"As you can see once we carry the X and multiply the Y you can see the correct outcome when following the previous formula to establish Q" The monotone voice of the Labrador like instructor announced, his golden fur paw pointing to a touch screen like board that was covered in numbers and letters.
The other occupants in the room either furiously scribbling down the work, on having their face planted in their text books, the incredible dull subject the maths teacher was currently explaining, the information being ignored by Apex who was staring at the book on his desk, the small journal like item having its protective leather front page being opened to reveal the context of text that to none Hunters would be nothing more than lines and symbols, but to a Hunter, even a Hunter trainee it was as simple as reading non coded English.
"Guardian, I don't think re covering the basics of Sol manipulation will help?"
"I know ghost but I must be missing something, also I already know algebra" Apex responded, turning the page to show the image of a Hunter covered in orange flames, the glowing hand cannon displaying the Hunters subclass. The action allowing Apex to view his companions who were seated on the same row of chairs and desks, with the wall on Apex left side accompanying him whilst Bill sat on his right, the almost constantly hyper Canine having fallen asleep within minutes of the teacher talking.
"Guardian you know how Hunter subclasses develop, its not like a Titans subclass where constant training and discipline, or like a Warlock who can develop theirs through meditation, You Hunters unlock your subclass through experience, why do you think your instructor ditched your class in the wilds?"
His Ghost's statement bringing back fond memories of Apex and his fellow Hunter trainees being in the cramped personnel hold of a Hawk drop ship, his hand grasped around a standard Scout rifle, along with his first sniper rifle that was slung on his back. An Exo Hunter standing at the end of the little walkway between the ships seats, a hand cannon with the ace of spades painted onto it.
"Ok rookies listen up because I'm only going to say this once, don't die otherwise Andal will be pissed"... The words of Cayde-6 rang through Apex's head as he remembered his first outing beyond the walls since he entered them.
.
"Well unfortunately that is the bell, class dismissed" The instructor announced leading to the increase in the hum of conversation.
"Come on Bill get up" Falco announced, shoving the canine waking him up as Apex grabbed his stuff and put it in his bag, following the group out of the room.
"Ugh I don't want to, why do we even have to attend the next lesson" The canine complained, getting out of his seat.
"Why what's so wrong with the next class?"
"It's not the class where the issue is, it's the instructor, unless your Slippy, then the class is worse" Falco responded to Apex's inquiry, Falcos comment also causing the mentioned avian and amphibian to begin insulting each other.
"That still didn't answer the question" Apex responded as the group walked through one of the glass encased corridors in the building, the reflection showing Apex current appeal that consisted of a set of faded jeans with multiple pockets on it and a dark brown close to black bomber jacket, his backpack being filled to capacity with the majority of his armour due to Miss snow saying combat clothing is needed for one of the days classes.
"It's Basically Gym which is either exercise or forms of martial arts, you do have that back at earth right?" Fox responded from the front of the improvised pack.
Fox's question bringing back memories of the Towers equivalent of Gym, which mainly consisted of the Crucible or the instructors throwing in their guidance with Titans and Warlocks having to cover how their class should use their light in hand to hand, with Titans being trained to punch their way through and Warlocks being trained to rely on their knowledge of the light their strikes resembling combat forms from the eastern area of earth in the golden age , whilst Hunters were trained how to cheat whether it be in the use of a knife or the use of unorthodox methods of fighting with strikes to hide the follow up blow or throwing dust in your opponents eyes.
"Yeah we have something like that" Apex responded thinking back to the occasional fight that broke out within the Hunter Lounge.
"Yeah and the instructor is full of himself" Bill responded.
"Maybe he improved over the holidays" Fay announced seeming to try and salvage people's spirits.
"YOU CALL THAT RUNNING, I'VE SEEN THE DEAD MOVE LIVLEY, AND YOU FROG, YOU'D GET BETTER USE OUT OF SELLING THOSE LEGS THEN ACTUALY USING THEM"
"Well Bill your correct about him" Apex said to the canine as the class ran whilst being shouted at by the instructor, the group having split with Slippy and some of the other class members lagging behind whilst Apex stuck with the rest of the class with him running along with Bill and Fox, as the group lapped track for the second time. The fact the track was indoors failing to help with those struggling, the sound of heavy rain patting the roof only adding to the misery of some.
