Staring at the wall while hearing whimpers and screams outside of his cell was the highlight of Dan’s time spent in Kodak-Cresh’s prison. Thanks to the restrictive collar around his neck, he had no access to his HUD and his berserk and glare abilities were locked down. Essentially, he had been declawed and was of no threat.

  Dan knew that he had been held captive for at least a few months by this point. Why Kodak hadn’t bothered to do anything with him was up to mindless speculation. Rachel Cutter, or Judith Blight as her real name was, had kidnapped him during the final round of the Combat Games tournament and brought him into this cell, along with his teammate Li Phantom. He clenched his teeth while staring at the wall. If they had done anything to his friend, he would make them pay. He glared at the wall so hard he felt his eyeballs could melt.

  So far, life in prison was exactly as Dan expected from an enemy shard. He along with the other prisoners were only given one full meal a day and were only allowed two bathroom breaks. The plate of food that sat just before the metal bars across from Dan had been there for hours. It was nothing but just a pile of ultra-processed grey mush that would be just sufficient enough to prevent his muscles from atrpohying.

  Before he became an agent, Dan wasn’t exactly living a life of luxury. So the conditions here could have been worse. The screams that rang through the hallway outside of his cell made him clench his fists. Another Kodak guard was abusing what little authority he had and was having a blast beating an inmate to near death.

  The loud crunching of footsteps sounded through the hall before stopping right in from of Dan’s cell. He wasn’t interested enough to see who had paid him a visit.

  “Time for second your bathroom, you miserable fuck,” the guard said. Dan slowly turned his head at the guard. The incessant tapping against the metal bar made him narrow his gaze at the guard. The man looked like a copy and paste of all the other pale-skinned, red-eyed Kodak assholes he had seen dozens of times already.

  “Did you hear me you fuckwit? Get moving,” he said, yanking the cell door open.

  Dan got on his feet and slowly walked toward the guard. He held up both his hands and the guard unlocked his cuffs.

  “You must really be a princess for Judith Blight to haul your ass all the way here,” he seethed. “But don’t push your luck against me. Your five minutes for the bathroom are already ticking down.”

  Dan kept his mouth shut. He simply began walking while the guard followed closely behind him hovering a baton with spikes over his shoulder. He looked down at his shirtless physique with only loose-fitting black pants that was ripped and torn in multiple spots. He might as well be ass naked as he walked to the bathroom.

  When the pair reached the bathroom, Dan turned toward the doorless frame and walked in. Inside, he already saw another guard watching over a woman who was washing blood off her hands. Her light sobs didn’t make the mood any better.

  “Hurry the fuck up bitch,” the woman’s guard said. The guard then glanced in Dan’s direction. “What are staring at kid? Take a piss and get it over with.”

  Dan didn’t need to use the bathroom, but he quickly eyed the handgun and the sheathed combat knife the other guard carried on him. He walked toward one of the urinals and kept up the act.

  “Is it really necessary for you to watch me piss?” he said. “Haven’t you been fascinated enough from the first few hundred times?”

  “Shut the fuck up and go about your business,” the guard behind him seethed.

  Dan gave a low chuckle. “It must really be exciting to watch another man whip his dick out to urinate and then tell all your coworkers about it. Are you the popular one of your group?”

  The guard placed his spiky baton on his bare shoulder. Not hard enough to be an actual smack, but the small spikes dug into his shoulder, drawing blood.

  “Don’t test me boy,” the guard said. Dan slowly turned to look over his shoulder. He glanced down to see the pistol held in its holster on the guard’s thigh.

  The woman at the sink whimpered and Dan could hear her soft footsteps as she tried to make a dash back to one of the stalls.

  “Where the fuck do you think you’re going bitch?” her guard said.

  “Cramps,” she said weakly.

  Dan watched the woman as she barely made it to one of the stalls, only for the guard to rush behind her and grab her by the hair. A distraction, he thought.

