In a conference hall, Kyle, Sarah, Denise, and Michael were staring at a large monitor screen, where they could see files and reports of their new mission. Margaret was standing beside the screen, with a tablet in hand, while discussing the case. “We have reports of hundreds of Polonium discovered in the mountain in Kiev, Ukraine.” She tapped the screen, revealing a map of their target area. “According to the ground Intel, there’s a group of people harvesting them to sell to the highest bidder. I placed Cain on the trail for the buyer, but all of you need to secure those Polonium before the group can successfully harvest them all.” She nodded at Kyle, who stood up, before walking over to the screen.

“Alright, so here’s what we’re going to do.” Kyle picked up his tablet, before turning to the screen. “We can recon the area, along with the nearby villages to see who are we dealing with.” He turned to the group. “It could get rough, but the best thing we could do at this point is to stop them from flying those radioactive metals.”

“But we’re down a man, we can’t just face them all off without the proper manpower.” Sarah pointed out.

Kyle sighed, before staring at Michael, who grew confused. “Well, we do have someone here who’s perfectly qualified for the job.”

“Oh my god.” Denise mumbled, as she sighed.

“Do you think he’d be willing to help us out?” Kyle asked the other man in the room. Michael looked down on the table, before heaving a sigh.

Michael slowly walked over to the training room, where he saw David sparring with a Wing Chun wooden dummy, in a fast-paced motion. He stopped beside the man, before David noticed him. With his final hit, one of the legs of the dummy broke off, as he turned to Michael, while catching his breath from the training. Michael noticed the scars from David’s torso up to his chest, before looking up to his eyes.

“What?” David raised an eyebrow.

Michael gave him a soft smile. “We uh, have a mission in Ukraine, but we’re down one man.” He explained, lightly, towards the other man. “I was hoping…” he paused. “We were hoping if you could join us.”

David crossed his arms, as he stared at Michael, confused and unelated. “You have hundreds of agents in this facility and you couldn’t ask any of them?”

“You were the only one qualified for this type of mission.”

“That’s because I kicked your Captain’s ass in a sparring session.” David taunted, as he turned back to the dummy.

“David.” Michael called him, even though he knew that David would grow furious at the sound of his own name. He then noticed a twitch from David’s eye, as he glanced at the other man. “You said that you had nothing better to do in your life.” He shrugged. “Isn’t this something better? Helping save millions of lives?”

David leaned on the dummy with his arm, making his new tattoo visible. “And what makes you think that I’d even fucking care about those lives?” he spats. “Have you forgotten what I was before you dragged me here?”

“You came here.” Michael pointed out, as he took a step closer to him. “You came here on your own. I just offered you the chance to make your life better.” David stared at him. “I…” Michael looked down. “Honestly, I saw good in you.” He said, before looking back up to him. “I saw that you were actually capable of being good.” David turned away, shaking his head. “But I guess I was wrong…” Michael turned around, as he started walking out of the training room. David turned back to the man, as he watched Michael leave. He pondered for a moment, debating with himself, as he sighed heavily, shaking his head, while staring at the ground. He punched the dummy once more, breaking off the top of its head, before walking out.

At the aircraft bay, Kyle and the team were going up the hangar of the plane, before he glanced at Michael, who was staring at the doors. He placed a hand on Michael’s shoulder, as the man turned to him. “Look, you gave it your best, but sometimes people can’t change overnight.” He said, before entering the plane.

Michael sighed, looking down, before he turned to the hangar. Just before he could enter the plane, David walked past him, surprising the man, as he glanced back. David raised an eyebrow, annoyed. “What?” he asked. Michael had a big smile on his face, as they walked inside together.

During the flight, David met Rebecca Hawkblue, the trained pilot for the team, before Kyle briefed him on the mission and the plan. Less than two hours later, they arrived at a private airbase, before travelling on the road towards the nearest village of their target location. David was holding on to the back of the bovine truck, while Michael was staring at him, feeling delighted of the man’s change of heart. David noticed his stare, before giving him a glare. Michael simply grew amused at the reaction, before turning back to his team.

