Chapter 62: Arc 2: Chapter 17: Rescue Operation

"Shoo"

At midnight, a small jet aircraft soars across the sky like a midnight hunter.

In the cabin, 6 agents were making their final preparations before the battle.

"Kack"

Fury takes out the ammo clip from his gun, checks it, and puts it back in.

Beside him, Garrett was fiddling with a grenade launcher mounted carbine rifle, around the old cowboy's feet were communicators, night goggles, etc.

Agent Barton was still leisurely sitting on his seat and counting the arrows in his quiver, looks like he still doesn't plan on using guns this time.

But Merlin notices a samurai blade similar to the one Betsy used next to Barton's hand.

He himself fiddles with his tactical gloves, there were two silenced pistols on his waist; he was the one reducing the hostages, so he didn't bring too many guns, instead were short knives used for assassination. In his boot was the black combat knife he got from the Winter Soldier.

"I'll say, so soon to become one of us?"

Merlin, who had finished prepping chews on bubblegum while sitting on the chair, looks at the resting Black Widow next to him and gently asks.

The superagent had her eyes closed like she was snoozing.

She wore a black combat uniform, there were no visible weapons on her besides two handguns. But there were two drawstrings similar to bracelets on her wrists.

Merlin knew that this was also a type of weapon, agent Barton was knocked out by the strong electric outburst from the bracelets back in Sokovia.

According to Fury, these things were called 'Widow's Bite', weapons specially made by the ex-Soviet intelligence organization. Being able to let out strong electric charges is but one of its many uses.

Hearing Merlin's question, Natasha opens her eyes and sets her wine red hair aside dispiritedly, she points at her neck and tells Merlin:

"See this?"

"Mmm."

Merlin nods, he sees a small scar similar to a tattoo or a mosquito bite on her neck.

But surely it wasn't so simple.

"Inside is an even more advanced miniature bomb. If I disobey orders or try to escape..."

Natasha looks at Merlin and while expressionless, spreads her arms and makes a 'kaboom' gesture:

"Boom."

"Uhh, alright then."

Merlin was speechless, then he says in a low tone:

"This is a necessary process, Natasha, mutual trust takes time."

"Yo..."

Natasha raises an eyebrow and looks at Merlin, she ambiguously leans against Merlin's shoulder and tells him:

"Little Merlin, are you consoling me? You're as thoughtful as ever."

"No, I'm just stating the facts."

Merlin extends his arms and looks at the time. It was 3-am midnight right now, according to plan, they will be arriving at the combat area in 15 minutes. He tells Natasha:

"We went through so much to bring you back from Europe surely not just to blow your head apart."

"I know clearer than you what you people want me to do, little Merlin, and I don't mind doing it."

Natasha leans on Merlin's shoulder and speaks in a calm tone:

"Everything's the same except for who I'm working for. But now it seems that you guys are in a bad situation. I'm starting to think that I chose the wrong side."

"From a different perspective, this is a good thing."

Merlin lightly says:

"Our bonds can deepen when we've endured hardships together. Surely you know what I mean."

"Hmph, you're a good talker."

Natasha snorts, she straightens her body and leans against her seat, she closes her eyes and ignores Merlin.

Moments later, the voice of the pilot, agent Victoria Hand, resounds in the cabin:

"We're above the predetermined airspace, we'll be above the embassy in 3 minutes, I'll be waiting for you in the airport. Everyone, prepare to parachute."

"Barton, you and Natasha will be a team and land on the roof of the embassy! Me and Garrett will secure an evac route on the back."

Fury puts on a black helmet, picks up the carbine rifle, turns off the safety, and tells the agents behind him:

"Merlin, you'll secure the hostages, Barton and Natasha will provide covering fire, don't tangle with the rebels, finish the fight as soon as possible, any problems?"

"Nope."

Merlin puts the helmet on, moves his fingers, and puts on the wingsuit made for airborne urban combat. Behind him, Barton and Natasha carry backpacks containing large quantities of explosives.

Fury stands at the back of the cabin and moves his body, Garrett who was next to him lightly says:

"Fury, our last mission together was in 1988, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, about 5 years ago."

Fury with his helmet on had a deep and coarse voice:

"It was in the outskirts of Vienna, we almost lost you that time."

"Yeah, that hurt, my intestines were torn apart."

Garrett's voice becomes lighter as he continues:

"You won't leave me behind again this time, right?"

"Never again."

The emotional conversation between the two aged men made Merlin surprised.

These two had a story.

But then, under agent Hand's control, the door hatch in the cabin slowly opens, and the cold wind begins pouring in.

Fury points his arm forward and rushes out headfirst.

"Move out!"

"Shwa Shwa Shwa Shwa Shwa"

5 figures open their arms as they jump out of the cabin.

Merlin had taken airborne practice wearing wingsuits in the academy, he feels the wind as he dives; from the night sky, he looks at the brightly lit embassy down below, he could even see the unwiped blood in the embassy yard. A group of rebels had constructed a position there, along with several wheeled infantry fighting vehicles and some miniature mortars.

It was like a battlefield.

Merlin spreads his arms backward and stretches his wingsuit.

He moves his arms and directs himself towards the embassy, behind him are Barton and Natasha; Fury and Garrett had flown towards the back of the embassy just now.

The three field agents silently fly above the embassy like birds, and without making a sound, land on the embassy rooftop under the cover of the night.

"Pu, Pu"

Following their descent onto the rooftop, Barton and Natasha silently finish off the patrolling rebels on the roof in synchronization.

Merlin had activated his Shadow Cloak the moment he landed.

He takes out the short sword from his waist and enters the embassy through the stairwell from the top of the embassy. Pierce along with the kidnapped officials was being kept in the underground basement.

