CHAPTER 26

  "'Cause I don't wanna come back down from this cloud

  It's taken me all this time to find out what I need, yeah

  I don't wanna come back down from this cloud

  Taken me all this, all this time..."

  -Bush

  ...

  "These aren't bio-encoded, just grab one, and an ammo clip."

  Carl picked up a gauntlet and a clip, he snapped the gauntlet to his arm. The clip was like a thick bracelet of sorts that snapped to the bottom of the gauntlet, literally a "clip". He snapped it on.

  "Take your positions please. These are ambidextrous for training purposes, grab the charging handle and load the chamber. Everyone good? Ok, we're going to do it with the reticle, then without, fire your full clip now, with the reticle activated...thats the little button on the side. Sanchez! What are you...AIM DOWN RANGE!"

  The instructor ran over to the cadet and showed him what to do.

  "Always keep it aimed down range when its loaded. ALWAYS! Do we understand?"

  A chorus of "Yes sir!" echoed through the room.

  "Fire when ready."

  Carl stepped forward, the reticle over the bullseye. He fired.

  Either his strength was doing real work, or these things had zero recoil. He peeked around the partition at the young man next to him. It was jerking his hand back with every shot.

  So he had an advantage.

  He lined up the reticle again and emptied it.

  He removed the empty clip and set it on the bench in front of him.

  "Everyone finished?"

  No one said anything.

  "Press the button to your right to bring the target forward. If you haven't already, remove the ammo clip. The gauntlet is inoperable when this is removed. I'll be coming around to each of you to look at your performance."

  Carls target slowly got closer until he could reach out and unclip it, he set it down on the bench. His grouping was tight, no holes outside of the bullseye. He smiled to himself, he had something the rest of them didnt. Not just the strength, but centuries of firearms training and use in the field. He could hear the instructor speaking to the young man next to him. Finally the man came around the partition to Carl.

  "Lets see your target."

  He held it up and let out a low whistle.

  "Thats some impressive shooting!"

  Carl smiled at him.

  "Thank you sir. This isn't my first time."

  "Clearly."

  He set the target down. I want you to stay after class. I have a special request from Agent Royles.

  "Yes sir."

  The instructor moved to the next cadet.

  A special request? What the hell could that mean?

  When class was finally over, a lot of the students were milling around. A lot of them were watching Carl, they seemed to know something he didnt. The instructor came over to Carl.

  "A lot of them want to watch, is that ok?"

  "Uh. Sure. Watch what exactly?"

  "He didn't tell you?"

  "No sir."

  "I was told that you actually use another weapon in the field."

  He set the pistol on the table with two loaded magazines.

  "Royles thought it important for you to qualify with both weapons."

  Carl smiled as he picked up the pistol.

  He slid a magazine in until it clicked.

  The instructor had already replaced the paper target and was holding the button to send it down range. He let go when it was halfway. Carl shook his head.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "All the way."

  The instructor smiled and obliged Carl, then stepped back.

  "Ready when you are."

  Carl pulled the slide back and aimed, the gun thundered, much louder than the gauntlets.

  He ejected the empty magazine and reached for the second one.

  "Lets see your grouping before you shoot again."

  Carl held the button.

  As it approached, he could hear the murmurs and whispers from the other cadets.

  He didnt care.

  "Jeezus, the shots are even tighter. How long have you been shooting?"

  "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

  "Try me."

  "Over fifteen hundred years."

  The instructor laughed, but Carls face remained neutral. His laughter died off.

  "Wha...you're serious?"

  "Yes sir."

  Hand-to-hand training was going to be the real challenge. Carl had continued to train at home with small things, he had near perfect control of his strength, but in a fight scenario? That worried him.

  He watched the demonstrations with the others, now it was time to practice. Each cadet was called to the front of the room and everyone watched as they used the technique they had learned. Everyone, except Carl.

  When it was his turn, he shook his head.

  The instructor gave him a frustrated look.

  "Care to explain why you dont want to participate?"

  "I dont want to hurt anyone."

  "I assure you Mr. Maitland, you can't hurt me."

  "Ok, I'll show you what I mean. How about we reverse roles. You try to take me down."

