Énouement

Chapter Thirty Three

In just a few short weeks Ender had managed to form his army and train us into a usable source. A winnable force. This usually took commanders months, and it just reaffirmed my idea that we didn't have a lot of time left. Ender had separated us into five toons, instead of the traditional four, and practically every veteran was a toon leader or a second. Ender had given me A toon, making me his right hand man. At this point the entire army knew who I was, that I had been right along with Ender, and so no one complained of my placement.

An outspoken Filipino kid called Fly Molo had B toon. A quiet and reserved boy from Belarus named Vlad had C toon. Crazy Tom was given D toon and Hot Soup E. Bean had been placed in Crazy Tom's toon, a small curtesy Ender had given him, and I knew he'd treat him well. It was actually kind of cute, the admiration Bean held for Ender. Maybe it wasn't admiration, simply loyalty, but it was endearing none the less. I had first seen it when he defended Ender against some of the veterans complaining.

"Everyone knows it's loser strategy to divide your army," said Fly Molo. I had a feeling they wouldn't say that if they knew I could hear, least it get back to Ender. I was quick to jump to Ender's defense, but Bean beat me to it.

"He hasn't divided the army," Bean sounded almost disgusted that a toon leader would have such insubordination to their commander. "He's just organized it. And there's no such thing as a rule of strategy that you can't break. The idea is to have your army concentrated at the decisive point. Not to keep it huddled together all the time."

Fly glared at Bean. "Just cause you little guys can hear us doesn't mean you understand what we're taking about."

"If you don't want to believe me, think what you want. My talking isn't going to make you stupider than you already are." In a flash Fly came at him, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him to the edge of his bunk. I stood from my bunk and quickly made my way over to them, not wanting Bean to be hurt, but once again I was beat to it. At once, a boy a little bigger than Bean lunched at Fly and landed on his back, making Fly bump his head on the bunk.  I stood back as I watched the other toon leaders immediately separate them.

"Forget it!" Hot Soup- Han Tzu said. "Nikolai thinks he's Bean's big brother." Nikolai. So Bean did have a friend.
"What's he doing mouthing off to a toon leader?" Demanded Fly.

"And what were you doing," I called calmly, but softly and walked forward, "being insubordinate to our commander?" The veterans all froze, knowing how protective I was of Ender.  Fly stared at me still angry but apprehensive. No one moved, until Bean opened his mouth again.

"He was wrong anyway. By your view, Lee and Jackson were idiots at Chancellorsville."
"He keeps doing it!"
"Are you so stupid you can't recognize the truth just because the person telling you is short!" I could hear the frustration in Bean's voice, but I could also see his determination to defend Ender.

"Come on, Fly," said Nikolai. "This is *Bean*, remember?" And to my, and I saw Bean's surprise, that silenced Fly. I tilted my head and observed them all. I didn't know much about Bean, didn't know his reputation, but if he was here so young, he must've been at a different level. He must've been on mine and Ender's level. Maybe better.

"I should have spoken with more respect," Said Bean.
"Damn right," said Fly.
"But so should you." Fly lunged against the grip of the boys holding him. "Taking about Wiggin, you spoke without respect."
"Ok, right, I was out of line." He turned to Nikolai. "But I'm still an officer."

I giggled and tilted my head, staring at Fly. "An officer beating up little kids half his size? Well that takes me back." The Veterans all froze again, staring at me.

"You've done it now Fly. Miss America don't play when she got that look on her face. She don't play when you mess with her babies." Crazy Tom muttered, but we all heard him clearly. I was directly protective of the younger kids here and I knew the look he was talking about. Smiling, my head tilted, and giggling. But it wasn't a cute sound. No this giggle and the crazed look in my eye looked like madness. The rumor was that I had gotten this look from Bonzo, but I had learned it from Peter.

Fly looked nervous. "It wasn't like that Tori I just-"
"You were just being a bully." Nikolai called softly. He looked warily at me, the little kids hadn't really seen this look before. Fly stared at Nikolai, and no one said anything until Fly decided how to respond.

"You're right, Nikolai. To defend your friend against a bully." He looked between the two back and forth. "Pusha, you guys even look like brothers." He walked past them with the other veterans. I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder when he came to me. I didn't look at him but stared ahead calmly.

I dropped my voice, "the next time I see you acting like him, you'll wish it was Ender who caught you." We didn't say Bonzo's name aloud anymore, but we didn't need to. Fly cleared his throat nervously before nodding and shuffling away with the others. I walked up to Bean and Nikolai and caught the end of their conversation about Nikolai feeling out of his depth here. I placed my head on his head as they both turned to me and smiled sweetly.

"Most kids are out of their depth, certainly the ones who've been promoted ahead of the timeline, but time is not always a luxury that we have here." I ruffled his hair and he blushed lightly.  "Can I speak with you Bean?" Bean stared at me for a moment before nodding and following me out into the corridor.

I leaned against the wall on one side of the corridor and Bean stood in front of me. I looked him over, up and down, observing him. He was small, dark hair, tanned skin. Why hadn't I noticed him before?

"You're pretty short," Bean glared at me. "Which means you're young. Younger than you should be. Which means they brought you here, for the same reason they brought Ender and I. And I don't know you, but you know me. Don't you?" Bean regarded me with a blank look on his face before nodding. "Because of Ender?" Another nod. "So what did you find out?" I titled my head and smiled at him, amused. He was quiet, that's for sure. But the wheels in his head kept turning.

"Victorie Sophronia, called Tori, nicknames are Bonita, Miss America, and the Greek Goddess. You came here with Ender, were childhood friends, and have been together ever since. You were personally trained by Bonzo Madrid. You're an only child, born to new age hippie parents who frequent cults. You're one of the best tactical genius' in the entire school, a first rate hacker and programmer as well as one of the top three students in every subject. You have an aptitude for command, yet stand complacently behind Wiggin, which makes me think that no, you were not brought here for the same reason Wiggin or even I were. Oh and you still practice Ballet." I raised an eyebrow at him and laughed.

"Wow. You learned all that and you didn't even get into my files. You've been listening in the school very well." Bean looked embarrassed. "Yes Bean, I know you're trying to break into my files, but I have my firewall. I also know that you could have broken through it, so why didn't you?"

He shrugged. "It would've been hard even for me. I would've wasted two weeks trying to get in and I learned almost as much just by listening."

I nodded. "You wouldn't have found anything useful about Ender anyway." He opened his mouth to protest. "And don't pretend that's not why you were in there." Bean shut his mouth and watched me for a moment.

"Why did they bring you here?"
"You tell me."
"I don't know."
"You do though. You just don't know if you're right. Why were you brought here Bean?"
"I'm a back up plan." He said. I smiled.

"Yes Bean, you and I have very different jobs. You're the back up and I'm the tool to make sure the first plan succeeds. That's why they brought me here. I'm the safety net, and you're the under study." I walked across the corridor up to Bean and leaned down to him, placing a hand on his head and ruffled his hair. I brought my hand back and placed a finger up to my lips and made a "shh"ing sound.

"But that's our little secret, neh?" I winked at him and me my way back into the barracks.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Please comment and vote! I love feedback!

I want to thank @jaydonlondon for commenting and voting!

Also thank you @sammynahi @scofieldisbae @morningowl40 and RedHotPanda282  for voting!