Bestia Vis

Heather walked over and stepped onto the nearest one of the treadmills, along with all the other recruits who got a similar injection. Glancing at a small meter attached to the front of the treadmill, she started running. She watched as the meter made it's way up to twenty miles per hour, and from there it kept on rising.

Twenty two...twenty five...thirty...

Tilting her head at it, she pressed on, soon reaching thirty eight miles per hour, and feeling as if she was just walking. She looked up from the meter which at started to stop increasing, and watched as Lethero walked by some of the treadmills, checking the meters and surveying the condition of the runner. Glancing downward, Heather noticed the belt of the treadmill skimming along quickly. Hearing the voice of Lethero's as he spoke to another recruit, she glanced up once more.

"Not getting tired yet, are you?" He asked, smiling slightly as he checked another meter.

"No, Sir." Came the reply as he continued running, going about thirty five miles per hour. Heather vaguely recognized him from the briefing two days earlier, one of the many skeptical soldiers.

I suppose he isn’t doubting it now.

Damien glanced around at the others in his group, sizing them up. All were Americans, given that the program had only allowed for a few like him anyway. But the SASR was determined to know if this was a viable option for the future, which was why they'd chosen him. Someone skilled, but ultimately expendable if the serum didn't work.

“Alright then.” The alpha of the reptile group, who’d been injected with king cobra serum, slid his gaze over them. “Let’s see how well you’ve adapted.” His boots made a soft clacking sound as he stepped across to the wall, starting to adjust a thermostat there.

The heat in the room soon began to rise, and an attending scientist soon wiped a hand across his face and quickly left the room. Amongst those who had been injected, however, there was no reaction. One recruit even leaned back against the wall, practically drinking in the heat, a relaxed smile on his face.

“At attention!” The alpha snapped, bringing them all out of their reveries and into a heightened state of alert. Damien’s eyes snapped around the room quickly, trying to focus on a threat. Finding none, they settled on focusing on the alpha for the time being. Their leader pointed to the next room, where a pair of treadmills had been set up beside a pool.

“Unlike some of the other groups, there is a little diversity in your improved speeds. Or there should be. You,” he pointed at one man who’d been injected with alligator DNA. “The pool.” He turned to point at Damien and another recruit. “You’re on the treadmills.”

Damien grinned slightly, eager to find what his new limits were, and stepped on to the treadmill. The machine gave a slight whine as it started spinning on the highest setting, and Damien matched it with ease. I’ve got to get outside to try this.

Rena

I walk amount the traineess. I notice on doing particularyily well.

"Whats your name?" I ask her.

"Heather." She says, still running.

"And your animal?"

"Mexican Wolf," She says. Interesting. I make a mark on the clipboard, a little seven next to Mexican Wolf. the preformance scale was on a one to ten basis.

"What are you writing?" She asked.

"Don't worry, it is positive, your doing well." I say patting her on the shoulder.

"Who are you?" she asks.

"Oh, I am Rena. I am second in command here. If you make it past the first six months here you'll do great. Keep up the good work." I like Heather, I know we will get along already. She seems nice, and is adjusting well.

I move on to the next person. He is running at a rather human pace but doesn't show any signs of effort.

"Name?" I ask him.

"Lars."

"Animal?"

"Vampire squid." Interesting. I put a little five next to his name. He cant run very fast, but has good endurance. He had slightly blue skin. I make a note of that beside his name.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good." He says.

"And you, why aren't you running?"

"I am second in command here, but still in training." I say, he nods.

"Everyone stop!" I called as the ten hours came to an end. Everyone jogged to a stop, and none of them seemed to be out of breath too much. Their body was still adjusting to their stronger lungs. "Okay, everybody. That was good. Scientists are waiting outside those doors to make some studies. Over the next few weeks you will train in various other activities that will test your new abilities. Then, in one month we are going to go outside with paintball guns in the middle of the night to test your senses. You will be divided into two teams to face each other. I will be taking part as well in a time by myself. Anyone that manages to hit will be promoted in rank. Dismissed."

The next few weeks passed painlessly, for me, and the new recruits passed quickly through the exercises. Hidden scientists were tracked in the base with single pieces of clothing, they could read a sign from over three hundred yards away, and they navigated mazes while shooting at targets in near darkness. Everyday they were required to run for hours, and soon they could run at full speed for thirty hours straight without tiring.

On the night of the paintball exercise, I met everyone outside. Them and myself were all carrying M4-like paintball guns, wore face masks, and light clothing, covered by some armor.

