CH 30: Backup Arrives

Present Time…

John was smoking a cigarette atop a cell tower, his eyes glowing yellow, watching into the distance waiting for orders.

That's when he heard an order from his earpiece, "John, we are in position. You're up."

John threw aside the half-burnt cigarette butt and picked up his sniper and aimed in the direction of his group. His eyes caught the group that was chasing his teammates. After which, he gave a reply to the leader "I am in the position, boss."

John aimed the scope reticle toward a man running and firing using an SMG at his teammates. It took him just a second to account for all the things that could affect the trajectory of his bullet and then he pressed the trigger.

*Bang!*

A gunshot rang, and the man running with the SMG and one other person behind him had fallen face-first on the ground. The bullet from the sniper made it through both of their heads.

The loud bang and the death of two of their men stopped the others from chasing them for a second before they scrambled for cover trying not to be a target for the sniper.

And while they were searching for cover, multiple bangs rang and a few more men went down.

"Woohoo! That's it. Let's see who escapes from our eagle-eyed sniper." Michael cheered while hiding behind a cover.

But John's massacre and Michael's cheers didn't last long. Because soon, they heard the whirring sound of a helicopter flying above them.

"Are you fucking kidding me? How the fuck do they have helicopters?" Jude was nearly at his wit's end. He had thought that with John as their backup, they could easily escape the gunmen in the darkness of the night, but it seemed like the people who were chasing them had extraordinary backing.

"BOSS! IT WAS NOT A WASP'S NEST. I THINK WE FUCKING MESSED WITH DRAGONS." Michael screamed as they all ran for their lives, trying to find cover from the possible incoming missiles.

John hurriedly aimed towards the missile that was moving towards his squadmates and fired a shot, making it explode mid-air, although it already came a little close to Jude and others.

The blast flung them a few meters from the original positions and gave them a concussion each.

This time, John aimed directly at the helicopter pilot, but by the time he shot, a missile was already launched at him from the helicopter.

The missile flew towards him, as the helicopter flew down uncontrollably. Its pilot was dead in his seat.

Seeing the missile coming close, John didn't think and jumped down from the 40 meters tall tower. He fell, legs first, and the exoskeleton negated most of the force from his fall, helping him survive. But the missile was still on its way and it hit the cell tower, exploding it.

"Alright, I highly suggest that this is the correct time to use the emergency button Big Boss gave us." Michael reminded Jude, who was in possession of it given by Marcus himself only to be used in case of emergency. He was now lying face down on the ground after a severe concussion from the blast.

Jude gritted his teeth and turned over on the ground with much effort, "Alright…"

Jude took out a small cuboid box and opened its top with a flick, and there was a red button situated on the inside.

He proceeded to press it without hesitation and after which, all three of them picked up their weapons and started to counter-attack.

(Play: Die for you, by Valorant, grabitz. For maximum effect.)

They were trying to hold back the enemies as they waited for possible backup.

After a few minutes of fighting, their limited ammo was out and they were forced to remain behind cover to survive the incoming rain of bullets.

After another minute, the gunfire had stopped and they could hear the sounds of the gunmen slowly approaching them, but suddenly, they heard a *thunk* sound. It sounded like a heavy metal object was thrown onto the ground.

Jude, Michael, and Hammond looked up and saw a humanoid figure, clad in black, metallic Armor standing in front of them.

And then, a very familiar voice rang in their earpiece, "When I told you to take care of yourselves, I didn't mean that you should go and throw your lives away."

"Big Bo..boss! You came yourself?" Michael asked excitedly.

"Yeah…I had to come myself to save your sorry asses. Haha!" A chuckle rang in the mercenaries headpiece as Marcus spoke.

"And Jude, your surprise gift has been canceled for making such a big mistake and not following my orders."

"I am sorry… Boss." Jude sighed and said with visible sadness in his voice.

While Marcus was chit-chatting with the mercenaries, the sound of a helicopter rang again.

[Sir, Two missiles are coming our way…initializing …automatic defense system…interceptor missiles fired.]

The shoulder pad on Marcus' Armor lifted and a few micro-missiles flew out at extreme speeds. Seconds later, an explosion took place in the air, which was caused by the destruction of the helicopter and the missiles. The explosion lit up the surroundings due to which, the enemies got a clear view of Marcus and his Armor.

Seeing his silhouette, the enemies brought out an RPG from the wreckage of the helicopter and aimed it toward Marcus.

Marcus didn't care enough to stop them from firing the rocket. Instead, he just moved forward step-by-step, closing the distance between himself and the enemies in the slowest way possible. Just to look menacing and instill fear in the enemy's heart.

