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As he free fell he used his powers to stall himself, then created an invisible pad of solid air to lift him to his final destination. The roof. The disturbance had eminated from there so he crouched, shivering a little in the cold air, and began his ascent. The fact that he had no shirt on and the green silken pajama bottoms offered little protection against the cold air added to how cold the air felt. He focused and, in a small gust of wind, his crescents were in his hand. They were green and unadorned which made them look like cheap action figure weapons that had just been pulled off of the shelf; in reality they were deadly sharp and Ryo had a look on his face that told all that he was not one to be trifled with. His gaze fell on six people when he finally made it to the top of the building. He stepped onto the roof and quietly moved toward the two in the back, using his power to cusion his steps so he wouldn't shuffle the gravel and alert them to his presence. The woman looked less aware so he honed in on her and slowly raised his hand then jerked his arm around her throat, taking a step back with her, to take her off of her feet.
The gravel shuffling and her sudden cry of surprise drew the attention of the other five people that were standing in the group. All weapons could be seen appearing in each hand as they became aware and they all looked ready to charge him.
"Move and I will cut her throat." All of them planted their feet and relaxed their weapons. The woman breathed shallowly, not wanting to move into the extremyl sharp weapon at her throat. Shadow smirked at the boy's ability to sneak up on them so easily. Ryo just glared out at them.
"Who the hell are you people and why are you here?" he demanded viciously. Sarah didn't move, she was sympathetic with his fear but was also irritated with his method. She was even more irritated with the fact that he had so easliy snuck up behind her. John looked him over iwth his golden eyes.
"We are here to protect you and yur friends so we can get you to safety. So if you would be so kind as to release Serenity, we can get back to our job." he said curtly. He knew the corruptites would be here soon and they didn't have time for this kid's nonsense. Ty measure the man's words and found them believable. He didn't like his tone, but the man had the bearing of a leader. He took his blade away from the woman's throat and gently pushed her to a standing position while taking a step back. He stood at a half crouch, ready to either flee or fight if any of them decided to make a hostile move.
"What do you mean protect us? Protect us from what?" John gave him a chilling look and, with a voice filled with controled rage, uttere a single word that sent a chill crawling up Ryo's spine.
"Corruptites." Whatever these things were, they were dangerous. John tuned to Sarah, who had started staring at the horizon. She looked over a John.
"They're coming, and there are a lot of them. More than we've ever faced before." John turned back to the boy.
"Look, I don't have time for pleasantries, so here's the deal. We are the same as you; we have special powers, too. All of the people on your bus do, too. All of you are in a s**t load of danger right at this second and I need you to get them up here pronto, go it?" Ryo was stunned and his head was reeling from what he had just learned about the kids that he had just spent an entire day with and now felt like they were all still complete strangers.
"W-what? Okay, I'll d-do it." he stuttered, still trying to het a hold of his jumbled thoughts. John looked at Sarah and nodded to her. Sarah met Johns gaze and nedded back. She tooke the boy by the arm and teleported him into the hall.
"You have the makings of a leader kid; I know that stance, use it." With that she was back on the roof and her face paled as she saw the three specks of white that led the quivering mass of black that was the corruptite army.
"Koan and his lackeys are here with them. We get to have some fun with this."

Chapter 10
Ryo opened the door to his room and threw on the light. He now looked at his roommates in a new light as they groaned to awake. His eyes flashed green and glowed brilieantly as a gust of wind took their blankets straight from their bed. He gave Rukia a look that relvealed the seriousness of this situation and asserted his authority, demanding answers from them.
"What is your element?" he asked in a commanding voice that he startled everyone, including himself, with.
"D-darkness." she said in a confused and groggy voice. His gaze shifted over to Saya without missing a beat and, with a grin on her face, she readily answered his inquiry.
"Magma."
Withought prompting Orihime said, "Water." In a quiet voice, Ryo responded last with, "Wind." His eyes faded back to their normal violet shade.
"We don't have time for explanations so here's the deal. Other people know about us and our powers. One of the people that know of us is sending an army of creatures to kill us and we need to get the hell out of here." Murmurs of compliance cam from the group. "The other set is up on the roof and they are here to get us the hell out of here."
Orihime piped up, "You mean everyone else on the bus is..." She left the question hang. Ryo nodded.
"Just like us. I can't make this decision for all of you, it's not my place so I'm gunna ask you. What so you want to do?" The three girls huddled together and whispered excitedly, then all popped up into standing positions.
