The Story of Yeling Mah

Chapter 1 - Introductions

"Yeah, we're gonna have a problem." The new recruit said, as he flipped his knives, eyeing our Squad Leader. Matt narrowed his eyes.

"Do we now." Matt mused.

The new guy, Flint, stepped forward with his knife in hand, his other hand hovering over his handgun. This was gonna get bad. And not for Matt.

Flint is supposedly a top rate mercenary. Highly trained. Initially a member of the Infantry Unit in the New Ulysses Military Force until his defection because he did some naughty naughty with the women during one of his raids. In exchange for their freedom. Well, actually, he did the thing, then he shot them afterwards. He was found out, and exiled to death row, because a lot of other crimes were uncovered.

Then Lord Taras picked him up. Since then, Flint has been part of our squad. Squad Four of the Contingency Initiative. A company who's sole purpose is to advance The Second Great War, and raze this stupid ass world to the ground.

Do I care? No. Of course not. I hate this world. Like everybody in our Squad, we all have a grudge on how this world has been operated. Some of us, struggling, and ignored.

Anyway, enough with the background. Gotta watch Flint get his ass kicked.

Matt watched as Flint began showing off his knife tricks.

"I'm a top rate killer in the army. I've pinned down and taken out some real dangerous targets. You're telling me some whack ass 22 year old kid is gonna be my leader? Hell no. So I'm gonna be real nice. You make me Squad Leader, and I'll spare you the humiliation in front of your squad there."

"You asshole, Squad Lead Matt is going to kick your ass!" Whitney shouted. Lewis had to pull her back.

"Chill out Whitney! My god. He's not gonna sleep with you." Lewis grumbled.

Whitney continued to fangirl Matt as he held out his hand.

"Let's make something real clear, Mister Army Dude." Matt said, coldly. "I don't give a shit about being the leader of this stupid team. Quite frankly, I don't give a shit about the members here. They can do whatever they want. Kill whoever they want. They could even kill each other. I don't care. But someone needs to pull this dumbass team together and have a level head, for Taras. You're clearly not fit to be a leader. So I'm gonna go ahead and say come at me."

Flint smirked, as he threw his knife at Matt's face. The knife pierced him right through as Flint took out his handgun and began firing at his chest, peppering Matt with bullets. Flint was so fast I couldn't even register his movements, almost like within a split second he had already peppered Matt with bullets.

"Wow." Flint said, as he turned to us. "That was disappointedly quick."

I tried to hold back a laugh. Whitney glared at Flint. "You really think you won? What kind of professional are you?"

Flint stopped playing with his knife, as suddenly, Matt's body dissipated into black mist.

"The hell?" Flint muttered.

A clone. A Senkaku clone, actually. Matt's Level 3 Dogma power.

Suddenly, a shadow flew in, and knocked Flint to the ground. Flint held out a flash bang grenade, and the shadow leapt into the air. Immediately, the grenade and the shadow switched places, and Flint stared at the real Matt in shock, as Matt grabbed Flint's face and turned it, forcing him to watch as the now airborne flash bang exploded, blinding him.

Matt chuckled as he grabbed Flint's head and slammed him the ground. Two more clones manifested, each pinning down Flint's limbs.

"Fighting skill. Deception. Sabotage. Tactics. Redirection. Everything you have, I have more of it." Matt said, as he began to twist. I heard bones crack as Flint growled in pain. Matt continued.

"You're basing your aptitude to being a Squad Leader off of these abilities. That's real sad. You're basically a shittier version of me." Matt taunted.

Flint closed his eyes in pain. "Dammit..." He muttered.

Matt let go, as Flint sprawled on the ground, breathing hard.

"Remember your place, trash. You serve ME. You do as I say. Defy me again, and I might just go ahead and ask Lord Taras for another recruit. You're not worth my time at the moment, so I'll give you two weeks to make it up. If you can't impress me by then, I'll take that as we need a new Squad member."

Matt's tattooed arm reverted back into its shadowy form, manifesting a sharp blade.

"Basically it means I'm going to have to kill you." He said.

