The two women didn’t head to the stairwell or elevator. Instead, they raced to the end of the floor, where one of the windows had been shattered by Flynn’s earlier distraction. Indre handed Chiyo the zeppelin and sent her out of the building.
Jaxon sighed. “Even if they made it to the floor right now, they would not be able to catch them at this point.”
“Maybe one of yours will have a lucky shot,” Kaiden suggested.
The Tsuna chuckled. “Luck might be kind on occasion, but if you rely on it, you have already lost the second most important part of the battle.”
“I’m guessing breathing is the first?” Silas asked.
He nodded. “It would be rather hard to fight otherwise.”
The group laughed as Chiyo sent the zeppelin back to Indre and sprinted to the extraction point. Jaxon took his seat once again and made his final play. “Checkmate.”
Kaiden stopped laughing and looked down with a puzzled look. “What… When did—ah, hell.” He grunted and leaned back so far his chair almost toppled. “Well, damn. I thought it would be poetic to end on a double win.”
“Another small lesson, Kaiden,” his opponent responded and watched Chiyo make it to the finish line. The mission complete banner scrolled for the winning ace, while Jaxon received a mission lost warning. “Learn from your mistakes and take what you can get.”
Chapter Fourteen
The groups awoke back at the academy. Kaiden’s team exited the pods and congratulated one another, while Jaxon’s group were less enthusiastic. Most of them immediately apologized to the Tsuna. He assured them it was not their fault and that he should have been more prepared for the difficulties they encountered. They grinned when he promised they would exact revenge next time.
“Man, are you guys done already?” Faraji asked and hurried to the group.
“Yeah, weren’t you watching, Adv—uh, Head Monitor?” Kaiden asked.
“I heard that slip,” she chided and brandished her tablet. “I’m watching over five matches simultaneously, not an easy feat.”
“You should have known we would be the most interesting one, though, mJensene,” Flynn boasted.
“Great. Kaiden is rubbing off on some of you.” She sighed and glanced at her device. “And he had the winning team. I had kind of hoped this would be a more humbling experience for him.”
“I heard that slip,” he echoed with more sarcasm.
“That was intentional.” Faraji grinned and turned to Jaxon’s team. “Looking over the stats, you fought well but just missed it, huh?”
“Maybe not ‘just.’ They started to get quite a lead on us when Jaxon was taken out in the second round.” Izzy sighed. “We couldn’t really hold it together and were caught up in simply trying to thin them down. I didn’t realize they had made a run for the objective until it was too late.”
“Well, it’s something to work on next week,” she declared. “As the losing team, you will have a make-up exam next Friday. You’d better win that one or you’ll have to run catch-up missions for a solid month.”
“We will be victorious,” Jaxon vowed and fixed his team with a challenging look. “I will be sure to prepare. Promise me the same.”
“Of course.”
“On it.”
“We’ll be ready.” He nodded at the affirmative responses from the group before he walked over to Kaiden and held his hand out. “I suppose that means you win our bet.”
Kaiden shook his fellow ace’s hand. “I’m glad you’re such a good sport about it.”
“It was fair play. I’m sure you would act accordingly if the positions were reversed.”
“Bet? What bet?” Cameron asked.
“No need to worry, Cameron, it was simply a friendly wager,” Jaxon informed him and clasped his hands behind his back as he turned his attention back to the other ace. “I actually look forward to it, on some level. Do you have any idea when you will want to collect?”
“For now, not really. I cleared my schedule since the year was only beginning and all,” Kaiden explained. “I’ll let you know—maybe a rain check of a couple of weeks?”
“Currently, my only obligation is the makeup exam next week. I’ll keep you informed if that changes.”
Akello cleared her throat and the group turned to her. “Normally, these missions go on for a while. A winner is usually best three out of five unless a team wins both defense and attack back to back.”
“Got that down,” Marlo stated smugly with a thumb against his chest.
