Chapter Three: Secrets

Partially funded by the government, the school Daniel went to was filled from top to bottom with state banners and decoration. He always found it interesting how little anyone thought about how high the government pressure for success was. Failure meant being removed from the school altogether, success was sometimes even worse, putting people in positions they couldn't hope to measure up to.

Truth be told, this was why Daniel hadn't really wanted to go to college in the first place. There was too much riding on any mistake or choice made, for better or for worse, and the consequences could be massive later on. His father and step-mother had made this choice for him, forcing him into the school or to get kicked out of the house.

As he approached Marcus's office, he sighed and stretched as he walked. He'd been having too many late nights lately, it was beginning to take its toll on him.

Opening the door, he heard Marcus talking with someone near the back of the

room, where his desk was.

"Well, the two of you need to learn to work with someone. Unless you plan to drop out of the organization," he heard Marcus say quietly.

The second voice, a girl's voice, high and serious, responded, "We've worked alone for the last three months, why are we being forced into groups now, all of a sudden?"

Daniel walked toward them and said, "What's this about groups, Marcus?" Smiling, Marcus waved him closer and said, "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear, eh?"

Raising an eyebrow, Daniel said, "Groups?" Rolling his eyes, Marcus said, "Straight to business as usual, I see. Come stand here by me."

The girl moved closer to Marcus's chair and Daniel did the same, used to the procedure by this point. Faster than he could keep track of, Marcus tapped in a long series of codes into his datapad, then said, "Coming down, three total. Prepare office room six seven dash bravo."

A voice from the other end noted an affirmative and the floor around Marcus's chair began to lower.

The school was over a hundred and fifty years old, built decades after the last war and, from Daniel's research, had apparently been built to meet the specifications of a secret group of scientists and developers affiliated with the government.

Requiring one of the highest levels of security to access, these areas were far better equipped for new research than even the school, which was generally considered to be at the cutting edge of new tech. Kept here to keep track of new technology, it was also in place to find exceptional young minds to supply the resources they'd need for their research, providing them the environment such mental prowess requires as well as sustainable income and the hefty weight of deep government connections.

Each of these connections worked at the school as a teacher, with well over 30% of the staff being connected to the group in one way or another. Marcus, a Director in this group, had been close friends with Daniel's father and had lent a hand in getting him into the school. Upon testing him though, Marcus had realized that he'd be wasted just doing schoolwork or working at some tech company.

His first month at school, Marcus had introduced him to the group and Daniel had been developing and researching his ideas ever since. Six months had passed since then and more students had been inducted, roughly thirty of the seventy thousand students had proven worthy and were now in possession of their own resources to create whatever they felt was interesting. Everything from weapons to vehicles were developed and researched in the hidden hallways of the school and most thrived.

As they began to get closer to their destination floor, Marcus began to talk.

"You both know that generally we here at the Bureau have two rules. No pointless loss of life and the most important of the two rules, progress is the only goal. Both of you are students however, and we have plans to help you all improve . Remember you may need to already be the best to get in, but you're still students, and you still have much to learn. To that end, we pose a challenge on every group of newcomers, usually students, but sometimes we find older members who must go through this process as well. This challenge is to see how well you'll work within the context of the Bureau as a whole. This consists of you being separated into groups of two, with neither of you having met or spoken at length. You will occasionally be forced to work with people you don't know or even people you hate, but all of that pales in comparison to the progress we strive for."

The girl, opposite of Marcus, said, "That seems arbitrary."

Marcus laughed and said, "It is, but it works."

Daniel thought for a moment and said, "My handle is Ronin. Yours is Eve."

Forcing her way past Marcus in the cramped space, she grabbed Ronin's shirt and said, "How the hell do you know my codename?!"

Staring into her eyes, with no emotion, Ronin responded, "I memorized the names of each member who was inducted since I'd been. I hacked into the outer levels of the data stream within the first week. I expected something like this would happen, so I figured it'd be wise to get ahead of it. Although...even if I hadn't done that, I'd still know who you are. Blonde hair, short, bright green eyes and a hatred for working in groups, you've already made a name for yourself, in the Bureau AND in the school above."

Pushing him a little, Eve said, "Yeah well I don't have a clue as to who you are, Ronin."

Marcus moved Eve back to her initial position and said, "Ronin keeps a low profile on purpose. He's not popular or well known, which is impressive considering he's one of the smartest people in the school and dating one of it's most popular students."

Exhaling in disgust, Eve said, "Well you better not get in our way Ronin. You may want to keep a low profile, but I want to be the best possible, and I won't let an underachiever like you get in my way."

Ronin smiled and said, "Then may I make a suggestion for our project?"

Looking at him suspiciously, Eve responded, "I'm listening."

Tapping his leg as they reached the floor, finally, he said, "I've been working on a way to teach combat routines and capabilities via the AeEx implant. Thousands of hours worth of experience and martial arts learned in an instant. The problem I keep running into with my test subjects is that the mind can know something like this, but the body will still be the same prior to the experiment. I know that your research area is manipulating and enhancing parts of the body, maybe you can find an answer to my problem. It'll be considered a group project, I'll have the answer to problem and you'll have developed a completely new way to enhance the body, which is sure to get you good press with the Bureau. We both win."

Marcus smiled at this idea, always pleasantly surprised by Ronin's unwillingness to be slowed or stopped by anything. Markedly more subdued than most of the other students, Ronin kept his emotions in check first and foremost, and did his best to let his logic solve his problems for him.

Eve thought this proposal over for a moment, her emerald eyes rocketing from side to side as she pondered until she responded, "That all works for me."

Marcus waved them into the hallway and to their office room, where their customized tools and workstations were already set up and said, "Well, excellent. Ronin seems to grasped the real purpose of this project already, you both have two days to finish up."

Ronin waved him away and went to his desk, but Eve stood still, her eyes wide and said, "TWO DAYS?! How am I supposed to develop this properly in two days!?"

Marcus motioned to Ronin and he replied, "Ronin, will you explain?"

Tapping rapidly at his keyboard, he said, "The idea is much less about us developing something new and more about us working together to take something we're already working on independently into something more, combining the ideas and neutralizing the weaknesses we may have missed on our own."

With it put so bluntly, Eve knew she had no place to argue, she'd have to try and make her research work for the project or she'd be removed altogether.

Marcus walked out of the room and said, "Work hard kids, the timer started this morning, so you're already behind."