Chapter 30: Arc 1: Chapter 28: Nightwalker

The noise in the living room soon draws attention.

"Bang"

The doors to the living room open abruptly, and the butler Jarvis rushes into the room with a shotgun at hand. He was a good soldier when he was young, but he was decommissioned due to some special reasons and ended up as Howard's butler. 

Despite being far away from the world of shooting and killing, but in times of need, Jarvis could still act like a soldier.

But as Jarvis enters the room with his shotgun, he sees no one else but his young master alone.

He puts down the gun and calms the slightly manic Tony.

Tony holds Jarvis' hand and simply repeats to himself:

"I knew it, I knew it! Jarvis, my parents' death was not an accident...someone murdered them! I get it."

He runs to the other side of the living room, picks up the phone, and dials a number; a few minutes later, the call gets through and Miss Peggy Carter's deep voice resounds in the phone:

"What is it now, Tony?"

"Aunt Peggy, I know!"

Tony gritted his teeth and continued:

"My parents were murdered, you don't need to hide this from me...tell me, who's killed them?"

"Slow down, Tony, take it slow. Tell me, from where did you know about this? Did someone tell you?"

On the other side, Miss Peggy Carter tries to calm Tony down using words and presses a button on her table.

In less than 10 minutes, dozens of choppers soar into the night sky of Manhattan. Under Nick Fury's command, the agents of the S.S.R. surround and lock down the area near the Stark Mansion.

They even utilized special detection equipment.

It was a life detector similar to a sonar, the agents could guess about Merlin's ability to turn invisible, the naked eye may not be able to catch this 'phantom'; but under the same sound wave's lock on, even if Merlin could hide in the shadows, he could not escape.

Merlin could sense the vibrating air using his senses, yet he could not avoid detection due to the limitations of his speed. He could see soldiers guarding the mouth of the Hudson River, so it was clear that someone was waiting for him, or are trying to catch him.

Merlin knows not why they came, nor did he want to guess; he just wants to leave this place, away from all the trouble.

"Shua"

A black combat knife appears in his hand, this was his trophy after his encounter with the Winter Soldier.

If he could, he wishes not to harm others; but to protect himself, he might have to...

Start a more bloody getaway.

"Lifeform detected 1370 meters from the woods around the bridge, probably the target! Get ready!"

The improved sonar detectors set under the choppers are soon to find their target; in the night sky, Nick Fury orders the agents awaiting on the choppers:

"Heads up, agents! Our target is important and dangerous!"

"From our intel, our target is believed to have invisibility and energy emission, the infrared detectors you have can detect him! Do not get too close to the target! Use rubber rounds and taser guns, our mission is to capture our target, not kill him, no lethal force!"

"Move out!"

Under Fury's command, four choppers soar through the night sky and hover above the forest. Soon, 20 fully trained agents armed with weapons, bullet-proof vests, and infrared detectors descend onto the ground below.

Their weapons were loaded with rubber bullets, these specialized bullets were meant for riot suppression and peacekeeping, they had strong kinetic energy, and wouldn't be lethal unless shot at a vulnerable position.

Some agents even had black taser guns, which was a non-lethal weapon the S.S.R often used.

These were the elite agents of the S.S.R. they could only be deployed because Merlin was connected to the deaths of the Howard couple; since Fury lacked the authority for deploying such a military strength in Manhattan without good reason.

In another way, this showed the dedication Fury had made to catch Merlin.

As the agents descend the ground, they communicated with professional hand signals and quickly moved towards Merlin's position from different directions; like a pack of wolves beginning their hunt under the leadership of their alpha.

Every agent participating in this capture mission, including Fury, did not think that Merlin could escape this intricately planned net. 

However, Fury had overlooked something.

Although he had his eyes on this supernatural being for 2 years now ever since the Chicago explosion; but what he knew about Merlin was what he had shown, such as the ability to hide in darkness and cause a massive energy explosion.

Unfortunately, these aren't the full extent of Merlin's abilities, Trigon's contract made him miserable, but it also gave him some special abilities.

