(Unedited)
…
A group of police officers and soldiers are currently surrounding the luxurious restaurant located atop a small rocky mountain. However, they cannot move in as the danger of causing harm to the hostages inside is high. Plus everyone knew that the restaurant caters to mostly rich people, so the government dares not to do any reckless action that might endanger the people inside the restaurant.
A black car suddenly arrives at the location and two people alighted from the vehicle. A tall man wearing a formal black suit, and a beautiful young woman with long black silky hair tied in a ponytail, and she is wearing a blue denim jacket atop a black body fit leather vest with white sneakers.
The man approaches the police officer in charge of the area.
"How is the situation inside?" the man asked in a serious tone.
"Lieutenant Ramirez, I'm glad that you have arrived. The situation is not clear sir. The terrorist is not cooperating with us and we are unable to know the situation of the hostages. We already one officer injured." The police officer reported.
"Hmm… the city hall is worried about this situation. Let me take over from here." The man said.
He then shifted his gaze to the monitors inside the police van and assesses the situation.
"Are you able to hack on the monitoring system?" he asked upon seeing that there are no video feed coming from the inside.
"No sir, our hackers are unable to get in their servers."
"Tsk… Police officer Maddy Castillo."
The young woman showed a pretty smile and walked towards one of the personnel in front of a computer.
"Stand aside please…" she said with a sweet smile.
The young man who is handling the system showed a faint blush and immediately stood up.
Maddy Castillo immediately sat on the chair and with her dainty fingers flowing like water on the keyboard, a series of commands immediately appear on the screen. Then with the rapid clicking of the keyboard, she was able to immediately enter the firewall of the restaurant and hack into the system without the people inside knowing what hit them.
"Hihi, Boss I'm in!" she said with a joyful expression.
Then the screen inside the van changes and showed the whole situation inside.
"What are they doing?" Lieutenant James Ramirez asked as he noticed the movement of the people inside.
"I… I think… I think they are hunting something… or someone." One of the police officers said while observing the video feed.
"Boss, look here." Maddy suddenly zoomed in on a video from one of the body cams of the terrorist.
Them from where that person is standing they could see frozen statues of people wearing the terrorist combat gears.
"Ice esper? That's… that's a very powerful esper. To be able to freeze two people at the same time without even them knowing it. This is like a level 25 esper." Lieutenant Ramirez muttered to himself as disbelief could be seen in his expression.
"But boss, that's… that's impossible. There are no level 25 esper in the city. Even in the country, I think we only have two, right?" Maddy asked with a hint of astonishment in her tone.
"This is… this situation is out of our hands. If they are fighting against a level 25 esper, then all of them could be considered as dead already." Lieutenant Ramirez said while leaning on the side door of the van.
"Let's just watch what would happen next. If the person inside is a true level 25 esper, then this is out of our jurisdiction."
…
Meanwhile, inside the restaurant, a group of terrorists has already reached the kitchen area. Since this restaurant is really huge, the kitchen is located near the freezer where the hostages are being kept. Right now a group of around ten terrorists are currently moving carefully as they surveyed their surroundings.
Suddenly, the light goes out and darkness immediately envelops everything.
Everyone is on tenterhooks as they could not see anything in their surroundings. But as trained combatants, they did not panic and immediately lowers themselves to better observe the situation.
Suddenly they heard running footsteps and saw a shadow dashing over.
Everyone immediately turns their sight towards that direction and immediately fire their guns.
Bratatatat!
A burst of rapid firing and flying bullets made a lot of holes on the wall kick up a cloud of dust in the air. The police who heard the gunfire outside wanted to move in but Lieutenant Ramirez stopped them. He said that they are just there to apprehend what is left after the fight. He didn't want these police officers to die for nothing.
When the gunshot stopped, everyone saw a figure on the ground, and that figure is crawling with bloody holes around his body. One of the terrorists immediately took out a flashlight and lit the person.
They knew that they have hit something when they spray bullets in the direction of the hallway crossing. And now they wanted to see if that person is dead or still alive.
When they flashed the light, they were all dumbfounded at what they are seeing. The man currently lying on the ground and crawling is one of the espers who came with the terrorist group. It was Ale'bo who didn't die when he fell for the freezing trap set up by Curt.
However, even though he didn't die and was chasing after the figure of Curt. Who would have known that he would fall because of bullet wounds?
Right now, he is crawling towards a person who has his head covered with his shirt looking like a shirtless ninja.
"Ah… you may have escaped the trap, but you still fell for another trap. Tsk… Tsk… very unlucky. Hey, don't worry, you won't be alone…" Curt said with a chuckle as he suddenly turns around and left the hallway entering the kitchen.
