"The UEDF is a major peace-keeping force in the world. K.R.I.S. program, among others, is directly associated with outside research projects. Only high-ranking members are ever privy to that sort of knowledge. They also operate just outside the normal range of law and can perform interrogations of increasing brutality." - Analysis of U.E.D.F. operatin procedures

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The light switch in the corner was turned on, banishing the darkness.

Dane blinked painfully as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. The room was a plain slate-grey color, and the only other object in the room was the uncomfortable metal chair that he was tied to by metal-infused carbon weave straps.

A man in a military uniform came storming into the room. He was dressed in the standard black and white striped military fatigues of the UEDF and had his hands clasped behind his back authoritatively. His hair was graying slightly, and his face had multiple wrinkled nooks and crannies. He had an annoyed and pissed off the look that appeared to have been stamped permanently onto his face.

Two other younger military men came in as well and took up positions next to the door like silent sentinels. Their superior walked up to Dane, hauled his fist back, and delivered a full-on roundhouse punch right to his face.

The normal little tracers of light that jumped from the points of contact were absent.

The military man grabbed hold of the armrests and pushed Dane up against the wall forcefully, grabbed his hair, then slammed his head up against the wall behind the chair with a resounding thwack. He then leaned in real close so that the wetness of his breath slammed into his face. "Do I have your attention now, boy?"

Dane shook the pain from his face. "I'll say. Wow, you hit hard."

Slowly the sergeant turned about and paced away from him. "Boy, you will answer my questions thoroughly and accurately. How do you know this base's location? Why are you here? How and why are there two pieces of government property lying on a freeway not fifteen miles from our current local?"

Swiftly Dane bowed his head while the sergeant's head was turned to hide the sound of his voice. "Dennis, how are we coming?"

"Sir, it appears that it will take a slight bit longer. They appear to have hidden your brother under an alias, so his whereabouts are not directly listed. Like this, I must search every piece of camera footage for a visual match of your brother's face. It amounts to thousands of cumulative hours of footage from the hundreds of cameras across the base, and that is from today alone."

"How long?"

"Two minutes, give or take a few."

The sergeant made an about face and looked at Dane un-amused. "Did you say something, boy?"

Dane shook his head and gave the sergeant a smirk. "No, sir. I was looking forward to the next date your fist and my face would—"

The sergeant strolled over and delivered another strong punch to the right side of Dane's face, followed by one to the left, and another to the right. "I will repeat. How do you know this—"

Dane spat the next gob of blood into the sergeant's eye and smiled widely. "Give me another love tap. This is fun."

The sergeant obliged, five more times. He then followed it up by kicking the chair over, putting his knee into Dane's chest, and pummeling his head into the Ferracrete at their feet. Then he stood and spat on his form as the blood welled up on the ground.

Dane tasted iron and spat a gob of blood on the floor.

The sergeant motioned to the guards at the door. "Get this piece of shit up. I'll get the suit."

The sergeant opened the door, while the guards quickly strolled over and pulled him back to an upright sitting position.

As the guards walked away, Dane heard Dennis chirp into his ear. "Sir, I have located your brother. We can leave now."

Dane grimaced and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I haven't been punched in the face for almost a year now without you instantly heal it. Come on, let me enjoy this a little longer. Besides—he does bad cop so good. How could I ruin that for him?"

Moments later, the sergeant reentered, this time with a man dressed in a business suit. He was a bit taller than the stocky sergeant, and he was wearing a pair of slim fitting glasses that gave him an air of haughty intelligence. He was also quite familiar to Dane.

The ordinarily cheery and joking demeanor that pervaded Dane's interactions was cut short, and he narrowed his eyes severely at the newcomer. "Nolan." His recognition was not lost.

Nolan smiled subtly, and then it vanished from his icy demeanor. "Dane. I would have thought you'd have the good sense to disappear after escaping. What are you doing here? Oh, let me answer that for you." Nolan leaned in very close to his ear. "You are here for your brother Hale, aren't you?"

His eyes flicked to catch Nolan's intense glare.

Nolan raised a calm eyebrow. He leaned back and tapped his lips with his finger. "Your suit doesn't work, does it?"

"You got me."

Nolan continued tapping on his lips, then stopped. "Captain... he has nothing to offer. Kill him when I leave." Nolan winked at Dane.

The sergeant saluted Nolan, and the suit gave him one last look. "It was a pleasure. Have fun in the afterlife. Oh, and Doctor Dobson says hello." Then Nolan walked to the door and exited with a soft click of the door.

The sergeant reached into his holster and slowly drew his weapon. "I'm going to enjoy this, boy. Now it's just you, trapped in here with me."

Dane cocked his head to the right. "What makes you think I'm trapped in here with you?"

The sergeant pointed his gun at Dane's head and pulled the trigger. A blue flash lit the dim room.

If he had been paying close attention, he would have seen small blue lines of light heading to the point where the impact was about to take place. A single bullet slammed into Dane’s head, snapping it back violently.

The sergeant re-holstered his weapon and slowly started to walk away.

"Sir,” Dennis said. “KRIS systems have come back online and are fully functional. Would you like me to begin healing your... welts?"

