The Capital station was packed.
Holden saw them the moment the train pulled into the platform. Crowds pressed against the barriers, held back by a line of Vanguard military police. Reporters with recording crystals floated above the front row, their blue lights blinking in the afternoon sun.
And behind the reporters were academy students. Dozens of them, wearing uniforms, whispering to each other with the barely contained energy of people who had been waiting for hours.
Team Soup stepped off the train.
The reaction was instant. The whispering stopped, then exploded into something louder and more frantic. A hundred people trying to talk at once, all trying to be the first to say what everyone was thinking.
"That's them! That's Team Soup!"
"Is that the girl with the frost-spear? She's Rank 2?"
"Look at the big one with the shield. He's huge."
"Holden Voss! Can we get a statement?"