“So what do we have to do now?” Kaiden asked. “Another mission? Workshops?”
“We’re easing the returning students in for the first week. Your workshops don’t begin properly until tomorrow.” She checked her tablet. “It only took you three hours and fifty-two minutes to finish,” she said with a low whistle. “I guess the rest of the night is yours.”
There were audible sighs of relief, and Kaiden considered what to do with his unexpected free time when someone tapped on his shoulder. “Are you still getting those drinks?” Indre asked.
His team waited expectantly and he looked out of the windows in the hallway of the Animus center. It was still light outside, so they could definitely get into town before nightfall and enjoy themselves.
“You know what? Let’s do it,” he exclaimed and included the opposition team in his nod of agreement. “I’ll even get a round for you guys—a toast to putting up a good fight.”
Laurie looked up from his work when the doors to his office opened to admit Wolfson, dressed in his security uniform with a new eyepatch over his lost eye. The professor sighed. The giant didn’t usually arrive unannounced and hardly ever without Sasha beside him, but the commander didn’t seem to be in attendance. His mood had just started to pick up, too, he thought glumly as he resigned himself to what he assumed would be a disagreeable interruption.
The doors closed behind the large man who marched to the desk. The professor removed his hands from his keyboard and rested his chin on top of his interlocked fingers. “How can I help you, Head Officer?”
Wolfson chuckled and folded his arms. “I don’t think I’ve heard you address me by my title in years. Something must have really knocked the wind out of your sails.”
“Are you suggesting this is a house call?” Laurie inquired.
“A check-up. Sasha filled me in on your current…eh, mood and I thought I’d see it for myself.”
“So it’s for personal amusement, then?”
The large man removed a large bottle from the pack strapped to the back of his waist. “It can be amusing after a few drinks.”
“I have work to do, Wolfson,” Laurie said dismissively. “Besides, you know you and I don’t exactly share similar tastes.”
“True enough, but you have a rather abundant liquor cabinet and I’ve found a few common pleasures.” He spun the bottle and placed it on the table. His host looked at it and raised an eyebrow. Bliss Fire Vodka. It was true he had a smaller bottle of it—normally for when he wanted a night to be forgotten rather than enjoyed. Then again, maybe that was what Wolfson was there for. And he was in enough of a mood to indulge.
He flicked his gaze to the giant and Wolfson smiled when he saw the moment of acceptance reflect in his eyes. “Come on, let’s have a chat then,” he ordered and crossed to the couch before he turned the monitor screen on. Laurie sighed, stood from his desk, and joined the former sergeant in the entertainment area once he’d retrieved a couple of glasses.
Wolfson took them and began to pour while he spoke. “I heard you're taking the incident really hard.”
“I am—harder than I thought I would,” Laurie admitted. It wasn’t exactly a conclusion even he could avoid at this point.
“Good.” The security head stated plainly and handed him a half-filled glass. “And before you get snippy, no, I am not trying to dig the screws in. But it’s really good to see that something can get through that ego of yours and make you see the light, however dimly
.”
“You mean before the alcohol makes it blurry again?” He scoffed and took a quick sip. His lips twitched on contact and the small amount of vodka was enough to scald his throat, but it wasn’t too unpleasant, he admitted with some surprise.
“That kind of light can only be ignored temporarily, not forgotten—at least not by someone like you.” Wolfson filled his own glass to the brim, placed the bottle on the table, and leaned back against the sofa. “I might call you a fool, but that’s only because you get on my nerves. I know you aren’t really one deep down. You won’t forget this experience.”
Laurie took another small sip. “It was the most—” He coughed from the shock of the alcohol. “The most humiliating and frightening moment of my life. Of course I won’t forget it.”
“You weren’t in the crosshairs, Laurie,” his companion pointed out and took a large swig of his glass with no apparent negative effects.
