The Test

Seeing her aim, shoot consecutively, change guns, aim and shoot again in repeat, I could say she's good at it—even with moving projectiles. It seemed like that's one of her specialties. Still, she's in no condition to be firing guns right now.

A bit pissed off, I pressed the button outside her space to signal her to stop. Noticing the red light and the stopped projectiles, Agent Selene halted and removed the hearing protection she wore on her ears. While doing so, I stepped inside and approached her. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw me.

"I never thought that the shooting area is your sleeping quarters now," I said, deliberately taunting her.

Her eyebrows twitched at my words. She's probably pissed. Ha-ha-ha. Annoying someone was entertaining. It makes me want to tease them more.

"I just find it a waste of time to sleep in the afternoon when I'm gonna sleep again at night," she replied. "It's better to do something more productive, right?" She smiled briefly, then returned to her usual poker face, ready to put on the hearing protection and shoot again.

But I stopped her. Pulling her close, I leaned over her ears to whisper something, but she flinched at my touch.

"Ah, it seems like our training tomorrow will take long," I whispered. She tried to shove me away, but I reminded her, "We're supposed to be lovers, so you're not allowed to do that, missy. Any moment now, the news about our relationship will be spreading everywhere. So keep your smile and love-struck face with me."

I pulled back to see her expression and looked at her doing her best to smile at me even if her jaw was tightened in anger.

"Ha-ha," I chuckled. "Now, do you feel like going back to your quarters?"

"Why do you insist on me going back, babe?" she asked, stressing the word "babe."

"Because you were supposed to be still experiencing the after-effect of the truth serum, babe," I replied, copying her stress on our pet name. "Don't tell me you don't know the after-effects of the antidote?"

"I'm not experiencing any, though. My body is resilient to most poisons and drugs, after all. I'm that great, you see."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, that's why I managed to win over the truth serum and not show my real hostility towards you."

Ha-ha. It's funny how we're whispering threats to each other while smiling. Our words don't match our expressions at all.

"Ahh, I see. And yet the great you are still wary of a simple touch?"

"Don't worry, babe. I'm known for my quick learning and uptake, so I'll be able to adjust soon."

"I look forward to it then. Oh, and make sure to pass your rank-up test if you don't want to be replaced, that is."

"Hah," she scoffed, "You don't need to remind me. If you want, you can even watch me during the test. Maybe then, you'll realize how great your partner really is."

Ah, how confident. Though most people who are too confident always fail, except for me. But I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

"In that case, I'll make sure to watch it."

***

[Agent Selene POV]

The weekend passed by with me unable to go home since I've been busy training myself for the upcoming test. To add to my busyness, I had to train with Agent Helios about touching, acting, and all couple-related stuff that I apparently needed to know for our mission.

I also got training about reading people's actions and how to effectively manipulate them to extract information. So basically, we went over all the areas I'm "weak" at. Ugh. I wanted to get back to him somehow, but he's a beloved entity by God, given all the skills he had and seemingly lacked nothing except good manners.

"You flinched. Again!"

"Wrong. That's not how you do it."

"Can't you smile more genuinely? You look creepy."

"Asking the right questions is only half of the job. Your actions and expressions need to be convincing enough."

"Ugh. Don't you know how to bluff properly? Did you really pass training?"

"So this is the skill of a Top 2 Agent. How disappointing."

"You missed something. Be more observant."

His words kept ringing in my ears even after we had already finished our session.

Wraaaaa! I'm so frustrated!

Though I hate to admit it… he might be harsh with his words, but I learned a lot from him. He's way better at teaching than those Officers we had during my training years. That, plus I noticed how much of a perfectionist he was. Probably why he was so stringent in teaching—because he was that strict with himself as well.

Soon enough, Wednesday came—the day of my rank-up test. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous since the test would determine my skills if I could handle an S-rank mission.

Like any other rank-up test, it would have three parts. First would be the written test, where my knowledge of all our agent laws and protocols and decision-making skills would be tested. Next would be the practical test where my physical skills, shooting, bomb and poison, and all other things related to taking missions would be tested. Lastly was the combat test where I would need to defeat a captain who already succeeded in the mission rank I'm signing up for, which in my case was an S-rank mission.

For the first two parts, I should be able to pass them without any problems, but as for the third… it's pretty impossible to defeat a captain level, right? Imagine if it turned out to be Captain Odin or Captain Freya? I never beat them in the agent rankings before, how would I defeat them in combat? If it's Captain Hermes, maybe I'd have a chance. Hopefully, it's not an impossible opponent to defeat.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Hours passed and what once was a morning sky turned into afternoon. I'm done with the first two parts of the tests. The written tests were tough, but I was able to answer them all correctly since I memorized all the laws and protocols by heart. The only challenging part was the decision-making. Some questions would check your values as an agent and make you choose whether you hold the mission more important than your comrade. I obviously chose the mission since our protocol clearly states that.

For the second part, I had no trouble with everything except distinguishing poisons since they included many new and confusing samples. Nevertheless, I still managed to pass it.

Finally, it was time for the last part—the combat test. I stood inside the arena in my battle suit, complete with all the knives, guns, and other tools I would need to fight. I was allowed to prepare beforehand and choose my weapons. More guns were available at our disposal, scattered around the arena. All weapons and bullets were changed to harmless ones since it's for training. They would simply make one fall asleep or paralyze them.

The captains who would serve as a judge for the combat test were seated at the sides and behind them were a few allowed spectators from the Officers and Agents level. They were all inside a raised glass box since the arena had been designed explicitly for wide-area combat. Piles of rocks were scattered around, and other terrains we could use to our advantage.

A few minutes passed, and finally, I could see the shadow of my opponent coming out from the other side of the arena. Little by little, his silhouette became clearer.

"As I promised," he said, "I'm here to watch you on your test. And very closely at that since… I'm not a spectator." His smirk this time, was that of a devil.

I should have known it was him. My one "hell" of a partner—Agent Helios.