UCAC Ch. 06

I wanted to see this monster in it's full glory. As I whipped it out, Malcolm withdrew, shaking his head.

"We haven't graduated yet..." He smiled, teasingly.

"God, dude..." I said pushing him off of me, "You're a big ass tease, you know that..."

"I just need to make sure you'll stick with me to the end..." He said.

"Of course I will!" I said, reassuringly. He truly didn't know what he meant to me.

"I'm just asking because, this thing," He said looking between his legs, "Is no joke, and when it goes down... I'm going to fuck you like it's the last time we'll ever see each other because it probably will be. We have two different paths ahead of us and after the final test...we graduate."

I walked over to him, seriously upset. He could tell it.

"Do you want me to rape you?" I asked.

"Rape me?" He asked laughing.

"Yes," I said crawling back on the bed, "All you keep doing... is teasing me...and teasing me. And I want you... SO BAD!!!!!" He smiled, caressing my face.

"And you will have me... just you wait!" He said. He kissed me again and again. I don't think he knew what he was doing to me. I was falling for him, faster and faster with each kiss. I didn't know if this was love yet but I did have some very strong feelings for him.

He just held me against his chest, rubbing my head. I didn't have hair to play in since we had to be shaved bald for training. It was kind of funny.

"Denver..." Malcolm said.

"Yeah?" I responded.

"You're not afraid of it?" He asked.

"Do I ever run from challenges?" I asked in response.

"No but... I can't have nearly as much sex as I want because of it..." He sighed, "I had eventually given up when I came to the UCAC. I was lucky enough to lose my virginity at all."

"Well, you're in my top three. Growing up, I've had similar.... It's been a while but...." I laughed.

"I wish it was smaller..." He sighed, not pleased with his member.

"I say embrace it... One day you'll find the guy who can take a kick from a third leg to the ass and not claw your eyes out trying to get away from that ass lashing." I teased.

"Who?" He asked, knowing it'd be tough to find someone capable of taking it all. I know he was hinting at me.

"America is a big place... You have a much better chance here than back in Scandinavia." I said.

"Maybe so. Just don't be the only human in the world capable of taking this dick then leave me hanging when you have to be shipped across the country." He laughed. I could hear the concern in his voice, a hint that the feelings he shared for me were just as strong as what I was feeling for him. The realization would forever be engraved in my mind.

We truly had an odd relationship, made odder by the fact that we were now doing much more extensive field training. We both knew that the time we had with each other was winding down but treated what we had like we'd be with each other forever. It was the same old same old, the two of us seldom having time to see each other, cherishing the briefest moments we could have together. Maybe it was a way of coping with how things were never concrete in this world. I just knew we'd go out with a bang.

We had to fly two hundred to ones which were basically flying two hundred miles within one hundred minutes. That meant each one of us had to cruise along at a minimum of one hundred thirty miles an hour and we couldn't glide at all... All and all, it was the equivalent of an effort felt jog considering how these cybernetic suits functioned. We did this extensive training for about a week before being sent on actual training missions.

With two weeks to go, we were shipped all about. Our first tactical training mission was in the ruins of Atlantic City. We were to lure out basilisk mechs that hunted down the locals. It would be my first time facing off with battle mechs. The beauty of this though was that we got the shittiest briefing ever. The drill sergeant simply said, "Go out to the Atlantic City, lure out the basilisk mechs, and destroy them." It seemed simple enough but there were no details given at all about thisAtlantic City...

Everyone just sat in the airship like this would just boil over, all except Dallas. Being from the Southern Remnants, I know he had quite a bit of experience with battle mechs. I looked over to Malcolm, summoning him over. We sat next to Dallas, the boy doing his best to hide his distress.

"What can you tell us about mechs?" I asked.

"We have crab scorpions where I'm from. Basilisks are different...much faster and can fly short distances. They look like a cross between a chicken, a scorpion and serpent. They will spray you with caustic acid that will solidify you where you stand. We can't simply just do the drop without a plan. Someone will die..." He said. Everyone around us continued socializing, a little too complacent with how relatively calm things had been lately.

"I can't believe these fools are just sitting around like this shit isn't real..." I said to myself, before voicing up, "You all do realize that despite this being a training mission...this is very, very real?"

