“Times up, my Tiny Tots,” Zac shouted as the recruits filed out of the closet. Zac looked at the weapons everyone had gathered from themselves and raised an eyebrow at Kenji. 

“Interesting. So who’s going first?” Zac asked with an excited look on his face. No one seemed to move. No one wanted to be the litmus test. Everyone knew the more information they had to work with, the easier time they would have to accomplish their goal. Watabe scoffed at no one moving and then said, 

“I’ll go, you cowards.” 

“Oh, that’s a surprise. I’d thought you’d go last for sure.” Zac commented. 

“You said our ‘mission’ is to make you bleed. Missions are accomplished through the cooperation of multiple divisions and collaboration with multiple teams. This is not an individual task. I’ve noticed from the start that you guys are cautious with your words. You say exactly what you need, to give instruction without explicitly giving the game away.” Watabe said as he pointed his dagger at Zac, who began to laugh. 

“Clever little shit. You stomped all over my game before I got to play. Well, I’ll just have to find my fun elsewhere.” Zac sighed. 

Zac tried to antagonize the recruits against each other before handing out the mission of this evaluation. They would not leave until he bled. Watabe knew once they failed and this exercise's purpose was revealed, everyone would blame him for his actions the previous day for forming a divide among recruits. 

Now he understood he could not get rid of the competition as intended. Instead he’d just have to stand out as much as possible. This would also lessen the pressure from the other recruits who felt they couldn’t trust him. He was sure more group activities were to come. So even if they didn’t trust him, they could trust his competence and willingness to succeed. 

As Zac went to take a sip of his coffee, Watabe launched one of his daggers toward Zac, who gently turned his body to the side to dodge. 

“Would you look at that?” Zac thought as he saw a thin wire attached to the dagger. 

Watabe pulled on the wire, and Zac crouched as the dagger flew back over his head from behind. As he crouched he saw Watabe crouched in front of him with his dagger stabbing toward Zac’s chest. Using his free hand, Zac grabbed and twisted Watabe’s twist, flipping him onto the ground, never letting go of his wrist. Zac quickly put him into an armbar lock, holding him down with one hand, while taking a sip of coffee with the other. 

“Do you yield?” Zac asked.

“Why should I?” Watabe asked calmly. His free hand wiggled with the wire holding the thrown dagger retracted, bringing the dagger into his free hand, he then went to stab Zac’s leg. Zac kicked the hand holding the dagger away, disengaged the armbar, and flipped off the ground. He looked down at Watabe with a smirk, 

“I thought so. That’s my weapon; what the hell is it doing back there? The Twins must be really pissed with me.” Zac chuckled as he looked back at the weapon storage closet. 

That wasn’t the only thing that concerned him; this Watabe could use them decently well. Nothing in his files said he had any experience with such weapons. Zac smirked as he looked at Watabe and over at Kenji and the other recruits. 

“Not bad,” Zac mumbled to himself. 

“Ahhhh!” Watabe shouted as he charged towards Zac, slashing at him with those daggers. Every strike was aimed at vitals. Zac had a carefree smile on his face as he dodged. Suddenly he kicked Watabe’s gut, and sent him tumbling across the ground. Watabe quickly gathered himself and made a pulling motion with both his hands. He had purposely dropped his daggers on Zac’s side when he was kicked. Those daggers leaped off the ground, aiming for Zac’s neck and legs. Zac instinctively leaned back to avoid the dagger coming for his head. 

“He got him!” One of the recruits shouted when they saw those blades fly towards Zac; he wouldn’t be able to dodge both. However much to that recruit's dismay, there was no blood, only the sound of metal clashing. 

“The coffee mug?!” Ume said with a look of shock as she saw that the tin traveler's cup blocked the other dagger.

“Dammit.” Watabe cursed as he charged forward, retracting the daggers to his hand. He attacked again, incorporating kicks into his assault this time as well. Zac continued passively evading and blocking Watabe’s attacks, while casually drinking his coffee. 

“Fight back!” Watabe shouted. He found it impossible to make ground when Zac was only playing defense. There was no opening he could find to make up ground.

“As you wish,” Zac spoke as he sidestepped Watabe’s stabbing motion and slid in close to his body. In a series of rapid motions, Zac’s right elbow bashed into Watabe’s solar plex, he then raised his fist to send a backhand to watabe’s nose. That right hand grabbed Watabe’s arm, still extended in its stabbing motion. He used his right foot to kick Watabe’s leg off the ground and break his balance. In one fluid motion, that same foot crashed into Watabe’s sternum. 

“Argh!” Watabe groaned as he was jettisoned across the room once again. He struggled to get up, dropping to his knees as he looked up at Zac sipping on his coffee again. The man hadn’t broken a sweat. 

“Fighting against Chasers is impossible! How are we supposed to make that bleed.” One of the recruits said, dispirited. 

“Heh, well, you’re wrong about two things,” Zac said as he turned to the other recruits. 

“The most important being, I’m not really a Chaser, I don’t have a Program,” Zac said, much to the shock of everyone in the room. Even Kenji looked at him with surprise and a little annoyed. He bitched at him for wanting to live an everyday life not two days ago, yet he wasn’t even a Chaser, which meant he could live a normal life.

“Hypocrite!” Kenji mumbled to himself. 

“Second, you can fight against someone with a Program just fine. I do it all the time.” Zac said with a smile.

Everyone went silent as they stared at him. Since Zac joined The Renegades, he has been used to set an example for particularly rowdy or cocky recruits more than a couple of times. Especially those with access to rare and powerful Programs. They all needed to understand that they couldn’t entirely rely on the power Programs provided. 

“I’m just a soft, delicate, vulnerable human, like the rest of you. So make me bleed.” Zac's voice got noticeably darker.

“Soft and vulnerable, my ass.” Kenji mumbled, Zac was anything but. 

However, As Kenji observed that fight, he felt more at ease. Many around him couldn't pick up on most of what was happening, but he could see it all. Not only could he see it, he understood it and was starting to feel more excited than anything. In the depth of his mind there was one thought roaming,

“They're not as impressive as I thought. It can be better.” He instinctively began to correct the flaws in the movement he saw, even though he had no point of reference for such things. Kenji flinched at his own train of thought and looked down into his palm.

“What’s wrong with me?”

 Kenji mumbled as Watabe slunk back into the group of recruits. Even if he wanted to go again, he was in no condition to do so at that moment. He’d need a moment to gather himself. Even though they knew that Zac didn’t have a Program, it didn’t make him any less imposing. In fact, some of them became even more cautious. If he could fight those monsters while being a normal human, he must have a variety of tricks and skills up his sleeve. They were all aware that the records Kenji had broken the previous day belonged to him. They could only imagine how far he had pushed the limits of the human body since then. 

“Next!” Zac called out, causing the recruits to shiver.