Jim followed Braxton and Matt to the gymnasium. Sy took 628 from Braxton and turned to continue on to the other half. Varian waved and skipped over to join them. "Good morning!" He gave them a brilliant smile. "Isn't this a beautiful morning? I've never seen a morning so lovely as this!"

Sy smiled brightly. "Good morning."

628 waved enthusiastically with both right hands. "Hi!"

"What's wrong Varian?" Matt looped an arm over Varian's shoulders and pulled him in against his side.

Varain's shoulders drooped. "I just got my results for my robotics final."

"Not good?" Matt gave him an extra squeeze, "You can tell us."

"My robot decided to go AWOL and start a rebellion."

Braxton snorted and ducked behind Jim so Varian wouldn't see him laughing. Jim did his best to ignore Braxton's chortals behind him. "What kind of a rebellion?"

"He managed to convince a third of the other robots to follow him down the hallways and found the storage room where the school robots live." Varian sniffed and wiped at his eyes. "And then they went on a rampage cleaning the entire school."

Braxton was also crying, though his was with laughter behind Jim's back. "A cleaning rebellion!"

Varian hiccuped and continued. "And after they cleaned the academy, they escaped into the streets!"

"Did they clean those too?" Braxton wanted to know.

Varian sniffled and nodded. "They did. It took the th-the spacers six hours to track th-them all down and turn them off. And th-that was only with the help of Prince Proteus' guard's help." He accepted Sy's handkerchief and sobbed into it.

Braxton dropped to his knees as he clutched his sides. 628 scampered over and tackled him so they could wrestle. Braxton just howled louder as his friend pinned him to the ground. Jim awkwardly attempted to block Varian's view of him with his body.

Matt patted Varian's shoulder gently. "I am certain that things will work out, Varian. Cleaning isn't the worst thing a robot army can do."

"Maximus had to help." Varian looked up at Matt tearfully. Jim shuttered at the horse's name. "I promised the princess that when I came home from my quest I'd be smarter and stronger than ever before. I promised I'd be able to redeem myself, to show her I am an asset to her country."

"You are an asset to her country," Matt reassured him gently. Varian gave him a watery smile.

Sy spoke up without hesitation. "You're from Maximus' country?"

Varian nodded, his face closing off in a guarded expression. "He's my horse."

"He's one of the fiercest infiltration officers we have." Sy continued brightly. "If he recruited you, it's because you've shown you deserve to be here. You were picked for a reason."

Braxton propped himself up on his elbow. 628 sat on his hip. "Infiltration officers?" Braxton reached over to rub one of 628's ears. The small alien flicked his antena happily and leaned into the touch. "I haven't heard about those before."

"He's a normal horse!" Varian lied quickly. "My horse, nothing more."

Sy stiffened up. Jim shot Braxton a glare.

Braxton stood up, his arm wrapped around 628 to keep him from tumbling to the ground. The cyborg watched Sy's face intently as he continued. "Sounds like I might not be the only one that's overheard some conversations I shouldn't have."

Sy backed away from him, seemingly shrinking down into himself. "It was just something my mom mentioned."

"Who is your mother?" Braxton grinned and stepped forward. "She's not from Varain's home, is she?" Varian shook his head.

"Leave him alone, Braxton." Jim demanded.

Sy backed up again. "She, uh, she's just, you know, a soldier."

"What rank." Braxton took a step forward.

"Braxton." Jim's voice held a note of warning. He grabbed his friend's shoulder to hold him back. 628 leaped from Braxton's arms, his limbs spread wide as he growled at Jim.

"I need to get to class." Sy's voice was barely above a whisper now, his already pale face drained completely of color.

"Can't tell us?" Braxton shrugged Jim's arm off his shoulder. Matt slipped in between Braxton and Jim. 628 relaxed slightly with the additional body separating them. "Why not? How about your grandfather. What's his rank? You said he's in this too. Where's he stand? How about your uncle?"

Sy swallowed hard. His back hit the wall. "C-class is about to start, Braxton."

Braxton shrugged casually. "Might not hurt you to be late for once. Break a rule or two. Do something wrong. No one is perfect, D'nahsy. I don't know what your game is, but don't play it with my friends."

"That's enough, Braxton." Matt's voice was firmer than any of the boys had ever heard it before. Firm enough to give even Braxton pause. The cadet shook it off and loomed over Sy again. Matt sighed heavily. He pointed at the cyborg.

