Page 59 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“Shut the fuck up. I preferred when you didn’t talk,” Laughn sneers.

It’s true, while we all have specific areas we are better at—where we are genetically designed to excel over the others—we all have some traits in common. Super endurance, no fingerprints, poison and disease resistance, bones stronger than most people’s, and the list goes on. We can still get hurt just like everyone else, but it’s a little harder.

Laughn has next to no damn pain receptors, especially when he is electrocuted. Davis is a human lie detector. Marlow and computers talk the same language—there is nothing he can’t hack or find. Boston literally remembers everything he wants to remember; not like a photographic memory—this is more situational—but whatever he catalogues in that head of his is there forever. I have excellent vision in the dark, but fuck, as a result, I’m the one that gets sent in first and I sure as shit ain’t bullet proof—I have the scar on my shoulder to prove it. And that is only the quick run-down of our abilities.

Clapping comes from behind us, and we turn to see Mr Z in the flesh; his dark-blue suit is impeccable, and as he smiles, his teeth are so damn white it’s unnatural.

“Well done, Trace. It’s impressive how well you still remember your training.”

Trace’s head snaps up, and he sneers at Mr Z.

“Take him to shower and meet me in the boardroom in fifteen minutes. It’s time we debrief.”

I look at Brennan, but he isn’t giving anything away. Why would Mr Z need to debrief? We only do that after a mission.

Laughn catches on a few seconds before I do, charging at Trace, who has now been untied by Brennan. Marlow and Davis dive for Laughn before he does something he regrets, while Brennan and Boston escort Trace to shower and change. The rest of us stay behind to try to calm Laughn.

He is pacing the room, shaking his arms out after every lap; we all watch and wait. He continues this routine for a few minutes until I finally snap.

“Are you fucking done?”

“I’m done when I say I’m done,” he demands, stalking towards me, coming face to face.

“Is that so? Get over it, Laughn. Does it really matter how Trace is involved? We have her back. Do you remember the months after she left? I know I do. I cried every fucking night, begging someone to bring her back to us, no questions asked.”

“Why does it matter?!” he yells, pushing me in the chest, causing me to take a step back. Marlow goes to step forward, but Davis throws his arm out to stop him, letting Laughn continue. “All those years lost, that’s why. Every day she has been gone, a piece of our souls disappeared. We turned into the complete opposite of what our team was intended for. We were created to love her.”

“That’s it!” It hits me out of nowhere. “We were told we were created to love her. What if she was created to be taken away from us, so we could be moulded into relentless monsters?” Jolie hasn’t seen our true colours yet. I know I want her to remember me as I was before she gets to see Trace.

Death has its own stench, one you can’t erase from your skin, your mind, your damn soul, and that is why she was removed. So we could be honed into a team of extreme ruthlessness.

“It makes sense. Look at Team Rampage—they all love the same girl, but they are weak. The other teams are also weak, either fighting over one girl or there’s a power imbalance. Takingher away gave them the opportunity to make us unstoppable, and now bringing her back, they know we will protect her with a ferocity even they can’t begin to understand. It’s well played, really,” Davis adds clinically.

“How about we go and hear out Mr Z,” Marlow interjects.

Laughn nods and pulls me into his lanky-ass arms. He won’t use the word sorry, but I clap him on the back to show him I understand, and he releases me.

By the time we make it to the boardroom, Brennan, Boston, Trace, and Mr Z are sitting around the oval table.

“It’s about time,” Mr Z states as we take our seats. “Time is money, boys. I’m sure you all have questions, but first I want to thank Agent Trace for his service.”

I don’t miss a look passed between Brennan and Trace.

“His service?” Davis scoffs. “What about his loyalty to his brother? Or did he ditch me the second he decided Jolie was his best friend?”

“While I understand you are angry, let’s save the dramatics,” Mr Z adds firmly, causing Davis to lean back in his chair and stare down Trace.

The day Trace went missing, Davis made us all promise to forget him. His involvement in Zircon’s accident is why he presumed his brother ran.

“Trace was following orders, which I understand is a surprise, but let me explain a few things. Brennan, Trace, Creed, Chester, and Kai were my original super team, but we ran into a few issues with the female embryo not taking, so...”

Creed is Laughn’s creepy-ass brother, who was a handler once upon a time, but now his special skills lie with dead bodies, as he finds solace in the silence. There’s also Chester, a.k.a. our school guidance officer and Marlow’s brother, who they use as an extra set of eyes on us at school or when Brennan is too busyto babysit our asses. And then you can’t forget my dickhead of a brother, Kai.

“So, what you’re saying is our brothers are more like our twins, and we are from the same embryos?” Boston rises in disbelief.

“Something like that,” Mr Z confirms.

“That’s just fucking weird. Kai is a dick and I’m nothing like him,” I grumble. I can’t express how much wedon’tget along.

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