Chapter 326: Mission 1 [1]
"It’s a D Rank Trial". Leon concluded.
He continued. "Unless the person attempting the Trial is his favorite son, that’s if he even loves his children, then this is definitely a D Rank Trial attempt".
By the time he said it, with the look on the Lt. Colonel’s face, it was clear that he already arrived at the same conclusion.
Leon looked at the time.
[04:18pm]
Then he looked at the veteran mercenary. "What do you think?"
"What is it going to be? Should we go in or call for backup?"
The Lt. Colonel immediately looked at Leon with a look that suggested if he was senile, he snorted. "What do you mean?"
Leon shrugged. "I don’t know about you but from my own personal experience of dealing with the terrorists of the Extremist Movement, I’ve developed the mentality of assuming the worst when facing them".
"I once faced them with a crew of extremely strong E Rank Ascended in a mission that I believed had a 100% chance of success, yet we ended up losing more than half of the crew in mere minutes".
Umar calmly stared at the Mechanist. "What are you trying to say?"
"What I’m trying to say is that we should assume the worst". He looked at the footage being broadcasted by the Zerphyr-7 again, focusing on the 2nd level of the underground hideout.
"Let’s assume that Dhruv Laden already knows that we are watching him," he looked at the Lt. Colonel again. "Let’s assume that what my aircraft is currently seeing is just another decoy hiding the main objective".
"Afterall, if he can create a first decoy, what’s preventing him from creating a second one?" Leon’s black eyes gleamed as he looked at the Lt. Colonel. "Let’s assume that this is an ambush prepared specifically for us".
Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq finally understood where he was driving at as he leaned back on the chair. "And because of this, you want to call back up?"
"I’m just saying".
"No". He said immediately. "From the very beginning, Garfield should have made it very clear to you that I don’t work in groups".
"I work alone and if I walk into an ambush, I’m more than powerful enough to escape every single time". His brown eyes gleamed. "I’ve lived over a hundred years boy, and I’m still kicking".
He smiled, then he taunted. "Are you scared?"
"Me? Of course not," Leon chuckled. "I’m just trying to sensitize you to accept such progression as a possibility".
"And that’s why we need to know each other properly. Afterall, when inside there, we’re going to be trusting our backs with each other".
The Lt. Colonel finally frowned. "What are you driving at?"
"Chill, calm down man," Leon smiled. "It’s nothing serious, I’m just saying that if we’re going to trust each other with our backs in there to respond and improvise to any sudden change, then we need to know each other properly".
The Lt. Colonel’s eyes constricted slightly, then he said. "My name is Umar Farouq, and I’m a D Rank Gene Augur of the Bioforger Specialization".
Leon smiled. "Not just that, give me details about your abilities".
"..."
"..."
"....."
For more than 2 minutes, silence reigned inside the stealth aircraft as the Lt. Colonel quietly looked at the Mechanist.
Leon blinked. "What?"
Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq cursed. "I’m beginning to regret accepting your offer. You scheming bastard, this was your plan all along right?!" He snarled.
Leon chuckled. "Come on, don’t accuse me like that. We’re allies".
The Lt. Colonel snorted. "Tell me your own abilities first".
"I asked first".
He glared at him. "Tell me first!"
Leon shrugged. "You should know the F and E Rank abilities of Mechanists already. As a D Rank Mechanist, my Class Specialization is the Warmachine Specialist and my D Rank abilities are Command Link Network, Blueprint Conversion, and Warforge".
He quickly did a short summary of all 3 abilities.
"Now, tell me yours". He finally said.
Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq stared at the Mechanist incredulously. "That’s all?"
"What do you mean?"
"Are those all of your abilities?"
Leon snorted. "Are you looking down on me? If you doubt my combat prowess, we can always postpone this mission and have a duel first to see who’s stronger between the both of us".
"By the way, I have D Rank Blueprints too. Explaining them will take too much time though".
Umar’s lips twitched.
Leon looked at him. "Don’t overthink it too much, this is like our Trial mission. If this works out, we may likely work together in 2 more high profile missions, you really think we can achieve all our goals without knowing each other’s abilities?"
The Lt. Colonel took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Bastard!" He cursed softly; Leon didn’t know if he was cursing at him or Colonel Garfield.
And finally, Umar explained. "You should know the F and E Rank abilities of Gene Augurs already. As for my Class Specialization as a D Rank Gene Augur, it’s the Bioforger Specialization".
"My D Rank abilities are Organic Weaponry, Bio-bot Creation, and Blood Manipulation".
Leon’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.
Umar explained further. "With Organic Weaponry, I can generate weapons directly from my own body into offensive and defensive tools. This is the ability that I used when I threw my finger at you in the beginning".
"I can grow blades from my forearms, I can turn my flesh into explosives, I can generate spikes anywhere around my body, I can create whips from my tendons, and even harden my bones into armor. The only limitation is ADE and imagination, and I have tons of both".
"With Bio-bot creation, I can create different unique types of biodroids that are part robot and part organism with advantages from both sides".
"They can act as my surveillance and can self-assemble, self-heal, and can easily disguise as regular wildlife".
"I can also mix them with a bit of Organic Weaponry to turn them into offensive or defensive biodroids".
"With Blood Manipulation, I can control my own blood at a molecular level".
"This is the main ability of Bioforgers," he looked at Leon, then he exhaled. "I can harden my blood into different weapons, or I can decide to merge this with Organic Weaponry to create an even more powerful weapon or armor".
Looking at Leon, his brown eyes gleamed as he hesitated slightly, then he said. "I can create a Blood Marionette by controlling the blood inside a target’s body to move them like a puppet".
Leon froze as he felt a chill run down his spine.
Umar didn’t react to the look on his face as looking ahead, he continued. "I can partially heal others by causing artificial blood clotting to halt bleeding".
"I can also cause artificial adrenaline surge in myself by increasing my blood flow to speed up reactions, increase my body temperature, or to stop another person’s heart completely".
Leon looked at the Gene Augur warily. ’Damn!’
Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq looked forward calmly. "Lastly, if you ingest my blood, I can turn it into poison inside you".
"I can either turn it into a paralysis neurotoxic poison, a corrosive poison, a cytotoxin, or a parasitic poison".
He looked at Leon again. "If my body is destroyed, with my parasitic blood laying dormant inside a target that I already marked, I can revive. Though weaker, I can recover my powers easily in weeks or lesser".
"So?" He exhaled. "Are you satisfied now?"
Leon looked the Lt. Colonel in the eye, then he sighed. "Damn!"
...
[Please check Author’s Notes.]