Will no one review…? No reviews makes me sad. ;;
Jennie stretched, doing her limbering exercises. Technically, as a Reploid she didn't really need them. But after years and years of dancing, starting as a child, that would have seemed profoundly unnatural.
Besides, her mind whispered treacherously, there are some guys over there admiring my ass! Jennie tried hard to wipe that awareness out of her mind, but couldn't stop a faint blush from touching her cheeks.
"Hi, lovely!" Startled by that familiar voice, Jennie stopped her stretching to turn and look.
"Axl? What are you doing here?" She asked, surprised. As a Hunter in the 17th, Axl ought to be doing patrols, scouting, manning the defenses… anything but coming down to the rookie training room. But he was here, large as life and his usual cocky self. Axl shrugged expressively, and then grinned.
"Oh, I got tapped to put you through a few hoops. Probably had something to do with the defanged tarantula… but we won't go there!" Of course, everyone in earshot desperately wanted the details, and a few got snarled at for not paying attention to their own exercises. "Well, let's get started." The both stepped out onto the mats, as Jennie set her buster to practice mode and Axl did the same. "I won't go easy on you!"
"If you did, you wouldn't be the man for me." Jennie purred, her voice throaty and sexy. She really wasn't interested in someone who would protect her… not as a Maverick Hunter. If Axl went easy on her, he would be crippling her training just as her first trainers had. Just kicking her ass on full power would also be pointless, but she needed to be stretched to her limits. How else could she learn?
Meanwhile, watching from above, X and Zero scanned the rookies.
The training room had a three story ceiling. It was a waste of space that had made the architects cringe, but there was just no help for it. The height was needed for flying Reploids, flying armors and Reploids with dash boots. Anything less would have been unfair to everyone.
It also made it very easy for anyone who wanted to, to watch the rookies at work. Mirrors had been set into the upper walls so officers could get a food view of the new talent. One way mirrors, so none of the rookies would choke up when they realized how much they were being observed.
"That recruitment drive was almost too much of a success." X shook his head, a little sadly. "Twice the rookies we expected, can you believe it?"
"And it's a good crop." Zero pressed a hand against the glass, pleased. "Don't forget that, X. This has got to be the best bunch of newbies I've ever seen."
"Some of the politicians are complaining of a talent drain, though, Zero." X murmured, watching the activity below. "And they're right. We shouldn't be getting so many recruits of this caliber." He winced as a rookie managed to knock himself out on another's shield. "Well, mostly."
"Well, if they hadn't been such total pricks at the last UN conference we could palm a few off on them." Zero snorted. "Don't expect me to feel sorry." X sighed, but couldn't really disagree.
After the bureaucratic double dealings they'd had to contend with, there was no way to transfer rookies to other organizations without looking weak. They were in direct competition and any perceived advantage would be seized on.
X glanced over the rookies again, and his eyes were caught by a single rookie facing off against a familiar Hunter. He frowned.
"What is Axl doing down there?" He demanded, then grimaced as Zero turned to grin at him. "Don't tell me, let me guess. A disciplinary action?"
"Got it in one. Signas told him to go play with the rookies if he thought he was so hot." Zero eyed Axl's sparring partner, wincing slightly as she kicked him in the face. "There's a little hellcat. Who is she?" X was much better at keeping up with the rookies than Zero. And in this case, he had no trouble remembering.
"Jennie. She's one of Axl's new roommates." X couldn't quite keep from sounding smug, and Zero groaned.
"You bastard! Already gotten dibs on the best of the rookies. I should smack you." X didn't bother hiding a smile at Zero's aggrieved tone.
Generally, rookies were assigned to a unit according to their room situation. If roommates got along well, it made sense to foster the bonds of friendship they had already developed by putting them into a unit together. And given that Axl could make enemies just as easily as friends, his roommates would be slid neatly into X's unit.
"The other two are only average, but she is something special, isn't she?" X murmured, watching the battle. "She has no idea how good she is."
"Ya think? The good ones usually get swelled heads." Zero had painful experience with that phenomenon. But X shook his head.
"No, she doesn't realize how much time the trainers are putting into her. And she never seems to realize when their going all out." It was sort of amusing. X hadn't talked to her himself… he tended to make the rookies nervous… but Axl had spent a long time with her and was willing to talk about it. He said she was full of praise for how the trainers "stretched her to her limits" without actually beating her into the ground. X knew from the trainers that they weren't beating her into the ground because they couldn't.
And right now, Axl was introducing her to one of the dirtier tricks in his combat repertoire. Zero snickered as she went rolling, stunned. Then he turned his attention to the other rookies.
"Well, if you get her I want that one." Zero pointed to a short rookie with slate grey eyes and dull blue armor. He was already developing a reputation as a deadly marksman.
"He'd do well in your squad." X conceded, and then frowned as he watched one rookie. "That Reploid, the one in yellow…She's too slow. Maybe she should be transferred to the fourteenth. I think she has technical training…"
After the practice…
Jennie groaned as she looked at herself in the showers. Axl hadn't gone easy on her, and she was sporting a few actual dents where powerful blows had landed. Jennie massaged one of her breasts, making a face. It still ached from that dash boot assisted punch Axl had hit her with.
Oh well, them's the breaks. Picking up the soap, she started to lather herself, ignoring the other girls around her as they chatted quietly. The showers were just like the ones she'd suffered through in the dorms… no privacy whatsoever.
"Jennie!" She heard a high pitched squeal from behind her, and turned lazily to see Dagger squeezing through to take a shower beside her. "Have you heard the news? Have you?"
"No. What is it? Axl's on probation?" She wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he were. But Dagger shook her head.
"No, but there's a rumor going around that we're going to be assigned to X's unit! Can you believe it?" Dagger bounced excitedly, then had to grab onto Jennie's arm as he feet started to slide.
"Careful!" Jennie laughed, steadying her. "And no, I don't, not until I see it. The rumor mill is notoriously unreliable. What else is it saying?"
"That Rasp and his friends are going to get into Zero's unit. Oh, and Marco's team is going to be in the 16'th."
"Good for them. They're very good with the rail guns." Jennie started soaping herself again.
"Oh, and one last thing!" Dagger grinned. "I have a date!" Jennie nearly dropped the soap in shock.
"Oh… that's wonderful! Who with?" She beamed at her friend who beamed right back.
"Subaru, he's a hunter from the 5'th! I hope you get to meet him soon, he's soooo nice!" Grabbing her own bar of soap, Dagger started to lather herself. "He's so cute, too!"
"He sounds wonderful. Would you like to borrow some jewelry?" She offered graciously. She'd noticed that Dagger didn't have a jewelry box, and had sometimes looked at hers enviously.
"Could I? I just LOVE jewelry." Dagger sighed. "I love it SO much but I never could afford any."
"Of course. Just bring it back… brownies come and go, but jewelry is forever." Dagger nodded, and started to soap her hair.
"No problem. I'd never want to loose your jewelry. So how are things going with Axl?" Dagger grinned, then poked Jennie in the side. "He's so cute" Jennie tried not to blush, but being naked, it wasn't easy to hide.
"Oh, he's nice… we're going to be going out dancing on Thursday."
"Ohhh! Where, where? Tell me everything! And what did you do on Sunday?" Dagger demanded, and Jennie smiled as she started to relay all the details.
It was nice to have a girlfriend.