Guns And Dogs (8 page)

“Give
her
a break? Argos, I wish she’d give
me
a break.”

“All part of the training my man. But in Patrice’s defense, she’s been brought up being told of how special she is and after a while that type of thinking gets indoctrinated within a person’s psyche. Give it time. Here’s an idea—work on being her friend.”

Johnny nodded. “Alright, I just hope I don’t end up strangling her first.”

Seeing Argos and the two Dobermans settled Johnny’s nerves. It was good to see a familiar face in this compound. Apart from Patrice he hadn’t really talked to anyone. Not that talking to her was a pleasurable experience. He’d had more exciting conversations with toaster ovens.

Upon re-entering the Training Room Patrice was waiting for him. “I was about to message you on your wristlink. Just in case you’d gotten yourself lost again.”

‘Work on being her friend.’
Isn’t that what Argos said?
“Nope, not me. Can’t afford to get lost. Time’s a big deal around here. Remember? Now, what’s next? Some more memory training? Love that bunny rabbit by the way.”

Patrice shot him a curious glance. “Actually you’ve completed your memory training and your test scores have already been recorded. Now we’ll move on to a different testing examination.” She headed for the door before stopping and turning around to face him. “Please follow me.”

“Where we going?”

“To Training Room 2.”

Johnny crossed his arms. “What are you going to test me on in there?”

“Character testing, to be followed by hand-to-hand combat. We’re going to find out what you’re
really
made of Mr. Veto.

Training Room 2 looked exactly like Training Room 1. Except there was no reclining chair and no HUD training helmet. The lights were dimmer too. “So now what?”

Patrice ignored him and spoke into her wrist gauntlet. “Prepare the simulation,” she said.

Johnny wondered what she meant by ‘simulation’ and how that tied into his character testing.

“You’re to remain in this room until the end of the simulation.” Patrice turned and left the training room.

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Johnny yelled. There was an intercom speaker built into the ceiling and he directed his speech towards it. “Hey Patrice? How am I supposed to know how to complete this test if you don’t give me any instructions?”

The intercom came to life. “Calm yourself Mr. Veto,” Patrice said. “This test will take place in a holographic environment. That is all I can tell you. AL regulations. Good luck.”

The lights dimmed even more before the room shifted around Johnny. For a moment he felt dizzy but soon steadied himself. Seconds later the room formed into a park. He heard the chirping of birds and the sky was clear, while a bright sun shone down on him. Even the air was warmer.

To his right was a park bench. He watched as an old man wearing a baseball cap sat down and began feeding a group of pigeons that had gathered in front of him. The old man looked up at Johnny and smiled. “Beautiful weather for a day at the park. Ehh son?”

“I suppose,” Johnny answered. The old man had a curly white beard and bushy grey eyebrows that made him look like Santa Claus.

“You look lost son,” the old man said. “Mind telling an old man your troubles? I could use some company.”

Perhaps this is part of the test,
Johnny thought.
They want to hear what I’ll say, or do.
“No that’s alright, mister. I’ve gotta be going anyways.”

“Suit yourself.” The old man tipped his baseball cap and returned to feeding his birds.

Johnny walked down the asphalt path and took in the smell of the freshly-cut grass flanking his path. In the distance he saw a carousel under the cool shade of a large tree where children were riding alongside the supervision of their parents.

The sun beat down on him and he wished he had a hat to wear. He decided to head for the carousel and see if he could figure out how to pass this simulation. Moments later he found an object lying in his path. A wallet. He picked it up. It was filled with a half dozen credit cards and a thick row of hundred dollar bills. His eyes widened. For holographic currency it sure looked and smelled like real money. A part of him wanted to hang onto it. But in the end he felt guilty.

He opened the inside of the wallet to see if he could find any type of identification. He soon found a driver’s license behind a faded social security card. The face matched the old man who he’d seen earlier.
Patrice, you’re making this too easy.
Johnny hurried back to the bench, but the old man was gone. His heart sank in his chest and he realized that AL wasn’t going to make this easy, no matter how confident he felt about completing this Character Assessment test.

