Several people limped off the field, guided by others. Dev's crew, the last seven standing, huffed and wheezed from the exertion, all but Mercy who stood proudly in the center.

Dev hated them. Her matrix lit up, buzzing with each name falling into a qualifier's allotment.

Of the few injured, one woman in particular had been the seven girl's main focus. Dev took that to mean she'd been the one her crew had been going after.

Sen stood at her side, equally concerned. "They took on that many people just to get to the one."

He didn't have to say it, Dev already gathered that because it was the absolute stupidest thing they could have done.

Bray sported a smile as he hurried up the steps, bypassed Sen, and said, "Top ranks. That's pretty impressive. I had to use a lifeline on the one whose foot they mucked up but I don't mind." He smirked, giving a fleeting goodbye as he headed back down to gather his crew. "We'll be ready for you lot next time."

The jovial tone wasn't uncommon for Bray but...his talking to her was. Without looking at her useless cousin, she said, "You lost me in a bet, didn't you?"

Sen grumbled, "Would it help if I said it was a bet I could have won?"

Unamused, Dev answered, "Not even slightly."

"Then let's pretend that it didn't happen."

His tone was somber when he looked at her and she met his gaze.

"You've gotta tell them."

Dev hated it, but she knew she had to. "I don't know if I can. They've just qualified."

"They should know," Sen insisted. "And if you don't tell them, I will."

Oni sat off to the side, watching them unabashed.

Dev debated what to do with him, too. He'd gotten rather conveniently forthcoming with information all of a sudden.

As lunch was quickly approaching and other crews had to process those who'd washed out, nearly everyone left.

Not Dev, and not her seven idiot sisters who held their noses high, rather pleased with themselves.

Once it was just the ten of them, Sen asked, "Should I go?"

Dev wanted nothing more but couldn't risk it.

"They trust you. They'll understand if you're here, I'm sure."

The seven still waited at the bottom of the steps so Dev sucked in a deep breath and made her way down. Oni, surprisingly, didn't follow.

Sen was the only support she'd get.

He'd been right about who was in charge, Mercy stepped forward, satisfied.

She also spoke for the first time, greeting Dev with a bow of her head and saying, "Boss."

Dev held up her matrix and threatened, "If I do a deep secondary scan of you right now, will I find any heart problems?"

All air, sound, life, left the room.

Unlike her sisters, Mercy wasn't as dark in complexion. The red of her hair came from sun damage and it was something she shared with the other six, but there was something different about her. But they were all related, that much was obvious and made clearer when Pleasant, the least appealing due to her constant scowl, stepped before her.

"Nobody's got a heart problem. We just took on fifty people."

Dev didn't cut her a glance, instead, she stared Mercy down but answered Pleasant. "You took on twenty-one people and I'll assume it was the heat of battle making you lose count and not yet another deficiency in your limited education."

Something caught her arm and she followed Sen's grip to find him pleading with her just using his eyes.

He didn't agree with the insults. This was rich, coming from him.

Dev thought to open her mouth and remind him of his behavior toward his own recruit but instead honored his request.

She let out a sigh and turned to the girls. Fine. She'd play along.

"If one or more of you is hiding a physical condition in hopes you getting through would mean you'd get healed, then give up now. That doesn't happen. That's not how this works."

A sound behind her said Oni had joined them finally.

He was the one to ask, "It's not?"

"No." Dev still watched the women before her, explaining, "Physically healing someone is possible but not for Volunteers. We're just muscle. We protect the citizens of the Innercity. No one'll waste a credit on the likes of us. The best you can do is save up but the wages are so meager that it'd take eons. You might, and I mean might get a crew that will offer up some of their wages and pool to get it fix but again, assuming you make it to the end of the line and you don't make it to the end of the line when you're sick. You die."

The final word lingered in the air for some time.

When the girls cast their gazes low, all but Mercy, Dev tried to calm, to sound gentler.

"You won't get to the end of this. The entire conditioning is meant to weed out the weaker Volunteers. And you can fight together now, but you will be subjected to lone combat in time. So, know that there are no shortcuts—"

"That's a lie."

The gruffness of Mercy's voice contrasted greatly with how adorable she looked. Even her evil scowl was sort of endearing.

Dev typed along her matrix then turned it to them. The list of conditioning tasks began to scroll. Two of the taller girls lost heart. A few others stopped looking at the list, but Mercy, and even Pleasant, were unmoved.

"We're fine," Pleasant said.

Someone held her arm and she brushed it off. It wasn't Mercy—she also looked ready for a fight.

