บท 63: The Library Assault (2)

I had a lot to learn from Kaiser, yet this opportunity to learn from him seemed as if it would never come. How could I learn from a bullet-ridden corpse? I wanted to sigh and put it as one more death in my life but for some reason, there was a hidden feeling of pain.

BANG!

That wasn't the sound of gunshots, it was the sound of the singular door being slammed shut. Seamus who had closed it seemed short of breath. His expression was also deeply perturbed making one wonder what exactly it was that he saw.

"Seamus…" One of the members seemed to want to ask him a question but after the sound of gunfire stopped they all knew it was their turn next and there was no time for curious questions.

"We can't stay here" The one who spoke up was Rohawk, as one of the oldest members taking part in the operation and a friend of Kaiser he seemed to intend to take the helm of things.

"The gang in the library will definitely get here" Rohawk said pointing towards the double door. While they could stay there to combat the gunmen on the second floor, they would be struck from behind if they did.

"Let them come, we control both entries" If they defended both sides they wouldn't be stuck in there. On the contrary, they could still escape through the side door and even hide in the adjacent rooms.

"Hah, you are all still too young. I'm not saying we retreat, let's make a new entrance" Rohawk pointed at one of the rooms, and everyone else instantly realized something. These rooms were connected to not just the area of the single door, but probably even other small rooms.

"H- How?!" Someone asked with a mix of disbelief and skepticism.

"Kaiser was grade 5 but we all ain't half bad either, we are busting through!" All the members that went to the surface were grade 3 at the bare minimum, how could they fear a wall?

Sure, they weren't a match for the wall by themselves since altered individuals were still barred by common sense but with over 8 of them there… the concrete walls wouldn't stand a chance!

No one asked anything else as the group rushed into one of the side offices. I was at the front, I had the highest grade after Kaiser.

This small room was an office so I hopped over a desk and ran past it to run straight into a wall. The wall thudded loudly but it did not break. That was at least until other heavy bodies landed against it and me.

Within seconds, it crackled under the pressure and I soon found myself stumbling forward. We made it to the next room. My vision was covered by cement powder, however.

"Cough, it's a new office!" Someone who came after us shouted waving away the cement powder.

My eyes were slightly irritated by the powder and the light but I was also able to recognize this was a small office.

"Keep going!" A new order from Rohawk came out as soon as I gathered my wits. I didn't like throwing my entire body against a wall but at the same time… who didn't like busting through walls?

Without any convincing, all the altered grade 3 individuals and I charged straight forward towards another wall.

"Another office!" Someone shouted.

"Again!" Not long after we started to recover from the busting Rohawk roared another decree.

Crash!

"F*ck!" The busting failed after we ran headfirst into some metal pipes. The pipes were bent and water was starting to spill out but we weren't very well off either.

My body was hurting quite sorely this time. It hadn't been even two days ago that I was shot multiple times.

"Tsk, make sure your safeties are off, we are running out now!" Rohawk had no choice but to give up on the idea of progressing further. He pointed at the two new points of exit into the enemy room and the gang members split themselves accordingly.

I felt a bit lightheaded from the impact but I got ready to leave.

Click Click Click

The other members made sure their safeties were off and they too became ready to leave.

Without needing another order, those at the front burst open the small office doors. Some members even began to immediately fire their weapons.

BANG BANG

The firing from my side was blindingly bright making me cringe significantly but I was still able to notice an oddity. Where is Kaiser?

The battered body in a pool of blood that I was expecting to find was not there. That wasn't the only thing that wasn't there, there were also no enemies.

The gunfire from the friendly gang members stopped. The whole room was silent with only the faint sound of distant gunshots entering our ears.

"Urgh! Hurry over here ya bast*rds!" Breaking the silence, we suddenly heard Kaiser's voice which was clearly in pain. Everyone ran over within moments and found the man seemed surprisingly well hidden under a desk.

"Kaiser!" Seamus shouted with a mix of surprise and concern.

That was because surprisingly well did not mean he was indeed well especially with the comparison being that he was not dead. His current state was just bleeding from many parts of his body which could mean he was still going to die.

"Lytton! Come help!" Seamus shouted. It was well known that Lytton had some medical knowledge.

"Forget that! Scamper off! Those f*ckers left not too long after riddling me full of holes!" The usually calm Kaiser screamed. It was evident that although he was grimacing, it hurt him far more to lose out on the opportunity provided by Rook.

"We can't-" Seamus was about to say something when he was interrupted by me.

"Just leave a few people and head out" The risk of bleeding out I spoke of was real, but Kaiser probably knew something that we didn't if he insisted on having us sent off. Being altered helped but unless the person was me it seemed unlikely they'd make it.

"Here" Lytton who automatically assumed the role of staying tossed Kaiser a handful of crystals. They were low-grade ones but Kaiser took them all the same.

"Rohawk, take care of them" Kaiser said delegating his role to him. The latter nodded.

"All of you let's go!" Rohawk said to the low-level thugs. They numbered… less than 30… It seemed the spy had escaped in the chaos. Even now shooting was still taking place so no one could have heard them leave.

Seamus was a bit pained to follow after them but he ended up leaving in the end. The only ones left in the end were me, Lytton, and Kaiser. This did not fit my definition of leaving a few people behind.

Lytton was diligently treating his injuries and I supposed Rohawk saw it enough to leave me to protect Kaiser. But I actually didn't have any intention to protect the latter. I was just curious about something.

"How did you survive?" I asked. It made no sense for him to still be breathing. No matter how many times more powerful he was than a peak athlete surviving that was a beyond human feat.

Kaiser didn't say much. He struggled to grab something out of his pocket. He then unfurled his hand and tossed out a syringe. My eyes instantly widened.

"This…" It was familiar to me. The size was much smaller but I could tell what it was right away.

"Cough, it's the MGE-4" Kaiser said with a small grunt. Lytton was trying to remove the bullets from his body on the spot.

"A familiar name convention…" I muttered. The only odd point was why this thing still existed. They could have had some leftover stock but I felt this was different. These things had to still be in production.

"Wait… Rook handed this over to you, right?" I didn't know why Kaiser was suddenly so willing to tell me things as opposed to charging me, perhaps being filled with holes and facing imminent death might make one more honest. Regardless, I was going to take advantage of it.

"Argh, yeah…" He said simply. It made me question if he knew the implications of the answer he had just given.

What I did know was that Rook was most certainly scheming something. If he had handed these missions to all the other gangs as well… It was very likely that they had also received one of these things.

"That must be the commotion…" If someone mutated through it and became fearsome they'd become quite troublesome.

"Kaiser, I'll have to leave you here" I told him. Lytton didn't even flinch or say anything to me.

"Hehehe, you cheeky brat. Are you trying to get away from paying your debt to me?" Kaiser's reply was unexpected but it did make me smile subtly. Certainly, if he died I wouldn't need to pay anything back.

Lytton did shoot me a glance this time as if he could read my expression so I shrugged and turned around to leave.

Rohawk and the others had headed up the stairs onto the mezzanine and continued further into the second floor. How the commotion reached up there was beyond me but I desperately needed to catch up.