"We have one more procedure we must do to..unleash your potential." Moira almost seemed like she was trying to justify why Starkiller should trust her. "Another set of biotic abilities with these amplifiers placed in your body should give you better control over your teleportation skills, as well as a few added perks."
Starkiller was a man of few words, for it seems he wasn't sure if he was a prisoner anymore or their ally. The lines between the two seem to blur after he killed the only other survivor of the testing. "What would the perks be?"
"I'm so glad you asked." Moira opened up her laptob displaying a series of slides detailing his theoretical abilities. "With these amplifiers you will be able to manipulate biotic fields around you. Project barriers, send shock waves, and my personal favorite, be able to fire biotic blasts."
Starkiller looked at the slides and just sat in the chair waiting to once again be the lab rat that Moira. "Let's get it over with."
Moira placed the laptop down and began knocking him out to place the amplifiers throughout his body. This was the first time he was knocked out completely and didn't have to endure the pain of being operated on while being awake. It was a pleasant change, but at the same time unnerving. Now he didn't know what she was doing.
Moira finished installing the last of the biotic amps in Starkiller and was waiting for him to wake up while she was cleaning up.
"You're playing a dangerous game her doc." Reaper said coming out of the shadows in the lab. "Once he figures out we no longer control him, making him this strong could be your downfall."
"You didn't seem to mind when you got your abilities Gabriel." Reaper flared up in anger throwing her against the wall.
"Don't call me that name!" Reaper's breathing was heavy while the shadowy aura around seem to dance around him like flames in the night. "Gabriel is dead. No need in using that name anymore."
"No need to throw a temper tantrum, I'm just proving a point. How powerful are you? And yet here you still are." Moira had a point but Reaper never was one to admit he was wrong.
"I just don't think we are being very smart about handling this guy." Reaper replied.
"You act like I never have a contingency in place for these situations." Moira said.
"You didn't for your last project and look how that ended up."
"That was different." Moira snapped back. "Your superiors took matters into their own hands and mistreated the situation. Put that loss on them."
"Just let me know when he wakes up so I can beat him into form." Reaper said disappearing into the shadows of the room.
Starkiller awoke without any pain or complications, which was strange for him. He looked at his arms and body, he already noticed a change in how he could almost feel his powers. With a simple flex of his muscles, a purple aura formed around him. He could feel the power coursing through him. He opened his hand and the aura started too concentrate in the palm of his hand. He raised it up and examined the energy that was growing in his hand. He pointed his hand away and fired a blast into the wall that startled everyone in the base. He looked at his hand again having a hard time believing what he just did.
"I see you are getting acclimated with your new abilities." Moira said.
Starkiller didn't say anything back but continued to look at the aura that engulfed him still trying to take this all in.
"Meet with Reaper, he's going to..polish you and help you contain your powers, and also show you your arsenal."
He looked at her and while his aura started to diminish around him. "No post op check?"
She scuffed at the thought, "I know I did everything right."
Starkiller went to the arena room where he had killed the other test subject, he still saw the dried blood stain where the bodied laid after he slayed him.
"Suit up." Reaper said to him as his armor set was layed out in front of him. His armor was sleek and black, light enough to move around freely without hindering mobility, but sturdy enough to protect him. He put his helmet on taking a deep breath and opening his eyes staring through the visor.
"Pick your weapon of choice. Shotguns, rifles, sidearms, Talon spares no buck when it comes to projects they want to see succeed." Reaper said. Starkiller looked around at all the weapons laid in front of him. All state of the art technology, some weapons even higher scale than most military's have. While Reaper was going on about tactical advantages for all the weapons, Strakiller's attention was drawn to the sword he used to kill the other subject. He walked over and picked it up, the familiar grip on the sword where he had his first 'fight or die' feeling.
"I'll take this." Starkiller said taking the sheath and strapping it to his back as he holstered the sword on his back. Starkiller had his look, the all black armor with the hilt of sword peaking over his right shoulder.