"YOUR HALF WAY THERE MAGGOTS" the instructor shouted.
"Guardian"
"Yes Ghost"
"You have a call coming from the tower"
"Whos calling"
"Grimm is currently trying to contact you"
"Put her through" Apex responded, moving to the side as a Cornarian dropped to the back of the group.
"Hey Apex!" The synthetic voice of Grimm blasted through his helmets speakers, The sheer volume causing Apex to flinch before the output of the audio was dropped by his Ghost.
"Right, Grimm"
"You'll never guess what I just did"
"Try to break into my vault again?"
"Nope, gave up after the tenth respawn, I just went flawless"
"Good for you, now why are you calling me, I'm in the middle of class"
"Wanted to see how you were doing"
"OK YOU WASTE OF SPACE, USE THIS TIME TO REST BECAUSE YOU SORRY LOT ARE GOING TO NEED IT" The instructor continuing to shout.
The allowance of being able to rest for a short time leading to the group re-grouping around the so called start area which was mainly just some benches.
"So what you up to then, enjoying reliving school again"
"Which school life, the one before or after I became a Guardian"
"Haha, nice one anyway- 'GRIMM GET BACK TO DOING YOUR TASK' – Shit, anyway got to go" Grimm abruptly ended the call, the voice of Lord Efrideet seeming to show Grimm had called him in the middle of doing something.
Apex's thoughts being interrupted by the light impact of a fuzzy arm against his, gaining his attention.
"Hey, you ok you sort of zoned out there?" Fox asked as Apex removed his helmet.
"Yeah fox I'm fine, just had a friend from the Tower call me"
"Seriously, how?"
"My Helmet has a com system built into it" Apex responded, the half truth managing to satisfy the vulpine.
"Who was it then, Your girlfriend" Katt announced with a teasing grin on her face.
"Hahaha, nah Grimm is just a close friend of mine, we go way back"
" So are all your names like that in the last city?" Falco announced from his spot on the bench.
"By your standard yeah names in the last city are probably weird but the same could be said about you Falco" Apex responded, implying he was named after his species.
"So Apex, you seem to be managing well, unlike some" Bill stated, his CDF armour having droplets of sweat on it from the running, the hidden light hearted verbal jab being aimed at the amphibian that was sat down, Slippy being in the process of drinking as much water as possible.
"Well yeah, compared to what we did at the last city, this is a cake walk"
"Oh Yeah what did you do at the last city"
"Well running that track is easy when compared to having to run up and down the Tower"
"But, I though you said that thing reached above the clouds?"
"It does Slippy, a lot of people collapsed from exhaustion, and had to be carried by the others" Lynx responded, a visible grin at the memory of when Lord Shaxx was assigned the trainee Guardians for the week, the whole class having collapsed at the end of the day and just laid there unable to move.
The response from Apex having made Slippy re-think the severity of the training he was currently receiving.
"OK YOU LOT, REST TIME IS OVER GET BACK TO IT" the instructor shouted, the class having no other option but to follow the instructors orders.
"Oh by the sprits, I never thought that would end" the voice of Slippy announced from somewhere in the room.
The room in question being the male changing room, with the majority of the room being filled with steam from the showers. With Apex being in the process of ' Re-packing' his armour, which was just meant that the parts he decided to remove were transmitted to his inventory. With Apex having taken liberties with his clothing like the other Conerians in the room, his Raku Poltergeist boots, Endling Grasps and the Dustwalker's under armour and belt having a comforting familiarity to the Hunter, even without the armoured plate of the Dustwalker being on him.
"Please it wasn't that bad" Bill announced, his canine muzzle appearing over the door of a shower cubical, the pairs conversation falling back into squabbling.