"You decide, we'll follow you." Ryo nodded grimly and smirked.
"alrighty then, we need to get everyone else together. Orihime, you come with me to Uryu's room. Saya, you take Rukia and go to Kyo's room and bring it's occupants back here, okay?" Saya nodded then headed for the door, disappointed that, once again, she was not going with him. Worse yet, she was stuck with Rukia. She shook and reprimanded herself.
-Now is not the time to be thinking about this. Peoples lives are on the line.- Ryo followed after the two of them to the room next door, breaking away from them and continuing on to the door across the hall where he was supposed to be gathering the others. He opened the door quietly and peeked in. All four inhabitants were still fast asleep. He flipped on the light and a collective groan rose from the room to be echoed by the room across the hall. Riku sat up and rubbed his eyes groggily, looking around half-blinded and pissed off that, for the second time today, he had been woken.
"W-what the hell is going on? Why did you tun on the light?" Ryo looked at the four awakening people.
"We know about you all, what're your elements? Riku's blood ran cold. How had he found out?
"Why you wanna know?"
"So we know what we have to work with." A gust of wind picked up and blew their blankets off the beds. Now it made sense and his sense of danger faded. He had all of you. Riku tuned an eye to Lexi. She stood and held up a hand as it burst into flames.
"Fire." sh said simply. Uryu stood, his eyes swirling and sand started to swirl through the air around him then disappeared.
"Sand," Tsia pulled her white glove out of her bag and slipped it on. She turned it palm up and a small, white, glowing orb appeared in her hand.
"Light." she said as she closed her hand, snuffing out the orb. Riku picked up one of his chainmail gloves and it twisted into a wickedlt edged knife.
"Metal." The knife morphed back into a glove on his hand and he pulled it off. Ryo nodded to them.
"Okay, this is what my roommates and I are doing; a large army of creatures are coming for us who know about us and they are out to kill us. There are people on the roof that are here to kill the things that are here to kill us. We are going to go with them and get some answers so we are teaming up so we are able to actually survive in order to ask those questions." Riky glanced at his other roommates, then stepped forward. He didn't know why, but, for some reason, he trusted Ryo's judgment and was impressed by his charisma.
"I'm with you." After he took the leap of faith, he was quickly followed by his other roommates. Once all four had agreed to come along, he walked toward the door. He had heard muffled conversation on the other side and opened it to find the other six people standing there. He gave Rukia a questioning look and she smiled and nodded.
Kyo looked around at the different people and his gaze settled on the boy with the violet eyes. Saya had called him Ryo when she ahd told them the story. He had a commanding quality about him and his body language just screamed leader. Kyo pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat. Ryo heard him and held up a hand for silence. The conversations fell to a whisper then a dead silence. Ryo gave him the go ahead and he started in a matter-of-fact tone.
"If we are going to do this, we are going to need a leader. Someone who can speak for us, we can all listen to, and who can handle pressure in a tight spot." Riku raised his voice above the crowd.
"You volunteering?" he asked mockingly/ Lexi smaked him on the shoulder and gave him a stern look. kyo took the comment with a guile filled smile.
"No, actually, I think that Ryo should be our leader. Look at us; he comes to us in the middle of the night with a fanciful story and, ten minutes later, we are all standing in the hall plotting a course of action. If that isn't leadership, then I don't know what is." At this suggestion, the crowd, excluding Ryo, pulled together in a murmuring discussion. After about twenty seconds, they all turned and nodded. Kyo's voice rose once again stating the obvious.
"Ryo, you're the leader by popular vote. So, what's on the agenda, oh captain, my captain?"

Chapter 11
Ryo was a bit taken aback at this split second decision but went with it.
"Alrighty then, let's get on the roof and see if there is anything we can do. We're not helpless after all." Ry led the procession into his room and to his open window. His eyes lit up green and a large, white, swirling disc of compressed air ormed near the ledge.
"It can carry three people at a time. When it stops, step off and it will come back for the next group." Kyo, Yuki, and uryu stepped on first.
"Uryu!" Kyoshi called out. Uryu looked up in time to catch his sweater. He smiled and nodded to Kyoshi, who looked at him with a smile from the rim of his glasses, revealing his white eyes. Uryu grinned and put the sweater on, but left the hood down as the ascended to the roof.
