7: My First Assignment

My First Assignment

Rain fell from the sky, creating a gloomy yet calming atmosphere.1

It was after midnight but the city was still lively with people roaming the streets, some of them young teenagers who were hanging out with their friends, and the others being adults headed to different places.

The roads were populated with vehicles driving by, occasionally going through extra wet areas and splashing any nearby pedestrian walking on the pavement.

In an ominous alleyway, a white van sat near the backdoor to a shady nightclub.

Walking out of the club, an emotionless look on his face, was a man in what appeared to be his early thirties holding something under his arm. He moved to the back of the van and knocked three times.

The set of doors opened up to display four men wearing all black, each one carrying some kind of gun, and the unusual sight didn't even seem to bother him. All he did was hand one of them a mysterious black case before hurrying back inside.

"That guy was weird..." One of them muttered.

After shutting the doors, he sat down with the case and began to open it. The others in the van leaned over to get a good look at the contents inside, which were revealed to be four individual vials of a red liquid.

(The picture of the vial's appearance will be here.)

They all gave each other a sinister grin before swiping a vial for themselves, drinking the liquid within so quick it was as if they'd been dehydrated for days.

Seconds later, their muscles began to grow at a painful rate, drastically altering the physical features they once had. The clothes they were wearing strained against their bodies due to the significant increase in size. Not only that, a demented glint appeared in the eyes of all those who took a swig of the transformative drug, slowly becoming more and more unstable as time passed.

Their getaway driver started the van once one of the four men in the back signaled him to do so, taking off in the direction of their mission.

The small flame of an approaching conflict between two groups would soon be agitated later on this night, unintentionally causing an epidemic of violent crime.

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My sleep was rudely interrupted by the sound of an odd noise.

Quickly rubbing my eyes to get rid of any blurriness, I turn to the left and see a device sitting on the nightstand. It was a tablet, which was the culprit who nearly made me fall out of my bed in surprise, due to the shockingly loud notification sound in the otherwise silent room.

For some reason, it was requesting me to answer a group video call, to which I did while propping myself up on an arm to get a good look at the screen.

Jada appeared on the call, along with Darren, who were both wearing some kind of suit. They seemed different from the time that I was talking to them earlier, good-natured and easygoing.

They were both completely serious and carried themselves in a way that almost made them unrecognizable. The three of us weren't even face to face and I could still somehow feel it.

"What the hell is going on, guys?" I asked, confusion written on my face.

Darren seemed to be slightly distracted with talking to someone, which led to Jada speaking up first between the two.

"Hey, Dante, sorry for the unexpected wake up call." She said, a genuinely apologetic tone within her voice.

I waved it off and let her continue speaking.

"Unfortunately, it seems like there's been a break in at a science lab. Our people found surveillance footage containing some stuff that you'll definitely want to see."

The conversation Darren was having with another agent seemed to finish because he focused his attention on the call, nodding at the last part of what Jada said. He picked up where she left off.

"Yeah, man. From your room, go down the hall and turn left to meet up with me. You and I are going to head over there and investigate."

I raised an eyebrow before pointing out something that should've been obvious. "I'm a horrible choice for this. I literally just started today, err... yesterday. Jada would probably be a better pick."

Darren nodded in agreement. "Normally, I would feel the same way, but this could also serve as experience for you. Plus, I'll be coming along as your partner. I already talked to the director about it, who thought the idea over and eventually gave me permission."

Well, I had nothing to say after that. It looks like I was going on my first assignment.

Before the group video call ended, Jada interjected with some advice.

"As much as I love seeing you shirtless, you might want to wear something more suitable than your regular clothes. Check the closet in your room since there should be an outfit in there that you can wear."

That wink she gave me afterwards was just icing on the cake, I suppose.

(The picture of the suit will be here.)

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It was fairly quiet as I made my way down the empty hall, turning left just like Darren said, and came face to face with a set of doors that had the faint sound of voices on the other side.

Pushing it open and walking through, it was packed with people that were obviously affiliated to Salvation, rows of computers being used for surveillance purposes. Along with that, there was also a huge screen at the front of the room, which had footage taken from a security camera. It was currently paused.

Darren noticed me at the door, similar to how a child looked when they were lost in a mall, and he couldn't help but crack a smile. I went over to stand beside him and he clapped me on the back good-naturedly before the video on the huge screen began to play.

At first, the only thing I could see was an empty street. That quickly changed when a white van drove into view and charged the entrance of a building, shattering the surrounding glass, and making a new hole that allowed them to just walk in like they owned the place.

I wasn't sure how their brutish approach to going inside of a building was necessary, considering when the four masked men jumped out of the van, they were absolute giants compared to a regular human. It genuinely shocked me when they all began to rush inside like maniacs, guns held within the palms of their hands. The reason was because they most likely possessed superhuman attributes with bodies like that, which made the need for guns negligible.

I mean, it looked like they were on super steroids or something. A lacking concern for the consequences of their actions and anybody around them only led me to one conclusion.

They purposefully chose to carry firearms with them for the simple fact that it presented more opportunities to cause death and mayhem. Their goal, along with whatever they were attempting to do at this science lab, is to make a lasting impression on the people who are watching.

Shortly after that, the video ended and I turned to Darren, who was still eyeing the big screen in contemplation. "How long ago did this happen?"

My question was asked for more of a personal reason. It was so that I could prepare myself if we caught onto this a bit too late and there would most likely be deaths already. The only time I've really been around death is when that truck driver passed away due to the collision he had with me, and even then, I couldn't really find it within myself to feel sorry for the guy.

A child would've lost their life because of his poor decision making, after all.

Darren hummed to himself before answering. "Around ten minutes ago. Noble Elements, the name of the science lab that was broken into, has recently upgraded their security measures. It should hopefully give the two of us a little extra time."

I still couldn't help but clench my fists in preparation. This would be the first time that I've ever gone up against superpowered individuals like myself.

Either way, it didn't matter. I wasn't planning on losing against them.

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It was raining even harder now, the occasional sound of thunder roaring in the distance could be heard as my body was practically soaked just a few seconds after stepping out of the car. Darren parked it across the street just in case the fight somehow ended up outside.

We quickly exited the vehicle and made our way over to the front of the building, which is when the both of us could begin to hear the sound of things being destroyed. I tried to focus on where it was coming from and noticed shards of glass on the ground away from the entrance. It peaked my curiosity since the hole they made was where all of the glass that shattered was.

Looking to the sky instead, there was a broken window about two stories up on the same building. That gave me a clue as to where they were, which I shared with Darren by tapping his shoulder and motioning towards it.

He clearly understood where I was going with this.

Accepting the idea with a nod, the muscles in my legs tensed for just a moment before I leaped upwards to twenty five feet and landed inside of the building. Darren followed behind me, utilizing his control over darkness to create a makeshift hand that grabbed onto the edge of the window and let him crawl right in before setting his feet on the floor.

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