Chapter 33: Arc 1: Chapter 31: Chaos

"Whoop Whoop Whoop"

As the propellers of a helicopter spin, a black-painted military chopper was carrying a team towards Oakland.

Behind this chopper were 5 other similar choppers, each one of them were filled with fully armed soldiers and agents; unlike the night of Manhattan, these people were carrying real, lethal weaponry.

In the cabin, Nick Fury reports on his mission to Pierce in New York through an encrypted channel.

"Pierce, unfortunately, your assumptions were correct. An unknown force is hunting for Merlin; from Nevada to Oakland, we've detected at least 3 residual energy from magic explosions, which meant that Merlin had already exchanged fire with them."

"Then he's in a very dangerous situation, Fury."

Pierce's slightly distorted voice resounds from the communicator, he spoke with a solemn tone:

"Have you locked on his position?"

"Yes, we have a lock on him, he's in a black neighborhood in Oakland, one of the officers there saw him and gave us his lead."

"Good, then bring him back to New York before the killer organization makes their move."

Pierce continues:

"Some of our 'colleagues' are pushed to the breaking point by Merlin's actions; we have to end this before the FBI, DoD, and NSA intervene."

"Got it, leave it to me."

Fury hangs up the communication, and gestures to the pilot, who speeds up the chopper.

After nearly 10 minutes, just as they approach Merlin's hiding place, an explosion appears in the neighborhood below, it was so loud one could even hear it from midair.

"It's Merlin!"

Fury compared the locations and frowned, his fingers instinctively pressing on the gun on his waist.

Then, Fury's orders resound from the radio.

"Descend! Enter the combat zone! Clean up those lunatic killers! Team 1 with me! Let's bring that poor kid back!"

---

The rocket strikes precisely at the room Merlin was in; just before it exploded, Merlin breaks the glass and jumps out of the window.

The scorching flame gushes above his head, the impact causes Merlin to lose his balance midair and stumble onto the ground. Just before he hits the ground, he turns into black smoke and avoided falling to his death, then returned to his human form.

Merlin's expression became paler, but he disregarded the restless dark mana in his body and rushes into the dark corner of the street in an attempt to escape the upcoming attack of the lunatic killers.

Behind him, the explosion shocked the children playing basketball on the worn-out basketball field. Many of them screamed and ran from the explosion, but one child was howling as he tried to run back into the blazing apartment.

He has family in that apartment.

"Don't go! Don't go!"

Merlin grabs the agitated child and drags him as he runs.

Through Merlin's dark senses, he could sense that after the explosion, a few vehicles rampage into the neighborhood; at least 40 killers jump off of the vehicles and rush towards the explosion site through the crowd.

"I was negligent."

Merlin retreats through the darkness with the struggling child in his arms and reflects on himself.

His curiosity about secrets caused him to lower his guard, which in turn got him into trouble. What's worse was, as Merlin looked back, the apartment which had lots of residents had begun burning from the 4th floor and black smoke slowly gushed out from them.

The rocket that was meant to kill him must've ignited something else which caused the massive fire.

And from the clean rocket fired at him, the killer organization that had been hunting him no longer cared about the Super-Soldier serum he had.

Something must've happened in the organization which, as a result, Merlin's threat became so much that they made the order to kill him, even if it meant losing the Super-Soldier serum permanently.

"Listen to me! Quiet! Listen to me!"

The child in Merlin's arms kept howling, which made Merlin put him on the ground; he pressed on the child's shoulders and looked at his eyes, he shouted:

"Shut up and listen to me!"

His roar surprised the child, he looks at Merlin; the latter points at the burning apartment and asks the child:

"You have family there, right?"

The child nods and wipes his tears:

"My dad and uncle are there."

"You rushing in there won't do anything, listen to me child, you want to save them right?"

Merlin looks around, he could sense the approaching killers. He could only make his words short, and tells the child in a hurry:

"Go find the police and firefighters, tell them people are injured, tell them people are dying, and have them rescue them! Then call this number!"

Merlin lists out a string of numbers to the child and lets him recite it to ensure he remembers it and continues:

"Tell the people on the other side of the number that Bruce's friend is in danger, get them to help! If you want to save your dad and uncle, then do as I say, got it?"

The boy nods, Merlin pats on his shoulder and says:

"Now go! Hurry!"

Finishing his words, he turns around and jumps into the darkness, as if disappearing out of thin air.

His disappearance terrified the boy, he looks around in a panic and tries to find Merlin's trace, but he couldn't find any.

The boy looks back at the burning apartment and begins running; moments later, the number Merlin gave the boy was failed and a gentle voice belonging to an old man resounds from the phone.

"Hello, this is Wayne Manor, and I am Alfred, the butler of the Wayne family, what business..."

"Bruce's friend is in danger, come help!"

The boy recites Merlin's words, and the voice over the phone becomes quiet. Moments later, the elderly butler's voice becomes serious and he simply asks:

"What's your location?"

---

"Whoong"

5 minutes after the explosion, on the strange ship hovering above the warzone-like-neighborhood, King T'Chaka of Wakanda looks at the holographic projection in front of him.

In the hologram were killers from the organization searching for something throughout the neighborhood.

They held different kinds of firearms, explosions erupted everywhere making this look less of a city block and more of a warzone.

Behind the angry King, prince N'Jobu whom we previously spoke with was lying on a special healing device; he was critically wounded by the explosion, and from the looks of it, he may not survive.

