“Ma'am, if I may interrupt,”

Hwanmyeong's eyes pried away from Soonyoung as she moved down the line to that Yinzhi girl. She held her right hand up high, taking a step out of line to show that she was speaking. She looked no younger than Hwanmyeong was, but even so, she addressed the girl on stage with such formality. Soonyoung could make out a slight smile on the girl's lips as she volunteered herself to take Soonyoung's place in demonstrating archery. Yinzhi was confident in her skills and had been training since she could walk to qualify to become a Kestrel Candidate. She wasn't going to let some idiot with no listed skills take the spotlight. This was her time to shine. Like Hwanmyeong, the girl spoke in Chinese-accented Korean. For some reason, there were a lot of Chinese kids in the Academy. Or it was just him. He silently prayed to some supernatural force up high that Hwanmyeong would just give up on him and pick on the younger girl; unfortunately that wasn't going to be the case.

“You may demonstrate archery for the class afterwards – but for now, we need someone to demonstrate for us how to throw knives at moving targets.” Junghan prompted, once again averting his attention to Soonyoung,“ Isn't that right, Student Kwon?”

Opening his mouth, Soonyoung mentally cursed at the sudden lock appearing at the corner of his sight. There was a series of clicking and whirring sounds in his head again before he saw his legs and arms starting to move by themselves. His previously blue screen was now bleeding into a light pink meaning that it could only be one person taking over his system – Hwanmyeong. Before he knew it, he was standing at the base of the stage, in front of the long table with an entire collection of weapons he'd only ever seen in video game. Without even realizing the lock and auto-control had been removed, Soonyoung's fingers were drawn to the sheer black weapons on the table. There were a variety of knives in all shapes and sizes, there were even throwing stars, darts, axes, and swords. Some were flashy like the rainbow colored ones, and then there were some basic steel grey ones. But there were this one set that he couldn't take his eyes off of – the Cold Steel Throwers.

They weren't as nearly designed as the other knives, but they looked trustworthy. It was a simple 8 inch blade with a slightly curved blade. The sharper edge was cut at a diagonal at the point, and the spineback was beveled as well. It looked perfect for stealth missions, and they were in perfect condition. The entire body was a sleek black, with the exception of the two silver rivets in the handle. Picking them up, he traced the belly with his pointer finger, slightly flinching when it cut the surface of his skin. It hadn't gone deep enough to actually draw out blood, but that line was a pretty evident cut. In his head played his very first simulation battle where he first encountered a throwing knife. He had been sniped from behind a building, and since then, he had always equipped his avatar with the Cold Steels attachments. His thoughts were interrupted by Junghan clearing his throat once again.

“Cold Steels. Wise choice, Student Kwon,” Junghan motioned for Soonyoung to walk up the steps.

For the third time, Soonyoung's arms felt like lead as he carried the three knife set up with him. He still had no idea how to use them regardless of having used them as part of his default weapon in those military roleplays. Facing the class, Soonyoung gulped the spit building up in his mouth. His hands were shaking nervously which probably wasn't the most convenient thing at this point. Junghan stepped down from the stage and began walking towards the back with the rest of the students. The stage beneath Soonyoung's feet was beginning to expand from all sides. The students' mouths were now forming small 'o's as they watched the simulation arena assemble in front of them. The hangar lights dimmed as the window covers whirred down. There was a light pressure pressing up against the bottom of Soonyoung's boot, which, after he took a step back, it grew into an overgrown fig tree. Dirt caught on the leaves slowly rained down on Soonyoung's hair, pulling him into a coughing fit as he breathed in. Soonyoung gasped at how real the tree looked, double taking when he accidentally walked into an incoming tree. The ground underneath transitioned into a waxed black surface to a moist forest floor. The dried leaves, the degrading fallen fruits, the last tree nuts – everything was there. An amber dome covered the dark forest area, illuminating down a dull sunset glow on the arena.

“Simulation Night Mode – On. Spectator Night Mode – On. Battle Commence,” Soonyoung could hear the automated voice in his head talking to him as his night mode switched on.

