Chapter Four: Training
Misaki watched the patchwork quilt of scenery pass underneath the helicopter as they flew, the view darkened by the oncoming night. He sat in the co captain's seat, having relieved Delta a few minutes ago. Hiroki had been flying the chopper for hours while Alpha gave him a crash course on the controls and piloting. And with the FMA planes that had been tailing them, it wasn't easy. Everyone in the chopper had been knocked around quite a bit and they'd nearly crashed a couple times in the turbulence of dodging and cloaking. But Alpha's direction and Delta's keen eyes had paid off, and they were nearly home free.
"Enemy at two o'clock Alpha." Miyagi spoke up from the back, Shinobu tucked in his arms. The boy had been shaking terribly earlier during all the commotion, but seemed to have calmed down.
"How many?" Alpha replied, flipping a few switches on the control board.
"Just one. And he's the last."
"Good. Hiroki, fire away."
"Hmm?" Delta piped up, sitting on the edge of his seat and staring at the floor.
"We're getting too close to base to shake him and we're down to a quarter of fuel." Akihiko answered. "Blast the fucker."
Hiroki stood and stretched his arms, going to a metal compartment at the back of the chopper.
"You got it." He muttered, Misaki watched out of the corner of his eye as the fourth pulled out a long, thick black tube with a trigger on the end, and he eyes widened as he saw Hiroki pull open the door of the helicopter. He kneeled down as a harsh breeze whipped into the cockpit and struck them all, threatening to blow them flat against their seats. But Hiroki barely seemed to notice. He held the thick pommel in one hand and the barrel in the other, looking through the sight with an open eye and slowly squeezing the trigger with precision.
BANG!
Misaki flinched as a large round shot out of the missile gun and flew towards the enemy plane. It struck the wing of the plane with a sickening crash and the machinery exploded into flames, sending it spiraling down to the landscape below. Hiroki watched it crash with a slight smile and yanked the door shut again, handing the launcher to Nowaki and retaking his seat.
"Nice shot." Alpha mused, his eyes still on the sky ahead. Hiroki grunted satisfactorily.
"Wow…" Misaki breathed, watching Delta with wide eyes.
"That's why I wanted to train you to fly this thing." Alpha enlightened quietly. "Hiroki's a mediocre pilot, but he has the best aim I've ever seen. He's far more useful at the trigger end of a gun. Now, press on that red button at the top of the control panel."
Misaki did as he was told, watching in fascination as the button began to light up and quietly beep.
"It's a homing device connected to our base." Alpha spoke. "It automatically sets the coordinates for the autopilot. If there's ever a situation where no one can fly the chopper, press that button and activate the autopilot. Got it?"
"Yes…sir." Misaki nodded, trying as hard as he could to stow away all the information he had gleaned.
"Good." Alpha replied. Misaki watched as he steered the helicopter past a range of ocean cliffs and out into the tossing sea. He peered ahead in slight confusion and slowly saw a dark splotch on the horizon. As they approached, Misaki made out the contours of the small tropical island, discretely concealed by the fog and waves of the surrounding waters. In short order Alpha guided the chopper down onto a landing pad in a small clearing. The area resembled a sort of military base, with a concrete training fields and a steel-lined building for barracks.
The blades of the chopper slowly came to a halt and Nowaki yanked open the door, hopping out with Delta. Miyagi stood and Shinobu immediately took his arm, guiding him down carefully out onto the ground. Misaki also began to follow them, but as he stepped down from the helicopter, a blow of exhaustion smacked into his head and he crumpled onto his knees, his limbs beginning to shake.
Nowaki began to hurry towards him, but Alpha stepped forward, snaking an arm underneath the teen's shoulders and hauling him up. Misaki groaned quietly and tried to straightened his legs, but found all his strength dried up.
"Digamma?" Nowaki said worriedly, placing the back of his hand on the boy's forehead. "Are you all right?"
"I—think so…" Misaki stammered. "…Don't know what came over me."
"Post activation exhaustion." Alpha replied coolly, looping Misaki's arm around his neck. "You'll be fine in a couple of hours."