“It doesn’t mean I wasn’t affected, Baioh,” the professor snapped. A little vodka slopped out of his glass and onto his lap with the sudden jerk of his hand. “Yes, I wasn’t in any danger—well, my reputation perhaps, but that is not my concern.”
“Really now?” Wolfson asked slyly.
“Despite your low opinion of me, my ‘arrogance,’ as you might call it, is earned, or at least I thought it was. But I was shown that neither I nor my inventions are sacred or out of the reach of others. Still, I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is the fact that my oversight could have led to the deaths of so many. It nearly did Kaiden in. And then there’s what happened to you and your officer.”
The giant inhaled deeply and fiddled absently with the strap on his eyepatch. “You’re worried about that, huh?” He took another long drink. “I guess it is a good thing I stopped by, then.”
“What do you mean?”
Wolfson turned to face the professor. “I lost a good man and an eye, but I’m the head officer, Laurie. Don’t you think I should take the blame for letting Gin in here in the first place?”
His companion shook his head firmly. “He got in because he took Egon’s appearance and his credentials—another security system I helped design and maintain. I should have—”
“At the end of the day, Laurie, that wasn’t something we could have planned for,” his companion chided. “Look, I know I’m not a whiz like you are, but I know the details now. He used a device we didn’t even know existed—something that can replicate features and DNA readings perfectly. If we couldn’t even imagine something so sophisticated, we couldn’t have anticipated that it would fall into the wrong hands.”
“Isn’t that what you're supposed to do in security? Think of possible scenarios—the worst scenarios—and plan for them?” Laurie asked.
“It would be great if you could do that one hundred percent of the time, but it doesn’t work like that. If you could, you would make a better version of the dome around us every few months and me and my team wouldn’t even need to be here.”
“I… Well, you have a point there, but I still feel I could have done something,” he responded, his demeanor one of real dejection.
“You did, idiot. You helped save Kaiden and you and those ladies fixed the Animus and made it even better. From where I stand, you took a bad situation and flipped it.”
“I’m not certain of that, to be brutally honest. I’m still trying to understand all the details of the new system. I can’t help but wonder if I might have complicated things even further. It was a suggestion made in haste and without forethought.” He scowled at his almost untouched drink. “And, of course, we haven’t heard from the lab that created the BREW. I doubt they will be happy that we’re using it without their permission.” He took another sip that was almost a gulp and grimaced at the fiery trail that almost stole his breath.
“Do you think they will raise a fuss when they lost it in the first place? They could be held liable given their tech attacked our system. If nothing else, I’m sure we won’t hear a peep from them. They’re probably too piss-scared that we’ll bring action against them.” Wolfson chuckled. “All these doubts I hear, Laurie, are the words of a man who was knocked off the summit. You felt accomplished and on top of the world. Now that you slid down a few steep cliffs, you wonder if it was all for nothing. Maybe you were merely lucky or perhaps your accomplishment wasn’t as great as you believed it was.”
The professor said nothing. Honestly, he could even debate it because his visitor’s words held more truth than he would have liked. He began to wonder if he preferred it when he simply saw him as a muscle-bound barbarian.
“It wasn’t a wash. I feel for those we lost and I mourned Officer Hancock and paid my respects at his funeral. The bright side is we dealt with Gin and Kaiden got his piece out of it as well.” Wolfson drained his glass and reached for the bottle to fill it once again. “I’m not saying I think sacrifice is worth it. I’ve made decisions like that before and none of them ever sat right. But not every victory will feel like a real win, especially in the fights you didn’t know were coming.”
Laurie returned his attention to the officer. “How do you make it feel that way, then?”
“You focus on what succeeded and who’s still here,” the giant stated firmly. “You pick yourself up and climb to the top, and this time, you hold firm to your spot.”
