Sequence 1
The next morning Michael is woken up by an SDF infantryman who tells him "Get up, we're leaving".
He pulls himself off the bed, puts on his clothes and steps out to see a heavily covered container being loaded onto a C-130.
Amina walks by and bumps his shoulder saying "How are you feeling?".
Michael replies "Well it hurts but I'm fine, why are we leaving so soon though?".
She tells him "This isn't our sector, the assessment of your performance was satisfactory so we have to leave. Also you've got another training mission, we'll give the details later".
Michael shakes his head as she walks away
"Will this ever end?".
A voice tells him "No it doesn't, they will take and take from you until you have nothing left".
Michael turns around, looking for who said it, but just sees everyone tending to their business and says "I may actually be running mad".
Thirty minutes later, after all the preparations have been made, all the SDF personnel board the plane and leave for Lagos.
Upon landing at Lagos they waste no time in moving their equipment onto transport trucks and driving down to the Apapa wharf.
Security lets them through and they load all the equipment onto a grey, unmarked Naval corvette ship.
Michael gets down and asks Amina once he sees her "Why are we here, at the wharf?".
She tells him excitedly "Intense weather training!".
Slightly disturbed Michael asks, "Why are you so excited then?".
Amina responds, "Because I get to use my drones! Now get on the ship, we have a deadline to meet".
He steps aboard and is directed to the bridge for the mission briefing, Amina follows closely behind.
Dele tells him "Sit down" and projects several labelled photos into the wall.
He explains "The objective is to make physical contact with Prophet and retrieve an item in his possession. There is a pendant wrapped around his neck, grab it and return it to the ship to complete the mission".
Michael reclines and thinks "This should be easy"
Dele asks "Any questions?".
Michael raises his hand and asks "Why couldn't we do this on land?".
Dele points to Amina saying "Care to answer that?".
Amina sarcastically responds "The water is there to motivate you, and reduce the number of people you can potentially kill to just us on the ship and patrol boats".
Michael shrugs "Well you have a point there".
Dele turns off the slide and says "Alright, get your gear on, we're starting now".
Sequence 2
Michael steps out onto the deck, suited up and ready to go. He asks Overwatch "Where is the target?".
DIVA highlights a small section of the ocean for him and zooms in to show Prophet standing on the calm sea, his staff in his hand and pendant on his neck.
Michael's confidence swells as he sees Prophet alone and exposed and thinks, "These guys don't rate me at all! Well let's finish this quickly and get back to land".
Prophet raises his staff and says a silent prayer. His eyes glow white and a swirling cloud flows outwards from the eye of the staff.
This covers the sky with storm clouds and blocks out the sun for miles, the wind generated from it also causes Prophet to rise into the air.
Overwatch shouts "Commence mission!" and Michael launches himself skyward with his flames which offsets the ship considerably.
He finds it difficult to control his flight path and maintain altitude within the heavy rain and wind.
With even more effort he generates a huge burst of fire and flies straight for Prophet, before he can grab him, a dark cloud envelopes him.
Once Michael leaves the cloud Prophet has vanished. He frantically searches for him but sees only a small drone. Confused he thinks "What the hell is this?".
The drone zaps him with a powerful laser which causes him to shout "Aarrrgh God, what the hell was that!?"
Overwatch tells him, "They are part of the mission, carry on".
Confused, Michael shouts, "They!?" as several other drones surround him and unleash a torrent of pain upon him. He tries to hit them with fire blasts but they are too quick and easily dodge his attacks.
He shouts, "For fucks sake who is controlling these things?".
Amina laughs maniacally as she controls the drones from the ship deck.
Michael tries to form a protective shield but a lightning bolt strikes him from behind and throws him off balance.
He falls towards the sea and is followed closely by the drones.
Before he hits the water he realises something and flies straight for the SDF corvette.
Dele shouts "What are you doing!?"
Michael tells him "Removing my distractions" and blasts the ship deck, knocking Amina to the floor and the drone control tab out of her hands.
She tries to grab it but Michael forms a ring of fire around her and the tab is swept overboard by the crashing waves.
Without anyone controlling them, the drones hover in the air, Michael grabs two and heads straight for Prophet.
He wraps the air around him in fire, hiding his approach and throws a drone through the flame.
A lightning bolt sent from Prophet shatters it into a thousand swirling pieces it before it hits him and Michael takes that chance to burst through the firewall and forcefully grab the pendant off his neck.
Before Michael can return to the ship and complete the mission, Prophet makes a thunderous declaration "You will not escape that easily!" and summons several lighting bolts from the sky.
Michael tries to dodge but is struck before he can return and falls deep into the ocean below.
Sequence 3
Tossed helplessly by the waves Michael struggles to find his bearings.
Amina tries to contact him on the radio, "Re….an you… under….. mo.. t.. o…ship"
Frustrated Michael shouts "I need help… can anyone hear me!?"
DIVA tells him "I am afraid no one can't hear us at this depth, our best option is to remain calm until help arrives".
The deafening silence of the suit is interrupted only by the sound of his breathing, lost in the darkness he tries to drown out the negative thoughts which are flooding his mind.
Out of the corner of his eye he sees a flash of green eyes that stare then swim off into the abyss.
Michael tries to follow it but something grabs him from behind and pulls him straight up to the surface.
An SDF seaman drags him onto a patrol boat carrying four others which is lifted onto the deck of the main ship. Once on board his wings retract and he collapses on his back, exhausted.
Dele kicks his helmet and says "Congratulations, you failed the mission".
Michael takes off his visor and asks "Did I?".
Dele squats and asks, "Where is the pendant?".
Michael sits up and points upward, Dele turns to see it hanging off a flag pole.
He laughs and slaps Michael's head saying "Good man, rest up, you've earned it"
SDF seamen help him to his feet and escort him towards the ship cabins.
On the way he sees Amina and asks, "Hope you're not angry about what happened earlier?".
She smiles and replies, "Oh not at all, you showed great awareness to get the job done. Under the same circumstances I would have done the same thing".
Michael nods at her and is carried towards his cabin to rest.
Amina moves to the deck, still shaken about what happened and whispers to Dele, "I thank God we found him before they did".
The End?