Serum

Facility

.........

A few minutes later, the boy came walking out. He was now dressed in metallic armor that looked like a nanosuit. That suit held a pistol on each hip, a knife on the leg and arm, and a rifle on his back. There were also magazines around his torso held magnetically. He carried his helmet in one of his hands.

"SS-008 reporting for duty."

The boy, otherwise known as SS-008, stood and saluted the lumberjack who was lazing around on the couch, smoking a cigar. Despite the formal presentation, the man just scoffed.

"Don't act like you suddenly care about procedure. You've got one job: kill everyone and take what we need. I know you're already prepared, so get out of here and see if you don't bust your tiny balls."

"Sir, I do not understand."

"Huh?"

The lumberjack squinted his eyes at the smiling boy.

"My balls are fat and large. How could they possibly-"

"Shut up and fuck off!"

"Hehehe..."

Laughing mischievously, the boy dodged the full bottle of alcohol that was thrown at him and ran out of the building. The lumberjack was left smoking from both the mouth and head in annoyance.

However, as he ran out, the lumberjack caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the boy's neck. This tattoo was of a black cat, and seeing the tattoo it felt like he was being stared down by a predator. He suddenly sighed, and his anger subsided. He felt pity, though it was unknown if it was for the boy or for the enemies.

........

Outside the city was rural, barren land. The boy, now operating under the tag SS-008, trudged across some cold desert dirt and brush. Above him was the night sky, and behind him was the city that shone with bright lights, tall glass skyscrapers, and neon holograms.

For a long minute, the boy stared back at the city from under a metal, featureless helmet, many thoughts flying through his head. The cold wind blew past him, and just as it started to calm, the boy took out his rifle and turned away from the city.

He looked off into the distance. He was only 2 miles away from the target.

The place that the Council was holding the stolen goods was an abandoned 80-year-old factory. It was well guarded with the remnants of the forces that had survived the initial raid. However, it was no less dangerous, because SS-008 would now have to infiltrate and steal something from this fortress.

SS-008 continued walking toward that very factory with just his armor and weapons. Soon, the time for him to start had come.

All around the factory were enemies and spotlights. They stood up on rooftops, patrolled around the facility with jeeps, and scanned the area with turrets. There were also robots that constantly watched the surroundings.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, one of the soldiers at the factory who was posted up on a rooftop spotted something in the dark. It was a figure the size of a man, and it stood on the edge of one of the spotlights eerily. Looking through his sniper scope, he got a closer look. When he did though, chills ran down his spine.

"It's him... H-hey! It's him!"

"Who?! Where?!"

"Down there! At the spotlight!"

The man pointed a laser at where the figure was, and one of the men operating the spotlights moved it to shine on that position. However, there was nothing there.

Despite that though, the people who looked at the area also felt their necks tingle. Nobody there would be falsely alarmed, and there was only one person they knew of who could suddenly disappear like how they thought just happened.

"I-It's him... sound the ala-!"

*Splat!*

As the man was trying to shout, a new hole was suddenly opened up in his head. Blood splattered in the air, and his body collapsed to the ground. The helmet he was wearing did nothing to protect him.

Many of the men around the factory heard this, and all of them started to call in on their communication channels. Before they could though, bullets started entering everyone's brains.

*Splat!* *Splat!* *Splat!* *Splat!* *Splat!*

In only seconds, every single person patrolling or scanning outside the factory had a new bloody hole in their heads. The spotlights stopped moving, the jeeps patrolling veered off and crashed, and even the robots and turrets that were scanning around mysteriously shut down. The surroundings went dead silent.

SS-008, who was now on one of the roofs of the factory, looked at all his kills with apathetic eyes. He then looked down.

Within the factory, he couldn't detect any signs of life. It was odd, and definitely a red flag. But that meant nothing to him, and after dropping a sticky explosive on the roof he was standing on, it exploded, and he jumped into the hole.

*Tap*

Landing on the ground with a light foot, he scanned around with his rifle raised. He found nothing except for dead machines, cold steel, and an eerily quiet breeze.

But suddenly...

"Take him down."

A feminine voice echoed through the factory. With it, SS-008 felt a threat to his life for the first time in a long time, and he dashed to the side.

*Psh*

Or, at least he tried. Before he could move, long skinny spears were shot at him with the speed of a bullet. There were 5, and each one was aimed toward his limbs and torso, intending to pin him down.

But he was able to slightly dodge fast enough. When they arrived, only one impaled him in his right leg. Without hesitation, he skillfully took out a knife and slashed at the spear. Despite being metal, it was cut like butter, and he continued to move from his position as a sitting duck after taking the spear out of his leg.

But that wasn't the end of it. From the dark pits of the factory, distortions started to make their way out and toward him. SS-008 recognized this as a cloaking device, and he shot at all movement that he could barely detect.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Gunshots rang and echoed out against the metal walls, and several distortions collapsed, revealing bodies cloaked in black. Some got past though, and he was quickly put into close combat.

Grabbing a pistol and a knife, he proceeded to fight off these distortions. They all attempted to stab him with swords or knives or shoot him with guns, but with his skillful movement and uncanny accuracy, he was able to avoid most attacks and kill more distortions. The rest that he didn't doge were blocked by his state-of-the-art armor.

"Come on! We were prepared for this and he's only one person! Take him down!"

The woman's voice echoed out once more like an announcer, and with it, even more distortions appeared and went on to attack SS-008. More spears also started to be fired. However, after hearing and analyzing the voice with the onboard systems of his suit, SS-008 was able to identify the origin.