A grainy neon green screen inked his sight area just like it would a night vision scope. He could make out a bush not too far from him which appeared as black on his screen. The trees cast unique patterns across the ground, which Soonyoung couldn't help but marvel at. The design that was put into this simulation was so surreal. It was literally like he was walking in the forest. For a second, he had completely forgotten about why he was there in the first place. Taking a few steps forward, he explored the scenery around him, reminding himself to stop by the digital design wing to congratulate them on their hard work. There were even realistic sounds of birds singing, and monkeys cooing in the distance. Even the crunching of the leaves beneath his feet grinding up against the tiny rocks and pebbles was clear as day. He had already thought that the VG simulations were amazing, but this? This was as real as you could get! Turning his head, the target ring came out once again, and locked onto a vine. A box appeared next to the plant: Jade Vines. The vine flowered claw-like flowers which, according to the database, were a light mint green.

“Strongylodon macrobotrys, huh?” Soonyoung crouched to get on eye-level with the rare vine. He vaguely remembered the appearance of the plant in his third year middle school science textbook, “So we're in the Philippines,”

No wonder it was moist as hell. The sweat trickled down his neck, soaking the high neck mock-neck collar of his uniform. Who thought it was okay to send him to the Philippine rainforest in an all-black leotard? His hand sweat was seeping through his gloves, which prompted to grip onto the knife handles harder. His thumb rested in the space between the spine and the plastic guard, while the quillon and ricasso balanced against the joint of his pointer finger. His heart raced at the thought of accidentally dropping it on his foot or something since the boots weren't exactly steel-toed. The other two knives he had brought into the arena with him were hooked onto his belt and rattled against each other as they bounced off his thigh with every step. Now that his tour was over, he was going to actually get this demonstration done. Junghan wanted a demonstration right? Well throwing a knife at a tree couldn't be that hard.

He trudged for a few more minutes before finally he decided to hurl one at one of the trees in the secluded area of the arena. There was an amber glow similar to that of the dome above him surrounding the tree. IT was the only tree in the arena that was giving off any light, so this was probably the tree that he was supposed to target. Holding the knife upright, Soonyoung let out a deep breath as he closed his eyes. He was at least a good fifteen feet away from the damn tree which was pretty pressuring. Think about it, Soonyoung was going to be throwing an eight inch knife across three five foot tall people. That was like...three Yinzhis! Sure she was short but three of them was a lot. As he was getting into the zone, he heard a light rustling towards the right. His eyes snapped open, darting around the area to spot any heat signatures.

None.

Well that was weird.

Focusing on the tree ahead of him once again, Soonyoung clenched his teeth, knuckles turning white as he gripped the knife's handle harder. Drawing his arm back, he in air with his back teeth and swung his arm forward, chucking the knife at the bark with all his might. He felt the handle slip from his fingers with ease as it sailed towards the tree. He could have sworn he could hear the blade slicing through the air it was riding. He was so sure that's what it was. But there was something wrong. If the blade had successfully reached the end, it would have made a shattering sound due to him penetrating the energy field surrounding the tree. Or at least, that's what made sense to him scientifically speaking. Cracking open one eye, Soonyoung straightened his posture and used the zoom in function to see where his knife went.

It was gone.

Breath hitching, Soonyoung ran towards the tree to see where it went. Getting down on his knees, he groveled around to find the knife. Stupid night vision. All he could see was a bunch of twigs that looked like the knife, only they weren't the knife. He cursed underneath his breath, seriously wondering where it would have gone. It's not like he had thrown it out of the arena, so why couldn't he find out. His hands stopped digging at the Earth when he heard the sound of rapid metal clicking. No, it wasn't from his processor this time. It was something else. His head stretched up towards the amber glowing tree's leaves as leaves started cascading down on him like they were confetti or something. As the clicking sound increased, the amount of leaves falling increased. It was like someone was cutting them of something.

Hwanmyeong.

Just as the name popped into his head, he felt something fall onto his back – hard. He lay on the ground, face completely submerged in the dirt forest floor. As soon as the thing fell on him, they were off just as quickly. The sound of cloth ripping echoed in his ears as he felt his belt slide off on either side. He clenched his jaw when he felt something being pulled from the back of his neck. It was as if a plug was being pulled out from a socket, only this time he could feel the pain. He was the socket. The cackling sound of electricity followed afterwards meaning something inside of him had just been severed. Lifting his dirt covered face from the ground, he realized that everything was black. . Whoever that was had just turned off his night vision and possibly even torn out his visionary wires. The back of his neck was slowly starting to burn like it was on fire or something – but when he put his hands to it, it wasn't exactly in flames.

