Martin Mystery: New Allies
By: Ominae
Rating: PG-13
NOTE:
All characters of Martin Mystery are under the copyright of Marathon; Yu Ominae is a copyright of Striker/Spriggan; John Vattic is a copyright of Codemasters and Free Radical. The character Mark Sy is under my jurisdiction and some parts of his life are based from my experience. The character Patrick Chan is also under my jurisdiction.
Previously:
With the recent revelation that a terrorist group has possibly revived the Berserker and used it against the students and teachers from a University of the Philippines archaeological expedition, the joint task force lead by Martin Mystery has been dispatched by M.O.M. to Vancouver in order to speak with Dr. Martinez, who was formerly a part of the fatal archaeological party, in order to find some truth to the nature of the Berserker. What will they find out? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Chapter 3: The hunt is on
Vancouver International Airport, Arrivals Area (Domestic), Vancouver, Canada – 9:00 A.M.
A 2004 Dodge Sprinter van, with a white colored finish, arrived at the Domestic Area of the Vancouver International Airport. As it drives by the numerous civilians who are waiting for their ride out of the airport, it slowed down when the van's driver was in the Arrivals area and saw a sign that said Air Canada. The driver was then able to find a free spot and parked next to the curb and did a parallel parking. Afterwards, the van's right side door slid open; Yu Ominae and Patrick Chan stepped out of the vehicle. Mark emerged out of the Dodge Sprinter's passenger door. All three of them appeared to have the same civilian clothes from yesterday's meeting with Martin and the gang, but Yu was wearing a Polo Golf jacket while Patrick had a Military Spec European Packable Rain Jacket on.
"Hey Mark, what time are they arriving from Montreal?" asked Yu, his face showed signs that he was getting restless with the waiting.
"Relax, they should come out after 5 minutes. I was informed about it thanks to M.O.M." replied Mark.
"Guys, here they come!" yelled Patrick as he saw the gang coming out of the sliding doors.
Java was the first one to come out of the airport and he carried most of their baggage in both of his hand and under his arms while wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch blue and white-checkered polo shirt and Gap jeans. John followed behind him and he had a black bag with one back strap slung on his left shoulder with both of his hands in his jacket pocket. He had an Oakley Reprograph Short Sleeved Shirt and had brown Abercrombie and Fitch pants, which had some modifications to hold cargo pockets. A few minutes later, Diana came out of the airport and was wearing purple jacket with white stripes and she had the usual purple shirt underneath on with blue jeans. The gang was waiting for her to come out and they heard Diana's shouting since she was pulling Martin by the collar of his zipped red-yellow jacket and he had his black shirt underneath his jacket; he also had his brown pants on. Martin was acting as if he needed to grab onto something.
"Martin, we've just arrived at the airport. We have to see Mark and the rest of the guys now!" shouted Diana as she tried to pull Martin away from the airport.
"Come on, Di. I just wanna speak with the pretty check-in clerk at the ticketing booth!" Martin did everything he could do to budge out of Diana's grip on his jacket.
All the guys standing near the van began to laugh and it halted when Mark started to speak with Martin loudly.
"Hey Martin! Trying to impress the ladies with the moves? Wonder if they did notice you?" inquired Mark as he resumed laughing again and everyone else followed suit, with the exception of Diana and Martin. Mark waved his hand up high and shouted "Di, hurry up! We gotta go!".
(Sweat drop) "Coming, Mark!" replied Diana as he pulled Martin near the van. "Oh, Martin! When will you ever learn?" Diana began to get angry with Martin.
(Sweat drop) "I guess…. never?" Martin raised his hands up as if he didn't know what to say.
"Anyway, get your baggage in the van and let's go, we can't waste time." Mark then showed Martin and Diana to the van. Gino Torres, the Filipino driver hired by Mark's aunt, was wearing a simple brandless jacket with a shirt underneath that said "Philippine Military Academy". He was wearing black Kirkland pants and Nike rubber shoes. He then walked to the back and unlock the van's double doors at the rear. Gino was also secretly an employee for the Center and was thus, set up to be his aunt's driver so that he could be a liaison between Mark and M.O.M.