Alpha took Misaki and the rest of the group inside the building and down a corridor, where a long line of bunk beds were. He set the sixth down on a mattress, and Misaki immediately felt his eyes begin to close with fatigue. All the memories of the day glided through his head in one violent, confusing reel, and as Misaki drifted into unconsciousness, he breathed his dead brother's name one last time in heartache.
"Get up, Digamma."
Misaki was roused from sleep by a hand that shook his shoulder, and as he awoke, he found Delta standing over him with his arms crossed and his face stern. The teen slowly sat up, and found himself feeling infinitely better than the night before. He also noticed that although he hadn't eaten since yesterday, he didn't feel that hungry or thirsty.
Hiroki cleared his throat roughly and Misaki quickly stood, looking at his elder with a curious gaze.
"Come on," Delta said, heading out of the room. Misaki followed him out of the building, past the landing pad, and over to another expanse of concrete about a hundred feet away. Near the perimeter of the lot sat a couple steel barrels and a few crates. Misaki glanced around at the distant tropic greenery, the morning air rich and humid from the surrounding water.
"Umm," He asked hesitantly. "Hir—er Delta…what are we doing out here?"
"Training," Delta replied briskly, walking over to the pile of barrels. He picked up an object from one of the crates and held in firmly, turning back to Misaki with calculated eyes.
BANG!
Misaki yelped as Hiroki fired the handgun directly at him, the bullet evading his side by only a couple inches. The boy leapt out of the way, but Hiroki fired again, nearly clipping his shoulder.
"St—Stop!" He cried, bracing his arms in front of his face. "Why are you doing this?"
"Don't just evade the bullets," Hiroki said coolly, already aiming his next shot. "Predict where they'll go. Sense what your enemy is thinking."
"But you're not my enemy." Misaki whispered, quivering in fear. "Right?"
"During training, everyone who attacks you is your enemy. So fight back, and learn to survive in battle. Otherwise even a superhuman like you won't last a minute."
Delta fired the gun again and Misaki clamped his teeth together in fear, and when the switch in his molar clicked, his felt power surge into his limbs again. He jumped to the right and fully evaded Hiroki's shot, and when he saw him aim the gun again, he was able to see the trajectory of the attack clearly.
Delta grunted approvingly as he saw the boy begin to get in the game, and he set the handgun back on the barrel, reaching down and picking up a full sized rifle. He saw fear rise in Misaki's eyes again, but this time it was coupled with a bit of confidence. The fourth allowed himself a tiny smile as he aimed yet again.
By the time he was done with this half pint, there wouldn't be so much confidence in his bright little eyes.
In a world like this, he had to ready for the highest brutality imaginable, because that's what they were up against.
From the door of the barrack building, Nowaki watched Hiroki fire away at Digamma, and though his face was set in a calm expression, inside his stomach and heart churned. After firing several consecutive shots, Hiroki grabbed the rifle by the butt and raced forward, charging Misaki and smashing the gun into his abdomen. The boy hadn't anticipated the movement and stumbled back, coughing and panting in pain. Nowaki winced at the display and pulled his eyes away, heading back inside. He walked to the far end of the corridor and took a left, where a control room was. Nowaki reached out and punched in the four-digit code for the lock and opened it, entering the dark room where Alpha was pouring over blueprints and monitoring the radar. This island had been a military base about a decade back, and now that it was abandoned, it was a prime place to wait, watch, and plan. Alpha barely glanced up at Beta came in, his eyes still fixated on the intricate map.
"What is it?" He muttered, standing and rolling his stiff shoulders. "Turn over," He commanded the map, which instantly flipped itself.
"It's about Hiro-san." Nowaki replied, keeping his face impassive. "I don't think it's a good idea to let him train Digamma."
Akihiko peered up incredulously.
"Why is that?"
Nowaki swallowed hard and replied.
"Because…I know he won't hold back."
Alpha raised an eyebrow musingly.
"I realize that Beta, that's why I chose him."
