by Amy Hopkins
Thwap.
Red paint blossomed on a tree by Penny’s head and she dived, landing on Cisco’s already-prone body.
She hissed in annoyance. “Did it get me?”
Cisco shook his head, helmet askew. Looking down, Penny realized she was lying on his body, their hips embarrassingly pressed together.
She coughed and scrambled off, then ducked as another lash of red exploded in the grass nearby.
“Are you dead yet?” Kathy’s voice rang out cheerfully.
“Not even close,” Cisco called back. He pointed to Penny and drew a circle with his finger.
“No way.” Penny shook her head. “We’re not doing this again. Use your words, Cisco.”
Cisco sighed. “I’ll distract her. You get her from behind.”
“Oh. Sure!” Penny dropped and waited for Cisco to run to another tree.
Kathy’s aim was awful, but she was quick. Three blobs of paint hit nearby trees as Penny scurried in the opposite direction from where Cisco had gone.
Penny paused, listening for the telltale crunching of leaves.
Got her. Penny rounded the tree and fired two quick rounds. Both went wide and Kathy spun, shooting back at Penny. Penny threw herself down, the paint bullets sailing over her head.
“Oww, shit!” Kathy yelped. “That hurt!”
Penny risked raising her head. Kathy was covered in pink paint and clutched a knee.
“Sorry, Kathy!” Cisco ran over. “You ok?”
She grunted, then nodded. “No, don’t touch it. You’ll get paint on you.”
Cisco grinned. “You shoot fast.”
Kathy waited, then giggled. “I was waiting for you to add ‘for a girl.’ I might have shot you anyway if you had.”
Penny snorted, clapping Cisco on the back. “I’ve trained him better than that.”
“Trev is up a tree,” Kathy whispered. She pointed back in the direction she had come. “I think he’s trying to win by elimination. I was gonna go back for him, but…” She gestured at the pink on her armor.
“Thanks for the heads up!” Penny high-fived her, and she and Cisco waited for Kathy to leave.
“Do we go for Trevor?” he asked.
Penny nodded. “Amelia ran back toward the building, and I bet Red followed her. Clive and Mara went that way.” She pointed to the far section of the wooded area. “We can get Trevor on the way.”
Cisco nodded. “Split up a little, but stay in sight.”
The two crept through the trees, carefully watching in all directions. Cisco hissed at Penny and she froze, then slowly turned his way.
He gestured to a branch above her.
“Don’t shoot!” Trevor called. He raised both hands, gun resting on his lap as he sat cross-legged in the forked branches. His face was blotched, and his eyebrows were knitted together tightly. “I surrender.”
“What?” Cisco lifted his paint gun to point it at Trevor.
Penny pushed it back down. “Cisco, he surrendered.”
“It’s a trick.” Cisco didn’t force the gun back up, though. Instead, he peered up at Trevor curiously. “Isn’t it?”
Trevor shook his head, then pulled up the leg of his pants. A purple bruise swelled around his ankle. “I had an accident.” Chagrined, he gave a shaky shrug, and Penny realized why he looked so upset.
“Cisco, he’s been crying,” she whispered, turning her head so Trevor couldn’t see her. “He’s injured. We can’t just leave him there!”
Heaving a sigh, Cisco dropped his gun. “I’m coming up. I can help you down, and Penny can catch you. We’ll help you back to base.”
“You can’t do that,” Trevor hissed. “You’ll lose the game. You two are at the top of the class, if you screw this up, you’ll lose your spots.”
Penny drew back in surprise. “We are? How do you know?”
Trevor gave her a shaky smile. “I made a deal with the dean. I’m paying my way through with admin duties. Semester one was on scholarship, but she’ll reduce my workload during finals if I store up credits now.”
“Oh.” She looked at Cisco. “What are you waiting for? Get up that tree, mate.”
Cisco nodded and easily swung himself up to the lower branch. He soon had Trevor by one arm, lowering the boy carefully down to Penny’s waiting arms. She caught him, looping one arm over her shoulders so she could support his weight as Cisco jumped to the ground.
“So,” Penny asked casually once they were hobbling back toward the waiting Agent Crenel. “Where are you on the leaderboard?”
