The simulation bay opened at five-thirty in the goddamn morning.
I stood outside the entrance in my academy-issued tactical suit, black synthetic material that hugged every curve and bulge of my body in ways that made acutely aware I still had at least twenty pounds to lose. The suit had sensors embedded throughout the fabric, tiny nodes that would track movent, impact force, vitality signs. Everything got recorded. Everything got analyzed.
My team looked like a disaster waiting to happen.
Naomi stood three feet away from . Her pink and black striped hair was pulled back tight. Her tactical suit fit her tall fra perfectly, showing off those long legs and the curves that had been pressed against two nights ago. She wasn’t looking at . Hadn’t looked at since she’d left my apartnt last night after Belle stord out.
Belle was worse.
She stood on my other side, arms crossed, amber-brown eyes burning holes through my skull every ti I glanced her direction. Her blue hair hung loose today. Her tactical suit strained across her chest in a way that reminded exactly what I’d been drinking from six hours ago. She caught looking. Her glare intensified.
Yeah. I fucked up.
Jordan was the only one who seed normal, which ant he looked like death ward over. His grey eyes were half-closed. His tactical suit hung loose on his skinny fra. He kept yawning every thirty seconds.
"I hate mornings," Jordan mumbled for the fifth ti. "Why do we have to do this before breakfast?"
"Because Misato made a deal," I said.
"I hate deals."
"You hate everything."
"That’s accurate."
Misato appeared around the corner, already moving at that confident jog that made her li green ponytail bounce. Her tactical suit fit her athletic build like it was painted on. The sensors across her shoulders and thighs glowed faint blue, already synced to her system.
She looked at us and grinned. "Good. You’re all here."
"We’re all suffering," Jordan corrected.
Misato ignored him. She walked up to the security panel next to the simulation bay entrance and pressed her thumb against the scanner. The door hissed open, revealing the massive facility beyond.
"Listen up." Misato turned to face us. Her expression went serious. "I had to do Blair’s howork for the next two weeks to get us this ti slot."
My eyebrows went up. That was a hell of a trade.
"Blair had howork?" Jordan asked.
"Advanced mana theory. Thirty-page essay on crystallization patterns in B-rank cores." Misato’s eye twitched. "I spent four hours on that paper last night."
Belle whistled. "That’s dedication."
"That’s desperation," Misato shot back. "So you’re going to thank for sacrificing my sleep and my sanity by giving this everything you have. Got it?"
"Got it," I said.
Naomi nodded silently.
Belle shrugged.
Jordan yawned again.
"Jordan," Misato said slowly. "I will personally jump you with four of my clones if you fall asleep in there."
"Noted."
We filed into the simulation bay.
The space was massive. A do structure rose at least sixty feet above us, the ceiling a perfect hemisphere of reinforced tal and glass panels. The floor was concrete now, but I could see the projection nodes embedded throughout the surface, thousands of tiny emitters ready to transform the environnt into whatever scenario the techs programd.
A control booth sat at ground level behind reinforced glass. Two technicians were already inside, a woman with short black hair and a guy with glasses who looked like he hadn’t slept in a week.
The woman waved at Misato. Misato waved back.
"Sato’s running point today," Misato explained. "She’s good. Won’t kill us by accident."
"That’s reassuring," Belle muttered.
Sato’s voice crackled through the overhead speakers. "Morning, Midnight Foxes. Your squad leader submitted a request for E-rank rainforest scenario. Environntal hazards enabled. Monster type: Hollow Crawlers. Confirm?"
Misato looked at . "That what you wanted?"
I’d requested Hollow Crawlers specifically after Cross’s lecture. The monsters that identified the weakest squad mber within forty-five seconds and focused everything on taking them down.
If we were going into real gates on Friday, I needed to know exactly how fast I’d get targeted.
"Confird," I called up to the booth.
"Copy that." Sato typed sothing on her console. "Suits are synced. Stats will display on your HUD once simulation begins. Standard rules apply. Lethal damage disables your suit and pulls you from the scenario. Injuries are simulated through neural feedback at twenty percent intensity. You’ll feel pain but nothing permanent. Ergency stop available if things go south."
"How south are we talking?" Jordan asked.
"You die, we pull you out. You get hurt, you deal with it."
"That’s barbaric."
"That’s training." Sato grinned. "Positions, everyone. Do activation in sixty seconds."
We spread out. Misato took point in the center. Naomi moved to her left with her staff. Jordan positioned himself right, already extending his hand to check his shadow bind range. Belle hung back near the rear, one hand on the tactical knife strapped to her thigh.
I stood between Naomi and Belle.
Neither of them acknowledged my presence.
The air between us was so thick I could taste it.
My HUD flickered to life.
The do humd. Energy rippled through the floor.
The concrete vanished.
Trees erupted from nothing. Massive trunks covered in moss and vines shot up around us, branches spreading overhead to create a canopy so dense it blocked out the artificial sky. Undergrowth appeared next. Ferns, bushes, strange glowing flowers that pulsed with faint bioluminescence. The air beca humid. Hot. I could sll dirt and rotting leaves and sothing else underneath. Sothing sharp and tallic.
Blood.
The rainforest stretched in every direction. I turned in a slow circle. The do walls were invisible now, hidden behind the projection. It looked real. It felt real. If I didn’t know better, I’d think we’d been teleported into an actual gate.
"Positions," Misato said quietly. Her voice carried through the simulation. "Crawlers hunt in packs of eight to fifteen. They coordinate. They adapt. And they will go for the weakest link first."
She looked directly at when she said that last part.
"Monroe, you’re bait."
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