Middle East.

2003.

An American military convoy was making their way across a vast desert, sand expanding out every direction for hundreds of miles.

Dozens of armored trucks were driving on a road that no longer existed.

War, explosions, and death left more rubble than flat and paved street.

The trucks continued to drive, each one with a large machine gun mounted on top with soldiers dressed nearly head to toe in kevlar armor and helmets.

Inside one of the trucks, one man sat with his hands clasped together. He was leaning forward as he stared blankly, an M16 rifle slung over his torso attached to a long leather strap.

He was clean shaven, young, and had a look of innocence that covered his face, even if his eyes had a burning hatred and rage that was unmistakable.

The other soldiers around him sat, silent with heavy faces.

The only sound was the trucks themselves driving over uneven sand, occasionally running over pieces of gravel or rubble.

It was a quiet day.

Almost too quiet.

The trucks continued to drive forward, ever so slightly shifting and buckling as they moved.

The suspensions of the trucks withstanding all of the bumpy terrain, seemingly having no issue.

After a few seconds of tense silence.

A massive explosion shook the ground beneath them.

The young man turned to look through the windshield, seeing one of the military trucks flung high into the air with smoke and debris flying in every direction.

“Get down!” One person screamed at the top of their lungs.

Another massive explosion erupted from underneath the ground, sending the trunk flipping into the air. The man standing with the machine gun was flung out of his space, his shoulders dislocating as he tried to grip as hard as he could. He screamed in agony, but was then crushed by the trunk landing on top of him, his blood splattering back through the hole and all over the soldiers.

The young man’s eyes went wide as he felt the liquid splash over his face and body. He looked down at all of the blood covering him.

The back doors of the truck flew open as the soldiers quickly ran out.

The sounds of bullets whizzing by made them drop as the young man was the last one to get out from his seat.

He ran towards the doors, but was flung back when a soldier fell on top of him.

The man looked down at the body on top of him, bullet holes all over their head and chest, blood pouring out onto his body and face.

He pushed them off, getting back off and grabbing the gun the corpse was clutching.

He stepped out onto the sandy ground, looking out to see all of his fellow soldiers laying on the ground. Pools of blood large enough to fill ponds staining the dark ground.

The soldier could continue hearing gunfire and bullets flying past his head.

His blood covered body and face with wide, panicking eyes.

Everything was pure chaos around him, the remaining trucks having parked with soldiers firing from the cover in one direction.

But as they sat, bullets suddenly fired out from the opposite direction, turning the men into swiss cheese with ammo that cut through their bodies as well as the metal of the trucks.

The young man took a single step forward.

An explosion of fire and smoke erupted from the ground and sent his body flying into the air. All he saw was black smoke and shrapnel when his leg emerged and became visible, seperated from his body as he came crashing down to the ground.

He didn’t scream in pain.

He just laid on his back staring at the sky.

The bright blue sky with the only clouds being black and gray smoke billowing from the ground.

The man was breathing fast and short breaths as the sounds of violence and suffering only became quieter and less frequent.

The dead bodies were more numerous than the living, fighting soldiers.

Bodies piling up as the trucks were left as pieces of scrap metal held together by screws and bolts.

The young man slowly sat up despite his body being filled with pain and shrapnel.

He looked down at his torso.

His uniform and bullet resistant vest were torn to shreds to expose his skin.

Multiple wounds and holes in his body slowly leaking his own blood.

He looked down more. His right leg was completely blown away below his hip.

The other was a mangled pile of muscle and bone that was struggling to stay attached with a few strings of tendons doing their best to hold on.

He reached around and gripped the M16, the leather strap ripping and tearing after pulling with the slightest amount of strength.

He raised the gun up as figures began to walk towards him from the horizon.

They resembled hallucinations, wavy through the hot air as the soldier continued to breathe the best he could.

The figures became clearer until he was able to make out multiple men dressed head to toe in robes, wielding AK47s and pointing them at each of the soldiers laying on the ground.

One moved ever so slightly, a flurry of bullets suddenly firing out into the body.

The young soldier still alive tried to squeeze the trigger of his gun, but his hands were too weak. His fingers didn’t have the strength to squeeze and fire.

His arm was too weak, dropping to the ground as he continued to sit up.

