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Academy Days

Part 3

For ArrowQuivershaft

By Draconicon

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The triple-beep warning on the communicator woke Cadet Arrow Vershaft from his night's sleep, rolling to hit the thumb-scanner on the wall with his thumb before it could repor this absence to the superior officer on shift. The buzz that replaced it was just loud enough to keep him awake, followed by the lights turning on now that there was no more reason for them to be off.

"Daily Orders Transmitting."

Arrow grumbled under his breath, the red-tailed hawk managing to slide to the edge of his bed without incident. He shook his head, lifting his arms up and down a few times to get the blood flowing and keep from settling back to sleep. It was all too easy to lose awareness and go back to sleep when they did this.

AGATE classes were regularly on the shift. During the evaluations that students were given at the end of every week, their capabilities were reassessed, their weaknesses found, and they were put to work in a new set of classes that ensured that they were constantly being challenged, pushed, worked to the bone the way that they would be in the military. Even those that weren't planning on going into the military experienced the sort of pressure that those that did had to look forward to. Arrow imagined that it was out of a misguided sense of fairness, or out of an attempt to make the non-military students drop out faster.

He rubbed his head as his datapad was fed his new schedule, waiting for the soft red light at the bottom to fade to green. Once it had, he picked it up, flicked it on, and opened the new file. What he saw made his face fall.

"...Wonderful."

All classes for the next week were cancelled, which would have been cause for celebration, save for the reason why they were cancelled.

Runout. If the AGATE facility was said to have an official sport, that would be it, where the students would be set up in opposing teams of four to see who had been learning their lessons best. The combat lessons, that was, not the classroom lessons.

He groaned, rubbing his hands along his beak. Months, now, months in which he had managed to avoid getting shuffled into a match through a series of volunteer work, more advanced classes, and other little dodges that had kept him from getting selected by the system, and now, he was getting a week of matches all at once.

Wonderful. Utterly. Wonderful.

Still, no point staying in his quarters now. The file said that his first session would be in one hour, and that gave him little time to get up, clean, dressed, and properly outfitted before getting to the arena. If he was late, he didn't want to think about how the system would treat it; probably as intentional evasion, which would not look good for him.

...He might be able to skip the shower.

Arrow showed up at the arena facility about twenty minutes before the first round was due to start. He had been told that his team was waiting at the attack door, and he was to get his equipment and report. The red-tailed hawk nodded, hurrying into the locker room and -

"...Brilliant."

Runout teams had three, perhaps four different roles, depending on whether you were on the defending or attacking team. He was obviously on the attacking team, because the fourth and most dangerous role had been left out for him.

He walked over to the bench, staring at the hacking wristband that was waiting for him. That was the tool of the Attack Tech, someone that was assigned to most ground forces that were storming enemy installations, which was the event that the Runout games were meant to simulate: a sudden, quick assault meant to grab some intel or sabotage some asset, and then get the hell out. The techs were the ones that guaranteed that the job got done; you lost your tech, you lost your chance to get what you came for.

Which meant that the defending team would be gunning for him like no tomorrow. He grumbled as he picked up the wrist console, slapping it against his arm and feeling it creep along his scales. The feathers further up twitched in irritation at the feeling of the new gadget, but he waited it out until it was solidly bonded to him.

The only weapon that he was allowed as a tech was a pistol. He knew that the rest of the team would consist of a Heavy, a Medic, and a Scout, all of which would have their own loadouts. The enemy team would have the option of choosing a second of those three roles, or everyone being the same. It was one of many advantages that the defending team was given, making the assault role that much harder for anyone stuck on that team.

And considering this is my first time...

He was pretty sure that this was going to be humiliating. As a matter of fact, he was all but sure of it.

The red uniform that they had to wear as part of the attacking team did not make him any happier. It was tight, obviously new, something that pulled on his limbs and made it a little difficult to move with quick precision as it kept snapping him back to a standing position. It was going to be difficult to run with ease, but on the plus side, that jerky movement would make him harder to hit, too.

The pistol slotted into a magnetic strip at his waist, and he sighed. Ten minutes left. Time to see what his team was.

He left the locker room, finding himself face to face with three eagles. They turned, he stared, and they all groaned at once.

"You?" Cadet Berrak groaned. "Great. There goes my winning streak."

"Trust me. I am not happy about this, either."

True to form, the system had assigned him to work with one of the few people in all of the AGATE program that he would want to see lose. Berrak had assaulted him only two days ago, and the system hadn't yet come down on the eagle for cheating as much as he had been. The temptation to throw the match just to get it over with was suddenly all the more tempting.

