Capítulo 105: SOLUTION
(Meanwhile)
Smoke grenades thrown by Xu Qing cleared, revealing the Team Zero operators.
Sean, Nanami and Frederica moved in front of Xiao Tian and Louis, protecting them from the hostiles.
Nanami, Sean and Frederica fired their rifles, prompting the humanoid beings to converge together, shielding Constantine from them.
The 10 humanoid beings reorganised themselves, with 3 of them dissipating their bodies into swarms of black substances, charging at the Team Zero operators.
The 5 of them quickly launched grappling hooks which locked onto the ceilings, pulling them away. The swarms sped past them.
Suddenly, one of the swarms reformed into what can only be described as a black gunpowder cannon made of flesh. Its "barrel" opened up right behind Nanami, firing a green liquid onto her. The green liquid latched itself onto her Exo-suit, and it rapidly started to corrode the titanium alloys and polymers used to construct the armour, eating through it piece by piece.
"What is this thing?!" exclaimed Nanami in horror. She activated the Exo-suit's cleaning mechanism, and a foam is emitted from the Exo-suit. The foam is a rapid cleaning solution, designed to be able to wash off all contaminants on an Exo-suit. It is one of its CRBN protective measures.
The foam hit the expanding green liquid, and it managed to wash it off, though not for long, as it soon restarted the corrosion, eating through the foam as well.
"Damn it!" cursed Nanami. To prevent damage to her body, she pulled the emergency detach chord, letting the Exo-suit fall onto the ground, while keeping herself in the air with a summoned tentacle.
The corroding Exo suit is soon dissolved into bits and pieces, leaving a mangled wreck of scattered plastics and metals on the floor.
"It's a biological solvent," analysed Xiao Tian. "This self-adapting nature... The Aesclepius phage? No, its more than a phage now, rather like some form of bacteria."
Sean turned, seeing the humanoid beings charging back at them.
He coated himself with a thick layer of ice, detached his grappling hook, dropping into the onslaught below. Frederica did the same, following after him.
Sean sliced at one with a plasma blade, the limb promptly fell off, only to melt into a kind of goo and reattach itself into its body, and the arm promptly regenerated.
Just then, an arm swatted Xiao Tian off the ceiling onto the floor, also shattering his left Exo-suit gauntlet, sending its contents onto the floor.
A familiar purple canister dropped into the path of Sean's plasma energy slice, splitting into 2 by the slice, opening it up.
Sean recognised it to be the strange projectile Xiao Tian fired at Lena in London, which acted as an enhanced dampener of sorts. He immediately checked that his Exo-suit's CBRN shielding is active while yelling for Nanami to wear a gas mask.
Alarmed, Xiao Tian slapped the gas mask onto Nanami's face rudely.
Frederica jumped back to Sean, the 2 now standing back to back.
"What is that?" asked Frederica.
"A sort of advanced dampener," replied Sean. "That was how Xiao Tian and I won in London."
"Are we affected?" she asked, checking her connection to Cosmic Energy, finding it still intact.
"No, but don't breathe in the air around directly for the next half an hour," replied Xiao Tian, lowering himself, Louis and Nanami down.
Just then, another humanoid being attacked, Xiao Tian promptly raised his rifle and fired, blasting the creature.
The bullets tore through the creature's body. To everyone's shock, it did not heal itself. The creature is too bewildered, looking at the holes in its arms. It tried its best to call to the cells in its body to converge and regenerate the lost tissues, but it is useless, and the wound remained there, a blood like substance dripping off.
Sean looked down at the splats of flesh on the floor. To his shock, its rapidly decomposing, no longer returning back to the body of the humanoid being.
"I get it now," analysed Xiao Tian, smiling. "Remember that clone of Freyja? What was the flaw with its healing factor?"
"It turned into a cancer," replied Sean.
"This thing does not have this issue, you noticed how it recycles its tissues?" asked Xiao Tian.
