The next two months were rough but beneficial at the same time. It took me a solid week to get over my poor attitude towards it all. All I wanted to do was get back in the field. The brawl in the parking lot with Jacob made me finally feel alive all over again. A quick glimpse into the life I once had, and now that I had tasted it, my body was craving for more.

　　I wasn`t wanting to just go fuck people up, but the fact that I was making a difference, seeing the results of my work and knowing that we were around and out there, and doing this shit every day. It got my heart racing just thinking about it, as if I had taken beta alanine and my body was itching all over with the tingly sensation and no matter how much I tried to scratch, the itch wasn`t going away. I guess you could easily say I was going through withdraws from the action.

　　I did start to adjust to it though, and was grateful for Bill, Jack and Thomas. Each one, every day reminded me of just how beneficial this all was. Each of them worked directly with me and redid their entire schedules to ensure there was more time dedicated to my development. Once that reality sank in with how much effort these guys were willing to dedicate to me, that was when I realized, I needed to dedicate my best efforts to them. The missions would come soon enough, but for the time being, let`s fucking get it.

　　Thomas and I started and ended each day together, with a yoga and meditation session in the middle of each day as well. I was skeptical at first about having to meet in the middle of the day to just sit and& well fucking sit there. It took me a couple of days to get the hang of the practice, but once I reminded myself that I had plenty of time and nowhere to really go. I finally gave in to the practice and made an effort to actually try it out.

　　Needless to say, I was actually impressed by week three, just how much it helped me, well, fucking stay centered. I found myself being more connected within my mental space towards the training we were doing. I found myself entering the session with the mental thoughts of being scattered all over with my mind racing in all different directions, but by the end of the session, my mind was at peace, my spirit was grounded, and I was more focused on the initial moment of everything, rather than an impending potential future which was just, really, superstition.

　　Thomas`s work out plan that he came up with started with a fasted cardio session. We mixed it up with everything from jogs, walks, to sprints. The sprint sessions were the worst, and I hated them, but nothing increased my speed faster than doing those. I was surprised to see how much my sprinting progression was seeping over into my jogging.

　　My endurance was getting better, and my fast twitch muscle fibers started to come alive as Thomas started me on exercises that were commonly used for football athletes and when paired with Bill`s martial arts training, took me to a whole new level. I then found my mental resiliency building and rising to the challenge that faced ahead of me. As I pushed myself through the first week, I saw my attitude begin to kindle, awaken, ignite as I left the poor me, why the fuck does this have to happen, bullshit behind me, and looked towards the future to say, B2 2.0 is going to be a fucking badass, better than before, and far more deadlier!

　　Thomas setup a personal nutritionist for me and Scalpel agreed to bring in a chef to do all the cooking for me that the nutritionist charted out and recommended. I was afraid that Scalpel wouldn`t buy off on the request, but I was pretty sure Brian was doing a lot to grease the wheels behind the scenes and basically said, "We wanted him to take ownership of this process, and look at what he`s trying to do& take ownership and become a far better field agent than before." At least& that was my assumption.

　　I had my music going practically all day, every day. "Destiny" by Neefex, "Legends Never Die" by Against the Current, "Victory" by Fire From the Gods, just to name a few. There was so much a neurochip could do, but it had no effect on motivating ones` heart and soul. The words from Victory kept repeating themselves in my spirit every time I had to look myself in the mirror every day. "I could have stayed down, I could let it all take hold of me. I could have laid down, but I am right back on my feet."

　　I had a purpose once again, and that was to be better than before. Every day I had to look myself in the mirror and tell Trevor Brinkworth, today we will be better than yesterday ! That was all my mind was focused on from there on out.

　　At the end of the day Thomas and I would burn every once of energy and strength I had remaining out on the weights. We started with the cardio in the morning to get my metabolism going, and help burn off fat. That also pushed me harder with my combative sessions with Bill, but we saved my strength training for the evening, so I`d have grip strength, hitting power, and then all my other muscle systems needed for weapons training.

　　I watched before my eyes as my body instantly began to react to the training regimen. The nutritionist gave me plentiful portions of protein with a variety of vegetables, with wild rice and sweet potato variations. Thomas made sure that I had a stocked supply of snack items available throughout the day to include nuts, a slim option of dried fruit, as well as beef jerky.