But, he still pushed it away. The results of one's Runout games were always part of one's grade, though how much depended on which program you were part of. Though he was on the academic track, he knew for a fact that it could still sink his scores into the basement if he threw too many matches...and the system had a bad habit of putting enemies together on the same team, just to force them to learn how to get along one way or another.

"We're doomed," Cadet Berrak muttered.

"If that's your attitude, should I throw it and make it faster for all of us?" Arrow asked.

The glare that he got from the eagle was almost worth it. Almost. He shook his head.

"I'm new. What do you need me to do?"

"Be fast, be smart, and stay the hell out of the way," Berrak said. The eagle nodded at the door. "They said that it's gonna be an office simulation. Probably security programs along the way. Flip those, and we got a chance. But stay the fuck down."

"...You don't have to tell me twice."

"Good."

The door beeped, giving them the one-minute warning. They gathered around it, with Berrak taking the Scout role at the front, and the other two eagles staying on either side. They waved for him to stay with the Medic, and waited for the timer to tick down.

BEEP!

The deep beep announced the game start, and they rushed through. A wide-open area stood between them and the target 'office' building, which was a structure six stories tall with four open windows in the front in addition to the front door, giving them options.

That was as much as Arrow had a chance to see before the security system firepower started blasting at them.

"RUN!"

Berrak's command ripped through the air, the eagle rushing forward with all the speed that the Scout equipment offered. Jet-shoes combined with a lighter bit of armor allowed the eagle to rush the building at a speed that the rest of them couldn't manage. The Heavy moved forward, using the shield built into his weapon to keep him from being blasted, though Arrow knew that would be a downside for later when they were actually in the building. They were wasting resources that they'd very likely need.

The Medic moved with him, and they advanced under the lighter bursts of fire, darting forward as fast as they could. Thankfully, the opposing team was focusing most of their armament on the two specialized classes ahead of them, trying to take out the high-speed Scout or the heavily-armed Heavy rather than him.

Then again, he was half-hidden behind the Medic, and since the Medic wasn't using his abilities to try and make things better for Berrak or the other eagle, that meant that they weren't targets. Not yet.

They managed to cross the open area, but rather than rushing through the front door, Arrow pointed up.

"What about the upper floors?"

"Too risky. If you fail the hack, then we can't get in," the Medic said.

"Better to split the teams, if we can; hit them from both sides, secure both lower floors so that they can't just cut us off."

"...Think you can reach it?"

"I can try."

"Do it."

The Medic pressed himself against the wall, where the pair of them were more or less out of sight for the rest of the fire-teams that were blasting through the windows. Berrak and the Heavy were fighting the security drones on the inside, little more than mooks that went down in single or double hits, but there were a lot of them. Arrow climbed up on the Medic's shoulders, dragging himself up the sheer outside of the building.

If I can get inside, try an EMP...

He'd seen a few Runouts, and he knew that the Attack Tech was one of the most versatile roles that you could get. It was made that way intentionally to make up for the fact that it was the most easily targeted, too, but when it came to abilities, it had a lot of versatile, one-shot attacks.

Like the EMP.

If he could just get through the window, he could open up the entirety of the first or third floor, just by blasting it up through the corresponding connector. All he had to do was get inside.

The open window was inviting, but he saw the laser-grid that he'd missed further off. It was so narrow that it was almost like a net, spread around to stop bugs and pests from entering. He pulled his wrist up to his face, saw it connecting to the local terminal.

Beep.

Connected. As the shoom-shoom of lasers firing a floor below continued to fill his ears, he started the little hacking mini-game on the console. Nothing extremely challenging, just a basic mix-and-match of codes, sliding key-words and commands around until -

Whooooom.

The laser-grid went down, and he hopped inside. He tapped his ear.

"Berrak? I'm on the second floor. EMP?"

"You're fucking what?!"

"EMP, yes or no?"

"Fucking - yes, do it! DOWN!"

He gave them the two seconds to hit the floor, then flicked the wrist console around. The different abilities of the Attack Tech showed as images on the console, and he flicked through them until he reached the EMP.

Then, he hit the floor.

WHUMP! The sudden blast shorted out all the defenses on the first and second floor, rushing through every machine that was projecting an active power signal. He heard the rattle-clatter of the different mook robots one floor down hitting the ground, and then the sound of the rest of the squad running up the stairs. He ran through the simulated office, passing cubicles and desks and old computers as he rushed to join them.

They waited on the landing just inside the stairwell, Berrak shaking his head.

