Endurance - Yuki Ayaka

[Bakamono]

The boy raised an eyebrow at her apparent cynicism and spoke '€œA hard woman like they say. You're the Kumicho right? Ayaka? ..Man!'€ he exclaimed and whispered '€œHow did -you- of ~all~ people, end up here?'€
"Ex-Kumicho" she said and then looked at him. "Parking fine, you?" she almost unnoticeably grinned.
The boy sighed amusedly "Yeah right. Anyway, they pulled me out a bad situation: people I was working with found out I was a snitch. It was this or get murdered"
"What exactly is -this-?" she looked around herself.
"your guess is as good as mine, some kind of training centre apparently. I mean, did you see the Junk in our rooms? Field manuals, tactics, I even got one called 'typical architecture of secure embassies'...crazy."
"Yeah, it's like porn for spy-fiction geeks. Still might be more entertaining than that guard guys. They probably have read too much of that stuff..."
The boy laughed: a genuine moment of mirth amidst tragedy.
"So uh...what do you think of that 'you will not have sex with other recruits' crap?" he imitated the instructor mockingly.
"That they probably don't like to change the sheets more often than they have to. Still don't think it will make people stop doing it, plus sexual deprivation makes man more aggressive, which is what they probably want." she said.
"Yeah, yeah" the boy nodded and looked at his feet.

Soon another two instructors, a male and a female, made themselves known to the gathered group "Some recruits are dead, there are thirteen of you left. If you expect to do better you will conform." The pair proceeded to explain which areas were restricted as they led a circular tour of the facility, which included the showers.

*****

As the gathered thirteen moved under guard, The liberty boy whispered to Yuki and nodded subtly in the direction of another recruit who seemed to be dawdling. the young man quickly attacked the nearest guard, with a few steps of momentum he seemed to run up and over the body of the guard who grunted and fell to his knees. Acrobatically the man propelled himself from the wall and proceeded to take a zig-zagging route down the corridor. As the man enacted this heroic display, Yuki could see a guard touch his helmet, speaking into the face-guard.

*she turned to the guy she spoke before* "Thirty seconds. Your bet?"
"I wager my next meal that he lasts a minute"
*she grinned and watched the guard speaking to a helmet*

The guards opened fire. Rounds whizzed invisibly through the air, identified only by the exploding torn limbs of the fleeing recruit and dents left in the wall.

His legs went first, huge holes ejected blood from his calves and thighs, the holes exposing thick wet bones which broke and shattered before the witnesses eyes. As he fell screaming his back erupted, ribs flew free in a shower of dark red and the purple pieces of veined organs. The man who was once called Jin was dead before he hit the ground, his lifeless eyes disappeared as further rounds tore away what had been a handsome face. the liberty boy flinched and looked away.

Fragments of skull and brain flew backwards, cracking against and off the dented wall, blood painted a diffuse smear at haphazard trajectories from the ruined body. After the cacophonous violence had died down, the boy from liberty sighed resignedly "Guess I owe you dinner..." his awkward speech was interrupted. The female instructor spoke '€œHe made a mistake: he attempted the impossible. This next room is psych eval. It's where you can come to unburden yourself of mental baggage..'€

She bit her lip "What a mess..." *she looked at the remains* "I feel for whoever must be cleaning this s***" *she nudged the libertonian guy* "At least it's not us..." *she grinned and added a few seconds later* "I hope"

He nodded, seeming to suppress a moment of disturbed weakness before forcing a smile '€œYeah...yeah I am sure we'l be o.k.'€ he said, obviously convincing himself more than Yuki.

*****

Life at the training facility was both a blessing and a curse. Provisions were adequate, but the regime intensive. Physical training was daily, split into different areas: a full cardio circuit, bag time, weights and sparring made up four hours of every day bar one. Then came scenarios, where each trainee was assigned to a team.

The first was an intelligence assignment. Teams were given files, maps, images, surveillance reports, psychological profiles, and a host of other materials to pour over.

'€œ~All~ of this data represents the workings of a diplomatic officer and its dealings with defence technologies. There may be a security risk directed at elements within the data, or stemming from them. Your task it to find out who the primary targets are, and the primary weak-links may be. First team to give a satisfactory solution will be rewarded. This exercise will count toward deciding who takes part in their first field exercise.'€

*she quickly read through the data* '€œFamily relatives?'€ *she asked the rest of the team* '€œProstitutes, money laundring...'€

The liberty boy turned to the other four on their team. '€œSee, I told ya she's quick.'€ he turned to Yuki and winked '€œI think you might be onto something with the family '€“ people will do anything for family right?'€ Another of the group '€“ an older kusari man asked for a stack of the files and started sifting through financial records.

Ayakas team presented their solutions to the instructors first, earning more than a few hateful grimaces from their opposition. As reports were sent to the overseers terminal, the head instructor appeared at the doorway and gave an acknowledging nod to Yuki, his eyes fixed upon her as though he saw something in her now that was not apparent before.

On team two, the tan liberty girl '€“ who she had found out they simply called 'Beast' glared bitterly from across the room.

*****

It is noon, lunch today is fish, the thirteen recruits are performing the usual routine of cueing with trays. Yuki has a loaded tray and is heading to a table when she sees 'Beast' swaggering in her direction.
As the beast approaches Ayaka reads that beast plans to collide with her, and moves quickly to ready herself. Awkwardly the beast misses her mark and is struck with Ayakas tray, a satisfying clang resounds dully as the metal strikes the beasts gut. *she grinned as the tray hit her stomach*

"Careful, where you're stepping princess"
One of the recruits audibly giggles. Yuki watches as the beast curled over in pain, steadies herself on a nearby table edge. A few smiles light up on faces that soon turn away as the beast rises '€œWhat you laughin at?!"
"Probably you"
The beast gets angrier, and attempts to tackle Yuki, its movements obvious and laboured.
*Yuki covered her hits rather easily, the beast's move were strong but easy to predict. When Ayaka realized she's not gonna stop she took her head and smacked it over the wall.* "Keep your hands off me."

The dazed beast slumped to the ground and attempted to crawl away. murmuring its assent.
*she looked at her and rolled her eyes. Ayaka then helped her to get up*
The beast attempted to slap her hands away '€œ...need no help'€ she grunted, lumbering to stand. In embarrassment she sought the quickest means of escape from the populated hall, shoving a smaller, weaker recruit on her way out.

A couple of the recruits nodded to her silently in acknowledgement of her bravery. The Liberty boy approached '€œhah! Nicely: didn't think anyone would stand up to 'the beast''€ he looked around at the faces regarding Yuki '€œand I think you just made a few friends."
"I am not here to lead or make friends. There are only two you go with me, either in my way or out of my way. She got in my way." *Ayaka took a new food plate*