Chapter 9: Power Ranking Simulation Test

Yesterday was something else. It dragged, and by the time my team and I got everything settled, it was one in the morning. We had been running on the negative end time wise to get situated in our new home, and with sim practice at seven am sharp, I hadn’t had enough time for sleep. Itineraries in Serva were a strict protocol, and as per contract, The Brother’s Code was pretty much free to discipline us as they saw fit if we miss-stepped. A bit free range if I could put in my two cents about it, but it looked like the majority of super humans who had entered those doors stayed regardless, everyone wanting something out of this arrangement.

There were such high hopes for both sides of that coin, and I myself was already committed, arriving at the simulation lab ten minutes early in my super suit.

Yeah, my super suit…

In terms of design, I didn’t have a say, every super human was given suits with certain specs to cooperate with their powers. It was supposed to feel like a second skin, while still serving as a fashion statement, seeing as they couldn’t help but give me such bold and assertive features. I looked like a dark soldier, geared heavy from top to bottom: the armor chest plate, hand guards, fingerless gloves, knee pads, leg guards, and heavy metal boots. I was fortunate enough not to have a cape and a mask as part of this alter ego.

I had skipped breakfast, where the only thing in our stocked fridge that had appealed to me was the bottle of water I had in my hand. I guess you could say that I was nervous, having absolutely no idea what was in store for me and my team. Because this session would be our first test run, the description in the Wizket itinerary calling this a basis for team compatibility.

The dome was split up in several chambers, each chamber exclusive to a team. In the middle of the room there were five seats, the wiring linked to a control panel behind a protective see-through screen. The control center was dimly lit, but I saw the conductor inside, some dark-haired guy in a white lab suit, his appearance already making me anxious. He kept looking at his watch while trying to avoid eye contact with me as I leaned against the hexagon-shaped walls, seriously itching for a cigarette. That was when I saw him spring up, the lanky kid adjusting his thick-framed glasses before he spoke to me through a small microphone. “Is the rest of your team aware they have an assignment this morning?” he said in a nasally voice, obviously impatient.

“They have about another six minutes,” I defended the girls, picking my back off the wall before heading toward the trash by the exit door.

“You all live in the same ward, right? They didn’t notice you heading out?”

“Heh, you know how girls can get.”

He grinned. “Well, I don’t have another hour to waste sitting around,” he jested, a sign of him loosening up around me. He finally dropped his stiff shoulders and kept his attention on me for longer than a second, where I noticed the youth behind those huge glasses. He was no older than twenty-two, probably still in college, his major likely engineering, and took this opportunity to spruce up his resume.

“You’re not like the other meatheads,” he said, and at first, it took me a while to realize he had paid me a compliment. I took my seat on the left of the row of seats, letting the helmet with the visor hang over my head as I leaned forward. I let my elbows drop on my knees, curious to hear this skittish guy out. “Yeah, you aren’t my first customer. The other so called heroes were arrogant, condescending, swinging around their powers like they’re hot shit. E-excuse my language,” he stuttered. “That wasn’t very professional of me.”

I gave him a wholesome smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

“The thing is, they were giving me a hard time… the majority of them, anyway. Thinking a regular like me had no authority to tell them what to do. Hell, all I was trying to do was set them up for their assignment. Just… doing my job. Don’t get me wrong, this is an awesome opportunity, but I was hoping to work more behind the scenes with supes. Engineering weapons and gear, and these training domes. This direct contact… it’s a little nerve racking, you know? Sure, I got an emergency button underneath this desk, but by the time the crew comes in and gasses up this place, my hashed body parts would be all over the floor.”

I furrowed my brows. “The supes here threatened to hurt you?”

“Ahh, they were just playing around, harsh fun… a bit cynical if you ask me…” he said sheepishly. “It’s mostly the guys, and then the girls… just going along with their leader.”

“Wait, the guys are the leaders of every team?”

“Well, not all of them. Some teams even have two guys and two girls, a rare treat. The popular ratio is 1:3, but the leader in those teams vary, even though the percentage of male leaders is like eighty percent.”

“How are they picked out? Do you know?”

He shrugged. “My guess, whomever The Brother’s Code sees has the most potential in executing leadership successfully. It’s a numbers game to them, with a mix of metrics decoded through the history they dug up from their subjects, and their power points.”

“A flawed system apparently, especially if these so-called leaders are bullying you for self-satisfaction.”

“Fueling their ego is the name of the game. Typical path that sometimes can’t be averted, especially in an untested place like this.”

“Testing their employers to see how far they can go without getting in trouble isn’t the way to go. It’s juvenile, unprofessional, and pathetic.”

“If I can help you out, watch out for Draco and The Tank,” he said. “Draco is the guy with the red dragon arms. And The Tank is the size of six god damn quarterbacks with a silver metallic sheath for an epidermis.”

Draco I had met, in the inauguration meeting. As for The Tank, the description wasn’t even vaguely familiar…

“There are a couple others, but those two are the worst. I had my protection screen replaced because of The Tank. Bashed right through it because his team dropped harder than a sack of potatoes in the Power Ranking System.”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, this simulation test is the basis of the Power Ranking System. Personally, I don’t feel it properly foreshadows how a team will progress throughout training, but, The Brother’s Code needs a foundation to see what team is the right candidate for their golden spot in the future. But don’t ask me for the details, because I have no clue. I’m just a paid intern nerd.”

“Thanks for the tip, um—”

“Charlie Gunwin. Like the bakery down Butcher’s Boulevard in Watch Square.”

I chuckled. “Name’s Liam Chago. I see you’re from Roe City too, huh?”

