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Hi again! Not much to say rn, this chapter seems like a filler but really contains a lot of valuable plot points and introduces characters.

2-CONCURRENCY

//

Arriving at the train station, I immediately noticed the extreme drop in temperature.

White stuff was piling up in the ground and coming out of the sky, I could see it as the entrance was not that far away.

Germany. I looked over at a sign.

Scandinavian Union didn't look much like Germany but who knows, it might have been in my second (worse) language...

No, the train I boarded said Scandinavian Union. This must be right.

But I remembered the letter was in Euro Common and it obviously wasn't it.

I started freaking out. Was I in the wrong place? They accepted my ticket, what the hell?

What was this?

A hand was put on my shoulder from behind and instinctively I swatted it away, raising a fist.

The man behind me was taller than Al, a gray wolf. He wore shades and a suit and tie, all black. From the bulges on his torso I could tell there was a bulletproof vest somewhere in those layers.

"Tai, I'm assuming. Not a great idea to attack your superiors. At least not this early."

I looked away, embarrassed, and slightly confused at that last bit... "Sorry."

"It's good. Instincts mean you can fight well. I'm Marshall. Watched your training."

If he watched my training he knew how average I was. And that I couldn't fight well. How did I get recruited into GYFT? Was this a mistake?

And another pressing matter; why was GYFT Headquarters in the Scandinavian Union?

"Uh, Marshall? I thought I was being recruited for GYFT, so why am I here?"

Marshall looked over his shoulder as the magnatrain silently glided out of the station.

"It is best we don't discuss that here. On me, cadet."

Cadet?

I hadn't heard of any European country or ethnicity that had a Western accent, so Germany was out of the question.

I followed him out of the tunnel and into... Well, whatever this city was. Not Munich, nothing I'd expected, and nothing I'd seen before. This wasn't what I expected and now that Marshall was here I was only slightly comforted.

Maybe I was a tad too jittery but I was a bit in the right. I'd never been out of Gibraltar and anything I saw of the outside world went through my head like fantasy. The world in the snowglobe.

Marshall led me to a limo. I noticed the GRA logo on the side, a gold lion on a blue shield.

We both got in the back. I took in all I could, I'd never seen the interior of any vehicle except a magnatrain, and even those were rare.

Outside the window I could see people walking on the streets in fancy clothes... Walking, with no visible guns or knives or anything.

Seeing their purses out in the open I freaked out a bit more. This wasn't Gibraltar, I reminded myself.

"Tai, we had to send you a bit of false information. Precautions. You're in the right place. But while GYFT is still your recruiter they are also your sponsor."

"Sponsor?"

"Not like the ones in a sporting event, if that's what you're thinking of, but... Well, I'll just show you. Tried to find one in Arabic but couldn't, I know it's your native."

He handed me a brochure, and it wasn't exactly the first instance of language I didn't have to strain my head to read for the whole day.

My European Common was good speaking, but reading was a whole nother' story. No pun intended.

It was a brochure for GRA... specifically one of their many programs.

This one was another anagram you probably are starting to forget, GSS.

It stood for Global Service Squadrons and trying to skim over it I felt dyslexic. But I knew what they were talking about.

Teams of 6 that pretty much carried out what no on else could, in a nutshell. GSS was originally to inspire the nations into lowering the military enlistment age to 18, which was successful.

But only through a martyr. They were shut down afterwards but very recently reactivated, according to my history and current events classes.

And conspiracy theories muttered by ex-GI's on the streets.

The age got hiked back up after everyone and their mother started enlisting again, but recently the whole controversial 18-team debate came back.

I was grateful for that, because otherwise I would have to be 23 before being enlisted.

I remembered being younger. Maybe ten or so.

Smoke. Fire. People running. Gunshots.

People dropping. Not knowing what was going on, too young, too... Clueless.

It was only now that I fully grasped what the product of the classes I'd taken, the GRA, and my life had lead me to. Was I in deeper shit than Gibraltar here?

"Where you'll be staying is here in the Scandinavian Union. GYFT will supply your weapons and equipment as well as pay any costs off you may have, that's their role. Sponsor."