Everyone looked at me, wondering how I had the nerve to speak. They looked at me as though I was some arrogant and pretentious jerk. Despite their rightful feelings, I had a goal to keep the remaining fifteen alive.

"Yeah, we know..." Someone said, before turning back to resume his conversation.

"So what's the plan?" I asked.

"Every man for himself..." Chase said.

"That's so damn stupid!" I quickly retaliated.

"That undermines the entire scope of the training ya know. You expect us to..." The young man who teamed with me in the gravity dome started.

"Look, why don't you and your little boyfriends all work together while everyone else does what they think is best for them. It's not as big of a deal as you want to make it out to be..." Chase sighed. I shook my head, having nothing to say.

"This is ridiculous. If we fail this mission we're gonna get so destroyed by Sergeant McKinney..." Dallas said, very worried.

"Eeew you actually learned his name?" I asked.

"I try to learn as many people's names as possible." Dallas laughed.

"I don't." I laughed before getting serious, "So what does Swainson have?"

"It's nothing spectacular. It's a recon specialist." Dallas said, shaking his head.

"Same with mine..." I sighed.

"Well while everyone behaves on their own accord, you two survey the entire city. Get detailed scans, make maps and understand how these basilisk mechs function. We can't quite face off with a threat we haven't faced before without knowing it." Malcolm suggested.

"I know basilisk mechs..." The guy from the gravity lab said, sounding frustrated, "I'm with you guys...fuck the rest of these dumbasses..."

"What kind of Winger are you?" I asked.

"Winger?"

"Cyberaeros, whatever you wanna call it!!" I hissed, growing agitated. Malcolm and Dallas laughed at me.

"I'm a Scout." The young man said. I shrugged, unsure what he was talking about. Malcolm placed a hand on my thigh.

"A Forest Winger." He laughed.

"Oh..." I sighed, "What kind... Sharp-Shinned, Cooper's...can't be a goshawk because you're not too tall."

"Cooper's..." He laughed.

"Good...We'll call you Coop. How ya doin' Coop?" I asked, being really obnoxious, I know. Sometimes I couldn't help it. I already was on a bad mood...

"I'm fine with that." He said sitting down.

"So...?" I began.

"Oh, um...I'm from Atlantic City. I grew up having to avoid basilisk mechs and I know how they work. They're very predatory machines but have a pack mentality. Alone, they're not much of a threat but you bring them together and they are lethal! They are very flight capable, very agile in the air but can't fly for too long. Not to mention, they are smart... They never fall for the same trick twice. Um... they do think they are creatures and not all get along. Some packs of basilisk mechs have territorial disputes with others... We could formulate a plan to lure them out to one area and bomb them." Coop said turning to a very small young man, sitting alone with his arms folded, "Shinny!"

The young man came over, looking both unpleased and unsure. He stood before us with his arms folded.

"What?" He asked. I looked at him in disgust.

"Eeeew." I said, wondering why he was pouting. He looked at me menacingly, the little guy probably being toughest of us all.

"We got a plan..." Coop said discretely, grabbing his friend so he could sit among us, "Um...we're going to run decoy with the basilisk mechs... get them to meet all in one area then...boom!"

A smile came across Shinny's face. This was a boy who loved danger, it was just plainly obvious. He was like me but only, smaller.

"OK..." He began, nodding slowly with the same smile, "I'm in." Coop turned to me.

"So what shall we call you oh gracious white one?" He asked.

"Elanid." I said.

"And you oh powerful white one?" Coop continued, not able to stay serious.

"Snow." Malcolm laughed.

"What about you rugged warrior?" Coop asked, pointing at Dallas. It was hard to contain my laughter.

"Swainson..." Dallas chuckled.

We looked at the clock, it being about forty seconds before it was counted down to zero. We wasted no time in marching up the stairs, entering our designated tuckaways. The whole time, other trainees looked at us feeling we were being excessive and pretentious. We may have been but again, these dudes failed to see the true motive behind every mission so there was no point in sparing expenses. The point of this mission was to unite us without having to tell us to unite. I seriously hoped no one would get hurt. With so many idiots in one area, I'm pretty sure someone would get hurt.

