“But! We can’t rescue him yet.” Hook told them. “He is a concentration camp in the North.”

“Why isn’t he dead? He’s been on TV more than enough times for them to have a dossier on him.” Thompson said shaking his head.

“Body double got killed instead of him.” G said shaking her head sadly.

“So, what’s the holdup?” Emily asked Hook.

“We know he is in a concentration camp, we just don’t know which one.” He told her.

That made Emily pause. She knew that there were at least two big concentration camps with who knows how many smaller ones. They were brutal places with little food and people were often worked to death. She winced as she thought of the quiet man in that kind of place. Then she frowned.

“Why don’t he leave. He can time stop and just walk out?” Thompson asked.

“Because that’s all he can do.” Emily found herself answering.

‘What?” Thompson asked confused.

“He can stop time, but he’s not super strong or anything like that. If you chain him up he’s done.” She told him.

“If you know, how, he is easily countered.” Hook said agreeing with her. “Same with all supers.”

“How would you counter me?” Emily asked snidely.

“SK round point-blank range. You can survive a near miss, but not a direct hit.” He told her without any emotion. “I would put a cannon behind a door and wait for you to open it. Boom dead. Or place an SK mine in your bunk. I don’t know, maybe I would get creative.”

“Yeah okay, enough. You guys have an escort mission. We need intel up North. This is where you guys are going.” G said pointing at a map that was under some hard plastic by the table in the middle of the room.

Emily sighed. “Just another escort mission.” She thought to herself and looked at the map. She frowned at the distance. G wanted them to escort the next group past the DMZ line. She listened as G outlined away across the heavily mined DMZ. Emily took out a small notebook and took notes. The mission was going to take a while.

After gathering up the five people they were escorting Thompson and she made their way out of the bunker. It took them a week to get to the DMZ. The heavily fortified line between the old North Korea and South Korea. It took them most of the night to weave their way through the DMZ and make it to a safeish place just north. They crossed during the night using night vision goggles so they rested until noon then pressed on.

Four days later they reached the small farming town that was their target. The Five South Koreans snuck in that night. Emily and Thompson waited until the following night to make sure that there were no problems before they headed back to the bunker. They made better time on the way back, but it still took them nearly a week to arrive at the bunker. They were given a day off then G sent them on their next escort mission back up past the DMZ.

Nearly two months later they got word where Si-Woo was being held. The intel suggested that he was being held in one of the smaller newer concentration camps in the far north. Warrant Officer Coleman put together a full ten special ops team for the rescue. Emily and Thompson had just come back from an intel collection mission when they were told to report to the armory.

“Gather round,” Coleman said once everyone arrived. Emily had a big bowl of scrambled eggs that she was shoveling into her mouth. She had crushed up some bacon and mixed it with the eggs. She had no idea where they got the bacon from, but she was glad they did.

“Hook is lead on this. Go ahead, Hook.” The Warrant Office told him stepping back.

“We go with two squads. G, you have first squad. Brode, you got second. Never, you’re in first squad and Penguin you’re in second.” Hook said pointing at everyone he was calling out. He divided the rest of the people into the two squads. There were a few people he left out. Most notably was Yrawl.

“Sorry, Yrawl we need you here. You’re the only healer we have.” Warrant Officer Coleman said sadly.

“Never will take the lead. If she falls then Thompson is up.” Hook said looking down a the map. Emily noted that he had put Thompson in the second group. “They have the most experience getting past the DMZ.” He told them. Emily nodded her head in understanding.

“Glad you agree, Never.” Hook said acidly.

“Thanks, Top,” Emily replied with a smile. To her surprise Hook smiled in return.

“Supers.” Hook muttered as his smile faded away. Coleman chuckled at Hook's comment. “Okay, the camp is here. We make our way through the DMZ here. We scout the camp before we raid it. Take what you can carry and have at least three week supply in your kit.”

“How we extracting and how many are we taking with us?” Brode asked stepping closer to see the map better.

“We take any supers and military personnel. The rest will have to fend for themselves.” Hook said looking up from the map.

“That’s dark, Top. You know they won’t survive on their own.” Brode said sadly.

“There is no way we can take everyone and still make it back, Brode.” Hook replied with heat in his voice.

“So, we just leave them?” Thompson asked. “It would be kinder if we just killed them in the raid.”

“People, this is war, and we are vastly outnumbered. Worse, they have far more supers than we do, and they can make more. We only take those who can make it. We only take those that can fight. Anyone else is a liability. If we fail then this country has no hope for the future.” He told them.

“If you hadn't noticed the snow is not going away. It’s spring, but the snow is still falling. The force field is trapping the cold in.” Warrant officer Coleman said tiredly.

