Screams tore through the sterile white room, along with the sound of bones and flesh crumpling together. The air was sharp with the mix of antiseptic and burning flesh.

  The squelch of blood, tears, sweat, and saliva dripped out of a woman that was strapped to the table.

  Around her was an array of syringes, metal tools, and biometric monitors beeped in steady rhythm.

  “Yliaster.” A vial said, filled with a glowing, prismatic liquid.

  There were three doctors in the room, one of which was Professor Levi.

  “Cerebral scans show hyperactivity in the prefrontal cortex.” A female doctor spoke.

  “How are her vitals?” The other male doctor responded.

  The woman’s skin cracked, then rapidly regenerated.

  “Cellular reconstruction at fifty… seventy.” The female doctor said.

  Her heart-rate rapidly beeping on the monitor, erratic.

  “Eighty… eighty-five…”

  Professor Levi watched with a calm expression, while the subject let out a strangled gasp. Her fingers twitching against the restraints.

  “Ninety five…”

  He took a step back, and an explosion of steam released from her pores, filling the room with a burnt fleshy steam.

  “Assimilation complete.” The other male doctor stated.

  “Any abnormalities? Mutations?” Professor Levi coughed, brushing the steam away with his hands.

  “No sir, subject eight-nine-nine appears to be stable.”

  “Congratulations on surviving the coin toss, Miss Sovandary Phon.” Professor Levi spoke with a calm, pleasant voice, “You are now the ninth survivor of Batch Delta.”

  She looked at him, her gaze fuzzy, unable to focus.

  “Would you like to continue to the second stage?” His voice grew excited.

  “No, no, no. Please. God, no…” She sobbed, her voice throaty. Steam rose from her skin, from her red-hot flesh, glowing, as if there was light inside her.

  “Still conscious enough to respond? What a shame, you would have had lovely orange eyes.” He sighed, disappointed.

  As the two other doctors removed her restraints, he spoke, “Bring in the next subject.”

  Suddenly, her mouth filled with bile. Unable to stop herself, she retched, only for the professor to shove a bucket against her face.

  “Oh, disgusting…” The professor took a step back, hearing the sound of her filling up the bucket, “So, how many volunteers do we have left?”

  “Three, sir.”

  Professor Levi nodded, “So Batch Delta is finally coming to a close.”

  The doors swung open, and four doctors rushed in with an operating table. On it was the cold, unresponsive body with frizzy orange hair.

  “Clear the room.” An older, stubby doctor walked in, one with white hair and a thick beard.

  “Professor Tetsuya?” The younger professor greeted, tilting his head.

  Without a moment of hesitation, all of the staff that were present immediately evacuated, dragging along the newest esper, Sovandary, with them.

  Only Levi had remained. His gaze turned to the body on the table, “Is this Kaitlin? Her arm…”

  He gazed at the twisted, tangled mess of fingers and flesh.

  Professor Tetsuya sighed deeply, putting on gloves and a face mask, “She did not regenerate properly. It healed her more drastic wounds.”

  “So it focused too much energy on all the wrong places, while the smaller ones did her in? What a shame. She was one of Batch Gamma’s first successes…”

  The old professor then went over the trays of surgical tools.

  “I told the Director not to allow her in the field yet…” He grumbled, staring at the vial with the glowing liquid. It shined with a prismatic life, and almost appeared to be pulsating.

  Professor Levi’s hands went over and touched the dead woman’s shoulder, gently tracing down to her hands.

  “Even after a week, rigor mortis hasn’t set in…” The young professor murmured, “The beauty of your work is truly something to behold… You truly are the Paracelsus of the Modern Age.” He could not help but admire the old doctor.

  Professor Tetsuya wiped a tear from his eye and exhaled softly. His hands trembled as he picked up a trephine, “Please leave the room, Levi.”

  One of the four doctors then drew a circle on the center of the dead woman’s forehead.

  With a cold, clinical tone, he said, “Commence operation, Yliaster extraction.”

  *

  As Felix and Anastasia entered Chief Vivian’s office, there were already four other people inside besides the chief.

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  Isabelle, who was looking nervously at the cards in her hand, Nero and Grant who sneered at one another. Maria, whose legs were on top of the chair beside her, threw two queens on the pile of cards in the middle of the table.

