"It is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance and not the ambitious seeker of fortune."
- Sun Tzu, The Art of War
"Honestly, Isaac, I think this is your worst lie yet," Reed observed, adding mustard to her sub. "You don't tell a lot of lies, so when you try to be some sort of goodtime Charlie and play a trick on me, I can pick up on it pretty easily. But this one, this one's pretty unbelievable, so unbelievable that I'm almost tempted to believe it. But I don't believe it because it's just so unbelievable."
Isaac, Audrey, and Reed sat on the bench outside of Shokahu's office at West Narragansett Technical Academy. Not his normal office, located in the Academic building with the other history teachers. This office, a room for himself, was located deep below the Support building, tucked away in a corner of the subterranean levels, away from prying eyes. The school only allowed Rddhi users to go down here; Isaac still felt giddy about being waved through by the school’s guards – the inconspicuously named Technical Servicemen - and allowed into the basement for the first time. Heading deeper into the unknown world of the Rddhi, Isaac tapped his fingers on the bench armrest in excitement.
It had been over a week since his fight. His first training session had been cancelled due to the whole funeral thing, and after that, Shokahu had told him with a shrug that Isaac would have to wait for some preliminary tests and observations before he could begin training.
Shokahu then explained to him this morning during class that the meeting would be held after school. The day seemed to go by so slow, but here Isaac was, ready to take on the world.
Reed displayed much less enthusiasm than Isaac. She only accepted attending the meeting today to get her meal privileges back, which had been revoked indefinitely. With little money of her own, Reed spent the last week scrounging for food, appearing at Isaac and Audrey's rooms at the Suffolk Apartments almost every night.
Her current Italian sub was courtesy of Audrey, who felt a sympathetic pity for the sociopath sitting next to her on the bench. Audrey herself seemed pretty excited for the meeting, having been notified earlier that morning as well. It wasn't often Class 1s got to privately meet with the higher-ups in the Corps.
Reed wiped her mouth, glad to be eating for the first time all day.
"Really, Isaac? You're telling me there were two Dakotas?"
Season 1, Episode 2 - The Sewer
Isaac had zoned out when the conversation went mindless about ten minutes ago, but this brought him back into it. "What? You don't think there were two Dakotas?"
"Why would they need two?" Reed questioned. "There's no people there. What, did the only two families in the area get into such a big fight that they had to split Dakota into two?"
Isaac crossed his arms. "I'll have you know the Dakotas were once thriving states with vibrant communities. The largest city was Sioux Falls and their main export was wheat."
Isaac frowned at the look on Reed’s face. "What? I won the geography contest in elementary school, remember? Math's too hard for me, but I like to think I'm cultured."
"Isn't that nice, Mr. Geometry," Reed said dryly.
"Geology," Audrey corrected.
"That's what I said. And good for the Dakotas, selling wheat like that. Now 'they-'" Reed added finger quotes for emphasis, "are unorganized territories in the Remnant States. Good for them."
"Yeah, well, nuclear war's tough, even for empty states," Isaac supposed.
Reed took another large bite out of her sub.
"You know, I think I'd want to live in this 'North' Dakota."
Audrey cocked her head. "You don't think it's real but you want to live there?"
"Yeah. It sounds nice. Empty. I could use a lot more empty in my life. Look at this. We live in the middle of a huge city. That's the complete opposite of empty. I need empty. I need, I don't know, like a pond and some trees."
"Some trees?" Isaac repeated.
"Yeah, I love trees. Oak…apple…"
Reed finished her sandwich, unable to think of more trees.
The door to Shokahu's office suddenly opened. An older student with sandy blonde hair walked out, and the three recognized him as Clayton Wesley, the strongest Rddhi user in the entire school.
"Hey, it's you guys." His voice sounded like its usual relaxed self, but just for a moment, Isaac thought he noticed a serious look in his eyes before they returned to its casual normal.
"We're here to meet with Mr. Shokahu!" Audrey exclaimed, a glow in her eyes and her heart beating in her chest at the sight of Clayton. Reed rolled her own eyes at Audrey's excitement.
Isaac felt pretty excited himself. Clayton was a hero! He made it all the way to third place in the citywide Rddhi tournament known as the School Rumble as a second-year. Users from the New England Institute High School or Cambridge University High School always won; just making it to the semifinals made Clayton the idol of their own Academy.
"I know, I was just talking to him. Hope you guys are up to it." He gave an easy smile that suggested that whatever Shokahu had in store for them would not actually be that easy. Clayton waved goodbye and headed off; Audrey watched him go with dreamy eyes; Isaac did the same, slightly less dreamy and more in admiration; Reed wiped her hands off on her uniform.
Isaac rose in excitement, and Audrey followed him inside the office. Reed sighed and headed in after them.
Shokahu had an office all to himself, but it was pretty small. Minimalist, too. Considering its location in the basement, there were no windows, just four walls of beige concrete, no decorations. His desk was an old, faded mahogany brown. A small, drooping plant sat silently in a vase; there was a picture frame on his desk, too, but it faced towards Shokahu, preventing Isaac from seeing the photo inside.
