Meeting and mission

The drive did not last long, but every second felt like torture to Benjamin.

When the car door opened again, the glaring white light left him unable to open his eyes.

"Get out."

The security personnel pushed him out.

Benjamin stumbled to his feet. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, the pleas he had prepared caught in his throat.

This was neither a prison nor an interrogation room.

He stood before a futuristic silver metal door. Above it, a holographic projection displayed a rotating D.O.D.C. emblem, with a line of small text underneath that made his heart race:

(Technical Research Department-Level Three Restricted Area)

"Go in." A security officer pointed at the door. His attitude remained cold, but the murderous air from earlier was clearly gone.

The door slid open soundlessly, revealing a long corridor beyond.

Benjamin stepped forward fearfully. He felt like a groundhog that had wandered into a palace, every step landing on clouds. Optical fibers seemed to run through the walls, and the floor was clean enough to reflect his image.

At the end of the corridor was an open door.

He heard familiar voices.

"...The coffee's still too weak. Have them switch to dark-roast beans next time."

"You're lucky there's anything to drink, Old Dog. Think about that dishwater you drank upstairs."

Benjamin jerked his head up and rushed into the room.

It was an absurdly spacious operational briefing room, or perhaps some kind of high-end lounge?

An enormous holographic tactical display occupied the center, with streams of data flowing across every wall. In a nearby lounge area, Zhao Fan, whom he had thought had already been "murdered," leaned against the bar drinking coffee, dressed in expensive-looking black tactical casualwear.

On the leather sofa beside him, the perpetually filthy Old Dog now wore a bathrobe and swirled a glass of red wine, looking every bit a retired mob boss.

"Zhao... Zhao Fan? Uncle Old Dog?" Benjamin rubbed his eyes, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. "Am... am I dead? Is this heaven? Did you die too?"

"Pfft-" Old Dog nearly spat out his wine. He slapped his thigh, roaring with laughter. "Hahahaha! Fanzi, didn't I tell you this kid would be scared stupid? Look at his face! White as a sheet!"

Zhao Fan put down his coffee and came over, wearing a reassuring smile.

"Hey, Ben." Zhao Fan walked up and gave his shoulder a firm pat, unbothered by Benjamin's sweat and dust. "Welcome to our new office."

"New... office?" Benjamin repeated blankly. Then he suddenly snapped out of it and grabbed Zhao Fan's arm. "Brother Zhao! What the hell is going on? Those uniformed bastards said they were arresting me... I thought..."

"That was just a little test."

A cool female voice interrupted him.

Dr. Evelyn Reed emerged from behind the holographic projection. Arms folded, she looked down at Benjamin.

"Benjamin Lee, your psychological resilience rating is E-minus. If you panic and scream like that on the battlefield, I'll be the first to shoot you."

Benjamin shrank back in fright and hid behind Zhao Fan. He knew this woman: the legendary "she-devil," the technical department's director. He had heard that even the department's genius engineers were completely under her thumb.

"But he came. That's enough. It's not as if we're sending him to the front lines." Zhao Fan stood in front of Benjamin and looked at Evelyn. "Doctor, I've got the man I asked for. Now show him his toys."

Evelyn snorted coldly and waved a hand.

A metal wall on one side of the room slowly rose, revealing an entire row of equipment behind it.

Benjamin's eyes instantly fixed on it.

There sat Stark Industries' latest quantum server terminal, three enormous immersive displays, a full set of military-grade signal decoders, and even an ergonomic chair-the kind that had sat in his shopping cart for three years because he could never afford it.

"Is that... a J.A.R.V.I.S. subsystem access port?" Benjamin pointed at a blue interface, his voice trembling. "I've seen the schematics on the dark web. That thing has as much processing power as an entire S.H.I.E.L.D. branch data center! My God... and that! Is that a decommissioned S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Hawkeye' satellite console?"

Benjamin had completely forgotten his earlier terror. For a tech geek, this place was heaven. No, it was better than heaven.

"Stop drooling, fatty," Old Dog called from behind him. "That's your workstation from now on. Dirty the floor and it comes out of your pay."

"Can... can I touch it?" Benjamin turned to Zhao Fan, his eyes like a husky's at the sight of a meaty bone.

Zhao Fan smiled and nodded. "It's yours. Take a seat, Ben. Give it a try."