  “Ah, Anya. How’s the hangover?” Chief said as Anastasia walked into the room.

  “… getting better.” Anastasia looked to the side, avoiding the Chief’s gaze.

  “I see Murphy’s tea worked wonders. Saya told me it happened again.”

  Felix glanced over Anastasia while she rolled her eye.

  “Now that you’re all here, I could—”

  Isabelle raised her hand, “Um… where’s David?”

  “He’s out on a mission in Siberia.” Chief answered nonchalantly.

  Felix placed his hand on his hip, “Of course, he is.”

  Anastasia raised her open palm, and all of their playing cards suddenly radiated with an amber glow. They all flew into her palm, forming a neat and orderly deck.

  Maria pouted.

  “Hey!” Isabelle yelled out.

  “Doesn’t matter, I was winning.” Nero boasted.

  “Haha, no you weren’t.” Grant replied.

  Anastasia then looked at the chief, “So then, the mission?”

  “The mission is picking up after the one you failed. A siege of Henry Dahmer’s Mansion. Maria?” She looked over at the dark-haired woman with expectations.

  From her chair, Maria cracked her fingers and conjured up a holographic interface in her hands, which she spread out to the rest of them with a wide gesture.

  “Henry Dahmer. One of the ten crime lords at the top of our list. A mafia don that owes a debt of five and a half billion in tax evasions and insurance frauds, and hides his money in faux companies which makes them out of reach. He’s also suspected of other crimes such as poaching, animal cruelty and illegal experimentation.” The Chief explained.

  “So, do you have any plans, layouts, staff schedules, any inside people we can count on. Eliminate as many unknown variables as you can.” Grant commented as he scrolled through the screens.

  “Unfortunately, no. At the moment one of a few of our robins are watching it from a distance, but they have nothing in terms of locations. Watching who comes in and comes out, but after the previous attempt, it appears they’ve doubled down on their defenses.” Chief answered.

  “Anastasia, as senior officer, you will lead the team on this mission.”

  “Team, sir? We’re all working as a single unit?” Anastasia asked.

  “Correct. Spearhead the Esper Division. I’m counting on you to make sure that they all make it back safely. You will be accompanied by agent Nice and agent Dreadnaught. You’re set to leave in four hours.”

  “Understood.”

  “And keep your guard up. It’s possible that one of the Jackal’s Fang might be there unexpectedly.” The chief shrugged.

  “Weren’t most of them imprisoned?” Nero pointed out with a hint of arrogance to his tone.

  “They’re…” Felix’s eyes narrowed, “Reforming…”

  “Eh… eh?” Isabelle blurted out, startled by what Felix just said.

  Grant’s eyes filled with fury, a burning red rage simmered around his body until Nero slapped the back of his head, causing it to quickly disperse, “Don’t waste your aura. Besides, what’s a terrorist gonna do?” The blond man scoffed.

  “They’re… the ones who caused the Fallen Sun catastrophe, aren’t they?” The silver-haired woman gulped.

  “On his last mission, Felix encountered an individual who claimed to be a new member, using a weaponized drones and apparently, a laser.” The Chief explained.

  “In terms of strength and combat prowess, one of them is at the level of the top ten, and the only difference is that they have no regard for civilians or collateral. I advise you not to take them lightly.” Grant answered with furrowed eyes.

  “It’s exactly as Grant says.” The chief said as she pulled out a cigarette from a small metal case. “Normally we wouldn’t even consider allowing you lot to go out with powers you can’t control yet, but our sponsors have been getting very nippy waiting for results.”

  “Right…” Felix blurted out.

  “And the Matrix Key?” Maria asked.

  “We don’t know, we haven’t received anything from our sources yet, but the possibility is always there.” The Chief answered, “Now go and prepare. Good luck, and leave nothing to chance.”

  As all of them exited the chief’s office, Grant walked over to Felix and began to talk, “It says here that the guards shift every six hours. So I think that we should—”

  Maria suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder, as if to keep him from coming closer to Felix, “Grant. Word of advice. Nothing ever comes according to plan.”

