Page 44 of Failed State

“Children,” Lancaster says as he pushes off the wall. “Bickering will not rocket you to the top of this thing. At least, not in unrecorded pre-training sessions like this. It might be useful later on; audiences love pathos.”

Oh, great. He thinks he’s a fucking director, too. Just what we needed.

The rest of the physical training went quickly for me, as I worked with our trainers to help the rest of the team develop a program. In lockdown, there’s little to do besides work out and sit around playing whatever broken down game is available, so we’re all very familiar with the concept. It seems the rest of the sectors basically send the supes for education and sometimes, workdetails, then they amuse themselves until bedtime. They aren’t encouraged to keep themselves fit or develop anything other than resentment.

It’s no wonder the three friends in our group are brimming with anger and frustration—all they’ve ever done is focus on survival.

We’re sweaty and tired when the session ends, and thank the swirling sea gods, Krista is gone when we head for the elevator. Sydney is particularly exhausted, and I feel for her. She doesn't have full supe abilities and physicality yet, so this regimen is very tough on her human body. Despite that, she hasn’t complained about the hardship once, only stopped when she had to rest, then resumed without a word. I’m slightly impressed, but I doubt she’d appreciate anyone commenting on it. She’s allergic to people commenting on her lack of supe powers and this is no exception.

“Are we eating in the suite this evening?” Thad asks as he punches the button.

The girl in my thoughts gives him a withering look. “Yes. I’m disgusting. We all smell and look like wilted cabbage. I doubt that presents an intimidating picture to all the other teams, so what’s the point of being in public?”

“Good point.” I nod as we walk into the carriage, positioning myself at the back. “We should be thinking about our appearances at all times, as the humans have instructed.”

Huck makes an annoyed sound and I turn to face him, waiting for his commentary. “I don’t know about y’all, but it chaps my ass to do all this simpering bullshit. Being from the South, I’m fairly good at hidin’ my disdain behind a thin veneer of politeness, but I’m fairly certain this is going to stretch that.”

“It definitely is,” Sydney mutters bitterly. “I’mnotgood at masking how much these people disgust me. I admit, I’m worried about how well I’m going to survive when camerasare actively following us rather than just side-stepping the Enforcement Zones.”

The bell dings, and Rory holds the doors open as we all file out, heading for our suite. He squints at the other end of the hallway curiously. “Don’t you guys wonder who’s at the other end? And how they’re hosting all these teams but some have what are obviously nicer accommodations?"

“It crossed my mind,” Sebastian says as he swipes us into the room. “My assumption was that the tests they conducted to pair teams lead to a presumptive ranking that determined where each was placed and who they received as their coordinator.”

“That means Krista is likely a top-tier coach,” Thad says, his voice full of surprise. “Damn.”

Sydney strides into the room, her braid whipping behind her as she makes a frustrated sound. “And we’llhaveto listen to her, then. Fuck me.”

Rory opens his mouth and I shoot him a death glare to keep him from adding the stress. “Yes, we will.”

“Thatchaps my ass,” the vampire says drily. “She makes my fangs ache.”

“Finally something we agree on.” Sydney turns to look at us as the door shuts. “Now I’m going to get my shit and shower first again. You should consider that standard operating procedure. Once I’m out, we can talk about dinner.”

“Who made you the Queen of the Bite Club?”

She gives Sebastian a baleful look, shaking her head. “The vagina I was born with, blood sucker. Now be a good little boy and toddle off with the rest of them until I’m done.”

I have to smother a chuckle at his outraged expression as she exits to her room on that line, slamming the door behind her. “You heard her, fang face. Move it along.”

Rolling his eyes, the overgrown mosquito does as instructed—likely because he knows I could take him without breakinga sweat. Vampires don’t have a lot of competition among the supes except mythicals and the Fae. Their fancy tricks work on shifters and humanoids like magic users, but Fae blood is a drug to them and mythicals have powers that come directly from the gods. The lesser supes do as well, but it’s been diluted for so long that the power shift between rare races and more common ones is significant. Thatmightbe part of why we ranked so highly—a demon and a dragon, plus a wild card like Sydney, make our team an especially tough bet.

I look at the others as we settle in to wait for her, considering the possibilities. Thaddeus is pure brawn with smarts, and his bear will be fast once it gets moving. He’ll make an excellent tank to clear the field. As a vampire, Sebastian will have the usual speed, strength, and bite, but depending on his lineage, he could have a wide array of powers in addition. It makes him a good ‘Swiss Army knife’ of competitors. I don’t know how vast Stormbringer’s magic is—which will need to change—but he will make an excellent long range, ‘area of effect’ player. My own powers lie in flight, water, magic, and armor, plus many unknown royal traits that will be useful. But Sydney… she’s the real question mark. If she unleashes something powerful, it will tip the scales entirely.

“We should discuss strategy tonight once we are clean. Knowing what powers we possess before they put us in the supe arena is crucial. It would be very much in step with the humans’ behavior to drop us in a scrimmage battle with lax rules to see what we can do. Without knowing what we are holding back, we may give them their own ideas about how the challenges should go.”

And I’m not willing to allow those motherfuckers to put their fingers on the scales of justice once again.

I’M DYING HERE

SYDNEY

The minutethe entire group is done showering, we gather in the main living area of our suite. It’s quiet as Thad orders our food, but as soon as he hangs up, the silence gets even thicker. There’s no trust built up yet; however, we’re going to have to share basics about our powers before it becomes a public discussion. That’s making the atmosphere tense as everyone retreats to their corners except for my two friends and me.

Finally, I can’t take it anymore so I throw my hands up. “Look, I know we’ve all learned to keep secrets and protect ourselves because of the fucking humans. This is different; we don’t have a choice. At some point, our lives are going to depend on having one another’s backs. We can’t do that if we don’t know what anyone is capable of.”

“I’m a bear, Syd. They know what I can do,” Thad says with a half-hearted smile. “Shift, half-shift, tear things up. We move fast once we get going and are like a tank.”

Sebastian snorts, giving him an annoyed expression. “It’s easy for you to admit your strengths because bears don’t have anything that’s hidden.”

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