The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon (14 page)

“Good afternoon Gabriel,” Aadesh nodded as he entered the lab.

“Hey, I finished the second draft of my research paper on the bio-enhancement implants that I was working on.”

“So quickly?” Aadesh asked.

“I sort of got into a groove last night,” Gabriel shrugged. He handed Aadesh the folder along with a flash drive that contained his paper and a few power-point presentations.

“You seem to have a real gift for this science,” Aadesh smiled. “I see promising things for you in the future my young friend. Have you thought about a career in medicine?”

“I doubt that I would have the patience to deal with someone people,” Gabriel shrugged. “But actually, I have thought a great deal about bio-engineering. The more time I spend in the labs the more I really like it.”

“I can tell,” Aadesh chuckled. “You’ve been putting in more hours than some of our staff.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Once I get interested in something I tend to get really into it.”

“So I am beginning to realize. How is the rest of your training going?”

“I think I am doing ok,” Gabriel nodded. “I mean I think I still have a very long way to go but I think that I am getting better. Ryan and Tony are good teachers, so that helps.”

“From what I hear you are being entirely too modest,” Aadesh smiled. “You didn’t tell us that you had a photographic memory and your ability to adapt tactically in the heat of battle is very impressive. You’re better than Guardians that have been in training since they were only a few years old, dare I say including some on the team.”

“That might be exaggerating a bit,” Gabriel winced. “I get lucky sometimes.”

“As Imogene would say ‘Luck is nothing but skill wrapped in one’s own self doubts’.”

“She’s much more than a weapons maker, isn’t she?” Gabriel asked.

“I believe we are all much more than we seem.”

Gabriel nodded. “I’ll come back tomorrow, I need to get downstairs.”

“Go in peace my friend,” Aadesh smiled.

Gabriel returned the smile and headed out of the lab and down to the actual base. Despite all the changes in his life, he was stuck on something that Imogene said about "a wound on his soul". He first assumed that it was from the attack but both Aadesh and Everett had been adamant that Imogene couldn’t mean the wound that his attacker had placed him; the Rite had cured him of that.

The only other explanation was one that Gabriel did not feel like entertaining at the moment, mainly because everything was going so well. He made a commitment to the Guardians to look forward, not live in the past.

“Ready for today?” Tony asked, as soon as Gabriel stepped off the elevator.

“I’m still not sure that this is a good idea,” Gabriel sighed.

“Oh come on, it’s only three of them.”

“Three of the best students from Phoenix that have been training a hell of a lot longer than myself,” Gabriel grunted. “Why do I sense a lot of pain in my future?”

“You’ll be fine.”

“I really hate it when you say things like that,” Gabriel responded, as they neared the locker-room. “It’s like when Ryan says trust me.”

“Go get changed,” Tony smiled.

“So, how’s he doing?” Jonathan asked.

Jonathan’s office overlooked the training room, where Gabriel was about to undergo another round of training with the top three Phoenix candidates from the academy. Gabriel had been trying to put off this particular training session for the better part of three weeks; he had complained that he wasn’t anywhere near ready to face anyone in combat. Ryan and Tony had disagreed.

Tony touched the glass, which also acted as a computer display. Images from Gabriel’s first attempt at defending himself appeared, as did reaction times, strikes, and blocks. On the screen, Gabriel appeared to glow slightly blue.

“We’re about to find out,” Ryan nodded, as the Phoenix candidates entered the training room. “But trust me, the numbers aren’t going to lie, he is better...way better than anyone else that either of us have ever trained.”

“That remains to be seen,” Jonathan shrugged. “Owl and Lion are still concerned that we may have not made the right decision.”

Gabriel sighed heavily and walked into the training room, wearing his normal sparring clothes: which included a sleeveless gray tee-shirt and black athletic shorts. Ryan, Tony, and Jonathan watched him go through a series of warm up stretches before the other trainees entered the room.

There were two boys and a girl and they all looked as athletic as Gabriel, if not more so.

“That’s Landis, Cole, and Athena,” Tony nodded. “All three of them rank in the top five percent of Phoenix when it comes to unarmed combat.”

Numbers appeared next to all three of the Phoenix candidates, highlighting a whole host of statistics.

“Gabriel’s initial reaction time was 220 milliseconds,” Ryan said, indicating the numbers on the screen. “A blocking score of five percent and an accuracy with hand to hand hits at only five percent.”

All the numbers were in red, indicating their less than stellar ranking.

“I’ve seen better scores on eight year olds,” Jonathan scoffed.

“Eight year olds that have been training for a while,” Tony added. “Remember, when he started this whole process he didn’t have any training at all.”

“Here’s his first go around,” Ryan said, tapping the glass again. A window appeared within the glass and started to play, showing Gabriel’s first time sparring. He spent most of the twenty minute video on his rear or getting tossed around. The next three videos were about the same, with only a marginal improvement.

“He’s been getting steadily better,” Tony remarked. “But about six weeks ago, he really seemed to get it and has been making massive gains since, you aren’t going to believe what you are about to see.”

“Here they go,” Ryan indicated.

The attacks came with blinding speed, reminding Gabriel that he wasn’t fighting ordinary people. He blocked a kick that was aimed for his head, shoved aside another blow coming toward his ribs and then had to dodge a snap kick, that had it connected would have broken bones. They clearly weren’t going to hold back, so he soon realized that he couldn’t either.

Numbers started to tally next to the outlines of the Guardians on the screen. What they were seeing was remarkable. The words EVADED and BLOCKED in all capital letters kept appearing next to Gabriel on the display.

“He blocked or evaded every single attack,” Jonathan said, almost in awe. “How in the world is he doing that?”

