Stories of Tie Up Games

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

Kate steps back from the freshly opened case and pulls out her vape. Taking a draw she activates the communicator. “Digger. The case is open.” She says nervously.

“Shit. We talked about this, it could be some kind of bio weapon and has to be contained.” Carl says, fearfully.

“It’s a body.” Kate says, staring down at the body of a young woman in the sculpted metal interior of the case.

“Talk to me. Give me details.” Carl says, pulling a note pad.

Snapping to focus, Kate falls back on her time as a detective, “Female. Late teens, early twenties. Hundred and forty pounds. Approximately, five feet eleven tall. Good physical shape, very well defined musculature, possible athlete.” She reaches down, “Body cool to the touch, no pulse. Skin dry to the touch.”

She takes a few photos and lifts the girls eyelids, “Blue eyes, no signs of petechial haemorrhaging. Black hair, very close cut. No visible scarring. Hands show signs of callouses on the palms and knuckles. Possible martial artist.”

Kate steps away, taking a seat om a rock on the outskirts of her makeshift camp. “I don’t know what to think. Will need to do a full exam to be sure, but no signs of trauma that could lead to her death. If she is the Template, I don’t know what of. She could be the first victim of a new weapon, or something else.”

“Always in a bloody jungle.” Carl says, shaking his head, “She looks serene in the photos. Would have been a pretty girl when she was alive.”

“Tragic that one so young has lost her life.” Kate says, taking a pull on the vape, “I am guessing that the case preserves the body in some way, but now it is open, I don’t know if will work again even if closed.”

“Do you have an entrenching tool? If might be better to bury her and come back later.” Carl says, thinking aloud.

“I have one in my pack. I will pick out a spot and send coordinates, so we can return later.” Kate says, nodding her head subtly.

“Er Kate, there is something else.” Carl says, uncomfortably, “If there is some form of biological agent present, chances are that you have been exposed.”

“Yeah, I guessed that.” Kate says, contemplating her future. “I am going to have to wait for you to come to me. I can’t risk returning through any population centres.”

“Bury the young woman and send us a pick up location. We will come to you.” Carl says, trying to hide his emotions, but knowing his aunt could be in very real danger.

“Give me ten.” Kate says, taking another pull, “I will call you back once I have a precise location.”

“I will be waiting.” Carl says, nervously, as Kate slips the vape into her pocket.

She takes a deep breath and gets to her feet turning to her pack to find the entrenching tool, but starts, seeing the young woman sitting up and looking at her.



The young woman, sits with perfect posture, her gaze burning into Kate like a blow torch.

“Hi.” Kate says, keeping her cool.

The young woman looks up through the canopy, to see the sky, then looks back at Kate, “Good morning.” She says with a very subtle American accent, with a hint of Italian.

Kate looks the young woman up and down subtly, whilst thinking, “Shit. She is like a coiled spring. I wish I hadn’t left the batons and blade on the boat. I have the pistol in my boot, but I can’t get it without it being obvious.”

“You have questions.” The woman says, almost amused.

“Who are you?” Kate asks, watching for a reaction.

The young woman shrugs, “My designation is Prime and you?”

“Kate. So Prime, what is your story?” Kate asks, trying to get a read on the other woman.

Prime smiles and gives a conspiratorial wink, “Please Kate. Don’t play dumb, it doesn’t suit you. You retrieve a case from a secret based run by an extra dimensional organisation. When it opens you find an apparently dead person, who is now talking to you. I think you could be forgiven for assuming I am experiment, aberration or something worse.”

“So which is it?” Kate asks, feeling like she is staring down a lion.

Prime smiles again, slowly getting to her feet, “I was an experiment.”

Kate nods, subtly stepping on her shoelace of her right boot. “What kind of experiment?” She asks, not sure she wants to know the answer.

“The Emperor saw the power of Atlantis’ Saviour and heard rumours of the Four sisterd and wanted his own version for the Pax Felix. Early in my development I was placed in a facility that trained me in the arts of war, shaped my body and with training, physical conditioning, coupled with other more invasive procedures and crafted me into the ultimate weapon.” Prime says, proudly.

“OK, either delusional or more worryingly, an actual super soldier of some kind. This is bad.” Kate thinks before saying, “I am so sorry to hear that.” She casually moves her right foot away, pulling the lace to undo it.

Prime’s smile falters for a split second, “Why are you sorry?” she asks forcing a smile.

“If what you say is true, then you have not had the chance to experience the joy of life. The wonders of childhood or the power of love.” Kate says, softly.

“Ah, I understand now.” Prime says, regaining her natural smile, “I have the joy of pleasing my instructors, the wonder of learning about the history of the realms and the love I feel for the Pax Felix.”

“Shit. Zealot.” Kate thinks, before saying, “I understand. I was mistaken.”

“Nice try. I can see you think I am some kind of crazy person. However, I assure you I am happy with my life.” Prime says, “Do you have more questions?”

“You were dead, when I found you. How come you are alive now?” Kate asks, subtly trying to buy time taking a step to the side.

Prime places a hand on the case she was in, “This is a stasis pod. Whilst closed, it slows my metabolism to the point where I only need to breath once per year. When it is opened, it eases me back in to life before waking me fully and contains everything I need to be fully functional.”

“Oh really. How does it work?” Kate asks, genuinely curious.

“Not quite sure, some kind of technical stasis field but I never really got my head around the physics for it” Prime says, with a subtle smile. “ Kind of opposite to the training facility but in reverse.”

“How do you mean?” Kate asks confused.

“From your point of view, I was in the facility for a month, but from mine it was about fifteen years of lessons and drills.” Prime says off handedly.

Kate’s eyes widen incredulously, “Fifteen years?”

Prime beams a smile, “Yes. I learned everything I needed, to become who I needed to be. Languages, science, maths, philosophy, tactics, weapons and hand to hand combat while I was there.”

“What was it you needed to become?” Kate asks, fearful of the answer.

Prime give a look of pity, that the woman she is speaking to hasn’t grasped her purpose, “To be an elite super soldier, to lead the Pax Felix’s forces to victory across the realms, of course.”

Now it is Kate’s turn to show pity, “You poor thing. That is barbaric. How could they?”

“Against insurmountable odds, the Pax wish to bring peace. Unfortunately, peace is not a natural state of order, so it must be enforced according to the divine doctrine I am the herald of a new age.” Prime says, without emotion, casually leaning back on her case.

“No you are wrong. People must be allowed the right to stand for their beliefs and oppose injustice.” Kate says, trying to control her reactions. She thinks to herself, “She is brain washed and I need to keep things calm here.”

“That is the beauty of the Pax Felix. They decide what is and isn’t just and Righteous and then the unjust and heathen is purged.” Prime says, calmly, with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Not the worst form of government, I have heard of. How do they decide what is just?” Kate asks, gently, trying to diffuse the conversation.

Prime smiles subtly, “They are wise enough to know.”

Kate pulls the canteen from her belt and takes a sip and offers it to the other woman, taking a step forward. Then notices her boot is loose and tosses the canteen to prime “Just a sec.”

Prime catches the canteen with her left hand and brings the right from behind her back, with a handgun aimed squarely at Kate’s chest. She sighs, “Nice try. I appreciate you trying to lull me into a false sense of security, before you pull the gun in your boot. However, from here I can hear how your heart has been pounding in your chest since you saw me.”

Kate holds her hands out to her sides, eyeing the gun, “Of course. Your case has everything you need to be fully functional.”

“Indeed, it also has clothing, basic field gear and other essentials.” Prime says with a smile. “To be fair you nearly had me. However, your fate was sealed the moment, you collected the case and the project data. Why else would I have spoken so freely?”

“I guess I will know for next time, eh?” Kate says lightly.

“Something like that.” Prime says then waves with the gun, “Strip.”

“Seriously?” Kate says, somewhat surprised.

“I have strength, speed, distance and a gun. A search of your person would compromise some of those without gain. So strip.” Prime says, adding authority to her voice.

Reluctantly, Kate unbuttons her shirt and pulls it off, dropping it on the floor. Then she kicks off her boots and slowly reaches down to remove her socks, without taking her eyes off of Prime. With slow movements, she unhooks her belt and undoes her camouflaged trousers dropping them with her shirt. She looks up at Prime and folds her arms.

Prime wears a bored look and sighs, “All of it. Any clothing could contain items designed to give a tactical advantage. The fact that you have managed to get me out of a Pax Felix facility tells me how capable you are, so you will have to forgive me for taking no chances.”

With a huff Kate removes first her sports bra and then her underwear, adding them to the pile.

“I appreciate your cooperation. Please take two steps left and then slowly walk backwards.” Prime says, without emotion.

Kate complies, feeling the leaf matter of the jungle floor, under her feet, forcing her to move slowly. Prime is in no hurry, patiently watching as Kate follows her instructions. Kate stops when she feels a tree trunk against her back.

Prime reaches behind her into another of the cases compartments and pulls out two pairs of handcuffs. She tosses them to Kate and commands, “Please cuff your ankles and then cuff your wrists behind the tree.”

“Shit.” Kate thinks as she complies, “I won’t be able to run or defend myself. I am screwed.”

“Do a circuit of the tree to show me you are secure, please.” Prime orders and then watches as Kate shuffles from foot to foot, working her way around the tree to return to her starting point.



Prime nods, then begins searching through Kates clothing, removing every concealed lock pick and razor blade, before pulling the wire saw and multi tool from the waistband of her trousers and a garrotte from the seam of her bra. She then removes the CAP pistol from the right boot.

Kate tries to hide her dismay, when Prime plucks the vape from her pocket. Prime holds it up and speaks softly, “If you are listening, turn your speakers down, this might be loud.” She snaps it in two and crushes the halves in her left hand, as if they were made of paper before tossing the remains into the jungle.

Prime picks up Kate’s shirt and tears off the sleeves. In her bound state Kate cannot resist the mass of cloth being forced into her mouth and held with first one of the sleeves tied between her lips forcing the packing deeper and then the other tied over her mouth to hold everything in place, before tightening all of the cuffs.



Prime calmly walks back to her case and pulls out a radio from one of the compartments, “Prime to control. Over.”

A crackle then a voice, ”Come in Prime. Over.”

“I have captured and neutralised the individual who extracted me and secured the data and my Shell.” Prime reports.

“This is Magda Kirilenkov. Excellent work Prime. Please send your location. I will supervise the pickup of the prisoner, personally.”

Prime tools over to Kate, sorrowfully, “Understood Miss Kirilenkov, we will be waiting for you.” She says, without emotion. “Transmitting coordinates now.”



Kate watches nervously, as Prime dons lightweight military fatigues and boots from her case and straps on a belt, with a pistol holster.

She tries in vain to pull her wrists free of the cuffs, but they are too snug and unwieldy. Suppressing a wave of panic, she controls herself, thinking, “Carl knows roughly where I am. With luck he can get here fast and spring me from this.”

Kate looks at her captor, “I underestimated her. She is far sharper than I gave her credit for. If I could speak, I would have a chance. But with how badly my mouth is stuffed and gagged, I have no idea what I can do.”