The men in robes made their way to his body, pointing their guns at him.

He very slowly turned his head to look around to see the five men pointing their guns at him.

He looked back to face forward, then looked up at one of the men.

He tried to spit, but his body struggled to get the momentum to fire it. The blob of blood and saliva barely escaped his lips, falling to the ground as he let out a very pained and hurt sigh.

“Why are you here?” One of the men shouted at him in Arabic.

The man stared, not knowing what they were saying.

“Why are you here?” They shouted louder.

The man stared in extreme pain, yet still had hatred and rage in his eyes.

“Go **** yourself.” He could barely get out as more blood came from his mouth.

The men all began to softly chuckle.

One lifted his rifle, staring right into the man’s eyes.

The barrel moved forward until it was pressing into into his forehead, the still burning metal creating a red ring of burning flesh.

The young soldier gritted his bloody teeth and continued to stare with hatred.

A few seconds of tense silence filled the air as fire and smoke continued to surround them both.

Then, the bullet fired into his brain.

“AHH!”

The young man could feel his body suddenly awaken from a deep sleep.

An intense pain in the middle of his head and even going down to his brain. He was now sitting up in a very hard cot that held a mattress as stiff as a rock.

He looked down at his body.

A body covered in scars and wounds of his past.

His legs were covered by a large, dirty green blanket.

He looked around a very dark room. So dark that he couldn’t really see anything around him.

After a few seconds, loud alarms began to blare.

The darkness suddenly disappeared as hundreds of lights flicked on.

Thousands of bunk beds of identical, unforgiving cots, sat inside of a massive building that almost looked to never end whichever direction you look.

Thousands of men jumped from their beds and quickly got into formation, standing in multiple long lines shoulder to shoulder.

The young man threw his blanket to the side, revealing two mechanical legs of faded brown and black color.

Exposed wires sat between haphazard and uneven shapes as he quickly stood to the side of his bed, fixing his blanket before struggling to get to his spot in line, staring forward with emotionless eyes.

The red ring was still burned into his head, a scar running down the center of it from his hairline down to the top of his nose.

“Attention!” A loud voice screamed from the end of one of the lines, somehow able to carry throughout the entire space and reach every ear.

Everybody went straight and tense in less than a single second. The young man with his mechanical legs tensed, but he could feel the legs beneath him straining and creaking.

The drill sergeant began to walk between two of the lines, peeking at every single young soldier in front of him.

“Private Daniel Barnes!” The sergeant shouted, stopping as they made it in front of the young man.

He tensed up more and lifted his head slightly to stare just above the sergeant’s eyes.

As he tensed, his mechanical legs suddenly snapped, the poorly maintained tubes and wires snapping under the pressure and causing his torso to fall forward as the legs buckled, his right leg bending at a sharp angle but staying upright as he tried his best to position himself.

“Yes sir!” Daniel shouted at the top of his lungs.

“Why did you shout to wake up your fellow soldiers?” The sergeant screamed right into his face.

“I’m sorry sir!” Daniel screamed.

“I didn’t ask for a ******* apology! I asked for a reason!” The sergeant shouted more.

“I had a PTSD episode sir!” Daniel shouted truthfully.

“PTSD? Are you mentally fit to serve soldier?” The sergeant screamed.

“I am going to serve my country sir! Nothing will stop me!” Daniel screamed back.

Daniel kept trying to stand with his broken legs, but they were acting against him.

His left leg completely broke, causing him to fall forward onto the floor, his face next to the sergeant’s feet.

The sergeant looked at other soldiers around him.

“You boy are not serving if you can’t even stand on your feet! Get him out of here!” The sergeant shouted.

Daniel was shocked and almost stopped breathing. His arms pushed his torso up and he tried to break free as the soldiers were lifting him up off the ground. One grabbed each arm while a third picked up the broken legs off the ground.

“You are discharged young man! You will be rewarded for your service!” The sergeant gave Daniel a salute, but Daniel kept trying to break free.

“No! I am going to serve again!” He screamed.

The soldiers carried him out and placed him inside of a armored personal carrier, sitting him inside as he continued to throw his arms around.

The mechanical legs were thrown inside as Daniel finally stopped fighting, breathing hard when the doors shut.