While Java opened the van's double doors and loaded the baggage to the van's rear, Yu, Patrick, John and Martin, who went to help them since he didn't want to hear Diana's frustrations being tossed at him, assisted him with the luggage in the Sprinter's trunk. Diana leaned on the van's passenger side door with her hands in her jean pockets. Mark grabbed an Alinco DJ S40 radio extender from his belt clip from the left side of his pants and pressed the speak button and began to converse with the other party while Diana watched. Gino went back inside the van and turned on the van's engine. Unknown to them, a light grey Kia Sedona van was parked a few kilometers away from the Dodge Sprinter van. A man is seated at the driver's seat. A cellphone ringing is heard from the glove compartment of the van and the man opened the glove and grabbed the Nokia 9500 Communicator phone and began to converse with someone from the other phone line.
"Sir, Martin Mystery and his friends have just arrived in Vancouver. What are your orders?" inquired the man.
"Back off for now, at least we know that they're here. For now, drive away and don't do anything suspicious." replied the man speaking from the other phone line.
"Sir, do we still go on with our plans to ambush them as a warning?"
"Of course! Just make sure you join the others. Some of the men will work to cut off further communication from nearby RCMP police station."
"Thank you, sir! We will not fail you!" He then pressed the end call button, placed the phone in his jacket phone and the man operated the car's engine and proceeded to drive away. It sped past the Sprinter and John looked at the car with a suspicious glance. Martin noticed it and asked John:
"John, what's wrong?" asked Martin.
"Martin, we were under surveillance." replied John.
"Who watch us?" inquired Java.
"Don't know. Let's talk about it inside the van". responded John as he ushered the others inside the vehicle.
Yu, John and Martin entered the van and sat at the seats next to the vehicle's sliding door. Java and Patrick walked between the two seats and sat at the back. Mark went back and went inside the van by using the passenger side door and sat next to Gino. Diana also went inside and sat beside him. Mark instructed Gino to head off to his aunt's mansion in the outskirts of White Rock. The van immediately came to life and drove off from its parking spot.
Inside Dodge Sprinter Van, on a rural road somewhere in White Rock, Canada – 12:00 P.M.
"John, I seemed to notice from my psychic sense that you've spotted something. Did you hear anything?" asked Mark.
"Just heard that the man in the speeding a van told the other party that we've arrived at the airport. The man at the other line told him to back off for a while, so I guess whoever wants to take care of us knows that we're here." replied John.
"Oh my! What's going to happen now?" enquired Diana with a worried face.
"As long as we don't run into them later, we're safe. Right now, our focus is to get to my aunt's mansion and set up for tonight. We can inform M.O.M. once we get there." answered Mark.
"Hopefully, we can get some action." added Martin as he stretched his arms.
"Sorry dude. They're not going to get us for the meantime." added Yu as he had used his psychic sense also.
"Java hungry."
"Here Javs, you can take the chips I had in my bag." Martin zipped his bag from the van's trunk area, grabbed the chips and tossed it to Java.
"Java thanking Martin!" Java then ripped out the bag and began to munch on them, while Patrick made a hand gesture to Mark, telling him to get the Coke can from the van's glove compartment.
"Next time Pat, go get yours in your backpack, alright?" Mark was clearly irritated, but he still agreed to toss his Coke Can to him.
"He he! Sorry!" Patrick scratched his head out of embarrassment.
While the others at the back of the van were talking with one another as to pass time, Diana tried to strike up a conversation with Mark.
"Mark, I want to ask you about your psychic abilities." Diana faced her head to Mark. "How did you know that we were being watched?"
"I underwent the same training as Yu did. In fact, he was the one who training me in psychic combat using techniques, which is why I was able to detect some guy who was doing surveillance on behalf on his employer. Besides, I was recruited by ARCAM after I spent part-time working for the Center when I was in Quebec."
"I just hope nothing happens later." Diana was a bit assured by Mark's comments, but still a bit shaken. She then folded her arms around her waist.
"Like Yu said, they won't touch us for the meantime, so just sit back and enjoy the ride." answered Mark in order to assure Diana of their current situation.
"I just hope so." Diana placed her elbow on the passenger door handle while she pillowed her head with her hand while watching the view from the van's window.
Mark then pillowed his head with his clenched hand when he began to doze off when the car suddenly came to a sudden stop. He then woke up and questioned Gino on what happened.
"Ano nangyari?" (What happened?). Diana saw that he became anxious.
