Just a Soldier

[Sam Guthrie]

Mallone's answer would suffice, "Excellent..."

Summers' silence was expected, after all he was nowhere near as good as Samuel. And surely he would have felt shamed to be passed up in the presence of Mallone.

But Summer's child-like pouting would have to be ignored, as always.

He was down to his training attire, a simple fitted sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts. He paid little mind to the fact that he had been naked in front of them. He was a soldier so he was used to such things, and they should have felt honored to have seen the perfection that was his body up close and personal.

"Summers, you like calling the shots don't you?" Samuel said, as he adjusted the drawstring on his shorts, "What would you suggest we start with?"

An arrogant smile crossed his face as Samuel waited for his answer.

[Deefer Mallone]

Deefer closed her eyes briefly, taking a deep breath.
Did she think this was going to be fun? Dangerous was probably the better word.
The two of them would probably spend the whole session trying to outdo each other like some macho pissing contest instead of actually training.

Deefer didn't want to think badly of her commander, and Scott probably deserved to be put in his place, and it wasn't like she was going to say anything.... but she just wanted to train damnit.
It would serve them both right if she wiped the floor with them.
Not that she was so cocky to be sure if she necessarily could....well, maybe Scott, but not so much commander Guthrie, and she didn't really like the thought of outdoing her commander - that said, this was training, if she held back there wasn't any point in it.

This was not a productive train of thought. She scolded herself mentally and turned round, looking expectantly to Scott because, well, the commander had asked him so she wasn't going to say anything against that.
She was just going to go and train and ignore any of their arguments, that was the best way.

[scott]

"Summers, you like calling the shots don't you?"

It was a loaded question if Scott had ever heard one. He only glanced up at the Commander without saying a word. Because the ugly truth of the matter...the one that he suspected on a very real and deep level...was that he should be calling the shots. It was a thought that was unshakable.

"What would you suggest we start with?"

Deefer kept her peace, but Scott could see her in his peripheral sight, looking at him expectantly. And though he knew that what he wanted to do was to show up Commander Guthrie in a competition, he also knew that what they needed to do was something entirely different.

He relaxed a little as he thought it over. Pushing emotional baggage aside used to be so much easier. Scott found the strength to do so now and answered honestly.

“Sir. Something to promote teamwork, sir.” It wasn’t disrespectful in the least, and he wasn’t finished.

[Sam Guthrie]

"Of course." Samuel replied. Then again, the 'of course' was meant more like 'of course you'd choose something that didn't put us in direct competition you wuss'.

Although a teamwork exercise was probably just what the doctor ordered. He'd never admit that Summers had been right about anything. But it was a good idea, there was no I in team, after all.

"I think I have just the scenario..." Samuel announced as he strode purposely towards the control console. After a few keystrokes the humming of the hard light projectors began to go to work.

They were now in a forest. Surrounded by men in strange outfits.


"The Third Species Cult..." Samuel said, a slow grin crossing his face, "Humans who want to be mutants.."



((Feel free to do as you wish with them...they are, after all homo inferior pond scum))

[Deefer Mallone]

Oh thank god. Whatever motivated it, they were going for something sensible, maybe this would actually turn out to be a useful training session after all.

A slow smile spread across her face when she realised the scenario he'd called up. One of her favourites. This kind of fight, you didn't need to hold back, you didn't need to do anything but take out the enemy before they took out you.
"I'm fading out." she announced, glancing to Commander Guthrie for confirmation of her decision.
It meant she had to pay a hell of a lot more attention than when she fought visible, because she had to be aware what the rest of the team were doing because she knew they couldn't see her.
It was strenuous, hard-work, and a lot more fun - and, as far as she was concerned, the best way for her to practice team-work.

[Sam Guthrie]

"I'm fading out."

Samuel merely nodded, and set his sights on the closest Cultist.

"Then I'm blasting off..." He said quietly.

"We only seek to be seen as your equals!" The Cultist said, "Wai-...where did she go?"

Samuel scoffed, and a slow sneer crept to his face, he leaned over to Summers and whispered, "Captain Clueless is mine."

"You'll find it quite difficult to keep your eye on Mallone...she's such a talented woman..." Samuel said, his cold blue eyes fixed on the hologram, "But your focus should be elsewhere..."

The roar of a jet engine sounded off as Samuel rocketed towards the Cultist. Hitting him squarely in the ribcage, Samuel shot straight upwards, gripping him around the waist.

Samuel must have gone at least twenty feet up before he decided to dispatch his passenger.

"I hope you can fly pond scum...." Samuel laughed, and dropped the Cultist from the apex of his flight.

The crunch he made when he hit the ground was more than satisfying. And Samuel nearly cooed with pleasure when he saw the crumpled shape underneath him.

[scott]

Scott picked something up in the way Commander Guthrie said of course, but he couldn’t quite make out what the tone was meant to convey. Either way, he seemed to like the idea enough to not refute it or alter it. The next thing Scott knew the Commander was programming in a scenario they were all somewhat familiar with.

"The Third Species Cult..." Commander Guthrie said, a slow grin crossing his face,"Humans who want to be mutants.."

