**3 weeks later**

A blanket of darkness was cast over a wide reaching jungle. The trees, vines, and various flora made it very dense and hard to traverse. The distant sound of animals sounding off could be heard throughout this untouched oasis of nature. The only light being from the full moon that shined way up above - as if to set the stage for what was about to take place.

There was a rustle of leaves and the *creak* of a branch as a figure ran through, using their surroundings as footholds and ledges to nimbly move about.

As they dropped down in a small clearing that was hidden away from the light of the moon, a cloaked figure could be seen peering around at the surrounding tree lines. The person dropped their hood and a mess of red hair sprung out.

"Great." Five said as he tried to wrangle it back into a ponytail.

After getting it back in place, he put his finger to his right ear and touched the miniature earpiece he wore.

"Looks like I was able to give 'em the slip."

"You shouldn't have even been caught in the first place, Five." Two stated over the channel. "And you're sure you weren't followed?"

"Yes. You know, Two, this isn't my first rodeo. Did you forget how I single handley-"

"Took down two A ranks by yourself? Tell us something that you haven't bragged about literally everyday."

Five quickly turned around to the new voice that rang out around him. He knew that annoying voice all too well.

Five sighed and touched the ear piece once more. "Correction. She found me."

Five unbuttoned his cloak to reveal his usual military outfit underneath - a gray fitted shirt that had black running along the sides, a strap that ran cross the chest and looped around both underarms and crossed in the back, dark navy pants, standard issued boots with dark red accents on the sides, and a black set of gloves. His rank, '5', was on each sleeve. Everyone on Midnight Squad wore this setup, with a few differences in accent colors and some had their own personal accessories that went along with it.

"Ooh la la. Don't feel the need to get undressed on my behalf." she spoke again from somewhere hidden in the surrounding trees.

"Shut up and let's get this over with. I'm gonna take you down and then tell Sadiki to give me your rank."

"Ha. You can tryyyy."

*CRACK!*

Five gets in a defensive stance at what sounded like a tree being split.

*FWWWOOM!*

An entire tree comes flying out of the thicket of the trees at Five.

"Isn't that a bit much?!" Five jumps out the way to avoid the incoming tree.

Just as he landed, Three came in from his blind spot and tackled him to the ground. "Oof!" Five hit the ground as the grass kicked up around him. Three sat on his back and pinned his shoulders down. She was wearing the same military uniform with gold accents. She also had a strap on either leg that ran from the belt around her waist to right above her knees.

"And that's why you're Five, and I'm Three." she said with a look of confidence.

Three: believed to be around 20 years old and the strongest member of Midnight Squad when it comes to raw physical strength. Her ability, 'Titan Strength', allows her to increase/decrease her muscle mass which directly affects her overall strength at that moment. This can be done to her entire body or only certain parts. She tracks her current output through percentages.

Right now she was using about 10% to make Five eat dirt.

She touched her ear piece, "One, I caught up with Five. Do you have a read on Two? I'm assuming he has the flag."

There was a bit of silence and then One came on, "He's to your West…about 300 yards."

Five began struggling and trying to twist around, "Get off me, Three."

Three ignored him. "And Zero?"

"He's pzzzzzt." Three clicked the ear piece again, "Come again?" "Pzzzzzzzzzzt."

That's when Three noticed her hair starting to rise up. She looked down and saw Five looking at her out the side of his eye. There were blue static discharges coursing through his body. "I said…get OFF."

*POP!* Three is thrown backwards as Five releases a sudden release of static energy. She catches herself before falling over as she is thrown several feet away. The cornrows on the right side of her head have become partially undone and are standing almost straight up.

"You fuck! They're not just gonna let me off base to get this fixed!"

Five stood up from the ground; his eyes were glowing slightly and there was visible electricity running across his body.

Five: Believed to be around 16 years old. He was the newest member before the new Zero came along and is the lowest rank on the team. His ability, 'Lightning Round', allows him to manipulate electromagnetism. While this ability has great potential, it is also very complex. Meaning Five can only perform a small part of what it's capable of currently.

Five smirked and motioned Three over with his hand. "Then come let me even it out for you."

Three clenched her teeth and dashed forward.

"30% output." She raised her right arm and it began to bulge and increase in muscle mass. Five stood his ground.

