Cross Conviction

12:14… they'll be here any minute.

Sturm sat anxiously watching the clock. He glanced over at Magnolia, who immediately made a point to turn away. Nose once again pressed into an open book, Dominic was likely oblivious to the time. Sturm quickly finished his last piece of bread, anxiously watching the second hand of the clock make its final orbit. Then, just in time, the door swung open. In walked Major Krieger, followed by a short line of commissioned and non-commissioned officers.
          

 "Attention knight candidates. Your training officially begins now," announced Krieger, clicking together his steel-capped heels.

At once, all eyes shifted to the front of the room and toward the veteran knights who would become their teachers and team leaders. Most of these individuals were men, many well-known from their service in crushing the Communist revolution and various clashes and anti-terrorist operations that came after. 

"Please remain seated while your new instructors come around and gather your provisional teams," Krieger explained, motioning his hand toward the line of Iron Knights next to him.

The first to step forward was a large, bulky man wearing the rank of a sergeant. His shoulders were capped with steel pauldrons and his wrists were plated with similarly armored gauntlets. Sturm recognized this instructor as Grizzler, a seasoned veteran of anti-Marxist operations under the Weimar government. Popular rumor held that long ago, when the Red Front hijacked a train and packed it with explosives, intending to detonate it at a major rail junction, Grizzler thwarted the attempt by derailing the locomotive with his bare hands.

"Wow, wouldn't it be awesome to end up on that guy's squad?" Dominic mused, "He's a living legend!"

"Well, better him than that one…" Magnolia replied, pointing toward a gaunt, haggard man near the end of the line.

The man wore the shoulder boards of a captain, making him the highest-ranking of the team instructors. Most curiously, he was missing his left hand and wearing an eyepatch across his right eye. His five o'clock shadow added to the dark and dreary aura surrounding his form. 

With little regard for the volume of her voice, Magnolia rambled on. "That man is a cripple. What could he possibly train us in? How could he even protect us?"

Sturm turned to look at the focus of Magnolia’s complaints and was stunned by what he saw. Certainly, this was the man from the picture. He was older now and had evidently been through much over the years, but there was no doubting it- the captain was a member of his father’s team during the Great War. Not seeing any point in explaining such a thing to Magnolia, Sturm kept his realization to himself. As Grizzler finished gathering his team from among the candidates and ushered them out of the room, the next instructor stepped up to do the same. This time, it was one of the only two women present in the group. She was tall with long dark hair and wore a flowing, ankle-length black skirt that didn't match her grey uniform tunic. She gathered one candidate from the far side of the room before stepping toward Sturm's section of the table.

Quietly, she asked, "Dominic Thiessen?"

"Y-yes?!" he replied, leaping up from his seat and snapping to attention. 

"My name is Sophia Pauritsch. You will be joining me on the recovery team. Please come this way." she said with a slight smile on her rose-tinted lips. 

Excited, Dominic grabbed his book from the table and folded it under his arm. "Recovery, huh? Sounds interesting…"

Sturm gave his new acquaintance one last smile and, with that, Dominic was off. While Ms. Pauritsch's name was unfamiliar to Sturm, he was well aware of the recovery team's work. They were responsible for cleaning up after battles involving non-standard combatants and, as their name would imply, retrieving the bodies and equipment of slain allied and enemy parties, as well as anything else of particular value. While this usually meant that the fighting had already been resolved by the time the team was activated, their safety was far from guaranteed. Many recovery operatives had been killed in the line of duty by hazardous materials or even bizarre, postmortem abilities. Truly, it seemed there was no "safe" assignment for an Iron Knight.

Sometime later, the one-handed captain began to gather his team. He started at the table nearest to him and retrieved a distinctly foreign boy with a grey ski cap and overcoat. After that, he made his way toward Sturm. Peering down at the young man with his one good eye, he did not speak at first. Sturm looked back at him with anticipation.

"You look like your mother," the captain finally spoke up.

Having not expected these to be the first words out of the captain’s mouth and detecting a hint of disappointment in his tone, Sturm sat in stunned silence.

"Alright, well… time to go," the dark-haired veteran sighed. 

Magnolia chuckled a bit under her breath. 

"I suppose that's your luck, turkey. Hopefully, mine will be better!" she teased.

The captain then shifted his gaze over to her. "That means both of you, so get moving."

Magnolia was taken back in shock.

You can't be serious… She thought to herself. 

Reluctantly, the girl got to her feet and followed her new team out of the room and down the hallway. Wasting no time, the instructor began to explain their situation as they walked. "Wald, Sturm, this is Alvarez. From now until I say you aren't, the three of you are members of the Third Hunter Team and I am your leader. If you have any problems with each other, fix them. If you have a problem with me, resign."