"Mark, me checkpoint sa harap." (Mark, there's a checkpoint in front). Gino pointed to Mark that their way is being blocked by what it looks like a single RCMP 2002 Ford Crown Victoria squad car with complete police markings and a siren. Flanking at its left and right are two unmarked 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up trucks with blue sirens located at the dashboard area and a marked was at the near side of the vehicles. Mark began to ask John with a bit of nervousness. He noticed some men dressed in RCMP uniforms with complete ballistic vests and are armed with Diemaco C8 rifles. What's worse is that they're aiming at the van.
"Something's wrong! John, what can you make?"
"You're right! They're not real cops. They're impostors sent by the terrorists. Damn! Psychic soldiers must have blocked my psychic vision since I wasn't able to detect them." responded John as he placed his hands on his head and tried to concentrate on using his psychic vision sense.
Martin looked at the rear and witnessed two RCMP 2002 Toyota Prius squad cars forming a roadblock with an unmarked 2003 Ford Expedition SUV with the same blue sirens located at the dashboard area with a marked RCMP 2003 Dodge PT Cruiser in front of the two Toyota Prius squad cars. He also noticed armed men disembarking from the cars while aiming their Diemaco C8 rifles from behind their autos.
"Oh man! What do we do? We're surrounded and the baddies are heavily armed! We better do something. Gotta think of a plan first." panicked Martin, as he didn't know what to do.
"Mark! What do we do?" yelled Diana. "For once, Martin! You're right about this one!" She began to shiver in fear as she noticed the armed RCMP officers cock their rifles.
"Rules of engagement?" wondered Yu.
"We're already engaged, guys!" Mark then drew his Fabrique Nationale (FN) Five-Seven pistol from his Morane Consult Concealed Holster hidden at the right side of his pants under his jacket. He then loaded a 20-round 5.7 x 28mm SS190 magazine into the weapon and cocked it to make sure that a bullet is inside the chamber. Diana looked at him with shock and awe since she thought that Mark would never use violence as a solution at most times.
Yu got his 9mm Sig Sauer P226 from his discarded UTG Deluxe Tactical Quick Draw Vest and wore the vest. He then loaded a 15-round magazine into the weapon and cocked it. Patrick did the same thing and unholstered his 9mm Czeska Zbroevka - Uhersky Brod (CZ-UB) 100 pistol from the same vest that Yu had and he cocked it too after wearing the vest and loading a 13-round magazine to his gun. Mark opened the glove compartment and handed to John a 9mm Taurus PT92 pistol with three magazines as one was already loaded alongside a Leapers UTG Black Universal Tactical Belt Holster. John placed the Taurus PT92 pistol inside the holster and clipped the holster in his belt while he placed the clips in the cargo pockets, which fortunately had pockets to accommodate them. All of the weapons were chambered with ARCAM's J-15B Special bullets; they were designed to penetrate any known metal and body armor made in the world.
"Boy, you guys sure have serious hardware." quipped Martin as he noticed that Yu, Patrick, John and Mark had their pistols at their hands.
"Yu, Patrick. You guys have the Armored Muscle Suits on?" inquired Mark.
"Yep!" They both said in unison.
"What's an Armored Muscle Suit?" inquired Diana.
"It's a special suit that builds your strength up to 30 times your own strength and it protects you from firearms, knives, explosions and hand-held weapons." replied Mark as he patted his chest to show that he happened to have one on himself.
"Diana, can you change places with me first? I need to be next to the door." Diana complied and she scooted to Mark's place before Mark moved to the seat near the van's door. Martin began to began to confide the plans to the gang while Mark took out his Fairbarn-Sykes Commando Pattern 1 Knife. It was like all the modern Fairbarn-Sykes Commando Knives, but ARCAM had it customized by changing the original blade to an Omihalcon blade, which could penetrate any vest, even standard-issued police and military ballistic vests. Mark then asked Martin,
"Martin, you got a plan to deal with them?"
"Yep! Here's the plan. Mark, Java and I will attack the fake cops at the front. Yu and Patrick should assault the back. John, stay in the van and keep an eye on things, got it? But first, I need to get my X-Staff." Martin then activated his U-Watch and chose the X-Staff from the selection.
U-Watch activated. X-Staff selected. The X-Staff materialized on top of Martin's watch and he grabbed it and activated it's quarterstaff mode. He held it in his left hand afterwards. "Guess we have to engage them", quipped Martin.
