Chapter 10: Briefing

Roughly four chapters left till I'm out of reserve chapters, let me know your thoughts and ideas.

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[~October 17th, 2192~]

A week after the incident, all members of team Omega 1 were admitted into the facilities infirmary with mild to severe injuries, though no fatal wounds were put on record. Morgan was reprimanded for his actions, but not as severely as his first incident, the higher ups had gone over the footage and gained some understanding of Morgan's actions, causing them to retract any penalties they had in mind, instead giving him stern talking to and a few warnings.

With the main issue being taken care of, Morgan was momentarily being held in a separate area of the facility by order of the higher ups, using what time they had to brief him on what would be his first mission.

[~Facility East Corner~]

Currently in a locked room, the room was dimly lit with only a small lamp on a desk illuminating the whiteboard at the front of the room. Morgan sat at a small table in the corner, his arms crossed over his chest as he listened to the two doctors briefing him on what is expected of him, a folder containing images and documents

"Alright Morgan," said the first doctor, "we're here to debrief you on your first mission, the higher ups have decided to speed things up a bit"

Morgan nodded, his eyes focused on the whiteboard.

"The creature we're after is highly dangerous and has caused many casualties thus far," said the second doctor. "We need to effectively kill it with as little loss of life as possible."

Morgan nodded again, his expression unbothered.

"We've had some eye witness accounts from a secluded village in the countryside." said the first doctor, pulling out a rough sketch of the creature and placing it on the whiteboard. "From what we've gathered, it seems to be most active at night and is particularly fast."

"Okay," Morgan said, leaning forward in his chair and examining the picture, a large gaunt bipedal creature with excessive mushroom-like growths along their backs, four lanky arms extending into sharp claws.

Retrieving their tablet from their lab coat, the first Doctor pulled up a video and pushed it across the table. Picking up the device, Morgan was met with a recording of the New Order's first attempt at capturing the creature.

Staring intently as the video began to play. Morgan saw soldiers in heavy armor, armed with assault rifles and other advanced weapons, moving through a dense jungle, surrounding a creature that blended into the dark of night. Suddenly, a roar echoed through the speakers, and the soldiers opened fire.

The creature was massive, its skin glowing with an eerie green energy. It seemed almost impervious to the bullets as it attacked with blasts of energy frying many of the soldiers or leaving them badly burned and dying. The soldiers fought bravely, but they were quickly overwhelmed. Morgan watched in indifference as the creature killed soldier after soldier, leaving nothing but smoldering bodies in its wake.

Finally, the creature broke through the soldiers' lines and escaped into the tree line. The video cut to black, and Morgan handed the tablet back to the Doctor.

"We'll be setting up a perimeter around the creature's known location, using flares to lure it out," said the second doctor. "Once it's out in the open, we'll have a secondary team ready to aid you and the rest of Omega 1 once they recover.

The second doctor, a woman with short blonde hair, pulled out a file and began to flip through it. "It's something new, according to eyewitness accounts. It's been causing destruction and death in the town for the past few weeks, women and children brutally murdered and left to rot.

"Gotcha." Rising from his feet, Morgan took the file and skimmed through it, committing every page to memory for later use. "Come get me when you're ready, I'll be waiting in my room."

"Wait" calling out to Morgan, the first Doctor brought out a small box and opened it, revealing a small earpiece

"This is a special communication device that will allow us to stay in contact with you at all times during the mission. It's also equipped with a GPS tracking system, so we'll always know your location.

Taking the earpiece, he examined it. "Okay, got it. I'll make sure to wear it at all times during the mission." He turned to leave the room, but paused as the first doctor spoke again.

"One more thing, Morgan. This creature could be incredibly dangerous, so maintaining vigilance would be beneficial."

Nodding, Morgan placed the device in his ear. "I understand. I'll be careful."

With that, he left the room, a guard at the door walking over to him upon noticing his presence.

"Your team is waiting for you in the east meeting area."

Not responding to the guard, Morgan made his way down the hall towards another approaching Doctor, his steady walk transitioning into a stride.

"How was it?" Walking up to Morgan, Sandra nibbled on an energy bar.

Hugging her briefly, Morgan released an exasperated sigh. "Incredibly boring… and they fast forwarded my first mission by a few months, they want me to go hunt some creature in the countryside with Omega 1."

Finishing her energy bar, she quickly lost interest when the team was brought up, remembering the event of roughly a week prior. "Oh? They'll be fine, they've already recovered from that beating you gave them anyways." Patting Morgan on arm, she grinned mischievously. "When you get back we can finally get that thing "you" wanted added to your room."

Morgan simply looked at her with a deadpan expression and turned to leave.

"Good luck!" Yelling behind Morgan that was already down the hall, she continued strolling through the facility.

