One week later…

Phrixus is called to a briefing session to discuss his next task.

“Corporal Phrixus,” says Colonel Ethan Carver, “we have a new assignment for you. The Red Confederacy has begun to deploy more advanced armaments to their battles, like the drones you saw in action at the Korea Strait. We have limited but crucial intel about their Superhuman research projects to improve their soldiers, but as far as we can tell they haven’t had any success with their endeavors.”

“I thought the Omicron Stars only affect one person and then they go dormant,” Phrixus says. “Are they using the residual energy in any way?”

After a brief pause, the Colonel says, “This is classified information, but we have also been trying to harness the small traces of particles they emit in an attempt to improve our soldiers. The results were disastrous, the volunteers who decided to take part in the experiment suffered unforeseen and detrimental conditions, most of them died having a gruesome appearance. We realized we are very, very far away from understanding and controlling such mysterious and risky material, so we ceased all investigation regarding human enhancement with the Omicron Stars. But the Red Confederacy are still pursuing the goal to achieve the perfect soldier, even with the dangers it carries.”

“What is my mission, sir?”

“According to our intel, supposedly there is a hidden Superhuman research lab under confederate control on the eastern coast of Yemen. I hope they haven’t made any breakthroughs so far, but we need all the investigation files and data to know the status of their experiments.”

“Retrieval of data, I’ll do it.”

“Perfect, since we don’t have any more additional information about the facility you will have to exercise caution when you are inside. You will depart in three hours, good luck. Dismissed.”

***

2 days later, Yemen, 3:57 am…

In a transport aircraft, Phrixus meditates while he awaits the signal to deploy. It has been a long trip to Yemen. Yemen is currently affiliated with the Red Confederacy to thwart the civilian unrest in the country. A loud bleep followed by a red light turning on indicates it is time to go, the cargo door slowly opens. Taking a running stance, he prepares himself, once it’s completely open he sprints and jumps out of the plane and falls at high speed. He carries basic equipment for the mission, leaving his pollaxe and any cumbersome gear behind. When he reaches the right altitude he pulls out his parachute, slowly landing in a desert. Getting rid of the parachute bag and any unnecessary stuff, he heads for the area of operation, which is not too far from the landing point.

***

14 minutes later…

After a long walk, Phrixus arrives in a small town, which is completely abandoned and with signs of violence everywhere: gun holes in the walls, bullet casings everywhere, rotting human corpses and buildings partially damaged by explosives are just some of the examples of what happened to this village. Checking his map, it shows the hidden facility is supposed be to the west of the town. Half an hour later, he arrives at an isolated shack which is the alleged lab.

“There’s more than meets the eye…” Phrixus thinks.

He goes in through the main entrance, and it looks like an old car workshop. Junk and trash are littered everywhere, the large machines and metal storage racks are partially corroded and deteriorated. There is a car stripped completely of any parts, leaving only a rusted shell behind, Phrixus begins to search through the place for any relevant hints. Minutes later after setting aside some rubble he finds a hatch; the trick will be unlocking it since there is not any obvious mechanism to open it. With a flashlight in hand he scans the entire room for any clue. It takes some minutes until he finds some kind of engraving in a corner, it depicts a car with three marks: two squares followed by an X. Checking the carcass of a vehicle, he finds a small console with eight buttons, each of them with different symbols on it, and recalling the hidden drawing he presses the square button twice and then the X button.

From behind him he hears a clicking sound which confirms the hatch has been unlocked, it reveals a staircase which leads down to a circular room. At the far end there is a metal door, and getting closer he finds it is slightly open. Due the decay of the metallic components it makes a loud creaking sound when is opened.

“I’ll pretend nobody heard it…” mumbles Phrixus.

