After leaving Gen. Luis' Office, Ember went down to the underground level of the base.
The team's office has been moved underground for confidentiality. There were several rooms down there that housed various machines and mechanisms that helped in training and preparation for war. In one of those rooms was a small, wooden table and five chairs.
This was where the members of the team usually gathered before a mission or when they just needed to sit and relax.
In the center of the table, there were stacks of cards with the team's symbol: a red line slashed across a black circle. On top of each stack was their number. They represented the missions given to the team by Gen. Luis or handed to Exeo or Ember.
On this particular day, however, there wasn't a single mission to discuss. The boys, Bo and Riggs sat silently in their chairs, spinning the chairs, waiting patiently for either Exeo or Ember to come and tell them what to do.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Ember came bursting through the door. He slammed it shut behind him and dropped onto the nearest chair.
"You guys must've gone nuts without me", he said, taking a long gulp of water.
Riggs chuckled and pointed at a pile of cards on the table.
"It looks like you found something interesting in your free time".
Ember glanced over at them and smiled. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table.
"I don't think anyone would argue about that."
The two nodded in agreement.
"Anyway," Ember continued, "Gen. Luis gave you some mission while Val is still recuperating."
Riggs perked up and sat straight, while Bo asked directly, "Is Val okay?"
"He'll be fine," answered Ember. "He just needs some more rest."
Bo nodded. "When can we get started?"
"As soon as possible. Now, grab the cards and read through the details. Make sure the mission's a success."
Both had grabbed the cards from the table. They began flipping through the pages and reading out loud the details of the mission.
"Our target is the leader of a drug cartel and his high leaders," he read, "named Miguel Rodriguez. His headquarters is located in El Pancho, Sureya."
"What's so important about this guy?" asked Riggs while flipping the pages.
"It says here that he's responsible for many deaths around the city."
"Sounds easy enough," remarked Riggs.
"Do we need to do a recon on this or just kill him along with his high leaders?" Bo asked, tilting his head to the side and looking up at Ember.
Ember shook his head. "Be discreet as possible."
"Well, how about that then?" Bo said, looking at the card again. "If he's so dangerous why didn't Gen. Luis assign someone else? Why did he send us?"
Ember clasped his hands and said, "Someone put a hitlist on them."
Riggs whistled. "Wow, someone has the guts to put a hitlist on a cartel, more or less the boss and his high leaders. "
"Yeah, right," scoffed Bo.
Ember shrugged. "Make it look natural."
"How exactly do you want to go about that?"
Ember smiled slyly. "You guys have been trained on this, so just do your job. That's all I ask."
They both nodded and turned back to the mission cards.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The sun was beginning its descent into the horizon as the three approached the town of Sureya. The sun cast its last rays of light onto the green fields and the orange sky above. It was peaceful and serene, yet the air was filled with tension and excitement. No one dared speak a word among themselves. Each knew what was coming. They could feel it. And they could smell it. A stench hung heavily upon the wind.
Soon, the small village of Sureya came into view. It consisted of little more than a few huts and a church. From far off, it appeared to be empty; but when they were close, they could see people milling about, going about their business. At first, there weren't too many people, but as the minutes passed by, they saw more and more villagers walking towards the center of the village. Soon, it swelled to thousands, until every corner was filled with faces staring up at a large structure that rose from the top of a hill. This was where the cartel held its meetings.
They decided to survey the building, with Riggs deciding to do a recon leaving Bo to book an inn nearby, waiting for an update from him.
From the outside, the building appeared to be a simple, white mansion. But from the inside, it was much different. There were numerous doors leading down corridors that branched off in various directions, each with a sign indicating where it led. A guard stood before each door, making sure no one got in who wasn't supposed to be there. Many guards were posted around the perimeter of the compound, ensuring no one tried to escape. Finally, there were guards stationed atop the roof.
As Riggs made his way across the grassy plain, he could hear the constant clanging of metal against metal and the roar of gunfire echoing over the hills.
As he neared the edge of the mansion, he could see several helicopters hovering in the distance, as well as men running around the base of the building, which seemed like training. All along the walls were large, iron gates. These had been locked shut and armed guards sat within each opening, ready to shoot anyone who tried to get in.
There were several windows around the sides of the building. In front of one, they spotted a man standing alone, watching them come closer.
As he drew near, he realized that it was the man from the photo, the one they had taken from the card.
He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wore dark clothes. His face was hard, stern, and unreadable. When he got close enough to recognize him, he stopped and watched him from afar, activating his wind ability.
