The Compound
2011
Good Morning, Spartans. Today's forecast is warm and partly cloudy. Please report outside your barracks at 0900. This battle will be the last points distributed, so a Champion will be crowned afterwards. Tomorrow is our closing ceremonies and the day you will depart from the Compound. Have a good day, Spartans, and remember, nothing is as it seems..."
Xander rose from his bed and pumped out 50 push-ups. He found his mirror and consulted the memory of his body's frame upon entry into the Program. He was scrawny, hunched and soft. But upon scanning his shirtless body, he saw before him a man carved out of wood. The innocent twinkle in his eye had faded as a gravitas settled in behind them.
Xander would fight in the final battle with first place in sight. Duke had a narrow enough margin on the scoreboard to catch. He knew that it didn't matter to Hardy or any of the other instructors if he won or not, but he was seventeen and it was a game. To be crowned the top operative of the class would open doors for his career in espionage. Being the competitive guy he was, Xander had a thirst for victory, especially over Duke who had terrorized him all year long.
It wasn't only the final battle that got him up and reeling this morning but also the fact that today would begin his escape with Fiona.
Let's review the facts: for the better part of the program I have been running reconnaissance on Fiona at the behest of Rearden. I observed her writing down my movements. She attempted to make her usual drop but was spooked and aborted the drop. She then gave those findings to Hardy, a move that Hardy did not seem pleased with. Upon infiltrating his office, I saw an email written by Hardy to Axle, directing him to dispose of Fiona after the final battle.
The plan: I will have to keep her close to me. If they are using C4, they are probably planning to blow up her house and call it a suicide, like they probably did for Ezra. If I can injure her during the battle and injure myself, we will both be in the Infirmary, so then we can make our move together from there. To escape the Compound we will have to find our way into the tunnels.
After scarfing down three scrambled eggs, Xander walked to the street. Fiona looked over at him as the Spartans lined up for departure, Xander stared ahead. He kept an intense focus on his face. They boarded the transport and changed into their battle suits. There was a nervous silence during the trip. Only the tapping of toes and the bouncing of knees could be heard through the transit. The trip was short. Xander was able to map out their route as usual from the shifts in his weight during the ride. According to Xander's calculation they had just pulled out of the Compound and into an adjacent hangar not too far away.
The transit doors opened up to reveal a darkness. The only light was a green glow that came from the distant structure at the center of the hangar. Hardy and the instructors were lined up waiting for the Spartans.
The sight behind them was too enticing not to notice. Every Spartan gaped at the sight but Xander resisted the awe and immediately started to commit what he was seeing to memory.
An enormous, green cube stood at the arena's center. It was suspended between two cranes. There were ridges in the cube that formed different alleys. These avenues zigged and zagged around the Cube's façade. Ladders connected each level of the cube, so the Spartans could navigate its multiple floors. A stairwell ascended to an opening in the cube. Each side of the cube was 150 feet. There were multiple levels within it. It was a stack of pathways – a three-dimensional maze.
And they would be fighting in it.
"Spartans, today is your final battle. You know the stakes. Who will prove they can deliver results under pressure? Who will prove they will do anything to win? Who will prove their abilities from training? This battle will enlist everything you have been taught this year, especially the single most important lesson this year, how to think on your toes. It has been built over the last three months for this specific purpose. This is what we call the Box and if you want to survive, I suggest you think outside of it. Good Luck Spartans!" Hardy barked, signaling for them to approach 'the Box'. Each Spartan chose their preloaded weapons during transit. They were also given flash grenades and magazines strapped to their suits. The grenades were strapped to their right thigh and the magazines hung off their belt. Something dawned on Xander.
This is my battle to win. To win, we must think outside the box, literally. My memory can crack the routes of this maze.
He began analyzing its facade, in the hopes he could map it out in his head. He was only able to get a glance at three sides of the six-sided cube, though. He ascended the staircase and entered the Box. The Box was pitch black other than the dimly lighted alleyways. Their suits gave off a certain amount of light – enough light to be spotted from a distance. Different colored arrows appeared on the alleyways.
"Spartans, please follow your colored arrows to arrive at your starting gates," Anni spoke through their helmets.
The Spartans followed their paths and they began to disseminate to each corners of the box. Xander was fortunate, for his arrows led him to an area that he had already processed. Xander closed his eyes and mentally drew a blueprint of the alleyways before him. His mind worked a mile a minute, until his deep concentration broke by Anni's countdown.
