Chapter 20: Hunter of Hunters

[Austria]

Undersecretary Pierce was now walking through a long corridor that was made out of concrete. The place is underground, and from what Pierce could tell, it had minimal lights, he couldn't even see that there was ventilation down here.

He was walking alone, as per the rules of this establishment, visitors would be as minimal as possible, and he didn't worry about safety, as deep inside, there were already many, considering the man who was staying here.

It was not long after he arrived at the end of the corridor. Three men are waiting for him, and those men are wearing white hazmat suits, designed for this specific place.

One of them greeted him, shaking his hand. "Undersecretary Pierce."

"Colonel Karpov." Pierce nodded. "You surprised me. Not only did you decline the use of your soldiers, you offered me something else."

"I've read the target's profile. X-gene, correct?"

"Your soldiers can't handle them?" Pierce raised his brow. "He has X-gene, yes, but it hasn't been confirmed if it's been activated."

Karpov chuckled. "Activated or not, it's better to be sure, undersecretary. Besides, it's time to test this particular asset too. We spent a lot of time and money storing and changing him, and with his abilities, it's hard to do that, trust me." Karpov then signaled the other two men to act, and they moved towards Pierce, using a metal detector to scan his entire body. Once it was confirmed that it was clear, they nodded, which made Karpov hummed. "You are clear, undersecretary. Let's continue, shall we?"

"Well, lead the way."

The door then opened. When Pierce entered the room, all he could see was another corridor, but it was different, the walls around him weren't made out of metal or concrete, instead, it was glass. He could see the surroundings, below them was the literal abyss, the bottom was so dark he couldn't even see the end of it.

After a brief stop, they continued, with Karpov leading the way.

"So, tell me about the man who's been stored here," Pierce said.

"He's been here ever since World War II," Karpov said. "We found him in Auschwitz, we discovered his… abilities there too. Our agent moves fast, before he can control it, we're successfully able to brainwash him and turn him into our soldier."

"I sense a 'but' here…"

Karpov chuckled. "His abilities were untrained, so we tried to train him. But the better he is at controlling his abilities, the harder it is to make him fall asleep. So we tried to do it another way, but it hasn't resulted in much for a couple of decades, We can't afford to send him to missions because we're afraid the brainwashing will break, until now. The machines have been improved, and the place to store him has improved too, so this is his first mission ever since he 'joined' us back in 1939."

"How old is he? In terms of looks, not chronologically."

"In his 20s, I suppose," Karpov answered. "Why? Is that detrimental?"

"Not really. But if he did a good job, maybe he could join us full-time, no need to deep freeze him every time his mission is finished."

"I don't recommend that, undersecretary." Karpov shook his head. "We've improved the brainwashing and deep freezing method, sure, but there's no guarantee that the brainwashing will stick in a long-term deployment."

"So continue being a weapon it is." Pierce hummed. "Any more of these… mutants, you have at your disposal?"

"We have, still young and untrained, though not many, as mutants, are rare among rares." Karpov nodded. "If the American Branch could get us more—"

"It's hard to do that," Pierce said. "But I'll see what I can do."

"Then thank you." Karpov smiled. "Next thing you know, we'll have an army of them."

Karpov then Pierce entered a transparent box in the middle of this empty hole underground. There, Pierce saw a bunch of guards, holding transparent guns that were made out of plastic, and in the middle of the box, there was a container, made out of glass, which had cooled the town to the point that it was hard to see what's inside, but he could tell, there was a man inside it.

Karpov looked at the guards, and they all went into position. The man grabbed a small book at the side and stood beside the container.

He opened the book and stared at the man inside the container.

Karpov then started to speak. "Желание."

Pierce felt nervous after hearing that word, a pressure in front seemingly pushing him down.

"Ржавый."

The guards became nervous.

"Семнадцать."

Pierce clenched his fist, the pressure becoming more powerful.

"Рассвет."

The container started to shake as if the man inside was trying to break free.

"Печь. Девять."

Screams started to come out of the container, a desperate one. It seems the deep freeze isn't as effective as it seems.

"Добросердечный."

The guards's hands were now stuttering, holding their guns tightly.

"Возвращение на родину."

The container shook more roughly, the screams becoming more desperate.

"Один."

The cold mist inside the container was no more, and Pierce could see what was inside clearly. A face red as blood, wrath filled his blood veins.

"Грузовой вагон."

In an instant, the shaking stopped, and the screams vanished. Karpov closed the book and pressed a button just at the side of the container. It moved and placed the container in a vertical position, the container opened, the shackles around the man's arms and legs were released, and the man dropped to the glass floor, sweat dripping off of him.

Karpov walked towards him, grabbed a towel near him, and offered it to the man. "Soldier?"

The man turned to Karpov, no longer in rage, just a neutral expression. "Ready to comply."

"Good." Karpov hummed, the man taking the towel. "Magnus. We have a job for you."

Karpov grabbed a file from the side again, giving it to the man. The man stood up and looked at the file.

Inside was a profile, six profiles, to be exact. Five were special agents, and one was an ordinary college student.

"Find these people," Karpov said. "At the very least, you have to find evidence about their deaths if they are already dead, if not, track them, and eliminate them."