Night came for the group, before they resided in a small safe house in the village. Kyle, Michael, and Sarah went out for the recon, while Denise and David stayed in the house, preparing their weapons. Denise glanced over at David, who was carrying a large crate over to the other crates beside her. She saw the effortless strength that the man placed in carrying a crate big enough for two men to struggle with in carrying for their own. Denise remembered the Nighthowler case, where she read the reports about the enhanced abilities the serum could give to the recipients.

After placing the crate down, David took a seat, before dusting off his hands. Denise placed her tablet down, before facing the man. “I know that you’ll just ignore my question, but I just want to ask.” David glanced at her, with an inexpressive look. “Why did you decide to become an assassin in the first place?” David raised an eyebrow. “You already escaped that life in the program, so why still become one?” As expected, David ignored the question, as he stood up, before walking out of the room. Denise sighed, shaking her head, before picking up her tablet. “Why did I even try?” she mumbled to herself.

David went out to a balcony, before lighting up a cigarette. He then looked up to the starry skies, noting that he could see the stars perfectly from where they were. The village was quiet, as if no one lived in the area, he noted the lack of engines from cars, as if he travelled back in time, where people use carriages and horses to travel and transport their goods and materials. Another puff from his cigarette, he heard footsteps walking over to him. He took in the familiar scent of a sweet smelling musk, before Michael leaned on the wooden ledge, next to him.

Michael gave him a soft smile, for which David ignored, before taking another puff of smoke. “You know, when I was a kid, my sister and I would sneak out to the backyard and just stare at the skies.” He looked up, with a smile on his face. “We would count all the stars that we could find, before comparing how many we counted.” Michael pointed up. “You see there?” he asked, as David glanced up. “When one of us could see the constellation, it’s an automatic win.” He chuckled. “The winner would do the dishes the next morning or sometimes do the other’s homework.” He sighed, feeling contented at the memory. He glanced at David, who continued to smoke, while looking over at the village. “I miss her, you know?” Michael continued. “Ever since she and my mother left, I knew that I would never see them again.” David slowly glanced at him, noticing the sad look on Michael’s face. “But I never lost hope that someday, I’d get to count the stars with my sister again.” With one last puff, David threw the cigarette butt away, before walking back inside the house. Michael watched him leave, before sighing.

The next morning, Kyle gathered the team in one room. “Alright, so we managed to gather some Intel about the group in the mountains. They’re called the Pahuba.”

“Original.” David mumbled, as he crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair.

“They have at least dozens of men surrounding the mountains, and get this…” Kyle sighed. “They take all the men from the villages, making them work in the mountains.”

“They also smuggled other men and even their sons from villages from Turkey, Istanbul, and from Moldova.” Sarah added to the report. “Word is that they’re not planning on paying those laborers for their time.”

“Here’s the plan.” Kyle opened up a small projection screen in front of them, showing the grip map of the area in the mountains. “Since they’re underground, we can’t just storm inside and start shooting, especially with those amount of hostages in the area.” He pointed at the areas. “We can draw at least half of their men out from the mountains, while half of us could enter the mountain and take the others out.” Kyle turned to the group. “After assessing the area completely, we can create a diversion; long enough to disable their fortified security and make sure that the hostages are safe.” He finished. “Questions?”

David raised his hand, slightly. “Yeah, I have one.” The group turned to him, surprised. “If somehow I knew that we’re fucked, can I get myself out from the mountain and go back home?”

The others groaned, grunted, and sighed from the man’s attitude, while Kyle shakes his head. “The most important thing is to secure both the Polonium and the hostages.” He pointed out. “Our priority is to save as many lives as possible, Addams.” Michael glanced at David, who rolled his eyes. “Any more relevant questions?” the team shook their heads. “Alright, we attack at dawn.”

________________

Note: Pahuba means assassins, murderers, robbers, etc. in Ukrainian.