"Alright," I said. "The rules are simple: a single shot and your down, no night or thermal vision goggles allowed, physical take downs are allowed, but you are only finished if shot with the gun, and hiding in trees or under snow is also allowed. Remember, use your instincts: trust them. Also, if you shoot, always shoot to kill, don't hesitate." I pulled out a fog horn. "Spread out, and when you hear this, you may began." I watched as everyone melted into the forest, and once I felt I was alone I blew the horn. I cocked my gun and crept silently into the forest.

Heather pressed herself between a small bush and a tree before sliding down and moving the small twigs and branches of the bush as she hid inside. She stared out through a tiny gap where the snow didn't cover it. Hearing the sound of the fog horn, she readied her gun and attempted to relocate where it came from.

I'll go after him later.

She decided, crouching motionlessly. After a couple minutes, Heather spotted someone from the other team, quietly walking, his senses alert. She aimed her gun and pulled the trigger slowly, wincing at the small popping sound it gave as the paintball was fired and hit her target in the stomach. The man cursed under his breath, looking at the bush where she was. Backing out of the bush, she heard some quiet popping in the distance and began makng her way in that direction, where she was bound to find another target.

Heather managed to shoot a couple more people and almost managed to get shot herself before making her way back to where Lethero had blown the fog horn, and she began to attempt tracking him by scent and the tracks she managed to find. Spotting a figure in the distance, she got a bit closer before climbing up a tree. Gazing down, she saw Lethero take down two people. She reloaded her paintball gun and waited for the right opportunity to shoot at him.

I shoved the barrel of my gun between the recruits body and gun, disarmed him, shoved him to the ground, and shot him in the chest. I heard another person running around the trees at me. As he ran into the clearing, I close-lined him and shot him in the back. I sneaked deeper into the snow covered forest, shooting several of the recruits as I went. The paintballs flew by me in slow motion as I was shot at. I disarmed another person and shot him with his own gun. I threw his gun on the ground beside him and walked deeper. I tried to recount how many recruits I took down. Suddenly I heard the snapping of a twig behind me. I whipped around, but was too slow, I was shot in the chest.

After Lethero took down two of the recruits, Heather jumped down from the tree and followed him, attempting to be as silent and stealthy as she could. She kept her distance and near cover in case he decided to turn around, but he seemed to focused on the targets that were currently shooting at him to notice her. Careful not to get shot, she skirted around some trees to get closer and watched as Lethero disarmed a couple men before shooting them with their one guns before tossing the guns aside, turning back to get more of the recruits.

He certainly is skilled in hand combat and in guns, that could take a lot of training.

She thought stepping out from behind her current tree and dashing to another to take cover again. She continued to make her way slowly closer until she came out into the open and raised her gun, pointing it at Lethero. She winced as she stepped on a twig and quickly shot as Lethero turned around to face her, hitting him in the chest with the paintball. She smiled some, attempting, but failing, to hide her glee at the fact that she had managed to shoot him.

I sighed and accepted defeat. "Congratulation, recruit, you managed to hit me." I put my gun's safety on and slung it over my back. "Lieutenant Heather, or should I say Captain Heather." I shook her hand and escorted her back to the base where everyone else sat defeated. "Attention!" They sat up as quickly as they could tripping over their feet and stood straight in front of you.

"Heather her managed to shoot me, something that none of you got closed to." They all looked away, embarrassed. "She will now be promoted to the rank Captain. She will oversee some of your training for me now, and from now on all of you will have to participate in a weekly fight. Dismmised! Except you Heather."

Heather stopped and turned to me. "Yes, sir."

"The president has given us a mission, I feel that you have progressed far enough to participate. You, me, and Rena will be going doing a surveillance mission in North Korea. Be ready tomorrow at five a.m. sharp. A jet will be here to take us. Understood?"

"Sir! Yes, sir!"

"Dismissed."

Lethero, Rena and Heather had left. Squad selections were beginning.

The whole purpose of a squad was to have the ideal mix of abilities present to handle a mission. I realized I didn't have the strength or speed that many other recruits had, but in spite of all that, I had something that many wished they had, avoidance. It was clear that when I began using my new abilities that I was well fit for any type of water based mission. But when nobody could hit me during some of the exercise rounds, it seemed that I had more than I realized. It's a shame there was no promotion for people who didn't get hit during the paintball exercise, not that it had been much of an achievement for me. Being able to disperse think bioluminescant light and produce disorientating light does that.

I hope I don't get grouped with a bunch of jarheads, I'm a scientist for god's sake. They'd be letting us now tomorrow.

can I still join?, please.

