Geldi Tloa looked through the scope of her sniper rifle at the wolfkin soldiers some thirty meters away from her. She was lying on the slope of a small hill, squeezed to the best of her abilities into a small crack in the stone. To her neck, she was buried in sand and rocks, her camouflage uniform ensured even better mimicry with her surroundings, a camouflage net was thrown over the barrel and the scope of her weapon made her look even more like a simple piece of the hill.

Watching the wolfkins move across the road between two hills, Geldi pressed her lips together. Honestly, at this range, she barely needed any scope to land a shot between either of their eyes. Still, the past rounds taught her to respect her new opponent.

Any moment now. Geldi moved her finger at the trigger, noticing the movement on the other hill. She bit her lower lip to calm herself while the second team was preparing to fire. They had a perfect plan this time….

A shadow fell upon the two wolfkins, and twin chops nearly landed on Kate’s and Kaleb’s necks. Their attacker jumped back, dodging a metal pole that came from beneath the ground, while the duo turned around and took aim at the foe. Two more metal poles came from behind the attacker, moving in perfect unison with the first one. A net came up, catching the opponent and dragging her up.

"Now!" Tiny almost shouted the command, and Geldi pressed the trigger while following the net with a barrel of her weapon.

The plan was simple. Kate and Kaleb act as a decoy, luring the opponent to a perfect ambush spot. Sly really worked out a miracle this time, hiding automatic metal poles in the ground along with metallic net. Geldi fired directly into the center of the net, following her instincts more before realizing her mistake.

The ball filled with paint left her rifle, hitting against the net along with a barrage coming from Kaleb and Kate. The team on the opposite side of the hill joined their assault, lobbed balls filled with blue paint into the net.

Only Annie was no longer in it. The wolfkin slashed her way out of the steel net, jumping out and propelling herself at the wolfkins before her. She landed before Kaleb, marking his neck with yellow paint. Kate started to turn toward her and received a touch against her forehead, indicating mortal injury. Geldi fired at Annie, and the wolf hag made a low kick, spinning Kate in the air, allowing the woman’s legs to take the incoming shot.

The shots from Tiny’s team fell onto Kaleb’s back, throwing him off balance. Annie was safe for just a couple of moments. It should be impossible for the wolf hag to dart from the open. Geldi felt sweat appear on her brow against her will, her heart was racing. For the first time in a long while, she was actually excited. We can win this!

Annie punched the ground, throwing up sand and stone. The small sandstorm hid the wolf hag for a moment, and when Geldi switched to thermal vision, Annie was already racing to Tiny and the others. While she raced up the hill’s slope, a stone slipped from beneath her feet, nearly ending with the wolf hag stumbling. Annie found the ground with the claws of her left leg, leaning to the side to evade shots from both Geldi and Gin.

It's like she is reading us like a book! Geldi cursed, unsure if Annie really stumbled and capitalized on this mistake or made this on purpose to draw a shot from Geldi.

Annie leaped forward, her claws flashing, aiming to fall at Gin’s neck. The ground before her exploded, allowing Sly to jump from a small, hidden crack in the hill, using one of his metal arms to create a bubble of force shield before himself.

"Ha! I knew that you would try it!" Sly shouted happily, raising twin pistols, "Left or right, you can’t…"

Annie could and did put an end to his boast. Geldi slapped herself across the forehead, seeing how Annie made the most logical choice. Neither Gin nor Tiny could fire at her because both of them were behind the force shield. Why would she dodge? Instead, the wolf hag kicked the force shield, sending Sly flying into Tiny.

Annie kicked a stone, sending it backwards into the barrel of Geldi’s sniper rifle and throwing the weapon aside. Geldi cursed, noticing that weapon stuck in a crack in the wall. She grabbed it, using her phasing to pull the weapon safely from the stone. In the span of this time, Tiny, Gin, and Sly had already been thrown face down, yellow marks decorated the backs of their heads.

Last chance! Geldi calmly took aim at Annie, who was racing down the slope, charging toward the sniper in a straight line. Her eyes were on the former regulator. Geldi was unsure how, but she would bet every single credit that she had that Annie saw her perfectly, tracking every movement. One on one, she had no chance.

But I am not alone, asshole! Geldi waited until Annie reached the slope of her hill and fired once, making sure that Annie will have to dodge to the left. The boulder next to wolf hag exploded, casting aside the hollow shell of fake stone and allowing Lucendra to fire.

They never hoped for this shot to land. Annie’s ears were too keen for this, the wolf hag will start to dodge the moment the sound warns her about the movement within the fake boulder. What they hoped for was for Annie to evade the shot, gaining distance away from Lucendra, allowing Geldi to fire once more, while Lucendra uses a paint grenade. Or for the wolf hag to advance on the warrior, opening her back for the sniper.

The wolf hag instead grabbed the warrior by the throat, pushing Lucendra before herself like a shield and snatching a grenade off her belt. Geldi only cursed when the grenade landed before her face, covering her faceplate in blue paint.

****

"Basic," Annie said to the team, while all of them were sitting on the ground, cleaning themselves up from the paint. Annie’s claws were the only part of her body covered with yellow painting, and the wolf hag extended them to Sly, gesturing for him to clean her up, "You treat me like a normal enemy in the ambush. Tiny, the goal of this training is to teach you how to deal with a powerful foe, someone who outclasses you vastly in both speed and physical power, not how to deal with regular soldiers. Shall I give you some pointers?"

"We’re good," Tiny hissed, wiping the blood from the corner of her nose, "And we will beat you next time."

