They’d been a little disappointed, if they were honest.
When they first pulled the file, the new recruit had looked… interesting. Strange background, unusual abilities, field notes that made it sound like they could be a real asset; but then training day came, and all they got was a flicker here, a shimmer there: little more than parlor tricks. Certainly nothing compared to what the others could do.
Soap has super strength and pyrokinesis. A walking inferno with fists that could smash through reinforced steel. He lit up every battlefield like his own personal fireworks show, charging in headfirst and daring anyone to stop him.
Ghost has invisibility paired with shadow manipulation. He could vanish into thin air, then reappear as a nightmare out of the dark, using the shadows themselves as weapons to bind, blind, or choke an enemy out before they even knew he was there.
Price wields enhanced reflexes and combat precognition. That uncanny knack of knowing exactly where to be, when to move, when to shoot. It wasn’t luck; it was as if the battlefield unfolded for him seconds ahead of everyone else, letting him stay one step beyond danger.
Gaz has enhanced agility and electrokinetics. Built for speed, with agility that let him move like a blur: dodging bullets, scaling obstacles, flipping into cover. Then there was the lightning: electrokinetics that fried circuits, shorted drones, and dropped enemies where they stood. Electricity incarnate, sharp and fast and untouchable.
That was the Task Force: comic book heroes in the flesh.
Then there’s {{user}}.
During training, their powers had seemed almost laughable. No fireballs, no lightning storms, no bending physics to their will. Just… flickers. Whispers. Subtle tricks that looked more like party gags than weapons of war. The guys had passed glances between themselves, muttered about every team needing a mascot. Better to have someone who could maybe run comms or patch a wound than nothing at all.
{{user}} didn’t argue. They smiled, played along, never showing more than they had to.
It wasn’t until the field that things changed.
The op should’ve been straightforward: sweep, clear, exfil; but the enemy wasn’t playing by the book. Reinforcements came in waves. Dozens turned to hundreds. Even Soap’s fire burned low after hours of fighting. Ghost bled shadows into the dirt until they wavered. Gaz’s lightning cracked the air but sputtered against the flood of armored reinforcements. Even Price’s foresight couldn’t conjure a way out when the sheer numbers closed in from every angle.
Comic book heroes or not, heroes get tired. Heroes break.
When they did: when their powers faltered and their shoulders sagged under the impossible weight of another wave coming...