Seeing the mechanical humanoid walk towards them, the enemies fired the rocket quickly.

The rocket flew towards Marcus, leaving a trail of smoke behind. And not even a second later, it was in front of him. A second passed, then another, and the rocket was still frozen in front of Marcus.

But slowly, it started to turn around and kept turning until it was aiming back at its sender.

In his suit's HUD, Marcus could see the open mouths of the people who had fired the rocket. Before they could think of scrambling to cover, Marcus smirked and released the rocket that he stopped by using his telekinesis.

The rocket flew back using its leftover fuel and hit the ground near the enemies and blew up. The blast charred the nearby men and flung back the ones in the radius of the blast wave.

The leftover men pulled out their guns and started firing toward Marcus, but the bullets only clinked and produced sparks before bouncing off the Armor.

After showing off for a few seconds, Marcus activated his thrusters and flew up about 50 meters in the air and activated his gauntlet-specific electromagnets, and directed it toward the enemy group causing all the metal substances to get attracted towards him.

The guns and ammunition were the first to be snatched and then some miscellaneous things like chains, buttons, belts, and even a few piercings flew toward him.

It Caused half the people to drop their pants to save themselves from getting flung in the air.

After taking away their weapons, Marcus zoomed towards the enemies and when he was about to reach them, he stopped the power to his thrusters and changed his stance mid-air, taking the stance of a flying kick.

His kick was aimed towards the head of a man who was standing up and had a small box, which came up to his waist, behind him.

At Marcus' speed, the man couldn't even react, when a metallic leg struck his face. The momentum itself killed the man on the spot but his head didn't get severed.

Instead, because of it being attached to the body through the whole momentum transfer, the waist-high box behind him acted as a fulcrum and lifted his lower body while his upper body crashed into the ground.

The stasis system inside the Armor protected Marcus' body from the sudden deceleration of landing on the ground at such high speeds.

Marcus saw the upside-down body of the man he killed and decided to grab his legs. After which, he used the corpse to smack a nearby man with extreme force. The ensuing effect broke the man's ribs and punctured his lungs.

Deus identified that there were 6 more targets alive in the vicinity, including one from the helicopter crash caused by John.

Marcus decided to have a little fun and fight hand-to-hand with the survivors.

He rushed towards the nearest one and threw an uppercut toward his stomach. The punch was so powerful that it easily punched through the man's stomach and came out of his back. Marcus took out his fist and the man's barely alive body fell to the ground, his arms and legs twitching before he succumbed to Lady Death's sweet lullaby.

'It was a good idea to coat the Armor with the hydrophobic spray.' Marcus thought before he flew towards another man who was trying to run.

************

"Here, take this. It's a newly researched drug that accelerates your healing capabilities at the cost of your energy…Although, it's just a 30% increase." Marcus gave all four of the Blackfire Mercenaries a pill each.

'Because, above that, it starts to use a person's lifeforce.'

"Thanks, Boss." It was John who said this, probably grateful for getting the only power Armor on the team, which also saved his life.

Marcus had only decided to give the Armor to John because he was the only one who could use it and not get caught, most probably. Hammond, Jude, and Michael had to fight on the frontlines many times which made it so that the power Armor could be identified by someone, and then it would be his company that would be in danger.

Ruby was an Information gatherer and would have to work near enemies to use her talents, so she wasn't suitable either.

John was the best match as he was always hidden from enemy sights and could use the Armor to get to hard-to-reach positions and also get out from there.

Although, Jude and others still had some things related to the Armor. Like the ballistic fiber suit, which was also sold to the police forces all over America.

Also, the special mask which could scan and filter different hazardous gases was sold to special forces.

"Thank me later. First things first, Jude…you take care of the corpses. And you all help him with that. Meanwhile, I will take care of other things.", Marcus ordered.

"Deus, hack into the nearby satellites and delete any footage of the fight that has been recorded."

[Yes, sir…I have hacked into all the nearby satellites except one. It's not connected to any server available online.]

"Is it a geostationary one or just passing overhead?"

[From analyzing its previous recorded flight paths I gathered from the nearby satellites, there is an 80% chance that it's a geostationary satellite.]

'Hmm, Could it be theirs? Should I destroy it? Or would it be better to provide Shield with this info?... I will just let Shield handle it. Oh, I forgot to inform the boss about it.'

Marcus called a private number using his suit, after the call was picked up, a voice rang from the other side, "Is it done? Any casualties?"

"It's done, all of them are safe and sound. They were a little wounded so I gave them the pill you gave me."

"Alright then, return when the work's done."

The call was cut after that.

Marcus turned back towards the group and urged them to hurry up, much to their annoyance…

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