We suited up, ejecting from the chutes into the air. We fell into close formation quick to soar on a rising wind current. The Atlantic City ruins were grand, the biggest ruins I ever laid eyes on on. The red hues of the rust combined with the green hues of the overgrown vegetation made for a glorious sight. The pristine blues flooded the buildings lining the coast. The metal frames of the buildings were covered in white ocean salt, eventually fading to pink then back to the rusty reddish color.

It was now time to get this started.

"Snow," I began, "Armament ready?"

"Yes." He responded.
"Swainson," I said, "Sensor array ready?"

"Yes." He said back.

"Scouts," I started, "Stilts ready?"

"Yes." The two boys said.

"Then let's do this." I said, "Swainson, you take the outer city I take the inner."

I remembered from the Babylon book I read. Atlantic City became the biggest city in all the United States six hundred years ago. It was one of the vertical cities, along with Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. When too many people crowded the city borders and they couldn't expand out, they had nowhere to go but up. Some of the most impressive buildings were built in the wake of this expansion but now, the only thing left were ruins.

It was now time to put this advanced radar to the test. I flew well over the inner city, scanning in a wide arc as I quartered around. The return pings not only showed where the mechs were but allowed the IPUs in the Helm and pectoral plates to put together a cohesive three dimensional map of the city. The constant quartering was a tedious process but one that had to be done. It took about twenty minutes to finish an entire sweep.

Swainson and I reunited, linking our hardware wirelessly to combine the data. Snow and the Scouts flew near as well. I sent the data to them to review and it was daunting.

"There are a lot of fucking basilisks..." I sighed.

"I see... There's no way we can take out that many." Snow said.

"I wouldn't count us out." Shinny said. I looked at him intently.

"How fast are you on those stilts?" I asked. Shinny and Coop looked back and forth between each other.

"We're pretty damn fast." Shinny replied.

"And how much artillery do you have, Snow?" I asked.

"I have enough bombs on me to knock down one of those rust towers." Snow said back.

"We can lure them to one area." Shinny said.

"What area will that be? The city is flooded in this high tide." Snow said, unsure of the plan.

"The cast balcony on the northern side if the city." Shinny said, looking at the broad open space.

"Ok." Snow said, comfortable with that decision.

The scouts were off, both boys heading in separate directions. They had a daunting task ahead of them. The sheer number of basilisk in this cities numbered in the very high hundreds, if not the thousands. They'd have to be quite some badasses to pull this off but I had faith in them. These two knew what it meant to be in a Cybernetic Wingsuit! You could tell by how they flew. When they flapped, it wasn't the endless rowing to accomplish command but the flicker of wing beats accustomed to changing variables, wings that knew how to cope with struggle.

The first to land was Shinny. He perched on the beams of a tower, looking down at something. He and those powerful matchstick stilts crept along the beam, literally making him look like a giant mechanical raptor. He hopped down to a lower beam, vanishing out of sight. I ascended, wanting to see every moment of this.

He was stalking a pack of basilisk mechs, congregating on the elevated base of a ruin. They were oblivious to the threat above them. Suddenly, Shinny dropped down in the midst of them, stretching those legs out. With his talons, he grabbed a mech sending a jolt of electricity that arced through the buildings. The flash of light produced was blinding, able to be seen from miles away.

I knew every single basilisk mech in the city saw it. It was Shinny's plan. He fled on foot, using those stilts to his advantage. He sped through the ruins with the nimbleness of an arboreal bird. Right on his tail were basilisks pouring in by the minute. Shinny kept running and running though, seeming without a path. It felt so frantic, as though escape was all he could think about. He headed deeper and deeper into the city... towards another pack of basilisks. It looked grim.

"What is he doing?" Snow asked.

"He's trying to get as many on his tail as possible. It's part of his plan." I reassured, watching with my stomach in knots.

Shinny continued to run and leap nimbly through the city. He lept into a suspended building foundation, uprooted by the countless hurricanes that pounded this place. It was teeming with basilisk mechs. With those powerful talons, he attacked one, the attack being shielded behind arcs of light.

When the light died down, Shinny was being pursued by countless amounts of basilisk mechs. He was the real deal...

"How you holdin' up Coop?" Shinny asked, panting.

"Great!" Coop said, he too having countless amount of basilisks on his tail.

"Ok, lets bring em' on home!" Shinny said.