"Spartans, fight in 3, 2, 1...." Although his heart jumped at the sound and adrenaline was already coursing through his veins, Xander stayed calm. He proceeded through the alleyways at a cautious pace, while trying to stay close to the region he knew. Xander heard gunfire and the sizzle of the sparks of impact. It sounded like dying fireworks. Then Xander spotted a Spartan ahead of him, falling over with no charge left in his suit. Having only been two minutes in, the first announcement was made.
Tobias has been eliminated, eight Spartans remain
Xander watched as Tobias' limp body slid under a magnetic pulse to the wall where it stuck, motionless.
Why are the tagged Spartans forced against the wall?
Xander decided his move. He knew that if he sat on his position for too long, he would soon be surrounded and be a sitting duck, so he began running light on his feet careful to make no noise. He saw a streak of Orange out of the corner of his eye. It was Seamus, sprinting to his right in the adjacent corridor. He knew he couldn't catch him without exposure, but he knew his route would lead back to the intersection he had already cleared.
Seamus... Always a lose cannon. A ballistics expert who did not have the gift of tact.
Xander posted to a sectional support that offered good coverage from someone walking down the hall - where he knew Seamus would be any second. He heard a plopping footstep ten feet behind his cover. At the sound, he popped out from the support pillar and fired three rounds off straight into his chest. Seamus didn't know what had hit him.
When the capsules collided with his chest, his suit blew its electrical charge. Sparks flew as if a welder was torching him. The sparks dissipated after a moment and Seamus's suit went black. He fell with a thud, as his suit paralyzed his body.
Seamus has been eliminated, seven Spartans remain.
Seamus's body was also magnetized to the Box wall. Again Xander was perplexed as so why the tagged Spartans were stuck against the wall. And then something unexpected began to happen that answered his questions. Xander's weight nudged him down the long alley way. The nudge became a pull and soon he noticed the floor beneath his feet began to angle downward. It wasn't until the gravity had fully shifted and Xander started sliding down the alleyway when he realized what was happening.
The Box is turning!
Xander remembered the two cranes attached to the cube. He had to stop himself or he would be dead by the time he reached the next turn in the maze. He landed hard on a support pillar that had now become the only floor at the moment. The air was taken out of his lungs by the impact. He looked up at the hall he had just paced on and realized that it had become a vertical shaft. Seamus's body was still stuck against the same wall, rotating overhead now.
Xander held on to the pillar with his tightest grip, but the Box kept turning and what was a solution at the time, quickly became another problem. He began running down an alleyway that had leveled out beneath him for the time being. He knew he had to be quick so he sprinted as fast as he could with weapon in hand.
Due to the rotation of the Box, he ran up the wall and then onto the ceiling and then onto the other wall.
Xander did not know his way around the maze any longer but he noticed that many alleyways began leading toward some sort of central chamber. He began to hear fire from that direction and saw sparks glinting from around the corner.
Mac has been eliminated, six Spartans remain.
Xander steadied himself near an intersection. No matter how the box turned he would have a footing. He found a stance and was able to process his surroundings.
Think outside the box!
He cleared his mind and focused on learning the rotational pattern of the box so he could better navigate the corridors with an anticipation of its gravitational shifts. After a moment of intense concentration, Xander's mind was able to diagnose the movement of the Box from within it, similar to how he was able to chart the transport's movement from his weight distribution. He cleared his mind, visualizing the rotation of the Box and only when he felt he had a grasp of it did he start to navigate the hallways. He turned the corner and saw a Spartan falling over herself like a drunkard. It was obvious that she was unable to reestablish any form of balance and was suspended in a state of vertigo.
It was Fiona.
He walked up on a wall towards her, she fell over again and began rolling as if being thrown around like a rag doll by the walls of the Box.
"Xander!" Fiona almost pleaded with him, knowing full well she was about to be tagged from the battle. Xander could have raised his weapon and easily shot her and been done with it, but that was not part of his plan. And so Xander helped Fiona to her feet.
"What are you doing?! Xander! Just tag me already!" Xander brought her close to his ear.
"You're gonna have to trust me." Fiona smiled through her helmet at him.
"Of course I do."
Xander felt a shift coming on and knew that their adjacent hallway would soon become a vertical chute, twenty feet above the bottom of the cube.
I need her in the Infirmary ward...
It was hard to do, but the time had arrived. Xander spun around her and threw her over his hip. She launched into the adjacent hallway. Which then turned vertical – she fell into the abyss. Her free fall was only broken by the hard impact of the cube's floor. Her body was engulfed in spark and her suit powered down to darkness.
Fiona has been eliminated, five Spartans remain.
Right after the announcement, shots flew over Xander from around the corner ahead. He could almost see in slow-motion the capsule bullets whizzing by his helmet. From around the corner a voice rang out toward Xander.