"Christ, their like an old married couple" The voice of Ghost announced from inside of Apex's head as the armour plate of the Dustwalker chest piece was transmitted to his inventory, his cloak being on his shoulders due to the conditions outside.
"Yeah, though same could be said about parts of my fire team" Apex responded mentally, as Fox took a seat next to him on the same bench, currently in the process of placing his boots on. Fox like the rest was wearing some parts of his combat uniform, mainly the white flight jacket and red scarf over the green flight suit he had.
"So Apex?, what you planning on doing for free period?" Fox said as Apex lifted up the hood of his cloak, affixing the fabric so the hood slightly covered his face.
"Wait, there's a free period?"
"Yeah, what you weren't told about it?"
"No"
"Well anyway now you do, so you up for joining us for some flight simulator practice and some range time"
"Sure thing Pal" Apex responded as he stood up, the dismissal bell sounding a second later.
"Would now be a good time to tell them that Pepper approved your request?" Ghost enquired as Apex followed the group, with Fox explaining the basics of the flight simulator.
"Nar let it be a surprise"
"So Apex, you ever flown?" Bill interrupted Fox's explanation the falcon wearing a mainly red flight suit with the addition of white pads and some red shoulder pads.
"Yeah, I fly a modified Mk7 Hebridean Mult-role inceptor"
"Modified?, in what ways?" Fay questioned, which was a first due to the shyness of the white canine.
"Well Fay, the original variant only had a pair of basic 20mm cannons on the nose of the craft and was designed to support other larger ships , but the Thoughtcrime version replaced them with a pair of Multi-Munition Rail guns and had more room created for a basic crew quarter for the pilot along with a upgraded set of cannons attached to the undercarriage, hang on a sec actually" Apex announced.
The group continuing down a hallway towards a single set of double doors as Apex retrieved a picture of the Hebridean Thoughtcrime and handed it to Fay. The canine's combat clothing consisting of a red jumper of some sort along with a thin white waist coat.
"Hey, its all good to see you finally out of your shell Fay , but can you save the marriage proposal for later we have a flight sim to get to" The pink feline of the group announced, wrapping an arm around the embarrassed Fay. The black body warmer that ended just at her abdomen matching the yellow shirt beneath, the black belt and jeans seeming math her whole style.
The announcement from Katt being followed by the group entering the flight simulators, the room, the building being a large multi storied hall, with the different virtual reality pods lining each side of the room, the group walking over to a line of free pods, the tops being open allowing entry to them.
"So what's the first match going to be?" Fara's voice range out as Apex clambered into the replica cockpit, the flight stick being between his legs along with a collection of flight control switches being around the pilots seat.
"Well, since its Apex's first time in a VR pod i was ging to run over the basics of flight control in the safe zone, anybody want to join?" Fox announced as Apex pressed a switch that allowed the system to activate, with the pods roof closing.
" Aw does the noob need a little helper" Faclo announced over the VR pods com channel.
"May I remind you that this noob kicked your collective asses on the field day" Apex responded, seeming getting a few chuckles in response.
"You know what Fox, ill join gotta keep the new blood inline" Miyu announced ,referring to when she shot Apex, as the VR pod's screen flashed to life, displaying the available servers for Apex to join.
"Ok, so Apex you should be able to join server 5" Fox continued as Apex joined said server, the screen loading in with a selection screen leading to Apex selecting the Arwing x-03, the screen then changing to show what can only be described as some sort of launch bay.
"Glad you could finally join us" Miyu announced, her face appearing at the top of the pods screen.
"So Apex you ready ?"
The question leading to Apex retrieving his helmet from his lap and placing the armoured helmet on his head.
"Now I am"
"Ok Miyu your first out, Apex once Miyu is out you'll need to hit the launch switch"
"Yeah i see it" Apex responded, as the sound of Miyu's fighter being launched came through the VR pods speaker. Her vessel's engine blearing to life as it became space born.
"Ok your clear to hit it, i will follow you out afterwards" Fox announced.
The instruction being followed by Apex, the moment the small switch was flipped the shuttle was thrown out into space, the crafts course going unchanged for a moment until Apex deemed himself clear enough.