“We were given a timeline by some creepy lady in a strip club. Seems we have less than two years to take down the forcefield or we all die. This war is going to get very dark, people. We are going to do some very shady things to survive. If we have to, we will leave people behind to die if we want to survive. I’m sorry, but that’s just how it’s going to be.” First Sergeant Hook said sounding almost human. “Suck it up and move on.” He said after a few quiet seconds sounding like his old self again.

“Yes, First Sergeant?” Coleman said in a steely voice.

“Yes, First Sergeant!” Emily yelled along with her company.

“Those of you going, load up. We leave in two hours.” Hook told them.

Two hours later Emily led the group out of the bunker. She had her big rucksack on. She loaded it up with a lot of extra supplies for their trip back. The trip to the DMZ with the company took slightly less than a week. They traveled during the night and slept during the day. Emily mostly stayed awake on watch, keeping her friends safe.

The trip through the DMZ had almost become routine. Emily led her company through the minefield at night. She kept going for another six miles before Hook called for her to stop so that the company could rest. They rested until the following night. A snowstorm had started that afternoon and got steadily worse until late that night. Then it got really cold. The top part of the snow froze over. Emily blazed a trail through the snow and led her company to an abandoned brick building. They took cover for the rest of the night out of the wind.

The morning saw the sun shining brightly, but the wind was blowing hard. Hook made them leave their shelter and continue on. Emily led them through the day always heading towards her destination. Hook stopped them that night and they built snow shelters. That night the temperature dropped so far that their breath froze on their sky masks turning them white from the black color they normally were. They stayed the night and moved on in the morning.

They reached the camp two days later. It had not snowed again but the cold weather had not let up. Emily stopped at the edge of the woods near the camp. She could see white smoke rising from the camp and people coming and going from a large building.

They made camp deeper in the woods. Hook sent several patrols out to scout the camp until night fell. He had Emily stay and guard the main group while the patrols were out. That night he sent out two groups to watch the camp while the rest of the company rested. Emily spent the night at a small grove of trees watching the camp. She was called back just before the sun rose. Hook had her rest while the rest of the company kept a watch over the camp.

Just before sunset Hook gathered the company together. “Most of the guards there are low-level Brutes.” He told them in their snow shelter. “That makes this interesting.”

He pointed to the map he had spread out on a blanket. “We hit them from two sides. Never and Penguin goes in with first squad. We will hit them right at the gate. G, give your SK cannon to second squad. Second squad, you take the D side of the camp here.” Hook said pointing to the left side of the camp’s main gate.

“While First squad hits the camp you hit them from the side. Your primary targets are any supers that look can’t be taken down with normal weapons. Secondary targets are weapon nests but don’t hold your fire looking for targets. Fire for effect” He told them. “Once first squad is inside, leave the cannons and make your way in the camp to support first squad. We clear the buildings with the most enemies first then we go clockwise and clear the rest of the buildings. Questions?”

There were no questions. They waited until late in the night. It was a very dark night as the clouds hid the moon. There was a hundred yard clearing around the camp that they had to make through. There were lights on the camp walls that were shining into the night making it hard to spot targets. The light shined on about fifty feet from the camp though. The camp was surrounded by razor wire walls that were attached to wooden poles and rose about thirty feet in the air. The front gate was blocked by razor wire that was attached to wooden posts. The plan was for Emily or Penguin toss them out of the way.

At Hooks signal, Emily and Penguin charge across down the middle of the dirt road that led right up to the front gate. The rest of the squad ran behind and on either side of them. To Emily’s surprise, she got to the first razor wire barrier and was able to toss it away before anyone from the camp started to do anything. She reached the second barrier and tossed it before she heard the first sounds of gunfire from the camp. It was quickly followed by gunfire from her company. The lights went out first then people started to cry out in pain.

She made it to the third and last barrier before anyone in her squad reached her. She tossed it away just as Penguin ran past her. He pulled out the sword that she had given him and slashed the gate with it cutting the chain off. She ran up beside him and pulled the gates open as soon as he was done.

There was a loud explosion that lit the night sky and a machine gun nest on the wall was blown to smithereens. A second explosion followed the first and the last machine gun nest on the wall was gone. Emily ignored them and raised her new rifle up and pulled the trigger as enemy soldiers came running out of the building to her left. A lot of soldiers fell, a few kept on coming.

Emily dropped her rifle so that it swung around her back and she pulled Righteous and her little black knife out. She took a deep breath and charged the oncoming soldiers. She crashed into first person with her shoulder sending him flying backward. She spun around swinging Righteous around and took the arm off a second soldier. Her little black knife found a home in his chest killing him. She pulled her knife out and spun around again to kill a bloody looking female super. Righteous crashed into her head killing the Korean woman. Emily moved past her and swung at the next soldier.