Benjamin drifted over as though in a dream. The moment his hands touched the cold metal keyboard, his entire bearing changed.

His timid, cringing manner vanished. His eyes grew focused and sharp, and his back straightened involuntarily. His fingers danced across the keyboard, leaving streaks of afterimages.

"Accessing system... handshake protocol complete... bypassing firewall... whoa, this feels freaking amazing!" Benjamin let out a strange cry. "Permissions unlocked... S.C.U. technical supervisor? I'm the supervisor? Boss, this is insane!"

Waterfalls of data streamed across the screens, casting a faint, flickering glow on his glasses.

"This is the 'Black Box.'" Evelyn walked up behind him, her voice still cold, though surprise flickered in her eyes. "You're adapting quickly. It seems Zhao Fan was right about you."

"All right, enough catching up." Evelyn clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention back.

She walked to the central holographic table, her expression turning serious.

"Since all of S.C.U. is here-Captain Zhao Fan, adviser Jose, technical support Benjamin. There may only be three of you for now, but work won't wait. It's time to get down to business."

The holographic screen instantly expanded, and a complex diagram of underground structures appeared before them.

A location deep beneath Queens was marked with a glaring dark-red skull.

"This is your first mission," Evelyn said. "And S.C.U.'s proof of commitment."

Zhao Fan looked at the marker, his pupils contracting slightly.

"Where is this?"

"A World War II air-raid shelter, secretly converted into a biochemical laboratory by Hydra during the Cold War." Evelyn's revelation was startling. "Last night, our sensors detected unstable energy fluctuations deep inside. Conventional cleanup teams can't get in. The air inside is highly corrosive, and... there may still be some living 'remnants.'"

"Living?" Benjamin's hands trembled, and half his newly established confidence instantly collapsed. "You mean zombies? Or monsters with tentacles?"

"We'll know when we get there," Zhao Fan interrupted, his gaze locked on the red dot.

He felt a familiar stirring from that red dot, something that could not be suppressed even through a screen. Whether it was the system or his intuition, he was not quite sure.

But there was something there. Something good, definitely.

"Old Dog, stop drinking. Go pick out a few weapons that suit you from the equipment room." Zhao Fan turned, a leader's presence coming naturally to him. "Ben, I want blueprints of this area from seventy years ago, plus maps of all the surrounding groundwater flows. Take control of every camera you just saw."

"Yes, boss!" Benjamin answered loudly on instinct, his fingers moving even faster over the keyboard.

Zhao Fan looked at Evelyn. "All right, Doctor. We'll complete the mission."

Watching the trio instantly shift into combat mode, Evelyn nodded in satisfaction.

She liked subordinates she did not have to worry about. Ambition and ability did not bother her; what she feared was a mindless yes-man.

Half an hour later.

An all-black blast-resistant SUV drove out of D.O.D.C. headquarters' underground garage. Its body bore no markings except a discreet D.O.D.C. logo.

Zhao Fan sat in the back seat, checking the equipment in his hands.

Evelyn might have given them a difficult mission, but she certainly had not skimped on equipment.

Zhao Fan wore a high-strength fiber protective suit. It looked like an ordinary tactical jacket, but it was bulletproof, stab-resistant, and had a built-in life-support system. A specially made electric baton hung at his waist, capable of instantly releasing a powerful current. It was the most powerful weapon he could legally carry as an S.C.U. employee at present, along with ten special-alloy throwing knives hanging at his waist.

Old Dog sat beside him, cradling a multipurpose entrenching shovel. Judging by its design-he had insisted on bringing it, saying it felt right in his hands-he also carried an enormous tactical backpack filled with various pieces of tactical equipment for handling different situations and environments.

Benjamin remained at the base to provide remote support, keeping up with them through the cameras Zhao Fan and Old Dog wore.

"Comms check." Zhao Fan pressed his earpiece.

"Loud and clear, boss." Benjamin's voice came through the earpiece, accompanied by the clatter of keys. "I've hacked the traffic lights in that area and given you green lights all the way. Also, I just checked the files on that place... uh, there's some bad news."

"Go on."

