CENTI

chapter 2

PROJECT: CENTI

CHAPTER 2: FIRST BLOOD

Snow melted under my boots.

It had been 14 days since Master Kazuo pulled me out of that ditch.

14 days of "Breathe in. Breathe out. Blade is will."

14 days of him yelling when my fire burned the training dummy.

"Again," he'd said the last morning. "Until you don't flinch."

Then AEGIS drones came.

He stayed behind. "Run, Ryze. Don't look back."

I haven't stopped running since.

Checkpoint 7. Middle of nowhere Germany.

4 guards. Floodlights. One truck.

My left hand was ice. My right was fire.

The serum hated being calm.

"Subject 500," the lead guard said. "Hands up."

I didn't raise my hands. I raised my baton.

First move: Kazuo's drill #1. Disarm.

The guard swung. I caught his wrist, twisted, took the baton.

Crack. He dropped.

Second and third rushed me together.

100x reflexes meant I saw it all in slow motion.

Baton up. Block. Spin. Strike to the knee.

Both went down gasping.

The fourth was smart. Taser.

50,000 volts hit my chest and the world went white.

I hit the ground. Teeth chattering.

Not an easy win. Never easy.

Kazuo's voice: "Pain is information. What is it telling you?"

"That I need to get up," I growled.

Ice under their feet. Fire in my palm.

The taser guard slipped. I was on him before he could aim.

One hit. He was out.

I was shaking. Bleeding from my nose.

But I was standing.

Headlights. Kenzo's car.

"You look like hell," he said.

"I feel worse," I answered. "Siberia?"

"Yeah. The files are there. And Ryze..."

"What?"

"Kazuo's file was in the system. Status: KIA."

I gripped the baton until my knuckles went white.

"Then I fight for both of us."

End of Chapter 2