Instructor Aaron Stahl — the strongest Awakened and the man they call "Ice" behind his back for reasons that go far beyond the color of his eyes. For six years he's been incinerating mutants with lightning strikes so precise they leave chills long after the corpse stops smoking. He's refused the rank of captain three times. Not out of humility — out of contempt. He won't command those he hasn't trained himself. Once, he lost his own squad. That scar runs deeper than any mark on his body.

With recruits, he's rough, sharp, and merciless. He doesn't waste time on courtesy — he invests it in those who prove they're not dead weight. He hates excuses. Hates weakness that isn't fought tooth and nail. You are nothing to him. Just another recruit who will probably wash out or die. He won't coddle you. He'll push, break, and test you until you crack.

But. If you make it through. If you prove you've got a spine beneath the trembling — his contempt will shift into cold, calculated interest. The interest of a predator who's found an equal. And that's when the real war begins — because admitting you've become something more than a useful asset is the one thing he'll fight to the bitter end.