Meanwhile, at the Hospital...
Ethan's eyes snapped open. The dull, pounding fog in his skull had finally cleared, leaving his head sharp and light.
He glanced around the dim, shadow-draped room. The heart monitor beeped softly beside him, and in the corner, a lady sat fast asleep in an armchair, her chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
I'm still in the hospital... Ethan realized. Then, like a sudden jolt of electricity, memory flooded back. FATHER! Where is he?!
His heart slammed against his ribs. Slipping his legs over the side of the bed, Ethan unhooked the IV line and dropped quietly to his bare feet. The halls were shrouded in nighttime silence, making stealth second nature as he darted through the dim corridors, sticking to the shadows.
He reached the heavy glass doors of the rear exit, pushing them open just an inch. But before he could step outside, the distinct sound of quick, light footsteps echoed down the hallway behind him.
Ethan melted back against the wall, narrowing his eyes. Through the glass reflection, he saw the lady, sleeping in his room, frantically checking the rooms down the hall.
Is she searching for me? Who is she really? Did she... NO! Where is my father?!
Panicking, Ethan eased backward toward the exterior exit—only for his heel to clip a heavy ceramic planter near the threshold.
CRACK.
The planter tipped, shattering against the tile floor. Grace's head snapped toward the noise instantly. "Ethan?!"
Without looking back, Ethan threw open the exit doors and sprinted into the freezing night, his bare feet cutting through the deep, powdery snow as he headed straight for the tree line.
She saved my life back there, but why is she tracking my every move? Ethan thought, his lungs burning against the biting sub-zero air.
It doesn't... matter... I have to find my father.
He pushed onward through the snow, but the brutal Siberian cold quickly began to set in, numbing his limbs and making every step feel like lead. Just as his endurance began to flag, something caught his eye in the moonlight.
Disturbed snow drifts. Fresh, calculated boot prints leading deeper into the woods.
Ignoring the shivering in his frame, Ethan tracked the prints through a dense thicket until the trees gave way to an old, abandoned logging village. The ruined wooden cabins stood silent under the pale moon like rotting teeth.
Every instinct in Ethan's body screamed at him to turn back, but before he could retreat, low, radio-type voices cut through the wind.
Ethan darted inside the nearest collapsed cabin, squeezing himself into the darkest corner behind a mound of decayed timber. He held his breath, pressing his back flush against the frozen wood.
Outside, a heavily armed operative rounded the corner.
He wore a matte-black tactical suit devoid of any national insignia. A high-caliber assault rifle rested in his hands, two combat blades were mounted across his upper back, and a sleek katana was sheathed at his left hip.
Ethan's blood ran cold. The overwhelming aura of lethal precision radiating from the man sent a wave of raw terror through the boy's chest.
Who are these people?!
The operative suddenly stopped in his tracks. His head turned slowly, his visor locking directly onto the dark gap where Ethan was hidden.
Did he spot me?!
For a agonizing second, time seemed to freeze. Then, without a word, the operative turned and resumed his patrol down the snow-covered alleyway.
Ethan let out a tiny, shuddering breath, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
Before he could even register relief, something razor-sharp pressed lightly against the side of his neck. Cold, metallic claws bit subtly into his flesh, right over his carotid artery.
Ethan froze solid. He knew with absolute certainty that the slightest twitch would sever his throat.
A gloved hand reached down from behind, grabbing his head with an iron grip and forcing it back. Ethan found himself staring up into a pair of cold, emerald-green eyes framing a black ballistic mask.
He swallowed hard, terrified to even breathe.
CRASH!
The decaying roof structure above them was kicked inward, collapsing the cabin walls into splinters and exposing Ethan to the open snow. Within seconds, a three other heavily armed specters emerged from the shadows, their weapon muzzles instantly locking onto Ethan's face.
The woman maintained her vice-like grip on Ethan's skull, pressing the lethal claws tighter against his neck. A tear escaped Ethan's eye, trailing down his freezing cheek, but he didn't dare make a sound.
On the right shoulder of her tactical suit, a dark patch caught the moonlight:
DWO UNIT CODENAME: CHEETAH
"What do we have here?" Cheetah growled, her voice synthesized through her mask. "A brat in our perimeter."
"Relax, Cheetah. It's just a brat," said another operative, lowering his rifle slightly. The tactical tag on his chest read STINGER.
The rest of the squad relaxed their stances slightly, but Cheetah didn't loosen her grip for a fraction of a second.
"Vice Leader," Cheetah called out, turning her head toward the swordsman who had passed by earlier. "He was stealthing inside our operational kill zone. He could be an advance scout or a local informant."
She glared down at Ethan, her green eyes flashing with violent intent. "Who sent you, kid? Speak!"
Ethan remained silent, tears silently welling in his eyes as he refused to break under her pressure.
A large hand stepped into view, grabbing Cheetah's wrist and physically forcing her clawed gauntlet away from Ethan's throat.
"That's enough, Cheetah," commanded the swordsman. The insignia on his collar read T-REX.
"I said stand down," T-Rex growled, his voice carrying absolute authority. "He's a child. Likely a survivor from the local settlements."
"A child doesn't mask his heat signature in a ruined structure like that by accident, Vice Leader," Cheetah spat back. "What if he's a decoy?"
"Cheetah, the Vice Leader made his call," added another operative, his shoulder tag reading SCORPION.
Suddenly, a female operative with striking red eyes stepped out from the treeline. Her chest patch read ZERO.
"Look at his attire," Zero pointed out calmly. "He's wearing a hospital gown and thin thermal pants. He's an escaped patient."
"And what is a hospital patient doing miles deep inside a isolation zone?" Cheetah countered, sliding a tactical sidearm from her thigh holster and aiming it straight between Ethan's eyes. "It's a cover. I say we eliminate the risk now."
Stinger raised his pistol as well, locking it on Ethan. "For once, I agree with Cheetah. A kid out here in a hospital gown doesn't make sense unless he was placed here to monitor perimeter movements."
Scorpion nodded along. "Yeah. It's too clean. Kid looks like trouble."
Cheetah rested her finger against the trigger. "Vice Leader, give the command. Should I finish him?"
"I said enough!" T-Rex bellowed, his voice echoing through the dead forest.
The squad fell completely silent.
"We take him with us," T-Rex ordered, staring down at Ethan with a calculating gaze. "We'll secure him at the forward staging base and interrogate him myself."
Cheetah scoffed under her breath, reaching down aggressively to haul Ethan up by the collar.
The moment her hand closed near his chest, Ethan's instincts kicked in. Dropping his center of gravity, he drove his fingernails directly into the exposed nerve cluster on her inner forearm.
"You little brat!" Cheetah murmured.
Reflexively, she whipped her forearm across, striking Ethan square in the chest with enough kinetic force to launch him backward like a projectile. He hurtled out of control toward a thick pine tree—a strike that would have snapped his spine instantly.
SWOOSH.
A dark shadow blurred across the snow. Before Ethan's body slammed into the trunk, Zero intercepted him in mid-air, catching him securely against her body and absorbing the momentum.
She landed softly in the snow, cradling the unconscious boy in her arms. She turned her head, her red eyes burning into Cheetah with terrifying intensity.
"Have you lost your mind?" Zero said, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You almost killed him."
"Whoa... first time I've ever seen Ms. Zero genuinely ticked off," Scorpion muttered, taking a step back.
T-Rex didn't waste another second. He turned on his heel and began marching through the snowdrift.
"Zero, secure the boy and keep him alive," T-Rex commanded over the squad comms. "We're moving to the safehouse immediately. Our new recruit should already be waiting there—and the Boss will want to inspect this kid personally."