Unamused by the man's bluntness, Magnolia rolled her eyes and sarcastically inquired, "And how should we address our great and wise captain?"

"You call me captain," He sneered, "But if that was your obnoxious way of asking my name, it's Scharf." 

Magnolia, still in a sour mood from her earlier encounter with Whirlwind, didn't particularly care for his attitude.

"So… where are we going, Captain Scharf?" she pressed as if intentionally trying to annoy him.

"Uniforms," he answered plainly. 

"Is that so?" Magnolia began to protest, "And to think I put so much time into looking my best this morning."

Scharf simply replied, "Unfortunate."

"Why, don't you just have a way with words..?" she hissed.

Great. Five minutes in and she's starting a fight with the instructor. Sturm thought to himself.

Finally, the four came to a cart in the hall manned by two soldiers. 

"Two male, one female. This one needs something small." Scharf explained, gesturing toward Sturm with a wave of his hand. 

"Yes, captain!" the two soldiers snapped back in unison before gathering the folded uniforms and handing them off to him.

Scharf then turned and distributed them to his team. 

"Your rooms are just up and around the corner. Miss Wald will be in room 101. Alvarez and Sturm get room 103. There is a door between your rooms. It stays closed after lights out until morning. There may be surprise nighttime inspections." 

Sturm and Magnolia quickly shot each other a look out of the corner of their eyes before the latter turned her head away and scoffed. 

"Now…" Scharf started, "Go get changed. Afterward, make your way to the back entrance and meet me in the northern training field. You have ten minutes."

The three parted with Scharf and headed to their rooms. Rooms 101 and 103 were on the left side of the hallway. The hall started at room 100, meaning that 101 was the second room on the left, and 103 was directly next to it. Sturm was mindful to hold Magnolia’s door for her as Alvarez entered their room beside him. After Sturm heard Magnolia’s lock click, he stepped into his own room behind his new teammate. Alvarez had already hung his coat on the door hook and was midway through changing. 

"You're quick to it, aren't you?" asked Sturm as he unbuttoned his shirt. 

Alvarez quickly pulled his suspenders over his tucked-in shirt. "Don't want to keep the captain waiting," he answered with a slight Latin accent.

After a moment, Sturm had finished changing and turned to the wall mirror to get a look at his new uniform. The uniform of Iron Knight candidates was a simple grey tunic and slacks, similar to the standard Prussian-style military uniforms of the era, with a green collar and black leather belt around the outside of the jacket. As for shoes, the standard black leather jackboots popular with Germanic armies rounded out the ensemble. 

Sturm eyed himself for some time before twisting his torso from side to side. 

This jacket is definitely a little too small… He thought to himself. 

He unfastened his belt and undid the buttons on his tunic before wrapping the belt around his waist. 

Much better.

Sturm turned to check on Alvarez, who was in the process of putting his overcoat back on. For just a second, he thought he saw something bright orange poke out of his teammate's pocket and quickly disappear. Sturm raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing. He wasn't particularly sure what Alvarez's specialty was, but he'd surely find out soon. 

Barging through the connecting door, Magnolia growled "Whoever designed these outfits should be put to death."

The female variant of the knight candidate uniform was similar to its male counterpart, but with a grey, partially pleated skirt that fell just above the knee and black tights in place of the regular gray trousers. Naturally, the buttons on Magnolia’s jacket were also reversed, as customary for women's clothing. Annoyed, she patted her skirt and crossed her arms. 

"You didn't think they were going to let you wear pants, did you?" Alvarez inquired plainly. 

"Of course not! I wouldn't want to anyway." Magnolia protested, "I just didn't think the women's uniform would be so… hideous."

Very matter-of-factly, Alvarez replied, "Well, it is what it is."

Magnolia tugged on the fabric of her tights. 

"Are these really necessary? They're unsightly." she sighed. 

"For modesty's sake." said Alvarez, "We are expected to be quite active, you know."

"What on Earth do you think I'm doing?" Magnolia hissed, "Cartwheels? Somersaults? That isn't my style at all. I'm a-"

Magnolia cut herself off, placing a dainty hand over her mouth as if she had almost inadvertently revealed a grand secret. A sly grin kept across her face.

"Just know that I don't have any need for physical exertion."

Alvarez shrugged and made his way to the door, Sturm and Magnolia soon following.

"Now then, it would behoove you boys to perform to the peak of your ability from this point on," said Magnolia, "I won't allow anyone to inhibit my chances of graduation."

Sturm shook his head with a quiet sigh. "Let the fun begin…"