TEAR GAS SHENNENIGANS

"43, 29 tied at last place!" reported Herbert. Sean and the rest of the cadets turned to them.

Franz and Jay walked up to them. They stared back at the 2 with dejected expressions and tears in their eyes. Jay handed them a flask each while Franz pulled off their number tags.

"3 years! 3 years! I prepared for 3 years!" yelled one of them.

Franz gave a sympathetic nod. "Comrades, the reason why you're eliminated is not because you suck, but simply because someone must go at this stage. War will not give us soldiers a second chance. I wish you all the best, I hope to see you again next year."

Nanami instructed the kitchen to cook a good dinner for them to send them off.

Unlike Carl who mocked their weakness internally, Sean expressed jealousy at them internally, for this means they are free of the torture that awaits them.

The remaining 182 cadets are then led into the base, seeing Tier 1 operators embarking on a CQB course. They paused their exercise seeing the cadets and greeted them.

"Want to train like them?" asked Maia.

"YES MA'AM!" yelled the cadets in unison.

"You're far from it!" yelled Maia.

The cadets are then brought in front of the dormitories.

"4 people to a dorm," instructed Nanami. She then began reading out their numbers and allocating them.

(Later that day)

"FINALLY, SOME REST TIME!" exclaimed Louis in a fresh set of clothes after taking a shower and eating dinner, lying down on his bunk. "Right Sean?"

Sean nodded, tidying up his new set of uniform above Louis.

The door opened, a Lin cadet and a Lita cadet numbered 39 and 74 respectively stepped in. They are their new roommates and have just finished washing up.

"How are you guys?" asked Louis.

"Bloody hell," cursed the Lita cadet named Eddie Tan as he slammed his cap against the table. startling both Louis and Sean

"He isn't talking about you guys," assured the Lin cadet from Hong Kong, ex-SDU operator Albert Cheung, pointing his head in the direction of the instructors that walked past.

"You are right!" said Eddie. "Have you seen the smug look on their faces? Wah Lao eh! I want to take my Ultimax MK9 machine gun and shoot up all of them!"

"Relax," said Albert. "Take things easy. As for me, I am just glad to be in one piece."

Sean looked at the odd duo in front of him, amused.

"Screw it," said Eddie, taking something from his luggage and threw it at the table. "My treat."

"Bak Kwa?" exclaimed Albert in surprise at the bag of meat jerky. "Where did you get it from?" he asked.

"I smuggled it in in my gas mask bag," explained Eddie. "My dad sent it over from Singapore."

The 4 immediately helped themselves to the snacks,

"You know something?" continued Eddie. "These guys don't care whether you did good or screwed up, they are just here to make you suffer."

Sean chuckled. "What are you going to do?" he asked, his mouth full.

"I am going to make a report!" said Eddie, slipping off his shoe and pressing it like a phone. "Hello?" he said, feigning a call with his shoe. "No one answered, forget it."

"Didn't the King himself say that he owns us? We just got to survive," said Albert.

(Girls' dorm)

Ariel sat on her bunk covering her face in embarrassment. Her soft, red hair fell in messy waves around her, almost as if trying to shield her from the onslaught of teasing, which makes her wish that she is instead clearing rooms in CQB and firing her AUG A3 rifle at the dangerous corners of a building, where one mishap and one miss means that she is going straight to the martyr memorial, a fate she'd rather have. 

After all, the pain of death is momentary, the embarrassment of teasing is persistent. 

Across the room, Vera and their two new roommates—number 101, a Lin cadet from the DRK named Clara Park, and number 4, an Inari cadet from Switzerland named Erika Ericksson—were perched on their respective bunks, each leaning forward with gleeful curiosity.

"So," Erika said, her tone smooth and slightly aloof as she leaned back against the wall, holding up the photo for emphasis, her wolf tail swishing lazily "who is this dashing young man? Your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ariel protested; her voice muffled behind her hands and pillow. Her tone was defensive, but her red cheeks betrayed her flustered state.

"Careful Ariel, you don't wanna pierce those pillows with your horns," remarked Vera. 

"But you wouldn't mind if he were," Clara teased, her smirk sharp and knowing. She leaned forward on her bunk, dark eyes gleaming with mischief. Clara's confidence and tenacity gave her teasing an unrelenting edge.

"Stop it, you guys!" Ariel peeked out from behind her hands, her voice trembling with both frustration and embarrassment.

