Zayn froze as he saw the system's message pop up right before his eyes. But before he could respond, another voice cut through.
"Z, are you good, man?" a calm, tall but thin man spoke, his white hair sitting lazily atop his head.
He was Levi Kane—one of the bionics and the uncrowned leader. The experiment had now endowed him with unimaginable hearing. He was the first to ask how Zayn was doing, probably because he could hear his heartbeat.
"Shit, I forgot about that. I have to calm myself down."
He shot a fake wry smile as he turned his head to another figure staring at him—Emily Carter. The shortest, and yet the most dangerous amongst them, her red eyes trailed Zayn up and down.
The experiment gave her the ability of super sight—she could nail a fly to a tree from five miles away with just a slingshot.
And no doubt, she could see the sweat beginning to form at the pore on top of Zayn's forehead. If there were a way to stop sweating, he would.
He scratched the back of his head as he nervously said,
"Yeah, I'm good."
Zion then guided him onto the couch. It was a completely different couch from the rest of the floor—it felt more like a living room, with friends on the sofa.
They had all enlisted together and were all chosen together to be the first bionics, thinking they would be the winning edge in the war.
After a few banters here and there, the mood turned sour as heavy footsteps echoed through the hall. All the scientists stopped what they were doing and stood at attention.
Captain Jones—a man in his forties with a graying brown beard, always bearing a serious look on his face—walked in. He was the commander of the Bionic Project.
Behind him were Luca Armandez and Rachel Williams, the remaining two bionics—of Touch and Smell. They were also Privates, but kissed the Captain's ass so much you'd think he was their god.
As the room turned quiet, they all stared at him. He waved his hand as a silent gesture to continue.
He walked in front of them, with everyone now seated, as he drew a fold-up chair and dragged it across the floor—maybe for dramatic flair.
He finally sat, folding his arms as his gaze trailed across each one of them.
"You are the Aurelian Ascendancy's hope when this supposed war goes to shit."
His eyes swept over them once more.
"Alright, let's get down to business."
Zion kept his eyes plastered on him, hands in his pockets, as sweat trickled down his forehead. A thought popped into his head:
Do I just jump them here?
The thought was quickly shut down by the system message.
[ABSOLUTELY NOT. Not only would you not succeed and die, but you would lose all chances of making it to the Generals.]
So how the hell am I supposed to kill them all?
[Stealth. You're a soldier. Be a soldier.]
Nice.
"Callahan!"
The Captain's scream jolted him out of thought, as all eyes now turned in his direction—particularly Levi Kane, who was boring a hole through him.
"Sir, yes sir!" he screamed with enthusiasm.
People were suspicious in this era.
The Captain continued, "While we might not be at war yet, the chances and likelihood increase by the second, and so I need two of you to follow me for a peace summit between us, the Echelon Syndicate, and the Zephyrite Confederacy."
These were the three leading factions in this world—the heads butting against each other for the start of a war again.
When World War III ended, the world's population was more than halved, as the invention of the Lunacrest—a laser death ray—wiped off half of the Earth.
After that, the war subsided as every nation—even the ones who fired it—were affected by poisonous gas residue. And so, they came together to form the New World Order: a collection of all the remaining powerful nations on Earth.
But that was laid to waste when people dragged for power amongst themselves, which led to the next—World War IV.
Almost a joke, as the fourth one was just fought at home and with nuclear weapons, robots, and AI. People thought that having robots fight for them would reduce fatalities and save lives.
They soon realized that if no one was on the battlefield—fighting and shedding blood—then no one really saw it as a war. It felt more like a video game... until the creation of Redlace Dew.
A poison that merged the DNAs of anything and everything in the environment and killed them in under five minutes. It turned them into monsters and made the areas completely unbearable. But it was always clear when it was in the air—carried by a thick, dew-light fog.
The remaining factions standing had to come together and figure out how to save what was left of their population. And so, they built a wall around themselves to isolate from the infected.
"And here we are again. After every war, they never learn," Zayn thought to himself as he listened to the Captain.
The Captain continued, "And so, Callahan and Williams, get ready. We move out tonight."
They both gave a slight nod as the Captain dismissed them all and walked away.
"Damn… a peace summit? Shit might actually be getting real," Zion whispered to Zayn.
Although Zion had the strength to crush an armored truck, he was fairly the most gentle of them.
Zayn just patted him on the shoulder and gave him a slight nod before walking out and heading to his quarters.
As Bionics, although they were still Privates, they were given some slight advantages—like private rooms.
As Zayn finally got to his room, he paced about, contemplating the weight of everything in front of him.
Yes, he was a soldier who had killed before—but those were enemies and opposition. This time, it was his comrades and friends.
He sat at the edge of his bed as he got dressed. Not long after, a rhythmic three-bump knock echoed from his door.
He stood to go answer it—it was no doubt Levi, fully dressed as if going for war.
They left the room.
The garage was where they met, filled with tens to hundreds of jets and futuristic cars, as soldiers still littered the place.
They met the Captain, along with low-level soldiers, as they all jumped into the plane and it took off.
As the plane was about to cross the edge of the base, the blue invisible force field rippled—as if creating a hole—allowing them to slip through.
As they zooped through the air like paper, Zayn focused his eyes on the gigantic walls that surrounded a place in the distance.
He looked around before realizing—no windows. Although the fog had long been contained, the world preferred to be on the safe side and not risk contamination.
****
They kept flying, what felt like minutes now, as Zayn's view remained locked dead ahead.
And then he saw it.
In the distance—the beginnings of a fortress-like building. Still too far away to make out much, but it was huge. It was, without a doubt, the venue of the peace summit—one of the few places still owned and controlled by the three factions: The Iron Hallow.
Zayn brought his face down as he let out a deep sigh.
And that was when it happened.
Ding!
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[NEW OBJECTIVE]
KILL ANOTHER FACTION'S SOLDIER TONIGHT.
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