  The instructor smiled.

  "With pleasure."

  Carl stood up, approached the teacher, bowed, and then stood stock still.

  The man grabbed his wrist and tried to spin it around. Carl was like stone, the man couldnt move him at all. He circled Carl and grabbed his waist, trying to suplex him. Still unable to move Carl.

  "Is this some kind of trick?"

  "No sir. I'm sorry."

  "Hmm. Ok, you've proven your point."

  "Thank you for understanding."

  "I dont understand, but lets move on. Next!"

  Back at the facility on his couch, Carl was sitting next to Penny as she quizzed him on negotiation tactics.

  "What is BATNA?"

  "Uh...best alternative to a negotiated agreement."

  "Yes! Good. Ok, name the four things to remember."

  "Oh I know this, anchoring, active listening, creating leverage...and...shit."

  "Mmmmm." Penny sounded out the letter.

  "Don't give me hints, I know this...uh...managing emotions?"

  "Yes! That was the last flash card."

  "Already? Really?"

  "Yeah, you're gonna ace the test."

  "I hope so. I couldnt have done this without you."

  "Yes, you could have. I barely helped at all. Give yourself more credit."

  Carl just smiled at her.

  "I'm still waiting for everything to fall apart."

  "Whats that mean? You're doing great."

  "For now. Traditionally, thats not how my life works. There's always something that goes wrong."

  Penny scooted over next to him and kissed his cheek.

  "Not this time Carl. You're safe. You've got a team of people backing you up, and you're doing things the right way. Don't sabotage yourself."

  He looked her in the eyes now. She was so sure, maybe she was right.

  Maybe for the first time in his life, everything was going to be ok.

  He put his arm around her and gently pulled her close.

  Maybe.

  The next day, after a particularly grueling simulation the cadets were eating lunch in the cafeteria. Three cadets sat down at the table where Carl had been eating alone. He set his fork down and looked at them.

  "What can I do for you?"

  There were two males and female, the female seemed to be the talker. She wasted no time.

  "What are you?"

  "Tired mostly."

  She ignored his answer.

  "We saw the hand-to-hand instructor bounce off you, that guy's two hundred pounds of pure muscle...are you cybernetically enhanced or something?"

  The two guys she was with leaned in.

  Carl laughed.

  "No, nothing like that. I'm human. I work for Department seven. Thats all I'm allowed to say. The rest is classified."

  The three looked at each other.

  "Department seven? I've never heard of that."

  Carl picked up his tray and stood up.

  "And you never will. Excuse me."

  He dumped his tray in the trash can and set it on top of the other trays.

  He looked back at the three, they were arguing with each other.

  Let them wonder.

  Back in his apartment he had pulled a kitchen chair over to the window. It was open so he could blow his smoke out. He tapped his weedarette over the ashtray. There was a knock on the door.

  "It's open."

  Royles entered.

  "Sir. How are you? Everything ok?"

  "Everything's fine Carl. I recieved a call from the academy, updating me on your progress. I wasnt sure how serious you were about this at first, but they assured me you are on track to graduate top of your class."

  "I kind of cheated. I've had the team help me study."

  "Thats not cheating. Thats using available resources. I just stopped by to give you the good news."

  "Thank you sir."

  "Thank you. You've done outstanding work, I've no doubt you'll continue to be an asset to the team."

  "I'll do my best sir."

  "I know you will. Have a good night Carl."

  "Thanks, you too Phillip."

  Royles left, closing the door quietly behind him.

  "An asset to the team."

  He said it quietly to himself.

  He took another hit and blew it out slowly.

  He'd wasted so many years of his unnaturally long life fucking around.

  This felt right.

  Somehow, he had found his place. Even if it was in a different universe.

  He went to flick the butt out the window.

  He stopped.

  Laughed.

  Stubbed it out in the ashtray.

  Carl and Steve had mock "breach and cleared" his apartment a few times earlier in the week. He was ready, he flipped on the reticle of his gauntlet and waited for the instructor to say go. He was paired up with a young guy named Sanchez.

  "I'll take lead. I'll hit the corners and rooms to the right, you go left."

  Sanchez nodded, he looked nervous.

