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“You’re actually excited about this, aren’t you?” Taylor said. He hadn’t realized she was watching him.
“Yes! Aren’t you?”
“Not really.” Taylor lowered her voice. “Even if it’s just pretend, doesn’t it strike you as weird that the people who are supposed to be protecting us would want to fight us?”
“Professor Nine says it’s all to help us train,” Kopano replied with a shrug. “Perhaps such violence goes against your natural instinct as a healer. I would understand that.” Kopano punched his open palm. “But my natural instinct is to be a warrior!”
Taylor laughed and shook her head. “You got beat up by a pillow today, warrior.”
They spotted Nigel and Ran in the crowd and went to stand by them.
“All right, big boy,” Nigel said in greeting and squeezed Kopano’s bicep. “Ready to kick some ass?”
Kopano grinned. He liked his roommate—both his roommates, actually, even if Caleb was a little strange—and always felt encouraged by Nigel’s sharp and boisterous words.
“Oh, Kopano the mighty is ready,” Taylor answered Nigel with a roll of her eyes. She looked to Ran. “Surprised to see you here.”
Ran tilted her head. “It is required.”
“She might be Legacy celibate, but that don’t mean she’d miss a class,” Nigel said.
Kopano shook his head. He’d heard the rumors about Ran swearing off her Legacies, just like he’d heard about what a total badass she supposedly was. He’d never gotten a chance to see her in action.
“How’re you going to get better if you don’t use your powers?” he asked Ran, baffled.
“Why would I need to get better at something that I do not intend to use?” Ran replied.
Kopano blinked. “But come on! Don’t you think you got Legacies for a reason? Lorien picked us!”
“And perhaps that reason is past.”
“But what if it’s not?”
“Then I shall wait for a new reason to present itself,” Ran said coolly.
Nigel flung his arms around the both of them. “Don’t let her rain on your parade, mate. Ran and I, we been around a bit. She wants to take a holiday, I don’t blame her.”
Kopano frowned. “I should have been there. I should have answered John Smith’s call.”
Nigel and Ran’s expressions both darkened.
“Brother, I’m not sure if that’s true,” Nigel said.
Before they could say anything else, a shrill whistle called them to attention. With the hundred or so students finally all gathered, Nine stood before them. Colonel Archibald joined him, red-faced from a close shave, his uniform immaculate. Nearby stood a man Kopano had never seen before—middle-aged but baby-faced, with slicked-back brown hair and a dapper suit. The newcomer held a tablet computer, jotting frequent notes with a stylus.
“Listen up!” Professor Nine shouted. He waved to the well-dressed man. “We’ve got a special guest for today’s festivities. This is Greger Karlsson, an evaluator from Earth Garde. He’s one of the dudes who will decide what kind of missions you’re sent on once I decide you’re ready to graduate. Make a good impression! He’s Swedish and I hear he really likes it when you do that Muppet voice, right, Greger?”
Greger smiled politely at Nine and inclined his head towards the students, his gaze already appraising them. Kopano puffed out his chest.
“Now listen, I’m required by some law to tell you guys that this is a joint exercise between Earth Garde Academy enrollees and the United Nations Peacekeepers. Participation is absolutely optional. For those who do choose to participate, every precaution will be taken to ensure your safety, but safety can’t be guaranteed. Ominous shit, right?” He glanced over his shoulder at Colonel Archibald. “Satisfactory, boss?”
Archibald nodded. Kopano looked around—the expressions of his classmates ranged from trepidation to excitement. He nudged Taylor.
“You might be busy today,” he whispered.
She gave him a stern look. “You promised me boring, Kopano.”
“Here’s the situation,” Professor Nine continued, pointing into the woods. “About a half mile into the trees, there’s a cabin being held down by Peacekeepers. Your mission is to gain access to that cabin and rescue the hostage trapped inside. Our own Dr. Goode has volunteered to play the role of hostage, so, you know, if you don’t rescue him, science class is going to be rough.”