At his reminder, everyone realised this detail. "My deduction is that this is how its healing factor work. Rather than growing out new parts, it instead absorbs back broken parts, similar to the natural electromagnet of the other humanoid weapon Liu Zhong encountered," analysed Xiao Tian. "And the conduit to this ability is Cosmic Energy, which is now severed for them by the dampener Sean sliced open."
"But can't they immediately adapt themselves to the dampener?" asked Sean.
Xiao Tian awkwardly scratched his head. "About that..."
He revealed something which absolutely stunned all Sellardraxians present.
That dampener works by literally corrupting Cosmic Energy intake. How it works is that once the gas is breathed in by a creature with connection to Cosmic Energy, it will corrupt the Cosmic Energy inside its body. This subsequently corrupts all Cosmic Energy intake from the external environment, which severs all connection to this fundamental universal force.
"And thus, as the effect is not biological, they cannot evolve out of this as long as they still need Cosmic Energy," finished Xiao Tian.
"Should I be concerned that there is such a dangerous weapon against our kind in your hands?" asked Nanami, concerned.
"Well I don't know how it works either. Dr Allen has a small stockpile, in fact I only have 2 on me at any time, and 1 on Jay," replied Xiao Tian.
"Then let's make that last 2 count," replied Sean.
Xiao Tian grinned, launching the last one into the crowd of humanoid beings, exploding upon contact.
"Grab arms comrades!" yelled Nanami. They raised their rifles, letting loose, aiming for their heads, the surefire way to kill them now that they have duplicated the physique of Squad Artemis members.
Louis emptied his rifle grenades, which smart detonated at their head levels.
Very soon, all that there is left is a pile of bodies on the floor, all dead.
"So it was that easy..." muttered Nanami, reloading her FN 5.7 pistol. "Things really work out well when you have full intel."
(60th floor)
"F***!" roared Sir Howard in rage. "WHICH MORON LEFT THIS FLAW IN THEM?!!!" he let loose his fury on the scientists around him, scolding and punching them.
Duchess Livia laughed, standing up with Kronos and "Spectre" she walked past the bandaged bodies of Aurelia and Camila next to her.
"A used trump card is useless," she said, leaving to the door. "Consider this a favour."
In a flash they teleported away.
(94th floor)
"And now, him," said Sean, turning to Constantine.
Constantine sneered. He is unaffected by the canister, thanks to the Exo-suit he is wearing.
"So is he the real one or another backup body he controls?" muttered Louis, eyeing this Constantine carefully.
"That does not matter," replied Sean. "You know I think you are real stupid."
Constantine frowned.
"Don't you realise something is not right?"
Constantine eyed the Team Zero operators in front of him. Realisation set in like a hammer to the head once it dawned upon him what is wrong.
"There is 4 of you missing, where are they?" he demanded, raising his M4A1 alertly.
"RIGHT HERE FOOL!" yelled James as he, Santos, Jay and Xu Qing jumped from the 95th floor.
Constantine raised the rifle which James promptly kicked away, Santos and Xu Qing then pinned him down, forcefully yanking off his helmet, while Jay fired the projectile.
Constantine sneered, pushing Santos off him while freezing the canister, which landed onto the floor, still intact.
He roared, throwing James and Xu Qing off with a huge blast of Cosmic Energy. That blast also toppled a huge metal shelf, which blocked Xiao Tian, Louis, Sean, Frederica and Nanami from them.
"Bloody hell," cursed Sean as he ignited a plasma blade, trying to cut through the shelf and get to their comrades on the other side.
The plasma blade barely charred the shelf.
"It's too thick," he said.
Nanami then started wiring a C4 charge, intending to blast their way in. She radioed their comrades of their intentions, asking them to stay away from the shelf and hold on.
Jay opened fire. Constantine deflected the bullets away by forming an ice shield.
Santos stood up, firing his HK-416.
Constantine immediately blocked the blow with another round of ice attacks.
He then levitated a huge chunk of debris, throwing it at Jay and Santos, knocking them down and burying them. It also caused them to drop their guns. He then reached for Santos' HK-416, emptying at James.