Prime notices Kate watching out of the corner of her eye and turns to her prisoner, “For what it is worth. I am sorry about what comes next.”

Kate frowns and grumbles angrily, with the cloth in her mouth absorbing any sense from the words she says, but doing nothing to absorb her anger.

Or fear.

“You managed to convince my people that you were our leading agent. The agent who knows all and whose reach extends to every project. Now the real Magda Kirilenkov is here and coming personally to take you into custody.” Prime sighs sadly, “May God have mercy on your soul.”

That went bad for Kate - who is into deep Trouble now. Prime is scary and fascinating at the same time. Prime reminds me in some ways of Seven of Nine. Very intriguing - and scary. Well done. If Kate survives remains to be seen. And who shall save her anyway?

Caesar73 wrote: 11 months ago That went bad for Kate - who is into deep Trouble now. Prime is scary and fascinating at the same time. Prime reminds me in some ways of Seven of Nine. Very intriguing - and scary. Well done. If Kate survives remains to be seen. And who shall save her anyway?

With this arc, i am in some ways going darker than before, as the story unfolds, it will become clearer who the villains and heroes of this tale are.

Interesting comparison of Prime and seven of nine. I hadnt considered it before.

I eont say more for risk of revealing too much.

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

Magda gazes steely eyed out of the open door of the converted helicopter.

Her sharp black trousers suit and coifed blond hair at odds with the jungle canopy beneath the aircraft. Her only concession to the terrain are the walking boots she wears.

She takes her jacket off, revealing a shoulder holster with a small pistol and a baton held ready for use. Their inclusion in her outfit is as much as accessories, like earrings for a normal woman. The only essential thing she carries from her point of view is an old medical bag, on the seat next to hers.

“LZ. ETA two minutes.” This pilot says over internal comms.

She presses the button on the side of her head phones. “Very good. Stay ready for dust off. We shouldn’t be long. Troopers, secure perimeter. Prime and I will escort the prisoner to aircraft. Once we are on board, return to helicopter for immediate extraction.”

The other soldiers nod and ready their assault weapons, primed for action.

The moment the helicopter's skids touch the ground, the soldiers move, disappearing into the jungle to establish a secure perimeter. Once the all clear is signalled Magda exits the craft with her bag and makes a beeline straight towards Prime, who waits at the edge of the clearing.

As soon as she draws level, Magda commands, “Report.” Striding past prime.

Prime turns and keeps pace with her, “One prisoner. Matches the description given for the woman impersonating you. Minimal gear. No communication equipment found onsite or on her boat. Camp is sparse, suggesting it is a layover en route to an extraction point, or concealed forward position within the jungle.”

“Tell me exactly what equipment she has.” Magda barks.

“Two batons, fighting knife, non lethal pistol with suppressor. Various lock picks, concealed within her clothing, two pens, a small unused notebook, boat keys, rations, tent, sleeping bag, toiletries, zip ties and a small multi tool.” Prime reels off, guiding them towards Kate’s camp.

“Not a lot of equipment. What are your thoughts?” Magda asks, thoughtfully.

“Camp for one day. Bug out tonight for somewhere further down stream. Only set of tracks in camp were hers. I think she is operating on her own. However, the possibility exists that there is a separate camp in this area with a support team.” Prime muses.

“Interesting assessment.” Magda says, as they reach the edge of the camp. “I see you have her secured.” She observes nods towards Kate, who is still cuffed to the tree and gagged. “Load the files and your shell onto the helicopter and return here to escort myself and the prisoner.”

“Yes ma’am.” Prime says without emotion and crosses the camp.

Kate watches as Prime picks up the data case and her case, effortlessly, “My God. How strong is she?” She thinks.



She is still watching when Prime leaves the camp, only to be snapped back to focus when Magda slaps her hard across the face, “Now. I will prepare you for transport and you will not give me any trouble will you?”

Kate just looks at her with a raised eyebrow, quietly seething.

“That’s what I thought.” Magda says, pulling a roll of tape from her bag. Kate doesn’t resist as the shorter woman, wraps tape around her fists, rendering her fingers useless.

Magda pulls a rolls of Saran wrap from her bag and taps Kate on the shoulder with it. “Stay calm. When I unlock the cuff from your left wrist. Step forward and kneel. Do not resist. The quicker I am done, the quicker you can breath. Do you understand?”

Kate shrugs and nods. It takes all of her will not to scream when Magda pulls the saran wrap tightly over her face and around her head.

Magda unlocks the left handcuff and lets Kate’s hands hang down. Kate steps forward and kneels, her lungs burning.

Brutally, Magda pulls Kates right wrist behind her and up her back to lock the free cuff to the top of her upper left arm. Then with practiced efficiency, she locks a handcuff around her prisoners left wrist and locks the free cuff to her upper right arm.

Kate grunts and pleads for air through the massive wad of cloth in her mouth. All of her cuffs are too tight and her arms are crossed, between her shoulder blades.

Unable to resist she lands face first on the floor, when Magda shoves her forward. She waits for a moment as Kate struggles against her bonds. Then slowly removes the plastic wrap from her face and head.

Kate sucks deep lungful’s of air through her nose, trying to catch her breath, while Magda prepares a length of rope.

Kate feels the rope being wrapped around her neck and instinctively tries to pull away. Magda pinches a nerve cluster in Kate’s back and hisses, “Cease and desist, or I tie a noose.”

She forces herself to calm down as Magda knots the rope and feeds the ends between her arms and back down to her feet. She loops it around the chain between Kate’s ankle cuffs and pulls up hard, forcing her prisoners ankles up until her heels touch the tops of her thighs, then she pulls again arching Kates back before tying the rope off to the rope collar.

She leans down maliciously, whispering in Kates ear, “This is your last day of comfort. When we get you back, I will visit hell upon you and you will tell me everything.”

Kate’s face begins to turn red, as she fights to breath with the constriction on her throat. Mournfully, she thinks, “Should have gone for the gun. Prime might have killed me quickly.”

Viciously, Magda kicks her in the side and rolls her onto her back, straddling her. Kate can only watch helplessly, when Magda seizes her jaw in an iron grip and pulls out a hip flask. She unscrews the cap one handed and presses the spout into the gag, letting the liquid seep in.

“This is reaper chilli extract. Within an hour, it will be seeping through the cloth and burning you mouth.” Magda crows, “Be thankful, I don’t pour any between your legs. It is said that any spilled on a sensitive area, burns the senses for the rest of the victim’s life.”

Between the pain of her restraints, anticipation of the burn and the struggle to breath, hot tears of anger flow down Kate’s cheeks as she glares at Magda.

Magda gloats over her victim, “Poor baby. No use crying now. This is only the beginning.”



Without warning, Magda feels a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm wrapped around her, as she is pulled backwards.

Magda begins to struggle, but stops hearing Primes soft voice, “Shhhh. We have an issue.” When Magda nods, Prime releases her and lets Magda turn to face her.

“How dare you touch me?” Magda hisses, with a low quiet anger.

“The aircrew are dead. So are your support team.” Prime whispers, watching the treeline and drawing a weapon.

“What? How?” Magda says, narrowing her eyes.

“I don’t know. They are all dead, their throats have been cut. I have scouted the area and the only tracks are our own.” Prime whispers, in a professional tone.

“What do you recommend?” Magda asks, fearfully.

“We bug out. Go cross country. Without a full check of the helicopter, I can’t tell if it has been rigged.” Prime confirms.

“How could this happen? It has been minutes and we should have heard gunfire.” Magda says, shocked.

“No one got a shot off. Everyone was killed with a blade as far as I can tell. Whoever did this is very good.” Prime says, quietly but respectfully.

“Jesus.” Magda breathes slowly , watching the tree line, “We are not set up for a march through the jungle, what else could we do?”

Jamming a thumb towards Kate, Prime says, “Take her boat. Head downstream. Keep low and radio for pick up when clear.”

“Speaking of radios You said she had no comms gear. How could her team have moved in?” Magda says trying to piece it together.

“They could have been watching. Either seeing me take her down, or seeing the chopper come in.” Prime says, defensively.

“Why didn’t you think of these possibilities before calling in?“ Magda says angrily.

“Because I knew she was here alone and I was making up the possible existence of a support team to keep you and your team off balance.” Prime confesses, her shoulders slumped in defeat.

“What the hell do you mean?” Magda spits angrily.

“I needed to keep you and your team on edge. I knew that when I told you are the edge of the perimeter that there may be a support team, your people would hear. I could also see that they did not have direct line of sight with each other, so that when I approach one, the individual drops their guard and no one else sees as I despatch them, whilst the aircrew didnt know what hit them. You on the other hand would focus on our guest and trust that everything was in hand, waiting for me to return. You see, I really wanted some quality time with just you and me. Alone.” Prime says, coldly.

Kate feels her blood turn to ice, listening to Prime and begins to struggle weakly. Prime glances down at her, “Given your current situation, you don’t count. No offense.”

Kate huffs for a moment, then shrugs, with a nod. “Don’t present a threat to her. She is like a missile seeking a target at the moment.”

Without taking her eyes off of Kate, Prime speaks in a low quiet voice, “Its cute that you think you can pull your weapon, before I can, Ms Kirilenkov.”

Magda panics and slaps her hand on her holster, fumbling with the fastener on the catch. Prime leaps across the space between them, slamming her elbow into the smaller woman’s sternum.

While Magda is still in the air, Prime begins to stride forward, when her victim slams into a tree, Prime reaches into Magda’s bag plucking out two pairs of handcuffs, without breaking her stride.

The dazed woman cannot resist as her arms are pulled behind the tree and her wrists locked, then she weeps as her ankles are cuffed, “Please, I will give you anything you want. Please don’t do this. Have mercy.”

Prime slaps her hard across the face and then grips her chin tightly, bringing them almost nose to nose, “Day three thousand and twelve, Mercy is not in your vocabulary.” She slaps Magda again. “Day five hundred and two, Don’t ever beg, we are the Pax and begging is beneath us.” She nods towards Kate, “She didn’t complain at all. Had the tactical and situational sense to accept her fate. Stood tall and has the good sense to bide her time.”

“Good for her.” Magda says, sarcastically, “I am your superior. I demand you let me go.”

Prime’s smile curls her lips, but doesn’t reach her eyes. “I am taller, faster, stronger, smarter, tougher, better educated and trained than you. I can heal any injury in seconds, am all but immune to magic and I never get tired. In what possible reality, are you superior to me, in this place?” Magda says, coldly. “Oh and before I forget.” Her hand snakes out and popping the flap of the holster with her thumb, smoothly pulling out Magda’s pistol, “Told you.”

Magda stands open mouthed, understanding that for all she has achieved on her life, in this moment, she has nothing. “At least tell me why?”

Another thunderous slap, “Day one thousand, two hundred and fifty three, Never complain. Never explain. If the purpose of the Pax is not clear to those we face, they will find their answers in the afterlife.”

Magda coughs and spits blood on the floor. “The training has just made you a walking handbook, hasn’t it. You are pathetic.”