　　I started to see my waistline trim down, shoulders, back and chest broaden out wide, as my arms began to tone up nice and tight, my legs started to shrink with some definition from the sprints. My body accepted what my mind had set out to become and adapted to meet the challenges that Thomas laid out for me.

　　Bill and I began to increase our intensity in training in the coming weeks. It was anything too intense to start or over the top. But, Bill did eventually amplify the training even further by utilizing 1/8 in wooden boards. He would affix them to sparing pads that he`d wear over his gi. It wasn`t just a forearm he`d be blocking with, it was a forearm covered in pads, with that small piece of wood that my body was making an impact on.

　　My nerve endings felt every impact. My body looked as if I had permanent bruises. The discolorations covering all over my body as if they were tattoos. It was practically part of the daily regimen that ice baths and warm water transitions were happening to help with the swelling my body was going through. As a sick combination, Thomas, Bill, and Jack all coordinated together to give me ice water torture. Forcing me to stay in freezing water for three minutes, at the end of the time an air horn would sound where I would have to go run the indoor obstacle course.

　　The course had balance beams, monkey bars, low crawl sand pit, interval step beams, varying height walls to climb and jump over, cargo climb nets, rope swings, sprint stations, punching dummies strewn throughout, and then Jack was able to setup shooting stations as well where I`d run up to the table, load the weapon, engage the target, drop the weapon back down on the table, and then run to the next station.

　　The entire course was grueling but was our end of the week finale to it all that I actually started to look forward to. My time kept being reduced a few seconds at a time. It was also a huge boost to see my shot groupings narrow in and tighten smaller and smaller upon the targets, all while I was having to overcome the physical challenges of the course.

　　Bill started to expand my knowledge of strike sequences and kicks. He worked with me on progressing in body locks, but our emphasis was more on hit, shoot, move. If I was in a body lock fighting it out in melee combat, then that was counted as a loss on my record. The emphasis being on, kill and move onto the next target. If I had a gun use it, if I didn`t have a gun, fight with fists until I got another gun, or reloaded the one I had. Bill also guided me with weapons melee, utilizing whatever weapon system I had in a melee fashion.

　　Jack had progressed me onto a Leupold DeltaPoint Pro Reflex red dot sight on my Glock. Our time on the range had brought my grouping from a 7.5 in spread into a concise 3-3.5 in spread. I was feeling good and could see the proficiency of my skills start to lock in, as day after day of putting rounds down range made it easier for me to simply show up and produce. There was one day when I was on a high level of confidence and pride for all I had seen within my development. I looked over to Jack, "Hey old man, let`s say you and me have a little go at it."

　　Jacked audibly laughed as he replied, "Loser cleans the range!" He then pointed to the corner as he went to grab his own target, "Broom is in the corner over there." We placed both targets side by side and Jack did a simply count down for us. We each dumped our magazines and& well, the results were pretty clear as soon as we were done. I turned to Jack who was just smiling from ear to ear, "Thanks for doing the range duty, it`s nice to have an assistant around every once and a while. You let me know whenever you wanna do a challenge again." & Fuck. The only nice thing about it was that it did unlock another three skills to their second level.

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: RANGE PREPARATION - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: RANGE MAINTENANCE - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: RANGE CLEAN UP - LEVEL 2/

　　Granted, they weren`t three skills that I really needed for out in the field, but I was just happy because it helped me gain more progression towards the next level. Now that I had proved my progression and efficiency, Jack called me over to the table with a smirk on his face.

　　"I think it is time I break this out of the armory for you to start getting reacquainted."

　　I could feel my mouth open as I stared upon her.

　　 Jack chuckled as he then continued, "The M1A SOCOM 16 CQB variant& a .308 caliber, gas operated, magazine fed, semi-automatic, shoulder fired weapon system. We have made a few slight adjustments for you, but this was the rifle you were previously carrying. A forward scout mount rail provides for options you may want to swap out later. But, with the 16.25 barrel, you have a 1:11 six-groove right-hand twist for maximum accuracy and nail driving power. We also have a Holosun HS507C-X2 Reflex Red Dot sight mounted on top. As you`ll also notice, an in-house custom design angled underbarrel grip with flip out bi-pod option. Graphene enhanced arch angel polymer blend chassis, which has cut the weight down significantly, and the collapsible buttstock with Israeli pistol grip handle for extra control and comfort." Jack picked up the rifle and handed it over to me as if I was being introduced to my child for the first time.