  “But we should at least—”

  “Hello there!” All of their eyes were drawn towards the two men walking up to them from the corridor. A man with blond hair and a thick mustache, carrying a cardboard box, and a taller, dark skinned man with dreadlocks beside him.

  “You must be agents Nice and Dreadnought.” Maria greeted with a bright smile.

  “That’s right, I’m Agent Nice to meet you, how do you do?” The blond, bearded man jokingly extended his hand.

  “Nice. Please don’t embarrass us.” The man beside grumbled, pinching his forehead.

  “Ahehe… you must be Agent Dreadnought?” Isabelle awkwardly laughed.

  “That’s right.” The man with dreadlocks answered.

  “So, what’s in the box you’ve got there?” Nero asked.

  “I’m glad you asked, because I brought you all donuts! Please, take some!” Nice announced as he presented a box full of donuts to them.

  “Oh, thank you.” Isabelle replied. The three red-eyed espers took from the box.

  “I figured since we were working together, I should get you all something.”

  “Don’t believe him. He bought those for himself. He just wanted an excuse to buy them.” Dreadnought revealed.

  He looked at his partner and confessed, “Hey! They were on sale, okay?”

  “Regardless, they’re appreciated.” Grant chimed in as he took one.

  Dreadnought then invaded Grant’s personal space and inspected his face with one eye widened and the other eye closed, “So, it’s true. Your eyes really do glow.”

  “Yeah, that’s amazing.” Nice added.

  Grant shrugged off the compliment as he bit into the snack he was given. “Now this. This donut is what’s amazing.”

  The three red-eyed espers conversed with the two other agents, enjoying the sugary gift.

  “I read your report on your first mission… it sounds like an absolute mess.” Anastasia remarked.

  “Nothing was the same from the blueprints we were given, and we had no escape routes. Everything was completely improvised.” Felix explained.

  “I’m surprised you’re alive. That’s impressive.” She praised him as they walked over to where the other three were. As they reached them, however, they could only hear Nero’s awkward disbelief.

  “Let me get this straight, your name... is seriously... Chad Johnson.” Nero stated in indignation while handing Anastasia a donut.

  “That’s right. It used to be Chad Anderson, but I had my last name legally changed before… you know… becoming one of the agency’s dogs.” Nice replied, scratching his yellow beard.

  “Legally changed. So it’s not an alias. At all?” Grant asked.

  “Yup.”

  Nero, Grant and Maria stared in disgust.

  Dreadnought chopped Nice on the head, “And I always hated him because of it.”

  “Sucks to be you, partner.” He responded as he lifted Dreadnought’s hand off his head.

  “Are you proud of yourself?”

  “I will never not be.” Nice smirked.

  “I don’t get—” Felix chimed in.

  “JOHNSON MEANS DICK, FELIX. JOHNSON MEANS DICK.” Maria yelled in response.

  All of them were slightly startled by Maria’s sudden shout, but Nero deflated the tension as he turned his head to the partners, asking, “Can I have another donut?”

  “Oh, y-yeah…” Nice awkwardly handed him the box.

  “So then you all must be agents Venom, Vermillion, Tundra, Blue Phantom, and Crimson—” Dreadnought enumerated them one by one.

  “Yes, that’s us.” Nero immediately cut them short.

  “Wait, Vermillion? You’re the guy who caught Lewis Shaw?” Felix glanced over to

  “I am… I was eavesdropping on you about a month ago. And you almost saw me.” Grant admitted with a nervous laugh.

  “And what about you, it says your name is Isabelle, but you didn’t put in a codename.”

  “I haven’t decided on one yet, actually.” The silver-haired young woman answered.

  “Well, since you’re all color coded already, why not call you Red or White?” Nice suggested.

  “Nocturne… might be nice.” Felix muttered to himself, to which Maria leered in response.

  Isabelle placed her index finger on her chin and replied, “I’ll… think about it.”

  “Well we have to call you something, do you really wanna go with your real name?” Dreadnought asked.

  They all glanced over to her, making her feel like she was under a spotlight.

  “I guess I’ll just go with Red for now.” She shrugged.

  “Sounds good, Nice and I still need to prepare. Let’s meet back after an hour.” Dreadnought said.

  “Right.” Anastasia replied.

  ~