RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

Silence fell over the command room. Johannes continued, slower this time.

”Breaking through concrete leaves scars. Repairing concrete leaves seams. Even if they had time, even if they were careful, the material should not look old, damp, and whole.”

Hans’s fingers tapped once against the table.

”So either they never passed through...”

”Or they passed through in a way I cannot explain,” Johannes finished.

Kimmy’s blindfolded face tilted slightly toward them.

Yunera noticed and frowned. ”Kimmy?”

Kimmy did not answer immediately.

Hans glanced at her, but Johannes spoke first.

”Commander, this part is no longer standard SAS,” Johannes warned.

Hans did not answer. His mind went back to Tyrus’s explanation.

------

There are four ways a living thing becomes a higher form of life.

Somatic. Enhancement of the body.

Cognitive. Enhancement of the mind.

Perceptual. Awareness becomes the weapon.

Elemental. Resonance to the universe.

------

Elemental.

The word remained on Hans’s mind longer than he expected.

”Commander?” Johannes spoke out of concern. The Commander had been silent for too long.

”Are you uncertain?” Kimmy interrupted.

Hans slowly opened his eyes. He looked at Kimmy, while everyone else did the same.

”You can read my mind?”

”Kind of,” Kimmy answered vaguely.

Yunera stiffened. ”Kind of?”

”I said kind of,” Kimmy didn’t bother to clear Yunera’s confusion.

As if that solved anything, Yunera rolled her eyes.

Hans ignored their slight banter. ”Then we should be thinking of the same thing.”

Kimmy nodded. ”Elemental.”

Johannes looked between them. ”Elemental?”

Hans’s fingers slid down the report folder. ”One of the four HELIX axes Tyrus mentioned.”

”I thought the last one was a joke,” Yunera said.

”You don’t believe him?” Hans replied while inwardly mocking her. My transmigration is already magical. What can be more ridiculous than that?

”It’s ridiculous,” Yunera argued. ”People strengthening their bodies is one thing. People sensing things from afar, that’s another. But to control nature itself?”

The room went quiet.

Hans let out a smirk. ”You don’t have to believe it yet. I already know where this is going.”

”How come you know I will believe it soon?” Yunera snorted, still disbelieving Hans and Tyrus’s words.

Kimmy lowered her head slightly.

”Sister. There was a wall that should have been damaged, but it wasn’t. Tunnels that should have tool marks, but the reports said they were too clean. And a horde that should have noticed the post but didn’t.”

As she spoke, strands of her hair slowly lifted. A faint pink aura formed around her body, outlining her figure in soft light.

Within her mind, each scene played vividly as if she was there herself together with the soldiers.

Every touch. Every smell. Every sensation that one felt during that time.

And then... the vision vanished, sucked toward the void.

Kimmy felt a hand resting on her right shoulder. Hans?

”Kimmy,” Hans said. ”That’s enough.”

His voice was unnaturally calm, considering what had just happened.

Callum narrowed his eyes, contemplating about the Commander’s actions.

Johannes and Yunera were bewildered about Kimmy’s sudden outburst of her power.

As their minds finally settled, the pink aura around Kimmy flickered before fading back into her body. The strands of her golden hair slowly fell over her shoulders.

Yunera’s eyes remained locked on her sister, caught between disbelief and fear.

Kimmy exhaled shakily. ”I...”

”Your powers have grown,” Hans cut her off.

Kimmy lifted her blindfolded face toward him. ”I did not mean to.”

”That’s how it usually starts.”

Hans shrugged, removing his hand from her shoulder. Then he looked back at the report.

”But that was no simple perception.”

Johannes gulped and leaned closer to Hans. ”Did she join the recon?”

”No,” Hans replied softly. ”In fact, she was asleep during all of that.”

”Impossible.”

”You think so?”

”How can someone reconstruct scenes even if they weren’t there?”

”I don’t know,” Hans pointed his thumb at Kimmy. ”You can ask her.”

Might as well not say anything! Johannes was at a loss.

Yunera finally snapped out of her stupor, moving closer to Kimmy. ”Stop talking about her like she’s a goddamn laboratory report!”

”No one is touching her,” Hans clarified. ”But we are not ignoring what just happened either.”

