*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Rama, open the door! I know you're in there!" Atlas continued to bang on the thick metal door, jiggling the knob as he waited for a reply. Qen read the bold silver numbers bolted to its surface.
Room 555…
Qen spoke up.
"I know I keep asking but really, can I just… stay home?"
"Of course not! I can't have you slinking off now can I? Besides, the way you tell it, your parents won't mind if you stay a while."
"..."
"*Sigh* Don't make me "disappear" the door again!"
"Alright, alright!"
*Click*
The door swung open and out stepped a boy, lanky and confused. He reflexively shut his eyes, avoiding the bright lights as he attempted to scan his surroundings.
"*Yawn* Can you at least give me a chance to wake up? Wait, is that who I think it is?" His eyes widened as he looked Qen up and down.
"Hey… I guess you're my new roommate."
"Oh you're more than that! Lia's gonna be pissed when she sees you!"
"Uh, who's that?"
"Huh? Oh, that doesn't matter right now. I need to know how you passed the test! If you were getting your ass handed to you by a high rabbit, there should've been no way-" Atlas placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Rama? Calm down and let us through." Rama shrunk down, stepping out of the way as he held the back of his head.
"Oh, my bad Atlas. So, what's your name dawg?"
Five minutes later…
Qen eyed his new uniform in the bathroom mirror. Black cargo pants with a pair of boots to match. He tugged at his yellow polo, its silky soft fabric rubbing up against his skin. He walked out to a round of applause.
"Look at you Qen! You'll fit right in with the rest of us clowns." Rama said.
"I'm telling Lia you said that…"
"Wait no! You know I was joking right?"
"She won't!" Atlas snickered with a devilish grin.
"Who the hell is this girl you keep talking about!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Okay… and you said I needed to calm down."
"Give us a moment Rama." Atlas wrapped his arm around Qen and walked him out.
"Hey, you okay kid?"
"I- I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know why I got so… angry."
"I think I know your problem. Around your age, people start going through some changes..."
"Wait, what?" Atlas chuckled, patting him on the back.
"I'm just messing with you. It's gonna take some time for you to get used to the whole "human emotion" thing. You'll have time to work on it but unfortunately, that's something I can't really help you with. Just, try not to do… that, again."
"O-okay."
"Alright! Good chat? Good chat."
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*
"Get out here Rama! It's time to introduce your new friend to the rest of the squad."
"Way ahead of you!" They began making their way down hall after hall, Atlas leading the pack.
"Hey, Qen? My bad about earlier. I wasn't trying to get you mad or anything.
"No, it's not your fault, I just haven't really gotten a chance to breathe since I got here, you know? I'm not used to all this talking."
"Well then I should apologize. I didn't mean to make your first moments here more awkward then they needed to be. I mean, when I first met the director, I didn't really feel like talking either." He smiled, nudging Qen's shoulder.
"Yeah, what's it's deal anyway?
"Man, I don't know. I asked Atlas about it earlier but-"
"I said, if you make it to my rank you'll get an answer. It's not like I said anything wrong."
"You know how impossible that is!" Qen cocked his his head, processing what he'd just heard.
"Hey Rama, what's the ranking system?" Rama turned to Atlas, dumbfounded.
"Atlas…"
"..."
"Atlas, are you serious!"
"What! I'm allowed to forget a step or two…"
"*Sigh* Since Atlas is irresponsible, I'll have to explain it to you." Atlas shrugged, waiving the two off as he whistled forward.
"So, how much do you know Qen?"
"Akino is the soul, people eat Akino and become Wraiths. Then they get hunted by Executioners… that's it."
"Well that's really not anything is it… do you even know where you are?"
"No?" Rama watched in utter astonishment as Atlas sped away from the group.
"Aright! I guess now is a better time then never, welcome to Camp Limbo right under the Saint Louis Arch! This is where the would-be Executioners go to learn they suck.
"..."
"Really? *Sigh* I was joking. Anyway, as you know, there are Executioners, Wraiths and freelance gifted who use their abilities for their own purposes. There are six possible ranks that each of these groups can fall into, based on the amount of normal people it would take to kill em."
"Rabbit class is the weakest, five people could reasonably kick their ass. Snake is next, It takes around fifty normal people to take them down. Then there's Wolf, I'm pretty sure a couple members of Canary squad have reached this rank. We have one in our squad too but I don't really mess with him. It'd take five hundred people minimum to take them down."
"Five hundred! Is that the norm?"
"Yeah, I'm going to be honest, most fully fedged Executioners are wolf level minimum. That's why we train in the Camps. But it gets even crazier. Next is Tiger, five thousand people would be lucky to take one of them out. Bear is the final rank for normal Executioners, you'd need an army fifty thousand strong for them."
"Is that where Atlas is?"
"No… not even close." Qen jumped back as Atlas appeared right in front of his face.
