5. FRIENDLY FIRE

I had planned from the outset to get the Knight Sabers used to working together by appointing each of them an expert in certain areas, with the "expert" responsible for the basic training of the others in that area. Since Asagiri, and especially Romanova, needed to increase their level of physical conditioning, this seemed the perfect place to begin.

So the two of them went on a month-long intensive physical conditioning program, with Yamazaki in charge. I thought that as a professional fitness instructor, she would be used to helping people through activities they had trouble with, and would encourage them and work with them until they could perform whatever exercise they were doing, and do it well.

After two days I realized I might have made a serious mistake.

Maybe Yamazaki was that way with her clients, but not here. She and Asagiri seemed to have developed a mutual dislike for each other. They reminded me of a pair of Alpha wolves, trying to establish dominance by snapping at each other at every opportunity. And Yamazaki took advantage of her temporary status as instructor to drive Asagiri beyond reason during the classes.

That Asagiri was able to handle almost everything Yamazaki put her through seemed to make Yamazaki push her even further. I cringed to think what Asagiri would do to her when the time came to learn how to really handle a motorcycle, and they switched roles as instructor and student.

And Romanova was caught in the middle of it. They were both all over her, the big dogs picking on the runt of the litter. She became slow and tentative about everything, and, unfortunately, she usually failed at whatever she tried. She proved to be even less adept during the weaponry familiarization course than she was at physical activities. She was trying, that was true, but she just couldn't seem to get the hang of things.

And neither of them let her forget it. She started relying more and more on trying to charm her way out of things, but that just seemed to irritate them more, making it worse. Yamazaki called it 'The Attack of the Over-Cute,' which reduced Mackie to embarrassed blushes when he heard about it. Some ancient hentai anime reference, I imagine.

Fortunately, things were going much better for her with the ADP, where, as arranged, she was training as a Communications Specialist. But with the Knight Sabers, the only time she seemed to be the same person I recruited was when she was working alone, dealing with the computers and learning about the electronics she would be working with. The rest of the time she suffered in silence, her self-confidence almost gone.

I didn't want to get involved with it. With them. They were going to have to work together, but that didn't mean they had to like each other. They weren't supposed to be friends anyway -- that would be disastrous to organizational security.

I already knew she wasn't a fighter, not in the physical sense, and had planned for that accordingly. That was part of what the rest of us were for: to buy her time to do her electronics work relatively unscathed.

As long as Romanova was able to fulfill her assigned function within the Organization, I decided to let them sort it out between themselves.

Weapons loaded and in hand, we got our final instructions. Me against Yamazaki. I was going to kick her sorry ass all over the field.

"All right, ladies," Sylia said. Did she always have to emphasize 'ladies' like that? "This will be the final match for today. The same rules as in your earlier matches apply: reach the objective, recover the target, and return with it to your base. If your opponent has already recovered the target, you are expected to take it from her and return with it to your base. You have twenty minutes to complete the assignment."

She took my weapon from me and checked the status readout on the side, above the trigger guard, gave it back, then did the same with Yamazaki's. "The batteries are fully recharged, so be careful of your target. I don't want any unnecessary injuries. Being hit by a pellet at full charge will not be a pleasant experience."

"I'll say," Nene muttered, rubbing her butt. Hey, it was the only way I could get her to move in the two-on-two game. Jeez... talk about useless. There's got to be some reason she's still around. I mean, everyone's beat her at this. And at everything else we've done.

But I knew about pellets too, courtesy of the Ice Queen, and it was pretty embarrassing. But she seemed to think that playing capture-the- flag with weapons that fired electric pellets would "prove to you that, despite what you may think, this is not a game" faster than a standard paintball game would. Got my attention, that's for sure.

At least I lasted longer than that slut did against the Boss. What did she think she was doing, with those stupid backflips?

"Asagiri! Did you hear what I said?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure," I lied, putting my brain into instant-replay mode, trying to figure out just what she had said while I was enjoying the memory of Yamazaki's fiasco. A quick glance showed Yamazaki taking her body armor off, so I decided maybe I should be doing the same.

I got Stare Number 137 from Stingray-sama, and Nene snickered. "Shut up, Nene-chan," I said in my best mock-sweet voice. "Unless you'd like to do this instead."

"That's enough," Sylia said, a bit of warning in her own voice. "I'm not in the habit of repeating myself, but I want you and your friend there," she looked over at Yamazaki, "to be perfectly clear about this. I am not going to have someone hurt themselves, or someone else, due to stupidity. But I also know that when the match starts, the two of you are going to try to continue this little game you've been playing with each other, regardless of what I say or do."

Yamazaki lifted one eyebrow as she gazed at me, and smiled. "Furthest thing from my mind."

"Yeah, right," I snorted in reply.

"So, to discourage some of your dumber moves, neither of you will wear body armor or helmets in this match. Perhaps an increased risk of personal injury will slow you down."

Sure it will.

