Citadel (Book 1): Training in Necessity (9 page)

He had merely resumed his stance, having turned to face Duncan.  Soon, the boy had managed to tear himself free.  He advanced more slowly this time, cautious.  The combat instructor's motions were short and quick.  Duncan would throw a punch or a kick, sometimes trying to grab.  Achala intercepted each with a small blow to the other's arm or leg, just enough to throw it off course.

"Why the gloves?"  Hector asked.

"Hm?"  He was right.  Achala was wearing a pair of tightfitting, black leather gloves.  "I had not noticed them.  Nor do I understand their purpose."  He had also added a pair of small pouches to his uniform's belt.

The fruitless exchange of blows ended.  Duncan struck at Achala, a simple straight jab.  The instructor met his fist with an open palm, rather than striking at the forearm and deflecting it. 

It should not have been possible.  The image did not convey sound; the walls were thick stone, but Jason was certain he could hear Duncan’s scream.  His hand and arm had been shattered. Coach Achala returned the blow with a backhanded slap. 

Duncan was flung several feet to the side, prone.  Again, the instructor failed to follow-up on his advantage.  Rather than attack his downed opponent, he stood back.  Jason thought he might be speaking but it was difficult to be sure.  The feeling, the fear, was receding.  It seemed as if the combat room's lighting was returning to normal as well.

Duncan rose from his position on the floor.  His face was malformed.  The jaw was broken, possibly unhinged.  Jason could see blood coating his teeth.  He shook his head, not seeming to care about the pain that motion must have caused him.  Slowly, the trainee stood upright.  He raised his hand, beckoning Achala forward.

"Okay, I may not like the guy, but that takes balls."  Jason would not have phrased the sentiment in the same way as Hector, but he did agree.

Apparently, Coach Achala was not inclined to meet his opponent's request.  He removed something small from one of his pouches. A ball bearing?  The instructor flicked the ball forward, like shooting a marble.  It flew quickly but not so fast that Jason could not track it.  The ball bearing bounced off the floor and came to rest against the combat room's curved wall.

Jason could not hear him scream, not this time, but Duncan's mouth was open and he was clutching his leg.  The missile's path had intersected Duncan's thigh.  Jason had not thought it was moving fast enough to cause injury but Duncan's leg was bloody and misshapen.  He fell to the floor.  Moments later, he began rapidly tapping his hand against the ground.

"Well," Hector said, "now we know what an operative is capable of."

The fight was over.  The view vanished, replaced with a plain stone wall.  The healer moved, quickly entering the combat room.

"You are more familiar with the schedule than me, Hector, which fight should we watch next?"

"Good afternoon, Kelly."  Jason greeted his roommate.  She was, like him and Hector, waiting for Gregory Warp's first challenge match to begin.

"Hey Jason.  Hector." she replied.  "This's Sam and Kerry."  They all exchanged greetings, Jason being careful to keep his face pleasant and meet their eyes.  Well, as best he could, removing the glasses would undermine the point of a polite greeting.

"What brings you two over?"  Kelly asked them.

"It only made sense." Jason answered.  "Gregory Warp is both the highest ranked combatant and the one with the most challenges.  I hope to learn a great deal from watching him fight."

"Nope." said Keridwyn.  "He's the one that took me down.  No offense to anyone here, but as easily as he beat me, you're not going to learn anything from watching him take down the small fries."

"What position did you earn?"  Perhaps she was resentful that an early loss had left her in a rank below that which she thought she was due?

"Second."

"I see."  She must have been genuinely impressed by his power then.  "What is the nature of his ability?  I can think of few things stronger than turning into a dragon."

"I get that a lot.  Flight, phasing and an energy beam strong enough to cut through the dome walls."

"That is quite a formidable combination.  How did your fight go?"

"It wasn't even close."  She snorted and he had no trouble recognizing her expression as 'disgust.'  "I tried to grab him but my hands went right through.  Then he flew straight up, cut one of em off with his beam and told me to surrender.  I did."

The fight began, not long after their conversation had begun.  Gregory, Kelly said he preferred Greg, was a small man.  In truth, he was the only trainee Jason had seen that was about the same size as Kelly's female form.  His opponent, George Dragon, was a large, male trainee with scale like skin.  He grew wings from his back before entering the dome.

"No relation."  Keridwyn asserted.

Both trainees behaved very oddly, during the fight.  Greg turned and ran to the side as soon as the tone sounded.  Once he had reached the wall, he lounged against it and relaxed for the remainder of the match.  George looked up and began breathing fire, paying no apparent attention to his opponent.  Shortly, he stopped letting out bursts of flame and began leaping around the dome, ducking and dodging, despite the lack of any clear threat.

