We rammed those gates with style—hardly even slowed down. You should've heard the guy scream as we hurtled toward him at full speed! He managed to jump out of the way at the last second; I guess the benefits package here doesn't include "suicide by bumper." After handing out the masks—which I was told are bulletproof—we hopped out of the armored vehicle.
"Alright, boys, let's begin," Arclight commanded, charging into the fray.
The moment the order dropped, everyone went feral. Our leader's fists actually started to glow. After seeing what happened to the section of the wall she hit, I started feeling a bit of sympathy for Puma—I finally understood how she "calmed him down." Time to get to work. Seeing Arclight systematically leveling the building and hearing the screams from the adjacent one—where streaks of blood appeared on the windows every ten seconds—I decided to take the furthest structure for myself. Since I was fighting terrorists, I figured I'd teach them a little something about democracy. I even had the perfect soundtrack for the occasion.
Setting the range on my Telepathic Radio, I burst into the building to the tune of "Team America — America, Fuck Yeah!" You should've seen their faces when the song started blasting inside their skulls—it was priceless. A small squad of four guards had already gathered on the first floor. I unleashed my patriotism on them, though it felt a bit surreal killing an African-American guy right as the lyrics hit "Slavery, FUCK YEAH!" Well, that's that. Room cleared.
The building housed several prototypes of new bombs, which I decided to use for their intended purpose. Right as the song looped back to the start, several jeeps pulled up outside, and about twenty men piled out.
To the lines of "Terrorists, your game is through, 'cause now you have to answer to...", I tossed them the bombs with a three-second timer. After the explosion cleared, I saw I'd thinned them out by at least half. About twenty more were already entering the building. They seemed to be spreading out across the floors in small groups, as if they'd never watched a horror movie in their lives.
I took the first one out with a bullet to the head. The second managed to dive behind a desk and looked like he wasn't planning on coming out, so I had to deliver the lead in person. Even knowing who we were up against, I didn't expect the "reinforcements" to be like this. As I closed in to fire, I noticed a strange smile on his face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him press something on his belt.
The blast threw me into the wall. His two friends who tried to enter at that moment were turned into confetti. My body armor was almost completely shredded, and my right arm was badly burned. I found my weapon in several pieces: the barrel was stuck in the wall, the stock was in the ceiling, and I have no idea where the rest went.
In that moment, I realized if I didn't give this 100%, my death would be very fast. Shifting into Full Form, I was incredibly glad I hadn't taken those grenades Gambit offered—he'd spent an hour trying to convince me that if he "charged" them, they'd be three times as lethal. Fortunately, my Intuition told me that was a terrible idea. After finishing the transformation, I didn't know what to do with my mask, so I strapped it to the back of my head—let it protect my nape.
I felt a slight tingling in my arm and was surprised; my regeneration shouldn't be working this fast, but since it was a plus, I decided to worry about it later. First, I had to finish off the remaining suicide bombers. I stalked the halls for a minute looking for enemies until I finally heard footsteps in the corridor. I lunged.
Strangely, two of them had different uniforms: blue vertical lines. Elite forces? They didn't seem to expect me to be alive after that blast, and seeing my form, they went into total shock for a few seconds. I couldn't blame them for the lack of professionalism; I'd probably crap my pants too if I saw a seven-foot humanoid wolf with glowing yellow eyes covered in blood.
Taking advantage of their hesitation, I ripped out the first one's throat with my left claws. The second reached for his belt. Realizing what was coming and unable to use my injured arm in time, I used my jaws. I tore his head off. Surprisingly, it was easy—like biting through a cucumber—and the taste was... tolerable. The third guy didn't have a button on his belt; by the smell of it, he was already repenting for all his sins. A woman's voice crackled from his earpiece:
— "Delta squad, report. Have you made contact with the target? Is he captured?"
So they're trying to catch me? Original method, I'll give them that. I crushed the last guy's throat, took his headset, and answered the lovely lady.
"Testing, testing, can you hear me?"
— "That's not Thirty-Seven. Who are you?!"
"I'm Batman." (Look, how could I resist? Besides, I'm already Bruce Wayne, might as well commit to the bit.)
— "I assume Delta squad is dead?"
"Correct. Now tell me, why 'capture' and not 'kill'?"
— "Your abilities are extremely valuable to my project. That transformation is simply beautiful! I'm prepared to hire you; I'll pay five million a year. Do you agree?"
Bitch. Cameras must still be working in some of the hallways.
"You know, it's hard to trust people who have already tried to kill me twice."
— "What do you mean?"
"Two suicide bombers tried to blow me up. Doesn't really fit your order."
— "What?! That damn 'First'! He sent those fanatics again! Don't worry—I'm not affiliated with those psychos. I work for a different organization. You are a highly valuable specimen. You will be treated well. Agree. Don't make me send a recovery team after you."
"I'll think about it."
— "Fine, but I don't like waiting. You can contact me through any Roxxon branch. Just say you're from Doctor M, and they'll put you through immediately."
I crushed the headset. Now everything felt right. You can't be a "super" without a malevolent organization taking an interest in you. Anyway, time to finish cleaning the building.
After the retreat signal, I—decked out in looted weapons and a few interesting explosive gadgets—sprinted through the woods to the extraction point. You should've seen what Arclight left behind. She didn't bother with precision; she just leveled three buildings entirely. The people inside didn't even have time to blink.
At the rendezvous, I witnessed quite a scene: a slightly winded Arclight was screaming at Gambit. Apparently, he almost blew the op because of his "urges." He'd decided to flirt with a female guard, she'd used the opening to raise the alarm, and Shocker had caught a bullet because of it. Puma didn't seem to care; he just sat in the corner, covered in blood and bits of... people. I won't even mention the smell. At least I had the brains to smash a vending machine to wash some of the gore off myself.
Once she finished venting at Gambit, they finally noticed me.
"Newbie, you did great. I think you'll fit in," Arclight said, her expression softening slightly.
Ding!
Quest Completed.
You returned with 70% body integrity.
Reward: 30 Points.