"Me? I'm what you call an anomaly. Blessed with the spirit of the golden dove, I stand above every other gifted individual alive today. I've been bestowed the rank of Kaiju, few others in the country can even obtain that rank-"
" "And I stand above them all." Blah, blah, blah. You done glazing yourself dude?"
"*Pfft* I think someone's a little jealous."
"Shut up and let me finish! I hate to say it but Kaiju is the strongest rank there is. It's safe to say…
Nobody knows their full potential…"
"Don't worry, I'm confident you'll be the first student of mine to reach it." Rama perked up.
"Really?"
"No, I'm talking about Qen."
"Well don't get my- his hopes up. Most people are born Kaiju level. If you had the potential, they would've known already."
"That was harsh Rama. I thought I taught you better than that."
"Do you even teach at this point…"
"Huh? What was that?"
"I said I needed to finish up my explanation if you don't mind."
"You're right Rama, I should be explaining it instead of you! The ranks are divided by three tiers. Low if you barely hit your rank, mid if you're halfway to the next rank and high if you're at the pinnacle of your rank. All Executioners must display their rank on their person at all times."
"Now you do your job… whatever, did you get all of that Qen?"
"I think. So based on your silver ear piercing, you're a snake."
"Yeah, I had it custom made." He smirked.
"Oh yeah, didn't you have to get a clamp on because you were scared of the needle?" Rama balled his fist up, leering at Atlas.
"Where's your rank Atlas?" Qen said curiously.
"Oh, you can't see it?" He adjusted his belt as a golden glow began to radiate from his buckle. There it was, a horned beast glowing with energy."
"Show off…"
"Damn right!"
"So, where is it?" Qen interjected.
"Where's what?"
"My badge. If they're so important shouldn't I have one?"
"Oh no…" Rama said, shaking his head. "I forgot to tell you Qen."
"Tell me what?"
"Come on Rama! Don't ruin the surprise. Nobody ruined it for you did they?"
"What surprise?"
*Is it a party? I've never been to a party…*
"Don't worry Qen, it's a special thing we do for every new member of the Phoenix squad and it's right through those doors. You'll get your badge after your surprise." Atlas said. Qen looked past him to the two swinging metal doors. He squinted, peering through the two tiny windows.
"Is that a gymnasium?"
"Yeah…" Rama held his head in his hand.
*Fwoosh*
Atlas burst through the doors, everyone in the room stopping to stare.
"Hello my lovely students! I've come bearing good news! I got a gift for the class!"
"A gift? It better be a real one this time!" A girl turned to face him, her hair buns shook as she jogged over.
"Stop yelling at him Lia! Do you want to run laps again?" This girl followed close behind her and had thick ropes all the way down to her waist. A few others stood still behind them, watching and waiting.
He could practically see the first girl's jaw drop as she finally saw him.
"There's no way…" Rama caught her attention, snapping his fingers in her face.
"Give 'em here. Too late to back out now."
"*Argh* Fine. Knock yourself out."
"Yes!" Qen watched as Rama ran into the gymnasium, picking up a long silver chain with two ornate silver orbs on both ends.
"How did you even- *Sigh* wait, I'm sorry. I'm not upset at you, me and that moron made a bet and I lost, that's not your fault."
"Bet? Did… did you bet on me joining the team?"
"Something like that…"
"Come on guys! Aren't you excited to meet your new Squad member?"
"I don't know Atlas. It's just, he seemed kinda weak a couple of days ago. If I'm being honest, I don't wanna see him die on his first mission."
"Could've fooled me…" Atlas said, raising a brow.
"Shut up! I didn't want him dead, I just didn't think he'd make it. There's a difference." Qen clenched his fist.
"Look Lia, can you at least give him a chance? That goes for all of you!" After he spoke, the girl with the ropes stepped forward.
"I don't blame Lia for feeling how she feels. Nobody wants to meet someone just for them to die the next day. We just don't wanna get attached to someone we don't trust. That doesn't mean I don't see what you're saying though! He impressed the director enough to get here, that means something."
"See? Amelia understands! Besides, that's why we break in the new recruits. If you really don't trust him, you can always just see for yourself."
"Fine then. Are you at least gonna tell us your name?"
"Qen…"
"Qen? Huh, never met a Qen before. I hope you're stronger than I think you are."
*What are they planning on doing? Are they gonna jump me?*
"Alright, get ready everybody! I'll let Rama go first since he's known him the longest."
"Yeah, you heard him Rama! You can put her down now!" Rama turned towards them, swinging each metal ball.
"What, Come on! I didn't even get a chance to- *Ahhh*" He yelped as one of the metal balls came swinging down onto his foot. She walked over and snatched up her weapon, hanging it on a nearby rack. After taking a moment to recover, he made his way to the other end of the gymnasium.
"*Arrgh* Come on Qen, stand on the other end so we can get this over with."
"*Sigh*"
*He's right, whatever this is, let me just get it over with.*
He tried to shake away the feeling of anxiety as he walked to his end of the room. Across from him stood Rama and past even him were the four other students who watched his every move. Amelia stood among them on the other side, smiling while giving him two thumbs up. He turned to face Atlas as he spoke.
