Zane opens his eyes. With blur and lights all around him.
"heeeyy kiddo, rise 'n shine" a familiar and jolly voice.
"how are you feeling?" it was Harold.
"I feel fine" Zane says as he finally wakes up from a long sleep, his throat paining and his mouth sour.
"great then let's go to the barracks then, the guys are waiting" Harold says in his usual happy tone.
Zane is discharge, his injuries healed and feeling fresh but the pain from exhaustion still remains. He gets onto the bus and heads to the barracks. In a few minutes he reaches there and entering the main lobby to find it packed with exterminators. It seemed like some party but Zane was too much in pain and went straight to his quarters.
He opens the door to find his group members playing around with each other. Captain Will is not to be seen, probably doing paperwork in his room. The guys catch a glimpse of Zane entering and straight away going to bed.
"I want to wake him up" Pierre says.
"I think its best to let him sleep, the kid is exhausted" Robert joins in.
"yeah but I really want to ask him a lot of questions" Pierre says putting heavy emphasis on the word 'really'.
"c'mon we all want to but I doubt he can even remember in this state let the guy just sleep" Lieutenant Rodney finally shuts down the conversation.
#
It has been 2 hours. Zane wakes up, his hair is a mess and his laziness is paramount. He gets up to find no one in the room. Zane then remembers they might have gone to the party downstairs.
He gets up and out of bed to wash his face. He goes inside and then decides to take a shower instead. He reeked of the smell of hospital and medicines. He removes his shirt and looks in the mirror. It has been just a month since joining the USAEC but his body looks well toned now. He isn't horribly skinny and pale, but now has a slight color to his skin and has considerable muscles. It seems like all that daily exercise might have paid off. He takes a shower and soothes himself of stress but he feels a light pain in the center of both of his lateral back muscles. There are no bruises and when he pressures his skin he doesn't feel much pain.
"probably fatigue ugh-" Zane says.
He gets out of the shower. Wipes himself down and wears his clothes and goes to his kitchen to get a snack before bumping into Captain Will. Captain Will stares into him.
"what's wrong sir?" Zane asks.
Captain Will looks at him with a stare of disdain and frown but immediately changes it.
"oh nothing I just wanted to tell you that your phones have been returned and you can contact you're family now" says Captain.
"Oh ok then thank you" Zane says.
Captain Will walks away to exit through the hall and then looks back again. After a pause he asks
"are you coming down below?"
"oh no I'm too tired sir" Zane says.
"ok then" he walks out.
Zane's mind starts to race a little. Captain was hiding something, if not for his usual just and high-spirited attitude, he was reluctant to tell Zane something but stopped himself. Zane feels anxious. He goes to his locker to take out his phone and switch it on. The phone switches on with loads of notification backlogs. His messages from his work, his school saying he passed the test he had given and some from Mike.
Suddenly his phone rings in rage. Its mike's call.
"Does this idiot have eyes on me to know when I'm on my phone?" Zane remarks on Mike's tenacious friendship with him.
He picks up the call.
"WHAT'S UP YA BASTARD" Mike screaming as usual.
"can you for once NOT shout?" Zane criticizes him
"yeah, yeah whatever how are you?" Mike asks
"I'm good what about you?" Zane asks
"well apart from getting powers and all I'm very thrilled man I got a solo kill as well" Mike said in excitement.
"solo kill? Can you even do that?" Zane asked.
"yeah well I did but it was a category 1" Mike said.
"I don't get it? tell me the entire thing" Zane asked.
Mike scoffs
"Ok when I got my powers, I was able to shoot high-energy beams and slashes from my arms and apparently, I can cut through anything with just a slash. I chose a longsword as my weapon and I can cut through anything and the slashes and beams get stronger the faster I move my blade. I got a type-5 power rating and I am apparently eligible for solo missions or duo missions. This way I can train and use my powers better. Its training by a long shot." Mike said, informing everything he could.
"anyways what's you're powers and what's the type rating?" Mike asked immediately.
"I can shoot concentrated beams of light and I can store and shoot it out of my Talum that is a spear with a longer blade tip" Zane informed him.
"I'm type-4 currently" Zane added.
"Ayy man that's good you should train and we could probably do solo missions together" Mike said.
Zane was a bit hesitant, thinking about something, Captain William frowning at him, and the solo missions but he brushed it all off.
After a refreshing talk, both of them hung up. Zane sat on his bed, with his Talum in hand, looking at the long pointy stick with a faint USAEC logo on it. It was a weapon unlike any other.
The door then opened. It was Captain William who entered. Zane stood up and saluted him as part of rank respect. But he walked past him and into his room. Zane was disturbed. He went near his room and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Captain William said.
"Sir can I come in?" Zane asked.
There was a brief pause.
"come in" said the Captain.
Zane went inside his room. It was a medium sized room with a comfortable bed, good interior decoration, chandeliers and a book shelf. Captain sat on his leather office chair and put out some papers on his large desk with his laptop, phone, walkie talkies and lamps. He looked at Zane then.
"what do you want?" Captain William asked.
"Sir I would like to go on Solo missions" Zane asked, gathering all his courage.
Captain William's eyes widened in relief and let out a small sigh.
"oh really? Well you see kiddo you need to be a type-5 or 6 for it I cant just let you out there." Captain William explained.
"You can assess me on how I performed on my last mission" Zane said.
"Well kid that was kind of a fluke" Captain William said.
"I can do it again" Zane said this time with fire in his eyes.
"Really? Ok then I'll arrange for a duo mission with archie and I'll tell him to be close but let you fight with the thing alright?" Captain William said.
"I understand sir" Zane said
He exited the room. He didn't think I would be that easy but he actually got the job. He might be able to do it.
In Captain William's room, a phone rang. He picks it up.
" yes sir?" said Captain William.
"did he suspect anything?" said a low deep voice.
"no sir" Captain William said.
"You should've let him go solo why did you give him another soldier" said the voice.
"I understand you're concerns but with all due respect I am not about to lose another member just because you have speculations sir. And I have told him that his partner will stay behind." Said Captain William.
The voice on the other end pauses for a while. Captain William thinks he has been hung up on and almost cut the call.
"Fine then but make sure he does most of the work" the line cuts.
"yes sir"