Isaac let Audrey take her seat in front of Shokahu’s desk, but before he could take his, he felt Reed's hand on his shoulder.
"Ladies first," she said, gesturing toward the chair.
Isaac realized there were only two chairs in the room for the three of them. "Should've got here sooner."
Reed wouldn't budge. "You think I'm gonna stand for some meeting?"
"You oughta be standing in a salute the whole time, the way you acted last week-"
Clayton emerged back in the room. "I brought the extra chair."
Isaac and Reed blinked. He removed his hands from her shoulders while she removed hers from his ears. Wordlessly, Isaac let Reed take the seat while he grabbed the extra one from Clayton, who smirked at him before waving goodbye.
Shokahu sighed. "I'm glad you guys could make it-"
The sound of a chair moving against the concrete floor interrupted him. After wordless hassling, Reed agreed to move her seat so Isaac would have room in the center of the three, between her and Audrey. Shokahu remained silent throughout the whole thirty second process, his face flat and revealing nothing.
"As I was saying, I'm glad you guys could make it," he began once again, now that all three were ready. "The Academy has a mission for you."
"What's the mission?" Isaac asked, ready to run through a brick wall if necessary.
"As you know, New England places the districts containing Rddhi academies on high-security."
Isaac nodded at Shokahu's words, because he did know that. The Presidential Administration that ran New England labelled Elizabeth Pond as a "Rddhi district" because it contained West Narragansett Technical Academy. While Cambridge and the Institute employed private armies to protect their district, the Academy instead relied the Army and Military police as cost-saving measures. Security checkpoints at the border of the district provided an additional layer of security; fences, barbed wire, and even large concrete walls were used to discourage any unofficial entry. Those looking to get out of the district through public transportation had to use a special railway service at the border crossing.
The system worked well for those living in Elizabeth Pond who had no desire or interest in the wider world. Isaac didn't mind it, and Audrey claimed to have gotten used to it, and, even if given the opportunity, it's not like Reed would actually put in the effort into leaving her own apartment, let alone the district.
"Because of the difficulty in accessing Elizabeth Pond and the Academy, we believe the Yorkist spies in our Academy made contact with the outside world through alternative routes," Shokahu continued. "They use the old tunnel facilities below the district to get inside."
"Old tunnels?" Audrey asked.
"Sewer systems, subway tunnels, underground facilities. All built before the Unleashing and Second American Civil War. They form a complex web below ground that can bring foreign agents around the city. We thought we had the tunnels into our district sealed-up well enough, but Yorkists were found in all three academies this past week."
Isaac thought about Alfie, wondering where he was now. Then he remembered the way he backhanded Esther and hoped he was rotting in a jail cell.
"The Army's offered to help clear out these tunnels," Shokahu explained. "But their main efforts are focused on the Institute and Cambridge."
Isaac didn't like the sound of that. "How come?"
The expression on Shokahu's face didn't change. "I think you know why."
And Isaac did know why. All the attention, all the funding, all the prestige – it all went to the two Rddhi academies located deep in the heart of Narragansett. In contrast, West Narragansett Technical Academy rarely appeared as little more than a footnote in the newspapers, a tiny blurb in the last five minutes of a television news broadcast grouped with other miscellaneous items.
Those two schools had the sons and daughters of the elites with flashy powers as their students, courtesy of the close links in the upper ranks between big business, the government, and the military. In contrast, Chairman Stockham's circle of friends included second-rate corporations and a lot of unknowns, and had nobodies like Isaac and former mill workers like Audrey as students.
But Isaac saw how hard everyone worked here. How much determination, dedication, and spirit they put into their studies.
West Narragansett deserves the same treatment as the other two schools. I'll right that wrong some day.
Barely awake, Reed noticed Isaac making some mental monologue and rolled her eyes.
Shokahu continued. "Anyway, the focus on those two schools is a double-edged sword. Just as New England only focuses on them, so did New York. The enemy presence below our Academy is light. And that's where you three come in."
"What are we going to do?" Audrey asked.
"Have you three ever heard of our Rddhi Detection Network?"
The three shook their heads. Well, two did – Reed was fast asleep. A slight nudge from Isaac brought her back to reality.
“We have four students from a small town who all came here as a group,” Shokahu explained. “Together with a fifth, they’re able to triangulate Rddhi signatures like a-”
“Like a bat!” Audrey exclaimed.
Shokahu supposed she had a point. “I was going to say radar, but that works too. Normally, we wouldn’t need their services due to the Academy’s own metaphysical defenses, but due to....recent events...we created this Network for the time being.”
Recent events? Isaac wondered what that was all about. He briefly thought it might’ve meant his own fight, but he figured metaphysical defenses, whatever that meant, would’ve been used to stop the New Yorker, so something must have happened to them beforehand.
He also had to nudge Reed awake again.