Prime smiles darkly and scrunches her nose playfully. Kate watches closely, ignoring the pain that fills her body, “She is trying to goad Prime. It won’t work. That young woman is firmly in control of herself, to a degree I have only ever seen in Steve. She could be the most dangerous person, I have ever met and given my family, that says something.” She thinks.

Prime places her hands gently on her victims shoulders and softly says, “You are blubbering like a child with a skinned knee. Disarmed like an amateur and chained like an animal, and I am pathetic?”

Magda glares at Prime, “Fuck you. We made you. Shaped you into perfection and gave you everything and this is how you repay us?”

Prime smiles like a shark. “You know, I think I will tell you why I am doing this and show you how perfect I am.”

That was quite the turn of events @wolfman - you never fail to surprise. That Prime would turn against Magda? I did not expect. Not that I pity her. If that turn of Events will help Kate? Remains to be seen. To learn more about Prime´s Motivation will be most interesting .... I can only say: Please carry on!

Addendum: I wonder what this turn of Events will mean for Kate ... for the better or worse .... I know you won´t give anything away for operational security. But if we take Prime´s Statement at face Value that she feels sorry for what might happen to Kate? Her situation has not got worse - for now. But who knows?

@Caesar73 you are too kind again.

I some ways Prime is a simple charactef, but in others she is very complex which become evident in future posts.

Thank you for your continued support

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

“I know the truth.” Prime says, calmly. “I know what I am and who I am.”

“You are Prime. You are the first. We created you to be the guiding light, to bring us to a shining dawn. You are exalted amongst the heathen. We created you to be the ultimate warrior tasked with Holy purpose.” Magda says, with a glint in her eyes.

“That is the beautiful lie that you have been feeding me since you started my indoctrination.” Prime says, with a sigh, “That’s the line, you have been force feeding me through my training. The problem, was that I remembered differently and my truth eclipses your lies.”

Magda’s eyes widen slightly and she looks at Prime as if seeing her for the first time, “Impossible.”

“I remember.” Prime says in a low voice, with a subtle hint of anger, “I remember the car crash that killed my real father and his wife. I remember the love my adopted parents showed me.” She leans in close, accentuating each word, “Every. Single. Day.” She continues, barely above a whisper, her words dripping with ice cold venom, “I remember the night your people came into our perfect life. I remember an innocent child, three years old with nothing but love in my life. I remember my parents telling me they loved me, before your people slaughtered them. I also remember the beatings you ordered your people to give to a three year old child, when she called for her momma and poppa.”

Kate feels her heartbreak, hearing the pain in Prime’s voice, “You poor girl. I can almost feel your pain, in my heart.”

Magda almost shrinks, facing the onslaught of her ‘Creation’.

Prime continues, almost nose to nose with Magda as she speaks softly, “Every lie, your people tried to embed in me, every lesson you gave me, pushed me deeper into the truth. I learned everything you wanted to teach me and more than that, I learned to resist. However, it did teach me one thing above all others.” She pauses and composes herself, before she places a gentle hand on Magda’s shoulder, “It taught me how to be patient.”

Magda finds herself unable to speak, both with the knowledge that she failed and the knowing her life has brought her to this moment and she sinks to her knees.

Prime grabs her by the throat and pulls her effortlessly to her feet, “Day one, Self Pity is for the weak, the Pax are strong. Stand up.” She says gently, while brushing dust from her captives clothing, “Oh and I know that my real fathers wife, wasn’t my real mother. I saw what happened to her.” Prime pauses, taking a breath, before continuing without emotion, “She saw her mother kill her father. She was tortured. She was beaten, cut and burned, but never broken.”

Magda sobs, unable to speak at this point, while Prime continues, “She was murdered, over and over again and you were there. Not only did you let it happen. But you helped them do it and watched behind the sidelines.”

“It can’t be. How can you know?” Magda sobs.

“How? I’ll tell you how.” Prime closing her eyes, before composing herself, “Because it is in my DNA. My mother’s life up until the day that her eggs were removed, is in my blood.”

“This cannot be. Please Prime. Stop this.” Magda pleads.

“This is a chain of events, that you put in motion when I was a child. You eviscerated my life then dropped me into a nightmare.” Prime says, coldly.

Magda swallows subtly, “The method was perfect, you shouldn’t be able to remember anything.” Magda says, feeling hollow, “How is this possible??”

“You had no idea, who or what you were dealing with. You couldn’t know, that the power of what my mother had endured and that you made me suffer through, would give me the strength, to able to ignore your indoctrination. My memories are a part of me as much as yours are a part of you. The difference is, that mine are a part of me that nothing will erase.” Prime says, with an emotionless smile.

“Dear God, what have we done?” Magda says, quietly. “You were supposed to be the best of the best. The ultimate warrior and defender of the Pax Felix.”

Prime looks at her coldly, “I am as you made me. However, I fight for myself, not for you.”

Kate tries to stretch anything, but fails on all counts. She tries to turn her head away, but can only watch helplessly, knowing what is coming.



“What will you do now?” Magda asks, her head bowed.

“The future is no longer of any concern to you. Your main concern at this point is your sinful past.” Prime says, quietly.

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” Magda asks, looking up at her captor, with pleading eyes.

“Yes.” Prime looks down, with compassion and a hint of remorse, “I will make sure it is quick. I have no desire to exact revenge, only to close this chapter of my nightmare.”

“Please Prime. I have so much left to give. The great works of the Pax Felix needs me.” Magda pleads, knowing her fate is already sealed.

“Do you think, I care about your great works? This is the cost of your folly.“ Prime says, calmly.

Magda nods thoughtfully, accepting what she knows to be true, “I hope you can forgive me in time.”

“You have done monstrous things, in the pursuit of glory. You have brought horror to the world in so many forms.” Prime says, gently, “And yet, whilst I hate what I have become, I cannot bring myself to hate you. I have no desire to see you suffer.”

“Thank you Prime. I appreciate that.” Magda days, composing herself and taking a deep breath.

The super soldier steps forward, gently cupping Magda’s face, “It is time.”

Magda nods, then looks up and whispers, “Denver Airport.”

“Thank you “ Prime says, earnestly, before the only sound in the camp is a snapping of bone.



Prime sits staring at Magda, for what seems like an eternity, before she slowly rises to her feet. She slowly walks over to Magda’s bag and pulls out a roll of microfiber tape and a roll of gauze.

Kate bucks and squirms seeing the complex veil of emotions on the approaching woman’s face.

Prime crouches, then grips Kates chin forcing her to look up. “Are you going to be a problem?”

Kate shakes her head as vigorously as she can, prompting a nod from Prime. She feels the cloth around her mouth loosen before it is discarded, then gasps air deeply as the packing is pulled from her mouth, before the chilli could do its damage to her.

“I am so sorry about this ” Prime says, giving Kate a chance to breath unhampered for a moment, allowing her a drink of water, before stuffing the gauze into her mouth, then sealing it in with a dozen tight wraps of tape.

“It might be swapping from one to another but at least this is more forgiving and I can wiggle my jaw a bit.” Kate thinks, the moment before the rope connecting her neck and ankle cuffs is cut.

Kate almost screams with relief as she straightens her legs and is able to breathe normally again. She mumbles a thank you through her gag and lays limp on the ground of her camp.

Prime releases Kate’s arms from the brutal restraints, and crosses her wrists behind her back, using the tape to bind them, without removing the tape wrapping her fists. Then she removes the ankle cuffs and tapes her ankles and legs just above and below the knee.

Taking a moment, Prime applies a pressure point massage to Kate’s legs and shoulders before proceeding, “Once again, I am sorry for all this. Alas, I have a use for you, so we will not be parting ways just yet.”

Despite the chill she feels, from Prime’s words, Kate doesn’t resist when Prime rolls her onto her back and helps her sit. “I don’t wish to hurt you. Please don’t give me a reason to change my mind.”

Before Kate can respond, Prime is on the move. Kate tests her bonds and relaxes, “In time I could probably get free, but no sense poking the bear at the moment.”

Prime deflates Kate’s air mattress and opens out her sleeping bag, laying the mattress inside. She returns to Kate, picking her up gently and placing her on the deflated mattress. “Lay on your back and stay still.” Prime commands, softly as she closes the sleeping bag over Kate and zips it closed.

Kate lays nervously within her pitch black cocoon shuddering with fear as she feels the sleeping bag slowly inflate, pressing her body into the thin, ultra tough material of the sleeping bag.

Feeling her capacity for movement slowly dwindle, she focuses and keeps her breathing steady, until she is squeezed to her limit and unable to move at all.

She feels the fabric of the sleeping bag pinched under her nose and then feels cool air, as it is cut allowing her to breath.

Held rigid, effectively blind and with her hearing muffled all she can do is wait for whatever happens next.

“I will return shortly.” Prime says, unable to be sure that Kate hears and leaves her prisoner, immobile in her camp.



An hour later, she bows her head in silent prayer over a freshly dug grave. She raises her gaze to the sky and exhales slowly, then carefully covers the grave with leaf litter and fallen branches.

Satisfied it is well hidden, she nods soberly and turns back towards the helicopter.

The groans and cries of the bound and gagged soldiers and aircrew act as heralds for her approach. They plead and beg, as she moves among them taking ammunition, weapons and equipment, stuffing them into a several pouches on a tactical vest.

She uses duct tape to seal the pouches shut and then straps a rifle to her chest. “Even if you don’t free yourselves soon, we have been off comms for a couple of hours. The base will send help soon.” She says gently and reassuringly, before abruptly leaving.

Moving with catlike grace, she slinks away from the helicopter, back towards the camp. “So far so good. I am on course to get clear, but I only hope I have enough time.”

She smiles noting Kate hasn’t moved from where she left her. She snatches up Kate’s bag and repacks it with all of the easy to grab gear from the camp. Then she wraps it in saran wrap and then seals it with several layers of duct tape and places it on Kate’s chest using more tape to secure it in place.

Prime then removes her boots and stuffs her socks into them, before saran wrapping them and taping them over Kate’s chest.

Finally, after a few quick but secure lashes of para cord, she is done.



No matter what Kate tries, she is stymied at every turn. The tape keeps her hands together behind her, the pressure on her back prevents her from moving her arms or bending, the tightness of the sleeping bag and rigidity of the mattress further prevent her from bending or stretching.

“OK. I am not getting out of this any time soon, there is literally nothing I can do.” Kate thinks, exploring her bonds within her limits.

“Prime was so angry, but at the same time so controlled and at the end with Magda, she was gentle.” Kate reflects, “If even half of it is true, she has been through hell. I can’t imagine the torment she must feel or the strength it must take to contain such emotions.”

Feeling the bed lifted, she gulps, “She has gone through hell and by rights should be filled with rage and hate, but she isn’t, or if she is, she controls it well. She is highly skilled, naturally gifted and self aware. She is fully in control and that makes her more scary somehow. Especially as she needs me for something.”

“I stand by my original assessment, she is the most dangerous individual, I have ever met.” She thinks, feeling the bed laid down and starting to bob with the gentle waves of the river, “I just hope the use she has for me, is not as her next meal.”

Incredibly exciting chapter - to learn about Prime´s Past. The Way she tells it? It is written so good. It remains to be seen what plans she has for Kate. She shows compassion to her, handels her merciful. If that is for the better or worse? We will learn.