  The guard behind him slowly lifted his baton off his shoulder and Dan immediately whipped his head back and smashed into the asshole’s forehead. He spun around and shoved his knee into the guard’s groin. The guard dropped his baton and Dan reached and snatched the handgun from the man’s holster.

  “What the fu—,”

  Dan delivered a hard kick to the guard’s ankle and the man dropped onto the floor as if he slipped.

  By now, the other guard had stopped struggling with the woman and solely focused on Dan. Even while restricted by this collar, Dan’s quick draw proved to be faster. He raised his newly looted pistol at the guard before the man could reach for his own. He pulled the trigger and shot a powerful round that landed right in the other guard’s face. A yet of blood shot out of the man’s head before he flopped backwards. Dan already began walking toward the guard he just killed. Without looking, he aimed his pistol at the ground behind him and blasted two rounds into the other guard, killing both of them.

  The woman stared at Dan, then at the dead guards, then dashed back into the stall. He stopped in front of the guard and crouched down. He took the pistol from the guard’s thigh mount along with a spare magazine. Dan looked at the dual pistols he just looted and was familiar with this model. The heavier Ravager model pistol that Kodak agents used.

  By now, Dan’s hearing picked up the frantic footsteps just outside of the bathroom hall. He was in for a fight. Dan didn’t know the layout of this prison nor had anything resembling a plan to reach Li and bust him out. But he knew that he had to do something to break the monotony of being cooped up in a cell.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He glanced at the woman at the stall and to his horror, Dan saw the reason why her hands were so bloodied. Dan squinted at the slash mark on one of her wrists as the woman collapsed onto the toilet. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that death might have been some people’s preferred option to rotting in prison.

  “It’s alright ma’am. Stick with me and I can get us both out of here,” he blurted out. Dan knew he was all bravado at the moment. But for a scared and helpless woman, she could use a little bit of hope.

  Tears ran down the woman’s cheeks. “But how? Who are you?”

  “I’m an agent of the Alpha Corporation. I’ll figure something out. Just keep out of sight. We got visitors.”

  Dan rushed toward the bathroom entrance, readying both pistols for the additional guard coming his way. The moment he saw a head peek through the frame, he blasted out the man’s brains. He raised one of his pistols and fired wildly out into the hallway, hoping to give himself a few extra seconds and force whoever else was on the outside to back off.

  It didn’t go as planned.

  The entire doorway seemingly lit up with muzzle flashes and lead filling the bathroom. Floor tiles and mirrors shattered from the bullet impacts. Dan looked with wide eyes as the thin metal sheet of the stall became marked with bullet holes. The woman inside collapsed to the ground with a growing pool of blood around her.

  “Shit,” he muttered.

  Whoever was in the hallway was better armed than he was. The automatic staccatos from the other end would shred him in an instant if he did anything stupid.

  A brief pause in the gunfire gave Dan the opportunity he needed. He raised both Ravager pistols and leaned out of the doorway. He blasted two guards who were in the middle of reloading their weapons. A third one further down the hall raised his small submachine gun at him in slow motion. Thanks to Dan’s superior reaction times, he popped off a shot first and scored a headshot on the third guard.

  He stepped out of the bathroom and scooped up one of the rifles from the dead guards. The model appeared to be a rundown and rusted submachine gun. At this point, there was no point in being subtle. He had just killed six Kodak guards and he wasn’t about to stop there. He crouched down and grabbed the handgun holsters around the dead guards and hastily strapped them to his own thighs.

  He placed his dual pistols into his holsters and looted more magazines from the bodies. Without the numerous pockets and pouches he had grown used to from his coat, he had to settle for a belt from one of the guards. He slung the belt over his shoulder and ran down the hall.

  Dan turned the corner and saw a row of cells with inmates curiously looking at him. He knew he would need a distraction to take some attention off of him. “Everyone stand back,” Dan shouted.

  He took a pistol out and began shooting out the locks on each cell door one by one. He did so for six cells, freeing the inmates inside.

  “I killed a few guards back there where the nearest bathroom is. Grab some guns and fight for your freedom,” he told them. He didn’t stick around as he continued bolting down the hall. He had no idea where he was going or even where the nearest exit was. But he was armed and had his agent training to fall back on. Somehow, he would figure it out as he went.

