Dan
The side of his head was pounding and Dan reached for that spot and felt the pain was still fresh. He cracked open his eyelids and found himself in a dimly lit cell with metal bars at one end of the cramped interior. He was stripped of his armor and only wore a pair of black pants and worn out shoes. The last thing Dan remembered was his match against Rachel Cutter in the fifth and final round of the Combat Games.
He also remembered her opponent changing appearances abruptly and unveiling her true identity.
His nose immediately detected the scent of urine and fecal matter, suggesting shitty living conditions for…wherever he was.
A set of footsteps echoed through the hallway beyond the metal bars that caged him. The first person Dan saw and he immediately felt the anger flow through him. The familiar spikes and bulky armor of a Kodak agent.
Dan narrowed his gaze at the agent who he recognized as “Rachel”. “Looks like you’re finally awake.”
His eyes darted toward the sight of an unconscious man she carried in her arm like he was a sleeping bag. Dan immediately recognized the silver and scale pattern on his coat along with his long strands of hair.
“You,” Dan seethed, “you better put Li down.”
More footsteps in the hallway caught his attention and as if Dan’s anger couldn boil any hotter, Dan saw two previous adversaries he had failed to kill. Kate Razor and Adam Torrent walked into view and stood beside the agent carrying Li.
A fourth Kodak agent Dan didn’t recognize walked past the other two and stood in the middle. All four stared at him.
“So Judith, this is what you brought back to us? This is Dan “Arctic” Orion?” the female agent in the middle said.
“Yes,” the one carrying Li said. “Since you failed to keep the serums safe, this is out next best outcome Colleen.”
Dan could work out the one carrying Li was Judith and the agent standing in between Judith and Kate was Colleen. He attempted a scan of Colleen’s stats.
Agent: Colleen Odyssey
Age: 27 F
Shard: Kodak-Cresh
Rank: ***ERROR***
Dan had never before experienced any errors when pulling up another agent’s stats. He tried the same thing with Judith.
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Agent: Judith Blight
Age: 36 F
Shard: Kodak-Cresh
Rank: ***ERROR***
Even without hard numbers, from Judith’s performance in her disguised form during the Combat Games, Dan knew she was powerful.
Dan mustered up as much rage as he could and channeled his emotioned into the one attack he could deal even behind bars.
***ERROR***
Glare cannot be used. Supernatural potential weakened.
Kate and Adam visibly shifted, most likely recognizing the attack Dan attempted. His corrosia bar popped up in the middle of his vision completely empty.
“Relax you two,” Judith said. “His strange powers have been restrained. Can’t have him doing anything funky while Kodak dissects him.” Judith looked down at Li’s unconscious body. “Same goes for his companion over here.”
Up until now, Dan didn’t register that something was wrapped around his neck. He reached up and found a metal collar wrapped around his neck.
A devilish smile crept up on Colleen’s face and she locked eyes with Dan. “Welcome to Kodak-Cresh, boy. Nothing but the best for one of Jane Sunheiser’s pets.”
“Fuck you, bitch,” he said. For extra flavor, he stuck out his middle finger at the enemy agents standing in front of him.
“Play nice,” Judith warned. “I blew up and gassed a lot of your fellow agents to get you to this… wonderful establishment.”
Something came out of Judith’s wrist and it showed a holographic projection of highlights from the Combat Games. News coverage revealed the horrific state of chaos Judith and her team left for the tournament.
News clips of young agents no older than Dan fell to their knees gasping for air as break rooms filled with strange multicolored gases. He swore that an agent’s lungs were built to be more resistant to dust, tear gas, and pollutants but this must have been poison gas specifically made to kill agents. Certain areas such as entrances to facilities and landing pads for aircraft were littered with dust and debris along with the bodies of dead agents. When the hell did Judith and her infiltration team had time to plant gas bomb and explosives? Dan’s heart sank to his stomach when he saw a snapshot of Allen lying slumped against a wall. Blood leaked from the gaping slash in his armor.
That’s when he remembered that Angie was still in that same facility when the chaos erupted. If Allen was significantly injured, then his other teammate could be dead for all he knew.
All the horrific footage shrunk to the bottom corner and casualty numbers popped up and took up the other half of the projection.
874 fatalities.
1460 injuries.
Judith gave him a wide smile. “For any of your poor friends who inhaled the gas but didn’t keel over, I’d say they’ll die in their hospital beds soon enough.”
His blood boiled as he rushed toward Judith and attempted to swipe at her through the bars. The Kodak agent backpedaled and simply raised her thumb and middle finger. She did a casual flick to Dan’s forehead and the force sent him staggering back into his cell.
“Sit down and cool off,” she ordered. Everyone else except Kate cackled with obnoxious laughter.
Dan clenched his teeth, knowing he was powerless to do anything with his powers restrained. Even if they weren’t, he doubted he could take on these four Kodak agents all at once in such cramped spaces.
Then there was Li, who they had also taken.
His anger was being wasted here. The only thing Dan could think to do was simply stare back at his enemies. Whatever they had in store for him, he would find a way to escape and take Li with him.
And when the opportunity arose, he would rip them all to shreds.
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