'There.'

He looked toward a certain area of the factory. There, he could barely pick up electromagnetic flickers in the atmosphere. Raising his gun, he fired there.

*Bang!*

*Zap!*

Hitting something, the bullet was stopped, but the invisibility cloak was removed. It revealed a small office-like building.

Smiling under his mask, SS-008 killed the distortions around him, dodged the oncoming spears, and charged the building. His suit heated up as power gathered, and he rammed the wall like a bull.

*Boom!*

The wall was blown away, and inside was revealed a bright room. In this room, SS-008 quickly spotted 4 things.

The first was a giant magnet ring the size of a person against one wall. The second was a table with a suitcase on it containing 3 vials. The third was a wall of 9 high-powered anti-material rifles stacked in a 3x3 square pointed straight at him. The fourth was a woman who stood behind the rifles.

"Bye-bye!"

*Click!*

*BOOM*

After smiling in victory, the woman pressed a button, and the rifles fired. 9 huge bullets were sent point blank towards him at supersonic speeds. He couldn't dodge.

In that instant, SS-008 had several questions run through his head.

'Who the hell lines up guns like that? Why was she prepared for such a specific scenario?! This is just ridiculous!'

*Splat!*

The bullets tore through him and huge bloody holes were created on his body. He was sent flying back and collapsed on the floor with a gory sound.

"Hahaha! Another win! And this time, I took out the most notorious super-soldier! Man, you've really caused me problems, you know?"

The woman laughed manically and walked out from behind the giant guns, approaching the body of SS-008. She was a curvy woman dressed in a black body suit. Her black hair and defined face looked innocent as she moved next to and peered over SS-008's bleeding body.

"Hmm, I've never seen your face. You always have that helmet on when you obliterate my little labs and hideouts. Now, it's time to see my bane. My evil prince who foils all my plans!"

Reaching down with a wide smile, the woman grabbed the head and took off the helmet. Underneath was a smirking face.

"Oh! You're so handsome! And alive!"

She staggered back in surprise, but before the distortions around them could act to finish off SS-008, he shot up and grabbed the woman, holding her hostage.

"Nobody move!"

SS-008 wrapped up the woman and placed a pistol against her head. He then quickly backed toward the building with the items, making sure they couldn't try anything.

"Ahh! Don't kill me! Listen to him, you fools! Put those weapons down! Don't you know who he is?!"

The woman shouted hysterically, and the distortions gradually laid down their weapons. Seeing how much of a coward the girl was, SS-008 sighed in relief, though he didn't show it on his face.

He held the woman against his body, pistol pointed right at her temple. During this, nanites within his body moved through his limbs and sealed the holes created by the bullets. These nanites and the suit were the only reasons he could keep moving, though it caused him much pain. In only a matter of seconds, the bleeding stopped, and the suit began to inject drugs into him that would allow him to maintain combat effectiveness.

However, the next moment, the woman smiled wickedly and expertly shot her hand toward a wound on his leg. In it was a syringe, and before SS-008 could react, it poked into him.

*Psh*

"Hey! Don't make me shoot you!"

*Crack!*

"Aghhhh!"

After grabbing the girl's hand and smacking away the syringe, he twisted her wrist, causing her to cry out in pain. Unfortunately, the syringe completely injected the stuff into him. While he didn't know what it was, he couldn't let his hostage go and kept his cool. He quickly sent out a transmission using his mind.

'Headquarters, this is SS-008. Operation has been compromised. Requesting immediate support. Packages have been identified on-site and I'm currently holding a hostage. Enemies are still present and I've been injected with an unknown substance, possibly poison. Awaiting your arrival.'

With that, he stopped communicating. He continued to remain in a standoff with the distortions while holding the woman hostage. Surprisingly, she became calm despite the broken wrist.

"Can you feel it?"

After a while, the woman spoke. SS-008 didn't respond, but glanced at her in curiosity.

"The injection. It's a beautiful thing, the substance that was in there. Did they tell you what it was?"

"What was it? And what's the antidote?"

"Huhu, it's not poison. No, it's something far greater. It's the gateway."

"The hell are you talking about? What's it going to do to me? If it does anything, I'm going to kill you, so you better think carefully."

SS-008 tightened his grip on her neck and pressed the gun harder into her temple. She just smiled though as if she liked it.

"Huhu, don't worry. I've just given you a wonderful gift. It has effects, but they're not ones you want to avoid. Hehehe... Though, you might want to be cautious. The people behind you... they might have things to say about this. Be careful. Your value now exceeds imagination."

"Just shut up. Your life will be over soon anyway."

"Oh, I don't think so. If anything, it's just starting to begin!"

"Hey! What are... you..."

The woman grabbed the arms that were pinning her back and removed them. SS-008 was about to strengthen his grip, but bafflingly, he couldn't exert any strength, like he was paralyzed. He fell to the floor, and the woman smiled sweetly as she looked down at his incapacitated body and incredulous face.

"I'll be seeing you later. You know... Now that I look at you closer, you really are very handsome. Maybe if we have time, we'll have to play around at my super secret hideout. You know, before we have to leave forever. Oh! This is just so romantic! The poor little soldier and the beautiful princess tied by fate! Hehehe! Anyway, I should get going. I have to prepare for the big finale! Here's a parting gift. A token of my undying sincerity!"

Bending down, the woman sweetly pinched SS-008's nose and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He could only stare at her, paralyzed by both the mysterious substance and by her insane mannerisms.

The woman then skipped off out of the factory like a little girl. SS-008 started losing consciousness not long after, and the world soon went black.