Dan and Angie walked together out on the early morning streets. The sun had only just risen across the horizon. Cascades of sunlight ran through alleyways while every other surface was covered in dusk shadows. Dan walked in his new armor with his hands in his pockets while Angie didn’t change her outfit from her crop top and shorts.

Angie fed the info of Li’s whereabouts to Dan’s HUD and he simply followed the waypoint that led them to Li’s current location. The stroll on the sidewalk was quiet, not just because it was early morning, six-fifty a.m., but simply because Dan wasn’t in the mood to talk to Angie. Dan was apprehensive about someone who broke into his apartment, smashed his window and also peeped at him while he was changing clothing.

“Are you mad at me?” Angie asked.

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I think you’re an asshole,” Dan said. “If a stray bullet flies at us, I don’t feel like taking it to protect you and your scantily clad self.”

“Oh, I see how it is,” she said. “Maybe once we eat some food you’ll be less cranky.”

“Let’s hope I’ll be a lot happier to see Li than how you greeted me this morning,” Dan said.

Angie rolled her eyes and mouthed something Dan couldn’t quite read. This brought a chuckle out of him.

“What next? Are you going to tell me you’d rather have a drink with Li over me?” Angie said.

“Probably so,” Dan said casually.

“Your loss,” Angie fired back. “Only a dumbass would refuse to get a drink with a pretty girl like me.”

The two continued walking until they reached a public cafe. The waypoint pointed at a table where Li sat. The stealth specialist spotted the duo and he waved at them. Li wore a brown leather jacket and a black t-shirt with what looked like Chinese characters on it written in yellow.

Angie poked his side with an elbow. “See, I told you to dress casually. Even Li doesn’t wear his armor all the time.”

Both of them walked up to the fence surrounding the cafe and casually hopped the fence. The two found their seats across from Li.

“Good to see you Li,” Dan said. “How’s your morning going?”

“Fine. Did a basic set of exercises once I got out of bed at four-thirty. Decided to invite you two and hang for a bit on our day off. Breakfast is on me,” Li said.

Dan pointed his thumb at Angie. “You’re already treating me better than our resident pretty girl over here. You wanna know what she did to me this morning?”

Angie looked at both Dan and Li before pretending to act innocent, avoiding eye contact and just looking around like a tourist.

Li gave Angie a sideways glance before reverting his gaze back on Dan. “Let me guess, she snuck into your apartment and thought it would be funny to pull a prank on you.”

“Well that’s a generous way of putting it,” Dan said. “Angie smashed a window and broke into my apartment because she thought it would be fun to practice her infiltration skills.”

Li kept a straight face and looked over to Angie. “Why did she do that?”

“I don’t know, try asking her,” Dan said while smiling.

“That is disappointing. We completed a successful heist with Michael Cynosa. Angie should have known better than to simply smash a window and getting your attention.”

“I didn’t think of it that way but good point,” Dan said.

“Hey,” Angie said sternly. “If I was fully armored up and there were actual stakes involved, maybe I would have done better.”

“Oh yeah and she peeped on me while I was putting on my armor,” Dan casually dropped.

“If a teammate didn’t respect my privacy, they would get their asses kicked. No question,” Li said. “You’re generous. I’m surprised you didn’t give Angie here a spanking.”

Angie pointed her finger at him. “Hey fuck you.”

A waiter emerged out of the shop and began setting down warm food on their table. Li got himself a grilled cheese sandwich and Dan got a large plate with an omelette and sausages. As for Angie, she received a basic hotdog without any condiments. The waiter finished setting down their food and said, “Enjoy your meals,” then walked back inside.

“Hey what the hell?” Angie said.

Dan looked at each of their plates and saw the disparity between Angie’s order compared to Dan and Li’s. “This is fucking awesome. I didn’t know you had this kind of humor.”

Li chuckled. “I thought it would make you feel better.”

“Okay, you two are a bunch of salty assholes,” Angie pouted. “Giving me a dry ass hotdog. You could have at least given me ketchup.”

Ignoring Angie, Dan immediately dug into his breakfast. He shredded apart the omelette and gulped down half of his sausages in less than a minute.

“Thanks for the food Li,” Dan said.

“No problem. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Just make out already,” Angie said, annoyed. “I’m clearly the third wheel here.”

“I see you’re enjoying your hotdog,” Li said. “I can order you some ketchup but you’ll have to pay me back.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Fuck you,” Angie said.

Both Dan and Li laughed louder than they wanted to admit at Angie’s expense. It was a nice breakfast of good food and annoying Angie.

“Okay seriously,” Dan said. “Are you guys adjusting well to the arctic serum?”

“Define ‘adjusting well’?” Li said.

“Just tell me any problems or concerns you have. I’ve been dealing with it a bit longer than either of you.”

“Well, I saw a supernatural stat pop up just below my normal stat categories. I’ve been experiencing a lot of cramps, aches and some occasional bleeding from the nose and eyes. What about you Angie?”

“Same thing, did you get a dream like I did?” Angie said. “Some creepy voice spoke out to me and taught me about my new power to curve bullets.”

“I have those sorts of dreams. I hear a voice, almost demonic-like. It speaks to me in these dreams and tempts me with gifts that promise to improve my stealth capabilities. So far, it hasn’t revealed to me anything of use. I guess I’m a non-believer.”

“So no powers yet?” Dan asked.

“Nothing. It seems you and Angie are the lucky ones. I’ll have to wait it out and see what manifests.”

Angie playfully stuck out her tongue at Li. Dan smiled at Li’s lack of response.

“The cramps and soreness in my legs are a killer though,” the stealth specialist said. “Somehow it’s gotten worse since yesterday.”

Dan sighed. “That’s rough. At least you’re not bleeding from the eyes like I did.”

