As Megan and the AI constructs created to assist her marched out of step through the imposing black metal doors. Bright lights temporarily blinded her for a moment and as the scene before them slowly took form as Megan took in her new surroundings as her eyes adjusted.
They were in a massive military parade ground surrounded by tall buildings built in a very gothic architectural style consisting of imposing grey brick, glass and black iron crafted in straight lines and sharp corners, giving off military precision vibes but also a place of learning and contemplation at the same time.
The ground was flat, square and matt black with white lines painted in grid patterns with seemingly random lines criss-crossing each other the purpose for which totally escaped Megan at this time. Tiled pathways surrounded the parade grounds in the centre, complete with raised garden beds filled with exotic plants and other flora were aesthetically placed within these paths and benches were available in strategic locations giving great views to mull over while resting between destinations or just to while away the time.
Currently, the parade ground was not empty as three large white tents had been erected next to each other. Megan and her companions were led by the Drill Sergeant to stand on ten x's printed on the ground in front of these tents and was instructed to stand there at attention. If Megan or one of the AIs were too slow or last in line they would find themselves being humiliatingly yelled at by the Drill Sergeant who although you never seemed to see him move appeared behind everyone whenever they made a mistake or were too slow, sometimes at the same time as he was yelling at one person, someone else would have him appear behind them to yell at them as they watched the other get yelled at. It was all quite disorientating and Megan began to suspect that this situation was purposely orchestrated to engender this feeling for some purpose she didn't understand yet.
Once the Drill Sergeant had them to something resembling a straight line and standing at attention, he proceeded to instruct them in that loud almost yelling voice, "You are now recruits in the Dauntless Empire Military Operations Branch or DE-MOB as we affectionately call it." The Drill Sergeant would pace in front of them while he lectured them, occasionally stopping and turning to face one of them as they stood trying to maintain the rigid attention stance he demanded. If anyone relaxed even a little the Drill Sergeant would pause, even if that person was not in his direct line of sight he would suddenly appear next to the poor person's ear and shout obscenities at them until they straightened up. He instructed them in military protocol and made them practice saluting until their arms ached.
Finally he relented and let them stand 'at ease' which to Megan seemed less 'at ease' and more 'slightly less difficult than at attention' and directed them one by one to enter the tent before them.
Megan cautiously entered the tent and was surprised at the size inside which appeared much bigger than the outside would indicate and found an extremely artificial looking robot attached to a large reclinable cushioned chair. The robot had no legs due to being attached to the chair but had four articulated arms featuring multiple joints and tools for cutting hair, the robot was topped off by a circular head with two cameras for eyes that would click and whine when focussing. The Drill Sergeant, who was standing in the room as she walked in confused her until she remembered this place was not real and multiple Drill Sergeant's kind of made sense now that she thought about it.
The Drill Sergeant looked at her with a very annoyed expression and barked, "Recruit Megan, what is the protocol when entering a room with a superior officer present!"
Realising her mistake Megan quickly came to attention and performed a perfect military salute. There was no doubt, the salute was flawless. The Drill Sergeant imperceptibly to anyone else's eyes but Megan's actually twitched!
Pretending she noticed nothing as the Drill Sergeant returned her salute and pointed at the chair, " Sit down Recruit Megan."
Megan dubiously sat in the chair not liking where this interaction was going but realising she was actually a little proud of her long golden hair that shined with an inner light and shifted with its own without external influence but again steeled her resolve, no place for vanity here, she needed this training and everything it could provide so she sat back and waited.
The robot hairdresser whirled to life with clicks and buzzing noises and an arm with a clipper descended upon her head. There were a few tense moments where the clippers did not manage to cut through the strands of her hair, and the robot had to turn up the speed and intensity until finally breaking through and starting on the next strand.
This was going to take a while. Or it would have if after a minute passed the hair that had previously been cut off had now regrown in full, even thicker and more luminous than before.
The Drill Sergeant appeared to have another of those imperceptible glitches and then handed Megan a fine mesh hairnet to cover and tie down her hair. He then directed her to the next tent by getting her to walk from the back of the current tent and pass some barriers directing her into the next.
The next tent consisted of a changing area with lockers and benches then a clear area before a sturdy looking barrier blocking off half the tent stretching from one wall to the other with an open window that was mostly covered with a metal mesh screen and had a sliding drawer underneath that looked like it could be used to pass objects through without being worried about theft or unruly recruit behaviour. Through the window another Drill Sergeant stood patiently waiting, Megan had to take a second look when she saw him, yes, definitely the same Drill Sergeant but wearing an entirely different uniform that was more of a military orientated apron than a proper uniform.
The Drill Sargeant looked up as Megan entered, smiled and spoke in a much more reasonable tone than Megan had heard him use so far, "Recruit Megan, welcome to the DE-MOB Q-Store, I am Quartermaster Baker or just 'Q' to save time. Now, Megan, time to be issued your first and last recruit attire you will wear for the duration of this training. The uniform is enchanted with Self-Repair, Self-Cleaning and Anti-Crease charm runes for your convenience. You can store your current clothing and accessories in the locker provided and you will have them issued back when the course has been completed."
Megan looked down at her current clothing consisting of a skintight replica of the Jump-Suite Suit she lost at the Pyramid of Purification which soon appeared from within her skin when she realised she had been naked at the time. Megan grabbed her 'kit' which consisted of a set of military bootcamp fatigues coloured in patterns of black and white in various shades and a bag of some miscellaneous items used for basic hygiene and a thick belt that had attachments to hang tools and equipment.
