And now, our first field test. I'm excited for them.
I literally lost the outline for this and had to MacGyver my way back into finding it - which I managed to do. We're off to a great start.
Year Three: Field Test - Cadet #170 092 083 107
Swiss Alps - 7:11 AM
Xavier wanted his field test to end the moment his feet sunk into the snow on the mountain, even with the skis on his feet. He lifts his feet and is now on the surface, slowly gliding down the mountain as he readjusts his grip on his ski poles.
Xavier looks around in the snow and the first lesson to come to mind is not to eat it. He'll dehydrate and lower his body temperature. It didn't matter what he knew but what he did with those skills. If he wasn't wearing shades, then he would become blind in the intense brightness.
His teeth chatter as the subzero temperature jab at him. The temperature was so cold that it hurt to breathe. His nostrils and lungs froze. If he managed to take a breath, he saw it. He's experienced harsh winters back home but this is nothing he's ever felt before. This is the cold that prevents people from thinking straight since their thoughts would only focus on the frigid temperature. This is the cold that his father froze in.
Xavier looks again and it's quiet. His quinjet dropped him off and flew away not too long ago. He isn't sure what's supposed to happen so he just starts skiing downhill. The only thing cadets know about the field test is the day it'll happen. They only know how to dress and what to arm themselves with when they arrive.
All Xavier has is snow gear and skis.
Xavier hears someone gliding behind him. He turns around and sees someone skiing so fast in all-black gear, hunched over and speeding towards him.
"Shit!" Xavier states as he accelerates downhill.
He's lucky he knows how to ski.
He's unlucky that he rarely goes skiing.
Xavier turns around and sees the other person pointing a gun at him. Considering that Xavier isn't armed with a weapon, he whips his ski like a javelin, right at the assailant so they'll lose their stride. When Xavier sees them skid but not fall, he faces forwards again and leans ahead so he'll pick up speed.
Xavier sees a forest ahead and darts towards it. The scattered array of trees will help hide him since, despite white snow gear, he sticks out against the solid white mountain. Besides, he already lost one of his skis and can't rely on his enhanced strength or speed here since he isn't sure how it would benefit him. He can only depend on his strategizing and the gravity taking him down the mountain. Time is of the essence. No wonder the Academy chose this as his field test. He wonders what Angela's field test would be.
Before he enters the patch of trees, Xavier quickly turns around to have a location on his assailant.
Who is now nowhere to be seen.
"Fuck," Xavier grunts.
He's forced to look straight since he can't risk crashing into trees. Xavier glides through, dodging trees and trying to see the ending of the forest. If he's in open land again, it makes him a target but at least he'll be able to spot whoever's aiming at him.
He catches something in his peripheral vision and, as he expected, it's his assailant. Is it a SHIELD agent forced to do this?
Once his match is closing in on his, no weapons in sight, Xavier sharply turns against a tree but catches it with his free arm. He swings around and lifts his feet with the skis to kick over his assailant. Since Xavier's wearing his own skis, he doesn't stick the landing as if he would've if he was on his feet. It doesn't help that he's in deep snow angled downwards.
He lands on his right side and quickly disconnects his right ski so he could use his right leg to get up. Xavier stands on his left leg with the ski, slowly gliding as he clicks on his other ski. The other man hasn't gotten up yet so Xavier grabs the one pole he has and continues skiing down the hill.
He's back on the main mountain, leaning forwards to get out of there as fast as the mountain and his skis can take him. The sharp and freezing wind prickles against the exposed apples of his cheeks and his forehead. He glances back and sees the familiar round shape of a grenade heading his way.
Xavier didn't have time to think. He used his remaining ski like a bat and swung it away. Xavier turns around, skiing downhill backwards and losing track of the grenade in the sky, but he sees his assailant even looking overhead to see where the bomb went as well.
That act alone is Xavier's indication that he probably shouldn't have done that.
The explosion confirms it.
The avalanche makes him regret it.
He expected a dummy grenade like the one his father threw his frail body on while training for the war.
Xavier swerves back around and just heads straight down. He can't be bothered since he knows his attacker isn't focusing on him anymore. If there's something else he picked up from the Academy, it's to comprise everyone involved since everyone's guts will be more focused on their own survival than fighting to the deaths.
Xavier glances back and sees that the snowfall has calmed. He didn't think it would be as bad since it was a small grenade that probably brushed the surface. He looks around for his assailant who is nowhere to be found so he continues skiing.
-o-
Xavier skids to a stop at the bottom when he sees Agent Vander nodding approvingly at a tablet. There's a quinjet parked nearby with other cadets inside or some standing outside kicking around snow as they wait. They've finished their field tests and were waiting for him.
Xavier figures they're cadets coming back from their field test. Xavier skis beside Agent Vander and sees that he's watching drone footage of Xavier's field test. Did he even see a drone up there? Probably reflective panels ... or disguised as a bird if the Academy is on a budget. Xavier catches glimpses of his narrowly avoiding trees in the patch of a forest up there and then swinging around one to knock over the other agent.
"Just rewound to watch that part," Agent Vander says before facing Xavier. "First you destroy Camp and now you almost destroy one of our testing sites. God, Rogers, what am I going to do with you?"
Xavier grins. "I know you have plans, Sir."
"You're right. RA and Camp counsellor next year."
Xavier's face drops. "Wait, for real? I thought you were messing around."
Agent Vander laughs as he claps Xavier's shoulder. "I'll tell you when to come to my office to fill out the paperwork."