The squad drove to a place bordering the zone. Waiting for them there was a large truck, a powered armor suit, and a soldier with a requisition waiting for a signature. Lieutenant Sawyer signed it, but told the soldier to wait; he may be needed to drive the suit back to Fort Solace. The soldier shrugged his shoulders and took the completed form back to the truck.

She looked to her fellow officer. “Lieutenant Prowse, think you can run this thing?”

Lieutenant Prowse inspected the suit as everyone waited for her response. The powered armor suit was an older model; about three meters tall and a little bulky, it didn't have the refinements that more current suits had. This one was actually about to be recycled; it was lucky to have lasted this long. However, the suit could be of service one last time.

She finally stepped over to Lieutenant Sawyer. “A Kronus PAS-29. Two cannons, a missile rack, albeit no ammunition, and able to lift approximately two tonnes. Good for tactical support and labor assistance.” She stepped a little closer, an evil grin spreading on her face. “Oh, yeah.”

Lieutenant Sawyer smiled. “Good.” She turned to face the squad. “Kev, Douglas: This is an impromptu training session. Well, more of a test, really; I need to get a better idea of what the two of you can do, and this should give me that insight. Please note that we are just inside the border of the zone; this means that you two should have access to the full range of your abilities. I'm going to give each of you two minutes to see what you can do to the Kronus; keep in mind that the pilot is not going to hold back.” She looked at Lieutenant Prowse. “Correct?”

Lieutenant Prowse had an evil grin. “Oh, definitely correct.”

She turned back to the guys. “So decide who's going first and we'll get going.” She backed down and sidled next to Rodriguez. “Make sure that the beagle is recording full-spectrum.” Rodriguez gave a curt nod.

Lieutenant Prowse quickly mounted the powered armor suit. She ran a few basic tests; satisfied, she gave Lieutenant Sawyer Sawyer the thumbs up. Meanwhile, Kev and Douglas did a quick tossing of rock-paper-scissors; Douglas won the toss and decided to go first.

"Kev, you had best take this thing down after I wear it down a little for you.”

“I shall endeavor to do my best.”

Douglas walked over to Lieutenant Sawyer. “Okay, looks like I get to play with it first.” She nodded and directed him to a space away from the group and about 200 meters in front of the Kronus.

Douglas looked at the Kronus. He signaled to Lieutenant Sawyer that he was beginning; she nodded and started her stopwatch. He let the hulking monstrosity come to him and opted to cast a spell on himself; his shield became a little darker. He then fired a fireball at the suit. The suit walked right through the flames and punched Douglas.

Douglas flew for a good hundred meters.

Everyone was startled. Everyone was frozen; they didn't know if they should stop the fight or make funeral arrangements.

Then Douglas rose. “That hurt.”

Everyone cheered. Lieutenant Prowse was happy; this was now a contest.

Douglas then cast a pyrotechnics spell at the Kronus; its sensors were blinded by the dazzling display of lights right in front of it. Douglas then telekinetically jumped right up to it and then jumped on its head; his fist was covered in electricity as he punched the suit with all of his effort.

The punch managed to chip some of the armor off.

For the next minute, he did nothing but dodge the clumsy attempts of the Kronus to knock him off its head while kept waling on it; Then a whistle was heard. The armor was looking worse for wear

Douglas stopped mid-punch, then jumped down. He walked by Kev. “Destroy it.'

Kev smiled. “I accept your challenge.”

Kev walked to where Douglas had started and then motioned for the suit to charge him in classic Hong Kong style. As it did, his fingers danced over his torso. He triggered the heart covered in roses from earlier, then a suit of futuristic armor, and finally his tiger claws. The first covered him in a fine network of vines that quickly dissipated. The second covered his skin with a skin-tight metallic skin. The last caused his fist to be covered in a metal glove with claws coming out of the knuckles.

He then leaped the intervening 20 meters of the remaining space.

Lieutenant Prowse was ready for him and swung. Kev caught the punch as he landed and tossed the suit to the ground.

He then began tearing into the armor, taking it apart with his tiger's claws. A mere thirty seconds later, he was able to grab Lieutenant Prowse and pull her out of the armor.

Chits passed from a shocked Samuels to a smiling Walker.

Douglas clapped Kev on the back. “Nice job!”

“Thank you. Good job yourself.”