Trevor laughed. “At the bottom. Come on, you didn’t see me trying to shoot that crossbow last week? I couldn’t even load the damn thing.” He sighed, then yelped as his bad ankle hit the uneven ground. “I’m not cut out for fieldwork.”
“And I’m not cut out for the lab,” Penny admitted. “But that’s no reason to give up.” She gave Cisco a glance over Trevor’s head.
Cisco caught her look, and a corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. “I’ve got the kid, you shoot the bastards.”
Penny gave a short nod, grinning. Ignoring Trevor’s protests, he was soon piggybacked on Cisco while Penny held both her green paint gun and Trevor’s blue one.
“You know,” she mused as they set off again, “the blue Power Ranger was the clever one.”
Cisco sniggered. “And the pink one was the hottest.”
“No way. The green ranger was smoking.” Penny glanced away from her scouting duties to wink at him. “Let’s head back toward the shed. We can duck inside for a quick breather.”
Cisco was starting to sweat under the restrictive armor and the weight of his passenger, but it would be impolite to point that out. For all Cisco’s bluster, he was still a sensitive thing.
“Good idea,” Cisco panted.
He was beginning to pant more now, so Penny paused at the edge of the tree line. “Almost there,” she reassured him. “Just a quick dash back to shelter. We can—wait. Do you hear that?”
Trevor paled. “It sounds like an animal.”
The grunting noise coming from the tin shed certainly could have been mistaken for an animal, except that Penny recognized one of the voices. “Noooooo.”
Cisco’s shoulders shook as his hand clapped over his mouth to stifle the laughter. “That dog!” he squeaked through his fingers.
“It doesn’t sound like a dog.” Trevor frowned. “Wait. What’s so funny?”
“It’s—“ Penny wheezed. She sucked in a breath and tried again, speaking too fast for the giggles to erupt again. “It’sCliveandMara!”
“What do you...oh. OH!” Trevor blushed beet-red and gave a nervous laugh. “Lucky guy, I guess.”
“What do we do?” Penny hissed. Despite the hilarity of the situation, if Clive and Mara were still unpainted and emerged at the wrong time, it would lose Penny and Cisco the game. On the other hand…
“Sneak.” Cisco motioned for Penny to grab Trevor’s arm again.
She did so, and the two lifted his feet clear of the ground, then walked swiftly toward the shed. They crouched by the door and Penny handed Trevor his gun. She motioned for him to take the shots.
“Me?” Trevor squeaked.
“It’s now or never, kid,” Cisco whispered.
“We should go back out there.” Mara’s voice was muffled but audible. Penny heard a scuffling noise and a zipper, then the click of straps being fastened.
“Come on, no one has found us,” Clive spoke quietly. “Let’s just chill for a bit.”
“Just don’t neuter Clive,” Penny whispered to Trevor. “Or go for a boob shot. That hurts.”
Trevor, his face glowing bright enough that Penny wondered how it wasn’t lighting the shadows, nodded. His gun nosed into the door that sat a few inches ajar. His finger pulled the trigger.
Mara screamed. So did Clive. Trevor hurled himself out of the doorway and Cisco sprang to his feet, shooting paint bullets into the small, enclosed space.
“Oh, my God. You BASTA
RD!” Mara yelled. Penny heard the ring of a slapped cheek.
“What did I do?” Clive asked, outraged.
Cisco ducked to the side, and the shed door slammed back. Mara stormed out, bright pink paint splattered across her midriff. Clive chased after her, his padded pants streaked in pink and blue and a red mark across his face. “Mara!”
When the ruckus died down, Penny helped Trevor to his feet. “Well, that’s four down, and one hit for you. Cisco’s in the lead, though.”
“Thank you,” Trevor said, a wide grin covering his face. “Really. I’d still be stuck up a tree if not for you guys.”
“Hey, it’s all down to teamwork,” Penny told him. It was a line Crenel had drummed into them over the two previous defense classes.
They made it back in sight of the Academy without seeing anyone else. Crenel stood by the empty crate, Jason, Heddy, Kathy, and Red all sprawled out on the grass, armor strewn beside them. Boots was stretched out beside Amelia, who stroked her back lazily.
