08:07 PM

Near some road.

"Harry, move faster!" Tom urged Harry when he saw that he was lagging behind, while he tried to estimate the number of hostiles in his head.

Fax had heard from their radio that unit-9 and 10 were the two the duo had put down by that estimate we have at least 20 hostile on our hands. 4 by Fax & 4 by us that leaves around 12 active hostiles.

"We are almost there, come on!" Tom again encouraged Harry.

Harry, who had effectively lost all strength in his limbs and was on the verge of puking with a killer headache, looked everywhere with blurry eyes, trying to stay awake. Hearing Tom's voice was the only thing stopping him from passing away.

As Tom and Harry moved from alley to alley in the night, the city grew somewhat calm. Everyone trying to stay alive had already reached somewhere safe or was close to it. The army was also starting to move into the city, attempting to deal with the gangs. Multiple choppers moved around assessing the situation constantly.

\"Hunter, I've been discovered. I am on the run. Two SUVs are on my tail. I can't provide any assistance further,"\ Fin's voice came in Tom's earpiece.

\"Are you hit?"\

\"Negative, but they have busted the van pretty bad. All the equipment is cooked."\

\"Can they still track you?"\

\"Uh-no... I dealt with it."\

\"Alright, no need to panic. Try to shake them off."\

\"Copy."\

\"Fax, you there?"\

\"Yes."\

\"What's Slipper's condition?"\

\"He's out of danger, but I would not recommend returning to the field for the time being."\

\"Get Stem to look out for him and go support Fin. Get him out of danger. After that, meet with Slipper and Stem, dump Fax there, and come help us out."\

\"Alright."\

Tom hurriedly ordered everyone to their tasks, having complete belief in his team's ability to handle the situation if they followed his instructions. His team also had faith in his judgment.

As Tom issued instructions while crouching beside a shop, Harry could finally see in the distance the burning building, serving as a bright beacon in the night. Multiple cars with flashing red and blue lights indicated the cluster of cops Tom had mentioned.

While Harry was looking ahead, he noticed movement in the corner of his left eye. Turning his head, he saw two people dressed in hoodies, hiding one hand inside their pockets, approaching them from the other side of the road. As his eyes met theirs, they took out their hands, revealing handguns. While Harry's eyes were locked onto theirs, his right hand automatically reached for the Glock.

"DUCK!"

Screaming for Tom, Harry shot at the thugs without taking aim but kept the barrel in their general direction.

Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang...

The assailants couldn't react in time and were riddled with bullets, marking the first time Harry took a life— a double kill.

Reacting lightning-fast, Tom ducked further and turned back to return fire but saw that the thugs were already down. Quickly getting on his feet, he dragged Harry into the cover of the alley.

Peeking through the alley, Tom looked for any further movement but saw none.

"Nice shot, kid. I owe you my life now," Tom praised Harry, wearing a smile.

"Fuck..." Harry cursed under his breath, looking pale at the sight of dead bodies.

"Harry, listen to me. We kill to protect, not out of our selfish desires. So it's alright, okay? Now get up; the cops are very close. They will come here, and we can't surrender yet. They don't have anywhere to keep us, and who knows who else is against us."

"You are somewhat like him."

"Who?"

"My father. He doesn't trust anyone either. Not even his own son. He probably doesn't trust you either."

"Why do you think that I'm here? Of course, he does. I'm his best weapon you know."

"Oh no, he is just protecting his asset, his blood. He doesn't care... at all. If I die tonight, all he'll probably say would be 'Oh, how sad, but we should move on from this loss. We mustn't let this hinder us.' Heh. Emotionless bastard."

"Let's just go."

\"Hunter, overlord called. There's a chopper waiting for us on the biggest building on 57th road. It will take us to the airport where a jet is waiting. We have 60 minutes before it takes off."\

\"1 hour for the chopper or the jet?"\ Tom asked.

\"The jet. The chopper is carrying some army personnel and a woman who is our return ticket to the airport. There, a jet is waiting for takeoff. We can make it if we hurry. We are en route to Slipper and Stem. After taking them, we'll move towards the building. We will meet you guys there,"\ Fax spoke this time. He had just gotten into the van and was driving very fast, trying to throw their admirers off their trail.

\"A woman?"\

\"Someone Overlord sent. Said she'll help us."\

\"Any help is welcome at this point...Alright, meet you guys at the entrance."\

\"Do you need support?"\

\"No, we can manage,"\ Tom somewhat lied, placing his teammates' lives over the principles.

"Let's go. Our destination has changed to road 57; your father has bought us a ticket home."

Bang, Bang...thud

Just as they were about to move, two bullets came flying by and hit Tom, bringing him down in an instant.

Ducking Harry looked back at the end of the alley and saw two men coming from the dark. One of them had definitely shot Tom. Harry was too shocked to do anything at that moment. His heart rate climbed rapidly, and his blood pressure made his body warmer by the second.

