Desert Shield's plan was simple: secretly inject Compound Five in the Middle East and create pro-American superhuman soldiers to protect America's interests in the region.
Vought called it "doing the right thing."
Farid was one of the first test subjects.
He was only twenty years old at the time.
The experiment succeeded, granting him powerful geokinetic abilities.
But Vought had underestimated one thing.
They thought that after gaining superpowers, a twenty-year-old Iraqi youth would obediently follow orders and become a tool of America.
But they overlooked the fact that Farid's father had died in a U.S. airstrike, while his mother had perished in the chaos that followed the war.
More importantly, after his two younger brothers were injected with Compound Five, their experiments failed, and Vought disposed of them as defective products.
Vought gave him power—and a reason to hate them.
In 2005, Farid broke free of Vought's control and disappeared into the deserts of the Middle East.
For the next twenty years, under the codename Sandstorm, he built a superhuman terrorist organization in the region.
The organization specialized in attacking U.S. military bases, destroying oil pipelines, and assassinating pro-American politicians.
America sent special forces to hunt them down again and again, but every attempt failed.
That was because his network of underground hideouts stretched across the entire Syrian-Iraqi border. Some were more than two hundred meters deep, and covered an area as large as a small city.
On his turf, he was a god!
Lu Heng closed the folder.
"So Vought created a monster, and now they want me to clean up their mess?"
Edgar's expression was as calm as ever, as if he didn't consider the dangerous man they were discussing much of a threat.
"That's a fair summary. Farid is indeed a failed product of Vought, just like the other defective products here in America."
"I'm curious. He's been active for twenty years. Why did you only decide to deal with him now?" Lu Heng had a feeling there was more to it.
"He was causing trouble in the Middle East, but it didn't affect the domestic market, so we didn't bother. Now the situation has changed."
Edgar pulled a photograph from the bottom of the folder.
It was a still from a video. Sandstorm stood in front of a field of ruins, speaking to the camera.
"Three weeks ago, he released a video threatening to attack America."
"The Pentagon is putting pressure on us..."
"They want Vought to deal with the problem, since Vought created it in the first place."
Lu Heng leaned back in his chair, thinking he could pass the job off to Homelander.
"You could send Homelander."
"Homelander is certainly a good choice, but we plan to build you up as Protector. Fighting terrorists is perfect for a hero who stands for justice." Edgar offered what seemed like an impossible-to-refuse reason.
"No! No! No!" Lu Heng shook his head.
"Justice in the Middle East? Don't make me laugh. I don't want to be used as someone else's weapon."
Edgar seemed to have expected this. He slid over several more photographs.
They showed local people who had been killed in horrible ways.
"Farid is a terrorist to us, and he's no better to the locals. He's never cared about ordinary people's lives. Every time he acts, several innocent civilians end up dead."
"We know superhumans like him all too well. They start at the very bottom of society, and once they gain great power, they don't just stop sympathizing with people like themselves."
"They become even crueler to those at the bottom. In other words, he's now a full-fledged superhuman supremacist—a believer in superhuman supremacy!"
Lu Heng looked at the photographs and grinned.
"Edgar, you were born to be a negotiator."
Lu Heng put the photographs away and agreed to the mission.
"We'll have a helicopter livestream your heroic deeds. You'll give people around the world hope," Edgar said.
"Excellent."
Lu Heng smashed Edgar's window and flew back to the conference room from the top floor.
Edgar was left alone to endure the cold draft.
The female secretary felt a chill between her legs and shivered.
Lu Heng knew that, beyond wanting to use his power to complete the counterterrorism mission, Edgar mostly wanted to see how strong he was—and how controllable.
Whenever a product was made, its threat level had to be assessed first.
But Lu Heng didn't care.
There were practically no superhumans in the world who could threaten him. He could use this opportunity to win the public's favor all over again.
It would be best to bring Cate and Jordan along this time.
"You want to take two interns on a counterterrorism mission?" Ashley Barrett questioned.
She was worried that if those two died, it would damage the Guardians' reputation.
"They need field training. I'll make sure they stay safe."
Ashley shook her head. "Sandstorm has been running wild in the Middle East for twenty years. It's not as if Vought hasn't sent superhumans after him before, but they all died. Only Homelander could..."
A prompt appeared on the screen.
[Side Quest Triggered: Desert Storm] [Objective: Eliminate the superhuman terrorist "Sandstorm" Farid Al-Rashid] [Quest Rewards: 15,000 Ability Points, Increased Global Reputation] [Bonus Objective: Ensure the safety of team members Cate Dunlap and Jordan Li] [Bonus Rewards: Increased Team Loyalty, 3,000 Ability Points]
It looked like this trip would be pretty rewarding.
Lu Heng took out his phone and messaged Cate and Jordan.
[Guardian: Trouble's brewing, get back here—fast!]
[Guardian: We've got a big job!]
[Jordan: Is it a big burger this time?]
[Guardian: Sure. We'll buy one and eat it in the Middle East.]
[Cate: The Middle East?]
After the messages went out, Lu Heng's office door burst open.
Jordan and Cate looked thrilled.
"We're going to the Middle East for a mission?"
"A terrorist attack?"
"Guardian, you really are a hero of justice!"
"I like you so much, I could—"
Ten minutes later, they were in the Middle East.
Lu Heng descended into the desert from high above, holding one of them in each hand.
As soon as Cate and Jordan landed, they couldn't help throwing up.
They'd wasted everything they'd eaten that morning.
"Ugh!"
"Ugh, ugh!"
Only after they had emptied their stomachs did they wipe their mouths and stagger to their feet.
"G-Guardian, give me a hand. My legs are weak."
Cate grabbed Lu Heng's arm, stars dancing before her eyes.
Jordan cleared his throat. "Feels like I drank a hundred beers and got ridden all night."
Lu Heng: "..."
Cate: "..."
That was one hell of a bizarre comparison.
"Jordan, seriously, just when I think you can't get any more outrageous, you come out with something that makes my eyes light up." Lu Heng gave Jordan a thumbs-up.
His team had reached its limit.
Cate, so frail she seemed boneless; Jordan, always imagining getting ridden.
And then there was the invincible me!
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