Nowaki bristled, but kept his expression cool.
"But why? It's not fair to him, and it's certainly not fair to Digamma. He's just a child!"
Alpha finally met Beta's eyes, and scoffed under his breath.
"Do you think our enemies will take into consideration that he's just a child? No. And do you know why that is? Because he is the most developed 'experiment' out of all of us. The FMA is using every means at their disposal to capture us, and they want him most of all.
"In this situation, are our enemies inclined to show mercy? No, which is why I told Hiroki not too either. The more we can make that kid realize what kind of situation he's in, the better prepared he will be when it's our turn to make a move."
Alpha walked away from the table over to a desk, where a chessboard was set up, the white and black pieces scattered in various positions. He picked up a white pawn, flipping it between his fingers.
"We have a choice, Beta," He said, moving the pawn a square forward. "We can keep him ignorant as he is, and have another pawn…Or, we can turn him into a rook. A superhuman who can demolish everything in his way…just like I did with Hiroki, and just like he did with you."
Alpha stared at a black rook.
"Move!" He barked. The piece immediately charged forward, knocking down the white pawn and sending it clattering onto the floor. Alpha glanced back up at Beta. The second's face was still calm, but his eyes were filled with unwavering defiance.
The first sighed and went back to his map.
"Hiroki trains him. That's my final decision. Coddle him all you want otherwise, but make sure he's battle ready."
Nowaki's chest rose with a heavy sigh as he turned around.
"It's still not right." He said quietly, exiting the door with the final word. He headed back down the hall, his eyes fixed on the floor as he pondered.
He sighed again, stopping and leaning his arm against the wall. Another cry of terror came from outside and Nowaki's brow furrowed in anger.
It wasn't right. None of this was right…
But then again, the world they had entered in the past few months wasn't exactly a place for morality to survive. The second hung his head and closed his eyes, trying to hold onto to whatever pieces of himself were left in his inhuman body.
Yay! Real chapter this time!
Thank you all again for your support in this freaking hellhole of a website.
Someone asked how I came up with the codenames of the characters, so here's a bit on that:
Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Digamma are the first six letters of the Greek alphabet, and are also used as numbers. Akihiko is obvious Alpha for a number of spoilers, and I thought certain people would be ticked if I didn't at least make Nowaki Beta :) :) :)
Miyagi is Gamma because in chemist, Gamma particles are so neutral and small that they can pass through objects and people, and Miyagi has the ability to see through walls when he is having a vision of the future.
Hiroki is Delta because the symbol of Delta, a triangle, is used in an equation to represent heat.
And Shinobu is Epsilon because it just comes after Delta. Good enough.
Misaki is Digamma, though that letter actually isn't used in modern day Greek, so it's a lost, outdated number. I'm sure there could be tons of sybolism there, but I'm a bit too lazy to try and figure that out right now, so let's just say it made for a catchy title.
I also want to take this opportunity to tell you guys a bit about the anime this is based off of. I'm thrilled so many people want to watch 009 Cyborg Soldier after reading this, so here's some really interesting junk on it:
It was actually first written in 1964 by Shotaro Ishinomori, and the nine cyborgs were actually the first superhero team to ever be written in Japanese manga. So it's pretty much their equivalent of our Justice League, and there is even some evidence that this anime was an inspiration for The X-Men comics.
The anime has been remade THREE TIMES. The first in 1968, the second in 1979, and the third in 2003 (which is probably the one you are will be watching). What I really love about the animes is they really stick to the style of the original manga. I thought it looked a little goofy at first, but now I really love that they didn't fix what wasn't broken :)
And the biggest news of all: WE ARE GETTING A MOVIE THIS WINTER! *GIANT FANGIRL SQUEE! *
I've seen trailers for both an animated AND a live action, and I can't wait to see how this pans out.
So dear readers, I hope that you continue to enjoy the story and also dig into the masterpiece that it was based off of. :)
Love,
TBF101
P.S. I am please to announce that I have found a new home for my lemon fics :) Visit me at yourfanfiction dot com under this same name.