Training Camp, Fort Smith, Arkansas
“Again!” snapped Master Izo as he push-kicked Nicholas in the chest, knocking him backwards across the room
“What was wrong with that?” snarled Nicholas as he got to his feet.
“You move like a drunken bear and so you missed three targets” Izo said as he sipped his wine “Perfection is the key Nicholas. If seventy percent is good enough for you, then you should rejoin your tin soldier brigade and keep serving that hellish prick of a master!”
Nicholas stared at the blind old drunk, contemplating killing him for speaking ill of the Supreme Commander…but he exhaled through his teeth “Set it up again”
“Seems the little soldier has a spine” chuckled Master Izo as he walked to a panel on the wall and reset the training grid “For each target you miss this run, I break one of your bones”
Master Izo walked into another room when a familiar ‘pop’ sound occurred and a hologram of Carol appeared from the projector
“What’s his status?” asked Carol
“Are you using that hologram again?”
“Yes”
“You should just ring; I’m blind remember” Izo laughed and plonked himself into a chair to sip his wine
“Force of habit. So how’s our soldier?”
“Stubborn. Fights like a wall. But in these three weeks he’s progressed to a level”
“What level?”
“The bottom!”
“You don’t sound confident” said Carol
“He’s a soldier through and through. He can fight. He can kill. He takes orders. His problem isn’t his skills, it’s his thinking”
“Soldiers aren’t made to think!”
“But warriors are!” said Izo “If you want a soldier, take him now. A warrior though, takes time”
“That’s a luxury I don’t have” said Carol
“But he may turn on you. He’s Iron Army born and raised. Having the wool forcibly removed from your eyes may work against you!”
“Did you show him the holo-docs?” she asked
“Carol; how would you react if I told you Reed Richards was a Nazi scientist and then produced proof”
“I…I see your point”
“When do the others arrive?” asked Izo pouring himself another glass of wine
“Next week if it all comes together”
“This is either going to work superbly or fail fantastically” laughed Izo.
From the other room came the sounds of swearing, huffing and grunting. “I best go Carol. I believe I get to break at least one bone judging by the sound”
The Black Womb Ward, Maryland Medical Institute & Asylum, Annapolis
Dr Nathaniel Essex looked at the infants in the giant liquid filled tubes with a discerning eye. They had responded well to the growth accelerant and in the short six weeks since the process had begun, they were the equivalent of a two year old. He looked over the charts carefully.
“I think we’ll add some Creed DNA into three, six and nine” he said to the robo-doc’s that hovered nearby him “One and two shall remain untouched. Four and five shall get bionic implants; follow the data link on what I did to Cybertooth. Seven and eight shall get splicing in with samples from the Grey and Xavier DNA I use to make combat psychics for Stryfe”
“And ten sir” asked the robo-doc
“Weapon X” corrected Essex, a smile cracking across his face as he inched closer to the glass looking at his new project
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