65 Mission 3

Emersyn stared at the man in black who shot the man on Aiden's shoulder.

On the other hand, Aiden stiffly looked back and saw a muzzle aiming on his head. He chuckled dryly then said, "You mafiosos sure are hard to handle."

"One time. I am letting you escape just this one time. Go," the man firmly said.

"Hahaha! You think I'll let you just do your own thing after killing my important witness?"

"That's not our problem. We are just following orders. Code Phoenix, handle this guy."

"Yes, sir," Emersyn responded as she quickly apprehended Aiden in a chokehold. However, the man struck her diaphragm with his elbow along with the strength of his other arm. Emersyn held her breath as he tightened her choke and firmly wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Gah! Wo---man!"

Aiden passed out.

"Hmm… impressive," the man said as he scrutinised Emersyn from head to toe. Even though her diaphragm was struck hard, she held on and continued choking the man with a firm hold until he passed out. Impressive, indeed. He nodded his head in approval.

"Phoenix, have you already installed all the bombs?"

"Only two are left, sir."

"Call me Beaver. I am not that higher up than you. It's better to be casual. Besides, we are family, right?"

"Yes," Emersyn nodded as she carried Aiden to the last room.

"What an odd woman..." Beaver mumbled.

When Emersyn finished binded Aiden on the experiment table, she proceeded to install the bombs. After that, she left and saw a lot of men securing the underpass and the other was examining the corpses on the ground. She immediately hid behind a machine, held her breath and concentrated her sense of hearing to the approaching footsteps. Suddenly, she could hear a change in the air. She shrunk back on the corner to hide herself, then multiple bombs went off causing another screams of fear. However, the men didn't falter their steps and just proceeded to walk into the direction where Emersyn was hiding. She looked beside her to see if the shadow of the machine would be enough to hide her. Fortunately, it was enough, but it wasn't enough to fool these men looking for their target. Just as she thought that they would discover her, they passed through her position.

"Look for that murderer. They wouldn't be able to hide much here, much less escape. Tighten the security! We will catch our man," then she could hear whispers.

Suddenly, a bullet was shot.

Emersyn, with her gut instinct telling her to escape, quickly jumped out of her hiding place where a bullet went through the reinforced wall. She saw Beaver in that group as he fired another round of bullet at her. Furthermore, they were all aiming at her vitals.

"..."

"Why can't a newbie do something right?! It's just a woman!"

Emersyn saw that opportunity and quickly snatched those magazines on the floor. She threw the empty magazine and slotted the new magazine then immediately fired at the men, bringing a few down who were still in a daze.

"Blockhead!!! You just gave an opportunity to the enemy! You stupid newbie!"

"I'm sorry!"

Emersyn smirked as she gestures at her gun, "Thanks," she said.

Beaver groaned loudly as he stood. He cocked his gun and went to the farthest back of the formation as he avoided Emersyn's fires. When he was sure that there wouldn't be anybody coming through the earpiece he was wearing, he started bombarding the backs of the men with larger bullets.

"All cleared in sector 5," he said as he pressed on his earpiece.

"Good job. Now, escape. We will follow you soon," the voice said at the other end.

"Phoenix!" Beaver called as Emersyn looted the bodies of the men.

"... what are you doing?"

"Oh! Pardon me," she said as she continued scavenging for materials. "It was kind of my hobby."

"..."

"When I used to hunt monsters myself, I always had to butcher them up for food and for materials. Oh and when I killed bandits, I had to loot their bodies too. You know, for extra cash."

"..." he knew what monsters were in his vocabulary, but hunt? Although he sometimes went to participate in hunts, but just by herself? What does that mean? Before she was in their team, wasn't she just a decoy? Also, butchering them up for food? She was butchering humans?! How scary! His team has a cannibal!

"... wait..." Emersyn mumbled. "I mean… yes. Those mutated animals roaming the world around."

"... what mutated animals? We have mutated animals roaming here?! How come I didn't know that?"

"..." oh no. There weren't any here in this world! What was wrong with her memories?! Where did those come from?!

"I'm sorry, I read that in the library yesterday. It seems I am still, you know, caught up with it."

"Ah… I see, so that was the case," Beaver nodded.

"Weren't we going to escape?"

"... how did you know? I still haven't told you."

"..."

Beaver waved his hand with a frown and said, "Whatever. Let's go now."

"Yes."

They entered the underpass as they walked through the dark cave out into the forest. Once they found their way out and saw a hint of light, they hurried their footsteps. However, when they exited, a lot of suited men showed up with their guns aiming at them. Emersyn and Beaver simultaneously raised up their arms as they slowly approached the group.

"Where are the others?"

"They were killed and we are the only one who survived," Emersyn said slowly.

"No. Where are your comrades?"

Emersyn smiled wryly as she quickly retrieved the gun and fired simultaneously at the men. They hid behind trees as they fired against each other. When the men were out of bullets, they risked their lives just to be sure that the opponents were out of bullets to engage close combat. Emersyn was itching to do close combat, though she didn't know why, but she still threw the gun at Beaver then ran towards the enemy.

"Phoenix?!" He screamed in surprise as he caught the gun.

The brawl started. Beaver was rather surprised to see how wide Emersyn's smile was as she fought against opponents bigger than her. Even her movements were agile and nimble. He couldn't quite follow her fast movements, but he still remained alert with his finger on the trigger.

Then, there were sounds coming from the direction where the laboratory was. It wasn't that of an explosion, but rather the sound of the police and ambulance coming together. Fortunately, Emersyn was already done. Just when she finally relaxed her tensed muscles, her body collapsed from over-exertion of her body which wasn't made to fight. Beaver ran towards Emersyn, examining her for signs of life.

"Phew… you're alive."

***

Inside the laboratory, students were huddled together on the second underground floor, shivering in fear. There was John, a senior, who kept on calming his juniors and fellow seniors amidst the situation. When he turned around and saw that the men in a lab coat were hurriedly going down a flight of stairs --- since the elevator was bombed ---, he followed them suspiciously. Fortunately, no one seemed to suspect him.

He followed them around and finally saw an entrance, or rather, and exit. His eyes widened as he quickly went up to inform his fellow students, not noticing the heap of corpses or even the smell of death.

"Guys! There's an exit on the lower floor!"

"Really?!"

"Come! Follow me! But we have to be quiet."

They rounded every corner and arrived in front of the so-called exit. However, this time, he finally noticed the corpses lying around. Some of them covered their mouths to prevent bile from coming out as they trembled in fear. Suddenly, there was a sound coming from one of the rooms. They trembled as they slowly opened the door. They saw a man struggling on top of the experiment table as they heaved a sigh of relief.

Aiden noticed them and quickly said, "Hurry! Help me! I am wrongly put in here by those people! I will protect you until we get out, I promise!"

"You--- you won't kill us?" John asked.

"What?! How could I?! I am on the side of justice!"

"Then… please," he pleaded as he undid the binds on the man's limbs.

"Thank god… I'm free..." he said as he rubbed his numbing wrists. He looked around them and asked, "Is this all of you?"

"Yes."

"Good. There is a passageway that will lead us to the forest. Help will come to us there, I am sure."

Then they went out of that room and entered the passageway. When they got out, the sun blinded their eyes and multiple people came into sight. The man that seemed to lead them came forward and said, "We are the Blanche. We came to help."