　　I looked at Jack, "I`m full torqued right now! She`s such a fucking beauty!"

　　Jack rolled his eyes with a shake of his head, "You certainly did love that thing, and clearly& still have some issues to work out between& y`all." He paused and just watched me handle the weapon system. It was normally weighed in at 9 lbs and 3 oz., but handling it with the enhanced graphene composite, it was weighing in at an amazing 7 lbs on the dot. I was fixated by it and kept turning it all over and around as I admired every tiny detail that Old B2 and Jack had done to it.

　　Jack finally had enough of me savoring the moment, "Ready to put some rounds down range?"

　　"Yes fucking please!" I exclaimed.

　　Jack and I couldn`t hang up the targets and load the magazines fast enough. However, Jack still had me start at the very, very, very beginning. Loading magazine after magazine until my fingers were practically ready to fall off. What I had realized though was that he was having me load roughly 2-3 days` worth of magazines. This allowed us to save time over the next few days which allowed us to progress faster and not waste later.

　　I ran that gun as much as possible, and every knock on the recoil was like a love thump into my shoulder. Jack had a multitude of magazine combinations we ran through training. 10 round, 15 round, 20 round, 30 round, 50 and even 60 round drums as well. Though Jack was meticulous with every single detail, we spent a vast amount of time going over magazine reloads, tactical reloads, and quick transition drills.

　　Once my grouping was down and sustained day after day, Jack then started to take me through courses of fire with movement, barricade, and obstacles. One of my favorite techniques was moving through potential targets. Jack had close to 75 silhouette targets set up, all scattered and as randomly placed as possible.

　　Jack used two different systems at the same time, shapes and colors. The shapes utilized were triangle, circle and squires. Then, Jack had each of those shapes painted in colors ranging from blue, red, green, yellow, orange, pink, and white. He would then start me on one side with my pistol, hit a buzzer which would then send me moving as fast as I could forward. I would have to navigate through the scattered targets until Jack would then at a random point call out, White-Square!` to which I would engage and shoot every white square I approached until the end of the targets. I would then return to the beginning of the course and start over, sometimes being challenged with, Blue-Circle, Red-Square, Blue-Triangle!`

　　Jack had a multitude of courses set up like this that we would spend hours conducting in a non-stop fashion. He would even take it up a notch as he would bring the hex bar and tire flip over, forcing me to do 20-30 repetitions of dead lifts, squats, tire flips, burpee`s& whatever he decided on for that day and then once my heart rate was spiking, he`d then send me through the course of fire.

　　I felt like a Spartan of old, where all that mattered was the daily training to become the most lethal mother fucker on the planet. As if I was walking through the valley of shadow and death, the grim reaper standing at the end of the valley awaiting my arrival as he says, "How are you not afraid?" to which I`d answer, "Cause I already made the devil my bitch!"

　　"Becoming the Bull" by Atreyu was blasting within my head as the elevator doors opened to the basement area. To my surprise I saw Brian standing with his back leaned against the concrete wall. He was looking down at his super special digital device in his hand as his thumbs tapped away on the screen. He looked up at me shortly after the arrival chimed and the door opened.

　　There was a big smile on his face. "Hey buddy&"

　　I smirked, "What`s up?"

　　"Well I figured I would come visit my favorite field agent, especially seeing as how I have not heard from you at all in the past two months!"

　　I rapidly blinked as my head spun with trying to recall the last time Brian and I had actually spoken, "Well I am flattered to know you thought of me so fondly..."

　　"Well, there is also some good news. The big wigs are going to let you get back out and into the field."

　　"No shit?"

　　"I just got the email early this morning, I would say that we should have approval for you by the end of the day and then maybe have one or two tiny missions for you to knock out. Just something small before you`re back into the swing of things." Brian informed me.

　　"Well that`s good to hear." I said. In my head however, I couldn`t help but reflect on the last two months and how far I had come. I felt like I was in a fast-paced run, all cylinders firing away with maximum effect. My confidence was at an all time high, and was in the best shape of my life. All thanks to my neurochip locking in my progress.

　　Brian cut into my train of thought, "So what enhancements have you made to your chip?" Brian`s face distorted at my confused reaction. "Have you not been doing that? You have to be at least back to Apprentice level now with all the training you`ve been doing."