Mara sat with her back to the group, and Clive was next to her, neither of them speaking.
“Man down!” Cisco called. “We have an injury!”
Crenel opened his mouth to respond. Whatever words came out were drowned by the thunk of bullets on padded vests.
Penny looked down. Orange paint splayed across her chest and on both of her friends. “The fuck?” she wheezed. Though the vest was protective, the impact had winded her.
She soon had her answer. As Amelia and Red ran toward her, a figure stood on the balcony of the Academy behind them, arms raised.
“So long, suckers!” Corey yelled. “Last man standing! WOOHOO!”
A bright streak shot through the grass and launched itself into Corey’s chest. He flew back and slammed to the ground, screaming, “HELP! Help me!”
He managed to roll to his knees, and Penny saw the glittering rainbow wrapped around his chest, squeezing it. After a moment of hesitation, she called, “Boots! Get off him. I’m ok, so you don’t have to kill him.”
Corey stood, and Boots fell away as he wriggled free of her grip. He picked up the paint gun and aimed the butt at her head, and Penny’s heart lurched.
Boots reared and hissed angrily, and Corey flinched. By the time he recovered, she was nowhere to be seen.
“Good girl,” Penny whispered. She didn’t know where Boots had fled to—probably their room—but it was probably for the best anyway.
Agent Crenel was already on his way over to assist Trevor. Soon, Cisco and Penny were relieved of their burden as Trevor was carried back to the building, lifted between the special agent and the brawny Irishman.
“What an asshole,” Amelia hissed. “Corey is a dick, but that was low even for him.”
“Did you know he was there?” Penny asked. Her hands felt hot and her jaw was tight. Not because she’d lost—she honestly didn’t give two shits about that—but because Corey had stolen any chance of Trevor climbing the ladder in Defense class. Then, as the ultimate insult, he had threatened Boots.
Amelia shook her head. “He must have been there the whole time.”
“What a mongrel move,” Penny seethed. “I can’t believe he tried to hit Boots! And there’s no way he didn’t see Trevor was hurt.”
Cisco shook his head. “Remind me never to group with him. He’s the kind of guy who’d take a teammate down for the fun of it.”
They picked up the armor and paint guns, then piled the weapons in the crate before stacking the armor on top.
Cisco eyed the sky. “Might rain. We’d better bring this in.”
“I’ll help.” Jason sauntered over and hefted an end of the heavy box, leaving Amelia, Heddy, and Penny to bundle up the loose items.
Cisco grunted and grabbed the other crate handle. Penny clutched at a vest that slipped, then jogged to catch up,
“Your mate is a real dick,” she told Jason.
“Mate?” Jason snorted. “He suggested we team up and then shot me in the back the minute we started.”
“Oh.” Any irritation she had for Jason slid away. “That sucks.”
Once the equipment was packed away, Penny left the others to seek out Trevor. His ankle had looked pretty bad. She hadn’t told him, but she had a feeling it might be more than a basic sprain.
To her surprise, Penny found him walking out of the dining room like nothing had happened.
“Uh, Trevor?” she asked. “I take it you’re feeling better.”
“Amazing!” he gushed. “I can’t believe they used an actual relic on me!”
“The Asclepius staff?” she asked. “Yeah, it’s pretty cool, hey?”
Trevor’s eyes widened. “You’ve seen it too?”
Penny nodded. “I got pretty beat up in Defense last term, during that doll exam.”
Trevor’s eyes flickered away from her. “Oh. Yeah, that. Jones said my marks were too low to even let me do that exam.”
Penny snorted. “You didn’t miss much. I got the absolute shit beat out of me.” She looped an arm around Trevor’s shoulder. “I’m sorry we didn’t win the game, kid.”
Trevor looked up at her, smirking. “Who says?”
Penny pulled back. “Well, Corey was the last one standing, with a body count of four. He pasted us.”
“Paste? Like, craft paste?” Trevor screwed up his face, confused.
“I mean, he annihilated us.” Penny ground her teeth at the injustice. “I can’t believe he’ll walk away from that with top marks.”