"I would suggest at least carrying some sort of firearm. It isn't wise to bring a knife to gun fight." Reaper said in his raspy tone with sarcasm flooding out of him.
Starkiller raised his hand and fired off another blast from his hand, scorching the wall in front of him. "I think I can manage."
Reaper put his fists together cracking his knuckles, "Don't get full of yourself. I can't help you get better with a sword though, not exactly my thing."
"You're only suppose to help him control his abilities." Moira said entering the training room.
"How exactly can he do that?" Starkiller asked doubting Reaper's abilities.
"Try not to die." Reaper pulled out his shotguns and started blasting away causing Starkiller to go on the defensive and faze away from each blast. Barely escaping the spread from the shotgun shells he teleported after each blast, but this only lasted for about six shifts, after which Starkiller was already resting his hands on his knees.
"You can't constantly be on the run. Manage your powers and use them when you need to." Reaper said walking up to him and pointing his shotgun in his face. "You run out of stamina too quickly, that will get you killed." Reaper pulled the trigger but the gun was out of ammo. Starkiller was breathing heavy. This was going to be a long road for him.
Reaper kicked him in the ribs knocking to his side. "This doesn't mean the fight is over." Reaper continued to kick him forcing Starkiller to teleport back away from him. "You won't be shown any mercy in the field of battlefield, get use to this treatment." Starkiller tried to fire a blast but couldn't gather enough energy to make it happen. He grimaced in pain, but could easily hide it behind his helmet. He drew his sword out and charged at Reaper. "You've got a lot to learn, MAGGOT!" Reaper yelled at him.
Just as Starkiller swung his sword, Reaper dissipated into a cloud. Starkiller looked around trying to locate any trace of Reaper, just as he turned his back Reaper started to appear behind him, "Death Comes."
In a split second, Starkiller disappeared and then reappeared looking like he had just swung his sword. With their backs towards each other, Starkiller stood up straight and sheathed his sword. Reaper suddenly hunched over grabbing his chest. "urggh...Not bad kid." His healing ability immediately kicked in. "Next time, you should go for the neck." Reaper slowly got up from his hunched form.
"I didn't want to kill you." Starkiller turned and looked at Reaper who was starting to chuckle under his mask.
"You couldn't even if you tried."
The coming months were all the same between the two. Reaper would push and punish Starkiller to his breaking point, pushing his limits trying to balance the use of his powers while engaging in combat. Most days Reaper would beat Starkiller down till he could hardly stand. Some days Starkiller would surprise Reaper and catch him off guard, but those days were few and far in between.
"I think it's time." Moira said to Reaper. "He's ready for his first assignment."
Reaper nodded "Bring him in here."
Starkiller was escorted by two guards to Moira's lab. They gave him his own room but that didn't mean they they gave him full freedom's yet. They opened door and motioned for him to sit down. He waited patiently in the seat until a folder was tossed in front of him.
"Your first assignment." Reaper scowled in his raspy low tone. Starkiller opened up the folder revealing Liao. A high ranking Overwatch member who is currently on leave from the facilities. "Be quick about this one. He tends to move around quite a bit." Reaper leaned in close to his face "No witnesses." The way he said it would make even the hardest of men tremble a little bit.
"Your shuttle is being prepped, pack your things you leave in thirty minutes." The shuttle's pilot said to him making his exit from the lab. Starkiller still looked through the files trying to pick up any details that might aide him in his pursuit. One of the founding members of Overwatch, he's likely to have a sizable security team around him. He took the file with him and suited up in his armor but before leaving he caught a glance of himself in the mirror. He had never seen what he looked like with his armor on, and it almost startled him. The sleek black look and numbing glare his helmet gave off sent chills down his back, but he knew what he needed to do.
Starkiller continued studying his file even on the shuttle during his flight. It appeared he was stationed in at a small outpost in an isolated area in the mid west of the United States, in Nevada specifically. He thought this would make things easier. Isolated area meant less of a chance of being seen by some unfortunate soul.
