After running away from Li Bo, Joan instinctively found herself heading toward the training facility.
She had gone to the communal gym, which housed state of the art equipment. When she walked in, she spotted Major General Henri Taylor on the treadmill and Senior Lieutenant Hypatia Owenby lifting weights.
Henri Taylor had joined the ranks of the Superhuman Division 30 years ago when he was 27, and Hypatia Owenby had joined 23 years ago at the tender age of 15. Neither of them looked like they had aged a day since then.
The two nodded at Joan wordlessly and silently continued with their training.
Joan headed to the leather heavy-duty punching bag hanging in the corner and tied her waist-length hair into a tight, military bun. She wrapped the familiar black cloth over hands and gave them a good squeeze.
As she stood before the black punching bag, she imagined Li Bo's face before her and threw her first punch.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Shwaaaa…
Ah… she popped it. Joan sighed. So much for being state of the art.
Just as she was about to look for a new punching bag, a gentle tap on her shoulder startled her. Typically, Joan would be able to sense someone's presence. But experienced superhumans were the exception. They were professionally trained to mask their presence.
Joan turned around to see Henri Taylor staring at her. As she made eye-contact with him, an unbelievable amount of frustration rushed forth like water bursting through a dam.
It was his eyes. The same dead eyes that every superhuman had. The same dead eyes that Joan so desperately wanted to rip out every time she saw them.
"Care for a spar?" Henri asked.
"Sure. I won't be going easy on you," Joan responded.
"I wouldn't want you to."
Upon hearing that a spar was taking place, Hypatia dropped the weights she held in her hand and scurried over.
Wang Joan had to admit that it was a bit odd seeing a 15-year-old girl like Hypatia have so much muscle packed into her small body.
"I'll judge," Hypatia volunteered.
The three silently made their way to the sparring room, more formally dubbed 'the Box'. The Box was a large, empty, white-walled room used exclusively for sparring. Two suites overlooked the entirety of the Box. One was used by central intelligence members to judge the capabilities of a superhuman, and the other was open for anyone to spectate a match.
As they entered the changing room adjacent to the Box, Joan pulled a black, skin-tight suit and helmet off the hangers and pulled it over her regular clothes.
The black suits and helmets acted as shock-absorbers and minimized the impact taken by the wearer. Joan lowered her helmet's visor and turned to look at the fully-suited Henri.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Ready," Henri confirmed.
Together, they pushed open the white door that led to the Box. Looking up at the suites, they could see Hypatia giving them a thumbs up.
When they made it to the center of the room, Joan and Henri turned to face each other and heard Hypatia's high-pitched voice come over the loudspeakers.
"3…"
"Prepare to get your ass beat," Joan taunted.
"2…"
"Don't be so cocky."
"1…"
"Well, I have a reason to, don't I?"
"Go!"
Henri lunged at her at an inhumane speed and threw a quick, strong punch. Joan immediately caught his fist in her palm, but his weight and force caused her to slide back a few feet.
Henri attempted to pull his fist from Joan's grip, but his fist wouldn't budge. He was like a fish trapped on a hook. He hadn't expected her to be so strong, and the roots of panic began to sprout in his mind. Joan turned her wrist to twist Henri's arm and swiped her legs under his knees.
His face twisted as he fell to the ground, and he pulled Joan's free arm and attempted to bring her down. But before he could, she let go of his fist and punched the wrist that held onto her free arm.
Wincing, Henri's grip loosened enough for Joan to slip her wrist out of his grasp.
Henri hopped up as quickly as he had fallen and resumed his fighting stance.
"Is that all you got?" Henri asked. "Or are you going easy on me?"
Joan frowned and sprinted at him, unleashing a barrage of quick punches, which Henri could barely dodge. As she threw punches, he took multiple steps back to avoid them. Henri's eyebrows knit closer together as he intently watched her in an attempt to predict her next move.
When Henri saw Joan pull back her right arm, preparing for another punch, he instinctively moved to the left and expected her blow to miss. But, he was met with a sharp pain to the gut instead.
It was a feint!
The force of Joan's uppercut lifted Henri into the air, and he flew multiple meters back and slammed into the far wall.
Bam!
The impact of him against the wall echoed throughout the Box. Henri's body slumped to the ground, and Joan was briefly reminded of the sand that had poured out of her punching bag.