　　"Holy shit&" I realized I had not even checked my level sense being suspended. The bad attitude I had after being suspended really fucked me mentally to where I didn`t want to think about it. But as my mindset changed, it was focused on truly being engaged in the training, and I simply put off even checking on those things." I was taken back to see my level status come sliding out from the main HUD display icon. "Jesus! I am Craftsman, Level 4&"Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

　　<<

　　"That`s incredible B2! Just goes to show how much you`ve truly dedicated towards getting back to where you were."

　　 "So& for sake of& me, forgetting, the part of your video which covered the whole enhancement things& can you re-explain them?" I asked.

　　Brian rolled his eyes at me, but after letting out a long exhale he began. "The Strength enhancement has subcategories of Athletics, Endurance, Stamina, Resilience. Dexterity has the subcategories of Acrobatics, Balance, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth. The Intelligence enhancement subcategories help recategorize your History of events, Investigation, Analytic Thought, and Critical Thinking. Finally your Wisdom enhancement subcategories are Insight, Perception, Survival, and Planning and Preparation."

　　He and I started to walk down to the gym area for my morning session with Thomas as he continued. "Each of the points you`ve earned in your cloaked achievements can be assigned to any of these subcategories. Just as workout supplements help you with that extra repetition in your workout, these will help you with slight increases as the neurochip gives you a small percentage boost towards those motor skills and activities."

　　| S | D | I | W |

　　"So& once again I am a lab rat." I narrowed my gaze at him.

　　"Yes, but, a really, really, really powerful lab rat." He said with a smile.

　　I spoke mentally for the neurochip, just as I had when wanting to message Brian or video chat terra, and sure enough I saw four small icons appear in the top center view of my HUD, which I had removed for the past two months sense I had no need for it.

　　I didn`t give much thought to the long-term effects of making my choices, I simply, fired for effect, and chose to put seven points into endurance, seven points in resilience, and my six remaining points into sleight of hand. As soon as I made my choices though, I started to lose balance as my brain seemed to pause and I began to lose control over my body.

　　The off-putting effect was nothing compared to the pain I started to feel in my brain as it grew worse and worse. The same sharp pain I had felt when I awoke inside the medical room was now coming back in full effect. I tripped over my feet as I stumbled to my left side and crashed into the concrete wall of the corridor we were walking down.

　　Brian rushed to my side and helped prop me up, I felt like he was trying to ask me if I was okay, but all I could hear was the high screeching klaxon sound splitting through my ears and head as I started to scream out in the moment. As the noise roared within my head the feeling of hot iron rods being jammed into my mind arrived in unison. The burning sensation radiated from my head and traveled down my spinal column and quickly surged down my limbs.

　　It seemed like I was only out for a short period of time. I opened my eyes to see Brian kneeling in front of me with his hands on my shoulders. I now realized he was aggressively nudging me and I was pretty sure it was his efforts that brought me back out of whatever state I had just been in. The pain that I had felt right before I must have blacked out was mostly gone. My head now felt like I had just performed an all-weekend study binge for a college exam. The rest of my body feeling in performed a triathlon event. Every inch and fiber of my body was sore and exhausted. I looked around and then gazed up and locked eyes with Brian for a brief moment.

　　"You okay B2? You still with me?" He asked.

　　"How long was I out?" I asked in response.

　　"Only for a few seconds thankfully& a minute tops I`d assume." He reassured me.

　　I looked around and noticed I was sitting on the concrete floor of the basement and was propped up in a seated position with my back leaning against the wall and my feet kicked out in front of me with Brian kneeling in between my legs. "Do you know what happened?" He asked.

　　"I added those point things to my chip settings." I told him.

　　He looked back at me with a stunned look, "Just now? Already?"

　　"Yeah&"

　　He dropped his head as he shook it from side to side. "Well Chapter 67 of the training video describes how your enhancements will shock your system for a brief period. Hence why the video recommended, you be laying down in a bed, or at least seated in a firm and steady chair. That way it braces you should you have, these effects."

　　"Ohh& well good thing you were here to lighten the fall big guy." I said as I reached up and tapped his shoulder with my hand, a sarcastic grin on my face.

　　"Well, what exactly did you put them into?" I told him without hesitation. Brian placed his hand over his face. "Well, there`s that for the day." He finished.

　　"What`s wrong? Isn`t that what you wanted me to do?" I was now confused and still wasn`t grasping the long-term effects of my decisions, the only thought on my mind was the fact that I could be back in the field soon, these enhancements didn`t seem to register as anything too important to me.

