Chapter 28

The Lord of Vermilion’s Test 11

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“Surrender now, release the hostage and we’ll promise that you’ll be treated with respect” said Sheriff

“Sadly, I cant do that. I didn’t go through all this trouble just to land in jail.” Replied Theo while desperately trying to keep his knees from shaking

Was he scared?

No.

‘Scared’ was too weak of a word to described what he felt right now.

Terrified would be proper.

Theo was confident that he could escape a Rank B Superhero in a one on one fight.

One flashy firestorm or gently throw a hostage off the roof and viola!

Instant distraction!

The worst he could get was a few broken bones, a couple of internal organs turned into soup and maybe a month or so in a coma.

All of which could be solved by a dose of liquefied Omni Gel

The problem with facing against 3 people was that he had to take out at least 2 before he can escape.

If he didn’t, one would chase after him while the other one would deal with whatever distraction he comes up with.

And besides, fighting against 3 superheroes was nothing compared to the 20 on 1 fights he had in the past.

The superheroes were trained to fight in scenarios with great disadvantage.

Even 100 thugs of Hell Hole district wouldn’t stand a chance against any one of the 3.

As for Theo, he actually stood a slim chance of getting away without killing them because he already knew how they fought.

He also knew for a fact that these 3 didn’t belong to the same team.

At the very least, they’ll end up stepping on each other’s feet at some point.

He needed to abuse this.

Most importantly, only Asura was sort-of bullet proof.

Sheriff and Vulture had no powers but were highly skilled in their craft.

For now, Theo forced his fear down and began using Miss Samantha’s training.

“I knew for a fact that FNN has paid off a hero, but to think all 3 of you are in their payroll… that’s kind of surprising.” said Theo.

“Ha?! Don’t be stupid! We reacted to a crime, that’s all!” said Asura in a typical punkish manner.

Vulture kept silent but it seemed that she agreed with Asura’s sentiments.

“Oh… I see. Then it’s Sheriff that’s been receiving some cash. He was probably the first one to respond to the distress call, yes?” said Theo

“Ha! Don’t be stupid! We are heroes! We don’t need money to save the world!” replied Sheriff with conviction.

“Oh no no no. I understand. I don’t blame you for making money on the side. While you don’t need money to save the world, the medical bills, bullets and food aren’t free.” Said Theo

FYI: Theo was absolute 100% unsure if he was right.

Never the less, the intended effect was achieved.

Ever so slightly, Vulture and Asura took a questioning glance at Sheriff.

It may not be much, but doubt was successfully planted into their teenage hearts.

Before Theo could start his well thought of script in order for the 3 to attack him, one of the mercs does something stupid.

The merc threw his guns on the ground, put his hands up and ran towards the superheroes.

“I surrender! Please help me! If we don’t fight, Boss will kill-” said the merc before Theo blew his head off.

This shocked the 3 heroes.

“You sick bastard! You would actually kill your own ally?!” roared Vulture in a surprisingly cute voice.

“It’s unfortunately part of the job. They knew exactly what would happen to those who surrendered way before they signed up. They knew the risks” replied Theo in a calm manner.

At the same time, he activated his ultra secret super technique to prepare himself for the battle that was about to happen.

A head splitting migraine began to envelope his head as Theo forcefully overclocked his brain.

“He was unarmed! There was no reason for him to die!”

Seriously, Vulture’s name ran contrary to her petite build and cute voice.

No wonder she doesn’t talk.

And oddly enough, the more Theo listened to her, the more he felt that he has heard her voice before.

“The life of scum like us are forfeit the moment we killed someone. He doesn’t matter to the greater scheme of things. Worthless people like him and you 3 are-”

Theo immediately ducked as Asura’s lightning enchanted fist went through where his head was a millisecond ago.

Theo instantly countered by firing his AK47 point blank twice into Asura’s chest, a left punch to the kidneys, then firing his arm mounted gum drone gun into said kidneys before emptying the entire magazine into Asuras chest while Theo retreated.

Naturally, none of the bullets pierced Asura thanks to the mysterious power of Chi. It still was able hurt him. Thank god.

This was the result of Theo’s ultra secret super technique.

By overclocking his own brain, Theo was able to process much more information and react much faster than what’s possible.

Forcefully overclocking ones brain was normally impossible.

However, this was doable to people with superpowers that relied heavily on the brain.

It doesn’t come naturally and it does take a fair bit of practice.

But it was most certainly not impossible to achieve.

Personally, Theo preferred not to use it at all.

While it was considerably less exhausting as performing Midas Alchemy in mid combat, the infuriatingly painful headache was quite a demerit on its own.

However, thanks to that, Theo was able to analyze all the video feeds from different spy cams, the gum drone and even the cameras on his power armor and react at blinding speed.

As Theo retreated, he used the AK47 to block 4 shurikens from Vulture.

Annoyingly, the shurikens embedded in the areas which caused the AK47 to jam.

Theo threw it away and drew one of his Glock 17 and fired at Vulture.

Naturally, Vulture dodged all of it.

Theo dodged to the side as Sheriff fired while dual wielding 2 silver Colt Peacemakers.

Sheriff has fine taste in guns. That’s for sure.

Before Theo could stabilize himself, he quickly performed a desperate dodgeroll in order to evade the bullets that ricocheted from the many metal objects that littered FNN’s roof top.

Unlike Theo, Sheriff was a true master of trick shots.

Landing accurate shots using ricochets without the help of technology was beyond impressive.

Theo ran off the helipad and used the many rooftop air-conditioning units as cover.

Even then, Theo was not safe at all.

Theo jumped away from the air-conditioning unit he used as cover.

Not a second later, Asura’s heavy dropkick turned it into scrap metal.

Theo shot at Asura then dodged like a break dancer as shurikens and bullets form impossible angles hounded him at every step.

Before Theo could stabilize himself, Asura was already on him.

Asura unloaded a barrage fists.

Theo desperately bobbed and weaved like a professional boxer.

Every time he dodged, he fired a single shot into Asura.

Eventually, the accumulated damage caused Asura to stumble.

Theo quickly capitalized by using the flamethrower on his left hand to unleash a firestorm at Asura.

This served as both a firewall and a smokescreen that allowed Theo to get a much needed breathing room.

He dove for a nearby cover and quickly thought of what to do next.

All in all, Theo’s thoughts could be summed up in 3 words.

“THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!”

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