"There was a cave-in of unknown origin at that shelter in the fifties, and it was sealed off afterward. Rumor has it that of an entire team of agents sent in to investigate, only one came out alive, and he'd gone insane." Benjamin's voice trembled a little. "Apparently, he kept muttering 'they're swimming through the walls' in the asylum."

"Swimming?" Old Dog muttered, unscrewing his hip flask and taking a drink. "Hope it's not sewer alligators. Those things have thick hides. Hard to kill."

"If only it were alligators," Zhao Fan said flatly, watching the streets flash past the window.

The vehicle soon entered an old industrial park in Queens. It was even more desolate than the area where they had worked before, overgrown with weeds and dotted with restricted zones fenced off with wire.

The driver stopped in front of an unremarkable manhole cover.

"This is it." The driver turned around. "Sir, my assignment is to bring you here. I'll wait in the vehicle. If anything happens, I'll call for air support."

"Thanks."

Zhao Fan opened the door and got out.

Old Dog followed, skillfully prying up the heavy manhole cover with a crowbar.

A cloud of visible yellow fumes immediately surged out of the opening.

"Cough, cough, cough!" Old Dog staggered back, choking. "Damn it, that smell... sulfur? Or dead rats?"

"It's a chemical leak." Zhao Fan frowned. He could feel a faint stinging in the air, some kind of energy irradiating his skin.

Fortunately, his body, modified by the Extremis Virus, was practically immune to radiation at this level. It even felt a little... comfortable?

"Put on your masks and protective suits," Zhao Fan ordered.

They donned full-face gas masks and protective suits, and their vision instantly turned a dim green.

"Ben, scan the depth."

"Scanning... vertical depth, thirty-five meters," Benjamin's voice replied. "There's a huge cavity below. Thermal imaging shows... uh, the temperature inside is five degrees higher than the surroundings."

"Interesting." Zhao Fan switched on his tactical flashlight and jumped into the dark hole first.

"Old Dog, keep up. Don't fall behind."

"Coming, coming," Old Dog grumbled. "These old bones are going to meet their end at your hands one day."

They descended the rusty ladder, the surrounding walls covered in strange moss. The farther down they went, the stronger the stench of decay became, until even the gas masks could not filter it out completely.

At last, Zhao Fan's feet touched solid ground.

It was a broad underground tunnel, its floor covered with rotting planks and rust-covered rails.

Weak Energy Perception, activate.

Zhao Fan gave the silent command.

In an instant, his world changed.

Darkness was no longer simply darkness. Countless points of light danced at the edges of his vision. Deep in the tunnel, a mass of energy as thick as ink slowly writhed.

That was the target.

"Watch your step." Zhao Fan lowered his voice and drew the electric baton from his waist. "We have company."

"Company?" Old Dog raised his entrenching shovel and looked around nervously.

Just then, within Zhao Fan's perception, a faint point of light on the wall suddenly brightened.

"Zzz-"

A faint sound came from a crack in the wall on the left.

Zhao Fan whipped his head around and instantly activated his baton. A blue arc split the darkness, striking a shadow on the wall with pinpoint accuracy.

"Screee!!!"

A shrill scream rang out.

The shadow dropped from the wall, twitched a few times on the floor, and went still.

Old Dog leaned closer and shone his flashlight on it, then sucked in a sharp breath.

It was neither a rat nor a snake.

It was a palm-sized... insect, with three heads and a carapace that gleamed like metal?

"This is Hydra's 'legacy'?" Old Dog swallowed. "Looks like an irradiated cockroach."

"No." Zhao Fan crouched and picked up the insect with his gloved hand.

[Ding! Trace active biological sample detected.]

[Analyzing D-rank remnant: Hydra Parasitic Guard (degenerate form).]

[Ability fragment acquired: Hard Carapace (1/10).]

The system notification brought Zhao Fan a surge of delight.

This was only the appetizer.

"Keep moving." Zhao Fan stood and flicked the insect's corpse from his hand. "These things live in colonies. If I'm not careful, we could become their late-night snack."

Benjamin's frightened voice came through the earpiece. "Boss... thermal imaging shows... the walls ahead of you are full of heat signatures like that! They're packed in there!"

Looking into the darkness ahead, Zhao Fan's smile only widened.

"Perfect." He clenched his fists, feeling the power surging through his body. "A perfect chance to see just how much I can do."

Deep underground, where no one knew, S.C.U.'s first real battle began.