4 Let's do this!
The parking lot was lively with several dozen people milling about. Teams who had already gathered were piling equipment on their designated vehicles. Riley stared incredulously at someone loading a machine gun onto the van. What kind of things were they expecting to fight?
Just as he remembered he was supposed to look for his teammate, a playful laugh filled his ears.
"Dozing off during the speech of the legendary Col. Goodman. You, my man, has some serious balls!"
Riley turned around at the athletic 185 cm tall, 95 kg heavy Asian man who was grinning from ear to ear. A small, black-haired woman stood beside him, looking at Riley with faint amusement. It was Cheng and Mako, his teammates.
Riley had known Cheng Stephenson since they were ten. Back then they were in all sorts of mischiefs together. As they grew older, Riley had to worry more about making money while Cheng, being the son of an affluent family, didn't, so they couldn't hang out as often, but still stayed close friends.
Cheng was short-tempered but not one to hold a grudge; confident to the point of recklessness, but much smarter than he looks. Cheng was the son of a wealthy businessman but wanted to do something exciting instead of joining the family business. Riley was surprised to see Cheng at the crash course. His family was more than rich enough to enroll him in a proper academy with extensive curriculum and training. As it turned out, his father objected to "pay people to get his son killed," and refused to pay a single dime. Undeterred, Cheng scrounged up his own money for the crash course. Which he much preferred, anyway, since it would get him some action much sooner.
Cheng had with him an R16-BR Battle Rifle, a Kilmore-32 Grenade launcher, a C35 "Anaconda" Revolver and an assortment of grenades and mines. All weapons several notches above Riley's both in term of pricing and effectiveness. Cheng had money to spare, after all. Instead of the standard-issue baton, he carried a collapsible titanium bo staff. He was a budding martial artist and expected close quarter fights.
Still chuckling, Cheng approached Riley. Putting his arm around Riley's shoulders, Cheng whispered conspiratorially.
"Seriously though, dude. So who's the chick?"
"Who?"
"The one keeping you up last night, who else? C'mon man! Quit stalling! Spit it out!"
"There's no chick, numbnuts! I was working late, alright?" Riley replied with an elbow to Cheng's ribs.
"Hehe. I know. Just messing with you, man." Cheng chuckled, rubbing his side. "How are you feeling?"
"Still drowsy. You got an energy drink or something?"
Cheng raised his hand and dramatically gestured at Mako.
"Need a pick-me-up?" Said Mako as she offered some pills, which Riley recognized as caffeine pills.
"Thanks. You're a life saver!" Grateful, Riley took the pills and popped one into his mouth. Mako nodded and turned away to observe the other teams.
Riley met Makoto Katsumi-Douglas in the academy. She was a private person, so most of what he knew about her was through rumors. She was from a working-class family but displayed significant aptitude with technology. Not at Ivanka's level, but still pretty good. She was already hired part-time by many businesses. Riley didn't have a clue why she took the crash course, she could have easily applied anywhere to have a safe, well-paid job. Nevertheless, he was glad to have her on his team. She was a decent shot and proficient with tech stuff, which he knows next to nothing about.
Mako's had an H&K300 Submachine gun as her primary weapon and a B-92FS Autoloader. She was carrying less weapon as she had with her a variety of support equipment such as motion sensor, hacking kit, and several trauma kits.
"Our ride's over there!" Cheng said, his head tilting at a grey van at a corner of the parking lot. It was almost identical with the ones used for transportation, except it had the symbol and name of Grammaton Academy on the front and sides.
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As they approached their van, Riley began to feel the effects of the caffeine pill. His vision cleared and his migraine, which he hadn't noticed before, was gone. He looked at Miko and gave her a thumbs up. She smiled in return.
Riley noticed a black box the size of an icebox already in the van. "What's the box for?" He inquired.
Mako looked at Cheng then Riley with an incredulous look. "What?" Riley asked in confusion.
"Well, you'll know when the time comes." She said with a shrug.
Riley checked the time. 09:15. The trio went over the checklist they prepared for the mission. Weapon, ammo, ordnance, gear, they make sure they had everything. They were about to go over the plan when Cheng lifted his head.
"The supervisors are here!" He announced.
Dismissing his mission screen, Riley watched as Mr. Resner and ten supervisors walked toward the vans. Mr. Resner nodded to the supervisors, nine of whom walked to the nine vans of the other team and boarded. The team members followed suit and one by one the vans left. The parking lot was almost empty with only Riley's team remained.
As Mr. Resner approached their van, Riley saw that the supervisor with him was Col. Goodman himself. All of a sudden, his stomach did a backflip.