She saw Penguin rush past her to engage a super who was running at her. He swung his sword and made a big slash across the man’s chest. Penguin was strong but he was not a Main. He nearly died as a super raise a shotgun nearly point black range and fired. Penguin duck below the gun and slashed at the enemy soldier dropping him.

“Gun!” She yelled at him running past him. She didn’t see him pick the gun up, but a few seconds later she heard the shotgun fire and an enemy soldier in front of her was thrown backward. The super was killed outright, so Emily slammed her tomahawk down on the fallen soldier as she passed him.

She heard Penguin fire a few more times before it he went quiet. She saw a large crowd of enemy soldiers exiting the building. She raced towards them. She dove into the large group of enemy soldiers knocking them backward. She couldn’t keep her balance and fell with them. The soldier she landed on the enemy soldier who screamed in agony. She silenced him with her little black knife. She jumped up before any of the soldiers and started swinging Righteous back and forth. Only one of the soldiers in the back was able to get to his feet. He turned to run but Emily jump and landed on his back driving her elbow into his back. She heard a loud wet crack and the soldier went limp. She stabbed him anyway to make sure, but he didn’t even twitch.

She stood up looking for more enemies and saw that her squad had followed her into the camp. They were taking up positions to guard her and Penguin. Penguin was standing over a dead soldier pulling his sword out of the body. She looked around but didn’t see any more enemy soldiers.

“Never!” Someone called to her.

She turned around and spotted G pointing at a building. “Door!” She yelled at Emily.

Emily nodded to her and ran towards the building that G had indicated. She stopped beside the door so that G and Wilson could line up on the other side of the door. G nodded and Emily spun around and slapped the doorknob sending it flying into the room behind the door. There was a cry of pain from behind the door, but Emily ignored it and kicked the door in.

G stepped past her and started firing into the room. Wilson followed her and Emily went in last. G had peeled off to the left while Wilson went right. Emily walked past both of them with her rifle raised to the ready.

The room was a small room that had a small desk off to the right and with an honest to god typewriter on it. There was a picture of the King and his son, the fat man. Emily took it all in with a quick peek around before she headed to the second door. She could hear someone frantically yelling behind it.

She kicked the door sending it off its hinges. It landed with a bang, flat on the floor. Beyond the door was a man talking on a really ancient-looking radio. He stopped talking to look at them. Emily pulled the trigger twice and the man dropped to the ground. She swept the room but didn’t see anyone else.

“Wilson me with this.” G said as she walked past Emily.

“Why? That’s old as dirt.” He said as G started unplugging the radio.

“How many working radios have you seen since the wall went up?” G asked him as she pulled wires out of the huge box radio.

“None,” Wilson said sounding surprised as he slung his rifle over his shoulder and moved to her. Emily moved to the door and stood guard.

By the time they were done and left the building the fighting was over. Hook spotted them and started walking towards them. “Never, guard them.” He said pointing to a group of four prisoners. “G what the hell are you carrying?”

“Working radio.” G replied. “We have to go. They were calling for reinforcements.”

Emily looked around for Si-Woo but didn’t see him. She walked up to the group and slowly turned around looking for both the Korean Main and any enemies. She didn’t see either.

“It’s good to see you again, Never.” One of the prisoners said. Emily turned towards him frowning. The man who greeted her was an older Korean man who was holding a second Korean man up. He was smiling at her.

“I’m sorry, senior, but I don’t remember you.” She told him using a formal version of talking to a nonfamily elderly man.

“I’m in disguise. It’s me Si-Woo.” The old man said. “This is Chan-hoon my Super Force teammate. He has the ability to disguise himself and others.”

Emily looked at the pair not sure she believed them. “Greetings.” The one called Chan-hoon said bowing slightly. Emily bobbed her head in reply.

“Do fights still breakout over beef stroganoff?” The one who introduced himself as Si-Woo asked.

Emily grinned at the elderly looking man. “Yes. Just like fish soup.” She told him smiling so hard that her face started hurting. “Damn glad to see you Si-Woo.”

“And you as well.” He replied.

“People, let's move. We have incoming.” Hook yelled. Penguin took over guarding Si-Woo so Emily could lead her company out of the prison camp. She looked back to see that they left nearly everyone else behind. Some made a run for it, but she saw quite a few go back into a building. Those that tried to follow them were driven off when Hook started shooting in the air yelling at them to go away. They desperately tried to bargain with Hook, but he was adamant that they couldn’t follow them. She turned away feeling sick to her stomach. She desperately hoped that some of them would escape with their lives, but knew that the odds were against them.

The trip back took two weeks because a second snow storm that lasted an entire day hit them about just before the DMZ. The crossing had been harder than usual because the North Koreans were especially alert. They had to dodge patrols for days once they passed the DMZ. When they got back to the bunker they were given the next day off. Emily had nightmares about the people she had left behind for months afterward.