Shadow Warriors - (Independent Story)

"Subject 1257-24-8. Result: failure."

The cold voice over the intercom sounded once more: another failure, another lost subject. The chief scientist groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Over time, he had gotten used to the numerous failures in the project, but now he was close losing his patience. The boss was giving the scientific group an ultimatum: start delivering results, or the project was cancelled. He simply sighed and looked at the sheet, seeing that the final subject of the day was soon to be up.

The chief scientist went to the intercom and said "Bring in the latest subject." The assistant said "Yessir. Bringing the subject in now." The whole group in the observation room, along with the chief scientist, had their eyes glued to the monitors to check the results as they came.

The scientist knew the real name of the subject, and so did the subject. And if the results proved successful, the subject would have a new name to match his new life. The boy entered the chamber, unaware of the pain that was about to be put through.

------------------------------------------

Matthew entered the white and sterile room, isertion points and incision vectors laser printed onto his skin like tattoos. One the doctors beckoned him to a chair, and he grew increasingly apprehensive as he was strapped in, bright lights now clouding his vision.

"How do you feel?" the cold voice over the intercom sounded. Matt, nodded and nervously said "Okay...I guess." Matt then felt a few needles go into his arms, and he was overcome with a tired feeling as the anethesia took over and he went to sleep, unaware of what was to happen to him.

A few hours later, Matt woke up, his limbs tingling as if he had been in a block of ice. He moved his arm and saw it move slowly, as if the air was made of treacle. Matt tugged at his restraints, growing agitated by the second. The man outside the room asked "How do you feel now." Matt said "I feel like my arms are made of lead and my head feels like its in the middle of a thunderstorm. What the hell is wrong with me?" The intercom was silent for a few seconds before the voice came back on and stated "Don't be too worried, these are all just after effects of the procedure. You will feel better in a few days when everything takes effect." Matt breathed a sigh relief, feeling that he would be fine.

A doctor getured for him to get into a wheelchair, Matt reluctantly obliging and being wheeled to his recovery room. A few hours later, Matt was fast asleep, induced into sleep to make sure the chemicals pumped into his system were circulated and his body adjusted to the alterations.

to be continued...

A few days later, Matt was finally let out of the recovery room, now fully adjusted to his body's alterations. As Matt walked forward, he stumbled around, unused to the alterations to his body. The cheif scientist came in for the evaluation,Matt tried his best not to stumble around like a drunkard after an all night bender, failing miserably. The scientist, looked at Matt not with humor, but with a nod and a smile. Matt managed to sit in one of the chairs, trying to look as comfortable as possible.

The scientist sat down and asked Matt "How do you feel now?" Matt flexed his muscles saying "Better than I was after the procedure. Is all this normal?" The scientist scribbled down a few notes and nodded. He said to Matt "What's happening to you is a perfectly normal reaction. Your body is simply not used to the alterations that have been given. You'll have to re-learn how to work with your body and it's alterations."

Matt slumped in the chair, now resigned to the fact that he had to re-learn how to walk, and move his newly altered body. The scientist said "After your therapy, you'll be put into training to be a super soldier." Matt beamed at the news, learning he was going to have some purpose.

The scientist left the room beaming. The rest of the team was smiling as well, finally proud to have a success after so many failures. He went to give the news to the boss: the Legonaire project was a go.

6 months later...

"AGAIN...!"

Matt heard it once again...the trainer once again expressing overt disapproval. Groaning, Matt got back on his feet and into a fighting stance, facing his training partner. He then got back into a fighting stance, the trainer waiting. Sweat dripped off Matt and his partner like a heavy rain. The trainers in the program were absolutely relentless, uncompromising, and brutal. Every month was a different martial art.

This month was Systema, a martial art used by the Russian Spetsnaz. The trainer was ex-Spetsnaz, and was an expert in Systema, as well as two other martial arts used by the Spetsnaz special forces. And right now, the man wasn't pleased with either of them, and it was showing in his accent. The trainer yelled in Russian once again "Ready...Go!" As his hand dropped, Matt breathed and waited for his partner to make the next move.

In other martial arts, Matt excelled in each one. Sambo, Krav Maga, Muy Thai, Hapkido, Kaprashny Goy, and Tae Kwon Do, they became his bread and butter. Each of the trainers were impressed with his skill and ease at which he learned them. Systema, however, still escaped Matt. His partner in front of him, however, was having no such problems with mastering Systema. Matt, however was determined to put his partner on the floor...hard. Matt and his partner circled each other, waiting for one of them to make the first move. His partner didn't have to make him wait long, grabbing him and trying to put Matt on the ground. Matt countered and then put his partner on the ground and pinned her, waiting for her to tap out.

His partner tapped out, clearly knowing that she had been pinned by Matt. The trainer was off to the side, slightly grinning and nodding, clearly pleased with their progress. A timer then rang, and Matt sighed with relief. He then got up, and pulled his partner off of the mat. She grinned at Matt almost coyly. Matt went a bit red from both a bit of pride and embarrassment. However, the bitter work was to continue on.

One Month Later...

Matt and the others simply stood there, their expressions stone faced and expressionless. However, they were waiting with anticipation for the culmination of their training: they were going to get their partners and their gear, and then given their new names befitting their weapons specialties and respective nationalities. His old training partner was a few people away from him, and she turned briefly to Matt and flashed him a coy smile, Matt's face going red and nearly weakening his knees. He turned away, his face returning to it's original color.

After a couple of minutes of standing in silence, the director of the Legonaire project arrive and faced the newly minted 'Legonaires', his face a mask of control. The speech was a mix of congrats for completing the training and warning that the road they all faced was going to be a hard one. Matt really didn't truly care for the speech, only half-listening to it. Then the director came to the part that interested Matt the most: who was his partner going to be?

As the director started calling out names, Matt got more nervous as he slowly got to his name "...your partner will be 'Snow Maiden'..." Matt tuned out the rest of the words, his feeling of glee coursing through his body. Of course, there were a few eyes rolling in the audience, knowing that the partnering of them was predictable.

Matt didn't care about the belittling, and he kept his smile to himself. To Matt, Christmas had come early for him.