Getting past the metal gate, the lab is in complete darkness. Exploring the place with his flashlight, he finds it is completely deserted. This is not the advanced lab he was expecting to find, it looks more like a makeshift workshop to perform homemade chemistry projects, maybe the intel is wrong? Going further ahead he finds another door which has a hi-tech appearance. He hopes the real laboratory is hidden inside. By the time he pulls the door, Phrixus hears some sounds above, like mechanical devices activating. Suddenly the room is flooded with some kind of gas, causing Phrixus to get dizzy, he tries to leave the room but receives an electric shock from the floor. The combination of the hazards causes him to fall unconscious…

***

Unknown place, 7:11 am…

Slowly gathering his senses, Phrixus wakes up and recovers from the stupor. He is unable to see anything and it is considerably hard to breathe as he has a black cloth bag covering his entire head. He feels his wrists tied and hanging up from the ceiling. He feels the cold of the place as he is currently shirtless, and he hears an aggressive conversation in a foreign language. Using his neural sensing he can discern four people’s nervous system lining as purple silhouettes, one of them is being brutally beaten down while one of them is seated observing the show. Phrixus observes as the victim outline begins to fade away, until it extinguishes completely, like a candle’s flame winking out. From there the dying man is dragged away by his executioner. The other one stands up and walks toward Phrixus and removes his hood, he studies Phrixus while maintaining an uneasy calm, after that he speaks.

“A convenient bait for those who seek the secrets of our research about the new breed of humans, the Vanguard of the Atlantic prefers machines over evolution… that is what will decide the outcome of this war and we have it in our grasp, but our course, we need to know anything about their plans…” He signals his assistant to bring something while he heads to a nearby table covered in a blanket. When he removes it, there are torture implements. He grabs a scalpel and approaches Phrixus. “I hear you are resilient and strong against most everything but still…” He makes a small laceration to his chest. “You still bleed like a man. I bet I can cut you faster than you can heal. You can avoid a lot of pain if you tell me everything…”

Phrixus only maintains an unconcerned stare and a defiant silence as an answer, he calmly observes as the interrogator’s assistant brings a brazier with a pot holding boiling water.

“Well then, let’s get started…” says his inquisitor, putting the black hood over Phrixus.

***

3 minutes of arduous interrogation later…

The interrogator used all his available options to get information from Phrixus with no results. It seems Phrixus was completely deadened all the time as he remained muted between the questions and the beating. The inquisitor decides to stop for the moment.

He removes the hood. “You are a tough one, I’ve interrogated many in the past but you… you have broken my streak… no matter, everybody has his limits and in the end, you will tell me the plans of the VOA, I will return later.” His interrogator promptly exchanges some words with a nearby guard and leaves the room, only the guard remains to keep an eye on Phrixus.

Remaining strung up by his wrists he calls the soldier watching over him.

“Don’t you want to introduce yourself?” Phrixus says.

The guard, unsure how to proceed, gets closer to him while maintaining a safe distance. “I’m not supposed to talk with you… uh, you know… boss’s orders.”

“Hey, you’re a soldier like me. What’s wrong with a friendly conversation? He’s not here right now, what do you think about the superhumans?” says Phrixus.

“The people with powers? They got very lucky I’d say… being stronger, faster, better at everything… the Red Confederacy said they are making breakthroughs in that area, they’ll soon begin to enhance all their soldiers to be equally as capable as them. I must tell you… I can’t wait to get my turn, it’s gonna be great.” The soldier sounds enthusiastic.

“Yeah… crushing a lot of things with your bare hands, spit out bullets like nothing, run as fast as a racing car, you’ll never get bored.”

“But… on second thought, I might prefer to stay as a common trooper instead of being in the Red Confederacy Superhuman Special Forces… what did they say it was called again?” He pauses briefly. “Right! Chimera Unit! They are the best soldiers in the alliance, they are mostly sent to the frontline instead of… well, doing what you were doing. It is a burden I’d not like to take, always sent from battle to battle until the job gets done, that is too--” He stops himself from talking then. “Umm… I think I have spoken enough, I should go back to my post…”

“What’s the hurry? We were just getting along. Wanna see a cool pistol trick? Take off my chains,” says Phrixus.

