Iron Heart (The Gauntlet #2)

Chapter 11 - Casualties

AUTHOR NOTE: 

Just a small thing guys: I've mentioned before that I've done some redrafting of the original Gauntlet offline, but those edits have not been uploaded to Wattpad. Consequently there are a couple of things that are a bit different in the sequel, so if you have read the Gauntlet and find yourself thinking "hang on, it wasn't like that in the first book", that's the reason. Nothing major has changed - mostly just some tweaks here and there, but I just wanted to make you all aware. 

Happy reading!

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It took weeks of practice, but Codi was gratified to find that she and Gareth were finally beginning to hit their stride as a pairing, and not a moment too soon. Five months to the day before the Gauntlet competition started the Battlecast instructors did two things. They unveiled a list of eighty names: people that would be receiving their personalised exoskeletons. By extension, they also delivered the first names that would go no further in this year's competition.

Although she'd been expecting to be included, seeing her name on the provisional roster still lifted a massive weight off Codi's shoulders. No-one unexpected was cut from the team. Mostly it was the youngest and least capable – which at Battlecast was still saying a lot – that were taken off the list that would be taken to the practice tournaments. They'd still be training at the academy in a less intensive role and get another chance next year if they wanted to stay.

Codi fully understood that her own scholarship was a luxury that most kids, even on the rich stud of Earth, couldn't hope to be offered. Many were there at the behest of well endowed parents, indulging them, or giving them a little lesson in life's hardness. Whatever the case, many of them may not come back, or might just go to a different academy where the competition wasn't so ferocious.

While no surprises were included in the list of rejections, she did spot one name on the provisional roster than made her smile. Leela had made the cut, at least for now.

The day was a big one on the Battlecast calendar. It marked the graduation of many new recruits into the next stage of their competition training, and while Codi had competed before, she still felt a youthful rush of excitement when the successful recruits were summoned to the academy's Lock-Tech bay to be given their full combat exoskeletons.

She let herself get swept up in the river of eager energy that flooded into the factory-like space. A dozen technical staff were on hand to keep things organised, as well as the coaches from each cadre. Five gravity-conveyers bore their precious cargo, lined from end to end with the long transparent cases. Codi could see the glint of cyan and blue within and felt her stomach do excited leaps at the prospect of donning a Gauntlet exoskeleton again.

The equipment was dispensed alphabetically so she had several impatient minutes to wait until one of the attendants called her name. She couldn't contain a smile when she spotted Leela emerge from the crowd to collect her prize. The girl looked like a toddler who'd been set loose in a toy factory, almost unable to focus in her giddy excitement. She took the hovering case of the exoskeleton and guided it out of the room, back towards the gymnasium. On her way out she spotted Codi and flashed a toothy grin.

At long last, her moment came. Codi closed off the outside world, striding purposefully toward the beckoning attendant, eyes fastened onto the casing behind him. The transparent cradle slid soundlessly forward on the grav-conveyer and the attending technician stepped forward holding a dat-pad.

"Place your hand in the centre of the screen," he instructed. "This will imprint the exoskeleton to your DNA key."

Codi blinked, not expecting such a level of security but after a second she obeyed, reaching out and placing her palm against the screen of the dat-pad. A blue line instantly appeared, tracing the outline of her hand, and after a few seconds the machine bleeped with acceptance.