Sticking Up for Team Fail_04

Damon knew that the new school year would be very different from his last. He could no longer stay secluded from the other students in role specialty school and get by with little interaction. Now he had a team to look after, to lead to victory—for their sake, but mostly his.

With this new opportunity, he knew he would now have to embrace his role as Captain in school, one he's been avoiding for two years, and now he's fully prepared to embody it and lead by example.

He didn't expect, however, to already be in two behavioral reformation sessions and make rivals with the five other teams in class 2B within the first week of school.

It started on the first day of the new school year.

For the first time in the 100 year-old school, there were 105 tentative graduates of the MMA Paladin Mecha Branch instead of the traditional 100. This, of course, didn't blow-over very well with most of the students and instructors because now time, space, and resources had to be shared with a team that didn't even pass role specialty school.

This strain was most noticeable when the 21 teams of 5 were split into two squads based on their ranking in role specialty school. Because Team Fail was an extra team, they were tacked onto Squad 2, prematurely giving Squad 1 a ranking advantage.

It wouldn't have been so bad if everyone was guaranteed a spot in next year's Team Formation Year 2 class. However, by the end of the school year, 25 students will be transferred from the Paladin Mecha Branch to the lower-ranking Sentinels Mecha Branch. And by the end of the 4 years, only 50 students—10 teams—graduate as part of the Mecha Specialist Squad.

It was safe for Damon to assume his team wouldn't be a popular one, especially to the ten other teams in their squad, but when the squads were then broken down into two even smaller classes of five teams… that's when the simmering pot began boiling over.

During Study of Skills class —the first segment of the day, nicknamed "Studies" —every team was separated into their respective classes. When Squad 2, Class B entered their small classroom, everyone glared at the extra five desks in the back of the room, cramping the already tiny room.

"Are you kidding me?" The Operator from Team 20 scoffed. "Why do we have to take on the failed losers?"

A few others murmured in agreement, even the Captain of Team 20 who sat directly in front of Damon.

Damon and his team ignored the whispers and angry glares shot in their direction as they took their place in the back of the classroom. There were only three of them, Jax, Soraya and Damon for the rest of the week. Diesel was still missing and Lilith had confessed to Damon that morning about having to finish her week-long Behavioral Reformation Sessions she had accumulated over break.

It was no surprise when Team Fail found their holo-desks to be slapped together from "refurbished" pieces. All of Team Fail's desks had chips or cracks on their glass interface and Soraya's wouldn't turn on at all.

When Damon and Soraya sat down, their plastic chairs creaked and strained like an old mecha that hadn't been oiled in fifty years. Jax's chair straight-up broke just as he was about to sit down. He casually switched chairs with Lilith who would be next to him starting next week.

I guess if we were given a second chance we can work under these circumstances. Damon thought, keeping his hopes high. He figured their classmates would eventually cool down as well, especially if Team Fail kept their noses from sticking out, but just from their team introductions his faith slowly faded.

When Class 2B's instructor, Captain Deckard, introduced himself it was obvious how he felt about Team Fails presence. It wasn't as obvious as their classmates, but Damon knew not to expect any sympathy from him should things go awry.

All of the Teams took turns introducing themselves and when it was their turn, the operator from Team 20 took the opportunity to trip Jax on the way up to the front. Everyone laughed and Captain Deckard ignored the commotion as he continued to present Team Fail's information on the holo-board with his back toward the class.

It was customary to begin introductions from left-to-right, but with Diesel missing Team Fail's intro would start with Soraya. They stood there for a moment too long and Damon glanced beside him. Her bright red face was mostly hidden behind her long brown hair as she stared intently at her feet, too petrified to say anything. Then he turned the other direction and quickly realized no one would even hear Jax.

He sighed realizing there was no other way before he began Team Fail's introduction, "My name is Damon and I'm the Captain of Team 21, official recognized as Team Fail. On the far left and currently indisposed would be Diesel, Team Fail's mechanic. To my immediate left is Soraya Ralston, Team Fail's medic and analyst. To my immediate right and also indisposed would be Lilith Reid, Team Fail's Combat Specialist. And to the far right is Jax, Team Fail's operator."

It was quiet and tense when Damon finally finished.

"Sit down," said Captain Deckard, turning back to the holo-board.

Team Fail made their way back to their desks but not before Jax was tripped again and another comment was made by Team 20's combat specialist.

"Captain Deckard, why does our class have to deal with an extra team this year? And on top of that, they didn't even pass Role Specialty School."

"Instead of worrying about a team of failures," said Captain Deckard gruffly, eyeing everyone in the class. "Your priority should be making sure your team makes the top 15 to continue on to Team Formation Year 2. As it stands, this is the lowest scoring class out of the four classes. Now, are there any more unproductive questions?"