“Hwanmyeong, I know it's you!” Soonyoung called out as he scrambled to get up, feeling his way around in hope of a weapon since his belt was now gone, “When I get my hands on you I'll...!”

“You'll what?” he heard her whisper into his ear from behind him, her warm breath making the hairs on his neck stand on edge, “You can't see anything,”

With that said, that series of clicking followed again, circling him clockwise. There was something familiar about that clicking though. It was metal against plastic, and the way they cut through the air, they were surely slender knives. There were two knives being spun, he could tell from the spinning that one was at least a half step behind. Probably her weaker hand. She was on his right side now, his stronger side. His eyebrows raised when he realized exactly what she was using – Butterfly. A small smile appeared on his lips; he knew exactly what she was doing. Waiting a few more seconds for her to get to his left, he quickly grabbed at her right hand and the slower clicking stopped. He grinned triumphantly before letting out a prideful, “Ha, got you!”

“Joke's on you, Kwon,” Hwanmyeong snickered when she saw the grin plastered on his face transition into a frown. Now that his right side was completely exposed to her, she spun the butterfly in a circle once more then with a flick of her wrist, pinned him right in the middle of his thigh. Soonyoung cringed when he felt the blade rip right past his uniform and into his muscle. At first, it didn't feel like anything and then the pain started to seep in, a dull throbbing starting for form around the area.

“I'm ambidextrous...left-hand dominant,”

“ you, Kwon,” Yinzhi flipped him the middle finger from the couch opposite him from the DePyro Common Room, “All you had to do was throw a mothering knife, and you couldn't even do that!”

How unlucky was Soonyoung to be sorted into the same sleeping quarters as Yinzhi, the fourteen year older murderer? In her hands was a six inch Circus Faka, which she was spinning backwards at an alarming angle. Everyone pretty much steered clear from her by a good ten feet, so a majority of the trainees there were crowded around the walls, sitting on the floor. The bright orange light from the active volcano right above their heads proved to be a light source for the common room, but also scared the hell out of all the newly appointed plebes. One of the few people that wasn't sitting alongside the wall was Seokmin who was sitting on the foot chair helping Soonyoung dress the wound on his leg; even though he was probably making it worse. Standing behind the couch working on the wiring behind Soonyoung's neck was another plebe, Rank 6 Rookie K-ombatant Baek Seohee from Michigan, who specialized in computer assembly. She was getting pretty fed up though since she still wasn't used to this kind of tech.

“Shut up, Yinzhi,” Seokmin piped up as he pressed a cotton bud drenched in rubbing alcohol against the two inch cut on Soonyoung's thigh, “He wasn't chosen to be a part of this program because of his knife skills. Not everyone is like you, you know,”

“She was using double balisongs!” Yinzhi cried out, stabbing the knife into the leather arm of the burgundy colored couch, “Balisongs are rarely used as throwing knives unless you know what you're doing!”

“Yeah, an as a Rank 3, she knew exactly what she was doing! And unlike you, a measly Rank 6, she can control her temper!” Seokmin snapped back, pressing the cotton bud harder, making Soonyoung cry out in pain, “Oh sorry, bro,”

“Say that to me again, you pedo-faced piece of trash!” Yinzhi was now at Seokmin's neck with the blade positioned right underneath Seokmin's Adam's Apple. Seokmin didn't dare to make the slightest peep. Smirking, she pulled the blade away and walked back to her spot, “That's what I thought,”

Soonyoung felt a wire tugging at the base of his neck as Baekhee pulled his head back to get a better view of the spinal device. The spinal device was the external control room to the chip attached to their brain. Without it, repairs would have to be done surgically in order to get to the chip. So to prevent that from happening, they decided to put full access to the device on the back of the teen's neck. Unfortunately, that also meant they were more vulnerable to attacks such as the one Hwanmyeong had pulled on him. If she had actually wanted to cut him off, she could have crushed the entire thing. You could say that Hwanmyeong was actually being merciful towards him. Baekhee shook her head, and began putting her tools back into their clear plastic case, “Sorry Soonyoung, I don't want to mess anything up so you're going to have to wait until Senior Jinli gets here,”

“It's alright, thanks for trying anyway,” Soonyoung smiled at no one in particular since he couldn't see.