I gave a nod. I was too naïve back then. I said 'ok, this is my life now and I can accept that'. Better than Gibraltar. I could accept that.

I want to go back in time and scream at myself, tell myself I should have stayed in Gibraltar and stayed... Tai.

Or would I have?

No, I'll go off on a tangent and get nowhere...

My head already hurts...

Looking out the window, we'd turned out of the busy street and now were in a rural forest type area. It must have taken me a while to read all that stuff...

Marshall was patient. While he didn't come off as a friend he didn't as an intimidating either. More of a guardian than anything.

I wondered just how safe it was where I was going.

There were still a few questions on my mind...

"Why am I here? You and I both know I'm average. Less than, maybe. Is this some pity trick?"

Marshall seemed taken aback. Knowing him later on, he always analyzed people like that, and he'd pinned me as the quiet, kind of shy type. Maybe not as clever.

His shades covered his eyes and I know if I could see them they would be wincing. He looked away from me and out the side window to his right.

"...Tai, have you ever heard of Janus Disease?"

"...No..." What was this leading into? That was a very... uncomfortable answer. Tone and the fact that it wasn't something I could pick out and go with immediately.

"I didn't think so. 20 cases worldwide and 5 hospitalized. It's one of the rarest conditions in the world."

He looked back at me, eyes shielded, emotionless everywhere else.

"And you have it."

Well.

...

I was starting to get frustrated and it takes me a long time to get that way. Answers when I didn't ask and vagueness when I did. So I had a disease. Pattern Marshall was looking for.

"And how does that make me anything more?"

He breathed in through his nose just loud enough for me to hear, the equivalent of a sigh.

"It allows for extreme strategy and decision making, advanced hearing. Some call it ESP. People we send in and test are shown to master extremely hard simulations in a matter of days. Alone. These people are suited almost specifically for what we need."

Adjusting his shades quizzically and callous. I still didn't get it, that wasn't a disease.

"We found this out through the simulations, by observing and specific brainwave patterns our servers scan for. I don't care if you can outgun a soul, you're our edge against Jinn."

That might as well have been a swear word to me. My blood chilled and I had a nerve racking for a second. The memories came back, smoke, guns, everything against what I'd been taught was human and good.

I don't care if you can outgun a soul.

"...But it's a disease, isn't it?"

He returned his gaze to me, shielded eyes unreadable and yielding my own eyes away I gave him free reign.

Like I said, Marshall could come off as less of a friend, but he was more a guardian figure.

"There are many side effects, Tai. I'll go ahead and warn you before I tell you."

I manned the cannons and my eyes met his. Warning was greater than Danger in my eyes, and my ears.

"Go ahead. If it's anything bad, I can deal with it."

No. No you can't, Tai. If I can't, you can't.

"You will suffer from permanent headaches, seizures, and some will pass out at random intervals. Epilepsy is common as well. A shot can be fatal from any distance, any gun, no matter where it hits. You are a glass cannon, Tai."

I'd experienced everything except being shot on that list. It all fit.

The cut on my arm had bled for hours, and then opened back up in Mr. Albert's office. Any deeper and...

I suddenly had a lot less regrets from back in the station.

"And the last thing... No case that we have known or heard of has lived past..."

He looked down just enough to tilt his shades down the bridge of his muzzle, looking into my eyes clearly for the first time.

"Tai, how old are you?"

I can deal with it.

I don't want to know.

I really don't.

I got that burning hate in the back of my head. Like I was going to force myself to know this.

Just one more thing to keep my up at night.

One more bad memory.

"Nineteen." It came out a little wrong, with a gulp right afterwards.

Give or take. Hard to keep track when you're homeless.

Marshall slid his shades back up on his muzzle and stared at me, with an expression that was somewhere between disgusted and sad.

Like you'd seen a dog on its last legs that couldn't walk.

More disgusted at the God who made me than me.

All my sudden luck over the past day just seemed like a sick joke.

He looked like he wasn't going to finish and again, I was arguing with myself whether to ask him what it was or not.