"Come out, come out where ever you are!" Xander deciphered the voice as Duke's. The voice was growing closer; it was coming down the hall. Xander poked his gun out from around the corner but before he could get a shot off his hand was shot. Sparks came from his hand and his gun dropped to the ground and immediately started sliding down the long abyss of the hallway. He had no gun, his cover was fading fast.
Is this it? Duke has me pinned.
Xander saw his cover turning vertical. He could feel gravity pull him toward the central chamber. He only had one choice – to charge, so he jumped out from behind the corner and lunged at Duke – the force of his tackle matched the gravitational shift. It sent both boys sliding down the alleyway. Xander realized they had gathered too much speed. The shaft was too tall – once they reached the end of the hallway they would most likely die on impact. Xander saw, as Duke continued to punch him as they free-fell, one last support beam before the wall. He leaned to his left as Duke punched him square in the helmet. Xander collided heavily with the support beam. Duke was continuing to fall, just as Xander's arm reached down and snatched him from the depths. Weak and with a small amount of charge left in his suit, Xander held Duke's arm as he hung with nothing but the abyss below him. The remaining drop was much more than twenty feet.
"Nice catch..." Duke said, just as he noticed the pitfall below him.
"Hold on!" Xander knew he didn't have to pull him up to safety but the Box would complete its rotation and come up to give both of them a ground to stand on. Xander's grip was loosening and Duke had begun to slip from his forearm to his wrist. Xander gritted his teeth as he held as tight as he could. Then Duke slipped from his wrist to his hand. Duke started slipping fast from Xander's hand. Just before Duke fell from his grip the floor was coming up beneath them. Upon letting go, Duke slid down the hallway toward the central chamber of the cube, but judging from the speed with which he did so, he would be okay.
I just saved Duke's life. He probably doesn't even realize it.
With no gun and little charge, Xander knew his time was short. He sat for a moment and rested so he could catch his breath and collect any strength he had left after his free fall and painful impact with the cross beam. Xander reviewed his equipment. The only weapon he had was his grenades attached to his leg, his suit was probably on 10% charge and there were three other Spartans remaining to take out.
He looked down the corridor of the maze and scanned alleyways around him. Then he heard a great deal of activity coming from what seemed to be the central chamber in the distance. He couldn't see much, but was able to visualize the room and distinguish four Spartans fighting within.
The remaining Spartans have all gravitated to that central chamber. I can take them all out... I will need to come in fast if I am going to come in at all.
Xander then turned his attention to the shift of the cube. He knew that in a matter of thirty seconds he would be free falling towards his right, where the central chamber was located. He didn't know if it was his gut or his genius but he knew only one thing that he could do. Xander climbed to his feet and looked down the long, seemingly endless alleyway to his right.
Here goes nothing. Hope I don't die.
Xander began sprinting as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the central chamber. The floor came up, making Xander run an uphill trek. The Box continued to spin and just as he had planned he began to free-fall once the floor turned up completely under his feet.
And so he free-fell, preparing for his entrance out into the open. He was flying like a rocket, head first. The flight went by in slow motion for Xander as he positioned his hand near his right thigh and pulled out two grenades. He bit the pins out as he approached the central chamber. There as expected were the last four Spartans in a fire fight. Xander emerged through an explosion of sparks and into the central chamber. He turned and chucked the grenades at either wall, leaving them behind as he sped forward.
And like that – Xander was through the chamber –already falling through the opposite alley.
An explosion went off and sparks showered over Xander from the central chamber above him.
Xander knew the rotation of the cube was scheduled to pull up a wall, giving him friction to slow his descent. It was his only hope that the Box would turn fast enough to catch him.
The rotation of the cube slowly began to bring the floor up underneath Xander as he tumbled toward the end of the Box. The bottom grew larger in his sight. Xander's eyes widened as he slid through the hallway toward a dead end.
His speed was slowing, bit by bit.
He didn't know if he would make it.
He pressed his back, hands and feet against the wall that was turning up to try to gather as much friction as possible, but he was not slowing fast enough. His end was coming. He remembered Hardy's words upon his arrival – that he could die in the Compound.
And so it seemed he would as he braced himself for impact – thirty yards away.
Then he started to feel his own weight again.
The rotation began slowing him considerably as he approached the bottom of the Box. He began skidding on the new floor beneath him. Sparks from his suit split off to either side of him, like a brake locking on a speeding wheel. Xander had almost come to a complete stop when he splat onto the wall, the force was minimal but enough to drain the rest of Xander's suit's charge. As Xander's vision faded to black he heard the faraway sound of Anni's simulated voice.
Duke, Bronson, Jooles and Ashton have been eliminated. Congratulations Xander you are the winner.
The Box shut down and so did Xander.
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