  "You'll do fine man, just remember your training."

  Sanchez gave him a weak smile. The instructor yelled "Go!".

  Carl pushed the door open, sweeping the room, he went right. In his peripheral he could see Sanchez sweeping the corners on the other side. The targets popped up. Civilian, civilian, armed assailant, Carl shot it. Sanchez was shooting targets on the other side of the room. He shot them all.

  "Dude...what the fuck?"

  The instructor blew the whistle.

  "Stop! Sanchez! What in the hell are you..."

  Carl stepped out of the training area while the instructor yelled at Sanchez.

  He removed the clip from the gauntlet and set it on the munitions table.

  No way that kid graduates.

  He could still hear the instructor laying into him.

  "...depending on you to save their lives! And you shot them! Take the goddamn gauntlet off and get out of my training area...NOW!"

  He watched as Sanchez removed his gauntlet and set it on the table. The instructor walked by shaking his head.

  "Coruthers, Smith you're up!"

  Carl watched the next set of recruits snap gauntlets to their arms and go to the training area.

  After the breaching tactics class they were lined up in the training yard. The instructor stood in front of them holding a gas mask.

  "This next exercise is rough. We're going to spray each of you with pepper spray. It will not be pleasant. This is to make each one of you understand just how painful pepper spray can be. The idea is, maybe you'll think before spraying someone. It's a powerful tool when used right. Is everyone ready?"

  No one said yes. Carl took a deep breath and readied himself.

  The instructor put on the gas mask, picked up a large bottle of pepper spray and started walking down the line spraying. The capsaicin in the air was already starting to irritate Carls eyes and throat by the time the instructor made it to him.

  For all his strength and experience, the pepper spray still dropped him to his knees. He dug his fingers into the grass to bypass the overwhelming urge to rub his itchy, painful eyes. He could already feel snot running out of his nose, he could hear the others screaming in pain.

  Fuck, this was awful.

  He started coughing as the burning in his throat increased. He wanted to scoop his eyeballs out, they felt so bad.

  He sat there. Holding the ground, enduring the pain. He'd been through worse...he could do this.

  Later, when he could see again, through red puffy eyes, he sat staring at his sandwich. He didnt exactly feel hungry after today.

  Even now, he wanted to rub his eyes. That only made it worse though.

  The idea that they were sprayed so they wouldn't casually spray people in the field was brilliant. After this, Carl never wanted to go near a frigging can of pepper spray.

  Steve was probably gonna give him shit for this when he got back.

  He chuckled.

  He was two weeks away from graduating. Final exams were fast approaching and he was getting nervous again. What if he didnt retain all the things he had learned?

  Where was the confidence he had felt the first few weeks?

  He looked up from his untouched sandwich, no one was looking. He held the side of his nose and shot a snot rocket onto the ground. Gross...spicy snot.

  The next couple weeks were all studying. Most of his classes were reviews, meant to reinforce what he had learned thus far.

  He was feeling good.

  The morning of the exam Penny knocked on his door.

  "Come in!"

  He was sitting on his couch, cramming for the exam, Penny sat next to him.

  "How you feeling?"

  Carl gave her a crooked smile.

  "Really fucking nervous. I can't remember all of these acronyms!"

  "You'll do fine."

  "Easy for you to say." He snapped.

  "Shit, I'm sorry."

  "Its ok. I get it. You're under a lot of pressure. When do you have to leave?"

  Carl tapped his phone screen, it was 6:18.

  "I have to be out of here by seven, the exam starts at 8."

  "Ok, so we've got a few minutes. Wanna make out?"

  Suddenly all the nervousness melted off of him and he smiled at her.

  "I would love to, but do you think thats a good idea?"

  "Yes. You will think more clearly if you're relaxed. Besides, its not strictly for your benefit, I get something out of it too."

  He set his book aside, and turned to face her. She leaned forward, took his face in her hand and kissed him.

  They looked at each other and smiled.

  "Ok, this was a good idea."

  She leaned in to kiss him again.

  "I told you...and Carl?"

  "Yeah?"

  "You're gonna do great."

  "I hope so."

  "I know so."

  Her lips touched his and he almost believed her.