“Craig Foster?” The Spektrum says with grit teeth. “A hero?!”
“How did he not
hurt himself jumping from there?” Cyndi asks.
“Doesn’t
matter,” Spektrum says, going Black. “I’m gonna hurt him now.”
“Wait!” Cyndi
says, grabbing his upper arm. “Maybe… Maybe Craig loses, and then you can run
in there to save him and stop The Masqueraders.”
The Spektrum
thinks about that as his red eye burns a hole into a swaggering Craig.
“That’s a good
point,” he says, calming back down to Silver.
Craig smugly
smirks as The Masqueraders take up positions in a small semi-circle.
“Ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls, children of all ages!” Craig starts saying.
“Is he quoting
some kind of circus introduction?” Cyndi asks.
“You are about
to witness a daring act of courage and excitement guaranteed to delight!” Craig
continues. “An act that you will remember throughout your lifetime. Never before
has anything so daring been attempted. I am privileged to introduce to you a real superhero! A man who doesn’t dress
like a Power Ranger cowboy or some kind of tough guy goth.”
“Tough guy goth?”
Spektrum repeats. “He means Code Black?”
“Well, I could see
how he thinks that,” Cyndi shrugs.
“Witness
heroics, history and the pinnacle of human ability all at once!” Craig
continues to boast. “Witness the debut of—AGH!”
Craig topples
over from having M4 thrown at him by
M1!
“Javelin
formation successful!” M2 says while the others laugh victoriously.
“He deserved
that,” both Spektrum and Cyndi say.
“Okay, guess
I’ll go save him now,” Spektrum says as he takes a step forward.
But The Spektrum
stops when he sees Craig get up! As he looks closer, he can see what’s making
Craig glow. There is some kind of wiring embedded in his skin and even deeper
in his body. The wiring is in his arms all the way to his fingertips, and even
up his neck to his head, right around his ears and eyes. There’s even a faint
glow underneath his black shirt, confirming that the wires are in his torso,
and surely means it all continues down his abdomen to his waist, legs and feet.
“I’ve never seen
implants like that before,” M3 says.
“And that’s
saying something for a group like us,” M5 adds as he bends his arms into
spirals.
“So it’s like that, then?” Craig says as he tosses M4
aside. “Okay then!”
The glowing grows brighter and Craig starts sprinting at
the other Masqueraders.
“So fast!” Cyndi blurts out. “Like Code Red fast!”
M2 runs at Craig with his own super speed, and they’re on
a collision course. But Craig knocks M2 flying with a shoulder, just like Craig
learned playing football. Of course, just as Craig’s toughness and speed has
clearly been enhanced, so has his strength, and M2 lands several yards away!
M1 braces himself as Craig keeps coming. Craig rams into
M1 and this collision is much more solid. M1 grits his teeth as he digs his
feet in, but Craig still pushes him back a full foot before friction helps M1
slow Craig down.
“I’ll crush you for sure this time!” M1 says as he gut
wrenches Craig up high.
With a ferocious grunt, M1 powerbombs Craig hard onto the
ground! The thud of Craig’s body against the grass and dirt is hard enough to
listen to, but the students watching cringe seeing how Craig’s body is folded
up after. M3 and M5 flank Craig on either side while grinning and laughing.
M2 sits up and shakes his head to shake the dizziness
away. But Cyndi and Spektrum are hiding behind one of the Science Wing’s
pillars.
M2 and M4 rejoin the others as they surround Craig. The
Masqueraders laugh at the arrogant human.
“So, you’re the new hero?” M3 says as he kicks Craig in
the ribs. “How sad.”
The Masqueraders laugh more as M’s 3 and 5 kick Craig
more. M4 even joins in after he understands what’s happening.
Spektrum goes around the back side of the pillar to the
next one. Cyndi is tense as she glances back and forth between him sneaking
over and Masquerade stomping Craig out.
As The Masqueraders kick Craig more and more, they start
working up a sweat.
“Is it getting hotter?” M5 says as he wipes his brow.
“That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be winter here, right?” M3 says.
The Masqueraders notice very quickly that the source of
the heat is Craig. And the heat is increasing! Craig stands up slowly, and The
Masqueraders feel like they’re standing next to a raging fire.
Craig kicks M2 below the belt before throwing him
headlong into M5. He grabs M3 but M3 is still very slippery, and even more so
now that he’s sweaty. Craig grumbles as he kicks M3 away. M4 rams his head into
Craig’s back, that bronze forehead like a hammer. M1 boots Craig in the face
and Craig staggers but stays up. Craig shakes it off and grits his teeth as he
punches M4 in the mouth. M4 staggers away while checking his teeth, but M1
sends Craig rolling with a kick. But Craig gets up again.
M1 and M4 rush Craig, but he easily dodges the red giant with
a slide, the grabs the yellow ram by his feet. Craig starts swinging M4 around,
using that bronze forehead against M1! M1 falls back from the hit to his chest,
Craig brings M4 over and spikes M4’s head like a football into M1’s face! M1 is
out cold!