Vera, sprawled lazily on the top bunk, smirked. Her tomboyish energy was palpable. "Oh, come on. Why are you so defensive? I mean he is handsome; you have good tastes."

Ariel groaned, clutching a pillow to her chest like a lifeline. "I said he's just a friend!" she insisted, her voice rising an octave.

"Right," Erika said coolly, though her slight smirk deepened. "Because people totally frame pictures of 'just friends.' Makes perfect sense."

"Oh, let's think bigger," Clara interrupted, brushing her bangs out of her face with a theatrical flourish. "This isn't just a girlish crush. Ariel is clearly setting her sights higher."

"A husband, you mean," Vera chimed in, finishing Clara's sentence with a triumphant grin.

All three burst out laughing. Ariel's face burned even redder as she let out a frustrated shriek, throwing her pillow at Vera with all her strength.

The pillow flew past Vera and hit Erika instead. She laughed; her typical prideful demeanour momentarily cracking. She tossed the pillow back onto Ariel's bunk with a smirk. "Careful, Ariel. You don't want to be this clumsy when you're tossing bouquets at your wedding."

"How about we all be your bridesmaids when it comes?" suggested Vera.

"I can get you a good venue in Switzerland," chuckled Erika.

"Oh, we could all wear matching dresses!" added Clara.

Ariel groaned, flopping back onto her bunk. "I hate all of you," she grumbled, though the corners of her lips twitched, threatening to betray her feigned anger.

(Boys' dorm)

"Louis, are you really so honoured to be here?" asked Eddie, surprised.

Louis nodded. "It's my goal!"

Louis proceeded to describe how happy he was when he passed the interview, how his fellow Marines cheered for him, how his mother congratulated him. 

Sean listened in silence, chewing away on the jerky. Having seen Louis' performance during the first stage, he can tell that he is not likely to get far. 

Yet, his passionate idealism moved Sean. Louis lacks everything Sean has: skills, battlefield intellect, combat experience and Sean is genetically engineered to be a perfect killing machine. But, Sean suddenly finds himself outshined by Louis, by the light of his ideals. 

"He is just like Katya..." Sean thought of his deceased "sibling", her virtue and noble ideals had earned her the title of "The Saint Angel" in UNSSD ranks. And just like that, Sean finds himself feeling like an older brother trying to keep a younger brother's innocence and kindness intact, perhaps, as a way to make up for Katya's death by making sure this idealist does not meet a horrible end. 

Sean thought back to his favourite play, Hamlet, which he can memorise word by word. 

"This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man", he muttered under his breath, quoting Act 1 Scene 3, meaning to stay true to oneself despite the pressures of the world.

Albert leaned back, studying Louis thoughtfully. "You've got guts," he said with a faint smile.

Just then, the lights went out, signalling it's time for bed. The 4 of them then split the bunks: Sean sleeping in the top bunk, Louis in the lower, Albert in another top bunk and Eddie below him.

"Hey, Sean, you have been quiet, already asleep?" asked Louis.

"Don't sleep too tight," advised Sean. "I have a feeling that those jerks are thinking of a way to screw us over."

(6 hours later)

Franz, Jay and Nanami walked towards the dormitories.

"All sleeping peacefully," joked Franz. "We can even hear the snores here."

"Say, Franz, do you think they'll beat us up for what we're about to do?" Nanami said, smirking. She leaned closer to Franz and added with a playful glint in her eyes, "Or do you think I'll have to charm my way out of it?"

"Not like they will be successful," replied Jay. The 3 snickered, putting on gas masks.

Sean is fast asleep. Suddenly, the sound of something being thrown into the room awakened him. He sprang from his bed, looking down to see a smoking black canister.

"TEAR GAS!" he yelled, alarmed, waking up everyone in the dorm. He threw the canister out only for a second one to be thrown in from the window and exploded upon landing, filling the room with tear gas. The window is then locked shut from the outside.

The 4 of them coughed, feeling their eyes swelling as their vision blurred, unable to see anything.

To make things worse, the emergency gathering whistle is also blown.

"CURSE YOU!" yelled Albert, coughing. This means that they have to gather outside in full gear minus weapons and armour within 2 minutes — also when flooded with tear gas. Eddie tried to force the window open, but to no avail. Using magic to blast it open is out of the question, unless he wants to be charged for damaging military property.

Sean hastily putting on his uniform while struggling to keep his eyes open. Even though they could have used magic to freeze the canister, needing to gather outside in 2 minutes means that they do not have time for that.