Several months passed after the special operation in Helgen.
Li Yun and Natasha spent that entire period in uneventful training.
Li Yun could even feel his body making another small leap forward over those months.
He was stronger and more powerful than before.
Natasha, on the other hand, found it depressing.
Was this guy some kind of monster?
Could he just keep developing forever?
His physical-performance data seemed to climb without end.
Was a human being actually capable of this?
Li Yun had no idea what she was thinking and would not have cared if he did.
Getting stronger was a good thing.
What did bother him was the state of their team.
Several months had passed…
and there were still only two of them?
Victor?
General Victor?
Mind arranging something here?
Two people were barely enough, sure, but a few more would be nice.
Victor himself had only come to see them a handful of times during that period.
That was enough for Li Yun to understand what was happening.
Someone higher up was obstructing the plan.
Otherwise, with Victor’s rank and connections, there was no way he would have been left with just two grunts.
Li Yun sighed to himself.
These people really would not look for toilet paper until the shit was already at the door.
Unless a full-blown bioterror disaster exploded in their faces, they would probably never understand how troublesome bioweapons really were.
Dr.
Rex had already completed part of the equipment during earlier development.
The gear was ready; what it lacked were people capable of using it.
That was why the higher-ups had placed all their hopes on the progenitor virus.
If Rex succeeded, super soldiers could be produced in batches and deployed openly.
The international counterterrorism situation could flip overnight, and CT could finally sleep soundly.
So if someone walked in now and suggested, “We need to be cautious.
Rex’s virus is unreliable.
We need a contingency plan,”
the higher-ups would stare at them like they had grown a second head.
The only reason they would not fire Victor outright was respect for his years of service.
And so the team Victor had been allowed to prepare against this supposedly “sudden concern” still had only two people he could actually deploy: Li Yun and Natasha.
At the same time, on an island somewhere in the Caribbean, the leaders of numerous violent organizations sat inside a joint T-faction camp, patiently waiting for a meeting to begin.
Representatives of internationally notorious groups—the Phoenix Connexion, National Liberation Campaign, Guerilla Warfare, Vigilante Corps, Elite Crew, Arctic Avengers, and others—were all present.
All because they had heard about CT’s plan.
The Super Soldier Project.
What a fucking joke.
If CT somehow obtained intelligence on this meeting and organized a surprise raid with all its best forces, international counterterrorism would probably belong to CT uncontested for the next twenty years.
“Everyone here?” A pleasant female voice sounded through the room.
Every head turned toward it.
Irina, representative of the Asia Red Army, had both long legs propped casually on the table.
She wore nothing but very short hot pants below the waist and clearly did not care how much skin she was showing.
No one dared stare.
Nobody in that room wanted to provoke the crazy woman.
No one answered, which meant everyone was present.
Irina lowered her legs and snapped her fingers.
Her subordinates immediately placed a dossier in front of each organization’s representative.
Everyone opened the folders at once and began reading.
The farther they got, the deeper their frowns became.
Irina patiently waited until they had finished before asking, “Well?
What do you think?”
A representative of the Phoenix Connexion spoke first.
“It gives humans enormous strength, vastly improved recovery, and a bloodthirsty urge to attack other people.
Does something like this really exist?”
“Stupid question.
If I’m willing to put this dossier in front of you, then obviously I’m not joking.
It’s still under development, but yes—that thing really can make humans far more dangerous.”
After Irina answered, the Phoenix Connexion representative fell into thought.
This would be difficult to deal with.
But if Irina had called a summit, she had almost certainly already made up her mind.
Better to wait and see what she intended to do.
“Right now, injecting it makes the subject attack friend and foe alike.
Do we really need to take it this seriously?
I don’t think they can ever develop the thing to a controllable stage.”
The Arctic Avengers representative spoke up as well, only to earn a scoff from Anna behind Irina.
“Don’t be an idiot.
Whether they can make it controllable or not, we should strangle the project in its cradle now.”
The Arctic Avengers representative did not get angry at the rebuke.
Everyone knew Anna’s temper.
There was no point getting worked up over it.
“Irina, you called this meeting because you already have an idea.
Let’s hear it.
If it makes sense, the rest of us will go in with you.”
The Red Beret Condottiere representative cut straight to the point.
Irina obviously had a plan, so enough bullshit—say what it was.
Irina nodded.
“My idea is simple: we strike.
If CT thinks this so-called Super Soldier Project will let them overturn the board in one move, then we kill the project before it is born.
We make it die in the womb, and we remind CT exactly what kind of monster the T faction is now.”
The proposal was simple, and no one in the room intended to reject it.
If CT was preparing such a generous gift for them, then of course they had to return the favor.
Otherwise, what kind of outlaws would they be?
Every T-faction organization present immediately agreed to attack with Irina.
Compared with CT, the T side spent much less time tearing itself apart politically.
Destruction and profit were, after all, about the only things most of them cared about.
Irina finally relaxed into a smile, then added, “There’s one more thing.
I hear the institute also contains equipment prepared for those so-called super soldiers.
If we break in and seize that hardware, we may be able to strengthen ourselves too.”
That set the entire room cheering.
Equipment built for super soldiers?
The idea alone was exciting.
If they got their hands on it, perhaps the T faction could start a super-soldier program of its own.
“The Midwest Militia will handle the forward preparations.
No objections, right?
The western United States is your territory.
The other organizations will contribute people as well.
I do not intend to fail this operation.”
The Midwest Militia representative stood without hesitation and thumped his chest, promising to handle it.
The institute’s address had already appeared in the dossier, so he had known from the beginning that the advance work would fall to them.
Irina raised five fingers.
“Fifty people.
I’m not asking for much, but send elites.
I’ll lead the operation personally.
If anyone fails to pull their weight, I’ll kill them myself.
If that’s understood, meeting adjourned.”
The representatives rose, saluted Irina, and filed out of the room.
Only Irina, Anna, and the Asia Red Army personnel they had brought remained.
The effortless confidence vanished from Irina’s face.
Only now did she allow herself to show rare exhaustion.
Anna stepped behind her and began massaging her shoulders.
She understood the situation better than anyone.
The intelligence on the Super Soldier Project had not all been gathered by the Asia Red Army.
Much of it had been delivered by the mysterious patron backing them.
His purpose was obvious.
[This operation feels wrong.]
Irina had a headache over it too.
Even so, after comparing the patron’s dossier with information from her own sources, she had decided they had no choice but to act.
That mysterious bastard had handed them one hell of a problem.