After getting directions from Brian, I found my way to his office. The room looked more like a technology laboratory center. High-tech machines and gadgetry filled the room to the point I could have easily believed we were inside a computer company rather than Scalpel. The entire exterior of the room had white boards lining it, writing in different colors was all over each one. It appeared that each color was specifically utilized to represent a different meaning, topic, or item that Brian`s brain had focused on in the moment.

　　Some boards were neatly written on, properly spaced and you could tell time was dedicated towards ensuring the handwriting was well written and legible. There were some boards however, where random phrases, words, or terrible rough sketches were just slapped on wherever they could fit. I couldn`t interpret any specific color patterns or meanings to the madness scribbled all over. That hasty writing appeared to have been written with speed in order to not have it from Brian`s memory.

　　To my surprise, there was even addition white boards randomly scattered throughout the room and in-between the other aisles, counter tops, and work counters. Every surface area was extremely organized and neatly kept. I wouldn`t say it was a clean room where you had to wear a suit, but it was certainly the cleanest room I had seen, except for the room that I had awoken in when I first returned to the land of the living. One counter seemed to have every kind of 3d printer available, and then some so advanced that I didn`t even comprehend what they were utilized for, or even capable of.

　　At one end of the counter, I leaned in and peered through the protective shield to see the tiniest of devices being built out of a material which looked to be of a metal origin, but also that of inlays and pathways like that of computer boards. I continued through the room as it was massively long, outstretched where it wasn`t necessarily very wide, but seemed to be close to over 100 ft in length. Brian`s office alone was bigger than Bills dojo mat area, and that really left me rethinking how my interactions should probably not be so harsh.

　　It wouldn`t be a bad thing to be more friendly to the guy who, through initial glances , looked to have the capability of creating some pretty advanced shit. I looked down towards the end of the room to find the nothing but multiple screens in various sizes, all mounted onto the wall. I kept making my way as I saw Brian sitting in a chair at the center of it all. Every screen displaying something which appeared to be of significant value and importance, some screens giving a display which looked identical towards medical readings and signs of vital organs and health statuses.

　　In a weird contrast, there seemed to be one screen on the complete opposite side of the wall which was displaying a stock ticker symbol and the red numbers and arrows on the screen certainly made it appear that it was a really bad day for that company. As I continued to focus on it as a closed the distance to a few feet behind Brian. He turned his head for an instant and noticed me approaching,

　　"Damn! That company is being railed from behind." I said as I arrived.

　　He chuckled as he briefly looked over to the screen I was referring to, before returning to the monitor directly in front of him. Though he didn`t have a mechanical keyboard, but one that was wireless and low profile, I could still easily hear his fingers firing away in rapid succession. I watched as the text on the screen, illuminated in green letters with a black background, were being pounded into existence.

　　The typewriter style of lettering arrived quickly as they formed from left to right with such speed that I could hardly keep up with all of it. He didn`t break away from his display as he intently focused on the task at hand. His eyes didn`t turn away from the screen, but a hearty chuckle came out of him as he spoke,

　　"Yeah& it`s unfortunate for the company, but I am purposefully manipulating the stock, just so I can give it to Whitestone Capital, those bastards!"

　　"Wait&" I tilted my head as I pointed to the screen, "You`re purposefully making the stock go down just to fuck with a certain company?"

　　A devilish laugh came over him, "Yes! It`s lovely, they`re losing millions by second and I am all for it! Bwhahahaha!"

　　"And you say I have issues." I replied with a little concern if this new revelation.

　　Brian stopped pounding away on his keyboard and turned to look at me with a smug look, but just before he was going to say something, his eyes widened as if he had just realized he had forgotten a vital detail and turned back to the screen. A few more smashes on the keyboard keys and then finished with a few clicks of his mouse.

　　"There! Almost fucked that all up." He then returned to me and stood up, "Seriously, if you could remember all the shit you`ve done over your years with scalpel then you`ll know that right there." He pointed to the monitor with the stock ticker, "Makes me a saint compared to you, okay?"

　　A lifted my hands up in defense, "Okay, okay, fuck."

　　Brian glared at me as if he was still bitter about something I had done in my past, but I certainly wasn`t going to pry and bring it up. I assumed it was because he was afraid to tell me, which would then send my head spiraling down the dark hole of glorious ideas. I would then probably do something stupid, and we would both get our asses in trouble, again. He then nodded to the side and led me over to a screen on the side wall to our left. We both grabbed a rolling chairs and he slid one over to me. We both plopped down on the chairs and sat side by side with the computer display in front of us.

　　"Alright, I am going to try my best to break down the technical details and design of everything into a cookie cutter, crayons, and basic shapes explanation so that you can understand it all."

　　"Wow&" I said as I extended it out and widened my eyes. "Very scientific Doctor Obvious."