It wasn't long before Jinli came rushing in with her duffel bag full of spare parts and tools. And it wasn't long after she arrived that she had fixed all the wiring back to where they originally were, and even gave him a brand new processor cover. Seohee had watched her senior work speedily in repairing the new device, each movement registering in her brain and eventually being stored into the memory of the processor. Once Soonyoung was back online, he stared down at how badly his thigh was doing. The moment he glanced down, a girlish scream escaped his lips. It was at least an inch or two long, and the cut felt like it was one thousand miles deep. The area around it was a gross looking purple. Jinli noticed the cut on his leg, and gasped, “Oh my God, did Ming do this to you?”

“If Ming is Hwanmyeong, then yeah, it's her alright,” Seohee replayed the simulation from her recorded video gallery in her head. She kept replaying the part where Hwanmyeong flung the knife into his leg just for the laughs, “It's hella funny, although, it looks pretty painful,”

“I told her not to do that to the new trainees,” Jinli clicked her tongue before adjusting her glasses to get a better view of the video that Seohee was livestreaming to her, “Then again, old habits die hard,”

“So she does this with every new batch?” Soonyoung asked, lightly blowing on his wound, “That's so low,”

“Well I mean, you can't blame her entirely,” Jinli bent over the arm of the couch to get a better look at his wound, first aid kit from the storage closet in her right hand, “Rumor has it that before Ming was Junghan's right-hand woman, he made her run through these rigorous training simulations since she 'wasn't working to her full potential' or something like that. Something about not holding back when engaged in combat which you're lucky to not have experienced,”

“What makes you say that I'm lucky?” Soonyoung grit his teeth when Jinli brushed on this sticky, jelly-like ointment on his leg, “She stabbed me for Inferno's sake!”

“Call this 'being merciful', dude. The past three people who had to go through IA class either died, or are still in hospitalization because of her. ” she answered, giggling a little when she talk about the programming class she instructed, “Then again, you could say us assistant instructors can get a bit carried away in showing off our skills. We want to prove to you guys that no matter how good you think you are, there's always room for improvement,”

Soonyoung shrugged, “Still, I don't think you've killed anyone with programming,”

“Oh I wouldn't say that,” Jinli placed a clear bandage on his leg, “I'm the reason why you guys live the way you do. I can always take away that life with the push of a button,”

The whole room grew silent when Jinli stood up, “Now get to your second class, all of you. Before I use one of you as an example,”

Like the previous class, the teacher was the one who hadn't arrived at class yet. Figures. This time, the students were inside the massive mission control room. The control room overlooked the Kestrel hangar room, and on one side was an entire wall of glass which all the computer graphics were projected on. Pushed up against the glass were the chrome and black metallic controllers with multiple screens, keyboards, and buttons lined up side by side, occupying every inch of the gigantic machines. They were going to be learning about the basics of the operating room since in about a month's time, they were going to be in charge of controlling their own simulation mission. And what better way to learn than actually spend some time in the control room? Of course, they weren't always going to be in the control room. Only during special classes would they actually have class in the control room. Their homeroom was a mock-operating room that was built on the lowest floor of the facility. In the back, they stood in a fixed line, one arm length apart, hands folded in front – this was the protocol for the beginning of every class. Soonyoung was once again next to Seokmin while to his right, stood Seohee. Apparently she was the person standing next to him in the last class too. Within a few minutes, the door hissed open and while the steam was coming in, the teacher and his assistant walked in. Soonyoung swore his eyes would have fallen out of their sockets at how wide they opened.

“Senior J-Ja-Jang,” Soonyoung barely breathed out.