Like second sight...and the dark sense second sight had!

Fury thought that beginning their encirclement a few hundred meters away was a good plan, but it wasn't!

As soon as the agents descended into the forest, Merlin, who had his senses at their limits, sensed their movement.

He half squats on the ground, his hand on the dirt, and his ears perked.

The light similar to a fire in Merlin's eyes grew slowly.

This was the first time since he left home that he raised his dark senses to their limit. And the power from the Supreme Demon Trigon did not disappoint him. 

Enshrouded by darkness, the wind, the fluorescent lights, sound, even the slight vibrations of the ground became Merlin's eyes and ears, it was as if his senses were stretched infinitely, he could feel so many things...

What he felt was overwhelming, but Merlin's strong soul withstood the dangerous flow of information.

Like an invisible radar had been opened in his spirit, he could grasp the exact location of every agent approaching him.

"East..."

Merlin presses down his cap and takes a sip from his bottle.

He runs eastwards without stopping, since they could detect him through his Shadow Cloak using infrared and sonar, he decided to focus all his power on his senses. 

Nick Fury, who was directing the operation from above, immediately notices Merlin's sudden movement; in the sonar diagram in front of him, the spot representing Merlin was moving eastwards. And that direction was the biggest breach in the encirclement the agents were forming.

"He's aware! F**k!"

Fury cursed as he realizes that the estimation he made about Merlin was flawed.

"This guy must also have superhuman senses..."

"Team 1, advance forwards quickly! Team 2, move in a clockwise direction. The rest of you advance eastwards! Quickly!"

Fury quickly makes new orders, and on the diagram before him, 20 spots also begin moving.

Fury was relieved to know that according to his agents' movement, they could catch up to and intercept Merlin before he escapes their encirclement.

But what Fury could see on the sonar's diagram, could also be 'seen' by Merlin using his dark senses.

He runs while gasping, his brain spinning quickly, calculating the positions of the 5 agents approaching from his side; just before both sides encounter each other, Merlin stops abruptly and turns the other way.

Fury could not report Merlin's sudden change in movement, the next moment, the agents' infrared detectors could see Merlin's heat signature in the darkness.

But just as the leading agent raises his gun, Merlin points something at him.

It was a flashlight that could be bought anywhere on the street, and like a sword made of light, pierces towards the agent equipped with night vision goggles.

The sharp light makes the agent look away subconsciously, the well-trained agent raises both arms to defend, but Merlin's fist was faster, and it lands on his face before he could block it.

"Crack"

The head-worn infrared detector lets out a low sound from the impact, the agent staggers backward from the attack. But Merlin grabs the agent by one hand and shoots the gun towards the agents before him just as rubber bullets were flying at him.

"Shwaa"

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The fishnet flying out of the gun lands on the agents, the following electric shock causes the 3 agents to fall onto the ground shaking.

At the same time, Merlin's abdomen, thighs, and shoulders are hit by the rubber bullets.

It was painful.

But it was non-lethal so Merlin could not turn into smoke to evade the rubber bullets.

He could only endure the pain that would incapacitate any normal human, Merlin curls up on the ground from the rubber bullets, but he grits his teeth to maintain consciousness.

His soul was stronger and tougher than the average human, which meant that Merlin could endure greater pain.

Most importantly, he had endured the pain of having his soul torn in Wisconsin 2 years ago, the pain he felt now was nothing to him.

Merlin's perseverance, his endurance towards pain, was also his weapon.

He rolls onto the ground, picks up a rifle along the way, and without aiming, pulls the trigger on the multiple silhouettes in the darkness before him.

"Bang Bang"

The remaining two agents took a direct hit to the torso by the rubber bullets, the sharp counterattack caused both to fall.

The other benefit of having superhuman senses was that he doesn't need to aim when he has a gun in hand.

As long as the targets were within range, he could pull the trigger through the guide of his consciousness.

"Sorry."

Merlin hangs the rifle onto his back, he holds the Winter Soldier's combat knife in hand and stabs the fallen agents on the leg to incapacitate them.

