Chapter 6: First Training Mission
Antoinette and Tracker were eating breakfast when the com announced, “Scott Nolan, Tracker and Antoinette Duval, please report to the Briefing Room.”
She looked up, startled. “That is for us!” She gulped down the rest of her milk and gestured with her other hand. “The Briefing Room, where is it?”
”Next to the hangar.”
Scott was lounging in one of the chairs when they arrived. He grinned at her obvious excitement. Colonel Carfield and Magnum sat at a table at the front of the room.
”Good morning, everyone,” the colonel said. “What we have today is a training mission for Miss Duval.” He smiled at her. “I phrased the summons like a mission call, so you would get used to it and know how to respond.”
Magnum leaned forward. “Well, Antoinette, I hear nothing but good reports from your instructors,” he said. “They say you’re ready to start.”
She bit her lower lip and her hands betrayed her anxiety. “It is all so new. Almost, it does not seem real. Myself, I do not feel ready, but if they think I am, I will accept their wisdom in this. I will try.”
Magnum smiled with approval. “Good enough. What about your own future? Do you like it here?”
”Oui, m’sieur,” she replied. “I like it here very much. I like the people, I like the place, I like what I am learning, I like the work I am training to do… In fact, there is nothing about the Defenders I do not like.”
”That’s good to hear. If you remember, I told you when you arrived that staying or leaving would be your decision. Now I ask you to make another decision. You’ve had an opportunity to learn a little bit about what we do here at the base and the combat staff known as the Defenders. You’ve met a number of the Defenders already, both through the gentlemen here with you this morning and the others who helped bring you here. Knowing as much as you do now, would you be interested in joining us as a full-fledged member? Would you be interested in becoming a Defender yourself?”
”Oui, m’sieur, I would.”
”Good,” Magnum said. “For legal reasons as well as for your own protection, I’d prefer you were a Defender before you went out on any mission, even if only a training mission. It’ll provide you with an official status in the event you come into conflict with local authorities. I have been authorized by FORCE to enlist recruits I feel are worthy to serve with FORCE and specifically the Defenders. With that authority I will now swear you in.
“Repeat after me: ‘I, Antoinette Duval…”
”I, Antoinette Duval, desire, of my own free will, to become a member of the Defenders, with all the rights and responsibilities which this entails. I will abide by the principles of the Defenders and of the Federal Office for Research and Control of the Enhanced, as laid down in the Statement of Philosophy. I will uphold the laws of the United States of America. I will defend the freedom and safety of all persons, Normal or Enhanced. I will, to the best of my ability, live in harmony with the other Defenders. All this, I promise, upon my honor and before God.”
When she’d finished, Magnum smiled at her. “Welcome to the Defenders, Antoinette.” He shook her hand warmly.
”Scott,” Colonel Carfield said, “you’re in command. Take Aircar Four and go to the FORCE enclave in Atlanta. They have an outdoor practice area set up for you. I want Tigresse to get used to working outdoors. You’re scheduled to begin at nine o’clock. Your flight plan is already filed and you are clear to leave whenever you are ready. Any questions?” They shook their heads. “Then have fun.”
Scott checked the clock on the wall and turned to the others. “Let’s meet in the hangar in forty-five minutes.” They nodded.
Once outside the room, she pulled Tracker to a halt. “What do we do now, Tracker?”
He shrugged. “What would you like to do?”
She thought for a moment as she chewed her lip. “Could we work out in the gym? I am too excited to hold still.”
”All right.”
Jay and another man wearing heavy armor were playing tag through the bars near the ceiling of the gym. Tracker sprang up into the maze while she stripped and began to warm up. She was doing a series of forward handsprings when there was a ringing clang. The armored man fell clattering through the bars, hitting the floor with a thud and a muffled curse.
He got to his feet and turned towards her. “Why aren’t you wearing clothes? Who are you, anyway?”
”I have not worn clothes before when working out,” she replied, a defensive note in her voice. She pulled her long hair forward over her shoulders to cover her body with a flowing black curtain. Tracker watched from overhead, tense and anxious.
