Chapter: 160
Today is the day Mark and Rhodey agreed to hand over Mandarin. Early in the morning, Mark released this news to the public through the company's official website and his personal social media, causing a wave of excitement among the media. The long-awaited big news had arrived!
After receiving Rhodey's notification that the Venice Pier would be the meeting point, the military mobilized overnight. At this moment, the scene was heavily guarded with multiple checkpoints, closely monitored by numerous soldiers.
However, this did not deter the journalists' enthusiasm for reporting the news. Several hours before the handover, the area around the scene was already crowded with photographers and journalists carrying various photography equipment.
Mark chose the Venice Pier as the meeting point because it offered a combination of land, water, and air routes for Kilian to choose from for his actions and escape, making it convenient for their infiltration.
Mark announced the news at 09:00 but delayed the handover until the afternoon to give the other party some preparation time, ensuring that Kilian would not hesitate to act due to excessive pressure.
At 2:30 p.m., despite it being winter, the vast coastline was still bathed in warm sunlight. Mark entered the field of view of the crowd driving his own Transformers supercar, Hover-cannon. Behind him was a large truck with a silver cargo box, exuding a sense of power and muscularity, adorned with red and blue colors.
As soon as the journalists saw Mark's appearance, the flashes of their cameras resembled droplets falling into a boiling pot, flashing intensely. The soldiers guarding the scene to maintain order became cautious and nervous because they knew that inside the truck behind Mark lay the infamous and extremely dangerous terrorist, Mandarin.
Mark sat inside Hover-cannon, leading Optimus Prime, slowly moving towards the direction of the Iron Patriot.
On the other side, the soldiers who had previously been stationed at the border without any action quickly dispersed the crowd around them, making way for Mark and Transformers. After they left, the gap was promptly sealed, closing off the area.
Outside the Venice Pier, countless journalists could only watch from a distance. Mark, after entering the center of the sealed area, exchanged a few words with Colonel Rhodey, who was wearing the Iron Patriot battle suit. They then proceeded to the rear of Optimus Prime's truck form, opened the doors of the cargo box.
The journalists, witnessing this scene, became excited and quickly switched their cameras to telephoto lenses, trying to capture the moment when Mandarin would be escorted out.
Just when everyone was eagerly anticipating, to the point where the scene fell into a brief silence, a reckless explosion shattered the calmness and dashed the journalists' expectations.
Boom! Along with the deafening explosion, a towering white water column shot up from the sea, generating a strong shockwave that lifted the fine sand from the coastline, causing people to instinctively close their eyes.
Just as the sandstorm blinded the eyes of the soldiers at the scene, a group of mysterious figures wearing diving suits and oxygen masks emerged from the sea.
Caught off guard, the military soldiers were completely defenseless and were overwhelmed by the sudden attackers.
"Hover-cannon, make sure to watch over the villains in Optimus Prime's cargo box. Optimus Prime, remain still for now unless the enemy is about to rescue Mandarin."
Receiving the command, Optimus Prime continued to play dead, maintaining his vehicle form. Hover-cannon quickly completed his transformation and stood at the rear door of the cargo box, blocking the few remaining soldiers apart from the Iron Patriot, protecting them behind him and sealing off the route to enter or exit the cargo box.
On Rhodey's side, seeing his colleagues being protected and Mandarin having no chance to escape, he attacked the group of assailants without any worries.
Swoosh... swoosh... swoosh...
Three mini Jericho missiles locked onto the enemy and shot towards their targets, leaving three large craters on the coastline upon detonation.
The blast radius of the three missiles covered all the sudden enemies, and logically, there should be no survivors after such a strike.
However, the system inside Rhodey's battle suit didn't tell him that. "There are still life signs within the explosion radius. Unidentified high-energy source detected."
Upon receiving this message, Rhodey was instantly shocked. Surviving such an explosion meant that the person who came to rescue Mandarin today was no ordinary individual. He had to be cautious and handle the situation with care!
With this in mind, Rhodey cautiously took a few steps back, moving towards the cargo box where Mandarin and others were held, preventing any unexpected incidents that could lead to Mandarin's escape.
If that happened, he and the military, even the government, would become useless in the eyes of the media, and their credibility would be greatly diminished.
However, what Rhodey didn't expect was that after the smoke and dust from the explosion dispersed, the lone remaining enemy did not rush towards the direction of the guarded cargo box but went straight to Mark instead.
"Now, with the presence of the Iron Patriot and the huge Autobot guarding Mandarin, there's no chance to rescue or eliminate him.
However, Mark is standing alone now without the protection of the Autobots. I can take him away first, fulfilling my boss's orders. As for Mandarin, we'll have to discuss it later."
After considering his options, Eric Savin, the only one left in the team, made a decisive move. In the bewildered gaze of Rhodey and the onlooking journalists, he grabbed Mark and tightly restrained him, then leaped into the sea, disappearing from sight.
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