  Since he had weapons, Dan thought it would be a good idea to get this collar off of his neck. He awkwardly craned his neck to the side as far as he could and aimed the barrel of his Ravager pistol underneath the collar below his neck. If he was unlucky enough to blast his earlobe off, at least he wouldn’t have his powers restricted.

  Dan’s HUD came back online as it rebooted. His vision became filled with progress bars and spinning icons that faded as quickly as they popped up.

  He tensed himself as he felt the sudden rush of energy.

  Berserk mode activated.

  The familiar surge of energy coursing through his body along with the violet-colored corrosia bar in the middle of his vision gave him the confidence boost he needed. No matter what he encountered, he would somehow find Li and escape this place.

  He powered down from his berserk mode and took a brief look at his stats.

  Agent: Dan “Arctic” Orion

  Age: 18 M

  Shard: Alpha Corporation

  Rank: Tier 1 | Level 22

  Strength: 33

  Agility: 35

  Endurance: 21

  Intelligence: 28

  Supernatural: Acolyte

  Reflex: Superior +

  Healing Factor: Moderate

  Dan resumed his run down the hall. Sporadic gunfire echoed behind him, presumably the inmates he had just freed were encountering their own set of guards responding to the situation. When he reached the end of the hall, Dan spotted several people turning the corner up ahead.

  His heartrate immediately shot up when he spotted the familiar spikes sticking out of the shoulder and arm pieces along with the nail guns with dual bayonets. The actual Kodak agents had arrived.

  He watched as the Kodak agents at the end of the hall raised their rifles at him. Dan quickly activated his berserk and crossed the distance between him and the next gap in the hall, narrowly avoiding the flying nails as the slashed the space past him.

  Dan let loose and squeezed the trigger of his looted SMG, spraying down the hall with rounds. Most of the rounds pinged harmlessly off the armored hides of the agents. One lucky stray round found itself embedded into an agent’s eyeball and they collapsed onto the ground.

  Nails flew at him and Dan stepped away from the wall. The deadly projectiles smashed into the wall and blew chunks out from the structure. The hallway was now littered with chunks and debris on the floor along with fine dust in the air. A pair of rapid footsteps caught Dan’s attention and something dashed through the dust and smashed into him. He skidded down the hall before reaching his hand out and grabbing one of the metal bars of a cell, stopping himself.

  He briefly looked up and saw a pair of agents that immediately made him grit his teeth and stare with hatred.

  Kate Razor and her partner Adam Torrent stood across from him.

  “I hope you two are ready for another round against me,” Dan spat. He still had two thirds of his corrosia energy left to power his berserk mode

  Dan focused his stare at Adam, readying another ability he had in his supernatural arsenal.

  Glare activated.

  His first mistake was targeting Adam first. The Kodak agent had his energy shields that blocked his glare from inflicting any fire damage to him directly. Adam, leveraging his superhuman speed, crossed the ten meter distance between the two almost instantly. But Dan wasn’t the same agent as he was when he previously fought these two. Within such cramped interiors, Dan was given little other choice. He met Adam’s challenge head on. He positioned his shoulder and slammed into Adam first.

  The sudden attack didn’t knock the agent back as far as Dan had hoped, but it stopped him in his tracks.

  Adam’s entire body briefly exploded with a flash of light and his armor had electrical static roiling throughout. Dan knew he had broken the agent’s energy shield and could finally be damaged. Dan drew his Ravager pistol and raised both the handgun and SMG at the agent. He squeezed both triggers and blasted Adam with as much lead as he possibly could. The Kodak agent still held firm against the ballistic barrage, holding his arms up to cover his helmet.

  In the chaos of him dumping his mags, something jumped over Adam’s head and Dan only had a split second to register Kate’s brief silhouette as she soared through the air above the two agents. The last thing Dan felt was a sudden kick to the head that sent him slamming into the metal bars of the cell beside him.

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