Fast as Red, tough
as Blue, and strong as Silver, The Spektrum thinks to himself. How are those wires able to do that?
Craig drags M4 back up and sees M3 running back in. Craig
swings M4 like a bat and hits M3 in the chest, too! M3 flips through the air to
flop on the ground, also out cold! M4 starts fighting back with one free leg,
kicking Craig in the hip. Craig grunts and growls as he stomps M4 in the
shoulders, chest and neck area.
M2 and M5 get up and see their teammates down on the
ground.
“This can’t be possible,” M2 says quickly. “This can’t be
possible!”
“Oh it is possible, blue ball,” Craig smirks. “Now you
gonna call your boss down here or run away?”
M4 suddenly kicks Craig in the back of the leg!
“Ack! Charlie horse!” Craig blurts out as he hobbles a
couple steps away.
M5 quickly hops on M2’s back and M2 runs as fast as he
can towards the others. M2 drags M3 over while M4 crawls to M1. The Masqueraders
regroup before another blinding flash of light teleports them away.
“That’s what I thought!” Craig shouts at the sky while
still hobbling.
The Spektrum turns around and hurries back to Cyndi,
returning to Simon.
“Spektrum, what the heck?!” Cyndi shouts in a whisper as
he hurries her back to the stairwell.
“He can’t see me yet,” Spektrum says. “Everyone thinks
The Spektrum is dead, and Craig knows I’m The Spektrum. Craig seeing me now
will only complicate things.”
“More than Craig having powers of his own!?”
“Well, yeah, obviously!”
The two of them hurry back upstairs and rejoin the fan
club.
“Where did you two go?” Zoey asks, eyes still blinking
from the blinding light.
“I went with Cyndi as she got pictures,” Simon says.
“Why would you want pictures?” Zoey asks.
“I dunno,” Cyndi plays along. “I didn’t even get any,
because things started going crazy.”
“Who was that?” Zoey asks them quietly. “It sounds like
everyone else in here didn’t really like him.”
“I don’t think we have enough time left in lunch to
explain that,” Simon says. “We’ll try to explain during PE or maybe after
school.”
“News crews are arriving,” someone says from the window.
Everyone but Simon and Cyndi looks out the window.
“No! No!” a woman reporter shouts at others. “I was here
first, damn it! I get first crack at him!”
The pushy reporter pushes past security and her cameraman
apologetically smiles as he reluctantly follows.
“Are you getting this?” the reporter asks her camerman as
she hurries over to Craig.
“That’s bright,” the cameraman says. “Is it hotter here?”
“Sir?” the reporter calls to Craig. “Sir? Could- Could
you turn down… Whatever all that is.”
“Yeah hold on,” Craig says.
Craig takes in a few deep breaths, and the wires cool
down and dim. Now he properly shows up on the camera feed.
“Okay,” the reporter says as she and her camera man get
into proper position.
“Live in five,” the cameraman counts down while the
report fixes her hair and Craig looks her up and down from behind. “Four.
Three.”
He mouths “Two” and “One” while the reporter finishes her
preparation.
“Erica Casey here, live for Channel 7,” she says with a
big smile. “In what was a sudden return of the masked henchmen of the alien
crime boss, Zorb, a new hero emerged to take the fallen Spektrum’s place.”
“Yeah that’s right,” Craig says with his own big smile
and an arm around the reporter’s shoulders. “I am the new hero of San Leandro!”
“Yes,” Erica says as she shrugs off Craig’s arm. “But
wait, aren’t you Craig Foster? The young man who tried to blackmail The
Spektrum before?”
“Yes, that was me,” Craig says.
Everyone in the clubroom boos as best they can through
the windows.
“But that was the past,” Craig says. “I’m here now, so—”
“So what makes you think you deserve to replace him?”
Erika interrupts.
“It’s not about if I deserve it,” Craig retorts. “It’s
that somebody had to replace him! He’s dead, I’m not, so here I am. And I’m not
just Craig Foster anymore. I signed up with Reciprocity and passed a rigorous
training process to earn these cybernetic wire implants. So now, I’m San
Leandro’s new hero, Hardwire!”
It was the day The Spektrum died. Craig received the
black card from the Reciprocity agent, and it let him know what number to call
that following Wednesday. From there, Craig and his friends met with Fast Pace
and were taken to the headquarters of Reciprocity Inc.
“This way,” Fast Pace said to Craig, Tommy and Joey.
Craig and his friends followed Fast Pace deeper into the
underground base, down several flights of stairs. Little did they know, they
passed by the conference room the Power Surge was meeting.
Fast Pace opened a
door to the training room. Waiting there were Mountain and Whip Cream. He was wearing
a no-sleeve shirt and red fatigues while she was wearing off-white fatigues and
black sports bra.