Annie only shrugged her shoulders. Like the rest of the wolfkins, she was dressed in a simple leather jacket and gray pants. The scorching sun of the Ravaged Lands gave neither of them even a single trouble, leaving Geldi jealous against her will. She herself was in a full bodysuit, along with a camouflage cape. While her suit protected her from the heat, it took her ages to clean herself after each failed attempt.

It all started a day ago. The wolfkins, who had some free time on their paws were ordered to choose a training course of their liking. It could be either school lessons, tech lessons… or meditation lessons, led by Carty. Naturally, most of the wolfkins choose these, using the lessons as an excuse to have some free nap time, right until Annie and the other wolf hags showed up, dragging the ones who were faking to the field training.

Geldi herself requested to be put in prison for her crimes, but instead Aranea visited her, convincing the young woman to join the pack as a field medic. Geldi agreed, hoping to at least repay for her crimes in this fashion. She and Tiny joined other troublemakers at the training course, where Annie showed a sniper rifle into Geldi’s hands, stating, in a tone that left no room for objection, that Geldi was joining Tiny’s team. Their goal was simple—drop Annie at least once.

They have made five attempts by now, each ending in failure. Right now, they were in the cave, preparing to sleep. The supplies were delivered to them via drones or small convoys from the fortress, and Annie was hellbent on making them stay here for as long as it took until they came up with a plan to defeat her. And Tiny was no better! Geldi had no idea why the small wolfkin was so stubborn about refusing any advice from the wolf hag, Tiny made no mistakes, she came here on her own, taking charge over the group.

No matter. Geldi decided to sit in the corner and try to take a nap, leaving her portion of food to her allies. She rarely spoke with others, believing that scum like this did not deserve to move up after what happened. She simply followed orders. Some hero I am. Oh well, day after day, Geldi. You have no right to take the easy way out. Live on and try to atone. Until one day, all your days will end.

Annie gave Sly a tap on his nose before jumping into the desert and escaping until tomorrow’s round.

"I am tired of being beat up all the time! What if Yuki needs me and I am not around!" Sly whined, walking away to chew on canned food. His eyes flashed with surprise at the taste, and he looked at the label, "Wow, fish! All is forgiven, Annie, you are the best!"

"You got us into this mess," Kaleb grumbled, picking up a can. He used a claw to open it and forced the can into Geldi's hands, "Oh, it is a genius plan!" Kaleb continued, mockingly replicating Sly's voice, "They will never know! Shut up and endure."

"Sorry," Lucendra said weakly, massaging her neck, "Because of my mistakes, we…"

"Everything is ok," Tiny patted her on the shoulder, sitting nearby, "No one is at fault today. We all fucked up. Just means that we will have to try better."

"Kate was it you who stumbled Annie on that rock?" Gin asked.

"Yes. Sorry about that, force of habit."

"Keep doing that!"

"How is cheating supposed to make you better?" Kate rolled her eyes, "You can’t achieve your dream by taking shortcuts."

"Not every dream is meant to be true." Lucendra whispered.

"Oh yeah?" Kaleb turned to her, throwing her a can, "What’s your dream?"

"I want to become a scout," Lucendra fell silent, opening her can, "No. I wanted to become a scout. I am just too weak, a scary cat, and an idiot on top of that. There's no way I ever become someone like that."

"Pah," Kate grabbed Lucendra from the back, jerking her on the feet, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "Listen here, girlie. I once was a scout and then dropped down in rank. Tiny is a scout now. And you are with us now," She gently slapped the warrior across the chin, "Ain’t that bad of a team, I’d say. Keep giving your all, work with the team, and one day you’ll be there."

"In the meantime, we are ready to help." Gin made a toast with his can, and Lucendra jokingly replied with her own, smiling shily.

Tiny grabbed Geldi for the shoulder, dragging the medic closer to the wolfkins: "Listen, don’t know what your problem is with us, but we’re team now. Tell me, what’s wrong."

"No problem!" Geldi shook her head. Tiny kept looking at her, and the woman finally gave up, "Listen, I kinda want to give up on the whole killing others thing. It’s why I agreed to become a medic! And now I am here, in the middle of nowhere, shooting others again."

Sly finished his food and was listening to something over his terminal. His eyes became round, and the hand holding the device slightly shook.

"Yes!" He shouted into the terminal with a mad smile. The soldier turned toward a pile of equipment in the corner of the cave and raced to it, "I am done playing! I will just blow this whole arena all the way to the kingdom come! If nothing stands, Annie falls too!"

"Okay, mister apocalypto, gotta be honest with you—I'm not really liking your mad scientist vibes one bit. Here, chew on this, and relax." Kaleb threw him another can.

"What if we use mines next time?" Geldi dared to offer the idea that was long in her head, "Annie likes running around like a madman, let’s make her pay for this!"

"Not gonna work," Tiny shook her head, pointing at the equipment behind her, "I can smell paint mines all the way from here. Unlike grenades and ammo, engineers did a poor job making these dummies."

"If I may suggest," Lucendra said, and everyone, Geldi included, looked at her, "It is a good idea. The wolf hag always had trouble picking up the smell. Something about her nose, it’s barely working."

"Really now," A park of fire appeared in Tiny’s eyes, "Sly, drop the attempts to make a paint nuke and prepare all the mines you can. Everyone, sorry to say it, but sleep is postponed, unless you want to rot here instead of relaxing in the fortress," She looked at the wolfkins and Geldi, expecting objections. There were none, everyone was sick of the desert by now, "Grab the shovels, we are going to make a trap for the beast!"