No one said anything.

"Good. Now, let's get started."

The rest of Studies went by relatively quickly and uneventful for Damon and his team. Afterwards, all four classes gathered in the cafeteria for lunch.

If he thought tension in the classroom was rough, it was magnified when class 2A —the rest of squad 2—made their first appearance.

Team Fail was automatically shunned from going anywhere near Squad 2. This didn't bother Damon, in fact he preferred it. It reminded him of how things were in Role Specialty School. He made sure they were dead last in line, and sat at a table at the far edge of Squad two.

The entire Squad eyed them as they took their place at the extra table shoved into the cafeteria at the last minute. Soraya made sure to stay between Damon and Jax the entire time and tried her hardest to shrink her existence as much as possible. Jax, on the other hand, didn't seem to be fazed by anything, not even the fact that he was tripped… twice on the first day. In fact, Damon noticed that he stared out the large window-wall next to him throughout the entire Studies segment.

"Hey Jax, do you know that guy who tripped you?" Damon asked after they finally sat down with their lunch trays.

Jax set down his fork for a moment to mumble something.

"Uh… I didn't catch that…" said Damon.

This time Soraya answered, "He said, 'No, not really. He was in my Role Specialty class last year, but I never talked to him.'"

Damon was shocked. "You understood him?"

Soraya nodded, "Jax is an Inflex. You won't be able to understand him unless you know how to listen."

"How do I listen?" asked Damon.

"Well… I can't really tell you, it'll defeat the purpose. You have to figure it out on your own."

Damon grumbled. "But I've heard him before, when we first met."

"In some cases you would be able to hear an Inflex if they're mad or frustrated…" Soraya thought a moment. "Was Lilith with him?"

"Yeah… that makes sense…" said Damon, remembering Jax scold Lilith when she crashed his personal buggy.

Suddenly, Soraya froze. Damon looked to see what caused her to turn into a scarecrow and found another pair of eyes piercing Soraya's soul with glaring daggers. It was a girl, glowering, ready to strike Soraya at any sense of resistance. What made it worse was the fact that this girl wore the patch that represented the top of their class, and from the look of huddled teams around them, self-proclaimed leaders of Squad 2.

"You know someone from Team 1?" Damon whispered, trying to pull Soraya's attention away from the death-glare the girl from Team 1 was giving her.

"Medic Reese graduated from Role Specialty School at the top of our class," she whispered weakly, picking at her food. "We've… met before…"

Geez, does everyone on my team have enemies?

"It's ironic…" said Damon watching Reese's attention get pulled away by her team mate.

"What is?" asked Soraya.

Damon chuckled, "She looks like she wants to kill you…"

The confused look on her face only lasted a moment before she relaxed and let out a chuckle.

Damon smiled broadly, "That's the first time I've seen you smile!"

Soraya went back to eating, trying to hide her small smile and reddening face. "Better finish up, Captain." She said between swallows. "Lunch is almost over."

The second half of the day, the Team-Building segment, went by a lot faster than the Studies segment and was surprisingly still uneventful.

Damon had his hopes up for an uneventful final year, but the next day at lunch, made him realize he wasn't going to get off so easy.

Team Fail was making their way to their secluded table when a loud crash behind Damon stopped all conversation in the cafeteria. When he turned around, Jax was face-down on the floor, his chest was covered in the mound of mashed potatoes and gravy from his tray. A second later, most of Team 20 burst into laughter along with a few chuckles from the other teams close enough to witness his fall first-hand. It was obvious what had happened. Team 20's operator was sitting lazily with his feet dangling in the middle of the walkway.

Damon placed his tray of food on the table and went to help Jax up from the floor. Soraya followed after him and while she helped Jax wipe the dripping gravy from his jacket, Damon went to confront the Captain of Team 20.

"I'd appreciate it if you told your guy to leave my team mate alone," said Damon to the back of the Captain's head.

It was suddenly dead quiet in the cafeteria as the Captain of Team 20 got up from his seat to face Damon. He was almost half a head taller than Damon with a bulkier build to go with his height. Damon caught a glimpse of his name-plate as he stood.

"This is a squabble between operators. If anything, his weak-ass Captain should stay out of it," said the Captain of Team 20, Captain Corom.

It took all Damon's strength not to scoff and retort in anger. Instead, he racked his brain for a work-around.

"Alright, I'll make this about the Captains as well," said Damon coming up with a quick plan. "I challenge Team 20 to a Mini-Prix Sprint tomorrow during lunch."

The Team 20 Captain laughed. "Fine. I've been looking forward to snuffing you failures out for good anyway."

"If we win, your team leaves my team alone... for good."