"AHH!" James screamed as the bullets eat into his limbs which are only protected against pistol rounds, falling onto the floor, bleeding.
"MAN DOWN!!" yelled Santos.
"Hurry!" exclaimed Sean.
"I am trying!" replied Nanami.
Constantine threw the empty rifle aside. Seizing the chance, Xu Qing charged at Constantine, only to get swatted away like a fly by Constantine who raised another giant debris which he used like a telekinetic baseball bat. His Exo Suit falling apart from the impact.
"Pathetic humans," sneered Constantine.
Xu Qing got up slowly, coughing up blood.
"Had you to look," he chuckled, holding up the canister in his right hand.
"Sh*t..." muttered Constantine in shock, realising that he had accidentally hit Xu Qing in the direction of the canister.
Xu Qing jumped onto the floor, smashing the canister before Constantine can react.
It shattered. Constantine instantly felt his connection to Cosmic Energy severed.
"DAMN YOU!!" he cursed, knowing that he cannot jump bodies now. Nonetheless, he remained confident in being able to finish the 4 of them off before he retreat. After all, they are all heavily injured while he is largely unhurt.
Just then, a grenade rolled under his feet.
Alarmed, he moved out of the way, only for 2 hands to reach out and pull him by the legs, falling onto the ground, right onto the grenade.
It was Santos and Jay, both of their legs fractured by the debris impact, rendered immobile.
"GET OFF!" he yelled, kicking them in the face. Jay and Santos grunted, using all of their might to hold Constantine down.
Xu Qing then staggered over, falling onto Constantine's back and pinned him down with all of his strength.
"ARE YOU NUTS?!" yelled Constantine in both fear and rage. "YOU WILL KILL YOURSELVES TOO!"
"Worth it in exchange," said Jay defiantly. He knows that all 4 of them are in the blast radius, but its a bet that he and his comrades are willing to take.
The grenade exploded. Constantine and Xu Qing are blown into the air and fell down.
Constantine's eyes remained open, his chest has a hole blown open, shrapnel shredding his lungs and heart to bits
Xu Qing rolled down, coughing up more blood thanks to the shock wave. James has stood up, administering adrenaline to himself to ease the pain while limping over to help Xu Qing. Both Jay and Santos are knocked out from the blast, their faces and arms cut by shrapnel.
Xiao Tian and the rest finally got through, hurrying over to their wounded comrades.
"PHINEAS!!" yelled Sean at Phineas and Ariel who have rejoined them.
Phineas checked Xu Qing while Sean and Frederica pulled the unconscious Jay and Santos out. Louis and Ariel tended to James.
"Not good," said Phineas, checking Xu Qing. "We need to evacuate him out, otherwise he will not make it. That applies too for Jay and Santos, though they have a much higher chance of survival."
(50th floor)
"Understood," replied Charlotte. She radioed for the Bethorian gunship that had returned after reloading and refuelling.
A smaller drone detached from its base, flying towards the 94th floor.
The Archangel AA systems picked it up, firing. The drone launched a decoy which copied its own radar signature. The decoy is promptly destroyed by a missile while the real drone slipped past, hovering outside the floor. Nanami and Ariel had already sliced a huge opening in the glass using an automated laser cutting robot.
James pushed his comrades on hovering stretchers that have combined into one, walking to the drone while being helped by Phineas and Sean.
The drone launched attached a ramp. James and Phineas pushed the stretchers in, and Sean then helped James in.
"Take care," said Sean.
The remaining Team Zero operators saluted James, who saluted them back.
The drone then detached, flying down into the Libyan army blockade below, letting the Libyan army rush them to the hospital.
Charlotte noticed this, and frowned.
"Why was it not intercepted by Archangel?" she thought.
In the control room, the Pegasus contractors are all sprawled on the floor or on the tables, all having been shot and killed from the back. The AA controls are peppered with bullets.
Sir Campbell reloaded his SIG MPX submachine gun. He responded to a Telegram message.
"Clear."
"Merci Beaucoup," replied the other person, whose icon is the same as the one who had contacted the Becketts previously.
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