　　"B2& these effects are permanent; they can`t be reversed."

　　"So?"

　　He sighed and looked at me with a smug expression. He appeared to not care for my whimsical choices. "Well& you`re at least going to be a tank that can take a beating in the future, that`s for sure." He stood back up and outstretched his right hand, which I grabbed hold of as he helped me back up to my feet. Brian`s attention was drawn back to his digital device. "Shit& I need to go, it`s urgent unfortunately. Be sure to check out your Agent Attributes. Please read the description& they`re important. You don`t have to be laying down as it won`t have the effect as your enhancements. The attributes are simply a chip protocol setting, but just like your enhancements, they can`t be reversed or reprogrammed once you`ve chosen."

　　I nodded to Brian that I understood. He started to walk back down the hallway towards the elevator. His attention locked to his device as his thumbs fired away a replied to whoever he was communicating with.

　　"Try to take it easy B2, let your body cool down a little bit from the enhancements your body just received and just& take a day off or something. Go for a walk, hell, take one of the motorcycles to the coast even." He said over his shoulder and ended with a wave.

　　"Will do." I replied.

　　I stood there and took a few deep breathes, ensuring I was present in the moment with what had just happened. I was actually surprised to find that I wasn`t given too much of a hard time and had actually been encouraged by each of my instructors to do so. I started to make my way to the underground garage area and messaged Terra, asking her if she could coordinate a ride to take me to Silver Falls State Park.

　　She was excited to hear from me and didn`t hesitate in helping me out. I saw the autonomous vehicle drive around and I climbed in. The forty-minute drive outside of Salem, Oregon went by fast as I told my neurochip to play, "Crash and Burn" by Write This Down. Feeling it was a fitting song given what I had just experienced in the basement.

　　A day spent at the trails and I finally ended at one of the water falls on the north side of the park. I picked a seat along the side of the pool at the base of the falls and felt the mist softly coat my face. I told my neurochip to play, "River Flows In You" by Yiruma. The soft piano keys began to play and matched the tranquility of the moment.

　　As the song played I took a long breath a mentally told my neurochip to display the Agent Attribute information along with a brief synopsis. It was almost instantly that I saw the information scroll into my HUD. Brian`s voice also arrived and began to read the words to me as they scrolled.

　　"Agent Attribute`s incorporates the neurochip artificial intelligence protocols, but are specifically programmed with limitations to ensure a field agent cannot continue to excel or even overpower mainframe coding, or overclock field agents mental cortex systems to the point where it would essentially kill the agent through internally frying the agents brain and neuro network. These enhancements are only activated automatically once the sensors detect the agent is within specific parameters which the chip deems necessary to intervene.

　　"A good example would be if Jacob hit you with the shovel across the side of your head. Should you chose the Lone Survivor option, and believed you were about to be eliminated, it would have done everything automatically given the information it is aware of to kill Jacob by any means necessary. Though the client had already established the authority for you to take it that far, it wasn`t necessarily prudent for the operations success either.

　　Steal Skin {SS} - This attribute protocol is a pain inhibitor which slowly overtime will work to change the bodies` physiological structure to prevent the body from experiencing the sensation of pain. Just as superhero`s from comic books, your body will eventually be forever changed to the point that it can take a beating but keep on performing as if nothing happened. This option does come with a significant side effect, as over time alpha and beta tests showed that this function does also interfere with dopamine and nerve sensations towards pleasure.

　　Lone Survivor {LS} - This attribute programs your neurochip settings to focus on one thing, survival. A reserve energy capacitor will release, providing your body the ability to continue to push onward towards survival when ordinary individuals would fall victim to severe injury, or even death. This capability can only last for a short period of time and is activated by the Neurochip as a last resort function. This options side effect has been identified in a similar fashion to that of performance enhanced steroid usage. Alpha and beta testing identified shortened life expectancy within candidates who chose this option. Candidates who chose this option and were placed within extreme combative environments found several internal bodily functions shutting down over time as the human systems began to burn out from overuse. Though no definitive calculation have confirmed the theory, current belief is for every year this option is active within a field agent, one and a half years can be taken off the agents life expectancy.