“So these are the other volunteers?” she asked.
“Yep,” Fast Pace said. “Hey, snap out of it.”
Craig and his friends stopped staring at Whip Cream.
“You three aren’t the only ones wanting to join up with
Reciprocity now that we’re public,” he explained. “There are many others who
want to enlist with us.”
Fast Pace whistled and other teens and young adults walked
over. Including the three from San Leandro High, this class of recruits was 22
people.
“We’re not going to accept mediocrity,” Whip Cream said
as she walked to stand at the center of everyone. “I’m not going to tell you
how many we’re accepting, because I don’t want any of you slacking off just
because you’ve made ‘the cut’. As far as any of you should be concerned, none
of you are safe. We’ll find another handful of people if we have to.”
Craig was all for that. He was already eyeing those in
the group that looked the weakest.
“And by the way,” Whip Cream said as she brought out her
whip. “We start testing you now!”
She cracked her whip centimeters from Joey’s lips and he
snapped back from shock. Craig would have laughed if not for the loud crack that
popped in his ear. He and the other trainees looked at Whip Cream, and she looked
very serious about cracking the whip again.
“But what’re we supposed to do?” three triplet boys asked
at the same time.
Whip Cream cracked the whip again, and everyone just
scrambled to whatever exercise machines or equipment was nearby.
Joey relaxed when he found his lip wasn’t bleeding. Craig
got him and Tommy over to a weight lifting set-up. Joey and Tommy loaded
weights onto a bar and Craig got under it to squat.
“This is really serious stuff, man,” Joey said in a
hushed but anxious tone. “How did she know she wasn’t going to hit me?!”
“Because I’m a professional,” she said as she came up
behind Joey.
Joey almost knocked weights off the racks as he almost
jumped out of his skin.
“Hmm…” Whip Cream said as she looked at the weights Craig
squatted. “What’s your current weight?”
“Just under 200 pounds,” he said before squatting back
down.
“Squatting one-and-a-quarter times your weight,” she
said. “Not bad.”
“Oh this is just my warm-up weight,” he said. “Add
another 50, guys.”
Joey and Tommy put on more weight and now Craig squats
300 pounds, for 1.5 times his weight.
“Impressive,” White Cream said. “Strong legs, but for
what sport?”
“Football,” Craig said with a grin. “I double as a
runningback and linebacker, so I need to be able to get through huge bodies
both ways.”
“Which do you prefer?” she asked. “Runningback or
linebacker?”
“Linebacker,” Craig said with another grin. “I get to hit
someone. Dominate them. I’m the reason they didn’t move forward.”
Whip Cream liked the sound of that and gave a nod before
moving on.
Time passed as Craig and all the trainees worked up a
sweat.
“Now I know the holidays are coming,” Whip Cream said to
everyone, “but I would hope none of you expected to have time off for those.”
This news certainly got a reaction from the group.
“Oh I’m sorry,” she said sarcastically. “Did you all sign
up to be employees at a supermarket? No. You’re here to join Reciprocity, and
specifically our elite operations unit. If you can’t make that commitment to
this organization and the safety it provides for both American and the world,
then you might as well quit now.”
Craig doesn’t budge, and he made sure his friends stayed put, too. Of the 22 people that started the day, 14 remained.
As things progressed towards Christmas, the training
intensified, but also went above ground. Craig did the best on the obstacle
course, was within the top half on the shooting range, and surprisingly was
still in the top ten on the IQ tests, but as 10th place.
“Well, not everyone has everything,” Darklite commented
as he sat with his elite agents in the boardroom.
“He definitely won’t be touched on that course,” Smart
Mouth said. “But we still need to check those intangibles.”
“I’ve seen his mean streak,” Whip Cream said while
twiddling with her whip. “He was hitting those heavy bags with everything he
had, and he’s been badmouthing the eight that left ever since day one.”
“So he’s cocky,” Smart Mouth shrugged. “I kinda like
that.”
“Of course you would,” Whip Cream muttered.
“At the very least, we’ll be keeping him a little
longer,” Darklite says. “How are his friends doing?”
“Tommy Halterman placed 10th on the obstacle
course,” Fast Pace read from the reports, “equal with Craig on the shooting
range at around 6th or 7th, but was 7th in IQ.
Then for Josephy ‘Joey’ Zuliani, 5th on the obstacle course, 12th
on the shooting range, and 12th in IQ.”
“So neither is that impressive, hm?” Darklite said as he
looked at the reports for himself.
“And from how he treats them, they’re more Craig’s
followers than his peers,” Whip Cream said.
“Well, at least that means Craig isn’t shy to take the
lead,” Darklite said as he sits back.
“Other stand outs of course include the Dempster
Triplets,” Fast Pace spoke up. “Daniel, Donald and David are all equal with
each other. They were essentially 2nd through 4th on the
obstacle course, 3rd through 5th on the shooting range,
and 4th through 6th on IQ.”
