Rebecca's pull was solid, and Rocky's was stronger. Watching both awaken abilities through Compound V lit a spark in the room. Jacky kept sneaking glances at the next vial, eager for his turn. Vik read the look, smiled, and started brewing the following dose without wasting a second.
Rocky caught David's eyes, too. Since coming in with Rebecca, he'd kept quiet, standing off to the side like he wished he could become invisible. But nothing in the lab hid from him: Rocky, shrugging off a storm of bullets, Rebecca punching a hole through her arm, and healing in front of them. That kind of power hit like gravity for someone of David's age.
"You want one too?" Rocky asked, hand on his shoulder.
"Yeah… can I?"
"Not yet." Rocky shook his head. "Your body can't carry this load for now. Wait a bit. I'll arrange it when you're ready. Jacky says you've done well these days. Keep pushing. In the end, this won't pass you by."
David hadn't taken Soldier Serum. Without that base he'd risk dying to Compound V's rejection. Rocky also didn't want to hand him power too fast. The Sandevistan already let David run with Special Operations; the right pace was steady steps, fundamentals first, strength later. David nodded hard. "I'll work for it."
"One more thing," Rocky said, as if he'd just remembered. "You said your mom lost her job. The factory has a supervisor slot open. I can place her."
David had mentioned Gloria in passing; Rocky knew the story. David could now carry a household, but Gloria wouldn't sit idle. Good work was rare; better to give her a hand up than watch her hunt blind.
"Thank you, Mr. L. I'll talk to her. I think she'll take it."
The waiting stretch ended when Vik lifted another blue vial from the rack and handed it to Jacky. The injection burned; Jacky gritted through it. No flash of lightning. No visible trick. Just mass and calm settling into his frame like he'd swallowed an anchor.
Nothing exotic—only bodySkin like armor. Strength and durability stacked past human. Under Soldier Serum plus Compound V, regular weapons looked like toys. Small-caliber rounds wouldn't even cut skin now. Jacky rolled his shoulders, satisfied. Flashy or not, this fit him.
Evening fell. They still had hours in the night.
"Let's go meet our neighbors," Rocky said, and the four of them drove to the North Industrial Zone.
They pulled the Deluxo up short of the gate.
All Foods Factory.
It used to belong to All Foods. Now it lay abandoned and held by Maelstrom. Lissandra muted the exterior cameras; Rocky led the team to the side entrance, its wall branded with Maelstrom's red, jagged graffiti like a territorial stamp.
The intercom waited at the door. Visitors used it to ask permission to enter. Rocky didn't press the button. He took out a data knife and punched it into the panel.
Circuits screamed. The knife rode the intercom's subnet straight into Maelstrom's internal network. Lissandra followed the breach, shouldered through their cheap ICE, and marched into the data fortress. Three breaths later, she owned their local cyberspace. Nobody inside noticed.
Rocky pulled the knife. The roll-up door rattled and began to rise under Lissandra's hand.
The last time he came here, Militech gun turrets had greeted him. Tonight, human eyes.
The door opened; the guards were already moving. Safeties clicked. Boots shifted. One stepped forward, chest out, voice up.
"This is Maelstrom turf. How the hell did you open that door? State your business or get out the way you came!"