Project Jamboree

Chapter Six

"Are you ready to see the others?"

That was Cole. The only person here who understood. The only other red that wasn't brainwashed in that program I hated naming.

He didn't ask something stupid like 'are you okay?' I'd been crying for the last hour. I was certainly not okay, and he knew.

"No," I answered weakly.

I lifted my head and dried my eyes. Part of my shirt was soaking wet from tears, and my headache was killing me.

"Do you need to let off some fire?" Cole asked.

"Yes," I replied, "Training room in five?"

He nodded and left.

I changed into a black shirt and tactical jeans, laced some black sneakers, and ran down the stairs to the training room.

The jog was like a warmup. After that, I did a few light stretches and looked around until I found the wrap for my fists. It held them in place so that fighting didn't cause any joint damage.

"Ready?" Cole has sparring gloves on to make the blows softer. I put on mine too, catching them as he tossed them to me.

We circled for a few moments before attacking. Cole went on defense.

The strange thing was that it wasn't only because he understood I needed to let off some steam. He would also never hurt me. He never attacked, even if he was supposed to.

At one point, I'd tried to convince him that attacking would do me a favor and teach me how to defend against attacks. He still wouldn't listen, which was how I ended up training with Vida as well.

After a few hours, an announcement came over the radio, calling everyone on base in for dinner.

"Dinner?" Cole asked.

I nodded as I started taking off my gloves, "I'll be there in ten. Need to shower."

But once I took off my gloves, I didn't go to he showers. I stayed in the training room, holding out my hand and summoning a violet flame. While it was the hardest to control, it was also the fastest way of relieving the pressure in my bones that threatened to tear me to pieces.

Deep breaths.

I sculpted it into a sword, closing my hand around the handle. I raised it above me in a starting poison. Then, I slid through ever attack and defense practice I knew.

After a while, the pressure was gone, but I couldn't focus on eating. I couldn't be in a room with any of those people. There was still a risk of fiery explosions.

Instead, I walked to the shooting range, practicing until I hit the vital organs of every humanoid target first try.

I then realized I wasn't hungry as much as I was tired. I went straight to the bunks and fell asleep.

The next two weeks went by in a blur. After that outburst in Alban's office, neither Alban nor Rob has tried to talk to me, and I hadn't spoken to anyone, even Cole.

Ruby ran up to me, which was unusual, "Natasha!"

I looked up from my bunk, where I was sat reading. My eyes flickered around the room, but settled. I motioned for her to continue.

"We have the mission," Ruby said, holding out a folder.

For a moment, I was terrified it was the Project Jamboree mission. I flinched, but then realized she meant the mission to retrieve Liam and the flashdrive.

Under the agents list, it had Tangerine, Ruby's code name, and my code name, Cherry. But past that was Sunshine. Jude.

"They put Jude on the mission," Ruby closed the door, "Rob's trying to kill all of the kids in the League. They've already killed a green. An explosion on my last mission should've killed Vida and I. And I heart about them sending you to- you know where- as a spy."