Unfortunately, he was an expert in those too.
He crossed the corridor and the final door opened, and he walked into the board room. Sasha awaited him and gestured for him to take the seat beside him. The professor linked his hands on the table and faced the other members of the board—Victoria, Oswald, Vincent, and Olivia.
“It’s good to see you’ve finally returned, Vincent,” he muttered and fixed the board member in question with a challenging look. “Did you have fun meeting with the council?”
“Of course. Being able to interact with a group of right-minded people who have a noble cause was a pleasant experience,” Vincent retorted and earned a glare from Laurie as well as a sideways glance from Oswald and Olivia.
Sasha adjusted his oculars and cleared his throat. “Let’s not start this off on such a sour note.” He looked at both Vincent and Laurie. “This is hopefully the conclusion to the talks about project Orson. We’ve brought up the complications and new findings, along with the fact that some of the students seem to be suspicious as to what is going on.”
“It shouldn’t have gotten to this point in the first place,” Laurie snapped. “When we originally developed this idea, it was agreed that it would only be in very specific, controlled situations.” The professor, in a surprising show of anger for him, slammed his fist on the table and pointed to Vincent. “Until you decided that it should be used for actual missions. Why? Merely to please the council? At this point, why do you even stay here? Go off and be their lackey. I’m sure they could find a use for you, whether it’s lobbying for them or simply on your knees.”
“Shut your mouth, Laurie,” Vincent responded, his tone heated. “You’ve known about the changes to the project. I might have initially omitted to mention that things had progressed down a different path, but you knew full well where it would lead. And don’t pretend that you never discovered it until now. Maybe your sudden anger at the situation is simply because it now involves your little pet project?”
“Back down, both of you,” Oswald snapped. “To think that men of such stature could bark like rabid dogs—”
“While I agree that the professor and the director should both deescalate the situation, I have to say that I understand Laurie’s frustrations,” Sasha intervened.
“Of course you do,” Vincent spat. “But siding with one of your friends shows bias in these matters, doesn’t it?” The director’s cold eyes challenged the commander. “Besides, you have your own stake in Laurie’s experiment. You were the one who brought him here in the first place, weren’t you?”
“I did, but that is not the concern,” Sasha retorted equably and ignored the other man’s insinuation. “As we’ve discussed in the previous meetings, we have gone too far with the plan. It’s becoming troublesome and a risk to both students and the reputation of this Academy. We were already in murky waters when we agreed to this, but we expected it to further our causes at little to no risk. As of these last few months, that has escalated to a point where we can no longer control it and the consequences can not only be disastrous but also put our students in serious danger.”
“That’s why we use the homunculi soldiers,” Victoria interjected. “No one is at risk during these missions, and the bodies degrade and waste away when completed, leaving no trace. There are no repercussions with this project.”
“It also increases the damage to the students’ bodies,” Laurie countered. “You would have to be blind not to see the stress and fatigue on most of the subjects. Maybe you don’t leave your office much, Victoria, but trust me when I say I have enough information and physical evidence to show that there are ‘repercussions’ with this. The way the Animus connects the students’ minds to the homunculi only increases the connection—and, therefore, the pain and blowback when they are injured. They might not come back with physical wounds, but the mind can only take so much stimulation before it affects them. This could lead to a risk of mental breakdowns or potential calamities like strokes or heart attacks.”
“Is that any better than one of them leaving this Academy only to get a laser through their head? Or a blade in their throat?” she countered. “Despite your altruistic straw-manning, you know why we began this project.”
“I know why I worked on it, which was what was said before we began it,” Laurie reminded them. “That this could lead to something that could spare us lives in future wars. But that won’t do us much good if all those potential soldiers die before they even graduate.”
“I understand your concern, professor,” Olivia began. “But you overstate things. As you said yourself, no one has died or gone insane. The current issues are purely physical.”
“You say that so calmly,” Laurie murmured and shook his head. “What’ll it take for you to understand? For someone to finally break?”
“None of us want that,” Oswald interjected in a very obvious attempt to placate him. “The students in the Academy are under our protection while they remain here, but can you blame us for wanting this to succeed?”
“The professor is well aware of the potential boons of this project.” Sasha waved Laurie’s protest aside. “But what concerns him and me is that you seem to allow those potential boons to blind you to the very real dangers. Of the twenty-seven trials, most ended in the students being sent to the med bay for a day of rest.” He activated a small EI device to display several graphs. “These are readouts of all the students’ physical conditions after desyncing. Eighty-nine percent of them came back exhausted and complained about phantom pains in various areas where they were damaged, although no physical wounds were found. Internally, there were signs of stress as if the body was reactive to moderate to severe injury.”
“That is concerning,” Olivia said after she’d studied the charts for a moment. “But what about the ones who did not?”
“There are six. Interestingly enough, four of them are technicians, one a soldier, and one Tsuna engineer. They do show higher than average fatigue, but not the same issues as the others.”