After a few seconds, he screamed at the top of his lungs.

Full of anger that he couldn’t get out any other way.

But then the doors opened again.

He groaned as he saw two very familiar people.

“Good to see you again Daniel.”

One was a woman, dressed in a very professional and tight dress while wearing sunglasses and had her hair perfectly pulled up into a tight bun.

Alongside her was a young man, at least college aged, wearing a graphic t-shirt underneath a open lab coat. He wore cargo shorts and converse shoes while unkept red hair sat on his head.

“If I had legs, I would kick you in your balls repeatedly.” Daniel sounded furious.

“Well that doesn’t sound very nice.” The guy said, pulling out a small cube from his pocket.

He pressed a button, and the small box instantly opened into a large briefcase.

“We have a new idea for you.”

“Absolutely not. Your last idea were these legs and you promised I would be able to serve again. These pieces of shit broke on me!” Daniel screamed, clearly emotional.

“I will pretend to not be hurt by that. But we were offered a deal that would benefit both of us.” He replied quickly.

Daniel looked at him confused and curious.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Daniel asked.

“The United States Government needs a super soldier. An assassin that can do whatever they need. So secretive that the only person he would answer to is the President himself. The most off the grid, Black Ops agent that history has ever seen.” The woman said.

Daniel looked at them both, unsure of what to say.

“I’m no assassin. I’m a solider. I go on the front lines and kill those bastards who dare attack this country.” Daniel replied.

“Well, you are going to be doing that. Just not with the rest of the military or anything. You are your own man who will travel the entire world as a ghost. Nobody will ever know where you are.” The man replied.

“What are you getting out of this?” Daniel asked.

“Well, the government will be working alongside us and our best scientists to turn you into the ultimate killing machine. Your legs will be the most highly advanced piece of technology that the world has ever created. And we’ve already done wonders for you the first time, so with their infinite funding and knowledge, you’ll be set for life.” The man replied as he opened the briefcase, revealing a massive laptop computer with a screen full of sensitive government information.

“And a bonus is that as long as you are a soldier, my company will be given full tax breaks. So I kind of need you to be alive for a few decades.” The man replied.

Daniel scoffed and looked at the doors, staring and contemplating for a few seconds.

“If I do this…what would that look like?” Daniel asked.

The man was about to respond, but was cut off by the woman.

“You will be horrifically experimented on. Your muscles, bones, tendons, and organs will all be rewritten and genetically modified so that you can withstand any and all pain that would slow down a normal soldier. Your brain will basically be turned into a supercomputer. You’ll still be able to think as a human, so you won’t lose any morality or things like that. You’ll just be able to think faster and create more split second decisions whenever you need to. Also be able to remember millions of more things. Aside from that, your body will be stronger and more durable than any human being on the planet.” She said.

“You started to say the same things again but whatever. It will be a way to keep this world safe.” The man took over and leaned forward.

“Fuck the world. I’m going to do it for my country. The greatest country in the world.” Daniel said, sitting up straight.

The man didn’t agree right away, clasping his heads together as his head swayed subtly.

“Yeah alright. Let’s do it for our country.”

Daniel was laying on a cold, hard metal table.

He stared up into lights blinding him.

All over his body was straps, keeping him down and unable to move.

“Are you ready Daniel?” A loud voice asked through some sort of speaker.

Daniel took a long and deep breath.

Ths was the first time he felt nervous in years.

“Yes sir.” Daniel replied.

“We won’t be sedating you for this. We need to make sure that your organs and brain don’t try to reject the drugs or tech.” The voice said.

Daniel’s face changed to one of confusion. He tried to sit up, but he couldn’t move anything.

“Wait…did you say…”

Before he could finish, a drill suddenly stabbed into the back of his skull.

Daniel immediately screamed at the top of his lungs, the drill going deeper and deeper into his skull as blood poured out.

As that was happening, a hundred needles stabbed into his body from different angles, injecting him with a wide variety of liquid and drugs.

Daniel’s eyes went completely blank and emotionless as he laid on the table.

A pair of robotic legs were carried over by large mechanical arms.

The legs had wires sticking out that resembled arteries and nerves.

Daniel’s stubs for legs were suddenly sliced open and the skin spread out to look inside.