“But which brother is the best of the three?” Whip Cream
asked.
“Honestly, just keep all three if possible,” Darklite
said. “With no idea when another threat can come along, or when old threats
will return, we need to expediate things. This means putting pressure on our
young volunteers earlier than normal, but that is how coal becomes diamond,
isn’t it?”
“So what do you suggest?” Whip Cream asked.
Christmas Day came for the trainees, but there wasn’t
anything special waiting for them when they woke up. No tree, no lights, no
presents. Craig shrugged it off. His Christmases have never been that special,
so why would that change now?
“Good morning,” Whip Cream said as she appeared during
the trainees’ breakfast. “And oh yes, Merry Christmas. Sorry for little in the
way of a celebration, but we do have gifts for everyone.”
The group outside of Craig perked up, expecting boxes or
stockings.
“Not literal ones,” Whip Cream chuckled. “The gift is
that today, you all truly join Reciprocity Incorporated!”
That got Craig to smile. The group celebrates, and some
even high-five.
“Well…” Whip Cream said with a shrug. “That’s if you pass
this final test. We are going to have you all team up in groups of three.
Obviously with 14 left, that will leave two remaining, but those lucky two will
be given a slight advantage to make up for being down a man.
“Think of this as a triathalon, with three phases you’ll
have to complete. Your bodies, your minds, and your teamwork will all be tested
here. Divide up and report to me. The faster you form a team, the sooner you
can start.”
Craig grinned, because he, Joey and Tommy were already
united as a team. The three of them got up quick, but faster on the draw were
the triplets! Daniel, Donald and David grinned as they took first place. Craig
growled as he and his guys hurried after.
“Your orders for this first part,” Whip Cream shouted
after, “are not to engage the enemy. You break these orders, you fail
immediately. Following orders is important for soldiers.”
The two trios made their way to the stairs, and the
triplets moved up in a perfect line. The triplets were also in such perfect
synch just a few steps behind each other, it was like watching some strange time
phenomenon, the same person going through the area three different times.
The Dempsters checked the doors with every floor cleared,
but the only one unlocked was five flights up. This floor had cubicles all
over, perhaps for Reciprocity Incorporated’s more technical aspects. Smart
Mouth stood in the middle of the room with a big smile on his face.
“Welcome to the intellectual part of your final test,” he
greeted. “You three will have to—”
Craig, Joey and Tommy barged in at that moment, cutting
him off.
“Well, okay,” Smart Mouth said. “Welcome to the
intellectual part of the final test. Both teams will have to solve a few puzzles
before you can move on. And before you ask why, it’s because the puzzle answers
are also the password needed to move on to the next part of the test. Dempster
triplets, please use the station over here to my right. Craig, Joey and Tommy,
you three use the one over to my left.”
The teams took their positions and found a computer
already powered up. The first puzzle was already on screen.
Find the missing letter in this Snellen Chart:
O G T A
L X D P S
A R G H O P S
A Q H Y Z P J T V H
B H M O P S T W Y A
Z B G H I N P V S T E U Y A Z
T G E H K O P Q S T G U Y S
B C D E H J M Y O G Q S T X U Y V
I G R Q H S V K N E O P Q A T J U T Z X
S B E R N M Q I G K M N E T W I L D C R A P
Q U T D E S H Y A K J L O P B R X Z C U I W Y G
Craig was immediately confused.
“What the hell is a Snellen chart?!” he muttered.
“I think it’s like an eye chart, dude,” Joey said. “Okay,
so, uh, what letters aren’t on here?”
The three of them scanned the image at the same time
Daniel, Donald and David did on their screen.
“Let’s just check them off,” Daniel muttered to his
brothers. “A, B, C, D, E, F—oh that’s the one!”
Donald wrote down “F” on a sticky note while David
clicked “NEXT” on the screen.
3 ↕ 5 = 20
6 ↕ 6 = 41
8 ↕ 9 = 77
What’s the magic number?
“Pff, too easy,” the triplets all said
together.
Donald didn’t even need to wait to write the answer down.
David clicked “NEXT” again to go to the last puzzle.
1 = 3
2 = 3
3 = 5
4 = 4
5 = 4
6 = ?
The answer to this puzzle is also how high
you need to go.
“These are supposed to be hard?” Donald
chuckled as he wrote it down.
“Let’s go!” the triplets said as they left with their
sticky note.
“Seriously?!” Craig barked. “It’s been like five
minutes!”
The pressure was on because other teams were arriving,
too.
“Welcome to the intellectual part of your final test,”
Smart Mouth said to each of them. “Oh there’s the lucky duo. Your slight
advantage is actually a considerable one. I’m giving you part of the password,
but you won’t know that until you’ve looked over the puzzles.”
The duo, made of the muscular female who placed 6th
on the obstacle course, 1st on the shooting range but 9th
on the IQ test and the lanky male who was 1st on the IQ test, 8th
on the shooting range but last on the obstacle course, are excited to take
their cubicle and have that small headstart.
