When General Thaddeus Ross arrived at Quantico, the alarms had already fallen silent.
This time, for real.
But the base was anything but calm. The command center blazed with light, every officer's face grim. Their pride had been trampled. Someone had broken into their base, demolished a building, and walked away untouched. Worst of all—they had lost the target's trail.
"What do you mean, you lost him?" Ross growled.
The colonel swallowed. "South of the base, about twenty kilometers into the forest. We couldn't track him further. Helicopters can't descend at night over the trees."
Ross's glare could have burned through steel. "One man. Just one man—and you lost him."
The colonel winced. To cover himself, he replayed the surveillance feed. On the screen, a hooded figure blurred through dust and smoke, then leapt sky-high, vanishing into the forest. Ross's eyes widened. The jump was inhuman.
"Only the Gamma Lab was targeted?" Ross asked quietly.
"Yes, sir. He went straight for it. We thought he was a suicide bomber. Then, just when I was reporting to you… he burst out of the ruins."
Ross said nothing, just kept watching the loop of Hawk's escape. One man. Impossible speed. Superhuman agility. His eyes glinted.
"Any other camera angles?"
"Technical is combing through, sir."
"Tracking?"
"…No. He vanished in the forest."
Ross's face darkened, then he turned sharply. "Dig out the Gamma Lab. Now."
Machines rolled in. Soldiers cleared rubble, pulling bodies out one by one. Some corpses were mangled beyond recognition; those with intact faces were frozen in masks of fear and disbelief. Ross scanned them coldly.
"Top compensation," he ordered. "I'll sign the papers myself."
Hours passed. By dawn, the buried underground passage had been unearthed. Scientists rushed inside, only to stagger out moments later, pale with shock.
"Gone. It's all gone."
"Everything's been drained!"
"How? How could he consume all of it?"
"And why hasn't he mutated like Banner or Blonsky?"
Their voices rose in disbelief. Ross's eyes narrowed, then gleamed.
"Find him," he ordered his adjutant, voice like steel. "At any cost."
The man saluted, face tense. "Yes, sir."
Ross stood at the edge of the ruin, fists clenched. Whoever this intruder was, he wasn't just a threat. He was an opportunity.
And Ross had no intention of letting him slip away.
…
(End of Chapter)
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