“That's right Student Kwon, I'm Ryder Jang, at your service,” Doyoon brushed his chestnut fringe away from his eyes, brushing them upwards to expose his forehead. Soonyoung could hear the gasps of almost all the females in his class. Doyoon smiled that charming cereal box smile, Soonyoung was so familiar with, “Nice to meet you all, and welcome to Basics of Operating class,”

Two rings locked onto Doyoon and Yuki, which Soonyoung didn't even bother reading Yuki's because he already read it earlier that morning. Soonyoung was literally blown away by all the medals that were displayed above Doyoon's name. All those accolades, and badges proved that Doyoon was literally one of the best K-adets in the program. This made Soonyoung secretly want to take a peek at Seungcheol's profile, but unfortunately that wasn't until later that afternoon. Doyoon was obviously a Rank 1 Senior K-aptain who was Pilot 19 of the Raging Storm and the Striking Typhoon. The names he had chosen for the Kestrels were pretty funny. Soonyoung couldn't wait until he graduated to Rank 4 when he could finally get to choose a K-odename. Unfortunately, it wasn't until he was appointed to be a K-ombatant that he could have Kestrel of his own to pilot and name. Oh well. He was just going to have to wait.

His eyes caught sight of the bump underneath Soonyoung's mid-thigh area, making him chuckle, “I see you all have met my good friend Umbrage. Ah, I treasure the painful memories I have of that class, don't you Adrian?”

“Yeah...no, you're alone on that one,” Yuki recalled that dreaded very first class she ever had at the Academy which also happened to be er very first class with Hwanmyeong, “Don't forget that was the class I had with Umbrage's star pupil,”

The two shared a quick laugh before returning to the students. While Yuki logged into her profile on the supercomputer, Doyoon went down the line, left to right, assigning roles and then directing them to where they were supposed to sit. Soonyoung happened to land a spot in communications, which Seokmin seemed to be raving about since he was in charge of monitoring Weigyein activity in the Americas. How boring was that? Really boring. In fact, he was so bored that about another ten minutes with Doyoon and Yuki talking about the jobs of each person in the control room, he was out cold on the light blue holographic keyboard. Ignoring this, Doyoon continued on with his lecture since he had also fallen asleep on his first day in BOS class, “After communications, we have the rookie operators. Although they've already graduated from their plebe status, they're still not qualified to actually control their own missions. They're basically like those olden-day interns,”

Not to be mean or anything, but Soonyoung was secretly hoping that he would fall asleep like Seokmin too. No offense to his life's hero or anything, but Doyoon was really boring when it came to teaching. All he did was talk, even though he was a pretty chill teacher. Soonyoung figured that there was no normal teacher in the Academy; the instructor was either super intimidating and strict like Junghan, or super laid-back and boring like Doyoon. There was no inbetween. Seeing that he was snapping back and forth from sleep and consciousness, Yuki walked over to one of the rookie desks, and knocked over the Hello Kitty pencil case sitting dangerously close to the edge. That definitely woke Soonyoung up enough to actually make him fall off his chair.

“Oops, sorry about that,” Yuki sneered at Soonyoung who looked seriously pissed off at her, “Sorry for interrupting you, Ryder. You may continue,”

But before Doyoon got to start talking about the history of Mark DeLuna, Kestrel's most well-known K-ontriever, the alarm above their heads started blaring. The dull wail of the sirens echoed throughout the entire building, bouncing off the walls, alerting everyone that a Code M was underway. About twenty K-ontrievers, K-ommunicators, and their rookies flooded into the room, all attaching their headsets to their ears, switching them on. The plebes quickly jumped from the operator chairs, even Seokmin who was dragged from his sleeping position by the plebe next to him, Cha Yoora. Soonyoung felt a tap on his shoulder, in which he turned around and saw one of the communicators motioning for him to get off. Hopping off the rookie's desk, Yuki slipped her neon green earpiece onto her ear, and took her spot in the middle of the controls. It then occurred to Soonyoung that he remembered reading in her profile that she was the head K-ontriever. Her fingers quickly tapped at the black buttons as she received the information from all the other operators around her. Her eyes skimmed through the multiple windows popping up her screen, and before you know it, she was spitting out strings of words at a speed that Soonyoung had never even thought was possible.

