"I suppose not all of you understand why Daniel died today. So I'll brief you short."
Squad Leader Prisma spoke in a low, trembling voice that seemed to grate against the silence of the night. I could see her trying her absolute best to hold down her rising anger and sorrow, locking it behind a wall of sheer discipline. Even though her brainwave didn't reach the extreme gamma frequency I'd witnessed this morning, the residual anger literally reverberated through my body, setting my nerves on edge. A physical chill struck me from top to bottom, making the hair on my arms stand up. Such a scary woman.
She paused, her throat contracting as she swallowed hard to choke down her exploding emotion before continuing her sentence. "I sent him to collect data on the syndicate called Elite Midnight. They are responsible for the trade of firearms in the underworld clubs. And they are also known for their successful iron ore smuggling into the city since a decade ago."
She began to pace, the heavy, rhythmic thud of her combat boots vibrating through the damp soil. The night air felt thick, smelling of wet grass and unspoken dread.
"The higher-ups didn't care about the iron ore, as we also get the benefit of a lower price for our company materials for the production of firearms," she continued, her voice hardening. "But when our spy in the underworld found it was them who spread the guns for the opposing families, they asked me to investigate their whereabouts, how many personnel they have, and what is their threat level."
The silence in the clearing stretched taut, heavy enough to suffocate.
"For this past week, the mission was a hit," she said, her eyes flashing in the gloom. "We found the suspect, and we were planning to kidnap him for further interrogation. After all the tracking and surveillance, the plan was made yesterday to follow the suspect into their hideout to learn about their whereabouts."
"Huuuufftt."
She exhaled a deep, ragged breath, her chest heaving violently before she could force out the next words. "This morning I told Daniel to track him to his base. I trusted Daniel. He has been with me for the longest. Even though he wasn't the strongest, as he awakened with a sensory reaction, he had a sharp mind and was quick on his feet. But after his corpse was found... I feel regret to let him do the mission solo. And as a fellow in arms, I would like to take revenge on them tonight."
She sounded so convincing, so mesmerizing, and so utterly dignified. Just by hearing the raw, bleeding grief in her voice, any normal man would feel their blood boil; they would willingly jump straight onto a spearhead if she commanded it.
But I wouldn't—fuck them. I didn't even know who the fuck this Daniel was. Why should I just throw my precious, pristine body into the spearhead just when she willed it? Who could be dumb enough to really storm an enemy base without even learning their whole personnel? Also, we didn't even know their actual whereabouts. Something was wrong here. Something was just really, really wrong.
"Yeeeaahh, Leader! We need to smash their heads! Please take revenge on Daniel!!"
The sudden shout shattered my thoughts. I stared blankly at the idiot who had just roared into the night. He had a similar muscular build to Prisma, but he was way smaller in height. But what truly struck me, what held my eyes in sheer fascination, was his head. His head was so big, it looked even bigger compared to a basketball. With an agape mouth, I muttered in my mind: Did muscle grow inside his head too? Or is the meat actually replacing his brain? Didn't he know that STORMING INTO THE UNKNOWN IS THE FASTEST WAY TO HELL!! MOTHERFUCKERS!!!"
"We can't do that, morons!"
Uughh, finally a person with a brain spoke up... but then he continued: "We should burn their building and hang their heads instead, so the people will learn not to mess with us!"
SLAPPP!
Fuck. In a moment of pure, unfiltered despair at their collective stupidity, my hand moved on its own. I accidentally slapped my own face.
The sharp, echoing crack of palm hitting skin sounded like a gunshot in the quiet night.
Instantly, the entire universe ground to a halt. With that sudden sound, every single eye in the clearing shifted toward me. Including the squad leader, Prisma. I watched the skin of her face flush a violent, burning red. In the dead silence, the sickening sound of her rattling, grinding teeth could be heard clear across the space.
I'm dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead, dead...
"EDGARRR, YOU LITTLE FUCK!!! Mind your manners!" She shouted. The sheer volume of her voice blasted directly at me, hitting my chest like a physical shockwave that rattled my ribs. "It could be you who died, it could be me, or it could be someone else here. But as a team, we should share the glory and blood together."
My survival instincts kicked in, and I immediately shoved my face down, refusing to lock eyes, desperately trying not to make her any angrier.
"Hey, fuckers, look at me."
Her voice dropped, containing a full, suffocating wave of heavy intimidation. I didn't dare look up, but the ambient light vanished as her towering, three meters-tall frame stood straight and walked towards me, casting a massive, predatory shadow over my body.
"You better look at me this instant, OR YOU'RE DEAD!!"
Another roared command shook the air, but this one was fundamentally different. The temperature seemed to drop. I could feel my heart stop pumping, the blood getting stuck cold in my veins. And then, the physical vibration of her energy wave reached me. Fuck me. It was even higher than this morning. A shocking, terrifying 703Hz in a pure, chaotic gamma state. Her presence was actively crushing the air out of the room.
Driven by pure, panicked reflex, my eyes snapped up to her face. I could visibly see the bulging, bloodshot veins in her eyes and the tight, twitching nerves on her forehead. Her hand gripped so tight that her knuckles turned white, and fresh blood actually began to drip from her palm onto the grass. I wasn't just in trouble—I might actually get killed tonight, not by the enemy, but by my own squad leader.
