A glowing cigarette dropped to the floor. Desperately, the man in the doorway tried to draw a pistol from a side holster, but Ms. Han was faster. She showed remarkable marksmanship, if hitting his shoulder had been her goal. Her silenced pistol growled once and the unlucky smoker went to the ground in pain. Inside the building complete mayhem erupted as a dozen people shouted and tried to get to their weapons and other equipment.

This confusion wouldn't last, Marcus knew. Janette already dragged Ms. Han away from the windows and Marcus followed their example. The window exploded under a deluge of small arms fire and Janette shielded her ward against potential ricochets. Now that things had escalated Marcus decided it was time for decisive actions. With a small leap he jumped through the hole in the roof and right in the middle of the Crimson Lotus forces. He had barely landed, when people already jumped away from him and every gun in the room pointed in his direction.

It was a fruitless effort, Marcus' vitality and Carapace was too powerful to be overcome by normal firearms. But the rain of hot metal was still annoying and Marcus needed to concentrate on the true enemies, the class holders. He could already feel the sickening effect of a Defiler. In a repeat of his attack from Ms. Han's apartment Marcus created two large spread Impulse Waves from his hands. He minimized the power to only ~2% of his endurance. The double shock wave hit everything around him, silencing the constant weapon fire for good.

Normal humans were thrown around like rag dolls, hitting tables, walls and large shipping containers. The attack had been enough to incapacitate nearly all humans. The ones who got up again were the class holders.

If your intention was to incapacitate and not kill, you need to reduce your power by half next time. Just from a glance I can tell that several people have suffered critical injuries from your attack.

Really? I already have reduced the power drastically.

You underestimate how frail people without an Astral Body are.

Sudden movement to his right ended Marcus' discussion with Xeen. A woman in Crimson Lotus armor charged at Marcus with blinding speed, wielding a two handed curved sword. The female Accelerator was fast, but the attack was telegraphed and Marcus brought his arm in between the weapon and his neck. Like lightning the sword moved and carved into his forearm, but it lacked power. Too much speed, too little strength crests, Marcus thought. Carapace's slightly delayed answer blasted the woman away and crippled both her arms. One down.

Marcus turned and searched for the annoying Defiler who was constantly debuffing him.

To your right. The man behind the tall Aspect Warrior.

Xeen helpfully pointed out his targets. Until this moment Marcus hadn't moved from his landing spot. He shifted his weight and Burst charged the pair. To his credit the Aspect Warrior tried to protect the Defiler, but stepping into Marcus' path was just stupid. A full power Impulse Hammer slammed both enemies into the next container. Marcus made two large steps to take both of them out of the equation, but a painful attack in his back made him flinch and turn.

Electricity ran through his body and he didn't need Xeen to tell him what class he was facing. A small woman had planted a pair of metal claws on his back and didn't hold anything back. She screamed at the top of her lungs while she electrocuted him. Marcus punched her into the chest and sent her flying through the room. The pain faded instantly and Marcus was glad he had Vivian's bracers to deal with attacks like that. He quickly scanned the battlefield and found two men holding long spears, but far more importantly there was a guy aiming a shoulder mounted missile launcher at him. THE FUCK!

Marcus instantly leaned to the side and prepared to Burst jump. A bullet ended the threat as fast as it had appeared. Janette stood near the hole in the roof and was now aiming at the two spear wielders. This will be over in a second, Marcus thought. A tremendous roaring suddenly filled the whole building. It was the sound of a massive engine, and it reminded Marcus of the large trucks they used for exploration. "This isn't good!" Janette shouted, and both looked around for the source of the infernal noise. Something big moved in the back of the large building, metal scraping over concrete.

A traumatic memory emerged from Marcus' mind, but he didn't want to believe it. The massive, metal predator moved unseen behind rows of containers, the screeching came closer. Marcus could basically feel the weight of the machine, smell the exhaust and taste the machine oil on his tongue. The front of the tank crawled into view. They have a tank, was Marcus' only thought. Only when the turret came into sight and swung his way, he remembered to move his stupid ass. He Burst charged forward, just before the main gun fired. The projectile punched through an unknown amount of containers before it stopped moving.

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Marcus ran, jumped and searched for cover to break the line of sight. The turret followed his path and pumped out shot after shot. Not a heavy cannon. Worse! A large caliber autocannon. Marcus Burst jumped behind a large stack of containers and broke line of sight. He continued running and jumping, while a row of holes opened up behind him. The gunner was either very skilled or very lucky, Marcus thought.