Megan grabbed the bag of miscellaneous items, the belt and then concentrated on her current clothing while studying the fatigues until, after a slight fuzziness completely changed into the exact shape and texture of the clothing in front of her. From behind the counter the Quartermaster appeared to have one of those 'freeze' moments then continued as if nothing had happened, "Very well, you need to hand over your Wrist-Comp and Ear-Comm so they can be upgraded to military specifications." The drawer under the counter Quartermaster Baker stood behind opened and Megan concentrated on removing her Wrist-Comp from her arm and the Ear-Comm from her ear and placed the unassuming rectangle device and glasses combo into the receptacle. The drawer slid back and the Quartermaster retrieved them and took them to a machine nearby and placed them inside a small opening on the top. A blue transparent screen popped up with the words and diagrams on it and the whole unit buzzed slightly for a few minutes. With a crisp beep and dramatic venting of steam the machine stopped buzzing and her upgraded Wrist-Comp and Ear-Comm dropped into a box placed in front of the machine.
Q passed the devices to Megan through the drawer under the counter, and she picked up the still warm devices and studied them closely. The devices didn't look much different apart from a DE-MOB logo which consisted of a stylised capital D with a golden lightning bolt stamped onto it. She slapped the Wrist-Comp to her arm, and it immediately sunk into the fabric of her fatigues into a spot expressly made for this. Then she gingerly placed the Ear-Comm into position and the eyeglasses flipped over her eyes and the device seamlessly sunk back into skin and Megan gasped at the difference an entirely new Heads-Up-Display presented, and messages scrolled past her vision.
Welcome to DE-MOB Info-net
SYNCING NEW HARDWARE...
Complete.
Installing DE-MOB military software...
ERROR - Silent Knight protocol engaged
Updating...
Complete.
UNI-NET access denied.
Megan noted the response from her HUD but as there was no new useful information supplied, she put that thought on hold as she marvelled at the new functionality. There was just so much more detailed information available. That and information was disseminated directly into her mind instantly. It would still mean she would need to actually think about the information to learn it properly, but it was available instantly to her if she wanted it. Every object in her vision came with an inspect option on her HUD and with a thought she would be able to identify what the object was and how to interact with it, this was an absolute game changer for her, no more wondering over mysterious objects and technology, instant gratification in the form of knowledge sent directly to her mind, perfect.
A slight vibration and unintrusive beep sounded and her HUD light up with a path and directions leading to the last tent. Following the instructions Megan moved on from the Quartermaster area and into tent next door which was quite roomy inside and had expensive looking machines and monitors lining the sides all seemingly connected to a large cylindrical glass containment chamber in the centre that looked like some sort of examination table but standing only. Megan noted the straps on the standing examination table in the chamber were more for comfort and positioning than for restraint which made Megan feel a little better about the whole thing if this setup was what she was thinking it was.
Sitting at one of the monitoring stations was another carbon copy of Drill Sergeant Atkinson wearing a white laboratory overcoat over his fatigues who looked up as Megan entered and adjusted a pair of wire reading glasses to the top of his military crewcut as he stood and explained, "Ah, Recruit Megan I presume, my designation is Major Igor and I am in charge of all medical examinations and recovery procedures within this training facility. You can just refer to me as 'Doc' if you wish as most people do or just my name if it makes you more comfortable."
He gestured to the cylinder in the centre of the room and asked, "Now, Recruit Megan, please step into the examination booth and I can get you strapped in so we can start the medical exam."
Megan stepped into the examination booth and stood next to the upright bed and Major Igor strapped her in which turned out to be a lot less distressing than Megan thought it would be, mainly due to the material looked like she could accidentally tear it just flexing let alone on purpose. Once strapped Major Igor returned to the console he was working on when Megan entered and started to enter instructions on a keyboard.
The examination bed behind Megan tilted so she was forced into position and stopped when she was not completely horizontal but close enough. The examination booth glass door closed and sealed Megan inside as robotic arms extended from underneath the bed. Various scanning devices beeped, flashed and swung around in strange angles and directions as Megan's body and cultivation was examined with the best technology the Doubtless Empire had at the time the Enemy defeated them.
The examination was not invasive at all, Megan could feel and see flows of energy amplified by her new enhanced vision supplied through her upgraded Ear-Comm but that did not mean she knew what the energy was doing, she allowed herself to just exist as the booth did its thing. Megan was then understandably startled when the room plunged into a deep red light and a sharp loud alarm sounded out as Major Igor sat up straight and started furiously typing at the keyboard and begun shouting at the monitor what sounded like gibberish to her but was likely just instruction codes to the system he was using.
Major Igor seemed quite agitated for a minute or two then shrugged like it was no big deal and explained to Megan, "I apologise Recruit Megan but our equipment seems to be experiencing a glitch as it appears to be measuring your potential as being beyond the metrics that are deemed to be impossible to reach for someone with your level of cultivation. I'll just need to recalibrate slightly, and then I will get you to continue through that passage there, " he said pointing to the other side of the tent where another entrance was situated, "as I have all the information I need to produce a report of your capabilities."
Megan noticed the AI construct having multiple 'moments' while advising her this and decided this common hesitation made by The Punisher AI is likely due to the analytical intelligences reacting and making changes on the fly to the content of the training as it learned more about her and what she could do, this was a custom enhanced level of difficulty set by Queen Goldenfeather herself after all. Megan straightened her spine, proud of her accomplishments so far, and strode forward through the exit of the tent preparing herself for the next hurdle to overcome, bootcamp!