Chapter 23: Burning Down the House
The human brain is a magnificent thing. Ancient parts of the brain can connect distant, fleeting memories with visual information in a fraction of a second, decide that mortal danger is imminent and instantly jump to action. Meanwhile the rest of the brain has not even learned what all the fuzz is about. Because of that, Marcus’ brain tried to understand why his back was torched and the air was too hot to breath. With his eyes closed he could hear the roaring of the Fireball dying away and opened his eyes seeing Janette staring at him with her eyebrows singed.
Marcus pushed himself up trying to say something while also trying to figure out what happened to the rest of the team. Movement on a blown out window drew his attention and a masked man with an assault rifle aimed his gun into the destroyed room, searching for a target. The lights had died in the explosion and that together with the room being all over the place bought Marcus a few seconds. BANG. A shot rung right next Marcus and the head of the attacker flung backwards. Marcus turned and Janette aimed a small pistol over the smoldering couch.
More people appeared outside of the windows and one after the other gained another hole in their heads. “PAVEL. I need a gun.” Janette shouted. Marcus looked around the room for his companions and Russo dragged himself out of the remains of his favorite chair while a fleeting shadow moved towards the windows. It turned into Pavel who dragged a corpse into the room. “How is Lars?” Russo asked joining Marcus and Janette behind the couch. “Unhappy, I had to drag him with me when I Wind Walked away. He will live.” Pavel said, delivering a compact assault rifle to Janette and a combat knife to Russo. Then he was gone again to grab a weapon for himself and Lars.
The door on the far side of the room burst open and several men charged in, guns blazing. Their dark combat uniform made them hard to see but Janette threw herself to the floor and unloaded her new toy into the attackers. Marcus had never seen her shoot an automatic rifle but “chain saw” was a fitting description. Guided by her Hawkeye sight the woman mowed down the whole group of attackers in seconds. “Yippee Ki Yay, Motherfuckers!” Janette shouted, sprinting for to the fallen to get more ammo. “Pavel, Lars try to get to your rooms and gear up, if not possible fall back to the operations building.” Russo shouted and grabbed Marcus by the arm. “We go to the armory and get some equipment there.”
They climbed out of the back windows and started running towards the other main building. Gun fire and shouting echoed through the night and half way to their target the night turned to day for a second. The front part of the barracks exploded in fire as another fireball hit its target. Marcus prayed no one was there at that moment. They made it through the front door and a group of armed men stood over a dead body. Marcus did not stop instead he charged right at them screaming at the top his lungs. It worked, the second they took to overcome the shock was all he needed and the first hit decapitated one man and threw the headless corpse against the next, toppling him over. The third raised his gun but was hit by the butt of a throwing knife which had the momentum of a grown man.
There was a cracking sound and the man collapsed. Marcus finished off the last survivor and looked at the civilian on the ground, it was the team’s pilot. They had gunned him down.
“Can you hold the entrance while I get some spare equipment?” Russo asked and brought Marcus back into the here and now. Marcus nodded and placed himself behind one of the doors, ready to jump on who ever came through the door. His heart was hammering and he tried to not look at the corpse he knew as a man for nearly a year. The shooting continued and Russo vanished into the basement. Marcus’ thoughts were with the others and it took him a second or two to realize that the shooting had stopped. No, Marcus could not hear anything at all. The door smashed against his face and he flew back against the wall. But nothing made any sound.
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He got his barrings back but a man in a black, skin tight suit stood right before him and the sound returned to Marcus’s ears. “YOU!” The word hammered into Marcus’ brain and he screamed out of pain. His ears ruptured and the world tumbled as he went to the ground. The man kicked him into the guts and Marcus felt like a car had hit him. He crashed against the wall again, unable to concentrate on Anchor. “You filthy animals. You killed my beautiful Mina. You burned her perfect face.” Marcus’ ears were torn but his head vibrated with every word. Marcus tried to get up but another kick against his head sent him flying once more.
Marcus rolled over the floor, the screeching laughter of the man let the ground vibrate and Marcus could see his blood dripping from his eyes, nose and ears. The guy was a Ravager, rank 84, he uses sound control, Marcus’ brain provided information that was not really useful at the moment. I need to get up but a punch between his shoulders send him back down. “You deserve to suffer.” another kick followed and Marcus was on his back. Marcus sight was blurry and his brain wanted to shut down but Marcus knew that would mean death and fought against the darkness with every fiber of his being. The man stepped closer and put his boot on Marcus’ throat, slowly increasing the pressure.
That was the first mistake the man had made. It was all Marcus needed. He stretched out his hand not to push back the boot, instead he aimed higher. A normal attack from this position would have been weak but Impulse Hammer did not care as long as it connected. And it did connect to something for sure. There was a screech and the man fell to the ground blood spilling between his legs. While the man was suffering Marcus slowly crawled over to him and put his hand over his mouth. Impulse Hammer shut him up forever.
Marcus crawled to the next wall and slowly got unto his feet. His head was swimming and he could not hear anything but with every step his condition got better. The healing rate of his body would solve the ear problems in a few minutes or at least hours. That was what Marcus was hoping.
Russo showed up on the stairs and also looked in bad shape. He had some basic armor over the body and a spear in hand. On his back were several more basic armor suits but his left leg was covered in blood. Russo said something but Marcus pointed at his ears and shook his head.
The armor was far too small for Marcus but it would be some help for the rest at least. Russo needed to rest in one of the empty offices. The bleeding was bad, Marcus did not know who or what had attacked him but Russo had suffered a deep cut on his stomach and leg. Marcus, already moving normally thanks to his vitality, searched the medical ward for supplies and Russo patched himself up as good as possible. But the fact was, Russo was out of the fight. Marcus grabbed the armor, some grenades and made his way back to the rest of the team, Russo stayed. He hid in his office with his spear ready to pierce any intruder.
Marcus’ ears were still dead but he followed the trail of gunned down attackers and finally found the rest of the team in a burned out room on the far end of the barracks. Janette and Pavel looked fine, besides some small cuts and bruises. Lars was in a corner, heavily breathing, his back and one leg were burned and Marcus cursed himself for not bringing a first aid kit. “He will pull through but not if we all get shot to death.” Janette still had the energy to joke and Marcus was happy to hear her voice, even if it sounded dull and far away.
Janette was holding on to her own rifle, the only thing they had recovered before the barracks went up in flame. “They are keeping their distance and surrounding us. The real problem is that Elemental Mage, if he gets a good hit on us with his Fireball we are done for.” Janette could take him out but he was hiding in the shadows and behind a wall of goons. “If I can get one good shot.” She said while aiming down her gun. “I have another bad idea.” Marcus’ said with a weak smile.