"Ready guys!" He then began to raise his clenched fist and trying to count from one to three with his fingers in front of them.
"One."
"Two."
"Three!" Mark then lead the assault when he opened the door with speed and jumped out of the car and landed on the gravel but not before he tossed his knife at one of the armed men. The blade then landed at the head of one of the fake RCMP officers, between his eyes. He then collapsed just before Mark knelt on the ground and proceeded to shoot the rest of the armed force with his FN Five-Seven pistol.
"John, use Charm on Martin and Java so's they can sneak up on the enemy." shouted Mark as he blasted the enemies. He was lucky, two bullets landed on the chest of another fake RCMP officer. But two more crashed on the glass of the unmarked 2005 Chevrolet Silverado truck's windshield. The others quickly took cover. Yu and Patrick engaged with the fake officers from the rear of the van and opened fire with their pistols.
John then started to place his hand on the side of his head, he then utilized his charm ability on both Martin and Java. A few minutes, they became invisible.
"Martin, Java! Go now!" yelled John as he held his Taurus PT92 pistol.
"Okay, Java! Let's go kick some terrorist butt!" Martin then began to run to the ditch found at the right side of the front roadblock.
"Java help." They both ran to the ditch without being detected. A few minutes, John sensed that Martin and Java were in the ditch near the roadblock. He then took his hand off his head and the two became visible and gave the thumbs up to John, meaning that they were in position.
"Okay, Mark! Let's get them. They're in position." John then leaned outside the Sprinter van while and exposing his head while he engaged the fake officers at the right roadblock in front of the van. He was able to take down one officer with two shots to his vest. Like Mark, five shots from his pistol also made three hole at the rear window of the marked RCMP 2002 Ford Crown Victoria squad car and two shots at the other unmarked Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck, one completely smashing the driver side window and one making a hole at the drivers side door. Gino the driver took cover by hiding under the steering wheel for the whole time and won't come out. Diana covered her head and ducked away from the windshield with fears of being hit by gunfire.
Yu and Patrick were having better luck. They managed to gun down four officers who were taking cover behind the marked RCMP 2003 Dodge PT Cruiser and three near the unmarked 2003 Ford Expedition SUV. But due to the focus of the fake officers towards them, they were outnumbered and Yu had to take cover behind the PT Cruiser while Patrick was behind the unmarked 2003 Ford Expedition SUV while the cars were behind riddled with bullets.
"Java. Let's give Mark and John a hand." Martin jumped like a martial artist from the ditch and thrusted his X-Staff to the ground and he leaped like a javelin athlete to deliver double swift kicks with his staff as a ground support to the two armed men standing behind the Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck, which was near the ditch, even before they coud react as Martin balanced himself on the weapon. Java then placed his hand on the body on one of the Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck and started to lift it; Martin continued to engage the armed RCMP officers with both various roundhouse and forward kicks and whacking and thrusting them with his X-Staff.
"Man, it's a good thing I watched The Brotherhood of the Wolf last weekend." commented Martin after he did a cool martial arts pose with his X-Staff, acting like Jackie Chan. Both armed men were now out cold.
"Okay, punk! Say your prayers!" uttered one of the fake officers as he began to raise his rifle at the direction of Martin and Java. Java saw him and heaved the pick-up truck above his head while the fake officer was trying to focus on Martin. Just before he could put his finger on the trigger while aiming the Diemaco C8 rifle at his back, he noticed Java with the unmarked 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck over his head and tossed it at his direction, smashing the marked RCMP 2002 Ford Crown Victoria squad car with the pick-up truck on top of it. Java's action resulted in an explosion that destroyed both vehicles and killed the armed man.
"YAAAAAA!" screamed the man as he got away from the pick-up that landed on the Crown Victoria, but he was soon caught in the fiery explosion.
"Allow me to lighten the odds." utttered John began to use his projection skill while Martin helped Java on his feet from tossing the now-wrecked Chevrolet Silvarado pick-up truck; Mark then reloaded his pistol as he was fresh out of bullets. Martin was still engaging any surviving gunmen near the front roadblock with his X-Staff and his martial art techniques and Java was lending a hand by knocking them out cold whenever he tosses them to one another like rag dolls.
His projection ran to one of the fake officers manning the rear roadblock and instantly possessed one of them.
