Ivan Kravchenko stood up, binoculars pressed up against his face as he scanned the battlefield in front of him. He knew the situation was bad, but he didn't think it was this bad. "Jesus fuck. Officer. We've got a.. issue. Over." He spoke over the radio to his commanding officer, who was already listening intently for his subordinates to give reports. "What is it, Sergeant Kravchenko? I got two reports saying we're clear to advance. What do you possibly see?"

  "Officer Markov," Ivan said, "I believe I spot two ambushes. One in our hard point to the west, and another on our right flank." Markov scoffed at the notion, not believing the 47-year-old sergeant for a second. "Ivan, we've been over this. There is no ambush." Markov's voice sounded pained and tired. "I've already had intelligence check the areas for possible ambushes twice this morning. This is the third time in six months you've said there was an ambush, how can I believe you?"

  "Sir, I told you, I've awakened as of six months ago, and that my power is the perception of energies relating to the awakening. I promise you what I see is no delusion, lie, or deceit. I can tell you now with absolute confidence that our enemy has at least two awakened among them with power of stealth." He wasn't lying, either. Six months ago, during a covert mission to capture and take hold of a major power grid in enemy territory, he awakened.

  …

  “Sergeant Kravchenko, sir, why do we have to take this route when we can move freely with cover of night?” One of the new junior sergeants, who everybody calls Palka, asked Ivan as they and their squad scouted the city from the rooftop of a tower only a kilometer away from the downtown area. “Palka, do you need me to explain this to you? Yes, you’re right. The dark of night will most definitely provide us with the most cover when trying to reach the grid operations building, so much so that we could walk right in the open with our dicks out and they’d never see us.” Ivan paused for a moment, letting the words sink in as his new subordinate processed his words.

  “However, there are two reasons why we leave in the middle of the day as opposed to night. First, we have to take our timeline into consideration. The more we push this mission back, the more advantage the enemy has. They can take longer to prepare for us, they have more time to figure out what we’re up to, and they can find our position with enough time spent scouting the area. We can’t hide forever. Second, they definitely expect us to strike at night. They may not know our exact objective, but if they were to guess when we’d be in the area, it’d be at night. It’s obvious.” Ivan continued to grill poor Palka on strategy in war for another five minutes as everybody got ready. Palka kept on asking questions, which irked Ivan to the point of giving him a headache. “Stop, just stop Palka, we’ve got only ten minutes until we move out.”

  Ivan decided to cut off Palka once and for all, stopping the kid in his tracks.

  “But what about the awakened? What if they have one?” Palka asked, bringing up a point that nobody wanted to talk about. “Palka, my boy, do you know how long it's been since the first ‘awakened’ appeared?”

  “One month, sir,” Palka mumbled under his breath.

  “Now, where did this supposed awakening happen?” Now Ivan was just being a dick, but Palka earned it in his eyes. “It happened in Ohio, a territory of the United States. The first known Awakened was Emilio Estrada, who claims to have awakened light-based powers after undergoing some sort of extreme transformation of sorts. There have been other reports around the world, but they have yet to be confirmed, Sergeant Kravchenko.”

  Ivan was listening, but he zoned out after his headache got worse. He began to sweat, and Palka noticed, a look of concern painting his face. “Sir, are you okay? You’re sweating bullets, and it isn’t even 17 degrees outside.” Ivan wanted to say he was okay, but he couldn’t think straight. His heart was pounding, his headache was getting worse, and, worst of all, he felt a constant stabbing pain in his eyes. “Ah, fuck,” Ivan moaned, not able to hide the pain. His eyes were squeezed shut, any light instantly overwhelming him. He stayed this way for five minutes, his entire squad keeping a close eye on him as they got ready. After that, Ivan opened his eyes, and everything seemed… different.

  Perhaps it was his headache messing with his sense of sight, or his eyes malfunctioning, but the world looked more vibrant, which was stupid considering most of the city was just gray towers, black roads, and a few trees. Every color felt more colorful, every tree looked more alive, and Ivan’s eyesight was much better than even his eyesight in his twenties. Ivan sighed. Of course, he’d suddenly found himself with the eyesight of a camera lens right after Palka mentioned Awakened to him. “Stupid coincidence,” Ivan huffed under his breath.

  After 15 minutes Ivan and his squad were on the ground in black stealth suits. They were positioned in an alley which gave them more than enough shade to move unseen to even a trained eye. For this mission, they would take advantage of the incredible amount of shade cast by the towers of the downtown part of the city. Their suits were made to blend in with natural shadows very well, especially in this urban environment that existed in shades of black and gray.

