The tension in the office was still thick after Aditya and Jeena finished their conversation. Suddenly, a sharp chime broke the silence.
Aditya pulled up his device. It was an urgent text from Leo.
Leo: Sir, two new missions just went live on the board.
Aditya typed back instantly.
Aditya: What's the situation? What type of mission is it?
Leo: Two Vectors have been spotted. Location is Iceland, in a remote village exactly 108 kilometers away from the capital, Reykjavík.
Aditya stared at the coordinates on the screen. A dark look crossed his face.
Aditya: Understood. I'm sending Hope with you. Form a team and prepare to move out.
Leo: Yes, sir.
Jeena, who had been watching from across the desk, crossed her arms. Her brow furrowed in disapproval. "Aditya, she's a brand-new student. Sending her into the field on a live mission this early is a massive risk."
Aditya didn't blink. "Every mission we take is a massive risk, Jeena. But the field is the only place where she will gain real skill and actual experience. She needs this."
Turning toward the comms, Aditya gave the order. "Hope, report to the main hall immediately. Leo, Perry, and Millar are waiting for you."
"On my way, sir," Hope's voice echoed back.
🏛️ The Main Hall: Splitting the Balance
When Hope stepped into the high-tech expanse of the main hall, the three older soldiers were already checking their gear.
"Alright, we need to separate into two teams for this deployment," Perry announced, looking over the mission parameters.
Millar nodded, turning his gaze toward Leo and Hope. "Leo, you and Hope are easily our most capable combatants. To keep the squads balanced, you two will form Team One. Perry and I will form Team Two. That way, we spread out our peak combat experience evenly. Sound good?"
"Works for me," Leo replied smoothly.
Perry checked his gauntlet. "We split up once we hit the transit station. Let's grab the transport taxis and move out."
🚕 The Taxi Ride: Shadows of the Past
The automated transport taxi sped through the city grid, heading toward the regional station. Inside the vehicle, Team One and Team Two sat in a rare moment of quiet.
Leo broke the silence, looking across at the rookie. "Hope... why did you choose to become a soldier?"
Hope looked down at her hands, a small, thoughtful smile appearing on her face. "Honestly? I don't really know. But Aditya sir told me something I'll never forget. He said that when everyone else loses hope, I have to be the one to give it back to them. I have to save the lives of people who are trapped in difficult times... just like I used to be."
Perry leaned forward, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Speaking of your past... I know you were part of those black-market laboratory experiments before you got your powers. What kind of things did they actually do to you in there?"
Instantly, the atmosphere inside the taxi turned ice-cold.
"Perry, shut it," Leo snapped, his voice dropping an octave.
"Yeah, man, that is definitely not a good question," Millar hissed, glaring at Perry. "Don't force her to dig up bad memories."
"It's okay, really," Hope interrupted softly, waving her hand to calm them down. Her expression remained completely calm, though her eyes held a deep, ancient sadness.
"To be honest, I don't even know the scientific names of the experiments they did to me," Hope continued, her voice steady. "Every single day was the exact same. They gave me endless, painful injections. Then they locked me inside a massive, freezing machine for hours. Right in front of my eyes, so many other children died. They would cry and scream for help... but the scientists didn't care about us at all. We were just numbers to them."
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the taxi. Leo, Millar, and Perry all stared out the windows, completely speechless at the raw horror of her childhood.
Hope looked at their grim faces and let out a small laugh. "Hey, why did you all go completely silent? Don't worry about it! I don't care about my past anymore. I live entirely in the present now. Aditya sir saved me, and he gave me a new, 100% bright future. That's all that matters."
📊 The Mutation Statistics
To break the heavy tension, Leo cleared his throat and shifted the conversation back to the upcoming threat.
"Speaking of survival... that's exactly why I fight these Vectors," Leo said, his eyes hardening. "Their locations are never permanent, and they constantly slip into central cities just to slaughter innocent people."
Hope tilted her head. "Why do people even turn into Vectors?"
Leo held up his hand, explaining the brutal mathematics of their world. "It's a glitch in human biology. Right now, only 1 in every 1,000 humans has the genetic capability to successfully manifest a superpower. But 5 in every 1,000 humans will fail the manifestation. Their bodies completely collapse under the sudden pressure of the energy, and they transform into mutated, mindless Vectors. They are monsters born from failing to handle power."
Leo cracked his knuckles as the vehicle began to slow down. "And that's why we hunt them."
The transport taxi screeched to a halt outside the massive, metallic arches of the central station. The doors hissed open, admitting the biting chill of the outside air.
"Station reached," Perry announced, stepping out into the terminal. "This is where we separate. Stay