"Hey Craig, we're supposed to keep firing, wha?" shouted one of the fake RCMP men noticed that the now possessed officer began to aim and cut down every armed man taking cover behind the marked RCMP 2002 Toyota Prius squad cars. He tried to take him down, but was shot several times in the chest and legs. Later, the possessed officer shot one of the car's gas caps and both cars were smothered in an explosion. John then woke up from his projection skill after the possessed officer was also killed in the explosion. Yu, Patrick and John reloaded their weapons when Martin noticed a screeching sound that appeared to be made from a speeding van.
The gang noticed that a speeding marked RCMP 2003 Chevrolet Astra van with police sirens was coming near them. John began to use his psychic powers to check on its status.
"Guys, it's their reinforcements. They're coming for us." said John as he tried to concentrate on focusing his vision on the van.
Mark, Yu and Patrick took aim at the van with their pistols and tried to shoot it down, but it only made dents and some cracked holes at the windshield.
"John, try using your projection. It might stop them." yelled Martin.
"Good idea, Martin!" yelled John back as he activated his projected self to run at the van. It managed to possess the fake officer and he began to load and cock his rifle.
"Mike! We're not suppose to engage them until... wait, wait! What the heck are you doing?" shouted the driver as the possessed officer began to gun down every man with his Glock 17 pistol at the van's rear, forcing the driver to draw out his own Glock 17 pistol and shoot his passenger. His passenger shot the driver at his torso, arms and legs before he died from several gunshot wounds. The driver clutched his wounded legs and arms while trying to keep focus, but the Astra van was now heading towards the other unmarked 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up truck parked at the left side of the roadblock.
"Looks like he's gonna crash! Everyone, run!" commanded John as he waved the group back near the Sprinter van as it crashed to the pick-up truck, but tripped and lost his balance as he fell to the ground. While they were distracted, two fake officers near the bullet-ridden unmarked 2003 Ford Expedition SUV and marked RCMP 2003 Dodge PT Cruiser vehicles began to rise from their feet and reload their rifles while another fake officer sneaked into the ditch.
Yu, Patrick and John, who were standing near the Sprinter van's rear, noticed the two men aiming their Diemaco C8 rifles from the cover of the bullet-ridden Ford Expedition and Dodge PT Cruiser. They immediately took aim and fired at them, dispensing at least 10 rounds before 2 of them drilled at their bodies before they were gunned down for the last time. The rest of them landed near the gas caps and smothered them in flames.
Everyone sighed in relief as they realized that the ordeal was finally over. Martin leaned himself near the wrecked Chevrolet Astra van in relief, Java assisted John up to his feet while Patrick and Yu began to scour the rear roadblock for any signs of life. Mark had just picked up his Fairbarn-Sykes Commando Knife and walked back to the Sprinter van after checking the front roadblock and the crashed Astra van and he opened the driver's door, the fake officer was seen dead, with his lifeless body on the steering wheel and he saw that the entire interior was covered in blood. He the noticed that Diana opened the passenger side door and approached the gang. She was scared about what happened the entire time, but she was relieved when she found out the shootout was over.
"It's a good thing that you guys are all right, I..."
Before Diana could finish her speech, everyone saw the fake officer running behind Diana and instantly grabbed her from behind with his Glock 17 pistol pointing at everybody while he dragged her near the smoldering Dodge PT Cruiser. Martin, Java and John were stumped to see this. Yu and Patrick were at the gunman's side, but dared not to move for fear of Diana's life. Mark took the advantage of the confusion to slip away from view and head to the forest. Gino ducked back underneath the steering wheel after he saw Diana being attacked from the rear.
"Everybody, freeze! One move and the girl gets it! Put down your weapons now." shouted the man as Diana tried to struggle with his grip.
Martin placed his X-Staff down while John, Patrick and Yu placed their handguns to the ground; everybody then raised their hands up in the air; Patrick noticed Mark sneaking near him. Yu noticed him too and Mark told them to keep quiet. They nodded in agreement.
Mark began to do a ninja dash and holstered his pistol as the armed man noticed him.
"Hey you, stop!". The armed officer saw him trying to get near him and he fired a pistol shot, but Mark jumped out of view like a ninja while the bullet landed to the ground.
He was confused to where Mark went to, but he didn't realize that Mark had materialized behind him and he activated his U-Watch for his X-Staff.