Using a quick burst of strength, Dane pulled his Carbon Nanoweave cuffs apart with a single snap.

The sergeant turned quickly. His hand went to his holster.

Dane smirked and cocked his head to the side. Then he clasped his hands together, pushed a pocket of his remaining kinetic energy into a small space, and caused it to swirl, creating a quick sucking vortex that pulled the three military men toward him with a superior amount of force.

As they neared, Dane grabbed the other two military subordinates by their shoulders and slammed them directly into the ground with enough force to cause their bodies to bounce. He used the power to throw them up against the ceiling before letting go and grabbing the incoming sergeant by the scruff of his neck. "You are stuck here with me," Dane said, before tossing him at the one-way sheet of glass.

The sergeant collided with the pane and caused multiple glass shards to come raining down around the room.

On the other side, Dane saw Nolan's shocked face. With a quick spring forward, he was through the window and next to Nolan, breathing right in the suit's face. "Give him a message for me." and grabbed Nolan by the neck, slowly lifting him from the ground and grinding his palm into the man's throat.

Nolan gurgled and scrambled for air, kicking this way and that to no avail. "Anything!" he screamed and continued to struggle.

"Sir, may I advise if you want him to deliver a message, you should leave him alive."

"This is the message."  he turned his hand sharply to the right, snapping Nolan's neck like a twig.

He dropped Nolan's body to the ground and stood there, looking at the man who had been a part of the organization that had tortured him for many months. "Dennis, do you know who Nolan is?"

"Nolan Johnson, a high-ranking member of the Cerberus corporation, responsible for client satisfaction and candidate evaluation for experimental research qualification."

Dane smiled slightly and ran his hand through his short and spiky hair. "That's one way of putting it. Nolan recruited me. He has also... Hale!" As if suddenly aware of where he was and raced toward the door out, and it slammed open. "Nolan was never alone! He always had at least one Cerberus destroyer squad with him along with a Technomancer. Find me their location!"

"Yes, sir. You are searching for any personnel with Cerberus tagging in the base. I found them. They are with your brother."

Dane immediately raced out the door and into the hallway outside. It was a dingy, dark hallway. "Dennis, what is my location? How do I reach Hale from here?"

"Yes, sir. You are accessing base schematic. You are in the east wing. Your brother is in the north wing. Head forward and take a right in one hundred meters.”

He shook his head. "No time. How thick is the roof to the ground floor from here?"

"Initial scans reveal one foot of Ferracrete and a quarter of an inch of wood."

Dane smirked. "Good." He wound up his shoulder, aimed his body toward the ground, and then sent 5% of his remaining 10% into his feet.

"Sir, I would not advise this. You do not know what is above."

Dane smirked. "Of course, I do. Concrete, followed by wood? It's a bureaucrat's office." He let the energy flow from his feet and into the ground, then launched himself forcefully toward the ceiling. He angled himself so that he led with his shoulder.

The ceiling broke under the impact from his body, and he came through in a spray of brick and mortar.

As soon as he hit, Dane felt the impact dislodge his shoulder from its socket. In a blink, the nanites in his blood began pulling the shoulder back into the joint with a painful pop. He exhaled in pain.

He settled to the ground and slowly got up and dusted himself off. The air was a bit heavier and wet than he was expecting, and as he looked around, he saw why. This was the farthest thing from a bureaucrat's office. Multiple half-naked men surrounded him. He had found his way into a men's sauna. "Dennis."

"Sir?"

Dane's voice was quivering. "Find me an exit now. I do not want to fight more naked men today. I don't think my man pride can take it."

"Turn right and dash. You will be able to avoid most of them through this maneuver and may be able to jump over the rest to... ahem... save your man pride."

Dane saw the route that Dennis was talking about immediately and made a break for it.

The moment of stunned silence passed quickly, but it was enough time for Dane to burst through the doorway and into the outer area—which, after he went around the bend, displayed a clear view of the base outside.

He was slapping himself on the forehead. "Naked men. Why did it have to be naked men? Why couldn't I burst into the women's sauna? Pounced by one hundred naked cheerleaders. Come on, I deserve that, right?"

"Sir, this is a military base. I doubt they have... cheerleaders."

"Dennis, I do not pay you for your wit."

"Sir, you do not pay me at all."

"Exactly."

Dane ran out onto the runway and dodged around an incoming hover cart that was not far away.

The area was abuzz with hundreds of moving vehicles taking equipment to different areas of the base. Multiple bunkers, buildings, and training areas were set up in regimented divisions. The area Dane was in was next to a swimming pool and a climbing wall. All about, there were groups of men dressed in UEDF military fatigues running in perfect lines with an instructor leading the troop.

Dane could hear the men inside the sauna getting their pants on to pursue him out the door. "Dennis, which way?"

"There is a road ahead of you. If you take a left along that, it will take you in a northerly direction."

"How long will that take by foot?"

"Ten minutes sir."

Quickly, he looked about. "Damn. I need transportation, and I don't have time to take a few hits to get my mojo going." His eyes fell on something that made him smile evilly and twiddle his fingers together in anticipation. "Yessss. Perfect."

- End of Episode -

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