As for how they ended up the odd two out was because she
dragged him along and told everyone that “they” chose to be the odd two out.
“It’s alright, man,” Tommy said to Craig, noticing his
frustration. “Like we say, it’s not about who leads longest but who leads at
the end. Now, I’m pretty sure the missing letter is ‘F’.”
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t see any F’s on here,” Joey agreed.
Tommy typed in F and they went to the second puzzle.
“What is that double arrow symbol?” Joey wondered.
“Ignore that, it’s not really part of the problem,” Tommy
said. “20, 41, 77… That’s not a normal pattern.”
“Well no duh,” Craig said. “These other teams have
smarter members than us, that’s obvious. They’ll get ahead of us and then it’ll
be too late.”
“So what’re we supposed to do about that?” Tommy asked.
Craig thought about it, and looked at the sticky note on
the desk where they wrote “F.”
“The sticky note,” he said as he got the idea. “Gimme the
pen!”
Tommy handed Craig the pen they were using and Craig
hurried over to the Dempsters’ cubicle.
“Craig, what’re you doing?” Tommy asked in a bit of
panic.
Craig found the sticky note pad the triplets were using,
and he scribbles all over the new note.
“Hey, wait, is that cheating?” the muscular female asked.
“Did I say there was a rule against it?” Smart Mouth
asked back.
Craig smirked as he brought the sticky note back. Tommy
quickly typed in the answers and they got the hint at the end.
“Got it,” Craig said. “C’mon.”
Tommy and Joey grinned as they followed Craig out.
“F, 5, 3,” Craig repeated out loud. “Three floors up,
that’s... Well that’s the surface.”
They went all the way up, and sure enough, the door to
the outside now had a number pad.
“Wait, just numbers?” Joey said.
“It’s like a phone,” Craig said curtly. “F is also 3.”
Craig typed 3-5-3 into the pad, and the door unlocked.
They hurried outside and looked around. Someone whistled to them from the
shooting range.
“Welcome,” Fast Pace said. “If you can’t tell from what
the Dempsters are doing, this part is hand-eye coordination. Construct your
airsoft rifles and load them.”
Craig’s team hurried over and took up a station next to
the Dempsters. There were all sorts of pieces, but it was clear what they made.
Craig, Tommy and Joey divided up the pieces so that they each have one of
everything. The three each made an airsoft M16 and loaded them with the BB
pellets.
“Wait,” Tommy said, looking around. “What are our
targets?”
“Who do you think?” Fast Pace said.
The Dempsters looked at Craig’s team at the same time
they looked at the Dempsters.
“Not to mention, any other team that comes along,” Fast
Pace added. “So you six better get going. You can start shooting each other
once you cross that.”
Fast Pace pointed to a thick white line before the
obstacle course, over 50 yards off.
“You get past that line,” Fast Pace continued, “you can
shoot and fight each other however much you want, while running the obstacle
course to the end. The first team to get even just one member across the finish
line gets first crack at the next and final part of the test.”
The Dempsters looked at Craig’s team again, and they
looked back. The tension mounted as the six young men slowly headed for the
white line. They all wanted to take the lead but they didn’t want to let the
other team shoot them in the back.
“How about we do this,” Craig said as he got an idea. “We
all cross the white line together. We stand off like cowboys at high noon. We
draw and get our first shots in and see how it goes from there.”
Tommy looked to Craig while the Dempsters talked it out
quietly.
“Just aim low,” Craig mouthed back while signaling with a
downward finger.
Tommy and Joey nodded as they understood.
The six of them crossed over the white line, then lined
up to face each other, Craig in the middle. All six had the airsoft guns at
their side, and the tension mounted again.
Another team opened the door and slammed it shut!
“NOW!” Craig shouted.
He, Tommy and Joey crouched as they brought their rifles
up, but the triplets stayed standing.
*PAK* The BBs fly and Craig’s team shoots each of the
triplets below the belt!
“Agh!” Daniel, Donald and David all blurted out as they
doubled over from the shots to the nuts!
Craig and his team laughed as they ran ahead and left the
triplets behind. However, Donald gritted his teeth as he turned over. He aimed
from the ground, and *PAK*
“Gah! Charlie horse!” Tommy let out as he got shot in the
back of the leg.
“Leave him!” Craig cut Joey off as he ran harder. “As
long as one of us makes it to the end, we all win. Plus, he only got shot with
a pellet, he isn’t gonna die!”
Joey followed Craig as they ran faster towards the
beginning of the obstacle course.
Tommy got up and returned fire on the Dempsters, but
while Donald kept shooting, Daniel and David went around both ways to flank
Tommy. Tommy aimed at David on his left, or perhaps it was Daniel. Either way,
the third triplet shot at Tommy from the other side, getting him in the back of
his shoulder.
“Ack!” Tommy let out.
Now all three triplets opened fire on Tommy!