　　"Well& maybe if you didn`t have an IQ that matched the level of a can of tuna, we could actually have an educated discussion. But seeing how you don`t, this will have to do." He said with a giant smile across his face and a sarcastic tilt of his head. "As I think I mentioned before, your chip allows you to progress in levels. Levels of ability, skill, performance, etc." Brian brought a fist up to his mouth and dry coughed. As he was done coughing, he presented his hand out as if he was presented a college level lecture. "Your human body, brain, etc, is the most advanced computer on the planet essentially, the Neurochip inside your head, is practically the second most advanced thing. Think of it in that way."

　　"So& it`s that whole AI stuff then? The artificial intelligence shit?"

　　"Not exactly& or at least in the normal terms that you are thinking and remembering. There are some aspects of AI within it, and that would be more specifically associated to what we have titled Agent Attributes."

　　"What are those?"

　　"You will not be allowed to access those until you get into your Craftsmanship Level of your Agent Competency Level`s, but essentially, it will let you choose an attribute that your chip will forever assist with. It is my belief that it was your chips Agent Attribute that saved you on your mission, also."

　　"How so?"

　　"If I remember correctly, you had chosen the Agent Attribute, Lone Survivor. It essentially tells the chip that it can override your body in a critical lifesaving situation and take command and control, in order to save and preserve you. So& if there is a single, lone, survivor& it should hopefully, be you."

　　"Well, that does make sense as to how I had possibly survived that, mission. To which you still haven`t told me about. "

　　"Let`s not get derailed on the mission right now. But, I`m still not for sure because there has been no data for us to analyze. That is a part of the problem because that portion seems to have been lost, but that is at least my theory for the time being."

　　"Alright, so when I first checked that screen regarding my status, it said I was Level 1."

　　"Yes, unfortunately your Agent Competency Level is currently showing Level 1. You having to start out all over again will be within the Novice ranking. As I have free time with everything else going on, I have tried my best to analyze what data the chip is now sending to the mainframe. There does seem to be some fragmentation within the code, so to speak.

　　If you were a brand-new agent starting with us, you would start out as Novice Level 1. Once you progress to Level 10, you then move onto Apprentice. You move through the Level structure, 1 through 10 and will be upgraded to Craftsman. The same scale is utilized towards achieving Journeyman, with finally ranking out as Maestro. Once you`ve completed Level 10 Maestro, you are completely maxed out. Any skills or talents you learn after achieving that level would be like you`re back to normal. Your proficiency in the skills you learn after will require your constant practice. They are perishable if not maintained, whereas any skills you`ve learned, and chosen to acquire throughout your rankings will be locked in."

　　I raised my hand like a kindergarten school child, it was one of my favorite things to do while I was in the military, the childish humor normally not going over well with the senior military leaders. Seeing it chafe away at them made it all the sweeter for me whenever I did it. Brian raised an eyebrow in confusion towards my motion, but gave me the nod to proceed. "Okay, so& then, do I level up by completing missions and such?"

　　"No, not really. Let me explain, I say no because it isn`t a mission being accomplished that gives you the ability to level up. This is also why I asked about the proficiency upgrades though, because those were in a beta testing phase. We were seeing some success with that program. But, your neurochip was never installed with that, so there should not have been anyway you should have ever accessed them. To get back to your skills however, those are all locked in from you practicing the action and the chip locks it into your physiology."

　　I could tell Brian was really dumbing down the technical aspects of how the chip worked, but I overall was grasping the concept. "Okay&"

　　"In regard to the cloaked achievements. That is when the chip identifies certain activities within the brain such as dopamine, stress or adrenaline. It then combines all those data points with visual interpretation of what you`re doing. As all this is released within your brain and being processed by your body, the neurochip will basically pull those physiological resources and will allow you to divert them into the portion of the brain that process things like motor skills, or reasoning traits. So, though it is not accomplishing a mission, the dopamine or adrenaline caused by the completion of a mission can certainly bring on cloaked achievements being achieved."

　　"Okay& I achieved that cloaked basic bitch and boy scout yesterday." I pointed my finger at him as I realized, "To which I am still a little miffed about that,  I`m a real boy shit`, yeah, fuck you too!"

　　Brian narrowed his gaze and tilted his head, "Who was it again that took the ass chewing this morning? Oh, that`s right." He tilted his head and smiled.

　　"Fair&" I sighed.

　　Brian continued. "But, that is a good example, so Boy Scout was an achievement where you really loved being at the range. Your dopamine was tapped into as you were performing the activity. It was enough that the chip was able to take that dopamine energy , so to speak, and it can now be applied to another area of the brain, but& you will need to apply it soon or the timer will run out and your brain won`t be able to accept the enhancement."

　　"Fuck&" I winced, "Wait& but how did it know I was at the range and performing that exact action."