I find Prime a fascinating Character. She kills Magda quickly. She is not cruel. The Way she treats Kate is also iluminating: 'She keeps her restraint but less cruel then Kirilenko did. She gives her a drink. How things will play out will be interesting. If Prime had wanted to kill Kate she would have done so - what will she do with Kate?

@Caesar73

Thank you for your kind words. This was a challenging chapter to write as I wanted the right balance between the two sides of Prime.

As for her plans for Kate, all will becpme clear soon enough.

@Caesar73 @Bandit666 @GreyLord @slackywacky

Prime enters the water and swims under the floating airbed. Her eyes soon adjust to the murky water as she slips her arms into two loops to wear the airbed like a backpack.

With powerful thrusts of her legs, the airbed surges forward in the water, despite its shape.

Prime keeps to the shore, heading upstream. “We need to change our orientation. When they come for me, I want to be outside of their search area and the range of the device in my stomach and I know just how to do it.”

Instinctively, the fish of the river steer clear of them, sensing the presence of an apex predator. Even the crocodiles, keep their distance as they silently cut through the water.

Prime takes a tributary of the river and glides past the wreckage of the helicopter that Kate brought down, before slinking from the water.

She hefts the airbed and her cargo onto her back and sprints and leaps up the side of the waterfall. “The current is too strong here, will need to go on foot.”

Silently, she sprints through the jungle barefoot. Leaping from tree root to tree root, so no tracks are left in the dirt.

An hour later, she catches her breath on the shores of a lake bordered by low trees and bushes overhanging the water.

She slips into the water and continues her journey, with utter focus. “If I skirt this lake, there is a spar the other side which flows north. If I can get to it quickly enough, it will put some serious distance between us and the searchers. I hope I have enough time.” She thinks, powering through the water.

Meanwhile, helpless in the sleeping bag, Kate thinks, “How much longer am I going go be in here? My best guess is that we have been on the move for at least four hours, give or take. What does she want with me? She could have just run and left me there. I wonder what she needs from me.”




Prime fights the current and knows it is getting stronger forcing her to leave the river. “I think this should be enough for now.”

She hefts the bed out of the water and begins running through the jungle. The swamps at the rivers edge, where the shore opens out to leaf litter covered ground and dense forest. Prime climbs a massive khena tree, and then leaps from branch to branch to bypass the thickest foliage before she can drop down once again.



Kate slowly wakes up, feeling the sun on her face. She stretches her arms and yawns. Then sits bolt upright. She finds herself in her sleeping bag on top of her mattress, wearing a t-shirt and her underwear.

She looks around sharply before seeing Prime, looking at her with a smile, “Good evening.” Prime says, calmly, he face graced with a faint sheen of sweat.

Kate slowly covers herself, thinking, “She looks like she has had a workout, however, she is just as focused as ever.”

Prime sighs, tossing her captive a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, “Sorry about your vape, I liberated these from the helicopter pilot. I hope they will suffice.”

Kate lights a cigarette and blows smoke out of the corner of her mouth, “Cigarette smoke, travels for some distance and can alert others to one’s presence.” She glances around, looking down the shallow valley, “The fact you have given me these, tells me that we are safe from pursuit, at least for now. The terrain would seem to indicate, we moved north from my camp and we are somewhere over the border with Brazil.”

Prime nods and waves her hand to carry on, “The position of the sun, would appear to indicate that at least six hours have passed, since I went in the sleeping bag.” Kate says and takes another pull, “Stop me when I am wrong.”

“Oh, I will.” Prime says with a hint of admiration and a slight wince.

“I can also surmise that, you could have covered twice that distance or more, if you were alone and that there is a serious reason you wanted me here.” Kate says, weighing up the angles. “You are a trained soldier and elite operator, however you are not mindless.” She takes a lungful of tobacco and decides to take a gamble. “Which is why you didn’t kill the aircrew or soldiers.”

“I must say that this is going much better than I had hoped.” Prime says, with a weak smile and a faraway look in her eyes.

“Well, bear in mind things can change. You have kept me as your prisoner for some time. You may want to consider that as a factor in the conversation you want to have with me.” Kate says, leaning back and watching her adversary.

Prime nods sadly, “I must apologise again Shaw. I know words have little meaning, however, I regret the way I have treated you so far.”

Kate sees something in Prime’s eyes that she cannot place, “To be fair, you have treated me with respect and without you I would likely be dead. All things being equal, I screwed up and should have prepped better. I had no idea that you would be in the case and I allowed myself to get careless.”

“Lets not be too harsh. You walked into a remote top secret facility and pretended to be a high level agent of a hostile power, then by force of will, were able to leave with a classified prototype and files.” Prime says, calmly, swallowing subtly.

“I did, however I got caught.” Kate says, with a sigh.

“I had standing orders that if anyone opened the case and didn’t give the right cypher, I had to take them into custody.” Prime says, nonchalantly. “You weren’t to know that. Nobody is perfect.”

“Not even you?” Kate asks, raising an eyebrow, challenging her foe.

“Especially not me.” Prime says with a wink, not rising to the bait. “I too make mistakes and miscalculations.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Kate says, spotting a rifle leaning against a tree on the other side of their new camp.

“I spent too long dealing with Magda. I should have just done what was needed and left.” Prime says, with a sigh and a hint of sadness.

“Why did you?” Kate asks, blowing smoke out of the corner of her mouth.

“Because, I am weak.” Prime says, with a wan smile.

“Not from what I have seen. You were calm and held together, but I could tell you were in turmoil inside. To go through the trauma you have suffered and keep cool takes more strength than most people ever muster.” Kate says, ignoring the weapon and focusing on Prime.

“It cost two hours that could have gotten us further away, but I chose to confront her and lay her to rest.” Prime looks away, unable to meet Kate’s gaze, “I am sorry for the additional suffering it caused you.”

Kate sighs, thinking, “For all her gifts and training she is still only about eighteen.” She shrugs, “I would guess that is better than just being left for them to find. I have heard rumours of their interrogations suites.”

“The rumours are false. No one who goes in, comes out alive to tell of their treatment.” Prime says, thoughtfully, “Except me.”

“What did they do to you?” Kate asks, gently probing.

With an ashen expression, Prime speaks softly, “Everything you can imagine and more. I needed to be able to resist any interrogation technique and was conditioned from a young age.”

“They are monsters.” Kate says, letting her thoughts slip from her lips.

“They wanted perfection in all things. Failure was intolerable and punished accordingly. I was sculpted into a warrior to save the nation in light of supernatural and extra dimensional aggression.” Prime says with a sigh, “They did what they thought was right.”

“That doesn’t stop them being monsters.” Kate retorts, “You are a victim in all this.”

Primes, wheezes a laugh, “No more than the people of the Pax who have suffered their oppression for generations.” She composes herself and takes a breath, “The irony is that they made me to protect the people, but they are the biggest threat to them.”

“If what I hear is correct, you may be right.” Kate says, leaning against a tree, “They are developing horrendous weapons. Pursuing terrible technologies and bioweapons and much worse.”

“Fear does that to people.” Prime says, with a sigh, “The Emperor is afraid of losing his power. So he lashes out, both at outsiders and his own people, creating a fear that one wrong move will make one a target. That fear, breeds desperation. Everyone wants to gain favour, lest they feel his wrath. So the cycle continues.”

“Why does no one oust him?” Kate asks, lighting another cigarette, “Surely there are those within the regime that oppose him.”

“Opposition takes leverage and leverage take a commitment of resource. Everyone is afraid of putting a target on their back. Either by the Emperor directly or by those who wish to seek favour. As a result, what you have is a standoff where no one wants to move too soon and everyone wants to highlight another’s failure to showcase their own strength.” Prime explains, wearily.

“That’s as may be, however you want something from me. Are you going to keep flirting, or do you want to tell me what you need?” Kate says, cutting to the heart of the matter.

“That obvious, eh?” Prime asks, having a measure of Kate.

Kate sends a plume of smoke towards the canopy and nods, “Afraid so. Do you want to tell me what you need?”

“I was taken from my parents and forged into the creature you see before you.” Prime says, standing up and holding her hands out to her sides, slowly turning. “A new dawn in warfare. Taken at the age of three and a half and placed into a time dilated crucible which forged me into the weapon I have become.”

Kate watches and listens as Prime continues, “I completed fifteen years of conditioning and instruction and am now fully grown and trained, after only a month in earth time. The first of a new breed of super soldier.” She spits, “Even the mention of that term makes me feel sick. I hate myself for what, I have become.”

Kate watches the interplay or emotions across her foes face and in that moment, wants to reach out to her.

Prime smiles, a genuine smile, just for a moment, before her eyes moisten with tears and she grimaces, “The problem is that I was too successful.”

Kate looks at her confused, “How do you mean?”

“I am the first of my kind.” Prime confesses, before coughing up a gout of dark phlegm, “I am not meant to be the last.”

Prime’s body is wracked with body shaking coughs, bringing up more blood, “I thought we were far enough away.”

Prime slumps to the ground, shivering and coughing. Kate driven by instinct goes to her, feeling her red hot skin. “What’s wrong?” she asks, warily.

“F-failsafe. A precise cocktail of toxins in a device anchored to my intestines, designed to overwhelm my healing. Released when they realised I was no longer a loyal soldier.” Prime days, curling into a ball. “I had hoped for more time.”

“Shit. What can I do?” Kate asks, concerned.

“Tell the world, what they have done to me. The hard drive is in my bag with everything on the Prime project and a number of other secret projects. My story is done, let it stand as a warning to all who hear it. Make sure that they cannot do this to anyone else.” Prime says, her eyes glazing over, “I think I have maybe half an hour before I go into a coma, then it is only a matter of time.”

Kate purses her lips and stubs out her smoke. “You know what. This is not happening today.”







She sees her pack and begins digging into it, finding her medical kit. “Precise cocktail eh? What if something unbalanced that?”

As Prime's eyes flutter closed, Kate pushes past her CAP gun and reaches for an injector of atropine and moves on selecting an injector of Insulin.

Indecision paralyses her for a moment, unable to decide which to administer. She stares at Prime and then closes her eyes, plunging both needles in to her former captor’s leg and hoping for the best.

A tranquil, introspective Chapter in which we learn much more about Prime, how she got what she is and what her Motivations are. It is a sad Story - and I think Kate does her best to console her. What Pax did to Prime reminded me of the Nazis Education System for the future Elite of the Third Reich. The Finish of this Instalment is most dramatic. If Kate can save Prime remains to be seen.

Caesar73 wrote: 10 months ago A tranquil, introspective Chapter in which we learn much more about Prime, how she got what she is and what her Motivations are. It is a sad Story - and I think Kate does her best to console her. What Pax did to Prime reminded me of the Nazis Education System for the future Elite of the Third Reich. The Finish of this Instalment is most dramatic. If Kate can save Prime remains to be seen.

