After that mission, John was promoted to squad leader. For the next few years he would go onto gain the trust of all the trainee's, never leaving anyone behind.
Shawn was also promoted by Magnus. Unfortunately he didn't get a fancy new title, no, he was told that he was now eligible for more rigorous training. Counter-Intel, Demolitions, he even had a month long lesson on terror-tactics that could be used from a position of strength or weakness.
Magnus spent all of his time teaching Shawn that he sometimes thought he'd never get to use the things he was being taught, only to have a practical exam a month later where a single mistake could cost him his life, he'd almost learned that the hard way.
Chief Mendez didn't spare him either just because he had extra training, if anything he pushed him harder than the others. Not to say the rest of the trainees didn't get their fair share of Mendez's time, but he always seemed to single Shawn out in particular.
Dr. Halsey actually had little interaction Shawn other than making sure he was still alive. Most of her time was spent planning lessons with Deja and Chief Mendez as the children aged physically and mentally.
As usual she focused of John more than the others, but still kept her eyes on the others. Jorge seemed to have the most attachment to her and Reach as a whole, which could be useful later on. Fredric was the strongest physically, with John, Shawn and Samuel matching him in brief bursts. Linda was the one with the sharpest eyes, all of them preformed well on the range, but Linda was the best shot of them all.
Kelly was the fastest, bar none. Even when pushed to the max, John and Shawn still fell behind Kelly in a all-out sprint. Kurt was already showing signs of massive skeletal growth, the augmentations would make that much more apparent, he was likely going to be the tallest.
As for the others, they were naturally a cut above other children their age, probably already as strong as ODST's, but still they had plenty of room for growth. At this stage of training, Chief Mendez was reinforcing the fact that they had to work together, nothing can be achieved alone.
Red Team and Blue Team were already standing out, they preformed the best which pushed the others. Grey Team was showing promise as well, there was a brief snag with convincing them to stop escaping, but they finally capitulated and have shown remarkable growth.
Then there was Shawn. Since Magnus had singled him out, Shawn was no longer a part of any fireteam, so Chief Mendez usually stuck him with Grey Team. She didn't know what to think of him.
Yes he was doing better than expected, just like John, but he lacked that one special quality that John had. Regardless, Shawn was one of the top trainees, he always had an answer for everything and was as cool as a cucumber. A bit too cool for her liking, actually.
Yes ONI wanted cold super soldiers, and she would deliver, but she didn't want to take away their basic humanity. Chief Mendez also worried about this so he instilled qualities such as honor, into the children, plus basic human decency. Shawn seemed to lack that to a certain degree.
He was cold, and calculating when speaking to her and any other adult for that matter. To the other children he showed very little emotion, though Deja has brought to her attention that he would help the others when they were faced with a difficult problem in the classroom.
The only ones who seemed to be able to get a reaction out of him were John, Magnus and Grey Team. Even then he'd only laughed at Jai and Adrianna when Magnus had caught them trying to follow them, Chief Mendez had the pair running for hours.
The only time he'd shown anything other than calm in front of her had been the day Magnus had picked him. She remembered that Magnus had given him the very knife he'd thrown at the boy, and he had seen something on that knife that scared him, she was sure of it.
She had no way of knowing what it was however since Shawn carried the knife everywhere once Chief Mendez had started weapons training, and Magnus had flat out told her to drop it, that it wasn't 'time for her to know'. Well she was getting impatient with all his mystique, but she had other things to worry about, augmentation was only a year away.
-------------------------------------
Today was the day. After eight long years of brutal training, mind bending physics, strategies and whatever else Chief Mendez could shove into their brains, they'd finally reached augmentation day.
Shawn was nervous, he remembered reading about the procedures online before. To put it in one word, he would describe augmentation as 'invasive'.
He didn't remember all the specifics, but he knew enough. Neurosurgery was first, increasing blood flow to the eyes. Several other implants and injections to boost their growth, and worst of all, the grafting of their entire skeletal system.
He had to calm himself several times as he waited for his turn to go in. Soon it was his turn.
First they shaved his head, and drew lines on several limbs and areas of his body before hooking him up to an intravenous drip, and giving him anesthetic. As it worked to put him to sleep, he tried desperately to remember if the original 118 survived augmentation. The reason it was saved for last was because it was the most likely to kill or cripple them, other than a few training accidents.
As he finally succumbed to the drugs, he prayed to any god that was listening, begging that he might survive this, no matter the cost.
-----------------------
MEDICAL STATION ENDURANCE, IN ORBIT ABOVE THE PLANET REACH, 2525
Observation deck
Despite all the preparation, she was nervous. Despite eight long years of training their bodies to the maximum, despite countless hours of combat drills, several handlers and an A.I teaching them everything from theoretic physics to combat medicine, she was nervous.
"All the subjects are sedated and the procedures have begun." Deja reported as Halsey paced back and forth in the office she had commandeered on the observation deck. Chief Mendez was also present, but he was busy writing reports on each of the children, psych evaluations, training on how to control their increased strength, all things they would be able to better do now that they had the physical might.
The door to the room slammed open and Mendez went for his sidearm as Halsey stopped him. "This room is restricted, leave no- oh it's just you." She glowered seeing Magnus swagger in. "Relax, I'm just here to watch the show." He said as he walked over to a screen showing vitals, most were stable, save one.
"Did you do anything to him, the first procedure is the least invasive, yet his body is reacting like it's the last." Halsey asked him as she worriedly checked on subject-118. "No, other than what I needed to teach him, I did nothing else." Magnus shook his head as Mendez ran his face through all the people who'd been present for the Spartans training.
"Dr.Halsey, who is this?" He finally asked as Magnus spun on his heels, a stupid smile on his face. "I thought you'd never ask!" Halsey sighed as she shook her head. "Even I don't know, his name is Magnus. He is the one who has been taking 118 away for 'training' whatever that means."
It wasn't Mendez's fault he didn't know, all he knew was that Shawn was more tired than the rest in the mornings and that he wasn't officially part of any squad, only working with Grey Team during team exercises.
After her brief introduction Magnus lost his smile as he locked down the room, startling Halsey and Mendez as everything went dark save the lights. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. My name is Captain Magnus Cain, what I'm about to tell you can never leave this room, under penalty of treason against humanity, followed by immediate execution."
Gimme powerstones :3