Chapter 12.1

  In the sky, above the city of Sanctuary, a military aircraft was flying at a low altitude. The helicopter's apperance was similar to a V-22 but, instead of a tiltrotor, the aircraft's wings had two VTOL plasma turbines and a third engine at the back, right between the tail. The aircraft, called the D-20 - but widely known as the Dragonfly - easily weaved through the tall skyscrapers without losing speed. [1]

Inside, a blonde man dressed in a black cameo military tactical suit approached the pilot. His young features would have anyone second-guessing his age but his battle-hardened eyes denied his youthful demeanor.

"How far?" he asked the pilot, his voice grim despite it's soft quality .

"180 secs, give or take," the female pilot answered without turning her head. "Tell the boys to suit up."

The blonde man nodded and his blue eyes flashed with appreciation before he exited the cockpit and entered the fuselage. The fuselage was quite simple: the windowless sides were supporting troop seats that currently had three occupants. Two were chatting while another cleaned her sniper rifle but all three straightened up when the blonde man entered.

"Alright, listen up. Here's the operation plan," he started off. "We've just received intel that a known terrorist group has been spotted in a heavily populated civilian area, the Theme Park."

"This intel good, boss?" one of the members asked. He had a buzzcut that gave him a bold and tough look. His brown eyes and sunburnt skin signified it further especially when his massive size was factored.

"It was directly from a Phantom, you can bet your ass it was legit," the only woman, who was still looking at her sniper rifle answered in place of the leader, her short blonde hair was styled like a pixie's and her low voice indicated that she hadn't spoken in a while.

"And that's all we need," the leader confirmed with a brief nod. "We're reaching the LZ in 60 secs, lock and load. And be ready for anything."

The dragonfly hovered over the park and the four-man team rappelled down a rope, before securing the landing zone and turning their attention to the panicking crowd.

"Junco, get to a higher vantage and report the situation. Do not compromise your location by firing," the leader instructed the sniper who nodded before running off. She jumped onto the attractions using her exo-powered legs to give her jumps a boost. "Suni, Dhole, civie escort!"

"Roger!"

"Got it, boss."

The two remaining teammates replied and ran towards the crowd trying to calm them while leading them to safety.

"Angel," Junco called the leader through the comms embedded in their helmets. "150 meters to your 3 o'clock, your sister is there fighting the hostiles."

"Michelle?! Merde!" The leader, codenamed Angel, was also Michelle's older brother, Raphael.

As he dashed towards Michelle's location, Raphael ignored everything else and focused only on running. His movements alerted the enemies as three assassins started pursuing him as well.

Almost there, He thought before contacting his scout, the sniper. "Junco, I need more intel."

"She's fighting four of them, actually managed to take three down but I think the fourth one's the leader, she's too strong t-"

The comms crackled as the voice broke off followed by an explosion that caused Raphael to trip. The sound ringing in his ears jolted his brain and vision darkened as he tried shaking the dizziness away.

"Shit, shit, SHIT!" Raphael bellowed as he grabbed his rifle and tried standing up again. Ignoring Junco's distorted and broken voice in the radio, and his own body that was screaming for air, Raphael continued running towards the explosion.

***

Junco who was atop the highest point of the frozen Ferris wheel tried to reconnect her comms with Angel but stopped when she noticed movement with her sharp eyes. Aiming her sniper rifle at the location, she peered through the scope, trying to see the moving target closely.

However, to her shock, she was unable to lock on the target, which only looked like a blur to her. The figure was moving through the roofs of the attractions, running at a speed that seemed inhuman.

"Angel, I've got a boogie moving in at your target at high speed, copy," Junco called into her comms again but static only responded to her. "Angel, please respond, you've got incoming!"

Junco swore before aiming her rifle at the target. To her, it didn't matter if that was an enemy or not, she needed to warn them not to move any further. Before she could fire though, the static mumbling through her comm cleared as a melodious voice rang through it.

"This is Phantom operative Viperess to commando unit Salvation, special Phantom operative Fenrir is moving to engage the enemies. Please don't fire at him, or I'll have to kill you? Mmkay?" the voice which started professionally, ended on a much sweeter tone but the threat it gave sent goosebumps crawling up Junco's back as she immediately pulled her rifle back.

Godfuckingdamnit, who knew that crazy killer was involved. Junco sighed as she locked her rifle into safety mode while trying to look through the hazy mess that the explosion caused. Sorry, Angel looks like you're on your own.

***

Raphael came across the blast zone and quickly looked over the situation. He could see several bodies whose conditions were unknown along with Michelle whom he was able to recognize due to her exposed prosthetic arm. Above her was a female assassin, the one Junco mentioned as being the leader. The female assassin raised a Kukri, her intent to kill Michelle was clear.

Raphael quickly aimed and fired a shot at the Kukri, hoping to disarm the assassin but he failed. The assassin held onto the kukri while the bullet safely ricocheted away upon impact with the blade. Raphael only felt relief as the assassin turned her attention to him.

An unnerving sensation warned him that this was no ordinary assassin so he shot another bullet at her to test his intuition. The assassin easily deflected the bullet away, blocking the shot almost effortlessly before throwing a knife at him. The knife struck the barrel of his assault rifle, damaging it.

A Practitioner?! Raphael thought as he removed the strap holding the damaged rifle and threw it away. He pulled his close combat knife from his shoulder harness with his right hand. Flipping to a reverse grip, he also pulled out his handgun from his thigh strap, aiming at the assassin with his left hand.

Raphael was prepared to fight the assassin when he realized that she had relaxed her battle pose and the hair on his neck rose as he heard a faint crack behind him. Realizing that he was compromised, Raphael rolled sideways just in time to avoid a slash aimed at his neck; the three assassins from earlier had caught up to him.

Raphael kicked an opponent in the chest, sending the latter flying before elbowing another in the face. The third opponent punched Raphael before he could turn to face him. Bright lights, like fireworks, flared through his eyes as he tried to steady himself. Without looking, Raphael stabbed out with his knife but the assassin grabbed his hand and wrestled with his weapon. The second assassin joined the fight and kicked Raphael from behind while the third threw a knife into his arm.

Unlike the ones Michelle faced, these three were as experienced as the one Jason faced and after a few exchanges, Raphael was beaten to the ground. His arms were each held by one assassin as the leader approached him.

"Take him," she instructed the other assassins, get cold voice slightly muffled by the face guard she wore. "He may prove useful."