Mavin moved his non-firing hand away from his rifle. “Stefanie, have you seen the shot?”
The radio replied, “Copy that, Sir. Edward’s telecopter imagery is broadcasting images within the smoke.”
“Good,” Mavin adjusted the windage dial of his rifle, “keep an eye on them. Should take them a few minutes before they start suspecting where the shot is.”
“Understood, I’ll keep an overwatch, Sir.”
Mavin took out his pocket calculator, and adjusted his rifle for another shot. “Any visuals, Stefanie?”
“Two, around two meters. Armed.”
“Taking a shot,” Mavin squeezed the trigger.
“One down, the other is incapacitated,’ Stefanie called.
Mavin pulled the bolt handle. “How much is the delay for the broadcast and the radio?”
“1.6 seconds, Sir.”
“Good.”
The manpack radio was accurate and less-noisy. Her voice was also soothingly clear, and if he remembered right, then she should have tuned the manpack and the telecopter that they were using on this operation. Mavin kept his body in a prone position, with heels close to the ground.
“Wind is picking up,” Mavin adjusted the dial of his rifle once more. “Stefanie, how long until Edward can stay up in the air?”
“Four more hours, the stress in the gyrodyene’s blade might cause the rotor to snap.”
“Good enough, kept him hovering above the air, focused on the area around the enemy and mine.”
“Roger, switching to his line.”
“This is Edward, over.”
“Any signs around me?”
“Negative, Sir.”
Mavin was sure that no one was around him either. Most of his boons were keeping him hidden in the shadows, and his presence when he was skulking was always decreased because of one of the boons. The boons were items or strange perks that somewhat increased his strength or made his reflexes faster. Hence he was confident that he doesn’t have to follow the rules of movements when it comes to concealment and sneaking.
The new boons are somewhat superior to the old ones that I have. Not to mention that I don’t have to worry about it being dark any longer. Boons could either boost his physical ability or give him an ability like low presence when skulking in the shadows. Most of the boons that Mavin used were the boons that related to concealment, strength, and most of all the boon that allowed him to slow down his perception of time. Of course, the most important boon that he had gotten was the ability to regenerate even grievous wounds and strengthen the durability of his body.
If he didn’t have the boons then he would haven’t been as confident to jump off two hundred feet from the air and take on a group who had arguably turned the city into one giant mess within just a few hours. It was because of these boons that he was able skip some preparations and engage the enemy as quickly as possible. Usually, he would have over prepared, but he didn’t have that luxury now that he was seven years off from the target mark.
“Status?”
“One is down, but it should be assumed that he’s calling for help, Sir.”
Mavin pulled the magazine out of his rifle, then hastily inserted three more armor piercing rounds. He cocked his rifle, and placed his firing hand on the stock of the rifle, his finger an inch away from the trigger. “Can’t get visual confirmation that I aced the bastard, so I’m going to look for the biggest target. He should be a magiborne, so he should have more senses than this.”
Probably going down below the area, steadily climbing, and trying to take me from behind. I can fire from this position, and I don’t have to worry about much about where my bullet is heading when I just let gravity do the job for me. Mavin thought. If he still remembered the profiles right, then the leader of the magiborne should be either seething or losing his temper. It was not unintentional on Mavin’s part, but he didn’t took the shot to shut up the person he had incapacitated to try and draw more of the enemy in saving the guy out of his line of sight.
Fear does it job well, Mavin thought. You come out, I’ll take you out. Good chance that they’ll try to blast me out of this area, but that would be good in my case.
Mavin kept scanning the area around the building while keeping a close eye on the spot where he shot the man. He heard no chatter from Edward or Stefanie so he didn’t make unnecessary noises either. After three minutes however, he left the spot where he was aiming, and moved to another location. He punched a hole through one of the edges, made adjustments, and placed his line of sight back to the oppo.
He saw immediate movements from the spot. They threw a smoke grenade, let the smoke flooded in, and started rushing in. With his perception of time slowed down, he identified the human silhouettes, their gears, and the way they were going to move. Three of these brave men were going to save their comrade, but unfortunately Mavin wanted the three dead to lure the target out.
Each bullet found its way through them. Mavin expected one hit the skull, the other in the chest, and the last one should have shattered the collarbone. Mavin ejected the casing, and traveled the barrel of his rifle to the approaching flying vehicle that was heading to the landing pad. “Seeing movements on the rooftop of the opposing building, firing.”