"Fine, but if we win your team has to do whatever we say for the rest of the year."

It was a high risk, but Damon felt there it was worth the risk if it got them off their backs. Hopefully the other teams would back off as well. If they lost however, he would have to try to cut some deal with the Director to get segregated from the class somehow.

Soraya shuffled quietly next Damon and whispered by his ear, "Captain, the instructors are noticing the tension."

Captain Corom leered at Soraya. "How did such a beautiful girl end up in Team Fail?" he said with a lusting smile. Corom raised his hand and reached for her, but Damon quickly caught his wrist. Damon stopped him with a firm grasp and Soraya quickly hid behind her Captain.

The smile fell on Corom's face and was quickly replaced with anger. He was about to raise his other fist when out of the corner of his eye, he saw the instructors catch wind of their encounter.

He grumbled between clenched teeth, "Tsk, you're lucky the instructors saved you—."

He was too busy eyeing the instructors to react to Damon's fist come smashing into his face. There were a few shocked gasps, chuckles, and open mouthed gawks but no one moved when the instructors came straight for Damon. Damon stood his ground and peered at Team 20's Captain with the most conviction he's had since coming to the Mecha Military Academy.

There was no denying the resolution of Team Fail's Captain when he said firmly, "Don't ever touch my team." The sharp look in his eyes made sure of it and all five members of Team 20 were speechless as Damon made his way over to the nearest instructor.

As soon as Damon left, murmurs filled the cafeteria again. No doubt the instructor was leading him to a Behavioral Reformation Session in the upper levels.

Damon groaned, mulling over the thought of having to face the other 19 teams like Team 20.

So much for staying inconspicuous.

"Well, well, well… it didn't take you long to get a BRS, and now less than half of Team Fail is even attending class!" came Director Walsh's voice coming up from behind. He nodded to the instructor allowing the instructor to resume his post in the cafeteria.

"News travels fast," said Damon, continuing down the hallway. "I'm just feeling the other teams up," he bluffed.

"Well, you're doing an excellent job making Team Fail known."

Damon forced a laugh. "You wanna raise the stakes?"

The Director shook his head with a smile. "I'm going to end up owning you by the time you graduate if you keep that up."

The Director stopped at a red-outlined door and made a few taps on his holo-pad in his hand. "Well, this is your stop," he said. He was about to continue down the hall when he added, "By the way, I thought you should know the Performance Tournament will start in two weeks." Then he waved with a smile and walked away.

Two weeks?! How am I supposed to get this team ready in two weeks?!

Damon groaned and opened the door to begin his BRS. There was only one person inside eating their lunch at one of the desks.

"Captain!" said Lilith, waving her hand like a little kid from the far corner of the windowless room.

Damon sighed. Almost half his team was already in a BRS on the second day of Team Formation School.

"Wait! Sign in on the desk over there. It'll look better in the records. Then you can sit with me!"

"I don't think they care much about our records anymore," said Damon, but he still did as he was told and signed in at a desk at the other end of Lilith's before walking over to her.

"I saw the whole thing, Cap'n!" said Lilith excitedly. "You're so lucky you got to bash that jerk's face in! I was about to ditch my BRS to go teach that guy a lesson!"

"You saw the whole thing?" asked Damon, perplexed.

"Yeah! Check it out!" said Lilith. She moved over so he could clearly see the open hologram on her desk above her half-eaten, abnormally large, sandwich.

Displayed for her viewing pleasure was a front-row seat to the MMA. She casually switched views and screens to give a quick tour of the entire cafeteria… and basically the whole school.

"How did you—how is this… HOW?" Damon's voice nearly squeaked. "This is all sorts of illegal! Let alone expulsion!"

"I asked my friend if she could somehow let me watch you guys. She said, 'no problem' and hooked me up with a link to the school cameras with my pinky finger as the key!" Lilith explained, holding up her pinky finger with a smile.

Damon was more in awe by this mysterious person more than anything. "You have a friend who will blatantly break the law and possibly spend the rest of their life in jail, just so you can watch us eat lunch?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Lilith mused, "I guess I should stop spamming her chat room with challenges and raiding her ammunition box without asking."

"What? She's a gaming buddy?"

"Of course! I am the gaming goddess of ___ after all! She's lucky I consider her my greatest rival!" She paused to muse to herself again, "Although, she did say her crew had to keep a low profile for a while... she better not get rusty…"

Their entire conversation was a parade of red flags for Damon. He figured the less he knew the better.

"Is there audio?" asked Damon, getting back to the video feed.

"Yeah, but I usually keep if off and just read the subtitles," she replied, zooming in on Soraya and Jax sitting awkwardly together at the lunch table.

