Graduation Exam (ii)

Mark Capone: black hair, white,

Hinata Inoue: black hair, Asian, brown eyes

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Planet: Tarsonis

Year:2529

Place: Confederate ??? Academy

-- Jun 11, 2529 - Confederate calendar - Day of the graduation exam --

The crowd leaned in as each kid slowly made their way through the backyards, homes. Their hearts quicked watching the group below slowly succumb to their nerves, sadness, and deep, deep longing.

'Whoever designed this test was a creative genius,' thought Caesar. He looked upon the houses with intrigue and respect. 'At first, I thought the seating was random but now I know. That is far from the case.'

As his eyes darted between the crowd and the houses displayed during the exam. He theorized each house must've been designed with the recruit's previous life in mind. 'The further a recruit goes, the more similar the houses must get to what they had at home. However, with the number of recruits we have here, there has to be a limit-'

Caesar paused, his eyes shifted to the four, four-story buildings placed around each corner of the city arena. 'But the real question is the buildings. Each one gives recruits a tremendous sniping advantage, is connected to each other via sky bridges. Meaning they'll be a hot spot for gunfights.'

#An: By this point. You should realize the confederacy does not give a fuck about wasting money or resources! To them. Civilian needs come third to high command/high council wants.#

After a short while, Caesar snapped back to attention. His eyes rose towards the monitor, which highlighted two unusually impressive basic-level recruits.

The first was a bronze-skinned white male, with short brown hair. And the second was an undersized Asian girl with long black hair and stunningly sharp eyes. She moved from house to house while doing her best to ignore the house's distractions.

*BANG!*

A gunshot rang off in the distance, causing the girl to snap towards her left. In the alleyway, a boy lay sprawled out on the floor. His body numb from the stun round, his shooter. A girl, walked over to loot his weapons.

As she bent down, the Asian girl smacked her outside the head before making off with all the ammo.

'Couldn't we get some names? The numbers are getting old' Thought Ingrid, she glanced over to Kai. His powers enabled him to know things about almost everyone! 'The girl's name is Hinata, the guy is Mark.'

Said kai, as he finished the camera panned over.

Mark entered a house. With his pistol drawn, his rifle holstered, and his nerves set to max. The audience leaned in as he laid eyes upon a female cutout with its eyes towards the backyard. "What the--"

Chimed Mark. However, his thought was cut short by somebody jumping over the fence. The card board's eyes flashed with visible green light, as a bullet rang off.

*Bang!* And the person hit the floor.

Mark's eyes widened, his feet shifted toward the nearby hallway. 'He's above me,' thought Mark. He paused once more.

This time a cardboard child was staring right at him. When her eyes flashed green, his eyes widened while his pistol rose. 'Fuck--' thought mark. BANG! His pistol roared, the carboard snapped. His gun turned towards the stairway. However, his target jumped out of the window!

The mother cutout's eyes flashed green as mark sensed his target's roaring psionic energy. *BANG! BANG! BANG!* His bullets ripped through the air, tearing through the cardboard and into his target. The boy then began to spasm.

'GOTTA HID!' Thought Mark, sprinting up the stairway. In a few moments, his area would devolve into a war zone.

Back within the crowd Ingrid could help but ask. "He should've just snapped the cardboard's head." To nobody's surprise, it was Bryce who responded. "That's easier said than done. Nobody's seen the outside in forever, so those houses must be fucking with everyone. And his target just fired his rifle! So people were already on their way...stupid."

"Those people only know one person is there. He could've destroyed the cardboard then hid," responded Samir. The two comments threatened to spark a heated debate but it was squashed by a guard.

"THISSS...IS AN EXAM! SPEAKING WITHIN THE AUDIENCE IS PROHIBITED!"

'Dude, what's your opinion?' Whispered Samir telepathically.

'Dude, stop fucking around. We know you know it's situational.' Responded Kai, Caesar nodded in agreement while watching the exam. The Asian girl, Hinata. Had slowly made her way through the first floor of a nearby building.

Scattered across the building floor were fallen recruits, knocked-over chairs, tables, clothing, pop cans, food, destroyed cutouts, and anything of the sort.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!* gunshots echoed from above, and around. Hinata's heartbeat sped up as panic slowly set crept in. 'Stay calm, stay calm...' she repeated over and over. As Hinata turned into the first stairway one of the recruits came tumbling down.

Her gun rose to the second floor as he groaned in pain. When his eyes finally opened her foot came crashing down. Bomp! Bomp! Bomp! Her bullets rang against the door, her eyes fell towards the first floor. 'I'm pinned,' thought Hinata.

She grit her teeth. Channeled her psionic energy, then charged up the stairway. 'You can do this!' Yelled Hinata, lowering her shoulder. On the opposite side of the door was a scrawny, 5'5, 13-year-old boy, and entering the stairway from below was an unknown recruit!

BOOM! The door flung open. The scrawny boy went sliding across the floor, two rounds crashed into his chest. Hinata dove for cover as the unknown recruit sprinted through the door. One well-timed stun-round hit him square in the head.

Hinata's head rose to the site of a dark-skinned recruit looming above her. Bang! A gun fired and the recruit dropped. "Cocky idiot," said Hinata. Her hands were shaken, her pupils dilated, her breathing ragged, and the nearest cover...was three meters away!

'You can do this! You can do this! YOU CAN DO THIS!' Yelled Hinata, diving out of cover with her rifle in hand.

The Audience leaned in, their eyes widened, their mouths dropped. They hoped she'd succeed. "She's not good enough to execute that plan," said Caesar. His words were like a bucket of cold ice water. The bullet, their splash.

Thud. Hinata dropped to the floor, her body spasmed across crumpled chips. The boy who shot them stood up, only to be shot twice in his chest. When he dropped, the second wave of fighting broke out and the monitor panned back to Mark.

'Ok, ok. I know there are three people here. The downstairs was using a coach as cover, the second is camped at the stairs with his gun at my door. While the third is in the washroom to my left.' Mark paused, his head turned to the window. 'It's my only option. If I don't the boy from the washroom shoots me or the girl outside the door. WAIT IT'S WOOD!'

Mark stopped, his psionic energy churned throughout his legs. His rifle hit the floor as his pistol entered his hands.

"COME HERE BITCH!!" Yelled Mark, lowering his shoulder. He crashed through the door, the bolts snapped off their hinges, his target hit his head against the bathroom toilet. 'Oh, shit!' thought mark, snapping his pistol towards the door.

As it snapped open, he pre-fired dropping the girl with three quick shots. He grinned walking into the door while his target sprinted up the stairway. Bang! His gun fired dropping the boy as his original target slowly came to, Mark stood over with his pistol in the boy's mouth.

A thought rang within the boy's head...

'This is crying every night.'

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"HAHAHA! Another one bites the dust!" Laughed a noble.