"Listen to her," Sen pleaded. He was speaking to Pleasant. "Is it worth their lives for this gamble. All of them? All of their lives?" He held out a hand to indicate Mercy. "And even hers? If it's so bad that she can't risk even one confrontation, then how far do you think she'll get? Your lives are worth—"

Pleasant picked her head up. "Our lives are worth what I say they're worth." The tremor of her voice gave her away. "Everybody knows the Volunteer's armor can heal—"

"It doesn't heal," Sen insisted, "it reinforces the body, yes. But not forever and it comes at a price. You put that thing on when the body is injured or weak and you can't take it off for more than a minute before you flatline. You'll be in it for the rest of your life."

Pleasant stared through him, but Dev took some comfort that they were making some headway.

"People can get the suit early," Mercy insisted.

"No." Dev turned to face her, "You can't."

"You did."

"This isn't a Volunteer's suit. It's just a mockup. It's not activated until I reach the next echelon, and need I remind you, this isn't my suit, it's a gift from my mother. So unless you've got a Volunteer parent I'm unaware of, one that was high enough in ranking that their child is gifted a suit, then I don't want to hear another peep out of you. Any of you."

But Pleasant picked her head up and asked, "That's what those bands mean?"

Dev wanted to curse at her to listen to reason but Sen nudged her.

Finally, Dev answered, "Yes and no. The bands are rankings that I carry. One I will take as mine, and two I will give away. And they do come with a suit I'm allowed to access, after I reach the second level. That's why we're head cadets, because it's understood we can reach the end of the line and that we're trustworthy."

"Then you can give us one—"

"We give nothing in the division, we fight for it. The same way my father had to fight to get his number, and fight to keep it whenever challenged. The same way my mother did as well. I'll never just hand over their blood, sweat, and tears. Especially to a bunch of Vagrants who'll probably sell that suit in a heartbeat."

Someone gasped. Whether Sen or Oni, she couldn't say.

She no longer cared. "You'll be dead before you reach the end of this," Dev explained. "I've only got two life-lines and we'll need them before long. So fess up. And if you try to cover for one another again, you can all wash out together for all I care. Which one of you is it?"

Silence.

Dev made a fist, more than fed up with this nonsense.

She approached Mercy but Pleasant blocked her path and informed her, "No one moves, no one leaves without my say-so."

Mercy cut her a glance but kept quiet.

Pleasant nearly matched Dev in height and her challenge was palpable.

"You're supposed to be our crew leader? Our head cadet? What sort of head cadet are you? You don't even know us by name, right?"

Dev felt slapped.

She must have taken a step back because the girl advanced.

"Right? You don't feed us; you don't take care of us. If not for your cousin, we wouldn't even know which way to turn in this place. You're more concerned with the one boy than the seven girls and if I've got to complain about the discrimination to the highest level, then that's where this is going."

Lips parted, Dev scoffed. "What?"

"Can you prove I'm wrong?" Pleasant waited then said, "Look. This one weak boy is your concern instead of the seven girls who took on fifty people. And it was fifty, you menga!"

Dev struck but Sen caught it.

"Whoa." He eased Dev back. "Whoa, whoa."

"Menga. She called me a menga." Dev lunged forward but Sen nearly picked her up. "I'll show you a menga."

"Wait. Hold on." Sen met her at each attempt she made at knocking that smug expression off Pleasant's face. "Wait. She's right. She's right though."

Dev still seethed but hearing Sen defend them broke her heart. "You—"

"Cousin, look again. My head was down but even I can count. They did the initial fight before asking for the challenges, right? It might not have been fifty exactly, but it was close. Come on. They won the entire set. That's got to count for something."

Hurt, Dev stared at him, willing him to come to his senses.

Finally, she reminded him, "They cheated by using a classified defense formation."

Sen admitted, "Maybe. But it was still a successful formation. Let's just think about this in a rational way. If they'll leave quietly—"

"Not likely," Pleasant yelled.

He ignored her. "That'd be one thing. Then if not, you've gotta bring it to the overseer and explain what's going on. Now, we both know that discrimination claim is bogus."

"And not just favoritism," Mercy drawled. "Didn't he sleep in her room last night?"

This time Sen barely caught Dev to hold her back.

"Okay. Okay." Sen held Dev's fists and forced them down. He soothed, "Okay. This is partly my fault."

Dev shot him a look and he shrugged.

"Fine. It's all my fault. Fine. I can admit that. But the best thing we can do is make the best of it. We know what's wrong with them and we can get them medicine. Whatever happens to them after that isn't our problem."

"How exactly? You have an official Volunteer's badge and access to open medicine at your fingertips?" Dev spat.

Sen considered her words then confessed, "Well, not exactly."