“Alright boys, let's see what the Weigyeins have in store for us today,” Yuki's blue eyes squinted up as she tried to make out the location of where the first Weigyein activity was spotted, “Category 3 Grunt in Hollywood. Kestrel Pilot Number 25 suit up and get ready for neural connection,”

Jinli's picture appeared on the monitor, and within seconds, her neural processor calibrated with her Kestrel, and she took off from the hangar. Seohee was literally at the edge of her seat on the staircase as she watched the K-ontrievers deploying the Kestrel Machines. It was amazing how those thousand pound scraps of metal were able to power up quickly enough to actually connect with the neural processor and get the Kestrel out in time to the location of the Weigyein. Turning around in her seat, Yuki tapped on the same girl that had asked Soonyoung to get out of the seat, “Iz, I need you to get in touch with China Wing and tell them we're going to need backup,”

“Got it,” Iz returned to her station to do as she was instructed. With a single push of a button, China's head K-aptain, Zhou Fangli, appeared on the screen, “K-aptain Zhou, send your two best K-adets to Beijing. We've got a Category 4 Officer trying to bring down the Wall. Yes, I'm talking about Jianshi Team,”

“Category 3 Minor in New York City. Kestrel Pilot 10 suit up and get ready for neural connection.” It was Hwanmyeong.

“Kestrel Pilots Eight and Nine, remain on standby until heat signature on Manila is verified,” Yuki threw a quick look over her shoulder at Doyoon, before mouthing 'Be careful'. With a slight nod, Doyoon smiled, no not that cereal box smile, but a sincere one, “Don't worry, I will,”

And on that note, the dashed out of the room, and downstairs to the locker room to get suited up. Soonyoung craned his neck to get a better look at what was going on in the hangar below. In fact, at this point, all the plebes were standing up, climbing up on each other to see what was going on. This was their first day at the Academy, and already they got to see Ryder Jang in action. How lucky were they?Soonyoung pushed himself up onto the railing all thanks to Seokmin's shoulders, and found that he probably had the best view of the hangar. Unlike the previous two Kestels of Jinli's and Hwanmyeongs that were deployed, Doyoon was being lifted up into a larger-than-life Kestrel. It was at least ten times the size of the regular Kestrel K-ombatant machines. Soonyoung had read about these things – they were built to defeat the Godzilla-type Weigyeins. Doyoon and Seungcheol's pictures appeared on the screen, two thick lines connecting their pictures, pulsating blue as their neural bridges connected. Their minds were now binding into one, they could hear each thought, see every memory – they were one person.

“Neural Connection complete. Neural Calibration Complete. Kestrel ready for...” Yuki's fingers froze above the keyboard, sight area slowly inking into black as her processor whirred off, “Kestrel ready for...”

“Yuki what's going on?” Doyoon's panicked voice resonated throughout the room, “Yuki, listen to me. It's not real! It's not happening! Yuki, it's...Someone get her out of OR and take her to the hospital wing now!”

No one questioned this order. Almost flying out of their desks, the rookies pulled Yuki away from the main controls and dragged her out to the hospital wing. The K-ontrievers went back to their work, but no one had gotten up to replace her spot. Orders left and right were being thrown around, and now everyone was starting to get confused. Soonyoung looked down at Seokmin who just shrugged. They had no idea what to do at this point, but neither did the other K-ontrievers or K-ommunicators. It's not like they could do anything either because this was literally their first day in BOS. They watched the others operators scrambling through windows trying to get things in order, but the more they got profiles and information mixed up. Without Yuki there to actually arrange the missions with their pilots, they couldn't do anything.

“You know what, someone's got to do something or it's bye bye Philippines, California, New York, and China,” Soonyoung stood up, and started walking towards the main controls, snatching up a rookie's headset from their desk while he was at it. There was no way he was just going to sit around doing nothing while the Earth was in danger. Hell to the no. He could hear Seokmin and the rest of his classmates calling for him to come back, Yinzhi being the loudest of them because if he got in trouble, the whole class would get in trouble and she was just not about that life. His breath shook as he sat down at the main controls, fearing that he might receive a harsh punishment from all the head of the Kestrel Program. There were so many foreign buttons and other controls that he had never seen on a regular home computer keyboard. Immediately he was struck with regret. What was he going to do now?

After switching profiles, Soonyoung regained control of the computer and started his first ever operating mission. Switching on his headset, he made contact with all active Kestrels, “This is Rank 6 Kestrel Plebe Kwon Soonyoung speaking. Kestrel Pilot 45 is in no condition to command mission. Please provide me with your full cooperation for things to run smoothly,”

Jinli's picture popped up on the screen, which meant she was speaking, “Holy guys, it's Soonyoung!”