He heard the neighing of a horse and a helmeted police officer wearing sunglasses approached him on horseback. He gave Johnny a look-over, no doubt wondering why the young man was wearing the outlandish AL Training suit. “Hello officer,” Johnny said.

The officer continued to eye him suspiciously. “You know, you look kinda familiar; what you got there in your hand there kid?”

“Ohh, this? I found it.” Johnny extended the wallet to the police officer who leaned over the side of his saddle and plucked it from his hand.

The officer flipped through the wallet. “This
isn’t
yours.”

“I know. Like I said…I
found
it.”

“Bull,” the cop said. “You stole it.” He climbed down from his horse. The officer stood at least a foot taller than him but Johnny remained calm. If he panicked, this holographic police officer would detect it. Maybe this was part of the simulation. “Now I think I know where I recognize you from. You’re that punk who’s been lifting wallets from all the park-goers.” He drew his nightstick. “You’re under arrest. You have the right to remain…”

“Hello!”

Both the officer and Johnny turned around; the old man he’d encountered earlier had returned. He smiled at Johnny. “So you’ve decided to return to keep me company, son?”

“I was trying to find you,” Johnny said. He tried to keep his voice firm. But a surge of fury rose in his chest. He felt like punching the holographic cop in the face for wrongly accusing him of theft. But he kept his nerve.

The policeman’s horse snorted and relieved itself on the pavement.

Great. I even get to smell holographic horse poop.

“I caught this kid with your wallet, sir,” the policeman said before handing the wallet over to the old man. “I was just about to arrest him and charge him with a misdemeanor.”

“That’s not true,” Johnny said. “I found it and
gave
it to the police officer.”

The cop grabbed Johnny’s arm. His grip was strong, but Johnny didn’t waver, he yanked his arm away from the police officer who raised his nightstick. Johnny prepared himself for the blow that would surely come.

“Now hold on there flatfoot,” the old man said. “I can tell you for a fact this is the second time this week I’ve dropped my wallet. The other day I dropped it in my garage before my wife found it. I might even have a hole in my trousers.” He felt his back pocket and smiled. “Yep. It’s just like I thought. The lining in my back pocket has come undone. Now you leave that young feller alone. He’s alright.”

The cop looked disappointedly at the old man, then, back at Johnny before lowering his nightstick. “But sir, he’s a thief. You want me to let a him
walk
?”

“Did you see this young man
lift
the wallet from me, officer?” When the policeman didn’t reply the old man smiled. “Last I checked, the law must have proof before accusing someone.”

The officer looked indignant. “So I take it that you don’t wish to press charges against this punk?” Johnny felt like punching the man in the face for calling him a ‘punk.’ The only punk here was the one carrying the nightstick and firearm.

“That’s correct officer. But thank you for your concern.”

The officer climbed atop his horse, mumbled a few incoherent words and rode off.

“The nerve of that guy,” Johnny said. “I found your wallet and was trying to bring it back to you.”

The old man patted Johnny on the shoulder. “I know, I know, son. But you handled yourself admirably against that feral creature. You see bullies come in all shapes and forms. Unfortunately, some of them even wield the power of the law.”

Johnny wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I’m just glad you appeared when you did, sir.”

The old man smiled at Johnny. “You would’ve handled him; of that I have little doubt, farewell my young friend.” Seconds later the old man disappeared, along with the park. Johnny was back in Training Room 2. Then the holographic room disappeared and he found himself in a dark alley that smelled like rotten fish. Above him a sliver of moon appeared behind a cluster of dark clouds. In his hand was a briefcase.

He heard some sneering and looked to see two men wearing leather jackets. One had a green mohawk and a black lightning bolt tattooed across his forehead and the other one was a hulking giant carrying a thick chain. “Alright punk,” Mohawk said, “hand over the briefcase.”

“Yeah you little turd,” said his companion. “Hand it over squirt.”

Johnny didn’t know what was in the briefcase but he knew that he couldn’t give it up to these two miscreants. Summoning his courage, he shook his head. “I don’t think so guys.”

Both men laughed. “Kid has some cahones on him, ehh Larry?” Mohawk told his companion.

Larry the hulk laughed. “Yeah Sid, let’s bust ‘em up.”

