Chương 22: Training Recruits

Jonathan slid the dampening bracelet over his knuckles and felt the weight of his dampened emotions settle on him. Time to play nice. He used his shoulder to press into the briefing room, careful not to spill any of his precious coffee. Captain Hayes was already standing on the far side of the table, arranging various printouts and larger satellite photos on its surface.

"Morning, Hayes." He said, pausing until she gestured which seat he should take.

"Quite the early call."

"Morning, Jon. Yeah, I finally got word from my informant last night. Director Matthews was briefed, and a team was sent out last night to pick up our informant and a VIP target they'd been working with." He raised an eyebrow and thought about asking why their team wasn't sent, especially since she was the informant's handler. Knowing that it would be briefed in the next few minutes, he just settled in and took a sip of his coffee.

Being one of the first to arrive, he waited some time before other senior agents filed in and took seats around the polished oak table. Sullivan sat halfway down the table with his thin-framed glasses perched on his nose. The usual murmur of pre-brief conversation was notably absent as the tension in the air was thick. Director Matthews was the last to enter, and Jonathan could see dark circles under the man's red eyes.

"Let's begin." Hayes lifted the remote in her hand and pointed it at the screen, jumping forward a slide. A satellite photo showed a mountain clearing with a small tag at the top labeling it as Montana. The next slide zoomed in and showed a glowing pale blue portal.

"Late last night, our informant within the Untethered had their cover blown while attempting to investigate this Rift. Two days ago, Emma Daughtry approached our agent and told them that she had been trapped in this Rift for the last four weeks." She went to the next slide, and a sketch appeared. There were clean and detailed pencil lines showing a circular structure with elevated areas surrounding it.

"Ms. Daughtry provided the descriptions to make these drawings and a comprehensive statement about the Untethered's recruitment and brutal training program."

"What's their operational scope?" Sullivan asked, setting down his report and making several notes on a pad of paper. Hayes moved the presentation forward.

"It's hard to tell, but we suspect that they are recruiting through the Nexus Hub and directly reaching out to those who might seem desperate to get information on awakening. They target young adults with promises of 'elite training and a guaranteed opportunity to awaken.' But once inside…" She paused and brought up another slide of hand drawn diagrams.

"The conditions and expectations set are brutal. Recruits are thrown into a pit, or arena, as Emma said that they called it. At the same time, they're told to survive, and a monster is let loose. The first round is one-on-one combat, and the recruit is given a spear and nothing else. During this fight, no one is allowed to leave or quit, though if someone is too traumatized or wants to quit after they've survived their fight, then the Untethered will let them return home."

"How have we not heard of this before now, then?" A man to Jonathan's left asked.

"Because, they don't actually ever leave the Rift. Emma and a few others began to get suspicious, especially when they weren't allowed to even take a break and leave the compound from within the Rift. At first, they were mollified by the response that it wasn't safe without an escort, but after several attempts to get an escort or leave the Rift, she started to notice that others were getting more special attention.

Those who were enjoying the fighting or embracing the Untethered would start to get more focus and be separated into a different group than those who were more wary or scarred from the events. The Untethered called the groups graduates, and those who had not graduated were called recruits. Emma described the area where recruits were kept as a prison or jail, with metal-barred rooms. She said that they weren't locked into the rooms, and any complaints were denied and told to think of it as a boot camp.

Graduates would move into a separate area with actual rooms and furniture, but she didn't have too much information on that." Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

"Cutting to the chase," Director Matthews said.

"They are killing any of the youths that want to leave. So, while everyone may enter of their own free will, they're being sold on something like superhero hopes and dreams and instead being thrown into a survival situation… one that, even if they survive the monsters, they might not see their way home. We've sat on the Untethered too long, they were smart in using the Rift as a controlled choke point. It made it hard for us to get reliable information or reconnaissance on them.