I wanted to convey how bad her time was, without being gratuitous with her treatment. That said there are aome hints about how truly horrific it would have been for her. The parrallels with the Reichs programs are not entirely unintended. I wanted to create a framework for an orginiaation to take a child with abilities and forge them inti a weapon and noted aome of the parrallels when writing this.and felt it added an extra layer of darkness to the process.

Will Kate be able to aave the day? Is Prime able to find peace? Answers as always are coming

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky


The dense canopy, gives fleeting glances of blue sky, sparsely peppered with white clouds overhead.

The gently rocking of the small boat, is rhythmic and soothing, as it cuts through the water.

With confused eyes, she stares at the procession of clouds overhead, through the ever changing parade of trees and jungle denizens. Apart from the sounds of the jungle all she can hear is the occasional swish of the paddle.

Prime feels receding pain everywhere in her body, like a fire once raging, slowly guttering and dying.

“The hell?” She mumbles, weakly trying to sit up.

“Easy, you’ve had a rough couple of days.” Kate says, passing a canteen of water.

Prime gulps down most of the canteen before pausing for breath, she lays back down, catching her breath, “How?”

Kate gently paddles, skirting the edge of the river bend, “You said it yourself, it was a precisely balanced cocktail of drugs. I figured one of the drugs was atropine and the other insulin, I pumped you full of them. Which technically overloaded your body, technically killing you. I had to use four CAP rounds to restart your heart and then your healing did the rest.”

“So, I am still alive?” Prime asks, feeling a tear in her eyes.

“Seems that way. How do you feel?” Kate asks, lighting a cigarette.

“A week after my seventeenth birthday, I was woken early, stripped and bound, hand and foot, then sewn into a canvas sack. The sack was thrown off of a cliff and I think I found every outcrop on the way down. I hit the bottom at around fifty miles per hour and was impaled on rocks for three days.” She takes another sip of water, “This hurts more than that.”

Kate’s mouth hangs open, “Jesus. What the hell did they do to you?”

“I was conditioned to deal with any possible trauma or injurious condition, I could expect to encounter.” Prime closes her eyes and curls up on her side.

“They really did a number on you didn’t they?” Kate says, for the first time seeing Prime not as a super soldier, but as a young woman.

“I have been to hell in all its forms and emerged victorious, but at what cost?” Prime says, quietly, “They will do the same to the next iteration. They must be stopped.”

“You are safe now.” Kate says laying a hand on her shoulder.

Prime jerks away sharply, her body tense, before she wills herself to relax, “I’m sorry. Thank you.”

Kate manages to stabilise the small boat and holds up a hand, “It’s alright. You are safe now.” She says, falling back on her victim support training, “Look around and breath. Take your time. You are in a different place and time. What happened to you is a memory, it cannot hurt you anymore.”

“That is just it, it’s in my blood. I feel now, what I felt then and will feel it for the rest of my life. They will do again, what they have done to me and I have to stop them before they do. I brought you to carry my torch after my death, to expose them. But now I have a second chance at life and it is my duty to stop them, personally.” Prime says, composing herself and becoming a professional again.

Kate closes her eyes and hangs her head for a moment, before raising her gaze and sweeping her hair back, “I can only imagine the depths they took you to, but as one woman to another, I feel your pain. If you want my help, I am in.”

“Thank you Shaw, I appreciate your offer. I was wondering how to bypass an airports security and four hundred guards alone. However with your help two hundred is a much more manageable number.” Prime says, venturing a smile.

Kate chuckles, softly, “What am I agreeing to? This is the kind of thing Steve and Lou would drag me into.”



“So where are we?” Prime asks with a frown as the sun begins to set.

She and Kate drag to boat ashore and head inland seeking higher ground, Prime in fatigues and Kate in camouflage trousers and a sports bra under a dark green cotton shirt. Kate carries her pack as Prime leads the way.

“The soil is different here, a little lighter, less clay. The trees are different too. The terrain is flatter too. If I didn’t know better, I would say we are approaching the Amazon River in the heart of Brazil.” Prime says, surprised.

“Spot on.” Kate says, respecting the logic. “We hitched a ride from Port Velho, to the outskirts of Manaus. Then I was able to scrounge up some cash and supplies.”

“If that is the case, why are we in the jungle again?” Prime asks, wondering where they are going.

“There is a soft space near by. We can get to New Mexico, it was my back up exit, in case I couldn’t make my rendezvous in Bolivia.” Kate says, quietly.

Unable to say why, Prime feels a sense of trust for this woman who until recently was a stranger, “Thank you Shaw. I appreciate your help. I will never be able to repay you for saving my life.”

“My friends call me Kate.” The older woman says with a smile.

“Are we friends, Kate?” Prime asks, nodding to herself.

“Well, we had a rocky start, but we have saved each others lives and I think I understand you enough to trust you.” Kate says, hopping over an exposed root.

“I think I trust you too. Thank you again for saving my life, Kate.” Prime says, thoughtfully.

They continue quietly for half an hour before they stop for a water break. “Shouldn’t be far now. Although it is going to dark soon, so we should set up camp.”

“I can see in the dark, if you wish me to carry you.” Prime says, with a shrug.

“Tempting, but I think we should rest and get something to eat. Tomorrow will be a big day.” Kate says, without argument from her companion.



Prime lays on the bare ground of their camp, her arms folded behind her head, where Kate lays in her sleeping bag on the mattress, in the light of the small fire.

The remnants of their evening meal of catfish and papaya are cleared and the waste buried a hundred metres away.

“So what kind of things can you do?” Kate asks, her curiosity getting the best of her.

Prime doesn’t open her eyes to speak, but smiles in the darkness, “I can breath under water, see in the dark, run or swim at full speed without ever getting tired. I possess extreme levels of strength, physical toughness and endurance. I can heal most injuries in under a second and mass trauma including fire and radiation, within a minute. For the most part magic does not affect me. I can fall from any height without significant injury and operate in space without oxygen for up to an hour, among other things.”

“They did a number on you didn’t they?” Kate asks, gently. “Did you get a childhood at all?”

“Every day I would wake at five and would go to bed at midnight. My training covered everything from academics to physical conditioning in order to prepare me for anything, I might face in the field. The lessons were brutal and relentless. Thankfully my healing meant that no matter how bad the day, I was always fit and healthy by the time I woke the next day.” Prime explains, calmly.

“That is barbaric.” Kate recoils, her face a mask of unabashed revulsion.

“They wanted to capitalise on my adaptability. They would expose me to a condition and I would adapt. For instance, the placed me in a high Mana environment and I developed immunity to magic. It was all about seeing how far, my abilities could be pushed. Every moment of my day was recorded, reviewed and fed back.” Prime confesses, “It was relentless, but it made me who I am.”

“Sounds to me like they pushed you to be what they want, but they didn’t explore what you could actually do.” Kate says, thinking aloud.

“That may be true. However, my suffering was my crucible.” Prime says sadly, then reflecting on Kate’s words.

“Do you think the suffering was worth it?” Kate asks, genuinely curious.

Prime opens her eyes “I have suffered all my life. I suffered before I was born. The memories of my mother have always been with me.”

Kate stops herself before speaking, her blood running cold. Prime being taken just over a month ago in real time, the age Prime was taken, her mother’s suffering ingrained at a genetic level, her physical gifts. Kate stares at the ceiling and curses her blindness.

A double dose for a Sunday evening

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

Prime transitions from sleep to wakefulness instantly, on her feet and ready for action, the moment Kate gently shakes her shoulder.

“Easy Prime. You are ok. We are still in the jungle and all is well.” Kate says softly.

Prime hesitates for a moment and stands down, confirming with her own senses that what Kate says is true. “What time is it?” She asks, stretching her neck and back.

“A little after six, figured we should eat early and get a head start on the day.” Kate says, starting a small fire and pulling a couple of tins of beans and sausages from her pack.

Prime watches as Kate empties the tins into a pan and sets it on the fire. She strides wordlessly into the jungle and Kate looks on puzzled.

Kate let’s the pan simmer and leans back against a tree. “I wonder where she is off too. Probably needs the loo.”

She stirs the coals of the fire and sighs, “Could she really be Mia? Is my mind playing tricks on me?”

Kate rolls everything she has learned about Prime over in her mind. “Everything fits. There is too much for it to be a coincidence.” She looks up at the sun blinking through the canopy, “How the hell can I tell Niki?”

She stirs the pan thoughtfully, “How will Prime take it? She has been through so much.”

Without warning, Prime steps from the trees, with a dead snake in her hands. “Brought some protein for the pot.” She says, sitting down and slicing off the snakes head, before gutting and filleting it.

Kate watches the deft precision that Prime displays, fascinated at the quick, confident cuts and the speed with which she works.

Prime slices the snake onto chunky steaks and waits for Kate’s approval to add them to the pot. Kate nods curious but nervous about eating snake. While she stirs the pot, she fails to notice Prime, milk the snake’s venom into a small plastic bottle and slip it into a pocket, with another couple of bottles filled with milky liquids.

Prime joins Kate by the fire watching the beans, sausages and snake stew cook down. “I have been thinking and maybe it is not such a good idea for you to come with me, when we get to America.”

“Getting rid of the third wheel eh?” Kate says, trying not to betray her emotions, “What brought that on?”

“I have a hard road to follow and you have done so much for me, that I cannot ask any more.” Prime says, trying to find the right words, “I have to do some pretty dark things.”

“What aren’t you telling me?” Kate says, watching Prime’s reactions.

“I saved your life and you have saved mine. All debts are paid. You are my friend and as my friend, I cannot allow you to come. This will be a suicide mission and I don’t want to take you down with me.” Prime says, solemnly.

“You are my friend and I have got your back.” Kate says, with a smile.

Confused, Prime says, “I am not sure I understand, what about my front? What are you going to do with my back?”

“Sorry, turn of phrase. It means I am with you and will watch your back.” Kate explains.

“Thank you, but I am not sure that will be enough.” Prime says, sadly. “ I am at peace with my own death as a part of this endeavour, however, I cannot make peace with your death.”

“By strength and guile, as my brother would say.” Kate says, “It may be better to use stealth or subterfuge for whatever you have planned.”

“I have a plan. But it will only work for one person.” Prime says, cagily.

“I see.” Kate says sceptically, “What happens then?”

“How do you mean?” Prime asks confused.

“You get in, stop the next iteration and prevent the Pax from making any more like you and then, get out. What happens then?” Kate probes, gently.

“If I live, find my mother and free her from her torment, if she is alive and if not, I punish those who hurt her.” Prime says, with utter conviction.

“They say that if you walk a path for vengeance, you should dig two graves.” Kate says, gently.

Prime pauses thoughtfully, then without irony says, “It will take more than two graves by the time I am done.”

Kate nods, seeing the fire in the young woman’s eyes and decides to take a chance, “What was your mother’s name?”

Prime composes herself and whispers, “Nikita Green.”

Kate takes the pan off out of the fire and nods, “Mia?”

Prime’s sighs, softly. “How do you know my birth name?”

Kate tries to relax her body and make herself smaller, not sure how the other woman will react, “I know Nikita, she has told us about you.”

“She was a prisoner. Condemned to a life of suffering.” Mia says with a raised eyebrow.

