Dev felt bad for Oni. The hurt in his eyes was genuine but she couldn't understand why sympathy escaped her as he shuffled forward in line, holding his little gun proud.

Other head cadets were priming their matrixes with their crew's weapon info but Dev instead ran up to shuffle beside him.

"We can get another one," she insisted.

Face reddening, he glanced to her but said, "No. This one's all right."

They were nearly at the front of the line. Dev glanced back then hurried close again. "Well, ours are already all registered. Just grab one of the girls' guns until we start shooting. You can just hold it."

In unison, the little army at Dev's back drew their focus. Mercy carried a standard sidearm. Several of the sisters had rifles. It was Pleasant who drew everyone's focus. The cannon on her back nearly matched her in height.

Dev thought to scold her—force her—to select something else but that attempt lasted one minute before the menga cut her a glance out of the slits of her eyes and walked away.

As it stood, her crew was heavily armed. The rifle Dev herself selected was pretty big as well.

"Head cadets get two. I've got a sidearm and a rifle. You can just carry my rifle if it's so important to you."

Oni gained speed. "Really. It's okay."

A shadow fell over them before Dev could run to catch up. it was a massive shadow so that meant one thing.

Dev didn't even bother looking as she walked. "Hello, Bray."

With a sharp gasp, Bray hurried beside her. "Incredible. You knew it was me. That's—that's some real talent."

He must have been joking. "You sort of stand out."

It was a chuckle at first but grew into a strange laugh. When she didn't laugh along, Bray lone hysterics quieted.

Bray cleared his throat. Oni made a sound.

Dev mistook it for a laugh but a glance at Oni showed no amusement. In fact, he walked on, stoic.

Perhaps it was a bad idea to focus on Oni as she did because Bray found a new reason to laugh.

"What's with that wee gun, mang-head? Does a real one scare you?"

Oni slowed in his stride.

Bray wasn't finished. Olo caught up and Bray gave him a nudge. "Look at him. It barely fits in his hand." He barked out a laugh. "Is that a girl gun?"

Other head cadets leading their own line started taking note.

"Maybe he finds it comforting," someone suggested.

At each chuckle, Oni drew up his shoulders. Maybe he was trying to stand taller but his body, much like his ego, shrunk down.

There wasn't much left of him by the time they reached the entrance to the co-op training field.

Before reaching the threshold to declare his weapon, Oni slowed. Dev did as well. She wasn't sure what to say but didn't have to when Pleasant, equally displeased with the badmouthing, stepped past her sisters, unhooked her massive cannon and shoved it into Oni's arms.

They were on the move again when Dev took back her little training gun, handed her rifle to Pleasant who, fed up, snatched it from her.

Sunlight closed in, mere feet away.

Oni, surprised at how light the weapon was, fought back a smile as he slung it over his shoulder.

Dev didn't take it personally. "Just think, you could get one of these if you'd just improve a bit more."

He nodded with a blush.

When they reached the door, the head cadet on guard there leaned away, surprised at the sight of them. He scanned the heavily armed seven-woman crew, then settled his eyes on Oni.

"Trying to overcompensate for something?"

That was the last of Oni's ego. Rather than march out, he lumbered. Sunlight bathed over them in all directions, but her crew did not move.

Dev had nothing to say. She should have known it would attract ridicule. So when she turned to him, her intent was to apologize in hopes of easing his miserable scowl.

A big smile greeted her instead. He handed over the cannon while taking back her little gun. "Can't win." He laughed.

That chuckle was music to Dev's ears. Was he really unbothered?

In that moment, as she stared at him, a strange feeling came over her. Admiration. Weathering insults such as these took strength.

She studied him now, searching his eyes for any hint as to the secret of his inner power.

He looked sheepish but held up his gun and posed. "What?"

Laughter erupted out of both of them.

"Glad you idiots can find this funny." They were the only one amused. Pleasant.