A few moments later, the disc came back down. Lexi, Riky, and Kyoshi were the next to step on and move up. When the disc came back down, only two people stepped forward, Tsia and Kazumi, and were lifted away, leaving Ryo and his roommates. When the disc came back down it widened and thickened.
"Let's go." Ryo said, without a flourish. The three girls followed quickly behind him. He stepped into the middle and immediately Rukia dn Saya took his sides, Rukia's black hair playing through the wind and Saya's red curls dancing wildly. Orihime stood behind him, ready for anything, her deep blue hair moving fluidly with the wind as the platform raised them up to the roof where the others stood in haphazard semi-circle, muscles taut and wisps of their energy floating through the air. The other three took their places in the group while Ryo stepped forward confidently and deadly looking, for his age.
"We'll go with you." he stated in a tone of finality, letting the rest of the kids know that this was the end for second guessing and any difference of opinion. John looked at Ryo with his swirling golden eyes, gaugin the boy. He carried himself with authority and there was tenacity behind the violet pools that were his eyes. They bespoke of the ability to back up the authority that he emanated from his every pore. His caution could use imporovement but he was a very probable cadidate for some very important tasks. He had walked into possible enemy territory, with untrained troops with no combat experience, his only asset was his assumption that his opponent did not have at their disposal what he himself had. John spoke up with quiet authority.
"Very well, we'll get you out of here while the rest hold them off." Before he could agree, Uryu, Kyoshi, and Saya stepped forward. He took this new development and ran with it.
"These three and I will help hold them off while you evacute them." John looked at him with a sense of shock and forbbidance, then smiled a lopsided smirk.
"Okay then, if you get in over your heads, Shadown there can pull your asses out of the fire." John despised the idea of letting them into combat untrained, but needed their trust and, if he was going to have that, he would need their leader to trust him. So, the risk would just have to be taken. Ryo nodded, rolling with the blow, then turned to the other three.
"You heard him ladies and gents, let's hop to it!" He stepped forward, putting another rank of protectors between the corruptites and the man with golden eyes and the woman that he had taken hostage. The gravel underneat everyone's feet started to vibrate ad gravel they were not standing on began to jump.
John raised his voice, "Alright, we ned to get the hell out of here now! Hold 'em off nice and hard while the kids are being evac'ed and, when I give your call, you get your a** in position to be taken from here."
Four voices chimed in unison, "Yes sir!" Ryo frowned at this comment and looked to the other three and nodded. He focused his energy and his eyes lit up, glowing with an emerald green hue. The glow appeared on his hands, then took shape, becoming his green cresencts. Ryo rolled his cresencts and looked to the other three.
"Arm up!" Uryu smiled as sand swirled around his hands, then burst away, leaving a wickedly curved scimitar in each hand. Kyoshi left his hands at his sides and translucent, milky white lines curled around and down his right arm. The lines then moved beyond his hand and a silver-white buster blade integrated into existence. He gave it a test swing, relishing the feel and weight of it. After a few swings, he rested it on his shoulder. Saya watched the other three reveal their weapons and gave a small smile, making sure Ryo was watching. Her eyes had an ember of dirty red glow in them as she held her hands out to the side as molten lava oozed from her wrists and crept down her fingers. She curled them to hold imaginary hils in each hand, the lava floating into a midair mold of a long sword in each hand. The molten rock hardened, then turned silver, becoming firmly wrought long swords. Ryo had watched out of the corner of his eye, a small smirk crept onto his face as a sense of exhilaration fluttered and danced in his stomach and heart.

Chapter 12
The rumbling stopped and the world became deathly still, as if time had stopped alltogether. Instantly, the dead silence was shattered as wave after wave of black blurs exploded up the side of the roof as each of them opened their mouths and emitted hungary roars. As they touched the roof, they rell at Ironhide's axes and Huntress's black short sword. As more and more hit the roof, they started flooding past the first line and crashed into Ryo and his rank.
Ryo was the first one to meet the corruptites, stepping into a swing and opening a throat. After Ryo drew first blood, the other three threw themselves into the fray, dodging and stabbing a bloody swath through the black mass. Ryo's rank heldthe wave, stopping them solidly. John smiled at how well the newbies fought, then turned back to the task at hand. He took a sickle up in his hand, opened his soulstream, and ushered Orihime through first, since she was the closest, while Sarah grabbed Riku. John and Sarah disappeared, then returned a few seconds later to take the next two into the voids. John glanced up to see that the kids were still holding the corruptites.