"This will take some getting used to" Apex internally announced as he tested the roll and pitch of the arwing by slowly moving the joystick.
" Dont worry Guardian, in the event you need an aircraft, you Hebridean Thoughtcrime will be available, though the ship you are seems to be slower than your thoughcrime"
"Hey Apex, on your left" Miyu announced, pulling up to the left side of Apex, her aircraft varying by the nose of the craft seeming to be split down the middle creating a gap from the tip of the nose to the main armament, the rotary cannon being directly in front of the cockpit.
"So whats the plan here ?"
"Well i was supposed to run you through a few manoeuvres but you seem to be used to this, i guess you flew that craft of yours a lot eh?"
"Yeah, though i should choose an interceptor next time, this is a little on the slow side"
"Hahah, if you think you can handle it" Miyu responded with a feline grin, until some electric alarm rang through the cockpit, the Cornarian equivalent of the crucible kill feed displayed showing Falco having shot down Fay.
"Well it seems Falco has decided to do something, you VR pods should update with your friendly's" Fox announced, seemingly used to Falcos shenanigans.
"Seems like birdbrain got bored, you ready to kick his ass?" Miyu inquired he whole attitude showing that she had been hoping for the outcome.
"Just give me a target" Apex responded, his Ghost showing him what needed to be pressed to arm the crafts weapons. Apex's response getting a grin from the Lynx.
"Hahah, i knew you would say something like that, i needed a wingman anyway, just stay close"
"Aww, i didn't think you cared" Apex responded, following the interceptor piloted by Miyu.
"Ok team, Bill is inbound with hostiles on his tail so where going to intercept, knowing Falco he won't play objective so ill deal with him, in all likelihood Slippy will attempt to bomb our base" Fox announced, the base being the ship that they had launched from.
"Ok Fox me and Apex will deal with Slippy and any escorts he has" Miyu announced, a couple of seconds lalter a small alarm announced the arrival of Bill, his AL4 Bottlenose fighter being covered in scorch marks, its left wing having half of it missing.
"Bill get to the base and get repaired" Fox ordered, watching as Bill hit his after burners, a trail of neon blue light following behind his shuttle as it moved towards safe haven.
"Fox their about 5 minutes out" Bill announced.
"Ok team, they will jump to the same point in which Bill jumped to so we can ambush them" Fox announced the plan now being in place.
"Well lets get below them then, keep in their blind spot's" Apex announced. Leading to Miyu flying to the stated point with Apex following.
"Here they come!" Fox announced.
(
The first craft to exit its warp being Falco, who instantly hit his afterburners, barely dodging the collection of shots Fox sent at him, The pair quickly falling into a dog fight as the rest of Falco's team appeared. Their names being shown above their ships, with Slippy being in the bomber variant of the arwing, the craft being wider than the normal arwing variant. His aircraft being escorted by both Fara and Katt. With Fara being an a Arwing like Apex was using and katt being in a interceptor.
"Haha, now this is where it get fun" Miyu announced, accelerating forward, With Apex doing the same but on a more shallow angle.
"Moving to attack position on objective craft" Apex announced, a second later he depressed the firing button on the flight stick, a short 5 round burst of neon bolts shooting out and slamming into Slippys craft.
The energy projectile slamming into the left side of Slippys bomber, causing it to shudder under barrage and the health bar above his craft to drop a third.
"Not so fast Apex" The voice of Fara announced as Apex sharply banked to the left, a collection of plasma bolts missing his aircraft by a collection of meters, the close call failing to get a rise out of Apex who continued to check over his shoulder, viewing the arwing behind him that was releasing short flurries of energy weapon fire towards him, all missing to the evasive movements Apex was pulling, who was limited as he still had to destroy Slippy.
"I would recommend doing something Guardian"
"Really Ghost, i thought i would just stay here and die" Apex responded to his Ghost, leaning forward and switching off the inertia dampeners meaning that the ship would continue to go forward.
"Guardian, i don't think this course of action is wise" Ghost all but screamed in worry.