Scott looked at the image before him, no discernable emotion evident.

Deefer disappeared, and Commander Guthrie took off. Scott calculated the remaining humans positions and stances, flinching only slightly when one of them was dropped right next to him in a broken heap. Tapping the side of his head, Scott unleashed several long and thin red optic blasts. They took out two at once, leaving a cluster of them right in the middle.

Already he was starting to feel like this was becoming an ‘every man for himself’ exercise. “Awaiting your orders, sir!” He thought maybe Commander Guthrie needed a reminder that he was in charge.

[Sam Guthrie]

"Contain and eliminate!" Guthrie hollered down to his Corporal, "Use extreme predjudice!"

"Mallone, scout out the leader's location, remain cloaked until the right opportunity!"

He flew a ways higher up in the air, for a better vantage point, more Cultists were inbound.

"Summers, Now! We don't want to be overrun!"

((Uck, sorry, I've been feeling a bit under the weather))

[Deefer Mallone]

((sorry sorry sorry! Just...don't try kill me 'cos I'll kick your ass ^_^))

Deefer was having a lot of fun. Anyone who could see her would probably wonder why, as it was clearly hard work to attack the cultists and keep an eye on exactly what her team-mates were doing so she stayed out the way - but she loved it.

"Yes, sir!" her voice came out of the air from just a few feet behind the commander, and she moved back a little from the fight to do just that, still keeping an eye on her team-mates, but this time leaving them to fight while she went leader-hunting.

[scott]

Scott was fairly adept at fighting hand-to-hand. It was one of the reasons he trained so fiercely every day. But at a distance he was lethal. He kept distance between himself and the Cultists easily. Whenever one would make its way toward him he would unleash a volley of short and sharp optic blasts.

Bodies flew backward as if being hit by a locomotive.

At Commander Guthries’ command Scott redoubled his efforts. His head turned this way and that, knocking down target after target with methodical precision. There were many of them, but from his vantage point he could go on as long as it took.

[Sam Guthrie]

And a bit of praise...

"Excellent! Summers there may be hope for you yet!" Samuel exclaimed as he used his aerial advantage to scope out the terrain.

The enemy was falling back, or at least it would have seemed so; for the Cultists had fallen into a military standby. Another group was coming around, trying to sneak up on what would have been considered an exposed rear. But they didn't seem to calculate the Commander being a master of the skies.

"Pincer!" Samuel crowed down to Summers, "Six o'clock!" He dived from his vantage point and fell in line back to back with Summers.

"I'll cover you, keep holding them back until we receive word from Mallone" Samuel commanded, his fists taking on a orange glint.

Samuel's mutant talent didn't just extend to flight, his thermal kinetic field could be channeled into other areas of his body.

Samuel called this maneuver "The Hammer of the Gods", for there was very little that could withstand the sheer force of his blows while he channeled it through his fists.

[Deefer Mallone]

"Sir." Deefer's voice came out of the air just behind him once again, the best place to stay out the way of his attacks - and even though she knew he was a highly trained soldier, she was always prepared to duck in case she startled him. Always.
It never hurt to be prepared.

"I've located the leader, sir." she murmured quietly, loud enough for him to hear, but not the cultists. She gave the location. "Returning to continue surveillance, sir, he's currently well guarded, if you could draw them out I can get to him."

[Sam Guthrie]

"Excellent Mallone..." Samuel hissed under his breath, then he paused ever so briefly, and continued, "I want you to finish him. Make an example of him in front of his....pathetic legion...that is your prime directive."

He smiled slightly. The girl was certainly career oriented, and Samuel wanted to see just how far she would go to please her CO.

"I want his head Mallone, and I'll accept nothing less." Samuel whispered, "Prove your worth to me."

He then turned to see the advancing Cultists and hissed "Go now, report back after you achieve your objective."

[scott]

By the time Deefer had spotted the leader of the cultist group, so had Scott. Commander Guthrie told her to take him out in a merciless way, and Scott knew his role was to cover her from a distance.

The humans were already starting to scramble. They'd given up their pleading cries to stop fighting because they wanted to be one of us. There was a time very long ago that Scott would have sided with them. The memories were somewhat vague, but he knew somewhere deep down that he held something more in the line of idealist kinds of feelings toward humanity.

But he'd been betrayed too many times. Too often the ones he had protected had turned on him and wanted him dead. His jaw tightened a little as he fired off a few shots at the ones nearest the leader.

A clear path was cut for Deefer to make her move.

[Deefer Mallone]

"Yes sir." She murmured, slinking away again.
Because stealth was sort of ruined by bullets, Deefer had spent a long time training with various close-combat weapons as well as her guns, so as she moved towards the leader she was already removing a knife from its sheath.

Deefer smirked as Scott took out the few cultists near the leader, darting into the opening before they pulled themselves together. Too quickly for them, she held the leader, knife pressed against his throat, the blade sharp enough to make short work of his ridiculous costume.
They only saw him stiffen, briefly, before Deefer extended her power and he disappeared from view.
Moments later, his slumped form reappeared, headless.
Deefer was a literal sort of girl.