“That soldier is the one you look after,” Victor reminded Laurie. “Could that special EI of his be the reason he has been able to keep up thus far?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it.” The professor folded his arms and leaned back. “But I’ve told you before that Kaiden’s EI is unique and that he can only use it due to biological happenstance. Unless you’re secretly working on a project to mutate DNA—which, I should remind you, has been done before with disastrous results—I would shelve whatever thoughts are bubbling in your head.”
“So you're saying that our best bet is with him, then?” Victoria asked.
Laurie looked at Sasha, his displeasure evident, but a hint of concern crept onto his face. The commander leaned forward and fixed the vice-chancellor with a hard look. “You seem to be leading into something. Speak out.”
“Between our previous conversations and hearing the professor’s impassioned voice, I’m inclined to agree that perhaps we have done as much as we can here. Or, at the very least, as much as we should do.” Vincent turned and glared at Victoria, but she held her hand up. “But I think we should perform one last test,”
“After all this, you still want to—” Laurie shouted and gritted his teeth, but Sasha placed a hand hastily on his shoulder to silence him and pulled him back to his seat.
“Would you care to explain your stance, Vice-Chancellor?” Sasha prodded.
“This project began at the behest of the council, as Laurie reminded us. Terminating the project now may be possible, but if we can show them the full capabilities, they might be more inclined to continue the project themselves. This would leave us in an advantageous position as we would have accomplished something for them and earned their good graces, as well as leave the door open for potential connections in the future.”
“You want to continue this dance with the devil?” Laurie snarked. “Why did we even bother to leave the WC if you're so inclined to continue working with them?”
&
nbsp; “Because it’s easier to get things done with their backing,” she responded. “On top of that. if they take on the project proper, any concerns you have with this getting out are reduced as they would be the ones to shoulder the scrutiny.”
“Or praise.” Oswald chuckled. “But that’s how things work with the government, isn’t it?”
“It seems like a possibility.” Sasha nodded and Laurie glared at him with shocked eyes. “But from your statement before, I assume you have a particular person in mind?”
“Of course.” Victoria nodded. “He’s the one who’s best suited to handle it, as per your stats and his EI advantage—the ace Kaiden Jericho.”
“We can’t let this go through, Sasha,” Laurie exclaimed as the two of them left the board room. “Kaiden is the one who is suspicious. We decided to pull the plug in the first place because of him.”
“I’m not happy, Laurie,” the commander said in a low tone, his voice almost a whisper. “Not with this decision and not with the fact that I turned a blind eye to it in the first place. But in the circumstances, this was the best I could hope for considering that no one in that room besides the two of us wants this project put on ice.”
“What about the chancellor?” Laurie asked as they made their way out of the corridor. “He should have the final say in the fact that we—”
“Durand has already washed his hands of this.” Sasha sighed. “I don’t blame him. He tried to cancel this project when Vincent and the others moved forward originally, and he’s under more scrutiny than the rest of us. But, now that we have a plan, we can focus on finishing this and Durand will be useful to keep the council placated until then.”
They exited the building in a tense silence. Laurie strode to the edge of the island and his companion followed after a moment, curious as to what the professor would do. The man simply stepped up to the railing, rested his hands on it, and looked out at the sea and moon. He was silent for almost a minute before he exhaled a deep breath. “I should have done more before it ever got to this point.” He grimaced. “I let the fact that I hate dealing with those clowns stop me from sharing my thoughts. I suppose I also got wrapped up in the potential of the project.”
“It was a good idea, Laurie,” Sasha reassured him with a hand on his shoulder. “It still is, but we overreached our grasp in this situation. All we can do now is fix it and hand it off. And keep the students safe from now on.”
“At Kaiden’s expense?” Laurie turned to face the commander. “He might be the best one to handle this, but I think that—” His train of thought ceased abruptly, and a small smile formed on his lips. “That snarky bastard has made me worry about him. When I first met him, I thought he would be such a pain.”
“I still believe he is,” Sasha pointed out dryly and met the other man’s gaze with a soft smile. “But I suppose that is, in part, the reason he is endearing.”
The professor scoffed, followed by a quick laugh before he turned away and gazed at the moon once again. “Should we tell him?” he asked.
Sasha was silent for a long while as he through it over. “Someday, we’ll have to.”
Chapter Four
The executive looked out the window of his mansion that boasted a clear view over the city of Rome. In the distance, he could see the Colosseum—or, rather, the holographic interpretation of it since most of the ancient structure had been destroyed during the Asiton wars.
Humanity, in all its glory, has made more than its share of mistakes, that one included.
He turned at a knock at his door and sat at his desk before he called for his visitor to enter. Cole Wilhelm complied and crossed the room quickly. “Have you seen the news?” he asked, worry evident in his voice.
“Concerning what, exactly?” the man asked. “You know that I’m to be kept in the loop about a multitude of things.”
“We think we found Gin Sonny in Seattle,” Cole explained and handed him a tablet. “We’re not sure what he’s looking for, but he was seen around one of the high-rise districts—or, at least, we picked up a signature that matched the emissions of his suit,”
“If I had to take a guess, he’s looking for someone useful.” The executive pondered the possibilities as he scrolled through the tablet. “Or, perhaps, simply someone’s face that’s useful. It’s not much of a concern for us.”