"Devastation Haymaker!" She reared back her fist and threw it in an arc down towards Five. He quickly chose the riskier route and ducked under the punch to rush past her. As he moved past her he lightly touched the back of her shirt and got out of dodge.

The punch missed Five and slammed into the ground.

*BOOM!*

Since the move requires Three putting all her weight behind her punch, she wasn't able to adjust to Five's evasion. The ground cracked around her and gave way to the outstanding force.

Three jumped back to solid ground. "Don't think you can get away aga-!" Three looked behind her and saw that Five wasn't making an attempt to escape, but was standing near the tree line facing her.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She wasted no time in closing the distance between them.

All I have to do is attack him from several feet out, she thought to herself, and not give him the time to let off another discharge. It gets weaker the more it has to travel.

Five smirked as she closed in on him. He held out his left hand towards her.

"Repel!"

Three came to a sudden halt for a split second before being forcefully launched backwards.

"What..the…hell?!" She was knocked completely off the ground so she wasn't able to stop herself.

Three peeked down and saw that her shirt was glowing now. She lips trembled with frustration. Five had magnetized her shirt and then used his magnetic repulsion.

"Fiveeeeee!!!!" She was thrown back into the forest, branches could be heard snapping as she tumbled through.

Five chuckled and took off in the opposite direction. "It's a good thing you held back on that haymaker. My win!"

Three moved the branches off of her in anger. She had scratches all over and a random assortment of forest decorating her hair. She touched her earpiece, but it was still just giving off feedback.

"Gimme a break…" Three lowered herself into a runner's stance. "15% output." Her legs bulked up and she took off at great speed back towards the clearing. Each step was heavy enough to leave a deep imprint in the ground.

She finally broke through into the clearing. She looked past the damaged ground in the center to where she last saw Five. Of course he was gone now, but she had an idea of the direction he went. Three sprinted off at high speed through the tree line on the opposite side.

Further out, One was hidden on a tree branch that had thick brush on it.

One: Similar age to Three and the most senior member of Midnight Squad. He is the Captain and link between Midnight Squad and the higher ups. When it comes to large area damage, One excels the most. His ability, 'Nature of Man', allows him to directly interact with any/all nature to manipulate as he pleases. Since he is blind, he uses his ability to see his surroundings as well as long distances through the surrounding nature.

He had one hand on the branch so he could view as much of the forest as possible. His other hand was up to his ear piece.

"Three, come in. Three? If you can hear me you need to change course. Five is leading you West! Three?!"

Three rushed through the forest; she was no longer worried about keeping a low profile. She knew she had to cut off Five before he could rendezvous with the others. By himself he was easy enough. But she didn't want to take her chances against all of them at once.

"This is crazy, how far ahead of me did he get exactly?".

She barreled through the thicket in front of her. As she came out on the other side she quickly put the brakes on.

Two stood leaned up against a tree not far from her. Wrapped around his forearm was a yellow flag.

"Hey there, Three." Two said, not moving from his spot.

Three didn't make any movements towards him either. Her eyes darted around, taking in the surrounding area. There were lots of trees close together and plenty of natural cover. The others could be easily hiding anywhere.

"So I take it you're not gonna make this easy on me?" she said with a half smile.

"....."

Three slowly took a few steps forward - remaining on high alert. If I can just quickly snatch the flag off him then this will end without having to throw down in a brawl, she thought.

She was now halfway to the tree Two was leaning against.

*Tmp*

Three immediately stopped. "I knew it."

*Tmp*

Something was moving in the shadows.

*ZZZZTTTTT*

Her attention quickly shifted upwards as she caught Five descending down upon her from out of a tree - in his hand he held a sword that he constructed entirely out of electricity.

She kicked off to the side with her enhanced legs to dodge. Without missing a beat, she then kicked off towards Two. The other one couldn't be far behind.

She had to end this now.

Except….she couldn't move all of a sudden. She looked down at her feet and they were still in motion. Just moving about an inch a second.

So, he was already here, she thought.

Out from behind the same tree that Two was leaning against, Zero walked out in full military outfit that had black accents on the side of his shirt. On his sleeve was the number '0'.

"Zero."

Zero: The newest member of Midnight Squad. After passing initiation, he has manifested his ability 'Chronos Trigger'. This enables him to distort time in a fixed area around him that uses his body as the reference point; he can speed up or slow down time in that designated area. Anything that enters that radius is affected by the distortion.