　　"B2, I have captured billions, upon billions of lines of code which maps the data and processes of your brains activity. Let`s just keep this simple and say that through thousands of hours of super computer computations, I was able to map out a lot of these activities and capture that data process." We both paused as I let everything sink in, but he soon followed up with a question. "Have you checked your status display at all today?"

　　"Uhh, nope, didn`t really see the fucking point in trying to access the thing with it being so fucked up. I am actually shocked I was able to mentally figure out how to message you."

　　Brian rolled his head, "That is actually a little impressive, given your current understanding with it all. I haven`t even had you watch the training video yet."

　　"Hold on." I looked straight ahead. It just felt weird to be left staring blankly ahead at someone while trying to work through an augmented visual display screen. I adjusted my angle so I wouldn`t be straight on with Brian when I mentally clicked on my main icon. I saw the title bar shoot across the top row portion of my view. As the banner flashed across, I read it off to Brian who distorted his face at first once I tried to speak the title to him.

　　<<

　　"That is suppose to say, Novice& I can only assume it is a portion of the fragmentation. But see! The 9/10 means you only need one more skill achievement to get to Level 4. You`ll be back to Craftsmen status in no time!" Brian exclaimed.

　　"Yeah, especially with that proficiency upgrades, I should be leveled up in no time!" I said with a smirk on my face. A serious look came over Brian`s face as he stared down towards the floor but was clearly mentally somewhere else. "What? What is it? What`s wrong?"

　　Brian started to look up at me, and he was dead serious in his tone as he spoke, "Well that just reminded me of what we were saying earlier. I am just thinking all of it over. The proficiency upgrade code was in a completely different areas within the mainframe, behind security measures."

　　"Is there really anything wrong with that though?" I didn`t see it as that big of a deal, even though it was inside my head, it wasn`t hurting me or anybody else.

　　"It`s the fact that your chip is, in no way, shape, or form, supposed to be able to have it. I am wondering if your Agent Attribute before was Enhanced AI. My reasoning being that the neurochip actually hacked into the mainframe and found the codes and installed them for you, discovering that these abilities would only allow you and it, to become stronger."

　　"Okay& but how is that a problem?"

　　"Because a few minutes back, our belief was that your agent ability was that of Lone Survivor."

　　My eyes started to slowly widen as it was beginning to sink in. "We`re not supposed to have two agent abilities, are we?"

　　"Nope, the neurochip was only designed with enough capacity to maintain one." Brian emphasized with his tone.

　　"So how& what& what are your thoughts now?" I asked.

　　"I`m wondering if you did choose the AI ability and not only did it apply the proficiency codes, but the cloaked achievements, and& discovered a way to apply another agent attribute."

　　"That would practically make me unstoppable, wouldn`t it?"

　　Brian retrieved his vape pen from his pocket and took one really, really, really, long drag from it and let the cloud billow out of his mouth and fill the room. "To a certain point& it kind of would be. But& that leads me to my next concern."

　　"And what is that?"

　　"What other agents have either chosen this AI enhancement, or are trying to discover more about this?"

　　I raspberried and didn`t think too much of the severity of what Brian was now saying& thinking he was overreacting. "Come on Brian! Were all scalpel agents, same team, same fight!"

　　Brian looked dead at me, and when he used my name rather than my callsign, I took notice. "Trevor... you ever been back-stabbed in your military career?" He started lifting his eyebrows up and down.

　　Fuck & I said internally, as my head raced with old memories. The moments in time flashed in my mind faster than I cared for and were all scenes of a past life that I really didn`t want to relive, especially given the current circumstances. "Maybe&"

　　He then glared and tilted his head as he leaned slightly towards me. "Hey B2& ever been& cheated on?"

　　I huffed in frustration, "How do you even know about& wait& I probably already told you about my past relationships and&" my hand was rotating in a rolling motion as the smile on Brian`s face got bigger and bigger as he leaned back in the chair. "Fuck&"

　　"Exactly& I am not saying that it hasn`t happened in the past, or is not happening now, but this is something that I can`t take lightly. I certainly need to be mindful of, potentially even doing some, behind the scenes investigating and analysis."

　　I sighed, "You think this is something we need to handle?" I asked.

　　"I`m not sure, but there is nothing wrong with always keeping an ear to the ground."

　　"Okay, I will let you take the lead on all of that. I feel like I just need to get in the field and get back to the grind and action." I adjusted my weight in the seat, "So& what exactly will these achievements do for me as I unlock them?"

　　Brian took another drag from his vape pen, "It will ask you where you want to add Neuro-enhancements within your neuro-chip network. Such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, and wisdom."

　　"Add enhancements to strength! Fuck yeah baby! Can I add it to, you know, the little guy down-"

　　"NO! It cannot make your dick bigger B2!" Brian scolded me.