Merlin did not alert anyone as he walked through the darkness, he finds his way and planted multiple bombs he had carried with him on some of the load-bearing pillars according to the plan.

10 minutes later, Merlin successfully arrives in the embassy's 2-story basement; the bad news was that the basement was heavily guarded, and through Merlin's dark senses, he detected at least 15 rebels patrolling the compound.

"Merlin, report!"

Fury's voice resounds in Merlin's ear communicator, Merlin presses the communicator in his ear and whispers to Fury:

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"I'm at the target locations, multiple rebels spotted, will finish them off quickly."

"Good! We've secured an evac route just behind the embassy. Merlin, make it quick!"

Following Fury's orders, Merlin takes a deep breath, moves his wrists, and tightly grasps the two shortswords on his hand.

"This is a mission...this is a mission."

Merlin tells himself that, and after a few seconds, he silently walks to the closest rebel and abruptly reaches out, pulling the unsuspecting rebel into the shadows.

The rebel instinctively tries to struggle, but then...

"Pu"

A sharp blade cuts his throat, and blood begins gushing out.

Merlin tightly clasps on the rebel's mouth, and soon, he silently places down his dead target and quietly moves towards his second target.

5 minutes later, Merlin reappears and wipes the blood off his arm, then he tears open the chains of the door in front of him.

"Bang"

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Alexander Pierce abruptly raises his head and sees Merlin with the helmet on.

Merlin squats down, tears the tape from Pierce's mouth, and tells Pierce:

"Sir, we're here to save you, come with me!"

"Mmm!"

Pierce was a ruthless one, he showed no signs of relief or panic upon being rescued even after being tortured.

Merlin cuts open the binds on his wrist and frees the other 5 captives in the basement, then he prepares to escort them out.

"Son, give me a weapon."

Pierce follows behind Merlin while limping, this 50-year-old yet tough elderly man grist his teeth:

"I can protect myself, just clear the way."

Merlin looks back at the officer he had just met for the first time, he takes the gun from his waist and hands it to Pierce. The latter takes the gun, turns off the safety, and nods to Merlin, hinting that they should start moving.

"Fury, Officer Pierce has been rescued, we're on our way out right now."

Merlin reports through his comms, which FUry then replies:

"Roger that, Barton and Natasha will provide cover, keep Mr. Pierce safe."

"Follow me, sir."

Merlin says so and steps out of the room with short swords in his hands. Pierce follows behind him; the remaining captives still had their mouths taped as per Pierce's instructions, in case these civil servants get frightened and expose their position by screaming.

"You did all this by yourself?"

Pierce smells blood as soon as he walks out of the basement, he looks around and discovers the dead bodies of dozens of rebels, yet he didn't hear a single gunshot when he was trapped.

This means that the young agent in front of him had killed dozens of armed rebels using a cold weapon.

"You're...Merlin?"

Pierce immediately recalls the young man Miss Carter had recruited before her retirement, he read Merlin's files and knows that he has some special abilities.

"Yes, I'm Merlin."

Merlin did not look back, as he sensed the surroundings with his dark sense, he gently says:

"After hearing of the perilous situation you were in, I followed Officer Fury here to rescue you."

"Good! Very good."

Pierce nods, he holds the gun with both hands and replies:

"You're an excellent agent, Miss Carter indeed has a good eye."

"Hold!"

Merlin raises his hand and stops the others' advance, he tells Pierce:

"Something's going on ahead, wait here for a moment!"

As he finishes, he walks onto the stairwell in front of him. Moments later, Merlin sticks his head from the stairwell and snaps his fingers at Pierce:

"Situation sorted! Let's continue."

Pierce passes through the stairwell and sees 3 more dead bodies there.

After seeing it for himself, Pierce has a direct feeling of Merlin's assassination abilities.

This guy was a natural assassin as he trod his path silently.

A few minutes later, as gunshots began to resound, Merlin storms out of the back door of the embassy with a group of people. Fury and Garrett were at a nearby street corner guarding a wheeled infantry fighting vehicle while returning fire to nearby rebels.

"Pierce, get in!"

Fury looks back and sees the group of people rushing towards them, he opens the vehicle door and stuffs Pierce along with the other captives into the vehicle.

"Barton, Natasha, retreat!"

Fury orders retreat in the comms.

Then, a violent explosion erupts from the embassy's main building, the explosion nearly wipes out all the rebels' heavy weaponry and vehicles, even blowing their temporary base sky high.

In the bright flash of the flames, Barton and Natasha storm out of the embassy with an SUV.

As the two meet, they head towards the airport as quickly as they could, where agent Hand would meet up with them.

"We've got company."

The driving Garrett tells Fury:

"They have weapons, find a way to stop their pursuit."

"Merlin, blow their tires!"

Fury hands Merlin a sniper rifle, the latter opens the hatch of the vehicle and aims towards the pursuers.

As the wind blew on Merlin's black hair, he needn't aim as he held the sniper rifle in his hand.

"Sorry guys..."

As his dark senses spread, Merlin steadies the sniper rifle and gently says so.

Then, he pulls the trigger.

"Bang"

The first shot headshots the driver of the pursuing vehicle.

"Bang"

The second shot blows one of the tires of the chasing rebel-filled vehicle.

The people in the car screamed as they drove into a nearby ditch. On the second pursuing vehicle, a masked man had just aimed his rocket launcher when Merlin fired his third shot.

Like Death's Scythe.

"Bang"

The headless corpse collapses onto the floor of the vehicle, the fired rocket flies into the sky, explodes, and like a firework, illuminates the surrounding area.

"Done."

Merlin sits back into the vehicle, he sets aside the sniper rifle in his hand, takes off his helmet, and smiles at Officer Pierce who was sitting opposite of him.

He extends his hand and tells Pierce:

"We've worked well together, sir!"

 

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