No chance of winning

On the second step of his sprint, Mark's ability activated on itself because three minutes had already passed.

Mark looked at his left side with the corner of his eyes, and just as he expected, he saw a sniper bullet slowly coming in his direction, and behind the bullet, the sniper, hiding behind a red chimney with only the sniper rifle and his right eye being shown.

Mark knew that since the sniper on the right had 'show' his position when talking, the one in the left was the one who would take the first shot, and the one in the right would only try to shoot Mark if the one in the left failed, that was a typical sniper drill, one take a shoot at each time while the other change positions, but in a closed space like a roof, there was not many places they could go, even so, Mark guessed they would still follow their usual behavior. After all, humans are beings of habit.

The bullet kept coming at him, and Mark mustered all the strength he could to avoid the fatal shot.

~thump~

His ability ended, and the bullet grazed the left side of his abdomen, leaving a blood mist behind him, but Mark didn't stop running, and by the time the sniper noticed he missed the shot, a bullet hit him in the head, and the sniper fell to the side with a bloody hole in his left eye.

Mark thanked Jane in his mind, that deadly angel who always protected him, and kept running towards the sniper on his right side. He knew if the sniper shot him, he would be dead this time, but he needed to take the risk, otherwise he would be dead anyway if the plan failed.

Mark was not sure what chimney the sniper on the right was hiding behind. There were two of them in that direction, and he could be behind any of them. Because of that, Mark needed to keep looking at both of them.

Running and waiting for the moment when the sniper showed himself to take the shot, Mark's steps echoed in the dark of the night, with only shadows made by the moonlight as his disguise.

Seconds seemed to stretch in hours as Mark ran over the roof of the building until he saw an extra shadow behind one of the chimneys.

Mark didn't wait and jumped to his left.

~bang~

The shot hit his right foot, and mark felt to the ground stumbling over a radio antenna.

~bang~

Mark heard a new shot, but this one came from way far than the previous one, and Mark knew it was Jane again, but Mark could see that the shot only hit the bricks on the red chimney, Mark guessed that Jane probably was not aiming at that chimney before and was only trying to cover for Mark.

This time, Mark didn't raise himself from the roof, he stood there, laying flat on the roof, because he knew that to kill him, the sniper would need to stand up because of the angle difference, and if he stood up, he would be shot by Jane.

In the same way, if the sniper tried to open fire at Jane's position, Mark would quickly cut the distance between both of them, and kill the sniper while he was reloading his sniper rifle.

A fight between snipers started the moment they showed their positions, and a shot, even more in the night, was like a glowing halo showing their positions.

It was a stand-off. The first to make a move would be the first to kill, but the second to die, but it was a two against one situation, and the sniper behind the chimney knew that too.

"Just surrender already!" shouted Mark.

If the sniper didn't surrender, Mark would have his ability ready in three minutes, so the more he delayed the fight, the more advantages he got.

"So you are still alive?" shouted the sniper back, still hiding behind the chimney.

"If you don't surrender, it's you who will not be alive for much time," shouted Mark, still laying flat on the roof.

A few seconds passed and the voice of the sniper came again, "I don't know, I can stay here forever. What about you? How much time will take until you bleed to death? You got three shots, you have what? half an hour?" the man took a pause and continued, "Also, that sniper covering you on the radio tower cannot protect you forever. I'm not the only sniper on this base, you know? It was not only me who saw her position."

The sniper was right. There were three sniper outposts around the base. They didn't shoot Jane down yet because they were probably busy trying to stay alive, but once things settled down, they would immediately try to kill her.

'...And I'm bleeding like a dying pig,' thought Mark, realizing that a blood pool has formed below him.

Mark knew he was stronger than before, but he could not heal himself like in the movies, and seeing how much blood he was losing, Mark knew that if he delayed more, he would probably faint due to blood loss.

It was indeed a stand-off, and now, Mark realized that the time on the clock was tickling, not only for the sniper but for him too.

If he fainted before his ability reset, it was the end for him, but if the ability reset before he fainted, it was the end for the sniper, and if too much time passed, it would be the end for Jane.

"Do they pay you this much?" asked aloud Mark, "I mean... Is this worth to you?"

"Bro, they don't pay me enough to risk my life, but what can I do? If I surrender, what will happen when you guys lose your little rebellion? I will be shot to death as a traitor. It could be today, or in a week, but you guys have no chance of winning when going against the union."