Adam leaned up against the doorframe to the Battleground as he admirably watched Eliza's sparring session with Agent Owens. He didn't know what eluded him about her so much. She seemed like a bit of a dick, but no one really seemed to mind.
She had a commanding tone when she spoke, similar to Kai's, but much more fierce. Shortly after their team had rescued her from Elias' clutches, he and the others had learned how she'd been captured in the first place.
Turns out she was actually a high-ranking Genesis agent, operating under the codename Cloak. According to her file in PAL's database, stealth, espionage, and infiltration were her areas of expertise. She and a small squad of agents had been personally dispatched by Director Callan to accumulate some intel about Elias' plans, but had been captured and imprisoned in The Vault.
He'd honestly began to wonder if super soldier blood was just in Director Callan's genes. His daughter had been trained to such an extent that she was essentially a super soldier, and his son was an actual super soldier. He wished he could get a piece of that action.
Eliza weaved one of the man's punches as she landed a flurry of swift strikes to his padded abdomen. Owens attempted a strike to the girl's temple, but she was far to quick to be caught by the relatively slow attack.
As she stepped in to get behind Owens, she simultaneously lifted her other leg in the air. Once she was behind her opponent, she reaped her airborne leg behind Owens' own in order to lift his leg off the ground.
This motion, combined with her control of her body, forced the muscular operative onto the mat with a thud.
Kai watched from across the room, impressed. The girl had just executed a perfect Osoto Gari throw that looked like it had come straight out of a Judo guidebook. However, since stealth an espionage seemed to be her niche, he dubbed her to be tad bit lower than him in terms of hand-to-hand combat skill, since it was merely another tool in her arsenal.
Director Callan was planning to split the eight of them into two separate teams for the day's mission. Team One would be going undercover to one of Primus' new headquarters to see if they could uncover anything about Project Expansion.
Team Two would stay at the compound-currently dubbed The Hall by the various agents-to watch over Elias and the other detained Primus ops.
"You're pretty good." Kai complimented.
"You expected otherwise?" Eliza sharply asked with a smirk as she began to sharpen one of her daggers, which seemed to be her signature weapons. In fact seemed to be as good with her daggers as Amber was with her bow.
"Not really, no." Adam chimed in.
"Maybe if you focused on mastering your powers as much as you focus on your hair, you wouldn't have such a low combat rating." Kai jabbed, smirking as he mounted his sword onto his back.
"I'll have you know that this hair of mine proves to be a very reliable distraction in battle." Adam snapped as he scowled at his leader, adjusting his hair with his hand.
"Guys, guys, he's got a point there." Dylo chuckled from down the hall, walking toward them with a book in his hand. "It's probably so slick that it could cause an oil spill."
A laugh sprung from Kai and Eliza's throats, permeating the room. Even Agent Owens smirked.
Adam started off with a scowl, but it couldn't help but turn into a grin. He had to admit, he'd grown pretty fond of Dylo since they'd first met. At first he'd just dismissed him as some irresponsible kid, but he'd slowly realized that he was pretty cool to hang around.
"Guardian, you and your team have been ordered to report to The Cortex for your mission briefing." PAL's soothing, computer-like voice boomed through the speakers in the cavern of a room.
"Tell Director Callan we're on our way." Kai said in a commanding tone to PAL as he racked the weights in the Battleground.
"Race you there!" Dylo exclaimed as he materialized into a blur of motion, leaving a trail of afterimages behind him that eventually evaporated. Adam heard a barrage of steps that sounded like machine gun fire as the blonde sprinted down the corridor.
Eliza facepalmed, her hand slowly sliding down her face as her black nails lightly brushed up against her radiant, white skin.
"Joke's on him." Adam chuckled. "He's going the wrong way."
#
Director Callan lightly placed his finger on his
holo-desk as a blue, rotating, holographic image hovered above the smooth, black table. The man's face wore an expression of poignancy and grief.
Amber knew it had something to do with Elias. She couldn't imagine the pain he'd felt seeing his son in that animalistic, violent state, deprived of any sanity. Callan had a right to grieve. While his son was still alive on the outside, he was definitely reduced to nothing more than a corpse on the inside.