This time, he lifted his forefinger and a small gust of wind appeared. He controlled it and let it follow the man he had seen earlier. After a few minutes, he decided to scout the surrounding area.
It didn't take long for him to find something interesting. Near the other side of the mansion, there was another building, smaller than the main one. This was the meeting hall. Inside, it looked like it was being used for practice. Men dressed in black military uniforms were doing some sort of drills.
He went back and reported what he'd found to Bo. They agreed to wait for a while longer. Then, as night fell, they would make their move.
A short time later, Bo and Riggs were hidden just a few meters outside the front gate. They heard the distant sound of cars pulling up. Their targets exited the vehicles, along with others, all wearing dark suits and sunglasses. One of the men walked over to the side gate and opened it. Several trucks entered the compound, carrying supplies. Once they were unloaded, the trucks departed.
Rigg's eyes narrowed as he noted that the supply trucks did carry weapons. Perhaps they intended to attack someone else? He wondered if it might be possible to kill all of them.
Bo noticed Riggs thinking and said, "You already mentioned the layout of the mansion and the surroundings right?"
"Yes."
"Don't worry, it will be quick. I'll enclose them with Ice Prison and we'll do it inside to kill them."
Riggs nodded, impressed at how quickly Bo thought things through.
Suddenly, Riggs felt a cold chill pass through his body, as though someone had just passed by him. It took him a moment to realize that this must have been the Ice ability that Bo possessed. He saw Bo touch the ground and slowly, a mist was formed.
The mist swirled around Bo's hand and the ground slowly turned into very thin ice which no one could notice as it was covered with grass. Bo froze the ground encircling the whole area. Then, he slowly made a thick wall of ice, controlling it very carefully so as not to distort the shape of the wall. With each breath, he breathed out a little more air until finally, the wall was complete.
The group came toward the entrance of the mansion. Each had a weapon on his shoulder or a rifle slung over their back.
One of them said, "Hey, is it just me, or did it suddenly become cold?"
Another replied, "Yeah! Maybe because of that storm cloud!"
They both laughed and walked inside the gate.
The door closed behind them and Bo released his power.
Soon, the whole area including the mansion had been enclosed in Bo's Ice Prison and both decided to attack. Bo blocked any exits. As Ember had ordered them to kill them discreetly.
'This is the best discreet way that I could think of with our abilities,' Bo thought while attacking stealthily the high leaders, along with Riggs. Even the cartel leader had begged for mercy when faced with these two young men, who showed no mercy at all.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The moon rose and shone brightly above the mountains. The only thing that was missing was the stars.
It was a silent night. No one had predicted that this night would cause commotion the next morning.
After they had killed everyone, Riggs and Bo started looking around to make sure that they had not missed anyone or escaped any witnesses. They made sure that no clues would point back to them, and Bo made sure that he dispelled his ability.
Before they left the area, Bo left a small card, which represents their assassination role. This card had a peculiar logo, which consisted of three red dots formed in a triangle. On top of the triangle, there was a black circle containing a single word 'Dead'. Bo sent a photo which meant that the mission was accomplished. It was a message to whoever put a hit list against them, that they were dead.
Another peculiar thing about the card Bo left is that, whoever would touch the card, would instantly combust in their hands, leaving only ashes.
When they got back to the safe house, it was already morning. They changed clothes and then ate breakfast. Afterward, they reported the status of the mission at their underground office.
After Bo's report, the room became quiet.
Ember put down the file report and looked up at Bo and Riggs. He said, "I've checked with our intel, and great job, there's no news that came out yet regarding the cartel."
"Thank you," said Bo and Riggs.
"Now, let's go to General Luis's office, as he needs to meet us, excluding Val, to be there."
All of them stood up and exited the room. Once outside, they went up the stairs to the basement where a secret entrance was located.
As soon as they entered the secret room, General Luis greeted them from behind a desk. He knew that the elite team had arrived in his office using the secret entrance.
He looked up and nodded, "I assume the mission was a success," he clasped his hands together while looking straight at Bo and Riggs, who were now in their military uniforms.
Both nodded and in unison, replied, "Yes sir."
"Good. Well done. Now, onto the next one," said General Luis.
He lifted his arm and behind him, a large screen TV monitor was turned on. He showed them clips and some video footage from several Clareo soldiers, taken by drones, showing the location of a certain compound where they were going to perform their next operation.
A map of the area was projected on the screen. There was a huge compound with a fence surrounding it.
Several buildings were seen within the compound, but none of them had windows or doors. In the video, a shootout had occurred, and several Clareo members were killed, while on the enemy side, only a few. The general then paused the video.
