Appleseed Fan Fiction ❯ Untold History ❯ New Recruits ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: Appleseed is the brainchild of Shirow Masamune and belongs in part to Geneon, Manga Ent., TOHO, Seishinsha, Seinsha/TBM, and Appleseed Film Partners. Twiknham only retains intellectual rights for this unique story-line and the original characters introduced herein and receives no monetary gains from this work. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1: New Recruits

 

Briareos sat on an overturned 55 gallon can, watching his new squad of ten individuals disembark from the transport trucks. His spot was shaded rather darkly by a large oak that had yet to yield to modern civilization. Although there were gnats about, and occasionally they liked to crawl into sensitive places, such as the one working its way up his left nostril, he didn't move. It was a training exercise to him, a challenge to suspend instinctive reaction in order to out-wit the prey. He'd been breathing with his mouth open. Gnats didn't have any flavor, and they were less annoying in his trachea than in his nasal cavities. However, this industrious soul just had to be different.

 

As the last recruit jumped off the back of the carrier, Briareos's eyes widened. That was one gnat that flew against the grain, and against everything he believed in as well. He inhaled sharply, forgetting that he had an intruder, and had to stifle a gag reflex as it started squirming in an upper chamber. Snorting to expel the intruder, he wondered how hard it would be to expel the one that sported two legs.

 

He stood, taking detailed account of his gnat. The creature was stunning. Dainty ankles encased in small black combat boots, laced up over the bottoms of camo pants that emphasized tight calves and very muscular thighs. Briareos had one instantaneous thought that those thighs would squeeze tightly any man brave enough to get between them. Shaking his head and realizing his lost objectivity would be a problem if he didn't control it, he finished his foray. A tiny waist, completely incapable of carrying the gear they'd be supplied, transferred into compact but exquisite breasts. She wore the typical chest holster, and he wondered what the image looked like from the back. He smirked, tough chicks weren't hard to look at. Both collarbones were visible above the sleeveless T she wore, and he wondered if she knew how fragile those made her appear. A long slender neck was topped by a face that started with full lips, a dark cherry blossom pink, a thin nose, and angry jade eyes glaring at him under spiky untamed golden locks.

 

Briareos blinked. A quick look revealed that she was the only one of his new squad that had noticed him. Giving her points for being ultra-observant, while wondering how to kick himself in the ass for being so obvious, he straightened up and walked out of the shadows. “Attention!” Nine bodies snapped to attention, the tenth had never softened to parade rest. The head snapped up, uncovering those witchy eyes; but the rest of the body was already in position. Walking up to the first recruit, he looked at all of them. The men had the appearance of half-scared children. He'd have to fix that quickly. The woman's eyes showed no fear, just anger. He wondered why the weakest one on the team always had to have the toughest personality.

 

Standing in front of them, his body rigid at Attention, he called off names. He was excited to be working with Carl Knute's son, Deunan. It wasn't a masculine name, and looking at the men in front of him, he figured it would be the pretty boy at the end. The one who had obviously taken time to gel his hair. Snorting again, enjoying a gnat free breath, he started down the list.

 

“Shinjaru Peta”

 

The tall black man at the end stepped forward and saluted. “Sir, here, sir!”

 

“Tanaka Ryoma”

 

A shorter man with dark brown hair stepped forward. “Sir, here, Sir!”

 

“Benisato Daichi”

 

A tall man with red hair stepped forward. “Sir, here, Sir!”

 

“You really could be the devil's second son with that hair. Keep it short, it'll stand out where we're going.”

 

The rest of the team smiled slightly, they apparently had already given him an appropriate nick.

 

“Kunikada Seto”

 

The guy he'd bet money was Deunan Knute stepped forward. His blonde spikes locked in place with too much hair wax. Briareos had already figured out that this man was high maintenance. “Sir, here, sir.”

 

Briareos saw the next name on the list and had to smile. He finally had her number.

 

“Murakai Tohru.” It was an androgynous name, usually given to a man; but equally suited to a woman.

 

A short man with shorter black hair stepped forward. “Sir, here, sir.”

 

Briareos stared at the man until he saw sweat running down the man's face. Realizing he was glaring rather angrily, he waved him back into the ranks.

