New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 894  Meddling Man

Flying back toward Randall's house, Alex noticed some people gathering around the unconscious body he left in the street. One man was even taking his pulse.

"Meddlesome neighbourhoods are the worst…" he mumbled.

Landing a bit away from them at the corner of the street, he made his way there on foot. And as he arrived, he heard something that he didn't want to.

"I think he's still alive! Someone call an ambulance!"

Alex walked faster, pushing his way through the crowd of people gathering, and stepped in front of a person who seemed to be on the phone.

"Hang up."

"Huh?" the person looked at him, confused.

"I said hang up. That trash doesn't deserve an ambulance."

The man turned around to ignore him, but Alex would not let him.

Grabbing the earpiece out of the man's ear, he crushed it in his hand, looking the man in the eye.

"I wasn't asking," he growled.

The man yelped in fear as he felt like he was suddenly in front of a wild beast.

Turning back toward the man on the ground, trying to check on the assassin's body, Alex stepped up to him.

"Enough. Let this matter go, sir. He got what he deserved, and he won't be an eyesore for much longer," Alex said, grabbing the assassin's collar.

"Hey! What are you doing?! You could hurt him more!" the man said, grabbing Alexander's wrist to stop him from moving the injured man.

Alex turned toward him, glaring at him.

"Let go of my wrist," he growled.

"You let go of that injured young man! You're going to hurt him. Let the ambulance take care of him!" the man insisted.

Alex dropped the assassin's collar and slinked up close to the man's personal space.

"I said let go of my wrist. Unless you want me to break every bone in your body? Is that what this is?"

The man withheld his gaze, seemingly unfazed.

"Kid, I've been part of the JTF2 for longer than you've been allowed to drive. Threats don't work on me. And I sure as hell don't think you can put to practice your threats, either," the man responded, his face hardening.

He still hadn't let go of Alex's wrist, and Alex was about done with this charade.

He was about to tear into him when the sounds of engines roared around the corner, heading their way like raging bulls.

As they pulled up the street, two suburban vehicles and one armoured transport, Alex spat on the ground.

"Saved by the bell…" he grumbled.

A team of heavily equipped mercenaries unloaded from the armoured vehicle, and seeing the guns in their hands, the civilians immediately scattered to the four winds, most of them screaming in panic.

But the big man was still holding Alex's wrist.

Alex recognized the man heading the team and almost laughed to himself.

'He can use mana, and still uses those ridiculous toys. Old habits die hard, I guess…'

The mercenary jogged his way to Alex, pointing his gun at the man.

"Let go of the kid, sir. This can only go one of two ways—wait… Sergeant Burks?! The hell are you doing here?!" the man said, halting his steps and lowering his gun.

"Lemmings?" the man said, looking surprised.

"I thought you had joined a paramilitary organization? What are you doing in this neighbourhood?" he asked, still holding Alex's wrist.

Alex tried pulling away, annoyed at the situation, but the man held tight. He could have yanked his hand away, of course, with the man unable to do anything about it.

But he was scared that if the man squeezed any tighter, he would rip his arm off with it. So, instead, he glared at the mercenary.

"Get him off of me, or I'll tear him into a hundred different pieces and scatter him over the Atlantic…"

The Merc shook his head, getting back into business mode.

His gun rose back at chest level but was not directly aimed at the sergeant.

"I'm sorry, sarge. But you'll have to let go of the kid. I'll also need you to step away from the injured one. He's ours now," the merc reluctantly asked.

Sighing, the Sergeant released Alex's wrist and shook his head.

"You're lucky he saved you, kid. I think you deserved a thrashing to learn respect."

But the merc chuckled at his comment.

"With all due respect, sir. I'm not saving him. I'm saving you. He is more than willing and capable of executing his threat. And I don't want to have to walk to your mother's door to tell her you died, and that there is no body to recover. You understand, right?"

The JTF2 officer looked at the merc, his face turning to a frown, before he looked at Alex again.