Flint said nothing, as he struggled to his feet. Whitney stepped forward, but Matt held out his arm.

"Do not heal him."

Classic Matt. The guy was such a chad. I wish I was as ruthless. We went back to the main room, locking Flint in his room until he had recovered. Thankfully, his injuries weren't that serious. At least I hoped.

"So, Captain..." Whitney said, coyly. "Want to have a drink with me tonight?"

"No." Matt said, dismissively, as he left the hideout. Whitney looked disappointed, as Lewis snickered.

Matt looked at me. "Don't forget about your mission, Yeling. I want status report by tonight so Charlie doesn't get on my damn case about missing paperwork."

Yeah, if it wasn't already obvious, Whitney is in love with Matt, and she doesn't hesitate to show it. I guess I could kind of understand where she was coming from.

According to Lewis, before she had joined the Contingency Initiative, Whitney was in a relationship with her old boyfriend, and he always abused her. Despite that, she clung onto him desperately because he was the source of all the income. She had no way of getting a job at New Ulysses, since she had a criminal record and a drug addiction. To make matters worse, she had a really traumatic past. Something about watching her parents die when she was little. So she couldn't get family support either.

At some point, Whitney discovered her powers of regeneration. Following that, she turned to robbery, but of course, she wasn't too good at the whole secret identity thing, and her boyfriend found out. Blah blah blah. More abuse. More drama. At some point, her efforts were recognized by Taras Pax, the leader and founder of the Contingency Initiative, who took her in. He placed her in Squad Four (our squad), under the supervision of Matthew Lam, "The Mirage".

But obviously, Matt didn't approve. He wanted squad members who could handle themselves. So he decided to help Whitney out. And by help, I mean helping the "Matt way". That night, Matt and Whitney went to her house, and Matt told Whitney to kill her boyfriend. Whitney was too scared, but Matt told her the only way to move on would be to kill him, because she was already at a point of no return. She had already done so much criminal acts, there would be no way for her to return to a normal life.

I think that night where Whitney killed her boyfriend was where the true Whitney died. Because since then, she had supposedly never been the same. She became obsessed with killing and stuff. And also she saw Matt as her saviour. Her knight in shining armour that saved her from her abusive relationship.

To this day, she still feels the same way about Matt. If I'm going to be honest, I think Whitney cares more about jumping Matt than the Second Great War. I mean, it's not like I'm complaining. To each their own. As long as she does her part.

I left the hideout and got into a black van, as members of the CI drove me to the spot for deployment. I got off and transferred to a chopper, that flew high in the sky. The pilot spoke into the coms.

"Alright Tidalflame. I want a clean elimination of the plant. No survivors, got that?"

I nodded, grinning maniacally. "Yeah. It'd be my pleasure sir."

No survivors.

Pure elimination.

I put on my mask, which illuminated an HUD on the right side of my face. The mask was a gift from Taras ever since I had unlocked Level 2 of my Dogma. The entire right side of my face was crippled and scarred, meaning if I ever was on mission for stealth, I could easily be identified. Sometimes I took the mask off as a scare factor, but usually, it served double purpose. For identity clearance and for that HUD. Wasn't anything fancy, but it did give me a read on how many survivors were there.

The hatch door opened, and wind breezed through me. I looked down at the power plant that powered the Lifestream Company. This was a requirement to complete Phase 2 Q1 of our Second Great War advancement initiative. There were several phases. Each comprised of Quarters. Each quarter was divided into numerous missions to complete.

My mission was to completely annihilate this plant. Only one person was needed, and with my destructive powers, I was more than adequate to complete the job. Squad 4 was tasked to destroy things, an annihilation unit. So I was a natural fit for the team.

I leapt from the hatch and descended below, slowing the fall as I closed my eyes.

Level 2 Intangibility - Devil's Comet I said, as my body completely converted into ghostly blue flames, hitting the ground in a massive wave of fire.

"The hell was that?!" Someone shouted from the recon tower.

"It was like a comet. The proxy is.... it's a person!" Another said.

I reverted back to human form, as numerous guards approached me with their guns drawn.