"I was hoping you would step closer, Three." Zero declared with an accomplished look.

Two looked over to Five who was still just watching, "Five."

He quickly snapped to, as if the teacher had just caught him zoned out in class. Five rushed forward and raised his sword. Three could only look forward at Two and Zero as Five's blade came down upon her - stopping just at the layer of skin around the base of her neck.

Two leaned forward from off the tree, "Well, I think that's about it. What do you think, Captain?"

One hopped down from a nearby tree. "Yup. Good job guys. Looks like the victory goes to Two, Five, and Zero. Tactical as always, Two."

Three suddenly lunged forward as Zero released the time field, almost falling over on the ground.

"Ughhh, I was so close. Why couldn't you help me, Captain?!"

"Well this exercise was you against Five and Zero. Two and I were more or less just here for support."

Three huffed and crossed her arms. "Well it's still two against one.."

The entire forest seemed to flicker for a moment which was followed by a bright flash and then it completely vanished. They were now back in the training room. Zero was still awestruck by the level of technology the military had access to that they could simulate an entire jungle. Haji walked in the room from the door in the corner.

"Well done, team. Three, you could've stopped Five if you weren't busy playing around. Five, good job on being resourceful to delay Three and making sure she knew which direction you were going to leave - but not only did you stumble upon her in the beginning, you allowed her to later get the drop on you. You need to be smarter with your moves."

He looks to Zero next. "And Zero, it was a good idea to make sure Two and the flag was within the radius of your chronos trigger. I know it was Two's strategy, but you did well implementing it."

"Thank you, sir." Zero said almost in a bashful manner.

"You're all dismissed for the day. One and Two - follow me so we can debrief."

While the others started going their separate ways, Zero caught up with Two before he left.

"Um, that was a good strategy Two. I thought we worked pretty-" Before he could finish his sentence, Two had already walked off on him. Zero stood behind, feeling a bit defeated. Five looked on at the exchange while he stood next to Three.

"I…kinda feel for him. I mean, I'm still not in love with this new Zero yet, but…"

Three glanced at Zero with an empathetic look. She let out a small sigh. "Well, besides the reason he's here in the first place, I'm assuming Two hasn't taken too well to the Sgt's orders.."

**3 weeks prior at Zero's initiation**

Zero's fist finally connected with Two's face with everything he had. *BAM!*

Everyone looked on with shock at this sudden change in the fight. Even Five had stood up, his mouth agape. "What…how did he just…"

Haji's face transitioned from mild shock to a hopeful smirk. "The Major General is gonna love to hear about this one."

Two stumbled back several steps but remained on his feet. All the same, he was the most shocked person in the room as he still didn't know what just happened. He looked at Zero who was on his feet panting, his fist still in the finished position.

He looked over his arm at Two. They exchanged a locked glance just before Zero fell forward and collapsed on the ground. He had truly given everything in that last attack.

One felt a twinge of happiness and yet also a bit of sadness. Zero seemed like someone who wouldn't second guess gambling his life if it meant achieving his goal. It's a common trait he shared with the Zero that came before him.

Haji approached the center of the room as Two remained in place, looking down at the unconscious Zero with disbelief.

"Was all of that actually just speed?" He asked quietly to himself.

"No," Haji replied, "turns out our information was wrong. Azrael was a time user. Not a speedster. You did good in pushing him to the necessary point."

"..." Two said nothing as he turned and began walking away from them.

"Two." Haji called out to him. Two stopped and turned towards his Staff Sgt.

"As the former ace of this team, I'm putting his training in your hands." Two's eyes widened at those dagger-like words.

"Sir! I can't-"

"You WILL. I understand your feelings, but this is an order. Until Zero is up to the level required of him, you're going to be the spear point of this team. It'll be your responsibility to make sure Zero knows how to properly fulfill his role in all of this. Is that understood, soldier?" Haji stared Two down with a look that reinforced his position. That reminded those below him that he was the true alpha here.

"....Understood, sir."

**Present day**

Zero knew that Two wasn't interested in being friends. But he figured that they could at least co-exist as teammates. Maybe that's out of the question as well.

"Oh, Zero." Haji called out as he was about to walk out the room with One and Two.

"Sir?"

"Since you've completed your mission training, you get to take a little field trip with me tomorrow."

"A…field trip? Where to? Sir."

"Out to the city. It's time you get a first hand look at how society has evolved from the ashes."