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***
The mercenary's brain kicked into full gear, all his instincts sharpened. He looked once more at the task that appeared, then at the smoking pale-skinned girl and the surroundings. Thus he assessed the difficulty of the task.
The smoking girl was extremely beautiful and majestic, but for her sake August was not going to get into the heat. To him, she was just a lovely stranger and nothing more.
The girl's suspected killers or kidnappers had yet to appear. The mercenary was now without his equipment, if someone of Shocker or Scorpia's level came after the smoking girl, he couldn't handle it.
It took less than a second to analyse the situation and run the thoughts through his head. August remained sitting motionless on the bench, pretending he was still admiring the stars in the sky. He was stalling for time, he needed to see the enemy. Who would he face if he signed up to be knighted by a smoking girl?
The seconds slowly dragged by, to Augustus' hundredfold perception the seconds were like hours. He watched the area and the smoking girl. She was pretty damn good, too perfect.
The white-haired one was as beautiful as Norma and Anita. Even had her own highlight - that unusually cold expression on her face. As if the girl was not just smoking a cigarette, but was going to kill someone. This type of cold girls did not really like the observing mercenary.
A faint movement flashed on the roof of the exhibition. Several people opened the door to the roof of the exhibition and jogged to the centre before abruptly ducking down. Foreboding roared in a bad voice, but even without it, the mercenary understood everything.
Shifting his weight to his feet, the man scrambled off his bench and in one stride approached the girl who was finishing her cigarette. She shifted her gaze to him, but there was no change in her face. It was as if she was not the least bit surprised by the mercenary's rapid approach to her.
- Look out! - shouted the man, cursing his stupidity in his head. He had not yet learnt about the forces of his intended opponents, maybe those two snipers on the roof were not working alone.
Flashy and stupid, the mercenary acted as if he were some kind of hero. Was it the girl's beauty that influenced him so much, or the supposed reward, or maybe the right upbringing? Though what right education, Augustus did not remember anything from his life.
Roughly dropping the white-suited woman to the ground, the mercenary hovered over her. Their eyes met, cold as blood rubies and calm like unbreakable granite.
- What are you doing? - The slumped beauty asked emotionlessly.
The mercenary answered nothing, his face contorted in a grimace of pain. A thin trickle of blood dripped down onto the girl's white costume, staining it brightly.
The beauty's thin silver eyebrows furrowed and she looked away from the man who had fallen on her, glancing around. It was as if she didn't care about the life of the man who had saved her.
- Don't resist and follow my instructions if you want to survive," Augustus muttered to the cold-blooded girl, and ducking even lower to the ground, dragged her behind him.
The mercenary didn't realise that a couple of people running along the roof were snipers. They had set up a point on the roof of the exhibition and wanted to take out the white-haired girl. What they needed her for was unclear. August didn't care anymore, he'd just decided to play goddamn hero today.
The bullet fired from the sniper rifle was the size of a palm, and the distinctive rattle, muffled by the silencer, made it clear what kind of sniper rifle the shot had been fired from. "Barrett, fiftieth calibre, elephant rifle." August was lucky that, thanks to his sharp manoeuvres, the bullet fired from the sniper rifle had hit him only tangentially, severing his back. Had the fifty-calibre bullet hit him lower, in the ribs, he would have been dead. The bullet would have crushed his internal organs.
Another shot rang out, August fell to the ground, and the beauty crawling behind him did the same. The bullet from the second shot passed over and sliced through a lamppost, knocking it to the pavement.
A security-organised evacuation began at the Stark Expo. Shots from a large-calibre sniper rifle, though muffled by a silencer, were still clearly audible. Visitors to the exhibition were scared out of their wits and fled for their lives.
August crawled on the ground in his expensive suit and left a bloody trail behind him. His wound on his back was unpleasantly burning with pain every second. After the first shot, the mercenary quickly orientated himself and crawled with the girl into the sniper's blind spot. The sniper, on the assistant's tip, continued to work on them to no avail.
