Genesis | Book One, The Genesis Series

THIRTY-THREE

"Hey! Only we get to talk to him like that!" Eliza hissed, sitting up as her cold eyes pierced the agent's own. After Jetstream's death, she'd begun to realize just how much she'd started to care about her teammates.

"Yeah!" Dylo yelled in concurrence without a second thought, agreeing with the black-haired girl behind him. "Wait a second-"

"Oh, I wouldn't be worrying so much about talking if I were you." Rift interrupted the blond, taunting the powerless superhumans as she smirked. "It's not like you'll be doing any of that for much longer."

The door to Dylo's left seemed to slide open at the speed of light as his body was nearly blown out of his seat by the violent, numbing air. The frost patiently kissed his face, eventually hugging his body like a newborn baby as the guard beside him pushed him out of the vehicle.

Nearly tripping over her own feet as she exited, Eliza faltered under the shadow of Matthews' fortress as the buzzing engine of the van cut off. The Primus Insignia was plastered onto the sides of the densely secured citadel. Agents boasting heavily armored combat suits littered the walls like a layer of icing on a birthday cake.

She'd been here before. Shortly after she'd completed the facility's standard training curriculum, infiltrating this base had been one her team's first assignments. Despite her father's protests, there wasn't much the man could do to stop her.

That was the first time she'd come face to face with the man who used to be her brother. He'd slaughtered nearly half of their 12-person squad with that wretched blade of his. She would've been killed if it hadn't been for Jetstream and Echo saving her.

At first, seeing her brother in that maniacal, bloodthirsty state had nearly traumatized her, but after facing his forces a couple times, she'd grown desensitized to his sinister antics. Now, she knew that the only way to truly defeat the man was to kill him.

Troy felt like an insignificant speck compared to the towering height of stronghold before him. For the first time in his life, he was visibly shaken up by his circumstances. Dylo noticed, but he didn't much care anymore, as he was feeling the exact same way.

One of the titanium doors slid upwards, revealing one of the supposedly hidden entrances to the facility. Dozens of agents poured out of the entrance to make way for them to enter.

Quivering, foggy breaths stemming from the boy's lips, he desperately wished to get inside a bit quicker. "This sure is a huge fortress. You sure Matthews isn't compensating for something?" He chuckled before he felt the barrel of an automatic weapon being jammed into his gut.

His stomach felt like it would soon burst as the back of his lips bared at his teeth. He would've been hunched over to suppress the pain, but the soldier behind him poked him in the back, forcing him forward as the boy stumbled. He was really getting tired of these guys, but at least his tactic had worked.

The men ushered he and his two teammates into the facility almost immediately, the dense squad of agents from before now overlapping with their own, almost like a human shield.

The three young superhumans were led into a narrow, colorless hallway shortly after. Troy figured that every corridor in the fortress was like this-colorless and depressing. The place could really stand to get some variety.

He peered through one of the holes in the walls, catching sight of what appeared to be a large, broad cavern that presumably served as the facility's basement and storage. He noticed the faint outline of a few cardboard boxes and wooden crates emitting a purple glow through the cracks, which he presumed to be Genodium.

Not even five seconds later, they'd found themselves regrouped with the rest of their squad in one of the base's control rooms. Troy could see the determination in his leader's face. He was already formulating an attack strategy in the unlikely event that they liberated themselves from those cuffs.