Chapter 15

Right hook. Left jab. Duck. Block with left arm. Right knee to the gut. Duck. Roll left.

These were less thoughts and more actions taken on instinct as CS-32 and I spared.

"Dam," He said with a laugh as he placed one hand on his injured gut. "And here I thought S-86 was the only tom boy in the group."

"Come again?" Said S-86 from across the room.

CS-32's expression turned to one of pure fear.

"Uh." Was the only thing to come out of his mouth as he slowly turned and faced the pissed off bird girl.

Before he had a chance to react, she charged across the room and tackled him. She then proceeded to pummel his face with precision strikes that only military training can teach you.

As they continued to fight, I looked around the room. It was a padded room filled with hand to hand combat tools and mats to practice on. Standing off to the side was a teenager in the uniform of the RMM.

"S-86, CS-32!" He screamed as he crossed the room. "Break it up now! Or you'll both be running laps till the sun comes up again!"

At the sound of his voice S-86 sprung off CS-32 and stood at attention, breathing hard and coated in sweat. Her grey sweat pants and black tank top were drenched. Hell, all of our clothes were soaked in sweat.

Turns out boot camp ain't a joke. I had been training with my future squad for about two months now. Everything from hand to hand combat, weapons training, squad tactics, and a whole mess of other things. Truth is I had no interest in joining the RMM but they were hunting the labs which made them the fastest way to find the Bark-breath who killed Jag.

He would die by my hands. He had to. The lab took our childhoods, chased us across the country, and made us into freaks. But that meant little compared to what that Bark-breath did to me. He killed the only family I ever had. I would kill him if it's the last thing I ever did.

"Squad 8, ATTENTION!" The teen in the uniform screamed.

His name was Gul and he was a real prick.

His uniform marked him as a Sargent and it was his job to train us.

"Front and center!" He screamed.

We all quickly lined up in front of him in two rows of six.

CS-32 had asked Gul about our numbers because it doesn't line up with their unit counts but he just shrugged and said that the unit numbers were more of a guide line and that we would have an extra person in the fireteams.

"Listen up!" Gul shouted. "You've all been here for two months! Two whole god dam months! Why do none of you have names?!"

There was a silent pause in which you could cut the tension with a knife.

"This manor was gifted to us to train teams to fight the labs!" Gul shouted. "To bring down Itex! To prove once and for all that we are free thinking people and we will not bow to them! So why do none of you fucks have names? Are you trying to dehumanize yourselves? Because if you're all ok with being called by an experiment number I can arrange to have you shipped back to the labs you came from!"

"Sir!" HAH-231 Spoke up.

"What is it?" Gul demanded.

"We were never given names, sir!"

Gul looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"You are supposed to be a team!" He hollered. "Two months you've known each other and you fight like children over idiotic crap and none of you had the brains to try and come up with a name for your selves?"

There was more silence.

"By the time I call you all to breakfast I expect you all to put the childish fighting behind you and for each member of this team to have a name." Gul went on. "Dismissed."

We all filed out and back to our baric. It wasn't much but it did the job. One large room for the twelve of us.

The manor we were training on had a mansion built on it that we lived and trained in. Our baric was on the top floor with a great view of the surrounding forest.

Once inside I quickly went to the unisex bathroom to take a shower and get changed.

I wasn't so thrilled on the idea of sharing a bathroom with the boys when first got here but M-32 threatened to rip the eyes out of the heads of anyone caught watching someone of the opposite gender in there. Being that this was the scariest person I've ever met in my life; I believe he would have done it.

You see, we learned from CS-32 that M-32 was a new hybrid the labs were working on called the M series. An attempt to combine the wolf hybrids with the bird hybrids. The result was a wolf man that was just as aggressive as, and even smarter than, the Bark-breaths but refused to follow the labs orders. Realizing the experiment was a failure the labs had ordered they all be destroyed.

The M series mutants, commonly called the mutts, found out what the labs were planning and rebelled.

During the rebellion, they freed a lot of mutants from the lab.

It was there that M-32 reunited with his brother who the lab was using as a control subject to test the results against. Hence the number CS-32.

The rebellion claimed the lives of all the M series mutants, with the exception of M-32. I feel bad for them but, based off the cold vibe M-32 gives off, I'm kinda glad he's the only one. He seams like the kind of guy to shoot you dead then call out 'Don't move or I'll shoot!'

So, once I was cleaned up, I put on my RMM jacket and cargo pants. Back in the bunk room was the rest of the squad, talking and laughing. Based on what I caught as I walked past, they were trying to pick out names. I honestly didn't care. I can't talk to contribute and I was only joining the RMM to find the bastard that killed Jag. Once he was dead, I would find my own way. Maybe try and settle down and live that life Jag wanted for me.

So, I left the room and went down to the garage where they had a full machine shop and auto shop set up.

There were several mutants in there working. As I entered, they would look up and give me a nod, now accustomed to my lack of speech.

I walked up to a lieutenant who was in charge of the shop and tapped him on the shoulder.

He looked over at me then smiled.

"We could use some help in the lathe section tonight." He told me.

I nodded and walked over to the tools.

It had become a habit of mine to do this every night when training ends, the same as fixing cars in Alaska. Turns out though, that its not just cars that I know. I know about machines in general.

Robots, tools, cars, all that sort of stuff.

Again, it made me question what about my past would allow me to know all this but I gave up trying to remember. In some ways, my lack of memory was a blessing. I only remember a little bit of what they did to me. Most of my memories are of freedom with Jess and Jag.

As I worked on the lathe to make weapon parts, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I looked over to see HAH-233.

"We'll," She began. "Figured you should know we took a vote. You're Grease Monkey now."

I raised an eyebrow at her as I switched off the lathe and turned around to face her, leaning on the rails of the lathe.

I cocked my head to the side to signal my curiosity.

She laughed at my expression.

"You're always tinkering with this stuff." She said, gesturing around the work shop. "So, we decided to name you Grease Monkey."

I shook my head and let out a silent, exasperated, laugh.

Of course, they picked Grease Monkey.

"And I'm now Techno." She said with pride.

I let out another silent laugh. The name suited her perfectly.

As it turned out, she's a natural with computers. The kind of person who can hack any system with almost no effort.

She said it had to do with some skill that allows her to see what the previous user did on the computer but I don't know about that. All I know is she sits down in front of them and then BAM, she's in.

"Come on, Grease." Techno said, nodding to the door. "We should get some sleep."

I check the clock on the wall to see I had been working for several hours and it was now past midnight.

I nodded and followed her out.

"Everything turn out ok?" Techno asked as we started to climb the stairs.

She was referring to the parts I made in the shop tonight.

I nodded in response.

Techno was the only one in the squad that I liked being around. The rest weren't bad people but Techno had a calmness about her and almost always knew what I wanted to say, even though I didn't talk. It was just frustrating when I hung out with the others because they would want me to mime to them what I wanted but with Techno I would simply nod to something or point at something and she would understand. There was never any need to talk with her, she just understood.

"I still want you to teach me how to work a shop." She said after a while.

I gave her a 'Really' smile, thinking of how it would look for a mute to teach her how to work in a shop. Yet again with the level of words I need to speak with her to convey my thoughts, it might work.

"I'll take that as a yes." She said, seeing my expression. "Tomorrow, after training. We'll start then."

I couldn't really think of a reason not to, so I nodded.

She gave me a smile.

"It's a date then!" She said in a teasing tone.