"That little bastard!"  Kerridwyn said, much louder than normal.

George raised both hands above his head, shouting something.  Most likely it was 'I yield,' as the match ended and both fighters left the combat room immediately afterwards.

"He's just an illusionist!  I though he was a real powerhouse or I'd have gone after him again."  Kerry seemed unduly surprised by the revelation.

"You said his beam was strong enough to cut through the wall."  He pointed out.

"Yeah, so?"

"I take this to mean that when you thought he removed your hand, you also thought he blasted through the wall?"

A number of people had gathered around George after he left the dome.  Jason could not tell if they were mocking him or commiserating with his loss.

"Only a little, but yeah.  I wouldn't have given up if I didn't think he could do real damage.  And how did he cut off my hand if it's just illusions?" she objected.

"I do not know.  However, if he had really fired an energy beam through the wall, he would have been disqualified."

"I... I didn't even think about that.  You're right." she agreed.  "Your name was Jason, right?"

"That is correct."

"I'll remember it."

Gregory Warp's next few fights were very different.  Rather than dodge imaginary attacks, his opponents simply collapsed to the ground.  Some staggered to the side or made some attempt to attack him first, all of which missed.  A few vomited.  After a short period, either they yielded or Greg would render them unconscious by using his hand to block their nose and mouth.  Jason and the others watched three such victories before he grew bored.

"Kelly, I nearly forgot to tell you.  Isaac wishes to speak with you, when you have the opportunity."

"Yeah." her voice was quieter than usual and she was looking down.  "Hector told me earlier but he wouldn't say what it was about."

"I believe Isaac disapproves of some of your decisions and wishes to encourage you to change your behavior."  Oddly, Samantha and Keridwyn both stepped forward and placed a hand on Kelly's shoulders.  "I do not believe I will learn anything further from watching these matches.  I will see you both, back at our home."  Kelly was still looking down, Samantha was speaking softly to her and Keridwyn was staring at him.  Strange.  "Have a good day, ladies."

CHAPTER 5:  PRIORITIES

Residence Area

Isaac was walking home, alone.  His first session had left him feeling raw, like every bit of his soul was exposed, but also clean.  It wasn't a good description but it was the best he could come up with.  He knew that this hadn't fixed anything, that feeling of frustrated rage and black hate was still there, but it felt like a good start.  Therapy wasn't mandatory, not for him, but he'd be coming back next weekend.  He wondered if Jenny would be there again.

It was strange.  She always seemed so happy, full of energy and life.  Then again, if someone didn't know about his incident during combat ranking, Isaac probably seemed perfectly normal.  Self-controlled, maybe a little intense sometimes, but normal.  Isaac didn't know for a fact that she'd been in the medical area for the same reason as him, but it seemed likely.  His thoughts were interrupted by an enormous bird landing in front of him, a bird whose body blurred and flowed, turning into a tiny blonde girl with pigtails.

"Where the Hell do you get off!?  You're not my father; you don't get to have opinions about the way I live my life!"

What the hell?  She was vaguely familiar, the shapeshifter that had had such a bad reaction during their first combat class.  Why- wait, shapeshifter?  Oh shit.

"K- Kelly?" he asked.

"That's Trainee Protean to you, you jerk."  There were tears in her eyes.

"No, oh no, I'm so sorry Kelly."  His mind raced back over everything he'd said, everything Hector or Jason had said.  It seemed so obvious now.  "Kelly, I didn't know!" he pleaded.

"You- what?" her face was flushed, tears running down her face.  What could he-?

"Kelly, think back.  You never told me your power."  Please let her listen, he had to make this right.

"I... but Jason said... you said I was making the wrong choice."  Her voice quiet, broken with sobs.  Oh God, he'd hurt her so bad.

"Just, just give me a minute to explain, okay?"  Careful, this could go so wrong.

"Kelly, I never knew what you could do.  I didn't know your power.  When you got here, you met Jason and Hector first, right?"  She nodded, hurt and betrayal written across her face.  "I bet when you met them, you explained everything, right?"  She nodded again, a little calmer.  "We didn't meet till breakfast, that Monday.  They never told me.  I had no idea."

"You didn't?  But then, what Jason said..."

"Kelly, I only ever saw you when you were a guy and I didn't know what you could do.  I told them I was worried because I thought you were skipping training sessions."

"Skipping...?  Isaac that doesn't even make sense!  This is the Citadel.  They don't take anyone but the best and everyone knows that!"

"Well, yeah.  That's why I was so worried about you.  I thought you seemed like a good kid and I didn't want you getting kicked out."