Jay was laughing as he landed beside the man. “Leave the kid alone, Nickie! Her name’s Antoinette and she’s doing nothing wrong. Just because you can’t keep your mind on what you’re doing is no reason to take it out on her. Didn’t someone once tell me precision flying was all a matter of concentration and self-control?” He chortled with delight. “Surely you are not going to tell me a little thing like a beautiful naked girl broke the famed Nicholas Brown concentration.”
Nick shrugged his armored shoulders in irritation. “Oh, dry up, Jay,” he growled. Jay laughed again.
He looked at Antoinette. “Sorry I barked at you.” He hesitated, then stuck out his gauntleted hand. “Friends?”
She smiled and put her hand in his. “Oui.”
“I’ve heard about you, Antoinette,” he added. “You’re a shapechanger, aren’t you?”
“Oui. I turn into ze Tigresse.”? Jay laughed again, “We’re going to call her Tigresse as soon as she’s sworn in, Nick. What do you think?”
“Ah, but Jay,” she interrupted, “I am already sworn in! Magnum swore me in just a few minutes ago!”
“Congratulations, Antoinette,” Nick said, putting hand out again. “Welcome to the Defenders. I hope we get a chance to work together soon.”
“Thank you, Nick.”
“Jay,” the big man turned, “Don’t you think we need to get back to our game? If I remember, you’re it!” With that he sprang up into the network of pipes and began weaving through them at a high rate of speed.
As Jay and Nick resumed their aerial game of tag, she swung up into the maze herself. Tracker started his own workout, jumping easily from one bar to the next. Jay zipped past and tapped the fox on the shoulder. “You’re It,” he cried. Tracker glanced over at her to make sure she was all right, then raced upward through the maze, pursuing them through the bars.
She paused to watch. He is as fast as they are, in the closeness of the maze, she thought with pride as Tracker slapped Nick on the back of the leg and sped off out of reach.
At seven-forty-five, Tracker and Antoinette stopped. She dampened the corner of a towel and took a quick sponge bath, then dressed and they headed to the hangar.
Less than an hour later, they landed at the FORCE enclave. A Jeep drove up and stopped next to the aircar and a big rawboned man got out. “Hi, I’m Sergeant Henson. I’ll be the referee for our little exercise here. Climb in and I’ll brief you on the way.” Antoinette looked about in fascination as they climbed into the Jeep. “One side will have ten Deputies in blue vests versus yourselves and seven Deputies in orange vests. There’ll be nine goals around the edge of the playing field and your job will be to put this football through those goals. When a goal is lit with your color, you can score a point in it. If it is lit with the opposing team’s color, they get the point. Any non-lighted goals score zero.
”There are three rules. Don’t hurt anyone, tackling as such is illegal. No one person can hold the ball more than one minute in three. And, if tagged, you must surrender the ball to the person who tagged you. Tracker, because of your speed there is one final restriction — you can either score goals or you can use your enhanced speed. Which would you rather do?”
Tracker looked at Scott, who frowned, rubbing his chin. “Anyone can make goals, but only you can move that fast. Let’s keep your speed.”
“Very well. Any scores you may make will automatically be awarded to the blue team.”
The next two hours passed rapidly. Tracker sped back and forth, delivering the ball as needed, never once getting touched by an opposing player. Even so, he rarely used his sprint speed, choosing to help guide Tigress around the field and only taking the ball when it was tossed to him. At one point, rather than racing to another player, Tracker stopped by Tigresse and handed her the ball. “Carry. Through there. Then drop it.” She ducked her heavy head, then turned and charged the guarded goal, ball in her jaws. At the last moment she went insubstantial and dove through her startled opponent to drop the ball in the goal zone.
Several times the whistle blew and play stopped while he calmed a belligerent and possessive Tigresse, getting her to relinquish the ball after being tagged. When the game was over, they had won, twenty-nine to twenty-eight.
Antoinette dressed, then turned to Scott. “That scared me. Tigresse, she got hostile and wanted to fight. Almost, I could not keep her under control.” Her dark eyes were troubled.
Scott patted her arm. “But you did. I’m proud of you.”
Tracker nodded reassuringly, “I think we should reward Tigresse as well. She and Antoinette may be the same, but if Tigresse is praised then maybe she will be more willing to help.”
He turned to the sergeant, “Could we stop by the dining hall and pick up a raw steak for Tigresse?”? “I think we can handle that, Tracker,” he replied.