Rena

I went to pack for the trip to Korea. I remember my last trip to france, and shutterd. I had made a nearly deathly mistake, and I was lucky to still be alive. I remembered the faces of the men I had to kill with the granade and almost cried. Those poor, innocent people. What did they do to me?

I remembered my training as an assasin. They were going to kill you, us. they needed to die. Dont think of them as people. Those were Jasons dieing words to me. He was my best friend, but he was dead now, forever.

I tossed my blackstealth suit on top of the rest of my cloths and put my favorite knife in my coat pocket. I never left 'home' without it. I wasn't sure if this was my home, but it was the closest thing I had ever had.

I was glad that Lero came before me, or I might have gone insane from loneliness, because those scientist wern't any sort of company. They were always trying to stick another needle into you. But life went on.

*sure you can join jok101*

Rena, Heather, and I were in an AC130 about sixty thousand feet in the air somewhere over the Pacific. I carefully loaded six shells into my shotgun, and put the rest into a hip pouch. Rena and Heather sat on a bench opposite me. "Ready?" I asked.

"How can we be?" Heather replied. "We're ten mile miles up about to jump into hostile territory."

"So," Rena said, "what's our job?"

"Our first objective is to confirm or deny the existence of nuclear weapons on a base near the capital," I replied. "Secondly, if we confirm the that there is nuclear weaponry, we are to destroy it. Once the we set the explosives on the bombs, we have only a single day to get as far as we can. After that we make our way to a base in South Korea, where we will be picked up by plane and taken back to base."

"And if we're captured?" Heather asked.

"You have a handgun don't you?"

"You mean . . . ?"

"Stick it in your mouth and pull the trigger."

"Ten minutes till we reach the drop off area," came the pilot over the intercom.

"Ready, ladies?" I asked. I slipped the mask over my face and walked to the back of the plane where the hatch began to open. When the hatch opened, the red light came on. "Au revior," I said, and jumped out as the green light came on. I looked up as Rena and Heather soon followed.

“Put it in your mouth and pull the trigger.” Lethero said to them, answering a previous question.

Kill ourselves? We have to take risks, I suppose.

Heather remembered being given a loaded hand gun and some extra ammo a little while before having to board the jet. Rena and Lethero exchanged a few words a moment before a voice came across the intercom, saying it was near time to jump.

“Ready ladies?” Lethero asked, standing up and walking over to the hatch and waited as it opened. “Au revoir,” He said, jumping down. Heather watched as Rena jumped after him, and looked down, hesitating a moment before jumping after them.

Hopefully this turns out alright

The thought crossed her mind right as she jumped. She felt the wind hard against her face regardless of the mask that was provided. She gave a slight smile of the feeling of the fall and turned her head slightly downward to watch Lethero and Rena.

Rena

I did love skydiving, it was the only FUN part of these missions. When we landed, Heathers face was white as a gost.

"You okay?" I ask her. She doesn't look able to move.

"Sit down, put you head between your knees, take deep breaths." She does what I ask her to. Before long she is back on her feet and ready to rool.

"Note to self, no more skydiving for you." lero said.

"Oh, thanks." she said, her voice still a little shaky.

"eat this." Lero said, giving her a peice of chocolate. I remembered my first skydiving experiance, it really helped a lot. She ate it without a word. We started to walk towards the capital. I took my gun out of my pocket and strapped it to the side of my stealth suit. Heather missed a footing and almost fell. Thankfully I caught her.

"You sure your okay?" I ask.

"Uh, no." She said. Lero made an annoyed noise.

"No one is perfect." I tell him.

"But I am close as it gets." He said with a huge grin.

"Shut it!" I say, "and give the girl a break. I might have done better than her at this but she has a very high endurance. And she managed to shoot you in the paintball war. Even I can only do that on a rare ocasion." Heather gets up.

"I am good now." She says.

"Lets move out." Lero said. And we did.

Jane

Jane hadn't been doing very well in the training so far. The scientists hadn't given her the serum of any sort of winged animal. Instead, she was stuck beig a stupid black bear.

It wasn't like she was even particularly bulky to begin with. In fact, she was pretty tiny. Now, everything about her felt heavy. She was pretty sure her bone mass had grown and that she had put on a good amount of weight. Her teeth were sharper, which annoyed her, and her nails were black and pointed, which irritated her to no end.

Nothing had been going well for her. She hadn't been able to match even the slowest person's speed on the treadmills, and she had been shot down right away in the paintball challenge.

Maybe she shouldn't have volunteered for this thing afer all.