Mike in Europe

As many as a few months passed by and Mike was always called out to duty on different missions throughout the whole of Europe from Madrid to Berlin, Stockholm to Oslo, Paris to London, and Rome to Vienna and Moscow to Warsaw. Every mission he was able to complete in a given amount of time and Mike always did it without breaking a sweat. Yet this last mission of Mike's great voyage to Europe would be his final test in the military to see if he could apply what learned to a real life scenario. As Mike did his morning pushups in a boot camp just on the outskirts of Bucharest, Romania, his commanding officer, Hans C. Brown as it said on his gold plated tag on his classical green military uniform shirt, which was also matched by his camouflage looking pants, rushed on out of his cabin just ten feet north of Mike's position in the middle of the quiet, wet fields, since it had recently rained on the day Mike arrived by train. Hans C. Brown took out a clipboard and checked off a few things on his list and then told Mike in German to stand up and stop what he was doing. Mike did as he was told and then Hans began to speak in English. "Und Cadet, you have proven to all of us here in Section 352 of the Canadian military that you have what it takes to master and defeat the Hyzenburns." Mike and Hans then went inside his dark, small cabin which could barely fit ten people and they sat down in the wooden chairs that lay in the middle of the cabin. Next to them on each side was a set of bunk beds and a projector in the centre of the room as well just in front of the chairs. Hans then pushed the green button on the projector and showed different pictures: one was of a tall man in a dark overcoat shaking hands with the Roman president, one was of a giant warehouse just five hundred yards from their position, and one was of a bomb that had the numbers 25:00. "It's come to our attention that this man by the name of Colonel Reynard DuPont has acquired nuclear arms from all over the world and plans on selling them to the highest bidder. To avoid suspicion by the media and the governments of Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States they had cleverly created a hoax kidnapping and decided to place a manikin in that old warehouse I just showed you there. We have not been fooled however because we have had our top men search for every bit of research we could. It'll be your job to disarm that bomb by any means you realize. If it goes off and that warehouse blows, we could be looking at an international incident like that the world hasn't seen since the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.", Hans continued. "So we'd be looking at World War 3 then?", Mike asked. "Similarly, yes. But you are going to make sure that doesn't become a possibility no? Anyways, to continue, while you disarm the bomb, my brother, Ohr and I will head into the city of Bucharest to inform the president of the alarm and when you see the signal you will need to head to camp just ten feet from the warehouse. It is there that Reynard is in hiding and we cannot afford to have him escape, otherwise it could be years before we track him down." Mike understood his objective and after being asked if it was clear and he responded sir, yes, sir, he immediately took his backpack, his compass, his map and weapon supplies, and left for the warehouse.

He hiked for little over an hour trudging through tall grass and thick forests until he reached the warehouse. He quickly snuck past the only guard outside and ran inside where he climbed up the stairs inside and accidently ran into another guard. But before he could do anything Mike tripped him and the guard fell off the stairs from a fifty foot high drop to the ground dead. Mike then noticed the bomb tied around a girl manikin hanging over the centre of the warehouse just above some crates and barrels and then ran forward across the long steel hallway and jumped for the rope. Yet Mike realized he was slowly losing his grip bit by bit even as he did catch it. He quickly climbed up opened up the box lid of the bomb. He saw on the dial he had only ten minutes to disarm it before total impact and worked quickly to find the 'wire'. He had five wires to work with being red, green, yellow, blue and orange and only one would do the trick. He started to panic and almost lost his grip doing so, but he quickly looked at the dial noticing it at five minutes and then thought of his favourite colour and chose the blue wire. It was cut and the bomb was turned off. A good start indeed had been accomplished for Mike as he finally wiped off his first drip of sweat from his forehead. He then jumped to the stairs nearby on his right hand side and then rushed outside to the camp ten feet away.

Mike rushed past a heck load of security and grabbed Reynard DuPont in the first cabin he ran into and put him in cuffs. Hours later, he was arrested for terrorist negotiations and attempted arsenal use of equipment because of the nearby cans of oil and flamethrowers his men had with them in the warehouse. Hans congratulated Mike, but the General of the boot camp gave Mike a stern look and rushed off staring into the sky towards his cabin. Hans whispered to Mike, "I wouldn't worry too much about that little man. The general is often quite mad when his recruits do better than he envisions." Later the next day, Mike was then called off by the general of his boot camp and was told to meet him in his private quarters in that same camp just on the outskirts of Bucharest. The General stated, "I have never seen such little regard for duty and such disrespect for the army's stealth reputation in all my life soldier!! It made me want to puke, hurl chunks of cookies, vomit… er you get the picture, but above all else…" As Mike sat in his chair with his arms covering his face and Hans had a magazine covering his face as the General raised his left arm high into the air as a sign of pure anger. "You did a fine a job cadet!! With that I am proud to award you with this Medal of Courage. It is a sign that you have graduated from our military youth facilities and are clearly above the military entirely. Welcome to force my boy!!", the General said as he placed the medal on Mike's right hand side of his green military shirt. Even more hours later, Hans then drove Mike to the Bucharest train station so he could get his ticket. Hans then stated as Mike sat on the bench waiting for his train to arrive, "The train will take you to Berlin and at that stop it will take you straight to Paris and then you will need to take a plane back to Ottawa and from there to Edmonton. You don't even have to lift a finger my boy. Just tell them that Hans is paying for your trip and they'll understand." Mike then nodded and replied, "Thank you Hans. You've been like a father to me and a good friend too." "Don't mention it me boy. Now get on that train. You have a lot of responsibility now that you are a graduated cadet." As the train pulled up, Mike grabbed Hans' left arm and asked, "Will I ever see you again?" "Who knows me boy? We're all little ants on this face of a rock we call Earth. Even if we don't see each other again, I will never forget you. You are above all else my brightest and strongest pupil." As Mike nodded and hugged Hans tightly, the man slowly lifted Mike off the ground and onto the train with his passport, his backpack and other of his belongings. Mike then sat down in his seat and waved goodbye to Hans as it started to rain outside on that sudden changed day.

(A little confusing? I bet. I'll cover the ground work that took Mike from being an amateur to being a military soldier and then after that I'll slowly progress to Victor and Chris. It may be a little while longer though, so I apologize for that because I have been so tied up in the Eternal Beyond and the Legend Begins as my main stories. Again, I am sorry if I haven't been doing a whole lot for this story, but stay tuned. Mike's training has a lot to do with how he becomes a stronger guy in the end of his training.)

(Next Time: The Beginnings of a Warrior.)

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