“I… I can’t do that… but… I shouldn’t be doing this… but alright.” The guard looked somewhat woozy.

As he pulls up a lever connected to Phrixus’s restraints, Phrixus falls to the floor, and without the support of his weight he removes his shackles and stands up.

“You have been good to me, that means something.” He gently knocks him unconscious, dropping him to the floor with a quick jab. “Nothing like mind skullduggery while they don’t expect it.” With that, Phrixus grabs the guard’s carbine and ammunition, from there he suddenly notices he was being watched by a security camera.

“You already know where I am.” Phrixus destroys the camera with one shot.

It doesn’t take a long time before the alarm sounds, without any idea of the facility layout he prepares himself for anything. Getting out from the torture room he finds two paths, to the left and the right. Choosing the latter, he encounters a few guards which are promptly taken down with his gun.

Phrixus arrives in a place that appears to be both storage and locker room, one trunk in particular snags his interest as it has a label that says, “Prisoners’ belongings.” Opening the container, he finds his radio equipment, and decides that pulling the rest of his stuff out of this jumble of belongings would be a waste of time. He decides to turn around and go to the other way next. More guards approach his path and he kills them quickly while receiving minor wounds. As Phrixus reaches the end of the pathway he comes to a large hall with many soldiers awaiting him and taking aim. Phrixus tosses his gun aside and stays still.

“Surrender is no longer an option now.” His interrogator spoke by the room’s megaphone.

“I’m coming for you!” says Phrixus.

Focusing and harnessing a large quantity of psychic power he sends a telepathic attack against all the soldiers before they can open fire. All of them are induced with madness which makes them act in unpredictable ways; a part of them cower in fear while some of them, completely frenzied, open fire against each other and a few remaining are disoriented and unable to perceive what is happening. Releasing such taxing power causes him a moderate and painful cramp-like strain behind his neck and back but the combat adrenaline pushes him forward.

Swiftly picking up his carbine he dispatches all the soldiers in their most vulnerable moment. Then the hall is clear, revealing two more paths, one to the exit and another to the officer’s room. Having a score to settle, he heads to the interrogator’s office. Phrixus encounters more guards in his path but it is nothing he can’t handle, the last guard turns out to be a superhuman and rushes against Phrixus. It quickly becomes hand-to-hand combat as he proves to be hard to get rid of. After some minutes, his aggressor pulls out a knife to try to end the fight now and both are locked a struggle. With a tactical maneuver Phrixus manages to disarm his attacker and grabs his knife, stabbing him three times in the chest until he drops to the ground. His only concern is behind the door, which is the office. Kicking it open he is received by gunshots which he deflects with his psychic shielding, grabbing a nearby chair he throws it against his interrogator, stunning him in the process as he falls to his knees. Trying to get his pistol he is suddenly grabbed by the neck and pushed to a wall.

“The tables have turned.” Phrixus holds the interrogator down.

“You won’t find anything important here, while you were causing trouble I’ve notified my fellow associates about you as a high-profile target.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“The best of the Red Confederacy will hunt you down…”

“The Chimera Unit I presume, I expect a good game, also since you are the top dog of the place and caused me a lot of discomfort you better have something interesting in your head… and this will kill you, too bad.”

Phrixus infiltrates in the mind of his interrogator and gathers all his thoughts and memories. Once he is done, he proceeds to cannibalize his brain’s electric energy, which executes him in the process.

“You are a spymaster… one of some secret services of the Red Confederacy, you were in a real research lab studying superhumans in Libya, but… there is…” For some reason Phrixus feels dizzy as he tries to comprehend the thoughts. “This lab… a very important one… I have to report this now.”

Phrixus goes to the exit of the hidden compound where he is currently, there are no more guards in the place during the run. The door that shows the exit leads to a manhole above. Climbing up the stairs and opening the hatch Phrixus finds himself in a mountainous zone, with the radio equipment he calls for assistance.

