Chapter 33 The fragile and innocent Cate, and the invincible him.
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The plan for Project Desert Shield was simple: secretly inject compound v in the Middle East to create pro-American Supe soldiers, thereby maintaining America’s interests in the region.
Vought calls this ’upholding justice.’
Farid was one of the first test subjects.
He was only twenty years old at the time.
The experiment was a success on him, and he gained powerful geokinetic abilities.
But Vought underestimated one thing.
They thought a twenty-year-old youth from the region would obediently listen to them after gaining superpowers, becoming a tool for America.
But they overlooked one point: Farid’s father died in a U.S. airstrike, and his mother died in the chaos that followed the war.
Even more significantly, his two younger brothers were injected with compound v, but the experiments failed, and they were disposed of by Vought as defective products.
Vought gave him power, but also gave him a reason for hatred.
In 2005, Farid escaped Vought’s control and disappeared into the deserts of the Middle East.
For the next twenty years, using the codename ’Sandstorm,’ he established a Supe terrorist organization in the Middle East.
This organization was primarily responsible for attacking American military bases, destroying oil pipelines, and assassinating pro-American politicians.
America dispatched special forces to suppress him multiple times, but all failed.
This was because his network of underground shelters spanned the entire Syria-Iraq border, with some reaching depths of over two hundred meters and covering an area equivalent to a small city.
On his turf, he is a god!
Lucas closed the folder.
"So, Vought created a monster, and now you want me to clean up the mess?"
Edgar’s expression was as flat as ever, as if he didn’t consider the dangerous person in front of him to be a threat at all.
"Your summary is very accurate. Farid is indeed a failure created by Vought, just like those defective products within America."
"I’m curious, that guy has been active for twenty years, why did you only think about dealing with him now?" Lucas always felt things weren’t that simple.
"Before, he was just causing trouble in the Middle East, which didn’t affect the domestic market, so we couldn’t be bothered to deal with him. But the situation is different now."
Edgar pulled a photo from the bottom of the folder.
The photo was a screenshot of a video showing Sandstorm standing in front of some ruins, speaking to the camera.
"Three weeks ago, he released a video declaring that he would launch an attack on the American mainland."
"The Pentagon is pressuring us..."
"They want Vought to handle this problem. After all, this problem was created by Vought in the first place."
Lucas leaned back in his chair, wanting to pass the buck to Homelander.
"You could send Homelander."
"Homelander is indeed a good candidate, but we plan to tailor a persona for Guardian. Something like fighting terrorists is very suitable for a hero who acts in the name of justice." Edgar gave Lucas a reason that seemed impossible to refuse.
"No! No! No!" Lucas shook his head.
"Can America have justice in the Middle East? Don’t make me laugh. I don’t want to be used as a pawn."
Edgar seemed to have anticipated this, and he pushed over a few more sets of photos.
They were photos of locals who had died tragically.
"To us, Farid is a terrorist, but he’s no better for the locals. He never cares about the lives of ordinary people; every operation kills several innocent civilians."
"We know this type of Supe too well. They were originally at the very bottom of society, and once they gain powerful strength, not only do they not sympathize with those who were once their peers..."
"They even treat those at the bottom even worse. In other words, he is a thorough Supe supremacist! A Supe supremacist!"
Lucas looked at those photos and grinned.
"Edgar, you are a born negotiator."
Lucas took the photos and agreed to the mission.
"We will send helicopters for a live broadcast. Your heroic deeds will bring hope to people all over the world." Edgar stated.
"Very good."
Lucas broke Edgar’s window and flew back to the meeting room from the top floor.
Only Edgar was left alone to endure the cold wind.
The female secretary felt a chill and shivered coldly.
Lucas knew clearly that besides wanting to use his power to complete this counter-terrorism mission, Edgar mostly wanted to test his strength and his controllability.
When a product is manufactured, one must first measure the threat.
But Lucas didn’t care.
There were almost no Supes in this world who could pose a threat to him. Instead, he could use this matter to rack up some public favor.
It would be best to take Cate and Jordan this time.
"You want to take two interns to execute a counter-terrorism mission?"
Ashley questioned him.
She was worried that if those two died, it would cause trouble for Guardian’s reputation.
"They need field training, and I will ensure their safety."
Ashley shook her head, "Sandstorm has been running rampant in the Middle East for twenty years. It’s not that Vought hasn’t sent Supes, but they all died. Only Homelander succeeded..."
A prompt popped up on the panel.
[Side Quest Triggered: Desert Storm]
[Mission Objective: Eliminate the Supe terrorist ’Sandstorm’ Farid Al-Rashid]
[Mission Reward: Evolution Points × 15,000, Global Reputation Boost]
[Bonus Objective: Protect team members Cate Dunlap and Jordan Li]
[Bonus Reward: Team Loyalty Boost, Evolution Points × 3,000]
Looking at it, the rewards for this trip were quite substantial.
Lucas took out his phone and sent a message to Cate and Jordan.
[Guardian: Tighten up, come back fast!]
[Guardian: Big job coming!]
[Jordan: Is it a big burger this time?]
[Guardian: Sure, buy it and we’ll eat it in the Middle East.]
[Cate: Middle East?]
After the message was sent, the door to Lucas’s office was kicked open.
Jordan and Cate were both full of excitement.
"We’re going to the Middle East for a mission?"
"A terrorist attack?"
"Guardian, you really are a just hero!"
"I like you so much, I want to electrify for you..."
...
Ten minutes later, Middle East.
Lucas carried one in each hand and descended from high altitude into the desert.
As soon as Cate and Jordan landed, they couldn’t help but vomit.
The little bit of food they had in the morning was all wasted.
"Ugh!"
"Ugh-ugh!"
Only after vomiting everything in their stomachs did the two wipe their mouths and stand up unsteadily.
"The... Guardian, help me out, my legs are weak."
Cate grabbed Lucas’s arm, seeing stars.
Jordan cleared his throat, "Feels like I drank 100 beers and got screwed over all night."
Lucas: "..."
Cate: "..."
Bro’s metaphor is quite unique!
"Jordan, seriously, whenever I think you’ve reached your limit, you always come up with something that catches me off guard." Lucas gave a thumbs up.
His team had reached its limit.
The fragile Cate, the Jordan who dreams of being screwed over, and the invincible him!