The Stag Earns His Horns

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"Could operators Dokkaebi, Valkyrie, Ela, Sledge, Artemis, Echo, Zofia, and Alibi please head down to training," said the intercom, and then, after a noticeable pause, "Could the two new recruits head to my office now please."

"What's your name again?" asked Grace as she stood up and tucked her personal tablet into a slot on her chest.

"Just call me (Y/N)," you replied, your eyes never leaving Artemis as you dumped the remaining bits of your sandwich into the overflowing bin.

"Hmm... See you around meosjin!" she shouted, probably a little too loud as everyone in the cafeteria turned their eyes to you. You waved shyly at the operators staring at you as Mark swung an arm over your shoulder and lead you towards Six's office. "You know what meosjin means in Korean, right?" There was a playful smile on his tired face.

"Shut up," you laughed, punching him lightly on his left arm. "I'm just saying," Mark said, the smile still there, "I could help you, you know, with the stuff in the bedroom..."

"Actually fuck off Mute," you exclaimed as you opened the door to the office.

When Mark sat down, you whispered in his ear, "you're more of a virgin than me."

***

"Now that all the legal stuff is out of the way," grumped Six, the large mug of coffee on her desk empty for the second time in the last few minutes, "what would you like to use as your codename? Keep in mind," she continued with a more serious tone," that these names with stay with you for the rest of the time you are here, maybe even your whole life." Six smiled briefly then said,

"Choose wisely."

Mark looked at you and then looked back at her.

"Mute. Call me Mute."

You suppressed a laugh and tried not to make eye contact with anyone, so instead you looked at the immense collection of awards and medals littering the wall behind Six, and your eyes were draw to a stag head hung in the centre, the lifeless eyes almost boring a hole into your soul.

You looked back at her and spoke without a stutter or a hint of nervousness, your voice coming not from your weak throat but your strong heart.

"Ma'am, I think I'll go for Stag."

"Excellent." Six just looked happy to get rid of you. "Now, run along to training, Echo will show you there."

As you left the room, you saw her with one hand propping her head up, and the other pouring another cup of black coffee. A slightly fat Japanese man stood outside in full combat gear, holding what appeared to be a drone.

"Really kills the mood, doesn't she. I'm Masaru. Which one of you is a defensive specialist?"

Mark raised his hand. You twiddled your thumbs and looked at the ground.

"Alright, come with me. And you," you looked up, "just go in the other entrance, wakaru? It's just round the other side of the cafeteria." You nodded.

Mark waved briefly at you. You smiled and waved back, before walking to the Attackers entrance, full of nerves. First impressions are everything, especially in combat, and if you didn't do well in the simulation, then Six might force you to leave Rainbow.

You were cleaning your Browning 1911 and loading it with the training mags that you were given by Sledge. You also picked up an M1A CQB rifle, thinking that it would compliment your style and gadget: a device rigged with explosives that could be remotely detonated, a 'Kamikaze' drone. But you weren't thinking about that. You were thinking about her.

Artemis.

You couldn't get her out of your head for some reason. She almost killed you, but...

"Hey laddie! I think you might be on my team this time, aye?"

You turned around and saw Seamus holding his personal M590A1 shotgun, which he had lovingly given the nickname 'Charlie', and wearing his famous sledgehammer on his back.

"Who else is?" you asked, praying that annoying, childish Ela person wasn't.

"Just wee Grace and Zofia," he replied, avoiding your gaze for some reason. "Really?" you said with heavy sarcasm and a raised eyebrow. "I thought training exercises had teams of five."

"Uhh, aye, they do..." Seamus continued to not look at you. He gulped and then said, "The team is you, me, the two girls and..."

"Her."

"H-her?" you questioned nervously, but you already knew what the answer was. All that Seamus did was jerk his head sharply to the left. You slowly turned your head, and saw her gently and carefully loading a training mag into an L96A1 with a reflex and angled grip, her blond and purple fringe flopping lazily over her left eye. You were surprised at how delicate Artemis was when priming the weapon, almost treating it as a living being. You opened your mouth to say something but Seamus quickly put his gloved hand over it.

"There's nae a single lad or lass in this building that's no made some sort of sacrifice to get her on the team." He spoke with the wisdom of someone that has lived for a thousand years and seen too many conflicts too count, too many lives to put a number on. "I assure you (Y/N)," Seamus put his hand on your shoulder, "you will nae be the one who breaks her lock."

Why does everyone use that phrase? you thought to yourself. It's awfully convenient.

You felt some lightly tap your other shoulder. You turned around and saw a possibly over-energetic Grace with a ridiculously wide smile.

"Hey mesojin! Let's go get this victory!"

This was going to be a very long prep phase.

***

"Drone phase over. Attackers are now free to enter," said the announcer.

In the drone phase, you discovered that the Defenders had chosen to go basement, making your point of attack the 2nd story and everyone else would go straight to the bottom floor. Well, everyone except Artemis. Zofia had told you to 'let her do her own thing: don't talk to her unless absolutely necessary'; and you really didn't want to be on the bad side of that large Polish woman, let alone Artemis. Zofia would probably beat you up, but Artemis would kill you.

Just as you threw your Kamikaze drone into the building, you heard the announcer say that it was a 2 v 4. Shit, you thought. Just me and crazy woman against four experienced opponents.

You used the non-lethal heat explosive on your drone to take out Echo sitting behind a deployable shield on his yokai. He looked a bit sad, but gave you a pat on the back as you slowly procceded down the stairs. Just as you rounded the corner at the bottom, you barely heard the words 2 v 1 from outside the building.

"Wow," you muttered to yourself. "She's really good."

Suddenly your HUD lit up with what appeared to be the position of the last enemy. You frantically sprayed bullets out of your M1A through the soft wall, hoping to hit them. Unfortunately, you didn't, cursing under your breath at your subpar aiming. Instead, you decided to push them and went down the final flight of stairs; confused at what you saw.

There appeared to be three of the same person standing perfectly still, Mx4 Storm pointing straight in front of them. On closer inspection, they were volumetric displays: lifelike holograms. You looked for the base of the display, and noticed one seemed to move a bit, almost like a real person. You hesitated, and Alibi spun round to shoot you, only to get shot in the back herself by a perfectly polished P08 Luger.

"Attackers win," came the announcer. "Report back to Thatcher for combat evaluation."

As you helped Aria up, Artemis looked at you and through her bandana, you saw the corners of her mouth turned up slightly, into a sort of half-smile.

You smiled back.

Author Note

Prelims are finally over, so I can get back to writing a chapter or more a week. Sorry if this one is a little short, I only had two days to write it and I'd rather have quality over quantity: if you have any criticism about my writing, please tell me. As always thanks so much for reading.

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