Uryu felt that he was in his element; with a scimitar in each hand, he felt as if he were immortal. He moved with the fluid grace of a dancer yet the deadly accuracy of a verteran brawler, moving through the corruptites like a ghost. Wherever he was seen, he quickly disappeared into a sudden mist of blood. Kyoshi blocked a claw and shoved the owner back so he could bring up his sword up in an arc to cut another corruptite in half, following it up and around, cutting a through the ranks behind the bisected one. Saya swung with vigor, each swing spraying blood across her clothes. She saw a corruptite coming in low for Ryo then noticed that he would be unable to block it and her sense of painic and alarm caught in her throat as she pushed her way through the air, whiched had seemed to thinken and slowed her more than she was comfortable with. She made it just in time, thrusting a sword through the claw and pinning it to the ground just short of his hamstring. Ryo heard the death screech almost underneat his feet and turned to see Saya's sword pinning a corruptite to the ground. He smiled and swung above her, cutting down a corruptite that was about to descend on her.
There was only one more group of two left before it was their turn to evacuate. Al; four of the fighters saw this and attacked with newfound vigor, pushing the corruptites back in a frenzy as they passed up Ironhide and Huntress. The two professionals looked stunned at this occurence and actually lowered their weapons as Shadow and Flare stepped forward to stand next to them, their faces showing that they were held in the same stupor. Shadow was the first to open his mouth.
"Holy damn! Now that is some impressive s**t!" He nudged Huntress and Flare. "They keep this up and we're gunna be out of a job." he chuckled. Sarah and John almost stopped to watch the spectacle, but knew that they were buying time and took advantage of it, pulling the last group of two, Tsia and Kyo, into the protectiveness of the high security government base.
Ryo brought the back edge of his crescent blade down into the pinned corruptite's head, then yanked it out to cut off anothers claw. All four started to get pushed back again,, then Saya made a mistake. The gravel crunched and skittered as she fell back, landing heavily on her back, her swords clattering at her sides. Three corruptites dove for her and she threw her arms in front of herself, bracing for the claws. After a few moments of not feeling the sting of claws or teeth, she lowered her arms to find Ryo on one knee above her, swirling discs of air blocking two sets of gnashing jaws while the third were sunken into his arm, blood gushing down the limb. The air discs turned, decapitating the two they held off, the reeking havoc further into the swarm as Ryo jammed his free hand's crescent into the set of jaws that were attatched to his arm. The disgusting, clumpy, black blood ran from the dead corruptites head and mixed in with his own bleeding. The jaw relaxed and a final breath rattled from from the lungs of the vile creature. Ryo snapped the dead corruptites jaw with a sickening pop and freed himself from the dead corruptite. He turned to Saya and offered her a hand, a worried look marring his face.
"You okay?" Saya took the hand, grabbing her swords on the way up and nodding.
"Yeah, thanks for the save." Ryo nodded then looked up as John beckoned them over. He looked around to see that the other four members of the golden eyes team had taken his teams place in the fray. Ryo nodded and turned to the still fighting Uryu and Kyoshi.
"Uryu! Sand wall then let's get the hell out of here." Uryu nodded and threw his hands in front of him, his scimitars disappearing. The gravel in front of him disintegrated into sand, then formed a swirling, sold wall. As it came into existence, it left Hutress and Ironhide on the corruptite side of it, Shadow and Flare having already returned to their proper place. Ryo motioned to the other three.
"Let's go!" The four rushed past Shadow and Flare. Ryo went to the man with the golden eyes while Saya went to the girl he had held hostage. John pulled him into the stream and he came out in a grey hal with a green stripe down the center. Saya and Sarah appeared right next to them. Sarah looked to John, then disappeared. John turned to Ryo and Saya.
"Your friends and a few others are in that room behind you. He looked down at Ryo's bloody arm. "We'll take care of that arm when everyone is back. Ya did good kid, be proud." He then turned and stepped back through the crack.

Chapter 13
Dardarus charged after the wall went up and Flare called after him.
"We have a job! We were told to hold our rank!" Dardarus kept running.
"I know I have a job, and it's getting everyone out of here alive." He flew over the wall and dove into the teeming mass of black clawas, jaws, and screams. When he hit the ground, a six foot radius of corruptites hit him with pooles of their own think, clotted blood.
"Ironhide! Huntress! Let's GO!" Dardarus roared above the screeching, screaming, and hissing of the black mass. MOrgana hacked away, trying to keep sight of Ironhide but losing him as the corruptittes roused into a frenzy, pushing at her from all sides.