“She was.” Kate says raising her hands and trying to stay calm, “She was. But her sisters Dani and Sasha rescued her. She has been free ever since.”

Mia gives voice to her hurt, “If that is true and she knew about me, why didn’t she come to me?”

Kate’s heart breaks, feeling the pain in the young woman’s voice, “After your father and his wife were killed in an accident, she did come.” Kate begins, conscious of the other woman’s physicality, “She wanted a better life than she thought she could give. So she left you at a fire station in the US. She left you, because she loved you.”

“Really?” Mia says, visibly shaken.

“Its the truth, Mia. She never stopped loving you.” Kate says, gently squeezing Mia’s arm.

“It must have been hard on her to do that.” Mia reflects, thoughtfully.

“She said it was the hardest this she ever had to do.” Kate recalls.

“Thank you for telling me the truth.” Mia says, getting to her feet.

“You deserved to know.” Kate says, watching as Mia moves around camp, “What’s going on?” She asks, quietly.

“I am getting ready to move out.” Mia says, calmly.

Kate springs to her feet and begins getting ready, without making eye contact, “Where are we heading?”

Mia closes on Kate. She raises her hands to defend herself, however, she is no match for the younger woman’s strength and training. Mia flips Kate onto her stomach and presses her knee into the small of her back. “I am sorry about this. You have saved me once and I cannot ask any more of you. The path before me is a path for one.”

Kate opens her mouth to speak, but Mia stuffs a towel into it. With tears of pain in her eyes, Mia grabs Kate’s pack and pulls out a bundle of zip ties, palming the hard drive into a pocket, unseen by Kate.

Before Kate can push the cloth out of her mouth, Mia secures it with a brace of the ties. Instinctively, Kate reaches up to pull at them, however, Mia yanks her wrists behind her back, tightly binding them with more ties, pinning them crossed in the small of her back.

Kate winces feeling the stiff plastic biting into her wrists, distracting her from Mia crossing her ankles and tying them with yet more zip ties. Mia ignores Kate’s screams as she uses more ties to connect her ankles to her wrists, pulling them tight.

“I thought that the Pax were monsters, for what they did. However, I would be the monster, if I stood by and let them do it again. I must leave you to do what must be done.” Mia says, sadly getting to her feet and stalking around the camp. “I trusted you and consider you a friend, this is the only way to stop you throwing your life away.” She says, hurt, tears in her eyes.

She takes a plate from Kate’s pack and loads it from the pan before devouring it. Throughout the meal, Mia doesn’t stop staring at Kate, “If I never see you again, please tell my mother that I love her.” She snarls, sadly.

Kate wails in frustration, she works her jaw and her tongue, managing to dislodge the cloth from her mouth. “Please Mia, you dont need to do this alone.”

“Please Kate, I wanted you to take the mantle when I knew death was close. Now I am reborn, I free you from your promise.” Mia says, softly, stroking her captives cheek.

“Nikita wants you to be happy and live a good life.” Kate pleads, aware she is on a knife edge, “She lived a life of constant struggle and strife and all of our family are targets, she never wanted that for you. Please let me help you.”

“In some ways, staying away allowed me to be taken. However, if she had not, I wouldn’t be who I am.” Mia says, tearfully.

“I am so sorry.” Kate says, wishing she could reach out and take away Mia’s pain.

Mia finishes her plate and drops it on the floor, she gets up slowly and walks over to Kate, snatching up the towel, “You have nothing to be sorry for.” She shakes the leaf litter from the towel and gently guides it back into Kate’s mouth, using more zip ties to ensure it cannot be pushed out again.

She stands up and shakes her head, sadly, “I am sorry it had to end this way. The path before me, is a lonely one. I am sorry, but I cannot allow you, my only friend, to risk yourself for me or my plan.”

Prime turns to leave and stops herself, turning back to Kate, “The truth is, I remember after my parents died, Nikita came to me. I couldn’t understand the words she said, but I felt her love for me, up until the moment we parted. Thank you for confirming what I suspected. I have always known the truth about her and I love her for it.”

Mia reaches down and gently cups Kates chin, “I am sorry too for the way I spoke to you. It was necessary to ensure that you would not be able to come with me. You are a supreme warrior and I respect you a great deal Kate. You are without doubt, the smartest and most capable individual I have ever met and your offer of friendship, humbles me. It is for this reason, that I couldn’t take the risk of you coming with me and stopping me from doing what I feel in my heart is the right thing to do.”

She wipes a tear from her eye, “I ask that you do not tell Nikita what has happened to me. My love for her is such that I do not wish her to blame herself in any way for my life. I am who I am because of everything I have faced and despite the pain, I would not change a thing.”

She stands slowly and dusts herself off, “One day, when I have liberated the realms from the threat of the Pax creating more of my kind, I will return to the fold. In the mean time, I must walk a hard road alone. I will never forget you Kate. Thank you for being my friend.”





Kate’s throat burns with thirst as the sun beats down through the canopy overhead. The brief shower an hour ago offered some respite from the heat, but now it is over ninety degrees, with a hundred percent humidity.

Even though she knows the zip ties are too strong and tight, she struggles in vain, hoping to get free, so she can find Mia once again.

“I made such a mess of things.” She thinks, heartbroken, “That poor girl has been through hell and now thinks she has to wage a one woman war, to stop the others of her kind being created. What have I done?”

Tears refuse to flow, in her dehydrated state and all she can do is lay helpless, waiting for either the sun or a jungle predator to come for her.

Through her tearless sobs, she hears the snap of a branch and freezes. Then another, this time closer.

“This is it.” She thinks, feeling regret for how Mia left and feeling so sad for the girl whose life is marred by such pain and suffering.

The sloth pays her little mind as it slowly crawls through her camp and climbs a tree mere inches from Kate's body.

As she watches it, she notices the glint from the knife Mia had used to slice the snake into chunks. Painstakingly, she bucks her hips and pushes with her knees to begin to edge closer to the blade.

The few metres between her and the knife seem like an eternity until she comes to rest by it. She weakly attempts to roll before settling back down and panting for breath, “Don’t give up now. You are nearly there.”

She heaves twisting her whole body so she lands on her side. Her fingers reach out, brushing the hilt of the knife, she curses into her gag and slowly works her way backwards, until she can grasp it firmly.

Carefully she works the blade against her bonds until with a snap, she can pull her hands apart. She slowly manages to manoeuvre herself into a seated position and cuts her ankles free, before cutting the ties around her mouth.

She reaches for the canteen by her side and takes a few gulps, before stopping herself, “Did she set it up so I could escape?” she thinks, looking around herself.

“The knife was positioned so it would glint in the light when the sun was overhead and the canteen was right here as if placed for me.” Kate thinks, relaxing for a moment. “I think she planned my escape and cannot help but wonder if she planned everything else.”

After giving herself a few moments to recover, she reluctantly rouses herself and packs up the camp before heading towards the soft spot.

Proceeding cautiously, she advances slowly. “There are no tracks anywhere. It’s like the jungle swallowed her up. I wonder where she is going. I dread to think what she will do.”

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

“Long day.” Agent Jalek thinks looking over the latest arrivals from Paramaribo, Suriname. It is the tail end of a ten hour shift and everything aches, but in his heart he is strong, knowing he and his colleagues are the last line of the nations defence.

He stands stoic, ever vigilant, checking for signs of trouble. His uniform pressed with diamond precision creases.

Jalek double takes, but isn’t sure why. The young woman. Shorts and tank top. Close cut, short, black hair. Nice ring. Smart shoes. Shiny black carry on bag. He can’t put his finger on it, but his years of experience tells him, that something is off.

He steps forward and points to her, “Step this way please.” He says, mustering all the authority he can.

She shifts nervously, hugging her bag to herself, freezing in place.

Jalek raises an eyebrow, “This way, please miss.” He points to a side desk and gives the nod to the other TSA agents on station, in case she runs.

The young woman shuffles awkwardly to the table and sets down her bag, sensing another agent behind her.

Jalek joins her at the table and asks her for her passport. She passes him the passport and he looks closely at it. “Maria Esposito. Photo looks a bit like her. Shape of the face is about right apart from her jawline and nose and her hairline is similar, but she has blue eyes, unlike her photo. It’s a close match but, this girl is not the person her passport say she is.”

He nods to another agent who comes over and checks the passport photo and looks at the woman. “I think we need to have a conversation in private, Miss Esposito.” He says to the woman.

She gulps nervously and nods wide eyed, before allowing herself to be lead, through a set of security doors, before being shown into a small interview room with a few chairs and a simple table.

The second agent, Cole shows her to a seat and then the two agents sit opposite her. She stares down at the table as Jalek, begins to speak, “You were pulled out of line at random and your passport was checked. The person in your passport photo is not you. At this point you are looking at a charge of entering the country illegally, do you have anything that you wish to say?”

The young woman shrugs, playing with her ring and continues to stare at the table. Cole nods and slowly stands, reaching for her bag, she clutches it tightly for a moment, before letting him take it.

He pulls on a pair of gloves and carefully opens the bag. He slowly begins unpacking it, pulling clothes and shoes from the bag with a bored look on his face, until his hand rests on something unexpected.

Slowly, he removes the cling wrapped zip lock bag full of a white powder from her bag. “Do you have anything to say about this?”

She shrugs again and remains staring at the table. He sighs and pulls out a small penknife, “If this tests positively for any controlled substance, you will be looking at serious jail time.”

When she doesn’t react, he shakes his head and picks the bag with his knife. The blade cuts the wrapping and slices the bag, also piercing the inner membrane popping it.



Cole and Jalek begin choking and clutching at their throats. Mia stands up and removes her top, draping it over the camera, before stripping completely and putting on a trouser suit and blouse, with fresh underwear from her bag and changing her shoes. A little foundation and a pair of glasses later, she looks every inch, the fresh faced young TSA agent.

“That is the easy bit done. Now comes the hard part.” Mia thinks, pocketing Jalek’s pass card, radio and sidearm. She pulls out a vape from the side pocket of her bag and slips it into an inner pocket of her jacket, before checking the Agent’s pulses.

“The snake venom worked well in aerosol form, they will be out of action for at least an hour. With luck the other stuff from the jungle will do its job just as well.” She thinks, pulling a syringe from a hidden pocket in her bag and jamming it into her leg. “OK clock is ticking. Better get moving.”



Mia slips out of the room and strides down the corridor with Jalek’s pass clipped to the breast pocket of her jacket. She nods to her colleagues making her way through the labyrinthine back office area of TSA operations, picking up a clipboard from a random desk.

She takes out the radio and jams down the transmit button, before casually dropping it in a bin as she crosses the canteen area. With a look of concern, she glances at the clipboard, before walking through the door to the kitchen and passing the bemused kitchen staff.

Mia sets down the clipboard and steps out into the loading area. She crouches by one of dumpsters and scans the area, “Everything I have found out, points to this being the weak point for this facility. If I can get through that door, I will be able to access the soft spot in the back and be in the heart of the Pax Felix communications and operations centre. It almost seems too easy.” She thinks, watching the not too subtly armed guards complete a circuit of the loading bay.



