The squad moved through the various halls of the training wing. They walked in silence, though Garfield noticed that Rachel was tense. It wasn't often that the raven haired sniper was tense, though Garfield could tell the signs of when she was. They were subtle things, things he wouldn't pick up on had he not lived with her over the past few months. It entailed a slight crinkle of her nose, the minuscule scrunching of her eyebrows and a small tremble in her step. He noticed how she walked closer to Victor in the back of the group when she usually walked in front to lead the way. Maybe she was accepting Richard as their leader? Maybe she was giving up the temporary leadership she had over them? Gar didn't know, but he was worried about her. Though, he'd never tell her that or bring it up. The one thing Rachel hated more than him was being fawned over.

Though she didn't mind when Victor did it. Garfield couldn't explain it, but somewhere along the way those two seemed to have developed some unspoken language. Gar was never one to lie to himself about his feelings: he was jealous. It upset him that Rachel had shut him out yet Victor seemed to easily connect to her on some personal level. Gar had made it a point to get close to Koraline and Victor. He knew about Koraline's life in Haiti and Victor had told him all about the accident that people thought would leave him incapacitated. Yet he knew nothing of Rachel besides the standard things he was shown in a video when the higher-ups had joined them into a group.

Before Gar had time to ponder how to go about achieving that friendship with Rachel, the squad had arrived in the AI Virtual Simulation Room. As they entered, Adams' voice sounded from the adjacent control room. "You're early." His voice sounded much like a principal's on a PA speaker in high school. "Fifteen minutes early. Are you sure you're ready?" Richard simply nodded towards the window that allowed those in the control room to view the AI participants. Gar took a minute to look around the room. Nothing had changed since he was in here a few weeks ago with Potential Leader #19. The room was still a bright white with no decoration. It was dull and only had a long row of AI systems that the squad was to sit in to leave for their simulation. Gar approached one of the system. It was a simple chair that had a touch screen sticking out of one of the arms. Above the chair was a helmet that stopped his brain from making his real body move. Gar didn't understand the technicalities of it. He just knew that if he moved in the simulation, he didn't move in real life.

Gar sat down in the chair and looked around to notice the other four soldiers doing the same. The chair wasn't comfortable. It was as hard as a school desk chair. The touch screen flickered to life and Gar began choosing his weapons from the system. It was much like one of the first person shooter games he had played when he was in high school. After making his selection, he looked over to see that everyone except Rachel had finished.

Rachel was still swiping through guns and explosives. She wasn't a ground fighter. She shouldn't be ground fighting. I can't do this why did I agree to this oh my God- Her mind was racing as she simply stalled time by swiping through the seemingly endless weapons list. After another moment of feeling four pairs of eyes intensely staring at her, waiting for her to finish, she settled on her choices and prepared for the simulation to begin. She looked over to her sides before the helmet started descending upon them. Garfield was looking at her. He appeared.. concerned? That can't be the right word. She looked away before she could be considered staring. The helmets were beginning to descend and as soon as the helmet fully engulfed her head, she felt the world go black for a moment.


I am really sorry for the huge delay and short chapter. A few things came up and I couldn't work on anything! Here's a little filler before the big test fight. Expect the action in the next chapter!