Now we've got more than enough justification to send in a team and shut them down. Captain Hayes, please continue." She nodded, "With our informant's cover blown, we need a team to act quickly before the Untethered can scatter from the Rift or burn the operations and potentially injure more of the kids within." She progressed to a slide that had several photos of two men meeting. Jonathan noted the long, white-blonde hair of one man whose dress and jewelry spoke of wealth.

"This man is Richard Mack. We've pinned him as the leader of the Untethered and believe that he largely keeps his hands out of the Rift portion of the group, though his regular meetings with teams who have been seen going in and out of the Rift make us assume he's complicit. In these photos, we see him meeting with Rylan Voss. Rylan is the brother of a high-ranking member of the private organization known as The Adventurers Guild." Jonathan noticed several people lean forward and take notes on this statement.

"We've suspected the Untethered of having connections to the Guild for some time now, and this might be the lead we need to follow to make those connections. So far, the Guild has been avoiding doing anything to clash with the Hunters Association or to blatantly recruit individuals. They paint themselves as a group of people who want to grow in power 'out from under the government's umbrella' and have statements everywhere that what they're doing is for the good of the people.

As you can see, their message aligns closely with the Untethered's, just not quite as radical. While Rylan himself doesn't seem to have a high standing in the Adventurers Guild, our scout wasn't able to get a [Scan] on him, meaning he must be quite strong." A few glances were sent toward Jonathan.

"As the Director stated, time is crucial here, which is why we've called this meeting. You are the board members of the Hunters Association. While the Director can make a direct decision- he acknowledges that this is a big one. To make such an open and direct move against other humans will be making a statement to the world. It's one thing to fight against monsters and push back the Rifts, but these are other humans, other Americans."

There was a murmuring among those at the table and several uncertain glances were passed around. The conversation that followed was clipped and quite heated, with almost everyone agreeing that a move should be made as soon as possible before losing their lead and endangering more of the young Awakened within. Once a decision was made, Director Matthews gave a nod to Hayes before leaving the briefing.

"Here are the details we have and the operational plan that was discussed last night. There are currently estimated to be around 40 'recruits' trapped in the Rift. Emma made it clear that at least ten of these would likely be teens who have graduated from the training program and would be willing to fight against any sort of government interference.

There have been scouts sent to the Rift since our informant's report, and we have confirmed that the Rift is Uncommon Rarity, which means that there is a time-stretching effect that's applied to those within. My team will lead the assault with two backups. One of the reserve teams will secure and hold the position outside of the rift, where the second will enter and hold the exit while my team pushes to the Untethered base. Our focus will be releasing the teens and gathering any available intelligence.

Full authority has been given by the Director to take out targets as needed."

"What kind of resistance should we expect?" Jonathan asked, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started.

"Ms. Daughtry reported monsters between levels 2-15. The Rift is a swamp biome, and the monsters that are captured for the arena fighting are a wide variety of types. But, there is a separate holding area for what she called 'graduation matches.' We don't have details on those." Sullivan adjusted his glasses, "And if your team encounters Richard or Rylan Voss?"

"Primary objective remains civilian extraction," Hayes said firmly.

"We engage only if necessary to complete the mission. That said…" She glanced at Jonathan.

"We're taking our strongest team for a reason. We expect to run into resistance."

"Good, these people need to be stopped." For once, we agree on something. Jonathan nodded his head toward Sullivan as they made eye contact. One of the other board members spoke up once more, "So with the time dilation. Every hour we spend here, two hours pass within the Rift? If our informant had their cover blown, won't then they be waiting for you inside?"

"Potentially. Or they'll be scrambling to cover their tracks and evacuate, which is why we need to move quickly. While the Untethered are all Awakened, they've been avoiding direct confrontation with us because we have such a wider reach and much deeper pockets. They clearly want to build their strength, or they wouldn't be using such drastic methods." There was a murmur of an agreement, and the talks ended quickly.

Captain Hayes fielded a few final questions from those who stayed behind and Sullivan left while tapping on his tablet.

"Gear up. We move in two hours." She said to Jonathan, who was studying the printed copies of the arena's layout.