My mouth was hanging open in the slightest.

Marshal didn't finish his earlier sentence, but looked out the window again. "We're here."

Opening the door, I stepped out onto the walk, frigid.

Jacket but I still had ripped jeans and an undershirt on from Gibraltar.

Marshall seemed unfazed, and guided me towards the front door, powerful hand on my shoulder. We were in the mountains, surrounded by woods, in front of a very large house.

Manor, maybe. Just fit.

Opening the door, he hesitated on the knob for a few seconds, staring into some sort of spot on the door I assumed was a camera.

Once he opened we were almost in at the same time, and I was still cold.

. Marshall was saying something about how high tech the whole place was and I was looking around in awe.

It was undoubtedly the cleanest place I'd ever seen. Not to mention biggest.

I don't think I'd ever actually even seen but a few pictures of somewhere like this. I may as well have been a caveman.

We were in a sort of common room with a staircase up to a catwalk that walked along the second floor and one beside it that led down to a basement, I guess.

Ahead, through a doorway, I could make out a kitchen, and to the right was a dining room.

5 other people living here besides me, he'd said. Roomy for six.

"This is where I leave you. Another recruit is here, sponsored by Trojan, I recommend you get acquainted."

He reached out at my chest level and I realized he was taller than Al.

I wasn't sure what he was going for, and he slowly withdrew the handshake. It was a gesture I'd learn later on.

"I will report to you tomorrow, the rest of your team will arrive later tonight."

It was 2 in the morning, according to the clock.

I walked around. The entire structure looped around on all three of the floors, and we had everything from a gym to a medbay.

Looking at the shelves of foul looking medicines and syringes, I remembered what Marshall said about Janus disease.

I never saw the Trojan recruit. Trojan was familiar around the military units in Gibraltar, so it may as well have been godlike. It manufactured extremely high-tech equipment and was less of a military type place and more of a supportive area.

There were lots of corporations with private military, but they got squashed by Jinn or GRA if they didn't take a side. Trojan themselves shut down the little guys.

Another shiver. I was heating up, at least, but maybe this one was more out of nervousness.

After raiding the kitchen and eating about half the stuff out of the fridge, I went to sleep in my assigned room.

Two days and a new life, thanks to a disease that I had no idea when it would kill me.

All I could think about was being terminal.

Marshall hadn't given me that age.

I was in the 18-19 range but I assumed I was the latter, I'd lost track being homeless.

Hard to find out in the first place but when I was a kid I had people take care of me. But the better off didn't last long where I came from.

Someone was waiting to knock you down the ladder at all times.

Maybe I had ten years. Maybe five.

Maybe one.

Maybe less.

No more danger than I was in Gibraltar, right?

Right?

///

...

I really didn't want to open my eyes right then.

I think this was the most comfortable I'd ever been, my bed being the earth back then.

But the sun was up and Marshall wanted my team gathered in the morning. And we were kind of military now, so in the morning could mean anywhere from 5 to.. I dunno, whenever Marshall wanted to show up.

I figured the rest of my team was here, and looked forward to meeting them.

Considering they were probably all badass military geniuses who could kill me by pointing a finger maybe I didn't too much.

Taking another shower to get the Gibraltar out of me, I put on a jacket for once and walked downstairs.

It was cold here in... Norway, I think? And despite heating it wasn't getting any warmer.

No one here, but I heard things downstairs in the basement.

I had another South End moment, feeling like I could just not do whatever I was about to do and just leave.

Plaguing my mind was my disease, hounding me at every step.

I would rather have known than not.

Looking down, it wasn't exactly formal attire or body armor, but I wore a cotton black tee and jeans. Really those were the best clothes I'd ever worn.

...

I didn't feel any different now.

Instinctively, I found myself looking over my shoulder, and I yelled at myself internally.

In a safer condition, it seemed, I was jumpier than before.

In an unknown condition.

Descending the stairs to the basement, I assessed my team before they could me.

They were in some sort of weight room, iron lining the room, on one side a small training arena.

It was occupied.

A gray wolf and a goldish-colored canine circled each other, the other three looking on.