"Oh."  The anger was gone but she hadn't relaxed yet.  Isaac watched as Kelly seemed to almost shrink in on herself.  "So you really didn't know.  But... but now you do."  She looked up at him, and he could practically hear the part of that sentence she'd left unasked.  Now that he knew, what did he think?

"Kelly, let me tell you a story.  When I was a little older than you, I was in college.  I think I mentioned that I used to be an accountant but I don't remember if you were around then or not."  She shook her head.  "Okay.  Well, I was at WSU, studying for my CPA.  That's where I met Van-" No.  He still couldn't say her name, not even for this.  "My wife.  And I met her best friend Thea.  I wouldn't have met my wife if it wasn't for her.  Thea was on the same degree plan as me, we shared a few classes and she thought we'd get along.  So Thea introduced me to the love of my life.

We stayed friends or more all through school.  Thea was always more my wife's friend than mine, they'd known each other practically forever, but I still liked her.  I was so grateful I would have liked her no matter what."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because Thea's parents named her Theo."  He gave it a moment but she didn't react.  "I never understood what my wife saw in her.  I liked Thea well enough, and like I said, I was grateful.  But I didn't ever understand why they were so close."  He stopped speaking, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  "When we graduated, Thea and I went to work at the same company.  This might be a bit of a surprise, but accountancy firms tend to be a bit conservative.  So Thea couldn't work there, but Theo could."  He felt the bitterness wash over him.  It still felt the same, even though it didn't matter anymore.

"Watching her at work, every day, it hurt.  There was just so much misery in her eyes...  Well, that was when I got it.  I'd thought of Thea as bubbly and cheerful, even shallow.  But knowing that she'd been hurt so badly because she couldn't live the way she wanted... I don't know.  I got it.  My wife didn't love her because she was happy.  She loved her because she'd been through so much but still had the strength to go looking for joy."  Isaac shook his head.  "It's a quality I wish I had a little more of these days."

"What happened?  To Thea, I mean."

"She died."

"I'm sorry.  Thank you...  Thank you for telling me all this."

"It's okay Kelly.  Like I said, you're a good kid."

"You really don't have a problem with me?  I mean, with my-?"

"No.  I don't want you to ever ask me that again cause the answer won't change."  She smiled.  Thank God.  "Although... I've always felt bad for not understanding Thea better.  If you don't mind, when we're both in a better mood for it, I'd like to ask you some stuff."

"Okay."  Kelly smiled at him.  "About you being upset though, I mean, with me skipping classes?"

"Uh huh?"  He started walking home.  She reached up, taking his hand, then walked alongside him.

"I mean, I haven't been, but if I was... I meant what I said."

"Huh?"

"You're not my father.  I've got a really good one and I don't need another."

"I know.  I was just worried because I like you, that's all."

"Isaac?  You're not really my type." she said with a teasing grin.

Maybe he should've phrased that better.

Instruction Area, Citadel Hub

It seemed unlikely, but Isaac had settled into a routine.  His day started with a group breakfast, he and his roommates talking over Hector's cooking.  After that came Ethics, something he didn't think anyone really enjoyed.  Instructor Catherine Verres was very good at setting up no win situations and forcing her students to confront their, often poorly understood, motivations. 

Physical Conditioning wasn't too bad, not for him at least, but it was boring.  That had improved on the third day. Coach Achala had started sending the trainees who wouldn't benefit from the track over to the equipment room.  Isaac had found a reinforced speed bag and weighted bag, enough to resume his long abandoned boxing training.

Combat was different.  Coach Achala's training exercise was effective, but it was also pure misery.  Isaac didn't like being on the receiving side, who would, but he could see the benefit.  He had to restrain his power every time he took a hit.  Being blind and helpless, naked even, didn't make that any easier.  At first, Isaac's field had gone up after every blow.  If his first partner, George, hadn't been so tough, the younger man could've been badly hurt.

Hitting Isaac when his field was up was equivalent to a normal person punching a brick wall.  Isaac was getting better, his power more under his control.  During his last session as an imitation punching bag, he'd managed to go almost ten minutes without using it.  Kind of a strange achievement, but Isaac felt a certain sense of pride anyway.

Class sessions where he was the striker were different.  Attacking someone who was helpless, even knowing a Healer type was nearby to keep things from going too far, that was something no one could enjoy.  Even so, he could see the benefit.  Hurting someone, doing real damage to them and especially with your bare hands, that didn't come easy to most people.

His boxing coach, back in college, had emphasized something similar.  It didn't matter how strong or fast you were, not if you hesitated and the other guy didn't.  This was obviously meant to get the trainees past that initial shock, to inure them to the sensation of hurting another human being.  Good training, maybe, but it was an awful thing to go through.