“Ack! Agh! Fah ow ah ow!!”
Tommy winced so much that he basically folded himself up,
and Donald ran up and kicked Tommy in the teeth!
“Aaagh…!” Tommy let out as he checked his mouth and found
blood.
Donald followed his brothers as they hurried after Joey
and Craig.
Joey and Craig reached the obstacle course and started
with the bear crawl under the netting. It was made more difficult with the
airsoft rifles strapped to them, but they still made good time.
“The triplets are almost here,” Joey said as they
approached the wall climb.
“Just get over quick,” Craig said. “They can’t get to us
on the other side.”
Joey and Craig started climbing. The Dempsters arrived at
the bear crawl net. Daniel went under while his brothers stayed out to open
fire on Joey and Craig.
“Ow! Ah-ah!” Joey let out as he got hit on the legs.
“Just use your arms!” Craig shouted as he followed his
own advice.
The pellets still stung his legs, but with the climbing
focus on arms, Craig pulled himself the wall. The wall left splinters in his
arms, but his arms have been through worse.
Craig made it up and over first, with Joey lagging
behind. They dropped down on the other side of the wall but Daniel was fast
behind them.
A pellet whizzed past David’s ear and he whipped around
to see Tommy, bloody teeth and all, was catching up. David shot back and Tommy
took it in the arm while Donald started crawling under the net. Tommy picked up
speed as David kept shooting. Tommy used his arm and gun as a shield, and then
tackled David onto the net!
Daniel made it up to the top of the wall and straddled it
as Craig and Joey reached the rope swing and its murky water. Craig got a
running start for the jump needed to reach the rope, but Daniel fired away. He
hit Craig right on the back and that disrupted Craig’s run. Craig stumbled and
fell into the water with a big splash!
Joey growled as he shot back. Donald climbed up the wall
while his brother crouched to become a smaller target.
“Son of pah…” Craig sputtered as he got out of the water.
Craig dragged himself out of the muck and returns fire.
It was slower on the repeat fire, however, because of all the water.
“Joey, screw the rope,” Craig shouted. “Just run through
the water!”
Joey held his gun high over his head as he ran through
the water that reached up to his waist. Craig took another shot at Daniel but
Donald returned fire and hit Craig in the throat! Craig coughed and staggered
into the water just as Joey got out of the water.
“Dude?!” Joey shouted in concern.
Craig waved him on, wanting him to keep to the
one-wins-for-all rule. Joey hesitated, but he still turned and continued down
the path.
Donald and Daniel looked back to their brother and Tommy.
Tommy used the butt of his airsoft gun to smack David in the head, and David
started bleeding from the eyebrow. Donald opened fire on Tommy while Daniel
hurried after Craig and Joey.
The next part of the course wasn’t anything that was
built, but an incredibly steep hill at about a 40 degree incline. This will be
an even tougher obstacle given the running up stairs even before the rest of
this course tiring everyone’s legs out. Craig and Joey started the run up but
kept looking back. They saw Daniel storming up behind them, and Craig growled
in frustration.
“Keep, going,” Craig said through his sore throat.
Craig turned around and used the downhill momentum to
leap and tackle Daniel! Joey watched as Craig hammered Daniel into the dirt.
Joey saw Donald making it across the rope swing with the rope. He wanted to
help but knew the team would just fall behind, so he turned and continued his
way up.
Craig and Daniel threw sloppy punches as they brawled on
the ground. Craig got the upper hand with a thumb to Daniel’s eye, then brought
his airsoft gun up as Donald came running over.
“You stop right now or I shoot you in the other eye!”
Craig shouted.
Donald skid to a stop as Craig aimed the barrel right at
Daniel’s face. Donald glanced up at Joey crawling near the top.
“Ah, ah, ah!” Craig said as he spotted Donald going for
his gun. “What did I just say?!”
Craig brought his finger closer to the trigger, so Donald
left his gun by his side. Tommy and David caught up, but Joey was already atop
the hill, having won the race for his team.
A rope was thrown down, and that allowed Craig and Tommy
to climb up and join Joey. The Dempsters came next, and all six were met by
Mountain and Darklite.
“Congratulations on being the first two teams to make it
here,” Darlite said. “I believe Zuliani earned Foster, Halterman and himself
first crack at the final phase. You three worked together very well today, and
have been doing good work this entire time. But we need to know you’re
dedicated to the mission. We need to know you’re dedicated to your country. We
need to know you’re dedicated to Reciprocity.”
“Dedicated?” Tommy said, still dealing with a bad lip.
“We stayed through the holidays for this.”
“Yes, and it’s good to know you’re willing to give up
quality time with your loved ones,” Darklite said. “But I need to know if
you’re willing to give up your life
for this. That while no one wants to die, you are willing to risk it for
something more. If you enlisted with the Army, Navy, Marines, you’d be asked
very much the same thing. Reciprocity Inc. is here to ensure the safety of all
people. Now, Mr. Zuliani, Mr. Foster and Mr. Halterman, this last test will
take your team, and split it up.”