"Okay, maybe you ain't useless."

"Movement might be better."

"Yeah, these things are deathtraps. Come on."

It wasn't a kindness, but it was better than the contempt that Berrak held him in before. He followed in the middle of the group, where he was least likely to be hit by something coming at them from behind or from above. The fact that the previous two floors had been secured was a move that was likely playing well with the evaluators, considering that it wasn't so common for that to happen so early in a game.

It meant that they had an advantage, if they could use it well.

After a quick ping by the Medic's gear, they determined that Level 3 was empty of the enemy team, and stepped inside. They barricaded the stairwell, then made their way to the far end. The windows were closed, which meant that they were essentially secured for the moment. No way in without getting someone's attention. Berrak and the other two eagles huddled in, leaving just enough room for Arrow to squeeze in. His bully looked down at him, then grumbled.

"Okay. You're quicker than I thought. You know any strategies for this, though?" he asked.

"Not a clue."

"Least you can admit that..." Berrak shook his head. "Alright. We've got to get to Level 6, and that stairway's probably gonna be trapped to hell. Anyone got any ideas?"

"Tank it?" the Heavy suggested.

"I doubt you have more than forty-percent shield left," Arrow said before Berrak could respond.

"...Thirty-eight," the Heavy said, as if that was any better.

"Yeah, that plan's not happening," Berrak agreed.

"We could burn the med supplies; buff everyone before we head up, blast them before they blast us," the Medic said.

"Ain't working. Doesn't last long enough."

He was surprised that Berrak was able to think of that. Perhaps the eagle wasn't just a meat-head.

"Besides, we burn through it, there's nothing left if they start blasting our tech. The minute they get a clear shot, they're gonna get him."

"I believe that I can avoid being hit."

"It's a shooting gallery in there. They'll get everyone split, and they're all Heavies this time."

Arrow blinked.

"How do you know?"

"The way they were shooting out there. You don't get that much concentrated firepower without it being a team of Heavies. Not good for us."

No. No, it wasn't. That meant that they were facing a group that were made to blast hard and tank whatever came their way. And it meant that they were situated for some serious defense, considering the shields and high-capacity armor that they were given. They'd be clustered around the objective.

However, that meant that there was less likelihood that the entire team would be watching the stairwell, which in turn meant that there was a chance that they could pull a little change-over.

Arrow walked over to the windows, looking down. It was a fair drop, but if they could set this up right, it could actually turn the battle around.

"They know what floor we got off on, right?" he asked.

"Probably."

"Then if they're putting anything together, it'll be as a trap for when we come back to the stairwell, right?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So...let's keep climbing."

"I'm the only one that can follow that; the other two are too heavy."

"Then it will have to be you and me."

It would be the only way that they could easily get around the various traps waiting in the rest of the building. More to the point, it meant that the only dangers waiting for them outside would be the natural traps and security of the building. A danger to the Medic and the Heavy, perhaps, but not for the Attack Tech.

The eagles looked at one another, then sighed. Berrak stood up.

"Alright. We'll climb, you get ready to storm the stairs. You hear anything shooting, you bust through and make your way up."

It was probably the best plan they had. It would split the team, admittedly, but that would also split the defenses on the upper level. It would have been even better if they had two Attach Techs, one on each half of the team, but that wasn't how Runout worked, was it?

Arrow opened the window, looking up. Nobody was aiming a gun down at him yet, so that was a positive. There were a few turrets poking out the windows of Level 6, but...

He twisted the wrist console, shifting over to another of the one-use abilities. Turret hacking was one of those skills that worked rather well at the end-game or as a defensive measure, but this would be more of a distraction than anything else. If the enemy was locked down at the far end of Level 6, waiting for them to approach the objective, then anything that started firing their way would just be met with instant destruction. No point in hacking them just yet. Best to wait until they reached the top.

Berrak leaned out with him, glancing up at the rooftop and shaking his head.

"This is crazy."

"It seems that insanity tends to be least expected."

"Yeah. Because it usually doesn't work."

"Then we shall have to see, won't we?"

"...You know, you're less of a pain when you're not in class."

"And you're less insufferable when I see you doing something you're good at."

"..."

"You'll figure that one out later."

The pair of them climbed out of the window, balancing on the ledge. They took a few deep breaths, and then began the ascent.

It was easier for the Scout. Berrak not only had an eagle's muscles, but he also had all the abilities of the Scout class, allowing him much expanded mobility, as well as the chance to move with speed that none of the others had. He could jump, fire his booster shoes, and land with ease. The Attack Tech, on the other hand, had none of that, having to jump, grip, and keep climbing. There were no abilities to allow him to just change the outside of the building, either; it was all down to raw muscle.