It was a tandem-rotor helicopter approaching the area. They were probably planning to extract the hostages, but he wouldn’t let them. Mavin adjusted his rifle, and took a well-aimed shot at the chin of the cockpit with an explosive round. Mavin saw how the round caused the fragmentation of the impact of the projectile. The spall damage should have taken care of the tandem-rotor helicopter, but he had to make sure and took another shot on the tail-end of the helicopter, causing it to be swept to the side of the building.
“Sir, fast-mover approaching your location.”
“A jet?”
“No, Sir. I believe that it should be a magi.”
“Magi, huh,” Mavin calmly moved his eyes to where the fast-mover was and immediately slowed his breathing down. He saw the hostile approach, using the air as steps, and his hands as boosters. The magi that moved in resembled more of a Nuller to Mavin. The enemy was wearing this left-shoulder equipment that was engraved with runic markings. It lifted its left hand, but Mavin was fast enough to draw his rifle, and shot the man through the chest. There was no need for talk when it came to facing dangerous entities like them.
“Magi down,” Mavin reported. If there was one thing that he knew very well when it comes to these people. It was how to kill them best. Only you, that is someone I couldn’t easily outdo, why didn’t you try to fight…can I believe that? Mavin sincerely thought of a face, then quickly pushed it away. Focus on what you have right now, then let’s think about it when we have time. Not that she’s around anymore, I made sure that crest wouldn't be part of her. I still could sense that the seal’s on.
Mavin calmly pulled the bolt handle, ejected the casing, and placed his eyes back on the spot. “Stefanie, make sure that any fast-movers don’t spot Edward, they’ll try to make an attempt, and if they are smart enough they’d try to deploy their own eye in the sky and if that happens Edward will be found and I don’t think I saw any weapons on his gyrodyne.”
“I’ll keep him alert, Sir.”
Mavin kept on exchanging fire with the hostiles on the rooftop. He saw some of them using his headgear, carrying rocket propelled grenades, but he quickly brought them down. They were trying to overwhelm him with their numbers, but sadly Mavin had the advantage of knowing where they were going by their gazes which was a tell-tale sign for him. Unlike before where he felt exhausted and limited when trying to slow down his perception of time, Mavin discovered that he didn’t have to worry about it as long as he held his breath long enough.
Mavin switched his assault rifle. Each controlled shot takes a life. Mavin didn’t have to worry about the recoil and shot them like a well-oiled machine. That’s seven down, probably won’t try to pop their head outs for a time. Hmm, I could hear something coming up. Lured the head now?
“Stefanie, prepare Edward for extraction. I need to get out of this place and head to the next building.”
“Will you be alright, Sir?”
“Should be fine,” Mavin wrapped the sling of his rifles and deployed the black-iron blade. He moved next to the entrance of the rooftop, waited, and immediately pounced at the bulky seven feet tall exoskeleton-wearing soldier. The exoskeleton-wearing magiborne was fast enough to block with his forearm, but that was a bad idea when Mavin was wielding the black-iron. The sharp black-iron steel that could even cleave through the exiled one’s body cut deeply.
Mavin took out an arm, and then stabbed the thigh, before grabbing onto the plate of the armor, ripping it off, and slamming the powered exoskeleton down with a shoulder throw, which outbalanced the powered exoskeleton. Mavin didn’t give the soldier time to recuperate, and immediately stabbed on the other leg, and followed it by slicing the non-dominant hand of the magiborne.
Trying to get up, the Magiborne was unable to move with its limbs non-functioning. Mavin wasn’t going to ever talk down his enemy nor even try to give them time. That delusion of underestimating the enemy had been removed from his mind during his time in the war, and even all his preparation and hopes wasn’t enough when facing an exiled one. He was confident, but not too confident enough to make a stupid mistake.
I still need to confirm if this is the right guy, Mavin said. He tore the faceplate of the magiborne. The face of the magiborne was none other than the same person that was on the television broadcast. He was spilling blood over his chin and was grunting at Mavin like a cornered dog.
“Are you Elric?”
“Killing me won’t make a difference, government dog.”
“Are you Elric?” Mavin asked again. His tone remained icy. There was dispassion in him. Elric glared at him with such hatred that anyone would have shuddered.
“You’re the same as us and yet you work for these slavers!”