U-Watch activated. X-Staff selected. Mark then took the X-Staff and extended it to quarterstaff form. The armed man heard the U-Watch's voice and turned around, seeing Mark from the air and was about to land next to him. He focused his pistol at him, but Mark whacked it away from his hand.
"Diana, get out of here! I'll take care of this creep!"
Diana got free and ran away near Martin and she was escorted by Yu and Patrick with John covering them with his Taurus PT92 pistol while they watched Mark, who just landed on the ground. He then gave some kicks to the armed man's stomach, did a couple of staff thrusts and twirls to his face and landed some punches on him since the armed man was not able to dodge them in time. The man did try to land some blows, but it didn't due to Mark's speed and agility as Diana got shocked and impressed with his fighting skills. When Mark noticed that the armed man was dizzy from his blows, he then performed a roundhouse kick on him and as a result, the armed man was knocked out and he fell to the ground. Mark motioned Yu and Patrick to help him subdue Diana's hostage-taker and applied plasticuffs on him. Later, the two fake officers rose from cover and attempted to shoot the agates, but were gravely wounded to their shoulders when Patrick and John sensed their presence via psychic sense and shot them with their pistols.
Martin and Diana then noticed M.O.M.'s limosine with a team of 2004 Dodge Sprinter Special Response Squad vans (A/n: I just made this part up!) approaching them. Mark and Patrick then dragged the man to his feet near M.O.M., who had just exited the limo, while Yu pointed his Sig Sauer P226 at him, just in case he would try to get away. The area was littered with bullet casings, blood, corpses and autos riddled with bullet holes in the chassis and flat tires; the gang had reflected on this while they waited for M.O.M. to finish her talk with an SRS officer. She then approached the group with Billy and spoke with them about their situation.
"Good work guys for a job well done. Thank you especially, Mark, for your heroic actions in saving Diana. We'll take away these so-called law enforcers at once for interrogation." She motioned two Special Rescue Squad (SRS) operatives to take him away to the nearby SRS van. They were wearing black Battle Dress Uniforms (BDUs) and are armed with Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) Tavor TAR-21 assault rifles in 5.56 x 45 NATO caliber with Springfield XD Tactical pistols in a black finish and chambered in 9 x 19 Parabellum. Both are wearing black BlackHawk Omega Tactical Vests Cross Draw with the white Center logo on the back of their vests and a Center patch on the shoulder of their BDUs as part of their standard uniform with their black PASGT helmets for standard headgear and had Oakley black assault boots and Hatch Armortip gloves with black BlackHawk Hellstorm Bibbled Fire Resistant balaclavas covering their faces and Bollé Commando Tactical goggles covering their eyes. Four SRS operatives rushed to the rear roadblock with their IWI TAR-21 rifles drawn until they encountered the wounded gunmen. They helped them to their feet once plasticuffs were applied to them while they were on the ground. Mark went back to the Sprinter van and sat down at its floor, but not before he motioned to Yu to reload his FN Five-Seven pistol and his magazines for him, just as Gino left the van in order to relieve himself while the others gathered round M.O.M.; she didn't bother to call Mark as she noted that he needed some rest.
"M.O.M., somehow these terrorists have found out about us and we nearly escaped with our lives." enquired Martin with a worried look.
"Java scared of what happened here." Java was somehow shocked too by what happened.
"What do we do now? We're sure that they can trace us now!" added Patrick.
"Besides, they seemed to know every move that we did since we landed in Vancouver." remarked Diana.
"People, people. Keep calm! As you all know, the nearby White Rock RCMP police station was not able to notice this incident since the Center suspects that there were some insiders responsible for cutting communication with the nearby units around this area. We've managed to intercept some suspicious communications from some of the terrorists prior to this attack. We'll let you know otherwise. Anyway, most of you are tired from what happened a while ago, so I suggest that you head to the mobile command center that we just propped up there and get yourselves worked out. All I want to say is that you all did a good job in subduing most of the terrorists. I'll buzz you all in case I've got something interesting for you guys to hear." answered M.O.M. as she pointed them to the direction of the command center. M.O.M. motioned Diana to stay put as she wanted to talk with her. She didn't receive any kind of injury from the scuffle that she had went through.