Smaller arms suddenly popped out and grabbed hold of his nerves and arteries down in his hips and waist, forcing them to stretch out and connect with the wires of the legs.

Sudden and violent shocks filled his body as his eyes rolled back.

Everything happening at once, his body being overloaded by pain and suffering.

Every organ was screaming and burning as they tried their best to run.

The drill hit Daniel’s brain before suddenly pulling out very quickly.

Multiple needles stabbed into the hole at the same time, stabbing into his brain and immediately causing Daniel’s body to start spasming and seizuring on the table.

After the needles all pulled out, his body was laying limp and lifeless.

“Daniel?” The voice asked.

Silence.

“Well…I don’t think it worked.”

The man speaking was the one wearing the shirt and lab coat. He was sitting in a chair, staring at multiple monitors full of vital signs and other readings.

“We’ll just have to find another candidate.” The woman said, leaning forward to look closer at the wall of data.

“Omni really needs a win. I don’t think we’ll find anybody like Daniel. We need that killing machine.” He replied.

“Mr. Chetman. We have multiple failed soldiers before this. We need to keep pushing. The world needs a…”

Daniel’s vitals all suddenly fired off at the same time.

His eyes opened wide as he screamed, ripping through the straps as if they were made of paper. He fell to the ground and began to vomit a violent stream of blood right onto the floor.

His body was violently shaking and shivering, every square inch of his body drenched and soaked in his own sweat.

The back of his head was still split open, the blood pooling and soaking into his skin as he kept violently coughing and gasping.

“Well…shit.” Mr. Chetman said, quickly jumping up and running into the room.

Daniel slowly stopped coughing, his body still shaking and covered in hundreds if not thousands of scars and wounds that were still fresh.

“Daniel?” Mr. Chetman asked.

Daniel’s eyes were darting around before he began to slowly push himself with his hands.

He looked down, seeing the robotic legs supporting his weight on the knees.

He slowly began to sit up, lifting his arms off the ground and looking down in near shock that he wasn’t falling over.

He looked down at his hands, then back down at the ground.

He very, very slowly began to shift his weight to one side.

His leg slowly shifted and bent with ease, the bottom of the robotic foot planting into the ground before pushing hard and lifting his body into the air.

His other leg swung out before going straight and touching the ground in the same manner.

Daniel looked down, almost losing his balance as he wasn’t used to being this high up.

He grabbed the table, almost falling as his legs were subtly shaking, like they were real and weak legs.

Daniel was panting hard and tried to stand up straight again, his hands very slowly releasing from the metal.

His legs were still shaking, responding perfectly to his brain and nervous system.

Mr. Chetman and the nameless woman stood to the side, watching on in silence as Daniel looked down again.

He was finally able to get his legs to stop shaking, the shining metal reflecting light in every direction.

Daniel very slowly and carefully began to shift his weight to one side.

His other leg very slowly and cautiously lifted off the ground.

His other leg was beginning to shake again, but he managed to make it stop rather quickly.

Daniel took one, very long and labored breath.

He moved his other leg forward, gliding slowly through the air.

He nearly lost his balance, extending his arms out as a way to stay centered on his leg. He didn’t plant the other one down yet. He kept it in the air and waited.

It took a few seconds, but he managed to fix it.

He put his foot forward, toes first before slowly lowering more and more.

The metal feet were perfectly identical to a human foot. Five toes that all moved around with his thoughts, as if they were his real body parts.

Daniel swallowed hard before shifting his weight to the other leg, lifting his first one off of the ground,

He began to lose his balance again, so he carefully put his arms out in order to keep his balance.

“How do you feel?” Dr. Chetman asked, finally breaking the silence.

“I…I…” Daniel kept looking down as he moved his legs, continuing to very slowly walk.

He resembled a small child, learning how to walk for the first time.

He chuckled, smiling wide from excitement and joyous shock.

“I can walk.” Daniel said.

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly burst into tears. He loudly began to cry, continuing to walk as he did so.

Tears of pure happiness ran down his face as he kept letting out short bursts of laughter and ecstatic wonder.

“I can walk!” Daniel shouted as he started to walk normally and easily.

He had gotten used to it quickly, walking as if he had never lost in legs in the first place.