Lieutenant Sawyer conferred with Rodriguez. “That was just scary. Glad they're on our side.”

“Definitely.” He checked his glasses. “I'll have the data available for you when by the time we get back to the base.” She nodded.

She walked over to the vanquishing heroes. “That was pretty good, guys. Just one thing left.” She pointed to the suit. “I need that in the truck.”

Douglas' shoulders fell as Kev shrugged. The truck left about five minutes later, its bed full of metal scrap.

* * * * *

The gargoyle dropped off the camera and almost flew out of the rook.

Lellend hooked the camera up to his laptop and proceeded to watch the footage. He became visibly more angry with every frame. In the end, he had to prevent himself from smashing the camera to bits or at least tossing it through a wall. He couldn't believe what he had seen; he hadn't expected the shade to survive; it was a minor demon at best and therefore imminently expendable, but it had practically died on arrival. The soldiers could have killed it.

Worse, he received no new insight into the power of the tattooed warrior; he hadn't even broken a figurative sweat. He was unable to figure out what that one tattoo did and none of the others were all that interesting. And then there was that friggin' wizard; what was he doing there? He was aware that the Neon Caduceus was looking at potential recruits, but was unaware that a friggin' wizard was among them. That was a major game-changer, especially considering the potential power of a wizard; while it was effectively a new form of magic, they had not yet seen anyone using magic at more than an instinctive level.

Nothing like what that kid was doing. Any idiot could create shields and bolts; wards, like he was using, should be beyond this world for another twenty years. If he could do that, it meant that they were adapting quicker than expected. That could be as dangerous to their mission just as it opened up a world of possibilities; he wasn't sure whether to be nervous or ecstatic.

He decided that it was time to take this situation far more seriously. The tattooed warrior was no longer a primary concern; the entire squad was. He needed to take out that squad for his plans to succeed. He would need to do the one thing he didn't want to do: Partner with Deezle the Dork.

This was truly a horrible day. He must make someone hate it as much as he did.

* * * * *

Douglas was in the shower. It had been a tiring day and he was enjoying the hot water. This went into the positive column. When the last of the sweat and grime had disappeared down the drain he stopped the water and dried off. When he had dressed, he reached for his boots and found a pair that weren't his. Puzzled, he pulled them closer. Inside was a thick brush, two cloths, and a tin of boot polish.

Walker was right there, waiting. “We were beginning to wonder if you would ever leave the shower.”

Douglas smiled. “Sorry; not a lot of showers on the trail.” He pointed to the boots. “And where're my normal boots?”

Walker smiled just a bit too widely for Douglas' taste. “Those old things? Unsuitable for tonight's lesson. Also, we thought you would appreciate not risking the leather on your favorite pair.”

Douglas was nervous. “Okay, so what are we doing?”

"Polishing boots. If you're serious about staying, it's part of the deal: Personal maintenance includes more than just hot showers.” Walker was smiling.

Douglas decided to play this game. “Fine. So how do we do this?”

"Take the brush and get rid of all the dirt.”

He took the brush and gave it a perfunctory brush-down, glaring at Walker the entire time. Walker seemed to gain enjoyment from his hatred and his grin became wider. “Okay, that was fun. Now what?”

"For now it's just building muscle memory. Take the tin and open it. Go grab some water in the top of the tin.”

Douglas did exactly that and came back. Walker had taken the opportunity to grab his own kit.

"Now, take the cloth, dip out some of the boot wax, and cover the boots. While you're doing that, dip the goop in the water every so often.” Walker showed him how to do it, making sure that he worked in circles on the leather.

He did precisely that. While he did it he began to appreciate the meditative value, he wasn't going to acknowledge that to his tormentor.

"Now grab the other cloth and start buffing out the boot. You may need to move it around to do it.”

Again, he did precisely that and a dull shine began to appear on the boots. Walker began to smile out of pride rather than malice, which began to feed Douglas' confidence. Walker slammed his boot down on the bench. “Compare.” Walker's boot was a shade shinier, but Douglas' wasn't that far behind. “Not bad. Needs some practice to get it down.” At this point, the scarier smile came back. “Guess we can help with that.”

Walker reached behind him to grab an entire box of old boots. He beamed down at Douglas. Douglas just glared as Walker walked off. Douglas resigned himself to his task as he reached into the box. I am so beginning to hate this.