Mavin examined Elric’s face and cross-examined him with the profile that he knew. He checked Elric’s neck, found the scar on the side of his neck and nodded his head. Mavin aimed the barrel of his assault rifle at Elric’s face and shot him twice in the forehead while he was ranting at him fearlessly.
“Target down,” Mavin pulled out a polaroid pocket camera from his rucksack, and took a picture of Elric’s face. “Stefanie, I got a visual confirmation of Elric’s face. Do you have any possible locations of the leaders?”
“I have, Sir. Most of his trusted colleagues are taking part in the city.”
Mavin tore the armor-plate that Elric wore and extracted him out of his exoskeleton suit. He searched his items, and found nothing of importance other than his lighter. Good on him for not carrying incriminating evidence, then again, I didn’t expect them to. “Call Edward, I’ll finish off the rest of the hostiles on the other rooftop. Tell him, I’ll be bringing back the corpse to the building’s broadcasting.”
“Would you mind telling me what your plans are?”
“Simply really,” Mavin watched as Edward slowly descended with his gyrodyne down while keeping out of the other building’s sight. “Can’t fix what has happened here, so might as well just announce that their leaders are dead. Wouldn’t work too well without the hostages, so I’m going in first, and taking them before showing the dead.”
“And if you do clean them out?”
“Broadcast them, announce that their leaders are dead, and demoralize the whole army. It might boost their morale, but emotions are hard to tell so hope that it goes our way. And even if they do somewhat announce that they are alive, why would that matter? If they show themselves, I’ll just find them and kill them, then announce them dead.”
“Sounds…cruel.”
“It’s not about cruelty, Stefanie,” Mavin explained. “It’s about scaring them. Besides, do you really think that these guys can be easily intimidated? What’s the best way to knock some of their confidence by killing their head? We capitalize on this chaos they created, and then root them out.”
The alternative was talking them down, making them see reason, but Mavin was sure that talking to a determined group like this wasn’t going to work well unless you smack them in the head first. Even then, Mavin wasn’t in control of this situation, and the appearance of a magi was enough to make him understand that there was someone playing with the city.
I’ll just smash the game board, make them set new pieces on the board, and watch from the side as they play. I might not have been able to prepare because I’m off seven years, but this will do.
Mavin moved his non-firing hand away from his rifle. “Stefanie, have you seen the shot?”
The radio replied, “Copy that, Sir. Edward’s telecopter imagery is broadcasting images within the smoke.”
“Good,” Mavin adjusted the windage dial of his rifle, “keep an eye on them. Should take them a few minutes before they start suspecting where the shot is.”
“Understood, I’ll keep an overwatch, Sir.”
Mavin took out his pocket calculator, and adjusted his rifle for another shot. “Any visuals, Stefanie?”
“Two, around two meters. Armed.”
“Taking a shot,” Mavin squeezed the trigger.
“One down, the other is incapacitated,’ Stefanie called.
Mavin pulled the bolt handle. “How much is the delay for the broadcast and the radio?”
“1.6 seconds, Sir.”
“Good.”
The manpack radio was accurate and less-noisy. Her voice was also soothingly clear, and if he remembered right, then she should have tuned the manpack and the telecopter that they were using on this operation. Mavin kept his body in a prone position, with heels close to the ground.
“Wind is picking up,” Mavin adjusted the dial of his rifle once more. “Stefanie, how long until Edward can stay up in the air?”
“Four more hours, the stress in the gyrodyene’s blade might cause the rotor to snap.”
“Good enough, kept him hovering above the air, focused on the area around the enemy and mine.”
“Roger, switching to his line.”
“This is Edward, over.”
“Any signs around me?”
“Negative, Sir.”
Mavin was sure that no one was around him either. Most of his boons were keeping him hidden in the shadows, and his presence when he was skulking was always decreased because of one of the boons. The boons were items or strange perks that somewhat increased his strength or made his reflexes faster. Hence he was confident that he doesn’t have to follow the rules of movements when it comes to concealment and sneaking.
The new boons are somewhat superior to the old ones that I have. Not to mention that I don’t have to worry about it being dark any longer. Boons could either boost his physical ability or give him an ability like low presence when skulking in the shadows. Most of the boons that Mavin used were the boons that related to concealment, strength, and most of all the boon that allowed him to slow down his perception of time. Of course, the most important boon that he had gotten was the ability to regenerate even grievous wounds and strengthen the durability of his body.
