{ CHAPTER - 15 } THE FIGHT TO PROTECT - 3

"Is... anybody there?"

When Karma entered the door where the sound was coming from, he discovered a man bound to a metal chair and wearing a black cloth over his face.

Karma questioned whether this was a trap but rejected the idea by reasoning that if it was, it would be a waste of effort. Karma has already murdered enough of their soldiers. He approached the individual closely.

"Who are you?"

Sniffing, the individual started pleading with Karma to let him go. "Help me, please. Please stop doing this to me."

Karma was not buying into this, so he yanked the towel off his face and questioned him once more "So who are you? why did they take you hostage?"

The person was in a panic because he believed he may be hurt, but when he saw Karma's face, he completely stopped crying. He was aware that if he aggravated him, getting hurt was of little consequence and that he may die at any time.

"My name is 'Jen', and I don't know why I am here, I– I heard an explosion and gunshots just now was it– was it you?"

"So you don't even know why you're here?" Karma expressed sarcastically.

Jen panicked a little when he realized Karma didn't believe his statements. "Trust me, I don't know, I swear," he said.

"Ok Jen, tell me something about yourself," Karma replied, placing his hand on Jen's shoulder.

"Yes uh, I– I live in America and I was here on a job, I was hired by some people to be a tour guide, and cause I lived in India before I thought that I can guide them around. I– I didn't know that these people were terrorists and– and I was captured by the police and they were taking me home when– when these people came and attacked the police car and brought me here, please save me...help me... please... I have a family I need to support"

Many things began to make sense to him after hearing Jen's explanation.

Karma took a step back and spoke with Agastha. "OK, I'm sure those people knew about the object in the mountain before us."

(If that's the case, why would they require a guide when they know exactly where they're going?)

"Perhaps it's for another distraction."

(How so?)

Jen, who was watching Karma babble to himself, had no idea who he was.

"Someone above undoubtedly wants to use these guys as bait, so if their initial strategy, which is to use my father, fails, they will use these guys to divert the authority's attention."

(How could they possibly do that?)

"That I don't know for certain; I have some theories but can't say for certain. It can be that the person or group issuing the orders may throw them under the bus or something similar."

Jen, who was unaware of Agastha's existence, was perplexed to witness Karma talking to himself.

"Um... Excuse me, but who are you speaking to?"

Karma and Agastha both turned their heads to gaze at Jen.

"Ah, no one, it's a habit of mine, so don't be concerned."

Karma had forgotten that he was the only one who could hear Agatha.

(What are you going to do now? I say we either leave him here or murder him since he's seen too much.)

Karma saw the logic behind Agastha's statements but lacked the courage to kill someone innocent.

"But he's just a bystander caught up in this mess; he has a family, too, and I want to help him."

(Karma, I won't say anything about whether or not helping those in need is a good thing because I represent the sin of goodness, but I would suggest minding our own business because too much kindness isn't always a good thing.)

"Don't worry, I'm not going to help him by losing something, and I'm not going to help him out of goodwill; after this, I'm going to tell mom and dad about everything, so supporting him now may benefit me in the long term. Dad is going to take custody of him, so he might say some encouraging words."

Agastha replied, looking at Karma as if he were looking at a corrupted cop. (You speak as though you're bribing someone to put in some good words to their boss. Do whatever you want)

Karma grabbed the chains that were confining Jen and shattered them with his hands; they weren't that strong, to begin with.

"You are quite strong."

Karma murmured, shyly looking at Jen's face. "It's nothing, to begin with, these chains are fairly weak, let's leave immediately."

Karma handed him a gun he got from one of the dead victims after breaking the bonds. "Take this, it may come in handy."

Jen was hesitant to use a pistol, but he had no other option. "Oh, okay... thank you."

Karma then made his way up with Jen. He ascended the stairwells and was on his way to the light when he met difficulty.

!Bang!! Bang!! Bang!

Bullets were fired at him from the outside as he was preparing to depart.

Because his senses were sharper than previously, he was able to get to cover as soon as he noticed weapons aiming at him from outside. He hid behind a crate with Jen. When he looked to the side, he noticed some people armed with firearms at the building's door.

(There are three of them but I don't see one of the people from before)

"That must have been their boss, seems like he didn't come"

Jen was now in a panic, so Karma gave him a shoulder tap to calm him down.

"Jen, on the count of three, run behind that box there and start shooting at those people when I give you the signal."

Jen was terrified because his hands were shaking from simply holding a gun. "I- I can't shoot- I can't do it," he says.

Karma soothed him. "Jen, trust me, everything will be alright, okay? Just shoot and don't worry, you'll be OK."

Jen nodded, attempting to sound confident, and replied, "O...OK."

"one, two, THREE!!"

Jen sprinted toward the box and sought refuge behind it as Karma counted down to three; however, three gunshots were fired at him as he was running.

Karma remembered the weapons those individuals were brandishing, and he was aware that they could only fire one round at a time based on a gun encyclopedia he had previously studied. He raced away and took shelter as soon as he heard those precise three gunshots.

Karma took advantage of the moment to shoot two of the three males while they were all focused on Jen as he prepared to take cover.

He kills one man instantly with a headshot while also knocking the other down with two shots to the chest.

"You bastard,".

After seeing his two companions killed, the guy became enraged and fled toward karma.

When Karma noticed the man approaching him, she signaled to Jen, "Jen Now!"

Jen started shooting blindly while yelling "AAAAHHH!" as karma gave the all-clear.

The pistol dropped from the guy's grasp when one of the bullets grazed it, but due to the constant firing, he was unable to pick it up and instead ran toward karma. "Fuck you, bastard"

Watching him approach him that quickly, Karma expressed displeasure by heaving a sigh. "You are going to lose your life if you charge at me without a weapon".

Karma had undergone constant training under Agastha, and as a result, it was no longer weak.

The man swung a punch at Karma, but the latter avoided it and grabbed the man's face instead. "You messed with the wrong person. Let me tell you what one day's worth of pain does to your body"

"ARGHAAAA!!!"

With his muscular power, Karma seized his face and squeezed it. He screamed in anguish and fell to his knees. Karma instructed Jen to shoot the man when he was unable to do anything except fight in anguish.

"Jen, finish him off"

Jen was apprehensive, but he didn't have any other options, so he shot the man.

Karma noticed Jen's hesitation in his acts, which is why he consulted him. "You did a good job, Jen."

"Yes, thank you... Umm... you appear to be quite strong for a kid."

Karma couldn't think of anything else to say that made sense. "Yeah, I may look like this, but I'm a cop, and I practice a lot."

(Liar)

Jen regarded the young man with admiration in his eyes.

Karma recognized Jen's admiration and said awkwardly. "Ahem, ahem, well, don't get too comfortable just yet; there are still three more to go."

Jen admired him even more now. "How did you find out?"

"I questioned one of them earlier, and he was gracious enough to tell me"

"So, where do we go now?" Jen inquired.

"First, we must free two more hostages-"

Suddenly, a voice interrupted their talk. "Look who survived, a young boy who now wants to play the hero."

Their current boss arrived with his last two guys to confront Karma. Without wasting even a second, Karma fired his gun at the man, but his magazine was empty.

Agastha detected an anomaly and cautioned Karma (Karma, be cautious, something is wrong with this human).

"Don't worry, I've got this-"

He was cut again and stated. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere; I'm not sure how you survived and killed those people, but you were unlucky to meet me this way. Finish him off."

The two men leveled their rifles at Karma, and loud gunshots could be heard.

CHAPTER - 15 - TO BE CONTINUE