　　"It was a valued question." I raised my hands out in defense.

　　"No& it wasn`t, you`ll have to just keep using the pump in your nightstand for those problems."

　　"How do you know about my pump?"

　　"Oh I wish I didn`t know about your pump& but& that is certainly something I had locked away in the back of my mind and now I can`t unsee it." Brian then pulled out the digital device he had been using the previous day and started to tap on the screen.

　　I nodded over towards him as he began, "I`m surprised with all this technology you have available that you still use the standard smart phone."

　　Brian chuckled as he corrected, "Oh this is not a cell phone, this is way better. But& it does allow me to do all the old functions a smart phone could perform, such as making phone calls." Brian tapped a button on the screen and I heard the device come alive by the voice I recognized as Thomas down in the basement.

　　"Hey Brian! How are you man? You going to make your workout session today?" Thomas asked.

　　A nervous smile appeared on his face, "I`m certainly gonna try. But hey! I have you on speaker with B2."

　　"Bro-bro! What`s happening guys?"

　　Brian continued as he cut straight to the point and information he was inquiring about. "Thomas, since you are the jedi sensei of all things physical performance, what are some of those supplement things you are always telling us to keep in stock?"

　　I could practically hear the smile on Thomas`s face as he started listing off a multitude of products, "Oh awesome! Yeah okay, well I always start with the basic multivitamin and am excited to hear you guys are gonna start taking them."

　　A bashful look came over Brian`s face as if he had not broken the news to Thomas. The harsh reality of that small daily routine not actually being implemented yet. Thomas on the other hand kept going without hesitation. "But from there I like to have everyone keep some branch chain amino acids on hand, I also encourage people to have a good monohydrate creatine. CLA is also a good addition to that, but then just a standard pre-workout to get you engaged and ready to start. I would really like you guys to have a lower caffeine level, because that overall intensity regimen you have with me, Bill, and Jack can really increase some risk."

　　Brian`s eyes widened as Thomas seemed to hardly take a breath or break as he just let the surface level of knowledge freely flow. "Then I like to have a ZMA readily available if we`re doing some pretty intense, solid building regiments. That ZMA really helps with sleep and recovery like no other. I`ve even started to incorporate beet juice for a nice nitric oxide boost and besides the strong earthy aftertaste, it`s not too bad. I was actually thinking of making up a smoothy here in a minute. You guys want to come down and have one with-"

　　Brian finally cut Thomas off, "Yeah, yeah! That`s great Thomas, I guess the bigger question I wanted to get at is. Even though these are supplements, they don`t actually do the work, they`re truly a supplement that enhances things . Right?"

　　There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone, "It does help performance, but& I mean& I like to think of it as that extra 5% effort. It won`t do all 10 repetitions for you, but is just enough of that light boost to help you get that 1 extra repetition in."

　　Brian then asked his question, "And& correct me if I am wrong Thomas, but creatine is the one that latches onto the muscles and then instantly responds to the body when it starts to do work essentially, yes?"Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

　　"Yeah, pretty much." Thomas replied.

　　"Excellent, thanks Thomas!" I could just hear Thomas begin to re-inquire on whether or not we were going to go downstairs and have a smoothie with him, when Brian simply ended the call.

　　"Okay, so the easiest way to explain this is, just like that creatine stuff is instantly there to help you in a physical sense, the chip will dedicate a portion of your body`s natural energy and constantly divert that extra 5% boost to those areas at all times. So& you might find you can run a little further without muscle soreness, or if you add it to dexterity, where it will help you with your foot planting when you jump from one ledge to another. Your slight-of-hand is better for magazine reloads when you`re in a shoot-out. The intelligence side helps you recall data."

　　Brian paused and dry coughed again before he then continued, "Think of the intelligence portion like a google for your memory. It will help to categorize all the information you`ve gathered, labels it, files it, and can help you retrieve the information faster and more efficiently over time. There was on one occasion when one of our previous agents had multiple targets they were after. Their intelligence level, and more specifically, the subcategory of history, allowed them to recall vital data on the patterns of life, and patterns of behavior on one of the targets.

　　As you grow your skills from what we call your skill tree and progress your Agent Competency Level`s, these Neuro-enhancements will be that extra edge. Both being paired together with one another. The higher your skills are within the skill tree, the higher your neuro-enhancements are, the more lethal and precise you`ll be at executing your objectives and accomplishing your missions." Brian then took a drag off of his vape pen.

　　"So, this neuro-enhancement when paired with highly skilled and performing agents could actually make us more of a target, or threat to the agency. Keeping us within a capped system ensures we don`t become too powerful." I said with a confident expression regarding my understanding.

　　"Precisely, a certain spiderman quote is coming to mind."

　　"Aww, thanks Brian& you know& I kinda always did think of myself as a superhero."

