School Sucks

If the streets are loud, the campus is deafening.

While I was making my way toward my first class, students were crowding in the hallway, filling it with gossip and rumors.

The chatter was starting to annoy me, but at least today, most of it was regarding a topic that I was somewhat interested in.

"Did you see yesterday?" one asked. "The Calypso squad is back!"

"That's so terrifying and cool at the same time," the other replied. "They're so freaking hot."

"Be careful saying stuff like that, man. You could get marked as a defect."

"I was in the middle of a league game..." another one muttered. "Couldn't they have just hijacked the public screens? Why did they have to hijack my computer?"

Calypso, a legendary spec-ops squad that disappeared after the 'Reclamation' over ten years ago. At the time, they were among the Queen's Guards' top operators who yielded a one hundred percent success rate in every mission they were dispatched for.

Yesterday, a strange phenomenon occurred, one that not a single person in this lifetime had ever seen. In public and even in the privacy of homes, every screen and monitor in the city was hijacked, revealing the return of the long-forgotten Calypso squad.

To this day, they're considered the most defective operators in the history of New Olympos. Even though they were once members of the Queen's Guard, they adamantly opposed the High Order and their belief that all humans should be 'augmented for the sake of perfection.'

The history books are a mess when it comes to them. Some refer to them as heroes while others degrade them to that of criminals. Seeing how there are still wanted posters of them scattered all around the city, it's no wonder how the High Order would classify Calypso.

What did she say again? 'This new year... marks the start of our revolution.'

Looks like something fun is about to happen.

"Solas," a voice called to me.

I tilted my head up to see myself standing in front of my professor. To my left, all the other students were already seated in the lecture hall and eyeballing me. When did I end up here?

"Sorry," I said as I bowed my head. "Just lost in thought."

"I see, as long as you're okay," the professor said. "Please, be seated."

"Right."

In college, there are two subjects they see fit to teach us. The first is basic education, and we select which subject we want to take at the start of each semester. Math, science, history, just the kind of stuff that makes me wanna die. Honestly, I could do without them.

The second is where the fun begins. Combat training. We're taught pretty much everything from combat strategies to battle formations used by the army. As confident as I am in my own abilities, I'm not too familiar with how the coatsmen operate.

The coatsmen undergo the same training that the army does, so I can learn a thing or two about how they go about their business. Consider it... a form of personal espionage.

After several grueling hours, it was finally time for the latter half of the day. My class gathered in the school stadium, where we were greeted by an unfamiliar face.

"Greetings!" greeted the man as he gave us a massive grin. "I'm Sergeant Brooks of Eagle Squad, and I'll be teaching you the ropes today."

A wave of awed gasps rose from the crowd. I was probably the only student who didn't join in.

This isn't the undercity. This is the Golden District, home of upper-class citizens. Here, people live lavish lifestyles and, from what I can see, are genuinely happy to be alive. It's nothing like the undercity, where the average person is struggling to simply get by.

I don't blame these guys for looking up to the coatsmen. At the same time, I can't commend them for applauding monsters.

My enemy is the coatsmen who parade around the undercity with no regard for human life. However, the army isn't too far behind. I've seen what they've done to innocent people just because they eyeball them.

Even now, it's proving to be difficult to stay still when one of those assholes is up there all smiles... as if he had no regrets at all.

After running on about how safety is the most important thing to note, he began practical training.

"Alright, first things first... Since you're all newbies, we'll start with defensive training," Brooks said.

A student was handpicked to demonstrate. He was instructed to lift his arm to block whatever strike the soldier made. Of course, Brooks would pull his punches to make it easier on the student.

"Good, good!" Brooks chuckled. "Now, try counter attacking. When you block with one arm, throw a punch with the other. Ready?"

"Y-yeah!" the student replied with enthusiasm.

And so, they demonstrated the classic 'block and counter' tactic. It's a basic form of combat that I seldom see the coatsmen use. Once I land the first kill, they pretty much scatter like a flock of sheep in the face of a wolf.

"Well done, kid," Brooks said. "Now, we're gonna try to do exactly that but ramped up a bit. Anyone interested?"

I immediately raised my hand.

"Hoho! A challenger steps up to the plate!" he laughed. "What's your name, bud?"

"Solas De Leux," I answered.

Suddenly, a rush of gasps and murmurs came from the spectators. What are they acting so surprised for? My nametag literally says, 'De Leux.'

"Whoa, General De Leux's kid?" Brooks laughed. "You augmented yet?"

"... Not yet."

"Well, that's alright. Just make sure to get it done before you graduate. For now, let's see if you've got what it takes to match the old man."

I stood opposite him. He held a battle stance while I stood there and stared. That smile... is pissing me off.

"Ready?" he asked.

I said nothing. Instead, I simply nodded my head.

Even though he said he was gonna ramp it up, I still easily blocked his strike and threw a quick punch at his chin. Of course, I stopped before I made contact.

"Kid's got a bite!" Brooks scoffed.

He smacked my hand away and threw another punch. Again, I parried it and stopped my other arm before it reached his stomach.

As I continued to block and counterattack, our demonstration slowly began turning into a real fight. For every strike he threw at me, I blocked it and landed a hit of my own. While I didn't actually hit him, he never once got close to landing a blow on me. And the look on his face was telling me that he was really trying.

"If you're this strong as a human, imagine how you'll be once you get augmented," he chuckled.

That hit the nerve for me. Augmentation... disgusting.

Once a person reaches eighteen years of age, they have a five-year period in which they have to augment at least one part of their body. Failure to do so will mark them as a defect. It is a law known as Project: Augmentation. At this point, I'm closing in on my last year, but I'm already a defect. Might as well go all out.

He lunged at me for another strike. This will be my final stand. Instead of countering, I moved my body just slightly to dodge him completely. I then grabbed him by the neck, flipped his body over using his momentum, and plummeted my fist towards his face. Of course, I pulled back right as I was about to hit him. Had there not been spectators, I wouldn't have stopped.

"I yield," Brooks said, prompting me to lower my arm.

A wave of cheers and applause came from the students, but I did not indulge in it.

"You've got finesse, kid," Brooks grinned. "I like that. You'll make an outstanding soldier in the army one day. Maybe you'll even surpass that old man De Leux."

I simply bowed without saying anything.

To hell with all that. I'd rather die than serve the High Order.