Season 1, Episode 2: "The Live-Fire Waltz"

The "Live-Fire" obstacle course was less of a training ground and more of a legal loophole for the United Systems to reduce the surplus of recruits. It was a three-mile stretch of mud, concrete walls, and automated plasma-repeaters that were programmed to aim "close enough to be terrifying, but far enough to be legal."

John stood at the starting line, his new boots feeling stiff and unforgiving. To his left was Kael, a recruit who had memorized the entire Star-Vanguard technical manual. To his right was Sarah, who had been a competitive mountain climber before she was drafted.

"The goal is simple," Vane’s voice boomed over the intercom from the safety of an observation booth. "Carry the 'Liberty Core'—a fifty-pound lead weight—to the extraction point. If you drop it, you start over. If the turrets hit you, the medical bill comes out of your first paycheck. Move!"

John lunged forward, the heavy Core cradled in his arms. Almost immediately, the air was filled with the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of the overhead repeaters. Searing bolts of red light splashed against the mud, sending geysers of hot sludge into the air.

"Stay low!" Kael shouted, sliding behind a concrete barrier. "The turret cycle is three bursts, then a two-second reload! We move on the reload!"

John nodded, his eyes fixed on the Link-Pad on his wrist. It wasn't malfunctioning this time; it was perfectly, terrifyingly functional. He checked the map. The fastest way to the extraction point was across a bridge that was currently being hammered by a massive, tripod-mounted "Sentry-X."

"We can't cross that," Sarah panted, her face covered in grime. "That tripod will chew us up."

"Wait," John said, looking at his Link-Pad. "We don't have to cross it. We just have to move it."

"Move it? It’s bolted to the floor!" Kael yelled over the roar of a nearby explosion.

John didn't listen. He was focused on the sequence. He remembered the manual (the parts he hadn't burned in the last episode). He tapped: Down, Down, Right, Up.

"NON-LETHAL SMOKE SCREEN DEPLOYED," his wrist chirped.

A canister whistled down from the ceiling, slamming into the ground twenty feet ahead of them. Thick, white fog billowed out, obscuring everything.

"Now! Move!" John led the charge into the white void.

The Sentry-X stopped firing, its sensors blinded by the chemical fog. For a moment, it was silent, save for the sound of their boots splashing through the mud. But John, in his typical fashion, forgot one crucial detail about the "Smoke Screen" stratagem: the canister itself was heavy metal, and it had landed on a very specific piece of terrain.

As they emerged from the fog on the other side of the bridge, John realized he had accidentally aimed the canister directly onto a pressure plate designed to trigger the "Ambush Scenario."

Suddenly, the ground groaned. Four hidden panels flipped up, revealing a squad of robotic "Training Drones"—clunky, spider-like machines armed with padded batons and paint-ball cannons.

"John, you triggered the bonus round!" Kael screamed, swinging the Liberty Core like a club to knock a drone away.

"I was just trying to help!" John ducked as a blue paint-ball shattered against the wall behind his head.

He looked at his Link-Pad again. He needed something to clear the area, but he couldn't use explosives in a training bay. He scrolled through his available options. Up, Up, Left, Down. "ACOUSTIC MORALE BROADCASTER INITIATED."

Suddenly, the massive speakers lining the obstacle course began blasting the "United Systems Anthem" at a volume that could liquefy bone. The patriotic horns were so loud that the vibration began to rattle the drones' internal gyroscopes. The spider-bots began to spin in circles, their sensors overloaded by the sheer sonic force of the brass section.

"It's working!" John shouted, though no one could hear him over the deafening trumpets.

He grabbed the Liberty Core and began a frantic, high-kneed sprint toward the finish line. He wasn't even looking where he was going; he was just trying to outrun the music. He vaulted over a final wall, stumbled, and landed face-first across the extraction line just as the anthem hit its final, triumphant note.

The silence that followed was ringing and heavy.

John looked up to see Drill Instructor Vane staring down at him from the observation deck. The Sergeant looked impressed, confused, and slightly deaf.

"Recruit," Vane said over the speaker, his voice sounding thin. "Did you just... weaponize the national anthem?"

John wiped a smear of blue paint from his visor. "Sir, I felt the mission required a boost in morale, sir!"

Vane stared at him for a long time. "You’ve got paint on your face, your Core is covered in mud, and I think I have a permanent migraine. But you’re the only squad that finished under the time limit."

Vane turned to his clipboard. "The next phase is 'Orbital Drop Simulation.' Try not to make the ship sing during that one."

John stood up, his legs shaking. He had survived Episode 2. He still didn't have a cape, but he was starting to realize that as long as he kept pressing buttons, something would happen. And in the Star-Vanguards, "something happening" was usually enough to get you to the next day.