　　"Jesus fucking Christ B2 that is not what I was saying. Shit, I miss the old Trevor, some days."

　　"The old Trevor? What do you mean?"

　　"The Trevor before you had the chip implanted and were basically a squishy marshmallow that was as fragile as an egg with an even thinner shell. It was like the tinniest thing happened and you`d just ooze out emotional insecurity and-"

　　"You know what& this has been a fun trip down memory lane. And holy shit, do I wish we had more time to do it, but& pretty sure it is dinner time and my stomach is in need of a serious meal." I stood up from the chair and began to slide it back towards the countertop where Brian had pulled it from.

　　"Uhh, we still have a lot to cover& like& a lot, a lot."

　　"Brian& serious? How much more could there be?" The expression on his face solicited his original statement. I rolled my eyes though because I had had enough and needed to decompress.

　　"Fine& let`s call it a day, I have a teleconference coming up anyways. I am going to send you a video file through your chip that you can watch in your HUD. It is basically a computer-based module showing you all the different functions and abilities for your chip and how you can utilize it to interface with. I will warn you that it is a couple of hours long, but if you really want to get out in the field and be efficient, then go over it tonight."

　　I started to walk out of Brian`s office and glanced over all the stuff in the room that I still hadn`t really assessed when I called back over my shoulder, "Sure thing!"

　　I made my way up to my glorious penthouse suite. As soon as I walked into the common area I called out, "Satan? Are you home?"

　　To which came the anger of a raging hormonal demon from one of the side rooms opposite mine, " Fuck off B2!"

　　Well, I guess that answers that question. I was certainly going to be sure to not have boxer brief B2 walking around the common area. Pretty sure Brian, nor I wanted to go through two days in a row of an ass chewing. I popped down in front of the TV and turned it on. I smiled as I clicked on one of the greatest shows of all time, LetterKenny, "Pitter Patter, Let`s Get At`r!" I said, a little louder than I realized, as I was quickly scolded.

　　"Shut up B2!"

　　Shit woman, just drown your problems in wine bottles like everyone else! I thought . I found a bag of pita bread and a family size container of garlic hummus. Needless to say, that was a B2 container of hummus as I destroyed it in the one sitting and drank a gallon of Arizona Arnold Palmer Iced Tea. I won`t lie. I certainly tried to watch the training video, but once I heard Brian`s voice come over and begin it`s narration,  Welcome to the Advanced NeuroChip XS14-C training module. I am your designer, fabricator, and technical support lead, Brian Nordon. In this module you`ll be shown exactly how to operate, navigate and.` That was as far as I got and chocked it up to, we totally have time to do this later. There was no later, but I certainly wasn`t going to let Brian know that.

　　I woke up the next day and had a slight differential feeling of motivation and determination. Well, at least that was after my morning shit, but as I sat there on the porcelain throne, I had a curious thought regarding what Brian had said the previous day in regards to the skill tree and how I would come to unlock them.

　　My neurochip was johnny on the spot, for as soon as I thought of trying to view the skill tree, there it appeared in my vision. Though my normal reaction was nausea, dizziness, and loss of balance at times, this initial grand display of alternating blocks stacked upon one another, adjacent, and even cascading in decent patterns, assisted in my bowel movement. My intestines released everything that was blocked up and deep inside that morning, right there on the spot.

　　The entire breakdown of everything was impressive to say the least. Everything from health and fitness to explosives and radio frequencies. Some of the titles seemed a little basic, like Knee Pads. I even asked myself out loud when I saw it, "Really? A skill category dedicated to knee pads?" Granted, if we were still in the military, I knew a few people in the back office who sure burned through sets of knee pads. Some seemed to be working hard on a quarterly basis with how much& lip and throat service they were providing certain people in leadership.

　　I just didn`t see why we would have this skill listed. But then again, I didn`t make this fucking thing. There was some things however, like Crypto Communications, now that one could be clutch depending on how many times I had to utilize that stuff. At the same time, with my neurochip interface through the old thick skull, I didn`t know how practical it may or may not be. I assumed it might also have to do with potential coordination with other entities or agencies.

　　I homed in on another small block on one far side, Alarm Panels, Sensors, Traps, Switches. My gaze working down the line until I noticed directly next to this list was another. Poison, Toxin, Allergy, Radiation. Holy shit& I thought. There is some serious shit intermixed within some of this stuff.

　　The longer I looked over at the skill tree, the more I realized that I there was certainly going to be skills that I wanted to ensure I maxed out, utilizing the benefits of the Neurochip to lock in these skills and never have to actively work to maintain my proficiency within them. I was curious also as to how far I would be able to upgrade my neuro-enhancements.