"ETA 5 minutes to drop zone." The pilot said over the ships intercom. Before he left the ship Reaper gave him an earpiece. "Call for pickup when you're done. Don't bother calling for help. You're on your own once you leave here." Starkiller put the earpiece in and put his helmet back on ready to take on his first mission, his first assassination.
The ship dropped him off a few miles off of the outpost. Starkiller started making tracks to the outpost. Defenses were little to non existent, to his surprise. He didn't see any guards on duty either. Something wasn't adding up and he knew it. He climbed to one of the towers to scope out the area, and noticed one window lit. He leaped from the tower and teleported inside the building sleeking around inside making his way to the top floor. He got to the door where his target was on the other side, he took a deep breath and fazed inside, trying to be as quiet as possible.
When he got inside, he saw his target sitting in a chair with a glass of what appeared to be whiskey sitting on a table beside him. There was fire in front of him making the shadows dance around in the background.
"I was wondering how long it would take them to find me." Liao said taking a sip of his whiskey. Starkiller was stunned he was alerted to his presence. Frozen in place he didn't know how to react. Liao got up from his chair and turned around to face him. "Your with Talon aren't you."
Starkiller's stance went a slightly tense when he got up but he relaxed seeing the man wasn't armed at all. "Then you know why I am here." he responded.
Liao chuckled and shook his head. "What's your name." Starkiller stayed silent. He didn't want to answer any questions this man asked. For one he didn't know if Talon was somehow listening in on him, but more importantly he didn't know. Liao turned back around facing the fire taking another sip of his drink. "I never though things would get this out of hand. We formed Overwatch to bring peace to the world, never thought we would end up in a war of attrition with a terrorist group to only end up back up at square one." Starkiller stood there letting the man ramble on. "Why are you with Talon?" He asked turning around to face him once more. Starkiller once again remaining silent.
"Hm, Talon must have a short leash on you. Tell me do you know what Talon plans to gain from my death."
"I don't care." Starkiller finally broke his silence.
"And there you go." Liao said pointing his finger at Starkiller sitting back down. "That's why Talon will never have the backing they so desire." He started pacing around the room in a way like a professor would during a lecture to a classroom. "If you don't have people to support a cause, and you create a false narrative, or none at all, you will only go so far on the backs of those being led blindly." He faced Starkiller one more time. "People like you, are the backbone, the foundation of the organizations like Talon and Overwatch. Without you there is no advancement in their true motives." Starkiller started to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. As much as he didn't want to admit it, deep down he knew this man was speaking the truth. Outside of being a lab rat, he had no real idea on what Talon was doing, he was just following orders.
"I knew this day would come sooner or later. They got to Gerard, it was only a matter of time before they got to me." Liao sat back down in his chair taking one last sip of his whiskey. He took out his gun that was under his chair and flung it to the feet of Starkiller. "Do me one favor, take off your helmet, and look me in the eyes when you do it." He finished his glass of whiskey gulping the rest of it down. Starkiller reached down for the gun and picked up and unloaded the clip, seeing there was only one bullet in the clip. He loaded back in and took off his helmet meeting his targets eyes.
"Think about what I said son, because trust me it won't get any easier form here." When he finished his thought Starkiller squeezed the trigger and shot him straight in the heart. Liao slumped back in his chair as the life escaped him slowly. Starkiller dropped the gun and put his helmet back on. He walked over to the body and put two fingers over his eyes, closing the lids out of respect of him.
He touched his communicator. "Mission accomplished, target down."
"Affirmative coming in for extraction." The pilot responded.
Starkiller took one last look at the body of the man he murdered before he exited the building to the roof. The shuttle came in shortly after picking him up.
"Quick work for your first assignment." Reaper said sitting inside.
Starkiller took a seat and remained silent, the words of the man he just killed still rolling around inside of his head.