The Primal War : First Elements Saga Book 1

Chapter 4: A Primal Guinea Pig

Despite his grudging fear and respect for RedSky’s CEO due to his status as a badass, Marcus immediately felt himself tense. Mostly because he knew he was going to say no to Rose’s face.

It was bad enough that they had pulled him out of his family to bring him to the Briar Patch so they could train him as a soldier. But to treat him as only an asset that lends value to the company was not only insulting, it was infuriating. He was a person, damnit, whether he could change into fire and jump through an elemental plane or not. And he wasn’t just going to …

“You’re thinking of saying no, aren’t you, Mr. Gray,” Rose said in a deceptively calm voice.

“Sir, I’m still trying to figure out this shit for myself.” He grimaced as Rose frowned. “Sorry, sir, didn’t mean to swear there. But the fire form and the jumping both are new to me. I barely managed to replicate the fire form, and only because I lost control of my emotions. I have no idea if I can do a fire jump again!” A brow lifted on Rose’s face.

“Which is why we’re going to the test range, Mr. Gray,” he said as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. “We need to replicate your abilities so we can add value to our contract.”

“A contract, Marcus, that the American government has used to protect not only her citizens out in the world, but those belonging to her allies as well,” Barna stepped in to add. 

“You’ve never been used for nefarious reasons, Agent Gray. Why would we start now?” Marcus stared at Barna for a long moment before grimacing again.

“Because this is a quantum leap up the scale from what I was doing before, maybe?” he replied, looking back at a thoughtful Rose. “I’m pretty sure my flame form can combust anything. Rock, brick, metal; it can all be melted with enough heat. And if I can jump to anywhere the government wants me to go, suddenly we’re not talking about using Descendants as reactive forces to handle a terrorist attack. We can be pre-emptive, and jump into a terrorist compound and …”

Rose held up a finger, instantly silencing the grim Marcus.

“I understand your misgivings, Mr. Gray,” he said, dropping the finger. “But in the entire time RedSky has held this contract, not once has the DoD, the CIA, NSA, or even POTUS requested us to use our assets in an offensive capacity against our enemies. Even with this quantum step forward in your abilities, Mr. Gray, RedSky has no intention of using you proactively.”

Again his brow lifted and he folded his arms, lifting a hand to tap thoughtfully on his lower lip.

“Although, it might behoove us to see if similar abilities can be triggered in our other three assets.” He looked over his shoulder. “Gather our remaining team members, Mr. Barna, and get them down to the range. I want to see if triggering their elemental forms also grants them additional abilities beyond the ones we’ve already recorded.”

“Yes, sir,” Barna replied, reaching for his phone. Which brought Rose’s attention back to a frowning Marcus.

“Well, Mr. Gray? Shall we have you demonstrate your new abilities?” And his brow lifted a third time as he saw Marcus’s expression tighten in defiance. The lean RedSky leader leaned his head slightly to the side, his expression considering.

“Still no, I see,” he said. “I feel this is a good time, then, Mr. Gray, to remind you that you are a wholly owned and controlled asset of the United States government, not a free citizen of the State. As such, you are required to follow responsible requests as per your own contract, or face subsequent disciplinary action up to, and possibly including termination via execution.” Marcus felt a muscle ripple in his jaw. So Rose was gonna play it like that, was he? Execution?? Really?? Really! Fuck this guy and his threats. Marcus’s entire tenure at RedSky had started with this asshole threatening his mother with lawsuits and jail time, going so far as to threaten to have her declared an enemy of the State! This bastard wasn’t going to threaten anybody else, going forward. He would make sure of it!