Erik flexed his jaw and cracked his neck. "The princess isn't going to last two minutes on the battlefield. I'll prove it to you."

"You lay one hand on her Erik..." Gemma rumbled to Seth's surprise. "We let your lackeys on last year. No offense guys," he shot toward Roberts and Smith, who waved it off like it was nothing. "I think it's fair that Seth get's to pick. He's got an eye for talent, even if he doesn't know it. 'Sides she's all registered and stuff now, it's not like he can take it back. Best to just accept it and make the most of it."

Erik slammed his hands on the table causing the projection to distort. "Like hell I have to accept some prissy noob! I won't stand for this Wright!" He thrust a finger in Seth's direction. "You think you're some sort of God here. You forget that you wouldn't be where you are without me."

Hope coughed, pulling Erik's attention to the dumbfound glares he had attracted. "I dunno 'bout you guys, but that sounded an awful lot like a threat," Hope chided. "I dunno 'bout the captain, but if I were him, which I'm not. I'm just saying that if I were, I'd have you flagged for threatening behavior."

"He's obviously not as much of a pussy as you are," Erik growled.

"Don't enrage our explosives expert," Seth drawled.

"Who'd Hope kick now?" Esmey interjected, followed by her younger sister Elle. The pair was worlds apart in terms of natural talent. Esmey preferred cultural weapon training like archery, swordplay, and kung-fu. Elle loved to fight dirty, hidden knives, quick and powerful kicks, and good old fashion grappling. Even their looks reflected their styles. Esmey had fashioned her long red hair into a complex series of braids that gave off the illusion of rose sitting on the back her head while Elle liked to keep her shock of frosted red hair cropped. Elle bit at the fresh cut on her lower lip as she took a seat next to her older sister.

"I didn't kick nobody!" Hope confessed. "I want to though!"

"Go ahead shorty!" Erik challenged.

"Why bother," Esmey's quiet voice cut through the tension, "You'll just use your father to get back at her in some way."

"Oh wait, your dad doesn't have any pull in the marriage circuit. Aw, damn." Elle licked the blood from her wound while smirking.

"I don't need to put up with this!" Erik shouted.

"Excuse me? Is this where Squad VII is supposed to meet?" Astral stood at the door in her school uniform. She had tied her hair back in a vain attempt to limit her hair's exploratory expedition. She made herself look small by keeping her arms tucked in, and legs close together, to avoid taking up too much space. She hadn't taken her eyes off of Seth since entering the room. She knew damn well this was where she was supposed to be. "Oh good!" she chirped. "I got a little lost." She kept her voice soft, non-threatening. He wondered if she could smell the predators in the room.

"Great, you recruited a flake," Erik sneered.

Astral adjusted her tinted lenses. "You must be Mr. Bradford. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My grandfather sends his regards. I trust our guardians will be communicating shortly with regards to the supplements your family produces."

Smith snorted. "Supplements..." Seth noted that Erik shifted under the weight of her icy stare. "What do I care?" He mumbled.

"Way to lay out that accent," Hope burst out. "Like, faker much."

"Excuse me?" Astral arched a brow. The captain couldn't tell if she had been surprised by Hope's outburst or if she was playing up her polite meekness role.

"She really does speak like that," Regina threw in. "Nice to see you again. Honestly, I knew there was something special about you as soon as I saw you."

"Seriously," Hope persisted, "Where do they keep you people to keep an accent like that. I wanna know!"

"I imagine it has something to do with being raised by a computer projection during my early childhood," Astral offered. "Experimental early childhood education. I assure you, I'm mostly normal."

Seth chuckled, hoping that Astral was joking. The new recruit offered a wry smile and gestured to the an empty chair. "May I?" Seth nodded gesturing to a seat near him. There were two more empty seats. Gerard and Collins were always late, but for whatever reason he expected that they'd treat their first team meeting seriously.

"Don't expect any special treatment," Erik raged.

Astral's meek demeanor began to shift, drawing the confident and cold fighter he knew her to be. "Nor should you," Astral returned. "You will understand that access to my family's tech is strictly prohibited. As I've explained to your captain, my knowledge of Omega Corps' projects won't be a requirement until I become my uncle's apprentice."

"And she's useless to boot," the second in command groaned.

