In a dimly lit room, Shawn watched over Arthur as the nurse checked his vitals, and changed his IV.
The room soon grew incredibly cold, the nurse stumbled back falling to the ground. Shawn instantly stood up, placing his hand on the hilt of his blade. He stood over the woman, his eyes staring at the now empty bed. A shiver was sent down his spine. He drew his blade and readied it, as he turned to see a figure standing a few steps behind him.
"How long was I out?"
Shawn slowly lowered his sword, then placed it back in its sheath after hearing the voice.
"Four days."
"Hmm I see, let's get moving."
Before he could take a step the nurse walked up to him:
"Wait before you go, let me do a few checks."
He did as he was told and sat on the bed for her. After a few minutes she let them go.
"Before heading back out to the field, like I'm sure you will. I would advise getting yourself reevaluated, you seem pretty normal as normal goes for a human, but some of your readings are a little different from the first time you awoken."
Arthur looked towards Shawn, whom just shrugged.
"Thank you, I'll do that first then."
With that the two headed down the hall, towards his quarters. The two had recently been recruited into a military specialists division. The division only consisted of a few people, three ability users and a few base operatives, to guide them.
The two were already in the military previously, their switch was quick and easy. It was also a big boost to their forces, the two were already well before, now they held even higher ranks. Arthur quickly became the leader of the team, with Shawn becoming his right hand. Soon Laura joined, increasing their capabilities. With just the three of them, they completed more missions in quick succession than thought possible. In the end, the rest of the operatives in their squad were transfered, leaving just the three.
They were given their own special living quarters, where they could live and practice their abilities away from prying eyes. War was imminent, so the less people that new of their strength the greater the outcome.
As the two walked into the room, they could see Laura laying on his bed with a book in hand.
Arthur walked over and sat in a chair near the bed. Shawn cleared his throat, letting Laura know they were there, then sat on the bed beside her.
"So what happened to you out there?"
Arthur clenched his fist, trying to gauge the difference in his strength.
"Well Dean was right, killing others with abilities can make us stronger. But I was also told that we can further evolve from breaking our own limits."
Laura and Shawn looked at one another, then continued to listen:
"Dean was stronger than I was, but only in physical and ability capabilities. Yet my ability was far stronger. He could've easily killed me I'm sure. But with that one difference, I outmatched him."
The two, took in every word he said, trying not to miss a single detail. Then Laura asked a question:
"So the rank thing, he was stronger than you right? But your ability outclassed his, putting you on somewhat equal footing. So what was his rank and what was yours?"
Shawn lightly hit her on the shoulder.
"Come on. You know, we're not supposed to talk about this stuff so casually. You never know who's listening, anyone could be a spy for the otherside."
She rubbed her arm, she wasn't hurt by any means, just a bit shocked by the action.
"Besides we don't have all of the information on this rank system stuff. Who's to say the guy wasn't lying about his own, or how to even tell what someone really is."
"Right sorry."
"Anyway, caps gotta get reevaluated anyway, so we can ask the specialist see if she knows more about it."
She looked up at him in confusion.
"Specialist?"
"Wait don't tell me. You didn't get evaluated before you joined us?"
She looked him in the eyes, with a sincere but shy smile:
"No, I was kinda just sent here, by my squad captain."
He slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"What does it matter anyway there's only three of us.?."
"God, that means she could be stronger than me."
"Is that such a bad thing? I mean we're still on the same team, so nothing really changes."
"Well no... I mean maybe a little.... ugh screw it, nevermind."
Arthur laughed to himself at their interaction, which spark an annoyed glance from Shawn.
"Alright, lets head down and get this over with."
As Arthur stood and started for the door, Shawn stopped him:
"Wait, this is a special case so we should probably head to the head specialist, she might know more about this."
Arthur looked away, trying not to show his expression.
"Right, Maria Snow."
--
The three of them stood infront of the entrance to the large facility, as they walked in they were amazed at how organized everything was. Everyone seemed to be running around, busy with their own projects. They walked up to the front desk, the lady at the desk put up her finger as she typed away on her computer.
A small drone appeared from around her desk. A yellow laser came out from its eye, turning green before turning back off.
The woman's eyes widened as a message came up on her screen. She jumped up from her chair, and bowed her head.
"Oh, I apologize. I was not made aware of your visit, please if you wish to meet with Dr. Snow, follow me."
The three looked at one another in confusion, then followed her down the hall. As they made their way through the building, they passed by a few rooms with people who've yet to awake, since the start of the pandemic.
In one of the rooms, they witnessed one of the patients convulsing in their bed. They stopped to watch as dark smoke began to rise from their body. The nurse in the room rushed to press a button on the wall nearby. An alarm was set off, and a man and woman rushed into the room. They both place their hands on the body and began releasing their energy into it, destroying it from the inside.
The secretary leaned over to them:
"Failed awakening."
They all looked at her with confusion and a hint of fear in their eyes.
"What... what happens when it fails?"
Shawn asked as he turned back to look at the body, the two awakened waited for the body to be covered before carrying it out of the room.
"Well the first time it happened, a creature with dark wings emerged from the black smoke and went on a rampage, before escaping the facility."
He looked at her with wide eyes.
"So you mean that thing is still out there, somewhere?"
The woman shook her head.
"No, the creature was tracked down and killed a few days ago. It was brought in for examination just yesterday."
Without another word the woman continued down the hall. They all looked at eachother, then back towards the room.
They followed her towards a highly secured area of the building, infront of them stood a door with several security protocols, it was also being guarded by two awakened.
The secretary walked up to the two, after a moment they let her through, they then checked the three before allowing them to go forth as well.
Walking through, they entered a separate area where they were sanitized before entering the next room.
Walking in, they could see a woman standing over a large body on a table. The creature had claw like fingers and long limbs, it had sharp teeth and pitch black horns on its head. And hanging up on the wall not far from it, there were pitch black wings.
On the otherside of the room two people were sleeping in a bed, with a single doctor watching over them. The woman looked up to see them and walked away to wash her hands.
Walking towards them, she thanked the secretary then greeted the three.
"It's about time you three showed up, I've been waiting. Arthur."
"Maria."