Hearing some voices again, Harry turned back. He saw two more men in suits blocking his retreat. Gulping audibly, Harry had no idea what to do. Dropping on his knees, Harry raised his hands in surrender while looking at the corpse of Tom.

Harry's POV:

What the hell just happened?

Looking at Tom's body, guilt welled up within me. If I hadn't gotten emotional and talked nonsense, we would have been moving right now, not standing still like idiots.

\"Unit-3 to Eagle-1; we have rabbit. The extra bogey has been dealt with. Over."\

\"Copy. Over."\

Looking at the four barrels pointed at my face, the heat was starting to get to me. It was warm, too warm. Sweat was now starting to drip from my face, and my vision was getting clearer than ever before. I could see everything—the lights coming from the shop opposite the alley now seemed all too bright, and the dark side of the alley now appeared to be crystal clear, I could also see the snow in detail. Even the fatigue I'd been feeling all this time was slowly disappearing.

It was returning—the sensation of a full, deep breath I'd been longing and chasing all this time was returning. But my mind was too gone in anger and despair to appreciate anything. All I wanted to do right now was tear their heads off.

"You made us work very hard, Rabbit." Taking the gun off my holster, a man who appeared to be in his 30s said to my face. After he got the gun and checked for any weapons on me, he suddenly kicked my stomach hard.

"Ugh..." The kick, which should have blown a hole through my untrained body, felt a little weak...

"Look at this. The rabbit can take a beating." Chuckling, the man bent over and picked me up. Taking a handcuff out of his suit's pocket, he then fastened it on my left hand and tried to fasten the other one on his own right hand... tried is the keyword here.

My right hand, which I was sure was at boiling point, held his hands tightly. Then he met my eyes with a mocking smile, but his smile stiffened, and he appeared to be shocked by something, but I paid no heed to it.

A rage I didn't know existed had reared its ugly head in the depths of my soul, calling to me, asking to be released, and I am one kind person; how could I refuse?

Time seemed to slow down, as if inviting me to make a move, and I, of course, complied.

Yanking his hand by my own, I pulled him near me and with a very familiar power, I punched his face with my left hand, on which the handcuff dangled.

CRACK!

Not paying attention to the sound and releasing my right hand from the man, I flew with the momentum, twisting my body in the left direction and again punching with full force with my dominant hand toward another man's face standing to my right.

BAAANG!

The first man had yet to crash on the opposite wall, but I had already dispatched two of them. The third man, who also stood to my right, was slowly trying to move his rifle in my direction while stepping backward, hoping to put some distance between us. I moved toward him while gritting my teeth. Every air particle around me was trying to stop me from performing such a feat, tearing myself from the fabric of reality. I held his weapon with my right hand, which was closer, and raised it out of my body's direction. I delivered a straight to his chest.

CRACK!

This power, this feeling of superiority was something else. The first body had already crashed, and the second was also touching the ground when I finished with the third man, now a corpse.

I had a nagging feeling that this time-slowing effect was going to end soon, so I rushed to the final enemy with a renewed vigor. Turning anti-clock, I saw that he, too, had a good reaction. He was already a step back, and his weapon was already pointing at my initial position. When I approached him, the weapon flashed with light, and a projectile was launched toward me. Dodging it, I continued toward him, holding his gun by its barrel. I sent a right hook towards his face, but it seemed I misfired as my fist went to his throat instead of his face.

CRACK! Riiip!

As I delivered my final punch, my surroundings finally returned to their normal state.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" as there was nobody else to kill so i had to release some tension by screaming. My body demanded more violence my mind also craved mor-

Thud...

I looked at the last man in as he flew some distance away and dropped on the ground. The dropping sound made me come out of the weird state of rage. Reason slowly returned to me. Looking at the corpses of the men I killed and the blood on my hands, I puked then and there.

"Blerghhh... cough, cough...ugh."

The first one had its head bashed in; the second had half of his face missing. The third had a very obvious... dent in his chest; his body, while laying on the ground, was weirdly hunched. The fourth one had his whole head missing, seems like my hand went right through his neck, ripping his head off.

Trying my best to ignore the corpses, I picked up Tom and his gun and made a run for it. More could come at any time; if we stayed in the same place, we'd be smoked.

While running, I felt that Tom's weight was barely noticeable, and running barely felt like a chore. This feeling was awesome. As for why I was running with a corpse, well, I could somehow hear his heartbeat. All my senses were going haywire—all kinds of sounds and smells were attacking me. Sometimes I could hear people talking with nobody around us, sometimes I could smell heavy gunpowder and blood in the air.

Trying my best to ignore the surroundings that kept twisting, I soon found an open door to a shop. The 57th road was just an alley ahead, but we couldn't go there like this. Tom had to wake up, and we had to lose the big gun and the vests because there was a big cluster of people and cops on the road—something like a safe zone. I could hear and smell it.

Removing his vest, I got in the chest compression position. Then I remembered that I had too much force in my hands, so to be safe, I just lightly performed compressions with three fingers.

...