  They had to navigate the city using as many alleys as possible, only walking in the open when absolutely necessary, activating the electrochromic function of the suits. With the press of a button, their suits would turn the color of the road for only 2 minutes total, so they had to use the functions sparingly, especially if they needed to abort the mission and make it back to their makeshift camp quickly.

  Ivan had total confidence in his team, with Palka being the only wildcard. He was transferred into this unit as part of this covert operation to take the city’s power grid quietly, as to avoid a battle for the city. If they had power over electricity in this area, they would effectively capture it, forcing both military force and civilian populace to leave the area. This would allow the army to advance without wasting resources and causing undue bloodshed.

  Ivan was meant for this.

  The mission started off without a hitch, although Palka seemed unusually nervous, but Ivan had no time to scold him. They were on the clock, and Ivan couldn’t afford the plan to be off by even a minute. The hardest part was crossing the road, as they all had to activate electrochromic mode on their suits at the same time to avoid being caught out in the open. However, to everyone’s surprise, it went off without a hitch, everyone able to turn off their EC mode with a good 90 seconds of power left. It was only as they got extremely close to their objective that shit hit the fan.

  Ivan, who had still been dealing with the remnants of the killer migraine from earlier, turned the corner as he was only a few buildings away from the power grid operator’s building. Of course, his squad moved with caution, taking care to check buildings for anyone watching before turning a corner. Ivan, however, was dealing with anxiety. Yep, that’s right- Ivan was anxious, like a bitch. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he was seeing things. One moment, he saw what looked like the shadow of a person watching them. Reflexively, he turned on a swivel and pointed the gun at the figure, but when he did, it disappeared, leaving a wisp of transparent… something behind. That, too, disappeared.

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  His entire squad looked at him with a hint of confusion and worry on their faces. “Sergeant Kravchenko, I know you’ve been ill, but do you need to stay behind? You know better than anyone you can’t compromise this mission. If you do, we might have a war crime on our hands,” Sergeant Petrov said to Ivan. “No, no, Petrov. I’m okay. Thought I saw something in the shadows.”

  Once again, Ivan was not okay. He was very not okay. He was stuck with this feeling that he was being watched, and if there’s anything a soldier working in covert ops hates, it’s that exact feeling. Of course, if he explained this to his fellow soldiers and comrades, they would understand, but they would also be just as on edge as him. He couldn’t risk fucking up the whole mission just because he was paranoid. No matter how paranoid he was.

  “For Yuri,” Ivan whispered under his breath, invoking his daughter’s- yes, daughter’s- name. Recently, as a way to redeem himself in his own eyes, he would dedicate every mission to her, hoping to one day be able to stand proud next to her, even though his soon to be ex-wife would rather him die in action.

  He now moved in silence with his squad, although he couldn’t shake the nagging feeling he was being watched. He checked his surroundings and came up empty, so he’d have to live with paranoia for now. As they approached the feeling got worse, and Ivan swore he could see the invisible outline of a person walking alongside them. He stared at it, but it didn’t disappear this time.

  He took his eyes away, moving toward the building. He took the lead, placing a silent charge on the door. They all moved to a safe distance, and a muffled explosion rang out, letting the squad know it was time to move.

  Ivan motioned, and they entered the building one at a time, weapons ready to fire. They scanned their surroundings for any signs of enemy soldiers or traps. Ivan moved to place a local miniature EMP on both of the cameras in the hallway leading up to the room. It was smart on the enemy’s part, disguising the operator’s room as a part of a non-existent apartment complex tower, but Ivan knew better. They moved quietly, and, after getting the all-clear, Ivan opened the door to the operator’s room.

  In there, everything looked as it should: There were the levers and controls one would expect, and there was only one man sitting in the chair in the room. He would have to be the sole casualty of the mission, but Ivan would give him the mercy of a quick death. He knew he wouldn’t want to suffer.

  He slowly crept up to the middle-aged man, who wore a green vest with a black shirt beneath. He probably had a wife and kids at home, but he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He raised his rifle at the man, about to shoot him, when the nagging presence moved in front of him- and made himself visible, shocking everyone.

  “Gotcha, bitch.” Ivan found himself with a gun pointed at his forehead, in shock as the outline of a person slowly faded into existence, revealing a slim young man wearing a simple military uniform. It was form-fitting, and the man didn’t wear a helmet, letting his buzzed blond hair shimmer as the fluorescent light revealed him.