If he didn’t have the boons then he would haven’t been as confident to jump off two hundred feet from the air and take on a group who had arguably turned the city into one giant mess within just a few hours. It was because of these boons that he was able skip some preparations and engage the enemy as quickly as possible. Usually, he would have over prepared, but he didn’t have that luxury now that he was seven years off from the target mark.
“Status?”
“One is down, but it should be assumed that he’s calling for help, Sir.”
Mavin pulled the magazine out of his rifle, then hastily inserted three more armor piercing rounds. He cocked his rifle, and placed his firing hand on the stock of the rifle, his finger an inch away from the trigger. “Can’t get visual confirmation that I aced the bastard, so I’m going to look for the biggest target. He should be a magiborne, so he should have more senses than this.”
Probably going down below the area, steadily climbing, and trying to take me from behind. I can fire from this position, and I don’t have to worry about much about where my bullet is heading when I just let gravity do the job for me. Mavin thought. If he still remembered the profiles right, then the leader of the magiborne should be either seething or losing his temper. It was not unintentional on Mavin’s part, but he didn’t took the shot to shut up the person he had incapacitated to try and draw more of the enemy in saving the guy out of his line of sight.
Fear does it job well, Mavin thought. You come out, I’ll take you out. Good chance that they’ll try to blast me out of this area, but that would be good in my case.
Mavin kept scanning the area around the building while keeping a close eye on the spot where he shot the man. He heard no chatter from Edward or Stefanie so he didn’t make unnecessary noises either. After three minutes however, he left the spot where he was aiming, and moved to another location. He punched a hole through one of the edges, made adjustments, and placed his line of sight back to the oppo.
He saw immediate movements from the spot. They threw a smoke grenade, let the smoke flooded in, and started rushing in. With his perception of time slowed down, he identified the human silhouettes, their gears, and the way they were going to move. Three of these brave men were going to save their comrade, but unfortunately Mavin wanted the three dead to lure the target out.
Each bullet found its way through them. Mavin expected one hit the skull, the other in the chest, and the last one should have shattered the collarbone. Mavin ejected the casing, and traveled the barrel of his rifle to the approaching flying vehicle that was heading to the landing pad. “Seeing movements on the rooftop of the opposing building, firing.”
It was a tandem-rotor helicopter approaching the area. They were probably planning to extract the hostages, but he wouldn’t let them. Mavin adjusted his rifle, and took a well-aimed shot at the chin of the cockpit with an explosive round. Mavin saw how the round caused the fragmentation of the impact of the projectile. The spall damage should have taken care of the tandem-rotor helicopter, but he had to make sure and took another shot on the tail-end of the helicopter, causing it to be swept to the side of the building.
“Sir, fast-mover approaching your location.”
“A jet?”
“No, Sir. I believe that it should be a magi.”
“Magi, huh,” Mavin calmly moved his eyes to where the fast-mover was and immediately slowed his breathing down. He saw the hostile approach, using the air as steps, and his hands as boosters. The magi that moved in resembled more of a Nuller to Mavin. The enemy was wearing this left-shoulder equipment that was engraved with runic markings. It lifted its left hand, but Mavin was fast enough to draw his rifle, and shot the man through the chest. There was no need for talk when it came to facing dangerous entities like them.
“Magi down,” Mavin reported. If there was one thing that he knew very well when it comes to these people. It was how to kill them best. Only you, that is someone I couldn’t easily outdo, why didn’t you try to fight…can I believe that? Mavin sincerely thought of a face, then quickly pushed it away. Focus on what you have right now, then let’s think about it when we have time. Not that she’s around anymore, I made sure that crest wouldn't be part of her. I still could sense that the seal’s on.
Mavin calmly pulled the bolt handle, ejected the casing, and placed his eyes back on the spot. “Stefanie, make sure that any fast-movers don’t spot Edward, they’ll try to make an attempt, and if they are smart enough they’d try to deploy their own eye in the sky and if that happens Edward will be found and I don’t think I saw any weapons on his gyrodyne.”
“I’ll keep him alert, Sir.”
Mavin kept on exchanging fire with the hostiles on the rooftop. He saw some of them using his headgear, carrying rocket propelled grenades, but he quickly brought them down. They were trying to overwhelm him with their numbers, but sadly Mavin had the advantage of knowing where they were going by their gazes which was a tell-tale sign for him. Unlike before where he felt exhausted and limited when trying to slow down his perception of time, Mavin discovered that he didn’t have to worry about it as long as he held his breath long enough.
