"Mission Complete. Initiating Return Sequence," a robotic voice chimed in Joan's head. "Beginning Countdown."
The numbers flashed before Joan's eyes.
10.
9.
Joan closed her eyes. She had yet another successful mission, yet another dead victim, yet another pair of glassy, dead eyes that'd haunt her dreams at night.
5.
4.
How long had she been alive? How many missions had she gone on? Joan had lost count long ago. She had no recollection of what she was like before she turned into a superhuman, no recollection of her humanity.
She wasn't even quite sure if she had parents. But she didn't care. As long as she completed the missions, she would be satisfied. As long as her country treasured her, she would be satisfied.
Who needed love? Everyone dies in the end—everyone except Joan Oaks.
2.
1.
Joan shut her eyes as she felt an excruciating pain rip through her body, tear at her joints, and grind down on her nerves. It was the same pain she experienced after every mission—the pain of teleportation: the feeling of getting ripped to shreds and stitched back together.
It was painful. But Joan reveled in it, the satisfaction of completing a mission.
"Welcome back, Joan Oaks," the voice chimed in her head again.
Opening her eyes, she found herself back at headquarters. The pale, blue lights harassed her unadjusted eyes, and a series of claps from the staff celebrated her return home.
"Good job, Joan," Li Bo, the head of the Superhuman Division, said. "You're getting better each time."
"As expected," she responded coldly. "How many days before my next mission?"
"Ah, c'mon Joan, don't be like that. Not everything is about the next mission."
Joan stared blankly at him, unable to comprehend his way of thinking. Sighing, she stepped off the teleportation module and yanked off the wires connected to her body.
"I'll be in my room," she said to Li Bo.
As she was about to walk off, a firm grip on her arm held her in place. "Joan, we have guests," Li Bo whispered to her. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes, and his friendly smile from before was nowhere to be seen.
"Is that a threat?" she muttered so that only Li Bo could pick up on her voice.
Suddenly, Li Bo smiled again. The dangerous gleam vanished from his eyes, and he pulled her towards the audience that had witnessed her return.
"So, what did you think?" he asked the crowd. "Good, huh? This is what your future looks like. Looks fun, right?"
Fun? Joan wanted to laugh. It was only fun if you enjoyed being used and abused.
The crowd watching her was made up of this year's new Superhuman Division recruits. They stood tall, at attention, and looked at Joan with admiration in their eyes.
Their pale gray bodysuits brought back memories that Joan didn't want to remember.
Ah, the joys of innocence. Soon, they'd realize that this was not an enjoyable job.
"Yes, sir!" the recruits responded in unison.
"Joan, a word of encouragement?" Li Bo gently coaxed her with a smile on his face.
Joan wanted to slap the smile off of his stupid face. She hated his deceptive smile. But, at the same time, her smile was just as misleading.
Sighing, she put on her facade for the recruits.
"Fighting for your country is the greatest privilege you will have the pleasure of experiencing. I pray that you will enjoy it as much as I do," Joan smiled kindly at the recruits. "You will struggle along the way. You will fail along the way. But don't let those failures put you down. Keep on striving, and you will make it. I'll pray for your success."
Joan internally cringed at her speech, but the recruits seemed to eat it all up, enthusiastically clapping. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at her.
Ah, she wanted to rip those eyes right out of their sockets.
"Question, Lieutenant General!" a boy at the front called. He was much like all the other recruits here: brave, energetic, and striving for success.
Joan knew his spirits would be torn down in no time as with everyone else's. Only the selfish survived in the Superhuman Division. Trampling on others was the only way to survive in this cage.
"Yes, Private?"
"Do you have any tips on how to survive recruit initiation?"
Mercilessly kill the man standing next to you and don't look back.
Joan smiled, "Believe in God and believe in yourself. That's all."
God, my ass.
The recruits nodded at her answer, and Joan took this time to get a better look at all of them. There were 20 some recruits. By the end of recruit initiation, there would only be one left. It was a tradition.
Among the recruits, there were only five girls. Joan skimmed over the plain-looking ones, and her eyes settled on a particularly fierce-looking one. The girl's black hair was messily cropped to her shoulder, and her physique was muscular and long.
But the feature that stood out the most was her eyes, her emotionless eyes.
Joan predicted that girl would be the only one to last through initiation. Joan nodded at her and said to the recruits, "I'll be off then. Good luck to you all."
Joan spun on her heels and marched out of the room before Li Bo got the chance to hold her back.
Right now, she was craving a strong glass of wine and eight hours of sleep.
Joan walked towards the officer barracks. The Superhuman Division was split up into 5 areas: the training grounds, officer barracks, enlisted barracks, recruit barracks, and central intelligence, which consisted of scientists, technicians, and the like.
The barracks were reminiscent of cube hotels from a hundred years ago. There was a long hallway with rectangular cut-outs in the wall that fit a single-person mattress and nothing more.
The walls could fit two cubicles, one on top of the other. Above each cubicle were the occupant's name and rank.
Joan held her badge over the badge reader, and the glass door of the officer barrack slid open with a soft whir.
She walked into the officer barrack, which housed only ten people despite having 50 cubicles. The glass door shut behind her.
'Joan Oaks, Lieutenant General' was engraved on a gold plaque above her cubicle.
"Home sweet home," Joan said to herself as she rubbed the pad of her thumb across the cold metal.