The action Apex performed being his responce to Ghost as he span the Arwing on its axis, the lack of inertia dampeners allowing the Arwings course to not be changed as he quickly blead speed, whist opening fire on the surprised Fara, the blasts of energy tearing into her Arwing, sheering off her left wing and causing his to lose control as she shot past Apex who then reveres the trick flipping back to his original flight path. The simulated G force being all but ignored by Apex.
"Scratch one hostile" Apex announced over the open channel as he kicked in his afterburners to catch up on Slippy. The lull in dog fighting allowing him to view Fox, who managed to pull behind Falco and release some sort of energy projectile that followed Falcos erratic movements until the blue bird was blow up by the resulting explosion. Whilst both of the felines of the group attempted to get a bead on each other, with Miyu managing to land a single shot on Katt before the pair resumed their high speed chase, with Katt attempting to get in range of Apex but all attempts being thwarted by Miyu.
"Uh guys, I have one on my tail " Slippy announced, trying to move the bomber he was piloting to throw off the aim of Apex. The amphibians attempts ending by the introduction of another burst of laser fire, this collection of blots slamming into the cockpit causing the craft to disintegrate in a colourful explosion.
"That's two" Apex shortly announced, turning to fly towards the only reaming dog fight, Only for Katts after burners to abruptly cut out allowing Miyu to finish off the pink feline.
The simulation continuing for a couple of seconds until a large screen appeared, the words ' Simulation over' Flashing until the screen went black and the VR pod opened up again. The opening quickly widening allowing Apex to clamber out of the confined space.
"Christ those things are cramped" Apex announced, stretching off, as the sounds of the friendly banter between his friends got louder as the approached.
"Hahah better luck next time Bird brain"
"Oh please if you didn't use that I would have wiped the floor with yah"
"Ow, why did i have to be the first to be shot down"
"Dont worry Fay, next time you won't be blindsided by Falco"
"Thanks Miyu"
"So, Apex how did you pull off that move then" The voice of Fara asked, leaning against the VR pod the had exited, her arms crossed, waiting for a response as Apex removed his helmet.
"Huh Cute"
"What!"
"Your whole leaning against the VR pod trying to be a badass, it's cute" Apex responded, causing Fara to struggled to respond.
"What , no I'm not , thats silly I'm not trying to be badass, i was trying to be comfy"
"Oh relax Fara, I'm just messing with you and i turned off the inertia dampeners to do that"
"What, you flew without inertia dampeners!"
"Wait who flew without inertia dampeners?" The voice of Miyu asked, having over heard the conversation.
" Apex here said he stopped using his dampeners in order to shoot me down" Fara said, an accusatory finger being pointed at Apex who raised his hands in mock surrender.
" I don't see whats so shocking about this, its common practice in the last city to not use dampeners to be harder to hit and pull more ridicules moves "
"Whow You didn't use dampeners, thats hardcore, I knew you were more skilled then you were letting on to be, if you like that with a basic arwing what will you be like with a interceptor " Miyu exclaimed, holding her paw out in a high five gesture which Apex performed.
"Wait, skilled what you on about Miyu?"
"Well Falco if you would have listened our human friend here has his own ship"
"Really? How"
"Uh Guardians, even trainee Guardians are given a ship and if you're a trainee you have a mandatory monthly hour quota until you pass , i did warn you Falco"
"What, Miyu what happened to keeping the new blood in line!"
"Hey there's some thing to wild for even me to keep up" Miyu responded, he hands up in a placating manor, but with a grin on her face.
"WHAT, ok then how many flight hours did you have to get per mount then" Falco questioned, Miyu's carefree response seeming to have annoyed him.
"About 30 per month but it was common for people to exceed that, i got about 45 hours a mount before I graduated flight basics why"
"What 45 hours, that's, ok that last match didn't count you had an unfair advantage" Falco announced as the group moved towards their next destination.
"Is he always like this?"
"Only when he loses first time Apex, think nothing of it" Bill responded, as both Fox and Falco continued to argue.
"So what's everyone got planned for range time?"
"Well Katt, I have some new weapons to test out" Fara responded.
