9:30 AM

Because of the late night, Rook had allowed them all an extra two hours of sleep. 53V3N felt fully refreshed as he stirred from the slumber, showered and donned his uniform. Despite this, he couldn't shake a slight feeling of gloom.

He knew its source. V3N was naturally competitive, and always felt second-best in HavokChylde's presence. The ninja had long been his mentor and good friend, but V3N had always hoped that he eventually would be able to defeat Havok in single combat. That day had not yet come after many years of hard training.

He joined Farceur and Kich in the hall, and the three of them descended the stairs from the second floor of the barracks and emerged into the war room. Unspun, AdrenaLyn, Jude and HrlyQnn, bunked on the first floor, were just ahead of them.

Commander Rook and Draygoon were already in the war room when the seven of them walked in. Rook was standing at the head of the room, and Draygoon was sitting in the first row of seats. Rook motioned for the rest of the team to sit as well. The Class II and III agents began to file in from the gymnasium, having been up since 8 o'clock cleaning it up. Absent from them was Epidemic, who had been given a pass on the cleaning thanks to his selection for guard duty the night before.

"I don't need to remind everyone that I expect no less than the utmost professional behavior while Moderators are present here," Rook announced to the room at large.

"Why did he, then?" came a quiet voice and a snicker to V3N's side. Snapping his head to his left, he rolled his eyes. Agent Eyeknow, a Class II who was incapable of taking anything seriously, was laughing quietly with whoever was on his other side. His ability, to project any image he could come up with as a phantasmal hologram in the real world, had led to some epic pranks, and an exaggerated self-image. There was no denying his skill, but his attitude annoyed the higher-ups and was the only obstacle between him and Class I status.

"As most of you know," Rook went on, "the Giygax cargo plane carrying our expected Darkling Units crashed yesterday, despite the efforts of Draygoon, myself, and Gea, God rest his soul. As of last night, to clear up any and all gossip, the recovery effort failed and we are taking it upon ourselves to comb the area for a possible surviving Darkling. That is why two Moderators are on their way here right now.

"I am aware that Phrosty is likely also searching for the Darkling," he continued. "For that reason, we will be traveling in as large groups as possible. Everyone present will be involved in the search. Consider this a special opportunity to get some field experience, as well as some face time with the Class I agent you will be assigned to. The woods are crawling with dangerous animals and probably some unsavory characters who are after the same thing we are. Exemplary performance and caution in the field will be rewarded with consideration for promotion."

At that moment the outer door hissed open and the imposing figures of HavokChylde and Jane Deere strode in. The two of them joined Rook at the front of the room, looking over the assembly. Jane seemed perfectly content—she was used to being looked at. Havok, however, glowered at the lot of them, uncomfortable at having so many eyes upon him.

Rook immediately sensed his old friend's discomfort. "Well, you're all free to go for the next few hours," he said to the agents. "You will be shortly receiving an email informing you which Class I agent you have been assigned to. Meeting adjourned, get outta here," he said with a dismissive wave of the hand.

As the IIs and IIIs filed out, and the Class Is went to the front of the room, Rook turned to Havok and Jane, dropping his formal tone with a broad smile.

"Look, whatever was said between me and BRiT, I don't care why you're here, but it sure is good to see you fuckers again. I gave the Squad a bit of time to chill before we go to field, so is there anything you wanna do? We've made some new additions here."

Jane smiled. "I just want to get back out there and doing real work again as soon as we can. But I did see some new stuff out on the grounds that looked pretty kickass."

HrlyQnn came to her side. "You saw the guns, but you didn't see the hardcore shit I installed out there. Here, let's go for a walk and I'll show you one of the new drones."

The two of them walked off, arm in arm. Through his black mask, Havok's eyes shifted across the Class I agents until they found their mark. "I don't believe we've met properly."

Draygoon stepped forward to shake his hand. "No, we haven't."

"It's nothing personal," Havok said slowly, "but the Moderators as a rule try not to go around you. You know, we have secrets we don't want getting out, and nothing's exactly private around you."

Draygoon shrugged. Havok remained looking at him, as if waiting for him to speak, but he didn't.

Rook spoke up to break the silence. "Anything you want to see or do, man?"

Havok grinned under his mask, eyes moving about again. "Honestly, I don't give much of a crap about any new gadgets you've got here, Rook," he said, "but I will take a piece of
him." He raised his arm to point.

53V3N felt it. His blood was rushing now. He'd been singled out, and he could never back down from such a challenge.

"Aw, yeah," said Kich. "This is always good shit."

9:49 AM

Side by side outside the steel door that led into the chamber where MEH ruled supreme, V3N and Havok removed their weapons and placed them in a locker. From another compartment, they retrieved hard rubber facsimiles of their blades and slid them into their sheaths.

In the days when they had sparred often, the two had preferred to use their live weapons in straight toe-to-toe fights. When they planned on having MEH change the scenery up to provide a stealth-based fight, however, they opted for the rubber weapons so that they could catch each other off guard with hard hits but no real injury.

V3N pulled the door open and motioned for Havok to enter. As the Moderator stepped in, taking in the wide, empty space he knew so well, he called out.

"MEH, I'm thinking jungle today. Be a dear and throw in some flames, black smoke cover. Anything to limit vision and make background noise. Get creative for us."

The responding cool female voice filled the chamber. "Generally I prefer not to actively try and scare anyone, but I know how you love a challenge, HavokChylde."

"If you could cook and give head, MEH, I'd fucking marry you. Get on it."

