New Toys

Everyone likes to get presents. The team is no different. Set in the BOTP universe in a time before the team was on active duty.

Written for the Goat's Tail Challenge on the BOTP mailing list. Thanks to Candi to beta reading.

The BOTP characters are not mine.

The gym was fully illuminated, showing the various levels and obstacles in the five level structure. Keyop, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, carelessly flipped from one end of the large wall-to-wall mat to the other. Princess sat patiently on the smaller mat on the left side of the gym. Jason sauntered into the gym looking not too happy.

"This sucks," Jason grumbled. "We had a two hour session this morning." Keyop was not paying attention to where he was going and did a back-flip right into Jason. Jason reacted on instinct and batted him away. Keyop rolled across the floor towards Princess. "Watch it short stuff. You have too much energy for your own good."

"Jason, be careful!" Princess admonished. Keyop crawled over to sit with Princess while Jason went and sat on the end of the low balance beam as far from Keyop and Princess as possible.

"Big bully." Keyop whispered.

The large double door slid open with a hiss. The Chief, Mark, and Tiny entered, the later two laden with boxes. Mark gave one to Princess and kept one for himself. Tiny handed a box to Keyop and took a seat on the floor. He put down the two last boxes. One he kept for himself, the other was pushed across the floor to his left towards Jason, stopping short of actually reaching him.

"Jason, why don't you come over and join us?" Chief Anderson motioned to the spot on the floor by the lonely box. Jason reluctantly joined the group and eyed his box suspiciously.

"Now," continued the Chief, "open your boxes."

Keyop's eyes grew wide as did Tiny's. "Brrp…. new toys!" Keyop was so excited he could barely sit still.

"Not exactly." Anderson said calmly watching to see what they would do with the contents.

Keyop immediately grabbed his toy out of the box and started clanging the balls together to see how far apart he could make them bounce. Eventually he got them to go up and down in a continuous motion with a horrible clacking sound. Anderson approached the youngest of his wards, picked up the bolos and demonstrated how to use them properly in a rotating manner, quickly wrapping them around the neck of the target dummy fifty feet across the room. Keyop's jaw dropped open.

Princess picked up the yo-yo from her box and slipped the ring on her finger. She gave her wrist a flick and the yo-yo unexpectedly went flying across the room and lodged in the far wall. Princess stared at the wall blinking. She tried to bring it back but couldn't. She gave it a hard tug and it finally recoiled with a hard snap that she did not expect, leaving a gaping hole in the sheet-rock. Princess slipped the ring off her finger and held the new toy in wide-eyed amazement.

Jason opened his box to find a cable gun with several other pieces. He smiled a broad smile. The meeting was worth missing the Busch series race on TV. He picked up the drill bit, fit it to the gun and started to drill holes in his box. Tiny found a similar gun with fewer attachments in his box.

Mark wasn't sure what to make of the thing in his box. He picked it up noting it was lighter than it looked and that the edges were sharp. "What's this?"

Anderson put on some leather gloves from his pocket and took the object from Mark. He then walked to the other side of the gym away from his students. The sound of scraping sharp metal reverberated in the gym as the boomerang opened. Anderson tossed the boomerang gently and it soared around the room making a high pitched sound. He caught it on the return and then walked over to Mark's box. He sliced right through the top of the box effortlessly, closed the boomerang, and handed it back to Mark. Mark gently touched the boomerang and it slid open. His blue eyes danced in the reflection from the shiny surface.

"These are your weapons. We tried to tailor them to your interests. Some will take more time to learn than others. We will spend the next month perfecting your use of these weapons. We will start with individual sessions with the weapon's designer so no one gets hurt. Then we will move to group sessions. You need to be able to use these in a crowded room where there are enemies and friends."

The five young people looked at each other. Enemies. It was the first time their mentor had used that word. They had discussed it before, in private, just recently in fact. They had no illusions what all this was about. The training sessions had become more frequent, more intense, and more focused on combat rather than stealth. They were going to be more than just a recon force. Mark stood up and the rest followed his lead, each nodding in silent acknowledgment.

"We're ready, sir," Mark said speaking for the group. Anderson looked at each of his wards in turn. He would be sure they were ready when the time came to engage their enemy.