Multiple plugs in this chapter, people. Guinevere (Gwen), who first appeared in Rebirth of a Queen, appears courtesy LoC978, Rachel of Solution's Resolution fame belongs to ElfenMagix, Baldasarre (Baldo) is Sintendo's and debuted in Life, Liberty, and... while Clarissa (Clair) was created by fellow Angelica fan, Neo-byzantium.

A very big thank you goes out to these talented authors for permitting me to use their characters. Readers, please support them by giving each of the stories mentioned above a go. You won't be disappointed.

motivo

"Hut-hut-hut-hut-hut-hut-hut!"

Marco's voice, loud as a foghorn, pierced the early morning mist as he ran down a well-trodden path that twisted through the Agency grounds, dressed in full combat gear. Behind him followed a gaggle of cybernetically enhanced children, similarly clad and armed with an assortment of deadly weaponry.

"Why's Marco shouting about sheds all the time, Clair?" piped up one of the girls, a skinny six-year-old with freckles and red hair done up in a ponytail, toting a Chang Feng sub-machinegun.

"It's 'hut', Gwen," answered Clair, an older girl who could easily have passed for Gwen's big sister, adjusting the strap for her Saiga 12K. "It means..."

"Little wooden house?" Gwen suggested.

There was an awkward break.

"Well... that's what it sometimes means, yeah," began Clair, "but at other times..."

"It's a drill instructor thing, Gwen," put in slim, dark-haired Rachel. "They just have to say 'hut'."

"Okay..." pondered Gwen, eyebrows knotted.

The group filed through an indoor obstacle course, filled with moving barriers and pop-up targets. Marco rolled under one of the former, drew his Beretta and started taking shots at some of the latter. His young charges followed suit.

"I'm more interested in knowing why Marco's taken to mucking in with us every training session," huffed a tall, heavily-built lad with brown hair and Predator sunglasses as he cleared a large, tetrahedron-shaped obstacle. "Been seeing him a lot in the gym lately, too."

"He's trying to lose weight, Baldo," replied Angelica, readying her Steyr AUG.

"Oh? Found somebody he likes, has he?" grinned Baldo, letting rip at a target with his M16A1. "My experience tells me that men rarely try something like that, unless they're aiming to impress."

"Speak for yourself, Casanova," muttered Rachel as she performed a backflip over three hurdles like the skilled gymnast she was and reloaded her M1 Garand, memories of a clumsily-executed 'aim to impress' still fresh in her mind.

"It's due to my ZEN, really," said Angelica, loosing off a well-aimed burst of fire.

Clair did a double-take. "Your ZEN, Angie?"

"Um-hmm," continued Angelica. "We'd hooked it up to a couple of speakers in my room last week – Marco sat there listening to it, and the surround sound wouldn't work. That's when he felt he needed to get rid of a few pounds."

There was another awkward break.

"Okay..." pondered everybody, eyebrows knotted. Gwen slowly shook her head.

"I'm really out of the loop."