Feeling slightly nostalgic Thaddeus produced a cigarette and lit it up It reminded him of home and of the time before the System Not that Thaddeus would want to return to the nameless individual he was then but he did miss playing Halo with his friends
Voices from the alley below distracted Thaddeus and his expression darkened It was a nice daydream he was having and he did not appreciate it being interrupted by more fools After all he recognized the voices below it was the conversation about what the charity event was for
Do you regret going The woman asked looking at the man beside her Looking at them Thaddeus was somewhat confused She was stunning with long legs and a revealing dress Meanwhile the man
Just looked average Without even the feeble trappings that money could buy His hair was brown and he had something of a belly that even his suit couldnÆt hide
No I did learn a lot The man said rubbing his chin Then he sighed and shook his head Troop movements news from the borderlands rumblings about abuses in the Unity Church It confirmed a lot But I was hoping I would learn something that would give me the direction I wanted But I suppose thatÆs too simple So for now
The man paused Then he frowned
Thaddeus felt it too at that moment The trail of electromagnetic energy over his skin The lights of the building fizzled and went dark Hissing Thaddeus straightened on the fire escape Another assassination attempt They had considered postponing it after Senator Firefly was attacked but many thought it was just some rogue faction in the refugees he housed Could it really be
But no it was only on the lower floors Localized
Then the doors to the alley opened and a group of men walked out and Thaddeus sighed dramatically settling back down Truly he grew agitated just for this
The man in the new group gestured sharply They were wearing night vision goggles We must move quickly We have only 20 or so seconds
Then he paused You should not have come back Tatiana
IÆm not trying to The woman began to speak incensed but the man next to her waved a hand
Did they really knock out GhostÆs cameras in the area That makes this much easier
Who do you think The lead man began but then he stopped Because his group of 6 individuals armed with stun batons and stealth exosuits ran forward and were stopped dead by that average looking man
When the first assailant ran forward the man had stepped forward and grabbed the wrist of the attacker ThaddeusÆ eyes widened In this darkness he could do that so quickly Even his own eyes were just becoming accustomed to the darkness
But the man didnÆt stop there He stepped forward and headbutted the assailant shattering his helmet and sending him staggering His left hand flashed forward and smashed the side of his head knocking him senseless His right hand let go of that manÆs wrist and snatched a plasma pistol out of a holster at that manÆs side
Immediately the other attackers froze and then reached for their own guns But the average man was already firing The plasma bolt took another attacker in the chest but the heat resistant armor held against the projectile It was as the attackers were bringing their pistols to bare that the average man clicked his tongue and fired again Three times
What a cheap piece of trash The average man said with a shake of his head He dropped the melted plasma pistol which had shorted out from being flooded with Mana too dense for it to handle But the three shots had hit one attacker at the knee another at the shoulder and the third had lost most of his hand All were on the ground leaving only two attackers and a shocked man standing
Four seconds had passed Thaddeus couldnÆt tear his eyes from the fight below He felt something in his chest Something he hadnÆt encountered in a long time Something that gripped his throat and lungs
The final two attackers shot their pistols The average man waved his hand and simply knocked the plasma away When the man stepped forward distance meant nothing He appeared to simply kick but the last two were slammed backward into the wall of the alley whimpering
The bright lights of the plasma left glowing trails of blindness in ThaddeusÆ eyes It surely had looked like the man simply knocked the plasma aside but that was
You The man who appeared to have orchestrated the attack said with a gasp You Tatiana how did you
Hollar you are a fool Tatiana said with a sigh Then she shrugged I no longer require a partner It is a little late but IÆve decided to take my considerable business acumen elsewhere You understand right And while IÆm in town I plan to take my portion of our profits As well as all the girls that I trained
You The man was glaring now and he took a step backward and triggered something in his wristwatch An exosuit a powersuit sprang into being and settled around his frame It was a huge thing with heavy armor and plasma cannons around his arms IÆll make you pay
The average man stepped forward seemed to consider then thrust his fingers into the closing space on the exosuit where it hadnÆt yet locked into place on his chest Then the man pulled
There was a moment where nothing happened Then Thaddeus heard the keening of agonized metal before the torso portion of the exosuit was simply ripped off the manÆs body This portion contained the energy cell so the metal on the manÆs body was simply dead weight He trembled and then began to collapse
What
The average man punched the exosuit wearer knocking him out The man slumped to the side but the metal arms pressed into the ground and kept him standing The metal glittered from lights down the alley from a nearby street
11 seconds Thaddeus was sweating now He could have perhaps beaten those assailants without armor That wasnÆt so impressive But could he have deflected plasma Could he have ripped an exosuit in half with his bare hands Who was this
Hang on we need to move The average man said grimly
Gotcha But I was being serious We should stop at an atm before we leave
Hmm
The average man put his arm around womanÆs weight and seemed to shimmer for a moment The suffocation in ThaddeusÆ chest grew more powerful The air seemed to be thickening starting with that man Then he simply jumped
The concrete couldnÆt withstand the force of his ascent and cracked Still the man shot upwards the woman yelping as she was dragged along
Thaddeus looked up He couldn’t breathe The strange impossibly powerful man was going to pass only feet away from the spot where Thaddeus was hiding
Hiding Thaddeus stopped at the thought When did he hide
But still as the sonic boom of the manÆs passage smashed the air Thaddeus took a step backward deeper into the shadows Whoever this was there was no need to confront him here In fact it was better to remain anonymous With his identity concealed Thaddeus could gather information and later
The blur of bodies passed ThaddeusÆ position At that moment Thaddeus looked up
That strange shimmering had continued until the average manÆs body was almost completely hidden from his view There seemed to be ripples in the air that masked him But there were two features of the man he could see
The first was the eyes They were baleful and a deep emerald The seemed to burn in ThaddeusÆ vision
The second feature was a finger Illuminated only by the ominous light from the manÆs eyes the finger was held aloft and meant for Thaddeus It was pressed to the manÆs lips
Take this secret to your grave
Then the man was gone carrying the woman Thaddeus felt the impact as the man kicked off the building above launching himself up and away Sitting back Thaddeus began panting He knew this emotion
It was suffocating fear
Four seconds later the lights flickered back on
Chapter 565
Tatiana stumbled when they finally stopped Her heart was pounding How the hell were they moving so fucking fast At one point Tatiana had felt the air solidify around them as though as though they were about to break the sound barrier They had slowed immediately afterward but Tatiana had a strange impression that it wasnÆt because Viking couldnÆt go that fast but rather he didnÆt think that she could handle it