"Im just going to watch, I don't really have a weapon of my own" Miyu defectively announced.
"You know Miyu i could always let you test some before you bought one, i know you don't have a lot of cash to spend so that could help?"
"Thanks for the offer Fara but even then it might be a while " Miyu grinned back. As the group entered one of the academies weapon ranges, this one having a collection of stalls facing downrange for multiple people to use. The opportunity leading to many of the group to go and do their own thing, with Bill, Falco , Slippy and fox groping around one stall with Fara and Fay doing the same around another and Katt going off to do her own thing.
"You know you should get so down over something like not owning a weapon" Apex said to Miyu, his voice seeming to snap the sulking felines attention to him .
"I, Dont know what your on about, I'm not sulking , I'm pouting, there's a difference"
"And both make you adorable" Apex responded, the response having the same effect of Fara and stonewalling any rebuttal.
" Now come over here" Apex stated, the command in his voice leading to Miyu following him over to one of the firing stalls.
"Ok where here, but I don't see why you basically dragged me over here" Miyu announced, only to stop as Apex placed one of his Hand cannons on the table, the gold and black body of The Last Word seeming to shine in the light.
"Simple, I want you to shoot it"
"What?"
"I said shoot it" Apex responded as the sound of blaster fire echoed through the weapon range.
"But didn't you say that this could injuries the user if they were not properly trained "
"Yeah well consider this your formal training" Apex responded, picking up the hand cannon and removing the ammo from the gun until there was one shot left, and then twilling the large pistol in his hand until flipping it so he held it by the barrel, the handle of the weapon being offered towards Miyu, who cautiously accepted it.
"Your, sure about this?"
"Yup, now aim it like you normally would with a blaster and I will tell you what to change" Apex instructed, causing Miyu to follow.
"Wow, its a lot heavier then it looks"
"Yeah, our weapons need to be a lot more robust than those laser pointers you lot use, now bend your arms more, you will be able to notice the weight dissipate more the better your position is"
The advise being followed by the Lynx who bent her arms into a more suitable position, with both of her paws correctly holding The Last Word.
"I see what you mean now, its light it isn't even there"
"Ok, now you'll need to lean forward to deal with the recoil since it's your first time" Apex said, leading to Miyu being unable to resist teasing him.
"Wow, are you always this genital with a girls first time ?"
"Only for the special ones" Apex responded mirroring Miyus grin with a devious smirk. The conversation causing Miyu to burst out laughing whilst Apex chuckled.
"By the spirits, that was bad"
"Yeah well it looked like you could use with a laugh" Apex responded, leaning against the stall wall as Miyu repositioned The Last word aiming it at the holographic target.
"Ok, so now what"
The question leading to Apex holding out a hand and flicking the weapons safety off, the slight click signalling the weapon now being live.
"Shoot, don't worry about the recoil, your stance should absorb most of it" Apex said, as he watched Miyu slowly pull the trigger of the last word, the colossal 'Bang' announcing the firing of the weapon, as the recoil threw Miyus arms up in the air, her arm movements only being stopped by Apex who shot out a hand and grabbed hers, stopping her from hitting herself in the face.
" Damm, how do you fire that ?"
"Well I point it at the thing I want dead"
"Oh you know that's not what a meant" Miyu said placing the hand cannon back onto the table of the shooting stall.
"Well to be honest that's got less recoil then my other one, and if you think the recoils bad you should see the other guy" Apex announced gesturing to the target display screen, the screen replaying the point when the bullet collided with the target, the round clearly tearing through the chest of the target and doing untold damage to whatever was supposed to be there.
The replay of the target folding from the force silencing any rebuttal from Miyu as she seemed to look between the hand cannon and the target screen.
" So, want to fire it again" Apex asked.
"Hell yes" Miyu announced, her response being what Apex expected as he retrieved a full magazine for the hand cannon, the cylinder of self contained bullets being passed to Miyu as Apex talked her through reloading the weapon.