A small colored spark leaped from his fingertip to Braxton's back. Braxton's eyes rolled up and he collapsed at Sy's feet. Matt ran his hand through his hair as he studied Braxton's still form. "Sorry about all this, Sy. Braxton's got some trust issues. You and 628 can head off to class. We'll set him straight."

He looked up at the lack of a reply. Everyone was staring at him. "What?"

"What was that?" Jim demanded, his voice high and slightly strangled.

"You do magic?" Varian looked somewhere between fascinated and concerned.

628 put his ears back. He bared his teeth and unsheathed his claws. He crouched for an attack, a low growl escaping his throat.

Sy tore himself away from the wall and snatched the small creature into his arms. "Don't!"

The experiment whipped around. He lunged forward and clamped his jaws around Sy's shoulder, his claws digging into his arm. Red bloomed across the white uniform. Sy yelped and released the alien. 628 launched himself off Sy's chest towards Matt.

Matt dodged to the side so that the small alien flew past him. "Settle! He's fine, he's just asleep!" 628 snarled, though he slowed his attack. Claws retracting, he turned to check on Braxton.

Jim surged forward and drew Sy into his arms. "Let me see."

Sy shook his head, his hand clenched over where he'd been scratched. "I-I'm fine." He promised in a shaky voice. "I have to go. Class is about to start."

Jim reached to undo the buttons on Sy's jacket. "I'll have the teacher make you an excuse. You might need to go to medical. Let me see."

Sy jerked away from him. "I'm fine!"

"Sy!"

Varain caught Jim's arm before he could reach for the younger boy again. "Let him go, Jim," Varian instructed as Sy ran off. "He's just scared. He'll be back at lunch." He turned to 628 and nudged him gently with his foot. "You should go too. Sy's right, class is about to start."

628 ignored him and nuzzled Braxton's face gently. A low groan escaped the cyborg's lips. 628's ears perked forward. "Braxton!"

Braxton sat up slowly. "Oil and coal, Matthew, what was that?"

Matt offered him a hand up. "Nothing more than what you deserved. You owe Sy an apology at lunch."

Braxton made a face, but accepted Matt's help to his feet. He reached down absently and ruffled 628's ears. "I'm alright, little man. Matt wouldn't hex me with anything lasting. Go on, Señor Puss won't be happy if you're late to class." 628 hugged his leg tightly before he turned and scampered off on all 6 paws.

Varian had turned his wide eyed stare on Braxton. "You knew Matt could do magic?"

"Yeah. It's come up before."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jim demanded.

"Wasn't mine to tell." Braxton shrugged. "Trust is a currency you can only spend once. What you buy with it had better be worth it, because you'll never get it back."

Matthew offered Jim an apologetic smile. "If it helps, I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you. I just sorta forgot."

Jim blinked. "You forgot to tell me you know magic."

"I'm not very good at it." Matt ran his hand through his hair again. "I only know a few basic spells."

Varian waved it off. "Magic is nothing compared to science. Why would you want magic when you could learn alchemy and engineering!"

"Because this class is neither alchemy nor engineering." Instructor Gru swept past the boys. He patted Varian's head on his way by. "Group up class, we are starting."

As the boys gathered around Gru turned to face the class. "Don't move until I say go. We are using plasma blasters today. You will have your choice of a Mark one, two, or three. I have brought them out and set them in those lockers over there. Mark one is in the red locker, two blue, and three yellow. Also known as lockers one, two, and three as marked by the large numbers for those of you that do not see color. If you are too small to use those guns, locker four contains your weapons. You do not get a choice. Any questions?" A boy in the back raised his hand. "No? Good. Go."

The class of second years rushed to the closets together. Varian and Jim both went for a Mark I. Matt selected a Mark II and Braxton took a Mark III. The four of them regrouped a bit away from the other youth.

Instructor Gru surveyed his students as they divided into their cliques. "Teams of four boys! We'll be going to the practice ranges today!"

"Yes!" Braxton pumped his fist into the air. "Top scour group, right here!"

Once the youth were settled into their squads (with one squad of five) he opened the doors to the outside. "I need a volunteer to let Instructor Puss know that he may take our half of the gym now."

Jim instantly shot his hand into the air. "I'll go, sir!"

Braxton smirked. "Sy doesn't need you to check on him, Jim." Jim made a face at his friend but otherwise ignored him.

"Ah, Hawkins!" Gru nodded and waved him off. "Pass your gun to a teammate, we will meet you outside."

Jim handed his gun off to Matt. "Be back soon boys!" He turned and jogged across the gymnasium to get to the door in the dividers.