"Oh, it's her! Her destructive powers are as intimidating as ever."
Vlad's brow furrowed, his expression laced with confusion.
Then a familiar voice called upon him. A surge of unadulterated annoyance crossed his face.
"You look rather unwell Vlad," The girl spoke, using a teasing tone.
Vlad's face scrunched up like a prune, visibly displeased at the teasing from the girl.
"Get smacked around and hit in the ribcage then talk."
"Hmm, I have a feeling I'd never get hit like that though, I'm confident I'd manage to avoid such clumsy encounters," The girl said, her mask retracting with a soft hiss revealing a smug smirk playing on her lips.
Their ears perked at the sound of footsteps getting closer to them - louder by the second. Both turned in the direction of the sound to see Kel climbing up onto the ledge where they stood.
"Hey Kel Firouza," The girl greeted.
"Long time no see Miss Lionheart."
"I didn't expect to see the oh-so-great Adele Lara Lionheart at sector fives MEF," Vlad said, wiping off dust. "And joining a year later as well."
Adele shrugged a hint of bitterness and exhaustion flickering in her eyes.
"Things happened. You know how the emperor acts towards us."
"You nobles and your noble problems, we can't relate."
Adele laughed.
"You are not in a position to say that anymore now."
A realization dawned on Vlad. He let out a sigh and remained silent.
Kel chuckled, crossing his arms and grinning at Vlad.
"My lor-"
"Oh shut up! We have some uglies coming from eleven o'clock," Vlad snapped, his brow frowned and face annoyed.
I forgot about 'that'.
Kel armed himself.
"I already told you, you attracted a lot of attention dealing with that mutant earlier."
Kel can weaken them from afar, Vlad thought.
"Shoot the ones with the red horns in the ribs, one of their cores should be there."
Kel's rifle clicked with a sharp, decisive snap as he thumbed it over to single-fire, the sharp click echoing in the tense air.
"And the other core?"
"We'll need to find," Adele answered.
There goes my thunder, Vlad thought.
Adele rushed forward with great speed leaving Vlad and Kel in her dust. Her voice started to thin out and disappear as she hauled across the rough terrain fading into the distance.
"Don't fall behind boys! Still seeing zeros on your kill counters."
Vlad grumbled:
"She'll be singing a different tune when I'm the one racking up the kills."
Not wanting to be left behind Vlad lurched towards the horde of mutants like a moth to a flame.
***
Kaff was watching everything unfold - the chaos, the near-deaths, the sheer bloody mess outside the gate from the monitoring room - standing with his arms crossed.
"Someone catch your eye, Vice-Commander?" A casual but respectful voice inquired from behind.
Kaff turned around, his movements sharp and economical.
"Hax. And I thought the sleepy General went to get a nap?"
"I couldn't fall asleep."
"You were barely standing in front of the cadets though?" Kaff said, confused at the contradictions. "I was amazed you could even make out the S-pad in front of you."
Hax walked closer to the screens displaying the cadets' fights outside.
"I'm a great actor, Vice-commander. You are probably the only one who can tell I'm tired."
Seeing Kaff's gaze was fixed on Vlad he said:
"Vlad Romanov huh? He's got good results in the entrance test. Must run in the family I guess."
Kaff's eyes remained locked on the screens.
"There are a few others beside him."
Hax tilted his head slightly hearing Kaff.
"That's unexpected coming from you. Usually, you only have eyes for one or two Vice-Commander."
"…"
"I saw the Lionheart's daughter's name on the list of cadets this year, how's she doing?"
"Just what you would expect from the valedictorian."
"Is that so?"
Hax leaned closer to the screen showing Vlad.
"But you said you consider Romanov promising. What caught your eye specifically? His aggression? His… recklessness?"
"He adapts quickly. And uses everything around him to his advantage, a valuable trait."
"I guess. What's his nuclear energy uptake? Is he using more than the usual 25 kilobecquerel?
"The NE absorption data will be here in a few seconds," Kaff replied, his eyes moving from one screen to another.
Hax kept his eyes on Vlad.
"Though from the punches he's throwing he should be close to double the average cadet in NE absorption."
***
Two mutants simultaneously attacked Vlad. He was struggling a little due to their speed and constant assaults. But it wasn't long until he landed a blow to one of the mutant's skull - the contents inside spilling on the ground.
Even in death, the mutant was making things hard for Vlad - his punch from earlier resulting in his hand getting wedged deep inside the skull. He tugged. He swore. But it was futile.
Shit!
The sound of thumping behind him grew into a thunder, each step feeling like an approaching doom. Then a screech made his head turn instinctively. The mutant was mere meters away.
"Need some support here Kel!"
A blue string of light bashed onto the beak. The upper part of it exploded in a shower of bone shards sending a shriek through the air.
"Damn it! Missed the headshot," Kel spoke over the comms.
Making use of the little breathing room made by Kel's assistance, Vlad, with a grunt, struck the skull of the mutant with his other hand, blood and chunks of flesh splattered coating his face in gore but through the bath of disgusting mutant bits his hand got free.
This is disgusting.
Despite having its beak blown into smithereens the mutant was relentless. It sprinted towards Vlad with its razor-sharp claws. Vlad evaded its sharp claws with ease and landed a solid strike. Before it could even register the pain, another shot came flying hitting its head - the shot blowing a chunk of its face in a spray of gore, revealing some bones and one of its cores.
"Got it this time," Kel said over the comms.
"That wasn't enough," Vlad replied. "But I do see its core."
Vlad scrambled up a jagged rock and launched down, his full weight crashing onto the mutant's already messed up skull, slamming it into the ground in a loud thud.
"Dead?" Kel asked over the comms.
Vlad let out a sigh, trying to catch his breath.
"Positive."
His attention was stolen by his QC's Spectra-Pad.
[Nuclear energy utilization levels exceeding previous parameters.]
***
"Well his ego doesn't hold him back from asking for help that's for sure," Hax said with a chuckle.
Kaff gave a small nod, his gaze still fixed on the screens.
"Sir!"
A staff member's voice grabbed Kaff and Hax's attention.
"The data for NE absorption is in."
Both of them turned sharply, hearing the report. Their eagerness to see the data was elevated by Hax's previous comment on Vlad.
"Displaying the data on the screen in front of you now sir," The staff said, his fingers flickering away at his Spectra-Pad.
Hax's eyes widened.
"Would you look at that…"