The flight was uneventful. Their plane had two rows of three, and Justin was the odd man out. Which left Victor on the isle, Kiara in the middle, and Travis by the window. All three of them, being exhausted both physically and mentally, fell asleep before they even reached cruising altitude. Victor fell asleep on Kiara's shoulder, Kiara on Travis' shoulder, and Travis on Kiara's head.
Justin looked across the aisle, and couldn't help but think: 'This is bullshit...they get to do a cuddle puddle and I get to sit next to a screaming child and his mom who refuses to correct his behavior. Awesome..."
He put in headphones and turned his music on full blast. Eventually, despite the little boy's best efforts, he managed to fall asleep.
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When they landed all four woke up. Travis looked down at Kiara. "Damn did you keep any spit in your mouth? It feels like I got rained on but just on my shoulder."
"Oh shut up." She responded "It's not my fault your shoulder is so comfortable. And you'd better get used to it cause you're gonna be my pillow for all our future cuddle puddles."
Victor chimed in at that. "Woah Kiara, are you planning on making this a regular occurence?"
"Listen, we are gonna be very close. And it'll be comforting to do these regularly."
Justin, who had just retrieved his bag, saw his opportunity to jump into the conversation and took it. "Hey, if this is gonna be a regular thing, you guys had better not leave me out next time."
"It's not our fault the plane seats 3 to a row man, but we'll include you next time. I promise." Travis said, reassuring his friend
"Yeah man, the more the merrier." Victor responded, not wanting to alienate Justin.
"Thanks guys, I'm glad you guys aren't trying to exclude me."
○○○
They grabbed their bags before leaving the airport and catching a shuttle to their new duty station. When they got there, they were immediately escorted to an office like building, then all the way up to the top floor. As they stepped out of the elevator, a receptionist greeted them.
"Ah, you must be the new recruits. One moment please." Then she muttered something into her communication device on her lapel.
After a couple of moments she gestured to a door behind her. "The High General will see you now."
They walked in the door and immediately snapped to attention. "Sir, Privates Miller, Turner, Campbell, and Gonzales reporting for duty!"
"At ease Privates, here's the deal." He explained to them what sergeant Smith had told Trsbis a few months prior. But what surprised him was that he would be undergoing the procedure as well.
"Sir, if I may, I've already become a super soldier, why am I going through the procedure again?"
"Well private, you were created to be a guard. We need a soldier, so rather than a full change look at it like an update. Anyway, you four are to report to the medical wing immediately for your augmentations."
They headed down 5 floors to the medical wing where a full team was waiting for them. One of the nurses approached them. "We need you guys to undress and put on these gowns." He looked at them and saw a mischievous look on Justin's face. "Private Turner there are rooms for you to change in. Do not start undressing here. Anyway once you've changed, come out and lay on one of the beds, and we will handle everything from there."
With that they each headed into a changing room. Travis put on his gown, and when he exited he found he was the second one ready. He chose a bed and they wheeled him into an operating room.
"Alright private Miller, I'm going to put this mask over you, it contains a sleeping gas. Don't panic, just breathe and count to ten."
Travis complied and he was out before he hit 8. Then he opened his eyes. 'What the hell is this.' He saw himself, his hair had grown out a bit, and in his hand was a glaive with a black shaft and a wicked looking purple blade. All around him was thousands upon thousands of bodies. Travis followed the future Travis' gaze and saw he watched as a city so large it could probably fit a billion people in it burned. Buildings collapsed and rubble filled the streets.
Then the scene changed. He saw Justin exhausted, missing an arm surrounded by 8 bodies all wearing what would one day be the uniform of the first cybernetic company. One of his eyes glowed blood red, while the other was white, like he had gone blind. Over the white eye was a large cut that went from his forehead to his cheek. He lifted his remaining arm and created an energy shield over himself and the two remaining soldiers, who were presumably his squad mates as a building collapsed on top of them.
Another scene change this time he saw Victor and a cloaked figure fighting he swung his zweihander, but the figure caught it, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him in the air, before throwing him straight onto an exposed piece of rebar, which pierced straight through his chest. He coughed up blood, and the scene changed.
This time it was Kiara. She was completely surrounded. It looked like a whole army was converging on her. She was switching weapons so fast it seemed like she had 6 arms instead of two. But it wasn't enough, there was simply too many of them. It looked like a scene out of a zombie movie as they piled up to trap her before she eventually disappeared under all of them.
The scene changed one last time. This time it was Tay. She fought four people, all seemingly Kingdom troops. Despite the fact that she was a super soldier she was struggling. Then one of them caught a kick from her and ripped her leg off.she screamed as she fell to the ground, then the same one stabbed her so hard his sword stabbed straight into the concrete. His sword embedded in her gut all the way to the hilt.
The visions went dark.