　　As I reflected on everything I had been taking in, I realized how much of a huge advancement in technology this truly was. I thought about my buddies and how often they were going to the shooting range, ensuring they were maintaining their edge on proficiencies and skills. The ability to upgrade a skill and have it locked in within my internal memory bank upstairs, meant I had the ability to be a truly lethal angel of death. A joyful smile came over my face as I thought of being a real-life superhero with incredible potential and growth in my future awaiting me. This is fucking awesome! I said in my mind as I finished emptying out the internal trash can, showered, changed, and then headed downstairs for another full day of training.

　　Bill began to have me practice new engagement sequences, his favorite that he emphasized was what he called the sunrise six sequence. He made me practice the movement almost half of the entire training session. I was surprised however that the technique didn`t give me a skill achievement, nor did I get another level in my Combative Theory, Combatives, or Melee. I asked Bill regarding it, and he sarcastically changed his voice and over emphasized,

　　"Patience Grass Hopper, One cannot damn the river using only three bricks within three days, but most move an entire mountain over time."

　　I rolled my eyes but thought it was certainly fitting with Ozzy`s Crazy Train playing all over again in the background as he said it.

　　Thankfully, Jack had started me with some actual legitimate trigger time. The smell of gunpowder in a tightly controlled, but also confined space mixed with heavy metal and type A personality was a sensation I missed. Throwing rounds down range and punching lead wholes into paper felt amazing. I was a little discouraged however, with just how large my grouping had gotten. We measured it at roughly a 7.5 in spread across the target.

　　Overall, Jack said it was pretty good given the fact that I was back at level 1, and had not been able to get any trigger time in sense I went nighty night. In reality, I really had a lot more work to do to tighten my groupings up, and that only would come with more trigger time. Lots, of trigger time. But just like a fat kid at a birthday party with pizza and cake, I was looking forward to that shit!

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: BREATHING CYCLE - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: TRIGGER PULL - LEVEL 2/

　　\SKILL ACHIEVED: TRIGGER FINGER PLACEMENT - LEVEL 2/

　　I was excited as I progressed three more skills to Level 2. I knew that my three newly achieved skills had bumped me into Novice Level 4, and I was happy knowing that I was one step closer towards getting to Apprentice.

　　Brian had then instructed me to meet him in an area he referred to as the prep room. I followed an orange line in the basement area where it led me to a room where it looked like a James Bond movie set, or something you would imagine a Special Operations ready room to look like. Specific areas were separated and set apart with a multitude of items. One area marked off with an assortment of different firearms. Directly next to it was an area with very designated separations between rows of filled magazines with different ammo combinations for the weapon systems. Some of them being color coordinated.

　　An area was set off to the side where there were melee weapons. Knives, batons, collapsible batons, stun guns were also assigned there, projectile tasers, even baseball bats and crow bars. Additionally, there was all different types of radio communication and electronic components, which practically looked like an old school radioshack setup where you had everything from complex circuit boards all the way down to individual resistors and capacitors.

　　Brian mentioned, "Most of this stuff is somewhat obsolete, as most of you guys just send requests to me now and I can fabricate it in my office and have it delivered to you in the field or you swing by and pick it up. Your time on station, time on target is the priority, so we normally don`t have you worrying about this type of stuff anymore."

　　Brian then showed me over to an area full of armor but was then shown what I normally carried with me in the field. "For lack of better terms, and for the sake of easement, your armor is referred to as Dragonskin. This is the top of the line in armor and most of the technology we hacked out of an Israeli company that had their patented system, very similar in design. We slightly modified it and enhanced the materials so that it is an under-shell system. The same way you would wear an undershirt with a suit for an occasion, you would wear this underneath all your daily clothing."

　　I looked it over and Brian had it in multiple shades of colors, anywhere from nude tan to almond skin tan, to chocolate brown, and simply white and pitch black. "Again, you have a full spectrum of options available to you and are inside your prep room inside the house, and normally have two options with you in your go bags when you have to go from one operation to another, out in the field."

　　I grabbed the armor and held it in my hands as I felt the smooth texture while Brian continued. "Additionally, Terra being your direct analyst and assistant, can also coordinate drop locations for you to resupply or be re-outfitted in the field. It is normally too much of a logistical nightmare for agents to try and coordinate these things, so Terra handles all of that. Additionally, for field agent safety, the Field Support Personnel, and our Field Agents never, and I mean, never , meet in person. There is too much risk and liability in both processes and the last thing we want is for them to compromise your identity or an operation. Therefore, Terra coordinates those specific items and requests while you`re focusing in other areas to help alleviate any potential cross over."

　　I was tossing the armor up and down lightly and catching it, feeling the full weight. It was just hard to comprehend how such a light armory system would be able to protect me. "When you put it on your armor will appear over your health icon."

　　"Health icon?" My head tilted just a little.

