SIN U

"Get up Tom!" the large man in the drab olive coloured clothes yelled, spittle spraying from his wide open mouth. It wasn't the first time he had yelled during this match.

Tom looked up at his smirking opponent. The boy, Paul, was heavily muscled, and relished in dominating everyone in these sparring matches, but he seemed to really enjoy hurting Tom. SIN U was not a regular University, it drew in both the supremely clever and athletically gifted, everyone striving to be recognized and indoctrinated into a branch of the Government or Military when they graduated.

Tom did not get in because of his physical gifts. With his grades and IQ score, he could have gone to any other school more easily. He did pass the physical though.

Wiping blood from his lips, Tom stood and faced Paul again. He settled into the ready stance they were taught and waited for the teacher to tell them to start again. Captain Gary loved to yell, and to use Tom's failings as a lesson for the rest of the class.

"Remember class, you don't pull punches, and you don't wait for your opponent to dust themselves off and get back up. You are always fighting for your lives," the Captain yelled. As if on queue, Paul rushed forward, fist cocked back for a big cross. He was taking the lesson to heart and not waiting for the Captain to say start.

'If he is going to take the Captain literally, then I should too, right?' Tom thought. As Paul's arm started shooting forward, Tom casually lifted his foot. His greater reach, and Paul's forward momentum, meant that he hit Paul's testicles well before the fist made it to his head.

"Argluuckkk," Paul strangled out. He dropped to his knees and covered his crotch with both hands. Then Tom round house kicked the side of his head.

Paul crumpled to the ground. The absolute silence of the class seemed stark compared to the jokes, laughter and conversation they had made when Tom was on the ground.

"Holy shit," Captain Gary said. This was much quieter than when he was yelling at Tom a few moments ago.

"If it is truly life or death, Sir, I won't lose, Sir," Tom said in a soldier's stance. He looked down at the unconscious Paul and said, "I will try to improve my sparring though, Sir!"

The class looked on in silence. Tom was used to this. Even in a University devoted to fighting, spycraft and the art of war, Tom stuck out as different. He had hoped his clear thinking and analytical nature would be appreciated, but he suffered from the same ostracization he had in highschool.

"At ease son," Captain Gary said. Then he laughed. "Damn. You both took that lesson too literally. I guess I should be glad you didn't kill him, eh?" His eyes sparkled a little with the wide smile on his face.

"I wouldn't do that during a lesson, Sir," Tom said, a small smile of his own creased his eyes. It wasn't a big smile like the Captain's, but it broke the tension.

"Good to hear son. Let's get Paul to the infirmary, eh?"

Tom's smile widened a little. Aiming his kick a little higher would have connected with the temple, not a guaranteed kill, but more devastating. A little lower though, and he could have broken Paul's neck and crushed his throat.

Tom didn't always think about how to kill someone in every situation, but he didn't not think about it either.

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"Tom, Tom, over here." Tom looked towards the voice calling across the crowded cafetaria and saw his room mate, Matt, sitting at a table.

Matt was an unlikely friend for Tom. He was social with an easy smile and always surrounded by a group of people. As far as Tom could discern, Matt never said anything interesting in his gatherings, but people laughed and smiled. Matt was a natural at building rapport and relationships.

Tom wondered if it was Matt's natural goodness that made him put so much effort into being friendly with him. 'Matt says he wants to join the police and use his computer skills to stop criminals. Looking at all of his skills, he is more likely to be recruited by a secret military team or code word government organization,' Tom thought. It wasn't the first time he'd seen his athletic, intelligent and charismatic room mate and thought he would be the perfect spy. 'My analytical skills are better, and my fighting is worse. I'm more likely to end up as an analyst with one of the policing groups.'

Tom made his way over with his food tray. Of course he noticed that the 4 other people at the table got quieter and looked at him with uneasiness.

"I heard that you took down Paul in sparring today. That shit head deserved it. Good job man," Matt said, then laughed. Somehow, his laugh spread to everyone else, and they all looked welcoming as Tom sat down. Even Tom smiled a little.

"I just decided to follow the Captain's advice. I couldn't beat Paul in a fair fight."

"Yeah, well Paul bullies everyone, so this is a good lesson for him. Plus, I bet this will help your grade with Captain Gary. He likes people who stand up for themselves," Matt said. The boys and girls around him all nodded.

Tom didn't point out that Captain Gary was a classic bully himself. That was pretty much his job description.

"I'm not sure that is going to help me much during the Selection process. This is the first time he seemed happy with me."

At the mention of the Selection Process eveyone went a little quieter again. Tom looked around, surprised that the mood had changed. 'The Selection Process is just part of the routine here, nothing to worry about, right?'

"My parents will be so upset if I don't get into the Military Police," a tall dark haired boy said.

"Mine are expecting me to be on a management track with the National Police," a strong looking girl shared.

"My dad doesn't care what I do. I want to be a cyber crime analyst though. Tracking criminals' digital footprints, no one will escape me," Matt said, his smile contrasting with the serious looks of everyone else.

"We don't have much of a say though. This first year has all been general education, and they have been assessing us the whole time," Tom said. He knew this when he started, and had just been doing his best since the beginning. He didn't really care where he ended up, each organization that recruited from Sin U did important work.

"That's right. They will evaluate our grades, accomplishments, and teachers' opinions to pick our specialized fields of study," Matt said. He still sounded confident.

"And our psych profile, don't forget that," chimed another of the girls, a cute blonde who had been quiet till now.

"Psych profile?" Tom said, a little alarm in his voice. "I didn't do any psychological test to get in here."

Matt smiled wide. "It's an upper year project. The profilers from the National and State police services streams evaluate all the first years and build a psych profile. It's an important part of the process. They probably know us better than we know ourselves.

"Oh," Tom said. 'Oh no,' he thought.