"Your majesty, N'Jobu..."

a female bodyguard with a spear says lowly:

"He may not make it."

You are reading story The Path of Shadow in American Comics at novel35.com

Bang"

The King crushes the Black Panther statue he was playing in his hands, his eyes towards the hologram became ruthless, and said:

"N'Jobu is my brother, a member of the Royal Family, one of the noblest bloodlines of Wakanda."

"He made a mistake, but his mistake can only be judged by the council alone; who are these people to harm a prince of Wakanda?"

"Okoye!"

"Yes."

The robust and fierce black female bodyguard taps her spear on the ground and lowers her head, waiting for his majesty's orders.

"Put on your armor, ready your weapon! With my authority as Black Panther, I give you permission for vengeance. Catch the attackers, show them no mercy! Today, Wakanda has bled; today, we will pay back blood...by blood!"

"As you wish! Your majesty."

The fierce bodyguard steps back, and with the help of her fellow bodyguards, she puts on a suit of metallic black armor; complete with boots and neck guards, yet there was no helmet, instead, her face was painted in a special style.

A companion places a few beads made of odd metal on her hand, which the bodyguard Okoye keeps in her waist bag.

Under the gaze of King T'Chaka, the fierce female bodyguard crosses both arms on the chest, as if making the prayer before the slaughter.

"Shoom"

The deck beneath her abruptly opens, causing the female bodyguard to be thrown into the battlefield below from the air.

As she descends, she plunges her spear into the outside of a nearby apartment; with the horrible tearing noise and flying sparks, the female bodyguard slows down her descent and at 3 feet height, she rushes towards the killer closest to her like a panther.

"Puff"

The sharp spear under the fierce bodyguard's wield easily pierces through the killer's chest; and after the 1st killer drops dead, the other killers turn their weapons and fire at her.

But at such close range, the female bodyguard did not dodge the bullets shooting at her, as they couldn't even penetrate her armor, not even scratch it.

 "For Wakanda!"

Okoye, the strongest of the Black Panther imperial bodyguards (Dora Milaje) swings her vibranium spear in a half-circle, instantly cleaving three killers in half; her slaughter caused the killers to retaliate.

 But before they could even approach her, the female bodyguard raises her spear, triggers the mechanism at the end of the spear which causes it to shoot out a beam that blasted the unsuspecting killers into bits.

On the other side, Merlin knocks down a killer with a gun, he kicks on the killer's back and stabs him harshly; the blade priced the killer's heart without a hint of doubt or hesitation.

Merlin could feel the killer tremble before dying.

This was his first time taking a life willingly, he had no choice.

But taking a life did not make him feel unwell; instead, it made him feel alive.

The dark powers inside his body which originated from Trigon was instinctively pushing Merlin onto the path of darkness, it was seducing him, giving him false hopes.

Merlin shakes his head and tries to get the dark thoughts out of his mind.

He picks up the killer's gun and puts his combat knife back into his boots.

Through his dark senses, he could sense the killers converging into another alleyway as if they've encountered something sudden.

"A chance!"

Merlin could feel a loophole in the encirclement; he takes his chances and by using his Shadow Cloak, he heads towards the loophole in an attempt to escape his very dangerous warzone.

And above him, the late-arriving agent Fury felts as if he was in a headache as he looked at the neighborhood-turned-warzone below.

Why does the situation always escalate to these levels when Merlin's involved? Is that guy a disaster magnet?

"Sir! Look at this!"

The agent next to Fury calls for him:

"There's a woman wielding a spear over there! She's slaughtering them! She's like a war maiden, those bastards can't even land a hit on her!"

"Woman? Spear?"

Fury's thought process became chaotic, what's with the sudden appearance of a woman with a spear?

But Fury could not hesitate due to the situation, he gives out his orders:

"Descend! Prepare for battle!"

6 military choppers begin hovering to look for a suitable spot to send troops down.

On the balcony of a nearby building, the ruthless Winter Soldier looks upward and observes the choppers above using night vision; moments later, the deadliest killer takes a heavy sniper rifle from his back.

The heavy weapon that would need an average person to carry with both hands was as light as a feather on his hands; he aims at the chopper with a standing posture and pulls the trigger, following a deep sound, a bullet tears a hole in the oil tank of the chopper in Fury's chopper.

"Bang"

As the sniper rifle ejects its shell, a second shot is fired shortly afterward; as Fury roared, the head of the pilot explodes, littering the entire cockpit with blood and white liquid.

The chopper loses control and spirals onto the ground in a dangerous way.

Its destination was where the Wakandan warrior Okoye was battling the killers.

The Winter Soldier did not look back to see the chopper spiraling downwards, he carries his rifle and jumps down the balcony, he then begins his pursuit against Merlin.

The interference has been temporarily cleared, it was now time for him to focus on his mission.

"KABOOM"

A scorching explosion erupts behind him, the flames lit up the chaotic streets down below; the heat waves blow away the Winter Soldier's hair, revealing horrible-looking intertwining scars.

Those scars were the gifts Merlin had given him during their last encounter.

This time, he would return the favor...

And give Merlin a sweet express ticket to death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: The Path of Shadow in American Comics, Read The Path of Shadow in American Comics, The Path of Shadow in American Comics novel, The Path of Shadow in American Comics book, The Path of Shadow in American Comics story, The Path of Shadow in American Comics full, The Path of Shadow in American Comics Latest Chapter