Neither. Has it never come to your mind that somebody with a framework could still use such a weapon?

No, it hadn't. Now, Marcus' mind raced like his body.

He turned and jumped in the opposite direction, turned again, but his large jumps had taken too long. A piece of metal, moving at several times the speed of sound, clipped his shoulder. The impact threw Marcus to the ground and made him scream in pain. Half his shoulder was torn apart, his right arm only connected to the rest of his body through skin and muscles. In spite of his injury Marcus created an uplifting field and was dragged from the ground. The concrete beneath him exploded. Clenching his teeth, he crudely constructed more red acceleration fields and continued to move through the maze of containers.

Ten seconds of half arsed use of Force Control later and he had fully healed. Marcus used Burst and his acceleration fields to quickly change his positions. He closed the distance to the tank, jumping from one large stack of containers to the next. He passed over the tank, and now the turret couldn't turn fast enough to track him. More than that, the barrel of the turret couldn't rise enough to aim at him at this distance! Marcus felt stupid to have missed this until now.

Filled with rage and adrenaline Marcus jumped down to bring the pain. The tank reversed at surprising speed, leaving a thick plume of black smoke in the air. Marcus hit only the front of the tank, rolled over it and barely held on. A heavy machine gun unloaded from point blank range and every impact felt like a hit from a metal bat.

"Jump off it!" Janette shouted in his ear, and he didn't hesitate. Burst accelerated him into the roof and a quick acceleration field held him there for the moment. From this position he could see Janette standing on a pile of collapsed containers, aiming the missile launcher at the back of the tank. The tank turret rotated into her direction, Janette pulled the trigger. Near instantly the high tech weapon reached the tank and punched through its metal shell like it was butter. An explosion shook the tank from the inside and thick black smoke emerged from the large hole in the back.

"It is over, you can come down now," Janette said over com, and waved at him. Marcus dropped the acceleration field that constantly pushed him against the roof, and returned to the ground. He felt defeated.

Do you know what you did wrong?

No, but you are about to tell me. Marcus wasn't in a good mood.

You did exactly what I warned you about. You underestimated your enemy.

So, I should have expected that they would have a tank in here? With a Hawkeye? Really?!

Do you think you are the only smart person? The only one who tries everything they can to survive and to be successful? What you are looking down on is not their frameworks or levels, but their will to survive.

"Hey, why the long face? We got the tank and we are all still alive. First time I have taken out one of my own." Janette walked up to Marcus and gave him a fist bump against his chest. "Xeen just gave me an epic dressing down," Marcus whispered, and sighed. Click. Click. Janette's phone vanished as fast as it had appeared. "Did you just take photos of me?" Marcus asked, and squinted his eyes. She gave him an innocent look. "Is this for the 'hot' line, again?" He asked, and looked down on his completely ripped clothes. Janette turned around and quickly weaseled away.

I was too harsh, I am sorry. You did well, your use of Force Control was outstanding, given that you only had a week of training with it.

Thank you. I will try and keep your warning in mind. Thinking about it, we should check on the wounded.

Marcus returned to the original battlefield and found Ms. Han already interrogating a young man from the Brotherhood. This time she didn't use her combat knife, but a bandage. Janette also had some first aid knowledge and she helped the survivors too. Marcus had no idea what was going on, and decided to go with the flow. He carried a few people around and not long after they had a small medical ward. Of course, Marcus had made sure to remove all weapons. There was being helpful and there was being stupid. The class holders weren't a problem, those who had survived were incapacitated for a long time.

After half an hour Ms. Han told her bodyguards it was time to leave. "Are we going to let them return? They might become our enemies again," Janette said, as they walked back to the car. "They will lie low until this is over. Don't worry about them," Xiu had a dark expression on her face. "You know what is going on? Why they had a freaking tank here?" Marcus asked.

Xiu smiled and said, "These are two different things. Looks like a lot has changed in the last decades thanks to you class holders. Tanks, missile launchers, generic weapons in general are considered obsolete today. A group like Crimson Lotus can acquire them easily on the black market. Interesting times." After a pause her smile was gone, "The current leader of the Brotherhood is after me. That is why they have mobilized to this degree."

When they all sat inside the car and Janette was about to start the engine, Ms. Han let out a sigh, "Instead of three elders they now only have one leader… one crazed son of a bitch…." Marcus saw a lot of complicated feelings on the Xiu's face as she continued to speak, "I killed his father when I made my exit, and it seems he is still bitter about it thirty years later."

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