The gunshots caused more chaos in the crowd. If they were in a frenzy before, now they had become even more chaotic, pulling, pushing, injuring, and climbing over others just to get to safety.
Seeing that his target had dropped to the ground, the man who shot Tomas turned around and continued to join the rest of his comrades with the scientists.
He had only moved a few feet when he felt a vice grip on his shoulder, stopping him in place.
Before he could turn to see who it was, his shoulder was crushed. "You stupid fool, that hurt like hell," Tomas uttered with annoyance.
Looking at the hand that had crushed his shoulder, the man saw a fist covered in something like black metal. However, not every part of this fist was covered in the black metallic substance.
Ignoring the pain coming from his shoulder, the gunman ducked and quickly turned around. He then pointed his gun at Tomas once again.
Bang!
Once again, the man shot at him, this time, more than twice. He thought that he might have missed the last. However, he soon realized why Tomas was still standing.
The black metallic substance, quickly moved before he could pull the trigger, and covered the area on Tomas's body that the gun was pointed at. As though it was hitting refined titanium, the bullets couldn't do anything to harm Tomas.
"Go to sleep!" Tomas grunted as he coated his hands with the black metallic substance and slapped the face of the gunman, breaking his jaw and knocking him out.
He stopped himself from killing the man because he didn't know if he was truly as Narvel said, an assassin.
Tomas rubbed the spots the bullets had hit. "Damn, it hurts like hell,' he muttered as he quickly got on his toes again and continued chasing after the other guards and the scientists.
…
On the other hand, Nyla had just finished dismantling the Idra Conduit. It wasn't so difficult for her to do as there were other people there to direct her, however, they were interrupted before they could leave the basement.
Boom!
The secured doors fell off the wall with chunks of the wall with them. The shockwave flung everyone in its path off their feet.
Before the dust could settle, men armed with rifles charged in and began letting loose.
Nyla quickly rolled out of the way and hid behind a wall. She closed her eyes and took in deep breaths. "Control… surge… apply." She chanted this mantra and quickly her the rate at which her heart was beating slowed.
The moment Nyla opened her eyes, sheens of bronze lights burst forth from her gaze.
At the same time, the magazines of the rifles in the armed men's hands started to turn into bronze threads that quickly flowed to where Nyla was hiding, the process was so fast and smooth that they hadn't even noticed what had happened.
Click! Click!
They continued to pull on the trigger. Like a bronze light show, Nyla stepped out from her hiding spot. Immediately she charged at the closest armed man.
With a wave of her hand, the bronze threads flowing around her weaved together and turned into a whip. The whip then wrapped around the gun, and then the gunman's hands before twisting and crushing them together.
"Argh!!" They screamed out in agony.
His hands were currently a mix of metal shards, bones, and blood.
As he raised his head to look at who it was that attacked him, it registered in his head that the others who came in here with him were also crying out in pain. One way or another, they all shared a similar injury.
Their limbs are crushed with their weapons.
In a few seconds, Nyla was done with all of them. She then used the whip to tie all of them together before using her monocle to scan their faces.
They were all wanted criminals. Dead.
Without wasting any time, her whip drilled into the heads of the armed men, putting them out of their misery.
As soon as they were dead, the sheen of light in her eyes vanished, taking the bronze threads with them.
Immediately, Nyla gasped deeply for air, holding her stomach. It was as though she had been deprived of breathing the moment she used her powers.
"I just got attacked by a lot of wanted criminals…" She paused and looked around the room. The other technicians and maintenance teams were hit. Most of them were already dead and some were bleeding their way there. "Everyone here but me is hit." She added.
"Welcome to the club," Tomas said. It could be heard through the comms that he was running, chasing after the people Narvel asked him not to let go of.
…
Over on the top floor, a few hallways away from where the explosion came from, Narvel was also busy.
Dawned in a full Kestrel Exoshell II kit—a suit that looked almost too thin to be real armor. It clung to him like fabric. But beneath its appearance were materials with strength and durability beyond that of titanium.
The material weaved, flexed, and hardened at will, flowing seamlessly with his movements. Around his head, a partial crown of the same alloy framed his skull, curved plates along his temples, jaws, and the back of his head.
It left his face exposed, but every vital point around his skull was covered, each piece shifting subtly.
Dodging a bionic arm with nothing more than a tilt of his head, Narvel planted his foot into his attacker's chest. As though gravity had a meeting with the man, he hit the ground with a wet crunch as his hips snapped like glass.
Before he could cry out in pain, a blue light flashed with a hushed but at the same time, piercing sound.
A streak of blue light seared across the air, courtesy of Narvel's Velocitronic pistol. It barked once, melting through the man's torso and burning a hole in the floor.
Narvel had shot him.
He didn't think twice, nor thought of the man any longer as he pivoted and aimed his gun at another person.
Pulling the trigger, another streak of blue energy shot out of the mouth of the gun. It penetrated the man, and then a few others behind him before it blitzed out of existence.
A sudden whistle cut through the air.
As though he had eyes behind his head, Narvel bent his knees and dodged a velocitronic blade. The weapon left a trail of blue light in the air itself.
Aiming up, a blue streak tore through a woman's neck and burst out the other side of her head. With quick movements, Narvel caught the blade midair and charged towards the next person, using the velocitronic blade to cut through the person's torso.
About a minute went by before Narvel could catch his breath. He tapped his ear and turned his comms on.
"These guys are throwing their lives unnecessarily. For people who have been in hiding from the authorities, this is quite the life-changing decision." His voice travelled to the ears of his teammates.
"You fucking bastard! Where are you!?" Armand bellowed.
He sounded very pissed.
However, at the same time, through his comms, Narvel could hear that he was also in the midst of a battle.
"I caught onto something and attempted to investigate it. Things went out of hand."
"No shit!" Armand replied.
"Someone has put out a bounty on government officials and Federation officers… there's a price tag on almost everyone's head here. That's why these guys are killing wantonly." Narvel explained.
"Where are you? I'll come meet you." Nyla asked. Back in the basement, she had packaged the dismantled Idra Conduit and was already making her way out.
"Stay in your position," Armand ordered.
"No," Nyla said immediately.
As though he was stunned by her outright refusal to listen to his orders, Armand was speechless for a few seconds. "I hate this job!" He bellowed and a few cries were heard through his comms.
It was as though he was taking his anger out on the people around him.
"Top floor, western region. There are a lot of bodies here. If you're not used to such then I suggest you don't come here—"
"Shut up. On my way." Nyla interrupted through the comms.
Nyla wasn't asking for his position just so she could help him, rather because she could tell that Narvel had seen and figured out more things and she didn't want to be kept in the dark. If she had to force answers out of him, she wouldn't mind doing that."
…
"I'm stuck in a room with some foolish dignitaries from Zolock, should I continue to remain here or leave?" Sera asked through the comms, not caring to hide her words.
There were 7 others in the room with her. 3 of them were the guards brought by the dignitaries.
They all looked at her like she was crazy before it struck the guards that she was speaking to someone else. Immediately they pulled out their guns, velocitronic pistols. However, before they could use it, chains that seemed to be connected to the void appeared and seized the weapons from the guards.
"Stay still. I'm not your enemy here. I work for the government."
As though her voice fell on deaf ears, the three of them charged at her.
Egomaniacs?
One of the guards clapped his hands, producing sound waves strong enough to cause cracks in the walls of the room.
At the same time, a chain appeared behind Sera.
Chink!
A link broke off and dissolved into nothingness.
Sera clapped her hands too, creating a sound wave almost similar in power to the one coming for her.
Both attacks collided and cancelled each other, but not without causing more damage to the room.