“Oh!” Understanding dawned, and Trevor grinned. “You should go have some lunch.” He nodded back toward the dining room. “If you go now, you might catch the last of the fireworks.”
Frowning, Penny dropped her arm. “Okay?” She headed toward the dining room, calling back over her shoulder, “Anyway, I’m glad you’re feeling better, Trev.”
“Thanks, Penny!”
Penny pushed open the heavy dining room door just in time to see Corey slam his fists on the table across from Agent Crenel.
“Easy now, kid,” Crenel warned in a hard voice.
“This is bullshit!” Corey kicked a chair next to him, and it went flying across the dining room. Two girls from the second class stood and hurried out of the room, leaving Penny alone with Crenel and Corey.
I should leave. Penny sat down anyway, trying to seem as unobtrusive as possible. Then again, I can’t miss this.
“I won that game, and I did it by the rules.” Corey seemed to have trouble controlling his face. It twitched angrily.
“You won an aspect of the game, son. I was quite clear that marks would be given for more criteria than just shooting everyone.” Crenel leaned back, giving Corey some space. “It just so happens that the criteria was teamwork and adaptability, not camping out like a sniper and shooting at an injured classmate.”
“Fuck your criteria. It should have been accuracy or initiative, not teamwork bullshit. That’s a cop-out. You just don’t like me.” Corey stood, punching the table again. “You’ll hear from my parents about this! You can’t fail me! They paid good money for me to be here.”
Corey shouldered past Penny, then whirled around. “And that snake needs to be put down,” he spat.
Corey stormed out, leaving Agent Crenel alone at the table. Penny waited a minute, then wandered over. “What was all that about?” she asked.
Crenel sighed. “Don’t pretend you didn’t figure it out. The game had a teamwork aspect; that was the ‘extra criteria.’ I’ve only been teaching you lot for a few days, but I wanted to see if my lesson was sinking in. I was hoping most of you would work in teams. Most of you did. I just didn’t expect it to go so spectacularly bad.”
“Do you think his parents will kick up a fuss?” Penny asked.
Crenel shrugged. “Jessica won’t care if they do, and her opinion is the only one that matters—but perhaps Boots should give him some space for a few days.” He flicked open a stack of papers in front of him and started jotting notes.
Penny
craned her neck, but his tight scrawl was illegible to her.
Crenel moved the papers out of her eye line. “This isn’t a normal college, Penny. We can’t tolerate students who aren’t in it for the right reasons. By the end of this year, the March-Blaisey Academy will officially be a training academy for the FBI.”
“Oh.” Penny waited for the words to sink in. “Wait, what?” She slid into the chair Corey had vacated. “What the hell does that mean?”
Crenel tapped a finger on the table absentmindedly. “I’ve been trying to convince Jessica to do it since she started this damn Academy. We have a training unit set up, but it’s too small. We’re not working fast enough, and this Mythological Invasion is overtaking our efforts to contain it.”
Crenel was tired, Penny could see that. His gaze was distant, and she got the feeling he was rambling almost without realizing it. Deciding to at least try to get more information out of him, she leaned forward. “What does that mean for us?”
Crenel met her eyes. “We’ll be sending you out on missions before you’re ready. Giving you tasks that put you in danger. Maybe getting some of you hurt.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “But we don’t have a choice. The very nature of the bureau attracts people who are set in their ways, abide by routines, and are skeptical down to our very core. It’s a handy skillset, but it’s not the one we need for this.”
“Oh.” Penny shivered. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“It sounds necessary.” Crenel stood up. “But not for you.”
“What do you mean?” Penny asked, startled.
Still watching her closely, Crenel said, “I know you haven’t signed up for classes next term. That’s ok; you told me from the start that I’d have to convince you.” He turned to leave. “But if you’re gonna change your mind, kid, make sure you’re really committed. Once this starts happening for real, there’s no going back.”
He left, slipping out of the dining room without making a sound.
Penny sat down with a thump. She hadn’t realized she’d stood up. What the fuck am I gonna do?
Chapter Twenty
Penny nursed a warm beer, fiddling with the synthetic locks of blonde hair adorning her head.