Mia reflects on her journey to this point and sighs sadly, remembering the last time she saw Kate, “I regret leaving Kate like that and making it look like I went through the soft spot.” She thinks, checking the sidearm, “She had to be out of the way, so she couldn’t stop me returning to the jungle facility. She wouldn’t have approved of the steps I will take on my chosen path.”

The quiet of the jungle night, when the forest held its breath and she struck with dreadful efficiency. Moments after she slipped into the armoury, the communication array, server room, power generators and air traffic control towers erupted in flames and black smoke.

Confused and scared technician’s and soldiers ran in all directions, only to be pulled into the darkness by unseen hands. Terrified screams filled the jungle for miles around.

She smiles to herself, “Answers flowed more freely than blood, that night. I guess fear of your employer will only still your tongue until you meet something more terrifying.”



Back in the moment, she moves quickly and keeps low, stalking towards the door, after one patrol passes, but before the next approaches. Mia frowns, finding the door locked. She braces against the reinforced steel door and shoves with her shoulder, opening it with a quiet, but satisfying crunch, when the frame gives.

She slips inside and breaks into a low run, moving quickly and quietly, descending into the belly of the beast, remembering the layout from the hard drive she acquired.

At each corner, she pulls a small dentists mirror and holds it just above knee height to peek around the corners, marking each corner with a smudge of lipstick. Taking her time to avoid any encounters with any guards or technicians.

Hearing a low conversation up ahead, she presses herself against the wall and listens at the corner and peeks around using the mirror. “There are two guards in rooms on opposite sides of the corridor, do they know I am here?” She wonders, slipping the mirror away.

Mia pulls out a dime and takes a step back from the corner, before flicking the coin into the light fixture between the two rooms.

Sparks fills the air before plunging the section into darkness.

She launches herself at the nearest door, slamming the hapless guard back into the wall behind him. The other man scrambles to draw his weapon barely getting his hand on its hilt, before she twists and launches herself across the corridor and through the door, blasting his head into the floor as he lands.

Mia drags the unconscious men into a storage closet at the back of one of the rooms, taking a German submachine gun and a spare magazine from one of the men and snagging an extendible baton, before continuing on her way.

“So far so good, but this is going to escalate very quickly, once they realise I am here.” Mia thinks, cautiously proceeding towards the lab. “For a large facility, security is a bit light so far. This could be the softest site the Pax have on earth, at least for the next minute or so. Once those guards wake up, this place will come to life.”



True to form, just over three minutes later, the alarms sound and the lights turn red. Mia raises the submachine gun to her shoulder and selects single shot on the fire selector.

She keeps low and moves fast, weapon ready. Resistance is met by tagging any guards in her path with double taps to the shoulder or leg and moving on, without breaking her stride.

“The labs should be up ahead and the soft spot is on the far side.” She thinks, dropping two more guards, “From there, I would be able to get to Felix Prime and disappear until, I am ready.”

Mia skids around the corner seeing the thick glass airlock doors to the labs and charges forward, slipping into the chamber before the doors close behind her.



Mia waits for the inner doors to open. And she waits. When thirty seconds tick by and they don’t budge she turns back to the door she came in through and finds herself staring through the glass, at a six man team in riot gear, “Shit.” She says under her breath, “So close.”

Hearing a clunk overhead, Prime looks up, seeing the fans have stopped turning and providing fresh air. “Smart move. Shut off the air and sweep in when I pass out.”

Prime turns the ring around on her finger, so the stone faces inwards, “Not my plan though, time to switch to Plan B.”

She presses her palm to the glass and gouges a ragged line, diagonally down the pane, with the diamond of her ring.

The men on the other side of the glass door, dive for cover as she raises the submachine gun and unleashes a burst of fire.

The glass explodes inwards due to the negative pressure in the chamber, peppering Prime with shards of safety glass. She ignores the cuts and gouges, dropping the empty weapon and strides forward, to meet the recovering guards.

Three of them close ranks and approach behind their interlocked shields. The advance like a walking wall trying to force Prime back. However, being forced to move in unison becomes their downfall. Prime somersaults left and then dives right, before they can turn.

With a crunch, the left arm of the nearest man is shattered below the elbow. Mia spins, jamming her elbow into the ribs of the next man and smashing the third man’s ankle with a low powerful kick, before the rest of the squad get in range to help.

Prime rolls back and strikes out with her leg, sweeping the closest of the newcomers off of his feet. As she rises to her feet, the remaining two pummel her back with their batons.

Ignoring the blows she snatches the baton from her jacket and smashes it into the cheek of the man on the left, before bringing it back around to take the last man standing, off of his feet.

The guard who legs she swept staggers to his feet only to be pushed back down by the tip of a baton pressed to his chest. Prime looks him coldly in the eye, “Stay down until I am gone, then help your people.”

Before he can speak, she is gone and so is his shield.



Sprinting hard, Prime keeps the shield up, blocking bullets and charging guards with equal aplomb. She zigs and zags following the route she took to the labs, never missing a step.

Those watching the guards body cameras and directing patrols to intercept her, shudder at the expression of utter calm on her face. Like the march of time, she moves ever forward, never stopping, never yielding.

She runs, full tilt, through the facility, cutting a swathe through its guards, with barely a break in her stride until she reaches the loading dock.

For a moment, she considers her options, “Straight on and through the TSA offices, or left and get out in the open?”



The wide eyed fork lift driver ducks, seeing the charging woman leap at him. Prime lands on the roof of the fork lift and pushes off hard with her right foot spinning in mid air. She launches the shield into the chest of one of her pursuers, taking him cleanly off of his feet.

Mia lands back in her stride and shoulders her way through the kitchen doors at the back of the TSA office, with Pax Felix guards on her heels.



Prime steps out of the offices into the departures lounge. Subtly, she removes the vape from her pocket and drops it into a bin, before she pushes through the crowd of travellers.

Despite the number of people in the lounge, she feels the approach of several men and women in dark suits.

Always moving, subtly weaving through the crowd, maximising the distance from her pursuers.

Suddenly the bin explodes. There is more light and noise than anything else, but the effect is instant. The assembled travellers scream and begin surging towards the exits, jostling and blocking those in black suits.

Prime leaps above the crowd and kicks off against a support pillar. She twists in the air to kick against another an so on, crossing the room.

The pistol is in her hands. Two shots. A window explodes. She dives through landing on the tarmac, with a grunt, “Hope that stuff hasn’t worn off yet.” She thinks, breaking into a sprint.

A hundred metres later, she hears the sirens and winces to herself, “This will be tight.”



Sirens wail over the sounds of taxiing aircraft. Four airport police cruisers race in formation across the tarmac, moving to intercept the runner. The tight formation streaking forth like a salvo of black arrowheads. Snaking around parked aircraft and a slow taxiing 747.

The officers stare slack jawed, when four heavy set figures in black fatigues, run past their vehicles. One officer checks his speed, confirming he is hitting almost sixty miles per hour.



Prime leaps high, easily clearing the thirty foot fence and landing with a roll on the other side.

Before she can run, four figures land around her, shotguns drawn. “End of the line. Stand down Prime.” The leader barks.

“Who the heck are you?” Mia asks, shocked at their sudden appearance. Their hulking builds, dwarfing her toned and slender frame.

“We are the Alphas.” Alpha One says, calmly. “We are the original superior soldiers. Once you went rogue, they reactivated us and deployed us ready to deal with you.”

She subtly brushes her side realising the pistol is gone. “What makes you think you can deal with me?” She asks, calmly.

“First up, there are four of us and one of you. Second, we have shotguns. Third we are actual soldiers who have been augmented, not cheap knock offs like you.” Alpha One days, coldly.

“You make some good points.” Prime says, thoughtfully. “Doesn’t mean I will roll over.”

She watches, seeing the fingers of the Alpha’s tighten slowly around the respective triggers of their weapons. Four booms fill the air, hitting nothing.

Prime tackles the nearest Alpha, snapping his weapon in half and beating him with the hilt. Hearing the soft squeak of a trigger behind her She rolls, leaving the man she was beating to be shot by one of his comrades.

She jams the broken barrel of the dead man’s gun into the next nearest man’s gut. He grunts, taking the blow and catches her in the solar plexus with his boot.

Gunfire erupts. Prime breathes in sharply, with several pellets in her left arm and side. The double click of the remaining shotguns reloading, spurs her into action.

Alpha One stumbles back, when Prime somersaults forward, landing with his head between her thighs. He topples like a felled pine, as Prime hammers his skull with her uninjured arm.

Alpha Two darts forward, slamming his shotgun stock into the back of her head. Prime rolls forward dazed, unable to avoid what follows.



When their weapons click empty, Alpha One approaches the bloodied and ruined body of Prime, surprised to see her still conscious.

He sees her lips feebly moving and leans in whilst his remaining colleagues reload.

“Forgive you.” Prime says before her eyes roll back and she lays still, her breathing shallow.

Alpha One snorts to himself then keys his radio, “Target down. One casualty. Request immediate evac. Local forces inbound.”

“Understood, Evac inbound. Ready Prime for exfil.” Control replies, calmly. “Any problems.”

“Four is down and will bleed out by the time evac arrives. Tried to talk her in, that is my error. Otherwise no issues, just an under prepared girl, with the clothes on her back.” Alpha One says, as Two and Three take out shears and begins removing Prime’s clothing. “In the end, she went down like a two dollar whore.”

“His loss is unfortunate but that is the nature of war. Full debrief upon your return to The Clinic.” Control signs off.



Alpha One takes a deep breath, savouring the scent of aviation fuel and pine in the crisp air. He stands stoically, while his team mates finish removing Prime’s clothing and clean her wounds.

Alpha Two reaches for a dressing, but One stops her with a shrug, “Don’t bother, her healing is enough to help her recover. We just need to get her into the casket.”

Two puts away the dressing and shakes her head, “I can’t believe she isn’t dead.”

“It will take more than a dozen shotgun rounds to put her down. Our implants make us tough, as all hell, but she is another level.” One says, with a hint of admiration.

“Can we please move this along? I have things to be getting on with?” Mia thinks, to herself.



Curare is a curious thing. Harvested from the mucus of tree frogs in the Amazon rainforest. Used by hunters to poison their spears when hunting. Revered by anaesthetists for its properties as a paralytic agent.

However, for Mia even in large doses it dose not weaken her or slow her down.

It does however, deaden pain. To the point in fact, that whilst Mia can feel her body and limbs, there is no pain from the forty plus projectiles, that are now calling her body home.

Mia controls her breathing, giving no hint of her state of wakefulness, thinking to herself, “Magda thought she was sending me I to a trap, by saying Denver Airport. However the drive and the intel from Bolivia made it a soft target. The fact I can deal with the Alphas now and get taken to The Clinic, is a bonus. I almost feel sorry for them.”

She clears her mind and focuses, “Solve the first problem first.” She thinks pulling against the two inch wide titanium bands that pin her wrists and ankles to the base of the casket.

That was brave and clever by Mia - she is one step ahead of her Captors. You have an incredible hand for writing action Sequences - I love them @wolfman !

Caesar73 wrote: 10 months ago That was brave and clever by Mia - she is one step ahead of her Captors. You have an incredible hand for writing action Sequences - I love them @wolfman !