"I felt that being honest with the squads' expectations as what I am to deliver in exchange for my participation should be made clear to all. Was that a mistake?" She directed her last question to Seth, who shook his head. "I've gone through all the necessary testing and I intend on earning my keep. Whether or not you choose to feel threatened by my presence on your team will remain a personal decision on your part."

"On that note, apart from Erik whose made his opinion crystal clear, anyone else have a problem with our new recruit?" Seth knew that even if they did, there was nothing they could do about it. Members glanced to one another to form a silent consensus.

Gemma rumbled, "I don't give a shit if you're some backwater Enhanced. All you have to do is bring your best. It's bad enough we've got two slackers on the team. No offense guys," he offered to Roberts and Smith, who shrugged off the insult in mild agreement.

"You'll be put through your paces," Regina warned. "It's a lot of work and we won't go easy on you. We train hard every day until our bodies feel like they're going to break. It's not something that someone like you would be used to. Normally, a first year will break under the pressure. I mean, if you want to quit, we get it."

"Yeah, but we won't let you, 'cause we don't waste time with wusses." Elle grinned.

Astral nodded, approving of the chorus. Seth wondered if they were reciting the lines she expected of them. Astral lowered her eyes, placed her hands in her lap, and made herself small again. If they were going to test her, she'd have to play up on their assumptions. It would be easier to impress them if they set their expectations of her as low as possible. The deception would work well for her, especially if she didn't have to rely on her hunter's skill set. He worried about the potential of undoing her training. If she couldn't challenge herself, she'd end up training her body into performing poorly.

"I'm going assign a mentor to Daamon for each session. I think a basic all around primer should be enough to get her established." He hesitated. He didn't want her on the field, not with the level of damage she could inflict. "I don't want you participating in terrain exercises for the time being."

"That's bullshit," Erik grumbled.

"Would you rather I prime her for our first game? It's scheduled for the fourth week of November. I don't mind replacing your unit," Seth warned.

"Fuck you, Wright," the second in command thundered.

*****

The lights dimmed and returned to full power, signaling that the curfew was going into effect. Despite Erik's disgruntled interruptions, the squad had come up with a training schedule fit for the induction of their first-year member. He was proud of them.

Members began to file out, offering their good-byes. The overly enthusiastic Hope rushed to the door to block the new recruit's exit and proceeded to bombard her with questions. "What's your favorite color? Blue! What kind of blue? I like pink. So you live with your gramps? What's that like? Does he smell like old people? I live with my aunt. She's decent. I have like a bazillion cousins though, so it get's kind of annoying." Seth watched as Astral wilted under the barrage of questions as she discreetly exited the office with the explosives expert in tow.

He followed Astral and Hope down the street; hands tucked into his pockets. He made a mental note to bring gloves; it was getting too cold out in the evenings. Regina kept pace with him, lingering at his side as she did in the years before. He'd have to break her of that habit, not that he minded the company.

The marriage contract with her husband was new. The sad truth was, she needed her husband more than her husband needed her as his wife, at least until she could prove that she was capable of successfully reproducing. One false rumor could be enough to break the arrangement if there were enough evidence to support the claim. People liked to talk, and evidence was subject to interpretation.

"You should walk her to her residence," Regina prompted. "Take the time to get to know her better."

Seth narrowed his eyes at the insinuation. "I don't need dating advice." He could see why she would opt to pressure him into a relationship. If he were to get involved with someone, anyone, the general populace would take less of an interest in her. Someone like Astral was ideal and already subject to gossip all without being involved with anyone.

"Oh yes, you do," Regina chuckled to Seth's surprise. "You can be a bit cold, distant even. Try opening yourself up a bit. Girl's respond to that." Regina jaunted toward the girls ahead of them and coaxed Hope away from Astral. The explosives expert had latched onto Astral's hand in an attempt to take her home. "You can come over to my place, and we can swap stories!" she sang.

They were very close to the Military Tier of the campus; Astral would likely have to backtrack to reach her residence. Regina cooed. "Come on now, Hope. She's got a way nicer room. I'm sure she doesn't want to spend the night in the girl's barrack."

"Oh, you're right! We should go to her place!"

"That's not what I meant!"

He was amazed that Astral hadn't said a word through the whole exchange. His encounter with her had been an entirely different experience. He wondered how long she would have maintained her polite facade had he not mentioned Clearwater. Astral looked worn out, desperate for salvation but lacking the opportunity to get a word in over Hope's excitement. He'd admit that he enjoyed her discomfort.