Craig wasn’t surprised. They’d all been competing as
individuals to this point, the final part of the final test should be the same.
“And the way to win is simple,” Darklite continue. “Beat
the other two, in a fight.”
Now that
surprised Craig.
“No way!” The Dempters spoke up.
“We don’t even need to go next,” Donald said.
“We’re definitely not
fighting each other,” David said.
“It doesn’t matter what the mission is,” Daniel said,
“we’d never do that.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Darklite said to them. “That
is also an option. Mr. Zuliani, Mr. Foster, Mr. Halterman, you are each allowed
to bow out. But what I was going to explain is that the winner will be given a
unique opportunity to join the elite tier. Agents Smart Mouth, Whip Cream, Fast
Pace, they’re all in that same group. This is the easiest chance you’ll get.”
“C’mon, guys,” Craig turned to his friends. “Let’s go for
it!”
“I dunno, man,” Joey said. “I mean, we’re all in pretty
bad shape. This fight just seems like too much.”
“Yeah, but if we don’t fight, then none of us jump into
the elite tier! Don’t you want to at least have the opportunity?”
“So you’re willing to beat up both of us just to be in
the elite?!” Tommy shot back. “What is wrong with you?!”
“It is alright,” Darklite said. “It is alright. Mr.
Halterman, you are excused from this final test. Mr. Zuliani, what do you say?”
Joey looked between his two friends. Tommy was so angry
while Craig seemed to be almost begging.
“I’m sorry, man,” Joey said. “I’m not going to fight
you.”
“What?!” Craig blurted. “Seriously!?”
Mountain moved between Craig and Joey as Craig stepped
forward angrily.
“It is alright, Mr. Foster,” Darklite told him again.
“Neither of you has made the wrong choice. Mr. Zuliani is excused. And Mr. Foster,
the willingness is good enough. I approve your entry into the elite tier
training program.”
Craig smiled proudly, and stood beside Mountain as the
other teams checked in. Of the other eight trainees, only the trio in complete
last place wanted to take Darklite’s deal. They were so angry with each other
for being so behind for any number of reasons, that the sloppy, scrappy, dirty
fight between the three of them was quite the show.
And of the three of them, the winner was Brody Bridge.
Brody placed 7th on the obstacle course, 9th in IQ, and 2nd
on the shooting range, so he had mostly gone under the radar. He didn’t even
get to show off his marksmanship because he was stuck with the guy 13th
on the course and the other guy who was last place on IQ. At least, that’s who
he blames if you asked.
“Well then,” Whip Cream later said to Tommy, Joey, the
triplets, “Swole Sabina” the muscular female, lanky and logical Hartwell
Aguirre, Brody’s teammates, and the other trio that refused to fight. “You’ve
all passed the final test and are now officially in Reciprocity Incorporate.
Congratulations!”
The one dozen young people cheered their success.
“But don’t get ahead of yourselves!” Whip Cream snapped
at them. “This is where the real work begins. By New Year’s Day, we’ll have you
all organized to where you best fit in, and then you’ll truly know what it is
to be a Reciprocity agent. Got that?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” the twelve replied.
Meanwhile, Darklite and Smart Mouth led Craig and Brody
to another floor. It was the medical wing on the 4th floor. Tommy
was just in here getting his lip stitched, and Craig was in here now getting
the splinters removed from his forearms. Brody only needed a few ice packs from
the fight with his team.
“I want to congratulate you both on making it through the
tests,” Darklite said while Smart Mouth was preparing a white board on wheels.
“And I commend you two on taking that next step. Mr. Bridge, you obviously did
quite well in your fight with your comrades, and I again am satisfied to know
that Mr. Foster was willing to go to war with his comrades for this
opportunity.”
“So you didn’t earn this spot?” Brody sneered.
“Not my fault my friends backed out,” Craig sneered back.
“He may not have fought his friends, but I’m very aware
of how hard Mr. Foster fought to get here, Mr. Bridge,” Darklite interjected.
“You will both make prime candidates for what I have planned.”
Smart Mouth finished putting his little presentation
together, and spun the board around to show Brody and Craig the other side.
While the medical terms went over their heads, Brody and Craig did understand
the black-and-white picture of a human body’s muscular system and the bright
yellow lines drawn on it. The yellow lines go throughout the body, from the arms all the way to the fingertips, and even up his neck
to his head, right around his ears and eyes, as well as down the legs all the
way to the toes.
“After having
studied several of our superpowered subjects over the short time they’ve been
around,” Darklite began to explain, “we have developed a technology that should
boost the physical abilities of the subject to be on par with them.”
“Should?” Brody
repeated. “And, wait, are those yellow highlighter marks supposed to mean
you’re going to implant a bunch of… power cables into us like we’re machines?”