"Ironhide!" she screamed as she blocked slashing claes and gnashing teeth from every direction. Jack's silver hammer came crashing through the crowd as he took up Morgana's back. MOrgana smiled.
"It's about time." She jammed the short sword into the eye of the closest corruptite and, with a melodic, mettalic ring, the moonlight caught the razor sharp edge of the midnight black, nine foot katana. It lit up with a silvery glow and Jack's hammer glowed with a blue-tinged silver. The two crossed weapons and they hummed in tune. The glow on both weapons swirled in blue and white tinged silver as they both swung in wide arcs, taking out a wave of the black monsters. Morgana heard Dardarus's voice rise above the roar. She swung one last time, then leapt, soaring over the mass and seeng two craters in it. One where she and Jack had fought and the other where Dardarus had entered. She saw him swinging fluidly, flitting through them like a ghost, the only proof that he had been anywhere was a gloud of bloody mist. She landed lightly on the other side of the sand wall and dashed forward into Johns portal with him following after her.

Chapter 14
Once MOrgana was out of danger, Jack turned toward the sand wall and barreled through the corruptites. He got to the wall and swung the silver-blue shinig hammer at it, smashing a huge section out of it, stumbling out of the swarm and into Sarah's arms as they disappeared. Dardarus was in his element as he lived up to his codname, a shadow in the sea of black claws. As he fought, the faces of his parents stuck in his mind and slowly darkened as their features twisted as they turned into monsterous corruptites in his head, fueling his rage and honing the edge of his black blade. Dardarus flew into a frenzy, wisps of shadown streaming off his hands like steam.
John came back through to see Dardarus in a frenzy of bloodlust, a look of pure, unadulterated murder in his eyes as he roared louder than the creatures that he was killing. The corruptites seemed to take a hold of fear and started to turn and avoid him but he hunted them down and slew them even faster.
"s**t." John flipped his sickles into his hand and charged after Dardarus, taking off limbs and heads as he fought his way to him.
"Shadow, enough! We need to get out of here." Dardarus dimly heard his leader's voice in the back of his mind but continued to hack at the retreating creatures, not just with blade but shadow claw, also, relishing the felling of warm, slightly clotted blood on his hands, face, and clothes. He felt pressure on his shoulder, turned, and swung, sparks dazzling his eyes as his blade met his team leader's sickle and stopped solidly. The pure shock of it unclouded his mind as his leader gave him a dark look.
"Let's go Shadow." Dardarus nodded, then calmly cut them a path to John's portal and they stepped through.

Chapter 15
John cleared his throat, "Alright, I am-" A screech sounded as a corruptites legless body flew through the unclosed portal and hit Lexi in the chest. Riky watched the think knkock Lext to the ground and reacted. He spun and grabbed a short shwrod out of Hunttress's sheate. He stabbed the thing solidly through the side of its head, knocking it off of her with the momentum of the hilt catching on the other side of its skull. He picked her up off the ground and stood her up.
"You okay?" Lexi was shaken but the thing had not had time to attack her.
"Yeah, a little shaken, but I'm fine. It didn't get me." John closed his portal and a sense of dread rose in his being. They had come through before, but only in pieces, and dead., He masked his fear but gav his team a look that told htme all they needed to know.
"Alright, I am Ghost. I work for a secret governmet project called the Guardian Program. We work to find those that are like ourselves and train them up to be super soldiers. One of our own turned on us and went insane. Now he makes corruptites out of people and slaves out of those like us so we wage war against him in secret, out of reach of the public eye. Our job is simple, find the turncoat and either eliminate him or capture him and see if we can convince him to join back with us. Now, you have two choices. You can conscript and help us giht, in which case you learn how to get more control over your powers and can get to school, or you can not in which case you will stay here until we catch Thorn, at which time you will be permitted to leave after a memory wipe." Ryo listened carefully, then turned to those that had made him leader. Every set of eyes was filled with determination that said they wanted to see it through.
"Looks like we're joinin' up." John gave him a small smile. This boy had the true makings of a leader.
"Good, I was hoping you would make that choice. Now, get some sleep, we start training at oh-eight-hundred hours. The room behind you has enough beds to room you although you do have guestes that you'll meet tomorrow morning." Rukia looked shocked and asked him the question on every other mind in the room.
"There are more of us?"