Mavin switched his assault rifle. Each controlled shot takes a life. Mavin didn’t have to worry about the recoil and shot them like a well-oiled machine. That’s seven down, probably won’t try to pop their head outs for a time. Hmm, I could hear something coming up. Lured the head now?
“Stefanie, prepare Edward for extraction. I need to get out of this place and head to the next building.”
“Will you be alright, Sir?”
“Should be fine,” Mavin wrapped the sling of his rifles and deployed the black-iron blade. He moved next to the entrance of the rooftop, waited, and immediately pounced at the bulky seven feet tall exoskeleton-wearing soldier. The exoskeleton-wearing magiborne was fast enough to block with his forearm, but that was a bad idea when Mavin was wielding the black-iron. The sharp black-iron steel that could even cleave through the exiled one’s body cut deeply.
Mavin took out an arm, and then stabbed the thigh, before grabbing onto the plate of the armor, ripping it off, and slamming the powered exoskeleton down with a shoulder throw, which outbalanced the powered exoskeleton. Mavin didn’t give the soldier time to recuperate, and immediately stabbed on the other leg, and followed it by slicing the non-dominant hand of the magiborne.
Trying to get up, the Magiborne was unable to move with its limbs non-functioning. Mavin wasn’t going to ever talk down his enemy nor even try to give them time. That delusion of underestimating the enemy had been removed from his mind during his time in the war, and even all his preparation and hopes wasn’t enough when facing an exiled one. He was confident, but not too confident enough to make a stupid mistake.
I still need to confirm if this is the right guy, Mavin said. He tore the faceplate of the magiborne. The face of the magiborne was none other than the same person that was on the television broadcast. He was spilling blood over his chin and was grunting at Mavin like a cornered dog.
“Are you Elric?”
“Killing me won’t make a difference, government dog.”
“Are you Elric?” Mavin asked again. His tone remained icy. There was dispassion in him. Elric glared at him with such hatred that anyone would have shuddered.
“You’re the same as us and yet you work for these slavers!”
Mavin examined Elric’s face and cross-examined him with the profile that he knew. He checked Elric’s neck, found the scar on the side of his neck and nodded his head. Mavin aimed the barrel of his assault rifle at Elric’s face and shot him twice in the forehead while he was ranting at him fearlessly.
“Target down,” Mavin pulled out a polaroid pocket camera from his rucksack, and took a picture of Elric’s face. “Stefanie, I got a visual confirmation of Elric’s face. Do you have any possible locations of the leaders?”
“I have, Sir. Most of his trusted colleagues are taking part in the city.”
Mavin tore the armor-plate that Elric wore and extracted him out of his exoskeleton suit. He searched his items, and found nothing of importance other than his lighter. Good on him for not carrying incriminating evidence, then again, I didn’t expect them to. “Call Edward, I’ll finish off the rest of the hostiles on the other rooftop. Tell him, I’ll be bringing back the corpse to the building’s broadcasting.”
“Would you mind telling me what your plans are?”
“Simply really,” Mavin watched as Edward slowly descended with his gyrodyne down while keeping out of the other building’s sight. “Can’t fix what has happened here, so might as well just announce that their leaders are dead. Wouldn’t work too well without the hostages, so I’m going in first, and taking them before showing the dead.”
“And if you do clean them out?”
“Broadcast them, announce that their leaders are dead, and demoralize the whole army. It might boost their morale, but emotions are hard to tell so hope that it goes our way. And even if they do somewhat announce that they are alive, why would that matter? If they show themselves, I’ll just find them and kill them, then announce them dead.”
“Sounds…cruel.”
“It’s not about cruelty, Stefanie,” Mavin explained. “It’s about scaring them. Besides, do you really think that these guys can be easily intimidated? What’s the best way to knock some of their confidence by killing their head? We capitalize on this chaos they created, and then root them out.”
The alternative was talking them down, making them see reason, but Mavin was sure that talking to a determined group like this wasn’t going to work well unless you smack them in the head first. Even then, Mavin wasn’t in control of this situation, and the appearance of a magi was enough to make him understand that there was someone playing with the city.
I’ll just smash the game board, make them set new pieces on the board, and watch from the side as they play. I might not have been able to prepare because I’m off seven years, but this will do.