She just wished that there was a way to save him-to save everyone. She wanted to have the perfect ending. Ajax would be reverted back to his original state, and the Callan family would be back together once again.
She knew that it wasn't possible, but she'd do the best that she could.
It would be no easy task, however. While they'd won against Ajax, it still hadn't felt anything like a victory. Primus agents were still running rampant across the country, and she figured that it would be a while before they captured them all-or saw home again. Plus, they still had to shut down Project X.
"You alright, Director Callan?" She asked, a compassionate expression on her face as she directed her water-colored eyes towards the formally dressed director. "You look a bit worried."
"I'm afraid not, Amber." Callan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose, directing his gaze to the hologram floating before him. "I've uncovered some news about Project Expansion that's... less than desirable, to say the least."
"What'd you find?" Troy asked, furrowing his brow at the holographic construct. It looked like some sort of machine-one that didn't look very appealing. Kai, Eliza, and the others walked in at that exact moment.
"Remember those crates on the aircraft the seven of you took when you snuck out of the facility? I personally searched them, and I found that they contained bits and pieces of titanium and steel. Screws, pipes, beams, everything. At first glance, they looked to be randomized materials chucked into a crate without a second thought."
If he didn't have Adam's attention before, he definitely had it now.
The director then pressed another button on his holo-desk, causing a huge, digital sheet to sprout up from the smooth, dark surface. Adam's heart jumped as he saw it. His suspicions had been correct. The white lines that littered the blue background were clearly meant to be schematics for something.
"So, it's some kinda machine?" Adam asked, adjusting his telekinetic gloves that plastered themselves against his tanned skin. "Like, a super-weapon?"
"Bio-weapon, to be exact." Matthews corrected, walking out of the Cortex bathroom. "Judging from the design alone, it's main purpose is to generate and expel an incalculable amount of energy over a wide radius in a very short time."
Kai huffed as he folded his arms, slowly realizing what this meant. The design on the blueprint was very similar to that of the enhancement chambers back at Primus-too similar. If what the doctor was saying turned out to be true, then Project Expansion was never about releasing the Genodium into the atmosphere.
Elias was trying to create his own army of superhuman soldiers all along.
His jaw clenched as his mind flashed back to what happened to the man in the chamber. He'd been disintegrated, molecule-by-molecule-reduced to atoms.
If there were still Primus troops out there, they were surely devising a plan to break Elias out of The Crypt, while simultaneously working on rebuilding that bio-weapon. If that machine succeeded, he and the others would have a lot more to deal with than Elias alone.
But if it failed to give the man's soldiers superhuman abilities, it would probably just kill them. Hundreds of thousands of people would be gone in an instant. Wiped from existence.
Either outcome would spell catastrophe for the team-and the entire world. He needed to ensure that the machine wasn't activated at all costs. Luckily, he'd already come up with their separate squads in his head.
"Alright, everyone listen up." Kai commanded, walking up to the front of the room as his teammates directed their gazes to their fearless leader. His commanding presence, mastery of diction, and resonant voice made him an effective platform speaker.
"The team will be splitting up into two squads. Squad One will consist of Blur, Cloak, Remnant, and Field. The four of you will be infiltrating one of Primus' headquarters to uncover anything you can about Project Expansion. Squad Two, captained by myself, will be staying here to watch over Elias and his operatives to make sure they don't escape. Inferno, Frost, and Grid, the three of you are with me."
"I'll lead my squad." Eliza firmly stated, twirling one of her daggers between her fingers as she brushed her hair out of her face. "Besides, stealth is my specialty. No one ever sees me when I'm doing my thing."
"Well Ajax sure did, so I think you need to work on your so-called specialty." Troy countered, smirking.
Eliza furrowed her brow at the pyrokinetic as she placed her dagger on the strap located on her hip.
Kai mounted his blade onto his back as the magnet vibrated his body, finishing with a low hum that relieved the boy's ear canals. Hopefully Eliza would be able to uncover some info about her brother's bio-weapon, and then they could put an end to all of this madness.
Hopefully.