Ale'bo felt his body getting cold as he could feel his blood coming from the bullet wounds from his body. He gritted his teeth as he did not want to resign himself to death. With the use of his remaining esper energy, he immediately controlled his own blood.
"I won't die here…"
Then suddenly he heard a couple of crackling sounds from behind him. But he did not have time to turn around as he has his focus on himself.
Meanwhile, Curt has already entered the kitchen and carefully listens to his surroundings.
Then a man casually walks out of the other end facing towards Curt.
"Hehe… I guess you are the one causing us trouble. Hmm… Not bad. But covering your face won't help you." Bender said with a grin on his face.
With a wave of his hand, a small doll-like figurine was thrown in the air and suddenly transform into a life-size clay golem.
"This is my assistant, Igor. And I assure you, he is pretty strong…"
Curt looks at the life-size golem and knits his brows. Right now, a figure and a technique appear inside his head.
"Puppet control… But… but this is different." He muttered.
As of right now, Curt is not moving according to his own will, but according to his own instinct. He didn't try to think deeply in every action he is doing and just go with the flow.
He just memorized and engraves this event in his mind as this is his first-ever actual battle against people. He knew that this experience is crucial to his growth as he continues to follow this path in his life.
Suddenly, the golem moved and quickly sent a powerful punch towards him. Although the distance between them is about ten meters, Curt did not underestimate the opponent and quick dodge. That was the time when the arm of the golem suddenly became longer and flew towards the location where his head was supposed to be.
The golem did not stop and threw a series of punches, while Curt did not stop and continue dodging. He would sometimes roll to the ground, jump up, hide behind a kitchen counter, or slide. Curt's sorry state of dodging made Bender smirk in disdain.
He knew that this guy is not his opponent, so he let the golem fight against Curt and calmly walks towards the place where Curt entered. When he arrives at that location, he was stunned. The hallway is dark, so he tried to find the switch and turn it on. When the light comes on, he was flabbergasted by what he saw.
Ten of their men are already frozen stiff, and Ale'bo is lying on the ground lying in his own pool of dried blood.
"Shit! What… what happened here?" he suddenly asked.
But then he suddenly heard a series of gunshots reverberating inside the kitchen. Bender immediately felt a dangerous premonition and immediately run inside.
And there he saw his beloved golem shattered into pieces. At the end of the hallway where he appears, Curt is standing with his eyes seemingly smiling provokingly.
Then he noticed that strapped on his body is a rifle. He was astonished as he didn't see that guy carrying any weapons when he enters the kitchen.
Bender did not hesitate and immediately pulled his sidearm and began shooting towards that masked man's direction.
Bullets immediately began flying as Bender activated his esper power to protect his body. A piece of body armor made of the broken pieces of cement and stones coagulate towards him and formed.
Meanwhile, Curt just looks in his direction and dodges the flying bullets. He did not fire his rifle but just took a step back as Bender advances.
Then suddenly, he lifted the muzzle of the rifle. When Bender saw this, he smirked.
Bang!
It only takes one single shot and Bender immediately felt a strong force hitting his head which is covered with an armor of broken cement and rocks. This impact caused his figure to fall on his backside with a loud thud.
He immediately felt hot blood slowly dripping from his forehead and the pang of pain that follows.
He just lied in that place with disbelief clearly written all over his face.
Then he heard a series of footsteps running away which made him sigh in relief. But then a figure suddenly appears beside him. It was like that figure just materializes out of thin air.
"Damn it… I was too late." The voice of Myst woke Bender from his stupor.
"Where did the enemy go?" she asked.
"He ran that way…"
"Alright, stay here."
"No, wait… Don't face him alone. He… he is very strong and is likely to be playing us in the palm of his hands." Bender said.
Myst stopped and also realized this. She knew of the traps that the person has set up all over the place. She even almost fell for one of them.
Then all of a sudden, her communication sounded out.
"Boss… we have a problem. The police are now moving… we… we have lost many men."
Upon hearing the bad news, Myst punches the ground in anger.
"Damn it! Who is that guy? He has interfered with our mission, I swear I will kill him!"
"Myst we should retreat… Ale'bo is still alive, we can still save him." Bender said already standing beside her.
With a nod of her head, the two immediately ran towards the location of Ale'bo and carried him out towards a secret passage underground.
Meanwhile, in another part of the restaurant, Jenny Mae and another esper has already taken down a group of terrorist while leading a large number of people behind them.
Not long later, they already saw the police coming inside.
As the group walks out, her eyes did not leave the person timidly standing beside her with a suspicious look.
Feeling her gaze, Curt just showed an awkward smile on his handsome face.