"Alright!" Coop responded, running through the ruins with the same agility as Shinny. The two scouts were based on the leggy accipiters, true hawks. These hawks were known to be capable sprinters amongst raptors, chasing down prey on foot if they had to. The UCAC spared no details, designing the scout suits to do virtually the same thing. Coop and Shinny utilized this to the finest of expertise.

"We got to time this right!" Coop said.

"I got your location! I'm heading east and you're heading north. We'll converge just as planned!" Shinny said.

"You ready up there Snow?" Coop asked.

"I've been circling over this drop zone waiting for you guys..." Snow responded.

Suddenly an explosion from behind Coop caught him by surprise. It was several Cybernetic Wingers shooting down the pursuing basilisks.

"WOOOOOO easy pickings!" One said.

"No, what the fuck are you're doing! You're gonna make them," Coop growled, watching as the chasing basilisks began to break away, "Scatter."

The plan was foiled. More and more Wingsuit pilots flew in, shooting quills at the basilisks. It was infuriating to watch.

"This is too easy!" Another pilot said. As more and more Wingsuit pilots began to destroy more and more basilisks, the machines began to take extreme evasive actions. They spread their wings, dispersing into the air. The interceptors wasted no time in picking off as many as they could, flying on pompous wings, swift and low.

"You idiots!" Coop said.

"You were the one being chased by a thousand of them!" A pilot said.

"These idiots have fucked up everything... Snow, don't bomb these, I'm bringing them to Coop!" Shinny said, now running along the docks.

"Ok." Snow responded.

Suddenly the scorpion like tail of a basilisk mech whipped a pilot out of the sky. Blood curdling screams rang in everyone's ears peice as the young man was dragged along the boardwalk, swarmed by dozens of basilisks.

"You idiot!" Coop said, finally taking wing. He came to the young man's rescue, diving in. He collided with several basilisks, frying their circuits in blinding arcs of electricity.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Someone else screamed. Coop scanned the horizon, searching for who screamed.

"I got you..." I said diving in to free the young man. A basilisk had wrapped it's tail around his neck when he flew by, attempting to suffocate him. However, his dense armor prevented this from happening. It was crazy how these machines knew were alive.

I charged up my pulse beam, frying the mech. The young wingsuit pilot was freed, quick to take to the air again. Coop, at this point was beyond frustrated.

"I was leading them to a converging point so we could bomb them without anyone being in any real DANGER!!!!" He said, full of fire, helping the young man up on the docks, "And you all just had to fuck that up!"

"Get in the air now!" Shinny said. Coop looked back, seeing a surge of Basilisks coming down the docks.

"Oh shit, dude," Coop said, pushing the fallen pilot, "Get airborne, NOW!" The two took off just as the basilisk mechs converged into one mass on the docks.

"Everyone clear out now!" Snow advised. He came in on a screeching dive, releasing his entire payload on the docks. All the basilisk mechs caught in the midst were obliterated by the flash fission bombs. Only a handful of dozens of basilisk mechs remained after the assault. Somehow this mess still managed to be a success. I truly didn't know how we pulled this out of ourunifiedass. It was surreal.

"Is everyone ok?" I asked. There was a hesitation before a response was given.

"Yeah..." Someone finally said back, "Is it over?"

"It's over..." I sighed.

We flew back to the ship, happy to take these suits off for the day. Upon entering it, we were horrified to see the drill sergeant waiting on us. He did not looked pleased. He said nothing, watching as we flew into the airship, walking up the stairs into the tuckaways. We unsuited and walked back down to the waiting bay. We sat, no one wanting to look at the drill sergeant.

"I think you all should count yourselves lucky you have pilots like Elanid, the Scouts, Snow and Swainson with you all. These seem to be the only five out of the entire fifteen of you who can actually make it as leaders...as tacticians." He sighed. It was then we realized he knew everything. This was all a test to see how well we played with others. As a whole, we failed.

"I'm surprised," The drill sergeant said, beginning his infamous pacing, "No one died! I bet you think just because you have these suits now, that your life is guaranteed at this stage in your training. You may have one more week but that last week will rule out the weak. So I'm telling you all now, it won't be easy... The only way this mission was easy was because someone formed a plan. May I ask who formulated this plant?"

No one budged, everyone sitting as still as a statue. Suddenly, Coop pointed at me. Then, Swainson and then Snow. Shinny continued to sit still, his eyes wondering what all this meant.