patrol moved closer. “Besides, it was the game plan, anyway.”
“Sure enough,” the EI agreed. Kaiden saw the white scan line move briefly over the six opponents. “Four in the front got light armor and pulse rifles, two in the back got heavy armor and ballistic launchers.”
“Gotta take them down first. Don’t wanna draw this out or use my barrier just yet. Waste the power,” Kaiden stated.
“You gotta plan?”
Kaiden took another peek at the group as they began walking past. He noticed two large boxes hooked to the belts of the heavies. “Chief, what are those?”
“The one on the left is an ammo crate filled with explosive rounds. The other is a larger clip for holding grenades and probably fits around six to eight.”
“Frags?”
“Thermals, more likely.”
Kaiden took a moment to think. He reached over to his own belt and took one ballistic bullet from the clip. He slotted it into the secondary chamber on the Raptor. Calm now, he flipped the switch to change over to the auxiliary barrel and snapped the lever. “Yeah, I got a plan. Do me a favor and put on the sound dampeners.”
“Gotcha,” Chief acknowledged. Kaiden felt the sides of his mask expand and his hearing muffle.
He took aim at the pouch of thermals and snapped the lever. A couple of the grunts stopped and turned back to look for the source of the noise. He fired the explosive round.
This close, he both saw and felt the force of the eruption, and the group of mercenaries was flung to the ground.
“Chief, quick—give me a reading.”
“Three dead…two grunts, one heavy. The other heavy is unconscious, and the remaining two are hurt but awake.”
“Not for too long,” Kaiden said, taking aim through the smoke at a figure that tried to stand.
“At least we don’t have to bother with subtlety,” Chief noted.
“Right?” Kaiden chuckled, taking the shot and seeing the spread of plasma energy hit the grunt’s shoulder guard and exposed neck. The merc crumpled to the floor. He saw the other conscious merc struggle quickly to his feet, scrambling for his rifle and helmet that had been knocked away in the blast.
Kaiden holstered his shotgun as he took out Debonair. The merc found his rifle and turned to fire, but Kaiden’s trigger finger was much quicker, sending a white-hot streak of laser right through his head.
“That was fun and helpful,” Chief chirped.
“Extremely,” Kaiden agreed, looking over to the unconscious heavy. “I get any points for him?”
“Since it’s a K.O., yeah, but he’ll probably go warn others if he wakes up.”
“Like the explosion wasn’t a tip-off?” Kaiden said with a roll of his eyes. He fired three quick shots to the chest from Debonair, the first one melting the exterior of the hard armor, the second drilling partially through it, and the final shot tearing right through and scorching through the merc’s organs. “Better to be safe. I guess. Time to get going, either way.”
“You wanna make sure you don’t want nothing from the bodies?”
“Like what?” he asked, opening the vent on Debonair.
“Armor, guns, ammo, that sort of thing. Just take a quick look and make sure there isn’t something valuable or helpful for later. You get a few points for it, too, so that’s a plus.”
Kaiden took a look at the grunts. Two of them were charred, and the remaining two only had their armor and rifles, a downgrade compared to his loadout. He moved over to the heavy and sorted through the items, noticing a lockbox attached to his waist, dented from the explosion and impact but intact. The explosion even broke the lock, or perhaps the crash did.
He opened it up to find a tube of thermal grenades, a small clip of ballistic rounds, and a small syringe with a medical symbol on it.
“That’s a coincidence,�
�� Kaiden said, sliding the tube of grenades on his belt followed by the extra clip and placing the syringe into his pouch. “I can use all this stuff.”
“Virtual world. You have a good drop rate.”
“Guess so… Wait, there’s something else.” A small black box nestled within the lockbox. He removed it and opened it up, revealing a thin silver square with a red circle in the middle. “A mod?”
“Looks like it. Increases the damage of laser weapons—at the cost of increasing the overheat rate, though.”
“That would work for Debonair…” Kaiden muttered thoughtfully, closing the vent. “But it’s overheating problem is bad enough.”
“Well, keep it anyway. When you finish, it will be added to your loadout inventory. I’m sure we can find a use for it eventually.”
Kaiden nodded, placing it in the supply pouch. He slid Debonair back into its holster and began to run deeper into the jungle.
“Keep to the plan?” Chief asked.
He nodded “We still got some mileage to make up…” He looked back at the defeated group of grunts with a smirk. “But I’m having fun so far.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sasha and Laurie watched the ace leave the scene, observing what was left of the patrol he had just ambushed. The smoking remains of the three guards killed in the explosion vanished almost immediately after he left, but the others lingered for a minute before doing the same.
“That was rather violent.” Laurie chuckled. “A smart solution to taking out a group on your own, though it doesn’t really say much for stealth.”
“I believe that was probably never an option for him,” Sasha surmised, switching the screen to track Kaiden once again. “Should probably consider telling him he needs to take a workshop on that.”
“To be fair, he does have the cover of ninety-nine other soldiers running around causing chaos,” Laurie commented, getting up from his seat to pour another drink. “Personally, I think it makes for a much more enjoyable watch. Care for a drink, Sasha?” he asked, turning to the commander from the bar with a shaker in hand.
Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance Page 24