Gabriel caught a jab and tossed Athena aside. He ducked under another swing and caught the Landis with a blow to his solar plexus, knocking all the wind from him. Landis staggered and was knocked off his feet as Gabriel slipped past him, slamming his elbow down on the teen’s back and pitching him forward.

“How is that possible, especially in three months with someone that has never had any training before?” Jonathan asked again. He cringed when a snap kick sent Landis spinning to the mat.

“Oh, he gets better,” Tony smiled.

Looking down at Gabriel, they could see that he had gotten into the flow of the fight. He was moving much faster on his feet, allowing him to not only evade incoming attacks but quickly and effectively strike back with his own. The three Phoenix candidates were throwing everything that they had at him

Gabriel slammed an uppercut into Athena and then avoided a series of jabs from Cole before striking the inside of his knee, crumpling the teenager down to the ground. He danced around a series of counterstrikes from Landis, flipping backwards to further the distance between himself and his attackers.

“Look at his footwork,” Jonathan pointed out. Data continued to scroll by Gabriel’s image on the screen, accumulating for further study.

There was a reason that these three were the top three in their class. They came at Gabriel with renewed vigor, sending furious blows and strikes at him from nearly every angle. But they couldn’t get around his defenses; Gabriel turned them away or outright avoided them. No matter what tactic they seemed to try it never penetrated his defenses.

“This doesn’t seem possible,” Jonathan said, shaking his head. The words BLOCKED or EVADED seemed to be constantly scrolling besides Gabriel’s image.

Gabriel lashed out with a roundhouse kick, sending one Cole to the mat. Athena came in from his right; he danced around the blow and latched onto her arm. He launched her sideways and sending her slamming into a charging Cole.

“I taught him that move,” Tony smiled.

“Jesus!” Jonathan snapped, looking at Gabriel’s accuracy rating. It was red before and then had climbed to the average green color, followed by the above average blue. Clearly, all his training was starting to pay off.

Landis sprinted in, launching a series of powerful attacks that were intended to overwhelm Gabriel’s defenses. But Gabriel blocked all of them, responding with a haymaker that connected with an audible crack and collapsed Landis to the mat.

The match continued, the three Phoenix candidates throwing themselves at Gabriel in every move that they could think of. Though Gabriel took some hits, the majority of them were minor blows and nothing that would have hindered his ability to fight back. After a half hour, Ryan finally called it, allowing the other members of Phoenix to limp away. Gabriel went to get something to drink while Tony and Ryan turned back to Jonathan.

“Well?”

“That certainly was impressive,” Jonathan nodded.

Tony called up another file and put it up on the window.

“New numbers put his reaction time at ninety milliseconds,” Tony smiled. “Blocking percentage is ninety eight and his accuracy is ninety five. Dude’s better than anyone else we have trained...hell his scores beat out mine on average.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you dare tell anyone that by the way,” Tony remarked.

“I wouldn’t dream of doing such a thing,” Jonathan said.

“His first mile run was at ten minutes,” Ryan went on. “Now, he can bust one out in almost half that time. He’s benching almost 600 pounds, far stronger than he was before.”

“We know that the Rite can allow the strongest Guardians to get up around 900 pounds,” Tony added. “Still, 600 is nothing to sneeze at and that’s three times what he was doing when we first started. This guy is good, in every aspect of the word.”

“It would appear that Owl and Lion might have been wrong in their assessment that he would be a liability and not an asset.”

Ryan shrugged. “He has some serious talent.”

“How could he be that good?” Jonathan asked. “Nothing in his family history indicated that anyone ever had any combat training that they could have passed along to him.”

“Because you should have listened to me,” Ryan smiled. “Because I think Gabriel has a photographic memory or at least pretty close to one. That combined with the abilities he gained from the Rite make him a damn fast learner.”

“So I’ve seen,” Jonathan nodded. “Tactical thinking?”

“Pretty good,” Tony shrugged. “He’s adaptable; he won’t get weighed down if things go wonky in a fight. He’s good at obeying orders. He’s not the greatest at forming complex attack plans though but I think with enough time he’ll get used to it.”

“Any other areas that you think he is lagging behind in?”

“Not really,” Ryan said. “His shooting could use some work but he’s leaps and bounds ahead of where he was a few months ago.”

“Give him another two months and he’ll be ready for actual field operations.”

“Are you sure about that?” Jonathan asked, arching an eyebrow. “Generally Guardians need several years before they are allowed out in the field, you know that.”

“I think that it’s safe to say that he’s not your typical Guardian,” Tony reminded them both. “But Ryan is right,
he is learning faster than I have ever seen anyone learn. He’s like a sponge, soaking up everything that you throw at him. I mean you saw the numbers, they don’t lie.”

“And the fact that he pushes himself so hard,” Ryan said. “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone with a drive like that. It’s like he’s constantly trying to outdo himself or something.”

“I’ll make note of that.”

“We’re both going to recommend it to the Phoenix leadership that he’s ready for field operations in another two months,” Ryan said. “I’d like to have your seal of approval too but we all know that the clans make the final decisions on whose field ready and who’s not.”

Jonathan had a brief look of annoyance cross his face. Although most Guardians would have respected the recommendation of someone like Jonathan, who had been promoted to more of a supervisory and administrative role, it was still ultimately the leadership of the person’s clan that determined when a Guardian was ready for field operations.

And at the rate that Gabriel was going, both Ryan and Tony felt confident that he would be ready in a few months.

“I see,” Jonathan said. “Well, if he keeps up this pace then I am sure that I will agree with you. There is another thing I wanted to discuss with you as well; according to Aadesh he spends a great deal of time in the biotechnology lab, especially with our nanotech division.”