Mercy echoed her disappointment. "We'll never get a half decent practice at this rate."

Dev looked between them, struggling with something to say.

Two hands slammed down on her shoulders.

Sen's head popped from behind her. "Guess who's secured the best location!"

Relief filled the girls' faces. It even filled that of Oni's.

Once again, things went smoothly thanks to Sen's rescue.

They had one break before their indoor-training and Dev welcomed the reprieve from her smart-mouth crew. She also found herself in her room, taking a leap of faith....

Dev counted the last of her A-CAN with a sigh. There weren't many left. And how much longer could they last?

This was a secret, her most guarded one, so she wasn't sure what she was doing telling it to someone—but he was the only one she could tell.

Upon handing it over for examination, she expected a myriad of reactions; this wasn't one of them.

"Looks like candy," Oni muttered.

"What?"

After blinking himself back to reality, Oni picked his head up and told her. "They look like sweets. That's all."

It was irrational to be angry, but Dev snatched the container back. "I've checked. The residue isn't like anything found in the Inner Circle. My father had them custom made."

Oni stood before her, shamefaced. "Oh."

That was all he had to say. As they both stood there, him looking uncomfortable and her fiddling with the anti-tumor medicine, Dev tried to get a hold of herself.

She wouldn't even tell this to Sen—and Sen would die for her. So she wasn't sure what to make of Oni or their weird friendship.

Not until Oni asked, "So you want to steal some?"

Dev narrowed her eyes. "Is that automatically where your head goes? Crime?"

Oni took a step back. "What? Obviously, you can't just buy it or you would have by now."

The hurt in his voice had her focusing on the container again. "I suppose."

And then he said it.

"Aren't you going to the city on the training runs? I'd cover for you if you needed time to go get more."

More...there was no more. For one, she couldn't figure out what was in it. None of it was found in the Inner City. With odds like that, it was more than foolish to ask someone of the Outerlimits for help but somehow she believed Oni would have an answer. But instead, he called it...candy.

A beep sounded for her matrix and she sighed. "Crud."

Oni showed his concern. "You just have to be more assertive. They'll listen to you."

No. They certainly wouldn't. They hadn't till now.

They left her room and made it to their designated rec room in time. What Dev found upon entering that hallway was her seven-woman, uncooperative crew, and bad news.

All around, the walls closed in. Dev's world continued to shrink. Her palms even sweat.

"What?"

Sen, standing a good distance away from the sisters, looked Dev in the eye and said, "I can't keep helping you with training them. This is your crew. Take command of them and do the session on your own. Oni and me'll take a different rec room. He's gotta practice shooting."

Dev flinched. The physical reaction wasn't intentional but it fit because she felt attacked.

"He shoots just fine," she fired back.

Sen wasn't having it. "You need to take control of your crew. It's three months. This is insane."

But Dev didn't want to. In fact, she felt dropped—abandoned.

It was no secret that Sen took to all tasks with ease. Dev didn't want to admit that her cousin was efficient and confident. She only shared one of those traits.

"They won't listen to me," she muttered but the sisters glancing her way proved they'd heard.

Instead of answering her, Sen focused on Oni. "Let's go."

Oni hesitated.

"Or you'll be sleeping standing up on one leg."

That did the trick. Oni looked from Dev to her crew then back again and gave in.

When they walked away, Dev at least expected them to be in the next room over. To her horror, they were at the other end of the massive hallway—years, eons, a millennia away.

Anxiety didn't come to Dev easily. Sen stepped into the rec room and Oni at least gave Dev a fleeting glance before he followed.

Traitor. He could have at least put up a fight—a struggle—lie and say he'd been intimidated. Something.

But why risk it? Oni and Sen didn't get along but at least they were half decent company now.

Dev let out a held breath and turned to her crew. "All right. Let's get started on the Alpha formation."

It was Sen's usual move at the start of every session.