　　Brian started to turn his expression into a judgmental glare, the likes of which I didn`t care for and realized I was the frog who was starting to dip my toe into quickly boiling water. "Didn`t you watch the video last night regarding your chip interface?"

　　"Of course I did!" I lied. I immediately went for a cover. "It was just& you know, so much information to digest. I completely forgot to activate it and have it actively display in my vision. That`s all." I quickly thought and told my mind to activate health display, the same way I had told it to auto-update proficiency upgrades. As soon as I did it though, a green personal icon appeared in the left corner of my vision, directly on the opposite side of my main systems icon. "Yeah see! I got it, I got it."

　　Brian was still very judgmental as he let out a low rumbling, "Right&"

　　I then took my shirt off and put the dragonskin on. As soon as I did, I saw the blue overlay appear on my health icon and thought it looked pretty cool. "This is pretty dope!" Brian started to crest a smile as he seemed to let go of my potential blunder in having not done my homework the previous night. Brian started to drift over slightly to the hand-to-hand weapons area and picked up a baton. As he twirled it around like a medieval sword, I asked him while tapping the armor with my fingers. "So, this is going to be able to stop rifle rounds?"

　　"Not all rifle rounds. There have been times when it has stopped a 5.56 mm round, there are times when unfortunately, they have punched through. We normally prefer you to have a& low profile& when conducting operations, Given your previous missions however, you need more like a god damn Ironman suit. You always seem to stir up all the hornets` nests while creating epic, cluster fucking nightmares. That is also why your physical strength and muscle density is going to aid tremendously with it all.

　　Though the dragonskin will stop smaller caliber rounds, they don`t hit and feel like a traditional hammer, it`s like a god damn wrecking ball for the first couple of times. Once you start to adapt to the sensation, it`s lowered down to the feeling of half a wrecking ball." Brian started to inch closer to me as he continued. "Furthermore, the chip will display the area`s you`ve been hit on your dragon skin, of your body. Let`s say you take three rounds to the far upper chest, shoulder area." Brian tabbed the baton on my shoulder, and I saw the dragonskin overlay start to change color patterns towards that of an orange gradient, beginning at the impact site and slowly fading out in a circle shape.

　　"This way you know the material, though the best thing on the market, can`t withstand hits in that same area repeatedly, and you are aware of how you may need to change out the dragonskin, or& I dunno, stop getting fucking shot!"

　　I rolled my head as well as my eyes which made the impact even more startling as I only saw the quick movement of the baton come streaking across my right side and * whack , slapping itself right across my right quadricep as I cried out. "What the nun loving shit was that for!"

　　Brian tilted his head, batted his eyes and smiled, "Ohh& did someone not turn on their active incoming threat detection system last night, otherwise referred to as the ITDS?" His eyes were still batting up and down rapidly. "I would have figured that the ITDS would have warned you that a threat was approaching your immediate safety zone and you should, oh& I don`t know, move to not get hit by it."

　　"You do remember your all-important and precious chip is still malfunctioning to a certain point, and not only is it not displaying all the skills in the skill tree but still thinks I am a Level 4 Nogtich instead of novice, right?"

　　Brian shifted his head, "Fine, sorry I gave you a slight boo-boo! Grow up you big baby."

　　I was rubbing my quad, trying to ease the pain that was now actively throbbing in my leg and was just happy to know that Brian didn`t full on grand slam swing on me. He went over and meticulously placed the baton back in the exact position it was in when he originally grabbed it. He turned and nodded me to come closer to him as he adjusted his position to directly over the ammunition cage and drawer system.

　　"Alright& now what I am about to say is actually important B2. So, really, pay attention." Brian reached down and grabbed one of the Glock 9mm magazines and held it up, but ensured the side of the frame was showing a tiny yellow marking towards the bottom of the magazine. It looked like an RFID tag that you would see on retail items in an electronics retail store. There was certainly a metal inlay within the tiny sticker. I could just make it out by the slight reflection that was hitting it as the magazine naturally moved in Brian`s hand. "This is a specialized RFID tag that is encrypted and linked to your Neurochip, there is also one inside the magazine well of your assigned weapons. An important factor to remember. If you grab another field agents` gun, it won`t display in your display field as your weapon would. Same with theirs. Each RFID tag is coded to the field agent and the same goes along with the magazines. They all pair together."

　　I titled my head up and huffed, "That is really so important?"

　　I could see Brian`s jaw tighten and as the blood vessels on his neck flared slightly as he took another second before continuing. "No& this is." He tapped his finger by the RFID on the magazine. "The color of the RFID is extremely important."

　　I actually narrowed in and looked more specifically at the color Brian was currently holding. A solid yellow color, which then led my curiosity to look over at the other magazines. I naturally grabbed hold of one from the drawer and turned over the magazine to see the RFID sticker was green. "Okay Jason Bourne& what do the colors indicate?"