Shokahu reached his conclusion. "We used the RDN and found a Yorkist agent in a section of the tunnels previously thought to be sealed off. As a test of your abilities, we will be sending you three down there to deal with them."
Audrey gasped. “Us? I'm only Class 1, and Isaac's brand new too."
Shokahu gestured with his head. "You have your dear friend Reed with you, right?"
Reed didn't look particularly enthusiastic about the whole thing, but she would have to admit, she was indeed there with them.
"And we can estimate the level of the opponent Rddhi user by calculating the extent at which they manipulate the energy fields around them," Shokahu added. "Based on our calculations, this user is a Class 2. Between the three of you, you should be able to take them out."
Audrey still didn't look convinced.
"We had Esther check the numbers. They won't be wrong."
Audrey relaxed in her seat at the mention of Esther.
"As for you, Isaac, this is your preliminary examination." Shokahu looked directly into Isaac's eyes. "Come back safely."
Isaac readied himself.
There's not a chance I won't!
"We will. All of us."
Isaac saluted, bringing his palm over his heart in a pledge of allegiance.
For the entire walk from Shokahu's office to the main lobby on the first floor, Reed couldn't stop laughing.
"I can't believe it. Who actually salutes like that?"
Isaac narrowed his eyes while Audrey unsuccessfully tried to keep the peace.
"We're doing this for the good of the nation and our people," Isaac said, an edge in his voice.
"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Reed had to hold her stomach as she walked because the laughter came from deep within her. "Nation? People? You think they give one shit about you?"
"That doesn't matter," Isaac exclaimed. "What's important is that I give at least one shit, possibly even two shits, about them!"
"Guys, guys, c'mon, we're friends!" Audrey interjected. "Reed, maybe you don't take the importance of the mission seriously enough. And Isaac...maybe you take it a little too seriously." Her eyes looked at his with sympathy and she spoke quietly. “I know we’re supposed to love our country, but extreme love can be a little dangerous.” She looked at Reed. “And so is extreme laziness. Me personally, this mission is important because all three of us need to work together to make it back in one piece!"
"The sooner we finish this guy, the sooner we can go home." Reed kept her eyes looking forward, away from them, on what was in front of her. "When we go down there tomorrow, just stay out of my way."
The conversation came to a sudden end as they reached the front of the lobby. There were two sets of double doors to get in and out; the three of them walked through one of them when they suddenly heard-
"I held the door for you!"
Isaac, Audrey, and Reed stopped to look for the source of the voice. At the other set of double doors, they realized that one of the doors was open, held by a tall girl with long blonde hair and three silver markings on each shoulder. The indignant look in her eyes accentuated the frown on her face.
"Oh, sorry," Audrey answered. From the sound of her voice (and from the look on Reed’s) the two girls recognized the tall girl, while Isaac had no clue about her identity. "We didn't notice you were standing there."
Reed remained silent, a dour frown on her face.
The tall girl blinked and her shoulders and face relaxed. Standing next to her was a shorter girl with a blue streak in her hair; she put a calming hand on her shoulder.
The tall girl rubbed the back of her neck. "Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh-"
The girl's eyes lit up with renewed fire. "You! It's you!"
Reed stepped forward. Audrey shook her head, pitying her friend who could never let anything go, while Isaac just wiped his face with his palm and sighed.
"Yeah, it's me," Reed declared in a mixture of pride and boredom. "What about it?"
"You pretended your father was dead!" The tall girl's fists were clenched and she stepped away from the calming presence of her shorter friend. "I baked you an effing cake to cheer you up!"
And she didn't say effing.
"Well, I never got the cake," Reed pointed out.
"Because he wasn't dead!"
Reed smirked.
"We didn't go through your door on purpose."
"Well, my foot's about to go through your ass on purpose!"
While Reed and the tall girl rambled angrily to each other, the shorter girl walked up to Isaac and Audrey.
"I'm sorry about Mackenize," she offered.
The two looked back at Reed, who had a devil's grin on her face while making a vulgar motion with her hands that involved the index finger on one and the thumb and index curled into a circle with the other.
"We're sorry for ours," Isaac offered.
Audrey gasped as she realized something important. “Isaac, you don’t know who any of these people are!” She pointed at the tall girl. “That’s Mackenzie, the Class Rep for my Rddhi Theory class!” She pointed at the shorter girl. “This is Lynn, a classmate in my Rddhi Theory class!” She pointed at Isaac. “And this is Isaac, who, once this mission is over, will hopefully be joining our Rddhi Theory class!”
The shorter girl stuck her hand out with a soft smile. Isaac shook it in recognition of their new friendship.
Lynn looked back at Mackenzie, who dramatically gestured towards the door she opened while making punting motions with her legs. "Don't worry about her, she just gets...bitter."
Audrey laughed. "Same with Reed."
Lynn smiled. "Lying to get out of something you don't want to do...well, there's a Reed in all of us. God, what I'd do to have Reed in me..."
That last comment didn't fully register with Isaac or Audrey until the argument ended, they took the train ride home, and arrived right outside their apartment doors.