“The soldiers in the woods and guarding the cabin are all armed with nonlethal weaponry,” Colonel Archibald spoke up. “My men and women would greatly appreciate that you take the same care with your powers that we’re taking with our armaments.”
“Yeah. Don’t hurt ’em too bad,” Nine said. “The point of this exercise isn’t just to fight some soldiers. It’s also to assess your teamwork and strategy skills. I could tell you the best way to take out these chumps, but I’m not going to do that. I could also break you into the most efficient teams possible, but I’m not going to do that either. That’s all going to be on you. Anyone who’s successful earns . . . hmm . . . let’s say twenty hours of recreation time. That’s three skip days.”
As soon as Nine finished his explanation, the dozens of young Garde began chattering among themselves and breaking into teams. Kopano looked around eagerly. Most of the students with noncombat Legacies and the tweebs who hadn’t yet developed their primary powers were already gathering at the edge of the woods to spectate, while the bolder Garde with more violent Legacies divided themselves up.
“Of course Professor Nine would give away such a good prize for brute strength,” Isabela complained as she sauntered over to their little group. Simon followed along behind her, waving to everyone.
“There’s literally no way I can participate in this,” Simon said. “Maybe next time the competition won’t be so agro.”
Taylor smiled. “You’re welcome to come join us conscientious objectors.”
“I want those recreation hours,” Isabela muttered. “It isn’t fair.”
“Yes. And I want to show this Earth Garde man what I can do,” Kopano added, looking around.
“You even figure out what that is yet?” Nigel asked.
“Well, not exactly,” Kopano answered. “But I would still like to do it!”
Taylor bumped her shoulder against Ran, nodding discreetly towards Greger. “He’s watching you.”
Ran had already noticed how the Earth Garde representative was keeping an eye on her. She shrugged loosely. “He will be disappointed.”
“Look at this group of badasses!” Lofton St. Croix said excitedly as he approached. Following behind him was Caleb, the fire-breathing Omar Azoulay, Nicolas Lambert the Belgian strongman and the speedy Maiken Megalos. “Ran and Nigel, c’mon, join Team Lofton.”
Nigel snorted. “Look at this. You’re just cherry-picking everybody from Dr. Chen’s class.”
Kopano felt a momentary flash of disappointment that he hadn’t been selected for that seminar.
“Hell yeah I am,” Lofton answered Nigel. “You know, I already got my call up to Earth Garde. I’m gone in like a week. If I get those twenty rec hours, I can take it easy until then.”
Nigel glanced at Ran. She shook her head.
“Sorry, mate, but we’re a package deal,” Nigel told Lofton. “Ran sits out, so do I.”
Lofton rolled his eyes. “Dude, your, like, singing powers hardly make the dream team cut anyway. What we really need is the hard-core chick who explodes things and once brought down a Mogadorian warship.”
“It was only a Skimmer,” Ran corrected.
“Seriously?” Kopano asked.
Ran nodded. “And I am not playing. Good luck, though.”
Lofton sighed. Before he could express his disappointment, Isabela sidled up next to him.
“Don’t worry, boyfriend. I’ll be on your team.”
Lofton laughed. He gave Isabela’s butt a squeeze and kissed her on the forehead.
“Yeah, thanks for the offer, babe,
but we’re going for a full-frontal assault here. You’re not exactly what we’ve got in mind.”
“Great plan,” Taylor said. Isabela crossed her arms and silently fumed.
“These army tools have never faced anything like us,” Lofton said dismissively. “We’re going to go right at them. They won’t be ready.”
Caleb spoke up for the first time, having spent the start of the conversation awkwardly avoiding looking at Taylor. “Actually, uh, I have some ideas we might—”
Lofton clapped Caleb on the shoulder, cutting him off. “It’s cool, bro. You just make as many decoys as possible and beat some ass.”
“May I join you?” Kopano asked.
Lofton raised an eyebrow and looked him over. “You’re supposed to be bulletproof, right?”
“I may be invincible,” Kopano said. “I also hit very hard.”