Panic spiked into absolute terror. I suddenly grabbed my leg pouch to get my Glock 17. My last line of defense. My life.
But the exact moment my fingers wrapped around the handle, two people instantly pinned me down to the ground, slamming my face ruthlessly into the dirt. The brutal impact knocked the wind out of me, filling my mouth with the metallic taste of soil and warm blood. One brute seized my wrist, kicking the gun away to eventually direct the cold, heavy barrel straight at my temple. The steel nozzle pressed hard into my skull, a chilling promise of sudden execution. The other locked both hands tight around my neck, crushing my trachea and cutting off my air completely.
Fuck, is this how it ends? Just for accidentally slapping my face due to their idiotic way of thinking? I don't accept this.
I couldn't breathe. My lungs screamed for oxygen, and a blinding pressure began to build behind my eyes. Prisma didn't call them off. She didn't say a single word. The silence in the clearing was absolute, broken only by the ragged, desperate choking sounds tearing out of my throat.
Above me, Prisma's towering frame didn't budge. The suffocating vibration of her energy wave didn't drop; it intensified, hammering against my senses like a physical weight. 703Hz. Still a pure, chaotic gamma state. She was genuinely going to let them paint the grass with my brains just to make an example out of me. Five seconds passed. Then ten. My vision began to blur at the edges, darkening into a hazy, suffocating gray as darkness crept in. My genius brain, the one capable of mapping out complex neural networks, was losing power by the millisecond.
I don't accept this. With the absolute last shred of my fading consciousness, I prayed to God in my mind. Even though you fuckshits never answer all my praying all this long, please, just this once, please bestow me your answer! Oh, GODD!!!
"Wait! Hold, Squad Leader. Edgar didn't mean it. I think we should ask for his reason first."
That sound... Did God really answer me? But a woman's voice? Did God actually have a genital? A pussy at that?
The crushing pressure on my neck loosened by a fraction of an inch, just enough for an agonizing gasp of air to scrape down my raw throat. I forced my eyes open against the dirt, blinking away the gray tint of hypoxia, and saw Ms. Nina standing right in front of me, shielding my body from the angry female giant called Prisma.
Did she—Nina—actually turn out to be a God? A literal God who was actually helping me and giving me salvation after all the suffering I've been through?
"What do you mean, Nina? For the past we've been sharing each other, I'll let it pass tonight. Please step aside. I need to teach him a lesson."
Without considering a single word Nina said, Prisma kept walking forward, her massive frame throwing her weight into Nina to push her out of the way.
But to my utter disbelief, Nina held her ground. Her boots dug into the dirt, not actually letting the big giant push through. I was wrong. I was clearly wrong. She is actually a literal GOD that I need to worship from now on. I didn't even share my cigarettes with her, but to my surprise, she protects me. OH GOD Nina, please teach me your blessing...
"Wait, he might be useful, remember?" Nina argued, her voice turning sharp and cutting cleanly through the thick tension. "He has the ability that enables him to perform hypnosis on a person. We might need his ability tonight to uncover the whereabouts of the base from the suspect. We really need him, Squad Leader. Please reconsider!"
Hearing that flawless tactical logic, I—who claimed to rival Einstein—would be put to shame. How could she come up with a strategy so quick even under this insane psychological pressure? Yeah, I knew it, I'm never wrong. She was a god, an incarnation of a god.
"But still..."
The female giant looked down, pondering the words and visibly hesitating. Her vibrating brainwave slowly began to plummet, turning back to a stable, manageable Beta state. She lowered her heavy hand. She looked down at me with the same bloodshot eyes, but the murderous intent to kill was nowhere to be felt.
She stared down at my pinned form and asked, "Can you actually pull it off? Can you ask the whereabouts of their base from the suspect?" She asked while still hesitating.
I pushed my head up a little from the dirt, fighting the weight on my back just to make myself speak while still getting pinned down by the two people. "YESS! Yes, I can! If the terms and conditions are met, we could ask him where their hideout is. Just leave it to me, Squad Leader!"
This was the only lifeline left to live. I completely ignored the hypnosis downsides or the fragile, restrictive conditions; mentioning them right now would just spark the doubt right back into them. Better to die a couple of hours later on the mission rather than right now of all times.
I looked hard in front of me and saw Nina giving me a subtle, hidden thumbs-up. Well, my God Nina, you saved me. This lamb will be forever yours.
"You better do. If not, you die! Now tell me how your ability works."
Huuuff. I was saved. The crushing weight on my back vanished as Prisma barked at my captors, "And you two, get out of him! And now Edgar, time to explain..."
With a low, intimidating voice, she asked me—nope, she forced me to tell how my ability works with the hypnosis. I scrambled up from the dirt, my throat burning as I tried to collect my thoughts.
Before I mastered it, I had to take days and nights to learn about brainwave categories, brain functioning, nerves, and other proteins related to affecting the brain function. Those days and nights I spent with my genius brain, which proved to be rivaling Einstein. But how could I explain all this complex, deep neuroscience to these muscle-heads in a sentence or two?
JUST MY LUCK, DAMN IT!
"So for my hypnosis to work on people, I need to..."