As Henri struggled to get up, Joan rushed forward once again, landing yet another hard punch to his stomach. The impact on Henri's stomach knocked the wind out of him, and he desperately gasped for air.
His breathing was labored, but he still managed to throw a weak right punch towards Joan's head. She jumped back to avoid his attack and asked, "Have you given up?"
Standing up, Henri lifted his visor with his gloved hand and spat out a clot of blood. Lowering the visor once more, he said, "If I gave up now, I wouldn't be qualified to call myself Major General."
Joan chuckled. "We'll see about that."
A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes, and suddenly, she vanished from Henri's scope of vision.
"Shit! She's fast," he cursed as he saw Joan reappear to his left. He turned his head to get a better look at her and jumped backward to put some distance between them.
But Joan outmatched his speed. As he turned his head, she rushed forward and covered his visor with her palm, obscuring his vision.
Henri blindly reached out to grab her, but she dodged him and used his shoulder as leverage to maneuver behind him. Dropping the hand that covered his visor, she trapped him in a chokehold.
"If we were in a real fight, you'd be dead by now," Joan said and emphasized her words by tightening the lock she had on his neck.
Henri patted her arm three times, signaling his forfeit, and she loosened her hold on him and stood up.
Suddenly, a voice over the loudspeakers startled them both.
"Bravo, Joan! Bravo! Any second now, and you would've killed the guy!"
Joan looked up to the suite used by central intelligence and saw Li Bo hovering over the microphone with his trademark grin. Beside him stood Genevive.
"Li Bo," Joan spat. "It seems like you're following me wherever I go."
"Well, of course," the man said. "I'm your boss! That's my job!" His silky laugh reverberated around the Box, and Joan narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
"We heard a loud bang, so we decided to check it out. It's nice that we found you here. We need to talk, Joan," Li Bo continued.
"And if I refuse?"
Joan watched the annoyance spread on Li Bo's face with slight satisfaction.
"Let's talk, Joan," he repeated.
***
Joan found herself back at the intelligence unit. In the center of the room stood the time travel module. The module was in the shape of an upright pod and fit one person inside. A sliding door allowed access to the inside, and there was one piece of glass on the module that allowed the person inside to look outside.
In front of the time travel module were monitors, desks, and chairs for the central intelligence team. The rest of the room was filled with crisscrossed wires and various holograms depicting the logistics of such a sophisticated device.
Li Bo sat behind the largest monitor and beckoned Joan to sit on the cushioned seat beside him. As Joan sat down, Li Bo began to explain what her last mission was.
"We're sending you back 50 years to 2073. Four years before superhumans come into play. Your mission will be to kill Navier Barr. The bastard has been working with the Americans all along. Now, he's in their capital, helping them build superhumans. He's out of our reach."
Joan was startled by the mission that had been assigned to her. Tampering with the past was a dangerous thing, and they were willing to do that just because Navier Barr had betrayed them? Just how much had he helped the Americans?
"Navier Barr, my creator? That'll cause drastic changes to the present. I, along with every superhuman made by him, will become human again. How can you be sure you'll be changing the present for the better?" Joan questioned.
"The situation is a little complicated. That's why you're going to have to wait until he's built the first superhuman before you can kill him. After that, we'll be relying on you to continue the development of superhumans," Genevieve said. "To keep the present from changing too much, we've compiled all the work he's done in the development for superhumans. Your job is to kill him and then simply recreate his work. It shouldn't be too hard for you."
Joan silently thought about the possibilities before saying, "Give the mission to someone else."
"Look, Joan," Li Bo started, "I know you don't want to-"
"Oh, so you know?" Joan mocked him. "You know I'll die if I go to the past. I'll start aging again after ten years, and there's no way you can bring me back. I'll be in my 60s when this timeline comes around again. Do you think the government would take pity on a granny that will no longer be able to fight?"
"Joan-"
"No!" Joan yelled, standing up.
Genevieve put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but Joan quickly pushed her off and stormed towards the door.
"Joan! You're our best superhuman!" Li Bo called out. "I didn't want to do this, but you left me no choice!"
Joan turned to see Li Bo holding a red button in his hands, and her eyes immediately widened. She watched in horror as his thumb pressed the button and searing pain, originating from the chip in her wrist, electrified her body.
Waves of mind-numbing. pain crashed down on her body and slithered up her arms and down her legs. It ferociously dug into her nerves and stabbed at her muscles.
Joan shrieked and collapsed to the floor, uncontrollably convulsing.