Need to...hit the gym...more often...

He almost fell at the last leap, his arms giving way and his fingers losing their grip. Arrow fell a full three inches, just starting to accelerate towards extreme velocity when Berrak reached down and grabbed him. The eagle dragged him the rest of the way up, laying his hands against the final windowsill. They were just under the turrets, just out of scanner sight.

"This is either going to be brilliant, or the stupidest thing ever done in a Runout," the eagle muttered.

"Probably both," Arrow said.

"You seriously think this will work?"

"It'll be interesting, at least."

"Great."

"Just be ready to move."

Sinking his fingers in a little bit deeper to keep from sliding back down the side of the building, he twisted the edge of the wrist console back to the turret hack. It glowed slightly, revealing that there were six turrets in range.

Four in the windows, two elsewhere...here's hoping that they're in range of the enemy team...

With a grunt, he brought his hand down. The turrets whirred ever so slightly, and the hacking game came up. His fingers slipped and slide as he directed the commands around, but within half a minute -

Beep, beep, whir.

"There...we go."

The sudden ratta-tatta-tatta of the turrets going off, followed by the much faster spin-up of the Heavy weapons on the other side of the floor told him that things had gone almost exactly as planned. The last defensive turrets must have been around the four Heavies guarding the access point, which meant that they were going to be very distracted for a moment. Perhaps distracted enough to lose one or two members before they had the chance to fight back.

Berrak leaped up and in before pulling him over the windowsill. The two of them were still not happy with each other - after all, Arrow knew that Berrak wasn't the only one that looked like he was sucking a lemon - but they were willing to work together to get through this.

Thunk. The sound of a body and gun hitting the floor filled the air, and Berrak chuckled.

"One down."

Thump.

The door further in opened up, and a small little sparrowhawk was on the other side. One with a massive gun, and shield up.

"Oh...shi-"

Whatever else Berrak might have said was drowned out by the shriek of a very angry bird and the thunder of a very powerful gun. The red-tailed hawk and the eagle both threw themselves to the ground, barely avoiding the spray of ammo coming their way, and the turrets on the window turned towards the sparrowhawk. They fired back, and the Heavy turned his shielded weapon towards them, ripping through them in short order.

The two of them hurried to the wall on either side of the door, their beaks clenched tightly as they waited for the inevitable second or third member of the other team. Berrak shook his head, pulling a shotgun-esque weapon from his belt.

Whichever one they turn to, the other has to take them down, Arrow thought. It was the only sure way. If one of them missed, the other had the chance to take the Heavy down. And considering there were still three of them left, they needed every advantage that they could get. They had a good position, but that would only work out if the sparrowhawk was too angry to be smart.

Thankfully, he was.

The bird leaped forward, whipping his gun towards Arrow. The red-tailed hawk pulled the trigger on his pistol once, twice, three times, but the blasts just bounced off the shield. The gun came down -

BOOM!

And then the shotgun went off. The burst of laser pellets against the sparrowhawk's spine knocked him well off his feet, into the far wall, and left him slumped down and stunned. Arrow shook his head as Berrak stood up again.

"A little over the top, I think."

"You prefer I let him shoot you?"

"Not really."

"Then we take what we get. Grab his gun."

"Me?"

"You need a shield."

Fair point. He crawled to the fallen sparrowhawk, pulling the Heavy weapon out of his grip. The shield still charged at about half-full, which should hold long enough to at least get out of the firing zone if they were ambushed. The red-tailed hawk picked it up with a grunt of effort, dragging it off the ground and holding it with both hands.

"This is...really heavy."

"Yeah, no kidding."

"You first?"

"You got the shield."

"...And you're the Scout."

Berrak somehow managed an expression that was simultaneously annoyed and amused. The eagle pulled his shotgun up, peered around the corner, then nodded, waving for Arrow to follow after him. The red-tailed hawk was happy enough to do that.

Their target, as far as he was aware, would either be a computer or a safe, both accessed through tapping his wrist console against it. The attacking team was considered to have won if they actually managed to get to the end of the level, and then tap the Attack Tech's console against the end point. It had to be wielded by the Attack Tech, too, or it didn't count; someone couldn't just let the Attack Tech fall and then carry the console to the end.

They walked back and forth down long, empty hallways. Each time they came to a junction, Berrak would gesture for them to stop, and then glance around. Every time, they would continue moving forward.