”Hmph!” She placed herself slightly beside Kimmy. ”Don’t ask her. She doesn’t know it herself either.”

Kimmy lowered her head. ”I... I really don’t.”

Hans looked at her for a moment, then back at the table. ”Then we’ll treat it as an unknown development.”

”Commander,” Johannes said slowly. ”You are taking this rather calmly.”

Hans smiled faintly. ”I do take everything calmly. That doesn’t mean I like it all the time.”

His finger returned to the word in the report.

Smooth passage. Intact wall. Dead sewer infected.

”Kimmy’s power can wait,” Hans emphasized. ”Cell 7 cannot.”

Yunera snorted, gently pulling Kimmy away from Hans and the table.

Kimmy didn’t resist, though Hans’s words meant that the topic would shift somewhere she might be needed.

On the other hand, Johannes took a deep breath.

”This elemental type of superhuman,” he paused. ”Our SAS archives did not detail this. Does the Commander know more about it?”

”Tyrus did,” Hans replied. ”His explanation was vague, as always. The point is that this type of superhuman may be able to interfere with natural elements or matter itself.”

”That powerful?”

”That’s what the scientist told me. I am uncertain if it is true, but we have to assume the worst.”

Silence embraced the room.

Callum didn’t say anything. He was a bodyguard, not a tactical advisor.

Yunera had no plans to talk either. She already had a hunch that Kimmy might be called upon again.

The golden-haired girl clenched her fists, seemingly having the intention to put herself into another task once more.

And Johannes... was unsure. Should I talk? But what if the Commander rejects it?

His mind had weighed several options a lot of times.

To him, ignoring Cell 7 was out of the window. Accidental contact with Hans’s soldiers in the future could turn hostile. As to whoever might end up worse, Johannes would largely bet on Hans’s forces.

But pursuing Cell 7 was a monumental task itself. The receiver could still be present, but only Marcus had any chance of making it usable in the short term.

Whether it could pick up Cell 7’s mysterious frequency—that was another matter entirely.

And using Kimmy to track them all was riskier as well.

They may interpret any pursuit as a threat. Worse, if they detect any unusual probing, these agents may go defensive or retaliate.

Some SAS agents are no different from snakes, Johannes remarked. Spook them too much, and they might bite back.

He closed his eyes. In a moment, he finally concluded.

”Commander,” Johannes finally said.

Finally done thinking? Hans looked at him. ”Speak.”

”I suggest we do not chase Cell 7.”

Callum and his Commander raised a brow.

”Explain.”

”If they are following fallback protocol, then any direct pursuit will be treated as hostile pressure. If they have an Elemental-type superhuman, and it could be very powerful as you’ve said, then the terrain belongs to them more than to us.”

Hans did not reject it.

”Then what do you suggest?”

”Recover the receiver. Try to reach the fallback channel. If they answer, I will speak first.”

”And if they don’t?”

”Then we guard the routes and leave them untouched.”

”I see,” Hans tapped on the table.

At that moment, Kimmy’s lips tightened. ”I can help.”

Yunera immediately turned. ”Sister...”

Kimmy shook her head. ”Please, do not stop me, sister.”

Hans cut in. ”Your powers are still developing. If it bursts as it did today, it might spook our targets.”

He has no reason to make use of her unstable power in a live intelligence operation.

”Then should I wait around here?” Kimmy insisted.

”Who told you that?” Hans was confused.

”Didn’t you say that to me?” she argued.

”I just said your powers are still developing,” Hans rolled his eyes. ”I didn’t say you would not train with it.”

”Oh... okay,” Kimmy blushed, clasping her hands together in embarrassment.

”I’ll find a way to help you train,” Hans waved his hand in resignation. ”Yunera, Johannes, and your team too. Before that receiver is fixed, everyone needs to be ready.”

”Understood,” Johannes answered, a faint eagerness coming from his voice.

He barely had an idea about the HELIX’s effects to his body. With the opportunity to train, he felt that he could unravel more secrets about HELIX and its effects.

Hans glanced at Kimmy and Yunera.

”As for you two, training starts after breakfast.”

Yunera frowned. ”Breakfast first?”

Hans looked at her as if she had asked something ridiculous.

”You can train with your stomach empty. Don’t blame me if you collapse mid-session. Everyone else, let’s go eat first.”