A few days have passed since Seth completed his punishment of wall guard duty. Just like Colonel Sanders said, it was hours of boredom of just watching the land beyond Oasis City.

Jacks was finally able to clear up his schedule and bring Seth over to the mercenary Director. Currently both of them were chatting and sitting in a humvee that Jacks had borrowed from the Federation base.

“So you met Blue, eh? He’s a Silver ranked mercenary and he’s been around for a while. If there’s a problem you can go to him for help. Just don’t him why his skin is blue.” Jacks advised.

“That’s good to know. He’s an Awaken right? That’s why his skin is blue. What kind of abilities does he have?” Seth asked.

“His awakening just makes his skin blue. Nothing else.”

“No way, you’re joking right?”

“Nope, I’m dead serious. His awakening was just to turn his skin blue. It’s actually a sore spot for him. If it gave him any other powers, then he kept them secret.”

Seth let Jacks words sink in. People always saw Awakening as something special. Who doesn’t want super powers? However if your power is to just turn skin blue permanently, it would be extremely disappointing. It was like winning the lottery but only to find out you won the worst prize of all.

Jacks understood what Seth was thinking. “Awakening isn’t a hard science. Some people say it’s based on desire. Others say it’s based on luck. And then there are those who say its all because of destiny. In the end, it doesn’t matter the reason why a person awakened. Once you Awaken, you can’t change it. You can only adapt to it.”

It felt as if Jacks had said those words specially for him. Jacks knew Seth wished to awaken some ability. It wasn’t enough to know how to handle some weapons. The scouting probe has classify him as a class 2 Awaken. This was consider the bottom of the hierarchy of the Awaken. He had seen the monsters outside the city and knew that he was powerless against the true monsters.

What he wanted more than anything right now was to awaken some super power that would make him stronger. Maybe then he would be able to set up his own core and then finally find a hint in locating the Bastion of Heroes.

One of the few things Seth had learned as an intern in the Federation base was that people with special abilities were respected. Whether they were super powers or a unique skillset, it didn’t matter as long as the person was able to stand out. Seth held no illusion of himself. He knew that he had no special skill set. He could only improve his personnel combat prowess. Once his own abilities improve, then he might be able to access more information.

“How about you Jacks? What do think the reason behind why people awaken? You are an Awaken right? What are your powers?”

Jacks smirked. “ My powers are on a need to know basis. As to why i think people awaken? There’s no reason behind it. It’s just one of the many things on this planet that can’t be explained. Leave it to the scientist to figure it out.”

BEEP!BEEP!

A communicator on Jacks started ringing and he opened it up right away. After a few moments, he put it down and spoke. “ Damn, looks like we need to take a detour. There’s a AGW and they need all the help they can get.”

“AGW?”

“Awakening Gone Wrong.”

***

Jacks drove the humvee to a crowded venue that was blocked off by a group of people know as the Enforcers.

The Enforcers was the local law enforcement of the city. They were responsible for the public health city. While the Federation protected the city from external threats, the enforcers were the internal protectors. The Enforcers were natives of the Oasis city or people who had permanently moved into the city. It was a rule, in order to be part of the Enforcers, only a person who knows the city would be able to protect it. It set them apart from Federation soldiers who would station in the city on a temporary basis and be deployed elsewhere after a few years .

“Halt! There is a dangerous situation up ahead. Please make a detour as the incident is being handled!” An Enforcer said as he stopped Jacks and Seth as they approached.

Jack held up his phone which then showed his Federation Identification information. “Major Jacks Jackson reporting to the AGW call.”

The Enforcer quickly glanced at the information on the phone and then stepped aside. “Sorry I wasn’t informed that the federation was called in to help. And the boy?”

“He’s with me. Give me a quick sitrep of the situation.” Jacks waved off the apology and said.

“Sure. Someone suddenly awakened at 10 AM. A lot of people were injured before we arrived. A 5 block perimeter was set up while some enforcers engage with the Awaken.That was an hour ago.”

