Activity

Klein set up his rifle quietly. He would hold back and remain on overwatch while the others moved forward. When they moved. The others were looking over the prisoners. None of them looked like good characters. Then he saw one chain in an interesting way. The others had the usual shackles. This one was chained at the waist and ankles. As Klein looked closer, he realized who he was looking at. It was Ling Jian. Ruby squad had fought him before. He had singlehandedly fought off the six of them and escaped. Klein had a nice gash in his ribs from that fight. It was the closest to death he had been. The man had been recruited by the Chinese for their own super soldier project. The problem was that Ling was monster.

What the CIA had found on him was messy. At a young age, he had killed his abusive father but not for revenge or out of defense. After that he had feigned having just snapped and the Chinese fell for it. Drafted to the military, he had continued to hide his inner killer. After he had been enhanced however, the mask fell. On his first mission, Ling went rouge. He killed the target and then his squad. After that he vanished with the only hints being unsolved crimes that led to Mars.

Klein trained his gun. Ling was very dangerous. The Chinese didn’t use the humane technique that Klein had undergone. Rather than give the body what it needed and the environment tailored for extreme toughness, they grafted what they wanted onto the draftees. This was irreversible. The lord castle had called Klein a living weapon. Ling truly was one, a weapon that killed friend, foe and innocent.

Then everything went wrong. There was a scream. Klein jumped and snapped around. Yila had done something. Before he could tell what exactly, a deep rumbling froze him. The dragon was awake.

“WHO HAS WOKEN ME?”

Klein kept still. It was a very low chance but maybe it could forgive them.

“THIS IS THE ONE.”

And that was the end of that chance. Snapping his rifle up, Klein opened fire. The eye was a clear target. The bullet failed to connect however. A glassy third eyelid snapped shut. Cursing, Klein jumped as fire flew at him. Finding new cover, he sought out new targets. Reverse scale, inside the jaw, anything Klein could think of. After a short but fierce battle, the dragon fell. In its reptilian death throws however, a final jet of flame hit Yila.

That was twice. Twice Klein had failed to protect children. He had tried his best and still failed. As Niarok knelt over his sister, Klein leaned against a ruined pillar. What was he doing wrong? Why couldn’t he protect the children? They deserved the opportunity to smile, to be happy, to not be plagued by pain. Why couldn’t he win that opportunity for them? With a yell, Klein punched the ruin. It shattered, the upper half tipping over opposite Klien. His hand burned. The armor protected from impacts but the force of them could still be felt.

Walking to Ling, Klein looked him in the eyes. Ling just looked back with deep, empty eyes.

“Hello there Ling Jian. You speak English?”

“A little.” The reply was emotionless.

“Will good. I’ll keep it simple. Ever kill anyone under 18?”

Klien knew he had. He just wanted him to say it.

“Yes. Why not? Killing is fun. People die in so many ways. Some will beg for life. Other will…”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard enough of folks like you. You killed one and you get a taste for it.”

“Exactly.” Giggled Ling. His eyes were brighter. He was thinking he found one like himself. Klein would disappoint him.

“Well, give my regards to Mao Zedong.”

With hesitation, Klein pulled the trigger. Ling went limp, shocked by the shot. Then he smiled, a great, haunting one.

“It feels good. You will join me soon.”

“I doubt it. I fight to protect, you kill for fun.”

“Yet you couldn’t protect the girl.”

Klein fired again, this time in the head. Ling died with his grin still on his face.

“I’ll keep trying though. And you won’t be there to see it.”