 

“Fujimiya Ryuji”

 

“Sir, here, sir.” It was hard to mistake this man, he had bright blue eyes in a craggy face. The silver hair mixed with the light blonde at the temples showed him to be older, but the eyes held humor.

 

“Yamamoto Shino”

 

“Sir, here sir.” Another tall man, dark in skin-tone with dark brown eyes.

 

“Ashika Eiji”

 

Another large-framed man stepped forward, and opened his mouth. Nothing came out, so he tried again. Finally a very soft “Sir, here, sir” came out.

 

Wondering what kind of idiot sent him sissy men and a tiny woman to fight in the Global War, he waved him away. “Back in line soldier. We're going to have to get you toughened up. You should be able to yell back at me, hesitation will get you killed!”

 

A slender hand suddenly went up, causing two of the men to groan. Briareos looked over at the soldier breaking rank. Stomping over to the offender, he stopped. Golden falcon-eyes fought with dark jade, neither willing to back down first. She'd obviously seen him studying her, and he realized that there was a time and a place for this battle, and it wasn't here. “You have something to say that's so important you break my roll-call?” It was barked in her face, but she didn't even flinch.

 

“Sir, yes, Sir!” Green eyes flared angrily, making it real easy for him to read her mind.

 

“Name Soldier.” He was angry. She was going to be more trouble than a dozen hybri-borgs with long-range missile launchers.

 

“Knute, Deunan, Sir!”

 

Briareos froze, the next scathing word congealing on the back of his tongue. “Carl Knute's son?” A snigger was heard from the ranks, but it was silenced before he could find the perpetrator.

 

“Sir, yes, Sir!”

 

“You are no man.” He glared at her, purposely staring at her breasts to try and unsettle her.

 

“And you are an ass.” It was spoken so quietly that he almost didn't catch it.

 

Reaching forward, grabbing her chin roughly in his hand, he squeezed. “Do you dare repeat that?”

 

“I didn't say it to your back.” Standing perfectly still in his painful grip, she looked at him. “You…are…an…ass.”

 

Briareos raised both eyebrows, and thought for a second. “You're absolutely right. I'm an ass. But I'm the ass that's going to keep yours alive.” He let go and turned away, suddenly freezing, the muscles in his back bunching with tension. “What was so important you had to interrupt?”

 

“Ashika was wounded during a training ops mission in Old Tokyo, he cannot speak sir.”

 

“You've already been sent into Old Tokyo.” It was quietly muttered, and being rhetorical needed no answer. Briareos turned to his team, speaking loudly to be heard by everyone. “Who spoke for him?”

 

A thin, wiry man raised his hand. “Sir, it was me, Sir!”

 

Briareos walked over to the man. “And your name?”

 

“Haruna Shunichi, Sir.”

 

Briareos looked at him. “Do not answer for a comrade, ever. It gives away your position.”

 

“You didn't know.” That light feminine voice laid back a layer of his soul he wasn't ready to have exposed. Turning, the commander glared at the imp of Satan that would going to plague his every waking moment for the next campaign.

 

“Knute is correct, I didn't know. But in the field, if you answer for a partner, I will think that partner is okay when he might be dead. Plus, the hybri-borgs have supersonic hearing, they WILL detect your location.” Walking back in front of his team, he glared. “I make the rules here. If you follow them, we might just get out of this hell alive.” He chuckled, an evil glint entering his eyes. “Since everyone is here, why don't we start out with twenty laps.”

 

A male hand raised, and Briareos almost sighed in relief that it wasn't the imp again. “Question?”

 

“Where?” Kunikada was looking around, they didn't know the areas to run yet.

 

“Wherever I go.” Passing by Knute, he muttered. “It'll be good practice for the next eighteen months.”

 

Deunan glared at the man, and followed him. She already knew this man was going to make her life a living hell. She'd be sure to give it back to him, with interest. Having been raised in a military orphanage after her mother deserted her at the age of four, she understood payback. How ironic that the number for death was also the age at which her childhood had been buried. Raised by the state, and visited infrequently by her uncle, Edward Uranus, she'd been transformed into an instinctive weapon. As she easily kept up with `the ass' while keeping tabs on her team, Seto was beginning to lag, she thought about her journey to today.