"What is the greatest threat to the human race?" asked the day's guest instructor, Eugene Sikes.

He was the very picture of a college professor, glasses, neatly trimmed grey beard, he even had the jacket with leather patches at the elbow.  The only thing missing was a pipe.  A few of the other trainees gave the most obvious answers.

"The Bugs!  King in Winter! Tyrant!"

It actually seemed to enrage the little man.

"NO!  The Hive States have never been linked to a single act of aggression towards a human being!  Winter's domain hasn't spread since nineteen twenty six.  The Tyrant controls the actions of every man, woman and child living in Europe but he’s also a hundred and twenty-five years old and lying in a hospital bed.  If not for the constant attention of healing powers he would be long dead.  You aren't thinking about it, try harder!"

The man hadn't even introduced himself, just walked in and begun speaking.  Isaac only knew his name because of the changed schedule they'd received that morning.  The next round of responses seemed less certain.

"Monster?  The Battle Lords?"

"Bah!  Monster is believed to have killed between two and three hundred people, personally.  If you credit him with the indirect effects of his actions, that goes up to about two thousand.  The Battle Grounds have spread, slowly, for the last forty years.  People still live there!  The Battle Lords are a threat to this nation, what's left of it, but not the human race.  Your Director told you the answer already.  What.  Is.  The.  Greatest.  Threat.  To.  Our.  Species!?"

The only voice that answered this time was Jenny's.

"The next one."

"Yes!  Thank you young lady.  Everything and everyone your peers mentioned is a known quantity.  Yes, they are dangerous, yes they have cost many, many lives.  But we know how to deal with them."  Instructor Eugene stopped speaking, looking over his class.  "You people will be the next generation of our Citadel.  It will be your job, your duty, to deal with the next generation of catastrophic Empowered.

“Instructor Catherine has doubtless spent the last week telling you that every mistake you make, every hesitation or lapse in judgment, will lead to a loss of life."  He paused again, waiting for the class's murmured assent.

"Loss of life is not the worst case scenario.  End of life is.  Lt. Commander Byrd's obsession with reaching the North Pole led to his Empowerment.  At the time, he was a naval pilot and explorer.  Now, he's more commonly called the King in Winter.  His very body is a heat sink of such power that everything within three thousand kilometers of him is frozen solid.  Do you understand? 

“Think about the effects that should have had.  Weather, ocean level, the very temperature of the Earth itself should have changed.  But!  But we got lucky.  Russia, Canada and Greenland all effectively ceased to exist as countries.  Temperatures in that region dropped more than a hundred degrees in less than an hour.  Worldwide panic, riots and desperate refugees..."  Instructor Sikes' voice broke off, resumed after he took a moment to visibly collect himself.

"That could have easily meant an end to human life on Earth.  But we got lucky.  Something about the nature of Byrd's power restricted the effects.  Once you get past that line, roughly three thousand kilometers away from Byrd himself, the effect ends.  With the right equipment or powers, you can literally see the cities, frozen and dead, while you stand in the warm sunshine.

Imagine you'd been there.  What if you were in the plane with him, realized what was happening.  Would you have stopped it?  Could you have?  The life of one man, a good man, maybe even a hero, versus the lives of countless innocents...  But what if it wasn't a man?  Make it worse.  A twelve year old child, a frightened, newly Empowered innocent... what would you do then?  She means no harm; she doesn't understand her new power.  Nevertheless, if she has the wrong power, an ability that can't be controlled or shouldn't exist...

That little girl... my daughter... she sterilized everyone within a mile of herself.  It was her first period, she was scared and...  My wife... pregnant women miscarried."  He stopped again, weeping softly.

"The effect was spreading.  The operative stationed in our town realized what was happening but... he couldn't do it."  There were tears on his face but the speaker's voice grew hard.  "He couldn't do it.  He told us, my wife and me, he told us what was happening but he didn't do what was necessary.  So I did."  There was hate in his eyes.  Isaac knew that expression very well, saw it in the mirror.

"You want to be Citadel?  You want to protect us?  That's what you have to do.  Not what's good or just.  An operative does what's necessary.  That's what you're for."

He turned and left the room, silence in his wake.

Instruction Area

Kelly was worried about Samantha, Sam.  She'd been the first friend Kelly made here, well, except for Hector.  The girl was friendly and really nice. That counted for a lot in Kelly's eyes, but her power was... well, it was kind of weak.  What was worse, Sam knew it, too.  She hadn't even tried to put up a fight during her ranking match.  Okay, that'd been against Kerry and she didn't know what her friend could've done against the dragon girl, but still...