The world was pain, McFea tried flexing even a few of his lesser muscles but nothing worked, and his attempt to do so only infuriated his pain. He groaned, his mind slowly returning to a state or recognizable conscious, it felt like swimming in tar. Slow and heavy. He turned rolling onto his side, the pressure being taken off his chest he felt like he could breath again, he heard deep pounding thuds like a drum thats been reverbed.

The ring in his ears screamed like an eagle in a dive. It blared painfully into his head, his eyes were pried open and a blinding light hit him. This did nothing to alleviate the symptom of excruciating pain. He felt pressure on his side, and his head, he felt like he should know this but couldn't quite place it. He groaned again, the breath escaping between throbs of pain. It caught on the way back in and more fire spread across his entire body. His mind slowly sped back up catching back up to before, replaying the last few moments. His eyes slowly fluttered open. He realized he had been smashed into the floor, looking up and see a few pieces of the office he was just in, smoldering and shattered. While he was pressed underneath some concrete that had crashed on top of him.

Looking over he saw Khan also in a similar state body mashed against remains of the hanging office. A medic standing over him with a couple emergency crew. McFea was pulled up from the rubble slowly and with purpose.

“Had us scared there LT.” Ssgt said giving a sideways grin as the now lit area illuminated his darkened form.

“Sorry to… make ya sweat.” McFea managed to shoot back

“Haha, yea i bet ya are, thankfully the shitbird with the rpg that took out the office forgot to check backblast and eviscerated himself.” the Sgt said beginning to rally up his story, before being quickly cut off by someone shouting.

“Aten-hut!” shouted out across the field and a number of soldiers stood and saluted as koval walked into the main floor of the plant.

“At ease.” he said walking directly towards the Ssgt, and McFea.

As he approached he shot a look at Khan who was still being carefully plucked from the rubble. The medic turned and gave a thumbs up towards koval as he approached a generally good sign. While that was happening Koval bee lined for the sgt, “so lets have it, anything worth saying or is it all shit?”

“Well sir, we cleared what was left of the building. Only a few prisoners, most of which are on the way to the hospital now for cyanide poisoning. We did manage to secure some laptops they were using, not sure what's on em. Other than that sorry to say no sign of your agent sir.”

“We've had constant surveillance on this place since my agent went dark. Fuck i hope they didnt eat him.” a dark thought but a credible one thought McFea.

“Alright, well metro finally showed up so they and the Alliance Intelligence teams will finish sweeping he building. They'll look for anything we missed, McFea i have a favor. Since your heading to the hospital anyway…” Koval started speaking with a half cocked grin

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McFea only partially heard what Koval was saying more intent on staying alive to feed this bastard his own nuts… this wasn't a favor it was a death sentence.

1 hour later in the hospital

McFea was still cursing Koval when he was wheeled into his observation room, he had three roomates. Two he expected the third looked out of place. Looking across the the grossly disfigured forms of two male wraiths handcuffed to the beds they were resting in. the third being a younger teenage boy from the looks of it not much older than 15.

The morphine drips, slowly pouring the mind altering drugs into the veins of the two, made the two normally hardened monsters a degree of compliance. Thus Koval shit plan was born.

McFea turned to the man to his left, looked like he might have been a decent looking man, average height and build brown hair, now parted with a few scars.

“So you boys come here often?”

“Wha… na this it nice.” the broken english slipping in between the lips of the barely coherent man.

The second man started to giggle uncontrollably like a child. Fucking lunatics.

“Oh whatcya got? Anything good?”

“Ahh, yua itssss real good.”

“Nice, care to share?”

“Naaa man. I don’t even know yousss.”

“Well then let me introduce myself… im jacob” McFea said holding out his hand before realizing “oh sorry bud forgot that side is cuffed”

The junkie cannibal started laughing at that. While giggles, was still giggling away.

“Hey grandpa shut the fuck up already” came a voice from across the room

McFea turned and looked at the cuffed teenager, staring at him with complete focus.

“Grandpa? I aint that old kid.” McFea said back

“Fuck you and shut the fuck up.” the kid retorted

“Eee told you jake ub” the idiot next door sputtered

“Really cause all i heard was a little brat throwing a temper tantrum.”

The kids face got red, even in his weakened state it was clear that he still had some gumption left.

“Hehe you hear dat ezekiel.”

“Shut the fuck up Tomias.”

“Tomias… Ezekiel? Are those really your names?” McFea could believe one Wraith with an old testament name, but two na that shit aint coincidence.

“yessem , giben to us by bishop Mordevei the…” the junkie began

“I will slit you gash to throat if you dont shut your fucking mouth Tomias.” the kid interrupted raging against the omission.

McFea was momentarily taken aback, the force the kid presented just than was that of a trained killer, he had to do a double take on the teenager just to be sure he wasnt some hardened criminal.

Looking across the kid was scrawny, long face dotted with over a dozen piercings. The kid had clearly been knocked out, as a swelling black eye adorned his face.

Kid your talking a lot of shit for someone who cant pass through a metal detector.” McFea said getting a rocus from his two bed fellows

A stone face stared back, and McFea matched his intensity. Looking intently and deeply at the clearly socially inept teenager. Almost as expected the kid cracked laughing as hard as his comrades.

“This was going to be a long night” thought McFea as he slowly started to use barracks humor to get inside the heads of his three new roomates.