  It was as if time itself froze. The shit-eating grin of the young, definitely Awakened soldier was unmoving as Ivan willed himself to somehow do anything, moving to raise his gun to his adversary’s stomach. Before he could fire his rifle, however, the man simply kicked away the gun and moved to pull the trigger, but Ivan reacted faster than he could think.

  Instinctively, Ivan raised his left palm and struck at the hand wielding the pistol, pushing it out of his face. Before he could disarm the man, though, a loud bang rang out. It was so loud that Ivan almost went deaf from the ringing in his ear. Without thinking, he tackled the man before he could press what he could only assume was an S.O.S. button hidden in his breast pocket. Ivan disarmed the man, taking the pistol and shoving it in his eye socket. He felt it squish the man’s eyeball, but he didn’t care. He pressed further and pulled the trigger, a bang, splat, and crunch ringing out all at once. He raised the pistol at the operator, who had turned around and was shaking, and shot him too, hitting him square between the eyebrows and killing him instantly. He slumped in his chair and lifelessly fell to the ground.

  Ivan turned back toward his squad, then looked at the ground as he saw what could only be described as suffering. Palka had a bullet hole in his neck, and he made odd gasping sounds as he tried to breathe. Ivan went numb. Not wanting Palka to suffer anymore than he had to, Ivan shot Palka in the head, ending his misery.

  Of course he had to kill his own man because of his fuck-up. If maybe he had acted on his paranoia, this wouldn’t have happened, and the mission would have been flawless. They may not have even had to kill the worker guy.

  Ivan had another glaring problem, though. He was thoroughly convinced of it after the young Awakened soldier appeared in front of him. He, too, had now awakened.

  That day, Ivan and his squad barely recovered the mission, taking the grid unnoticed and preventing an all-out battle with its consequences. With Palka’s death, he swore to never be so stupid ever again.

  …

  Back in the present, Ivan pressed his point further. “Officer Markov, you remember what happened on the power grid mission, right? I had awakened then, and I told you. I would never let this power go to waste. I will prove it to you. Let me go out there with my squad, and I will show you what an Awakened can do, even if he’s old.

  Officer Markov, knowing that Ivan was the senior of the two, relented, deciding to trust that crazy bastard.

  Markov and his squad, now with a new member to fill in the space left by Palka, descended from his scouting position, moving through his army’s base. They moved quickly, forgoing any stealth. They decided to move for the ambush lying in wait at the hardpoint. Ivan focused, and saw the outlines of energy surrounding 4 people lying near a tree next to the hardpoint. He motioned for his men to follow, and walked past the hardpoint, pretending not to notice the obvious ambush led by an Awakened. This one had the ability to not only cloak himself, but others in a certain radius from his body. That was Ivan’s guess anyway.

  Ivan’s squad wrapped around the perimeter and, at Ivan’s behest, got into position. There was one man on lookout, making sure no one was around, but the other four including Ivan got into odd positions based on Ivan’s instructions. At this point, they moved in silence. Once they were all set, Ivan and the others pointed their silenced guns at the ground, and fired. As soon as they did, blood began to spray as heads were filled with lead. Their stealth was broken alongside their brains. “You see this, Officer Markov?”

  Ivan then stomped over to the next position at the right flank with his squad. Ivan walked right in front of the person he was sure was the stealth user, and fired his weapon, his squadron following suit. “You see? DO YOU SEE THIS- AH!” Without warning, Ivan was shot in the shoulder. “You got me wrong, Russian. Yeah, I’m Awakened, just like you, but my power wasn’t stealth. It’s momentary deflection.” Ivan, wrought with panic, fired his entire pistol magazine at the man, who lifted a hand and stopped the bullets in midair directly in front of him. The bullets almost touched his skin. “Whoop.” With a flicking motion, one of the bullets zipped past Ivan, connecting with the new member, Junior Sergeant Azimov. He died instantly, blood dripping from his forehead. With another flick, the rest of the bullets zipped past Ivan, killing his team members one by one. While Azimov was struck in the head, the rest were either struck in the heart or neck, forcing them to expire slowly as they suffered. Ivan could only look on in horror.

  “Why?” Ivan asked, with despair in his voice. “Four for four. Or, should I say, five for four.” Ivan looked back at the man, and resigned himself to his fate as the man pointed his pistol at Ivan’s forehead and fired. Everything hurt for an untold amount of time, then the world went black.