Sid pulled out a switchblade and came at Johnny. He thrust the knife at him but Johnny ducked and slammed the briefcase into Sid’s nose, causing blood to erupt from his nostrils like a geyser. He fell to his knees and started cursing. Then Larry came at him. He lashed his chain at Johnny who moved to avoid getting hit by it. Larry started grunting like a gorilla and moved in on Johnny, who was running out of room to move. Meanwhile, Sid had gotten to his feet and had a murderous look on his face.

Sweat clung to Johnny’s back and he felt his heart pumping hard in his chest. Sid came at him again and elbowed Johnny in the side of his face. Johnny shook it off but seconds later Larry’s chain wrapped itself around his ankle and Johnny found his feet sliding out from under him. His head banged against the surface of his briefcase but he remained in the fight. Sid launched a steel-tipped boot at him but Johnny grabbed the man’s ankle and twisted it with all his strength. Sid cried out in pain and crashed into Larry who lost his footing and banged his head against the side of a dumpster, knocking himself out. Sid was trying to get up but Johnny blindsided him in the face with the briefcase which knocked him to the ground. He lay docile on the concrete next to the unconscious Larry.

A sense of pride, something he hadn’t felt in ages, rose within Johnny as he gazed victoriously upon his vanquished foes. Then the holographic alley disappeared, and he found himself back in Training Room 2.

“You’ve completed the first part of your holographic character training, Mr. Veto,” Patrice’s voice said through the intercom speaker. “You may now exit the Training Room, you’re done for today.

Inside the control room Argos looked over Johnny’s test scores. “Johnny is on course to breaking some AL training records.”

Patrice was busy at her station. Her fingers dancing across the touch screen monitor. “You seem overly pleased, Agent Better. Do I detect a personal bias?”

“C’mon Patrice. Even
you
can’t be oblivious to his talent. He’s passed all his psychological tests with flying colors. And I’m pretty sure he’ll make it through the physical training too. So, what do you have against this kid anyway?”

Patrice turned away from her monitor. “I have
nothing
against Mr. Veto. But I fail to see what’s so special about him. He’s just another AL candidate.”

Argos smirked. “You forget, that’s Scott Veto’s son. And we all know the type of man Scott was. Admit it, you’re a little jealous of our new golden boy.”

Patrice scoffed at Argos’ remark. “He’s a capable recruit, but I have nothing to be envious about. I’m his trainer, I cannot get emotionally invested in his results. If he passes, then we’ll have another capable Time-Healer, if not, we’ll simply move on to other qualified candidates.”

Argos shook his head ruefully at Patrice’s indifference. “I’m transmitting these results to Otis, he needs to take a closer look at this kid.”

“As you wish Agent Better, but I think you’re letting your personal feelings for this boy affect your judgement. Besides, he still has advanced weapons training and engineering studies to complete before he’s granted provisional field agent status. And, he still has to complete three successful missions in the field before being awarded full operational status as an American Legends Time-Healer.”

Argos thought about what Johnny had told him in the recreation room earlier today. About Patrice being ‘Mechanical.’
You may be onto something
there Johnny
.

After two weeks of psychological and physical training, Johnny was on the cusp of completing his training. He had aced the advanced weapons training, and Murdoc had tutored him so that he could complete his engineering studies. One final hurdle remained: an advanced mission simulation where he was in charge of a Time-Healing excursion. This would be a timed exercise, and Argos, Jessie and Studs were on hand to wish him luck. As always, Patrice only offered her gelid expression.

“The trick to beating the simulation is not overthinking the time constraints. In a real-life mission when faced with an emergency situation you won’t have the luxury of worrying about time.” Argos shook Johnny’s hand. “Good luck.”

Patrice activated the holographic program and the simulation began. The training room disappeared and Johnny found himself staring at an oil field. In the distance fires were blazing across a barren landscape as large clouds of black smoke bore into the sky like a trident. He checked the time gauge on the HUD: The date was January 31, 1991. The Gulf War. Right around the time when his father and Argos had met and became good friends. His HUD helmet spit out the mission briefing: He was to de-mine a stretch of highway where a Coalition convoy would pass through. The indicator marker on his helmet gave him directions to the minefield. There were twenty mines and the convoy would arrive in thirty minutes.