John nodded, "Yes, four more to be precises. Now, rest up, you've got a long day ahead of you." Ryo noddded to Ghost and turned to walk through the door that he had pointed out, followed by the procession of eleven other people. Once they were in the room, Ryo nodded to Uryu ato shut the door, then beckoned them to gather in close.
"Now that we have a moment to ourselves I want to tell youall that you are the most brave people that I have ever met," the room murmured its agreement and several murmurs of praise to each other, especially thost that had been in the fighting rank, "Now, I know I looked back to you guys about taking him up and I followed the group concensus but I'd like to know now if anyone has any doubts, concerns. or wants to talk?"
Kyoshi cleared his throat, "We are being thrust into a war we know nothing about, against creatures that we know nothing about, on the same side as people we just met a few hours ago. For all we know, this guy could have a good reason for walking away from this and maybe this organization created those black things but lost control of them. This isn't necessarily true," he said as he saw protest in everyon'e eyes, "but I think there is more to this then they are telling us."
Kyo pushed his galsses up the bridge of his nose as he began to speak, saying, "I agree with him, there is definitely more to this place than a training grounds. those were research class security doors." A murmur skittered through the crowd again. Ryo's posture was that of a man in command.
"Well the best way to find out about anything is from the inside, is it not? So, the real question is are we going through with this or not?" He looked around at all of them. As his eyes met each of them, they nodded. "Okay then, let's get some sleep." Ryo looked to Saya and nodded to her to take a bed with him. Saya's face brightened and she quickly stepped to his side as he walked to the closest bed.
Rukia watched the two with a sense of outrage. Why had he chosen her? Was it because she had stepped forward? PUshing he consternation aside, she found a bed next to one of the four that were already sleeping. The boy had stringy, black, shoulder length hair and she thought he was rather cute. She laid down on the bed next to his and closed her eyes.
Uryu made eye contact with Kazumi and gave her a questioning look, his eyes swirling lazily. Kazumi nodded and walked to the closest untaken bed and laid down, waiting for Uryu to lay down with her. Uryu lowered himself down next to her and melded to her body then let go of his conciousness.
Slowly, one by one, each sey of people picked their sleeping partners, or lack there of, and drifted off to sleep.
Kyo was the first to wake when Ghost opened the door. He raised his head away from Yuki's neck and looked at the silhouette in the doorway. Suddenly, bright lights lit the room and a collective groan cam from its inhabitants.
"Alright boys and girls, I have three days to give you a crash course in what it is to be a G.P.E.D.S." Hector woke when the lights came on and observed his surrounding. The hospital like room should have made his sense of alarm go off the charts, but he found himself strangely at peace. He was startled to find all the people around him. but he was used to surprises.
"What the hell is that?" John looked at the noy; it was one of the ones that had been seperate.
"That stands for Guardian Program Emergenct Deployment Soldier." Hector nodded groggily.
"And since when the hell did I become a soldier?"
"The moment you picked up that scythe of yours."
"Okay then, let's do this." Hector got out of his bed and stretched, allowing his body to dull the burning in his muscles. Ryo was next to rise from his bed and with him rose the other eleven that had been on the bus with him and that had elected him their leader.
"Okay then, let's get to work." Ryo said with an affirmative nod. Jonny laid completely still, not yet wanting to give off that he was awake just yet, just in case he needed that element of surprise to escape. The man's voice had a military ring to it that sapped the strength from his guard but he was still suspicious of the situation. Once he heard the wor"training" all sense of forebearance dissipated.
"I'm in." Jonny said as he stood. John had seen the boy lying tehre, pretending to still be asleept; he was smart, holding on to the element of surprise until he was sure he was in a secure location.
"Good." John looked at the two girls that had also been brought in seperately and saw them wiping the sleep out of their eyes. "Good morning ladies." Both sets of hands had lethal power in them and the next istant, as their gazes swept the crowd, they locked eyes with John.
"Who the hell are you?" the girls chimed in unison. John gave a small chuckle, admiring their sense of caution.
q"I'm Chost; I'll be your commanding officer for the day." Kristie looked the man up and down with a stare of ridicule.
"I'm not in the military, Sarg." she said, mockingly. John smiled a little, remembering those very same words leaving his lips on his first day.
"Well we could take you back to your car and lef the corruptites have at you if you prefer." Kristie rememvered last night, the roar of thrundering steps and the terrifying black creatures. A chill ran up her spine and she scowled at him to mask her fear.
"Where do I sign up?"