“Yep! Born and raised. You’ll get to see where you and your team stands once you’re done with the test. As long as you make it out in the top five, you’re in a great spot.”

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“Liam!” Aster barged in and sang, making me get up when I noticed the silicone cup in her hand. She was dressed in her super hero gear of black with gold trimmings, the low cut on her collar barely stuffing in her large breasts. Her hourglass hips complemented her seamless corset, just like how the rest of her shapely curves filled in her tight shorts. Her decorative thigh-high stockings added the finishing touch to her super hero outfit, as did her ankle boots, that belt with skull heads on it, and the long tail end of her corset that fell like a half skirt over her thick thighs. The outfit made her look like a true demoness, Rynn and Dessi following right behind her.

I already had the pleasure of seeing Dessi’s attire, but not Rynn’s. She too was suited up with something similar to Aster without the hellish undertones. Her outfit was cleaner and had a simple allure to it, from the sleeveless turtleneck to the off shoulder top wear that looked like ninja gear in black and red. She was also covered more modestly, showing little skin compared to her teammates, while also keeping her hair in a fat French braid with framing ivory bangs.

The three girls approached me, but they were a few minutes late.

“What the hell happened?” I asked Aster.

“Cream and sugar happened, with a hazelnut splash. And I’m not talking about you,” she grinned. “You want some?” she asked, offering her coffee to me with a velvety voice.

“You have a watch strapped on you, why didn’t you use it?”

“I tried telling her we’d be late, but she insisted she needed her morning blood, but then she settled for coffee,” Dessi complained. “I’m sorry Liam. It’ll never happen again.”

Aster turned to Dessi with a cocked brow. “Oh? Kissing butt already to the captain? Such a cunning little girl,” she taunted, tossing Dessi some sass.

“I wouldn’t call following orders kissing butt,” I retorted, Aster turning to me with a witty smirk.

“What happened, sexy? Feeling like Captain America all of a sudden?”

I grinned. The snappy comeback was pretty clever, but I had to set a precedent. I was captain, and Aster needed to take this team seriously. “We’ll have enough time to toss witty insults at each other all day once we finish this important simulation test,” I said in a tone just as snarky.

“Power Ranking System evaluation test,” Rynn scoffed. “The foundation of our grade point average in The Brother’s Code. Try not to botch this one up,” she said, almost as if she’d been directing that comment to me?

I couldn’t remember giving Rynn a reason to doubt my abilities, unless she was considering what I’d told her yesterday, about not being able to control my detonation.

Shit, now that I thought about it, I wasn’t sure what this test demanded of me, realizing I could have been in bigger trouble than I thought...  

“Please proceed to the designated seats and connect the color coded wires together as demonstrated on the diagram between your feet,” Charlie commanded in the small microphone hooked to his control panel. “I will then confirm the preparation step is complete and proceed to the next phase.”

Color coded was a bit of a stretch. This entire dome was in white, and so were these wires with different hues of neutral white-ish tones. Rynn and Dessi finished setting up faster than Aster and I, but once we all finished, our proctor finally left the control center to check us, adding the final touch—the head gear with corresponding visors.

“I will now take this moment to explain how this mechanism works,” he started. “First, let me welcome you to Hive 00, one of many Hives on this campus. These simulation labs are state of the art donations of The High Order, providing a realistic and engaging experience for users, taking neural responses and amplifying them in a virtual gradient. These machines have been re-modified to sustain superhuman feats, but because of the lack of practical testing on supes, it is my job to stress that the resistance of these machines haven’t been fully tested.”

“Full disclosure, lab rats,” Aster commented under her breath caustically. “I hope any mishaps are a breach of contract on TBC’s part.”

“Rest assured, I will do my best in monitoring all of you within the control panel,” Charlie said. “The Hive programming is very responsive, and very sensor based. Your vitals are being monitored, and from the control unit, I can track your heart rates. If a heart rate goes critical, you will be immediately pulled out. The interactive properties of this machine are diverse, and virtually limitless, meaning that responses in the fake world you will all soon dive into will be transmitted through the wires, and into the connections circulating through your system. To give you an example, if you touch anything in the virtual world, the texture, temperature, and even smell will be transmitted through the receptors linked to you.”

“Hmm, now you’re talking,” Rynn said enthusiastically.

“Now, please bear in mind that you have exactly ten minutes to properly infiltrate the Orgon sector point without being detected, while safely accessing the target, Project Attrus.”

 

The what in the what now?

“Good luck!”

The straps around my wrists suddenly engaged, getting tighter. Shit, I didn’t like the feeling of this already. The churning sound coming from these machines gave me goosebumps, while digging out the memories of my stay in Sigma-RE. The striking resemblance to these audible cues was making me incredibly anxious, but I had to calm down and remember where I was. The Brother’s Code had given me an olive branch, and I didn’t want to betray their alliance by scorching their campus on day two.

The pitch black visor was all I saw, feeling light tingles vibrate under my shoes and into my skin. Same with my finger-tips along the chair’s armrest, and not too long after, the nodes over my forehead began heating up. Light waves at first, but then the visor in front of me started to brighten, and the sticky nodes on my forehead began to pulsate.

Hive Simulation Initiation Process— Delta Region, Omega A Team Objective. Loading Environment, Test 98-00. Please Wait…

The program system and her robotic tone had me antsy. The longer we waited, the more nervous I got. As for the rest of my team, Dessi was quiet, sitting the closest to me. I could feel her head moving around, probably in awe. But Aster was busy chuckling to herself, being proud and confident that we’d execute this mission flawlessly with no doubt. Rynn, who was the furthest for me, remained quiet for the most part, until the visor in front of us opened up into a warping screen, making me gasp as well.

Loading Complete. Test 98-00 begins in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

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