Chapter 11

Four days after Titania recruited him, Cole was in the back of an M113 armored personnel carrier somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains. Three men rode with him, all wearing the same uniform, a simple gray supersuit. The others were over six feet tall and had more muscle than a bodybuilder. Cole felt a little intimidated standing at 5'10" and weighing 150 pounds soaking wet.

One man with a nasty scar that traced his jaw offered his hand to Cole and said, "I'm Powell, and this is Jones and Roberts. What's your name?"

"I'm Cazagaro," Cole replied. "Nice to meet you."

Powell leaned forward. "None of us have heard about you, Garo. We've been with Project Veltio since birth."

Cole shrugged. "I'm a late bloomer. At least that's what they tell me."

Powell nodded and tapped Cole's supersuit. "You know this isn't going to protect you from everything, right? Supersuits are designed to protect you and self-heal if they tear. It's some alien tech shit. I suggest you stay behind us and let the men with some training handle this mission until you get your bearings."

Cole gave a thumbs up. He had suspected he would be placed in a group of similar talents, but these men appeared stronger than him. "Thanks! The lady who recruited me dropped me off here and didn't say a thing. What are we doing out here?"

Jones, the one with a broken nose and a receding hairline, pointed at him. "We're learning to survive. Trial by fire. Shit gets harder every day until we can't handle anymore."

Roberts punched his hand. "They test us until we break and then we're ranked. Some of us will end up being famous..."

Powell cut him off. "And some of us will be monitoring fishing fleets in the Barents Sea, or walking a beat as a cop. Project Veltio can be pretty harsh on those who don't persevere."

Cole thought of what it would be like to get a low-status job somewhere in New England. It didn't seem like such a bad outcome. Maybe if he went through the motions, he could end up somewhere close to home. Hell, he might even be able to go back to Maddy's and have a pint once in a while.

Cole daydreamed about his future mundane superhero life in government bureaucracy when an RPG struck the M113, filling the compartment with acrid smoke. Instinctively, Cole stood up and kicked out the back door, sending it ricocheting off tree trunks, landing somewhere in the woods.

Powell yelled, "Everyone get out and take cover."

Cole got up and checked the driver's position, expecting a mound of hamburger, but found singed wiring and bent actuators instead. The driver was an android. Cole spun around and hopped out of the troop carrier. His three teammates were huddled behind trees, clutching their assault rifles. Someone was shooting at them, tearing the trees to shreds.

Cole felt an occasional impact on his back and turned around. Something else hit him, and he looked down. His supersuit had a hole in it that was quickly closing, and flattened bullets were lying on the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing, Garo? Get down!" Powell yelled.

Cole looked up the valley side, and flashes of gunfire lit up among the trees. His team would not last much longer without better cover. Could he fly up there? He took a few steps to pick up speed, then squatted and launched himself up the hill in a ballistic arc. The trees zoomed past him, and he landed among the attackers.

There were seven androids armed with assault weapons and anti-tank weapons, sleek and black and terrifying. They turned, training their weapons on him. Gripping the nearest android's neck, Cole bashed the next one with the first, smashing both to pieces. Bullets landed on him, feeling like foam pellets. He leaped to the next pair of androids. Gripping them by the shoulders, Cole smashed them together, creating a cascade of sparks and alloy shrapnel. Behind him, he heard the rest running away. He bent down, ripped off the destroyed androids' heads, and turned around. Narrowing his eyes, he saw the remaining three fifty yards away, fleeing fast. He pulled his hand back and threw the robot's head up the hill. The makeshift projectile impacted the nearest cyborg and went clean through his chest. Cole threw his second head at the last pair; it ricocheted off the first robot's head before hitting the last and caving in its chest compartment. The final opponent spasmed as it fired its rifle into the air.

Cole threw himself back down the valley and landed twenty feet away from the team. The trees were now shredded stumps, and he could hear moaning.

Powell poked his head around a shredded tree stump and said, "What the fuck just happened?"

Cole went to Powell's side and looked him over. "Never mind that, are you hit?"

Powell pointed to his left. "I'm fine, but Jones is hit in the arm pretty bad."

Cole looked over. "Is there a first aid kit in the tank thing?"

Powell shook his head. "No first aid kits in these tests. No comms either."

"What the fuck?"

Powell shook his head. "Don't worry. The supersuit will constrict around the wound like a tourniquet. We need to get back to base. Follow the road back down the valley."

The group picked up Jones and started marching.

"Jones, can you run?" Cole asked.

Jones's face was pale. With each step, his knees wobbled.

Cole shook his head, then threw Jones over his shoulder. "Fuck it, I'm carrying you. Powell, Roberts, keep up with me. If it were just me, I'd leap back, but we need to stick together."

Cole couldn't go as fast as he wanted; Powell and Roberts were panting and running at full speed, so he had to make sure he didn't pull away from them. After ten minutes, Cole heard whining motors overhead.

"Do you guys hear that?" Cole said.

"Drones!" Roberts shouted before raising his rifle and firing wildly in the air.

A flock of quadcopters broke from the trees and chased after the squad. If they were regular men, the drones would have run them down in seconds, but with their enhanced speed, the drones slowly closed in.

Cole looked to Powell. "Buddy, you're going to have to carry him. I'll take care of the drones."

"How are you going to do that?" Powell said breathlessly.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll smash into them."

"Are you insane? They carry fragmentation explosives."

"I'll be fine. I can take it."

"Buddy, no man is invulnerable. Only women supes are that tough."

"Just do it, Powell. I don't have time to argue!" Cole yelled as he ran alongside him and handed Jones over. Cole kept running and thinking. Looking back, there were too many drones to destroy individually. He might take out four or five of them before they reached his teammates, but he saw at least seven. Looking around him, he searched for the best options. When his eyes found a large maple tree with most of its leaves still intact, he pressed himself against it and waited. A bead of sweat formed at his temple as he tried to guess how fast the tree would fall. A second later, he swung his leg and kicked through the trunk, sending splinters flying. He followed through with a shove, pushing the base of the tree away from the road so the top fell forward into the road. As the drones passed, the falling branches knocked out six of the seven. The last one smoothly rose over the tree as it flew by.

Cole sprinted to catch up with the final drone. "Fuck!" The wind beat his face as he picked up speed, forcing his eyes into slits. They were catching up quickly to Powell and Roberts as Cole finally got under the drone and jumped. When he crashed into the quadcopter, the drone's camera swiveled to see him just before he ripped the fragmentation charge off and threw it straight down, where he saw no one. The fireball and shockwave were modest, but would have been life-threatening if it hit his team. He fell out of the sky, slid and scraped for a hundred feet along the rocky unpaved road, then got back up and ran to the base, his supersuit reforming over his bare chest.

As Jones was getting loaded into an ambulance, Powell ran up to Cole and shook his hand. "Thanks, Garo, you saved our asses. I think us three hit our limit, but I wanted to know if you were up for drinks in town tonight to celebrate."

"Is Jones going to be okay?"

"Oh sure. We all have enhanced healing, so he should be fine. It was just the risk of getting hit again that was the trouble."

Cole pointed at the base; a few ladies in supersuits watched them from a guard tower. "Are they training us or just testing us?"

Powell smirked. "They've been training us for years. This here is just the final set of evaluations. I have a degree in criminal justice. What did you study?"

Cole laughed mirthlessly. "Masonry."

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