John hve another small chuckle, "I thought you would say that."
Katsume let the ball of pure energy blink out of existeence and sat quietly, waiting for instructions.
"In this institution, there are eight man platoons: two healers, two quick travelers, three combat experts, and one leader. So, who can heal?" Yuki, Katsume, Tsia and Orihime stepped forward. John pointed to Yuki and Orihime. "You two, over here," he pointed to his left, "And you two over here," he said as he point Katsume and Tsia to his right. He scanned crowd and locked eyes with Hector.
"You are a leader, to my right." Hector wanted to argue with Ghost, but his curiosity got the better of him and he followed the instruction.
"Ryo, to my left." Ryo walked to Yuki and Orihime, giving them a small smile.
"Okay, now, who has a form of quick travel?" Rukia, Kristie, Kyoshi, and Uryu all raised their hands. John looked at the four carefully. After a few seconds he pointed the two girls over to Ryo and the boys over to Hector. Rukia held in her small smile as she walked toward Ryo and the rest of his group with a pop to her step. Kristie shrugged and followed Rukia over to the small group of people. Kyoshi and Uryu were about to protest, but exchanged glances with Ryo and quieted the objections immediately and walked over to Hector. John looked at the remaining six people and judged their character.
Saya would disrupt Ryo's group and cloud both his and Rukia's judgment, so she needed to be separated from them. He pointed at Jonny, Saya, and Kazumi and directed them to Jector's group. Saya's heart stopped for a second and she stood her ground.
"No." John raised an eyebrow. In over two centuries of command, he had never had arecruit tell him no. He wanted to yell at her but decided, instead, to test Ryo's leadership ability.
"And why not?" Saya gave him an indignant look.
"I work well Ryo, he and I have a good battle sense together." Ryo agreed with her but knew better then to question this man's judgment. He had done this for a reason, he could tell by the tone with which it was done.
"Saya, do it for me please." Saya looked to Ryo , shocked and slightly hurt, but swa the look of command in his eyes and followed the direction she had been given. Lexi, Kyo and Riky were left standing in the line, took thehint, and walked over to Ryo's group.
"You six are going to be the combat specialists for your group. It will be your job to see to it that, under the direction of your team leader, you keep every member of your platoon alive, even at the expense of your own life. You are the first to charge and, if you do your job right, you're the last to die while in combat. Those with the gift of speed travel, you are the messengers and evacuators. It is your job to keep yours and other teams informed and up to speed. When it comes to retreat, you are resposible for getting your teammates out of the situation. Medical, your job is simple. Get specimen for lab research and, when your teammates are injured, to heal and get them back to the battle as fast as inhumanly possible. You will have no social or physical boundaries between you and your teammates. You will know every single inch of their body so that you can heal them to the best of your ability. Finally." John looked to each of the two boys he had appointed leaders, "leaders, you are the tactical minds of your team. You will know every other teammates job down to the smallest detil and every inch of their power and will also have the most difficult job in the world. The job of command. Your decisions will determine whether a teammate lives or dies. Every victory will be by your merit and every death will be your fault."
Ryo felt the gravity of his words, yet, inside him his powerhummed in synchronization with the weight of the responsibility. Hector accepted it with a nonchalant grin. He had always felt that battle was his place in life, now his destiny was coming to pass. John gazed upon the two new teams that had breathed life back into the operation with both dread and hope. Three days, then they would have to confront what he, himself, had spent several hundred years pursuing. He looked at Ryo long and hard, hoping that he could handle it.
"Okay, now that we have teams,you need your code names." Everyone in the room tittered with excitement. John cleared his throat and the room quieted as he opened one of the sixteen folders that he held in his hand
"Lexi: Firefox. Ryo: Squall. Jonny: Geo. Kristie: Sparks. Rukia: Shadowsong. Kazumi: Penguin. Tsia with a T: Shine. Riku: Steel. Kyoshi: Sage. Uryu: Quicksand. Orihime: Tsunami. Kyo: Zero-G. Yuki: Hype. Saya with an S: Volcana. Hector: Reaper. And finally, Katsume: Angel." The sixteen looked around at each other and spoke each code name wit pride, then looked to their team leaders. Ryo and Hector locked eyes and then turned to John.
In unison they spoke, Hectors deep booming voice and Ryos melodic voice blending perfectly. "SOLUTE!" sixteen arms struck a two fingered solut as John smiled, thinking about how interesting the next three days were going to be.