THE BEGINNING OF A NEW END: The story of Cyborg 009 and Cyborg 003

CHAPTER #5- Big Mouth Small Mind

Mari had completed all their upgrades and awaited the UNG transport unit to pick her up. They didn't expect to see their friend and UNG Director Takeru Igarashi, at the same time. They welcomed him to their new home, giving him a tour.

"Mari mentioned that your cyborg team needed new weapons. So I have a proposal. We'll equip you all with the latest weapon tech, if you help us train the new UNG single man units. Improvements have been made, due to what happened when fighting the Blessed. We lost a lot of skilled men and the new bunch have plenty of ego and that's about it. So will your team come back to the UNG HQ with me?"

Ivan used their mental link to discuss it with the cyborg team. Then he let Joe answer the question. "If it was anyone else asking, we'd say no. But, because it's you Takeru, we'd be honoured."

"Thank you. Don't worry Françoise, the only fighting being done is for combat training exercises." Takeru added, noticing her standing behind Joe, with her head down.

Françoise replied. "I understand. Just give us a moment to pack, you'll need us for a few days."

The cyborgs packed some clothes and their combat suits, then followed the UNG Director onto the air transport. It took them an hour to arrive at the UNG Headquarters. The reason Françoise was anxious, wasn't because of the combat training, but of the whispers of hate that were always inevitable.

"I have something to oversee, I will return shortly. Mari can you take them to the training facility?"

"Yes sir, follow me please."

As they passed a group of soldiers, she heard their negative whispers. But one comment, hurt her deeply, even though she had no reaction.

"They keep the girl cyborg to service the men sexually. I heard she's useless in combat."

Joe and Geronimo heard the comment. Before they could react, another soldier stepped forward.

"Ignore that idiot. He's a bully because he's a moron and completely stupid in combat. You're beautiful and smart, that's a great combination. We should talk more after training, my name is Mark."

"Thank you Mark," Françoise said politely, "I'm cyborg 003 Françoise Arnoul."

Mari interrupted. "Each squad has ten units. Today is the preliminary round. Tomorrow they will be divided into basic, intermediate and advanced groups. Any soldier that has outstanding skills that any of you recognize, these will be the elite team. We leave it up to you nine, to decide how to test them."

Geronimo stepped forward, "Mark, what's the name of the soldier that insulted Françoise?"

"His name is Jack and he's in the first squad."

Geronimo cracked his knuckles, the pops sounding loud like air bombs. "I'll take first squad on. Are you okay with that 003 and 009?"

"Sure," Joe agreed.

Ivan spoke telepathically, "keep things professional everyone. Remember all of UNG will be watching these training sessions and we are a direct reflection on the Director."

Françoise agreed, "Ivan is right. Everyone needs to stay focused on the task at hand. Then we'll be able to go home sooner than later."

"So it's going to be ten to one odds? Don't you want to make it more like twenty to one? Even if it's not live rounds, they can still get hurt," Jet laughed.

"We don't want to come across as too arrogant. Ten UNG fighters vs one of us, will make them respect us pretty quick," Joe explained.

"I want Jack's team. Is that okay 005?" Françoise asked.