　　Brian seemed like he wanted to let go of his composure, but kept it intact, "Well& the one I have here is Yellow and as you can clearly see, is a full metal jacket, FMJ, round. Or also traditionally referred to as a ball round. Blue represents armor piercing, Grey is hollow point, orange is shatter."

　　I cut Brian off, "Shatter?"

　　"Yes, similar to how a hollow point spreads outward, well& think of this as a round that will turn into a dozen razor blades and force itself further into the body, delivering an even greater amount of damage as they travel within the target. That round is one we specially designed here at Scalpel. Now& back to where I was, the white labels are your own custom configuration magazines. In the past, I know you would have a stack configuration which alternated. Three FMJ`s in your 1,2, and 3 slots. Then immediately afterwards would have two hollow points in your 4 and 5 slot. Right after that it was back to two FMJ`s in 6 and 7. One Shatter and One Hollow Point for 8 and 9, another three FMJ`s for 10, 11 and 12, then five Mercury rounds to finish the mag load configuration."

　　I could feel my brow furl, "Mercury?"

　　Brian smiled, "Yes, the purest and most refined Mercury in the world. The round is specifically designed that if it is not a deadly hit, the round disintegrates enough, and powered mercury is entered into the target`s blood stream. Most targets are normally dead from poisoning within 24-48 hours after being shot with one."

　　"Mary, mother and Joseph!" I said as my mouth opened while seeing a sadistic smile coming over Brian`s face.

　　"Trust me, they`re highly effective." He paused and raised an eyebrow while his eyes shifted, "Oh right! Red& red is your magnesium rounds. Remember, John Wick, or Constantine movies? When they shoot the shogun and the dragon breath of fire and death surge outwards onto the target? Same thing& only in 9mm form. The round is slightly different in that, it is clearly not as powerful as a shotgun round, but& When you need to leave a barbeque of flesh for others to find& it`s nice to have a creative option."

　　I then lifted the magazine in my hand up and reminded him, "And green?"

　　He exhaled and said nonchalantly with a quick snap of his fingers. "That was the other one& I knew there was one I was forgetting. Green are uranium rounds."

　　" What the Fuck?" I cried out and accidentally released the magazine, sending it falling and crashing down upon the floor.

　　"Wow! Great job Oppenheimer! Way to drop the uranium on the ground like it`s no big deal!" Brian sarcastically scolded me.

　　" Why do we have uranium rounds Brian?"

　　"Why not?" He asked with a shrug.

　　"Do we really need them?"

　　He tossed his head from side to side, "Meh& better to have them and not need them, then want them and not have them& at least, readily available that is."

　　My mouth was still slightly open at this point as I swung my arms out, "What the hell would I even use them for?"

　　He had a pondered look on his face for a brief second, "Well& if you`re on a night mission and want to leave a trail of illuminated dead body glowsticks! This would be the best option!" He smiled as he finished.

　　I pointed my finger at him, "You know what& you`re just as sick as me in some ways."

　　He leaned slightly towards me, "In some ways&"

　　He then grabbed one of the Glock G17`s from the weapon`s drawer, and then slid the yellow FMJ magazine into the well. As soon as the magazine seated itself within the receiver, I saw a yellow group of stacked rounds enter the far-right side of my vision.

　　"Oh shit!" I said as soon as took notice of it. "That`s pretty fucking cool!"

　　Brian smiled, "The sensors within the mag well and the magazines are basically measuring the pressure produced by the springs within the magazine. As you fire off rounds, the tension is adjusting and creating a new pressure density. That information is translated into your neurochip, which then displays the magazine rounds in your vision, so you can always know how much you have left before requiring a magazine change."

　　Brian then ejected the magazine from the pistol and the image disappeared from my view. He then grabbed the armor piercing magazine and inserted it. The same display appeared, but this time the rounds were all in blue as Brian continued to share, "The magazine colors are also coded within the system, so that is why it is important to ensure the right rounds are loaded into the right magazines. Last thing you want is to use a magnesium round when you`re trying to use an FMJ and be stealthy and light up the night sky like a 4 th of July celebration."

　　"No shit" I replied.

　　Brian then looked at me, "Well, the normal HUD display your neurochip should display for you should be now in full view. Your health display in top left corner, your main system interface and any additional icons in the top right, your magazine capacity display on the far-right side, and then the map overlay in the bottom left corner. You can also modify that later for personal preference. You remember how to do that from the training video right?"

　　I smiled, "Of course I remember!"

　　"Good, because the boss wants you back in the field. Your first operation is tomorrow."

　　My eyes must have widened just enough for Brian to sigh and reassuring added. "Don`t stress it, it`s a simple escorting of documents across the country. You`ll fly out in the morning and then be back the following day for more training."