After incapacitating them, Merlin could sense 5 other agents approaching quickly, they seemed to be attracted by the gunshots, or maybe, someone was directing them!

Merlin looks up towards the chopper hovering in the air, he rubs his aching wound, picks up a taser gun from the ground, and runs staggered towards the other side of the woods.

"We have agents down! Team 4, assist them!"

Fury felt irritated, it would seem that he had underestimated someone who could cause multiple supernatural incidents.

He had lost 5 agents in less than 10 seconds.

This made Fury realize that he knew too little about Merlin and that he still could not form a plan specialized at capturing Merlin without sufficient intel.

From what he could tell, Merlin had incredible perseverance aside from superhuman senses, not everyone can retaliate after taking a hit from rubber bullets. Of course, there was a possibility Merlin had a degree of body enhancement.

As time moves on, the situation gets worse.

An armed Merlin made the situation tricky, he knew he could not engage an enemy with a numbers advantage, so he's beginning to cause trouble through long-ranged attacks.

In 3 minutes, 4 more agents were struck down, Fury added another note to Merlin's record.

This sly 89084 seemed to also be an ace sharpshooter.

Using his extreme senses in the dark, Merlin shot at his agents from near-impossible positions, and at unimaginable angles.

Before Nick Fury became an agent, he was an excellent soldier; he realizes that Merlin was shooting from his blind spots. As if he could magically lock onto their positions without even seeing the pursuers.

This was strange!

It was like he's using an aimbot in an FPS game.

"He's gonna escape! Dogsh*t, we have multiple wounded, sir, request use of lethal force!"

Watching as Merlin got closer to the riverbank of the Hudson River, the pursuing agents could no longer restrain their anger. They were the best field agents in the S.S.R. when have they ever been toyed with like this?

Yes, toyed with!

From the agents' point of view, their target was not a normal person who had experienced supernatural events, but a well-trained soldier, or even an atrocious mobster!

The agent's request echoes in Fury's ears, he contemplates and accepts:

"Permission granted! Try to capture him alive!"

"Roger that!"

The agents threw away the toy guns in their hands and took out real guns loaded with real bullets.

They spread out and fired at Merlin from multiple directions, the bullet rain was mixed with the scent of death, which made the dark powers inside him become restless.

But...

Wasn't this what Merlin wanted?

Under Fury's surprised gaze, Merlin stops running.

He turns around, the wind blows through his tattered coat.

He stands there in front of the bullet rain and raises a middle finger towards the hovering chopper.

Then, he lowers his head and rushes towards the firing agents.

Merlin's action made Fury's expression change.

"Back! Get back! Ceasefire! It's a trap!"

However...

It was too late.

A brass bullet mixed with heat and flames soars towards Merlin's heart. 

Just before this lethal little thing touches Merlin's body, the body of the running Merlin scatters as if it was punched by an invisible fist, and Merlin immediately turns into a raging black storm.

As the agents looked on astonishingly, the black storm mixed with sparks rushes towards them like a hunting demon.

Danger! Danger!

The agents' instincts screamed danger, so they turned around and ran.

But how could man outrun a storm approaching at top speed?

In Fury's furious roar, dozens of his best agents were swept up by the black storm, followed by a bright flash, and then a massive explosion ensues.

As the black smoke dissipates, 1/5 of the forest had been utterly destroyed under Merlin's retaliation, the savage yet destructive force even caused Fury's chopper to wobble in the air. As the smoke dissipated, dozens of heavily injured agents lay there on the ground that looked as if it had been bombarded.

Indeed, Merlin did not kill them; just before the explosion, Merlin redirected the direction of the black storm's explosion.

He held no grudges against these agents, he had neither the authority nor will to take their lives. He was not a killer, nor was he willing to become a butcher whose hands were stained with blood. 

This was just a warning.

The wounded, the blood, the explosion that ended like an ending scene to a show, these were all the warning of a nightwalker pushed to the corner.

It had a simple meaning.

Don't look for me...

Don't force me!

 

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