Alarm… (5)

Jin landed on the polished floor stopping to admire the scenery. The blinking lights and the glass-like high-tech machinery. Almost like a scale model city at night if all the buildings were the same height and the city was surrounded by dark river canals.

He was almost ashamed to set the charges. After he finished he closed the door and made his way to the building over near it. It powered the entire facility, destroying it would also be a good idea though it would probably be a good idea to do it far away. He honestly, had no reason to destroy it other than to delay Osborn as much as possible. If he was going to commit to curing Doctor Conner, he would need time.

He closed the door to the building and ran down the path that winded around the back of the building. He noticed how fast he was moving and the fact even though there was barely any light here see perfectly fine. He could smell and hear the forest rustling to his left with the scent of pine.

He could get used to this. He smelled something akin to excrement, and wondered if he had spoken too soon.

There was a storage area for shipments and made his way inside. There were some 18-wheeler trucks parked side by side. Jin hoped there were keys, he quickly broke the truck’s window and opened the door. After some searching he found what he was looking for. If he was going to bring the lizard, he would need to secure transportation. He highly doubted he could carry the 400-pound lizard on his back without something giving way. Or Lest he wake him and find him a good midnight snack.

He made his way back outside, he noted the navy coloured sky and wondered why this place hadn’t had so many guards and why the ones he did see were asleep.

There was one person that was most likely to have done it. He attributed it to the Veteran, but seeing how that would mean that they had hacked into the system in as soon as they arrived and knocked out everybody in the area it made him wonder exactly what someone could buy with their points.

They did say one could buy powers at the lobby considering how the fact the lizard was real he wasn’t sure about the exact limits of what could be done.

He made his way back and with the use of enhanced senses managed to quiet his footsteps a great deal more. He also ripped off part of his shirt and tapped it to the soles of his shoes. He was a bit disappointed in himself for thinking of this earlier.

He ghosted through the hallways and went back to the site of where everyone had… laid down to sleep.

He strained his hearing as he stood 10 m from the entrance. For the scrap of something and then it went silent immediately after.

Had it heard him? It didn’t matter, he wasn’t second guess himself.

Jin widened his eyes without a second thought he ran towards the weapons facility strangely the rhythmic clicking of clause went further and further away Jin was confused and slowed down but his instincts told him he wasn’t out of danger and made his way back.

Once he was behind the incredibly solid door, he sighed and the tension in his shoulders relaxed. His breathing barely changed and he listened to see if the lizard was coming back.

The sound of a pin being pulled and the quiet sound of something being thrown. He did need to be a genius to know what to do next.

He wasn’t going to risk running straight into the center of the room so he ran towards the wall, and bounded off it jumping for the metal catwalk above. His hand latched onto the metal. The sound air escaping a small tunnel filled the room, along with the smoke.

He should’ve made sure to kill the Veteran. He doubted that the guy mistook him for the lizard.

Double Tap as they say, or at least make sure you verified the dead body. Now he was in a room filled with high tech weaponry with someone who knew how to use them.

This reminded him of all those games he had played against paid players. The only this could get worse was if the lizard joined in.

Jin waited a beat.

Huh.

The hissing of the gas canister filled the silence.

He pulled himself up and took a moment to survey his surroundings.

Clichés couldn’t be triggered intentionally? He could’ve used the Lizard as a distraction right now. Jin sighed and wondered why nothing could ever be easy.

Why was the old guy even after him? He wasn’t the one who had trouble switching to a vegetarian diet.

Ok sure, he tossed a grenade but it was all with the good intentions of injuring and, hopefully, maiming the guy. Maybe not the best way to make friends, but he had never been good at it anyway.

The silent hissing came from below as the smoke escaped the canister. It blocked his sight of the entire room and the hissing made it hard to focus on someone’s foot steps.

He made his way over to the weapons or where they were being kept in an open ceiling glass rooms alongside other glass walled rooms. Jin’s eyebrow twitched, did the veteran think he was stupid? He knew that he knew that he knew he had to reach the guns. They were his only hope, and also a trap. The Veteran would’ve rigged the weapons, but the use of his last two flashbangs it should be able to buy him a few seconds if it didn’t disorient the guy.

Annoyed he withdrew the pin of one the two last flash bangs he had.

He needed to make this count. He recited the numbers backwards and stopped at two throwing it down, and he covered his eyes and jumped down. It went off, but the ear plugs muffled much of it.

There was a spray of bullets. Jin felt the searing heat from one of the bullets hitting him. He gasped when he hit the ground. He kept himself from groaning in pain. The fire spread through his left side. Jin didn’t know what drugs actions heroes were on when they were hit by bullets because there was no way a normal human being kept moving from the pain of the bullet.

He couldn’t let him know he had been hurt. He had maybe another second left before this entire fight was decided. Jin was behind the counter. All he had to do was reach on top and grab one of the weapons.

That’s all he had to do.

He willed himself into an upright position, gritting his teeth through the pain. Grabbed the grenade bag pulled it to him only managing to drop it beside him as the contents inside the open bag fell out. They clattered to the ground, bounced once and rolled away from him.

Jin’s eyes widened as he noticed most of them were grenades without pins, he heard something click beside him and noticed wires attached to the pins. Judging by where the wires went, they were probably attached to the other weapons.

He would’ve admired the simplicity and ingenuity of the plan if he wasn’t about to die. It would’ve worked too if Jin wasn’t lucky and had visited this place beforehand.

With strength, he didn’t know he possessed he managed to flipped the table on to the other side letting all the guns slide to the side that was covered by the blast zone, he crawled over to the other side and grabbed one of the guns. He aimed and fired in direction of where the crafty bugger was most likely hiding.

The grenades went off with the table tanking much of the hit. The force of the explosion propelling him along with the table and all of the weapons into the air.

For an instant, he felt weightless and then smashed into something blacked out. When he came to the he felt sluggish. Almost as if he was underwater, everything dark, and blurry, he could barely feel the rest of him. He brought his green hand up to his face.

Everything seemed to be in order.

Wait, green?

His vision was still murky, so the best he could do was find some cover. His head spiked in pain.

He turned his head slowly and saw the table on its side behind him, it must’ve stopped by the doorway of this room he was in now located just across the one he was in before the explosion.