“The situation must be pretty bad if they put out the call. Who else-”

BOOM!

Before Jacks could finish his sentence, an intense explosion rang out, shaking the surrounding buildings.

“Damn, there's our problem.” Jacks took out a shotgun and asked Seth. “You got a weapon?”

Seth nodded. His weapon was the current knife prototype from Ms. Greene. This was currently the fifth one as they had not found the right material that works with Seth’s chi. It was either the weapon was too brittle to contain the energy or the chi could not flow through properly.

Jacks then led Seth past the Enforcer blockade.

“When a person goes through an Awakening, their powers and also their mind tend to be unstable and can wreck havoc to their surroundings. Hence the reason we call it Awakening gone wrong or AGW for short. The protocol is to knock out the newly Awaken as quickly as possible to minimize the damage. If that’s not possible, then the next step is to try to exhaust them. If those two option aren’t possible, then we go with option three.”

“What’s option three?” Seth asked, an ominous feeling grew in his stomach. He felt as if he knew the answer, but he hoped he was wrong.

“We kill them.”

Seth barely contain his gasp as his thoughts were confirmed and they moved towards the epicenter of their current problem.

“That’s the worst case scenario. That's when the newly Awaken powers are deemed too dangerous and uncontrollable. Killing them minimizes the damage. It’s only done in the rarest of cases.” Jacks reassured Seth.

BANG!

The buildings shook as the duo got closer to their target. They could hear shouting and shots being fired.

“When we meet the target, stay some distance away from it. Let me get a handle of the situation. We don't want to jump in and make things. After all, even though we were called in to help, this is still the Enforcer’s jurisdiction.”

As they turned the corner, Seth and Jacks finally met their target. A giant being made of sand was roaring and swatting everything in their surroundings. It was currently human shaped, but Seth saw spikes made of sand would occasionally be shot out.

Enforcers could be seen holding different weaponry and firing at the sand giant while others were blasting it with their own awakened powers. A few could be seen dragging other injured Enforcers away. Whether they were dead or injured could not be known from a glance. The surrounding buildings were already in ruins from the engagement. Jacks and Seth had known they were walking into a bad situation, but this was worse than they thought.

The only way to describe it was that they had walked into a warzone.

Seth and Jacks covertly made their way to the closest Enforcer. The Enforcer was blasting fire from his hands at the sand Awaken from behind some debris. Jacks apparently knew the man as he said to him “ Hey Dilain! Whats the situation?”

The Enforcer ducked down behind the debris and spoke to them. “What the hell are you doing here, you bastard! You know what? Don't answer that. Right now we’re doing containment. We put out the call for reinforcements about 20 minutes ago. Slipstream is enroute and should be here soon. Just need to hold on until he gets here. The only problem is that we’re exhausted and running low on ammunition.”

Jacks nodded in acknowledgement. He watched the ensuing battle and then said “ When i give the signal, tell the rest to hold their fire and I'll handle the rest.”

Dilain apparently knew what Jacks was planning and immediately nodded in agreement , but Seth was clueless and asked “How are you going to stop that thing by yourself?” Seth knew Jacks was an Awaken, but Jacks had never told him the kind of powers he had. However if Seth had to make a guess, it wasn’t some major power since Jacks was not a class 4. Class 4 and above Awaken made a name for themselves for their firepower. Since Seth had never heard of Jacks until the day he met him, Seth could infer that his powers was a class 2 or class 3. There was a database about the Awaken officers and abilities in the Federation, but it was classified and Seth did not have the authority to view it.

Jacks stood up and walked over the sand giant. Dilain had explained the situation to the other Enforcers and they had stopped firing. As Jacks left their cover, his eyes glowed and he said to Seth “it’s not about how strong your powers are. It’s about how you use them. You were asking what my Awaken powers are? Let’s see if you can figure it out.”