"Ok so The Last word holds 8 shots and has a good rate of fire, as you probably noticed when I used it at the range that time you can 'Fan the hammer' so to speak, though I don't recommend doing that yet, when there's multiple targets its best to guide the weapons recoil instead of resisting it... " Apex said, going over tips and pointers on how to mitigate the weapons recoil explaining to his Feline friend, who then proceeded to fire the weapon again, this time successfully dealing with the weapons recoil.
".. And to unload the weapon just repeat the reload process"
" Thanks for that Apex" The lynx said, spinning the Last Word on a furry digit before holding it out to Apex to grasp, which he did before holstering it on his thigh.
"Damm you're a natural... And think nothing of it, you looked like you needed something to take you mind off whatever's bothering you, unless you want help with that?" Apex said, basically calling out that Miyu was struggling with something, a reassuring gloved hand onto her shoulder.
"Thanks for the offer Apex, but its nothing major i promises you"
Miyus response leading the pair to fall into a semi comfortable semi weird silence, as the others fired their weapons.
"Wait didn't you say you had a second hand cannon, like on you ?"
"Yeah, General Pepper approved my request to be able to carry both on me" Apex said, noticing the subtle twitch in Miyus tail.
"Can I see it ?"
The question from the Lynx getting a hundred responses to form in Apex's mind.
"Dont you dare Guardian!"
"Dont you bloody dare"
"I swear to the Light if you say something like that I'm going to kill you"
"Youre going to cause a diplomatic incident by saying that"
The angry synthesized voice of Ghost ringing in his head as Apex's AI companion continued to disapprove of Apex's response.
" At least take me to dinner first" Apex announced, a shit eating grin on his face as he watched Miyu realise the implications of his response before she burst out laughing, a paw slapping Apex's chest as she went on about him being just as bad as Katt.
Whilst Miyu was enjoying the crude humour of Apex, his Ghost was doing the complete opposite.
"What in the travellers name, i should report you to the Vanguard for this!"
"Since when have I cared about the vanguard permission"
"Fine then I will delete you inventory"
"Nice try Ghost but you need Guardian confirmation before you can d that"
"Ok then how about I destroy you Alcohol collection"
"Do that and I will do horrifying things to you ghost now calm down before you blow a light bulb, what is it with Ghosts and not understanding some social que's anyway"
Apex mentally responded to his companions rant as he retrieved The First Curse, the black and silver Hand cannon being the twin to the Last word, differing by its higher stopping power but lower rate of fire.
"This is The First Curse, Twin to The Last word" Apex said, holding the weapon in his right hand as he took aim.
" i can see what you mean, there almost identical"
"Yup, the internals also differ but you already noticed the different colour's which is do do with the different materials used for it, you sure you want to to fire this"
" Yeah why worried i might shoot better then you with it"
"Nope, I'm worried it will effect Falcos masculinity and ego"
"Just shoot the weapon you dork"
"Fine, though I'd cover your ears if i was you" Apex warned Miyu who followed the advice as Apex fired the sheer volume being drastically different, like the Last word was a 200lb bomb detonating The First Curse was like a 500lb bomb going off , bits of dust actually falling from the ceiling as the single over charge bullet collided with the target all but disintegrating the target as the holographic displays computer struggled to cope with the sudden influx of information, the machine having to calculate the ballistic trajectory along with the kinetic force of the bullet along with whatever else it did.
"Show off" Ghost stated as Apex grabbed The Last Word and proceeded to holster the pair of weapons with a collection of spins and arcs.
"Hey What the hell was that? Is everyone ok?" Fox's voice announced followed by a collection of confused swearing by the others , as Apex exited the shooting booth to the sight of some confused cornarians.
"Sorry about that, testing my other hand cannon" Apex explained, gesturing to the pair of hand cannons on his thighs, the Last Word on his Left whilst The first curse was on his right.
"Thank the spirits, i thought a bomb hand gone off, so what you doing with two, i though you were only allowed one?"
"Yeah but General Pepper approved my request thankfully"
"So whats it called, is it going to be another weird name" Falco teased only to receive a blank look from Apex.