Despite wanting to talk, Arrow kept his beak shut. The fact was, they were close to the end-goal, and the minute they gave themselves away, this would become a two-on-two hunt, and he didn't know if they could win that. A Scout could outrun and outmaneuver a heavy, but that didn't mean that they would be able to win in these narrow corridors, particularly when all a Heavy had to do was kick down the door and spray their ammunition down the hall. Without space to run, Berrak would go down almost instantly.

I suppose he has some bravery, among his other less-positive traits.

Suddenly, the eagle threw his hand up, and they stopped. The door at the far end of the hallway was closed, but now that Arrow took a second look at it, he could see the movement of shadows under it. That was definitely their target.

They had two options. They could call up the other two eagles that were waiting in the stairwell, going in all at once four-on-two, or they could chance it while the last two Heavies were still off-guard. If they waited, then they'd be storming a room that had been secured, with two heavily-armed opponents that would be MORE than capable of gunning all four of them down if they didn't get it perfect. Now, though...

If we do this wrong, we wipe out before the others can even get here...

He looked down at the gun, and then back at Berrak. The eagle was keen on taking it now, and he admitted that it had the better chance of success, but -

Wait. Idea.

"Take this."

"What?"

"Take the heavy weapon. I have an idea."

Less than a minute later, they burst through the door. Or that was to say, Berrak burst through, while Arrow waited behind the frame for a total of five seconds. The shrieking and war-cries that only birds could let loose at such high volume echoed through the air. One of the Heavies screamed, obviously losing their shield, but then the whirring sound of Berrak's weapon stopped.

Thump.

Arrow looked at his wrist console. The timer for the last ability that he set was about to go off in three...two...one...

And as it hit zero, the 'Rebound' hack went off, the dead shield suddenly letting loose every shot that had been emptied into it over the last few seconds. It was more than enough to shred one of the Heavies, and then knock out the other one, leaving the goal undefended.

Arrow poked his head around the frame, smiling at the incapacitated Heavies that were on the other side of the console. He walked inside, knelt by Berrak, and leaned down to whisper to him.

"No injuries?"

"Mmm-mmm."

"Good."

Despite the temptation to gloat, he knew better. There was every chance that the blue team had left traps or contingencies around in case someone broke through, so he walked right up to the console and placed his wrist against it. It beeped twice, and the lights went out.

Runout was done. Red Team, his team, had won.

The lights came back on with cheers coming through the intercoms all around them, and the Blue Team slowly pulled themselves off the ground, groaning and shaking their heads. Berrak did the same, chuckling to himself and brushing himself clear of some of the dust that still clung to his feathers and his armor.

"That...was a great idea. Don't think I ever saw an Attack Tech try that before."

"I imagine that most of them lead from the rear if they can get away with it."

"Heh, probably. So, see why I had you doing, uh, all those 'favors' now? This place -"

"Is not for me."

That short, simple statement was enough to stop Berrak in his tracks, but it was the truth. Arrow shrugged, lowering the wrist console to rest beside the objective, rubbing his hand as it was finally allowed a little bit of breathing room once more. It took that whole time for the eagle to come up with a response to the fairly simple statement.

"What?! But...but you're good! Really good!"

"Aptitude does not require interest."

"Oh, come on. You might not like it much now, but that was just because you were a target. You keep running in these things, and you'll find something that you like. And everyone watches this stuff," Berrak said. "Sooner or later, someone's gonna see you, and that means that you got a name on the table when you get the hell out of this place."

A true statement, but nonetheless not one that he really agreed with. If there was something that needed sorting after he was done with AGATE, he would sort it. Runout was a place for those that didn't have the skills or the mind to make it through the rest of the curriculum, a place where you went to show that you were good for something even if you failed everything else that the system had to offer.

That said, he was stuck doing it for the foreseeable future. The system had found him and locked him in for the next week. Knowing the system, it had very likely also ensured that this would be his team for that time, as well, and that...that was going to be problematic if he started to get on their nerves, or if they found him less than useful.

Arrow sighed.

"That said, I will continue to do my best throughout this week."

"Well...damn." Berrak shook his head, looking down at the consoles. "Well, here's hoping that you get shoved onto my team again. I'd hate to fight this."

"You? Hate to fight me?"

"Hey, one on one is one thing, but with how you come up with ideas that nobody's seen before? That's scary."

The End

Summary: Arrow is taken through a Runout, something that he was really not looking forward to, but seems to be an inescapable part of AGATE.

Tags: No sex, sci-fi, red-tailed hawk, eagle, various species, simulation, combat, strategy, hacking,