General Luis continued, "We have received a request, this time, not as assassins but as special elite forces. We need you guys to do a recon mission into the compound. Find out what we can find, whether the enemy has an ability user, the better. And most importantly, try to get any information that can help us take over the compound."
Ember spoke up, "There is a very high possibility that they might have an ability user among their ranks, General. We must proceed with caution."
The general nodded and smiled.
"That is why I have assigned the best men for the mission. You guys know the situation well; therefore, you will lead the mission. Ember, you're the second in command, so you know best how to handle this situation. I'm confident you can come up with a strategy."
Ember nodded and asked, "How many casualties so far, and when did this footage happen?"
"This happened yesterday evening. There were more casualties on our side than we expected, so yes, I also agree with your assumption that there might be indeed an ability user on the enemy side."
Ember frowned, looked at the screen again, and said, "Can you rewind on the part where our soldiers were hit?"
Riggs stepped forward and excused to take control of the remote and played the scene again.
On the screen, several men dressed in black clothing ran around shooting their guns. A drone camera followed them closely until one of the men fell to the ground after having been shot.
Bo said while looking at the footage, "Hm? Is that an ability?"
Riggs froze the image and zoomed in on the dead man's face. It was clear that it wasn't a normal death, but something different. The dead man's skin looks like it was burned but no burn marks. The pupils were white, with the body remaining motionless. His lips were parted, and he had foam coming out of his mouth.
Bo leaned closer to the screen, saying, "It appears to me that he died of being burned before dying."
"But, this man looks like he died of being burnt but there's no fire near them." Ember continued, still staring at the screen.
"So, either he got poisoned, which is very impossible, or-"
"Or someone has an ability nearby and targeted these men," interrupted Riggs, and clicked play on the video. The video began playing from the same place, but now it showed a group of people running away from the small building in front of them. However, during the video being captured, one by one, the soldiers died the same way as the first one, dropping like flies on the ground, motionless.
"What kind of ability does it seem to be if it can kill even a fully equipped soldier like this?" asked Bo.
"Well, that's the thing. It's hard to say right now. But I don't think that's enough to confirm that they have an ability user. What do you think, General?" Ember said and looked back at the general.
Gen. Luis thought about it. Then, he answered, "Let's not take away the assumption that there is indeed an ability use among the enemies, also, the bodies were already retrieved. So, we are just waiting for the lab report. They may have been killed by some sort of poison or other weapons. Once the lab reports come in, I would like you three to go in and see what's going on there. If there is indeed an ability user, then you should take him down. Do not allow him to escape. This is your priority."
The three nodded.
"I've already ordered a team to prepare a chopper for you. We will send it once all preparations are done."
After a few minutes of discussion, they went back to their own office underground. As soon as they got inside, the telephone rang.
Ember turned on his voice changer and picked up. "Yes?"
"The results came back from the lab, Dr. Lewis will explain the details of the result.", Gen. Luis' voice could be heard in the speaker.
Ember sighed and sat in one of the chairs. He stared at the ceiling and waited impatiently for Dr. Lewis to finish speaking.
Dr. Lewis's voice boomed in the room. "We've analyzed the blood samples of the victims, and we found traces of a substance known as 'Athyx'. This substance is extremely rare, and only one company produced it."
"And?"
"It seems that they've been using Athyx since their invasion started. From my research, I discovered that Athyx was used by..."Dr. Lewis had paused for a minute then continued "by Klivro., who believed that it made them stronger than ever."
There was silence in the room, and after a moment of silence, Ember asked, "So, how dangerous is Athyx?"
"Extremely so, it's highly toxic and burns through the system quickly. A single dose causes death within twenty-four hours, but multiple doses may lead to more serious symptoms such as paralysis or organ failure. The effect of Athyx is that it causes extreme pain, so those who die from it usually commit suicide shortly after taking the drug."
"Great, sounds like fun."
"Indeed."
"The question here is, how were they able to have the effects so immediate? Got any answers for that Doc?" Ember asked.
"No, we haven't figured out yet how they did it. Perhaps we'll know once we find the lab where they make the stuff. Until then, let's focus our attention on the enemy base."
There was a short silence before Ember said, "Well then, General. Would you like all of us to do a recon? We can do it now."
"Alright. You may dispatch whoever you want, but, if the person responsible for all of this is an ability-user, capture him, dead or alive."
"Roger that." and the call ends.
Ember looked at the two men in front of him, Bo and Riggs, he said, "No rest for the wicked, boys."