 

At sixteen, she'd started training to be special ops. Her uncle had finally listened to her pleas to let her enlist early. Deunan was initially training to infiltrate the enemy's ranks and learn military secrets. It had been hinted that she could do it standing up or lying down. She made it absolutely clear that she preferred to be vertical. When her shooting scores came back top ranked in the entire class, they'd revised her status from spy to recon.

 

Handed a brand-new sniper rifle design and told to shoot rocks over three hundred yards away, she aimed for the ones past the range. Five hundred and seven yards away, a small bolder disintegrated when the armor-piercing round met its target. Standing up and looking at her drill sergeant, she smiled widely, lighting up her eyes and turning her face radiant. “Can I keep it?”

 

Akimichi Koayashi stared at her in awe. It took him a second him to realize she was talking about the weapon. “I don't know, but I'll find out.”

 

When the academy had broken the class into teams of ten, she was the team's head sniper. At first her teammates had coddled her; but as she one-by-one out-manned them in different areas, they began to replace caution with respect. Unfortunately, she was in a new pond, with a new big fish; and she'd have to prove herself all over again. Looking behind her, she noticed Shunichi was limping a little more than usual. Dropping back, she let him catch up. “What's going on Beanpole?”

 

He grunted, sweat visible on his face. “I wasn't sure yesterday, but this morning it was obvious. I got bit by a spider, on the heel. Must have happened while I was sleeping.”

 

She grunted. “I thought we'd talked about this.”

 

Haruna looked down at her sheepishly. “I know, but I really like sleeping with my feet uncovered.”

 

“Uh huh, and got bit by a damned oni because of it.” She slapped him lightly on the back, as high up as she could easily reached. “We'll get it looked at when we're done. Can you finish? We only have eleven to go.”

 

The determination that made the academy pick this team for special ops specialization shone out of his eyes. “Have I ever not finished something I was assigned to do?”

 

“Good.” She sped up to catch their fearless leader. “You've never disappointed me before.”

 

Briareos caught the exchange out of the corner of his right eye as they rounded the sento (bathhouse), and was even more surprised when Knute showed up behind him again before the end of the lap. Running twenty laps was nothing to him. He was a tall man, taller than any of his new team members. He knew he was running a punishing pace, he was doing it on purpose. First, he had ten newbies to shape up for long-term recon in Old Tokyo. Second, he had just a little bit of sexual frustration going on, and it made him angry at a certain soldier. He'd hoped the grinding pace would show her that she didn't have what it took to hang with the boys, but she was proving him wrong. Further angered by her inability to fail at this, he sped up. A soft chuckle came from behind him.

 

“I know you're doing this to punish me. However, you're actually punishing the rest of the team. I can keep up with you anywhere, anytime. If you want to have a pissing match with me, let's do it when the rest of the team isn't involved.”

 

Briareos stumbled over a root, but didn't falter. “Asking for mercy already?”

 

“No. There is no mercy in war. I can take anything you can dish out. However, I have one teammate with a two-day old spider bite on his heel, and I'd like to see that he isn't pushed so hard that the poison moves further and we get a delayed start because of it.”

 

“So that's what you were doing back there.” He realized that this team MIGHT just have what it takes after all. “Fine, you and me, back out here at 02:00 tomorrow. Forty laps, my pace.”

 

“And you call it quits to twenty laps at a dead sprint and lower it back down to a reasonably fast jog?”

 

“Yes.” Reason held sway over his flaring emotions. There were ten of them, his problem was with just one.

 

“Okay, in front of the dorms, 02:00, and the loser buys the other's beers on the first break we get.”

 

He grinned, she was playing right into his plan. “Deal.” Slowing down to a less grueling pace, he finished up the laps, then told her to help get Shunichi's foot taken care of.

 

“Beanpole!” The tall lanky guy perked up and Briareos filed the nick for future use. “We got us a date. Come on.” She put her small arm around his waist and helped him walk to the medic barrack.

 

Looking around, the commander realized that none of the other men flinched at her words and action. It was obvious that this was normal for this team. Glad that they were at least a cohesive group, he dismissed them until dinner, stalking off to his office to complete his initial report.