Prologue
A vast desert.
Hot, dry, and desolate.
But all was not quiet in this barren landscape.
A firefight was taking place between what appeared to be a group of soldiers against what appeared to be an extremist group.
Amongst the soldiers, one looked strangely different from the rest. Whilst the others wore standard military uniforms, near the back was a young man peeking out from behind cover with a sniper rifle. He wore a red-white cap with the words 'Fortes fortuna iuvat' written on it, a green scarf covering the lower half of his face, a black muscle shirt, red pants, and black shoes. He had jet-black hair and dark blue eyes.
This man squeezed the trigger, and on the other side of the battlefield, an enemy dropped dead.
He took aim, fired again, and yet another dropped dead.
He took aim and fired yet again, but barely missed. The enemies seemed to notice him, and a grenade was chucked his way.
He switched to dual pistols and dove out from beneath his cover before it was obliterated.
Well, if they wanted to draw him out, go out he will.
He burst towards the front line and took cover.
"Ey, Quotation Mark! Get back here!" One of his squadmates yelled, "You're gonna get yourself frickin' killed!"
The man's full name was Quote Axion Mark, so his colleagues nicknamed him after that punctuation mark.
He rolled his eyes.
He jumped from beneath his cover, spun in the air, and squeezed the triggers of his pistols several times, killing several enemies. Seeing the coast clear, he burst forward behind the enemy lines and took cover yet again before chucking a grenade into an enemy encampment.
The coast was clear.
He got up, turned to the soldier who yelled at him, and motioned forward.
"He just gets stranger and stranger," Another soldier muttered to himself.
At the end of the day, the young man sat back, staring at the sky. He got lost in thought, thinking about his job, his colleagues, and what was waiting for him back 'home'.
He'd heard rumours of a floating island with a powerful artifact held within, but he didn't believe them. Not only was that clearly fake, it'd start a third world war. But, he had heard that his country (Canada), the U.S., China, Japan, and Russia created some coalition or whatever, so who knew.
He was startled from his thoughts when a helicopter touched down. Out stepped a sharp dressed man that he assumed was from the government.
The man looked at him.
"Are you Sergeant Marck?" The man asked.
"Who's asking?" He asked quietly.
"The Prime Minister. You've been selected for a very prominent job," The man said, "Are you interested?"
Well, it'd probably be better than being in a stupid desert.
He nodded.
"Good," The man said, then got back in the helicopter. He got up, took his dual pistols with him, and stepped inside the helicopter as well. It took off.
The man turned to him.
"Your superior officers have already been notified," He said, "Most of the details are classified, but you've likely heard rumours of a floating island, correct?"
Quote nodded.
"They are not rumours. There is indeed a floating island in Asia with a powerful artifact held within. It's called the Demon Crown, and this is where you come into play," The man explained, "Many nations have developed drones to go to the island and claim the Crown for themselves, but our country, unsurprisingly, allied with some other countries to destroy it, because it's simply too evil and dangerous to be allowed to exist. This alliance is called the Pacific Rim Coalition. You know what it's named after."
Quote gave the man a look of scepticism.
"To be frank, the robots are poorly-equipped, dangerous, and unintelligent. This is where you come into play. We need very skilled human soldiers to go to the island to destroy the Crown before the robots can destroy the island and take the Crown," The man continued, "However, the island is extremely dangerous, and no one knows what lies within it. Because of this, the countries of the P.R.C. decided to pool much of their money, technology, and resources to perform research. Genetic and cybernetic research."
Quote raised an eyebrow.
"The research was extremely costly and cost well over a trillion dollars, but it is complete. However, the process can only be performed twice. Because of this, you and many other elite soldiers from the P.R.C. will be put through a tournament, and if you win, you recieve the modifications," The man continued, "You'll recieve further debriefing when we arrive."
Quote nodded, then smirked.
Becoming basically a supersoldier? Oh, he's definitely in.
Yeah, he'll have to defeat other soldiers in battle to do it, but he'd probably mop the floor with them.
How bad can it possibly be?