"Diana, I suggest you better go see Mark and talk with him. Maybe you can cheer him up. You should thank him for saving your life." suggested M.O.M.
"Oh, okay! Thanks, M.O.M." blushed Diana as she walked to the van to see Mark.
The others were getting patched up for their wounds and getting resupplied. Yu and Patrick were getting a resupply of J-15B Special bullets as they were not wounded and had asked the bullets on a special request as they were reloading their weapons. Patrick helped Yu reload Mark's pistol with 5.7 x 28 mm SS190 bullets that were also requested to the SRS's armorer. John got a cup of water from the nurse since he was thirsty, but not before he asked Yu to reload his weapon also. Java had a bandage placed on his right arm for a cut that he sustained after he tossed the pick-up truck. Martin was too busy looking at the pretty nurse most of the time that she didn't want to treat Martin his wound on his lips and his right hand, not while Martin was busy gazing at her.
When Diana came to the van, she sat beside Mark and noticed that he was tired from all the action a while ago.
"Mark, thanks for...saving me a while ago, I guess." stuttered Diana as she began to blush while speaking with Mark
"Yea, I know. Just trying to do what's right since I'm a Center agent. You don't get to do this once in your life."
"But by the way, who did you talk to when you used your radio?"
"M.O.M., Di. I had a feeling that someone was following us when I fetched you guys at the airport, so I requested her to trace some suspicious communication, just in case. Well, guess I have your gratitude for risking my neck out there."
"I know. You were very brave out there. Here's a token of appreciation from me." Diana leaned near Mark and gave him a hug, but not before she kissed his right check.
"Thanks, Di."
"Maybe this can be the start of a beautiful friendship, Mark."
"I hope so too." Mark then stood up on his feet and Diana did the same too as they watched the others went near the van. He opened the Sprinter van's passenger side door and went inside. He helped Diana get inside the van as Gino got inside the van after he and Diana did. Martin, Java, Yu, Patrick and John went back inside the van and Martin closed the sliding van. Yu handed the guns back to Mark and John as they were already reloaded. Both of them checked their guns to make sure that nothing was wrong with them and as soon as that was done, they then reholstered their weapons. Mark, from his seat, saw some SRS operatives moving the barricades out of the main road so that their vehicle can leave. M.O.M. stayed behind to supervise the mop-up operations of the SRS.
"Well Mark, looks like you've got a gift from the damsel in distress herself." joked Martin as everyone behind Mark said "WOOOOOOO!".
"At least he saved my life, Martin! He's not like you since you don't do it all the time." shouted Diana as everyone laughed at Martin for his remarks. He then blushed in embarrassment.
"Forget it everyone. Let's just get to my aunt's place before we become sitting ducks." commented Mark as he motioned Gino to drive out and continue with their destination.
Inside Dodge Sprinter Van, on a rural road somewhere in White Rock, Canada – 3:30 P.M.
Everyone was passing the time since the van was neaing the house. Martin and Java were busy playing rock, paper and scissors, while Yu was reading a book entitled Cold Terror. John was busy drinking a Coke can that he got from his bag a while ago and Patrick was playing Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm in his Nokia N-Gage. Diana saw Mark pillowing his head on his clenched fist and looking at the horizon ahead. She then asked him,
"So, Mark. How do you feel?"
"Worn out. Hopefully, we'll be all right. What about you?"
"I'm okay. Thanks."
"Anyway, things will be okay once we get to my aunt's house. We can just relax there for the meantime and eat dinner. I'm pooped."
"Yea. You're right, Mark. I'm exhausted too."
"The hunt is on, Di. As long as those terrorists are still out there, we can't let our guard down."
Diana nodded at him in agreement, then she looked out the window, but not before she spoke to him again and said,
"Mark, there's one more thing?"
"What is it, Di?"
She then held his hand, out of view from the others. She then smiled at him before saying,
"Thanks for saving my life. I'll never forget what you did for me back there."
"No problem. Just trying to look what's right." replied Mark as he smiled back at her when he leaned back at his seat and looked at the horizon. She then saw him sleeping with his head being propped up by his clenched fist. She smiled at him once more before she looked out the window again while she still held his hand and continued to caress it.
Mark woke up momentarily before returning back to sleep. He was at peace. He knew that he did a risky thing back in the field, but he saved Diana's life from an armed terrorist. He then knew that he did the right thing.
Chapter 3 END