Hawk came to in a dim enclosure. His situational awareness went into high gear, and he realised that he was in a Farraday cage.

Knowing that he could not get a radio signal to the outside world, he immediately signalled his neural add-in to launch infiltrates from his boot reserves. Based on genetically engineered varieties of certain fungi, they could eat their way through solid steel in a matter of hours.

When he could control them.

He could not seem to focus that special part of his brain that interfaced with his neural add-in, it remained stubbornly beyond his grasp. With a start he realised what had happened to him. Where had these terrorists gained access to Zyblon23? It was supposed to be strictly controlled, available to the neural lab staff only!

He realised that he was now under the control of an entity far more prepared than even their most pessimistic worst-case scenarios. Reaching for the subcutaneous toggle of his kamikaze a-bomb, his fingers encountered a bandage where it had been cut out.