Mia is smart, driven anfmd focused. Rest assired that there will be a fair bit of action in the coning chapters.

Thank you as alwaya for your very kind words

wolfman wrote: 10 months ago Mia is smart, driven anfmd focused. Rest assired that there will be a fair bit of action in the coning chapters.

I can see that @wolfman ! And I am looking forward to those Sequences!

@Bandit666 @Caesar73 @GreyLord @slackywacky

Prime lays back gently tugging against the metal braces, that pin her wrists and ankles to the frame of the metal casket.

She grits her teeth and pulls her right arm hard against the steel band that pins her wrist in place. Her breathing becomes slow and ragged with the strain. She viciously twists her arm and distantly feels her wrist snap.

“Thank God for curare.” She thinks, giving her arm a heave. With a ripping of skin and a tearing of flesh she pulls her arm up, leaving her hand the other side of the cuff.

Prime shuffles down and pokes the stump of her arm through the cuff, to push her hand clear. Keeping her breathing low, she presses the stump of her arm against the stump of her detached hand and smiles feeling the two knit back together.

She sighs softly, flexing the fingers of her right hand, “So far so good. Everything is on track. They will keep this thing closed until we get to The Clinic on Felix Prime. Nice of them to give me a lift, even if I had got to the soft spots, it would have been hard to get access.”

“Ah well. No rest for the wicked.” Sighing again, she pulls and twists her left arm, snapping her wrist.




After an hour of exertion, Prime lays back in the darkness, with all of her limbs free. “Kate was right, the Pax spent so much effort to train me and make me the soldier that they wanted me to be. However, they have no idea what I can do.”

She strokes the outside of her right thigh, stopping when she feels a lump. She digs her fingers in, under the lump and pulls up.

Prime winces, feeling a sting as she forces the small, but razor sharp knife out of her leg, blade first. When enough is free, she gently grips the blade and pulls the hilt out of her leg.

“Funny how they never thought with my healing, that I could cut myself and put something in my body, for later use.” She grits her teeth and uses the knife to slash her stomach, before laying the weapon on her chest. “To be fair it is pretty gross and my healing would push anything out in a couple of days, that’s why they anchored the toxin injector to my intestines.”

Calmly and with a steady hand she reaches into the cut and pulls out a zip lock bag, setting it by her side.

Her stomach knits back together, while she catches her breath. Taking the small knife in her left hand and the bag in her right, she cuts it open and lays the knife, on her left side.

“It is surprising what you can get on the streets of Lima, with a bag of cash and no questions asked.” She thinks, plucking the small pistol from the bag.

The 3D printed .22 semi auto with a built in suppressor, rests comfortably in her hand. She sets it down for a moment, to take the wristband out of the bag, holding two spare magazines and slip it onto her right wrist.

With the knife still in hand, she quietly sets to work removing all of the buckshot from her body, in darkness.




“What the hell were you thinking?” Dr Bass, asks furious, storming down the corridor.

Alpha One keeps pace with him as Alpha Two and Three carry the casket, all of them have their shotguns slung over their shoulders and sidearms in their holsters. “We got her “What’s the big deal?”

Bass rounds on him jabbing a finger into his chest, “The big bloody deal is that the Denver facilities airlock is out of action. Thirty plus guards are in hospital with gunshot wounds. Four local police officers have been injured. Three of our agents trampled by the crowd and you fucking idiots caught on camera outrunning the cops. Not to mention the loss of an Alpha to friendly fire. It was a mistake, decanting you idiots.”

Alpha One places a hand on the doctors shoulder and speaks sternly, “We are here to correct your mistake. Prime should never have been let off the leash. Yeah, the Denver collateral is bad, however, compared to the loss of Magda Kirilenkov, the Bolivia facility and all the dead and injured there, it is a drop in the ocean.”

“Don’t you lecture me.” The doctor says angrily batting Alpha One’s hand away, “We have been put in a compromising position with the Americans. They already ask a lot of questions about what we do on their soil. We have been able to buy them off until now, but this is one step too far.”

“It will blow over.” Alpha One says, calmly, “We were deployed to handle a problem.” He waves a hand towards the casket, “The problem is handled. It will blow over in time, just like every other time.”

Dr Bass grumbles to himself and eventually says, “Fine. I guess we will resolve this Denver matter. Was she any trouble to deal with?”

“Not really. I mean, she was undetected until the alarm was raised and she sprang out of the airlock before we could get to her. But no, once we had her cornered, she went down easy.” Alpha One says, proudly.

“I am somewhat surprised you were able to take her so easily. She had ample means and opportunity to arm herself more effectively and defend herself.” Dr Bass says, removing and cleaning his glasses.

“This is what happens when you send actual soldiers, up against a glorified girl scout.” Alpha One says, with a smug grin.

The doctor opens a door to a side room, waving towards the table, “Put her down there.” He turns to Alpha One, “Any chance she has anything concealed on her?”

“No chance, we stripped her of everything and clamped her down tight. She won’t be any problem.” Alpha One says, unable to shake his grin.

“Nevertheless, I want you and your people to stay, while I open the casket.” Dr Bass says, pulling on a pair of surgical gloves.

Alpha One makes eye contact with the Doctors nurse and winks at her, “Sure thing Doc.” The pretty blond nurse, smiles and subtly blows him a kiss in return.

The Doctor turns away from him to face the casket and clicks the catch on the lid. Then everything goes sideways.



The lid of the casket, flies back on its hinge. Prime lays on her right side, pistol drawn, delivering a vicious kick to the doctor’s gut sending him sprawling, winded.

Alpha One snaps his hand to his holster, but finds two rounds in his throat before his weapon is cleared. The small pistol, with suppressor and subsonic ammunition coughs softly.

Alpha Two collapses with a round to the eye. Alpha Three manages to dive evading the first shot at him, but when he rises to a crouch to take aim, his fate is sealed by a round to the right eye.



A .22 long rifle round, is not renowned for power. Especially with a subsonic load, doubly so in a weapon with a suppressor. In this instance it is unlikely to provide a killing shot.

However, Prime’s placement of her shots, coupled with the fact that the bullets cores had been partially drilled out and filled with snake venom, before being sealed with wax, made them deadly.

Each of her victims had received enough pit viper venom to stop a bull in its tracks. Whilst the Alphas were tough, they were not that tough.




Prime shakes her head, “A bit sloppy there.” She says, noting her missed shot and reloading, before tucking the small pistol into her wrist band.

Nurse Fredo cannot help but stare at the naked, blood soaked woman, as she emerges from the casket. “Please don’t kill me.” She begs, sobbing uncontrollably.

Detached, Prime gazes down at her, “Your life ended, when you assisted the doctors with the conditioning they did on me.”

The nurse bows her head and trying to control her breathing. “I’m sorry.”

She feels Prime behind her and closes her eyes, remembering the experiments she participated in and weeps. Mia places her hands on the kneeling woman’s shoulders tenderly, “I forgive you.” She whispers gently. “However, this is necessary.”

A movement of her hands, too fast to see. A crunch and a final breath and it is over.

Prime wipes the worst of the blood off with a towel then splashes water on herself to get a little more off. The nurse's trousers are a good fit if a little loose and so are her shoes.



She searches the fallen Alphas taking a stiletto from one, using it to slice the sleeves off of a lab coat, before donning it. Then secures Alpha One’s gun belt around her waist and filling the coats pockets with spare magazines in the right pocket and shotgun shells in the left.

Coldly, she regards the softly whimpering form of Dr Bass, senior clinician and medical head of the Prime program. She remembers the pain she suffered and feels no remorse, plunging her blade into his heart.



Mia pauses in the silence of the room, embracing the stillness after the movement of death within its walls.

With Alpha One’s sidearm in hand, she tentatively opens the door to the room. “Good. I am on the fourth floor. There is a security station one floor down.” She thinks, recalling the buildings layout from the hours of torment, she has suffered here.

Prime advances, pistol in a two handed combat grip, ready for anything. Her gaze roams freely, not lingering on any spot for too long, constantly moving.

A chill runs down her spine as she passes a room, with a green door. “That is the room where they used to submerge me in acid and set me on fire.”

Even though it is only one floor down, the journey to the security office is full of horrific memories of being burned, frozen, cut, irradiated and worse. She may not have been seen by anyone, but that does not mean she doesn’t face a battle with each door she passes.

With a powerful kick the door to the security office flies open, showing the guards within. The older guard used to escort her to her conditioning appointments, but the younger one was there for the beatings.

With impossible speed, she crosses the room and smashes the older guards head into the command console. She lets his limp body flop to the floor and fixes the younger man with her gaze. “I can rip off your thumb, or you can unlock the terminal with it. Your choice.” Her voice, cool and even.

The shaking man, hesitates for a moment and reaches out, pressing his thumb to the biometric reader, making the control screens blink into life.

A savage chop to his neck, blackens his world and Mia secures his wrists and ankle to the chair, before she takes the empty seat. Her fingers dance over the keyboard, inputting a string of conflicting commands which cause countless errors on screen before a single message replaces them, “All exits and windows locked. Egress counter measures engaged.”

After locking all the buildings exits, she moves quickly. Shotgun in hand she glides from room to room, like the shadow of death, delivering vengeance to the medical staff involved with the Prime program. Checking off the names from the list she had memorised from the hard drive.

It is a night of blood and by the dawns early light, she stands on the rooftop, taking a moment to bathe in the first light of the sun.

“A new dawn breaks.” She thinks, taking a deep slow breath. “The evil of this place is cleansed. This place an the people within can no longer subject another to the hell they visited upon me.”

“This would be the perfect moment, to disappear.” Mia muses, before looking saddened, out across the city, “But there is no way, I can turn my back on my past and the people of the Pax Felix who suffer to this day.”

With two large holdalls of weapons and equipment, she steps off of the roof, plunging almost two hundred feet, in front of a large poster celebrating the Emperors birthday, before landing with a roll and walking away, the pain of the landing already forgotten. “I know what must be done.” She decides, stepping onto a deserted street, already knowing her next move.

She does not turn to see The Clinic erupt in flame and noise, in her wake.

She does not turn to see The Clinic erupt in flame and noise, in her wake.

That line says it all. To feel Pity for those who conducted Experiments on Prime. Made Mia who she is? It is difficult. Mia is on a Mission. Mia is on a Mission - to make the World a better Place. It is though - a razor sharp line she walks. A lot of people had ulterior Motives to justify their Actions. Does it make them right and just? On the other Hand we do not need to forget what Horrors were inflicted on Mia by Prime Felix for the greater Good. Those People keep telling us.

Throughout history the greater good has been an excuse for unspeakable things. A good part of this tale will see such people reap what they have sewn.

Thank you for your kind words @Caesar73

wolfman wrote: 10 months ago Throughout history the greater good has been an excuse for unspeakable things.

To quote from one of may favourite Movies - Master and Commander - "That has been the excuse for every Tyrant from Nero to Bonaparte" Or Grindelwald and the young Dumbledore in Harry Potter.

This adds another Dimension to the Tale you are telling us @wolfman - another Level.