Looking through the spectators they looked not too muscular either, and I felt less self conscious.

Oh. Two of them were girls.

One of them was a mutt I couldn't place, her arms folded, white furred like me. Small tuft of hair between her ears.

The other was an Hyena, oddly something I didn't see much in New Morocco. He was about the same physique as me but had a very intense demeanor, calculating.

Lastly, a jackal. Her hair was long and in braids, and like me, she seemed to be assessing everyone. It took me a few seconds to see her eyes were on.

Looking away awkwardly, I continued down the steps.

Coming to the back of the crowd of three, they all seemed contemplative of the match going on. I noticed neither of the combatants were wearing safety gear.

"My money's on Alvin," the mutt said. "Nah, Jake's got this one. I've seen him fight before."

Like me, the jackal was relatively at the back and hadn't said anything. I noticed the emblem on her jacket- three green triangles stacked on top of each other.

Trojan. This was the recruit that had been there last night but I hadn't seen...?

Odd.

The Hyena noticed me and turned around, extending a hand.

"Riddick."

I stared at it, remembering Marshall's gesture earlier.

Beside him, the mutt giggled. "He's Gibraltar, Rid. Besides, don't you Aussies choke people out the first you meet them?"

He gave an odd "huh" for a laugh, singular. His facial expression hadn't changed, dark Hyena eyes standing out. I picked out the Australian accent ever so slightly. "Firm handshake will always do."

The mutt elbowed past Riddick. "I'm Rochelle." She instinctively held out her hand but quickly withdrew. I noticed black ink under one of her jacket sleeves.

"Tai." It was just about the only word I could get out.

Everyone wanted to do that odd hand maneuver and I was getting kind of frustrated.

Us three looked over at the jackal, the other two taking mild precaution.

Her arms were folded and she didn't look at me even, focusing on the ring.

She gave a barely noticeable huff before her intro. "Reyna."

"Tai."

Her gaze flicked over to me, looked me up and down again, and went off. Green eyes complimented her fur and hair but the exoticness and uninterested if cold demeanor took a bit away from that.

In the ring, it looked like the wolf had the canine on the ground, and was mercilessly going at him.

"Yield!"

Laughing, the wolf pulled him to his feet, noticing me and narrowing his eyes.

"Hell are you?"

"I'm- er- Tai."

"You're the kid from Gibraltar, right?"

"Yes."

He gave a 'hmm'. "I was expecting all bones and no skin. Maybe the opposite if you made it out down there." He'd shifted the room's attention to me and I really wished he hadn't.

Apparently everyone knew me before I knew them.

Walking towards me, he stuck out his fucking hand.

"I'm Jake, team leader. Pleased to meet." Riddick pushed Jake's hand back down to his side and an understanding passed.

"Oh. We'll have to get someone to teach you that. Your Euro Common can't be worse than Alvin's."

The canine grinned, massaging the back of his neck. "Manners can't be worse than Jake's. Didn't Marshall want everybody up there around 8 or so?"

"I dunno, he told me morning. Got here at 6 anyways so I could go for a nap"-

"Yes. I hope you've made your intoductions...?" The presence of the GRA agent beside me startled me but from what I'd heard about them it didn't surprise me.

Marshall put a hand on my shoulder, pushing slightly in a less patronizing but playful way.

It was kind of awkward because he realized I probably didn't know what he was doing there either.

"Anyways, cadets, I have prepared a first assessment. You are not expected to pass your first time. If you will follow me, please."

//

Not sure if I properly introduced Riddick this chapter. He's meant to be an OCD nitpicky techwiz (like me but drop that last part) and I didn't want him to be a complete jerk, just uninterested.

Jake was meant to be a condescending asshole and ask Tai to fight him in the arena but I scrapped that just because I think that doesn't fit his character.

Reyna and Marshall were introduced well, as two of the biggest characters in the longrun I had to give them a lot of attention in this chapter.

Thanks for reading! Had this chapter done for a while but doing the 4th revision I had to change a lot for those above mentioned.

Stay frosty- Djynnerate