He let the words sink in. The screen, which had acted as white noise thus far, ran a news broadcast that crept into his head. “Currently, Ramses Technologies’ building is being cordoned off to prevent access by the public. They say it’s due to upcoming renovations, but some witnesses have said they saw and heard gunfire coming from the building…”
Chapter Fifteen
The indoor lights of the Emerald Lounge were dimmed and jazztronic music drifted soothingly in the subdued ambiance. Flynn left the bar with two drinks and walked to the upstairs lounge to hand one to Amber.
“You know, this place isn’t bad at all,” Otto commented and selected a morsel from the appetizer platter.
“I didn’t think that the three of you never actually came here with us before.” Kaiden leaned against the railing, his drink in hand.
“To be fair, we haven’t been back in quite some time,” Chiyo reminded him.
The ace frowned as he took a moment to think. “Huh, I guess not. I stop here so often when I’m moonlighting that I never really thought of the last time I was here simply to hang out.”
“So that bartender…he’s one of your handlers?” Jaxon asked and studied Julio curiously.
Kaiden nodded and twisted to look at the Emerald Lounge’s proprietor. “I think he prefers the term ‘dealer,’ but yeah, same difference.”
“He’s also a great hook-up,” Flynn said and raised his glass in a casual toast. “He’s handed out free drinks, so you’ll probably only spend like thirty creds all night.”
He chuckled. “Try not to abuse it too much. I think he still feels somewhat guilty about what happened with Gin last year, and the whole infiltration incident probably kicked a lot of that up again. He’s most likely trying to make amends in his own way.”
“He’s rather sympathetic for a man whose job it is to send others into dangerous situations,” Jaxon noted.
“Technically, his job is to run this place. The other gig is only for special occasions,” Kaiden clarified.
“Speaking of Gin…” Luke began as he stood and raised his drink with a dramatic flourish. “Let’s bid a final good riddance to him. I don’t know where they dumped his body so I can’t piss on him, but I feel we should still wrap things up.”
“He was cremated and probably either binned or dusted into space.” The ace raised his glass in response. “I won’t offer cheers to that bastard, but I’ll cheer for everyone who helped fix his mess, including Chiyo.” He nodded to the tech with a smile. “And, I guess, to that boisterous ball of fun in my head as well.”
“Finally, acknowledgment.” Chief appeared and hovered over the table. “It s
ounds so sweet.”
“You seem rather excited about all this, considering you like to brag about how great you are.” He chuckled and took a slow sip of his drink.
“It’s called dropping hints,” the EI retorted, and his eye shrank and furrowed in obvious disapproval.
“Might I ask what that is you are having, friend Amber?” Genos inquired and pointed to her drink.
“This? It’s a cocktail, Magenta Sunset.” She held it up to display the dark pink color with purple swirls that seemed constantly in motion. The drink shimmered under the light. “Do you want some?”
“I don’t mean to take any of yours. I am not used to earth alcohol but I wanted to try some.” He looked both intrigued and hesitant.
“Do Tsuna have an alcoholic equivalent on Abisalo?” Silas asked Jaxon.
“To some extent. The juices of some of our fruits can cause a state of befuddlement that affects each Tsuna differently. Some enjoy the feeling but others simply get headaches.”
“That’s about dead on.” Cameron chuckled and finished off a part of a flauta.
“I have enjoyed these new foods we are eating as well,” Genos said and made a focused selection from the tray. “Particularly these—the melted insides are very satisfying. What are they?”
“That’s escargot, Genos,” Raul explained. “Cooked snails with spices.”
“I am surprised to see you trying so many things,” Chiyo said with happy wonder. “But you should be careful. Even according to the latest information, the embassy is still trying to determine everything a Tsuna can eat that’s Earth-based.”
“Seafood is usually safe with them though, right?” Marlo asked. “Snails are technically surf, so maybe that counts?”
“I’ll be right back,” Amber said as she pushed from the table and headed downstairs.
The ace glanced at Jaxon. “You seem a little stiff still. Is it not really your thing to hang out in lounges?”
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