Sylia took a deep breath. If she were a normal person, I'd almost think she regretted what she was about to say. "The only safety gear you may wear during this match are goggles and gloves. No body armor, no helmets, no insulating mesh. If you get hit, you'll receive the full charge of the pellet. If you jump off a structure or out of a tree, you have nothing to pad you but what God gave you.

"Remember," she continued, "I want to see basic ground tactics, not Tarzan impersonations. Now take your starting positions, and wait for the signal."

Yamazaki headed off toward her base, and I started toward mine.

Keep smiling, toots. I'm gonna wipe it right off your face.

She had to be around here somewhere.

I was making good time, considering my leg was still tingling. At least it wasn't numb anymore. Her aim never had been as good as she thought it was, and it certainly showed this time. But even that graze had me totally down for thirty seconds, and still moving slowly three minutes later. And it hurt.

But I had a good idea which way she was going. She'd used the same route against Nene and had tried to use it against Sylia. Before she was utterly humiliated, that is. And she'd gone that way again in the team matches.

Sylia wasn't the only one who could deal out humiliation. That bitch was gonna pay double for sneaking up and shooting me, and then taking the target.

Taking the same route twice was a dumb move, especially for someone who was supposed to be 'street smart.' Four times in a row was sheer idiocy. Obviously she hadn't been paying attention when we discussed basic tactics and not falling into patterns. Did she really think no one would notice?

So I was ready for her when she came trotting up, glancing occasionally over her shoulder. I don't think she ever considered that she should be looking ahead too.

I stepped onto the path in front of her, and the look on her face was priceless. I guess I was a bit too confident, though. She got off the first shot. I dove for the ground, and when I looked up she was heading into the brush. So I shot her. In the back. Three times.

She dropped like a stone.

Levering myself back to my feet, I limped over to where she'd gone down so I could take the target and head back in the other direction. She'd gone down, all right. There was a two meter drop, and when she'd fallen she'd gone over the edge.

I slid down the slope and walked over to where she lay, arms and legs akimbo. She was scratched up from the brush, muddy, and looked a little dazed, but the soft ground of the creek bed had cushioned her fall a little. Her weapon was gone.

Safe enough. I knelt next to her and reached into her pocket, recovering the target. But when I got up to leave, something about the look on her face made me turn back. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah."

Liar. "Are you sure?"

She closed her eyes, ignoring me. Be that way. I started to walk away.

I had only gone a couple meters when heard her mumble something. "What?"

"I can't... can't feel my legs."

Oh shit, my mind kept repeating as I walked back over to her. "It's probably just the pellets," I suggested, trying to be comforting.

"You sure? It didn't feel like this before."

"Sure I'm sure." I hoped. "Look, you shot me, and I'm fine now. It'll wear off in a minute. You should know that by now." Of course, right about then my leg decided it wanted to take a nap, and folded up on me. I crashed down into the mud beside her.

"Fine, huh?" There seemed to be a glint of laughter amid the pain on her face.

"Fine," I repeated as I shoved myself up to a sitting position, then scooted into a little less... squishy... position. "Quite a pair we make, huh?"

She didn't answer that, just lay there. After a bit, my leg stopped hurting so much. I thought again about taking off, finishing the match. For some reason, I really didn't want to leave just yet.

"I think I can feel them a little bit, now," she offered after a few minutes of silence.

"Great! See, I told you it wasn't anything." Thank God.

"Yeah." More silence. "Nice shot," she muttered grudgingly. I think this was the first time I'd heard her compliment anyone.

"Yours too." It wasn't a kind lie either, I realized.

"But you didn't have to shoot me in the back." Ah, the qualifier.

"You would have."

"Probably," she agreed.

More silence. Asagiri tried to sit up, didn't quite make it, ignored my arm when I offered it.

"You know, you're not too bad at this stuff," I said hesitantly. Where did that come from? But I knew it was true. Today was full of surprises.

She looked as surprised as I felt. "You too."

The ceiling appeared, then quickly vanished.

UFF! Uhhhhhhh... the mat again. Hello Mr. Mat.

"Hahaha!"

Priss.

"Did you see her fly Linna! Just like a baby bird falling out of the nest!"

You'd think they'd get bored of making fun of me. Ohhhh, my back hur--

"Keep that up Nene, and you'll make all the boomers dizzy while they flip you over their backs!"

Linna.

"Oh yeah!" I shot back.

Ever since 'The Great Pellet War of 2031' ended in mutual annihilation a couple months back, the two of them had become, well, not best friends but definitely more relaxed with each other. But as usual, what was good for Sylia's team had a downside. Now that they weren't constantly trying to one-up the other, they were teaming up to pick on me.

The terrible twosome stepped forward, the light vanishing as they bent over me. "Yes?" Priss said, her voice taking on a nasty tone. "You have something else to say then?"

I turned onto my stomach to get up, my reply barely a whisper, "Ape woman..."

"WHAT?" Priss freaked.

Linna giggled.

"Did you hear what she called me? APE WOMAN!"

"Yeah. Well, Priss," Linna replied, "sometimes you can be a bit--"

"A BIT WHAT! Go ahead! I'd like to hear this!"

Things couldn't get much worse... who was I kidding?