“See, that
would’ve been a good name for the project, too,” Smart Mouth said to Darklite.
“Power Cables.”
Darklite sighed
and waited for Smart Mouth to stop smirking.
“I am impressed
you got to the heart of the matter, Mr. Bridge,” Darklite said. “And yes, that
is what we will be doing. The implants will be woven into your bodies alongside
your nervous system, from skin to muscle to even bone. It will be a lengthy and
honestly, a very dangerous procedure. We can’t be sure of the survival rate
because you two will be our first human subjects. That is, if you choose to go
through with this.”
Brody and Craig
looked at each other. Two alpha males both wanting to be THE alpha, the
decisions were obvious.
“I’m in,” Brody
and Craig both said.
“Well then, gentlemen,”
Darklite said with a big smile. “Welcome to Project Hardwire.”
The next week
from Christmas to New Year’s Eve, Whip Cream kept the other trainees going like
before while Smart Mouth oversaw the elite training for Brody and Craig. They
exercised with more weight and higher expectations. The obstacle course grew
longer and more tiring. The targets they were expected to shoot were further
and smaller. The IQ testing was foregone, since it was pretty clear neither was
here for their brains.
The two pushed
each other to be better than before, and got on each other’s nerves for doing
so. But because of that, they both steadily improved. Craig grew prouder and
prouder that he was getting stronger, faster and tougher. He was proud that he
was better than before. And then the week was up, and on New Year’s Eve Day,
Craig and Brody went in for the Hardwire surgery.
Brody and Craig
were put under, so they had no concept of the near 13 hours it took for the
Reciprocity surgeons to flay skin, open muscles, and graft to bone. The
surgeons enhanced normal techniques of closing up the bodies with technology
Darklite had brought to them and strongly vouched for. And to the surgeons’
surprise, the surgical wounds looked like they’d already had months of healing,
in only 15 minutes of the device’s use!
Craig and Brody
woke up at 11:50 PM, over three hours after the surgery finished.
“Don’t sit up
just yet,” the nurse told them both. “Your bodies will still be very sore from
all the work the doctors put into you.”
“Thank
goodness,” Darklite said as he walked in. “You boys had me worried there a
moment. Though, I shouldn’t really say that, because there’s still much to
worry about.”
“What do you
mean?” Craig asked. “We got through the surgery. Now it’s just about resting up
and testing these wires out, right?”
“Well, yes, it
will be,” Darklite said. “But, here’s the kicker, my boys. We need to activate
the implants. And that in itself can be very, very painful. It will most certainly be the most excruciating thing
you’ve ever been through in your life. But if you survive that, then there’s
nothing to fear.”
Both Brody and
Craig were overcome with dread. But at the same time, there was no going back.
The wires were in them, they couldn’t just have them taken back out.
“Then just do it
already,” Brody said. “Turn them on, and we’ll see what all the fuss is about.”
“Yeah,” Craig
said. “Rip the Band-Aid off fast.”
“I commend you
both for your bravery,” Darklite said.
Darklite then
nodded to a camera. A switch was flipped, and the implants started glowing. And
with the glowing came a surge of energy. With that energy came a tingling, a
strong heat, and as Darklite put it, excruciating pain. Both Brody and Craig
clenched their jaws as tight as they could, but there was no way to keep their
mouths from screaming at the top of their lungs. There was no way to keep their
toes from curling and their hands from gripping the beds. There was no way to
keep the tears from flowing out of their eyes and the veins form bulging in their
foreheads.
Craig couldn’t
tell if this activation process took only seconds or minutes, but it felt like
an eternity. Then the wires dimmed and cooled, and the pain subsided. Craig’s
body was breathing so fast and so hard, his throat grew dry and he coughed. The
nurse got him a tall glass of water and he chugged it down so fast.
“Oh God… Holy
fff… Bridge, hey. Hey. We made it, man. We made it.”
Craig was
smiling proudly while wiping the sweat off his forehead. He looked over, but
Brody wasn’t heaving, he wasn’t sweating, he wasn’t breathing. Brody was dead. The
wires looked to have burned themselves up inside him, and left nothing but dark
lines all over him. Craig was shocked, and was heaving from nausea now.
“Mr. Foster, it
is alright,” Darklite said as he turned Craig away from Brody. “I told you both
this was not guaranteed. You both knew the risks and went through with it. It
could not be helped that one of you lived while the other died. Mr. Bridge’s
death will serve a purpose, as will your survival. Are you willing to carry on
in his stead?”
Craig took a
couple more deep breaths, and nodded his head.
“Very good,
lad,” Darklite said. “Welcome to the Reciprocity Elite, Agent Hardwire.”
The clock struck
12 and let out a single soft, low tone.
“And happy New
Year’s,” Darklite added with a pat on Craig’s shoulder.
Darklite left
the room and the nurse wheeled out the burnt Brody Bridge. Craig sat alone in
the room’s somber, suffocating silence.
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