　　Ai-Fi {AF} - This attribute dedicates more internal storage towards the development of your neurochips artificial intelligence. Over time your neurochip will have it`s AI grow in complex computational support and assistance. Alpha and beta testers reported how they seemed to simply know what the answer was to complex puzzles and tests without having to even think or ponder them. This when paired with improved intelligence and wisdom traits left participants as highly specialized and effective for the most complex missions, being able to compute and navigate the vast amount of challenges posed to them. However, participants over time identified the desire to be less lethal in their efforts. A result highly scrutinized as participants shared how their thought process began to always come up with non-lethal solutions and push those options forward into the front of their thoughts. The result of this alteration saw multiple agents severely injured during field operations, or even killed when after action reviews proved that lethal action would have preserved the agents survival.

　　Auto-Robotic {AR} - This attribute will allow your neurochip to practically automate yourself for you. Completely shutting you off from all motor functions, placing you into a neurochip-induced coma while continuing to move and function your body for you. This capability allows field agents to practically operate at a 24/7 tempo. The neurochip can continue to operate the body while the field agent sleeps internally. This function has allowed the field agents to become far more lethal and rapid in their response to operations. However, two test subjects received critical errors to the point that they themselves were never able to be brought out of the neurochip-induced coma. Three other test participants have reported feeling like they no longer have a self-identity. Additionally, individuals close to those three agents report personality disorder, bipolar traits, and lack of empathy when operating in the field."

　　{SS} | {LS} | {AF} | {AR}

　　I then saw four badges appear in front of me as I thought about the decision I needed to make. The auto-bot function seemed cool for all of about ten seconds. Though it would be cool to just zonk out and let the chip do all the work, my mind flashed through the painful memories of being awoken on the plane to deal with Mrs. Franklin. Though the chip would be in control, and I had no doubt it would be able to handle things for me. The thought of this option was just not one I wanted to go for, not my fucking cup of tea.

　　I thought over the Ai-Fi attribute, and I liked the idea of being able to have the answer and the solution towards whatever situation I may be currently facing. However, that long term effect did not sit well with me. A split second could literally mean the difference between life and death, all too often had I seen the posts from military members and first responders on how one of their own was killed in the line of duty, all because of a split second.

　　Though I had no issues with wanting to take the less lethal route, I mean, fuck, look at what happened with old Jakey Boy. I took a few licks in that fight, and just as lone survivor said, I could have ended it real soon. I just didn`t like the thought of a stupid microchip working to influence my thoughts towards one way over another, it just didn`t sit right.

　　The toss-up was clearly between the Ironman and Lone Survivor Attributes. I couldn`t help but see the similarities between the two and felt that they were practically twins to a certain point. Both were more based on physicality, which I liked, and would certainly help me boost the enhancements I had already chose. As Brian so well put it, "Tank".

　　 I did like the thought about that, being a fucking tank, having others rally around me as I barged in and fucking leveled the town into a pile of crumbling debris and ruins. Being an unstoppable force who just kept coming at you without stopping and watching your eyes widen as I closed the gap and then ripped your fucking head clean off your body.

　　I looked over the Lone Survivor attribute one more time. The realization was front and center in my thoughts. I was going to lesson my life expectancy, but& when I thought about it, it came down to one thing& We weren`t made to live forever. At this point in my life, I didn`t know quite sure if there really was a heaven or hell, but whichever one I arrived at was going to have me skidding to a halt as I arrived breaking the god damn sound barrier. I then told my chip to display my stats and watched the icons appear in the top center of my display.

　　<<

　　{LS} | S (E7)(R7) | D (S6) |

　　I realized the significance of these tiny fucking icons. There was now hours spent over the past two months of non-stop training to get to where I was now. I felt pride all over again. I hated the fact that there was a huge black spot in my memory. There was still a major portion of time that I had no recollection of.

　　I remember seeing the Scalpel email come through my digital mailbox. I recalled the feelings I had back then, of wanting to find purpose as I once had with the military. My hope to feel and be a part of something, something of worth and significance. Here I now sat with a super advanced chip within myself and a reinforced strength, endurance and fine-tuned skills that allowed me to be more lethal than I ever had been before.

　　One thing I didn`t know was why& Why was I selected? Why did I stand out as a candidate amongst all the others? I guess that doesn`t really matter now, all that matters is that I am here, alive, and given a new chance& again so to speak. "We`re not going to fuck this up Brian" I muttered out loud.

　　I opened up the message function in my HUD and selected Jack`s name. "Boss, set the course up for tomorrow morning. I`m running and gunning one more time before getting back out and into the field!"

　　"You got it." Was all he replied.