[~East Corner Meeting Area~]

After strolling around the facility for a few minutes and eventually reaching the meeting area, Morgan pushed through the heavy metal doors and entered the room, his heavy steps echoing as he made his way towards the four people that awaited his arrival. Currently talking amongst themselves, Talia, Mark, Kayla, and Daniel were quickly alerted to Morgan's presence, their conversation falling into silence as they nervously watched him approach.

Reaching close enough to the group, everyone except Daniel looked up at him with fear in their eyes, the four of them remaining seated. "Nice seeing you again," he said, his deep voice echoing through the room. "They gave me the gist of the situation, im sure they already briefed you on everything before me"

Morgan's words were met with silence, the team exchanging nervous glances before one of them stepped forward. "Morgan," Kayla said hesitantly. "We're not so sure that you're the best leader for this mission." speaking up, Kayla timidly stood ahead of the group.

Pondering her words with his arms crossed, Morgan simply shrugged. "Makes sense, I've never been on a mission before, it's only logical to have someone with more experience lead." Brushing past Kayla and walking over to Daniel, Morgan toward over him. "Daniel, you're back in charge." Momentarily placing his hand on Daniel's shoulder, Morgan sauntered past Daniel and stopped right in front of Talia, towering over her. Talia was visibly nervous, but she was trying her best to hide it.

"You look pretty good" Morgan said, his face emotionless as he looked down at her, his aqua blue eyes piercing through her "I feel kinda bad for beating you so badly"

Talia took a step back, fear etched on her face as she listened to what she believed was his version of an apology. "I-I'm fine now, thank you," she stammered.

Morgan took a step closer to Talia, his hand reaching out to touch her arm. "No need to be so nervous, as long as you know better we'll all be fine" he said, placing his hand on her trembling shoulder.

Daniel stepped forward, pushing back Morgan. "Hey, back off!" he spat. "She's clearly uncomfortable"

Morgan turned to face Daniel, confusion flashing in his eyes as he brushed off the area Daniel pushed him. "What?"

"You heard me," Daniel said, his voice full of bravado. "You think she'd want to talk to you after you put her in the infirmary? leave her alone"

"Oh, My Bad" Rubbing the back of his head, Morgan backed up and turned around to leave. Spinning around without warning, Morgan grabbed Daniel by his neck and slammed him on the ground faster than the others could perceive, knocking the air out of him whilst simultaneously strangling him to prevent resistance.

"For you to be speaking with such bravado, i guess you didn't learn your lesson". Slamming Daniel harder into the floor, Morgan tightened his grip and leaned closer. "I'm not your friend, I'm not your comrade, nor am I your ally. I'm here because I have to be, not because I want to." Looking down at the struggling Daniel, his skin growing red as his muscles bulged wildly from his attempt to resist Morgans grip.

Growing intrigued, Morgan felt the pressure around his forearm increasing. "Interesting." Raising his free hand, his pointer finger extended into a sharp spike. "I wonder how you work." Aiming the spike at Daniels shoulder, Morgan held him in place as he tried to resist. "Stay still." Thrusting his finger into Daniels shoulder, the spike easily penetrated his unaturally durable skin and traveled to his muscle tissue, releasing a numbing agent.

Shocked by the sudden change of events, Kayla and Mark rushed into action while Talia pulled back in fear, Kayla sending a telekinetic wave at Morgan in an attempt to push him back whilst Mark vanished from view. Shrugging off the pull of Kayla's psychokinetic abilities after already experiencing it, instantly growing a third arm from his side, Morgan reached out to his left, grabbing a handful of air as the throat of Mark quickly took its place.

"Originally I thought you could teleport, but then I discarded that idea." Tossing Mark to the side, Morgan's extra limb retracted itself.

Still gritting his teeth in the expectation of pain that never came, Daniel could only watch as his teammates tried to help him.

"Mmm". Finished retrieving a sample of Daniel's muscle tissue and genetic material, Morgan removed his finger from Daniel's shoulder, causing the wound to rapidly close. Releasing Daniel from his grip, Morgan stood up.

Dusting himself off and giving everyone a glance, Morgan internally examined the acquired material, the task taking only a few seconds as the muscle cells in his arm replicated the properties of Daniels. Examining the limb, Morgan flexed his arm, the muscles bulging wildly as they continued to grow in size, soon bursting through his skin as the sheer durability of his muscles and their rapid expansion proved to be too much for his skin to contain, the wounds just as quickly closing as they formed.

Having a better idea of how Daniels modification functions, Morgan returned his limb to normal. 'I'll have to figure out how to integrate this later'. With that, Morgan turned and strode away, leaving everyone behind. Talia rushed to Daniel's side, helping him up and checking to make sure he was okay. Mark and Kayla looked on, stunned by everything that occured.

"Are you alright?" Talia asked Daniel, her voice full of concern.

Daniel rubbed his healed shoulder, the numbing sensation rapidly fading. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "But we need to be careful around that guy. He seems unstable."

The group nodded in agreement, still shaken by the way he continued to manhandle them.

Composing himself, Daniel addressed his team.

"Let's gather what we need, we have a mission to finish."