- Hammer, the target has moved out of our range and is moving towards you. There's a man with her, he has some skills, be careful with him, - the adjuster took the binoculars away from her face. - Let's change into our security uniforms and get out of here.
- Roger that, - the second girl let go of her sniper rifle and a couple of shooters on the roof of the exhibition disappeared, blending in with the evacuated crowd.
- We seem to have broken away, you can't see us from the roof, - August leaned on a rock and turned his head to the girl. - Come on, tell me why they want you dead, and what you'll pay me for saving you.
- I don't know anything," the silver-haired girl replied briefly, lighting a new cigarette. Her face was still as cold as ever, as if she didn't care about the recent shooting at her. - You have to pay me for the ruined suit.
- ... - Augustus was at a loss for words. Did he just hear that? That white-haired beauty really demanded money for his ruined suit?!
- I'm actually your-" The mercenary was interrupted by a deafening burst from an assault rifle. Bullets whizzed over his head.
A squad of five heavily armed men were approaching them from the opposite side. They were wearing tactical helmets and body armour, along with unloads full of grenades.
Several fragmentation grenades just rolled up to the girl and August's hiding place. The mercenary saved the white-haired girl again by covering her with his body, and again splattered her suit with blood.
- Stop staining my suit," the girl frowned. Augustus had a strong urge to hit her immediately, but he restrained himself while he held back.
- We have to end this," the mercenary muttered, rising from the ground. No matter how armed the attackers were or what skills they possessed, they had nothing to counteract against a brute superior force.
Leaving the deranged beauty behind, Augustus leapt like a snake between the trees and approached the nearest fighter.
Grabbing his opponent's right arm, the man twisted the limb and struck at the elbow, incapacitating her completely. Losing her leading arm, the female fighter tried to use her left hand to pull her pistol from its holster.
Augustus delivered a powerful blow to the base of her opponent's neck and cut her life short. She didn't have time to reach for the gun and use it. The collision lasted only three seconds, the dead woman's partners had not yet had time to react.
Without letting the body fall, the mercenary picked it up with one hand and used it as a shield. With his other hand, he grabbed a loose automatic rifle and opened fire on the nearby enemies.
They opened fire on him in return. The firefight lasted exactly ten seconds. August flung the bullet-riddled body away from him and crouched on the ground himself to catch his breath. Several bullets had passed through his meat shield and hit him. Nothing dangerous, regeneration should be able to handle it.
- It's too bad the pain can't be removed," the mercenary muttered, looking up to the sky.
The white-haired girl came out of hiding and looked around the recent battlefield. A bloody man sat in the centre of it, and five mangled corpses lay beside him. There was a heavy smell of blood in the neighbourhood.
- Hey, you owe me now," August smiled, turning to the girl. - How will you pay me back? I won't take it in cash.
- A million dollars," said the lush-breasted beauty nonchalantly and moved closer to the seated man. - Tomorrow I expect that money from you for the ruined suit.
August's face naturally hardened. This woman knew how to play on his nerves! He didn't expect to get much money from her, even a couple of thousand dollars would have been enough, but to get into debt himself....
- We don't seem to understand each other," Augustus got up from the ground and put his hand on the girl's shoulder and pressed her against a tree trunk, hovering over her with a smile. - I saved you and I don't intend to play the honourable game, five hundred thousand dollars and we're even.
- This is the address, - the pressed girl shoved a business card in the mercenary's face. - Tomorrow come there with the money.
- You're getting on my nerves," August smiled irritably, pressing his palm against the face of the insolent beauty.
- I've told you everything, now release me or I'll use measures to free myself," the girl said sternly and furrowed her eyebrows.Augustus eventually let her go, but a smile never slipped from his face. This smile was the result of his extreme irritation at the insolence of the rescued girl. The beautiful girl, having freed herself from him, said nothing more and quietly walked away. Of course, she looked suspicious, and the mercenary noticed it. But this suspicion would not prevent him from trying to get money out of this ungrateful young lady.
- That's the kind of cheek he's looking for. Now until I get some money out of her, I won't rest.
***
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