"This scrawny thing? Tear me into pieces? You have got to be kidding."

Alex smirked at him.

Something told him the man wouldn't give up easily, so he was already trying to find something in the neighbourhood, his senses honing on the man's essence. He grinned when he found it.

"I'll be right back, merc. Make sure the assassin stays unconscious. He has a strange ability and would easily escape if he woke up. As for the family, they are terrified. Have someone explain what's going on."

"Kid, I was ordered to bring you back as well. You need to come with me."

Alex turned his head toward him, his face glacial.

"I said I was coming back. I only need a few seconds to fix a future issue."

Alex didn't wait for him to reply before dashing off at a speed that was far from human, making even the JTF2 officer wonder what the hell was happening.

He'd been jogging down the street when he found the people amassing around someone on the ground. He hadn't seen what had happened.

If anyone were to tell him the kid had been ingrained into the pavement with an axe kick, from a being with red skin, he'd think they were crazy. But seeing Alex run away, he suddenly felt like something abnormal was happening.

Looking at the mercenaries grabbing a family out of their home, his frown deepened.

"Tell what's happening, Lemmings. You owe me that much."

The merc looked at him, downtrodden.

"I'm sorry, sir. I can't. It's classified. You know how it is."

The Sergeant looked at him, unsure whether this was a lie, or if he had uncovered a secret that he shouldn't be aware of. But his special ops training was egging him to discover what this was about.

"You know I'll find out, Lemmings. Why don't you save us both some trouble?"

The merc looked at him and chuckled.

"I'm sure you'll try. But it won't be that easy. In any case, I have to go. It was good seeing you again, sir. I only wish it had been under better circumstances…"

"Let's go," Alex said, reappearing next to the JTF2 officer.

"Oh, and one last thing," he added, turning to the Sergeant.

"You said you were JTF2. I assume that means you are in the military, with special training. I just want to give you one warning. Don't put your nose where it doesn't belong. You risk losing it, along with the rest of your head."

The man was about to step forward to intimidate this cocky half-portion of a man when another merc came in and interrupted them.

"Everyone's been loaded, sir! We are ready to leave!"

"Alright. You heard the man! Everybody back in their truck, we're leaving!"

Turning to the officer, he added one more bit.

"Please don't try to follow us. I was ordered to dispatch tails. I don't want to be the one to do you in…"

"He won't," Alex said, walking to the armoured vehicle.

But he stopped after two steps, barely turning his head to speak to the officer.

"I've marked you. If I ever sense your presence near me, or near where we are going, no one will ever find your corpse," he threatened.

Alex then resumed his walk toward the armoured truck and climbed in the back, locking his eyes on the still-unconscious assassin.

The merc shook his head, annoyed that Alex felt the need to threaten him, but he understood. There were things the public still didn't need to know. Technically, even if he was part of the JTF2, Sergeant Burks was a civilian.

He wasn't part of their need-to-know list.

Climbing aboard one of the SUVs, the merc signalled everyone to start moving.

The vehicles turned around, leaving from where they had arrived, the SUVs filing in front and behind the armoured truck, like an escort, as they disappeared from the neighbourhood. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Sergeant waited for them to turn the corner before sprinting back towards his home.

'Like hell, I won't follow, kid. That's like asking a buzzard not to eat a carcass it finds.'

But when he got home and went to hop into his car, he noticed the slashed tires.

"Is that what you went to do? Pathetic. Like that would stop me from going after you," the man said, heading directly toward his garage.

But as he passed the front of his car, he halted abruptly, and his jaw dropped.

The hood was gone, apparently ripped off the hinges, and there was a hole in his engine block. Looking closely, the man couldn't understand what would have done this, as it was no bigger than four inches wide.

Then he remembered a detail he had spotted on the kid when he returned.

A few drops of black liquid were on his shirt.

'Did he punch a hole into my engine block? That's not possible…'