The room began to waver sickeningly as the hundreds of projectors in the walls started casting light all over the room, carefully coordinated to create realistic three-dimensional objects. Solid metal cylinders slid up from the floor, and became disguised as trees. Black smoke poured in through vents on the ceiling, obscuring it and adding realism with its smell of burning wood. Soundtracks of flames and jungle sounds began to play.

Before the smoke had a chance to settle to the floor, the wall at one end of the room was bathed in a bright blue light, and the wall at the opposite end shone red.

"HavokChylde, please proceed to the blue corner," said MEH. "53V3N, to the red corner, if you would." The two exchanged a glance, and headed off in opposite directions. The colors faded and the smoke sank to the floor, obscuring vision beyond a few feet.

In the adjacent room, a series of monitors flicked on, showing the heat signatures of every object in the gymnasium. The hulking red and yellow form of V3N was crouched, while the smaller form of Havok clambered soundlessly up a cold blue tree. As vision inside the actual arena was impossible, Rook and the Class I agents gathered eagerly around the monitors.

"Begin," said MEH in her bored tone.

While in the back of his mind there was no real fear, it was nearly impossible not to forget at times that these exercises were only illusions. The sounds were too natural, the smells too close, the images too detailed. MEH was very good at what she did, which was simulating an actual field situation in as realistic and visceral a manner as was technologically possible.

Of course, the "trees" appeared to be made of rough bark but were still cold and smooth to the touch, and the ground, though it looked like strewn flora, was hard and flat. But as the human mind trusts its eyes and ears over all else, it hardly mattered. MEH even detected every step V3N made and marked each one with a quiet crunching sound, as if he were really walking on dirt and fallen leaves, and she created rustling noises if he brushed against one of the hanging holographic branches. She'd been designed almost too well. She had proven capable of seriously freaking out some of the less hardened younger agents.

Leaves flickered around him as he crept forward, and he glanced around. Birds. They were fleeing the fire, which he could hear to his left. As he watched, the entire jungle area became alive with noise, holographic animals disturbing foliage as they fled in his direction. All birds and small mammals, quick and noisy in their panic.

And his trained ears detected one larger creature among them. He grinned, his hand wrapping around the long knife strapped to his back. As he heard the heavy steps and the rustling branches approaching, he reached over his head to grab a branch, and easily pulled himself one-armed off the ground. Crouching in the tree, he held his breath, keeping absolutely still.

He could barely see the ground, but he saw the large form that rushed through the smoke beneath him. Under cover of its own loud footsteps he dropped to the ground and darted up behind it. But as he came close enough to see it vaguely, he realized it could not have been Havok—it was on all fours.

The jaguar roared and spun to face him, leaping off the ground. For a moment V3N understood the fear MEH could instill in the younger agents—he twisted away and ducked instinctively, forgetting momentarily that the animal would simply pass through him harmlessly. The beast passed over him, vanishing in the smoke, and he stood. But a gurgling growl told him the jaguar was not finished with him.

He whirled around just in time to see the cat lunging at him a second time, and again his muscles acted of their own accord—he sidestepped the attack and drove down with lethal force with his knife.

The animal vanished immediately, MEH's peculiar way of acknowledging that, had the jaguar been flesh and bone, V3N would have killed it.

He pressed on into the suffocating smoke, relying completely on his ears, walking as quietly as he could. The constant, distracting rustling of panicked birds fleeing the fire was starting to grate on his nerves. He crouched low, trying to filter out the noise in the trees and concentrate on any sign of approaching footsteps.

From his right came a sudden faint whistling sound that grew louder very quickly. He looked up just in time to see a black rubber star whistle through the air where his neck would have been had he not ducked down. It bounced off a tree and landed on the ground a foot away from him.

I put everything I have into being completely silent, and this motherfucker still pinpoints me exactly using nothing but the sounds I'm making. Son of a bitch.

Picking up the star, V3N tossed it into the haze in front of him, hearing it hit the ground and bounce once. To his great joy, he heard a faint sound of motion, something large moving slowly through the trees in a direction perpendicular to the fluttering birds, making a beeline for the star he'd thrown.

V3N set off after Havok, angling his approaching to close the distance between them as quickly as he could. Before he'd gone twenty feet, he stopped dead in surprise.

The Moderator was standing right in front of him, facing away, peering at the ground. His heart leaping into his throat, V3N tightened his grip on his rubber knife and moved forward.

Havok crouched down. When he stood again, he was holding his own throwing star, looking at it closely.

A bead of sweat rolling down V3N's forehead, he gulped. His fingers gripped the weapon as he took another step. When he moved within three feet of Havok, he lunged.

An elbow rocketed back and cracked V3N right in the face, knocking his head back and stunning him. His vision obscured by a painful red blur, he never saw his opponent move, only felt his throat suddenly closed in the crook of an arm and a stiletto ground painfully against his ribcage.

"Cease," came MEH's deadpan. When V3N could see again, he and Havok were standing alone in the cold, featureless gymnasium once again, the smoke drawn to the ceiling and out of the room through vents.

Though V3N could feel the hot flush of his face from embarrassment, he was surprised to see that Havok did not look at all pleased.

"I'm so rusty, man," Havok growled. "I made so many damn mistakes. I got startled by a freaking holographic snake, I missed with the star, I fell for you tossing it and I let you get too close. Hell, if you hadn't swallowed so loud and shook in your boots like you did, you would have had me that time."

V3N only nodded, spitting a red wad of saliva onto the gym floor. For all his self-critique, Havok had still beaten him yet again. The Squad was more than complimentary of V3N's performance when the two rejoined them in the next room, but none of that mattered to him. He still wasn't good enough.