“It doesn’t help that I’m almost about to become a tier two in rank. Some side effects are expected at this stage but the arctic serum is amplifying it the the nth degree.”

Dan had almost forgot that Li ranked up to level twenty-four during the heist. Once an agent reached level twenty-five, they now officially reached tier two and were recognized as superhuman by their shard.

“What do you mean by side effects?” Angie asked.

Li glanced at Angie. “When an agent is about to transition to ranking up to the next tier, their body goes through to most amount of physiological changes to accommodate the increased rank. You’ll notice this soon enough when you’re about to become a tier two. Think of it like a second puberty, except the boost once you hit level twenty-five pushes you to superhuman stats across the board. The arctic serum is making this period… difficult for me.”

Dan remembered a strange detail from their last training exercise. Li stood beside him while they huddled together to review their plan to fight Jane in the training arena Dan could have sworn Li was a bit taller than he was. When the two first met, both stood at exactly equal height in full armor.

“Hey Li, do me a favor. Could you stand up for me? Stand up nice and tall for me,” Dan said.

Li blinked but obliged. He moved his chair back and then stood up as requested. Dan looked at him and his HUD popped up exact measurements to Li’s height.

Li Phantom’s height: 1.92 meters | 6.3 feet

Dan whistled. “Holy shit, you’ve gotten taller than me. We were both at eye level when we first met right before the heist.”

Li nodded. “That’s expected. My skeleton has become denser to prepare for the increased muscle strength as I approach tier two in rank. But this is nothing compared to what Michael Cynosa had to go through.”

“Meaning?” Angie said.

“The transition for an agent from tier three to four is much more… brutal. The Alpha Corp has to intervene once an agent hits the maximum level of tier three. Then they’re asked if they want to rank up to being a tier four.”

“What’s the big deal with that? Why would anyone say no?” Angie asked.

“An agent has to agree to undergo intensive surgeries and the injection of another serum specifically for tier fours to better prepare their bodies for the tier four transformation. Only after both are completed are you able to become a tier four. Michael was light on details on his experience, but he told me he would rather not repeat that same procedure. As I said, it’s brutal.”

“Holy shit, I never knew that. So if you say no, you can’t rank up beyond tier three?” Dan asked.

“No,” Li said. “But Michael warned me that it’s a decision one should not make lightly. The surgeries involve ripping you open to implant new organs into you. These new organs help to ramp up your hormone production. On top of that, these things pump up artificial stimulants on their own so that your body can keep up with the demands of a tier four physique. Then they have to heavily modify your circulatory system. They do things like rerouting your arteries and sometimes implanting entirely new pathways so that circulation in general is significantly boosted. Assuming you survive the surgeries, then you get injected with another serum that officially transitions you from tier three to four.”

Dan shuddered when Li mentioned surviving the surgery. “What’s the survival rate of this process?”

Li frowned. “When Michael underwent his new augmentation surgery, the doctors told him almost forty percent of all candidates die or become permannently disfigured or crippled in some way. An alarming number of tier three agents were forced to retire after botched operations. It’s scary.”

“Oh my god…” Angie said, putting down her hotdog.

“On the bright side, Michael has assured me the failure rate has dropped down to twenty-three percent in the past twelve years,” Li said. “Though, with the introduction of the arctic serum, he has no clue how that will change the tier four transformation process for younger agents like us.”

“Well, I guess that’s a future problem,” Dan said. He looked to his left. “What about you Angie? Anything else you experienced aside from curving bullets?”

“Uhh about that. I have some good news and bad news,” she said. “The good news is that I can do the berserk thing just like you.”

“Wait what?”

“Oh yeah, the red energy my body shits out and the bleeding eyes. Yeah that’s it,” Angie smiled.

“How come you didn’t try using it against Jane during the training?” Dan said.

“It still wouldn’t have guaranteed us victory,” Li said. “You used your berserk mode tried competing with Jane in raw power. We all know how that turned out. Plus, Angie is weaker than you, so the strength amplifying effects of the berserk wouldn’t be as potent for her.”

Angie pouted and put her elbow on the table. “As much as Li loves to hate on me, he’s right. Plus, I can only keep it up for about three seconds. How pathetic is that?”

“Only three?” Dan said.

“I tried activating that mode once while I was just in my bedroom. The sudden rush of energy felt good, for about two seconds. Then the waves of pain followed and it was awful. Seriously I bet childbirth wouldn’t hurt this bad. I just passed out and woke up after five hours.”

Dan felt relieved in a way. He didn’t take pleasure in the discomfort and pain his teammates experienced while coping with the side effects of the arctic serum, but he was thankful that he wasn’t the only freak in the team.

“So, are you guys up with the Combat Games? Jane has already signed us up, so it would be a shame if any of us backed out,” Dan said.

Both his teammates looked at him as if he asked what color the sky was. Li narrowed his eyes at him and Angie gave him a grimace.

“Even with the aches and pains throughout my body, I would never back out of such an opportunity. Besides, I do my best work with a handicap,” Li said.

Dan smiled. “That sounds like you.” He looked over to Angie. “And what about you?”

“Oh bitch please,” Angie waved. “If I backed out, I wouldn’t hear the end of it from my number one hater over here,” she said, pointed her finger at Li.

Li covered his mouth with his palm, probably holding back a snicker. Angie’s glare brought a chuckle out of Dan.

“I guess it’s agreed. We’re going into that tournament and we’re going to kick some asses,” Dan said.

“Hell yeah,” Angie said. “Plus, maybe I might learn a thing or two about how you use your berserk mode.”

“The competition won’t know what hit them,” Li concurred.

Dan grinned ear to ear, barring his teeth to his teammates. “Let’s do it.”