“Headquarters, Corporal Phrixus reporting in, do you copy? Over.”

“This is HQ.”

“I’m currently in an unknown location with important intel, requesting immediate evac.”

“Stand by for extraction point designation.” Some seconds pass. “Corporal, you have to head west from where you are at 350 meters, there’s a cliff there. A transport helicopter will arrive to pick you up, ETA 34 minutes.”

“Copy that HQ, Corporal Phrixus out.”

With his instructions clear, Phrixus heads out to the appointed area to wait. The trip turns out to be nothing uncommon; no hostiles or angry animals stalking him. It takes some minutes of jogging until he reaches the cliff where the chopper will arrive.

“I hope this radio has some kind of tracking unit embedded in it…” Phrixus says.

Another few minutes pass, and finally he can hear his transport arrive. As it lands, it drops its cloaking device.

“You are in a barren area in Yemen, the real action is taking place in the other corner of the country, what brought you here?” says one of the passengers as Phrixus gets in.

“A well-placed trap put me in a secret hideout of confederate spies,” Phrixus says. “They are operating in desert places like this.”

“Looks like you got very lucky to get out alive.”

***

Warren Air Force Base, one day later, 2:41 pm…

Phrixus is currently explaining everything that happened since the beginning of the mission to Colonel Ethan Carver, who is surprised by the sudden turn the operation has taken.

“…it was a decoy to lure potential trackers in for interrogation, I have to talk about this with my superiors later, this faulty intel we acquired was a premeditated ploy from the reds,” Carver says and sighs for a moment. “I owe you an apology Corporal, our imprudence almost cost your life, but in the end, you managed not only to escape but pinpoint the actual research lab. We have a chance to find the status of their development programs once for all. By the coordinates you provided it is at the northwestern area of Libya, currently a hot zone occupied by the Red Confederacy and insurgent groups, a small task force should be enough. Since you have the passcodes to get in there, we want you to lead the squadron and retrieve any data inside and if possible, take any personnel working in the lab for extraction. You will go tomorrow at 06:00 hours. Dismissed.”

***

2 hours later…

After debriefing, Phrixus gives Roberth and Valeria a call.

“Be careful mate,” Phrixus tells Roberth. “You know I can see you with the hidden camera in the radio equipment in my lair, don’t try anything silly with Valeria… well not really, go and do something amusing.”

“We have been talking about you, how’s life out there?” says Roberth.

“Oh you know the usual, battles to fight, secret documents to steal, getting caught and interrogated in the process…”

“Wait, did you get captured? Don’t tell me they tortured you or something.”

“Well yeah I got a bit beaten up but they never managed to break me. I can feel pain, but I can transform the way I perceive it. Instead of the usual unpleasant experience, I get an invigorating feeling. I’m not some kind of masochist but I can use the pain as a way to be empowered, my psychic skills get stronger temporarily as an example, that’s how I managed to escape.”

“I should not tell Valeria about that incident of yours, glad to know you are still in one piece. You should probably know that we wiped out a VRA camp far from here, they are still causing trouble in the country so we expect they will come here soon, they really hate you.”

“Damn shame I am not there to put ‘em in their place, find anything interesting in that camp?”

“Well, Valeria found some Kevlar vests and a military uniform to create her battle suit, also she is becoming some kind of black widow spider, not literally speaking.”

“Does she inject poison or something?”

“Not from her teeth, fortunately. She let herself be bitten by a spider and thinks it is possible she can with her fingernails, can you send some dosages of anti-venom here just in case?”

“I’ll do that. Where’s Valeria now?

“She went out recently to buy fast food, it will take like twenty minutes for her to come back.”

“Bro, I crave something deep-fried, the MREs and army food is OK, but I need something more substantial.”

“I hope you come back soon pal, and we can live our lives like the old times.”

“Old times…”