"Okay Qen, just give us your name, home town and your Gift."
"Alright. Uh…My name is Qen Martin, I'm from Saint Louis and my gift…" He stopped.
"I can suck Akino from things and use it."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"That's it? You didn't even do it right. You're supposed to tell us the name of your gift." Lia said in annoyance.
"Go ahead and tell em Qen." Atlas said with a wink.
*Come on, come on! Think Qen, think! Suck and Spit? No, that's horrible. All for me? No, I'm pretty sure I heard that somewhere before. Fine, I'll just keep it simple.*
*My… my Gift is Give and Take."
"How boring…" She tried to be discreet with her words but they cut through the silence like a knife through jello. Qen's anxiety turned to anger as he processed her words.
"You shut the hell up! Nobody asked you for your damn opinion!" Qen blurted out. He immediately shrunk down as he saw the fury build on her face.
"Boy, who the hell do you think you're talking to!" She took a step forward.
"Stop it Lia, calm down." Atlas said. For the first time since Qen had met him, he genuinely seemed serious. "Wait your turn." She took a deep breath before slamming her back against the wall, crossing her arms.
"Alright Rama, go ahead." Rama turned to Qen, a look of pure concern plastered on his face. He shook his head before speaking.
"Wow… I'm Rama Smith, I'm from Oklahoma, I'm a high Snake and my Gift is Arsenal."
"Your thirty seconds start now. Remember to keep it light."
*Keep what light?*
Qen clenched his teeth as he felt something shoot into his ribs.
*What the hell was that!*
His eyes widened as he watched Rama walk toward him with his arm extended.
*Is that a gun? No, there's something around his hand.*
He could see it, the Akino wrapped around his fingers, forming a distinct pistol shape. He could even see the smoke emanating out of the barrel.
"Don't worry Qen, these rounds are non-lethal. Come on, might as well show me what you can do." Qen flung himself out of the path of the gun as he fired another round. The bullet grazed his back and slammed into the wall behind him, bouncing off and onto the floor.
*He's not going to stop… is he?*
Qen felt three more rounds dig into his ribs. He pushed himself up and forward off the ground, his vision flashing white as a fist slammed into his forehead.
"Come on dawg. Don't make me look like a bull-" Rama stepped back as he recovered from the blow. "Damn, you hit pretty hard."
Qen steadied himself before dashing forward for another haymaker. Rama leaned back, feeling the rushing wind pass by his face from the attempt. He dug his foot into the wood as he pushed himself forward with everything he had. Qen's face warped under the weight of the blow. The jab digging into his exposed cheek.
Qen fought to keep his balance as he felt a knee land directly into his bruised ribs. He tried to defend himself but his body wouldn't- no couldn't respond. An elbow collided with his jaw, the impact rippling throughout his entire body.
The world went black.
His eyes shot open as he awoke mid fall, catching himself as he rocketed back up. He slammed his fist deep into Rama's abs with everything he had. Warm vomit sprayed from Rama's mouth as he went in for another blow.
Qen flew backwards as he felt the blow of a titan slam into his stomach. It was as if he had gotten struck by a semi. He slid into the wall, slamming his head against the metal.
In front of him stood Rama, his breathing rough and ragged. He could see an ethereal smoking shotgun dissolving in his hands.
"Sorry, you *huff* okay Qen?" He tried to respond but the wind had been knocked out of him.
"Alright, alright. Your thirty seconds are up. Good job Qen, you took that like a champ!" Atlas stood up, walking towards Qen with a grin.
"H…help me. Please."
"Calm down, you're fine." Atlas slapped a glyph onto his forehead, pouring his Akino into it with a single finger. He felt it disperse into his body, the pain from his injuries subsiding little by little. "That should be enough for now." He lifted his finger away from the glyph.
"What was that?" Atlas helped him off the ground as he rubbed at his bruises, they had healed significantly.
"Just fixing you up before your next fight."
"Are you serious? No… I'm not fighting anyone else. He literally shot me and you want me to do it again? You're crazy! You're all fucking crazy."
"You and I both know you've come too far. There's no going back now. Besides, if you think he's bad, what do you think will happen if you fight against a Wraith? Did the last one go easy on you? Did he hold back Qen?"
"N-no…"
"Qen, you have to understand. This world is ruthless and unforgiving. You got lucky the first time, that's it. I might not be there the next time things get rough, so I need you to toughen up. Besides, you did pretty good. Didn't he Rama!" He pointed to Rama who was busy cleaning up his vomit.
"Yeah, you hit me pretty damn hard back there. Speaking of which, can you give me one of those healing Glyphs Atl-"
"*Cough* Back to what I was saying. If you can't even get through this, you'll be dead by the end of the week. That's just the honest truth. Now, are you ready to give this another shot?"
"Fine." Qen pushed him away as he walked back.
"That's what I like to see! Now, I think it's time we bump it up a notch. Amelia, you're up!"