"I don't know about you Hope, but I don't want to have to sit through an hour-long introductory lesson of how the games work." Regina gestured to Seth. "I think now's as good a time as any to get that sort of boring stuff out of the way."

"Awe I wanna tell her," Hope whined and stomped her foot.

"No, you don't. You're going to get caught up in some silly story and completely forget about the basics," Regina lectured. Hope nodded in agreement. "I can't help it when something's awesome! Fine Seth, you tell her. But I'm watching you!" Hope pointed to her eyes and pointed to him.

Struck by sudden inspiration, Regina followed up with. "I brought my wedding pictures; you want to see them?"

"Do I!" Hope forgot all about Astral and followed Regina's long stride down the street toward the girl's barracks.

"Your ex is up to something," Astral ventured when the sniper was out of earshot. The new recruit waved when Regina cast a tentative look back at them.

"Don't be fooled. She's helping herself," Seth replied and nodded to Hope, who was waving back like a maniac. "Congratulations for surviving your first session with them."

Astral shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I just let them do the talking, the arguing, and all of the decision making."

"You handled Erik well." He was disappointed that the encounter didn't lead to blows, but knowing Erik, he'd create plenty of opportunities where he could shine himself as a powerful fighter, even if that meant hitting a girl. He'd call it a sparring match, even if she didn't know she was sparring at the time.

"You had mentioned before that your second in command was going to be problematic. I did a background check on his family and their practices a few days ago. If I read him right, he should resort to passive aggressive attacks that he could spin off as me being overly sensitive or physically weak. Best case, he'll try to have me benched."

That sounded about right. "Does your family really do business with them?"

Astral smirked. No, they didn't. He assumed that she wanted Erik to think that there was a possibility of financial gain. He wouldn't want to be blamed for being the cause of losing billions of credits. "Their supplement program is subject to suspicion. Currently, they maintain the military contracts to supply rations to our soldiers."

"I don't see how that's suspicious." Seth struggled to see beyond what he was he being told.

"It isn't unless you notice that a lot more Enhanced soldiers are coming off the field than what were sent," Astral explained.

"It's not that uncommon for genetic enhancements to be made while on tour. They're willing to do whatever it takes to give them an edge." He had considered the possibility of genetic upgrading for himself. In the qualification stage, he learned that he was among the one percent who were immune to the procedure.

Astral nodded. "All of that information is logged by the doctors. If they go through the medical procedure, the process is sped up to four weeks, which results in the sterilization of the participant."

"You suspect that their supplement is a gene enhancement drug administered through their rations." It was a clever plan to by-pass the Enhance manufacturing laws. The drug could increase survivor numbers, but as a side effect it would fill up the lower class. Enhanced were automatically denied residency to the Capitol, but they would become the primary workforce top-side. The Enhanced were barely people in the eyes of the law. It stood to reason that people like Erik's family wouldn't have to worry about security measures or the safety of the Enhanced workers.

"For now it's just a rumor and the inspectors have yet to discover anything worthwhile," Astral replied. Inspectors could be bought.

"You're not using me to get to him, are you?" Seth laughed.

"Hardly," she replied. "I do have one question that's been on my mind. If you would indulge me?" Seth nodded and gestured for her to carry on. "You mentioned before that you had spent the better part of last year rebuilding the training room." He knew that he had to be careful how he phrased the answer to her question. They were out in the open where everything was being recorded. "I want to know if the primary access route is still available."

He nodded. "It is. It's not exactly easy to get to."

She smiled and for the first time in a week, the smile seemed genuine. "That's a relief," she told him. "I'd like to know where it is nonetheless. I'd like to limit exposure as much as possible."

He could agree with that. The program was extremely dangerous without the upgrades Astral had installed. If the ghost in the machine could devour people as well, it was best to make sure the general student population wouldn't accidentally stumble across it. On the upside, accessing the tunnels wasn't easy, and there were only two groups of people would be able to get to it: the maintenance crew and the squads. "I know where it is, but you'll have to participate in the games if you want me to show you."

Her crystalline gaze narrowed as a snarl touched her lips. "It's the only way I can agree to this." He tried to emphasize that there was more to his proposition than leverage.

The snarl faded. "Have it your way."