"What the f*ck? Col. Goodman is our supervisor?" Cheng turned to them and whisper-shouted. Mako didn't respond, but it was clear that she was also nervous.
Riley swallowed, trying to ease the knot in his throat. Keeping his voice level, he said.
"Well, there was a 10% chance that he was gonna supervise one of the teams. I guess we're the lucky ones."
"Dude? Lucky? Seriously?" Cheng exclaimed, "Having a legendary commander judging as you goof around with guns is NOT my definition of lucky, my man!"
"There's nothing we can do about it. We can only pretend he wasn't here. All supervisors are supposed to be non-intrusive. After a while, we won't even notice him." Riley asserted, half to calm his team, half to calm himself. Cheng and Mako nodded, seeming a tiny bit better.
Mr. Goodman approached them and, without a word, boarded the van. Mr. Resner nodded and said.
"Col… I mean Mr. Goodman will be your supervisor. Also, you've got a temporary teammate." Mr. Resner added, almost apologetically "Good luck."
He stepped aside, revealing a mousy man in a set of combat gear several sizes too large, clutching a shotgun. His pale face was already sweating, despite the cool weather.
Riley's stomach sank. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Cheng and Mako face-palming.
It seemed they had one more legend along for the ride.
Oh God, this is gonna suck!
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Liam William Jenkins, who went by William, was quite an infamous name in the history of Arcology-1. Twice he flunked Grammaton Academy's graduation exam. Then he failed to complete the crash course ten times. Apparently, his family wanted him to continue the "family tradition" of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather and the ones before them having served in combat. They spent a significant portion of their fortune to enroll him in Grammaton Academy. After he flunked the graduation exam twice, they ran out of money and began pressuring him to enter crash courses. Riley wondered if his family simply hated the guy and wanted to get rid of him.
From the rumors Riley had heard, it seemed Jenkins had a unique penchant for getting himself and people around him in trouble. Among the ten teams he was grouped with, all ten failed their exam because he accidentally incapacitated one or more team members, rendering them incapable of completing their mission.
Riley could only pray Jenkins wouldn't do anything stupid and get anyone hurt. No, scratch that. Jenkins could hurt himself all he wanted, but Riley would be really pissed if he failed this exam because of this idiot.
Keeping his expression neutral, Riley nodded to Mr. Resner and turned to his teammates. Cheng looked like he was about to protest the addition, so Riley gave him a meaningful look, cautioning him to behave. This had already been decided beforehand, protesting wouldn't do them any good.
He turned to Jenkins and offered his hand. "Hello, William, I'm Riley."
Jenkins shook his hand "Hi, I'm Jenkins." Following his lead, Cheng and Mako introduced themselves. Out of the corner of his eyes, Riley noticed Mr. Goodman nodding.
"Let's move, guys." Looking at Mr. Resner, who nodded, Riley turned and boarded the van, followed by the rest of the team.
"Alright, good luck to you! And don't anyone die today." Mr. Resner said. "It looks bad on my report." He added with a chuckle and closed the side door. The van started up and began moving.
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The back of the van was quite spacious, with two rows of seats facing each other, with plenty of leg room. Riley, Cheng, and Mako sat on one side, while Mr. Goodman and Jenkins sat on the other.
Engaging his HUD, Riley opened a conference session and sent an invite to Cheng, Mako, Jenkins. After a brief moment, he invited Mr. Goodman as well. It seemed rude not to. Mr. Goodman accepted.
Riley adjusted the conference screen to display at the empty space between the two rows of seats. He then dropped the holographic map of the mission site, marked with key locations of the objectives, entrances, exits, etc on the chat screen.
Together, they went over the plan step by step, making several adjustments to incorporate Jenkins into their formation. Mr. Goodman said nothing, only observed and listened.
As the van neared the mission site, their weapons simultaneously emitted a small sound, announcing that the kill switches had been deactivated and the weapons could now be fired.
In Arcology-1, it was legally required that all firearms had a built-in kill switch that can be activated inside designated areas such as apartment blocks, markets, etc. Of course, these kill switches could be bypassed, but owning a weapon without a kill switch was a serious offense, one punishable by death.
The team checked their weapons to make sure all of them had their Legality changed from [Legal (standby)] to [Legal (active)].
The van stopped and the team disembarked, followed by Mr. Goodman. Riley eyed the manhole cover, their entrance to the mission site. Cheng pried open the cover with a crowbar, revealing a ladder leading down. Riley glanced at each of his teammates, who all nodded, announcing they were ready.
"Let's do this!" Riley said, flipped down his Vision Enhancing Eye Wear, and began descending the ladder.
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