" Nope its called The First Curse"
" Ok and why is it called that?" The voice of Slippy asked.
"Because if someone hasn't sworn before in their left, this Hand cannon will make them, just ask Fay" Apex responded, hiding the true origins of the weapons name.
"What Fay swore, why didn't someone record it" Bill dramatically announced.
"Im sorry, i was so loud it took me by surprise" The now embarrassed Canine announced, failing to notice her proximity to a certain pink Feline.
"She's finally becoming a woman everybody, im so proud" Katt announced, faking a tear and ignoring the noise of disapproval Fay made to the bear hug she was caught in.
"Katt, please stop, its not polite to swear and I shouldn't have done so" the canine continued.
"Well I cannot find a reason to argue with the name" Falco responded.
"Wow that's a first , the famous Falco Lombardi admitting defeat" Slippy announced, an all to telling grin on his face, the pair quickly falling into verbal confrontation that Apex had gotten used to by now.
"So I guess this is normal then"
"Yeah Apex, as much as it pains me to admit it , it is. So I guess its not like this at the Tower?"
" Oh its a lot worse actually" Apex responded with a grin, remembering the times he and the other members of his fire team and raid team had accidently pushed each over off of the Tower, and the other shenanigans semi immortal demi gods would get up to.
" I'm not even going to ask" Fox responded, getting a reassuring hand on his shoulder from Fara.
"Thats probably for the best" Apex responded, as the final bell of the day rang out.
The bell seeming to end the common place arguments as the group causally made their way out of the room and eventually the school, the small talk between each of the members until they finally reached the schools court yard, the place being packed with cornarians in a similar mind set of geting as far away from the building as possible, many of them still having their personal blasteres on them in slings or holsters . The rain from earlier having thankfully dissipated.
"Oh year before I forget, Apex were trying to organise a get together at some point and were wondering if there was some way to contact you?" Fox asked.
"Yeah, I believe this number should suffice, links to my personal com's" Apex said, handing his friend a bit of paper with his 'number' on it.
" Ill see you lot when i see you i guess" Apex said, reciving his fair wells from the group as he departed.
"Guess I owe you one Ghost"
"Oh please it was nothing, think of it as payback for the new shell, that along with dealing with you shenanigans"
His Ghost responded as Apex caught sight of the familiar body of Miss Snow's transport. The black SUV like vehicle being at one of the parking spaces, its engine running as the white canine inside waited for Apex to appear.
"Guess who" Apex announced as he opened the vehicles door, the white seats being as clean as ever as he sat down on one.
"Well , you don't seem to be effected by the academy at all"
"What can i say, its not that challenging" Apex responded teasingly as the vehicle pulled away and onto to main road, Apex response getting a huff out of Miss Snow who was thankfully used to Apex's mannerisms by now.
"Well that's some good news at least" the tired response of Miss Snow came back.
"Why, you reckon they'll try and pull something?" Apex responded, his tone of voice becoming more serious even if his position didn't show it The aforementioned 'They' being the collection of political extremists and other scum bags that seemed to have their eyes set on Apex to either attempt to kill or 'Enslave' the first human in the system.
" 'huff' Something like that, the CDF'S intelligence agency has been monitoring some of the more infamous groups and there's been some activity"
"Which is probably why your exhausted, you should take a break or something" Apex suggested.
"Its noting really" Miss Snow tried to counter only for a yawn to ruin her rebuttal.
"Really, that yawn proves otherwise have tomorrow off or somthing"
" I cannot, what if..."
"What that some slavers will get me, please I'd eat them alive, and before out bring up the possible terrorists after me they know as well as I do that they cannot touch me if I'm out in public, because then they cannot twist my death to suit their narrative also me being here for a handful of weeks isn't enough time for them to gather enough intel about me anyway" Apex responded, being familiar with the tactics that may be played against them.
"Ugh, why did I have to be stuck with the exchange student that has sense, fine ill take tomorrow off since you don't have to go anywhere anyway" Miss Snow conceded, the pair falling into a comfortable silence as Apex was transported back to his accommodation , glad that another week here was done with.