Mercy folded her arms. "Every day we do that move. Don't you have any moves of your own?"

Dev did. The formation Sen chose wasn't a terrible one but there were others which were far more efficient. Dev hesitated then found her confidence and opened her mouth to convey as much.

"We'll do our usual formation and work backwards," Pleasant muttered, easing off the wall. "Come."

And they walked in.

Dev just stood there, feeling like an idiot.

The nerve. The lack of respect. The...nerve.

Once the door slid open, Dev stepped in and bellowed, "I didn't give anyone permission to leave."

They carried on without her and she unhooked her baton, activated the summoning beacon, and hurled it at Pleasant's face.

It zipped past her nose, as Dev intended, connected with the wall, then shot back again. The speed with which Dev caught it brought silence to the room.

Nobody moved. The girls stood meek after that.

Finally, some respect.

Mercy even eased out of her usual casual stance and asked, "Will you teach us how to do that as well?"

The admiration in her voice put Dev at ease. It was an advanced move and mostly just for a distraction. And it certainly wasn't protocol, but this was a victory Dev couldn't pass up.

"I...suppose."

One person was less than impressed. Pleasant warned, "It's not protocol. A projectile without an intended target—"

"It's just one move," Mercy countered. "Not everything's got to be about protocol. It looks right fancy. Where's your sense of pride?"

"I'd rather keep it in my guts, which'll get spilled out of any of us stupid enough to try a move like that in combat just to look fancy."

Mercy was the smallest of the seven of them, but certainly the meanest. "I'd rather have something stark to show. Everyone else can show off something. Why not us?"

Dev glanced at the clock; they were losing time.

Pleasant didn't care. "A trick like that probably takes ages. That's valuable training time for nonsense. Let's just do the standard formation."

"But I want to try the trick!"

Mercy went so far as to stomp her foot. Two other girls shared a glance then muttered to Pleasant that they also wanted to try it.

Pleasant explained, "There's no practicality in it. Let's stick to something we can use."

She wasn't wrong but Dev found herself vying for some morale points with them.

"It doesn't take long to teach it," she lied. It'd taken ages to practice it on her own for boredom's sake.

If the glint in Pleasant's eye was any indication, she had the skills of a fighter versed enough to know when something was fundamentally false.

"Let's do this," Dev said. "We'll spend ten minutes each time on the trick and the rest on training?"

One girl shook her head and muttered. Another spoke up. Mercy interjected and within seconds it all descended into madness. Pleasant watched the argument. She stopped participating and instead stared Dev down, loathing her.

Pleasant even watched Dev as she clucked, "Girls! We're going."

She marched towards the door and her sisters quieted and hurried after her. Even Mercy followed.

Dev turned to watch their retreat. This time she unhooked her baton and flick it with intent to land the target.

It reached the back of Pleasant's head but before impact, the girl whipped around, snatched it out of the air, and threw it to the ground.

The annoyance in her eyes matched her disgust well. "You are an utterly useless leader! Alpha formation? Stick it in your ear!"

As they turned and walked out, the door was closing when one sister asked, "But won't we train?"

"We can train in our room. Better the cramped space than with that letchet."

Loser.

Pleasant'd called Dev a loser. She stood there feeling like one. For a long while, she couldn't even move. When the door slid open and someone stepped in, she didn't dare look. Sen picked her baton up and made his way to her.

"You shouldn't let them get to you."

It wasn't Sen. Dev met eyes with Oni and the sympathy in his gaze had her taking the baton from his hands.

After a grueling bout of silence, he said, "How about we practice?"

He didn't have to say it; Dev knew. "Are they with Sen?"

Oni hesitated then confessed, "He spotted them through the glass and ordered them to get in. He's giving them a proper scolding if it's any consolation." When she didn't move, he offered, "Bet you can go get them now...."

When Dev opened her mouth, it was to convey as much but nothing came out. Finally, she said, "Hey, you want to see a trick?"