"Oh," said Damon, slightly impressed. "I didn't know you could read fast enough."

Lilith laughed a little too hard and said with a forced smile, "I can't wait to have VR combat practice with you."

They smiled at each other but before they could get settled in, the bell rang signifying the end of lunch.

"Aw, man! It was just about to get good!" Lilith groaned, getting up from her chair. "You can have the rest of my sandwich, Cap'n. I know you didn't eat lunch."

"Thanks. Um, what about this though?" he asked, pointing to the illegal steaming hologram.

"My Stalker program?"

"Stalker?"

"You can have fun with it! It'll turn off once you leave the desk or if someone comes in."

"Wha-? That's it? You're just gonna leave it on with me? That doesn't seem too secure…"

Lilith chuckled, "Don't worry. I trust you, so you can trust me." The communicator on her wrist beeped twice. "Oh, I gotta go! Have fun! See you later!" were her final words before running out the door.

Hmm… I wonder what her BRS is. Anyway, I can't believe she left this with me… what am I supposed to do with it?

He tried flipping through the screens to find something interesting but everyone was already in their Team Building classes listening to a lecture on the different types of mechas. He continued flipping through until something different popped up. It was a black command box used for communication… but with whom?

Damon double-checked and sure enough the command box was still within the Stalker program. The only thing left was to try typing something.

#> Hello?

…

>> Hello, Captain Damon.

Damon's eyebrows rose and he typed:

#> How do you know me?

>> You logged in with Lilith.

#> I logged in?

>> The program IDs potential viewers to see if they're a threat.

#> How so?

>> Cameras watching the door.

>> Checking ID when you signed in at your desk for your BRS.

>> Things like that.

#> How did I log in?

>> I made you a user.

>> You automatically log in when you sign-in for a BRS.

#> You must be Lilith's friend who made the program… You seem to know a lot about us…

…

>> She talks a lot.

Damon paused, thinking if it was wise to learn more about this mysterious girl. He figured he'd take a chance.

#> Aren't you worried she'll get you caught?

…

>> No.

…

Damon waited for a better response but it didn't seem like he was getting one.

#> You trust her that much?

…

>> It's not a matter of trust.

…

>> Evading capture is my specialty.

…

This girl was definitely odd, but so far she directly answered his questions.

#> You already know my name, so what should I call you?

>> Bloody Butterfly.

Damon chortled.

…

…

#> Seriously?

>> Lilith insisted on it.

#> Don't take anything serious with her.

#> You can call me Damon, so do you have another name I can call you by?

…

>> My name is Verena. My friends call me Vee. Of course if people found out you knew me, you'd have half the galaxy looking for you, including your system's law enforcement.

...

#>> It's nice to meet you, Bloody Butterfly.

>> It's nice to meet you too, Damon.

>> I have to go. If you ever need anything, feel free to ask.

Oh, that's right. Lilith said she had to keep a low-profile for a while.

#> Of course, no problem. Thanks for the offer. Same goes for you.

#> Bye.

>> Goodbye, and good luck with your race tomorrow.

>> I'll be watching.

>> User Bloody Butterfly has logged off.

Damon chuckled nervously.

That last sentence sure did sound stalker-ish.

He sighed and closed the Stalker program. He was used to dealing with illegal matters and people from his past, but he didn't expect to run into it at the MMA.

She's right though, I already forgot about our race tomorrow. I guess I have some time now to figure that out.

There wasn't too much to think about. He made the challenge after he remembered seeing a run-down racer in the team garage, but would it actually run? He just had to hope that it would. Director Walsh did say that Jax could drive anything… right?

Back in the team room after Damon was released from his BRS, he found out Soraya was just as worried about their race.

"Isn't that Diesel's racer? Will he let you use it?" she asked, obviously planning for their race tomorrow as well.

"Technically it's the team's racer now, and I would ask Diesel if I ever saw him," said Damon. "You've hung-out in the team garage more than I have, have you ever seen him?"

She shook her head with a frown. "No, although sometimes it feels like he was just there… I'll find food still warm and half-eaten but when I look around, there's no one to be found."

"You're a Calverius, right? You haven't tried scanning the area for any cigam users?"

Soraya blushed and muttered, "Mm, that seems kind of rude… It would be like visiting someone's home and opening all the doors to look for them."

Damon folded his arms. "That's an interesting way to put it…"

Wait a minute, she basically walks into his home all the time and lounges around then…

He shook the thought from his head.

"In any case, we'll just borrow the racer for that one race. We'll return it good-as-new afterwards!" Damon promised.

Soraya sighed. "Don't be late then, Captain. If you're late for class, you'll surely get another BRS."

"Ha-ha, wouldn't want that again so soon!" Damon smiled playfully.