“Sir, if it gets out that we—”
“Hired him? We did no such thing,” he said firmly, retrieved a vape pen from his drawer, and took a quick drag. “One of our partners did, and if it is ever discovered, we will disown them and make a show of support in stopping him—if he’s still on the planet by that point.”
Cole looked at his superior with confusion like he tried to understand the implication before he was forced to ask for clarity. “There’s a chance that he’ll still head to the Academy. I would say that’s almost a definite considering that he’s still in the area.”
“If that is him in the first place,” the man said nonchalantly. “By the way, delete these files when you have a chance.” He handed the tablet back. “There’s no need to leave a trail that’ll implicate us.”
“Are you sure we should do nothing, sir?”
The executive took another long drag and smiled with cold humor. “We never do nothing, Cole. We’re always at work for the mission. In this case—if Gin is heading to the Academy—no matter what he does, it is a boon for us. Even if he fails, they will grow paranoid. Then, I and my fellow members will act as a face for the World Council and offer our aid, allowing us to gain more access to the Academy. And should he succeed? Well, then…” He smiled and looked at a small hologram on his desk of an EI in the shape of an orb that glowed with a golden light. “We’ll have a body to recover.”
Kaiden entered the auditorium with the dozens of other students, all prepared to hear what their second-year finals would be. Several teachers and faculty members had already gathered on the stage, but no one he was familiar with. It seemed that Sasha didn’t feel like popping in this time around.
He waved at Jaxon and Genos in the Tsuna row, who waved in return as they took their seats. Genos wore new oculars, so he must have been given an upgrade. The Tsuna were a few rows deeper this year, which suggested that the integration plan was working out if they trusted them with more students.
Chiyo and the others were upstairs and seemed to have secured the front row of seats. The ace nodded and greeted them as he walked over to Chiyo, wiggled his fingers at her, and smiled.
“It’s good to see you, Kaiden.” She greeted him cheerfully as he slid into the seat beside her. “Did you rest well?”
He stretched out and kicked his feet up to rest them on the railing in front of him as the others took their seats along the row. “I’m rather dandy, actually. I hope it was enough rest, though. I’m due to see Wolfson later.”
“It’s been quite some time since the two of you have gotten together, hasn’t it?” she inquired.
“A few weeks. I’m sure he’ll put me through the wringer.” He grimaced as he imagined the potential beating he might receive. “Although it’s not all on me. I tried getting together with him a couple of weeks back, but he was preparing for another visit with Raza. He’ll come by soon.”
“I’ll have to properly introduce myself this time,” Chiyo commented. “I don’t normally have the chance to meet a Sauren.”
“It’s one hell of an experience, especially if you fight one,” Kaiden said and recalled Wolfson and Raza’s little test immediately before the Death Match. “What about you? Didn’t you tell me you did some more work with Laurie’s personal assistants after the mission yesterday—the ones you worked with over the summer?”
“Yes, Cyra and Raynor. They are both infiltrators, not assistants.”
“That’s kinda splitting hairs, ain’t it?”
“In the same way that you prefer to be called a professional instead of merely a merc,” she countered.
“Touché,” Kaiden acknowledged
. “What about Laurie? Did you hear anything about him?”
She nodded. “They told me to let you know that he would like you to come by whenever it’s convenient.”
The ace frowned. “That might be the most casual he’s been when it comes to requesting my presence. I wonder what the board has done to him. He mentioned that he’s had more talks with them than he’d like.”
“They said that he did speak about you but that it was more about things surrounding you and didn’t elaborate on what that meant.”
“Well, that’s weird,” Kaiden said thoughtfully with a small scowl as he considered the possibilities. “I know weird is kinda his thing, but he’s usually not so cryptic.”
“He has always seemed rather enthralled with you. Perhaps it’s a new project or device he wants you to try out,” she suggested.
“That’s a possibility. Then again, maybe that could end up with me having more things stuck inside me,” he grumbled. “Still, I suppose I wouldn’t mind some new toys to play with if that is what he’s working on.” He looked at Chiyo. “I don’t say this often, but enough about me. What did you work on this time? More hush-hush things that you had to take a vow of secrecy to work on?”
“Nothing like that. It was mostly me and Cyra. She helped me work on different exercises and passed on a list of maps and scenarios that she used to run when she was a student here. They look extremely helpful.”
“Maps that would prove a challenge even to you?” the ace inquired skeptically.
“There is always room to grow and more to learn, particularly with how fast security adapts and programming changes. I’m happy to learn from those who have already proven themselves, especially if they work directly with the creator of the Animus.”
Kaiden was genuinely impressed and wanted to ask what exactly she’d learned and how they could use it in missions. Before he could, the lights above dimmed, and the stage was illuminated. Holoscreens activated on the front of the balcony, and Chancellor Durand’s smiling face appeared in them. The ace peered through the translucent screens and confirmed that the chancellor had taken the podium on the stage.
Animus Boxed Set 2 (Books 5-8): Revenant, Glitch, Master, Infiltration Page 26
